Jousting in the Skies - Wings of War AAR

I'm back again with another community game. With the coming of the 100th Anniversary of the first World World, or the Great War, there has also been a mini-renaissance of the same era in the wargaming community. Our own group at 7th Dimension Games has been similarly affected, most visibly with the revival of Wings of War/Wings of Glory, the card-driven WWI biplane combat game. The main backer behind this effort has been Gary, whose games I've written about before, and whose massive WoW/G collection was made available for the events he has been organizing. 

This event was a 9-person game played across 3 of the WoW/G play-mats, so an area a little larger than 3'x6'. On one side were the Allies - 2 single-seat fighters, a two-seat fighter, and two bombers. I was the pilot of the Sopwith Camel with the two hearts on the top wing. 

On the other side were the Germans, all in single-seat fighters. You can also see the three trenchline cards, which represented the objectives for the game. The Allies had to escort their bombers across the table and destroy the trenches, and the Germans had to keep their trenches protected. 

With both sides being so far apart, it took several turns to close the gap, and so almost all of our cards took us straight forward at max speed. You'll notice that both sides basically flew in formation for the beginning of the game - once combat was joined, however, orders were damned and pilots flew at their own discretion. 

The first pass! Shots were exchanged, cards were drawn, and several pilots just gave each other a grim wave as both sides flew past one another. At this point, however, the Allies had a slight advantage, since three out of their five planes were two-seaters with machine guns able to fire out of a rear arc. 

The Germans didn't waste any time, however, and quickly came about to pursue the Allies, who were now flying at high-speed for the trenches. Thinking myself clever, I planned to come about at give the chasing Huns a bloody nose. 

Unfortunately, these three colorful fellows foiled my plan. While I managed to fire at the purple, green and yellow biplane, my own Camel was promptly shot down. I wasn't the only casualty, however - Russ, the pilot of one of the bombers, also pulled some high value cards and nose-dived into enemy territory. The game had just started, and the Allies were already down two planes, including one of the all-important bombers!

Not yet deterred, the remaining Allies fighter pilots came back around as the remaining bomber stayed on target - the rightmost trench card!

Amazingly, even with air superiority, the Germans couldn't manage to take down the bomber, whose gunner happily sighted in and wiped one of the trenches off the table. 

And then incredibly destroyed the second trench! With all of its bombs gone, the bomber turned away and started to retreat back to the Allies lines, covered by the two remaining fighters.

It was at this point that Russ and I started to suspect we had drawn all the high value cards from the damage decks - it certainly seemed like our fellow players were drawing plenty of zeroes!

The unfortunate bomber was eventually shot down, having drawn enough cards from the fusillade of bullets fired from the following Germans. 

And so went the last Allied single-seat fighter. By the now Germans had taken quite a few blows of their own, and had been reduced from six fighters down to three. 

Now the game turned into a cat-and-mouse chase between the two-seater Allied fighter and the remaining Germans.

But even with a pile of damage cards with plenty of zeroes and ones, the last Allied fighter was taking too many shots from too many angles, and eventually went down.

The end result was a 30-26 win for the Germans - if the Allies had managed to shoot down just one more plane, they would have won!

It was another fun, big community game. I'm looking forward to playing WoW/G again, and Gary's still working away on his 20mm terrain for a game of Through the Mud and the Blood.

High Time on the Open Seas - Sails of Glory AAR

I'm back, and this time with an after-action report! Bob Fanelli was once again running a game demo at 7th Dimension Games, and this time it was the recently released Sails of Glory! 

After an explanation of the rules (and there were a lot!), the sides were drawn - both the French and British squadrons were formed of two frigates and two ships-of-the-line. Apparently a standard game of Sails of Glory takes place in a 2'x3' area, so our 4'x6' space allowed for quite a bit of maneuvering before our ships were close enough to open fire. 

This was the ship mat for my ship-of-the-line, the Aquilon. Just looking at all of the spaces and chits was a little daunting at first! But we quickly found that as the game progressed the rules made enough sense to be easily remembered without constant rulebook consultation. 

Like Wings of Glory, Attack Wing, or X-Wing, our ships used cards with distances drawn on them that changed the maneuver depending on the deployment of sails and windage. Since these old wooden ships were relatively slow, each move had to be planned out a turn in advance - so mistakes have to be corrected over a number of turns. Which explains why the Aquilon is a little off-course in the back. 

We quickly realized that frigates were really fighting out of their weight-class when a fresh broadside from a frigate fore-raked a ship-of-the-line and barely managed to do any damage. Their only advantage was in their speed, which meant that a frigate with the wind in it's sails could fire on a larger ship and then quickly dance out of range. 

The game progressed with the French coming to an early advantage. The two French ships-of-the-line managed to trap a couple British ships between them and pounded them down to kindling, while the frigates danced around with round- and grape-shot. 

At the end of the day, the French carried victory by sinking the two British ships-of-the-line and a frigate while only losing a single frigate of their own. I had to leave at that point, but the guys were setting up another 3 vs 3 game with only ships-of-the-line, which seemed to me to be a better fight. 

Playing the game, I can see that Sails of Glory is much more like Wings of Glory than either X-Wing or Attack Wing due to the complexity. With so many chits and actions to handle, I couldn't imagine a player handling more then one or two ships without causing themselves a major headache. However, this method means the game is perfect for larger games like this, where each player only needs a single ship.

I had a great time with Sails of Glory, and judging by Bob's collection, I'm hoping we see the game played more often. 

Painting Update - SAGA

A small update today. I've been very busy these past few weeks with school, graduation, and the crushing realization that I've now stepped beyond college and into 'real life.' You'll please excuse any panicked breathing. 

Although I haven't played anything - not even an arranged game! - I've done a bit of painting for my SAGA collection.

The first set is a point of Hearthguard for my Vikings, which recently arrived from Architects of War. I'm not sure whether it was the store's location or the reliability of USPS' Flat Rate shipping, but it only took two days to arrive. I should note that this is the last point for my Vikings, which gives me a full six point warband for the faction.

The second unit is a point of Warriors for my Normans. Now, normally unmounted Warriors are a bit of a flop when it comes to Normans - their Battleboard only supports cavalry and ranged units. Instead I'll use them as Flemish Mercenaries. They might not generate a Saga Die, but they do activate on their own and are armored as well as Hearthguard. They'll make excellent cover for my mounted knights, and the slow movement speed doesn't really matter in a faction that'll happily peg their opponents with arrows from a distance.

Painting Update - SAGA

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything, mostly because nothing of interest has actually happened - blog worthy, anyways. My last semester at college is quickly coming to a close, and work is piling on - final projects, papers, tests, all swirling together in a maelstrom of schoolwork.

With Easter weekend, I managed to get a bit of respite in the form of painting. Remember that dark ages game I managed to play every once in a while? It was called SAGA, I think. Well, I finished up a unit of Crossbow Warriors for my Normans, and started on a unit of foot Warriors.

Looking at the little horde on top of my bookshelf, I realize that despite having not one but three factions for SAGA - Vikings, Anglo-Danes, and Normans - I haven't managed to get any of them up to six points. The Vikings stand at 5 points, the Danes at 4, and the Normans at 4 (technically - having used the foot Warriors, I'm not entirely impressed with their ability to act as a screen for my cavalry, although that might be due to the fact I've only used them at 4 points, rather than the standard 6.)

What does this mean? It means no more X-Wing models, or miniatures for other games - I want to focus any and all future purchases towards finishing these factions. The Vikings will probably be the easiest, as they just need another four Hearthguard. The Danes will need more Hearthguard and a unit of Levy. The Normans will probably be the toughest - I'll need two units of Levy Archers and a unit of Mounted Warriors to get to the list that I want.

After that? I don't know. Maybe another faction - maybe Welsh, to finish off the first four factions. If not the Welsh, then I'm looking at the Irish, having been the first faction I played as/against along with the Vikings; Scots, because they're always cool, and Anglo-Saxons, since I'm such a big fan of the Uhtred series by Bernard Cornwell.

All for One, and One for All!

It was that time of the month again. The stars were right, the winds howled as rain poured from the skies, and Bob Fanelli was hosting once again at 7th Dimension games. 

This time, Bob had set up a 3 Musketeers themed game. We where in for an adventure full of swashbuckling, plumed hats, intrigue, betrayal, and plenty of dice rolling! And lots of people affecting terrible French accents. Really, really terrible. 

The setting was the small, fortified town of Guiche, somewhere in rural France. Normally a quiet town, rumor was that the Chevalier Eustache had been arrested by the King's orders. He would be escorted into town by a small group of the King's Guard. 

Meanwhile, a carriage stops just outside of town as a certain Cardinal waits for his own men to arrive. 

The town was quiet. For now. 

As always, Bob's games are full of wonderfully painted miniatures that belonged to a variety of factions. There were two 'squads' each of King's Guard in blue tabards, Queen's Guard in black tabards, and Cardinal's Guards in red tabards. There were two squads of 'The People' who were an anti-royalist faction, some English spies, and other groups of ruffians just out to make trouble. For the most part, the game revolved around the Eustache and his secrets that everyone was out to either gain for their own or, failing that, at least prevent from falling into the hands of the others. 

I picked a squad of the Queen's Guard, led by Capitaine Bartholomew Pompoi Le Bret and Robesmichel Roland Clouseau. The other three members of the squard were Guy Squeezi and the brothers Pierre and Andre de le Douche. 

And here was the missions assigned to Le Bret by the Queen herself, unbeknownst to the King. 

Le Bret led his men into town and straight to the blacksmith, in some hope of getting Guy's firelock repaired. No such luck, but the blacksmith did have a rare salve that he sold to Le Bret. 

Guiche was unusually busy on this day. A squad of King's Guard had arrived separately of Estauche's guards in search of the infamous criminal, Pamplemosse (who quickly became named Pimplemouse amongst the players).

Also odd was the arrival of the Cardinal along with a group of his men.

The squad of King's Guard that was escorting Eustache arrived in town. They hadn't made it 30 feet through the main gates before they were suddenly set upon by Pamplemosse and his men!

Meanwhile, Pierre was enjoying a streetlady's hot buns. Her hot cross buns, that is.

Now, the rules featured a rather detailed method that allowed Principles - the leaders of the squads - to duel in a proper gentlemanly way, with each player choosing 5 actions in a round. This could be Slash, Thrust, Lunge, En Garde, Rest, Recover, Jump Back, Back, Close, Kick, Beat and others. It was a fascinating way of having fights between the more important characters. If I had any complaints to voice about Bob's rules, it was that the duels could take a little while as the other players were forced to wait until the combat was resolved to get back into the game. We were, however, able to entertain ourselves for these interludes, so it wasn't really a problem. 

What was a problem, however, was the fact that Pamplemosse and the leader of the King's Guard managed to skewer each other at the same time, killing each other. 

Le Bret, seeing that the King's men were in trouble - and that Eustache was finally in town - charged into combat with the rest of the Queen's Guard.

The melee devolved into a four-way fight. The Queen's and King's Guard were fighting Pamplemosse's men, while another group of anti-royalists looted the body of the leader of the King's men, finding the keys to Eustache's shackles. The group of English spies, led by a man named Buford, took the opportunity to sneak up behind Eustache and start jabbing him with their knives, hoping to silence him forever. 

The leader of the other squad of King's Guard, seeing his objective - capturing Pamplemosse alive - crumble in front of him, decided to throw caution and honor to the wind. He attacked the Bishop of the Guiche church, and stole their charity and a valuable golden chalice. The Cardinal, unable to watch such an impious act, abandoned his own objectives in order to place the rogue Guards in their place. 

His first act was to put the rogue leader in his place, killing the man in a single blow with a solid whack of his crosier. 

The other melee continued. Pamplemosse's men were handily dispatched, and the English were losing a 3-1 fight against the Royal Guards and the anti-royalists who banded together momentarily to at least keep the Chevalier alive. 

Meanwhile, the Cardinal's Guard put the rouges out of their misery, dispatching all except for the Robesmichel, who managed to run away. He then found a rather stunning lady with an impressive bosom who decided to tag along for the rest of the game.  

His men dead, Buford was forced to accept a duel to the death by Le Bret, and was summarily executed for crimes against the French Crown. 

The aftermath. The Queen's Guard was relatively unscathed, while the King's men were down to only two members left. Eustache had been freed by the anti-royalist leader, who was revealed to be his sister!

In a flash, Eustache and his sister were racing away in the back of the appropriated cart. One of the anti-royalist men managed to get away on foot, but the other had only taken a single step when he was skewered by a couple of Guardsmen. 

Although another group of King's Guard came to reinforce the others, Eustache and his sister managed to escape, thanks to a poor decision on the Cardinal's part, who'd decided to ally with Eustache and a hired gang in opposition to the King's and Queen's Guard. The cart took off, the driver killed in the melee. 

It was at the climax of this fight that the already wounded Le Bret was slain by the gang's leader. Au revoir, mon ami!

Three shots of the aftermath of the battle. Bodies were strewn across Guiche. The Comte de Guiche, Capitaine of the King's Guard, was dead, as were many other Guardsmen. It was only through the Cardinal's orders - and the fact that by then, his men were the only ones unwounded - that the fighting stopped. Eustache had escaped, and it would be a long time before the Chevalier could be tracked down again. And the rift between the three branches of the Guards was only deepened after the incident in Guiche. 

I'm starting to think it's impossible for Bob to put on a bad game. We had plenty of laughs and cheers during the game, especially with the dueling system. 

We're eagerly looking forward to Bob's next game, which will be set in the Dark Ages with the Battle of Tara.