First Game of RISK

Today I played the classic boardgame RISK for the first time. It was a blast! My son, a RISK strategist, came to visit me for Father's Day. We setup with him taking gray and I took red. Divided up the globe between us and a green neutral.

Then the mayhem commenced. He focused his early attacks on Australia and Asia. I already controlled most of Europe so I set about to conquer Africa and South America. Within a few turns both continents were under RED control. He took Australia and almost completed a sweep of Asia but we (the royal we) couldn't allow that. So I ordered the RED General Staff to take the Middle East. We did, and we lost it the next go. However we quickly took it back and promptly lost it again. This seesaw in the Middle East began to look like Armageddon. Eventually RED triumphed as was our destiny and we finished that by sweeping up the rest of Europe. After that the frontlines of the war switched to the new world in North America.

Finally with the world painted RED with only Japan and Australia left to him, Lord Gray surrendered. He was allowed to swear fealty as our vassal and awarded Australia as his dominion to provide for his income and oathbound to provide military arms to assist the RED Crown when called upon.

It was at this time that I knew we had lost the war, Alexsandr Gevs, Gray General.

Anglo-Zulu War - Battle of Kafrudum - British Army Suffers Horrible Loss

What a beautiful day today. I wanted to go for a ride on my goldwing but I had to watch my granddaughter this morning. So while she frolicked and played in the backyard I set up a small scale colonial battle on the patio. 

For this battle I used One Hour Wargame rules modified as I deem the Anglo-Zulu War should go. I gave the Zulus a +2 in melee combat. The British +2 in shooting but a 0 in melee. I reduced the hits a unit can suffer from 15 to 10. I use white beads to indicate single hits and a red bead to indicate 5 hits. I used movement in base depth vice inches or paces. Also I wanted to adhere to my wargaming advise that I have posted on the left side of the blog so the armies are based on 1" squares and are small. However in my mind there were 3 Zulu regiments vs. a British column under a colonel; in this case Colonel Reynauld Chester Higginsworth. 

The hill of Kafrudum with it's Zulu Kraal on top.

Colonel Higginsworth's plan was to use his artillery to either force the Zulus out of their kraal or soften them up enough for his cavalry troop under Captain Wortheall to capture the hill.

The artillery bombards the kraal.

The artillery battery continues to pound the hill.

Two Zulu regiments swiftly close the gap on the red line.

British rifle & maxim fire inflict severe losses on the Zulu.

Finally hitting the British line the Zulu regiments make quick work of their enemy. 

A bugle cry brings the cavalry back around but can they make it in time?

One lone British unit withstood attacks from their front
and rear long enough to destroy their frontal enemy contact.
 They received the Victoria Cross posthumously. 

Seeing that all hope is lost Captain Wortheall and his men flee the field.

Overall I am satisfied with how fast the battle played. I like the suspense/thrill of watching the hits mount up on each unit. Though small in appearance this was the largest battle of OHW I have fought so far with 16 units (British 6, Zulus 10) on the battlefield. I'm firmly in the camp of OHW now. These are the best ease of use rules for a solo-wargamer that I've encountered thus far. The bases were bare because I'm not sure if I will continue with the 1" basing or move to a larger base to allow diorama style basing. Cheers from Northwest Arkansas.

Anglo-Zulu War: Test Battle for New Home Rules

I had the day off today so I decided to get stuck in with a couple of good playtests for some new home rules I've been working on. Well one playtest is worth at least a hundred opinions and thoughts of how a system should work. So far my combat mechanics are not satisfying to me. I suppose that One Hour Wargames has me spoiled now. The good news is that I am completely satisfied with unit movement and firing ranges. Back to the drawing board to work on combat as well as command and control.

15mm Colonials - Test Game of New Home Rules

I have had the notion in mind for quite some time to come up with a division level set of home solo-wargame rules. But I can't seem to wrap my mind around each unit being a battalion vice a company. Anyway I've been reading a lot of other wargames and books and thought I had come up with a pretty good mesh of ideas/mechanics. However my "plans didn't survive first contact with the enemy." 

The "to hit" mechanic is straightforward for a solo-wargamer. Roll a d6 and score a target goal. Said score inflicts a single fatigue point hit on the target unit.  A command point is required to remove the hit otherwise any unit with a FP has it's capabilities nerfed.  

I had thought that each force would have a set amount of command points to activate units and rally away fatigue points (hits) but this really cripples a force once the bullets start flying. I do want it to have a tactical impact but not one that causes a side to lose completely to it. The Zulus as they drew nearer to the British line were unable to move enough of their units due to the activation spent rallying a hit unit. However that may be more accurate than I think. Perhaps I should increase the foot movement for certain types of forces, like the Zulus.

Further playtesting and more reading is required.

2015 Metrics for the Craft.

Happy New Year!  Here are my totals for 2015.  Painting was down a bit (-8) from last years total as was the number of battles fought (-9). I attribute most of this to buying and moving into our new home in the mid-Fall. On a personal note I had set 15 goals for myself during the year and I met or exceeded 10 of them. I have now set 16 for 2016.  Best wishes to all for a joyous and safe new year.

PAINTING

1/600: 23

6mm:

10mm: 39

15mm: 1
1/72: 7

25mm: 4
54mm:

Terrain/Acc: 4

Total Painted: 78

BATTLES FOUGHT

Star Wars: 3

World War II: 10

WWII Naval: 5

Colonial: 1

Sci-Fi: 1

SYW: 1

Fantasy: 3

Ancients: 4

Angola Bush War: 1

Year Total: 29

1/600 Desert Battlefield Part 4 Finished

Now that the dust is starting to settle from the home purchase/move. I found some time today to complete my 1/600 Desert Battlefield. The pictures don't show it very well but the oasis has a water effect in it. I used tacky glue for the water. This project ticks off a check on the Painting Pledge for the year.

Terrain: Isandlwana Battlefield

I am attempting to craft a battlefield and match it to Isandlwana as closely as my skills will allow. I am debating on whether to use a dark brown or black as the undercoat. The foam board came from a box at work and measures just under 2'x3'.

One Hour Wargames: My Review

I should be picking up my war room at present vice writing this reivew. However as I look at my models that are still based up for other systems and think of how I am going to rebase them  I can't help but reflect on how much more I like One Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas. I can almost see the casualties as they fall or flee and virtually feel the morale of the unit dripping away as they resolve to be steadfast and strong. OHW has upped the imagination factor for me by 10x or more and that I believe is what we as wargamers strive for in our miniatures recreation.

I can't really put my finger on why I was so keen to buy this book. I remember reading the reviews up on TMP but my first thoughts were it was overly simple. What I didn't realize until I bought and read it was that it was simple genius. Neil's rules are subtle and sophisticated. I've spent way too much time looking for that perfect set of rules to capture the feel I wanted from wargaming and at long last found it.

I was guffawed at how his army sizes capped at 6 units but then started thinking about the average size Warhammer army like this one below (*note image had to be removed Aug2017) and discovered that they almost always have around 6 core units.

So I was hooked and decided to look at basing schemes that keep with the principles I've learned on army design from the masters like Donald Featherstone and Bob Cordery on starting and keeping your armies small. I've come up with 50mm square bases for 10mm World War II as you may have seen in two of my recent battle reports here. The other base size is 1.5" x 3" for 6/10/15mm ancmed/fantasy models which you can see on my fantasy blog here: The Chronicles of Aeyr. I am also flirting with using 50x40mm bases for 1/600 VSF & moderns along with 2" x 5" for 28mm fantasy. 

Applying the principles above with Neil's suggested guidelines I now have several really well rounded forces for OHW and am close to completing several others. And most importantly to me are projects I've had sitting for years are seeing the light of day and are drawing closer to completion. 

One side effect however is that I have developed a voracious appetite for wargame scenarios. Gone are my days of the tournament style pitched battle. Done. Well it's 1600 hours here in Northwest Arkansas so I should return to cleaning up and organizing my messy war room. In closing OHW, for me, has been my best wargame purchase of 2015. Possibly in the last several years. Cheers.

1/600 Desert Battlefield - Part 3

Well the board wound up warping on me a bit as you can see in the bottom picture but not enough to render it unplayable IMO. Still must add some mud and green to the oasis and touch up the road. Have yet to decide if I will use all of the North African buildings or some. In either case they still need to be primed and painted. Same with my palm trees.

1/600 Desert Battlefield - The Crescent Oasis Part 2

The first sections of groundwork are complete. After letting these dry overnight I will add the final sections. After that dries then any patches fixed. Then comes vegetation, roadwork and the lake, rocky hills and outgrowths ending with the village.

New Terrain Board Underway: The Crescent Oasis 1/600 Scale.

Have begun work on a new 3mm battlefield. A desert oasis somewhere in North Africa. The battlefield will feature an oasis, a dusty trade road, a small village as well as several rocky outgrowths. This will be my second board with permanent terrain features. The first was the lunar board.

Basic project foamboard from Hobby Lobby $3.59 with a HL 40% Coupon. The board has a cardstock surface on front and back with foam between.

Trade road marked and the oasis cut out..

My first attempt at flocking the battlefield failed as I used a HL spray adhesive glue which did not do anything but make my hands and arms sticky. Will use the tried and true but timely Elmers glue tomorrow.