Saturday Historical Gaming

In an attempt to try something new I set up an informal historical gaming gathering at Battleground Games Plainville for today. A few people popped in but sadly most were unable to attend. There is a small number of people interested in historical gaming. Most had other commitments such as reenacting, two do AWI, vacations, or being with their families.

What was lacking in numbers was made up for in enthusiasm. My buddy Drew McCarthy of The Gate Stormers, stopped in asking for me to “show him one of [my] history games.” I knew WoTC’s War at Sea to be perfect! It is a casual, yet historical, beer & pretzel game with pre-painted miniatures. The rules are easy to pick up and the game provides lots of blow ’em up action.

To save myself from devising balanced fleet lists I used the units from the 2010 starter. We played two games. For the first game Drew fielded the American/Australian force. With the American power I thought he’d have the best chance of doing well. Plus, that force provides a good cruiser, two good destroyers, and a nice torpedo bomber that has a Special Ability allowing a dive bomb attack. I fielded the Japanese force, which focuses on long-lance torpedoes.

Drew’s Fleet Game 1

  • USS Montpelier
  • USS Taylor
  • HMAS Nizam
  • TBF-1 Avenger

Jonathan’s Fleet Game 1

  • Haguro
  • Teretsuki
  • I-25
  • G4M1 “Betty”

With the USS Montpelier’s Flagship 1 bonus Drew won almost every single initiative roll of the game, which lasted eight turns. In the first turn he destroyed the I-25 with depth charges from his Avenger. Subsequent turns saw heavy damage inflicted on both sides with both the USS Montpelier and USS Taylor destroyed in Turn 2. The HMAS Nizam was crippled in that very turn. The “Betty” was shot down and the Teretsuki sunk. The game progressed with the Haguro racing for objective markers as the Avengers spent alternating turns failing to sink her. The game ended when the Haguro captured the final objective marker.

For the second game we swapped sides. This gave Drew a chance to experience the awesomeness of the long-lance torpedo.

Drew’s Fleet Game 2

  • Haguro
  • Teretsuki
  • I-25
  • G4M1 “Betty”

Jonathan’s Fleet Game 2

  • USS Montpelier
  • USS Taylor
  • HMAS Nizam
  • TBF-1 Avenger

Game 2 ended very quickly. In turn 1 the Avengers went after the I-25 and failed to inflict any damage on the submarine. The HMAS Nizam forgot to lay it’s smoke screen and the “Betty” spent the turn uneventfully. Turn 2 saw a successful smoke screen and the USS Montpelier missing the Haguro with its main guns. So much for making use of it’s extended range. In a subsequent turn all of the Allied surface ships were sunk. Some damage was inflicted onto the Japanese strike force but not enough. Game 2 went to Drew.

Afterwards Cort. N showed up with his daughter. He brought a ton of 6mm WWII Micro Armor and his completed 25mm Old Glory AWI figures. He’s fielding British for our AWI battles and will be adding French to his collection. This will provide the opportunity to play whatever is needed. You may be asking why he is collecting 25mm when the rest of us are collecting 28mm. The answer is cost. He can get a lot more of 25mm Old Glory than he can get of 28mm Perry Miniatures. We’re unsure how we will mix his 25mm and our 28mm figures in the same battle but believe them to be close enough that the Black Powder rules will not need to be adjusted. If he was using 20mm or 15mm then that would need to be taken into account.

His models look amazing! I took pictures of them (see below) to share with everyone. He told me which unit his Brits are but all I can remember is 30 something of Foot. 33rd perhaps? The Old Glory figures are very nice sculpts with plenty of detail. If I didn’t start with 28mm I would be tempted to go with the 25mm Old Glory.

Afterwards he showed off a board game by Simmons Games named Napoleon’s Triumph. It looks stunning! This Napoleonic era board game portrays the Battle of Austerlitz. We didn’t play this but intend to. With a quick glance the rules look interesting. According to the game there are two scenarios to play. The first is December 1st at 7am. It features “Historical Allied advance. More lines of play, longer playing time. Two Allied corps start in play. All others enter as reinforcements.” This scenario has a 3 hour playing time. The second option is December 2nd 7am. This features “Historical day of battle. This is the game’s main scenario. All Allied pieces are in play at start.” Playing time runs to two hours for this scenario. The game costs $59.95, which seems like a fair price for all of the components. After we play this I will have feedback.

That ended the day. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again. Some talk was had about doing another next Saturday. I have to put the kibosh on that because my father and I will be touring the USS Salem (CA-139). I got a Groupon for that and it will be a good time exploring the vessel.

8 Comments on “Saturday Historical Gaming”

  1. Drew

    Good game Jon! I hope to try out Napoleon’s Triumph and see what it’s about. The board and pieces on that game were amazing. It can only be a good time to play.

  2. Cort Naegelin

    Jonathan,

    Flattery will get you anywhere. Thank you for the complement. The Old Glory Minis suite my rather ancient method of painting which is to block in colors and douse with Futura Floor wax and India Ink.

    On Napoleon’s Triumph, Yes I have not played it yet. The board is bigger than my table at home. I will re-read the rules for next Saturday. Have fun on the Salem!

    Thanks again for the complements
    Cort Naegelin

  3. Adrian

    Thanks for the pics Jon, Cort’s figures do look good! As to the scale 25’s mix ok with 28’s. Not really within the same unit, but on the same table it’ll be fine.

    I’ll go on record in this public forum and state how hugely, incredibly annoying it is to me that it’s even a problem; 25mm shouldn’t exist. Or, if you prefer, 28mm shouldn’t exist. There’s no legitimate reason to have both scales, at least as far as I can tell.

    I’ll have to bring some of my Clash of Arms games with me so you can check them out. They might be too scary for you, but if you’re interested in trying paper maps and cardboard, there aren’t any better tactical level Napoleonics games available.

    1. Cort Naegelin

      Adrian,

      I have the following:

      Le Bataille de – ..

      La Moscowa
      La Talavaera
      La D’Auerstaedt
      De Deutsch-Wagram

      Man these babies are old. They are the old Marshall games from the 1770’s. I think that i have everything, but I am not sure. I maybe missing a piece here and there.

      I also have Wellington’s Victory, but My brother mixed Quatre Bras in with it. I have to sort it out. I will bring them.

      Cort N

      1. Adrian

        Just noticed this post…I have

        La Battaile de…

        Albuera
        Talavera
        Auerstaedt
        Eylau
        Ligny
        Quatre Bras
        Lutzen (a new entry in the line, with revised base rules)

        I think that’s all…the editions I have are from the 80’s/90’s after Clash of Arms acquired the Marshal Enterprises line.

      2. Dennis A. Spors

        New Game Kicks Off Release of Recession Series Games
        Marshal Enterprises Releases New ‘La Bataille’ Game “Halle” For Free
        There is a new La Bataille series game out and it is free! Marshal Enterprises has announced the release of “The Battle of Halle”, a contest between the French and the Prussians in the 1806 Campaign.
        Marshal Enterprises released the “The Battle of Halle” game on November 11, 2012, which is the first in its series of Recession Games, which will be free to the public. The Recession Games will be a series of lesser-known corps on corps battles from both the Wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The reason for the release of the Recession series is because, according to Marshal Enterprises,” everybody needs to save a buck.”
        The games are posted on the Marshal Enterprises website, which can be reached at labataille.me. The complete games will be ready to assemble to accessing the website and printing the map; rules; charts and counters. The player then can assemble all of the components by following the easy instructions available on the website.
        “The Battle of Halle” recreates the 1806 contest between the French, under Marshal Jean Bernadotte, and the Prussians, under the Duke of Wurttemberg. The battle, which occurred on October 17, 1806, was fought just three days after the twin French victories at Jena-Auerstadt. The Prussian forces had been the only major Prussian formation left unscathed after Jena-Auerstadt, and represented the best chance for a Prussian recovery after those losses. However, Marshal Bernadotte prevailed in a hard-fought contest, which led to the pursuit of Bernadotte up to the Baltic Sea Coast at Lubeck.
        Marshal Enterprises consists of Monte Mattson; Dennis Spors; James Soto and Mike Neylan. This organization, which had been involved in the development of the La Bataille series in the 1970’s and was responsible the publishing of several titles in the 1970’s and 1980’s, reformed to attend the Consim convention in Tempe earlier this year.
        The response to their reappearance, after many years away from the business, was so positive, that they decided to issue this new series of games in the La Bataille system as a thank you to the public, as well as with the hope that those who wanted to play a more streamlined version of La Bataille could do so.
        The hope is that “The Battle of Halle” and other subsequent releases can be played in a few hours.
        More information about Marshal Enterprises can be obtained by visiting the website.

        1. Dennis A. Spors

          We had a few sever issues with old files but that has been corrected. The one piece map is now a pdf to preserve the detail and the counters are easier to layout and match. A new release is coming out in late January.