Valentines Day Bolt Action vs The Wife

Jen and I decided that after dinner the perfect end to our Valentines was of course going to be a war-game. We hadn't played Bolt Action for a while so that was what ended up on the table. We didn't quite get the game finished on the night so it sat for a few days at turn 3 and got finished up on the Monday.

Pregame bombardment took a fairly even toll on both sides of the table

Early game had my Germans keeping the Japanese forces fairly well pinned down.

As per usual for our games Jen's Kamikaze Antitank teams managed to get through to my armour. 

As the game was spaced out a bit and due to the fact that I now have to zip and email my photos to myself off my phone it's taken a while to get this one typed up and naturally I've forgotten a fair amount of the action. That being said it was a fun little game and though the end results don't show it very well Jen was starting to push back fairly well during turns 5 and 6, I have a feeling that if we had have gotten the 7th turn she would have evened out the score.

1914 vs The Youngest

Arwen and I finally managed to get a game in of the 1914 rule set from Great Escape Games. Her Belgium force may not be quite done, but she was far enough along we could finally get some minis on the table and see how the game played.

The game play is based around the management of command tokens and morale tokens. At the start of each turn you allocate your command tokens across the various battalions of your force, then use them to activate your units as required. As a unit activates the difficulty to reactivate them is increased each time. This can be further increased as they come under fire and begin to take morale tokens.

By the end of the second turn we'd got our heads around the mechanics and both really enjoyed the game. I did manage to win the game at the end of the fifth turn having taken two of her battalions off the table, but it was quite a close game. The use of the cavalry as a bluffing/scouting mechanic was also quite a nice touch which led to a couple of tense moments for both of us as we stumbled upon the others' actual regiments. We'll be getting another game in soon hopefully and I'll try to organise a more detailed AAR.

Warhammer 40k & Age of Sigmar vs The Brother

Headed north for a couple of games against my brother today. Started off with a game of 40k bringing the newly painted Trygon onto the table and then managed to squeeze in an introduction to Age of Sigmar.

The 40k game saw my Tyranids come up against his Necrons. While the final score saw me without a point to my name the game itself was much tighter than that would have you believe. I've come away with a few tweaks to try with my force and a larger disliking of reanimation protocols and quantum shielding :).

The forces square off

Trygon tunnels behind enemy lines bringing a unit of Warriors

My first attempt at a Genestealer charge

A whole mess of 6s on the overwatch shots

Trygon gets stuck in

2nd attempt a a Genestealer charge

A much better result for me

Trygon still sits at the back tying up half the Necron force, this is the moment when I discover the more damage I do the easier it is for the Quantum Shielding to save the Necron warlord.

Broodlord holding his own despite constantly re-animating necrons

A rather depopulated table leaving the Necrons holding all four objectives.

After packing up the SciFi we quickly set up for Age of Sigmar with my brother lending my his Khorne force while he took his.... I can't remember the new name for them but basically Ogres on woolly rhinos. I did manage to sneak a 6 to 2 win on this one, but we both found a few things we'd played incorrectly in this one which may have narrowed the margin.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday really. Hoping to get another game in before I have to go back to work depending on how things flow over the next week.

24th March - 20th March Bolt Action vs The Youngest

Arwen and I managed to get another game in this week, though we did have to break it up over two nights. It's been a while since we got a game of Bolt Action and I've been feeling like getting it on the table for the last few weeks so that's what we went with. We decided to play a scenario that required us to hold five objective points spread across the table.

 




The first turn was mostly the two of us moving up into position although I did manage to hit her M13/40 with a glancing shot pinning it down slightly.

The second turn the firing really began with most of our heavier guns and fire teams beginning to attempt to pin each other down. Several units did pick up a few pin markers here and there but most of the fire was ineffectual.

Shaking off their shock from the large German shell that rattled their tank the Italians returned fire but failed to hit the Hetzer, though they did mange to pin down the nearby unit of German Grenadiers stopping the men and more importantly their panzerfaust from getting to close to their vehicle. Unfortunately the Italian's were then taken out by the return fire from the German vehicle. With that flank now relatively secure the German's began to push toward the centre heading for the objectives while suppressing the distant Italian units.

While having to deal with some fire from the Italian Autoblinda the German's continued their push across the river cutting down the Italian machine gun team. A brave squad of Grenadiers then pushed up the hill cresting the top and opening fire with their panzerfaust destroying the Italian Armoured Car.

The final Italian squad finally entered the battle after quite a bit of delay, though it was possibly going to be too little too late. While the Grenadiers on the hill came under some heavy fire and began to take casualties they managed to rally and hold their position. Several units under both commands began to suffer the effects of the engagement going down rather than attempting their assigned orders.










The final turn proved too much for the Italian morale and though they were able to prevent the Germans from gaining any further ground.

It was another really tight game and while I did manage a clear victory this time Arwen had me play quite cautiously over several turns. I've got another 4 squads of German on the painting table at the moment including one unit of Kriegsmarines and I'm toying with the idea of a larger multi player game in the near future.

4th March - Saga vs The Youngest

It's been a while so Arwen and I decided to get another game of Saga in. She took her Irish (easy choice for her only having the one faction) and I decided on my Vikings this time. She set up the table while I was at work and we decided just to play the standard Kill the Warchief scenario.

The Vikings while late to get their battle line set were the first to get rolling across the battlefield, with an even advance toward the Irish lines. The Irishmen then began to head toward the Norse line with warriors on both flanks hurling javelins as the surged forward though only a single warrior fell to their cowardly javelins. Meanwhile the Irish Houndmaster distracted by the baying on his charges mistakenly coursed them forward into a solid block of Viking Hirdmen who quite quickly and efficiently took out most of the dogs.

A certain capricious Norse god showed his presence on the battlefield as the remaining Irish wolfhounds disappeared from the battlefield. While the rest of the line held steady the Viking warriors on the flank charged forward to avenge their fallen comrade and drove the Irish unit back killing a few of the men. Rather than counter charge the Irish chose to hold their line and hurled more javelins across the intervening ground at the Viking's and again their efforts only resulted in a single fallen Norse warrior.

Enraged by the annoyance of the Irish missiles the Viking warriors surged ahead again and again driving the Irish warriors back and then charging in again until finally they stood alone winded but surrounded by bloody corpses. Not learning the lesson just taught on the other flank the Irish warriors once again tried to fell the Vikings from a safe distance and again failing to have any real effect. The overextended Viking warriors were then subjected to multiple charges from the Irish, while they did managed to drive off both of the Curaidh. This forced the Irish warchief to order his hearthguard into combat with the brave men who finally fell to the constant Irish attack, but I'm certain they all found their way to the halls of Valhalla.

Finally running out of patience the Viking warriors on the other flank charge into the Irish, but these men prove to be the equal of the Norsemen and manage to drive off their foes. The Irish take advantage of the relative quiet of the Viking line and take a moment to refresh themselves before throwing themselves back into the fray.

The Norse warriors throw themselves at the Irish defense but are again broken like waves on the rocks by the seemingly giant Irish warriors. Taking heart from their consistent defeat of the Viking warrior unit the Irishmen begin a charge of their own. Only a single Viking man remains on his feet but finally they found their strength and managed to drive back a tattered Irish unit even as they themselves fell.

Loki again worked his magic deciding to honour the remaining man's bravery and prowess and the tattered Irish unit across from him are whisked away. The lone man is called back behind the safety of the Hirdmen line as the Vikings prepare to withdraw from the field. With the light fading the Irish warband decides to attempt to save face for their thus far rather cowardly and poor efforts in the days fighting, though again it falls to the warriors as the warchief and his hearthguard stay as far from the Viking lines as they can and still claim to be on the field. The Irish warriors begin their run across the field hurling javelins dropping a couple of Viking men before smashing into their waiting shieldwall breaking it and driving them back and with a last surge of momentum following it up with a second charge finishing of the Norse unit.

Such a close game with only four victory points between us. Her last ditch gamble in the closing turn definitely rewarded her with the draw and good on her for it. Every time we play her tactics just get better and better. Hopefully we'll get another game in soon.