Battle Masters

Holiday weekend and grandson asked to play Battle Masters. I had purchased it some 25 years ago to play with his mother. Getting the battered box down and reassembling the bases brought back a lot of happy memories. Notes in the rule book tell me that my daughter and I even played a couple of campaigns, with somewhat even honours.

The rules came back to me quickly. I was really impressed with what a solid game these mechanically very simple rules result in.

An early run of Chaos cards had me advancing and pushing my mounted units to envelope his right.

But of course that meant that all the Empire cards came up later, resulting in multiple attacks from his cavalry to smash my center and right giving him the victory. 

I emerged from the shower Sunday morning to find grandson and his mother having a second game. Although this time he took the harder to play Chaos and set himself up behind the river, giving him a lot problems advancing as he learned how to manage traffic jams at the fords. His mother has a very solid grasp on tactics and the nuances of the game. She's also ruthless. So his win-loss record is one each.

I've sent them home with some odd fantasy figures and his mother's box of dwarves and the cardboard castle that we made together msny years ago. 

Disaster in the Desert

Pasha Dan came over for a game of Midgard this weekend. Because Dan never does the ordinary, his ancient figures are focused on the Roman frontier in the Middle East. So my cohort was fighting Arab raiders instead of the usual Germans or Celts.

Pasha Dan exhorts his followers 

We played the Take the High Ground scenario, with some camels carrying loot as the three objectives to hold or capture. 

Romans advancing 

Despite having a 3:2 points advantage and starting with 12:9 advantage in Reputation Points, I was trounced solidly by turn 4.

Red chits are Stamina hits, blue are Mighty Deeds

My eastern archers never got a shot off. Their Centurion, Ozempyc, catching an arrow and going down with double 1s on a Risk to Heroes roll before he got to "unleash hell". Then they got charged and well... yeah...

Roman flank getting enveloped

My cavalry on the flanks got shot up as well, and my Prefect Carolianus Silex became a pin cushion, alone, and surrounded by Arabs with bows, his turmae of cavalry already dead.

Slave girls looking decidedly unhappy. "Golly dominus, you never take us anywhere fun."

The heavy infantry were doing well in the center, but that was too little too late.

Pushing up that hill

and not finding Kate Bush, just a lot of Arabs 

Some spectacularly bad dice rolls in the initial fights, plus Dan rolling hot, put me on the back foot from the start. 

Dan bought very few heroes, instead getting a lot of troops, so he had me heavily outnumbered, despite a lower points total, and "quantity has a quality all of it's own" as some geezer said.

My tactics were bad. Deploying second, I should have concentrated against one flank instead of attacking along his front and letting his superior numbers swamp me. His having fewer heroes would have played in my favor then as he'd need Command Tests to shift troops from one flank to the other. 

Hopefully my Romans have had their new army curse thoroughly excised now at least.

And the new magnetic bases worked a treat.

Magnetic Mayhem for Midgard!

 

Century of infantry

I've been busy making sabot bases for my metal 3rd Century Romans. Thick board, cut up magnets, glue.

Initial tests seemed promising, so I made a set for the entire army. 4x cavalry, 2x skirmish, and 8x warrior bases. Got them all flocked. 

And then the figures wouldn't stay on!

Too much flock? Non ferrous washers? Or maybe the scavenged refrigerator magnets are just too weak.

Solution? MORE MAGNETS!!! 

Fortunately I've got a few hundred extra small rare earth magnets left over from Bag the Hun. I glued those onto the fridge magnets. 

Gluing magnets to other magnets. As you do. 

Cavalry needed two, but infantry stay put with one.

Now my gregarii should stay put during game play. 

Honestly, if anyone handles them like in the photos they need a thumping anyway. But if troops keep coming loose during games I'll just add more magnets.

A selection of heroes. The two with small bucklers may take command of the WGA plastic Romans.

Cavalry turmae

Century of Eastern archers. For the same points cost I can split one of the centuries into two skirmish stands

Maniple of infantry

If I use a 1:10 figure ratio, then each stand is a century, or cavalry turmae, which nicely replicates a cohors equitata with 480 infantry and 120 cavalry organized into 6 centuries and 4 turmae. Each maniple of two centuries and the two archer centuries will have a hero to command them. This even leaves me with a couple of extra to lead the Wargames Atlantic plastic Romans.

A Tale of Two Cooks

The noise from the crowd rose and fell, following the action on the field. The season was coming to an end, and teams were vying for a spot in the quarter finals. Maeb was working the counter, wearing a large felt red and yellow snail on her head.

"Got to show the home team some love" she said when she caught his look that morning as they opened and began prep. "Punters love it. I'd have worn my team scarf too, but it gets in the fryer."

"That'll be 7 and 6 love." She took money and made change from her apron. "Here you go. Roll Snails!" She laughed as she handed a family, all similarly bedecked in team shirts, scarves and/or hats, their order of teas and snacks. "Roll Snails!" they all shouted happily and moved on.

She was good with the punters, and Clwngher was glad he had talked her into joining him after they had finished their enlistments. The side of her face still bore the scars from a shell that had burst near their field kitchen, but that didn't stop him from staring at her whenever he thought she wasn't looking. He walked with a distinct limp, a souvenir from the same battle, as he moved around the small cook area preparing fried worm sarnies, fried grubs on a stick, urns of tea, and sugared moths.

Using his demob bonus and back pay to set up this Concession Stand at the Sports Field was a good investment. When the Mhudd-Ball season ended there was Cr'kyt and Beetle Jousting. Cr'kyt matches and the Beetle Jousts went on all day, so lots of hungry folks.

Maeb's nephew, Nodlyn, was working with him. He was busy stirring more batter for the grubs. "Hiya Noddy!" came a sing-song voice from the service counter. "Oh hi, Bronny" Nodlyn replied with a note of embarrassment, focusing on his batter. There was a pretty young dyna wearing a yellow and red scarf with her parents buying some sandwiches and tea. "Working today?" she said for the sake of having something to say. "Uh... yeah..." came Nodlyn's reply.

Maeb was smiling to herself watching the interaction. Clwngher watched as the young dyna lingered, trailing behind her parents. Nodlyn watched her go, his snout blushing a deep red.

Clwngher pulled a packet of sugared moths off the rack and handed them to Nodlyn. "I think they bought some of these too, didn't they Maeb?" Maeb nodded. "Oh yes, silly me! Forgot to give it to them!" He looked at the young buck. "Here, you'd better run after and give these to her." Nod stood there stunned. "We've got enough prep done. You can knock off for the day. Go on lad! Go after her!"

Nod quickly got out of his apron and dashed out the door, clutching the sugared moths in his hand. Maeb watched him go. "A' tha'  was nice. Didn't know you was such a soft daftie."

Clwngher stood beside her watching the youth catch up to Bronwyn's family. He looked her in the eyes, his throat full of emotion. "I know what it's like to be a buck in love."

Maeb blushed.

***********************************************

Culinary Yawdryl P'tryc was ensconced in his sanctum sanctorum. That is, his immense girth was behind the prep counter in the company kitchens where he reigned with an iron ladle and well aimed wooden spoon. All of the Company Cooks in the Princess P'trysha of Collysh's Lifeguards were under his direction and training. He had made dinners for the King, and his Cream Teas were legendary. The Princess always asked that he do her teas with the officers.

But today he had a problem. 

The kind of problem that he liked.

A culinary problem. 

"Never trust a skinny cook!"

His friend, the Quarter-Master Yawdryl, had bounced in yesterday, holding a box and obviously pleased with himself. 

Notice crossed spoon and fork in his bicorne

"Guess what's in the box!"

P'tryc rubbed his snout. "Well, it's not wine or you'd have drunk it all, you old crook!"

The QMY laughed and slid the box across the counter. "Go on! What do you think, eh?"

P'tryc opened the box suspiciously. "Look, mate, I don't need any of your old dyna magazines."

But he opened the box anyway. Inside were about two dozen purple snails trying to climb out.

Spiny purple snails were a delicacy, hard to get, and expensive. He promptly got out his best brandy and poured a generous glass for his friend. 

So today, he sipped at his own glass and pondered the fat, juicy mollusk in front of him, eating salad leaves. The Duke was having the King to dine next week. These snails would be perfect. 

As long as he had the right sauce. He started melting butter in a pan and searched the wine rack for a strong, sweet red. The Dwyfnt 1765 should be just the thing. He needed to get it perfect. 

*************************

A couple of characters for the Quar. It's an odd assortment in the line up so production is slow. But the PPCLI have a Cook in the HQ Squad now. The spiny snails mounted on 15mm mdf bases will be the three rations tokens that can be expended.

The moth cake chef is a Tribe membership bonus figure based on a cartoon from one of the rule books featuring a Crusader Kryndl armoured car stopping to buy moth cakes from a bakery. The Snack Shack was given to me by Rob Hanks at Hotlead. 

Midgard Romans & Goths

There's a bit of a lull in Quar, and picking up the deal on some Wargames Atlantic figures last weekend has me shifting some attention back to Midgard.

My A&A 3rd century Romans are nicely based on washers, so I've made some Midgard bases with thick board and magnets.

But the opposition Goths, and some Warlord Roman auxiliaries, will be based as units of 7 or 8 figures on 120mm x 60mm bases.

Warlord Roman Auxiliaries and Scorpions 

I never liked how the Warlord figures ranked up on 40x40 bases. A bit more elbow room has them looking more dynamic. It also gives me two units, instead of one with 4 figures left over. Only putting 7 on one base leaves the Centurion free to be based as a Hero.

These Goth warriors, that I did for my Rohirrim (and have been used once) have been rebased the same way, giving me 3 more units of warriors (instead of only two units of 12 figures on 40x40 bases). 

And some Heroes on foot.

The Gripping Beast Gothic Noble Cavalry are already based on a mix of 50mm x 50mm and 20mm x 50mm bases. So 5 figures make a unit and no rebasing required!

This nets me four Cavalry units, plus a 2 figure stand for the Army Commander. 

Army Commander 

Two left over cavalry can be heroes. 

I'll start assembling and painting the Wargames Atlantic figures in manageable batches of 8 I think. The 30 figure box will produce 3x units of warriors and 1x unit of skirmishing archers.

KEGSCon 2025 AAR

Well another KEGSCon in Chatham is done.

Fun was had, games were played, friends were caught up with.

Kamal from Centuries Historical Miniatures was there. His pricing is competitive. I got these two sets for Cdn$75 (instead of $110 on line).

So, I guess I've settled what the opponent for my 3rd Century A&A Roman army will be in Midgard. They've been on the table exactly once since I painted them back in 2019, and I'd really like to fix that.

Naturally I brought some Quar. The jungle terrain is great for conventions; looks dramatic and light weight for humping from car to venue.

The mat is some fabric I got on 50% off from a quilt shop. I like that it leaves room around the edges for off table stuff.

I used Quar of Command again, the Toulmorese players caught on quickly and butchered the Gloamers.

Me, in red shirt, explaining things

Some 28mm General d'Armee

In the morning I got to play in Keith's Blucher game. Played French this time. Tense exciting game and we managed to claw our way to a marginal defeat, instead of the decisive defeat that it had been shaping up to be.

Keith pointing dramatically. He's put a lot of work into the aesthetics (dice cups, measuring sticks, unit labels) which is nice.

Indians vs Moghul Persians in the 18th Century using Honours of War

Tanks, developmental and real, clash in 1946 Clash of Steel

IS-7s with 130mm guns... no wonder Western powers spent so much time developing big honking AT guns

Amazonian natives dispute the incursion of white mining interests in The Men Who Would Be Kings

28mm Napoleonic skirmish

54mm Commando raid Where Stens Dare

20mm Chain of Command. French vs Germans in 1940

Cavemen

Friday night Gaslands

I'm the green vehicles, lower right and upper left. Barely got past the first gate.

The monster truck eventually won, by just driving over everything

There was more, obviously. 14 games on Saturday morning and afternoon. About 40 people.