Basement-Con: Friday and Saturday

Night 2 of Basement-Com saw the clash of two fantasy armies. The Empire teamed up with the elves to take on an Orc horde (is there any other kind?) using Hail Caesar. The game and minis were provided by Lead Addict, who I think used every piece of terrain I own to simulate the foothills being fought over.
We had a core set of units we had to use, but could then add from a pool to a max of 20 units a side. As the elves, I decided to go heavy into cav and shooties, while the Empire loaded up the bang-bangs.
I stacked the horse on the left flank and did what I do best, CHARGE! We smacked into Minotaurs and Trolls and despite the monsters being "Big" managed to drive them off, then in a second charge route them. We units were blown, but light cavalry riding in reserve filled the gap. This little skirmish showed the importance of supports.

Meanwhile in the center, the Imperials were getting slammed. They were just barely holding the farmstead and the tower, the objectives of the game. Due to poor initial placement by me, I wasn't able to support being across a wide river.
The center finally broke and fell back. The farmhouse was close to falling, but from across the river came the Treants. Like a scene out of the Two Towers, they smashed into the goblinoid lines. These casualties caused the orcs in the center to break. It was over.
Great game. Hail Caesar is perfect for Fantasy.

Speaking of Caesar, Saturday afternoon was spent playing Commands and Colors ancients. I have played C&C many times at our local con using the lovely mini collection from Cluck Amok, but never played withe the blocks in my own home.
The Romans faced the Carthaginians in the battle right after Cannae. Carthage was trying the old Double Envelopment again, but the Romans were ready this time. It looked like an easy Roman victory, but just like every C&C game I've played, it came down to wire with one unit a side deciding the outcome. Carthaginian victory!
It was a good weekend. Although my beer horde has seen better days.

Late xmas present from LUDstuff

I walked in last week and found some lovely presents sitting on my desk at work. Santa, I mean Warren of LUDstuff fame, made me some hex terrain to fit with all the Commands and Colors games we've been playing. If you follow the link to his site, you can see how he made it. I'll be taking the hills to my local Home Despot to match the paint, and then making a new terrain hex map to match (which I'll make a "How To" post about). You can kind of see my hex maker template in the background, above.

The rivers are especially nice. I can use them for more temperate climbs, too.

Warren's next project is a mammoth cave project. Can you say "Hollow Earth campaign"? How 'bout, "Dragon's den"?
Thanks again Mr. Lud....

Holiday Gaming

Clanky goodness

Sixteen days off. No blogging time, but plenty of time to getting painting done (more on that next time) and even more time to game. Regular Thursday gaming has switched to Wednesday do to practice schedules.

Opening positions

The first night we worked some more on converting Commands and Colors to Fantasy. This was a play test to try out some of the tweaks. Again, worked great.

The elves and orcs were at it again. The elves had help from their centaur and Minotaur friends. The centaurs, at the opening, through great card selection were in the process of crushing the orc right. It looked like a quick game until the pointy ears luck ran out. All movement on that flank stopped, and the orcish counter attack was nasty. Combine with little movement on the Elvish right and a pounding from the orc heavies and it was over. Another green-skin victory. Like most of my C&C games it was a nail biter. Now, to paint some more troops!

The next Wednesday game happened between Christmas and New Years and I knew it would attract quite a crowd. Nothing pleases everyone like GASLIGHT.
That notorious nasty Professor Nightshade was at it again with his German and Russian flunkies. Only the brave forces of Britain, France and the United States stood in their way. The adventurous Sir Archibald Standpipe had captured the secret invasion plans from the League of Calamitous Intents's HQ, and was hiding in the village in the center of the board, awaiting rescue.

The very first turn began with the French Spyder blasting a big chunk on armor plating off the PN's Walking Monitor. Soon after, Russian forces invaded the town. Archduke Ladislaus found Standpipe and struggle ensued. It ended with bullet in the Arch Duke's heart.

Meanwhile, Rokkitruppen captured a fortified farmhouse to use as a forward fire base. Their short range repeaters proved useless to the firefight in the middle so they moved up.

The British, on the Allied right, couldn't get their Brute Class Land Ironclad started, but that didn't keep it from raining lead on the Professor's center. The U.S. forces on the left, spent most of their time cowering in the woods awaiting the Germans to their front. 

Under covering fire from the Tricycle Artillery, French forces routed the remaining Russians out of the town. French Marines killed off the exposed Rokkitruppen, but were slaughtered themselves by Nightshades clankers.

All in all, another great game. It was a slugfest the whole way through, and a marginal victory for the Allies with Standpipe escaping with the plans.

For another perspective, check out Lead Addict's view of the game.

Another note, look what Warren's making me!

Thursday C&C Fantasy

Ahh, the essentials for wargaming...

Last night was the 3rd or 4th playtest of Commands and Colors with minis and a fantasy army bent. Like a lot of people, we found Battle Lore too limiting. Simply using the existing C&C Epic classifications and a few house rules worked great. It also helps that the Demonworld minis are great. Wish they were still around.
The elves were able to keep the greenskins at a distance for most of the game with a few probes here and there. The allied centaurs crushed their opponents on the left flank, but paid dearly for it. Elf victory!

Orc wolfriders in their "hex"

Renaissance Cards for CandC

Just to make it easier for players, I worked up some unit cards for a Commands and Colors Renaissance game I'm working on. Each card lists how far a unit can move, number of dice to throw for Ranged and regular Battles. I even color coded and listed the number of stands in the unit.

The final product will have an actually picture of the miniatures. I have this pic as a place holder.

I had hoped to have the game ready for RECRUITS in September, but I won't be able to attend, as it's my 15th anniversary, and I'm taking my wife on a much needed vacation. So maybe I'll be ready for BASEMENT-Con instead.

Commands and Colors Medieval

The field before the fight

Last week we ran a game of BattleLore with miniatures. Last night, the Basement Generals tried Commands and Colors (a Classical Age set of rules) with my Wars of the Roses figures. Instead of 3-4 blocks representing the troops, I used a single big base, which I've used in the past with my standard Medieval rules. For hits we used a small die.

A standard base. These were rated "green" for C&C.

In the future I would look at using a casualty stand.
Needless to say, it worked great. No fuss over ranges, movement or results. It played out realistically (as far as I know, not owning a time machine), although it lacked the chaos of the rules I usually use for this period.
The game played out in 2 hours with 48 stands (roughly 350 28mm miniatures), with a definite outcome. Try that with another ruleset!

Hexes for movement.