Dropfleet Commander Battle Report Part 1 - Scourge

Ok I don't usually do battle reports. Truth is I am both crap with a camera and would rather spend the time playing rather than taking pics, so what follows is a rarity....

We've sort of let Dropfleet slip down our agenda over the last few months. In truth this was partly because of the c*ck-up Hawk made of the Kickstarter delivery. Frankly we didn't fancy playing at clubs and shops when there was still a lot of folks waiting for their toys - didn't feel like having to field the questions to be honest, however since the KS has now finally ran it's course and everyone has their stuff, and because I enjoyed demo'ing it at Salute, we thought we would give it a try.

Between our last game and now the game has advanced (matured?) quite a bit, particularly with the introduction of Command Cards, Battleships, and at the other end of the scale, Corvettes. All three have or will alter the "meta" and the game is rather different with them. Sadly part of the lethargy has included not painting the substantial fleets I have, so having decided to play this evening I spent an hour or so rush painting my spiffing new Nickar class Hunter Killers using the methods I described back in the Sheet Metal Age here , and there was zero chance of getting my Scourge Battleship ready on time.

In the end here is the fleet I decided to take - incidentally this was generated by the excellent Dflist program available here - highly recommended!

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May Day - 1498pts
Scourge - 11 launch assets

SR13 Vanguard battlegroup (319pts)
1 x Manticore - 190pts - H
3 x Djinn - 129pts - L

SR15 Vanguard battlegroup (280pts)
1 x Shenlong - 170pts - H
   + Fleet Overlord (100pts, 5AV)
1 x Ifrit - 110pts - M

SR12 Line battlegroup (344pts)
1 x Hydra - 140pts - M
1 x Hydra - 140pts - M
2 x Gargoyle - 64pts - L

SR9 Line battlegroup (259pts)
1 x Chimera - 105pts - M
2 x Charybdis - 70pts - L
2 x Harpy - 84pts - L

SR4 Pathfinder battlegroup (98pts)
3 x Nickar - 66pts - L
1 x Gargoyle - 32pts - L

SR4 Pathfinder battlegroup (98pts)
1 x Gargoyle - 32pts - L
3 x Nickar - 66pts - L
------------- dflist.com -------------

To quickly explain the two Vanguard Groups would perform slightly different functions. The Mantichore \ Djinn group is a close combat brawler and the other was (hopefully) going to allow the Ifrit to spike enemy ships for the Shenlong to target using a weapons free order . I like the Ifrit - as you can tell from this earlier post. The first Line Battlegroup is basically a pair of Hydra Class Carriers with two Gargoyle Strike Carriers (Light troopships) attached, with the intention being to leave the Hyrdas at the back of the fleet where they can reach out with their fighters, while the two Gargoyles operated independently to grab ground objectives. The second Line Battlegroup has the main troopship, plus a pair of Charybdis class Frigates. These are specialist ground bombardment units. A pair of Harpy class general role Frigates rounds off the group. The theory here being the combination of heavy troopship and bombardment would make taking larger ground objectives easier, and the Harpies could provide limited support and protection. The last two Battlegroups contained my newly painted Nickar Hunter Killers. These are specialist atmospheric attack ships who in theory would prey on enemy Strike Carriers trying to drop troops to the surface, which would leave the attached Gargoyle free to grab objectives - that was the plan anyway.

Here's a slightly blurred pic of the fleet before we kicked off. I'm using the clip on Battlegroup Indicators designed for Dropzone by  Dark Ops . They're really useful for Dropzone but I suspect I will be moving over to the "straws" option for Dropfleet.

Next time - the opposition - Space Whales!

On being a Dick

So when does a game become bad for you, or bring out the worst?

I ask this because recently a friend and fellow blogger had a bit of an incident playing Bloodbowl and "lost it" because of his dice rolling. He's realised he stepped across a boundary and to prevent further instances he's sold off all his Bloodbowl stuff. His take on this is here pileofshame - and well worth a read.

The guy isn't a Dick, any more than any of us are. He's an affable and friendly sort of guy, but somehow the game got under his skin and made him act like a Dick. So why? And let's not pretend we don't all have those moments. I have seen tantrums, rages and dummy spitting that beggars belief, and have also been a perp too - in fact I can be a real Dick to play when the stars are wrong. In our club there is a now legendary story of a gamer getting so annoyed at his army that he scraped the lot into the bin! What makes this happen?

Is it something in us, or the game itself? Actually I'm sure its a bit of both, but there was a discussion about the way Bloodbowl in particular is based on a system of testing to fail, with the game being decided not so much by tactics but by a series of dice rolls, with a fail ending your turn. It follows that one turn in six will simply be a total disaster because of one dice roll - the first. Dreadball is better in that it actually rewards success, and even abject failure usually isn't a cataclysmic loss.

Is it the "sports" element - and buy that I mean the competition? All games are competitive, and all gamers are competitive too. I've met many who say they are not, but the truth is they are deluding themselves (or attempting to delude you!). Somehow "sports" games seem to emphasise that. Maybe it's something to do with their being a clear focus on points \ goal scoring  - a game of Impetus or similar Ancients mass battle rules set will not be decided by the roll of one dice or the performance of one unit, the victory goes to the player who uses his troops best overall. Sure you CAN lose by getting a General killed off by a fluke result, but those are so rare as to be memorable. Similar fails in Bloodbowl and most sports games happen just about every turn.

Is it just we gamers are competitive by nature and that some times we lose sight of the big picture and forget to play nice? Actually I think some guys ARE just cheats who twist the rules to breaking and beyond, but they are thankfully few and far between. I suspect there are many more of us that manage to conveniently forget the rules or add a few inches to a critical move in the heat of the moment, and hopefully feel remorseful about it later. Again for clarity I must admit to doing something similar in the past (clearly not now, I'm more relaxed and balanced - No Sir not me anymore.......)

Another issue is, just how far should you go with being open? I've seen and played several games where "things aint what they seem". "Oh I forgot to mention that's my General" or those peasant skirmishers with bows are actually elite Javelin men, or my "favourite" which happened to me in a Flames of War tourney - you need to kill 2 platoons to break a Company and win, bit the opponent is fielding multiple companies and wont identify which platoon is from which and only he can tell the difference.  Is that cheating? In all honesty I think it is.

Lastly, and probably the most difficult to address, is the dreaded "Rules Lawyer" who plays the rules for loopholes and exploits them, or the list maker, who exploits a weakness in the list writing mercilessly. Again I've done both in the past. This isn't cheating but its hardly fair and gentlemanly play either.  It is particularly galling as the players involved are all not only grown up enough to know better but are good enough players to win without it.

So to get back on topic, why do we sometimes lose it and act like a spoilt child, and what can we do about it?  My friend disposed of the offending game - I hope that works, even if I would question if it was the game or something else at the root of the problem.  I don't have a good answer, but when I realised I was slipping down that route I bought a hat. It's not very flattering and makes me look silly.  I now take it with me to tournaments and wear it to remind myself that its only a game and not to take it too seriously. So far it works, at least mostly.

I'll finish with a quote from Micheal Jackson - not someone I would usually take advice from, but in this case maybe it is appropriate.

"If you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make a change".

Salute 2017 - Surprisingly Enjoyable

So I went to Salute on Saturday and have to report had rather a good time of it. If that seems a bit of a strange statement I have to admit my previous visits had been somewhat hard work. The thing is too damned big to take in, so I have in the past ended up walking myself into exhaustion and frustration. This time was different, partly because this time I was involved doing demo's of Dropfleet Commander on the Hawk Wargames stand. In addition to getting in free that also meant I didnt need to queue up to get in (Bonus) but I did miss out on the goodie bad - ah well.

I did a morning shift on the Hawk stand then thankfully got released so I could wander in the afternoon. After a much needed sit down and Red Bull to try and revive myself (having been up since 4 am) I got a chance to see some of the show, and not having too much time seems to have made it a less rather than more frustrating experience.

Notable Salute "stuff"
1. New ships for Dropfleet. Hawk had the prototypes for the new Scourge and UCM Battlecruisers on show and they were beautiful. They were also noticeably bulkier than the Kickstarter exclusive models so if you missed the KS ones you will have a chance to get these "soon". Watch this space.

2. New Plastics coming from Flames of War for Team Yankee. Battlefront had 2 new plastic kits on view, a T64 and a BTR60 PB. Both looked very nice. No details of build options. I had a quick chat with the guy on the stand and asked why the BRDM2 was released in resin when it was crying out to be dome in plastic with all the various Sagger\Spigot, RKh, SA9 and vanilla recce options and his answer was "we don't think people will need many". I have to admit this smelled a bit of BS as they are already making them in boxes of 3 in resin and any vaguely historical orbat will probably have plenty in there, however on the plus side the opportunity for PSC to jump in looks good. If you are watching Will Townsend that would be a good choice. This pic is stolen from the rather fine Breakthrough Assault Blog and used without their permission - hope they don't mind but my phone was almost dead at this point, and from the Blog they seem spiffing chaps

3. Speaking of PSC their T55AMs didn't make the show - not quite ready yet was what they said. Bit of a shame

4. Dr Who from Warlord. I'm far from happy with the initial releases as they looked too "leggy", and yet another "proprietary scale" but the plastic Daleks were very nice. I'm not so sure about the Cybermen - strangely they seem a bit weedy compared to the humans. I got to play a game yesterday and have another planned Wednesday so I will have a fuller look at that after that.

5. Perry's "Travel Battle" . I usually love the Perrys and think on balance they single-handedly saved 28mm historical wargaming, so was prepared to love this, but in this case I came away unimpressed. The components were ok but there was not a lot in the actual box to justify the £50 GBP price tag. At £30 GBP maybe, but not at £50.

So on to The Haul. Given the short time I had I was possibly restricted in the usual impulse buys. In addition to some ships and Command cards for Dropfleet I was so impressed at the quality of the Deepcut Studios game mats we were using to demo that I got myself one. I also got the decals I need to finish my StuG, and a platoon of Modern Russian infantry from Empress Miniatures to help in Black Ops. I also picked up some Desert Domes from Brigade Models to use as alternatives on Dropzone Commander tables, plus the obligatory "show only" Samurai from Warlord to use in Test of Honour. Last but not least some British Napoleonic Sailors from Perrys to act as a landing party for Sharpe Practice 2 games. I also got a "freebie" PzIV from Battlefront just for talking to them, which was nice!

So that was it - 18 1\2 hours all told but good company on the way there from Jamie, Joe and Shaun, and a good catch up with the guys at Hawk.

It's a bit quiet.....

Mainly because of work, but I have had a bit of painting and gaming time.

New boy in town is Test Of Honour from Warlord Games.



When I first heard of this I was a bit cynical - Warlord trying to find a use for the Wargames Factory Samurai range. However I decided to give it a go - actually I split a starter set with my regular oppo Paul - and I'm rather glad I did.

The box set has some very nice touches. You get two rules pamphlets - layout is ok but there are some essential bits in the second one (the campaign rules) that really should be in the main rules. I wracked my brains over why they went for this layout and the only thing I came up with was they didn't want the whole rules out on pdf as a freebie. Maybe I need a new tinfoil hat? You get some very nice cardboard terrain. As an aside I think 2017 may well be the year of cardboard terrain. FoW \ Tanks started it, with photo realistic top down images on heavy duty card, and Warlord have taken a leaf from their book here. Counters are similarly heavy duty card. You also get a set of the now obligatory non standard dice* (which I have to admit feel very lightweight and cheap), and some cards which are used during the game - again good production values. Lastly you get enough sprues to make 5 Samurai and 30 Ashigaru in a mix of missile and melee troops. You also get some nice 3 fig bases which are a bonus.

That's more than enough to build two sides with just about all the options, as the game starts out at surprisingly low figure count - 6 figures a side to start with.

Warlord also released a series of expansion \ faction boxes. Again the cynic would suggest they are trying to maximise the use of the Warlord Factory sprues as each of the "new" factions is in reality just a sprue of the troops you already got in the starter set but with a metal leader figure and some metal heads to swap for the plastic ones - the "Pauper" set for example is just the Ashigaru missile troops sprue plus some (admittedly nice) metal heads in straw hats. This doesn't really work too well as the WF Ashigaru are all very well equipped and armoured - sticking a straw hat on them makes them look a lot like well equipped Ashigaru in straw hats, not peasants and paupers. The same with the "Masked Men" expansion. These are supposed to be a Warrior Monk analogy, but there was no way to do that with the WF sprues so these are simply Ashigaru Spear men with the addition of metal heads wearing face masks. All the expansions also contain some new cards to use with the new factions. I really should add the figures are a but fiddly to assemble too.

Ok that probably got the cynical negatives out of the way. The game plays very well and has some nice mechanisms in there. The initiative \ activation draw system reminds me strongly of some TFL games but is clearly not copied directly and has some rather subtle nuances around draws and initiative passing. There is also a nice dynamic feel to the actual combat mechanics, which has resulted in some great encounters that feel rather like the duels in a Kurasawa movie. Staying with the same theme the Commoner \ Peasant units also act much like the rather inept but sometimes heroic peasants in films, which I found a bonus.

So all in all I would definitely recommend giving Test of Honour a try - I suspect there may be quite some legs in the game.

Spirit and Energy Part 1 An unorthodox campaign for Sharp Practice 2

I've been trying for a while now to get my teeth into a longer term project, and hopefully I may have found it.

I bought Sharp Practice 2 (SP2) last year and was quite happy with it - it looks very interesting to read, but when we tried it out I found it a steep learning curve. Actually that's not the fault of the Lardies, who have used variations on the "Big Man" rules mechanic for years now, but more of a case of trying to run before we could walk by throwing ourselves in to a full sized game without getting enough practice with smaller forces. For whatever reason we have stayed away from it after an initial flush of enthusiasm. I suppose its a bit like watching Kurasawa's Seven Samurai - you know its great but sometimes you just cant be arsed to put the hours in.

I'm also a fan of Bernard Cornwell, who tells a good story. OK its the same story - eponymous hero overcomes prejudice and initial disadvantage to succeed in the end, transposed onto a back drop of historical events, but he does tend to tell it well. Which is why I found his stand alone book "The Fort" rather interesting. Unlike Sharpe and the other series this is an embroidered telling of a historical event, but this time with "real" characters. It is the story of the Penobscot Expedition, an attempt by the Americans to prevent the British building a base of operations in what is now Maine during the American War of Independence. It is clear Cornwell is fascinated by the story, and particularly how the American Command system seemed to work against themselves. I was interested too, and that sent me searching for other sources. The more I looked into it, the more I thought this could work as a campaign.

The campaign is split into two totally different elements. The first is a Committee game with three players each representing the three main American Commanders . They are each provided with overall briefings and also personal objectives, some of which may conflict, plus maps etc, and they sit down and decide what plan of action they will take. That plan is then translated to an on table scenario that will be played by a totally different set of players using SP2 and the result fed back to the Committee for further action. This has the advantage for me as freeing me up to act as Umpire, but also generating smaller scenarios that will allow me and the players to get up to speed with SP2 without the "sink or swim" problem.

That's all for now -  part 2 will deal with the logistics and some more details on both sides of the campaign.    

Winter Panthers for Tanks

Some time last year I mused on buying into Gale Force 9s new Tanks game as discussed here

Plastic Panthers

I played the first "Organised Play" campaign using mainly Cromwells (and for shame) Comets - something of an achievement as the campaign was supposed to be set in Normandy - I refer you to my earlier comments M'Lud, however the second campaign is late War Eastern Front and even I have limits so I needed some new toys.

I decided to get those Panthers painted, and in a fit of enthusiasm decided to try a whitewashed winter camouflage scheme - actually I initially undercoated them white then decided in a "sod that for a game of soldiers" moment to try a winter scheme as I was already half way there :-)

So here's the finished products. No decals (yet) but looking at pics there are many "real" vehicles where everything was over-painted anyway, so I may yet not bother.

So suitably inspired I'm now looking to expand my winter tanks collection, and I'm going to give this another read for inspiration.

Building an Impetus Army - part 4, The Toys

Following in from the last couple of pieces, having selected your army and decided on the rough numbers it's time to actually buy some figures. This can be fraught, so here again are a couple of pointers.

Plastic or Metal?
In many ways we are living in a golden age because plastic 28mm historical figures are making some armies financially viable again. What is more, the availability of cheap plastic figures has imposed something of a cap on metal figure prices. This is good for the gamer in the short term but we may end up with less choice in the future. As a personal choice I prefer plastic over metal for a number of reasons. Firstly, the aforementioned price. Historical plastic figures tend to sell at roughly around half the price of metal ones. A second advantage is weight. Seems a bit of a strange thing to have to consider but humping around several hundred metal figures can be something of a chore. On the downside be prepared to stick more bits together in plastic rather than metal. There are a couple of excellent sources too - Victrix, Perry, Gripping Beast and Warlord Games are probably the leaders in plastic, but you should also look to smaller outfits such as FireForge, Agema and Conquest. One word on Warlord. Their Hoplites are reboxed "Immortal Miniatures" ranges, which were probably the very first Ancient figures in plastic. They're ok, but not a patch on Victrix. The same can usually be said about the reboxed Wargames Factory Persians and Hoplites available from Warlord, although they are damned useful and very flexible figures. Victrix are currently in the lead here as they have just released their first Cavalry sets with more to follow, including Elephants in 2017.

That's not to say you should ignore metal, but you do need to be careful if you are going down that route. Twenty years ago Essex miniatures ruled the roost, but today they are largely ignored due to their static poses and lack of variation. Out and out leaders in the UK are Perry & their old employer Foundry,both great sculpts and wide ranges. Old Glory in both the US and UK are however very much worth looking at (the US website has many more pics than the UK) and the quality ranges from "rough and ready" to "Foundryesque" but with the advantage of discount prices. Warlord also produce a good selection of metal figures that vary in style and proportion, a result of their "hoovering up" of smaller ranges such as Immortal and Bronze Age. Mention should also be made of more niche suppliers such as Footsore, Gripping Beast (Kings of the Dark Age), First Corps \ Kingmaker, Aventine and many others, some of who produce exquisite and complete ranges in their chosen specialised area.

So going back to the earlier post on Romans, where would I get them? There is a stand out range available in plastic from Warlord, with Victrix promising another later in the year. To recap I suggested the following number of units to make up a core Early Imperial Roman force:

4 Legions
3 Auxilia
2 Funditores (Skirmish slingers)
2 Equites Alares Medium Cavalry
2 Mauri Javelin armed Light Cavalry (Moorish fits the bill)

Numbers of figures per base is not fixed in Impetus - you are free to go with as few or as many as you feel looks good, as long as you and your opponent can differentiate. In this case Warlord produce a box of thirty Legionaries in plastic, which would allow you to build four bases each with six or more figures on each. That's not too shabby. Warlord also produce an Auxilia box set with 24 figures, again that is more than enough for three units of Auxilia. At this point if you can still find them the older Wargames Factory Numidian Skirmishers and Early Imperial Auxiliary Cavalry boxes would cover most of your other requirements, but if you cant get them Warlord will sell you suitable metal figures, an Imperial Roman Cavalry Regiment will get you 12 figures for £24 which is actually very good value, and will happily furnish you with two bases of cavalry you need plus a couple of spares. In fact comparing it to other stuff on their website I think they may have screwed the pricing up so maybe strike now before it changes?

Cheap Romans!

Similarly you need 4-6 light horse with Javelin, or two packs, but the "Regiment" deal works out cheaper plus some slingers (one pack - Balearic) and you probably should grab a Command set of your choice.

So £50 in plastic Legions and Auxilia, £24 Cavalry, £18 Light Horse, £8 Slingers and £4 for a general, so just over £100 and you are done. If you were to buy the same numbers in metal from Foundry they would be about 12 packs so £144 but they do a deal that would bring the price down to £120 - worth considering. Old Glory in the UK sell their figures in packs of 30 including command (10 for Cavalry) so you would need 5 sets - 2 infantry, 2 cavalry and some skirmishers - again about £130. First Corps also come in at around this price point. Check them out and go for the one that most tickles your fancy

One word about the best deal going - Warlords Imperial Roman Starter Army. You can still find these on ebay for £65 and they're excellent value - 100 Legionaries and 24 Auxilia. You can build your army and have enough spare to gift them to a friend!