Dead man's Hand AAR - "This Town Aint Big Enough..."

We played Dead Man's Hand again this time with four gangs and in a town.

Before the action began the town Sheriff took the time to be photographed by the famous Hanging Tree by Burt Willoughby and his assistant!

Dave played the Lawmen, Al played the Banditos, George the Indians and I played the Cowboys. Also in Town was 'The Willoughby Travelling Photography Company'.

These are our four five character ‘gangs’...

... the objective was to be the last them standing and alliances were allowed via verbal agreement at the beginning of a turn. Plus each gang had some special rules that they alone knew!

The Lawmen

The Sheriff is immune to the Joker card.

The Cowboys

Can’t shoot at Lawmen unless the Lawmen fire on or combat them or are last rival Gang in town.

Rancher Owner is immune to the Joker card.

The Banditos

Can’t shoot at Indians unless the Indians fire on or combat them or are last rival Gang in town.

The Indians

If the Braves run out of Ammo it is permanent, they can’t reload their revolver. They are down to using their Big Knife in Hand to Hand!

We had one special rule for all gangs I threw in and that was ‘Get ya new fangled photograph taken’ rule. For this scenario if you drew your decks Joker you ignored the value and text and the affected figure moved to the photograph area by the hanging tree and would have to spend two turns there (not including the current one!). There was a 10cm safety zone around the hanging tree so no one getting their ‘picture took’ could be targeted! It worked a treat! Next time though we’ll reduce the time to only one game turn.

The AAR!

The Lawmen started around the crossroads with the other gangs deploying along selected edges.

The shootout got off to a hot start with the Indians rushing to close the range on the Lawmen and despite the Law taking a couple of pot shots at the Cowboys at the beginning of turn two came to an arrangement to defend the town. The Indians and Banditos similarly ganged up...there’d be some falling out of bed fellows to come!

The Indians soon worked out their Hand to Hand superiority was their best weapon and so they got in close to the Lawmen and were soon cutting them down! Note here - even though I reminded everyone including myself before we started about ducking for cover and snap shots NO ONE used the snap shot rule against the rampant Redskins, much to their character’s disadvantage!

The Law were down to one man quickly, with one other having his ‘picture took’ so they required a Big Nerve test despite having the Sheriff still in the action failed rolling a one!

The Cowboys managed to shot down an Indian but they too were soon left with town figures as they tackled the Indians and Desperados, they took a Big Nerve test and rolled a two. They too skedaddled!

Well it was just down to the allied Indians and Banditos, the Indians called out let lot the town to their ‘friends’ who replied with a volley of shots and calls of “This town aint big enough for you and us!”

It was on and both sides lost figures and required simultaneous Big Nerve tests...the Banditos passed and the Indians failed (rolling of all things a one!) a victory the Banditos!

A great game, everyone had fun and even though we had four players while anyone had their gang still in the fight everything ran quickly, we diced off all ‘tied’ cards. The verdict was we would be visiting the Wild West again very soon!

Here’s some pictures of the action...didn't take too many was busy playing!

Our town before the carnage began!

The Indians sprinted into the town and I'Gopi Tu one of their warriors overpowered one of the Lawmen...

Overview of town showing the Lawmen in the town centre and the Cowboys entering town, seen in the lower left and in the corral...

Another overview, the Law still in the centre the Banditos have entered from the road at the top of the picture and are by the bank and hotel, the Indians have entered via the road on the left and can be seen advancing!

Indian Dog Soldier Goshi Wolf then gunned down Little Jimmy! It was looking like a bad day for the Law!

The Indians were in the thick of the action while the other gangs fired ineffectively! I'Gopi Tu seeing the red mist continued into the Town after his hand to hand success only to be hit by both barrels of Deputy Ol' Jacks shotgun! Bystanders in front of the Hotel and Wells Fargo office were horrified at the sight of the brazen Indians!

A general melee began in the street in front of the Post Office and the fighting was fierce, Indian Brave Shinii stabbed a Lawman and two Cowboys...firstly Clint

...and then Ben...

...before getting a belly full of lead from Ranch Owner Pete.

At this point with both the Lawmen and Cowboys fleeing after failing Big Nerve tests the unscathed Banditos declared war on the Indians! Five versus three!

Again the Indians revelled in hand to hand combat and again we forgot the snap shot rules! Three Banditos were felled to a single Indian!

The resulting fight was quick and brutal both sides taking losses and requiring Big Nerve tests!

During the Game one lawman, one Bandito and one Indian took advantage of The Willoughby Travelling Photography Company's service!

And a group shot of the TSOGers getting into character!

Adios Amigos!

The Battle of Teugen-Hausen - Blucher AAR

A catch up AAR here, we played this game using Sam Mustafa's Blucher rules 5 weeks ago! Once again we used a scenario was sourced from the oldmeldrumwargamsgroup;

Blucher Scenarios Battle of Teugen Hausen

Historically in 1809 in wooded terrain the outnumbered French III Corps led by Marshall Davout were successful albeit at quite a cost in defeating the Austrian III and IV Corps.

A battle map showing the town locations and army moves (blue French and white Austrian) to help when reading the AAR...

The AAR

Dave and George commanded the Austrians and Maurice and I girded up our lions and took over the leadership of the French. Victory would go to the side that occupied Teugen and Hausen at the end of the game or broke the opposition's army (both had an Army Morale of 7 requiring the destruction of that many units to achieve victory).

The main French force advanced historically quickly occupying Teugen and heading toward Hausen, light cavalry covering the important road between Dinzling and Paring. The Austrians meanwhile un-historically deployed defensively along a waterway to the north of Hausen which they garrisoned while their reinforcements approached from Paring.

The French pressed forward slowly through the woodlands toward Hausen their cavalry successfully feinting toward Paring drawing the best of the Austrian reinforcements away from the main engagement, the Austrian Grenadier Division.

Even though outnumbered and raked by the Austrian artillery the French took advantage of the delay of Austrian reserves and charged the waterway defensive line in an attempt to score a coup and take Hausen. The fighting around Hausen was fierce and the French eventually broke the Austrian line but in doing so they had taken such losses they were unable to take the town itself.

The French had shot their bolt and were now in a precarious position as the Austrian reserves were finally approaching the French III Corps left flank when the heavens opened up! A thunderous storm arrived on the battlefield and both sides broke off the engagement!

So a draw, no one controlled both the towns required to win and neither side had lost the 7 units that would see them break! in fact both sides lost 3 units destroyed and 1 withdrawn but the French were in decidedly the worse condition with several other units teetering on breaking whilst the Austrian still had some fresh infantry they could commit. Yet another good game thanks the the oldmeldrumwargamsgroup!

Some pictures...I didn't get many this time round too busy playing!

At the start of the battle the forces face off on the Paring Dinzling road, the Austrians  IV Corps are on the left and Mountburn's light cavalry are deploying near the bridge on the right...

The Teugen (bottom right of picture) and Hausen (centre top of picture behind the bridge) area of the battle. In the foreground the 7th Legere Regiment leading the French II Corps forward. For those familiar with Blucher rules Davout being a vigorous leader allowed these 16 units to activate for just 8 'MOs'!

The Austrians view of the massed French regiments! Un-historically but very wisely the Austrian Commanders decided to let the outnumbered French try to capture Hausen!

The French attack III Corps the Austrian defences at Hausen!

The Dice Shako in use! A popular and useful Blucher accessory...

The French break the Austrian line around Hausen, below show the confusion as the French cross the stream only to see the Austrians too cross the stream trying to flank the attackers!

Marshall Davout is represented in this picture by the base with two mounted figures located by the bridge. Despite all this the Austrians have a firm hold on Hausen!

The next turn Marshall Davout joined his men across the stream!

With the battle coming to a close the Austrian reserve arrive in force through the woods threatening the French flank!

Overall views of the table at the end of game...

Thanks for looking!

Pity there is no official Blucher Discussion Forum to link this too...

Great Escape Games Iron Cross WW II Rules Trial

The search for a set of WW II battalion/regimental force size wargame rules that can give us a 'good' game with a result for our evening catch ups continues! We have a few of sets to try out and the first cab off the rank was Great Escape Games Iron Cross WW II.

Here's what the rules 'promise';

I am not going to do a rules review here there are plenty of those on the net already, the idea is to try playing a game in an evening seeing if it can be completed in a timely manner whilst being enjoyable and with a WW II feel!

Scale wise with Iron Cross each base of foot figures basically represents a 'section' (called an element of a platoon) and each vehicle or gun represents that vehicle/gun.

The scenario is set in 1944 setting Brits against jerries. The forces both sides have approximately 400 points of troops and will start on opposite sides of the tabletop, this is a couple of full strength companies each side with support elements. As this is only a short session the game was set at four turns with the side occupying the most 'village' bases on the battlefield at the end being the winner, unless off either side takes such losses it breaks!

Okay to it! Each turn the first player is picked by a D6 roll off, the Brits get away with the initiative on turn one! They advance as fast as they can to move on a board front and with the Germans out of line of sight do so successfully with no intervention. Then the Jerries have their go and are a bit more ambitious, leaving some platoons moving slowly forward in groups others dashed far ahead and occupied a couple of the villages. Cleverly the Brits held back some of their commands and used them to interrupt the Germans getting some shots off and inflicting losses (morale hits).

Turn two and the Brits again get the initiative. This turn though the play turns over more often as both sides, move, fire and rally their men. The British occupy the last two unoccupied towns so both sides have an equal number of these, time to see how easy it is to capture some urban real estate! Turn two sees the first units 'destroyed' both sides losing an MG support element.

Turn three and the Brits are again first off the mark and they concentrate mortar fire on a German platoon in a town whilst bringing infantry with armour support up. Both sides used their commands up in bulk activating each element in this sector over and over trying to inflict casualties while rallying off morale hits almost as fast as they were incurred! The hammered Germans still held the town at the end of the fight and with both sides units 'spent' around the village they each manoeuvred their other units into advantageous attack positions for the nest turn while exchanging fire.

Last turn and finally the Germans got the initiative. It was their chance to get an attack in first! They pushed infantry and two Panzers up to attack Brits in a village but a timely British reaction saw the infantry get a good shot in with a PIAT and they brewed up the leading Panzer! The weakened Germans then pressed their attack again getting a lot of hits on the Brits but unfortunately for them not enough to gain an advantage. Across the rest of the front the rest of both sides elements again moved and fired but overall to no major effect.

So a draw but really with equal forces on a tabletop with terrain placed in an even manner and only a few turns what could be expected. The real result is a resounding yes to the question, would these rules work for us for a Monday evening gaming session. I will schedule a game in for sure to get everyone's feedback!

The initiative system is the jewel of the game, you can use your commands very liberally and it is good that you have the chance to activate a single element to move and fight repeatedly (with a diminishing chance of a successful activation with each attempt) and push an advantage great stuff, but it will mean other elements will have to sit idle for the turn! That said there are some holes in the rules, no off board artillery support, no air support, very generic foot units and standardised vehicle types and movement (none of these are not insurmountable without a few house rules). Lastly the rules could have benefitted from adding a few more pages so there would be more clarity on what is included! I can understand while these rules have not taken off, what's there is great but its what's not there that make its appeal limited to a broad audience, you shouldn't have to buy a set of rules and have to house rule them to make them complete!

Some pictures of the action!

Two British Platoons deploy with armour support, each infantry base is a section, the red mini die represents a PIAT armed unit, the small bullet is a single command and the large bullet is a platoon move, you can move 3 sections for the cost of one command but that is the only action allowed that turn...

Germans advance their centre...

British infantry with armour support attack Germans occupying a village...

The panzers advance...

...supported by the battalion mortars, the blue mini die show the number of shots at a specific target, accuracy improves with each barrage!

Only for the British to take one out with a PIAT!

Multiple small bullets show the number of commands that unit has used...

With their armour stalled the German infantry find it beyond them to push the British from the village!

A British platoon occupies the high ground, the white mini die represents morale hits taken...

Blitzkrieg Commander II is the next set of rules to 'test drive'...

Wild West Town - Building One In 1/56 Scale!

We have only played Dead Man's Hand once but it was such a hoot and the reaction so positive we knew we'd play more often and of course what do you need to play an Old Wild West game but an Old Wild West Town!

Before I go into the details of construction here is the town all laid out!

The street width is pretty wide but can be adjusted and does allow easy game play...

I was in two minds when it came to this build, do I make just facades and have a Hollywood town or make complete buildings, well I went with the latter! 

I figured we'd need; a Saloon, A Bank, a Post Office A US Marshalls Office, a Blacksmith with adjacent 'Corral', two other miscellaneous Buildings and a railway Platform. Big ask from scratch. I had a Battlefield laser cut Shearing shed which could easily be a blacksmiths or a building under construction and Al (our master craftsman) said he had a Wild West Saloon already built great news!

My on hand parts included; 2mm 1mm & 0.5mm sheet styrene, pop sticks (ice-cream sticks or coffee stirrers to others), wood skewers, some roughly cut squares of thin wood, a piece of Masonite and some balsawood.

Here's my initial work, a floor of pop sticks dictated the building size...four slab sides and the usual Wild west high front for signage...

A door and windows only on the front wall only and it would be topped with a flat roof. I scored the sides at 5mm intervals to give a planking effect...

Okay so I had cut parts for; two buildings 10.5cm x 12cm x 6cm, two buildings 12cm x 12cm x 5cm, one building 16cm x 12cm x 6cm (only one with a peaked roof) and a railway platform 22cm x 6.5cm x 1.5cm and the building frenzy commenced. At this point Al brought over his magnificent Saloon/Hotel with a store along side it. Crickey it was good and surprisingly was a façade only, the very construction type I was going to do initially DOH. Doesn't matter it will all be fine on the gaming table!

Here's the basics of one of the buildings cut from 1mm sheet styrene...

In this picture the scored wood planking can easily be seen, the only issue with this technique is it causes the sheet to curve hence the bulldog clips required to keep things looking square!

The production line in full swing with Al's beaut Saloon in the background...

...and of course the railway platform...track is also from Al's great terrain stash!

All the details such as windows, door frames, signboard edging were cut from 0.5mm sheet styrene. For the signs I downloaded a free Wild West Font called Western Bang. The bases are cut from Masonite and 'flocked' with sand...

A close up of Al's Saloon and Mining store, unlike my rough buildings this was painstakingly made from balsawood with delicate detailing!

Some figures testing the lay of the land!

Hope this inspires others to crank out their own buildings!

Stay tuned for a game (and town name) soon!