Northern Front Gameday

Just got back from a small game day gathering up in Shoreline - about 30 minutes or so (without traffic) above Seattle. It was great to see old friends and make new ones - although there wasn't a big turn out possibly due to this being scheduled on the same day as the annual Christmas Rampant gathering at Bruce Meyer's place in Gig Harbor. In fact, this was first time I didn't attend the game day at Bruce's. I made the conscious choice to show support for our northern brethren who usually have to make the hour or more drive down to our area in Tacoma. Having so few players, GM's decided to play in each other's games. An unplanned benefit was being able to play in more games than usual. I not only hosted my own Lion Gate game, but also played in an L’Arte De La Guerre and What A Tanker game. It was first time playing ADLG, but the GM was very experienced and made the game quite enjoyable. Well, enough with the long intro, here are pics from the event.

My Lion Gate One Hour Ancient & Medieval Skirmish game set up for the first period. After playing in the ADLG game, the GM for that game and another player and I played in this game.

I ran an attacking/invading warband against to defending warbands. The HTH rules worked out really well - if the defender beats the attacker's initial "to hit" score, the defender makes a counter attack. I survived a lot of attacks this way, and inflicted hits on the attacker.

The Grave Circle worked out great for putting dead inside - to keep track when doing the end of turn unit morale tests.

The ADLG game was based upon a Punic War battle (forgot the name of the battle). I command a Roman force, and along with another Roman player, we ended up defeating the Carthaginians. According the GM and my co-Roman player, a lot of the rules, particularly movement, are similar to DBA. The GM also said it has elements similar to Armati. I am unfamiliar with both rulesets, and played maybe a game each many years ago.

I ran a Hetzer in the What A Tanker game in the afternoon period. I had very good saving rolls, but terrible hit rolls. Ended up having my Hetzer destroyed at close range by a Sherman.

The GM provided some really good gaming aids.

Here are some of the other games from the morning and afternoon periods. The Ravens Feast game set up was quite impressive.

Ancients, To the Strongest below.

WWII Air Combat using Wings of Glory below. It was based upon a Japanese resupply mission.

Flames of War North Africa game below.

All in all a great time, but it'll be interesting to hear how the NHMGS BOD will determine if this is something we'll want to do in the future. Mainly due to the cost of using the space, and the turn out. This was set up by Kevin Smyth (A Gamer's Tale) as he's our go-to events coordinator, and it was supposed to be a sort of replacement for our Museum of Flight game day - which was cancelled (indefinitely) by the museum. Thanks for stopping in, and wishing you all the best.

Lion Gate Assault - Mycenae Attacked!

Test set up for a game at a game day in December. Will be using One-Hour Ancient & Medieval Skirmish Wargames rules. I just finished the Acheson Creations building to complete the terrain. Most of the figures are from David Sullivan's (I Live With Cats) collection. Scenario will be the guards at the gate have been overpowered/killed, and the invader/attackers will be able to bring on their units at the entrace. Defenders will start out from the building on the left, inside of the gate. One defending unit will be staged at the megaron on the highground - defending the king and his queen and priestess. As mentioned in the earlier post, the grave circle will be a minor victory if descecrated by the invaders.

Wanted to see how the table would look like before departing to visit my mom in Hawaii this weekend. Next week is her 94th birtday.  I'll only have a week or so for the game day when I get back - so, happy that everything is ready. I even printed out the QRS's for the players. Hope to post something while I'm in Hawaii, and until then, thanks again for checking out the blog, and wishing you all the best.

Grave Circle A, Mycenae

Finished another scratch-build terrain piece for the Mycenae game. This is supposed to be Grave Circle A, which is located within the walls on the right as one would enter through the Lion Gate. It contained the graves of high-ranking persons from around 1500 BC. One of the graves contained the so-called "Mask of Agamemnon" discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876.

The citadel walls were built around the graves around 1300-1250 BC, and likely was a sacred place. For the game scenario, it'll be a minor victory for attackers to enter and desecrate it - for spiritual reasons, if anything.

The grave markers are plasticard - with the edges roughed up a bit with a hobby knife.

Artists reconstructions.

The grave circle to the right, inside of the Lion Gate entrance.

I used a plastic food tray from the local Dollar Tree for the basis of the circle. 

I added spackling to the outside to similate the stone work. The entrance walls are styrofoam bits - also covered with spackling.

Also working on doors for the Lion Gate itself. Plasticard with woodgrain carved onto it, and drops of superglue for bolts on the reinforcement.

I'm waiting on an Acheson Creations Minoan/Mycenaen building which I picked up off of Etsy. I'm leaving to see my mom in Hawaii this weekend for her 94th birthday - I may post some pics if I find anything of interest there - hobby related, of course. Thanks again for visiting, and wishing you all the best.

Mycenaean Lion Gate & Wall Sections

Finished the additional wall section, and also drybrushed the stone work with lighter colors to better replicate limestone. EDIT: I'm still not satisfied with the color - I want it to have a warmer (golden-ish?) hue, like most of the photos and illustrations I've seen. 

I could add a corner piece to the wall section on the left as in the reconstructed image below. 

However, I plan on using the terrain on a smaller playing area - maybe even only 3x3', so don't want the walls to extend too far.

I ended up using some scrap white styrofoam for the additional wall section - it worked out even better than the adhoc pieces of the earlier sections. It was easier to cut out the stones, and the porous areas gave them a weathered look.

Decided to add stone work to the interior of the walls since the scenario will have some attackers already inside the citadel. Plan on using One-Hour Ancient & Medieval Skirmish Wargames rules which focuses on hand-to-hand combat, and movement to objectives will be limited. One objective will be the megaron located within the walls - to possibly either capture or kill the king inside.

Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you all the best.

Lion Gate of Mycenae

Finished up the terrain today. Plan to use it (along with a previously made throne room/megaron, in skirmish games. The picture below could be captioned with, "Welcome home dear. I just drew the bath for you. "

I may add some type of device (similar to a fleur-de-lis) on the top of the column between the lions - I've seen it illustrated in some recreations.

The terrain is in three sections - and for gaming purposes will be the main entry point for attackers/defenders. The left wall doesn't have the crenallations on one side as this was facing the inside of the citadel. I only added the crenallated parapets on both sides of the right side wall, which was a sort of a bastion. The citadel itself was built on a fairly steep hill, and was naturally protected on most of the sides. In fact, the stone walls were built along the natural lines of the hill.

Close-ups of the wall sections.

The rear side of the terrain - I was too lazy to carve stone work on the interior.

Thanks for visiting the blog as always, and wishing you all the best!

Foundry Trojan War Armored Warriors

Here are the remaining figures that were originally in David Sullivan's (I Live With Cats blog) collection. 16 armored warriors with smaller with smaller shields.

The spears are made from plastic broom bristles, which are not only sturdy, but lighter than metal spears which could make the figures topple over more easily.

The clothing and armor are quite accurate from the few historical sources available, which include frescoes and other period artwork.

I tried to use muted colors for the clothing, but they sort of appear pastel-like in color.

Below image is all of the figures together; 16 armored warriors, 8 spearmen with body shields, and 8 bowmen. As mentioned in a previous post, I plan to use them in skirmish games in memory and honor of David.

Here's a comparison shot with Redoubt figures (on square bases). As with the body shields, the Redoubt  shields are larger than the Foundry ones. Otherwise, the figures themselves fit together very well, IMO.

Thanks again for checking out the blog, and hope you all are doing well.

Foundry Trojan War Archers

 More of the figures recently acquired from David Sullivan's (I Live With Cats blog) collection.

These sculpts have been around for some years, but the still hold up to the highest standards, IMO.

Below, comparison shot; left to right: Foundry, Redoubt, Foundry, Black Tree, Redoubt, Foundry. They all work well together, the Black Tree guy being slightly oversized (heroic). I should add that some of the Redoubt bows (like the one on the left) and quite thin/spindly.

Next up are the armored warriors, but they may have to wait as I need to set up the table for my long-awaited playtest of the Death and The Landsknecht Pike & Shotte game this Friday. Otherwise, thanks for visiting and wishing you all the best!