Museum of Flight Game Day - Bushy Run One Hour Skirmish Wargames

Just got back from another great annual game day at the Boeing Museum of Flight. Looking back at my earlier posts, I've been going to this event since 2009 - I skipped a couple years in between, but made most of them. Anyway, a great way to hang out with old friends in a wonderful venue - not to mention out of the rainy Pacific NW weather. There were four games in the morning period, and four games in the afternoon - my Bushy Run game being in the latter period. 

Our gaming group used to be located directly below the Blackbird, but for some reason we were bumped from the area now occupied by scale modellers. We're located to the right of the plane now - to be honest, it was kind of dark under the plane and the new area is a lot brighter.

Here are shots of my game. There were six players total; three each for the British and Indians. The British managed to get their three pack horses, along with several troops, off the table for a minor victory. The Indians for their part managed to kill off a unit of Highlanders - thus making the outcome a bit of a draw. All the players, some of whom played the rules for the first time, all said they had a good time and enjoyed the game.

Start of the game with Rangers and 60th Lights leading the column; 42nd Highland Grenadiers behind them, and 77th Highlanders bringing up the rear. The 77th took most of the casualties - mainly from hand to hand fighting.

The Indians had the fast movement trait increasing their basic move to 9" instead of the usual 6".

The Indians and the Grenadiers both had the Bruiser trait which made them deadly in hand to hand.

Early in the game, with Indians moving into the woods. EDIT: I just noticed how crappy these draw cards were.

60th Lights and Rangers making good progress along the trail, but taking a few hits from musket fire.

Some of the other games in the morning and afternoon period.

This game was used with adjustable flight stands on rollers.

A Guadacanal air combat game.

WW1 air combat game. It's always nice to have games related to the museum.

This was a bombing run type of game.

Blood and Plunder pirate game.

Viking raid game.

Again, all in all a great way to support and enjoy the hobby. I plan to run a Peninsular skirmish game using One Hour Skirmish rules next. Until next time, wishing you all the best.

Battle of Bushy Run - One Hour Skirmish Wargames

Just wrapped up a great playtest for the Bushy Run game with One Hour Skirmish Wargames. Since there were only two of us, we kind of left a few of the units untested, but got enough good ideas for the game later this month at our annual Boeing Museum of Flight game day. Gave the natives the incentive to attack with the Special Capability of Bruiser. This gave them an extra draw card for both attack and defense. It was brutal, they ended up killing off enough of the Rangers and Highland Grenadiers that had both units fail their Morale tests at the end of turns. Plan to give the Grenadiers this trait for the next game. The natives also had the Fast capability of an additional 3" of movement. Otherwise, another good day with the rules.

British relief column marching west along Forbes Road to Fort Pitt. In the lead are small units of American Rangers and 60th Royal American Light Infantry. They are followed by 42nd Highlanders (Grenadiers), and 77th Highlanders.

In the woods, waiting in ambush are Delaware, Miami, Shawnee, Wyandot, Mingo and Ottawa warriors.

My buddy, Gene, ran the native - to good effect!

Natives have the Bruiser trait getting to draw the best of 3 attack cards to the defending Grenadiers 1 card.

Rangers and 60th Lights about to get the same Bruiser treatment. Cover doesn't give them another card during close combat - only for shooting. Note: the Grenadiers in the background are already dead.

The game was called a native victory after destroying two out of three British units.

On another note, I rebased all of my Napoleonic skirmishers on washers. I hope to use these same rules with them in the future. A lot of the figures were originally on washers years ago, so a return of sorts.

No fingers were damaged during the rebasing - I'm getting good at it (although it's not something to be proud of).

So much for now. Thanks for stopping in and wishing you all the best!

Siege of Louisbourg, 1758 - Rebels and Patriots Game

Hosted a nice playtest for a game I plan to run at next year's Enfilade convention. The scenario is based upon the intial landings by the British led by General Wolfe.  The game went for eight turns with the battle being a seesaw affair and ending up with both sides at the center of the battlefield. The British left did manage to destroy or push back most of their opposite side due to superior fire power. The British left consisted of several small units of Rangers and Light Infantry. The British right was slowed by movement in difficult terrain (rocky beach), and also a failed Activation of one unit rolling double 1's. A subsequent roll ended up having that unit fired upon a nearby boat of fellow British and killing three of them before even hitting the beach. The French had picquets in the center manned by small units of Marines. They decided to abandon the picquets leaving them open to the British. However, the French received reinforcements in turn 3, where they decided to return to the picquets - still not reach by the British. A large group of allied natives joined the French but failed to make it out of the woodline after being shot at by the British. The British grenadiers made slow advance in the center - even having to retreat back to the shore after failing Activations with rolls of double 1's. After seeing the battle reach a stalement, we called the game a draw. With movement being only 6 or 8 inches per turn, it was decided that one of the original victory conditions for the British to reach the opposite end of the table was very unlikely. A change to the victory condition would be to overrun or take over the picquets mid-table. Also, destroy more of the enemy units would be an alternate condition. Otherwise the scenario seemed to play out well. Here are a few pictures from the game.

Set up prior to the game. French side with reinforcements to arrive later in the game waiting in the tray. The French had two small naval cannon to move where they wanted to, up to 30" from the British shoreline.

British Rangers and Light Infantry already on the table at the start of the game. The rest of the British in landing boats needing a successful movement Activation roll to hit the shore. Another thing we found out was the rocky shoreline being difficult terrain slowed down movement too much. This will be removed from future games, and allowed the British troops to land and make a half movement once hitting shore.

British went first in turn 1 - landing most of their troops on the rocky shoreline. However, one boat failed with a double 1 Activation roll. A further roll had them shooting into the friendly troops next to them taking out 3 figures before they in turn successfully landed.

British left with small units of Rangers and Light Infantry wreaking havoc on the small units of French Marines manning their picquets. This really demoralized the French and had them retreating in the next turn. They were also allowed reinforcements to arrive to bolster their courage.

British Rangers and Light Infantry advancing - 78th Highland Grenadiers behind them.

French picquet in the center deciding to stand or fall back. Their reinforcements in the distance behind them.

French troops advancing to meet the British.

French reinforcements manning picquets earlier vacated by Marines.

British Rangers taking over an abandoned picquet.

One of the French naval guns destroyed an entire British unit with several turns of firing.

Native warband joining their French allies. They never made contact with the British.

British Grenadiers advancing in the center of the battlefield. This was about the end of turn 8 where the game was called a draw.

Another enjoyable Rebels and Patriots game which is my current favorite for skirmish gaming the musket era. Speaking of rules, just ordered a copy of The Men Who Would Be King. Planning to try it out for Russo-Japanese War. I've had some Meiji Imperial Japanese Army figures a for many years, but finally picked up some Russians to face them. Here they are after a stain of Minwax last night. Also, posed them with a 120mm resin "used" figure recently picked up off of ebay and repaired and re-painted.

Thanks for checking out the blog and wishing you all a happy holiday season.

Les Britanniques Arrivent! Les Britanniques Arrivent! (In Paper Boats)

Made some boats out of cardstock and foam core to use in a Siege of Louisbourg scenario. Although there are few really nice resin ships made by John Jenkins Designs, as well as Perry, I only intend to use these for the initial movement/landing phase of the game. Also, the material used was from the local Dollar Tree, and stuff already on hand.

Each boat can fit up to 12 figures on 25mm round bases - so you could stuff in a few more on 20mm bases. The foam core base and support panels inside make them sturdy enough for simple movement during gaming. Of course, these are just representational, and don't include seamen rowers.

Used a color pattern from some illustrations of period boats found on the internet.

Here's the build process, which was quite simple.

Foam core bottoms and rear panels were cut with a box cutter. The cardstock attached around the base and rear panel with a glue gun.

Gave the outsides some texturing with acrylic caulking. This prompted me to add the panels inside to keep the side panels from warping. Luckily there was still enough room to fit the 12 figures on 25mm round bases.

Using masking tape and paint already in the supply cabinet (khaki, black, and red) - painted the base coloring. Dry-brushed a lighter red and khaki over the base coat before giving them a final coat of clear flat.

The playtest for this game is scheduled for next Friday, and will be using Rebels and Patriots for the rules. The one mod will be having the boats attempt to land with an Activation roll for movement - up to 12". The French will initially be placed in cover up to 24" from the British side. The French will also have two 6 pound naval guns. The British can be targeted while still in the boats - of course.

This project was a revisit of one done years ago when I played another Siege of Louisbourg game using Muskets and Tomahawks. It was a smaller game with less figures and only three paper boats. Here's a link to that game http://wabcorner.blogspot.com/search/label/Muskets%20%26%20Tomahawks

Well, enough for now, and thank you very much for visiting the blog and wishing you all a great holiday season.

F&IW British Army Assembled

Went ahead and formed up the British so I could do an inventory of them. The units are based (loosely) on the ones that participated in the Siege of Louisbourg - specifically the ones that made the initial landing with Wolfe. These would be the grenadiers, light infantry, 78th Highlanders, and rangers. Figures are a mixture of Foundry, Galloping Major, Redoubt, Front Rank, AW Miniatures, and Warlord Games.

Most of them are in 12-figure units - the standard size for Rebels and Patriots. Of course they could be used for any other rules if needed. There are 5 units of grenadiers - including one from the 78th Highlanders; 4 units of line ("Hat Men") - these are from other commands which linked up with Wolfe's during the landing; a unit of Highlanders; several units of light infantry and rangers - these can be in either units of 6 or 12-figures.

The flags are from Warlord Games and Perry Napoleonic sets. Some of them had Egypt and Peninsula honors which were painted over. EDIT: As pointed out by Neil, the flags shouldn't have the diagonal crosses for the period. I should be able to paint over the small stripes in the cantons, but will probably need to print out a new King's Colors.

EDIT 2: Painted over the diagonal red crosses, including the King's Colors - not perfect, but good enough for the gaming table.

The white flag could be for the 17th or 47th Foot - both had white facings; the blue flag and King's Colours are for the 1st Foot (Royal Scots); the green flag for the 45th Foot; and the yellow/buff flag could be for the 15th, 22nd, 28th, 40th, or 48th Foot - all of these being present at Louisbourg.

Thanks again for checking out the blog, and wishing you the best. Plan to head up to Boeing Field tomorrow to attend the NHMGS Museum of Flight game day. It's great that one of the NHMGS members, Kevin Smyth ("A Gamer's Tales" blog) has been coordinating with the museum for many years and gets our folks in for free. It's a sort of hobby day the museum sponsors once a year - along with us the local Scale Modeller's Society and RC airplane club are also featured. We have table set up for the public to learn about the hobby and NHMGS in general.

Galloping Major British Officers, Rangers, and Coureur Des Bois

Finished up the remaining British foot officers - one of which could represent General Wolfe as the Front Rank Wolfe figures is a bit stubby in comparison to the other figures he'll lead into battle. He's always depicted as rather lanky (and tall?) in period illustrations of him. Also painted up a pack each of rangers and coureur des bois. Added them to the order basically to see how they compare with the Front Rank and AW figures already in the inventory. They match up well with AW, but the Front Rank guys are a bit smaller - mostly shorter overall.

Below is a comparison shot of rangers, from left to right: FR, GM, AW, FR, GM, AW. They Front Rank guys have enough bulk to look okay next to the taller Galloping Major and AW figures.

Next, a comparison of coureur des bois, from left to right: FR, GM, AW, FR, GM, AW. Same thing as the rangers - the Front Rank are a bit shorter, but have enough bulk to blend in okay on the gaming table.

The photo below is another comparison shot of British officers, left to right: Front Rank General Wolfe figure, Galloping Major generic senior officer, and Foundry officer.

Although the Front Rank Wolfe's uniform is similar to the one shown in the famous painting of his death at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, he's a bit too small to lead the taller Foundry and Galloping Major guys. The Galloping Major officer is wearing a uniform similar to the one Wolfe is shown in the picture below - which I think was a caricature of him.

Well, there now should be enough figures for a decent Rebels and Patriots game. Will need to work on a few pieces of terrain for a Louisbourg scenario - mostly the intial landing by Wolfe and his assigned troops - grenadiers, light infantry, rangers, and the 78th Highlanders.

Having done much on the gaming front recently, but plan on attending another Museum of Flight game day up in Seattle on Saturday. Hope to have some nice pictures and a write up of the event afterwards. Until then, thanks for stopping by the blog and wishing you all the best.