Galleys & Galleons: first games

Nic Wright's forthcoming Galleys & Galleons rules are certainly raising a lot of interest and just before Christmas my friend Ian and I finally got round to a couple of playtest games ourselves.

I can only apologise for the photos. The ships are wearing just their undercoats and look like ghost ships, and the photos were taken very inexpertly in the heat of battle. But, hey, it's a playtest. (Ghost ships are actually covered in the rules in a fantasy supplement at the end.)

The seascape in our first game was a little overcrowded with islands and shallows. They were cunningly placed by my piratical opponent, forcing me into a very awkward starting position. Eager to teach the pirates a lesson they would not forget, my ships sped ahead leaving the boats behind. All measurements are made using the coffee stirrers.

Games and painting 2014

Irregular Wars playtest with counters

My painting to-do list was becoming oppressive, so last year I decided to note what I managed to do rather than what I planned to do. It didn't increase my productivity but it made me feel better. For the first time, I also recorded the games I played.

In first place was Irregular Wars with 14 games. These were all playtest games and consumed most of my wargaming attention for the year. They were played with counters as I still haven't completed any IW armies.

Second place went to Crossfire with 5 games - one Spanish Civil War, one Normandy and three played on my 'Crossfiregrad' (Stalingrad-esque) cityscape.

Now for the runners-up. I played two games each of Command and Colours Ancients, Dux Bellorum, Galleys & Galleons (playtest) and my friend Ian's developmental ancient rules, and one game each of Impetus, Maurice, WWII Micro Armour, Corvus II, Flanders Fields, Warmaster Ancients,  and my friend Ian's developmental WWI game.

10mm ACW Confederates

As for painting/modelling, I finally completed my 10mm American Civil War armies. I haven't yet played a proper game with them, though they did take to the table in connection with playtesting some hex based Nineteenth Century rules that I'm developing. I also added the finishing touches to the 'Crossfiregrad' cityscape.

Finally, I 'progressed' the 15mm Portuguese/Dutch/Spanish and some scenery for Irregular Wars, the 1/450 pirate ships and scenery for Galleys & Galleons and some 10mm ACW buildings. I aim to finish all these ASAP in 2015.

Galleys & Galleons: the fleets assemble

My first batch of ships for Galleys & Galleons is now based and primed. The ships are to some extent interchangeable but these photos represent my first thoughts.

The Merchants. From back to front: Peter Pig Large Merchantman, Fluyt, and Small Merchantman. The Dhow (foreground) is a 1/300 Grumpy model with the original crew removed, and Peter Pig crew and guns substituted. I also replaced the supplied but rather vulnerable mast with a stout dressmaking pin. This made it harder to superglue the sail on, but I'd rather cope with a detached sail than a wonky or broken mast.

Galleys & Galleons: making sea bases

I decided to try a new method for basing my 1/450 Peter Pig pirate ships for Galleys & Galleons - aluminium 'turkey' foil. It's said this should be used shiny side up. I'm not sure why but I followed suit. Rather than just crumpling it, I rubbed it over the side of a ribbed tin can. I then varied the angle a little and re-rubbed parts to create a more irregular wave effect.

Galleys & Galleons

Nic Wright's Irregular Wars: Conflict at the World's End reinforced my interest in games which require only small armies and a compact playing area, and can be finished in 1-2 hours. I was thinking about other, similarly compact, land war options, when Nic's new pirate naval game - Galleys & Galleons - impinged on my consciousness. This is currently at the play-testing stage and I have enrolled as a volunteer.

The game involves very modest forces, can be played in a quite restricted area, and promises to be fast and furious. It satisfies all the criteria for a modest, compact and fast game, but what initially attracted me to it were the photos on Nic's blog of his superbly painted 1/450 pirate ships made by Peter Pig .

More cheap blocks

Whilst browsing an economy hardware store, I came across a Jenga-type game, but in miniature. The game had 48 smoothly finished wooden blocks, measuring 45mm x 15mm x 10mm. At only £1.99 each I decided to snap up four while they were still available.

I don't have any immediate use for them, but I think they could, for example,  make good 20thC ship counters. Being wood they are obviously lighter than my 'ceramic' Mah Jongg tablets and may be prone to shifting about, but that won't matter so much if they are used for a hex game.

Irregular Wars : Conflict at the World's End 2nd Edition

A new version of Nic Wright's Irregular Wars: Conflict at the World's End has just been published. Full details of where to get it are on Nic's blog.

I must declare an interest here as my friend Ian and I were amongst the playtesters. While the latter no doubt helped to tighten up the new version, the concept and innovations are entirely down to the author's visionary imagination.

Nic has enhanced Version 2.0 with some new mechanics including an important 'wavering' state, an expanded set of chance cards that add period flavour and high drama, and a straightforward campaign system to provide context to tabletop battles. There are also exciting new lists including Mapuche and Berbers (which I'm planning to use for Barbary Pirates), and Rajput and Vijayanagara.

Obviously I have an interest in 16-17C warfare, these are clever rules, and they give an exciting and enjoyable game. Irregular Wars requires only a modest investment in figures, a small playing area and can be completed in about 1.5 hours in my experience, though the author says 1 hour!

I'm still painting my colonial Portuguese and Dutch armies, but my English/Irish/Spanish armies are awaiting the release of Khurasan's English and Spanish figures which are exceptionally promising but are taking ages to appear.

Crossfiregrad facelift Part 3: finishing touches to the scenery

It's been about three years since I first posted about what I have come to call my 'Crossfiregrad' project - a Stalingradesque cityscape for playing Crossfire. It's been through several reincarnations. This post illustrates the final touches and the final look of the cityscape.

The starting point for the finishing phase. Cat litter has been added around buildings. I didn't add a fully realistic amount of rubble, partly because this rubble is merely decorative and needs to be differentiated from rubble that features as Crossfire areas, and partly because creating too much of a 3D effect would add to my storage and transport problems.

St Vincent refight at SELWG by Tonbridge Wargames Club

The game's organiser, Simon, fields questions from visitors.

Tonbridge Wargames Club staged a refight of the Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) at the SELWG show yesterday. The battle was fought between British and Spanish fleets during the French Revolutionary Wars.

The models belong to the game's organiser, Simon, and are all 1/1200 Langton Minatures. The rules used were Rod Langton's Signal Close Action rules 3rd edition (there is a 4th edition). Ability dice determine each fleet's actions each turn with additional dice for more specific things such as signal receipt, boarding and collisions!  There are a lot more extras in the rules but for a big fleet action keeping it simple is best.