Once More For The Daily Exercise

 For my last post of 2023, I'd share a game I have set up in my Game Room, all ready to go for tomorrow and the New Year. 

King Philip's War, fought in 1675-76, happened almost literally in my back yard. Growing up in the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts, several sites are a short trip from my boyhood home, including the Sudbury Fight, one of the hardest fought battles of the war. 

The war itself was pretty brutal stuff. The colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and Rhode Island and their First Nations allies fought against Metacom, sachem of the Wampanoag tribe, known as King Philip. It did not go well for the colonists and, in the end, not well at all for the Indigenous Peoples. 

This scenario features a small detachment of Militia on a patrol. What happens to them, may lead to a second game later this week. 

The forces for this game are small. Only one leader and eight men per side. Just enough to get things started. 

My First Nations are a mix of manufacturers. The War Leader here might resemble a more famous fictional character from a famous movie of the French and Indian War. No reason I can't use him until I paint up my Metacom figure (somewhere in the painting queue...)

The Militia patrol are made of figures gifted to me by Mark N. of My Brave Fusiliers blog fame. I finally was able to meet Mark in person at Historicon and he also has an interest in KPW. His generous gift doubled the size of my colonial forces. 

Finally, The Rules. For this game, given its small size, my well-worn copy of Song of Drums and Tomahawks was pulled out. I love SDAT for games where we are using a dozen or so figures a side. 

The Militia patrol will start entering the table. The First Nations will be located under two of eight randomly placed UNO cards. Red cards mean there are Wampanoag warriors in them there woods. I'll play this game solo, rolling randomly for the Wampanoag reactions. 

So, there it is. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. 

For anyone who is reading this, I wish you the best for the coming year. 

Happy Boxing Day!

 Christmas in the Duchy was a whirlwind of far too much food and time with the family. 

The insanity of gifts post-breakfast found me with two additions to the Ducal Library and more...er....justifications for the Defence White Paper to increase expenses. 

Well, that's the plan, anyway. 

I've already started the book on Hastenbeck and have thumbed through the one on Assietta. Both are just what I hoped. 

As a side note, the cannon was a gift from my brother, who, when he asked what I wanted, I replied a 12# Napoleon cannon, please. He was pretty sure that Sandy would not have approved of a full size firing one, so he sent this one from Denix instead. 

A wise move, I think, on his part. 

I hope that you were all as fortunate in the gifts you received and in the time spent with your loved ones. 

Christmas in the Duchy of Saxe-Appeal

 Things are about as ready for the holiday as they are going to get, it would seem. The tree is up and trimmed. Ingredients for the Christmas Breakfast have been bought. A little hobby work will be done over the next couple of days. My employer gives us this coming Monday off for the holiday. 

Happy Christmas to one and all. May the joys and blessings of the season be with you. 

Soldier King - The Game

 I would blame my interest in this box game from GDW (published in 1982!) on my friend Neil, but truthfully, as a wargaming magpie, it was not hard to grab my attention. This game has some things I really like in a game: a simple set of rules (four pages worth), a nice colourful map to play on, and the capability to transfer to the tabletop for a miniatures wargame. Oh, and it's set in the 18th century in an Imagi-Nation, the Estavian Empire. Pretty much everything I could ask for. 

Neil has painted up some wonderful figures to represent the major and minor nations and is using Volley and Bayonet for the tabletop battles. I will probably use The Square Brigadier from Ross Mac, instead, but but between the game and Neil's project, my interest in 18th century wargaming has been re-ignited. 

I suppose we'll see how this turns out. 

My choice of Blog Image

 The gentleman depicted in this portrait was a banker from Hamburg, Johan Goessler. I thought when I saw it, that was a perfect picture for my avatar on a number of sites. As I learn to use Blogger and bring this project to fruition, I hope it does an admirable job depicting me as I see myself. Not all knowing, but certainly trying to do the "do" things and having a bit of fun as we go along. 

Hello and Welcome

 So, after many years of my friends doing blogs and listening to their feedback I have decided to start a blog. This is either going to go really well or horribly pear shaped. 

But that's in the future. 

Right now, we are here. 😀