A Wednesday Night Game Update

The New Year seems to be whizzing by like a minnie ball. Halfway through January, already. So far, I've managed one French and Indian War game using The Portable Wargame rules and I currently have finished four turns of an ACW game based on Featherstone's "Action in the Platteville Valley", with Himself, General Jubilation T. Cornpone, leading a reinforced division of Confederates against a movement by Union General Hiram C. Pretzel, from the 1st Division, XXX Corps. Who does, indeed, have a pontoon train with boats.....

I shall have to see when I can pick up the action. But for now, last night saw Team Full Monty execute a training game night at the RAP Gamers in preparation for a team tournament for Art De La Guerre (ADLG) at COLD BARRAGE in March. 

I test drove my new Mongolian Golden Horde for the first time. My friend Neil P. was very kind and generous to send me a pair of Mongolian gers from Baueda in the UK. They arrived in time to be used as my camp, but, sadly were unpainted. 

Glamping a la Mongolian...I just need a 15mm gen set and tiki bar...

My opponent was Garth, who ran his Normans. He had a lot of "Impetuous" Knights. And a bunch of guys in armour with long pointy sticks. And some very, very annoying crossbow armed light infantry. 

Steve was paired with Bruce. They did something in the desert. One of them had chariots. The other did not. 

And our Team Captain, Phil G. did not play, but adjudicated for us. John called off, something about a birthday and his wife wanting him to spend his with HER instead of US.... 

Now, I'm new to all of this sort of Ancients and Medieval stuff, so it was about finding my legs with a minimum of support from Phil G., our adjudicator and ADLG Spirit Guide. 

I'm such a novice, I was even having a giggle over the names I gave my Generals. I had three, so I went with Jenga Khan, Chaka Khan, and Iffyah Khan. 

Not exactly an Assyrious ancients player (see what I did there?) is I.

Garth, starting on his way across the Plain, enroute to walloping me

Suffice to say, I did a lot of (mostly) paying attention to what I was doing, so I didn't take many pictures. The fact I managed to get schwacked wasn't helpful to recording the adventure, either. 

I tried to do a lot of that "shoot and scoot" stuff, but I tended to roll low when I was shooting and roll high when I wanted to evade. And apparently that's not Good in ADLG. Who knew? 

But it was bags of fun, even if I did manage to lose. 

There are a lot worse ways to spend a couple of hours with friends. 

Next Wednesday night will be another practice run at the RAP Gamers. I'll be taking my Golden Horde Mongols out for another spin. But hopefully with a spiffy new painted ger and a better battle plan. 

Goodbye 2025, Hello 2026

I honestly had hoped to post something for Christmas and just before the New Year to wind up 2025. Perhaps it's best for all that I did not manage. I was supposed to be off work on the 26th, but was called in, so I swopped today for the 26th. At least I think that's how The Boss and I squared it. 

And that, in a nutshell, sort of describes 2025. 

For yesterday, 01 January, I arose early and got the game room sorted out for the first wargame of 2026. Having spent the previous few days reorganizing and deep cleaning the place, I felt a game was in order. 

 Spiffy new shelving in the background with a much more organized chaos

After noodling around a bit, I decided to go with one of my favourites, the French and Indian War in 25mm, with winter trees bought maybe 20 years ago, but never used....until now. 

The Portable Wargame, with a couple of house modifiers, were the Rules of Choice. The repop NAAFI mug is from Old Time Design Company in the UK. Suitable for tea or coffee. This time, it was coffee with a touch of maple goodness. 

Raiding Party

The premise was a raid on a settlement in Upstate New York. Once in a while, the French and their First Nations allies would make a quick dash in winter to annoy settlements. Not the ideal time of year for fighting, which is why they did it. In this case, five units of Abenaki (from Sash & Saber) and one unit of Compaigne Franches de la Marine. I used mine in blue to help me see them...urmph... These figures are by Crann Tara, pre-Caliver Books. 

Defenders of the Frontier! 

To thwart the raiders, six units of New York Provincials were assembled. There were also villagers in the buildings who could defend themselves if the buildings were attacked (the raiders needed to burn them) but who would otherwise not engage the raiders. 

Raiders raiding and defenders defending

I planned for 12 turns, but wound up having a Decision Point for the raiders by Turn 6. With the grid (though hard to see in the photos), I determined that the snow was rough, but open terrain, so units could move two grid squares, but the woods and hills, were only one square per turn. Also, a unit could move, but only fire at half strength. This gave me some decisions with regard to the benefits of moving versus standing still and maximizing my fire. 

End of Turn 6, Game Called 

After six turns, we had a very interesting situation. The New York Provincials had lost a number of figures and one civilian figure was considered "captured" and taken back for either adoption or, well, bad things... The French and Abenaki though, even though they set two of the three buildings on fire, lost more figures. So, perhaps the raid was not worth the risk. I thought about writing up a narrative for both sides, but probably won't, just because of time. But the game did make me think of why an action like this should be judged by its operational impact, rather than its tactical end. 

As always, I enjoyed using The Portable Wargame, in this case, the Napoleonic version with a couple of modifiers. I should have scribbled something down for setting buildings on fire. Essentially, I ruled that if the raiders "attacked" the building in Close Combat and were successful, I treated a hit as setting it on fire. But I didn't have a plan for the settlers trying to put the fire out... 

In any event, it was a most excellent way to start off 2026. Now, to clear it off and figure out my next game... 

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!