First 2mm Has Arrived

My first batch of 2mm 3D printed minis has arrived! Here they are before being cut off of the sprues.

Wars of Succession: The Best Marlborough Simulator Around

Eugene in Mantua at the end of 1701. He's already beat the pants off the French in two battles and taken Modena

I think Wars of Succession may be the best game AGEOD has ever produced, despite having some "fit and finish" issues. Granted, I'm biased toward the period, but this game takes the best of the new features introduced in Wars of Napoleon, discards what didn't work, and marries it to what did work in games like Thirty Years War  and Rise of Prussia.

Freeman's Farm, 1777

The opening set up for the historical Freeman's Farm scenario from Saratoga, a game from GMT's "Battles of the American Revolution" series. This is the version from the tri-pack that was released last year.

Bunker Hill

Terri has caused some regrettable losses to my British regulars already and gained a victory banner. However and the grenadiers have managed to evict some rebel militia from their position behind the fence line, though.

Arrived - Sport of Kings

Fontenoy 1745

After several weeks playing the hypothetical Melle scenario from BAR Fontenoy, David and I set up the Fontenoy historical scenario from Vae Victis' The Victories of Marshal De Saxe. to play on our next gaming night.

The 1705 Moselle Campaign - Part I

Marlborough poised on the Moselle for an attack on Saarlouis, waiting on Allied reinforcements

A few weeks ago I responded to a question on Facebook concerning artillery organization during the 1705 Moselle Campaign during the War of Spanish Succession. After doing a little research from my ever-growing library of books on 18th Century war, I was intrigued enough to want to game out the campaign itself.

Post-Origins Hangover

It always seems like it takes me awhile to get back to the blog after Origins. In the past this has been due to a bit of a "gaming hangover" where I didn't play much for a month or so after the convention. This year has been the opposite: I've been playing so much I really haven't had much time to blog!

Playing Pub Battles Brandywine

My wife and I played our first game of Pub Battles: Brandywine last weekend. She took the Continentals and I took the British. This was only Terri's third time playing a wargame, so I had a bit of a quandary as to which side would be best for her. In the end I though being the defender would be a bit easier, despite having to shift front to handle Cornwallis' attack.

Pike & Shot Reading List I

My recent posts on the Early Modern era and associated games have lead to some requests for book titles on the period. Since I've read pretty extensively on the subject recently, I have a pretty good list. Recognizing that not everyone wants to dive into this the way I have, I've pulled together what I think are some good introductory titles.

Walcourt 1689

The results about halfway through the game, being careful to take my own advice and "wait for the guns."

Waiting for the Guns

Waiting for my artillery to unlimber before advancing at Aughrim

As wargamers, we are often guilty of taking actions with our pixeltruppen that no real general in his right mind would ever do. Casualties in wargames often exceed even the worst defeats real armies suffered, even when you win the game!

A Famous Victory - Blenheim: Battle is Joined

Warfare during this period certainly is a methodical affair. It takes Cutts from 12:30 until 2:00 PM to get his leading brigade across the Nebel and launch the first assault on Blenheim. Despite support from the battery next to the village and all three battalions of the famed French Navarre regiment holding the front edge of Blenheim, Rowe's men charge the barricades.  Their combined fire shatters the 1/Navarre, eliminating it. Return fire disrupts a British battalion.

A Famous Victory - Blenheim: Reset

Blenheim setup overview

After doing a lot more reading about Blenheim and getting in a couple of turns to familiarize myself with the rules, I've decided to reset the game and start over. This time I'm using a much closer to historical setup, based on the OOB and maps from Obscure Battles. Not only is the distribution of units more correct, the actual battalions and regiments are mostly in the correct locations. The OOBs from the game and web site don't entirely line up, but they're close.

A Famous Victory - Blenheim: Anglo-Allied Setup and First Turns

Now for the Anglo-allied setup. Again, this is a quasi-historical setup. The commands ("lines" in game terms) are composed of roughly the right mix of units, and are in roughly the right places - as far as anyone knows. For a future game I will probably use the positions as illustrated here for what may be a more historical setup.

A Famous Victory - Blenheim: French Setup

The Great Leaders series from now defunct gaming publisher Moments in History is a series of two games covering Marlborough's four great victories during the War of Spanish Succession, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet. I'm about to start a the Blenheim scenario. In this scenario the Franco-Bavarian army sets up first. The above is an overview of the Franco-bavarian position. I've gone with a more-or-less historical setup, both because I prefer historical setups and to test out the game mechanics with a known deployment.

Board Gaming for the rest of 2016

Here's my table set up for the games I'll be playing for the rest of this year.