Saturday 6 December 2014

Turn 19 results.

As I wait for basing materials to dry I have time to post the latest turn of the PBB game. That being turn 19.

As always I will start with the overall board and then working anti clockwise from far back left to the front and them to the right. The turn sequence let the Spanish move and fire first. Not that they had so much shooting to do. But they (well Misley did some). Many ships have got a second wind and are returning to the fray while others are using the discretion better part of valour and leaving the table. Not sure how this one will end now.

 The overall shot of the battle clearly shows the level of confusion and the complete lack of organisation. 2 Ships HMS Challenge and Pina Colada have now left the board both under their own power and command. HMS Challenge being very slightly better off may take Pina Colada as a prize IF the British win the game. If the Spanish win Pina Colada will return to Spanish control.
 HMS Badger has ben reactivated this time with a prize Spanish crew from Mecedes. Which has now turned left and sprinted up the board.
 HMS Cutlass was then able to bring fire on HMS Badger but with very little effect due to the very long range. But at least one hit was done. HMS Agamennon has now managed to turn back into the fight. And now is at extreme range for Capitan Seb in the San Francis.
 The two Spanish Frigates are now heading across the board towards HMS Pachyderm but at this stage are so far from the fight that it will take them 2 maybe 3 turns to get in range. depending on what they and HMS Pachyderm decide to do.
 As you can see in this picture HMS Agamennon and San Francis really are at extreme range. No wonder when Captain Douglass ordered the crew to fire not a single shot landed.
 Captain Milsey did manage to fire at HMS Challenge as the ship sailed from the board, but did not inflict sufficient damage to slow the exit in any way. So Captain Curt and the remaining crew of HMS Challenge are now safely out of the game. But Captain Milsey did manage to get the parting shot.
 This has bought Captain Milsey and Captian Lucky Lee now into EXTREME range of each other. You need a 6 on a d6 to hit at that range. But both ships are damaged and only I know which one is better off. So for both captains it is a test of nerve to see which one (or both) breaks for open water.
The Mermaids revenge with her prize crew are heading to safty and the open seas. Anyone looking for a loan might want to talk to Lee's captain in 6 months time when the prize money comes through!

That's it for today. I will send out damage reports tomorrow as I want to use what light I have left to paint. As usual you will have 6 days to get your turn back to me before the next move is carried out.

All the best Clint

Friday 5 December 2014

First Chasllenge painting day.

All a bit of a waffle today. Well the Analogue painting challenge started at 6am this morning UK time. And I have painted most of the day.

I am currently working on twenty four 28mm figures. I had them all prepped and based ready to go so come 6am I was set to start. I am the first to admit that they are not a hard paint.  Being the guy on the left (opps Ed. The one in the right, I can't tell left from right) . All one colour uniforms with no tricky patterns on them and no details on the collars and cuffs.

I have had very good progress so far and expect to finish them by Sunday. I think I have 2-3 hours painting time left to do and then the same basing time as well. So I suggest 6 hours left in total. I think this is the fastest I have ever painted. And the results are not too bad, even if I say so myself.

I have had one mistake. I did give a standard bearer an officers (Navy Blue Uniform) by error. And have had to re-paint it. I have not caught him up with the others just yet but he's not too far behind.

I can't show any photos until at least Wednesday or 24 hours after they go on Curt's blog.

So that's it for now and no Prep work tonight either as my sister is coming round.

Cheers Guys.

Thursday 4 December 2014

More WW1 Germans

Yes Paint monkey has been busy again. Let's start with the fact that there are another 6 done. They have been colour matched to the ones painted by Ray and postie, but with different bases. Nothing wrong with Ray and Posties Bases of course but I prefer mine. (In the same way that they will prefer there own .)

Again I have put red flowers on the bases to make them look like poppies. As you can see there is a group shot of all 12 now they are all finished and have already been given back to Matt who did like the result. Consequently Paint Monkey has got some more 28mm figures to paint for him. But I will not be painting them until the painting challenge starts at 6am tomorrow morning. I am hoping that they will be an easy paint, you never know they may be as I want to use them to start the challenge. Which means that they have been cleaned up, primed and based. But that starts in 22 hours time, which is the future so for now I am trying to clear the painting table today.

That's it for today, thank you for looking. As ever please feel free to comment or not as you see fit. My next Scheduled post will be Saturday and Turn 19 of the PBB game. So until then take care have fun and like me I hope you will be preparing for Curt's challenge. I plan to send in my first entry for the challenge on Tuesday so will probably post it here the day after.

All the best Clint

Tuesday 2 December 2014

No picture of Postie

On Saturday I travelled up to Posties shed of war. I was not playing as I could not stay all day. Additionally they were playing 7 years war "Age of Reason" And to be honest I know NOTHING about either the rules or the period, even less than I know about Napoleonic. So nothing, not a thing. I also had something on in the afternoon and was at the wargames club on Sunday. But it was to be Fran's last game in this country. So It was worth going to make sure he got on the boat to enjoy his company one last time.

So no AAR as such, just some thoughts about the game. As usual there was some banter. Mostly about Ian this time and some outrageous manoeuvres he had carried out in the previous game and that "Postie" should go on the wall of SHAME. Well Postie should, but mostly for his private life and not he does in a wargames capacity. I am not saying he sexually interferes with hedgehogs I am not saying that at all. But now you have that thought in your head you will never look on him the same way again!

Unusually for Postie he had not set the figures out but allowed the defender (Fran) to set up first. and then the attacker (Ray) to set up in response. I am sure young Raymond will make much mileage out of the fact that he had 24 army points and was attacking while Francis had 28 army points and was defending. He certainly was vocal about it on the day. (Perhaps, I cannot say as I was not there at the end, getting his excuses in early). So then each of the other players was given their place at the table and the troops they would command.

Before I get into that. I suspect that you will read a TRUTHFULL account of the whole day here. From Tamsin.
AKA Wargames Girl. http://wargaminggirl.blogspot.co.uk/

A slightly less accurate account here by Big Lee http://www.blmablog.com/

And a load of scuttlebutt and disparaging remarks here by Fran http://theangrylurker.blogspot.co.uk/

And also here by Ray http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/

Now mostly they will take their time in posting any AAR as they all want to see what Tamsin writes first and then copy it while making their own exploits sound heroic and the opponents sound less so. Therefore you will have to wait a while for some I think.
 The Prussians attacking were (Left to right) Tamsin, Big Lee (No there is not a little lee as far as I know) Ray (Overall commander) and Surjit (The wild uncontrollable player but great fun because of it! Unless of course he's on your side and you need him to follow orders.)
The Austrians were Fran (He's not short, just sitting down) Mark (Smiffy) David (Izzy) John. Again from left to right. They were defending a small, (Very small) hill in front of Fran and open ground everywhere else.
 So the game started and tactics were not that widely employed as the number of troops on the table hindered movement as did the turn sequence as it is card driven with each unit having a card and being drawn from a shuffled deck.
 So cavalry generally moving faster than infantry the first clash happened there as all the Cavalry were set up opposite each other. (OK not all but MOST of the cavalry). John and Izzy had the Austrian cavalry and Tamsin most of the Prussian. So like two fright trains with drunken drivers they crashed into each other. Izzy is a player who much prefers to attack even while in defence. Which gave Tamsin little choice as the attacker so she also charged. Unfortunatley the dice gods (all praise the Dice gods!) were not in Tamsin's favour. John and Izzy did better than I was expecting.

 And the nice neat cavalry charge of the Prussians  was no more. Which is to say that most of the Prussian cavalry lost their individual battles and one unit was pushed from the board.

This is where I had to leave the game. So I will be interested to know how the game turns out. Will the Austrian cavalry continue to do well and eventually roll up the Prussian flank. Or will Tamsin get lucky with the dice and counterattack successfully.

And this still leaves the whole of the far end of the table with all the infantry. Would the Prussians take the high ground and what would Surgit do as that really could be anything!

That's it for today. Other than to say check the blogs listed above as sooner or later those good people will post a full game AAR. While mine takes us up to the end of turn 2.

Thanks for looking. I will post some more WW1 Germans next time. All the best Clint.