Mr Jack

I found a half price copy of this game in a gift shop last week, so thought I'd give it a try, especially as I have a few days away on holiday. It looks like a neat little portable game with some interesting gameplay elements, so I'm looking forward to trying it out.

Aquitaine

I had an original version of this simple but fun medieval board game in the Sandhurst Wargames book as a kid, so was really pleased to find a stand alone version published by the Society of Ancients but now out or print. It was on eBay and one else put in a bid, so I got it for less than the price of pint, which is pretty good. I really enjoyed playing this solo when I had my copy, so I'm looking forward to playing it again. I just hope it hasn't aged as much as the TTG micro games that I've been playing recently that are from a similar era? 

Micro Fleet Frigate Action

I played out a simple two ship game this morning, with HMS Spartan (38) intercepting the Perle (40) somewhere off the coast of Brittany. The basic set up was a T shape with Perle crossing the T and Spartan sailing at right angles. The wind was from the South so that Perle had the wind aft and Spartan on the bow. 

In Turn 1 both frigates advanced toward each other, with Perle making a two point turn to larboard, Perle loading her port battery and Spartan her starboard batteries with shot, anticipating some long range fire. In Turn 2, Spartan turned four points to larboard and then sailed 200mm forwards, while Perle did exactly the same manoeuvre in order to close the range.

At this point, the issue of simultaneous movement cropped up, with incremental steps having to be taken once Perle decided to fire on Spartan half way through the move. When this fire was eventually resolved, requiring seven different tables to be referenced and four different calculations, Perle succeeded in inflicting sixteen casualties and two destroyed guns on Spartan's starboard side. 

In Turn 3, HMS Spartan turned two points to larboard then opened fire to rake Perle as she passed, resulting in yet more tedious calculations to inflict only twenty casualties and two destroyed guns, one on each side of the hull. This seemed a little light for a stern rake but there you go. The move continued to the end with Spartan moving straight ahead and Perle continuing her three point turn and forward move.

At this point, I lost interest as I had forgotten how much number crunching was involved with this set of rules and decided to call it a day. The game had moved quite quickly despite all the tables and charts, calculations and head scratching, but in the end I had had enough. I declared the scenario a draw but a tactical victory for the Royal Navy.

There are two main problems with the Micro Fleet Napoleonic rules which, for me, made them far too clunky.

The biggest issue is simultaneous movement and firing, which complicates the turn and forces you to take every move one step at a time. This was very tedious and complicated further by the need to reassess move rates due to changing aspect to the wind, as each move progressed. There was also no initiative rule or order of movement as a result, which meant that both the French and British moved and fired together. 

The other problem was the number of tables and calculations required for just the simplest of actions, making anything more than a couple of ships a side far too cumbersome to manage. When I used to play this game solo back in the '80's I seem to remember having three or four ships a side but how I did that I have no idea? 

On the plus side, the components are still very good and the move templates, firing gauge and wind direction circle are all very well designed. There's a potential game in there somewhere, using the ship counters and templates, but it would require a full on rewrite of the rules to make it a decent fast play system including some rules for initiative and streamlined rules for movement, firing and damage.

Oh well, it was worth a try!

Micro Fleet Napoleonic Naval Components

I spent an hour or so this morning happily cutting out the components for the old TTG game Micro Fleet Napoleonic Naval including the British and French ships from the core set plus some extra Spanish and British ships from the Trafalgar expansion. I have plenty to play with and still have loads of ships leftover, although I will stick to small actions rather than try anything too spectacular! 

The components are exactly as I remember them including the very nifty sailing gizmo, which consists of three separate circles of card held together with a drawing pin. You align the large circle with the compass, rotate the middle circle to line up with the wind direction, then rotate the inner small circle to align with your ship counter to determine if you need to wear or tack. Very clever. 

I'll be setting up a game to see if I remember how to play it after thirty or more years and to see how clunky or smooth it is, although I suspect it will fall foul of the numerous tables and modifiers problem that characterises rules of this particular vintage, even the supposedly fast play variety? It will be interesting to find out if I enjoy playing it as much as I did back in the early 80's?

Micro Fleet Napoleonic Naval

 

I used to play this TTG card and counter game all the time when I was a kid in the early 80's but lost my original copy in a house move years later. I have now found a second hand but unpunched copy on eBay, which includes all the card components and the Trafalgar expansion set as well. I'll be taking this on holiday for some old fashioned solo naval wargaming, so it will interesting to see if it stands the test of time?

Fleets in Profile: The Battle of Trafalgar

I had an Amazon voucher that one of the kids didn't want and swapped for a tenner with the bank of Dad, so I've splashed out on a paper ship book containing all of the British, French and Spanish ships that fought at Trafalgar.

Unlike the other books from Helion, these card models are fully coloured and can be cut out of the book without any need to photocopy anything, so they will be perfect for the holidays. There's a set of simple rules available from the Helion website that you can download:

http://www.helion.co.uk/warm-work-final.pdf

...or I may just write my own 'beer and pretzels' rules, to use as the basis for some naval skirmishing when I'm in Brittany in a couple of weeks.

I really like the idea of being able to set up a game without the time, expense and frustration of having to assemble, rig and paint fiddly models, although I have plenty of those in at least two scales in the leadpile!

Exploding Kittens

I picked this up in Tesco's of all places this morning. It's very strange but also very simple, so perfect for a bit of Beer and Pretzels style gaming. The kids thought it looked like a lot of fun, so I'll be taking it on holiday in a couple of weeks time, just in case the weather turns nasty or they get really bored on the ferry over to France. Boom!

Table Air Combat Lancaster

The Avro Lancaster has just been published for Table Air Combat and includes new rules for night fighting, which will open up all sorts of potential scenarios using existing aircraft in the series and hopefully some new ones, including the Mosquito and Uhu (fingers crossed!). The Lancaster also includes four scenarios which feature strategic bombing raids over Germany but also the famous Dambusters raid and the tallboy attack on the Tirpitz! How nifty is that? I haven't brought my TAC stuff on holiday with me but will download the Lancaster anyway so that I can set up a game or two when I get back home. Brilliant!

Zombies Solo

I played a solo game of Zombies to learn the rules yesterday and had a great time, with one player being wiped out but making it to the helipad at the second attempt. The rules worked really well and were quick to pick up, with the event cards adding some gameplay value and throwing a spanner in the works for both survivors at different points in the game. I really enjoyed this first play test so will be setting up some further games to try out more of the optional rules.

Tank on Tank Campaigns

The one game I did remember to bring on holiday this time is Tank on Tank: Westfront, including the new Defenders of the Rhine scenario expansion which I want to play through. This includes an enormous double sided map but uses the standard counter mix from the original core set. I was wondering about some sort of linked campaign using the scenarios in both the rules and the expansion, with a narrative to tie them together?

Zombies!!!

I'm on holiday for the Easter break so thought I'd finally get round to running a few games of Zombies!!!, which I found in a cupboard at the place where we are staying (I must have left it here last time by accident). I think it will be a lot of fun and should keep the teenagers happy while the weather socks in, as it will almost certainly do over the next few days!

Defenders of the Rhine

I managed to locate a UK based trader selling this expansion in the Tank on Tank series, which I've been wanting to get hold of for ages. I really like this game so thought it was well worth it to add the Defenders of the Rhine expansion, which includes new maps and scenarios for the original Westfront game. I have some time off work tomorrow too, so will be digging out the original Tank on Tank set for a couple of games while the weather outside is so cold!

Close Combat IV: Battle of the Bulge

I found my old CD of Close Combat IV: Battle of the Bulge today after a fairly long and very cold search in the loft. I haven't played this for at least twenty years, so have loaded it up and will get a few games underway over the weekend. I liked this edition of the game a lot although I remember that it crashed a few times back in the day, no doubt as my PC wasn't great and it also probably needed a patch or two, as I bought it brand new when it came out. I'll have to see if it works this time round without any glitches?

Close Combat III: The Russian Front

I was up in the loft today when I found my old CD of Close Combat III. I used to play this game and the others in the series a lot back in the day, so I thought I'd load it up on the laptop to see if it has stood the test of time. I wasn't sure if it would still work, being designed for Windows 98, but it loaded up fine and I was able to play through a couple of scenarios. It is still a great little game and I'm going to play a few more scenarios as soon as I work out all the various key commands that I've forgotten. I'm also going to try to find the other two Close Combat games that I have in the loft, if I can track them down in all the boxes of stuff. A cracking little game!

Command and Colours

I was given a copy of Command and Colours: Napoleonics for my birthday. I have no time now to learn the rules and set up a game but will take the box on holiday at Easter to play through some of the scenarios. It's not exactly beer and pretzels but is simple enough to not be overly difficult to play, so I think it deserves a place here rather than the other blog. I've heard some really good things about  the Command and Colours system, so I'm looking forward to trying it out in a few weeks time.

Tanks: Playtest Game

I tried out Tanks today using a couple of counters from Airfix Battles to stand in for model tanks, with one US Sherman M4 versus a German Panzer IV. The game ran pretty smoothly, as I only used two tanks with an upgrade card each, so it didn't take long to play through the basic scenario to a fair conclusion. In the end the Panzer IV suffered two hits and two criticals, one of which was a bail out, so I left it at that point rather than playing on to the end. I think the Sherman crew would count it as a victory, even though the panzer crew could have re-mounted their tank as it was still working and hadn't actually blown up. I enjoyed the game so will be looking around for some cheap pre-painted plastic or diecast tanks to use instead of the card counters, saving the plastic kits for use with my miniature wargaming projects.

Tanks: The WWII Skirmish Game

I had a £25 Amazon voucher for Xmas, so had a look for something to blow it on and decided that the Gale Force Nine Tanks! starter set would be a good idea. I have read some positive reviews of this 'beer and pretzels' miniatures game and could use the 1/100 scale models for other things if I didn't like it, so it seemed like an opportunity to give it a try. I also added a second Panther to the order to use up the voucher and to make for a more interesting challenge for the US player. I think the boys will like this and will be keen to give it a go, although I quite like the idea of scaling it down to 1/144th and using pre-painted plastic tanks on a smaller area?