North Shore Wargames Club News January-June 2010

NORTH SHORE WARGAMES CLUB
News Archive January-June 2010

Club meeting 27 June 2010

Today we had a couple of Flames of War games. Gavin and Lyndon played one game, but no details just yet. Kendall and Lee had a mid-war game, both using Germans. Lee's force included some Panthers who did rather well against Kendall's Tigers. Kendall is now heading off for a holiday touring the battlefields and bars of northwestern Europe.
We had three more games in the FoG Ancients competition:
Benny (Pyrrhic) and Brett (Japanese) had a draw, and Mike (Urartians) got two wins against Sam (Syrian states) and Philip (Late Dynastic Egyptians). The latter game ended with both sides racing to the opponents undefended baggage camps to break the armies, with the Urartians winning that contest. There are still two more games to be played next meeting (Benny v Sam, and Philip v Rob). With Mike, Sam, and Rob having three wins each it is still a close competition.

Club meeting 13 June 2010

There were four games at the club today.
FoG Ancients. Brett and Robbie had a competition game (as Rob is going to be at another tournament during the second round of the comp next meeting). It was a decisive victory to Rob's Byzantines over Brett's Japanese.
FoG Napoleonics. Andrew's Neapolitans got an equally decisive victory over Philip's Netherlands army, which featured the first properly painted Dutch unit (the only one that did well as it happens).
Flames of War. Ken (Germans) played Kit (Russians) in a late war game with lots of armour on the table.
Grant and John had a 1745 Jacobite rebellion game, using a modified version of DBR.
Jacobite Rebellion 1745 in 15mm scale

NICon 2010, 5-6 June

There was a good contingent of NSWC players at Nicon this year, playing in Flames of War. Kit came 3rd (Mid-war, Punjabi Rifle Company) and Rob 4th in their competitions, with good mid-table performacnces from Ken, Lyndon, Mike and Tristan as well. There were about 20 Flames players, 20 to 30 in WHFB and 40K, 6 players in 1st Volley Napoleonics, and WWII aerial and Napoleonics display games.

Club meeting 23 May 2010

North Shore Wargames Club meeting May 2010 It was a cold wintery day outside, and none too warm inside either! But we had a good meeting today with a total of eight games played. This year's Field of Glory Ancients competition got under way today. After the first two rounds, Sam is in the lead with two wins using his new army. These are the current scores (using win/draw/loss followed by percentage losses on opponents):
1. Sam, Syrian States, 2 wins, 100%
2. Rob, Byzantine, 1 win, 1 draw, 65%
3. Philip, Late Dynastic Egyptians, 1 win, 1 loss, 90%
4. Mike, Urartians, 1 draw, 1 loss, 83%
5. Brett, Muromachi Japanese, 1 draw, 1 loss, 59%
6. Benny, Pyrrhic, 1 draw, 1 loss, 40%
The final rounds will be held on the club meeting on 27 June.

Flames of War game at the NSWC There were a couple of games of Flames of War, with several of us getting ready for Nicon. Ken (Germans) and Kit (British) had a game on a very attractive desert terrain.

Andrew (German armour) and Lyndon (US Airborne) had a game in another good terrain setup, struggling their way through the bocage. Here's Lyndon's After Action Report:

The scene was set for a very interesting game when Andrew turned up with his newly created bocage terrain. After setup, the majority of the board was covered in bocage apart from one narrow channel down a flank (which would prove decisive later in the day.)

After all the preliminaries and deployment, Andrew was appointed the attacker and had first turn. His first turn consisted mainly of movement with a little attacking fire which did not inflict any damage.

Lyndon was able to dig in his two rifle platoons in his first turn and made a bold move by transporting his four Shermans to the top of a hill in full view of 5 Panzer IV's. His risky strategy was to destroy the majority of the Panzers before they had a chance to counter attack and early in the battle his plan looked to have paid off with two Panzers destroyed.

Unfortunately for the US the other three came through unscathed and braced themselves to reap havoc on the brittle Shermans. Andrew jumped on the opportunity straight away and let loose with a barrage of fire. Surprisingly the result was the bailing of a single tank and the Americans must have thought their birthdays had come at once! On the other side of the board Andrew used his rocket launchers without much success but managed to knock out an Anti Tank gun with one of this three Panthers who were lurking ominously amongst the bocage.

After a couple of turns of missed opportunities and dice saves Lyndon took the initiative by firstly destroying a Panther with an Anti Tank gun (revenge is sweet!) before taking a side armour shot with a Sherman on another Panther. The result meant two Panthers destroyed and the subsequent failing of his motivation roll saw the Panther platoon's demise. All the while Lyndon managed to call on Air Support most turns but it did not provide overly effective.

Andrew was not impressed with the series of events and in double quick time cleaned up the Shermans who had exposed themselves in order to attack the Panthers. Losing a platoon of Shermans for a platoon of Panthers sounded like a good deal for Lyndon at the time! With that side of the board dominated, Andrew started to move his other Panzer IV's down the clear flank with a view to assaulting the nearby objective.

Lyndon was able to disrupt the advance to the objective by dropping well placed smoke but did not anticipate the rapid charge by Andrew which saw him approach the objective in strong numbers. Andrew destroyed the US 57mm gun platoon and went on a killing spree against a hapless rifle platoon. Although the fearless Paras never gave in, eventually they were no match for the Germans and were smashed!

So a win by the Germans and a thoroughly enjoyable game. With two relative newcomers to Flames of War it meant a number of rule clarifications and some definite learning taking place but that just made for an even more interesting game!

Club meeting 9 May 2010

Not so many people at the club today, with Mothers Day and other stuff keeping us busy. There were a couple of games. Ken (Germans) and Robbie (British paras) had a Flames of War game. It was a win to the Brits, but their C-in-C didn't survive. Brett (Austrians) and Kendall (Saxons) had a game with the latest draft (version 4) of the Field of Glory Napoleonic rules. The new command & control and flank marching rules were used, and gave a good victory to Kendall.

Club meeting 25 April 2010

Gallipoli landings

Andrew, Kit, and Stu have been working hard to get two games ready for our ANZAC Day meeting. Both games looked really good, with custom made terrain and models, and would make good exhibition games and are well worth replaying.

There was a Gallipoli landing, using Airfix WWI figures and Flames of War rules, with some modifications for the naval landing and bombardments. The British had an array of ships and boats providing transport and fire support. This was a difficult game for the ANZACs and a good win for the Turks.

Flames of War, Crete scenario The other game was based on the defence of Maleme in Crete. Several players contributed troops and aircraft for the game, and most of the modelling and game design was done by Stu. Again we used Flames of War, with a few special rules for this scenario. This was a very close game, but by the end of the game the Commonwealth side still held Maleme airfield, but with greatly depleted forces. The pictures here show the gliders (based on the 2D models from the old Featherstone book), and the terrain boards during construction.

Making the Crete terrain There were several other regular games at the club today. In a 15mm DBR game, Ian's Low Countries Spanish played Philip's Algerians. The invading Spanish began by rushing some fast lancers around both flanks of the Algerians. After some initial successes the lancers were eventually shot down. The superior warbands took heavy losses in breaking the Spanish infantry, but at the same time the rest of the Algerians were being defeated by Spanish musketry. After all these losses, the game was a mutual break.

There were two more Flames of War games. Ken and Lee played one game, and in the other Lydon used his US Airborne force for the first time, and got a win over Andrew's Germans.

Club meeting 11 April 2010

Painting some figures at the club We had a good productive day at the club today. We had a painting table set up with Kendall de-flashing some 15mm pike and shot figures (old Mikes Models), Robbie rebasing his 15mm Napoleonic Poles for FoG-N, Kit painting some Airfix WWI British figures (remember the officer with a sword, and the chap doing semaphore?) for use in an adaptation of Flames of War, and Philip working on the bases of some 15mm Medievals. The picture here shows Benny, Kit, and Robbie hamming it up for the camera. Kendall is out of shot, but his handiwork is on display on the table.

We also had a couple of Field of Glory games in 15mm. Scott's Swiss army got a comprehensive win against Philip's Medieval Danes, not losing any units and only a couple of bases lost in the game. Brett and Sam had a harder fought game, with the win going to Sam (New Kingdom Egyptians v Japanese).

Natcon 2010, 2-4 April

Natcon 2010 During the Easter weekend Natcon was hosted by the Hutt Miniature Wargames Club, at the St Patrick's College hall in Silverstream. In total, there were about 150 wargamers at the convention, although only a small number from the NSWC this year. It was a good venue, there was good weather for the weekend, and the canteen on site had nice home-made food! There was a bring-and-buy table, but perhaps with a little less on offer than we have seen in the past. Some of the local gaming stores also had trade stands. At the end of the convention we had the prizegiving dinner at the Totara Lodge, very convenient for all of us staying there!

The main hall had the Flames of War competitions (Early, Mid and Late), Warhammer Fantasy Battle and 40K. WHFB was the largest individual competition with 32 players, although there were 50 FoW players across the three periods. On the stage area and side rooms were FoG Ancients in 15mm with 12 players and a DBA mini-campaign with 6 or 8 players, and Spearhead Moderns. There was no DBMM because of lack of numbers. Some of those who entered in DBMM played instead in other competitions. DBR competitions got a good turnout, and for the first time since the early 1980s both 15mm and 25mm scales were played, with 8 in each competition including two players visiting from Australia. There was also a Warmachine competition, unfortunately with some unpainted models in use. No soft scores here!

King of Kings ancient wargame at Natcon 2010 There were also some display games, including 25mm American Civil War, and a very interesting looking ancients system called "King of Kings". The rules were written by NZers, with some innovative ideas for gaming including a campaign system for generating battles. Units were on 20x10 cm bases packed with lots of figures giving a very impressive look to the units and to the battle overall.

Flames of War, armoured cars of the 11th Hussars at Natcon 2010 Kit won the Flames of War Early War competition by 2 points (after having missed out on a placing by 1 point last year). He was using British Recce (11th Hussars). Lyndon, using a German army borrowed from Kit, got the Best Sport award in the Late War competition. Robbie's British Armour got him a mid-table result in the mid-war comp. He was also the only one of us to score a NATCON 2010 coffee mug! As is usual with Flames tournaments, the tables had pre-set terrain supplied by several of the local gamers. There were some very nice terrains and armies on show.

In the DBR 15mm competition, Auckland/NSWC took out the top three places: Philip (Muslim Indians) 1st and best painted army; Grant (Aztecs) 2nd; and Stu (Louis XIV French) 3rd. Stu got the award for the most enemy baggage looted, Philip got the 'General Slayer' award for most enemy generals killed. Not many people would have expected to have seen Aztec armies appearing in both scales, but they were there causing a lot of consternation to their outnumbered opponents! The 25mm Aztecs were most spectacular, with a large temple making an impressive terrain piece. They got the best painted army award for the 25mm comp.

Next year Natcon will be in Christchurch.

Club meeting and Annual General Meeting, 28 March 2010

We held our AGM today. The full details will be posted here later, but the main points of discussion were club competitions and other special events such as ANZAC Day games, and club fees (we agreed it would be a good idea to pay them).

15mm Field of Glory game between Urartians and Libyan Egyptians Flames of War game between US Airborne and German armour

It was good to see new club members in action today, as well as the old timers!. There were some new armies on show. Michael's newly painted Urartian army won a close victory over Sam and Michael who were using Libyan Egyptians. The "Invincible Meshwesh" didn't live up to their name, although the Egyptian light chariots unexpectedly beat the Urartian heavies. (Picture above left)

In another practice game for Natcon, Philip's Muslim Indians got a 7-3 draw against Benny's Venetians, but claimed the moral victory when the Venetians were found to have too many points on the table!

There were a couple of Flames of War games. Firstly, pictured above right, Andrew & Son with a new German army took on Kendall's US Airborne. The American's did well destroying the Brumbars in an assault. In the other game, Brett's Finns took on Lee's Russians.

Equinox 20-21 March 2010

This weekend EQUINOX was held at the Freeman's Bay Community Centre (the City Guard venue). We had Kit, Ken and Lyndon representing our club in Flames of War, and Kit won the competition using Russian Guards infantry. Robbie (Medieval Portuguese) and Al (Spartans) were in the Field of Glory 25mm competition, taking out Second and Third place. There are some great pictures of the convention on this website http://www.lbj-photography.com/Equinox_home.htm

Club meeting 14 March 2010

FoG-Ancients 15mm. Sam (Libyan Egyptians) beat Brett (Japanese)
DBR 15mm. Philip (Muslim Indians) beat Kendall (Later Imperialists). The battle began in the mist, hindering the long range Indian artillery, and limiting command and control on both sides. When the mist lifted, both sides' cavalry were close together. The Indian cavalry rolled much higher and got a 10-0 win, but the Imperialists did get a consolation elephant at the end of the battle!
There were three Flames of War games. Ken got a fairly comprehensive victory over Michael, with both sides using lots of German armour.
Lyndon, using a German army, won a close 4-3 victory over Kit's Russians.
Rob had a game against a new player Andrew (Brits v Germans).

Club meeting 28 February 2010

Flames of War. Lyndon (Germans) beat Kit (Russians) 4-3 in a 'Fighting withdrawal' scenario from Operation Bagration.

Field of Glory. Sam (Pontic) beat Philip (Late Egyptians). The Pontic army with Armenian allies had 11 BGs to the Egyptians' 14. It was a close game, with both camps being looted, and a total of three generals killed in combat.

Battlecry 2010, February 20-21

Battlecry 2010 This weekend the Battlecry tournament was held at the ASB Stadium in Kohimarama. It was a great venue, and packed with lots of wargamers, roleplayers, LARPers, and other weird but harmless groups. We had a good turnout from the club.

Rob played in Warhammer Fantasy using a Warriors of Chaos army, and was part of the team that won the Team Prize, the same team that won it last year as well. There were 32 players in WHFB.

Brett (Medieval Germans), Philip (Kushite Egyptians), and Al (Spartans and frequently unreliable Athenian allies) played in the DBMM 240 point 25mm competition (in a field of only 4). Al took out first place.

Ken (Afrika Korps grenadier company) and Kit (Gurkhas) played in the Western Desert themed Flames of War competition in a field of about 10. Ken got second place, and Kit was 4th, also winning the Best Army prize (an excellent prize pack from Gale Force Nine scenics.)

Michael (Pontic) and Sam (New Kingdom Egyptian) played in the 15mm FoG Ancients tournament. Sam did very well in his first tournament to get second place out of 8 players, and won a great prize from Battleline Miniatures.

Club meeting 14 February 2010

Sam (New Kingdom Egyptians) won a FoG Ancients game against Scott (Kushans). After a tough game the Egyptians managed to invade the middle eastern steppes routing or fragmenting the required amount of Kushan units (6 routed and 1 fragmented). In return the Kushans had routed 5 Egyption units. The Egyptian scouting proved superior beating the Kushans even though the Kushans had a +4 to a +1 advantage.

There were two FoG Napoleonic games. Ney gave Wellington a bloody nose, only the arrival of nightfall saving the shopkeepers from annihilation. The Times called it a draw, praising the Iron Duke�s front foot defense. However when later questioned in the House of Commons Wellington admitted he had fielded too many men inside the circle, and taken the field with a twelve man team. Bringing 652 to a 600 point party, jolly poor form. In any case it�s been stenciled on the Arc de Triomphe as yet another French triumph, so it must have been a mighty conquest for the Gallic Cock.

Kendall's Saxons are still undefeated after a hard fought draw against Andrew's Italians! The Italians fight the Saxons to a standstill, the vaunted Saxon heavy cavalry riding completely around the pizza boys� army and attacking it from the rear, bursting through enemy lines to the cheers of the sausage eaters. Recognising a great trick when they see one, a regiment of ravioli dragoons rode around the kraut army to take von Blau in the rear. Nasty. Another draw.

Over The Top 13-14 February 2010

Rob was the only player from our club at the OTT tournament in Hamilton this year. He came 6th overall in Warhammer, and picked up the Best Painted Army prize for his Daemons of Chaos.

Club meeting 31 January 2010

We had two Napoleonic Field of Glory games today. The game pictured below shows Andrew's army of veterans from the Kingdom of Italy with French allies taking on Brett's French Imperial Guard under the personal leadership of Napoleon. It was a good victory for the Italians who made good use of their superior numbers. Kendall (1812 Saxons) also got a decisive victory over Philip (1815 Netherlands). The Saxon guard cuirassiers were by far the strongest and most expensive unit on the board, and they got a clear win over the opposing carabiniers. Their brigade commander didn't survive the combat though.
Michael (Koreans) and Sam (New Kingdom Egyptians) played a 15mm FoG game.
There were also a couple of Flames of War games. Lyndon (Germans) played Rob (Brits) in a battle set somewhere in the green fields of Tunisia. In a Western Desert game, Kit's Gurkhas defeated Ken's Germans in a night attack, taking an objective just the turn before it was to have been removed.

Field of Glory Napoleonics game

Club meeting 24 January 2010

There were two 15mm Field of Glory ancients games. Michael (Pontic) was beaten by Scott (Gauls, led by a mighty force of Gaesati). Sam (New Kingdom Egyptians) got a winning draw against Al (Spartans)
Brett and Philip played FoG Napoleonics, trying out some more new rules variants. Brett's Austrians defeated Philip's British and Netherlands army.
Lyndon and Ken had a Flames of War game, Americans v Germans.

Club meeting 10 January 2010

This was our first meeting of the year, and we had a pretty good turnout.

Dan and Rob had a Warhammer game using Chaos and Skaven.

We had a couple of 15mm Field of Glory ancients games. Philip (Pontic) beat Sam (Macedonian), and the two Michaels had a drawn game, using New Kingdom Egyptians and Koreans.

Al and Andrew had some 25mm DBMM games using 200 point armies. They got in three games, using Later Hoplite Greeks and Early Crusaders. Greeks won twice, and the Crusaders once. Two games were close run things, and in the last game the Spartans caned the Crusaders. In one game, a three command Irr Sp(O) army was going OK until two generals died in one bound - that was enough to break the army. The other two games were with two Spartan Reg Sp(S)/Reg Sp(O) commands - less elements, same ME, same points per frontage (12AP/element frontage) but more manouverable (regular).