The Seven Years War Convention 2024

 

     About 10 days or so ago, Beth and I travelled to South Bend, Indiana, in the USA for this year's Seven Years War convention. Our friend, Andy convinced us to go as he and his wife were going as well as another friend, Glenn. I'd never been there before and since my present schedule at the church permitted me the time to be there, we went. Fortunately, I had received my Cortisone shots in both knees just prior to this event. Of course, I twisted my left knee before leaving which left me "less than optimal."

     Besides all that, we had an uneventful drive down and found ourselves at the Doubletree Hotel in South Bend. The place was connected to the convention centre by an overhead walk way, which was always dry if a touch chilly. 

     When we arrived Thursday evening, we went to our room and on Friday morning, took in the whole place, both games and vendors. In the afternoon, I played a game, "Fox Hunt on the Diemel" using Tricorne rules. This is a "classic style" set of rules, using d6s for everything. For some unknown and un-Godly reason I ended up as the commander of the Allied side. Yes, I was the Duke of Brunswick! Andy took the left flank and other gentleman gamers were the right and the right centre grenadier brigade. The French were opposing a river crossing by a mixed force of German troops allied to Prussia..(The following photos are a bit out of order and often somewhat blurry. Apologies.)

Swiss regiments in the service of France at the advance.

My Brunswick troops exchange fire with the French

More firing! Losses were recorded on separate sheets in a style reminiscent of WRG rules.

Hanoverians troops face French cavalry and Swiss Infantry. Tough going!

More of the same.

Out of order... the Allied right flank over the stream before the cavalry arrived.

Allied grenadiers and artillery advance.

The French at the stream.

Inspired by their brigadier, the French infantry hold the stream.

Out of order again... the Brunswick brigade moves to take position in the light woods.

French strongholds on either side of the stream.

Me! In all my plumbastic glory!

     Friday evening (after dinner) saw both Beth and I engaged in a "French & Indian War" scenario - "The Raid at Kittaning" using Muskets & Tomahawks II skirmish rules. The group graciously brought Beth into the game although she originally had not decided to play. Glenn, Beth, and I played the Lenni-Lenape ("Delaware") warriors in the village of Kittaning, set just north-east of Pittsburgh, PA. (Beth and I had moved from the eastern part of Pennsylvania about 16 years ago, but I had lived in Pittsburgh briefly and had a good idea of the area.) The game was a blast. The rangers and Pennsylvania Militia were to free captives, burn buildings, and capture livestock while battling the warriors of the Lenape Nation. The Colonials were able to free some of the captives, and either "liberated" or killed some of the livestock. They set fire to four dwellings, but only one collapsed so they were stimmied in that sense. As it got later and later, I remember calling out to the Militia: "Just kill a d**n chicken, get the point, and end the game!" It didn't work so Glenn, Beth, and I called it a winning draw among ourselves. I'm not sure the other players would see it the same way,

The battle in full swing. Beth held the left wing, Glenn's warriors arrived by
canoe on the right, and I held the centre with Captain Jacobs in the blockhouse,
firing while wife reloaded for him!

The birds atop the dwelling represented the presence of unactivated
warriors within. A chief/"sachem" had to run to the building to 
activate the warriors. The small boy running at left centre has a story
all his own!

Whoops! One dwelling is on fire while the French regulars arrive late in the game.
They were marching hard from Fort Dusquesne.

The French troops were originally going to be under the command of the gamesmaster.
However, he turned them over to the Lenape players and Beth took command.
It was frustrating for the Militia because the French chit was pulled -literally- four times
in a row!

Earlier in the game.

"Silverheels"
A young boy who moved only when the Militia's move came up.
He ran for the table edge and once he got there, the French came in
a turn later. Beth may have surprised the other gamers with her handling
of regular troops in linear tactics. "Make ready! Present! FIRE!"

     Lastly, Glenn and I played a very unusual game: "The Relief of Chernovtsky 1738" where we both played on the Ottoman side against the Russians. Chernovtsky was under siege by the Ottoman Turks and a large Russian relief force was sent to break the siege. For some unknown reason, a reason beyond comprehension, I was set up as the chief Ottoman Pasha. (Do I look that competent? Fooled you all!!) Glenn commanded the centre cavalry and the elite Janissaries. The game used 10mm figures and was played with For King or Empress rules using the War of the Austrian Succession Expansion. The field was impressive and looked great. There were a lot of figures!

The Ottoman left facing a HUGE number of Russian infantry

Elite Janissaries with artillery and other Ottoman troops to their left.

Glenn Pasha's cavalry and my Kapikulu guard cavalry

Russian cavalry - dragoons and hussars - facing Ottoman horse archers, Delis, and Sipihi lancers.

Kapikulu... as you can plainly see!
The colour-coded labeling made things much easier to know who was commanding who.

Sipihis move in support of the crazed horse archers.

Russians! Russians! Russians!

     We thoroughly enjoy the con, bought some fantastic figs, and found the flea market ("Bring-and-buy" if you're Canadian.) quite interesting. Some of my latest painting will reflect these purchases! Our thanks go out to all who hosted games and set up this con. Excellent work!

     Will we go back again? It depends on a number of things, to be honest - post-retirement finances, health, and border politics. As the Magic Eight-Ball says "Ask again later." Maybe there will be some naval games next time! (We had hoped to find some at this con, but alas!)

    'Til later enjoy this pastoral scene:

Seven Years War again

    Andy and I have been trying to up our game for the Seven Years War in 15mm. We've also been using a slight variant of the Honours of War rules on the company lever for the so-called "French & Indian Wars" in North America. (That's for another blog later.) Personally, I've found these rules quite playable and I think they have the "feel" of the period, although that's a judgement call since I didn't live in central Europe in the 1750's. I'd recommend them.

    This past Saturday, I unlimbered my Austrians to face Andy's Prussians. In games prior to this, I had fielded my Russian army, an old favourite. We'd also used Andy's French troops. My Swedes are still on the painting table. Andy and Glenn faced Dave and I over the table. We fought to a draw... which I considered a "win" considering my abysmal luck and field general skills. Some photos follow, courtesy of Andy and of Dave.

From the Prussian perspective; the advance to the town of Neues Unbenannt.
The large blue dice show the status of the brigadier, since that officer could be
Dashing, Competent, or "Dithering" for that turn. The rules set that up. It has
a lot to do with historical aggressiveness and staff work.

Dave stares down Glenn.
The cotton balls denote the unit has fired.

Austrian Kurassier and Prussian Kurassier prepare to go sword to sword.
The Prussian heavies (elite) are a "large" unit with some extra troops and a +1 in melee.
They were brigaded with a dragoon regiment.(regular)
The Austrian had a regiment of Kurassiers and a combined unit of Kurassier Carabiniers
and dragoon horse grenadiers, all elite.

The Austrian advance over grain fields.
Rifle armed Jager (small unit of skirmishers) precede the one brigade of line infantry.
A brigade of elite grenadiers goes into the village.

Some photos of previous games where the French took a strong punch in the nose.   

French vs. Prussians - fighting over an open field

The French advance.
The red bead denotes a casualty. We've gone to a better system now.

The French right flank

We're still learning the rules and are using the 20mm distances for our 15mm armies.

     I like these rules and I hope to continue to used them. In the SYW period, I cut my teeth on KoenigKrieg and there's still a few things I really like about those rules. I've also played Warfare in the Age of Reason and found them fine as well. I'll stick with HoW for a good long while, I think.

"This Just In!"

     For what it's worth, I'm rather taken with Osprey Publishing's "The Silver Bayonet" game of Napoleonic horror. Warbands/Units of all the players in the Napoleonic era, including the North American side-show of the War of 1812, fight against a rising apocalyptic evil with all its weird minions, like vampires, goblins, ghosts, and other "things that go bump in the night."

    Well, I dived in big time and painted up units for Britain, France, Prussia (1806), Austria, the USA, Irish rebels from 1798, naval crews for either the UK or the USA, and the North American indigenous peoples (First Nations) as well as critters of all sorts, many of which were already in my collection. (The pumpkin-headed murderer at the top of the page is a RAFM figure I've had for many years.)

    I've also found some figures for uses as either investigators, occultists, specialists, or "Heroes of faith." Since my units are coming from ostensibly Christian countries or countries with Christian backgrounds, most of these are Christian clergy or religious figures. There is no reason a unit made up of Jewish troops could not be done; could you imagine a rabbi in the unit as supernatural investigator accompanied by a golem? (The kingdom of Saxony was supposed to have had a tiny unit made up entirely of uniformed Jewish citizens. I'm not sure it ever really existed but plans were made.) A recent player-made update for an Ottoman list showed an Imam as part of the unit... and why not?

    Anyway, I received some models from Badger Games in Wisconsin, USA (Excellent service, by the way. For what it's worth, I recommend them.) to add to either my existing groups or another I'm considering - a Papal unit. The Papal States were absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy under Napoleon and the pope was under the Big N's thumb, but this game is about fiction and gaming and - in the end - having fun. After all, if it's not fun, why do we do it?

     First off, a friar with a shotgun. Not a bad figure, although I needed to add a hood to his tunic. I know this sounds strange, but I've been told stories of Franciscans joining in a home guard unit in the 1940's protecting Pennsylvania's Horseshoe Curve. This stretch of track was a part of the railroad going through the Allegheny Mountains near Altoona, PA. If saboteurs were able to cut this link, a major rail passage from New York or Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and Chicago beyond would be useless. All rail traffic from the Eastern seaboard would have to go through the southern states or through Canada, which would have been a problem early in World War II. So at least some friars carrying shotguns joined that effort. (I've been told this is true. Where they got shotguns, I don't know and never asked. I do know that Brother Finbar used to go bow-hunting, and that's ANOTHER story.) In any event, this stout brother could be of a lot of use in a Silver Bayonet unit.

One of the brothers with a shotgun

Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, PA
A recent photo

     Next is a set of religious sisters from wild west horror range. They're supposed  to be the last surviving member of an community of nuns fighting vampires in the American "Old West." Yes, they have revolvers and I ask you to ignore that since the figs would be so much fun in a SB unit as investigators, occultists, or shooty-types.

Sister Sarah (Yes, the pack came with a mule, which is still being painted.)

Two other sisters with pistol, axe, and carbine/shotgun
I haven't given them names yet, but I'm considering either Sr. Petrusea,
Sr. Marcella, or Sr. Simon-of-Cyrene-helped-Jesus-carry-His-Cross.
I'll let you know.

    Next, some less savory types... both from Copplestone Castings

A ghostly apparition, set to scare.

A mummy.
I liked this figure. Only his toes and part of his face are visible.

    This final figure is not meant to scare, although it might upset some veterans of the naval service or the Coast Guard... a rather well-executed of model of a naval officer to lead the navy's Silver Bayonet unit.

The naval officer armed with cutlass
His naval uniform is far more simple than many wild and
crazy ones of the land forces, but it gives him an air of serious
and no-nonsense authority.

    I've done other occult or supernatural types for other units, such as these:

A friar who has served with both the Austrian
and Irish Rebel warbands.

Fr. Vasili, who'd be perfect if I ever do a Russian unit.
(Note the pistol in his belt.)

A Haitian occultist for the French Imperial Unit
He's holding a skull, a really big skull,

For the 1806 Prussians, Pastor Helduzer
of the Lutheran/Evangelical Church in Prussia

A really old photo of "the Vatican Hit Squad" in a Pulp gaming event.
Bishop Ted stands high atop the wall for no particular reason.
Their opponents are Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, & Company.
It was a wild-and-wooly time.

    If this horror/wild/Napoleonic idea appeals to you, look into the Silver Bayonet first and foremost. [Should you desire a somewhat different experience using a whole different system, check out Wiley Games Horse-and-musket and horror offerings. Those two offerings mix easily.]

'Til later then!

Prey and the Birth of a Legend

 

On Saturday, 4 November, I was able to host two games at the Hamilton Road Games Group in London, ON. Both were using the Fistful of Lead rules from Wiley Games. One was a direct play of the "Prey" scenario from Wiley Games. The second used the plain rules on the same tabletop.

In the first game, both "human" players (Aris and Ryan) had teams of 5 First Nations warriors, armed with bow and arrow or spear. Some of the names I put together for their crews were "Hands-to-the Sky", "Head-of-Rock", "Fleet-of-Foot", "Joe Bear-killer", and the ever-popular "Dances-with-Vermin." Bear, the third player had three Alien Hunters in Holo-suits that made them almost invisible (unless you crossed a body of water which shorted out the suit for a turn), carrying lasers, and being big and nasty. The humans started at opposite corners of the field and the Aliens started dead center on the table. I'll try not to reveal too much about the scenario in case someone reading this wanted to surprise their players with it. It really was a lot of fun.

One hunter advances toward Ryan's crew. Head-of-Rock kneels in wait.
The whole table was considered forested (light cover) except the areas like the light green
one, which was considered to be a clearing.

Aris's team advances toward the creek, coming up behind Bear's alien hunters.
(Figures by RAFM)

Head-of-Rock keeps waiting.

Alien Hunter #2 ("Frazzi" I think) shows one wound (red bead), one shock (yellow bead),
and a working holo-suit. (white ring) Tau Stealth Suit troops seemed fine for this use.

All three Alien Hunters face down Ryan's warband. Dances-with-Vermin is in front with one wound and one shock.

Aris' band keeps sneaking up on the Hunters.

One Alien Hunter takes on a spear-armed warrior with claws. The warrior didn't win.

Another view of that desperate fight!

In the end, Ryan killed two Hunters (10 renown points) and had 4 braves surviving (4 points) for resounding 14 point win. Aris had 4 points and Bear lost two hunters to the Native Braves while taking one out hand to hand. The third Hunter blew himself up when the situation got too desperate and no  rescue was forthcoming. It really was closer than it looked. A Joker in the deck caused a hunter to fall into a pit with sharpened stakes at the bottom. Jokers are fun!

After a brief and satisfying lunch of cherubim and seraphim with iced tea, the same crowd went at it again, using new teams and no Alien Hunters. 2 Jokers were in the mix, which allowed the player to use it as a wild card, but it also caused a downpour of rain which forbid long range shooting. Aris and Bear both had teams of 5 cowboys while Ryan fielded a patrol of the RCMP - an inspector, a veteran sergeant, two constables, and a dog... a dog of legend whose story will be told over campfires for years.

Bear's team entered the field at 12 o'clock level, Aris' at 9 o'clock, and Ryan's at about 4:30 level. Lots of shots were exchanged. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one shoot-'em-out between the survivor of Bear's crew and the last man of Aris' crew, Ryan's all having been gunned down but not without giving almost as good as they got!

Three of Aris' gun-slingers advance over rough ground
(Figures from various manufacturers)

Long range shots between Aris and Bear.

Bear's boys come over the creek.

'Tis the Law north of the border!
(Figures by Pulp Miniatures)

Ryan's Mounties engage Aris' crew.

More shots ring out.

THE LEGEND!
Dog Constable Nova did a high speed sneak around the Mountie left and attacked one of Aris'
boys in the creek. Nova took the gunman out in short order to the cheers of all players and the
games master. (Me!) We were all cheering for Nova to take out ALL of Aris' crew. Nova was
armed with teeth and claws and was "stealthy." (Since the dog couldn't shoot, he got an extra
trait and I gave him "stealth" with it -1 to any shooting attacks on him. It was worth it!)
I think I like dogs as part of a crew for this sort of game.

More shot exchanged.

Sad to say, one of Aris' gang got the initiative on Nova and laid the legendary
dog low. We all held a brief moment of silence in the dog's memory.
(Silence... 1... 2... that's enough.)
Aris is to be known as "Dog-killer" from now on.

 In the end, all of the RCMP patrol were out of action and only one shootist in the gangs of Bear and Aris remained. The exchanged a few shots and then retired to the saloon for some libations since Bear's ride came and he had to leave.

I like the Wiley Games because the same mechanics apply to any game of any period or style you might play using the rules. My son and I played a Grimdark game of Chaos-type nastys vs. Tau-ish aliens and the rules worked great. Our last Christmas party game used the rules in a mixed way, with magic users, modern Canadian army troops, sci-fi heroes, pirates, pulp heroes, and others all in the same team, all trying to save Santa from the Krampus and the Grinch... and it worked great. (See the photos below.) For what it's worth, I'd recommend the entire range of rules - Wild West, historical, horror, Sci-fi, fantasy. It's all just plain fun.

Company Sergeant Major Vanier of the Van doos faces down the Martian ape.

Santa, Krampus, the Grinch, and some mercenary gunmen.

Goblins! Flash Borden! The Phantom! Professor Fate, Master of Magic!
RCMP Sergeant Steele! The Pirate Queen! Weird mushrooms!
All in one game!

So when you play again, I hope the fighting spirit of the legendary Canine Constable Nova, and crazy fun of the First Nation's sniper, Dances-with-Vermin will be celebrated on your table.

More to come soon.