Looking back ... looking ahead

 2020 was a difficult year in many ways, yet it brought forward a new way to interact with each other over long distances - via the web in real time.

I'm not certain so many of us would have done this without the incentive of "it's either this way or NO WAY."  Given that I would really rather have a game than none at all ... I took up the challenge.  The Alpian Wars have never seen the table as much as they did this year.

Alpian Wars battle from April 2020

With help from my videographer sons, who all took some video production in high-school, I was able to assemble the cameras and some software to make the tabletop come to some life via the internet connections.

setup from Command Zone 2020

I was able to help the Salute convention team have some presence on the otherwise cancelled weekend, then jumped in with HMGS to support them with a game.  Meanwhile I also ran some virtual games for the mental release of the local gaming community.

Pratzen from Lets Roll of HMGS

 In summertime, we were able to game outdoors under a sun cover and did a set of games that likely could not happen any other way.

April ECW game

Bussaco 1810 game

 

Playtest for Stoke Lane

Stoke Lane web view

The Stoke Lane tents setup

Stoke Lane in action

more of the Stoke Lane action

Further incentives to complete my Pirates came with the time having to just wait it all out at home.  

 

Blood & Plunder Sloops finished

(good thing I have a hobby and all the tools to make it happen on my own)

 

more Shako II action in a mini campaign

under tents in September sunshine

more under tents in the campaign in September

the third battle was large

including some unusual deployments

and an opportunity for my new Bavarian forces to reach the table

campaign rounded out indoors, with doors wide open for good ventilation
(the rain had started)

October was one more time outside in the sunshine

Victory Without Quarter
The Alpian Wars again

The year ended with another tightening of face-to-face opportunity and that spurred me to completely re-set my office space so that the 4'x6' table could be quickly set up and left that way for the duration of games (or have games left on the table overnight).

This led to the year end somewhat quieter than usual, with just a couple of online runs in November and December (less than was hoped for).

 

Pirates with Blood & Plunder did make it onto the tabletop first in 2020

The coming year has a few more posts from last year to go yet, a SHAKO II game and another Alpian wars to edit.

For the coming year, I shall be re-setting the table away and pushing into the painting projects, first up are some more 40K characters for my eldest son, then likely some sculpting of some special sci-fi characters I have been meaning to work towards for many years.  The spring rounds out with another ship for Blood & Plunder, then some Lorraine French troops for 'invaders' to the English Civil War (conjectural forces - mostly built from gift and left over ECW forces I already have). Then some molds will be made for casting of the new troops to come when the weather turns drier in late spring.  I have also been given a heads up that I will likely have some 18mm AB Crimea Russians to put paint onto in the coming months.

Ideally by April I will have the last of my planned Pirates, the completion of the ECW forces, save for perhaps some more border horse or clubmen of various description and made a start into the French and Indian Wars troops for skirmish and more.

As for the rest of 2021?  Too 'out of focus' to be able to make any real decisions about.  I am hopeful that by May/June time frame we will be able to gather in groups of 6 (or more) and that the worst of restrictions will be relaxed (so that my wife can be working well again in live theater - 50+people -  would be great).

Ultimately I will be ready to take on more virtual games if need be and shall keep a record of those actions here dear readers.

Live Broadcast Tabletop game - support of Lets Roll and KeyCon 2020

Another journey into the history of Austerlitz.

This time with some adjusted forces, to see what Bonaparte might have accomplished the storming of Pratzen with.

during deployment Dan-O captured this image

We had plans to record this session fully, yet something happened in the software (or operation of it) and the recording was lost.

I still managed to grab a few still shots and this wonderful one from one of the many players from the US east coast in support of Lets Roll 2020.  Including a key one of the Snappy Nappy operations team.

forces fully deployed at game start

view from the French lines towards the Austrians lining the ridge

Again I was using the dark cloth table covering, with the stones as before to delineate the hill top and bottom slopes.

We made use of the tech at hand and had the French team go into a break out 'room' (digital) to make their plan so that the Allied commanders were 'in the dark'.

Then both sides did their orders maps as required by SHAKO II rules:

Allied map was dead simple - save for the Guard which was explained to my tech leader, Alex

The French map was more detailed and covered the situation really quite well

The missing Russian guard portion called for the Guard to arrive on turn 2 (same as the Russian foot division, to the north) and pass south of Pratzen and move past the point of the plateau into the hollow to the west of Pratzen.  With a turn 2 arrival and a slow march, this would put the division 'point' of the arrow on or about turn 5.

turn 3 overview

The French Guard columns were storming the plateau with Italian guard to the south side of the formation

Russians and Austrians were now becoming intermingled as they struggled to hold the ridge against D'Erlon's division in the north of Pratzen

D'Erlon's view

massive artillery formations were present from both sides, with the French having the Imperial Guard foot and Horse Batteries

the gap between d'Erlon's division and the Guard

Guard on advance with Pratzen town in the distance

French Guard Commander Bessier (represented on the white horse - my own sculpt of Eugene de Beauharnais)

not to be outdone the Russian Imperial Guard under Grand Duke Constantine was now assembling behind their own horse batteries supported by Austrian Horse batteries!

the supreme moment came in turn 5, 13h00 as the French Guard executed an excellent combined arms assault just south of Pratzen hitting the Russian Pavlov Grenadier Guards with both the French Grenadier Guard a Pied and the Grenadier Guard a Cheval at the same time, indeed a turn earlier the Guard Foot Artillery had injured this unit as it moved forward.

game ended after 5 very active turns

The French had a toe hold, and if you look to the top right of the flash photo with troops in it you can see the Allied Imperial Headquarters behind Pratzen (now on fire) and the French Grenadier foot and horse are BOTH in easy range of this vital target.  On turn 6 without doubt the Allied Grand Headquarters would have been over-run, leaving the Allied armies leaderless and at -1 to all rolls for continued survival.

It is hard to say if the French could have claimed to have achieved the same results as Bonaparte, who was reported to have been sighting artillery on the south slopes of the plateau at 14h00.

All in all a great game, had a wonderful time chatting with Dan-O and Thomas after the battle and have some new ideas on how to make our next tabletop broadcast even better.

We are certain to have at least two more opportunities over the next few months as the separation instructions and needs will keep us away from face-to-face for a while longer yet.  Watch here and on facebook for future game events.

Command Zone VIRTUAL wrap up

The plan was to do some connection with both local, regional and international tabletop historical game players and the interested community.

That plan came out in spades!

freeze frame from a hold screen on the third day of games

I managed to get in three tabletop games in as many days and also connect with game players in a fun and entertaining way.

started with Victory Without Quarter on Friday night:

Table during deck 4

same view showing more of the 'tech' to keep the data flowing

troops view at the end, Alpia was defeated by the Knights and horse of Vile Stagonia driving them back

the little town became a zone where the two forces swirled

the sky cloth got a full workout this weekend, as did the streams in my terrain set

Alpian General Nate was a good sport about the way the cards fell ...

Saturday was to be the Main Event with a slate of players and viewers from as far away as the UK

The game was a historical battle, Ripple Field, with the Black Powder rules set used Pike & Shotte

table at game start, with the Royalists under Prince Maurice along the north side (where the sky cloth is) and Parliament deployed in some depth behind the small hill in the center of the field

We had Rob doing the book 'rules lawyer' to keep me honest, as I have not been 100% on the rules set.

Plenty of action on the top of the ridge line as the Royalists CHARGE! hit home

Big shout out to Rene Charbonneau for taking on the role of Parliament Commander Sir Willam Waller and for accepting to announce 'gamer's GAME ON!' in the same way as he does from the stage at the Salute convention (which was cancelled this weekend) so as to provide an ambience similar to the Burnaby annual event (which Rob and I had won awards at the past two years).

our UK observer asked for a 'flying camera' view of the field and I took this shot at the same time (hence the tripod slightly in view)

near game end, the Parliament had held the hill!

both sides were much damaged, the Royalists under Maurice were not able to move forward any further due to losses in the battalia

a 'troop level' photo that managed to capture the parliament dragoons in great focus

Rene, as Waller, reversed the historical outcome of Ripple Field

Then Saturday night was a round-table of discussions about various game topics, we came up with a design to go after a 15mm 'army' for Hordes of the Things - sort of like a Callahan's Cross-Time Saloon meets Game of Thrones meets Rome.  Mix it up with whatever 15mm miniatures you have or borrow some from the other players.

There were more laughs and more ideas shared with an interest coming with the game potential once the CV restrictions become relaxed.

Sunday brought out SHAKO II and a Napoleonic tabletop battle with a full set of players who have never faced off before and I had played game with  in years past.

table at start of SHAKO 2 meeting engagement

It was a 1:1 battle, with slight variations in the types of units, under the formation of the Divisions as they would appear historically in 1813.

Chris ably commanded the French, as he had with the Royalists and the Stagonians!  Chris certainly takes the top player award for coming out to nearly every event in this improvised game convention.

Nate, down in the USA was the opponent, commanding the Austro-Russians.

French Command

Austrian Division Commander

Italian and French artillery in front of the town with some Italian light infantry and a battalion of Irish "Wild Geese"

After 8 turns of battle, the Russian Division broke and fled the field, leaving the victory to the French at 7-6 final score.

a view of the forest of my 'weeble trees' with the dead from the advancing Russian columns.

this was a French 'victory', only at a great cost and in no way a one that could be 'followed up'

once again, this very first painted "Saxon" French Hussar unit finds itself on the table on the winning side ... could it be a good luck charm?

I was hoping for some connection and a few laughs with old friends and to find a few new ones.

I had this happen.

I call it a win!

May you find time to game where and when you can.  If you are seeking a different possibility contact me as there are some loose plans to do at least some more 'remote' board-games.

Gamers - GAME ON!