Food!

Hmmm... bacon wrapped filet mignon with a butter and rosemary topping... baked potato with cheese, sour cream, butter, and bacon bits, peas, and the best whole wheat bread I've ever had. Hmmmm...

Post 300!

Huzzah! Post 300!

I've really enjoyed keeping this blog. Many years ago when I first heard about this site, I totally thought "Ohhh I would enjoy blogging... keeping active records, sharing, and talking with people is right up my alley!"

Unfortunately my old computer had problems and I never took the time to solve them! But when I moved to my new house, I found myself suddenly able to access blogspot, and the rest is history!

Anyway... I've really enjoyed blogging, and I hope that people have enjoyed the blogging as well... I have to say, blogging has been really useful and fun for a few reasons!

First, of course, it is great fun to show my toys to other people!:) I only have a single friend who shares the hobby, and we don't see each other as often as we'd like, so it IS nice to be able to show my recent work to folks, and to get feedback.

Secondly, it is also nice to be able to track my own work... I love being able to go back and look at blog entries from some time ago and see where I was... I love seeing stuff sitting in the background of a photo of the workbench, knowing those figures are now finished and sitting in their rightful spot in my cabinets.

Lastly, the blog also represents my own contribution to "more toy soldier eye candy on the web." I can remember so clearly the many evenings I'd be slightly bored, heading towards sleep, and just doing a few searches for toy soldiers... and I can remember when I would find a fantastic site I had never seen before, but which was full of great photos! I hope that somewhere, someday, my blog can be that for someone else. Anyway... good times! Later today, my Fall In 2009 converage ends with a look at my purchases!
(Just so folks know, it counts 300 including drafts and such. Just roll with it.)

Fall In 2009 - The Game I Ran!

Howdy all!

Well, as promised, here is Part 3 of "Lord Ashram's House of War Fall In 2009 Coverage!"

In my first two posts on the subject, I posted some photos from some random games I saw, and some photos from some games I actually played in.

This year, I also hosted a game! It was a 10mm Napoleonic battle, using the same figures and terrain that you've seen on this blog. I used my newest rule set, Brigades and Bearskins, that seemed to go over well... you can download it at the above link. I definitely learned a bit about the rules... they generally went over rather well, as everyone felt they were very simple and, indeed, a few folks said they were the most fun rule set they had played over the weekend, thanks in no small part to the lack of seventeen thousand charts! There are some tweaks I need to make, however... I'll get to them soon:)

It was a good time! We had six players all together; two gents who wandered by and joined, a family of three that played, and myself. And while the beginning was very slow (it is hard to explain rules when A) you are SO familiar with them and B) you've had a few drinks) it did pick up quickly!

Anyway... on to some photos!


First up is a shot of the French left flank... in the center you can see the main French advance on the chateau, and to the right of that the mass French attack on the ridge... a ridge the British were also making a bee-line to!
The British artillery in the center opened fire on the French left, forcing the troops there to begin to take Steady! tests and softening them up as three brigades of British and Allied infantry advanced across the stream to attack...
The British closed on the French, who realized pretty quickly that they were heavily outnumbered... their cavalry had already been routed thanks to some musketfire, and now the infantry was on its own...
The action was fierce, and while the French managed to pound the British a bit, they simply could not hold on... the British eventually pushed the French back and routed them...
... allowing them to cross the stream again and advance towards the French center.
In the center both sides made a break for the ridgeline in the center of the board. On the far flank of the ridge the French got there very fast, while in the center the British got there first. However, the Old Guard got to the center immediately thereafter. Some incompetent commanders did not follow orders, leaving the British short of troops in the center, and the British cavalry was also caught being too aggressive and was punished... and it was finished off as the Old Guard climbed the ridge and smashed into the British lines that deployed just as they arrived. The first brigade of British infantry was crushed, but an Allied brigade managed to stand and fight.
Meanwhile, on the far flank on the edge of the ridge, there was a fierce fight as a British brigade attempted to get up the hill in the face of French musketfire. The British managed to rout two of the nervous French battalions but all of the redcoats were eventually routed, while the French recovered their nerve and returned to the edge of the ridgeline, leaving it firmly in French hands.

Unfortunately this is where we ended, as folks got tired... learning a new system is pretty draining! On the plus side, we played for almost five hours! The folks who played I think had a very nice time... one kind gent (the commander of the doomed French left flank) actually said it was the most fun he had had in a game all weekend, and his wife even enjoyed herself immensely! While tiring, it was a lot of fun, and I'd love to have another shot at a game now that everyone knows the rules!

Oh, by the way... if any of the players read this, I'd love to hear from you, and please, if ANYONE happened to have taken a photo of the game I'd love to get a copy... I was so busy trying to keep it going that I barely took any photos!

Fall In 2009 - Games I Played!

Hey all!

Here is Part 2 of my Fall In "coverage," such as it is... photos from the two games I played!

I have actually never played any games before at Fall In with other folks... a buddy and I would play two man games, but I had never ventured out of that before. This being my last Fall In, I figured I would finally break out and try my hand at other games!

With some suggestions and guidance from folks over at The Miniatures Page, I picked out two games... first, a 40mm AWI game put on by Dave Bonk, and then a 15mm Napoleonic game put on by Sam Mustafa.

First up... AWI! The game was on Friday night, and while at first I had my reservations about 40mm (a bit larger than I normally game with) that was quickly put out of my head. The game was beautiful! A heavily flocked table formed a nice base, and some simple fake teddy bear fur fields and some basic fences really went a long way towards making the table look great. It was a six vs. six game, and while it felt like a tough, uphill climb as the Americans attacking a pretty scary looking British force, we managed to largely contain one of their flanks while rolling up the other! Some terrible luck on our left flank notwithstanding, we still managed to pull off a minor victory!

Overall the game was fun. It seemed to me to be a VERY quiet group (and a few observers commented on it also) compared to most games, but still fun. I enjoyed some aspects of the computer-moderated game (Carnage and Glory,) but I must admit that on more than one occasion I went to cheer on a teammate, only to realize that we weren't really rolling anything, so I was just cheering on a computer! A bit strange, for sure... and I wonder if that had anything to do with the extremely laid back game? Anyway... here is a bit of eye candy from game one!













So then, after Dave's beautiful game, I had Sam Mustafa's 15mm Napoleonic debut of his new rules set, Lasalle! The book itself was rather nice looking, as seems to be the trend (and there are a few awful nice photos, including one of a French surgeon and another of a pretty sweet 10mm Napoleonic set up!) and the rules seemed pretty sharp, as one would expect. While the turn sequence is a bit "different" (first comes shooting, then close combat, then movement) the game itself seemed to move very well, and represented the era well.

I showed up five minutes late because I am an idiot and didn't see the game was at the All Star, but still got some troops, and along with another cavalry commander we managed to smash through the Austrian flank and, had things continued, I am sure we would have done well! Of course, Sam's figures were STUNNING, so I took a few (although not enough!) photos! Enjoy!
















Coming up next... my game from Fall In 2009!

Fall In 2009 - Random Games I Saw

Hey all! Just got back from Fall In 2009! Good times! Over the next few days, I'll put up four posts: one of pictures from random games I saw... one of pictures from games I played... one of pictures from the game I ran... and finally, one about all my purchases! First up... random games I saw!

Here is a 15mm (I believe) Napoleonic game that was being played on Thursday evening... I believe it ran again a few times during the convention. I like the foam table, and that they simply pushed the trees into the table, which got rid of the artificial "trees standing around" feel that many games tables have.
This one above is not "my thing," as it is a space game, but it was a neat table. Behind the big fortress entrance there was a labyrinth of underground passages and rooms, in which lurked lots of aliens... players had to duke it out in there without often knowing what was around the next corner!
There were a few nice naval games that I saw, my favorite maybe being this one... the fort and the surrounding camp were really fantastic looking!
Here is a Zulu game from Friday... done on a larger scale it didn't have quite the "packed in" feeling of smaller scales, but was still good to look at.Here is one table of a double-blind game. There were two completely identical tables, separated by a sheet. On your own table you only saw your own men, and any enemies you spotted. This makes for a very neat game! I have to admit I don't love the huge scale, but the overall concept and execution were great.
In this slightly red picture, you can see a nice WWI game. There were a decent amount of troops on the field, although you can't see them all in this picture!
I am not totally sure what this game is... it looked French and Indian War, but I think it was more a role-playing type frontier game. I did like the rocky outcrop in the back corner of the table, and anything with this many trees always gets my approval!
Here is a Flames of War picture... there are always loads of nice Flames of War tables in the FOW tournament, so they were nice to see.
This was another 15mm WWII game, that I think was a Flames of War game... but what really caught my eye were the modeled dust clouds behind moving vehicles... very cool, especially in a desert game, which has so little eye candy by its very nature!
Another World War 2 game... while it was not fancy (the bocage was just ripped lichen) visually from a few feet away it was an effective presentation.
Awww yeah! Third edition Space Hulk! The figures are AMAZING... I honestly want to buy it JUST to paint the figures, but I could never afford it.
And finally, a WWII 25mm game... I was happy to see another fully flocked table out there, as it seems like there were just way too many half-finished tables.Here is another 15mm ACW game that looked nice, a Prairie Grove game, Federals attacking a Confederate position.And finally, here is a good looking WWII beach invasion... not sure if it is Normandy, but it certainly looked sharp enough!

I must say, that touches on one of my huge pet peeves of Fall In, other than the body odor and gnomes... there were far too many half-assed tables. A few chaps who flew in from Michigan were commenting about how the general standard of table at Fall In simply was not high enough. I am not sure if it is just that people don't know the easy, cheap tricks for making a table look nice? Or do they just not care? Either way, I really do hope that people continue to make their tables look nicer, and avoid the old "cut out swatches of felt represents woods, and marsh, towns, rough terrain, and hills" wargaming, which is just such a visual let down that it seems to undermine our entire hobby... let's face it, inside we are all still kids staring at dioramas, so lets not mess that up!

Anyway, enough ranting... coming up soon, some more Fall In photos, including from Dave Bonk's AWI game and Sam Mustafa's LaSalle game (both of which I was lucky enough to play in, and are pictured at the start and end of this entry) and from my own 10mm Napoleonic game!

All packed up for Fall In... please come introduce yourself!

Hey all!

Well, I am finally all packed up for Fall In! Phew, it took a bit longer than I thought it would. Four boxes of miniatures (only two seen here) along with two boxes of scenery, a box of trees and shrubs, flock, and a host of other stuff!

One thing I am bringing is a bunch of copies of my small scale Nappy rules, Brigades and Bearskins. Each player will get a folder, inside of which will be the following:

1) The full set of rules
2) The "crib sheet" of the essential tables and info, all nicely laminated
and
3) A movement/firing stick measured to 3 and 6 inches (close and long range shooting, advance and charge speed for infantry.)

But of course, the heart of the show is the miniatures! Two huge boxes full, and then another two smaller boxes jam packed... and half of the Prussian army is being left behind!

Also... I am hosting my Napoleonic game in the main hall, table IKE15, on Saturday evening at 6:00 PM... as this will likely be my last Fall In, I'd love for folks who read the blog to come by and say hi... would be great to meet some fellow wargamers!