Benefits of Club Wargaming - A call to arms

In a departure from my regular post. A call to arms....

Last week saw the 'valiant few' of the Wyvern's Wargaming Club put on a multi-player Stargrave game - excellent fun, with the usual levels of skulduggery and good humour.

With only two games on offer that evening, It got me thinking about the future of club gaming and how as we return to normal, Covid and the past 12 months of locked down appears to have significantly impacted the gaming community, certainly in our local area. Instead of seeing people clamouring for face to face gaming players have gone to ground. the forum is quiet and the early banter and conversations of lockdown 1 & 2 have been replaced by radio silence.

• After long periods of isolation have players turned into modellers, painters and on-line gamers?
• Have we lost some of our newer players returning to the hobby after having young kids brought up on Games Workshop and now trying historical gaming - During the length periods of home working, have they now found new hobbies?
• Have we lost players to Covid given our demographic? Or has the recent loss of several stalwarts of the hobby left a significant gap, as we wait for newer characters to step forward?
• Have people built their own game space and now no longer think they need a club as they can game at home?

This conversation tends to come round every now and again - So why a club...?

Why do I need to keep lugging my terrain, figures around when I can simply play at home? 

In no particular order, my reasoning for club gaming over remote/solo gaming.

• Room - Yes I can at a push roll out a 6x4 but every now and again, I want to go BIG, with more than two players, I want people (Generals) huddled in corners planning their next move, I want to push regiments across a large table, stretching to reach the middle.
• Inspiration, new ideas and new projects - some of the best projects have come from that cross table chat, the whole club painting Zulu's or now everyone digging out Stargrave Gangs - That would simply not happen at home.
• Hints and Tips - How do you get that effect? - Black or White under coat - Google and You Tube are fine but I want to see mini's close up and physically hold them to see how others do things.
• New Friends and simply getting out of the house. - We might not know the names of each others partners, kids, jobs, Birthdays - But we know people's favourite period, scale and tabletop tactics. 
• Mental Health - With a head full of projects, terrain ideas, future gaming plans - who has time to worry about work or real life?

This is our club space...... Based in the village of Bishampton, we attract members from Evesham, Pershore, Worcester and Redditch, with a few even further out.

We have dwindled in numbers of late and are on the lookout for new or returning members, in effort to drive membership we have a new home on Facebook, much to the kids disgust. 

Wyvern Wargamers | Groups | Facebook

If you are in the area check us out, a friendly group playing most historical games and/or popular games on the market on the 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month. We have a long running Saga Tournament (hopefully back next year) and a number of all dayers.....

If your not local please share with your network, after all I suspect we are not alone in seeing a downturn in members and occasionally we all need reminding to make that extra effort.

Join the group and come and take part or like Woolworths, Debenhams or your local model store we might just be gone.

Battle of Gailey's Crossroads - Confederate AAR

My very good friend Paul very recently wrote a battle report for the recent ACW outing over at Evesham Wargames Club with the line "history belongs to the side which ends up writing the history". Well the war is not over my friend this is the offical battle report  from the Southern Republic regarding the Battle of Gailey's Crossroads.

The Scenario was a simple one advance up the table and clear out any federal forces blocking our path. We knew that behind the Town of Bishampton the Union forces were starting to stack up so a fast advance was the order of the day.

The  view from the Southern Front.

Carl's Division took the lead, valliant souls from the heart of Alabama, the advance was swift coming into sight of  Gailey's Crossroads after a couple of turns.

Union Cavalary were seen deploying behind the picket fences and stone walls, their repeating rifles would be deadly if we entered into a protracted fire fight.

General Carl urged his men forward supported by artillery fire from Evesham Hill.

What the Union Cavalry add in fire power they lack in numbers they were hindered by some of the most unluckly dice rolling ever to be seen on a wargames table, Cavalry units were running low on ammunition, others throwing up thick smoke which screened the avancing Confederate forces.

The Union forces deployed an artillery battery to stem the Confederate tide, but this to suffered from a lack of ammo.... ( who was the quartermaster????)

General Carl ordered his men forward with minimal casaulties and shock he charged his bayonets and rushed straight for the Union Cavalry, going against the doctine of previous games of exchanging volley fire first !!!

The Confederate forces numbers told and the union were cavalry feel back in some disorder, it would be several turns before they were able to reform and recover.

Bouyed by their success Carl's Division pushed on but they were starting to suffer a number of casualties and shock, Big Men and Officers were spread across the front and they were desperate to reorder their forces.

Mean while General Stuart's Texas Division entered the table, delayed due to the Generals late lunch.

Carl's Division was slowed by elements of the 76th New York and Union Zouaves who were coming off blinds and were deploying to the front, the men from Alabama knew no fear and pressed on, out stripping the supprting Texas units.

They were now out numbered 3:1 including the returning Union Cavalry under Lt Bacon.

Several volley's were fired by the Union line forcing the Confederate forces to seek shelter in the wheat field, elements of Carl's divsion began to slink away unable to respond to the Union fire and with two few Officers available to reorder the line.

As dusk began to fall, the men from Texas arrived to see their brothers from Alabama retiring from the line with Bacon's cavalry shadowing their withdrawal....

We had secured the cross roads and it would be a bloody task for the Union to take it back.

Mission accomplished....... :-)

28mm Elizabethan Swashbucklers & Sea Dogs

Reading the Pike Shot & Zombie Rules led me to dust off a couple of Blister packs of Foundry Elizabethan's. The rules are set in the Thirty Years War, but I guess 50 years earlier won't make much difference....

At our local club we have often talked about figures that satisfy a need for certain types of games, for example Colonial Skirmishes mostly covered by our Zulu War Collection, this tends to involve a limited number of well armed europeans facing off against a poorly armed foe..... How much different is that from Zombie games where figures are constantly ambushed by the walking dead and the constant worry about being overwelmed...?

Another one of the areas of gaming interest was swashbucklers..... Whether it was the flashing blade on a saturday morning or the 3 Musketeers films in the 1970's... While having considered the excellent Brigade Miniatures, Musketeer range  I was also put off by the level of detail likely to be required in getting the lace effect right.

Foundry's Elizabethan range seem's to satisfy that need for a few figures aside dancing the dual of death taking no more than a couple of hours... A perfect club game?

English Lords ready to defend the Queen's honour.

Spanish Invaders looking to turn England Catholic

Of course 2 Blisters is never enough and plans are now a foot to expand this project from half a dozen figures fighting the hordes of undead to Historical. The Anglo–Spanish War (1585–1604) seems to be largely ignored by Wargamers in general which seems perfect for my reputation of doing periods less well known.

The wars were an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. With the potential for games in the Netherlands or potential landings of Spanish forces on English Soil.

As luck would have it I caught the Sea Hawk (1940) on TV this afternoon on one of the more obscure channels - Errol Flynn as Captain Geoffry Thrope who "Singes the Kings Beard" all on his own...

Now I have ideas around the Indies and other such places....

The gods of Wargaming are against me...

Terrible Sharp Sword - ACW Confederate Forces

Sunday see's the Evesham Wargames Club Big Game I 2012, Over the last few months numerous club members have being amassing forces for the forthcoming ACW engagement.

We shall be using the Sharp Practice from the Two Fat Lardies.

To make the game a little more personable we have selected a regiment each, I have selected troops mustered from Milam County.
Sandwiched between Austin & Dallas.

I found a great web site, which detailed the units raised in the area and the names of the officers.
The link can be found below.
http://jamesewilliams.tripod.com/index-2.html

Two units will gather on the field of Battle on Sunday.

'E' Coy Milam County Guards - 4th Texas Cavalry commanded by Lt Buckholt

The dismounted Guards line up against the picket fence, seeking cover where they can

"At the canter, Lt Buckholt leading from the front."

Next up Company G "Milam County Grays", 5th Texas Infantry under the joint command of Captain John W Story & Capt J.C. Rogers

"Capt Rogers urges on his loyal men of Texas."

Having done the research on the units, I feel a real affinity towards these guy's. So much so I might just have to let one of the other Rebel Commanders lead the assault.... :-)

Details of some of the Yanks can be found here. http://movealongnownothingtoseehere.blogspot.com/2012/02/billy-yank-marches-to-war.html

Full AAR detailing the rebel victory (I hope) to follow.

If your close by drop in the kettle is always on.

Gloucester Minicon - 29th January 2012

Just short of a month to go before the first outing of our Zulu War Adventure and Paul from our club has produced an excellent poster for our participation game...

It really captures the feel for the period and game.

Feel free to drop by and see us on the 29th.

Sharp Practice Zulu War Modifications.

Zulu’s Wars in Sharp Practice.

Set out below is a summary of the amendments and in house rules made for Sharp Practice and Terrible Sharp Sword Rules by the Richard Clarke and the guy’s over at Too Fat Lardies. These have been used by our club the Evesham Wargames Club to run a number of large scenarios based in the Zulu Wars of 1879.

Zulu Warriors.
Zulu infantry Units are broken down into 3 Unit Types.
Zulu Skirmish Unit.

A Zulu Skirmish unit should be 10 men strong and armed with fowling pieces. Zulu Infantry are poor shots and must spend every other action reloading.

Zulu Infantry Unit.

A Zulu Infantry unit should be 15 men strong armed with Assegai thrusting spears. The Zulu’s are aggressive in Fisticuffs and carry Big Choppers.

Zulu Regiment.

A Zulu Regiment should be between 30 – 60 men strong armed with Assegai thrusting spears. The Zulu’s are aggressive in Fisticuffs and carry Big Choppers. A regiment will be made up of between 2-4 elements. Between 3-6 men in the formation will be armed with fowling pieces.

Zulu Experience.

Zulu Troops are categorised as per Terrible Sharp Sword (page 7) however Greenhorns are able to skirmish and none of the Zulu Troops receive the pluses for musketry. Zulu’s from the first invasion are Determined; troops from the 2nd invasion are Downcast.

Zulu Blinds.

A Zulu unit that enters a terrain item can revert to Blind in the next turn. When moving out from the terrain piece they can split into two blinds, one representing a fake and one the genuine unit.

Zulu’s move at 1d6 + 3 per action.

They may spend one action Hunkering Down which improves there cover class by one grade. i.e. None becomes light and Light becomes medium.

British Regulars.

All infantry Groups should be eight men strong. They are in the main Acceptable Shots and are armed with Superior Rifles. British Troops are classed as Triumphant in terms of belief.

Random Event Cards.
A set of random event Cards are available on the Too Fat Lardies Yahoo Group.
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Toofatlardies/files/Sharp%20Practice%20Colonial/

Hand to Hand
When in Close Comabt all rules apply as per the TSS rule book, however we have limited the number of figures fighting, so for examaple British Troops in Open or Skirmish order will be out numbered by a maximum of 4:1, whilst a British Infantry Section in Close order can only be out numbered by a maximum of 2:1 per figure.

Big Man Allocation.
British
8 Man Section – Status I/II Big Man
Status III/IV Big Men range from Colour Sergeants to Senior Officers.
Zulu

Zulu Big Men are allocated on a ration of 2 Big Men for every 3 Units fielded. Typically each force will also be allocated a senior commander or induna this commander will typically be one grade higher than the most experienced Big Man.

Demonstartion Game vs Participation Game ?

Just back from Warfare at Reading, over 85 Traders and over 20 demonstration and participation games, it got me thinking about our own club, as a rule my local club is a shy club made up of regular guy's. we turn up on a Sunday unpack our figures, spend 4 hours talking all things gaming and then go home again, however in recent months we have seen a slow decline in numbers which prompts the question how do you get more members...

Several months ago a suggestion was put forward by one of our members regarding our interest in taking part in Gloucestershire MiniCon to be held on the Sunday 29th January 2011.

This is a collaberation of several Clubs from the local area, Evesham, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Redditch was the intention of bringing several games together on one day.

It prompted me to think about what's the best way to promote interest in your own club, having committed to being there on the 29th do we put on a participation game or a demonstration game?

To be honest demonstartion games leave me some what cold, having spent many a Sunday driving several hours to a show and wandering from stall to stall I often find myself drifting by the various games on display. These normally contain some great looking terrain and nicely painted figures with 4 or 5 people patrolling their table and doing everything they can to avoid eye contact with those wandering past.

There often seems very little engagement with fellow gamers and more over very little knowledge of the USP's of the various rules, figures or terrain on offer, on a number of occasions you almost feel you have interupted a regular club game as players.....
What must a member of the public feel?

So it strikes me that participation games must be the best approach, I don't want to go off and grab several memers of the public off the street and drag them into the sports centre and force them into a game nor do I want to become a babysitting service whilst Dad goes off and buys figures, but I do want to make people feel welcome and want to take part.

I want club members to take the time to explain the game, rules, the scenario and what makes it so much fun to passersby.

We need to remember why we are there.

1. To have a day out away from the wife and kids playing Soldiers?

2. A spending spree to save on postage and packaging?

3. An advert for our own club and a chance to recruit?

In order for the participation game to work we should  have details of the scenario available, what needs to happen to win, what rules we are using and what figures are needed to play the game.

We need fliers for our club and details of where and when we play, but perhaps more over we need to interact with those people who pause to look.

So what next - A period that people know well and a game that will last under an hour......

After much consideration we decided on a scenario from the Zulu Wars....
Here's a clue - Scenario details to follow.

Against the Assagi - Evesham Wargames Club All Dayer

Last Sunday the Evesham Wargames Club got together for an all day colonial affair, over the last 2 years we have amassed quite a large collection of 28mm Zulu's with everyone completing their fair share of Zulu's to bolster the native ranks.

Each player took command of their own detachment of Britsh Troops and selected their characters.

We used a modifed version of Sharp Practice from the TooFatLArdies with over 50 Bigmen in the deck this was going to be a long day in the field with Dust, Tears & Dice.....

It seemed a suitable adventure for the return of our hero of the hour Ferguson of the 99th

Set out below is an extract from his private diary....

After spending several days holed up at the field hospital at the drift I was passed fit for duty and ordered to return to my old unit, before I set off I heard that a rescue misson was to be mounted for a couple of Boer Farmers who had not been heard from for several days. Zulu activity had been increasing over recent days and these crazy dutchmenn had built their homesteads the wrong side of the river....

We were to cross into Zululand and rescure them and their families.

I had a friend in the Natal Mounted Police and managed to get myself a command of a cavalry detachment which was to lead the river crossing, a chance to show my metal to The Colonel The Rt Hon Basil Sir Gently-Tipping commander of the expedition (Played by Dean.)

View from the high ground before we crossed the river. The homesteads can be seen to NE & NW of the table.

I crossed the river with my two detachments of cavalry crossing at two separate fords. A detachment of Natal Native Horse and a detachment of  Natal Mounted Police, together with A boer farmer De Groot and his Zulu scouts who I posted out front as pickets.



I sent De Groot out scouting for our sneaky Zulu foe, he had orders to push for the high ground in the centre of the table but was also ordered to seek out the forces.





It was only a few turns before Zulu skirmishers were spotted in a small Zulu Farm in the centre of the table, with more warriors flooding the table to the rear of the Kraal.



Having reached the high ground I had the NNH dismount and give fire to the approching Zulu's.







I had the NNP dismount to add weight to the firing line as increasingly more Zulu's began to show themselves.



Meanwhile the column continued to cross the drift marching ever closer to the high ground were I was holding my own against the Zulu's.... Then as soon as they had appeared the Zulu disapeared falling back behind the ridge line which shielded us from the NE Boer homestead.



Flushed with Success and with men from Major Cumming and Captian Lewis's detachment on the hill I set off after the Zulu Skirmishers who were taking the occasional pot shots from the Kraal.



Unfortunately it was at that time that the Zulu left horn showed itself breaking a ridge line to the left of the advancing column and closing off the open ground to my mounted troops.

I under estimated the speed of the Zulu advance and my cavalry detachments were caught in the flank by the aggressive Zulu's with their stabbing Assagi's (Big Choppers under the rules)

The NNH and the NPM were forced to flee from the advancing Zulu's many of them unhorsed. I was forced to watch from the massed ranks of infantry as over half my detachment ran for the safety of the border, with enough shock to keep them out of the encounter for several hours.



The British Infantry held firm and awaited Lewis's order to fire.



Meanwhile artillery fire from Lt Marling added to the Zulu's troubles.





With fire from the blue ranks of the naval brigade under Lt Plumstone firing into the ranks of massed warriors they were forces to retreat with a significant amount of shock.



Meanwhile diaster was to strike in the centre, Captain Lewis was distracted by Zulu's within yards of his firing lines, I had been sent back to calm the nerves of De Groot whose natives had taken flight from the first Zulu attack, when one Zulu warband had advanced through a gap in the firing ranks lines and swamped a unit of British Infantry under Sergeant Hunt, who was forced back to the wagon park. Fortunately fire from Major Cumming's detachment and elements under Sergeant Reagan forced the Zulu to flee.



Just as the day was drawing to a close and the troops were toasting their success the Zulu right horm mad it's appearance to the far right of our column and to the rear of our wagons and artillery who so far had been largely in effect.

(The look of shock across the faces of the British command reminded me of the end of Zulu when the impi's appeared on the hills..... :-) )

Whilst the gunners were forced to flee the guns and in one instance actually defeated the Zulu attackers, they were able to inflect sufficent shock on the Zulu's to stall there advance and with the clock striking 8.30 we called it a day.

We had inflicted a large number of casualties on the Zulu's for the loss of very few regulars. Unfortunately we did not reach the farms and can only hope that the Boers managed to slip across the river. I hope they don't bear any ill's to us in the years ahead.

Any plans I had of a command in the cavalry have probably been dashed, I can't wait to return to my command and the good old fashioned foot sloggers...

Stay tuned for more adventures from Ferguson of the 99th.

Anglo - Zulu War - Frontier Horse

With the Evesham All Dayer a few weeks away, the Colonial Forces need a few extra's to protect them from the Zulu hordes... Looking over the paint table over the last few days and I seem to have very little left that needs completing until of course some thing new comes out (Warlord Plastic Zulu's anyone?)

Recent new recruits for the Crown include the following.

Frontier Horse

I completed the mounted figures several months ago, but Foundry did not produce a dismounted version, as we are going for the concept that less is more. I thought I would produce some foot versions, the figures are made up of Empress Boers with Zulu Heads and a couple of figures from Northstar and their Africa Range.





British Characters

As we are using the Too Fat Lardies Rules where the use of officers or Big Men become important, I have painted up the lead character Ferguson, however in the most recent game he was "killed" - I say killed more likely left for dead in true Hollywood fashion I may have to use the wounded officer from Black Tree Designs.



Zulu Dead.

You can never have enough dead Zulu's so the British commanders tell me, I had a bunch of dead figures from Black Tree so I thought I would paint them up as they are almost the last of Lead Zulu Mountain.
I also finished off a couple of the Foundry characters that were left over.