A Players Mindset - it determines outcomes. Napoleonic Night

Being a thoroughly depressed individual with more neuroses than the common house cat, it can be difficult to make ones way through a game without the negative reinforcement coming to the fore.

I know that I am not lucky when it comes to anything involving chance.  Be it raffles, lotto or rolling dice.  I can always place myself in a position where I believe my troops will come through, but in the end I always seem to fluff that critical die roll that changes everything.

So last night I had my usual game of Napoleonics with Andrew.  The terrain was kind to me, I was able to secure one flank with a substantial building.  My initial assaults looked promising, with a number of unusual results, namely my cavalry winning combats and chasing away my opponent.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

My left flank held by the Prussians.  My Hussars had bolted across
the table to engage the enemy cavalry and were successful in driving
them off.  We then followed off as some infantry wanted to "party" at
our expense if we hung around.  The french horse artillery were still
limbered and no immediate threat.

My British half of the army held the right flank.  Dug in and
refusing to leave the protective confines.  However two battalions
were dispatched to deal with the french guns.

The two battalions of British advancing towards the french guns.
The British Hussars on a mad dash to help the Prussian Cavalry.
They got a touch up by the french guns, loosing 2 casualties.

Onward to "victory"?

Ducking and weaving between the Prussian columns, the British
continue on their way to support the Prussians.  Really only made
the dash to provide distraction to the french cavalry, which may have
thought to butcher some infantry.

 

Yes a battalion made it to engage the french horse artillery, only
to see the bastard limber up and run away off table.  Failing to nail
these guns would cause me to capitulate in the end.

Form square and hope they don't shoot at us.

Meanwhile on the other flank, the plodding British had finally
made it to the french guns, Made the final charge and chased off the
crew.  Having left my command staff miles away from the action
didn't help these poor buggers left flapping in the wind.

My Prussian Hussars have returned.  The British Hussars flanked
the french, sacrificing a battalion as bait.  The rest of the Prussians
withdrew as Andrews reserves arrived.  More cavalry and the returning
horse artillery.

Chasing off the artillery crew.  Flanking french and no command
staff made life precarious.

With the arrival of the french reserves, the horse artillery lining up for enfilading shots on the Prussian battalions in column it was all over bar the shouting.  My cavalry had been neutralised, and while I did have the guns intact, getting them to reposition would take too long.

I conceded as I could not see myself being able to pluck victory or a draw.  Being told that if I had done this etc while helpful for future battles didn't help me much.  My mind has already given the game up, in the end it was my expectation that my dice would fail me at critical times, rather than thinking I had placed units in the best position is what made me decide to capitulate.

Yes a negative mind wins battle for opponent generals.

Sigh, not even medication helps....

Thursday I have a rematch.  I will rework my list and see if I can do any better.

Knowing that when I start taking pictures is like the kiss of death to our games, I need to show something of the pageantry that is Napoleonic warfare.

The Walking Dead... no not the television show

Here are some photos of my fantasy zombies from GW.  These were to say colourful and added that flavour to undead theme.  Pity everything is so generic and mass produced with no soul.  Certainly you can get a lot out of plastics, but theses old lead chaps are just so evocative.

The collection, a few doubles but they are all I have left.

Two of my favourites (poor taste I know),
Crow eating brains (left) and Hold your head up by the hair (right).

Napoleonic Wednesday - the french flog us again!

Another night of woe.  Andrew and I used the same lists from our last engagement.  I wanted to give my list another go, as the terrain previously was not advantageous at all.  This time the terrain was for the most part on my side of the board.  Allowing me some leeway to use the hamlets and crooked stream.  Neither of us out scouted the other so a plan of deployment was used.

The pictures tell the story.

I decided to flank march with my Dragoons, but seeing they didn't arrive until the 6th turn, it was all over bar the shouting.

My troops again failed their dice rolls with typical gay abandon, leaving me flapping in the wind, with nothing else to do but watch the french shoot us down, and the cavalry running all over us.

New list for the next engagement.

I thought I had my right flank secured with the artillery and hussars to protect.
Andrew charged the guns, I counter charged the french cavalry (forgot what
type), then it all went downhill from there.

My center advanced, hoping to chase away the guns, and engage
the french troops.

My left flank was secured, but it was a waste of troops tied up
protecting the other artillery battery.

My hussars failed to stop the french, who then ran rampant
through my artillery, routing them off the field.  The rot had begun.

The center continue to advance.  The British were sidestepping to avoid the
french cavalry and artillery.

My left flank very secure!  But wasted.

It seems every time I take out my tablet to take photo's it's like the kiss of death.  I do like taking photos purely to show the games, which while I rarely win, I do enjoy (do I really) the game, certainly the company at least.

Oldtimers 2015 W40K Tournament Rules

Here are the tournament rules.

Please provide any feedback.

Oldtimers-2015-40K-2nd-Edition-Tournament-Pack

Oldtimers 2015 - Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition Tournament

It had to happen!

I've bitten the bullet, booked a date and am now in the throws of getting the rules together.

Build an army (worthy of Mordor) equal to or less than 1500 points.

More information once I've proofed and sorted the old rules from other rules that keep wanting to creep in from other editions.

Event will be:

Date:   16th May 2015
Where:  The Blind Pig Games Club, The Finnish Hall, 62 Newnham Road, Mount Gravatt, Queensland, 4122 (Australia for people from OS looking in)

A one day event, 3 rounds.

So that's the main information I wanted to convey.  So you have 5 months to sort your lists and remember how to play 2nd Edition.

Cheers

John

40K 2nd Edition Games - Eldar vs Tyranids - 2000pts

What a corker of a game I had today with Mark R.

Moments of Note:
Wraithguard got an advanced deployment and toasted the Exocrine before it could attack.
My Farseer being gobbled up by Daemonic Attack (I rolled a 1 at the most unfortunate of times).
Carnifax soaked up more damage than I could believe (10 wounds).  Survived against everything I could throw at it, multimelta missiles, lascannons and heavy plasma cannon.  Got it in the end with a krak grenade.
Eldar Scouts are not effective against Tyranids (needle sniper rifles not work).
Hormaguants were very effective.
Genestealers gut everything they come against.
Warpspider like the warp and dissappear rather than fight.  Yes all three fell victim to the warp!
Biovores got to fire all five rounds of spores.

Looking forward to another game.

Wraithguard taking out the Exocrine.

Guardian gun line that failed to take my objective or gun down
hordes of Tyranids.

Some Tyranids deployed for frist turn.

Termagents ignoring the Wraithguard.

Wraithlord advancing to engage Carnifax.  Badly wounded it,
did 7 wounds, but not enough to stop it carving the dreadnought
to pieces.

Dark Reapers thinning the horde.

1st round of sustained fire, 10 dice, 4 jams.

Eldar Harlequins for 40K 2nd Edition

This Wednesday I will be having my first game of 40K 2nd Ed in a very long time.  I think 1998 may have been the last time I played a game.

At the time I had a friend who painted very well and he was agreeable to paint my Harlequins for me (at a price of course, friendship is so negotiable).  While I may have been able to paint them to his level, I just didn't have the time or patience.

I am glad to be able to say I still have these beautiful models.

Dark Eldar to Eldar

We all go through a "white" period.  Yes I did it, and yes I failed, so much so that my Eldar will be have either a dip in the dettol or they will go yellow!

I wanted at the time a female Seer Council for my Eldar, which GW didn't do at the time.  The female Dark Eldar were perfect for the job.  No shuriken pistols at the time either so I had to do some cutting and transplanting to make it all come together.  In the end, I was happy with the work.

My Eldar Guardians had a Dark Elf feel to them.  In the rules at the time Guardians could go close combat (really, who would have done that).  I had plenty of spear men from my Dark Elf project left over so I made the spear the close combat weapon.

White, what can I say, not an easy colour to work with.  Because I varnish all my figures, white does not deal well with it, becoming slightly yellow from the varnish (not the colour, just the fact that the varnish dries that yellowish colour).

Time to move things around.

I admit that I'm one of those people who hates furniture or any other fixture in my house staying in one place for ever.  I am constantly moving things around to attempt and maximize my limited space.

Two of the bookcases I have are the cheap laminate chip board ones.  My lower story is prone to flooding in severe weather, and as such the chipboard bookcases don't last for long.  The soak up the water likely a thirsty camel in the desert.  Hence one bookcase is being recycled for the hobby room, to store all those figures awaiting a lick of paint.

My wife does AVON, and as such I get to keep her delivery boxes when she's finished with them.  However I just didn't have enough of them and had to pop into my local Bunnings to acquire some storage boxes.  AUS$2.50 doesn't sound like an expensive purchase, I bought 8 thinking that should be enough for one bookcase.  Wrong all that did was empty 3 of 5 shelves.

One of things that always happens when I clean and move things is I find games and all sorts of things I'd forgotten about.  I found my childrens (ok they are really mine) Pokemon games for the Nintendo.  Four years worth of bills (paid) which only made me depressed when I looked at how much my power bill has increased.  Then some games!

Sprayed everything with surface spray to deter the crawlies.

Just a small selection of boardgames and such from
the 1980's on wards unearthed in cleaning.  

Three shelves that now store my rules collection.
Just a few for 30+ years of collecting.

GangBusters - District Map & Family Business

I always love sources that can provide me with as much information as possible to make a campaign.  I came across this map (split in two parts) which provides me with more than enough districts to build a working city.  It shows middle and working classes by ethnicity which really helps define areas where mobs can be located.  I have still to get myself a copy of the RPG, but I'm hoping that I won't have to wait forever.

Ward Map of Lakefront City (1920-1940)

Middle and working class German

City Center Mixed Ethnic and Class Groups

Upper Class Assimilated

Middle Class Assimilated

Working Class Assimilated

Working Class Irish

Working Class Italian

Black Ghetto

Jewish Lower Class (same nationalities as East European Working Class)

East European Working Class (includes Poles, Russians, Slavs, Croats, Czechs, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Hungarians and Rumanians)

Now I've dug out my copy of Family Business, time for some mob wars!

Gangbusters - 1920's miniature and role playing project

My divergence at present.  I had hoped to have obtained a copy of this game on the weekend, but my source forgot to bring it over.  I think he's afraid I may hang on to it permanently if he does.  Rest assure that it will be in safe hands.

These are the miniatures that I have painted up from the Blue Moon manufacturers (I got mine from Old Glory USA).  They aren't the hottest figures on the market, but they do do the job for what I intend to use them for.

Male civilians

G-Men and Gangsters with Thompson SMG

G-Men and Gangsters with sidearm

G-Men and Gangsters with shotgun

Police

Female civilians

Two Mob Bosses (on right), odd chap has a BAR (I think)

So there you have it.  I know that the Blind Pig has a very suitable table for gaming with these figures and rules.  I hope to have this running next year at the club, or failing that at home.

If anyone has a copy of GangBusters and is willing to part with it for an acceptable price (please don't quote eBay) let me know.