Hauverstover Uniforms

Baron Von J supplied the base image for defining uniform colors. Using a photo tool, I modified it to show my uniform colors of the impending Maurice campaign. Impending needs to be interpreted loosely. A glacier may move faster. Any way, at some point, I will be painting my 10 MM Marlburians in the color shown below.

The flags are out of my imagination, with the help of some clip-art found by scouring the interwebs. I think my favorite flag is with the 1st Infantry unit. I don't know if I can hand paint it on a 10 MM scale metal flag, but I will give it a go.

Introducing - The Grand Duchy of Hauverstover

The duchy of Hauverstover was founded by Sir Norman of Crosby from lands bequeathed by the Emperor. Generations of Hauverstoverians have descended from his lineage. They are a loquacious bunch. It is said they can talk for hours, enjoying the effective use of malapropism to confuse and bewilder the listener. They have raised this technique to a fine art. On many occasions casual listeners have been dazed and confused when leaving a conversation. Because of this inherent ability, Hauverstoverians are known world-wide as shrewd hagglers.

Hauverstover is a cold, rocky and gritty place. Its main exports are lumber and iron ore. To the east, foothills quickly march toward a high mountain range. The peaks remain covered in snow all year long. Streams flow out of the mountains, across the foothills and into dense forests. There is a large population of Snowy Owls that breed in these areas of permafrost. This bird has become the symbol of the duchy. As one travels westward, the land becomes just a trifle more gentle. However, it is filled with rocks and boulders. Farming is not an easy occupation for Hauverstoverians. Much of their sustenance is from hunting, and this required skill has fostered a proficiency with archery.

The last two winters have been extremely harsh and game is scarce. Scratching at the rocky soil for a bare existence is the lot of many Hauverstoverians. Currently, great quantities of grain are imported from the neighboring duchies. Foreign merchants have recognized a weakness in Hauverstover’s bargaining position and are exploiting that situation. Distrust, anger and discontent are growing.

Hauverstover looks down from the heights and dreams of fertile bottom land to ease the burden of feeding a hungry and restless population.

AWI Battle - Or why FPGA has spoiled me

I was invited to a huge American War of Independence game over this past weekend. There were eight commanders and as we arrived, this is the table that was awaiting our battle lust. The table was about 5x12 feet, and was a beautiful layout. I took several more photographs, but these few should illustrate the setup.

Deployment of the troops began using a double-blind system. Both armies had similar strategies, hold the center and attack on the flanks. Therefore, strength met strength. Here are a few pictures as lines were formed and the battle raged. These are 20 MM Frying Pan and Blanket figures.

The battle was fun, and the group of guys was terrific to game with. However, I have been spoiled by Fast Play Grande Armee (FPGA) for other large scale battles. The rule set used was a home grown set. Its combat mechanics were cumbersome and required calculators to figure percentages of battalion size. One rolled two average dice, applied any modifiers and then calculated the damage given. This then equated to how many hits you did to the opposing force. Old school.

After 7 hours of gaming, people had to leave. The battle was not even close to being completed. I was disappointed to play that long and not have a resolution. With FPGA a large scale conflict can be resolved in 3 hours with a clear decision.

While there is inspiration to draw from the scenery and from the brilliant afternoon spent with a great bunch of guys, I doubt I will be willing to play this rule set again.

A Gaming Weekend

This past weekend was one for endurance. Greg of Wargame Downloads, had the house to himself. So he invited a bunch of us to play an all day event. We started on Saturday at 10 AM and gamed until 12:30 in the morning. Then we took a break and resumed play at 6:00 PM to finish out Sunday evening.

We played several games during that time. These included; X-Wing, Wizard Kings, C&C Ancients - Epic battles, Seven Wonders, and some small filler games. A great weekend, but I think I have battle fatigue!

Wizard Kings was played on a 16 map table. It was a blast. Greg created several victory conditions for each player. So multiple conflicts between players were possible. Bring on the screw thy neighbor mentality! Unfortunately, I was too busy playing to take many photographs. Here is the initial setup, and my Dwarvish attack on the Elven stronghold.

Hey Maurice!

The Basement Generals had a play-test of Sam Mustafa's Maurice last night. See the complete report on the Baron Von J's blog. This rule set was a lot of fun. I especially like the card system that drove the action. This rule set is going to take repeated play to become proficient.

As a group we decided that our heraldry would be based on barn yard animals and a color. I chose the mighty Duck first, but had a change of heart. I wanted to me more of a hunter than a food source! I switched to an Owl as the mascot, with the color purple.

Jaye sent out these nifty worksheets, where with a little color fill, we could create our uniforms coloring. My OOB is six regular infantry, 2 elite infantry, 3 cavalry and 4 artillery units. I haven't decided on the color scheme for Cav and Arty yet, however there will be some purple on each unit.

Presenting Barnard "Hoot" Owsley's infantry :

Now to get to painting!