The Breastplate of La Pucelle!

Well, the mini-campaign planning is coming along quite nicely.  The kick off game will represent part of Operation Dortmund, and have Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais defending against German recon elements attempting to bully their way forward.  Some French recon troops may also show up...

Game two will be based on Germans attempting to cross the Meuse.  Agent "Dancing Bear" of the AGC is working on some terrain boards, and I've been painting up Old Glory German assault rafts.  It should be jolly fun and a bit frustrating for all involved.

The last game turned out to be the troublemaker planning wise.  At first I was planning on a refight of the Battle of Stonne.  Then the PEL for the convention came out, and in the same time slot were two other Stonne scenarios....what were the odds.  So, rather than Stonne I started to put together a Moncorret type battle.  We play-tested a bit of it last Monday, and the Germans got a rude surprise from the French S-35 tanks.  I'm sure at the convention the same blind faith in German tanks will cause equal distress.

Less than a month until the convention.  It should prove fun.

Little Wars 2012

Well, our club, the Atlantic Gaming Commision, so named for the bar we play at, will be running a total of five games at the con, including a potted campaign of three games on Saturday.  These will reflect the German blitzkrieg through Belgium and into France in May of 1940.  Given time, I will keep you posted as to how they develop.

Little Wars planning

Instead of a couple of us running games independently of each other, our group is thinking of cooperating for the upcoming local wargames collection and running a series of games over the course of the weekend.  We've got a couple of ideas percolating, and it will be interesting to see how it all ends up.  With a little luck we can pull this off, more on it as it comes together.

As for the rest of the day, well, its the end of the Oktoberfest season, a couple of the local small towns are having theirs and the beer won't drink itself, so thats all for now.

Sorry about even more light bogging

Ugh, what a fall, fair amount of health troubles throughout the family so not much time to blog.  However, our wargaming club did survive the closure of the local game shop, and we now play in the back room of the Atlantic Bar, thank you Charlie, Shamus and John for letting us set up house.

Its been somewhat amusing, as it is in many ways a typical neighborhood joint, the regulars have been wandering back to see what we are doing, and have been pretty cool about things, asking questions and actually showing real interest.  My guess is soon they will be placing side bets on the games....

More, eventually.

Historicon

Just got back from Historicon where I had a chance to play in a Black Powder game.  Kind of cool to be able to play instead of ref!  It was a refight of the Battle of Eutaw Springs during the American Revolution.  I think there were two of us who had played BP before, so I tried to be helpful without being obnoxious about it, I think I pulled that off.  It was a very nice game, pretty figures and terrain.  The net result was an American victory, so, as one of the American players I was pretty happy.  It was an interesting example of what happens when people who no neither the rules nor the period fight a battle....  but I think all had fun.  Tip of the hat to the guys who ran it!

Happy Fourth of July

I'm pretty big on celebrating silly military anniversaries, yesterday I celebrated the 145 anniversary of the battle of Koniggratz by unsuccessfully trying to convince Mrs. Redwineandblackpowder to go out for German food. "In this heat?"  she questioned.  Well. thats what happens when a Prussian boy marries an Austrian girl I suppose.

But, as usual, I wander off.  What I simply want to do is to wish any stumbling across this blog a happy 4th of July.  And happy birthday to the best country on earth.

Some random thoughts

Well, we've played several games of Charlie Don't Surf, and it is interesting to watch the reaction from the club.  One guy doesn't show up when we play it, and there is a fair amount of whining....albeit from the guy who usually crys about things.  The game can be very frustrating, especially for the VC player.  But then again, it should be, shouldn't it?  Considering you can lose militarily but still win politically (The Tet Offensive anyone?) I think it should get people rethinking how they approach the table.

Speaking of approaching the table, Mrs. RedWineandBlackPowder experimented with some meatloaf recipes the other night, she usually doesn't do meatloaf.  She needs to more often, it was very good!