Wargames week

Ok over the last few months I have bought read and been inspired by many rule sets some I had for years some I bought and read and never tried or gamed, after a long time painting my miniatures and still reading and been inspired I planned a war-game week where I would clear the table and play test some rule sets I had.

I had enough miniatures for anything and wanted to test the rules, after a week I have taken a lot of pictures and will give my write up and thoughts.

My good friend Dave Wood surprised me by sending me a copy of the old table top games Reaper rules 1978 I did some of the art work and was  chuffed to  see and hold a copy in my hands again, lying out my skirmish table I dropped  2 sides off wrote down the stats and  played, (we actually used this as our huge battle fantasy games we held at our club  back then , everyone brought whatever and  joined in, wonderful times).

Reaper

The game my barbarian raiding force took on some savage Picts lay out and played to the death, the games stats and ideas are old calculation and some thought is needed but at the end I smiled because it gave a result, not fluid but a result. Over all was a fun game with the feel of a battle, will try again with my war-game mate some time later.

A Fist of Kung Fu

Ospreys rule set wrote by the great Andrea Sfiligoi of Song of Blades and Heroes fame, a complete and wonderful book , once read it makes you want to play, laid out a small terrain and the objective was to turn off the bomb, used a proxies Demon  company against a combination force I  put together.

The activation sequence I knew and the tests to some degree the new combat results I had a cheat sheet ready and would read and digest anything I remembered or what came up in the game.

The game is fast and involves you in the action, the reaction of the main character to opponents fails makes for a good sense of the games genre, the combatants hit shot and sliced each other to an end result the Deamons being wiped out. I must say very enjoyable and got my mind on other companies and thoughts…

Song of Blades and Heroes

I think I own most of the supplements and other world to this series and have played it a few times this time serious read and absorb and take in time, 2 300 point companies fighting to get an object/prize and take off table. The system uses all activation dice and these give actions, 2 fails the turn moves to the opponent.

The forces were  good vs. evil if that can be in my universes, 300 points aside and played  superb, enjoyable the forces of good just winning as the evil guys who were slaying all around failed some rolls and  then decided best thing to watch on TV. Great game and this will be used in coming months as me and my mate’s weekly games.

Bolt Action

Bought this when it first came out Warlord games battle rules had a long good read again and   opened up my box of Very British Civil war mines, spent a short time deciding what was what and laid out the table and rolled the scenario, it was to destroy each other’s command.

The game uses activation dice drawn from a bag these are placed on the unit and the order is shown. Both sides started and I was presently surprised how easy the game worked, once in range or sight they opened up on each other, the firing and combat result method is very easy and to me works extremely well. The Royalist won in the end over whelming the rebels, I found it involved you in the game and situations were made and places fought over. I would say a strong stable game rule set, I will try again I do have the bridge set with some Germans and paras Ill paint up)

Flashing blades

This is another Song of blades and heroes set using the 1500-1700 worlds, I wanted to try the difference to SOBH, my collection of swashbucklers came out against a party of an evil with taken from the SOBH Arthur Merlin book. The scenario was to kill the witch who had some fearsome bodyguards, the game played like the system with fun and chance and some great results the new special rules for the book added to the games mechanics and fun. The result was a hero locked in battle managed to slay the witch only after knocking her down. Great rules and SOBH to me is one of the best I have ever played in my gaming life time...

End thoughts

Enjoyed the week and  infused me to paint  some  more of the lead pile and look to what I wanted next, SOBH system  stood out as a playable great game, Bolt Action for me is excellent rules and will  make me think on  other  projects…

These are only my thoughts and mind on the rules; I have been war gaming for very very long time and think we are now blessed like many say with great rules and terrain along with stunning miniatures from people…..