Another War Horse Gaming Day!

   Last Saturday, a few of the HAWKs, Gettysburg Gamers, and some others, got together at War Horse farm for another fun day of gaming hosted by Sam Fuson. 
    In the morning, Sam ran a Sherlock Holmes game using GASLIGHT rules.   Sam's games are a ton of fun as they include a lot of puzzle solving and clue finding, along with the combat.

A view of Sam's beautiful Sherlock Holmes table

Holmes and Watson question a suspect. 

   While Sam was running his game, I played in a Combat Patrol game being run by Buck Surdu.  This was a WWII early war in the Pacific scenario, with American troops defending against a Japanese attack in the Philippines.
   This was a fun and exciting game.  I played on the Japanese side, and we were tasked with pushing forward and trying to get as many troops and tanks as possible into the far 3' of the table.  We were attacking down the length of the table, and the Americans were set up defending in depth along a trail running down the center. The bulk of the table was covered in thick jungle. 
     It was a hard fought battle.  We chose to slog through the jungle; which in the end was a mistake. It took a horrendously long time, and by the time we neared our objective, the Americans had prepared a warm welcoming committee.  We broke for lunch around 1:00 with the American's being declared the victors.

A view of the Pacific table

As the Japanese, we quickly lost both tanks to anti-tank gun fire.  On our right, our holding force, intended to protect the right flank of our advance, got embroiled in a fight with a gung-ho American squad that sucked them in to a prolonged fight and badly chopped them up, as well as preventing them from supporting and protecting our main attack.

     In the afternoon I ran a War of the Roses game using Bear Yourselves Valiantly rules.  The scenario was based on the Battle of Barnet in April of 1471.    The game was a lot of fun, and seesawed back and forth, but in the end the Lancastrian side was declared the winners.

A view of the table.

On the Lancastrian left, Knights move up to protect the flank, as Men-at-Arms suffer withering fire from the Yorkist Longbowmen.

While I was running my game, Sam ran a second game; this time with Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII ; reusing much of the same terrain from his first game.   

Sam's WWII game.

American forces advance through a field and woods.

     All-in-all, it was a great day of gaming, and I look forward to the next time we all can get together!

Another Fun War Horse Con Gaming Day

    This past Saturday a group of the HAWKs and I went up to Sam Fuson's War Horse farm in PA for another fun day of games and good food. A couple times a year, Sam and his wife Kathy invite a  the HAWKs and a bunch of their friends over for a fun day of gaming known as War-Horse-Con.
  We took the timing of this year's event as an opportunity to playtest a quartet of games the HAWKs are planning on running at Historicon in July.
   In the morning Buck Surdu ran a 28mm early war WWII game using his innovative Combat Patrol rules. The scenario featured a German force trying to clear a village of it's French defenders.  I was lucky to play in this game and had a blast commanding a Czech 38t tank,  a squad of infantry, and a machine gun team.  In the end we had the French on the ropes, but they were still holding on aided by a sharpshooting 75mm gun.

      While we were busy fighting our WWII battle, on the other side of the basement, Kurt Schlegel was running a 10mm Napoleonic game using his fast play Home Rules.

    After a lunch break for some fabulous local fried chicken, beans, and potato salad; we reconvened for our afternoon session.  This time I played in Zeb Cook's Wild West game using modified Combat Patrol rules.  This was fun every-man-for-himself game, with us all taking the role of bounty hunters bringing various villains to justice.  A fun additional aspect was that we all had prices on our heads as well, so were legitimate targets for the other players as well.  And the price on our heads went up if we committed any crimes while playing such as killing citizens or looting stores.
   I had a blast even though my team was eventually shot full of holes, especially my gang leader who picked a fight with a desperado in the local cantina, unawares that he had two buddies hidden in the back rooms!

      And, while we were fast drawing in our game, on the other side of the basement, Eric Schlegel was running another early war WWII Combat Patrol game featuring Italians vs French in the south of France.

     It was a great day, and we always appreciate the effort Sam and Kathy put in to making these events a success.  We're all already looking forward to the next time!