Little Wars 2014

 

I spent this last Saturday out at Little Wars 2014 in St Charles IL, an HMGS- Midwest society production it draws a great crowd from pure historical side of the hobby. While there is small cross pollination of new games they're all mainly historical or quasi historically based..there were some exceptions:  a smattering of various Sci Fi games, mostly home brew rules but some well done Battletech type games and really great weird war looking board, that I turned out to be Dust Tactics.  However outside a  small warmachine tournament, and home brew "Battle of the Five Armies" (it is this season for this anyway) I found very little similarities between what goes on here and Adepticon

that wasnt pure historical games.

  

I'd say the majority of the games going on were large Black Powder type games, Napoleonics or American Civil War is various scales, a couple Flames of Wars games and Bolt Action game. all of these being big games, the traditional tournament of the Games Workshop ethos doesnt happen here

I find I am really enjoying these "big game" type of community events more and more as time goes onthey just tend to be more fun, when veil of direct competition isnt a intense and there is no prize hierarchy to worry about, as a comparison if you've been following the local debate on the fate of the Adepticon swagbag, the swagbag at Little Wars is filled with candy/ snacks, including on hell of a brownie..which was quite the treat at 9am Saturday after a 45 min drive with my coffee.

One of the conspicuous things I saw lacking was Medievals which probably led to the popularity of the event I was helping out with. Rich's Battle of Arsuf  Crusades game. Which had both session totally full with people asking for extra tickets and but we had no extra spots. I had fun helping my end of the 14 foot table out helping the guys with the rules, walking them thru the turns. 90% of the players never having played Hail Caesar before but several had played Black Powder so the basic familiarity was rare. both games played a bit differently and in my opinion everyone really enjoyed it.
Rich has more detailed write and photos HERE. I'll leave you with his take on it was his event, I just made the Banner Cart.

The Banner remained uncaptured both games..flying high you could see it many tables away which means I made it big enough

One my favorite things about Little Wars last time was the Vendor Hall it pretty large and has alot of obscure stuff. While not as prolific at the last time around I was here (2012) This year Old Glory was here with literally, every single thing they make. I am not kidding. Part of the problem with buying Old Glory (at least in my opinion) is the website is very mid 90's with poor photographs and it tough to tell what your buying or how there 25mm scale with work with whatever you are aiming for. Well I got to see it all here close up, and it was awesome. I ended up walking out with their fully crew Viking Longboat..which is just a project I want to do one day..with a firm opinion that as soon as hobby budget allows it I am picking up a table full of their Chicago buildings for a Victorian style table. Unfortunately my day here was short due an engagement that evening. Next year I'll definitely be back..its a fun place to run a game or play in one..so we will see what I get myself into. I'll it with some random photos from the event.

 

at least three really great looking Napoleanic games going one, many with a crazy amount of figures.

an elborate martian theme table for what I gather was a home brewed rules game

Nice Bolt Action table from some WI guys I know..nice use of loose foliage and carpet..I'll borrow that idea for sure.

  

Black Powder, Black Powder everywhere

Richards Banner Wagon

Here is my Richard the Lionheart's banner wagon for our Little Wars big game taking place this Saturday. The game is a retelling of the Battle of Arsuf which took place in September of 1191 between Richard's Crusading Armies and Saladin forces. We are using Hail Caesar Rules with 100 point divisions, with 4 divisions a side its a huge game. The event is set up for 8 players, each player taking control of one division.  Rich owns the majority of the models and Mike is bringing the rest. My contribution was the Richards Cart which serves as the Crusaders center piece and Saladins prime objective. (to destroy or capture it.)

The planning for this started way back in December hunting down the models and figuring out the proper size,  but accounts the flag was huge..so I made it huge..in real life numbers it's 12.5 feet high by  22.5 feet long, the beam being a ship mast at about 25 feet.or so

 

Intinerarium regis ricardi is a latin prose narrative of the Third Crusade, and is supposedly a surviving first hand account written in 1220's. The bit on Richards Banner reads:

"..The Normans defended the standard..it was formed of a long beam, like the mast of the ship: made of most solid ceiled work, on four wheels. Bound with iron, and to all appearance no sword or axe could cut or fire injure it. A chosen body of soldiers was generally appointed to guard it..lest it should be broken or thrown down; for if it fell the army would be dispersed and put into confusion"

 

Unfortunately, I came across the narrative a little late in my plans, as it seem the wagon was enclosed and encased in iron as well as part of the shaft. my version here is much more susceptible to damage and very period looking, medievaly speaking which  was the point. the wagon is from Lead Adventure miniatures and  the horse team are Perry Brothers and the 4 men a Norman command pack from Gripping Beast. while I had the miniatures for sometime this project was started for scratch right after Adepticon, so its taken me all of hobby time since to get this far...some touch ups might still be in order.

 

The most challenging about the build was of course the Flag, the final version was iteration Three.

The first being a failed all green stuff banner which looked cool but had poor texture to paint on and a very tough surface to free hand paint the lion on. I spent three nights on the GS banner before deciding it looked like crap and realizing it would take far too long to free hand both sides of the banner. and said "let try something else"  I moved over to a paper banner by itself, wasnt liking that either, then I remembered I have used foil banners before but wasnt happy with the there appearance. Then I came up with what will be the way I do all my banners forever .  I set up my banner in photoshop after finding an appropriate image and printed it out on sticker paper, I then put a piece of folded foil inside the sticker paper but cut it short so the edges of the sticker paper would seal on all sides. this way the interior foil would give it a nice bend. The next issue was the printed red on the flag was not robust enought and looked fake, so I hand painted the paper careful avoiding the lion and then touched up the lion itself with some highlights as the paper absorbed the paint its took on very nice texture and foil became even more ply able for bending., in the end I was really happy with this method and that is way I will be making historical banners from now on of any size. the flag and mast are attached to the cart with a heavy magnet so it can be removed and this piece can be used a standard baggage cart in other Hail Caesar games.

 

The cart made it first appearance on the table last night at Rich's place where demo'd the game once again and you can see the banner wagon makes an impressive piece among the hundreds of models on the table. it must have motivated the Crusaders because they sent Saladin running for the hills this time in a clear victory (last time it was draw only by failure of objective, in terms of casualties, we were decimated)

Looking forward to Saturday and pictures of the event, I missed Little Wars last year but last went in 2012 and thought it was great, hope to see more of the same look for a follow up early next week!

The Battle of Arsuf

 Tuesday evening we returned to one of our favorites, Warlord Games "Hail Caesar!" . After a couple years of WAB and its WAB II incarnation. Hail Caesars game mechanics quickly won us over and its been our large format "go to" game ever since.

 This match was a demo for an event our group, (when I say our group, I mean  Rich) is running at Little Wars in late April. The Battle of Arsuf  was a pivotal battle of Richard I's 3rd Crusade.  Rich has a massive Arab army he's been working on for years, and a large amount of Crusaders as well, with couple of us helping out filling out the remaing details. With 4 divisions per side at 450 points per side this is a huge "Hail Caesar" game.

 The game coincidentally or not played out similar to our notes on the real battle.  I was running the Crusader Vanguard and was quickly engaged by annoying Skirmishers, including the incredibly annoying Nafitum (who throw flasks of flaming oil, immediately causing a break check on any wound. super dangerous to Cavalry) Having faced them before my Templars and Mounted Sergeants charged from the line getting lucky with a 3 move Order, However the Nafitum easily evaded. However if I could stand my ground the next round of shooting, I was in excellent potion to run down a whole bunch of skirmishers and med infantry with tough Cavalry, I survived the shooting
and did just that. This led to early collapse of lead flank turning the battle back toward Saladin.

 On the rear flank, per the Battle the Hospitaller Knights broke ranks with a 3 move charge and quickly got themselves in trouble until Mike end up reinforcing them and after several turns it did break his way.

 In the Center a long stalemate of failed orders under King Richard led to Saladin and his Body Guard
just waiting him out to see how the battles on flanks were going.  One of the great things about Hail Caesar, unlike various version of Warhammer is the Late Game , In Warhammer the fate of the game is often decided in the first two turns, and barring some extraordinary circumstance the game becomes an attrition toward the inevitable. Not so in Hail Caesar! where the late game of turns 5 and 6 often is the battle decider. This always keeps the game exciting until the last turn.

 When the Crusader counter attack finally comes in turn 5 with support of the Templars rolling up on Saladins Right Flank while the rear flank was steadily collapsing. Rich wisely pulled Saladin back and reformed a tight unit with his Bodyguard Cavalry..unfortunately the exhausted Crusaders didnt get the orders off complete to bridge the distance and the game ended in DRAW with the none of the four objectives (two for either side being completed).

The Battle of Arsuf

Saladins Forces

Division I

Mamluks with Spear and Bow
Berber Heavy Cavalry
Turcoman Light Horse X 2

Division II
Dismounted Mamluk x 2
Medium Archers
City Militia with Spears

Division III

Mamluks Bodyguard
Mamluks Spear and Bow
Syran Heavy Cavarly
Turcoman Light Horse

Division IV
Ghazi warband Fanatics
Medium Archers
City Militia with Spear
Light Archers X 2
Nafitum

Objectives
Break Hospitaller Division
Destroy Army Standard


Richard I  Forces

Vanguard Division

Holy Order Knights (Templars) Heavy Cavalry
Heavy Infantry
Heavy Crossbow
Mounter Sergeants - Heavy Cavalry

Division I- English
Crusader Knights- Heavy Cavalry
Heavy Infantry
Heavy Crossbow
Archers

Division II- Outreamer
Crusader Knights- Heavy Cavalry
Heavy Infantry
Heavy Crossbow
Archers

Rear Guard- Hospitallers
Hospitaller Knights - Heavy Cavalry
Heavy Infantry
Heavy Crossbow
Turcopole Horsemen (Light Cavalry)

Objectives
Break or Rout Saladin and his Bodyguard
Break two of the three Cavalary Divisions


Looking forward to this game at little wars I am putting together Richard I giant army standard which should be a nice table center piece. I've missed playing HC  this was a really fun game!

The Gatehouse - Painted up.

 Here's the painted version of the Gatehouse for the Pirate table at my Legends of the High Seas event at this years Adepticon. dressed up with some of my Spanish Privateers, its  representing the main standing fortification of Fort San Lorenzo and capturing and holding it, is one of the main objectives of the game. As you can imagine whoever gets in there first is going to be tough to dislodge with lots of hard cover to had and even some fireable cannons! the remainder of fort is going to be ruins from the original pirate castle we used in the past.

 Surrounded by water the Fort got the  "ruins by the seaside" paint job a mix of limestone, moss greens and earth. Painting was a 5 stage process of , Prime Black, Basecoat Brown, Heavy drybrush Sand, Weather with Pigment (in this case Green) then spot drybrush a linen /white mix.

 As usual these thing take alot longer than planned, I still need to paint the matching "Lighthouse"
which isnt really a Lighthouse, but a guard tower standing about 4-6 inches higher then the top of the
Gatehouse and is top with wide turret with 5 cannons...again a capturable objective of the game.
The lighthouse will more than likely be the next post.

 The is also a Church, which isnt out of Hirst pieces..but resin, some of you might recall old Armorcast Cathedral , I bought it in probably 2008 and never really used it much...so IF time allows its getting a fitting repaint and Tile roof for this event.

We've got plenty of terrain at this point so its really a matter of putting the best stuff together to make the best looking table possible, I am currently working on a Bolt Action table and with a little more month to go the pressure is on big time, I still have 3 60mm bases with 3-5 soldiers each ,a piece of equipment and some terrain feature to paint for my Bolt Action Army..and my Jeep!.

I really enjoyed building this piece, its going to get alot of use post Adepticon as the outer wall of my Fantasy town I am putting together, I'll probably add a few more pieces overtime, but like everything I build I try to do with multiple games in mind so abandoned castle in Empire of the Dead..why not?

 Stay tuned, as I do the "Dance of Death" or the "Time Sink Shuffle" as I try cram all this stuff
in the last 30 days before Adepticon, every year I ask myself -why I do this to myself?., I always say I am not going to do it, and always end up in this same spot is Eight years in row...sigh

Not to be outdone by Adepticon , Rich is hosting a huge Hail Caesar Crusades game at Little Wars this year, I am helping out and building King Richards banner and its entourage which is  an elborate piece on 100-120mm base with a half dozen elements and a giant free hand banner..Little Wars takes place 3 weeks after Adepticon and I'm not even starting the piece until the dust settles so I am on a 3 week schedule to get it done..shouldn't be too tough, I'm following that up with the Sci Fi project I started over winter break- That ought to keep me busy pretty much thru the Summer. Oh yeah then there is Lead Painters League Season 8 coming up end of March too, dont think I am making it this
year but then again, I said that last year too.

HMGS Midwest- Little Wars 2012

 I made a quick afternoon trip out to Little Wars in St Charles, IL yesterday. Never having been before I was interested purely as a spectator in on a couple fronts, mainly to see how one of these events operates from Historical gaming side of the aisle and also to (what else?, shop Historical miniatures!) Couple weird things going on, 1) this event has a cross pollination of some of gaming you see at Adepticon. being a week after Adepticon this is very odd. In fact the scheduled WFB tournament had ZERO registrants (we saw Rob the organizer there) there was also a Privateer Press event run by my pal, Felix who never ceases to get the bodies there, Adepticon just last week or not. I stopped by the table and he had probably a dozen players.  And # 2) for the size room they had there where alot of empty tables there, while we arrived late in the day, so it possible alot of there events where completed but for Saturday afternoon I was looking for a bit more in the tables and terrain department, I was a little let down there.

Our main goal (since we weren't signed up for any events) was to check out the vendor hall. unlike Adepticon where vendor space is very limited. and probably less than 10% of the total floor space Here it takes up probably 40% of the event including the flea market room. This was pretty awesome. I because of way vendors bring the ton of stuff there alot just in bags..I could have literally spent all day in the vendor hall rummaging thru various things. Out initial hunt was for various Historical miniatures that you just cant get a good feel for from the various websites or just arent pictured. We saw alot of usual suspects, we were both kind of looking for some classical antiquity 15mm Historicals as the subject has come up for our next Hail Ceasar campaign. However we totally struck out there. I did find alot of metal Crusader blisters (which you cant get in the US anymore, you know have to order overseas)  at good  prices however it wasnt enough to get me to invest because I couldn't find two of the same blister of anything I wanted (as in enough to make a unit) Hank from Gorgon was out with a great display showing Gorgon's fantastic stuff. I am eyeing a bunch of different Gorgon's 28's depending on what period we settle on next but since he's local it's not tough to get.

 ( awesome skirmish table , no idea what they where playing but love the table)


Then we stumbled up the Iron Wind metals both who currently does Battletech but also has all the old Ral Partha molds and still casts and sell them..It was a Fantasy/ Sci-fi- / Pirates geeks- miniatures paradise- thousands and thousands of loose pewter models in buckets going for $2 an ounce. Some  seriously great stuff in there, Once Chris and I got a load of that..we were finished and we spent the rest of time there scouring stuff...I found some kick ass. Orc's from probably late 80'early 90's. I think these are Bob Olley sculpts as they look very similar to my Reaper Orcs..anyway I got 14 of them for $20. Chris picked a mix of Pirates and Fantasy Figs...we spaced out on the flee market room and by the time we got there they where packing up..bummer as it looked like there was alot of cool stuff  there. Next year I am making this a priority to get out there the first. if its not right on top of Adepticon or we dont get a Hail Caesar tourney to make the Adepticon cut next year..this might be the thing to do.

 As an aside, I was speaking to the Iron Wind gent a bit about this insane amount of figures and the amount of molds there must be..he tells me alot of the stuff 75% of it isnt even on the website..where they might so 5 poses of something but really there are 20..I did some digging and found this interesting article on Iron Wind . HERE. Battletech is currently experiencing some growth I've seen so expect these guys around for awhile which is cool with the old Ral Partha coming along for the ride.

Finally I wanted to show this awesome 15mm game I saw.  We've been taking about 15mm for size consideration and expense when jumping around to different periods with Historicals. I quickly realize the trap. Yeah figs are cheaper..but once you get the bug..you just start expanding the game size as the scale get smaller. Currently in Hail Caesar we run three divisions of 300 points. We've been talking going 4 division or 400 points.. because it removes the 3 division triangle where games can implode quickly due to bad event (like strong flank push with multiple sweeping advances) with 4 Divisions these quirky game enders based on bad luck are minimized so for a more balanced game we've talking about 4 Divisions. Due to excessive model counts four divisions at 28mm maxes out an 8 foot table really quick, I say its basically playable but too crowded, if you really want to use alot of Cavalry and use them effectively. SO-  15mm solves that problem. BUT The new problem, as perfectly illustrated above is once you go 15mm, if you are like us the next thing you know, you are saying " hey well instead of 4 divisions a side", lets do 6, then 8, or even 10....Arghh...something to seriously consider.