Overdue Update

I've certainly lacked blog updates for some time now.  Not because I've not been doing anything wargames related, but simply that I've been busy working on projects, playing some games, and painting up miniatures.  I figured I would provide a bit of an update for anyone who might care to know if I've fallen down a well or something.

When I look back on 2024, it was a year of accomplishment for my wargames projects.  My two primary goals for the year was to get dug into Warhammer The Old World and Warlord Games Epic Pike & Shotte.  I'm happy to report that both goals were achieved!

I complete my entire Epic Pike & Shotte collection for the English Civil War - which includes fully complete armies for the Royalists, Parliamentarians, Scots Covenanters, and Montrose Scots.  Thousands of figures painted and based for this in 12.5mm scale - along with new terrain to boot!

I also managed to really and fully get ACW Fire & Fury working very well with my 28mm ACW collection.  I really love the first revision of this game and it is so flavorful to the period.  My first day of Gettysburg scenario was a great test and validation of my work here.  This weekend at DundraCon I will be running Seven Pines.  I have scenarios drafted up for Shiloh and Antietam.  Both of  those scenarios will see the light of day in 2025.

I have one last small lot of ACW figures that the most excellent Steve Dake is currently working on that will finally bring my ACW collection to a complete close.

2025 will see the arrival and completion of my Epic Hail Caesar armies.  These are currently in the painting queue and I expect to get these back from my painter sometime in May.  A massive lot of figures here that will give me everything I need to run almost every scenario from the core rulebook.  I'll just need to base and finish up some minor details when I get them back.

I went full "memberberries" with Warhammer The Old World.  Nostalgia kicked in and I blacked out and woke up months later with many completed armies.  My original goal was to get 4-5 armies done at about 2500 points each.  I now have 12 armies.  9 of those armies are approaching 4000 points (providing a selection of models that cover most in not all troops options for each army list).  I plan to "finish" up these armies in 2025:

• Empire of Man - 4000 points completed.  Adding some additional units from the made to order range (mostly old school characters).
• Orcs and Goblin Tribes - >4000 points completed.  I have both a massive Orc army and - separately - a massive Night Goblin army.  Really nothing to add here, I have all the bases covered.
• Tomb Kings of Khemri - 4000 points completed.  If I can ever get my hands on some Ushabti that is about the only thing to get added.
• Kingdom of Bretonnia - 3500 points completed.  I finally got my hands on a Trebuchet and large unit of Grail Monks with a Grail Reliquae that will get finished this year. 
• Dwarf Mountain Holds - 4000 points completed.  All ready to settled some grudges!
• Skaven - 4000 points completed.  Neek neek these rats reek!
• Lizardmen - 3500 points completed.  I have a large unit of Template Guard to add here.  Otherwise, ready to further the plans of the Old Ones.
• Dark Elves - 3000 points completed.  I have another 500 points to get painted up.
• Beastmen Brayherds - 2500 points completed.  Ready to raid!
• High Elf Realms - 1500 points completed.  A 2025 goal to complete this army - which timed nicely as pre-orders for High Elves go live this coming Saturday (for the few odds and ends I want to add).  I have the other 2000 points of miniatures that need to be done in my possession already so that is helpful.
• Ogre Kingdoms - 3500 points completed.  Ready to sell themselves to the highest bidder!
• Chaos Dwarf - 3500 points NOT completed.  This is the only army that has nothing painted and is a big part of the 2025 goals.  It took me most of 2024 to get my hands on all original metal models for this army, but I have everything now.

Now, when it comes to Warhammer The Old World (and really any wargames) I have ZERO interest in competitive play.  I'm a narrative wargamer.  One of the things I always loved back in the original Warhammer Fantasy days was the narrative campaigns.  I've managed to get my hands on those original packs and I'm updating them to work with Warhammer The Old World (and of course with all the models I have in my collection).

The first of these narrative (linked scenario) campaigns is the Idol of Gork.  This is a great little 4 scenario campaign with some custom cardboard terrain that pitches the Orcs and Goblins against the Empire.  You can't get any more classic than this.  A few sample pages below from this I've been working on ...

I have plans to also complete the Grudge of Drong, Dark Shadows, and Blood in the Badlands campaigns this year as well.

So lots going on ... and much left to do but finishing out the full backlog on this projects is satisfying.

Onwards and upwards!

KublaCon Fall 2024 - ACW, Epic Pike & Shotte, and more

KublaCon is usually a large convention held in May (now called KublaCon Prime).  This was a new convention the same Kubla team decided to put on for Remembrance Day weekend (aka Veterans Day in the US).  This was a much needed convention for me as I've been very stressed out with life and work this past year and especially these past few months.  I needed a break and this hit the spot!

Roy Scaife and myself arrived Thursday even at the hotel and decided to jump into a couple of ACW boardgames from Worthington Publishing that I really like.  The first one was Gettysburg and the second was Chancellorsville.  Both are quick and easy to play (based on the same system).  Highly recommended.

ACW Gettysburg - Day 1 (Fire & Fury v1)

Most 28mm collections I imagine don't fit with Fire & Fury due to the size and number of stands needed to play the game.  I implemented a simple modification to the system that allows me to use the rules with my collection and the visual representation I like for my miniatures on the tabletop.  At the core, 2 stands in F&F = 1 base in my collection.  That necessitated a few minor adjustments to tables and some rules, but it ended up working out really well - even better than I expected.

Below are a couple of shots of the setup for the game.  It was a main section that was 6x8 feet, with an expanded 4x6 foot section to widen the battlefield for the later arriving Confederate units.  This also provided a better representation of the every increasing amount of Confederate brigades showing up to overwhelm the Union forces.

Nice DSLR pictures below ...

Crappy phone pictures below ...

Battle of Edgehill (Epic Pike & Shotte)

I hosted this game as well which is the Edgehill scenario from the Epic Pike & Shotte rulebook.  Was a great milestone for my collection to get this all out on the table.  The Parliamentarian players decided to be aggressive and immediately push to engage the Royalist infantry Battalias.  The cavalry was a swirling mess of melee and regiments bouncing off each other, and in some cases breaking through.  In the end the Royalist foot held together and did enough to break the Parliamentarian foot to win the game.  Table is a 6 foot by 12 foot.

The cavalry battles on the flanks got crazy.  One of the Parliamentarian cavalry regiments defected mid-charge to the Royalists!  The unit was promptly shot all the pieces.  A dismounted dragoon unit fought off a full cavalry regiment/charge!  Those are just a couple of examples of how crazy the cavalry flanks turned out to be.

This represents the entire battle that was fought.  First up are the nice pictures ...

And now my crappy phone pictures ...

Fistful of Lead (Old West)

Dan Kerrick ran this game.  Sadly I only got a few pictures of the table.  The gangs all had to raid a local bank that had stockpiled a bunch of gold that was seized by the government.  Small detachment of US Cavalry guarded the bank but that didn't deter us!

A great part of this game was one member of each game had the shits.  Each turn when they activated they had to roll a D10.  On a 1 they would have to move to an outhouse and spend an action to ... well ... take a dump.  This happened a few times had was hilarious.  Great game and all had fun.

Other Games

Kevin from our local area runs his Vietnam game usually 2-3 times at our local conventions and always is full.  I need peel off time one of these days to play in it.  Players all have a great time and many go back for more in the different sessions.  This convention he was running scenarios based around the brown water navy.  I managed to snap a few pictures of the game.

And finally the last pictures I have that show some of the other games running at the convention (I missed taking pictures of many games because I was busy playing/hosting games).