Inspired by yesterdays game and the great painting of friends...

Yesterday's game was great.  Everything was painted, the terrain was realistic and the battle epic.  I felt bad though as I picked up my troops after the game because I had not painted any of my minis (all commissioned).  I also noted the distinct lack of French Irregulars in my army.  So, this morning I set upon painting a couple Canadian militia from Galloping Major.  We will see how they turn out.  I only have today to paint them...my last day playing games for a while.  Note my standards are quite a bit lower than friends, but that is directly connected to my painting skill...or lack there of.

And a little later....

Latest game I played at the Local Gaming Store

Musket and Tomahawk Game on 26 May 2013

British and French Regiments with their colors

First off, the 78th Highlanders

Next my Light companies from the King's 1st Foot and the 15th Foot (Amherst)

And last but not least the frogs from the 2nd BN, Royal Roussillon Infantrie and the Regiment de Longuedoc

And there is my first attempt at a cornfield for M+T game tomorrow.  We'll see how it works.

My Little Armies: Muskets and Tomahawks game 5/19/13

First battle.  Battle report with pictures on a friends blog page.

My Little Armies: Muskets and Tomahawks game 5/19/13: Got a 1v1 game in with Brian. Here are some of the pictures of that game. There was another game after this 2vs1 with Brian, Richard and I, ...

Muskets and Tomahawks Army Builder Latest version

Because I like to play with the fine details quickly and compare force structures, I built this spreadsheet.  It does not produce a playable sheet to work off, but it contains all the points and details for all the unit types in the rulebook.  Enjoy.

M+T Army Builder

More Terrain for FIW gaming

Finishing up assemble of some snap together wooden pieces and examples of the two variations of the completed fences on top of the modified mat I am working on for fields.

Building fences for Muskets and Tomahawks

So after shopping around for decent period correct fences...most of which were over $50 for a foot of fence.  I bought cheap wooden chopsticks.  They were about 100 for $2.50.  A little bit of work and some stain and they should meet my gaming needs for the next round of FIW gaming.

Samurai Skirmish "Trouble at Home" (K. M. Campaign Scenario 1)

The younger years of Kusunoki Masashige (1294-1336), prior to joining Go-Daigo's War to destroy the Kamakura Shogunate, were full of adventure as he struggled to maintain control of his small 600 Koku estate in Kawchi Province north of present day Tokyo.  I played this game using Dropwing's "Naginata" rules system for samurai skirmish warfare.

In 1314, at the age of 20, the young Masashige was returning from a trip to Kamakura with his loyal retainers.

As he and his retainers neared the Tone River, they saw bandit troops raiding his home taking advantage of his absence.

Masashige ordered his men to attack immediately and secure his household.  In his first small unit action, Masashige was a bit unsure of his capabilities as a leader.

 Masashige moved his archers to the bridge.  His heavy samurai followed the archers over the bridge.  In order to expand the line, the partially armored samurai forded the stream to the west of the bridge.  The bandit leader recognizing the threat to his force which was split between inside and outside the house ordered all his forces out to confront the on-coming samurai.  His archers picked up cover positions and his partially armored troops followed his peasant yari infantry south into the on-coming samurai onslaught.
   Masashige's archers mowed down the Yari peasants cleanly as they approached.  {  I really like the way this system handles ranged combat.  It requires a separate skill and modifiers than the close combat.  This makes the feel much more realistic.  The bandit archers returned fire, but range and their lack of skill ended the turn with no hits.
  The samurai now charged forward into the Ashigaru yari infantry and cut down two of them instantly.  {I guess it is only fitting that since the game is called "Naginata", the most powerful weapon is in fact the Naginata.}  They cleaved the enemy despite high defense rolls and armor.  At this point the Bandit leader had lost almost 40% of his force in 2 rounds.  He chose to withdraw to the north.  

      As the bandits started to withdraw, the weaker elements decided to run and some of the rash Ashigaru charged into the samurai only to die {Temperament rules - another great aspect of this game is the way it handles  not only morale, but uncontrolled reactions of your troops.  It adds to the book keeping with a specific modifier for each individual, but it makes for very interesting game play.  It gets chaotic when individuals break or charge and mess up you plans.}  In the end, the bandits lost 1 archer peasant, 4x Ashigaru yari, 2x Ashigaru w/ clubs and 4x Peasants yari.   Masashige had one of his samurai wounded.  I awrded XP based on the skills of defeated enemy's armor plus weapon striking power, so if a samurai killed a partially armored Ashigaru yari bandit ( Armor +4 + Yari +3= 8XPs)   After 120 XPs I will increase their skill in their primary weapons system by +1.
      This was fun and very quick game.  I think thoug that I will stray from the historically correct representation and add in a Clan War'ish / Fantasy aspect with mythical elements in the next battle.  Over all I rate the "Naginata" Rule Set with an "A".  I actually like it better than the "Road to Osaka" for smaller skirmishes.  It could be a headache with larger battles, but perfect for this scale.