History Hammer - 11th and 12th of August

[ashmie]

The fog of war game I had in mind required 4 people really 2 teams of 2. On each team one person playing the General and one would be playing the command. As it looks like we don't have enough players for this it may well be me and Stu just playing or Stu and Mike with me GMing. Russia vs Britain is not ideal. Any thoughts? We needed the French players basically ie: Rich, Joe and Admiral.
Seeing as you chaps have some talks or sounding off to do ahead of all this perhaps we should forget Black Powder this time. How are you for numbers if I don't make it?
I only ask becasue my wife is busy with a reunion on Sunday and Liam will with grandparents. Perhaps I should bring him in the Churchill MK 3 tank I bought.
At the moment I'm planning to head over for Sunday. I'll bring my Prussians and FoW and see what's what. I'll definitely be there for a morning game and maybe longer after lunch depending on heat, stress levels etc.

[Primarch]

The fog of war game I had in mind required 4 people really 2 teams of 2. On each team one person playing the General and one would be playing the command. As it looks like we don't have enough players for this it may well be me and Stu just playing or Stu and Mike with me GMing. Russia vs Britain is not ideal. Any thoughts? We needed the French players basically ie: Rich, Joe and Admiral.
Seeing as you chaps have some talks or sounding off to do ahead of all this perhaps we should forget Black Powder this time. How are you for numbers if I don't make it?
I only ask becasue my wife is busy with a reunion on Sunday and Liam will with grandparents. Perhaps I should bring him in the Churchill MK 3 tank I bought.
At the moment I'm planning to head over for Sunday. I'll bring my Prussians and FoW and see what's what. I'll definitely be there for a morning game and maybe longer after lunch depending on heat, stress levels etc.

Since we aren't recreating a specific battle, what does it matter which armies are used? Pikey and I played a couple of games of Brits Vs Ruskies two weeks ago and they were a lot of fun even if I did get my backside kicked both times. We can try your 2 on 2 game next time. Lets just roll some dice this weekend.

[Mike the Pike]

@Ash: Just because our resident Frenchies have no ....s, doesn't mean the rest of us BP players have to miss out. BTW Brits vs. Russians isn't too far fetched. They were technically at war from 1807-1812. If all else fails I will take you both on! I am also keen to give your Paras a thrashing too, if you bring FOW. You've got around 1000pts, right?

[Primarch]

So as far as I can tell, the attendance will be as follows.

Saturday
Prim
Pikey
Underdweller
Konrad
The Admiral
Harada san
Koji

Sunday
Prim
Pikey
Ashmie
Job
Konrad?

Yellowstreak???

[job]

The fog of war game I had in mind required 4 people really 2 teams of 2. On each team one person playing the General and one would be playing the command. As it looks like we don't have enough players for this it may well be me and Stu just playing or Stu and Mike with me GMing. Russia vs Britain is not ideal. Any thoughts? We needed the French players basically ie: Rich, Joe and Admiral.
Seeing as you chaps have some talks or sounding off to do ahead of all this perhaps we should forget Black Powder this time. How are you for numbers if I don't make it?
I only ask becasue my wife is busy with a reunion on Sunday and Liam will with grandparents. Perhaps I should bring him in the Churchill MK 3 tank I bought.
At the moment I'm planning to head over for Sunday. I'll bring my Prussians and FoW and see what's what. I'll definitely be there for a morning game and maybe longer after lunch depending on heat, stress levels etc.

Sorry, about the fOw game not going through. If I can, I'd like to join in on something like that. I'll be bringing the crapauds in blue (and grey - kind of like a variation on the American Civil War), so I'll be looking for one-on-one stuff or anything on the fly.

I hope we can do some FOW stuff, too. MtP seems excited about both types of games. Huzzah, to that!

[ashmie]

-Edited- Shelved for another time.

OK it's a long shot but here goes.
I'm all set for Sunday but seeing as there are only 4 of us in attendance I have a proposal. Here me out. (Ducks behind sofa with rations of cucumber sandwiches.)
Providing Joe and Stu clear the air straight off how about a doubles game of Black Powder Fog of War from the morning? Here me out I said.
Joe and me take the forces of Prussia and France and Mike and Stu take Russia and team GB.
I play as the commander and Joe is the general. I will GM this game as well as play it therefore I take the role with less influence.
Stu and Mike must either decide amongst themselves or roll to determine who is who in the order of command.

Here are the basic rules for a fog of war encounter.

Each army has two commander models but no general model on the board. The reason is explained later.

One side will be the attacker one side defender. The defending army takes 2 units less than the attacker and takes the high ground hills/mountains. Players are encouraged to bring all the models they own. Preferably painted to at least 3 colours.
The defender has an advantage of being able to see over units as he is on higher ground therefore (optional rule) as a
special rule for this scenario he can see and shoot at any enemy unit within range.

The Fog;

This is an old way of war gaming that works well and can be very engaging if all parties are willing.
Two roles are assigned to the players on each team. One player will play the part of the General and the other his Commander. This will be determined by a roll of a d6. The General makes all the command decisions and rolls for these and the commander follows the generals orders. The General does not touch the models. The Commander moves the models and makes all the rolls for shooting, saving throw and close combat. The General makes the leadership and break test rolls.
The General has final say on every order but can only give orders on the information he receives from the commander first hand. For example (metagaming) the General player may be able to see something in the corner of the battlefield that needs attending to but he is only receiving orders from the Commander about another area of the battle so he must attend to that first. The information from the Command to the General is given verbally but the orders from the General to Commander are written down and given to the Commander to carry out to the letter. The only exception to this is the 'follow me' command which can be given at any time by the commander on his own initiative as well as following the Generals orders or instead of.

Time

The time limit of each set of orders is 3 minutes. After 3 minutes if no orders have been given the General loses his authority for that turn and the Commander is expected to act as he sees fit.

The game is played for 8 turns or 3 hours maximum of real time. At that time if the defenders are still holding or contesting the mountains/hills they win. If they are driven back the attacker wins.

As prerequisites for the game the players are encouraged to read through the rules, familiarise themselves with any special rules for their units. Watch BBC's Time Commanders on youtube as source material for this game.

So hoping everyone can man up as it were and we can put our squabbles behind us. What say you? Do I here a huzzah? Oh one final thing. If there are rules discrepancies and we don't have the page to hand with the rule then we toss a coin and the winner decides the situation, later we both look up the rule or open it to further debate after the game or another time. Not on the forums hopefully. This should be about pace and fun above all. Any takers?

Flames of War in the afternoon.

[YellowStreak]

So as far as I can tell, the attendance will be as follows.

Saturday
Prim
Pikey
Underdweller
Konrad
The Admiral
Harada san
Koji

Sunday
Prim
Pikey
Ashmie
Job
Konrad?

Yellowstreak???

Can't make Sat, but can make Sunday. No figs or clue on the games though. Happy to join in and learn though!

[job]

@Ashmie: I like the idea.

Anyway, can I suggest Yellow Streak get a role in all this, if he's up for it?

And lastly, I'm very happy to FOW of war is on your mind in the afternoon!

[ashmie]

-edited- Battalions ready. Best foot forward and all that

See you Sunday Gents. Looking forward to it.

Ash.

[Konrad]

I'll be there Saturday. Just give me a big hat and a regiment and point me at the enemy and tell me how many dice to roll and I'll be fine. I can depend on my gallantry to carry me through. Tactics, rules, strategy, a true gentleman has people to take care of those details. Sunday, I'm 50/50 on whether I can make it or not. But am planning on much the same strategy as Saturday.