The SAG Fearless Veteran Tournaments

The Fearless Veteran tournament is a friendly club tournament that began back in 2016.  Back then our club was devoted to playing Flames of War, 3rd edition, and we played in the back room of our FLGS - the Game Vault. Most of us participated in the tournaments held at Historicon each year, particularly because Historicon was held in Fredericksburg from 2012-2017. 

Those tournaments were fun, but they were very large, and the play was very competitive in the Nationals, less so in the I-95 Pairs, but still, for most of the players it was about competition, and the scenarios were designed for ease of play in large tournaments. 

I wanted us to have a club tournament, where the focus would be on fun, not competition and where the scenarios could be more interesting. So, I decided to start one, calling it "Fearless Veteran" after the top  training and morale rankings assigned to units in Flames of War. I thought it would also be cool to have tournament for the club that would give the winner "bragging rights" for the year. 

The first three years of the tournaments were reasonably successful, we pulled in 12-16 players each time IIRC. But the publication of the 4th edition of Flames of War fragmented the club, most of us disliked the new system and no new system ever became as popular with the members as a whole. Game Vault closed, and we started playing in two different locations, one being Your Hobby Place - Fredericksburg. That further fragmented the club, and of course, politics started get really nasty and then Covid hit. We ended up skipping 2019 nd 2020.

But we came back in 2021, and have played a much wider variety of games since then. One year we even played a game, Knights and Terrors, that one of our own had designed and was play testing. But all of the above has led to both club fragmentation and a steady decline in folks coming out on Friday nights to play. Where once we could expect 8-12 people every Friday night, now it is not uncommon for there to be just two of us, and a few nights where it is just me. 

That's life, it's sad but folks move on and lives change. Our club is extremely informal, heck, even the name is just something I coined (and several members preferred a more "politically incorrect" title). But the declining attendance has also hit the yearly tournament, which has struggled to get more then 4-6 players the last few years. 

And yet we keep trying! This Saturday the club runs the Fearless Veteran tournament again! I hope we get a decent turn out. Mostly, this is just about club members hanging out together on a Saturday, playing some games. :)

Fearless Veterans to date:

2016 - Ken Jacobson  (Flames of War, 3rd edition)

2017 - Wayne Wiltshire (Flames of War, 3rd edition)

2018 - Wayne Wiltshire (Flames of War, 3rd edition)

Sadly, I cannot locate any photos for this year. 

2021 - Michael Adkins (Kings of War, 2nd Edition)

2022 - Wayne Wiltshire (Bolt Action, 2nd Edition)

2023 - Ken Jacobson (Black Powder, 2nd Edition)

2024 - Michael Adkins (Knights and Terrors)

2025 - Paul Westermeyer (Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, 2024 Edition)

2026 - This year the game is Blood & Plunder. Looking forward to a great day. Event information here!

I intend to update this post after each Fearless Veteran tournament. 

Ghost Pirates for Halloween!

Captain Blood looks over the skeletal crew of his 
great galley, the Dark Promise. 

Each year i try to run haliday themed games at the club This year's Halloween game is a Blood & Plunder scenario concerning undead pirates. 

I had created some basic rules for skeleton pirates drawing on this set of rules posted in in the B&P Facebook group. I also had to create a ship card and some rules for the pirate vessel. This was a Dark Elf galley that club member Rob built for Warhammer well over a decade ago. It truly is a beautiful model, I just had to fill it with skeltons and take to the high seas!

I named the ship the Dark Promise, it was commanded by Captain Blood, in his beautiful red coat, ably assisted by First Mate Venom (in green) and Bosun Bones (in blue). There were about thirty undead - all skeleton crew - manning the ship.

The ship was armed with a ram and six heavy cannon. Two for each broadside, and then on the "wing mounts" were two more which could also fire

as chasers fore and aft. The officers had cutlasses and a brace of pistols each, except for Bosun Bones, who also had an anchor and chain. The skeletons were armed with swords, cutlasses, scythes, spears, and a few had shields. 

I had to come up with special rules for ramming, since B&P lacks any rules for this (an odd bit to miss, IMO)

the scenario was simple, on the quarterdeck of the Dark Promise there were four chests of booty they had gathered over the centuries. Who ever managed to grab the most chest by the end of the scenario would be the winners. 

Each player ran a list of their choice with 200 points of ships, artillery and crew. Only two players made it. rob ran a Royal Navy list, manning a brigantine with sea dogs. James ran a Spanish list, manning a corvette. 

I tried to get feedback from other B&P players pregame
but no luck. I think this is a fairly decent B&P take on a galley. 

On Turn 1, the seas whip up rough, inflicting a -1 on all artillery fire
for the rest of the game. The Dark Promise decides the Spanish
 corvette, armed with a mix of medium and light cannon
  is the greater dangers and goes for it. 

On Turn 2 the Dark Promise fires its port wing chaser
at the corvette and misses, then fires a broadside
at the English brigantine to little effect.
The brigantine's own fire is relatively ineffective.

With the last move of Turn 2 the Dark Promise manages to ram
the corvette, inflicting 7 points of hull damage but no critical hits.   

On Turn 3 the Dark Promise backs water, hoping to ram again, 
but the Spanish corvette fires a broadside that rakes the galley
bow to stern, blasting skeletons to bits and causing a leak and a fire.
 Then they grapple the galley at the bow and board! A fierce fight
develops on foredeck between the skeleton pirates and the Spanish.
The English continue firing into the stern of the undead galley.

The Spanish continue slowly demolishing skeleton pirates on
the foredeck. The English brigantine continues firing into the 
stern castle of galley, slowly destroying crew. The skeletons
put out the fires, but Bosun Bones and his scalawags are destroyed.
Soon after First Mate Venom & his skeletons go down as well.
the leaks continue to spread. 

The English brigantine grapples the stern while Captain blood
and the skeleton rowers are battling the Spanish on the forecastle.
They grab four of the chests of booty and transfer themto their
own ship. The leaks continue unabated and the Dark Promise
 begins to sink into the sea. The Spanish boarders manage to
crush Captain Blood and the last of the skeletons then retreat back
to their corvette as the Dark Promises slides beneath the choppy waves...

It was a fun game!  Once again my poor ability to manage my cards and properly allocate my forces was highlighted (attaching Captain Blood to the rowers was a mistake). Still, a fun, atmospheric Halloween game!

A SAG Homecoming ADLG Game

 

Back in June, we had a very nice, but rare, homecoming at the club. Chris visited from his duties in Europe, and two of our members who can't come by very often these days, Chuck and Terrance, were also there. Paul, Rob, and Ken of the typical Friday night crew also came by making for a night closer to the glory days in size. We had two games running, Terrance, Rob, and Ken played Black Powder while Chris and I played a game of L'Art de la Guerre.

The prodigals return! L-R: Terrance, Chuck, Chris

Rob, Terrance, and Ken play Black Powder. 

Chris and I played ADLG a lot a few years back, when ADLG was played by more members of the club. In fact, Chris, Chuck, former member Doc, and I played as a team at the team Nationals back in 2016 or 2017 (can't recall which year). Chris beats me more often than not when we play (regardless of system! :D)

I played my Numidians and he played an Early Arab list using one of Chuck's armies. These two armies never really matched up historically, but they do have some chronological overlap and it is certainly possible that they might have clashed somewhere in Egypt. 

It was hard fought but I managed a victory! It was nice to play Chris again, he is missed at the club!

Blast from the Past: HOTT at Historicon 2016!

 Back in 2016 Ren and I played in a Hordes of the Things (HotT) tournament on Sunday at the conclusion of Historicon 2016. It was a lot of fun, and I took plenty of pictures.

These days, Hordes of the Things is being replaced by De Bellis Fantasiae (DBF) from the same folks. I really liked HOTT, it was a generic fantasy system that played very fast games and required few figures, it really encouraged imaginative and inventive army designs. I have high hopes that DBF will hit that same itch. 

This was a 25mm tournament, which for HotT meant 60mm wide bases. I decided to really test how flexible HotT was, and I wanted to encourage Ren to give it a try, at the time he preferred historical games. So I put together two matching army lists for World War I armies, one German the other one British. I think it went great!

This game was run by David Schlanger with NASAMW. If anyone has contact with him please drop me a line. :)

The "Krazy Krauts", my HotT Army, WWI Germans.
The pillbox in the center was the stronghold. 
These were plastic 1/72 scale figures, primarily WW I Germans from HäT. The Taube I bought used, I don't know the manufacturer.
I called them the "Krazy Krauts" because on my high school swim team
some teammates called me the "Krazy Kraut."

"The Division", Ren's HotT army, WWI Brits. 
Again plastic 1/72 scale. The figures are primarily WW I British from HäT. The tanks are Battleground Flames of War, and the Sopwith Camel is Revell Germany.

I considered playing this army, the "Black Thunder Company." Some of my old AD&D players may recall it from the Mercs campaign. I was planning to run it originally, it is a more traditional "fantasy" list, but since Ren decded to play I thought matching armies would be better. These figures are primarily Revell Set 02567 Swedish Cavalry and Revell Set 02566 Imperial Artillery. This is definitely an army I will convert soon to DBF!

The opening match ups. A six player tournament!

Ren's first game was against the "Evil Army of Malevolent Horror!"
(I loaned this player my castle as a base). 

Ren begins to advance "The Division" against his foe. 

Ren's tank turn his foe's right flank. 

Casualties mount as "the Division"
faces down the "Malevolent Horror"

Ren's British World War I force is victorious in his first game!

For my first battle, my "Krazy Krauts" faced off against 
"Her Majesty's Mechanical Marvels." 

My "Krazy Krauts" advanced. I loved this game, our armies were 
very on theme with each other. And my opponents miniatures and models
were simply superb. As a long time Victorian sci-fi fanI was loving this . 

Perhaps I was too star-struck. Or perhaps I needed tanks of my own. 
Regardless I was soundly defeated. 

Ren's second game was against "Magicians' Union, Local 666."
His opponent had a very cleverly designed and built army with lots of magical fires.

Ren ended up getting burned!
The "Magicians' Union" defeated his British list.

My second game was against the "Good Army of Valourous Hope!"
Happily for me, I crushed their hopes and handily defeated this army. 

With one win and one loss each, for the final round
Ren and I were paired against each other.
Brits versus Germans!

Ren smiles as his tanks crush their way through my lines.
He won a convincing victory!

As you can see, Ren pulled a strong second place showing out of the tournament.
In contrast, I pulled a distant last place. Ah, well. :)

This remains a great memory and a fun Sunday tournament. It was quick and collegial, perfect for Sunday morning and a wonderful way to end Historicon 2016.

I miss the days when Historicon was being held in Fredericksburg. For us, it is far more expensive, and not as fun, up in Lexington, Pennsylvania. 

Piracy on the High Seas!

 

Last Friday we played another game of Blood & Plunder.  Eric finished his Dutch fluyt, christened it the Zon and shipped the crew. James had already finished his own sloop, the Sea Witch. I determined to field Rob's beautifully painted brigantine crewed with the original Unaligned Nationality Starter Set as my own Warriors & Weapons barks were not really as pretty.

We went with a simple scenario since this was a friendly, "learning" game. 300 points for the fluyt, 200 points for James & I, and whoever controlled the fluyt at the end of the scenario won the game. 

The game went much faster then it has in the past as we are getting a handle on the rules. Artillery was also FAR more deadly then it has been. In our previous game James managed a stern raking shot that decimated my ship. This game showed that wasn't a fluke. 

This is a strength of the game, in my opinion. Ship handling in the face of adverse wind conditions is a key component of the game. I can easily imagine this going very different if the wind had favored us. Of course, james and I probably didn't handle our ships optimally in this scenario, we are still learning!

So far, I really like this system. the battles feel right for small scale engagements in the Golden Age of Piracy. The models are beautiful, of course, but for me, game play that has a proper historical flavor is always key and this seems to handle it well. More learning games to come!