Spring/Summer 2022

Though occasional Covid scares have interrupted play once or twice, the club has generally continued to meet weekly. Kings of War remains popular, but other games have come to the fore more often recently.  Bolt Action games occurred even on Friday nights, Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, Mortal Gods and ADLG continued to be played, and Black Powder was played reasonably often. Mordheim made a brief resurgence as well. In July, members of the club began exploring The Horus Heresy driven as much of the club's gaming has been over the last year and half, by 3-d printing. Additionally, club members resurrected the old GW game Warmaster.

Chuck and Mike playing Kings of War.

Chris prepares to fight a Bolt Action game out in the jungle.

Calm and organized, Eric doesn't let orc culture
effect him at all as he prepares to battle in Middle Earth.

Rohirrim fight to keep Rohan safe from Sauron
and Saruman both. 

One of SAG's offshoots, the YHP Bolt Action Club ran a Bolt Action tank game at Your Hobby Place-Fredericksburg.

Burning and pinned Stuarts litter the battle field.

Opposing commanders ponder how best to
control the village crossroads.

The all-tank battle led to careful use of terrain.
He who showed himself first was often brewed up!

Stuarts and Panzers engage at knife-fight distances
amongst the trees and buildings.

James and Ren explore the Civil War through 
Epic Black Powder. 

Chris obse4rves as Eric and Chuck try out
Firelock Game's Oak & Iron rules.

Rob contemplates his next move in Kings of War.

A river crossing for a Civil War  battle
using Epic Black Powder rules.

Ren, James, and Chris all contemplate the strategy
in a Warmaster game.

Chuck in his natural habitat - playing Kings of War!

In Mortal Gods, heroes fight to keep Zeus'
followers from controlling the Arc de Triumph!

Ren, Jeffrey, James, and Eric play Warmaster.

Chris elemental forces advance on Chuck's troops
in Kings of War.

Rob orders his battalions forward as the British 
and French clash in Black Powder.

Chuck turns his Kings of War generalship
upon Ken!

 

Summer 2021 at the Club

 Sadly, I have been quite remiss in my posting for the past few months. I'm determined to break through the blocks and get back to more regular postings, so here is the next post forward. It was a busy summer so there is a decent amount below.

I was happy to get a chance to revisit one of my favorite old rule systems, TSR's Battlesystem 2nd edition. I got to run my longtime army, the Bondswords, in their original game system. It was a simple set up, the Bondswords defending a fortified river against a humanoid horde led by giant, played by Eric. The goal was to help familiarize Eric with the system for future Battlesystem games in the SAG roleplaying off-shoot club. (like the Battle of Saltmarsh)

The Bondswords brace to defend the fortified ford
as their commander, Gildor, flies above the battle 
hurling magic on the advancing horde.

The Bondswords hold the ford as Gildor flies down
the river, raining eldritch death and destruction and
devastating their foes.

We had a lot of other game systems played over the summer. Predominantly Kings of War but also Gunslinger's Paradise, Black Powder, and Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game.

Chris smiles down as his Mexican banditos slaughter
the Duke and his men - Mississippi, Colorado, and
Stumpy in Gunslinger's Paradise.

Uruk-hai and Riders of Rohan battle on the wold 
in Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game.

Mike teaches the finer points of Kings of War.

Napoleonic French and British battle over a
farmhouse using Black Powder rules.

The YHP Bolt Action Club, another SAG offshoot that meets at YHP Fredericksburg, tried to restart its monthly meetings with a refight of the battle of Bir Hakiem in July. We had only a four players and it was more of a generic desert battle then Bir Hakiem (no legionnaires on the board!) but the game was a blast. 

The Afrika Korps advances on on the British left.

The Leichter Panzerspähwagen advances with an 
infantry squad against Tommies in the trenches.

The biggest event over the summer was the club's participation in the "Unmasked & Merciless" Kings of War tournament hosted by Your Hobby Place Fredericksburg in July.  The club entered six players and dominated the bottom of the rankings in the 16 player event. ;) But we had fun, and we were very new to the game. Mike, the tournament organizer, is one of our newest members. It was one of our first experiences with a chess clock for tournament play. I can't speak for the rest but I find it does make the game flow better. One of our members, Rob, brought home the title of "Bloodiest General"! 

Buck and Chris face off in Round 2, Chris managed
to pull the win, 17-4.

Rob and Mike begin their game in round 2, 
which Mike won 17-4.

Chuck makes his move against Alex of "The Aristocrats"
club in round 2. Alex won 18-3.

Ken crosses his arms in satisfaction. he knows he 
will soon slaughter Paul's Bondswords, 19-2.

Fearless Veteran, 2021

Chuck, the club's defacto president, did an excellent job printing
and painting the trophy, which is properly based so it can be
deployed as a giant in actual Kings of War play.

I brought the Fearless Veteran Tournament back for 2021 - and it was almost a success!

We ran a couple polls to decide which game we would play for the tournament, and Kings of War managed to eke out a victory after originally tying with Bolt Action 8-8. 

Ken, the 2016 Fearless Veteran, hands the trophy
to Mike, the 2021 SAG Fearless Veteran!

For the Kings of War tournament we went with 2300 points and a round robin format and a chess clock (65 mins per player). The three scenarios were Dominate, Invade, and Control - the theme was supposed to be conquering territory. 

The plan was to use a simple scoring & seed system. First round random, second round winners play winners, and last round the #1 & #2 players from the first two rounds were to play each other. The plan for scoring was to track win/loss records, total victory points earned, and total unit strength lost: determining the tournament final rankings following that list in order, so win/loss ranking trumped total victory points, which in turn trumped troop points lost. So if two players both end the tournament with a 3-0 record, or (more likely) a 2-1 record, the one with the greatest number of victory points wins. If they ended up with an identical number of victory points, then the one who lost the least amount of unit strength wins.

On the day of the tournament, Saturday, 11 September 2021, it seemed the club was cursed. We had 8 players sign up, but only four were able to make it, and I wasn't able to stay for the tournament either due to a family emergency. Still, those present did play out the games and we managed to crown a winner, Mike. Considering how thoroughly Mike dominates Kings of War at the club this was no surprise!

Here's hoping we can attract more players for Fearless Veteran 2022!

Our new Fearless Veteran, Mike, gives the thumbs 
up now that his name is properly added to the 
plaque at the club.  

Other Fearless Veteran tournaments are described here: 2017, & 2022

Spring at the Club

In May and June we got back into weekly meetings, which I know has been a great relief to us all!  The most played game these days is definitely Kings of War, but we also played some Konflict '47, Warmaster, Rangers of Shadowdeep, and Gunfighter's Paradise. 

Gunfighter's Paradise: Gun duels in the streets

Ren's Brit automatons advance on
Buck's Russians in a Konflict '47 game.

Eric ponders his move in Kings of War.

More Kings of War.

More Konflict '47

Chuck thoroughly explains Kings of War. 

Buck pulls an order die for Konflict '47
on the snowy steppes.

The fighting is hot amid the frosty ruins. 

Warmaster proves an excellent game.

Stalking the gnoll camp in Rangers of Shadowdeep.

Socially Distanced Gaming!

 During the late summer and early fall, we got a few "socially distanced" games in before the second wave of the pandemic hit.  I thought I'd share a few of those pics as we look forward to better times...

A blurry selfie as Paul and Ken play a bemasked
game of Kings of War at YHP-Fredericksburg.

Ren moves his Teutonic Knights in battle against his father's
Pagan Peoples warband in Saga.

Forces of Nature on the move in Kings of War, I believe.

Ken's Roman-themed Kingdoms of Men
force for Kings of War.

Paul's storm giant and berserkers face off against
Romans in Kings of War.

Kingdom of Dust (Monster Movie themed) versus 
the Undead in Kings of War.

Bran Ravenswing (center, mounted), second in command of the Bondswords,
finally has a chance to slay a dragon... he managed to pull it off,
but the rest of the undead army easily drove the
Bondswords from the field in shreds.

May 24 1942 till June Free french held off forces of Rommel at Bir Hakim.
Bolt Action, 1250 points, Jeffrey versus Alex.