The War on Christmas!

This post is a bit different, since it contains both an Army Spotlight and a battle report using that army.  I'll start with the battle report and then do the Army spotlight. 

On Boxing Day (26 December) this past year, I ran a "War on Christmas" scenario at the club. For the last few years I have tried to run holiday themed scenario games at the club for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. They have been pretty successful so far. Prior to this game, I generally ran The Silver Bayonet: A Wargame of Napoleonic Gothic Horror. That setting assumes that supernatural forces prowl about the edges of the Napoleonic battlefields, growing more powerful from the chaos and bloodshed. The setting is perfect for the holiday-themed games, and the scale is fairly small - 1:1 figure ratio, 28mm, with 4-10 figures per side. Follow the Silver Bayonet keyword to see posts with other holiday themed games. 

The Toy Soldier Battalion stands firm at the entrance to
the North Pole village.

The other end of the village is defended by Red Gnomes, Jack Frost,
 a squad of elves, and the Toy Cannon. 

However, the figures I had put together numbered far more then a dozen a side, so though I set this game in the Silver Bayonets setting, I used Blood & Bayonets, a larger scale Napoleonic warfare game, for the scenario. I thought it was a success, but will probably go back to a smaller scale Silver Bayonet game next year as it gives the more unique characters more of a chance to shine. 

The North Polar Bear and friend prowl the ruins of Santa's 
old hall, glaring at Ratmen lurking in the woods. 

Gnomes and Toy Soldiers move to stop the snowmen and 
Winterbolt, while on the other flank, the Ratmen advance
on gnomes and Christmas tree-ents. 

A band of Ratmen prepare to finish off a shaken band of Red Gnomes
while Jack Frost observes.

Winterbolt is destroyed but the Snowmen still attack!

The Christmas Tree-ents have just slain the Mouse King,
but a large band of Ratmen are out for revenge!

The scenario was fairly simply, Santa Claus was defending his village at the North Pole, with his defensive force of elves, gnomes, polar bears, and toy soldiers, while the "Hexan", or evil forces attempted to crush the Toy Maker and his followers, bring the world  into an even deeper gloom. The evil forces were led by Winterbolt (lifted from a Rankin/Bass cartoon) and the Mouse King (from The Nutcracker and the Mouse King). Their forces including Krampusse, snowmen, ratmen (Skaven figures), and goblins. It is basically a modified version of the “Assault the Town” scenario in the main Blood & Bayonets book, those who want to read the actual scenario and look at the stats I assigned to the various forces can download a pdf of the "War on Christmas" scenario. I just ask for feedback, whether you run it or just read it. 

The game went over fairly well, I think. Some of the players think it was unbalanced in favor of Santa's forces, but I believe that was a result of unfamiliarity with the Blood & Bayonet rules. I definitely plan to run the game again to see if it runs better with greater knowledge of the rules. 

The Army Spotlight is for the Christmas forces I have collected, built, and painted to run Christmas scenarios. Many, but not all of the figures are from War in Christmas Village, others come from holiday themed releases from Reaper. Others were 3D printed for me by club members, Chuck especially printed a ton of gnomes and some Christmas specific miniatures. He printed a lot of figures from the Lords of Wintervault collection. I also purchased Eureka Toy Town Soldiers, they seem to only be available outside the United States now, sadly. 

Our current abode is too small, but I hope to have a house someday where I can build a proper Christmas village and have these figures on display therein for each holiday season. I expect to try and build on this force. 

Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, Jolly Old Saint Nick

Bane Deer and Blitzen as a man-deer.

Winterbolt and Jack Frost

Frau Perchta and three Krampusse.

Santa and two reindeer.
One of my goals for this army is to acquire a Rudolph,
eight reindeer, and a proper sleigh. 

So, two of the snowmen are from War in Christmas Village,
and the broom wielder is a lucky find at Dollar General, repainted. 
Those three form the leadership, but I love the 23 snowmen I
made from scratch, especially their hats and
scarves (my wife helped with those). 

Here you see the snowmen "in progress" back in 2023.

Christmas elves!

Christmas Goblins! Along with Present Mimics!

Toy Soldiers on Parade!

The Nutcracker Prince, commander of the Toy Soldier Guard,
and the Toy Cannon and crew 

A Christmas Tree-ent, Winterbolt, and a Shaman Santa. 

Zombie Deer, Frau Perchta, and the Mouse King. 

Castle Fier: The Graveyard

 A couple weeks ago, some members of our club started the Iron Keep campaign from The Silver Bayonet: The Carpathians: Castle Fier. I'm going to try to document the campaign here on the blog.

We currently have five players in the campaign. I am playing my French list, led by Brigadier Gerard. A relatively experienced list, led by the Brigadier. Of him, according to his creator, Arthur C. Doyle, "Napoléon on Gerard, “if he has the thickest head he also has the stoutest heart in my army.” The list has a junior officer, a sapper, an occultist, and the balance of the members are Dragoons (infantrymen). This list is the most experienced of the groups, having played through seven or eight of the missions in the main book already. 

Ren is playing Prussians, using the Northstar set (TSB006 - The Prussian Unit). Ken is playing an Austrian list, including a Dhampier and some Guards. Ken's list is comprised of spare figures, some kit-bashed, that I painted up to entice him to try the game. 😁 Rob is playing a British list, with some hussars. Eric is running a "deserter" list, utilizing figures from multiple nationalities and led, of course, by Sharpe's Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill.

We played the first scenario, The Graveyard. With five players, we ended up playing the scenario three times. In the future, I would prefer that we play once, with all five players at once, I like the idea of that chaos... but if it fails maybe not. 

In all three games, the Tomb Wraith really intimidated the players, who generally found they had few weapons that could impact it. Also, an Undead Werewolf showed up in each game and did quite a bit of damage. The ghouls and revenants were mostly just obstacles, but the players were somewhat deadly to each other. 

Brigadier Gerard's group had the worst of it, the only leader to suffer a permanent wound - a leg wound. He has always been most effective on horseback, but since that isn't possible in future scenarios in this campaign it will be interesting to see how he does. 

Obadiah's deserters advance through the graveyard. For the first few games, we used a grass game mat which doesn't quite capture what the graveyard should look like. I wish I had put some castle walls around it.

The Tomb Wraith lurks near the central tomb, behind it you can see a clue marker, a discarded medieval helm.

A ghoul and an Undead Werewolf fight Rob's British force. 

The Tomb Wraith goes after the Prussian officer as he tries to escape the graveyard.

An Undead Werewolf circles Obadiah's beleaguered deserters.

Brigadier Gerard leads his dragoons in a dash from tombstone to tombstone as an 
undead werewolf attacks his occultist.

The French turn on the undead werewolf, saving the occultists even as the tomb wraith
and zombies come at them from all sides. 

The Prussians advance to sieze the spear, while Gerard an his men fight for their lives against
the undead werewolf, ghouls, and the Tomb Wraith. In this fight Gerard receives a permanent leg injury.

The scenario looks better on a stone courtyard, but still wish we had used some castle walls. Mounted this time (due to his leg), Brigadier Gerard and his dragoons face Ken's Austrians. 

Gerard and his men again face many undead foes as they try to fight their way to safety with the spear.
An undead werewolf to the left, a ghoul to the right, and the Tomb Wraith from their front, distracted from the nearer Austrian by a monster dice. 

I will to get some closeups of each warband and introduce them better in future posts. 

Fall and the holidays at SAG!

 

I loved how these Medusa & her sisters came out for my
Heran Mortal Gods: Mythic list. 

In the fall and early winter the club met regularly. Kings of War continued to be the most popular game, but we also started a Gunfighter's Paradise campaign and two of our members, James and Eric, began playing through the "Quest of Ringbearer" campaign for the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game. We also played some Black Powder, Konflict '47, Bolt Action, Art de la Guerre, and Mortal Gods. We tried out the new Victory at Sea game for the Russo-Japanese War. And got in some special holiday-themed games as well, inclduing our first game of Silver Bayonets.

Mike contemplates is next move in Art de la Guerre.

A busy, happy night at the club.

The Quest for the Ring heats up as the wolves attack...

Kings of War dominates club imaginations.

Somewhere on Middle Earth, Wargs and Spiders
over run some dwarves.

Buck prepares to guide his Russians to an 
overwhelming victory against the 3rd Reich 
in Konflict '47.

Eric's prostitute tries to seduce Ren's
outlaws in the Gunfighter's Paradise.

The Russian fleets steams towards the Japanese in
the Battle of Tsushima using Victory at Sea rules.

The Fellowship struggles to survive in Balin's Tomb 
on the Quest for the Ring.

Kings of War players test how new lists play
before committing to building and painting them. 

Prussians form square in the face of French
cavalry on a Black Powder battlefield. 

Paul's Byzantines prepare to crush Chris' Goths
in Art de la Guerre.

Chris' Orks clash with Rob's Bretonnians
 in Kings of War.

Mortal Gods! The Gorgons and Harpies
smash Hade's skeleton warriors.

The Persians face the Gorgons in Mortal Gods.

Chris and I also played a few traditionally holiday games.  First up was a clash between the Wampanoag and the New England colonists from King Phillip's War, with the war party surprising a small group of settlers. (I want to do a raid on a Wampanoag village next year, but need some proper lodges.)

Colonists gather around the tables for feast,
unaware the braves are stalking towards them.

Militia and Braves fight it out with
 pistols and tomahawks.

Wampanoag archers exchange fire with militia
 as women and children cower in the cabins.

One of SAG's offshoots, the YHP Bolt Action Club ran a Bolt Action Tanksgiving game. The first game ran so well we even played a second game. the game was at Your Hobby Place-Fredericksburg.

Paul's poor Stuarts burn as the King Tigers duke it out.

The second game off to a great start,
with a new player!

And then, we inaugurated Silver Bayonets play with a Christmas-themed game:
"Something is wrong in the Alpine village of Sombertown! Christmas is fast approaching, but the townsfolk are terrified of goblins and Krampus rampaging through the streets and attacking people. Some speak of the evil wizard Winterbolt, who they fear will come down from his mountain with his monstrous deer-folk minions to ravage the town..." Mike and rob stepped into take on Paul's Banedeer, goblins, Winterbolt and Krampus.

In the lower center Krampus hides behind
a wagon as the town guard and the Brits
catch Winterbolt in a crossfire just to the
right of the town well.

A British officer firing his pistol through
a window at the Bane deer inside.

A Christmas goblin rushes to help a
Bane deer fighting a cavalryman.

Mike and Rob saved the day and destroyed Winterbolt, but Krampus escaped with one naughty child, now doomed to live in Krampus' Alpen cave!