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Man-O-War - 1990s Games Workshop, 2024 Review

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Daisho, quick review

 Daisho is a fantastical Samurai ruleset. Here's a quick run down for those who TLDR, or in my case are too lazy to write proper reviews; Lady Takori and her retainers storm the sake den, whilst the sisters and their archer move to flank > Its what I call a toybox ruleset. Lots of options, very customisable, easy to build your bespoke warband for your toys and create your scenarios. Is anyone in? > It's light on game design, and probably strategy. There are points for the stats and builds of your warband, but little else. The core rules are roll a D10 and add some modifiers. It really is just move and attack, no gimmicky or clever mechanisms. You could min max your warband built, but that's clearly not what this ruleset is for. A troop of aggressive warrior monks storms the Sake House > It really does have a lot of options. About 10 of the 90 page book are rules, the rest is either character/warband creation options or ideas for scenarios A brawl ensues > It is

Warhammer Warcry is the best Games Workshop game

 What is Games Workshops best game? The correct answer was always Space Hulk. It's a lean focused design that nails the aliens corridor shooter experience. Some of the narrative games came close, Necromunda and Mordheim, Battlefleet Gothic had the best box cover, but really it was always Space Hulk.  Well that's what I thought until yesterday. Warcry is the best game GW have ever made. Hands down. The Spiranx looks on with its Chaos Turkey companion! I'm really drawn to games that know what they are trying to be and set out manchette in hand into the jungle to hack out that goal. Warcry is basically Warhammer goes to the Thunder Dome. A standard game has 3 turns, is objective based, and uses one die roll to resolve most actions. Its very quick and razor sharp. You deal with the chaos, construct a plan and whip out half of each others warbands in 30-60 minutes. Pick axes to the face of the dark elf scum The core engine is a fairly stripped down standard GW fair. It's I g

2023 Year in Review

  Bit of a gap in my blogging (too much time spent miniature painting). But I will start 2024 with a rundown of the last 12 months.   Time (and monies)  Spent: I got into miniature wargaming at the end of August. Since then I have painted; Ø   >  1x 15mm Carthaginian army of around 30-40 bases Ø   >  1x 15mm Greek army of around 15-20 bases.   Have at it you fools! These are for any classical rule set I can lay my hands on but so far I have just played L’Art De la Guerre. Which is Ok, see my review.   Ø   1x 28mm Goths / Saxons / Vikings army. These I have not used for Saga yet, which was their original purpose. They have been hosed by dwarves ( I killed one dwarf and lost half my army) in a game of Warlords of Erewhon. Erewhon gets a tentative thumbs up. Need some more games and fewer rules mistakes before I decide on it, but I had fun.   Ø   >  1x 28mm late Roman army – these mostly still need painting.   For the Emperor! Ø   >  1x Mordheim Possess

Thoughts on (review) L' Art de la Guerre

  I have played a couple of games of this now and watched one more. Not an expert but enough to share my opinion.   It’s mixed   I have enjoyed my games and will enjoy several more but I would caution the general recommendation for this rule set that gets chucked out regularly on reddit when anyone asks for a medieval or ancients ruleset. Hannibal surveys the field from behind  his gallic infantry   I will stick the boot in first then end on the positives.   As a simulationist by preference this game is nonsense. A generalist ruleset is going to struggle to represent the nuances of warfare in a specific era. I should not be surprised that the way elephants are used is not that similar to their historical deployment, or that running three lines of republic romans is a bad idea however I’m not sure that these rules represent any ancient or medieval warfare in a particularly meaningful way.   Let’s start with the victory conditions. Your army routs when you lose roughl

My Carthaginian Army! also a review of PSC 15mm plastics range for ancients

  I have spent much of the past month painting 15mm Carthaginians and their allies. The army is initially for playing Le Art De La Guerre, the latest hydra head from the DBM rules heritage. Further down the line I intend to use them for historical scenario pickup games, possibly using the Age of Hannibal or Hail Caesar rule sets.     My forces are made of a mixture of miniatures. The bulk are from the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) Mortem Et Gloriam ‘Pacto’ range. It would appear that PSC picked up older moulds from both Xyston and a range called Corvus Belli. They then retooled them to take a form of plastic they refer to as ‘Ultra Cast’ and spin out these box sets mostly to support their published rule set.   I went for them as they had fairly good reviews and were cheaper than the alternatives. Most companies in this area charge around £4.50-5 per pack, with a pack being 8 infantry or 3-4 cavalry. A couple of companies charge £15-16 for 24-30 infantry figures instead.   B

The Battle of Tonkin Bay 1904 (Naval AAR)

The IJN had been deployed to the Bay of Tonkin in support of Imperial China's war against France in 1903. Set backs on land required further troop reinforcements and an escort under way in early May. The IJN fleet consisted of;   Ø   Battleship Mikasa Ø   Battleship Fuji Ø   Battleship Shikishima Ø   Cruiser Chitose Ø   Cruiser Nisshan Ø   Cruiser Idzumi Ø   Cruiser Matsushima Ø   Battleship Chen Yuan Ø   Cruiser Idzumo Ø   Cruiser Choyoda Ø   Cruiser Naniwa Ø   Cruiser Itsukushuma Ø   Cruiser Katsuragi Ø   3x destroyers   Divided into five squadrons with three transport ships in a sixth squadron.   The French Marine Nationale under Auguste Boué de Lapeyère found them at dawn. Their six squadrons consisted of; Ø   Battleship Iena Ø   Battleship Messena Ø   Battleship Henri IV Ø   Battleship Jaureguiberry Ø   Battleship Carnot Ø   2x cruiser Friant Ø   Armoured Cruiser Gloire Ø   4x torpedo boats Ø   3x destroyers   The Japanese strategy was to advance all squadrons in either line a