BLOOD EAGLE: THE FIRST BATTLE.

I purchased a copy of Blood Eagle from Caliver Books at Carronade 2016. My Wednesday group had been discussing getting it as uses the familiar In Her Majesty's Name game mechanics. It is an option for gaming in early 2017.

Having watched David and his sons playing the game at a demo game run by one of the co authors of the game, Craig Cartmell, I decided that I would give the game a try with Rick on a Thursday back in May 2016. It continued our Dark Ages theme, as we had played a few games  of SAGA in previous weeks. 

I set out a village, with a great hall as a centre piece. and we played the 'vengeance' scenario. Rick played the part of a Viking Jarl and I used my Scots figures as Picts. Hopefully, this would be an easy introduction to the game.
The Vikings started with the Jarl, two Veteran Warriors and four Warriors. The Picts started with a Chieftain, two Champions and six Warriors. These were basic forces with no extra special abilities, or even names.

A front view of the great hall.

Early in the game. My Picts entered from the right.Apologies for the rather large markers. I couldn't find my IHMN markers.

Interior view of the great hall.

Pictish warriors and a champion prepare to take on Viking Warriors. A Viking veteran lurks on the flank.

Battle is joined. 

The Picts come off worst.

The Viking Jarl and a Veteran take on a champion and some warriors.

Overview of the battle. 

The Viking Jarl is killed in combat. He manages to kill the Pict champion before expiring.

The battle continues. The Picts are taking casualties on the right.

The remaining Picts are cut down.

Victory to the Vikings.

As it is a while since the game, the report is less detailed than usual. The system works well for small numbers and will lend itself well to a themed campaign. Hopefully I will get some games in 2017. To that end, I will be preparing a namedforce with a bit of background.

ANOTHER 'TANKS' TRYOUT.

A couple of Thursdays back saw me introduce Rick to 'Tanks'. I used my collection of Axis & Allies Miniatures, since I have moved on my 15mm collection , and only have the starter models in 15mm, and my 10mm buildings and trees to give the terrain a more 3D look. 

To start, we did the ' Barkmann's Corner' scenario.

The game set up.

Early moves. Barkmann's panther scores a hit on one of the Shermans.

The Panther takes a critical hit, in return reducing it's attack dice to 2. 

The Panther is engaged by both Shermans. 

The Panther and Sherman both hit each other. The Sherman takes a hit and is destroyed.

The Panther destroys the second Sherman.

The game was very familiar, the mechanics being based on the likes of X-Wing and Star Trek: Attack Wing, and played well enough. At times it was too similar to those games as there was something 'not right' about tanks haring about like fighters, trying to get the best shot. This was probably due to their being no infantry or anti tank threat in the game. We decided to see how the game would play with a number of tanks on each side. I took the Germans, Rick the Russians. We played with no upgrades or crew.

The Germans and Russians move to contact.

View from the German lines.

Hits scored on the German forces.

Russian fire takes out the German PzIVs.

Although the Germans lost heavily, it was an entertaining game. The greater number of tanks meant we were a bit cagey with our movement and positioning. It is a useful game to throw on at short notice or as a filler. Interesting to see if the game gets any expansions other than tanks.

RECONNAISSANCE IN THE CLOUDS.

Our Thursday Game was the latest battle in our series of linked battles of WW1 Wings of War/Glory.

This saw Rick face a mission where a Bristol F2B, escorted by a Sopwith Camel had to photograph a terrain feature and get off the table. Rick had organsied some fluffy paper clouds at various levels for the planes to hide in. My German force was Three Albatross. Two were on the table to start with, the third appearing once soa plane had suffered special damage. 

After a few moves where nothing happened, battle was soon joined.

An Albatross manages to get a burst off at the Camel. The other heads for the F2B.

 

The second Albatross is caught in a crossfire between the Camel and the F2B's tail gunner. It does get a long burst at the Camel in return.

The third Albatross appears. The F2B has almost completed it's mission without being intercepted.

The Camel fills an Albatross' sights. Great use of the Immelmann!

A close shave for the F2B.

A damaged Albatross limps back to base, to fight another day. The F2B escapes into cloud, evading the two remaining Albatross.

A second Albatross breaks off, not wanting to risk any more damage. The other Albatross manages a long range shot at the Camel.

After an Immemann, the Camel turns the tables on the Albatross.

wait for the 

The  Camel then flew off to avoid further damage. The remaining Albatross, although damaged, gains the Germans a victory point for being the last plane on the table.

By completing the mission, Rick scored two victory points. They will go on the records of the pilots. What I did not know at the time was that I had wounded both Rick's pilots. This means that they will be unavailable for the next game. Two of my pilots had been involved in previous actions, so there was an incentive to keep them, and their accrued victory points, safe. 

All the pilots landed safely, despite two Albatross and the Camel having taken over 50% damage.

We started with a roster of 20 pilots, there are now some gaps, but the mission is the the priority in these games, not taking risks to shoot down the enemy at all costs, as might happen in a on off game. Can't wait for the next mission, which will be a German dawn patrol.

A SPORTING DIVERSION. OR WAS IT JUST NOSTALGIA.

What to do when your game ends early? As a filler, after we managed two games of Memoir '44 in just over two hours, we tried an old (very old!) favourite. 

Kick Off is a card based soccer game.

Rick took a two goal lead.

I managed  a comeback. Through two penalties. Here is my equaliser.

A great way to finish the evening. This is not my original set. That has a record of every game played with it, and is somewhere in my flat. Brought back memories.

REASONABLY PRICED CARS FOR STARS.

More useful finds for Fistful of Kung Fu and 7YV games. I was in The Works, in Aberdeen today and they are selling off 1/43 scale contemporary cars for £2 each. 

A Range Rover and BMW X5. Tiny Templeton, by Crooked Dice, used to give an idea of scale.

The Works seem to be selling off vehicles and figures, that were originally sold as part of magazine part-works, for reasonable prices. As well as the cars, they are selling 54mm Napoleonic figures and 1/43 and 1/72  die cast military vehicles. As the Works has branches all over the UK, this may be of interest to some of my readers here.

DBA 3.0. TWO MORE BATTLES.

After our taster game of DBA 3.0, Rick suggested we try the big battle DBA rules. For this, we used three standard sized DBA armies. We fought two different battles on two separate Thursdays. 

The initial set up. The Picts are in ambush positions as the British advance.

For the first game, we decided to ignore the set up rules and set up an historical battle. The battle was Nechtansmere or Dunnichen, between the Picts and Sub Roman British. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dun_Nechtain

The middle command of the Picts charges down from the hill as the Britons try to change from marching order to deploy into battle order.

Two Pictish commands attack the Britons, to try to drive them into the lake. The third command is the plug to stop the Britons' escape.

The Picts crash into the Britons, pushing them back.

Having lost impetus, the Picts are attacked by British cavalry and take losses. In the foreground, the Pictish warband clash with British infantry.

The casualties suffered by the Picts left two commands demoralised.

History was not repeated, as the Picts lost. Two commands lost at least 4 elements and became demoralised. That meant they could not attack, only defend, and only then if pips were spent to hold them. The British were able to defeat the commands in detail. The army morale check was then failed, giving victory to the British.

The second game was based on a randomly rolled battlefield from a Commands & Colors scenario. It was between Rick's Early Imperial Romans and my Early Germans. 

The initial set up. We used coloured beads to denote the commands and CinC. Each command got one pip dice.

As the attacker, I took advantage of Rick's poor pip dice to get my warbands across the river.

The Romans retaliate with a cavalry charge.

An overview of the battle. The Romans are beginning to attack the German right flank,

The German assault begins to cause casualties to the Romans.

The Romans exploit the weak German right flank. 

The Germans continue to push forward, unaware that they have been outflanked.

A view of the German plight.The right flank German command was now demoralised.

A second German command becomes demoralised during the Roman counter attack.

The end state. The Germans failed the army morale check, once two commands were demoralised.

The DBA 3.0 big battle rules give a feel like old style DBM. I have not played DBMM, so can't say what influence this may have had. The rules have tweaked the troop types enough to allow and encourage historical tactics and usage.

Playing DBA again has reignited my interest in the period.