Roll4Con - July 2024

 

    Our local Gaming store in London, ON, The Game Chamber held a sort of a mini-convention on Saturday.  A lot of different games were scheduled and I took part in the afternoon offering of The Silver Bayonet hosted by my friend, David. First a few photos of the various game offered, most of with - I admit - I have no idea what the games were. (Photos courtesy of Beth, David, and Joe, with one or two by me.)

"The Boss" takes a hand.

Our game was set somewhere in Europe with a search for a lost esoteric volume of lore penned by a local friar. We had four teams: Joe represented the Spanish Inquisition... as expected! Dan led a French group, David captained a Dutch group, while I fielded my Austrians. My wife, Beth, kibitzed, researched, and rolled the dice for the monsters, since she was a neutral party! Just so you know, David provided all the troops and monsters (except for mine) and his painting is superb! He also provided the majority of the terrain. The table was a delight, as you'll see.

The field showing the reference library as well.

The view from David's seat. Joe was to his right, Dan across from him,
and me in my Tom Servo-esque finest. Beth took the photo.

Cardinal Fang, Cardinal Biggles, and an armed member of the Inquisition advance.

Cardinal Ximénez and another Inquisitor go for the clues.

French Dragoons of Dan's French troops.
Those are not "Roombas" to clean the table; they mark hits on the figure.

Grenadier Gefreiter Keller and Feldpfarrer, Father Miller of my Austrian force find a clue...
which brought on another revenant!

David's Dutch force including the Veteran Hunter, Sergeant Sickles!

David's Dutch infantry and his coachman investigate the house.
I'd never seen the coachman used before. David says he's worth the point cost!

Dan's Dragoon farrier/sapper (the axe is the give-away) hacks down a revenant.
("How does one kill what's already dead?" he inquired quizzically.)

My Austrians again.
The Dhampir, Leutnant von Hanraty and the Veteran Hunter, rifle-armed,
Feldwebel Beck of the Jäger Battalions hunt for clues.
von Hanraty bravely dueled the Inquisitions troops while Beck sniped.
Neither survived the encounter, (Ach, schade!)

Both Cardinal Ximénez and some Dutch troops chase Father Miller - who has the book! - but found him too fast for them.
See, you CAN run in a cassock!

The clerical chase from a different viewpoint.

David's troops met the big baddie of the day - a vampire.
Quite stylish in his own pale way!

The troops of the House of Orange face the terror of the day!
By the way, they got him!

Discretion IS the better part of valour!
See ya, boys!

Am I gloating? No! Never!
(Well, maybe a little.)
(By the way, this is a Trent model. The rest of the Austrians were Perry Miniatures.)

The centre of the table was a bit of a traffic jam at times.
The tuft of cotton indicates that the figure has fired their firearm and reloading is required,

Joe insisted I gloat in this photo. 

Among the unexpected details on the table was a rabbit among the cabbages!

We all know what this is supposed to be...

But is it really?

Who won? I came in last on the points given for finding clues, taking down monsters, or taking out opposing team members... but I got the book off the board which was the scenario's big thing. Joe, David, and Dan all had more points as listed in the victory conditions. I really don't think any of us cared who "won" since we all had a great time. We're all hoping to play this game again, using a different scenario. 

With Brush In Hand...

 

   "I'm John and I paint miniatures or toy soldiers or whatever." To that, the room responds "Hi, John!" And we're off. (No insult is meant to those in any 12 step program. I just "feel" addicted at times.)

  Some of my latest painting attempts/successes/mess-ups.

15mm TundraWorks figures for the Seven Years War
Prussian garrison regiment figures painted as Swedes 

Same unit -- a close up of the command stand...
Officers, an NCO, and a drummer

 

30mm SYW female civilian from a company who's name
I've forgotten.

An older woman in 30mm from the same mis-remembered line

SYW woman with broom.
Still can't remember the company's name.
I purchased them at the Seven Years War Convention
this past Spring in South Bend, IN.

Royal Marine officer - Knuckleduster Miniatures
to be used for The Silver Bayonet naval/marine crew

From Trent Miniatures -- Little Turtle of the Miami
Another addition to our First Nations band for The Silver Bayonet

Again from Trent Miniatures...
Robert Emmet, 1803 Irish rebellion leader
He'll be some sort of specialist or commander for
a Silver Bayonet team
(I need to re-do his eyes, I think.)

Another Trent offering...
Madame Bulkeley, Vendee Rebel leader
A grand figure for a female Silver Bayonet group

A Catholic priest from Trent Miniatures
Some Roman Catholic Silver Bayonet outfit just gained
a new supernatural investigator!
I think he has a bottle of holy water on the back of his belt.

From ResinWarfare in Spain...
The crux of evil in any Canada scenario!
Canada Geese aka The Cobra Chicken!

These beasties came 7 figures to the order and are very nice. To be recommended!
They don't appear in The Silver Bayonet game or in the Canada supplement,
so I cobbled up some home-based rules for these ornery, nasty critters.
All residents of Canada know and are wary of them.

Seven Years War Swedes

 

  For better or for worse, I've been fascinated by the armies of Sweden in the Seven Years War and in the Napoleonic wars. I have no idea why. Maybe it's Ikea's meatballs with lingonberry sauce.

   In any event, last Saturday at the Hamilton Road Games Group, Andy, Glenn, and I tried out my Swedes against Andy's Wurttemberg troops who were allies of Frederick the Great's Prussia. Neither side had seen the table before so the "New Unit Curse" was in full force. (For those not "in the know", units of toy soldiers pretty much always fail, run, or get demolished on their first time out on the gaming table.) So off we went, using Osprey Publication's Honours of War rules. We may have stretched them to the limit with some things that went on. I like the rules and the rules, being somewhat abstract in counting casualties, do not lend themselves easily to a campaign setting. The rules count casualties as both actual losses in numbers and decline in unit morale. Did the unit choke and break or did they get decimated? The rules don't say and we can't be sure. Maybe someone else knows.

Well, here are some photos of my troops from my perspective. I tried to paint up a number of Finnish units out of deference to my friend, Vihtori, in Finland. At that time in history, Sweden and Finland were united... and I'm not sure that the Finns have ever forgiven the Swedes for that.

A view of the Swedish left flank and left centre.
A small light unit is headed for the town.
The Swedes were quite deficient in light infantry for quite a while.

 

The Swedish centre exchanges fire with the Wurttemberg infantry.
Hence, the cotton puff-balls.

French Cavalry in the service of Wurttemberg square off against Swedish infantry.
The figures are 15mm and the small 10mm cannon indicate the presence of "battalion guns."

Cavalry forces tentatively approach.
I soon formed my heavy horse into single lines. Double lines don't help.

Heavy Horse of the North Scanian and South Scanian regiments lead the way.
They are backed by the green-coated Bohusläns Dragoons

Action front! Load and fire in best time!

More firing between the lines.
The house is not happy and I can't remember why.

The right centre of the Swedish line pushed forward to engage.
The smaller white die (behind the battalion gun) indicates casualties on that unit.

The firing continues.

The Swedish C-in-C was not happy,

Most of the figures were either Essex or Minifig Russians. The grenadiers were Old Glory 15s or Laming figures picked up at Bring-and-Buy/Flea Market. A large number were figures from TundraWorks, a Canadian company. I used the figures for Prussian garrison regiments. The figures are nicely molded with a lot of variation. They're not highly detailed but quite enough for the likes of me.

The cavalry were Old Glory 15s or Laming (I think).

    The game didn't go far because we began to discuss the reality of a cavalry regiment charging uphill at an artillery battery. The guns fired and the cavalry melted away. Realistic? I can't say. I haven't ridden a horse in years and I have worked a 3# cannon in reenacting recently, but I still can't say.

   The rules have their limits and I still like them. Just my opinion.

More to come shortly.