I'm back again. . . and playtesting

Didn't realize I was gone again, did ya? Well, I had that second partial knee replacement surgery 3 weeks ago. I have two straight legs again, but it will take a few months of physical therapy and some hard work to have them working at peak efficiency again. Sigh. . .

For a little distraction that doesn't require much heavy lifting, I am helping to playtest a game that covers - you guessed it - the French and Indian War. Bayonets & Tomahawks is a GMT P500 game, and I've been watching its development since it was first added to the list. Go here to check it out; discussions with the developer (yes, I got involved) and a good look at playtest components. GMT is also the home of some of the Commands and Colors series of games: Ancients, Napoleonic and soon, Samurai Battles.

A little bit about Bayonets & Tomahawks from the GMT site:

I think this game will make a great campaign vehicle for generating our F&IW battles. It's focus on the operational aspects of the conflict as opposed to the political (not ignored!) should lead to meaningful battles as well as lots of opportunities for raiding and low level skirmishes.

Unit scale meshes perfectly with my troop collection: Brigades at about 3 times the size of light units and war parties. My regulars are organized in 3 10-man units with light troops as single 10-man units. Best of all, the units are simple representations of manpower, whose unit strengths and weaknesses are utilized by the game's battle system rather than abstract strength points with pros and cons already factored in. This should make it simple to transfer the battles to the tabletop, to be fought with miniatures, with one's miniature rules of choice accounting for potential unit performance.

An incredible amount of research has gone into this game - obvious if you check out the InsideGMT articles on the GMT site. The map really shines; it's based on contemporary renderings as opposed to "period" place-names superimposed onto a "google-earth" map. I am a fan of this approach. It really transports you back to the 18th Century wilds of North America. At least, if you're open to said transport ; )

Here's a shot of the print and play components all ready for . . . play. 

More later as I actually get in some games. See ya!
 

Red Alert! I'm back!

Red Alert! I'm back! I'm back? You didn't notice I hadn't posted for a couple of months? Well, the Red Alert isn't for me. . . more on me at the end of this post. First, the gaming content.

Richard Borg and PSC games launched a Kickstarter for a new space fleet game, and I'm all in: Red Alert. It uses the tried and true Commands and Colors board game system that started with the American Civil War, then moved into WW2, Ancients, Napoleonics, WW1 and now to what would seem an unlikely genre, space fleet combat. I am a fan of
Commands and Colors: Ancients from GMT Games and have played a lot of games using 15mm miniatures. I also own and play Commands and Colors: Samurai Battles by Zvezda.

So, does this system work for "space combat?" The kickstarter actually posts the complete rules for download. 

I really like the "fleet" aspect and emphasis on "positional" warfare as opposed to "dogfighting in space" like WW2 airplanes. My plan will be to exchange the multiple miniatures per unit to track losses with the individual 1/2500-scale Star Trek miniatures, tracking losses with "shield" markers instead of additional ship miniatures. That will mean about 12 ships (plus fighters) per side. The game ships in March 2019, which should be enough time to build the models, but we'll see!

Here are a few images from the Kickstarter. Hurry, if you're interested, it closes in about 40 hours.

So where have I been? Getting new knees. Or, at least getting the first of two partial knee replacements. Hereditary osteoarthritis and years of martial arts training finally made the replacements essential, at least if I want to be able to walk for more than 15 minutes at a time! Surgery, rehab exercises and a full-time-plus job is cutting into hobby time. Plan is to get the second knee done in the fall.

I decided NOT to leave you with a Cluck-Amok-style selfie featuring my new scar : )