Photos From Joy Of Six Show 2014

Initial Setup For Banja Luka

 DBMM Ancients Game...... That's what you call Warband!

Nice Chariots, I did like the concept of using 28mm scale bases and populating them with a mass of 6mm but there is a shit load of extra painting involved to get there. I'll be sticking to 15mm scale base sizes thanks!

 Back to our game..... and the Imperialists face the impending advance of my Ottoman forces.

 Over on the other side of the table things are looking more positive for the Imperial Army as troops breach the walls.

 It's looking just as grim for the Garrison force as more Imperial Forces are breaking through....

Ottoman Reserve Guard, arriving in style on the flank to help out with the counter attack...

 Mark re ordered his cavalry around to counter the newly arriving Ottoman force....

 The Imperial force holding the pontoon bridge was quickly swept aside as troops routed one after another following failed morale checks.

 As my initial order was to engage the hill my reserve was now on hold so I could refuse my flank from Mark's charging cavalry.

 At Banja Luka the Garrison has all but been destroyed and the town belongs to the Imperialists!

 As the sun sets the both sides can now re group but it's clear that the Imperialist force will not be hanging around Banja Luka for long as the Ottoman's have enough troops left to besiege the town in the morning. The loss of the Imperial force which was ordered to hold the pontoon bridge allowed has prevented a complete crushing, so in the end a marginal victory for the Imperialists after a well fought siege.

Joy of Six

I promised a review and I have to say I thought the whole weekend was excellent!  The armouries were well worth a visit and we probably could have done with another hour - I think we should have given the punt guns a miss.  A pity we didn't get a chance to see the machine gun section and Mark looked a little disappointed that they had the swords from lords of the rings but no Gimli axe!

The hotel was good for the price and very handy for the venue and for city centre pubs and restaurants.

The day itself went far too quickly.  I spoke with alot of people with whom I was more than happy to spend time with; something that cannot be said for most wargames events.

It was a pity that there were only three traders in attendance.  However, if I had to choose one 6mm supplier it would have been H&R and it was great to see alot of the range but a shame he was so busy that we didn't get a full chance to look through everything he brought.

I am definitely up for putting on another game next year.  It was nice to receive the compliments and I felt it gave us a good base from which to talk to others in the show.  The concept of using a fast play version of a rule set is certainly an idea I would repeat in future; it was impressive that we got a result by the end of the day and I think I might further develop the rules we used to put on big games on Thursday nights.  In addition, I would also look to use a game we had already played rather than develop a new from scratch for the show; I did not suffer any burn out approaching this show and over the last few months I was able to add a few extras, which were not neccessary, but enjoyable to prepare.  I am looking at Tarawa, Plassey (evil uncle Mir Jaffa would have a great time with the fast play rules) and possibly Fontenoy as my contendors for next year.

The Thursday night prep was vital and I felt the packaging and transporting of the game went very well.  It all went smoothly and I have had very few breakages.  It was a great combined effort; thank you Mark, Russ and Phil for all the effort you guys put in, I hope you got the same out of it.

So, all in all, the event surpassed my expectations and I am looking forward to next year.  Let me know what you think.

Why we really dont want to get involved

These kids  are Ukranian Cossacks at an  outdoor activities weekend run for teenagers. They are Pro Russian. Our kids go canoeing and abseiling.

DBA Errata

A few clarifications following on from Thursday and some further reading of the rule book.


1. Overlaps - We got this spot on. If your element is in flank contact with another enemy elements side edge you are overlapped regardless of whether this enemy element is in combat to its front or not.

2.Destroyed elements and supporting elements. - I was looking through the rule book to see if I could find a section which confirmed that supporting elements are destroyed if the main element is destroyed as a combat outcome.

The rules clearly state that if an element is destroyed any elements which are in contact with a flank or in rear support of the destroyed element recoil, maybe worth a second look but I can't find anything which suggests you lose your rear support and flank contact.

3. Push backs - this is becoming clearer now the more we play and we have been doing this right except if you have 2 or more ranks of friendly troops which are contacted by a friendly recoiled element you would push all three elements back far enough to accommodate the recoil. Of course troop types that can inter penetrate will simply just move through if there is clear space behind.

4. Recoiling elephants - these will destroy any friends which they contact during the recoil. They will then finish their recoil move and are not destroyed. Elephants which recoil into elephants kill each other.

We're all going to Joy of Six

Mark will not be allowed to sing whilst he's driving unless Russ wants to accompany him as Una Stubbs!

I was talking with Phil today and I thought it might be a good idea to put down what I hope to get out of our weekend in sunny Sheffield.

Several years ago we used to go on our annual outing to Salute.  This involved a visit to someplace of interest on the Friday, a dodgy but amusing night out in Romford, a visit to the main event on the Saturday and a final sojourn to Navwar on the way home.  We did this for three or four years on the run but we knocked it on the head when Salute just got a bit samey.

So, I am hoping we will recapture some of the above with a visit to either Bosworth or the armouries on the Saturday, a meal and a drink in the evening and a show that we will participate in on the Sunday.  For me, it will be interesting whether we get a lot more out of a show that we are contributing to, and perhaps, meet people who we would want to talk with and may enrich our approach to 6mm wargaming.

This then could become an event that we want to attend every year, for which we would enjoy putting on a game, that would be fun as a group activity and would further push the quality of our gaming.

These are my hopes and it will be interesting to review them after the event.  Please comment and let every one know what your expectations are.

Thursday DBA

Imperial Rome verses Carthage

 

All the action seemed to be on the roman left flank which was doing well until a collapse on the last turn.

The centre skirmished for position whilst the right flank sat and watched the Carthaginians as they tried to roll higher than a 1.

 



Rules for Banja Luka

I would like to ensure we have as much time to get up to whatever we want at the Joy of Six event whilst also making sure we play a game that gets a result.  Therefore, I am proposing the following operational rules which I hope will give us an outcome that will reflect the full set of PoW but in a less detailed manner.

The battlefield is set up in the same manner.

OOB and casualty sheets are the same.

We use the order menu as normal.

We use the recently introduced army morale and test for units routing within 8".

The special Banja Luka amendments and siege rules remain the same.

However, we do not use the charging melee and firing rules from PoW.  Instead we look at the orders a particular unit is under and consult the following matrix to see who, if any has the advantage.

Ottomans       Imperials         Outcome
Engage           Engage            Ottomans win
Attack            Attack            Ottomans win
Engage           Hold               Ottomans win
Attack            Hold               Draw
Hold               Engage           Imperials win
Hold               Attack            Imperials win
Engage           Attack             Imperials win
Attack            Engage            Draw

What this means is that when you use your pips to charge and melee or fire with a unit you look at the above matrix and in a one on one unit situation the winner decides on whether they are putting a casualty on the loser or demanding a morale check.  In a 2 on 1 situation it is a casualty and morale check and so on.

Where it is a draw there is no result unless one side has more than one unit firing or in the melee.

Where one side is normally the winner but is faced by two units then the situation becomes a draw.

Hopefully, with this method we will concentrate on moving troops around the battlefield and quickly resolving combats to give us a faster game.

If there is a chance I would like to try this out before the Joy of Six but I know time is against me.

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

I need help!

I am trying to finish off and tidy up the game for JoS and I have always been a little bothered that I haven't made any ditches for the vauban city walls. Reluctantly, I am considering cutting up Phil's Tarawa ditches which I have found handy as roads/ditches in a number of games.

1. Do you think it would look better with the ditches?
2. Do you think it would look better left alone ( look at Russ' pictures of Banja Luka)
3. Do you have an alternative idea that would be better and which I can make happen within the next two weeks?


Please comment as I would like to put a game on that is as good as I can make it.

Carthaginians

Here is the order of battle for the Carthaginians for Thursday....





Command 1 

C in C Reg Cavalry
Poeni Cavalry x 1    
Lybian Spearmen x 10
African Elephants x 3
Spanish Scutarii x 8

Total AP = 162

Command 2

Numidian commander x 1 LH
Numidian mercenary cavalry x 8
Spanish Cavalry x 3

Total AP = 81


Command 3

Sub Commander Reg Cav
Ligurians x 12
Gallic Foot x 10
Balearic Slingers x 6


Total AP = 118




 Total AP = 361