Monday, February 24, 2020
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Battle Of Edgehill 1642 - Part 1 Set Up
Another big favourite here at YG is the English Civil War and it's hard to believe that it is over 3 years since this lot last saw the light of day !
Edgehill is of course the first major action in the ECW and many who saw action that day would be getting their first taste of battle. I have decided to break this up into two reports, this the first on will cover the set up and orders of battle whilst the follow up will cover the refight itself.
Information on the Battle is avaliable from a multitude of sources so I don't intend to harp on about the build up but instead give you a wargamers view of setting up the clash.
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| Parliament Cavalry on the trot |
Like most periods we are a little off piste when it comes to rules, for the ECW we use a modified version of Forlorn Hope. I "modernised" the basics over 10 years ago and they have worked well ever since.
The figure ratio for the game is approximately 33:1 and that has worked perfectly for this particular battle in terms of figures avaliable and the 12 x 6 table here. One good thing carried over from the original set is that each Infantry unit has a set number of figures and rather than individually counting Pike numbers and Shot numbers the unit is given a ratio of Pike to Musket.
Figures are 28mm from a collection of manufacturers including Perrys, Bicorne, Warlord and Renegade.
 |
| Royalist Foot Advancing early in the Battle |
For this I have used the medium of video ! How modern of me. For some reason the sound didn't work on the footage so I have gone for some snazzy subtitles in stead.
I managed to locate a number of maps of the Battle all of which differed in some way. The troop set up seems to be pretty constant but some maps show enclosures, a brook, small woods etc it's difficult to tell what was present on the day and what is a modern interpretation.
However I don't recall reading of the terrain having any massive affect on the Battle so I chose to leave the table relatively sparse and just the the armies get on with it.
Orders of Battle
There is a very good OOB at the link below,
http://bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/edgehill-campaign/order-of-battle
So the list below is my interpretation of that for the game with the following notes,
1. Forlorn Hope rules have army lists for each year of the war in each theatre, these generate troop morale classes, pike:shot ratios etc by rolling dice, this is how the factors have been determined. So for this stage of the war there are no Veteran Infantry.
2. We rolled particularly well for Ruperts Cavalry but if you don't I would suggest for realisms sake that if you have a "name" unit in a brigade, roll up the entire brigade and allocate the best rolled factor to the best unit.
3. I was unable to find any break down of the total numbers (on the orbat above) other than Rupert having around 1700 Cavalry vs 1300 to his fore. Therefore I have had to estimate the size of the infantry units dividing the numbers present by 33 and then filling up the numbers required in each area with the units in our collection. Our rules need Infantry units at least 16 figures and Cavalry of at least 6, so the eagle eyed will notice the odd unit missing in name from our game, however the men of that unit have been spread across that particular command.
4. Forlorn Hope has a sub morale class of Elite, this can be tagged to any units basic morale and reflects an over confidence not necessarily linked to ability.
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| Prince Rupert, Standard Bearer and of course his dog "Boy" |
C in C King Charles LV1
General of Foot Sir Jacob Astley LV2
General of Horse Prince Rupert LV3 (may not use LV to stop pursuits)
Prince Maurice Brig of Horse LV2
Ruperts Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 12 Figures
Kings Lifeguard - Raw Elite Gallopers - 12 Figures
Maurices Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Prince of Wales Horse - Raw Gallopers - 9 Figures
Lord Byrons Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Byrons Horse - Trained Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
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| Ruperts Cavalry |
Gerrards Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 26 Figures
Dyves Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Duttons Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Trained Crew
Col Fieldings Brig of Foot LV1
Fieldings Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 24 Figures
Lunsfords Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Bolles Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Trained Crew
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| Royalist Foot |
Gilbert Gerrards Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 24 Figures
Salusburys Foot - Raw - 2 : 3 - 20 Figures
Molyneuxs Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew
Belasyse Brig of Foot LV1
Belasyse Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 26 Figures
Blagges Foot - Trained - 3 : 2 - 20 Figures
Pennymans Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew
Nicholas Byron Brig of Foot LV2
Kings Lifeguard - Trained - 1 : 1 - 30 Figures
Lord Generals Foot - Trained - 1 : 2 - 20 Figures
Beaumonts Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
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| Royalist left wing |
Wilmots Horse - Raw Gallopers - 9 Figures
Grandisons Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Lord Digby Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Digbys Horse - Raw Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Ashtons Horse - Raw Elite Gallopers - 6 Figures
Independent
Gentleman Pensioners - Veteran Elite Trotters (Cuirass) - 9 Figures (must remain within 8" of the King and protect his personage)
Legges Firelocks - Trained Skirmishers - 9 Figures
Blue Dragoons - Trained (left flank)
Red Dragoons - Trained (right flank)
 |
| Forces of Parliament |
C in C Earl of Essex LV 2
Earl of Bedford - Gen of Horse LV1
Sir John Merrick - Gen of Foot LV2
Balfours Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Generals Horse - Raw Trotters - 9 Figures
Balfours Horse - Raw Trotters (F) - 9 Figures
Fieldings Horse - Raw Trotters (F) - 9 Figures
Brownes Dragoons - Raw Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
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| Parliament right wing |
Meldrums Foot - Trained - 2:1 - 20 Figures
Saye and Seles Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 20 Figures
Constables Foot - Raw - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Fairfaxs Foot - Trained - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Robartes Foot - Trained - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew
Essex Brig of Foot LV1
Essex Foot - Trained - 3:2 - 26 Figures
Chomleys Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Mandevilles Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Whartons Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
2 × Medium Gun - Raw Crews
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| Parliament Foot and Stapletons Cuirass |
Lord Generals Foot - Raw - 3:2 - 32 Figures
Brookes Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Ballards Foot - Trained - 2:1 - Trained
Holles Foot - Raw - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew
Stapletons Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Generals Lifeguard (Cuirass) - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Stapleton Cuirass - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
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| Ramseys Cavalry |
Drapers Horse - Raw - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Balfours Horse - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Bedfords Horse - Raw - Trotters - 6 Figures
Mordaunts Horse - Trained - Trotters - 6 Figures
Peterborough Horse - Trained - Trotters - 6 Figures
Independent
Yellow Dragoons - Raw - 9 Figures (right wing)
Red Dragoons - Raw - 9 Figures (left wing)
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| The Yellow Dragoons |
Stonne 1940 Big CoC Weekend Part 1
This has been in the pipeline for a few months now, the first public Big CoC public weekend at the WHC. In this first post I'll give some idea of the thought process (sic) behind the game and then I'll give you the scenarios and how the game played out...oh, and there will be a few pics.  |
| Warlord and Crusader French |
A small problem with running Big CoC games is that the scenarios are somewhat dependant on the number of players attending, and given the nature of the WHC the numbers can vary, Some players book months in advance, but often people will book relatively late so the scenario needed to be capable of being tweaked to fit this in. The nuts and bolts of the game don't alter that much, the idea being that each player will command an infantry (or armour) platoon, then the force as a whole has a degree of support which is then dished out. On the whole this is not a problem, but for quite a while we were looking at having six players (fine, 3 on 3) then suddenly the numbers went up to seven. My initial reaction was one of mild horror because it meant balancing the game for a three versus four. However, when I started looking at the way the Stonne game might play out, the imbalance of 3 platoons against 4 became more and more attractive.
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| A little Panhard 178. It bogged in the ditch...... |
They were encountering in these scenarios the 3e DIM (Division d'Infanterie Motorisée), supported by 3e DCr (Division Cuirassée)
Looking at the platoon lists for CoC the 1940 German infantry platoons are enormous. Each platoon contains 2 senior leaders and a 50mm mortar team plus 4 x 10 man sections, for a total of 44 men.
The French platoons are a similar size, with 2 platoon leaders (1 senior, 1 junior) a VB rifle grenade team of a junior leader with 4 men. plus 3 sections of 11 for a total of 40 men.
So if we had seven players, with 3 on the German side and 4 for the French it wouldn't be too bad. 1 player a side would be playing a tank platoon anyway, so it would be 2 German infantry platoons against 3 French, however that is actually 8 German sections opposed to 9 French, making it less unbalanced than first appears. A little extra tweaking by making the Germans "superior regulars" meaning they treat rolls on their command dice of a single six also as a 5, giving them more CoC dice pips during the game, plus increasing the size of their panzer II platoon to a whopping 5 vehicles would compensate for the additional French numbers. Additionally, each German platoon would start with a full Chain of Command Dice.
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| Poilus advance, CharB in support So I worked on that basis, and prepared everything with 7 players in mind, Then of course Mark called and said " I've got an 8th player"......So the superior regular, and the extra CoC dice went out of the window, and the Panzer platoon was cut from 5 down to 4, and the Germans went up to 3 infantry platoons to make it 4 a side. Also the Germans would not have a significant advantage in support points when they were attacking, while the french would. Even after this we had another couple of guys wanting to sign up, but at that late stage we sadly had to say no, and stick with 8, as I think a single game with 5 a side is really stretching it for this rule set - not saying its not possible, but I think the game might suffer. So that is the format we ended up going with, having said that I'm pretty sure the scenarios will work fine with seven (or 5 for that matter) players if the Germans are bumped up a bit to cater for uneven forces.  Panzerjeager I supports Black Tree and Warlord infantry The other aspect of the games that numbers have an impact on is the size of the table used for each scenario. The recommendation for Big CoC is that the table size should be the same as for normal CoC (6' x 4') with an additional foot width per additional infantry platoon added - you add nothing for the armour. Well, The main table at the WHC is 24' long by 6' deep, and so we already play on a depth of 6' which I prefer over 4'. The patrol phase gets forces into action quickly enough anyway, and having the extra depth gives players a bit more room without slowing things down. Just adding 2 feet per platoon gives us a width of 8' x 6 " which is fine, but the centres' terrain boards are 3' each so it is convenient to go for a slightly larger width of 9'. a bit more room both on the table and for player comfort. That meant that it wasn't too tricky to divide up the table into 3 sections - 9' at each end and then utilise the central 6' and 3' of one of the other sections to give us 3 x 6' x 9' areas. The point of all this meant I could set up the entire table beforehand, and players go from game to game with no great interruptions in order to maximise playing time. Also I think it looks good! |
Stonne from west to east: Game 1 at the far end, game 2 in the foreground, game 3 in the centre. The Germans are advancing from the north, the French, the south.
I also planned to have a 4th scenario, which would have meant re-setting the terrain at one end of the table- it would have been that which was fought over in game 2 so we could do it while game 3 was in progress giving plenty of time. As it turned out, we didn't get in 4 games over the weekend, a bit of a shame but, sometimes CoC games can be like that, some go faster than others.
The table was made up simply from having a look at Google Earth, backed up with some excellent maps in Prieser's "Blitzkrieg Legend"- to get the overall topography. Generally the village hasn't changed enormously since 1940, although it was rebuilt there has been no development sprawl, The critical points haven't changed, in terms of the woods, the road layout, and the extent of the village.Being able to get down at street view is an amazing resource, it shows just how winding and steep the only road the Germans had to approach the village from the north was, as it approaches the Butte De Stonne at the Eastern end of the village, and how despite it appearing very flat on the map, the countryside to the west and south actually has quite a lot of small undulations, the view south from the village is somewhat restricted. At the eastern end of the village the countryside is more wooded and broken, with the road becoming sunken before it winds down back on itself down the steep wooded slope to the north of the village (off- table)
Map showing the initial German attack on Stonne, May 15 at 0800. Influenced by Eric Denis' work. (wikipedia)
Given the nature of playing 3 or possibly 4 games over a weekend in a campaign format with 8 CoC novices I thought that the first scenario should probably be a bit gentle in order to ease them into it, and allow them to possibly make a few mistakes without getting horribly punished. I also wanted to keep it relatively simple.Given the nature of the fighting in Stonne (the village apparently changed hands 17 times in 3 days), it lent itself to a relatively straightforward narrative: i.e. Attack and counterattack- So I decided to make the first game an attack/defence scenario with the Germans on the offensive at the eastern end of the table, the second game was to be another attack/defence with the French on the offensive at the western end of the table. Game 3 was to be in the central area of the table with the Germans attacking in an "attack on an objective" scenario.
I planned a 4th scenario which was to be played out on new terrain to the east of Stonne and that would have been the French conducting a flank attack. However, time sadly ran out. I'm sure we will do it one day.
The View from east to west, the broken ground of the Butte De Stonne in the foreground
French section enters central Stonne
The scene was set:
8 players, hopefully 4 games, Germans versus French at Stonne, one of the iconic battles of the campaign.
What were the salient features of the battle? The Germans had crossed the Meuse a couple of days earlier and were trying to exploit that relatively fragile bridgehead, the French had rapidly managed to assemble a counter attack force. The massif of which Stonne is a small part doesn't readily show up on a map, but have a look at Google Earth and you can see just how important it was for both sides. The village itself is rather innocuous, just a farming village with two roads entering from the south, however, it is the terrain to the north which both sides were focused on. There is a single road which leads out of Stonne to the north, this snakes down the hillside along a steep wooded slope before reaching the more gentle plain. The entire northern side of Stonne is covered in thick fir trees which extend down the steep slope- there is nowhere in the village itself (other than the "Butte de Stonne") which has a view to the north. However, if you hold the town and can establish OP's in this wooded hillside you have a magnificent vista stretching out 4 or 5 kilometres and more to the north, the German bridgeheads, and the routes they will take as they expand. Subsequently this tiny Ardennes village became vitally important.
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Guild Ball New Resin Models Review
So after Captain Con all the Guild Ball talk from my buddies got to me and I'm completely hyped for the game all over again. It's odd, it was roughly around this time last year that I had the same thing happen to me as I go back and look through the blog posts. I guess I just have to accept that my love for Warmachine and Guild Ball will wax and wane for seemingly no reason.
But since I am interested in the game, I wanted to pick up the minor guilds for the main guilds that I already own. This meant picking up Navigators and Miners. What's more is that Steamforged surprised us all and released new captains for 4 of the original guilds, one of which is for a team I own: Yukai on Fishermen.
Since I had to skip out on game night tonight, but I did get time to build the models which arrived I figured I'd put up a review of sorts.
It wouldn't be Steamforged if there wasn't some kind of oddity with how the models were being released.
The good news was that the Captains were being released individually, not in a big box that had models for various guilds! Sweet!
The bad news was that it was basically direct only! Boo!
I tried to order through my FLGS, but when they had setup their retail account on SFG's website, they were effectively ordering at cost which seemed...odd? As it ended up, they couldn't order for me since the models I wanted were out of stock at the time and since they weren't making any money on the sale it seemed like a waste to try and line up when the models would pop back in stock AND I'd have to get over to my FLGS to effectively put a web order in for me that they weren't even going to get a cut of. In the end, I simply placed my order through SFG once the models popped back into stock a day or so later.
The last odd bit was that the Miners guild and all the new captains were being released in resin. I have not yet really seen any of SFG's resin minis. The rationale according to SFG was that Miners had such big models that it made sense to use resin, and they were obviously having problems getting the PVC models out of manufacturing in China.
That last part is a bit of a shame since I'm an absolute huge fan of SFG's PVC models. I have Blacksmiths and now Navigators and the fact that you open the box and can use them with zero assembly or fuss is amazing. The sculpts are solid IMO and they've painted up nicely so far.
So what about the resins? Well, it's a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality. It seems like the original Games Workshop Finecast models when they originally released. It feels like a kind of soft/fragile resin.
Here's my assembled set of new models:
The models don't look particularly bad, especially not 3 feet away, though there are a few rough bits.
The first issue I had was stability. When I had seen my friends Yukai model at game night last week, they were kind enough to let me play a game with it to try out their new rules. What immediately struck me was how light and flimsy the model felt. It doesn't help that the model attaches to the base via a single leg connection.
As you can see below, both Yukai and Spade both use the single leg connection. It looks cool, but that's just touchy and is begging to come off the base.
My solution was pinning through the leg as deep as I could manage without damaging the model. I then pinned through the base itself, which is tad shorter height wise than the usual base height you'd expect.
In both cases I went right through the base immediately and after pinning through I had to cut off the paperclip pin and then file down the bottom to make it flush. You don't want to go tearing up the nice neoprene mats we play on.
Once I did pin through the leg and base, the models definitely feel a bit more solid. I highly recommend it.
In terms of quality, I'm conflicted. Yukai looks good, but the model had a bit of odd flash that had to be shaved off the chin/neck which was a bit tight.
There were some definite issues with Fissure (the Tank), at least on the back of the model which was a bit of a mess and required a bit of cleaning. I'm sure the paint job can hide a lot of the problems here, but the back isn't anywhere near as pretty as the front. It's odd, because from literally every other angle the model is gorgeous IMO! It's a Metal Slug that plays murder-soccer, I was 100% sold the second I saw the render.
The other odd thing was that on the large bases the texture for the base looks kind of ill defined. There are also a good amount of mold lines to clean up which I'll have to go back and do. It's not the end of the world and nothing I can't fix up with paint and basing materials, it's just a little disappointing.
On the plus side the guild comes with a tiny little tank-ball. ITS ADORABLE!
Final thoughts
Based on a podcast interview with Double Dodge, CEO Matt Hart spoke about the problems they've been having with production and the desire to just hit a release date and knock a release out of the park, no delays.
On that front, they nailed it. While the captains did fluctuate in and out of stock, I was able to order both Yukai and the Miners guild on March 1st. It did take a week for SFG to get it out the door, shipped March 8th, but then the package made it from the UK to New Jersey by Tuesday, March 12th. I understand I was in the second wave which is what caused my delay. If you had ordered as soon as the models went up on pre-order they were arriving very promptly.
The cost on the captains isn't bad. $15 for a single blister is pretty much standard and I didn't think twice before ordering. The Miners box was a bit more of a stretch. It was $80 for the resins plus terrain and (tank!) ball. Given that the old 6 player guild boxes used to retail for $75 and were metal models, I have to wonder if it wouldn't have been better to just do the Miners in metal if they had to meet production.
So while they're able to hit the date, the models are in what feels to be a worse material than the PVC, require assembly, can feel flimsy, and are as expensive as metal without being metal.
On the other side the model designs are great, the rules are nice, and the problems aren't anything an experienced modeler/painter can't solve. If I had seen what I'd get before I ordered I'd still have bought them all over again, though it does feel a bit steep for what you're getting. In the end, I like the game and company enough that I was going to buy the models.
I would definitely be hesitant to tell my newer to the hobby friends or less hobby inclined friends to order the Miners guild vs. any of the PVC boxes which are amazing in both value and quality in contrast.
In the end, I do hope SFG is able to sort out their production issues since I think their PVC products are excellent when it comes to minor or new guilds.
Conversely, if this is how we get single blisters of new captains or models, I am 100% behind the approach if it's what allows the releases to work economically for SFG. Having seen/held Veteran Boar, the models is much more solid than Yukai, but it's also just a bigger model so it's easier to execute I suppose.
Download Tekken 6 Full Version For Pc
Download Tekken 6 Full Version For pc
Tekken 6 Full Review
Tekken 6 Full Review
Welcome to Tekken 6 is one of the best fighting game especially for fighting lovers that has been developed and published by Bandai Namco Games.This game was released on 26th November 2007.
Screenshot
System Requirements of Tekken 6 For Windows PC
- Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/ Windows 7 ( 64 Bit )
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 or later.
- Setup Size: 700 MB
- RAM: 1GB
- Hard Disk Space: 1GB
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Brave Browser the Best privacy-focused product of 2020
Out of all the privacy-focused products and apps available on the market, Brave has been voted the best. Other winners of Product Hunt's Golden Kitty awards showed that there was a huge interest in privacy-enhancing products and apps such as chats, maps, and other collaboration tools.
An extremely productive year for Brave
Last year has been a pivotal one for the crypto industry, but few companies managed to see the kind of success Brave did. Almost every day of the year has been packed witch action, as the company managed to officially launch its browser, get its Basic Attention Token out, and onboard hundreds of thousands of verified publishers on its rewards platform.
Luckily, the effort Brave has been putting into its product hasn't gone unnoticed.
The company's revolutionary browser has been voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019, for which it received a Golden Kitty award. The awards, hosted by Product Hunt, were given to the most popular products across 23 different product categories.
Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt said:
"Our annual Golden Kitty awards celebrate all the great products that makers have launched throughout the year"
Brave's win is important for the company—with this year seeing the most user votes ever, it's a clear indicator of the browser's rapidly rising popularity.
Privacy and blockchain are the strongest forces in tech right now
If reaching 10 million monthly active users in December was Brave's crown achievement, then the Product Hunt award was the cherry on top.
The recognition Brave got from Product Hunt users shows that a market for privacy-focused apps is thriving. All of the apps and products that got a Golden Kitty award from Product Hunt users focused heavily on data protection. Everything from automatic investment apps and remote collaboration tools to smart home products emphasized their privacy.
AI and machine learning rose as another note-worthy trend, but blockchain seemed to be the most dominating force in app development. Blockchain-based messaging apps and maps were hugely popular with Product Hunt users, who seem to value innovation and security.
For those users, Brave is a perfect platform. The company's research and development team has recently debuted its privacy-preserving distributed VPN, which could potentially bring even more security to the user than its already existing Tor extension.
Brave's effort to revolutionize the advertising industry has also been recognized by some of the biggest names in publishing—major publications such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, NDTV, NPR, and Qz have all joined the platform. Some of the highest-ranking websites in the world, including Wikipedia, WikiHow, Vimeo, Internet Archive, and DuckDuckGo, are also among Brave's 390,000 verified publishers.
Earn Basic Attention Token (BAT) with Brave Web Browser
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