Preparing for Firestorm Armada

The gang at the Northern Lancaster Wargamers have recently convinced me to purchase the Firestorm Armada rules for fleet combat in space. The rules claim to support miniatures from other manufacturers which has great appeal to me since I own quite a few Battlefleet Gothic ships and would like to do something with them other than collect dust. In all I have over 90 ships not to mention the stations, planets, stars, asteroids and gas clouds. I have purchased many of the ships over the years as people were shedding them to make room for new games and miniatures. I haven't actually played the game yet, but I hear it is popular with the club and hopefully I can jump in a game soon. In the meantime, I have sampled the ranks for your viewing pleasure.

Hell's Testament

Mephitis

Chaos Planet Killer

Whore of Decadence (my favorite)

Chaos Fleet

Imperial Fleet. These are the only ships I painted myself. The rest on this page were painted by Doc M.

Cold Wars 2010

I did manage to make it to Cold Wars on Saturday. Gaming convention attendance is something that doesn't happen as often as it used to. If I hadn't promised to take a young budding wargamer, I may not have made it at all. I did get a chance to finally play a game of DBA with the new 28mm troops pictured earlier in the year as well as find a few new projects to work on and a new Chinook helicopter for my 28mm moderns.

Chinook for 28mm moderns.

New Project 1: Chock full of pulpy goodness I couldn't resist.

New Project 2: I want to use this to make a pulpy derigible like the one from the The Mummy Returns. Some of the cannons might even come in handy too. :-)

The Battle of Bloody Run

(Image by Kevin Myers, Wikimedia Commons)

The Battle of Bloody Run was fought during Pontiac's Rebellion on July 31, 1763. In an attempt to break Pontiac's siege of Fort Detroit, about 250 British troops along with Roger's Rangers attempted to make a surprise attack on Pontiac's encampment.

Pontiac was ready and waiting, possibly alerted by French settlers, and defeated the British at Parent's Creek two miles (3 km) north of the fort. However, he did not accomplish the destruction of this British force which would have greatly demoralized the British and dissuaded more British efforts to break the Indian siege of Fort Detroit. The creek, or run, was said to have run red with the blood of the 20 dead and 34 wounded British soldiers and was henceforth known as Bloody Run.

(Compliments of : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bloody_Run )

The British column approaching the bridge over Parent's Creek.

The British advance guard ambushed on the bridge.

The rest of the British column preparing to fight back.

Indians crossing the creek.

Pontiac approaching the British column from the rear.

The British returning fire.

Roger's Rangers joining the fray.

The chaos continues.

The indians pay a heavy price for a failed assault on the ruined structure.

The majority of the British troops pulled back to defendable cover and started inflicting heavy casualties on the indians. The indians started losing interest in dying and we called it a night. A fairly good semblence of the actual historical event. We used the French and Indian War rules for Brother against Brother. I have come to enjoy these rules for their simplicity. An entire game with a lot of action can be played out in a matter of 2 hours. Another enjoyable week night game and another round of thanks to the host.

Gettysburg Day 1

Image by Hal Jespersen, Wikimedia Commons.

After the discovery on June 30 that Gettysburg was occupied by Brigadier General John Buford's division of Federal cavalry, the Confederates on July 1 sent the divisions of Major General Henry Heth and Major General William Pender of Hill's Corps, down the Chambersburg Road to drive Buford away and occupy Gettysburg.

The battle began at 5.30 a.m., when shots were exchanged over Marsh Creek. In the face of Buford's resistance, Heth pushed on cautiously until he reached a point about two miles west of Gettysburg. Here he deployed two brigades in line, and pressed ahead; it was nearly 10 a.m. Federal General John F. Reynolds, commanding I Corps, arrived on the field at this point, and determined to engage Herb. He ordered I Corps and Major General Oliver 0. Howard's XI Corps to march to Gettysburg. Soon after 10.30 a.m., I Corps arrived and engaged Heth along McPherson's Ridge.

(Compliments of: http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/k/a/kab4/WebPro_Projects/ist6773/day1.htm)

Our battlefield correlates roughly to the area contained in the black box on the map above. McPherson's Ridge is just behind the barn in the left portion of the photo. The Chambersburg Pike is in the foreground.

Charging Bufords dismounted cavalry.

 After trading a few volleys, the union troops pull back to the next fence line.

Reinforcements arrive for the Union troops.

Charge!

The Union artillery was able to turn the Confederate left flank back to Willoughby Run while the Confederate right flank makes its way up McPherson's Ridge to clash with the Union reinforcements.

With McPherson's Ridge dividing the majority of each sides troops and the Union right flank stabilized, neither side was in a hurry to move. The game came to a draw.

A nice quick evening game that definitely captured the essence of day 1 and a very nicely designed board. A big thank you to our host.