SYWA Convention 2019

The faithful gathered in South Bend for the anual Seven Years War Association convention April 4-6th.  This year we had several unofficial games on Thursday night for the real gluttons for gaming.  Then full days on Friday and Saturday and travel time Sunday.  Since most of the participants are "senior" gamers, getting free on Friday is not an issue.  There were a number of fine vendors there in addition to the games, which particularly feature well thought-out terrain and handsome minis.

I tried to capture a shot of all the games and will mostly just feature the pictures with minimal comments.  Just sick back and enjoy the eye candy.

Thursday Night

Brandywine Revisited with Rebels and Patriots.

A new system to me but quite fun.  A drawn result.

Chotusitz 1742 using a variation on To The Strongest.

Black Forest Breakthrough using Combat General rules. 
Beautiful table and figures.

Friday Games

Monmouth 1778 using Guns of Liberty 3rd Edition.

I sat in the right spot and had a great command to work with.
Very historical result though extra bloody.

Away All Boats using Captains Bold rules.  A cutting out operation.

Magnificent 1/300 paper models.

Jim Purky with Fife and Drum Miniatures was there,
Dayton Painting Consortium and En Sans Resultat,
and George Nafziger were the big name vendors there.

War of Jenkins Ear, Britain and Spain 1742 Warfare in the Age
of Reason.

Battle of Guilford Courthouse 1781 using Fife and Drum rules.

The first of three rebel lines to fight through.

Seven Years War Forever! using the venerable Tricorne rules.

Round 1 of Currycorne.  The English and their allies swept the field.

Very pretty, but can they fight?  Class F, so, no.

Back to the Tricorne game where my Prussians try to come to
grips with the Austrians.

Into Darkest America, French vs. British using Age of Reason.

Another view of the India game.

2nd line of rebels in sight.  Third not even shown yet.

Peg graciously manned our table.  Sales were pretty good.

Tricorne by my old friend Ken Bunger.  Austrians vs. Prussians.

My considering my options to crush the Austrians.

Set up for the tribute game for Dean West's memory.  An emotional
start for the players with a lot of toasts to the man's legacy.

Based on a historic action where the Austrians and Russians
lost their resolve and didn't attack after all.

Terrain and a series of "infernal devices" hindered the way.

Saturday Games

Anglo-Dutch game using Warfare at Sea in the Age of Reason
at sea.  Not a great picture but an awesome looking game.

Round two of Currycorne and fighting in India.

It looked very bad for the French and their allies but suddenly
the other side collapsed.

Zorndorf Morning Attack using Black Powder rules.

Another round of the privateer action.  The English were successful
in all three games played.

Malatitze 1708 Great Northern War with Swedes and Russians.
Rules are Beneath the Lily Banners 3rd Edition.

In real life both sides claimed victory.

An experimental version of ESR for the SYW.  Battle of Liegnitz.

My command took on the cream of the Prussians
and was still around a game's end.

Zorndorf Afternoon Attack follow-up with Black Powder.

Battle of Cheraw, final action in a fictional 1780 campaign in
South Carolina.  Fife and Drum rules.

There were some Saturday night games but I was wiped out after playing in six.  Mostly there was just socializing among old and new friends.  In addition to the weekend games, there were also talks given by Alex Burns on "Smashing the Clockwork Soldier," "Scion of Enlightenment: Count Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe" by Jim McIntyre and also "Army of Immigrants: Foreign Officers and the Continental Army."  The convention returns to the Waterford April 3-5, 2020.

Johnny Reb vs. Billy Yank

The call went out for a Johnny Reb III game a while back so we trotted out the troops for two seasoned players and two rookies with myself facilitating.  The Rebs had an advantage in manpower and some cavalry, the Yankees had the luxury of standing on the defensive, although sans works.

Our new 6x4' game mat from Tiny Wargames and their US distributor.

Initial deployment, both sides had troops start off table.

Fields or crossing fences counted as broken ground, woods were rough.

Turn two the Rebs flooded on table.

The Confederates with proper lines and supports advanced.

The carnage will soon begin.

Aggressive yankees flank the Rebel line but are out of command.

On the Reb left the cavalry begins to filter through the woods.

As so often happens, one side's dice were hot while the other was not.

Against all odds a charge goes home!

A supported charge by a brigade had the misfortune to hit the Yankees with perfect orders and hot dice.  Seemingly doomed to failure they passed the first three tests and rolled "boxcars" on the last which is immediate good morale in any formation.  Even with all the losses they still had a mathematical chance of success, but alas they had used up their luck.

The Rebs are having a tough time everywhere.

Things are better on the Reb left, but still offer few chances.

A last view as the Rebs begin to pull back.

A fun time for all in spite of the harsh dice.  A good intro for the new players and a refresher for the old-timers.  I see more games in the future.

What I've Been Painting...

Between weather, schedules and an annoying habit of finding myself in the hospital, gaming opportunities have been a bit sparse.  Fortunately it doesn't preclude painting.  So with a shameless lack of modesty, here are pics of stuff from my workbench.

Ottoman Sipahis from a commision job.

The Assault Group figures I believe.  For an Imagi-Nation army.

Next some Tatar light cavalry.

Same company for the same Imagi-Nation.

They were fun to paint.

Repurposing to an extreme.  Here my harbor is guarded by a...

Pencil sharpener.  A post on The Miniatures Page put me onto
it.  6USD from Walmart.

I love 1/600 ACW ships but am often frustrated by the comparative
lack of Confederate "cottonclads."

So I started building some.  Some parts from my gubbins box
and we're ready to go.

It was hard to have a clear idea of specifics, lots of contradiction.

This is a Thoroughbred metal miniature.

My goal is to have the ships for the Battle of Memphis.

A pair of Vospers in 1/300.

The light makes the decks more yellowish.  It is a tan color.

Some pictures I found had a dark deck but I assumed air
superiority and left them a natural wood color.

A 1/2400 Micronaught model of the USS Farragut.

A trio of early war (for us), DDs.

Three Fletcher class DDs, also in 1/2400.

Quite possibly my favorite destroyer design in history.

Hopefully things will improve on the various fronts and I can do more game-related posts.  Painting is fun and relaxing but best is too: