Man o war battle number two

This weekend saw my second game of Man O War (MOW) down at my local club. MOW is a fantasy naval system from Games Workshop that was released in the early nineties.

Once again the Dwarfs took on an Empire Fleet (these being the only two fleets I have). This time the fleets were the 'standard' 1000 points each. The Empire forces were bolstered by the addition of a new squadron of ships and a more powerful wizard. The Dwarf fleet was also bulked out with an extra ship.

The fleets were as follows;

Dwarfs: One dreadnought, two monitor squadrons (three ships in each), two ironclads and one nautilus submarine.

Empire; One greatship, one squadron of three wolfships, two squadrons of wargalleys (three ships in each), one squadron of hell hammers and a master wizard.

I took the role of the Imperial admiral and my friend played the Dwarfs. After randomly setting up the terrain as per the rulebook we deployed the fleets. My opponent threw me a curve ball by concentrating his forces along one half of one table edge. This was to prove crucial later on.

The Dwarf fleets initial deployment

After some early manoeuvring the fleets finally got within range of each other on turn three. Due to my opponent concentrating his forces my wolfships and hell hammers were facing only empty sea and had to make their way across the table to join the fray and so were late joining the battle.

The Imperial hell hammer squadron

The game quickly developed into two separate mini battles. In the centre my greatship and a wargalley squadron took on the Dwarf dreadnought flagship, an ironclad and a monitor squadron. On my right flank a wargalley squadron took on the other ironclad and a monitor squadron.

The greatship and wargalleys slug it out with the dwarfs. The nautilus submarine lurks menacingly behind the sandbank

 

Things didn't go well for the Empire. A combination of ineffectual magic and deadly torpedo salvos from the nautilus meant the Dwarfs soon had the upper hand. The greatship (my flagship) was damaged by a combination of ram and cannon attacks from the monitors and ironclad. She was sunk by the nautilus as she tried to break off. Not by torpedoes but by a lucky hit from it's cannon. My admiral and wizard clung to the wreckage but I was unable to rescue them. Elsewhere, despite fierce resistance my ships were worn down and more and more were sent to the bottom.

The fierce melee between a wargalley squadron and a monitor squadron supported by an ironclad

The wolfships sailing to the action as fast as they can

A lone wargalley makes a desperate attack on the dreadnought

Eventually my wolfships and hell hammers made it into the action. They were to prove ineffective however. The wolfships did their best but were unable to inflict serious damage. They did succeed in capturing one of the ironclads in a boarding action but this rather pinned them down and prevented them from being used to full effect. To add insult to injury the Dwarfs were able to re crew the ironclad before I could scuttle it.

The wolfships ram and then board the ironclad

The hell hammers managed to score a number of hits on the dreadnought but due to poor dice rolling on my part she remained mostly intact. Her boiler was knocked out however and she spent a large part of the game immobilised. Imperial losses continued to mount and soon I had few ships left. It became clear the Dwarfs had won a comprehensive victory and we decided to call it a day. Most importantly fun was had by all.

I plan to further increase the size of the fleets. I have another greatship that is in the dockyard (my painting bench) at the moment. She will be ready soon. I also intend to add some flying units. In particular I am on the look out for Dwarf war balloons.

6mm sci fi - a Dirtside2 battle

This weekend saw my second game of dirtside since getting back into wargaming. I umpired whilst two friends from my local club took command of the opposing forces.

The scenario was a pretty straight forward attack - defend affair. The game was set in central Europe. One side, deemed to be Polish were tasked with taking a village held by Soviet troops. The two forces were kept small whilst we all got use to the rules (this was only my second game in ten years and both players were new to the system). To add some interest to the plot it was decided that the attacking forces lacked motivation and thus their starting morale levels were determined at random. To compensate for this they had the technological edge.

The game went well. An early Soviet airstrike proved very effective and wiped out most of the Polish HQ section. There were also some fierce light armour battles. The attackers were able to air drop some light walkers into the enemies rear area and they became involved in some heavy fighting with a Soviet infantry platoon.

As is often the case time ran out before a definite conclusion had been reached. This was partly due to our inexperience with the rules and games should move faster in future. The village remained in Soviet hands but the Poles were poised to launch a large infantry assault. The Umpire's official verdict was a draw (although I did say the players were free to argue about the result amongst themselves...). Most importantly everyone had fun.

The remains of the Polish HQ section shelter behind a wood following a Soviet airstrike.

Soviet forces deployed in and around the village.

Some of the Polish grav tanks make a dash across open ground.

Soviet MBT's in position on a hedge lined road.  The HQ unit sits just behind the road.

Eurasian Solar Union light tanks

The latest units to be painted up for this weekends game of Dirtside are some Eurasian Solar Union (ESU) light tanks. The ESU is one of the major players in the optional background provided for the Dirtside system. These miniatures are part of the excellent 6mm sci fi range from Brigade Models. When I get some more transfers these models will be finished off with the addition of suitably Soviet insignia (red stars and the like). Pictures of the game and a full battle report will follow shortly.

1/300 Sci Fi Armour for Dirtside

With a game arranged for a couple of weeks I have been busy painting some new 1/300 scale models to complement those already in my collection. First up were a couple of troops of Mechanised Infantry Combat Vehicles (MICV's - like an Armoured Personnel Carrier but with more fire power). With Dirtside having a science fiction setting these are hover vehicles - note the absence of tracks. My painting philosophy with Micro Armour is not to spend too long on each model. I try for a basic paint job that looks ok when used en masse. I've not yet decided what nationality these vehicles will represent hence the lack of any insignia. I'm leaning towards some white stars to give them an American feel. These particular models are from Irregular Miniatures.      

Dirtside

Dirtside is a set of rules for science fiction ground combat from Ground Zero Games. The second edition (known as Dirtside 2) was released in the early nineties.  It is my favourite game of all time.

The game mechanics are elegant yet fun. The 'opposed' die rolls really give you a sense of participation at all times, even in your opponents turn. The term 'turn' is a bit misleading as the game uses an alternative unit by unit activation that I really enjoy. An added bonus these days is that the rules are available as a free download from the Ground Zero Games website. I strongly recommend you take a look.

I have arranged to play a game at my local club in a few weeks so am busy painting up some 1/300 scale miniatures. I will post a few pics shortly.

Man O War - Dwarf Fleet and the first battle!

After a good few hours with the paintbrush my newly acquired Dwarf ships were ready. This was a considerably quicker process than the Imperial ships due to the absence of masts and sails. Here are a few shots of the dwarf ships followed by a pic of the first game played down at my local club.

This was my first game of Man O War for over ten years. It was every bit as much fun as I remembered. I deliberately kept the fleets small whilst I got the hang of the rules again. I decided on 800 points a side (a 'normal' sized game would be 1000+). The use of smaller fleets allowed us to fit in two games. I umpired the first and played in the second. They rather neatly resulted in a victory apiece for the Dwarfs and the Empire. I should point out I was on the losing Empire side in the second game!

Man O War

Man O war is a fantasy naval game from Games Workshop that was released back in the early nineties. It was sadly discontinued not too long after. It is my favourite GW game and one of my all time favourites.

One of my first projects after getting back into gaming was to get a couple of fleets together. I had the core of a dwarf fleet already. I also had a few empire ships. After some ebaying I was able to get enough ships to complete the empire fleet. Not a cheap endeavour I can tell you.

After a couple of weeks of painting (and general faffing about) the empire fleet is nearly complete. Here are a couple of shots of the newly completed wolfship squadron.