West Tokyo Wargamers

Games Day 21st of January Wings of War Report

2012-01-24T11:48:00.000+09:00

The New Year kicked off for me with a couple of games of Wings of War. It was the first time I’d played the game, although I’m a huge fan of air war games, so I was really looking forward to it.

The first game was a one-on-one fight against Giovanni. It proved to be very quick. I had a Fokker Dr1 and Giovanni had a SPAD (XIII). The SPAD got the first shot in, but fortunately didn’t do much damage. The Dr1 is not as fast as the SPAD, but is much more maneouvrable, so I was able to do an Immelman and come in for a return shot while he was still turning. The next move he turned away and I shot again, and this time I got a straight kill! First blood to the Baron! The whole thing lasted less than 10 minutes.

The second game was a two-on-two. I had the Dr1 again, and Akira san had an Albatross DV. Kirk took a SPAD and Derek had a Sopwith Camel. This proved to be a tense game, with lots of close range shooting as everybody piled into the dogfight. Derek managed to out maneouvre the Albatross, but ended up too close to shoot. I was able to get a shot in, and drew a straight kill on the card. Kirk suggested that for game purposes, we treated it as zero hits in order to make the game more fun. This was something we used to do this playing Blue Max at my old club in Nottingham, and it does make things more interesting. (I regard the kill as an unconfirmed claim.) Kirk then came in shooting at me, and put several bullet holes in the Dr1 (4 hits – ouch!). I broke and looped around to catch the SPAD, and got some close range bursts in which saw the SPAD become my second (confirmed) kill of the day. In the meantime, the Camel and the Albatross had separated after some tight maneouvres and a few shots. The Camel headed towards me, and caught the Dr1 with a nasty burst (3 hits). I started to wonder if I was going to make it out of the game alive. I broke again and thought about making a run for home, but now the Albatross was heading back into the fight and Derek had to face two enemy fighters. He proved a very difficult opponent. Outnumbered, he still fought heroically, and somehow managed to survive both the German planes’ shooting for a long time. It turned out later that we’d just been doing 1 point hits each time – it was incredibly frustrating shooting at him and seeing him still in the air. Finally, the Albatross managed to get just enough hits to send the Camel to the ground, so it was home for coffee, schnapps and sausages.

It was a great game. The rules are simple and easy to understand, and the game flows smoothly from the word go. I look forward to the next opportunity to go hunting!

Gareth

Games Day Report: January 21st, 2012

2012-01-22T21:42:00.000+09:00

This Saturday saw the West Tokyo Wargamers hold its first games day of the year! There was some D&D in the morning, and the afternoon saw a Napoleonics game using the Black Powder rules, as well as a Wings of War WW1 air combat game.

I took part in the Napoleonics game, and here's the report. Maybe Gareth can post on how the WW1 game went- I was too busy busy being thrashed by the British to see how that game was going!

Our Napoleonics game was a lot of fun, and saw some interesting swings in fortune for both sides during the course of the action. Rod was the commander of the Allied forces (British, with one section of Russian Horse Artillery), with Giovanni as his 2nd in command. This was Giovanni's first time to play Napoleonics. Sada and I were the French.

July, 1812, and the British are on the move in the campaign that will culminate in the Battle of Salamanca. Unaware of the presence of the British, a French brigade is marching in column of route destined for Ciudad Rodrigo, as part of an attempt to recapture the fortress which was taken by the Allies earlier in the year.

The journey takes them through the village of La Mononguela, where the French are looking forward to spending an evening of well-earned R&R after a hot and dusty march.   They are blissfully unaware that les Rosbifs, part of an advanced guard of Gen. Leith's 5th Division had already beaten them to it, and were waiting for them.

The French had the 1/5e légère leading the column, with the 1/17 de ligne and a section of 6pdr artillery under the command of Gen. de Sade. The remainder of the force brought up the rear, under the command of Général Victor-Eugène Bouillon-Cantinat, who was suffering from heat exhaustion that day (with a command rating of a lowly six- this was an attempt to balance out the force disparity for the game, but ended up giving the allies too much of an advantage as I think I managed to pass a total of three command rolls all day!)

Not expecting any enemy forces in the area, and the local guerrilla forces having long since been pacified, the French have not felt it necessary to organize any proper reconnaissance parties. Great, then, is the surprise and consternation of the officers and men of the Fifth, as in the distance appear the red coats of the 44th Foot (East Essex) Regiment, firmly placed across the road leading into La Mononguela!

But these gallant veterans of Wagram are used to the din and danger of combat, and gamely advance towards the foe. "Vive l'empereur!!!"

After a long march through the heat and torpor of the Spanish summer, the French are slow to respond. The Fifth find themselves unsupported while the remainder of the column tries to shake itself out into some kind of order while the officers frantically try to assess the situation. The Fifth tardily form line, but another nasty surprise is in store as to their right flank the British 30th Foot appears over the crest of a hill!

The only saving grace is that in their advance, they prevent the Russian licorne from firing. But the situation is bad enough.

Taking fire from two sides, the casualties mount up. (But the regiment passes its first break test).

The rest of the column tries to shake itself into some kind of order, but in their excitement and confusion, the men are slow to respond.

The 17e de ligne hurry forwards, attempting to form attack column and to support the hard-pressed Fifth (but are slowed by an annoying inability of the French command to roll for more than one action at best...).

The 17e, de ligne, still in column of route in order to make at least some progress towards the enemy (in Black Powder, units in column of route get at least one action, even if they fail their command roll. And the French were not having much luck with the dice today!)

But then, out of the woods on their right, men fall all around them as well-aimed shot tears into their flanks. It's the dreaded 95th Rifles, who surged forward and speedily ran into the woods, to promptly pour a devastating volley into the flanks of the hapless French.

Simultaneously, the battered 5e légère, after having taken numerous casualties from two infantry units and the Russian licorne, finally collapse under the pressure and flee to the rear. The odds are getting better for the British.

The 17e are able to disengage from the rifles on their flank, and pass a crucial command roll. They are able to move off towards the left, and the French artillery move with them at the gallop, to set up their gun on a hill overlooking the allied position.

A volley into the woods causes the 95th to fall back, but casualties are minimal.

The situation appears to be improving for the French, but it remains very much touch and go. Rod and Giovanni consult on their next moves, while Frank, visiting from a miniature painting club here in Tokyo, looks on.

The French artillery unlimber and prepare to fire. Love Sada's gun & limber model!

The caisson lid can be opened. The visual effect is superb, and it drew a lot of admiration from the other players and from onlookers throughout the afternoon. It really added a lot to the game!

The French deploy into firing line, but are already taking hits from the Russian artillery. That Russian licorne has earned a fearsome reputation for accuracy on the battlefield over the last year, and this game was to be no exception.

The 30th Foot begin and advance towards the French line, taking the opportunity to shoot at the artillery along the way.

The 30th then pour a volley into the 17e at close range. Four hits, but the regiment passes its break test.

However, a second volley has them retire back in disorder...

...while the licorne also succeeds in disordering the exposed French artillery. It fails its subsequent break test; the crew quickly limber up and ignominiously head to the rear.

"Run awaaaaay!"

Gen. de Sade, his command reduced to a mere one battalion, makes good use of the "follow me" order, and rallies the shaken 17e de ligne. They regain both their composure and their courage, and once more enter the fray. "Vive la France!"

Meanwhile the rest of the French column finally finds itself engaged. The 1/28e légère forms attack column, and sends its skirmishers to clear the riflemen in the woods, while a section of 6pdr. guns and the lancers move to the flank in support.

The voltigeurs take on the tenacious riflemen, and with the support of a couple of well-time shots from the 6pdr, make the woods too hot a place for them to hang around in.

Back to the trials and tribulations of the 17e. They close again with the 30th Foot, and in a sharp exchange of fire...

The 30th Foot is broken! The French rejoice in their first real success of the game. The British are now reduced to the 44th East Essex Regiment and the licorne, as the 95th have been seen off by more artillery fire. Could this be the turning point?

Before the 17e had had time to catch their breath, the 44th fell upon them. This time the gallant Frenchmen, having had passed numerous break test in the face of all odds, had finally had enough, and melted away like snow on a hot stove.

"Sauve qui peut!"

Emboldened by their success, and by the inability of the French to throw anything near a decent command roll, the English commander issued a "Follow Me!" order, and promptly found himself rewarded with three actions. He hurled himself against the 28e légère.

This unfortunate regiment had suffered a command blunder (the only one of the game), and had fallen back towards the edge of the table. They managed to survive a volley of the 44th, but on attempting to counter-charge suffered devastating closing fire. They failed their break point roll miserably, and were sent packing.

And then there were none... almost!

In an insane act of bravado the English, again under the "Follow Me" order, promptly wheeled and advanced to close range of the French lancers. They failed to inflict any hits, but were able to form square to meet the inevitable French counter-charge.

At this point the French called it a day. Cavalry unsupported by infantry or guns are helpless against squares, and with the artillery too far away to support the cavalry before they would be whittled away by enemy musketry, it was apparent the day was lost.

A credible performance and well-earned victory on the part of the Allies. The French could take comfort in the tenacious performance of Gen. de Sade's command, especially that of the 17e de ligne, who managed to survive numerous break point rolls before finally succumbing to the inevitable.

Another great game, and given the small number of forces it lasted a lot longer than we expected it would given the size of the forces involved.

Looking forward to February 27th, our next gaming day.

-Robert

Game days on the way.

2012-01-05T11:26:00.000+09:00

Hi All,

I just thought I would make an update to remind people of the upcoming game days and what is going to be available.

The dates are:

21st of January (Saturday) 7th floor of the OPA building.
26th of February (Sunday) 7th floor of the OPA building.

So far for the 27th there have been rumors of:

Labyrinth Lord Role Play Game (aka Old School D&D)
Black Powder Napoleonic game in 28mm scale (keep an eye on this one, it is growing and becoming the eye candy game of the club)
Blitzkrieg Commander (BKC II) World War 2 in 20mm scale

Various boardgames - including probably ASL - and a probable club mass Wings of War game -

None have been confirmed yet, since we are a loose club where you basically join what you like on the day, but if you wish to take part in a game, please let us know to avoid disappointment.

If you already have any ideas for the 26th great! let us know.

Past Saturday's Event Report

2011-12-06T10:58:00.000+09:00

Last Saturday the 3rd of December we gathered once more for some dice rolling and fun.

Despite the fact that the day was a Saturday we had a good turnout, not as good as ususal, but the fact that the games day was on a Saturday put off all teh people that had to work. Sorry lads, soon we should have Sundays available again.

Booking the room during the winter time is becoming harder, I guess the outdoor activities are left out for indoor stuff. Spring will come soon enough to allow us bigger rooms on Sundays!

Anyhow, we started early at 9.00 with 4 people for a Labyrinth Lord game, a reissue of old old school Dungeons & Dragons that can be freely downloaded here: http://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html

In the afternoon we tried our fortune at Shogun, an old Milton Bradley game set in feudal Japan.
Brian was the winner with more provinces than anybody else. Well done!

To finish teh lot we had a quick game at Gareth naval game of DBA Damn Battleship Again from the Wargame Research Group. We used a huge blue sheet and 8 tiny 1/6000 Battleships to represent some smaller units of the Russian and Japanese fleets during the Russo Japanese war.

All in all despite the terrible weather (rainy and cold) it has been a great day of fun. I am looking forward to next month event.

By the way I would like to thank all teh members of the club and all of the followers of the blog for playing with us and supporting us. Merry Christmass and Happy New Year, may Santa Claus bring a lot of miniatures, boardgames and RPGs.

Giovanni

Looking for players Russo-Japanese Naval Game

2011-11-16T11:08:00.000+09:00

Hi All,

One of our members, Gareth is planning to run a naval game of the Russo japanese war and has asked me to post here to look for opponents for the game on the 3rd of December. If you are interested please write in the comment section of this post.

Here is his message:

Given that the club logo features the 1904-5 war, I think we should try to do more Russo-Japanese war games. To that end I'll be bringing some 1/6000 Russian and Japanese ships for a naval game. What game I do would depend on how many people wanted to play, a small cruiser action or a grand fleet clash. The rules I plan to use are Phil Barker's "Damn Battleships Again" which are available free online.

http://www.phil-barker.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

They're pretty simple and easy to understand. The Hong Kong Wargames Club used them for some big games and there are photos on their website. Currently the IJN force has 5 battleships, 4 armoured cruisers, and 7 protected cruisers painted up. The Russians have 7 battleships, 3 armoured cruisers and 4 protected cruisers. I'll be painting up some destroyer squadrons this week and then try to finish the rest of the fleets. By the 3rd, most of both fleets should be pretty much done.

Monkeying around in Funaborisov!

2011-10-23T14:30:00.001+09:00

And lots of fun it was too! En Yu Kai (loosely translated as The Playing Monkey Group... love that name!) are a group of Japanese historical boardgamers located in the Tokyo area. Board wargames have long been popular here, with a good number of games available, both those published in Japan, and those which would be familiar to anyone acquainted with strategy and tactical board games available in the west.

A few weeks ago they invited us to put on a game at their annual convention held this weekend in Funabori, in the east of Tokyo.

We gladly accepted, so a small group of us agreed to put on a WW2 Blitzkrieg Commander game for the first day of the event. We were looking forward to the opportunity to meet new people, publicize the club, and perhaps to introduce miniatures gaming to those who were unfamiliar with it.

When we arrived at the hall on Saturday, we were given a very warm welcome by our host, Toshikazu Takasawa, and everyone in attendance received a bag of free dice- always useful for those BKC and Black Powder games!

There were lots of old Avalon Hill and SPI games in evidence, along with newer games. I remember seeing a group playing Age of Napoleon, and others included an Arnhem and (huge!) Persian Gulf naval game, as well as a gorgeously presented ACW game.

In our side of the hall was a WW2 Eastern Front game, Operation Typhoon. This was notable for the frequent shouts of triumph and dismay which often came from their corner of the room! They really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Gimme a six! Hear me, damn you? A SIX!"

For our game, Giovanni had brought his Germans, and also dragged along his brother (also an avid gamer and painter in his own right) who was visiting from Turin.

I brought my Soviets, and some buildings which I had recently (Friday!) finished painting, and Sada provided some magnificent roads and a very eye-catching river. He also made a great banner for the club based on our blog header! Also in attendance was Sawamoto-san, who arrived in time to pull some irons out of the fire for the Soviet side.

We also had some members of En Yu Kai participate in the game, and the Konigstigers were commanded by a first-time miniatures players who managed to destroy the better part of a Soviet tank battalion in the course of the game!

Good vibes all round, with lots of laughter and a very friendly atmosphere. A number of people came up to us during the day to look at the miniatures and terrain, and to "talk shop".

Clearly there were some very knowledgeable people there, who knew their Su-122's from their T-34's. A number mentioned having built model kits in their youth, and some had even played simple war games with them (some nostalgic discussions about the old Eidai kits!). But most had not given much thought to miniature wargaming, and this was their first chance to see one "in the flesh"!

And what of the game itself? Actually our Battle of Funaborisov must be counted as of the best BKC II games we've had, and it was a real nail-biter to the finish. We decided to try the breakout scenario in the rulebook, which saw a German detachment trying to break through a Soviet-held town, while on the other side of the table a German relief force was on the way. It was a great scenario, and provided a challenge for both sides, as well as a lot of tension!

I was somewhat reluctant to pit this pair of T-70's against a pair of Elefants and Stug III's. Dunno why...

We added a curve ball in that the Soviets would dice to see what turn an armoured column would come in to reinforce the defence. As luck would have it, the Soviet reinforcements would come in on the second turn...

...and where, as luck would have it, there would be a pair of King Tigers in the way ready to maul them.

"@%$*!!<+*!!"

The German Panzergrenadiers crossed the river near the Soviet left flank, and raced along the road in order to force their way through the village. The OT-34 defending that flank was a fearsome prospect for the Germans, who gave it wide berth and singled it out for special attention from the Panzers!

Meanwhile they used a force of Elefants and Stug III's to threaten the Soviet right, which covered a ford across the river. Sawamoto-san had a largely infantry force here, supported by an SU-122, his only armoured vehicle- and indeed the only decent A/T capability he possessed. At one point it found itself hit and suppressed by a Stug III. At this turn of events the Germans swiftly sent their armoured behemoths across the ford into the assault. Things were looking grim for the Reds!

However, the Soviets and their commander were made of stern stuff, and decided to close assault the Elefant directly, accepting the risk of any limited opportunity fire from the German AFV's.

"URRAH!!!!!"

And it paid off! On the second assault, they not only destroyed the Ferdinand, but by doing so managed to block the ford. This not only eliminated the threat of the Germans breaking through the village in the centre, but it allowed the defenders to reinforce the widening fight for the road on the Soviet left flank. But would it be too late?

The fight along the edge of the village was brutal, with an Sdkfz 251 being lost to the O-34's flamethrower...

Despite the immediate reinforcements of two T-70's, the fight to prevent the Germans from breaking out along the road next to the village was bitter, with no quarter asked or given! The OT-34 was knocked out by a Pz-IV, and another German half-track lost to a Soviet A/T platoon.

One of the light T-70 tanks was subsequently taken out by a Panzershreck. Losses were mounting on both sides, with even an assault by an SS unit being shot to pieces by enraged Soviet infantry

The game was steadily-if slowly- going in the German's way. As it ended, as it was evident that they would get a good chunk of their forces off the table. But when we calculated the losses the Germans came ahead by a measly 20 points! So a German victory, but a costly one.

The Soviets were hampered by a lack of commanders and by not having assigned the right resources to be in the right place at the right time. Having the towed artillery come in with the armoured reinforcements was also a mistake, as I could never give them the orders needed to go into the village and set up a defence. All the order rolls were needed just to fend off those King Tigers, which successfully held off the Soviet reinforcing column for the whole game, taking out two T-34/85's and an ISU-152 in the process- for no loss at all.

In BKC-II, King Tigers, while tough as old nails, are not invincible. But if you let yourself get caught out in the open by them, expect a lot of your armour to end up as Kitty Nibbles- as was the case historically.

"Well, at least it's pretty safe here..."

Another thing we learned was the importance moving your overall commander to a position close to the action where he can actually see and influence what is going on, especially if he is commanding the Russians! That, and the need to dig in defending infantry; next on my terrain agenda are foxholes, emplacements, bunkers and minefields for a proper defence.

The Germans had their problems too; Giovanni didn't need to have used four armoured vehicles to hold the Russian right, and the two Stug III's would have been more usefully employed escorting the half-tracks past the village. Additionally, Sada had some exceptional bad luck with both command and firing dice, but there was lots of that on the Soviet side too!

In all, a really fun game with triumph and frustration for both sides. As we packed up. Sada was setting up a Napoleonic naval game for Sunday, so with luck he will be able to post some more pictures of the weekend's events.

It was great to have the chance to get out and chat with like-minded enthusiasts about the hobby. Thanks again to Takasawa-san for inviting us! We'd love to go back and put on a game next year.

-Robert

Confirmed Games: November 13th (Sun) & Dec 3rd (SATURDAY)

2011-10-06T13:33:00.001+09:00

Hi All,

it has been a while since the last post, but the activities of the club have not stopped, we had 2 fantastic events and hopefully soon we might have some pictures.

On the 22nd we are going to advertise our club to a yearly historical gaming event that takes place in Funabori on the Toei Shinjuku line (close to Chiba). We are going to play a larger WW2 game to try to attract new blood for teh club. If anyone is interested in joining in and actively promoting the club, please feel welcome and contact me.

I also managed to book the rooms until December, please check the dates.

November 13th - 7th floor Kitchen Room

December 3rd - 7th floor Sosaku Shitsu Room (next to the kitchen) THIS IS A SATURDAY

I would suggest if you plan for a larger game please let us know in advance for November since the room is a little small.

Looking forward to meet yall.

Giovanni

They're after you, Giovanni...

2011-08-20T08:40:00.001+09:00

Giovanni wanted to see Vikings, so here they are!

These were bought and painted back in 1985-87. Old Citadel Dark Ages range, with a few appropriately-clad fantasy figures thrown in. Designed by the Perry Twins, and true 25mm.

Once they are all finished (which means they will have taken around 25 years!), all I'll need is a monastery to plunder after they finish whacking Giovanni's Saxons.

Anyone else out there interested in a bit of a Dark Ages bash? We're thinking of using Age of Blood, Warhammer Ancients and/or Hail Caesar! (eventually).

Photo Report: Games Day on July 31st, 2011

2011-08-06T13:55:00.011+09:00

Summer is always a quiet time on the wargaming front generally, what with the nasty hot and humid weather, summer vacations, kids out of school, and the usual demands on weekends that is normally the case this season of the year.

But despite the anticipated absence of a number of regulars, our last games day (July 31st) saw an unexpectedly very high turnout for our club, which was nice to see. Lots of new faces, and some great games! A D&D scenario, some board games, and of course miniatures.

Giovanni, Pete and I enjoyed a WW2 British vs. Germans game, while Sada and Rod had their first Napoleonic naval game, using the Warhammer Historical Trafalgar rules and Sada's amazing collection of Langton 1/1200 ship models. Click on any of the photos to enlarge.

French frigate takes fire

Sada has been working on his ships for a long time, and it is evident in the quality of painting, rigging, and presentation.

Come cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer!

His "sea" was a tour de force- crinkled blue cellophane over a simple blue cloth. Inexpensive, portable, but very effective.

As this was the first game, there were only three ships aside. It ended up in victory for Rod's Royal Navy (what else?), but at the cost of a 74-gun ship-of-the-line lost in a collision.

Someone's going to have a hard time explaining this to the Admiralty at his court martial.

A lovely Spanish first rate, the 130-gun Santissima Trinidad

The fleet is in...

Sada has about eighty ships in all, and he is determined to model all the ships present at Trafalgar. Each exquisite model takes him about a week to build. The workmanship really had to be seen to be believed!

Rod, fancying himself as the new Russell Crowe.

The rules played fast, and seemed a lot of fun. I know Trafalgar has had a mixed reception from gamers, and people will probably love 'em or hate 'em. But given time limitations at the club and the fact that most of us are confirmed landlubbers, I have to say I found them just the thing. Thanks for putting on a great game, Sada!

Board games were out in force, and we had a visitor from a miniature painting club in Japan, whom Brian & Ayu had met at a model fair in Shizuoka. They invited her to drop in and take a look at our miniatures games, as the concept of wargaming was an unfamiliar one to most of them. She seemed evidently impressed with what she saw, and even found the time to take part in a game of Dungeonquest.

Pete's wife ponders the price he will have to pay for having her cut out mortar templates at the last minute.

The WW2 game saw Peter trying out a ruleset he used to play about 20 years ago, and which focused more on infantry actions than on tanks. It seemed to play well- we liked the fall-of-shot charts-, and is worth a second try in a future game.

Pete laying out the game as Giovanni and Rod look on.

Incoming!

...clank, clank, clank...

...and more where that came from...

Powerful Prussian Pachyderm

Here comes trouble...

Schnell!

Even more Schnell!!!

Well-placed mortar round on an open-topped vehicle. Ouch.

Now you see me, now you don't.

Raus! Out! Out! Out!

Jerries under attack from a Sherman Crab.

The hardest tactical challenge was getting Giovanni to focus on playing the game, as he often got sidelined meeting new people who had showed up to the club! But that, of course, is what he does best and is a big reason behind the success of our organization.

Next games day is soon- Sunday, August 14th.

-Robert

Next Games Days July 31st and August 14th

2011-06-19T16:00:00.000+09:00

HI ALL,
皆さん、
I just wanted to let everybody know that next events are planned for the 31st of July and August 14th.
次回のイベントのお知らせです、7月31日と8月14日。
I am looking forward to see you there.
会えるのを楽しみにしています。
Giovanni

Well, it has been a while...

2011-06-16T14:13:00.001+09:00

Hi All,

I just thought that it has been a while since anyboby posted some pictures of games or wrote a comment on anything so I considered writing a small update on what is going on in our little wargaming scene.

It is almost holiday time, so a lot of people are of to their home countries and are planning trips to the beatch and so on, so on the gaming front things have been a bit calm, but not dead.

Robert, Rod, Matt and Achilles met last week's Sunday to play another Black Powder game with their evergrowing collection of 28MM Napoleonics.

You can enjoy some imprssive photos on Robert and Achilles blogs:

http://serreslesrangs.blogspot.com/

http://napoleonicmadness.blogspot.com/

Kirk, Gilles, Eric, Tony and others met to play some Modern set espionage RPG'S (correct me if I am wrong)

I am getting ready for this Saturday event painting figures for the D&D game, as I have been doing in the last few months.

Another great thing is that David and Nick from JIGG have set up a Meet Up account and they are actively promoting gaming events and so far about 20 people have joined the group.

http://www.meetup.com/Japan-International-Gamers-Guild-Tokyo/

Please check it out and join the group you will receive a notice for every upcoming event and you can find other people that has similar o eventeh same tast in gaming as you do!

That's it so far I am looking forward to see you at tne next event.

Giovanni

Photo Report: Games Day on April 24th, 2011

2011-05-08T16:22:00.007+09:00

A belated photo report of last month's game's day, so I'll just let the pictures do a lot of the talking. I'm afraid the pictures aren't representational of all that there was to see, as I was busy with the WW2 game to be able to pay much attention to what else was being played. Besides, I was reaching the end of my cellphone camera's memory card. My apologies.

First, I took the opportunity to take a few photos of Oliver's very well painted Skaven from the Warhammer game. His Chattering Horde blog is one of my favourites out there, and almost makes this confirmed historical player want to do fantasy!

Gareth and Rod had a 6mm Zulu War game using the Horse, Foot and Guns rules. History repeated itself with Rod's Zulus sweeping all before them. Wee little guys!

There was a very feisty RPG game going on as well. David shown here. Not sure how the game ended, but Dai at least was sure having a hoot!

The WW2 game using BKC II. Pete's Germans vs. Brian's British, featuring an impressive combat debut of the Typhoon ground-attack plane. It was also Brian's first ever airplane model (hence the decal glitch!).

Two successful attacks on the Germans. Ouch! Brian selected a force big on tanks, but with little infantry.

The Germans, although having to deal with the Sherman wave and the RAF, had a more balanced force. It included some very nicely-painted infantry.

Ubertanks be damned, Fireflies can be nasty. Brian's Shermans took out the two Tiger tanks, as well as a PZ-IV. Pete's excellently painted Tigger in the lead, followed my sole contribution to the game, another Tiger but in plain dark yellow (I hadn't the guts to try the camouflage). Fujimi models.

The British didn't have it all their own way, though.

All hail the humble yet mighty StugIII! I couldn't hang around for the end of the game- maybe Brian or Pete could let us know how it ended.

See you all on the 15th (and if any of you bring a camera, be sure to share the pics with us so I can post them here!).

-Robert

Great day on the 24th NEXT GAMES DAY 15TH OF MAY

2011-04-26T19:00:00.001+09:00

Hi All,

just a few lines without photos I'm afraid. Sunday was a great games day, I think it helped us all to relax our strained nerves and I think we all had a great time.

There was a Warhammer Fantasy Battle where hordes of Rats and Skaven fought a vicious battle against the High Elves. Great looking game, although I am not sure of the result, perhaps Oli, Howard and Sam will let us know.

Robert, Pete and Brian were playing a German vs British Normandy 1944 game with beautiful terrain and miniatures.

Giovanni, David, Kirk Ziad and Dai, where having a blast at playing Labyrinth Lord- a clone RPG of Dungeons and Dragons.

Thank you all for coming and I hope to see you on the 15th of may where we will be on the 7th floor in 製作室　where we will have a looooooot more space, so feel welcome to join us.

We also had a game flea market, where THANKS TO ALL we managed to rise 13550 yen for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku. I will deliver the money to a local church hoping to relieve some of the pain of those poor people.

Looking forward to see many gamers again.

Thank you all,

-Giovanni

Games Day on the 24th

2011-04-20T11:32:00.004+09:00

Hi All,

I hope to find you all well and in health. It has been a tough period and many things have happened, but thankfully the situation seems to be getting back to a sort of normality. Now you can find bottled water, packed bread and rice almost normally, Yogurt is still an issue, but we should be all right wit it soon.

The power cuts have virtually disappeared, but will restart during summer, which will be quite an experience without the support of air condition! Although it will be nothing compared to what other had to suffer, so let’s roll up our sleeves and down with the work. 日本がんばれ！

So in order to release a bit of tension it will be good to roll some dies, move some miniatures on the table isn’t it?

The 24th of April (Sunday) we will have an early start 9.30 and an early end 17.00 due to the fact that the city hall is trying to save electricity. JUST AN ADDITIONAL NOTE TEH D&D GAME WILL START AT 11.30.

We plan to play the following:

Morning Labyrinth Lord (aka Basic Dungeons and Dragons) DM Kirk

Late morning 2 WW2 games with Robert, Pete, Brian and Ayu

Late morning various board games with David, Tod and Giovanni, playing, Warrior Knights, Bitter Victory and other games.

Late morning Warhammer Fantasy Battles with Oliver and Sam

Also not confirmed yet Brian and Gareth will both be available for a game o Brits vs Zulus in 15MM and 6MM respectively if anyone is interested, although this is to be confirmed.

We will also have a charity flea market where we are selling our unwanted or overflowing miniatures, board games, hobby material and so on. The money collected that way will be donated to the local Salesian church of Chofu, that will deliver the money to the Earthquacked people in Tohoku.

I am looking forward to see many of you gamers in Tokyo.

Cheers

Giovanni

Next Games Day- April 24th

2011-04-08T20:32:00.000+09:00

Hi, Everyone

As life slowly returns to normal- and provided that there are no blackouts scheduled in the area- the next gaming day is scheduled on April 24th. We would like to ask people to confirm if they still plan on attending, and if so what they plan on gaming.

If you know for sure if you will be making it that day, could you let us know so we can know what kind of turnout we can expect, and so we can start thinking about terrain and table arrangements.

Thanks, and hope to be seeing you all soon.

-Robert

Tomorrow CANCELLED

2011-03-12T13:04:00.001+09:00

Hi ALL<

I hope you and your dear ones are fine.

For obvious reasons we have to cancel tomorrow's games day. We were called by the city hall saying that all activities have been stopped.

Next games day will be on April the 24th.

Take care

Giovanni

Brian's Field Trip #2

2011-03-08T21:15:00.003+09:00

Hello everyone!

This is Brian, back for another edition of "Brian's Field Trip".

Today I will be introducing you to the Tokyo Figure Society 東京　フィギュアソサエティ. This is a fantastic group for anyone who loves to talk about painting and modeling (mostly) historical figures in a casual, friendly, and supportive environment. They meet in Akihabara, first at a cozy cafe, and then they move on to an izakaya for drinks and good food. The quality of the painters and modelers/sculptures there is world class. Most of the people there also have some past history with wargaming and the West Tokyo Wargamers were lucky enough to have one of their members come by our meeting in Seiseki-sakuragaoka for a visit!

Japanese is the primary language of communication, but there are members who speak English. If you fancy yourself more of a painter then a player then please get yourself involved with the Tokyo Figure Society!

http://silver.ap.teacup.com/tokyofigsociety/

(If you need any information, on this or any other of "Brian's Field Trips" please feel free to email West Tokyo wargamers for details :-)

I will certainly be going back to their meetings (on the last Saturday of every month) whenever I get the chance.

Also the Tokyo Figure Society has a table in the "groups" section of the Shizuoka Hobby Show! This year I will be making my first trip to the show, and I will see the exhibits, and hang out with everyone afterward. I am really excited! (It is the weekend after Golden Week, for those of you in Japan).

http://www.hobby-shizuoka.com/

Until next time,

-Brian

Photo Report: Games Day on Feb. 27th, 2011

2011-03-05T12:59:00.013+09:00

Another great turnout! We had more than twenty people show up to roll dice, have a chat, and to have fun. It was really rewarding to meet a lot of new people and play some cool games.

Games played were:

A 28mm Napoleonics game using Black Powder rules from Warlord games
An Ancients game of Romans vs. Seleucids using an old ruleset, Legion
Blood Bowl, a game of fantasy American football with four players
A game of Combat Commander by GMT. A World War 2 simulation game
A Basic Dungeons & Dragons game

And if that wasn’t enough we closed the day by playing Space Hulk.

Here are some photos.

First, Takeo and Sada's 15mm ancient game, as the Republic attempts to tame Antiochus. Some very nicely painted 15mm miniatures, with the Seleucid elephants and chariots in particular drawing a lot of admiring comments.

Who would want to be on the receiving end of one of these?

The warriors in serried ranks assembled.

Republican Romans ready to spill blood- preferably Seleucid- for the Glory of Rome.

You can find more pictures and a write-up on Takeo's blog here. Interestingly, they were using the old Legion rules, published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976. I even have a copy of that set somewhere back in Vancouver. "Old School" indeed!

The Blood Bowl game. I wonder what a GW Fantasy half-time show would look like? The mind boggles...

David and Co. playing a game of Combat Commander.

Peter, Matt, Achilleas and I had another game of Napoleonics using Black Powder. It looked fantastic, and we really enjoy the rules. We have always been able to play games to a definite conclusion in an afternoon, so they are perfect for club play.

As the French win first initiative, Peter rummages through his pocket for anything heavy with sharp edges that he can hurl at me.

Me, musing on the fate awaiting me in Paris should the French lose yet another engagement. Fortunately, this time the French came out on top.

The allied defences including this strong redoubt, along with the dreaded Russian Horse Artillery.

The Thin Red Line. It was to get much thinner by the time the day ended. Memo to Matt: how about touching up the edges of those flags?

The Tsar's representative attached to the Allied Army in Belgium. Count Anatoly Maximovitch Bricoloff comments on the French deployment along with the British liaison officer, Major Bartholomew Fetlock-Withers (MP), 3rd Lord Nosebridle.

The gallant Brunswickers. These doughty warriors put up a brave fight when all around them collapsed.

Rather than use up too much bandwidth on an already picture-heavy post, I'll be adding more photos and a ~~triumphant orgy of bragging and ego-boosting~~ balanced and fair commentary on my blog, Dino de Laurentis style. Hopefully this weekend or early in the coming week.

Now, over to Giovanni...

-Robert

What an awesome day! I really enjoyed myself. Even though we were in the smaller “Workshop Room” we managed to find a (cramped!) place for everyone.

Here I will resume in a few words our D&D adventure that I was running for about 8 players. The group managed to save the Cleric Alaric, who was imprisoned by an evil clan of Orcs that had their butt kicked by the group.

As they were about to leave the dungeon, Alaric started to speak about feeling deeper evil; at that very moment they found a secret passage in a wall that led down to a deeper, damper darker part of the dungeon. Without fear- but with a good dose of care- they started exploring the first room.

There they found themselves suddenly under attack by some red poisonous centipedes led by a Bugbear that they managed to defeat. This was thanks to the dwarf and Fighter, who proved themselves invaluable "shock absorbers" for the group. Unfortunately the dwarf soon fell into the underground hole the centipedes had come up from.

The courageous Gnome went into the hole just in time to see a pair of dwarvish feet being dragged down by what was revealed to be a third red poisonous centipede.

This last centipede met its end when, in the excitement of seizing his prey, it crawled out of its hole and was promptly dispatched by the Fighter with a mighty slice from his sword.

-Giovanni

A busy day for us all! Thanks to Darren, Brian and Ayu for many of the better photos!

March 13th and April 24th

2011-03-04T16:44:00.002+09:00

Hi All,

I wanted to announce before it is too late that I managed to book rooms for March and April. The March game will be on the 13th in the Dai Ni Gakushitsu. which is a larger room than usual.

This time we will start in the morning from about 10:30. The room on the 8th floor is fairly large so that if you have any plans to play large games you are welcome. Please write in the comments section below, or mail me to book your space.

The game on the 24th of April will be held in the Workshop room on the 7th floor. That is the usual kitchen room, so there might be an issue with space, if you let me know in advance what you plan to play, it would be really appreciated. We will be able to set up only four wargaming tables and a smaller one for boardgames so I would suggest you contact me to avoid disappointment.

Please let me know what your gaming plans are for these days.

Thank you,

Giovanni

Photo Report: Games Day on January 24th, 2011

2011-02-12T13:15:00.029+09:00

Better late than never, but here is the report for our games day held back on January 24th. We had a great turnout- I counted twenty people at one point- and it was a busy day of gaming, with boardgames, another Napoleonic game using Black Powder, and a very popular D&D game.

Unfortunately, the room we had this time had large side windows where the winter sun was shining directly in. This, coupled with the fact that we were all busy gaming, meant that the pictures were not as good as we would have hoped, and that there weren't that many of them from which to choose the best shots from.

Still, there were enough so that I hope that we can convey the chaos and fun of the day!

Giovanni, wondering how the hell he let anybody talk him into being DM...

Marco (standing on the right) built the masters and cast up the dungeon walls used in the D&D game.

We were very pleased to have as our guests Takeo, Sada, and other members of a gaming club from Chiba (on the other side of Tokyo). They are an active group of Japanese gaming enthusiasts who play the WRG Renaissance rules by George Gush, as well as Napoleonic Naval games in 1/1200 using the Warhammer Historicals Trafalgar rules.

They are certainly a talented group of painters, and evidently put on some stunning games, as you can see here from a photo of an Italian Wars game. You can see more great photos on their English blog.

Very friendly people, and it was great to find a Japanese group with whom we could share a mutual enthusiasm for the hobby. Takeo and Sada also bought some of their models. The Napoleonic ships- from Langton Miniatures- were amazing works of art. Both Achilleas and myself are interested in age of sail games, so this may be on the agenda some time in the future. We are all looking forward to seeing them here again.

David brought along a number of boardgames, including this one by Columbia Games on the Crusades.

Pete and Achilleas deep in admiration of each other's latest in finger nail art, while Matt looks jealously on.

Full frontal Napoleonics, in 28mm. Achilleas and Peter going toe-to-toe on the French right flank.

This was Pete's first Napoleonics game for some thirty-odd years, and he seemed to enjoy himself! Hopefully we can twist his rubber arm and get him to start on some Perry plastics. This was game #4 using the Black Powder rules by Warlord Games, and so far they have all been very enjoyable.

Here is the French army, prior to receiving yet another spanking by the Brits and Brunswickers. While our collections are growing, The French still lack enough infantry to mount a proper attack. Not much we can do about our shitty dice rolling, though.

Achilleas' hands clasped in fervent prayer, but "He" clearly wasn't listening to any French entreaties that day.

En avant! General Bouillon-Cantinat orders a French attack on the Brunswickers. The good general and the gun are my models, the French are from Achilleas' collection, and Matt painted the Black Brunswickers. Peter made the building and field.

Another view of Pete's farmhouse and enclosed field. These were garrisoned by Matt's 45th Foot and by skirmishers of the 60th Rifles, who between them held the position against all comers for the duration of the game.

The French high command dithering, panicking, and generally just busy placing the blame wherever it will stick. Achilleas made this great command stand using Perry miniatures.

Idiot that I so often am, I forgot to bring the usual grass mat we use for our Napoleonic games. Fortunately Giovanni saved the day by bringing the green cloth we usually use for our WW2 games, but it does play havoc with the colour balance on the digital cameras sometimes.

The French plan hinged on seizing the farmhouse early in the game, but disastrous command rolls saw the Allies get there first, where they proceeded to shoot down the attackers in their ranks as the French attempted to storm the position.

Another attack, this time by French converged grenadiers, was swiftly- and bloodily- repulsed.

The French threw in a total of three infantry units against the position, but all to no avail. The British, supported by a field gun and the Brunswick Leib-battalion were more than capable of hurling an enraged Johnny Crapaud back to his start line.

In the centre and right, the French had a bit more success, driving off the 74th Foot again- (hardy a challenge- in fact routing the 74th is becoming a tradition).

My 28e legere were seen off early in the game on the left flank, so were reincarnated so they could replace one of Achilleas' unfinished units in the centre. They did much better under General Tallon's dice rolling!

However, better just wasn't good enough. The French objective was to seize the two settlements one each flank of the table. Time was not on the French side, as by early evening, the British firmly held the farmhouse on the French left, and Achilleas' attack to take the chateau on the French right was ultimately doomed by a vigorous counterattack by the 88th foot (which is also becoming something of a club tradition, alas...).

Achilleas took on the 88th with his newly-painted 46e Regt de ligne, chomping at the bit to get stuck into les rosbifs and to make its combat debut...

...only to find itself- as is so often the case with newly painted units on the wargaming table- unceremoniously routed after a few rounds of close combat. C'est dommage...

It didn't help that in the absence of sufficient command stands for the British, they had to press a Russian priest into service. Clearly the Almighty was biased.

So another French defeat- that's three out of four games for the Allies. Next time will be different, I promise! As it turns out, after the game we became aware of few omissions and misunderstandings we had been making with the rules, so the next game should have quite a different flavour to it.

-Robert

Here's Giovanni's colourful report on the D&D game;

"Well, we had a nice laugh when we played Basic D&D after 20 years, and I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about running an adventure after such a long time. Consider as well that English is not my mother tongue and you can imagine how I was feeling.

Having said that, once you start and get in the mood, it goes pretty smooth, and I think all the players were satisfied.

In this session we managed to use some wall section that Marco has been working on for a while, he made some masters in wood of the blocks and then made a mold so he can make as many as we need for future games. Together with the miniatures, they turned out to be really nice and realistic.

So our brave heroes were all travelling, and decided to stop at the village of Stallanford where the following day the King Festival was to have taken place. As the legend goes, there was a courageous king that fought with wild and blood thirsty beast-men and defeated them a 1000 years before, so to commemorate such an event every year since then in the village the King's Festival is celebrated.

Unfortunately for the village, while our heroes where resting at the local tavern (omnipresent in fantasy games) the village was attacked by some Orc raiders that manage to kidnap the local Cleric. The villagers are seeking revenge, so our group- a Cleric, Fighter, Halfling, Thief, Magic User and Elven beauty- set out to beat the crap out of the orcs.

The Dungeon crawling went well in fact. We had two RPG veterans that really knew what they where doing, and this helped in getting a good outcome from the adventure.

They managed to defeat several orcs, a giant ferret, a bugbear (scary creatures!) and finally after killing the orc chief to liberate the Cleric. Meanwhile there was a tremor in the land and the brave adventurers got stuck in the dungeon, but they managed to find access to a lower level of the subterranean complex.

Next session on February 27th, they will challenge a lower, darker, damper level to find out the evil crawling underneath!"*

-Giovanni

*So the next adventure will be set in Roppongi, then?

-Robert

Brian's Field Trip

2011-02-03T22:08:00.002+09:00

On January 30th, I took a trip out to the Tokyo suburbs, to the Nerima Miniature Gaming Club. One of their members had invited me to come after paying a similar visit to the West Tokyo Wargamers group.

The space was within comfortable walking distance of the station, and included many tasty places to grab some food along the way. The actual gaming room was perfect, with space for 4 very big tables. They are a very organized and timely group, having a theme of the day and running games from 1pm - 9pm. While I was there I saw 2 games of Warhammer fantasy, and a game of Battlefleet Gothic (なつかしい～～～）.

I also ran 3 games of Dungeon Quest! (a great Games Workshop classic). It was great to be among Japanese gamers, and to be in a group in which the primary spoken language was Japanese. Don't be afraid if your Japanese is not very good, between English, Japanese and all the gamer words that exist in both, you'll be fine. Also, many people in the group do speak English very well. I learned that among these pioneer Japanese gamers, being able to understand English is a precious survival skill considering the amount of material available only in English.

The quality of gaming, painting, and terrain was great, and the atmosphere of all the people was warm, welcoming and friendly at all times. Really a fun time and I suggest everyone to check out their website and stop by if you have the chance.

-Brian

February session on Sunday the 27th

2011-01-20T14:41:00.004+09:00

Hi All,

Here we are again with a games day almost there that if everything goes well might be the best so far a number of participants! That is a great news for me and I hope for the other members too. Thanks to Brian we might have found three local players one of whom is a collector, painter and player of 15MM historical miniatures. He could be the missing link between the foreign community and the Japanese community of gamers.

Thanks to Dave, who has kindly posted an ad on a website, we might get more players, also thanks to the fact that we started playing Dungeons & Dragons with miniatures and little 3D walls.

Undoubtedly the popularity of the game has helped to fine new blood for the club, but it shows to my relief that a lot of people are prepared to play games.

So the future looks bright!

I booked the room for February too and the games day will be on Sunday the 27th, I still have to check which room it will be in, but if I remember well it should be a larger room.

Recently thanks to Marco’s idea we thought of renting the workshop room in order to run some handcraft focused events to share knowledge of painting techniques and whatever related to the hobby, so any comment on this will be appreciated.

That’s it for now I am looking forward to play on Sunday!

-Giovanni

Happy New Year! Battle Reports & Next Games Day

2010-12-31T17:57:00.004+09:00

Happy New Year to you all! One last post for 2010.

January 2011 will mark the first anniversary of having our club hold its games at OPA at Seiseki-sakuragaoka, so here's to another successful year ahead!

January 23rd will see the following games;

Napoleonics with myself, Matt and Achilleas- if anyone else wants to join they are most welcome.
D&D with Giovanni, Marco, Brian, Ayu and others I may have missed

If someone wants to put on another, different game, let us know so we can post it here and recruit some recruits!

Giovanni and I thought that it was about time that we held a "bring 'n buy" at the club. So if you have any old stuff that you would be interesting in trading or selling, this coming games day is your chance to liquidate some gaming assets. If you do have something, it may be a good idea to post a comment here letting people know what you are thinking of flogging off, so that you may be able to find a buyer in advance (and not have to drag it all back home if you don't find any takers!).

Next, some reports from December's games. The Napoleonic game was our second using Black Powder, and we are giving it a big thumbs up so far. Some really nice brushwork fn evidence from Matt and Achilleas.

Rather than use up space here, I posted a lengthy- and picture heavy- AAR to my Serrez les Rangs blog, where you can read how the minions of Napoleon had their come-uppance at the hands of the Allies.

The WW2 game was hard fought, and marked the debut of Giovanni's half tracks as well as some nice mortar crews for the British from Brian. Some pictures from the game here.

The approaching horde...

Der Grosse Kase...

" I say, old man, King Tigers. Jolly rum show, hey?"

"We can't ALL hide behind here!"

Half-track racing! Giovanni's pack of panzergrenadiers.

Brian did a great job on the bases of these mortar stands.

Sorry, Giovanni- I don't care what dice roll you need, "He" doesn't take sides.

Someone really needs to do a Robert Shaw miniature for that Konigstiger.

And here is Brian's (totally unbiased) account of the BKC II game.

"A heavily armed German panzer force, complete with 2 Tigers and a Sturmtiger are minding there own business, trying to pass through some farmhouses and a road when... all of a sudden... a ridiculously flimsy British tank group, (filled with the best anti-infantry weapons available) tries to ambush them!

The British Commander was so exited to get into battle he didn't realize that Mobile Deployment means you don't come on to the table until your turn. Therefore he was left out into the open as the Germans took their first turn to close in on his lonely and scared Sherman tanks waiting helplessly on the edges of the battlefield. As the battle progressed the brand new shiny mortars recently acquired by the naive British officer succeeded in doing absolutely nothing to the German Tiger Tanks.... go figure.

As command roles failed the British waited impotently in the corners while the German horde strolled toward the objective. In a last ditch effort to actually blow something up, Three Sherman tanks took three turns to finally destroy the German Sturmtiger. News of this great victory must have reached the other Sherman tanks hiding in the woods because they immediately ployed into the open... where they were summarily executed by an onslaught of panzer fire. All in all we called it a tie."

When Sturmtigers- and dice rolls- go bad...

Finally, just a reminder that Brian and Achilleas have new blogs- I've added links to the sidebar. Be sure to check them out.

See you all in January! Don't eat too much osechi-riori!

-Robert

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T10:59:00.003+09:00

A very Merry Christmas and 明けましておめでとうございます to all!

Next year on January 23rd sees the gaming calendar start off with a D&D game using Marco's amazing dungeon tiles, and yet another Napoleonics game using Black Powder. Meanwhile, here is a little bit of a teaser as to who will be making their debut on the Field of Honour...

I will post a quick AAR of December's games- once people send me the pictures, hint, hint!

-Robert

Next session 19th December/23rd January

2010-11-28T21:16:00.003+09:00

Hi ALL,

We are going to have another exciting games day on the 19th of December.

Followed by another Session in the new year on the 23rd of January.

We are looking to see many of you! if you are unsure of how to get here, check the how to get here section of the blog or as usual drop us a line, we will assist you.

The West Tokyo Wargamers

Video Report: Games Day on November 14th

2010-11-21T12:39:00.036+09:00

A crushing Soviet victory, and what better way to celebrate than by giving the Soviet Union's top film directors a few days break from their residences in the Gulag Archipelago so that they can work on a suitable celebration of the nation's triumph? Move over, Eisenstein.

With due acknowledgement and apologies to the 'Beeb...

After the big turnout last month, we expected that this time there would be a lot fewer attendees due to various commitments. Still, five of us were able to turn up; more than enough to put together a late war, German vs. Soviet game using Blitzkrieg Commander II. Both Giovanni and myself had managed to paint up some more models for our respective collections, so we were anxious to have them see their first action.

We had intended to run two WW2 games, but at the eleventh hour it turned out that Peter couldn't make it. That also meant that we wouldn't have his magnificent collection of buildings to game over, so Giovanni gave me a call and implored me to bring over the trenchworks I had built for our first BKC game way back last January. A nice terrain piece, but a pain in the posterior to have to carry back and forth from club games.

So this was a hurried scenario! As his force had a lot of armour and vehicles, and my Popovs are still short on wheeled transport (sorely missed the last time my Soviets took the field), we decided to have the Germans try to take a Russian defensive position- an attempted counterattack against the Soviet juggernaut invading Brandenburg in early 1945.

It was Giovanni, Marco and Matt as the Germans, with Darren and I playing the Soviets. We used Scenario #4 (Deliberate Attack) from the BKC II rulebook, with the Soviet defenders (veterans) having 2410 points against a German force of about 3600 points, which included elite Fallshirmjagers and a Konigstiger as well as some evil SS.

This was to be a testosterone-fuelled game using the Steel Titans of the time, including the fearsome King Tiger. Roll out the Ubertanks, and bring 'em on! Giovanni introduced his latest finished masterpiece- a 1/72 Sturmtiger from Trumpeter Models. He did an excellent job modelling and painting it- the chipping on the paintwork in particular was very well done. But a fat lot of good it did for him in the game!

The German attack was launched with motorized infantry aiming to take the Soviet right and centre, and a whole bunch of well-armoured nastiness heading towards the Soviet left to outflank the line.

The Soviets responded to the initial German advance with immediate air support. The attack had been preregistered, and it ended up being in the right place at the right time. Luckily for the Reich, however, it turned in a most lacklustre performance- basically because I had read the rules incorrectly and failed to realize that I could attack all units within the attack zone.

Actually air support on both sides was less than impressive. Having filled it up with all six litres of aviation fuel that were available to Nazi Germany at this stage of the war, Giovanni's lone Me-109 made several determined, but utterly useless, attacks on the Soviet trench line. Once the pilot had been shaken awake from his slumbers by his orderly, that is; Giovanni several times forgot to make his scheduled air attacks.

More fortunately, and rather unusually for me given my past record, I had correctly surmised the kind of devilment the panzers would get up to. So it turned out that they went for a right hook, only to eventually run smack straight into my whole battalion of T34/85's. I had even stationed a 45mm A/T gun on the flank for good measure; but as it turned out, the crew had nothing better to do for the whole game than to read "liberated" pornography while knocking back bottles of vodka and captured aftershave.

Early in the game, Russian support artillery and assault guns all took a toll on Marco's German advance on the left, and Darren managed to fortuitously knock out a ATG that had just deployed on a small hill overlooking the Soviet defences. This was a good move, as it could really have given us some headaches as the game progressed.

We soon learned that it is tough- really tough- to take out entrenched infantry. This was Marco's first WW2 game, so he did the unexpected- he sent a Wirbelwind right up to the trench. This is when the Soviets discovered to their horror that while they were well protected, they did not in fact have a lot of firepower to deal with any armour that got in close. They would first had to leave the protection of the trench if they were to close assault with their flamethrowers, and given all the hate the Germans had at hand to throw against them during opportunity fire, life expectancy could have been measured in seconds.

Fortunately for the cause of International Socialism and the imminent Workers' & Peasants' Paradise, Giovanni had massed all his tanks on the flank, and the basically unsupported Wirbelwind was forced to fall back, while the slightly scathed Soviet flamethrower team raced thankfully back down the other side of the hill. Suppressed, but alive, and they would be able to come back and enter the fray again later.

On the Soviet's left, the Russki tank commander had many games ago learned the value of concentrated fire. Having managed to avoid being seriously hit by the Stugs and the King Tiger, the Dice Gods- clearly fully paid-up Party members all- smiled on the Reds and in a number of consecutive actions the Russian tanks tore the German armour to pieces.

This has been really one extremely lucky and experienced T-34 battalion; they did the same to a British force in the last game. I am seriously thinking of promoting them to Guards status, and adding Guards insignia to the turrets.

While the T-34's were sending the German tankers to Valhalla, the infantry in the centre - elite Fallschirmjagers- debussed and advanced to the attack. It turned out I couldn't hit the infantry behind the trucks they had just leapt out of. Fair enough. But Matt (being the clever Brummy he is) realized this and proceeded to try and advance his infantry safely behind the advancing softskins.

To be fair to Matt, this was also his first WW2 game; Napoleonics is his thing. And he is certainly no rules lawyer. But while there seemed nothing in the rules expressly forbidding it, this tactic had a good, strong whiff of rotting Gorgonzola about it, so I screamed foul. No truck driver with one iota of sanity would have done such a thing, even assuming the transmission and suspension could take the trip uphill anyway. While I have nothing against anyone extracting the best advantage from the rules, I feel that actions should be within the bounds of plausibility. This manoeuvre clearly wasn't, and it would have established a bad precedent.

Everyone seemed to agree with me, so I put away the hobnailed baseball bat and my can of pepper spray, and the game went merrily on. But I understood the dilemma- unprotected infantry assaulting the trench would have been (and as it turned out, was to be) decimated. Had the infantry been advancing behind tanks or even half-tracks I could have lived with the consequences- which would have been nasty as I had so little A/T capability on the ridge itself. Combined arms are always the way to go.

Once the Fallshirmjagers had been bloodily repulsed, the last act was one in true Gottendammerung style- the Waffen SS made a close assault on the trench. Under the BKC II stats, these Baddest-of-Bad-B-tards are tough pretzels to chew on indeed, and can take a lot of punishment. One stand did in fact almost make it into the trench, but in the end numbers told and they were thrown back. Hopefully into a very well-used latrine hole.

As for the Sturmtiger, for most of the game it sat in the rear and managed only to lob off one ineffective round at the end of the game. I was just so thankful it wasn't used to lead the attack on the trench line. With a massive twelve-dice attack, and being as heavily armoured as it gets in the rules, I just couldn't have replied to it. It would have ripped the Soviet defences apart, especially if it had been supported by advancing infantry and screened by smoke rounds.

So, lessons learnt:

Make better use of reconnaissance units.
Entrenched infantry are hard to winkle out. Use combined arms and smoke to mask the advance, as well as scheduled artillery. Neither side paid the points for that, and we both could have used it.
I should have kept troops behind the trench as a reserve, to shore up any breaches. While tough to hit, entrenched infantry tend to get nailed when they do. With no reserves, it was all-or-nothing at some points in the line. The lack of any significant A/T weapons in the centre was also a real weakness, had it been exploited.
Heavy tanks are sexy, but the law of averages is even sexier. Given any reasonable luck with the command rolls, I'll take quantity over quality any day. I'd rather have six Pz-III's than one Tiger.
As with the Elephant and other vehicles armed with the excellent long-ranged 88mm gun, the King Tiger should have been kept in the rear where it could snipe at the T-34's from a distance and take them out one at a time. Either that, or launch it straight at the trenches where the Popovs would have found themselves suffering from sudden gastro-intestinal ailments the minute it appeared out of the gloom.
We need to be sure to check for air superiority at the beginning of the game, and to apply the rules correctly!

And last, but not least:

More terrain, especially woods, roads, and buildings! My project during the winter vacation is to get that Russian village finished.

Thanks, guys, a great game. I'd like to do a rematch one day to see if the Germans could do better. I really think they could win it, given better luck and a different deployment.

But be warned- by then I'll have made up barbed wire emplacements and minefields!

-Robert

Games Day Photos

2010-11-17T22:29:00.013+09:00

Here are some shots of the last games day. I decided not to add any comments, since I hope to get a nice battle report from Robert! Thanks mate.

November 14th Games Day

2010-11-08T13:19:00.001+09:00

Hi Everyone,

we are going to have a games Day on the 14th in a large room!

Anyone is invited, if you plan any big games, please mail us, or post a comment on this blog.

warm your dies.

Photo Report: Games Day on October 24th

2010-10-31T21:30:00.043+09:00

And what a day it was- a great turnout, four games on the go, and a lot of fun had by all. Let's get straight to the pics!

First off, Andrew's Star War games which looked to be a real gas. It featured a fantastic terrain piece that rather reminded me of a futuristic attack on a Foreign Legion fort, but it was of course a Rebel attack on an Imperial outpost. And as it turned out, the rules were based on a set for colonials by none other than Don Featherstone!

Here Andrew looks over the layout, with a clearly fascinated Giovanni admiring the miniatures.

Brian decides that he now knows what he wants Ayu to buy him for Christmas from "Toy's 'R Us".

I just loved the palette of this layout- although it was a swine to photograph, the sand yellow of the gaming cloth matched that of the outpost well, and the game really looked good.

*****

We were able to run two WW2 games using Blitzkrieg Commander II rules. Peter and Brian had a France 1944 game between the British and Germans. Pete is a master builder! His buildings and models looked fantastic, as can be seen here.

Fresh out of the carrying cases. Some excellently modelled Panzer IV's and a Tiger, along with a very drool-worthy gun and limber (an SHQ model).

An amazing collection of buildings. Many made from scratch, and very well painted.

Peter and von Brian cross swords across the bocage.

Another shot of Peter's gorgeous terrain layout.

Giovanni's German armour and infantry. Note the dug-in Panther turret.

We had Brian using Giovanni's collection of Germans, while Giovanni himself played in the Star Wars game. Meanwhile, Ron was using Brian's British against my Soviets. The triangles we wargamers get involved in...

Here are some of Peter's British forces.

*****

A really colourful game was this Warhammer 40K game put on by Ivan and Howard- I don't know much about the genre myself, but I was struck with Ivan's well-painted Tyrannids on one side, and the silver horde that were Howard's Demon-Hunters. There was an eye-catching statue that formed the centre piece of their game.

"Watch it- they bite!"

That is a really impressive armoured vehicle. Wonder if anyone would notice if I painted one green and added it to my Soviet army?

Scale creep writ large...

*****

Finally, the game I had with Ron. Kind of a learning experience for us both. This was his first time with the BKC II rules, and I hadn't played for a few months myself, so was a little rusty. It is June, 1945, and the Soviets are having a little "dispute" with the Western allies over boundary demarcations.

This was a race for a bridge (a nice model that Brian knocked together from parts at the local 100-yen shop), with a British armoured brigade supported by motorized infantry on one side, and a battalion of Soviet infantry supported by a company of T-34/85's and a ground attack aircraft on the other. If the bridge and the two buildings on either side of the river were secured, it would be considered a complete victory. Anything else would be a draw.

"Today's Fox!" Some jolly sporting chaps (from Brian's collection).

Heroes ride. Goats walk. My Popovs wait for the order to be unleashed.
(A Mig 3 takes aim at my cellphone as punishment for my cluttering up the table.)

The objective. Brian's bridge looked great on the table.

Tally Ho, lads!

Urrah!!!!

Tank on Tank! The T-34's take a loss, but manage to hold their own against the Capitalist Forces of Reaction. The last Sherman attacking on this flank is knocked out. (The river was fordable by armour, and infantry would have to expend one whole action just to cross it).

Hors de Combat. These fell prey to the T-34's. I dare say, hard cheese, old boy, what?

But more where they came from...(Gulp!)

Bar's open! Any room at the inn?

The game ended a draw, as the Soviets managed to ever...soooo...sloooowwwly send their infantry to the building on their side of the bridge, while the British were steadily enveloping the whole board. However, they wouldn't have had enough infantry to winkle out the still well-armed Soviets from their cover.

But conversely, the Soviets were effectively trapped; if any on them so much as stuck a boot out of the any of the doors they would have had it blown off by a shell from a waiting Sherman. Stalemate, and the outcome would depend on whichever side would have sent reinforcements first.

Given some abysmal initiative rolls at the beginning of the game, the subsequent advance of the Soviet infantry was carried out at a snail's pace. With all the British armour and transport, and fairly open terrain, there was little in the way to prevent Ron from flanking the Soviets early in the game and shooting up the Red infantry in the open. Given my faulty deployment (the Soviets should have set up further forward on the table), the Russkis really did deserve to have been wrung out and then hung to dry in very short order, and Ron's plan to envelope the Soviets from both sides was a sound one.

The only thing saving the commies' cute 'lil crimson butts was that they managed two amazing runs of luck with the dice. The first was when the T-34's achieved Glory for International Socialism against a company of Shermans, by passing critical command rolls and getting double-ones (which allowed them to get to carry out an additional action). This meant that they could then concentrate their fire on the oncoming armour one victim at a time. Even the Mig managed to do some damage!

The second was later in the game when two mortars managed to hold up the flanking attack long enough for the (by now panic-stricken) infantry to seek shelter in the village. The 82mm mortar was particularly well served by a very efficient crew.

Gee whiz, Ron, is that the time? Aw, shucks, we'll just have to call it a draw (phew!)

The dice rolling had its ups and downs for both of us, and as Ron was able to quickly grasp the fundamentals of the rules, the game played quite quickly. I really enjoy our BKC II games, the mechanics are fairly simple, but it plays well and calls for some thinking about the tactics you want to employ. And of course, Ron is a real gentleman to game with.

Moral of the story for the Popovs; more terrain pieces laid out in depth. And start with the infantry in defensive positions. Either that or start building lend-lease trucks! Lot's of 'em.

*****

There you have it. All in all, A wonderful way to spend a Sunday, with a memorable afternoon of gaming! Next games day is November 14th. Thanks to Giovanni and Ayu for the pictures.

-Robert

This Sunday the 24th Games Day!!

2010-10-20T12:48:00.003+09:00

A very quick reminder of this coming Sunday Games Day.

We will have 2 World War 2 games, Star Wars wargame, Space Hulk.

Please come and join us for a day of fun.

Remember to bring a camera to record the events!

The West Tokyo Wargamers

Go-kekkon Omedeto Gozaimasu, Brian & Ayu!

2010-10-11T10:36:00.009+09:00

On Sunday two of our gallant crew of dedicated gamers, Brian and Ayu, got married in a very nice ceremony here in Tokyo (Kanegawa, actually). Brian has been a regular here in the club since its inception, and recently Ayu has been involved in both painting and playing as well, so we count both of them as club members.

Here they are, as Brian vows never to conceal his hobby purchases from this day on, and never to fudge movement distances.

It was also a pleasure to have met Brian's parents and his elder brother, who came over from Cincinnati, Ohio, for the wedding. Great people, and it was pretty clear to see where Brian got his interest in gaming from! His Dad would fit in very well here at our club.

Our sincere congratulations to Brian and Ayu, and we wish them a very happy and fulfilling life together. We're indeed privileged to be able to count you both as fellow enthusiasts and as valued friends.

And Mr. and Mrs. Shen, what better way to get your marriage off to a flying start than to get that Old Glory 15mm Zulu Wars set finished and painted ready for a game in the new year?

-Robert

Next Games Day: October 24th

2010-10-07T21:30:00.003+09:00

Hi All,

The 24th of October we are going to have another exciting gaming session.

This time I managed to book a bigger room so we can space out.

Anyone is invited to bring their game, if you wish to come with a friend and play a game, you are more than welcome.

We have not yet any specific plan for games, but most likely we will have a Napoleonic game and a World War 2 game going on, hopefully also some boardgames.

I hope to see you soon.

Giovanni

Photos of the carnage; Part 1

2010-09-28T19:59:00.004+09:00

Some pictures from Sunday's games day. We had a great turnout, with some new members, many regulars, and as Giovanni mentioned some great games; 20mm WWII in the Western European theatre using Blitzkrieg Commander, a modern air war boardgame featuring a scenario set during one of the Indo-Pakistani wars, and our clubs first foray into the Napoleonic Wars using Black Powder and 28mm miniatures.

Here are some shots of the WWII game. This was Peter's first time with us, and he made his debut in grand style, bringing his exquisite collection of buildings and vehicles.

Our WWII games had always been short on buildings, so we were more than happy (and impressed!) to see that we suddenly found ourselves not just with more buildings, but an entire village! The statue in the town centre was a real eye-catcher. In addition Brian's fiancé, Ayu, painted one of the Italeri buildings (the one top left), so we were well off for scenery for a change. Perhaps some roads and a railway track for the next game? Next time I'll try to get more close ups- these really are lovely models.

Giovanni had been having fun with his airbrush recently, and this King Tiger made a big "canvas" to work on! This was one of a number of pre-built kits that he and I had picked up during a recent sale at Hobby Link Japan. This particular kit was pretty unexceptional, but Giovanni's paint job has really improved it.

Peter's son looks on in disdain at Brian's grasp of tactics. Brian brought his rapidly-growing collection of Allied armour, including some very useful trucks and halftracks.

A sea of German yellow and airbrushing gone wild as German panzers assault the Allies in the village.

"When we was in the bocage country,
we was assaulted by them Tigers.
You know what I mean by 'assaulted'?
Well, I mean ASSAULTED!"

-Moriarty (always with them negative waves.)

I'm not sure who won, but with King Tigers and Churchill Crocodiles, I'm willing to bet it was a pretty nasty fight.

The next post, I'll put up pictures of the Napoleonic game.

-Robert

Today September 26th Great Game Day

2010-09-26T22:03:00.003+09:00

Hi All.

We did it again, we had a fantastic game day! Two games went on, a fantastic Napoleonic 28MM scale game, with breath taking miniatures painted by the expert hands of Matt, Robert and Achilleas.

We also had a extremely enjoyable German vs British World War 2 game, with Peter's awesome scenery.

The next Games Day is scheduled for the 24th of October, and we are going to have a big room to play in! So if anyone would like to organize a game of their liking, please feel free to! We have room.

Pictures will arrive soon (Robert could you please?)

Thanks to all

The West Tokyo Wargamers

Black Powder- Roster Chart for the Game.

2010-09-12T12:47:00.003+09:00

Hi, guys

Getting more and more into the Nappy spirit!

I've made myself a .pdf roster chart for what I hope to be bringing for the French. You can see it here.

If you can send me the info on what specifically you are bringing, I'll add it (or I can send you the Word document if you prefer).

Not a lot, but hopefully enough for a trial game.

-Robert

Preparing for "Black Powder"

2010-09-07T08:43:00.011+09:00

"Mes enfants, bientôt vous verrez l'éléphant!"

Under the watchful eye of its general, the 1/28e Regt. Légère drills to a state of perfection in preparation for its first combat against les rosbifs.

I'm trying to squeeze in as much painting time as I can get so as to help us put together a small- and hopefully balanced- force for our first game.

To augment Achilleas' brigade of French, I'll be bringing a battalion of light infantry, a six-pounder gun, and some casualty figures as markers. I'm hoping that I might be able to get twelve chasseurs au cheval painted to a standard where they at least won't be too ashamed to take the field (French light cavalry officers are fussy about appearances!).

And of course I will bring my general, GdB Victor-Eugène Sardanapalus Bouillon-Cantinat.

For the Allies, I'll have a Russian horse artillery licorne howitzer and maybe a few companies of Jagers. A small boost for Matt's British. I very much doubt I'll be able to get any Russian cavalry done in time.

We are probably okay for terrain pieces. I'll bring a few 28mm buildings, a small wood, and maybe a hill. Enough for a simple scenario in order to try out the rule mechanisms.

However, as Brian and Giovanni are going to be playing a WW2 game at the same time, the problem will be finding a terrain cloth. If anyone has a suitable piece of cloth they can bring, let me know before I start shopping for one!

-Robert

Volunteers take three steps forward!

2010-09-05T11:05:00.014+09:00

September's Games Day

As Giovanni mentioned in his last post, we have a gaming day coming up on September 26th (no problem booking a room this time!). So far it looks like we may have three games going that day.

28mm Napoleonics using Black Powder (Robert, Matt, Achilleas)
28mm Star Wars (Andrew & Darren)
WW2 (BKC) (Brian & Giovanni)

If anyone else is planning on attending, and who would like to participate in any one of these games, please let Giovanni or myself know by Sept. 20, so that we can try to ensure that there are enough models/ troops/ terrain to go around.

Don't feel restricted by what's planned- If you want to come and host another game, by all means suggest it and let us know, and if there are people wanting to join in, go for it.

"Stand up and be Counted"

I've added a page to the blog regarding how to go about hosting and participating in club games. I've repeated it here as well. Nobody appreciates "control freaks", and we all like a pretty laid-back club atmosphere. But a number of us feel that setting out some kind of a club philosophy and some basic advice in this area wouldn't hurt.

This hobby encompasses a bewildering variety of games, eras, scales, and rules. It is impossible to do everything at once! I'm sure we all have our preferences, and would hope that we are all willing to give everyone a chance to play something they would like. While many of us are primarily miniature enthusiasts, we enjoy boardgames too.

But if anyone feels that the games being played so far don't turn their particular crank, then the remedy is to organize something that does! Being proactive never hurts.

Everyone is encouraged to bring forward ideas for future gaming days. If there is a period/ rule set you would like to try out or a board game you would like to play, by all means say so. If you can get at least one other person willing to give it a go, then it's on!

New ideas are always welcome, and if anyone is prepared to host a game, supply the rules and organize assembling enough miniatures for it, that would be great.

Just a few things to keep in mind;

Try to let Giovanni know your plan well in advance. This gives us time to publicize your game here on the blog, and to possibly attract more players. And if we should have to book a larger room, the earlier we know that the better chance Giovanni has of obtaining one.
Be prepared to help coach players through unfamiliar rule sets. This may mean umpiring rather than playing, at least initially!
Bring all the equipment- dice, tape measures, etc.- that may be needed, as there are never enough of these to go around.
If you need terrain- hills, buildings, and so on- and already have too much to carry with you, contact Robert or Giovanni well in advance- we may be able to supply these for you.
Finally- not that any of this is ever likely to happen, with any of the fine people here!- it is a matter of just common courtesy that if any of us agrees to turn up and host/ attend a game, then we should do so! Emergencies happen, of course- shoganai. But it is very bad form to just not show up without any notification, and to leave others in the lurch. If any of us have agreed to take part in a game, and for some reason or another can't make it, it is best to let people know as much in advance as possible. Many are travelling a considerable distance to get here in anticipation of a game. Of course, a no-show without letting others know also pretty much guarantees that people would find other things to play the next time the offender suggests a game!

Looking forward to hearing your ideas.

-Robert

Next gaming session 26th September.

2010-08-28T13:13:00.004+09:00

Hey! how are you doing guys?

Our next gaming event will be on the 26th of September.

At the moment the BIG GAME of the day will be a fantastic Napoleonic battle between French and British forces using the Black Powder rules.

There will also be a fantastic Star Wars wargame with 28/30MM figures and terrain for a battle set in Tatooine.

We might be playing WW2 games and perhaps a renaissance horse and Musket game but these are TBC

We are looking forward to see many new players.

The West Tokyo Wargamers

Last Months' Photos... and the Next Session

2010-08-08T15:53:00.000+09:00

Hi Again!

As promised I managed to post some of the pictures from last gaming session!

We started with some Cry Havoc, followed by an "easy learning!" naval game as you can see from Brian's expression!

We played one game of Shuuro the wargame of chess and last but not least we gave a shot at Twilight Struggle a game set during the cold war, which was absolutely awesome.

I will soon post the dates for the sessions of August and September as soon as I manage to book the rooms. We plan to play Blitzkrieg Commander in August and a Napoleonic game in 28mm for September.

See you at the next gaming session, and in the meantime- paint! paint! paint!

From the dark age of the 80's Cry Havoc!

The Italians free the land from the Austro-Hungarian imperialists

The game of Creative Chess: Shuuro

The game of the cold war Twilight struggle, where you can actually loose by starting a global nuclear war. (hugh!)

July's Gaming Session

2010-07-28T09:51:00.016+09:00

Hi All.

Soon I will be able to post the pictures of the last event where we saw some naval action where the Italians manage to be the winners (Thanks Ron), we also had 2 boardgames of medieval warfare and cold war world domination.

I am in the process of booking the next 2 game days that might be August the 21st and September the 26th, but they are to be confirmed.

Check out the blog soon for further information and updates.

As usual we are looking forward to see new faces, feel free to pop up at the events, we will always have a space for you to throw some dies and move some toy soldiers!

The WTW Team (WOW That sounds so professional!)

Site Update

2010-07-19T12:48:00.001+09:00

We added a map and some directions to the "How to get here" page, as well as some info in "Who we are and what we have!".

Anyone up for a bit of a WW1 Naval game on Saturday? Noble Austro-Hungarians in the Adriatic, pitted against treacherous Italians.

-Robert

Next Games Day 24th of July

2010-07-09T12:37:00.003+09:00

HI!

The West Tokyo Wargamers are going to have their monthly gathering for July on the 24th.

We plan to play Blitzkrieg Commander, Axis &Allies Pacific, and anything else people wants to play.

Looking forward to see many of you!

Photo Report: Games Day on May 24th

2010-06-12T13:57:00.042+09:00

Here at long last are some pictures from our games day that was held on May 24th. A colourful 18th C. action in India with John Company vs. the Mahrattas, as well as some Eastern Front butchery using Blitzkrieg Commander II.

First to the Indian subcontinent. Gareth and Matt played a very attractive 6mm game set in the 1780's, with the H.E.I.C. army pitted against an Indian host during the Mahratta Wars. Figures were 6mm, largely from Irregular Miniatures. A really great looking game!

Very nicely painted and based figures. We all commented on how effective the jungle terrain looked in this scale. Aquarium plants bought at the local 100-yen store!

I really liked the mosque- which was from Irregular Miniatures, I believe.

Mahratta bigwig seen on his command elephant. I believe he bought the farm during the battle.

The game ended in a lop-sided British victory, so the Empire was saved. What better way to celebrate Victoria Day?

*****

The other game saw Soviets pitched against the Germans in 1943.

An issue that had come up with our last few games was that they had ended up being more or less just armour engagements. Due to poor scenario design and/or lack of transport, the infantry had been really tardy in getting into contact. The result was that the armour and artillery basically decided the issue long before the PBI could get to grips.

We had been really itching to see how BKC II handles infantry combat, so this scenario was designed to remedy that by getting the infantry stuck in from the beginning. Which it certainly did!

Being set in 1943, and wanting to concentrate on infantry action, I didn't use my T-34/85's for this game. A decision, which if historically justifiable, was one I would turn out to regret. Big time.

The scenario saw Brian's British commandos (proxying for Russian paratroops) being airdropped into a German-held village in the centre of the table. And I mean airdropped! We used pieces of paper to represent each stand, and Brian stood up with the pieces of paper in his raised hands, and just released the lot over the table. Where each piece of paper landed was where he had to set them up!

Brian's "paratroops" slugging it out toe-to-toe with the Germans, and being heroically butchered in the process.

The Germans (Giovanni) had a force of armour- including a Tiger and Ferdinand, as well as Pz-IV's and the dreaded bicycle troops- coming in from one end of the table to come to the rescue of the beleaguered garrison. While on the other end Soviet reinforcements (Daniel and I) were attempting to come to the support of the paratroopers and to consolidate their hold on the settlement.

Oberst. Hermann von Heck's Angels; Giovanni's fearsome Bicycle Battalion races to the settlement to help pour on the fire on the Soviets.

Brian had been working on some Esci commandos, and had a very inventive approach to how to deal with those few "odd" poses that always seem so beloved of soft plastic figure designers. As a painter and modeller, Brian is really going from strength to strength.

This was life imitating art, as far as the game was concerned. To cut a long story short, the Germans cleaned Ivan's clock. While a long and ferocious infantry battle went on back-and-forth in the centre, Daniel's Soviets- whose command included our heavy armour- seemed determined to fail as many command rolls as was statistically feasible, and his advance went in at a snail's pace.

This picture may as well be titled, "Still Life on the Steppes"...

On my part, my over-reliance on infantry, and the absence of anything in my command even remotely able to take on the Tigers and Ferdinands on anything near equal terms, meant that we found ourselves being taken out piecemeal by the Germans.

My Ivans seen in their full glory just before getting dumped on by Me-109's, Tigers, Ferdinands and, for all I cared, the Dortmund Bank Tellers' National Socialist Oompah Band and Knitting Circle. Just about everyone and everything available in the German arsenal, or so it seemed. A Skytrex SU-76 in the background and SU-122 in the foreground. They may as well have been ice-cream vending wagons for all the use they were in the game.

Giovanni's very nicely done Me-109 on its way for a spot of leisurely strafing, as it roars past some uber-armour as they advance towards the front. All willing, eager, and all-too-capable of doing some serious GBH to the hapless Popovs.

The SU-76 leads the way to support the paratroopers, as reinforcements follow on, only to end up as...

...Kat food.

The Tiger and Ferdinand had reached the top of some hills where they proceeded to settle themselves in for a sehr gut afternoon's Russki-shoot. Giovanni had clearly learned from our last game that the best way to use the Tiger and Ferdinand was to employ them as long-ranged snipers- snipers on steroids at that.

Just perch them on top of a comfortable hill, and from there the crews can set up a barbecue, crack open a few bottles of Liebfraumilch, and just take turns taking 88mm pot-shots at anything green coming at them in the distance.

By this time, and despite putting up one hell of a fight, Brian's force had been reduced to a battered few survivors crawling over the edges of the rubble. Ivan's nose was getting bloodier and bloodier, while the German forces were still largely intact. So with precious little time left for the Soviets to pull off any miracles, we decided to call it a day and hand the Germans the victory, leaving the outraged commissars to start rummaging through their pockets for more pistol ammunition...

In all, a great game and a lot of fun for all. This was the first time we tried using air support, close assault and the opportunity fire rules. After some initial confusion we quickly worked them out, and liked how they played.

Things were made easier by Daniel's Quick Reference charts- he took the relevant charts from BKC II and after photo-reducing them down into a convenient size for the tabletop, placed them in clear, stiff plastic file cases. These were then colour-coded with tape down the edges. A great finishing touch was having period posters on the other sides! I just love them.

BKC is becoming a firm favourite with us. Games can be played to a conclusion in an afternoon, and it's an elegant system that can be picked up easily by those unfamiliar with the rules. Giovanni is also working on a large Italian army for the Western Desert, so we expect a lot of games in the future.

*****

Finally, a preview of some Napoleonic action waiting in the wings for later this year. Matt has been beavering away at his Perry and Victrix plastics, and they are looking good. Here are some of his British.

Looking forward to seeing more of these!

-Robert

Next Games Day in a week

2010-06-07T13:05:00.003+09:00

Hi All,

We will have the upcoming Games Day on Sunday the 13th of June.

This time we will have some WW2 action (tbc but almost sure),a painting participation session and some war boardgames.

We are looking forward to see anyone who wants to come and have a look, so if you are interested, please drop us a line.

Soon we will be able to post the pictures of May Session.

Small Update about Games we are going to play

2010-05-13T17:55:00.004+09:00

Hi ALL,

Thank you for the e mail exchange in the last two days! I have now got a better idea of what we are going to play.

As usual Blitzkrieg Commander with Russians,Japanese and Germans.

Gareth is going to organize a participation game of the Indian Mutiny of 1700 (I hope it is correct, Please correct me if I got it wrong!) Scale 6MM using his beatifully painted miniatures and the Horse Foot and Guns rules from Phil Barker.

Two boardgames will be available as well, Luftwaffe (Avalon Hill) and Twighlight struggle (GMT) and Darren has a choice of games such as Shadow over Camelot and others that he will bring if there are participants.

I am looking forward to play, and hopefully meet all of you.

Giovanni

Next Games day 30th of May

2010-05-10T17:55:00.003+09:00

Hi ALL,

I hope you had fun as I did at the last games day.

For Next games day nothing has been confirmed yet, but from my side I can confirm 2 games I will play. One is "of Course!" Blitzkrieg Commander for what concerns miniatures, the second is Luftwaffe a boardgame of aerial combat during WW2 that I plan to play with Brian.

I am still up to play a total Wings of War game if anyoneelse is interested.

Please mail your choice of games for the day!

Giovanni

April 25th- Games day come and gone!

2010-04-29T15:07:00.025+09:00

And a good time was had by all! Turnout was a little low, as this week was the run up for the "Golden Week" vacation, but there were more than enough of us to set up some games.

A miniatures game using the increasingly popular Blitzkrieg Commander II rules, and some board game action ranging from the 100 years war to an appointment with "Madame le Guillotine"!

Plenty of time to eat a bagel first, and then go on to repel the English invaders!

The BKC game saw the Soviets against an unholy alliance of the Japanese and Germans! We are more than willing to play fast and loose with the historical facts when we need to.

The Japanese contingent. I still need to get those tanks finished, once I get the guts to start on the camouflage. The mortar team also needs to be finished, but are to receive the benefits of Giovanni's capable brushmanship.

The Germans. The Tiger was initially a concern to the Soviets, but we needn't have worried!

Robert's Soviets. They were to survive the game virtually intact, save for a broken gun barrel of a T-34, of which the least said the better!

Daniel's recently completed Soviets. Loved the snow effect on the bases! (Italeri figures).

General Danielevsky consults with his Political Officer and STAVKA representative, Comrade Col. Maxim Lebedovitch, as to how much vodka can be transported in an SU-76 without compromising ammunition requirements. Meanwhile, the Japanese contingent rolls not-so-inexorably forward.

A little known fact of WWII. A force of Germans were trapped in a pocket in the Crimea in 1944, and decided to flee from the Soviets by advancing eastwards through Soviet Asia and Mongolia to Manchuria, where they hoped to meet up with their Japanese allies. After numerous adventures and close calls, they succeeded on joining up with a Japanese garrison on the Soviet/ Manchukuo border. Both then fell back towards Hailar, trying to shake off a battle-group of pursuing Soviets who are hot on their trail. Borders and cease-fires be damned.

But the German commander Sturmfuhrer Joachim von Braun- a confidant of the Fuhrer and also a brother of Eva Braun, with considerable inside information about the Nazi high command - was wounded and left behind in a shack while on reconnaissance with some of his officers. They were wearing captured Soviet uniforms, as they were trying to infiltrate the Russian lines.

If caught, he is bound to be publicly tried and then shot as a spy (not necessarily in that order). Hence it is imperative for the Axis that he not be taken. as to have him captured by the Soviets would be an unacceptable propaganda blow to the Axis, and a great coup for Stalin.

The Axis forces (Giovanni and Brian) were as determined to rescue him as the Soviets (Robert and Daniel) were to capture him- preferably alive, but neither side was too fussy about that.

Kibitzing by an observer who clearly displayed a bias for the Axis... Fortunately, his advice fell on deaf ears!
Brian, the Japanese commander, meanwhile wonders what it would feel like to actually pass a command roll while waiting in vain for the German commander to take matters in hand...

The game was a real hoot. The Germans advanced quickly, but the Japanese were slow to support them (either bloody-mindedness or dreadful command rolls!).

The Germans had some initial success, largely due to the support of a pair of Pz-IV's, a Puma and a Tiger. But the tables turned decisively in the space of two turns, when the Germans had their noses wiped by a battalion of T-34/85's.

This was due to the Soviet commander having learnt from (bitter) experience that it pays to concentrate all fire on one target at a time- and to pray for good command rolls. The Tiger was wrecked after taking 16 hits over two turns, and the Puma and Pz-IV's were taken out over the course of one turn, one Pz-IV being smothered by a whopping 13 hits in one attack.

Tiger Hunt!

Tiger, Tiger burning bright...

The Soviet infantry was able to get the unfortunate von Braun back to their start line just as the Japanese started arriving on the scene. He was then taken to hospital and nursed carefully back to health- so that he could then be shot for being the wretched spy that he so clearly was.

The games are really moving along quickly as we get the hang of the rules. As our forces get bigger and we are able to get more terrain on the table, we are looking forward to more ambitious scenarios.

*****

At the other end of the room, Matt and Gareth were immersed in fighting a 100 Years War board game that saw King John the Good of France elevated to King John the Freakin' Awesome, as the English were sent packing across the Channel.

Later, Darren joined them in a a card game of Guillotine, which looked like being a real fun game!

Matt brought some of his Perry Miniatures Napoleonic British. Very well painted they were, and we look forward to some Napoleonic actions later this summer, if all goes well.

Finally, Darren had to bring his kids to the game, but made sure that there was something in it for them, too! One can never start too early...

Next games day will be May 30th.

-Robert

April 25th

2010-04-01T11:58:00.008+09:00

Hi Again,
I have some more news about our next gaming day.
The Blitzkrieg Commander Game will be held by Robert and the DBA Tournament will take place although the number of participant is not confirmed yet.
We will also have visits from the friends of the "Greater Kanto Area War-Gamers Club" and we have a new recruit from Greece, that will bring his newly painted Napoleonics in 28MM for Robert and Matt's pleasure! Matt Also will bring some of his Peninsular war painted 28MM figures. I will bring some paints and brushes and I plan to do some demo Oil Paint Washing on Gareth's galleys. If you guys have photoes of painted miniatures that you could like to post on the blog please let me know I will be happy to post them.

Hello All,

Just to keep everyone updated for the 25th of April we are thinking of running a De Bellis Antiquitatis tournament, and a Blitzkrieg Commander game (TBC).

Anyone is more than welcome and if you have not done it yet, please confirm your participation by mailing at the address under the banner (with the ships) on the right hand side of the screen.

Thank you

Giovanni

April and May sessions

2010-03-25T12:06:00.004+09:00

HI ALL

Thank you for last week's great day. I really had a good time and I am looking forward to play more and more and more!

I then booked the next two sessions for April and May. They will be the 25th of April and the 30th of May, same room same floor same place.

Last week we had 3 games going on, the biggest and with more participants was the Blitzkrieg Commander game. A scenario where the Germans had to flee teh table and escape an anvil trap from the Russians. I did not get to play, but hearing from other people it was a good game and Robert is getting into the rules more deeply and has well understood the mechanics of the game, that is great hw will be our mentor to learn the rules better.

I did get to play a game of DBR with Brian, and it was really nice, since he in his time off, decided to rewrite a summary of the rules so that we could play without headaches to interpret teh original rulebook. It wa a bit of a strange game since the knights of St. John where invading Japan and an army of Samurai was trying to stop them (may be the other way round I do not remember!) It ended up in a blood bath, since both armies did sustain heavy casualties, but I really enjoied it.

Garetha nd Darren did play a boardgame called Granada from Avalanche Press, I think they enjoyed part of it but toward the end they where being distracted by other activities.

This time Daniel was kind enough to bring a full bag of Citadel paints that he gave free to the members of the club Thank you!

Darren did bring some great old Avalon Hill games that we did get for a 1000 yen each!! and he also donated 4 more games to the club!

Thank you guys, I think it is great to share surpluses and overflowing toy soldiers!!

So I am looking forward to play in April, I am not sure yet what is going to happen as far as gaming goes, but if you plan to run any games at all please let me know.

Confirmed for the 21st

2010-03-17T11:39:00.003+09:00

Hi ALL,

I just wanted to make some corrections to what I wrote last time:

Robert game is going to be a Russians vs Germans
Givoanni and Brian a DBR game 500 points with 3 genrals Samurai vs Renaissance Knights
Gareth is planning to bring a boardgame of the Fall of Grenada
Giovanni will still bring the boardgame Cry Havoc

Of course all games are open to participants so just speak up when you come to the event.

We might have two visitors that might be interested in joining the club!

Also daniel will bring some free GW paints for whoever wants some of those!

Thank you all, I am looking forward to see you.

Game Session on the 21st

2010-03-12T12:48:00.005+09:00

Hi ALL,

We are going to have the second game day on the 21st of March. A bit more than a week.

Wow! I really enjoyed last game so I am very much looking forward to play some more.

So far the games that are going to happen are:

Givoanni&Brian DBR probably Samurai Vs either Savoy or St.John Knights TBC

Robert is going to run another Blitzkrieg Commander Game

Gareth, I am not sure what he is going to pull ou of his sleve!

Cryhavoc game with Daniel and Giovanni and whoever wants to participate. This might either take place after all the other games, or if anyone wants to play while the other games are going on, it is not a problem! (but please do not loose any of the chits! There are a million)

Any other proposal?
If you all could let me know if you are coming it will be very helpuful and appreciated.

Looking forward to PLAY

Photos speak louder than words

2010-03-04T11:04:00.019+09:00

Hi All,

here are some random photos of the last game meeting, thata by the way was a blast! I really had fun, as I hope the other members did. We had 2 new visits, Matt from Birmingham, who's back in the country and Andrew from New Zealand. It was great to meet Andrew and see Matt back in the team.

NEXT EVENT IS SCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY 21ST OF MARCH.

Please enjoy the photos of Gareth Naval game and Robert's World War 2 game.

From Left to Right, Daniel, Matt,Robert, Andrew, Brian and squatting Giovanni and Gareth.

25 Hours and ten minutes left

2010-02-26T11:48:00.001+09:00

Hello West Tokyo Wargamers,

Tomorrow is the grand day (do you say that in English?) of our first event.
To be honest I am really excited about it, I do not feel it is a goal but the start of something bigger to put effort in, and enjoy in the company of fellow gamers.
The great thing about this Club, and allow me to call it that way because it is becoming pretty much like a proper CLUB, is that thanks to e mails and keeping in touch with other players we are growing in number! Yes we are.
Last night I checked through my list of contacts and sent a few e mails to people I played with a long time ago that I thought they might have been interested in joining us. Their response was very positive so we can now count a total of 11 active members including me! Isn’t that great? Ideally there would be a couple more players that seemed a little bit unsure, or perhaps they live too far away.
We also have received an offer for some sponsorship and thanks to our courageous only Japanese member we might find some more Japanese locals interested in our activities.
I think that is absolutely fantastic and looks like the future for our club is bright. With the time going on we will have to face that not all of us are stable in Japan and might have to leave so we will have up and downs as far as participants goes.
My intention is though to keep recruiting new people and helping with spreading the hobby in Tokyo to start with, later we can expand to all the islands of the archipelago.
As for the gaming direction of the club we are opened to any game really but in order to create homogeneity I would like to focus on World War 2 and De Bellis Renationis as main themes for the club supported by other games according to the tastes of the single members. The reason for choosing these 2 games in particular is that WW2 in 20mm scale (1/72 or 1/76) is easily purchased in Japan as it is one of the biggest plastic model producer in the world, for the infantry you can easily find plastic toy soldiers made by a wide range of manufacturers. If you want to go for Germans you just have to choose from hundreds of companies and soldiers. Also as a period it is easily understood by many and it is easy enough to jump in and start an army. As for other less popular periods you can find it hard to get into and finding the figures is sometimes hard.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/

The other system that I am keen to promote is DBR that being similar to DBA is set in a period of time that goes from 1500 to 1700 and covers about 200 armies from all the continents. Of course you can match period and countries but if you want to just enjoy a game of African tribes against Samurai you can, so it makes it easy to play and easy to organize a tournament. Also the fact that DBA a smaller version of the above system is very popular and a lot of members have at least one army, it would be the start for us to organize a competition of some sort. I personally am not very keen on competitions because I get my bottom kicked on a regular basis, but I know that there are some players that would enjoy some sort of tournament. Speaking of which, we might get something to be used as a prize from a sponsor which is Fernando Enterprises from Sri Lanka. They are a miniature painting business and have a fantastic website and their fees are very reasonable and the quality of the painting is really good.

http://www.miniaturelovers.com/

So for the members that are not much into painting, they could have armies painted for a fair price. That is all for now, I am excited to meet you on the day, Also since a lot of people have been asking for Sundays, from next month I will most likely move the game on that day.

5 Days to go! 27th February!

2010-02-22T13:26:00.008+09:00

WOW! only five days to go before the first public event of the WTW! As mentioned in the previous posts we will have 2 main participation games and 2 boardgames going on.

In no particular order the first game will be a renaissance Naval Game sponsored by Gareth who at the moment is on fire about the naval warfare during the afore mentioned period. He did send me some shots about the work in progress and the ships are looking NIIIICE!! It will be a Christian VS Muslim battle at sea using a very old set of rules published by Wargame Research Group. As he mentioned it could turn into a fast bloody game!

The second game will be a WW2 battle,set at the end of the conflict,between Russia (USSR) and Japan in Manchuria.

Robert will be the organizer and the game will feature a massive piece of terrain!

Robert Russians massed in the renches! These are metal 20MM miniatures, same scale as 1/72 or 1/76.

The infantry for the Imperial Japanese Army will come from me, I am basing them at the moment, they are plastic old Esci figures.

I did not have enough stroops, so Robert in order to beef up this understreght infantry went on getting some tankettes, a cannon and a mortar.

I am looking forward to see the games in action and I am happy to invite anyone who wants to participate to the games.

As for theplace of the event please check the previous post or contact me at the mail address on the right handside of the page under the picture of the battleship.

West Tokyo Wargamers Official Event February 27th

2010-02-03T14:56:00.006+09:00

West Tokyo Wargamers Official Event February 27th

I am extremely pleased and deeply emotionally touched to announce the first event of the West Tokyo Wargamers (WTW) out side of my apartment on the 27th of February at the community centre in Seiseki Sakura Gaoka.
The need to find a new space was dictated by the fact that our number has grown from 3 to 9 people! A fact that pleases me enormously and is the proof that thanks to the internet and the love for gaming, a wargaming club can be organized in Japan as well.
Of course it won’t be the same as a club in the west, especially the Anglo-Saxon countries where it is possible to rent a place and having gaming tables ready all the time, but it is our creation and comes from the shared interest in gaming and the will of spending time together.
The meeting point is the community centre VITA COMMUNE (wrong spelling of Italian) on the left hand side of the west exit of Seiseki Sakura Gaoka station on the Keio line. The official address is
VITA COMMUNE
Tama Shi Seki Do 4-72
Tel. 042-374-9711
7F Workshop ROOM
You will need to get on the 7th floor where you will find a huge hall with chairs and tables, I will probably waiting for you, if you do not see anyone you can ask in the nearby office where the Workshop Room is, this time we will have to toll ourselves 500 Yen so the money will be the first thing I might ask (venal bastard innit?)
For this event we have in plan 2 participation games so far:
Robert’s Blitzkrieg commander Russians VS Imperial Japanese Army
Gareth’s renaissance naval wargame of Spanish Imperial VS Ottoman Mediterranean fleet.
Giovanni’s Cry Havoc boardgame
I think there is still some space for another couple of games if someone has any ideas or wants to take the initiative.
I have mailed all of the members, but I would appreciate mail confirmation.

I also have received some photos of the last Russo-Japanese naval game that are better than the pictures I did take, please enjoy them.

First Battle of the Russo Japanese War

2010-01-27T10:31:00.008+09:00

Game preparations, the only one who seems to have realized a photo was taken is Daniel (aka The lucky Admiral)

As mentioned above the Lucky General strikes his first hit, on my admiral ship!

Close up of the sunken ship.

Second big hit double six! he did hit the powder magazines of the ship destroyng it instantly!

Peace sign while playing wargames!! We had a great day, we are looking forward to the next gaming adventure, Thanks to everyone for coming over.

Battle Report: The Battle of Phung-Chen, 1904

2010-01-24T12:46:00.044+09:00

"Samovar ships are missing, Your Excellency!"

"God Preserve the Tsar!"

(...because the Navy can't.)

We had our first Russo-Japanese naval wargame today, and it ended with the Russian Fleet in tatters, howls of dismay from St. Petersburg, and disaffected Russian sailors plotting revolution and the creation of a Socialist Utopia. Meanwhile, Japanese officers and men busy themselves deciding which particular cask of fine sake or shochu to imbibe in celebration.

The rules played reasonably quickly once everyone had a few turns experience under their belts (and once everyone could be kept sitting around the table and concentrating on the game without getting too distracted with hobby talk; this was the first time I had run a game for nigh on for 20 years now, and I had forgotten just how much it can be like herding cats at times!).

This was the first time anyone (including myself) had tried the rules, but overall I think they worked quite well, and it certainly had the feel of a fleet action. We were using a simple set of naval rules for the Russo-Japanese War by Mike Adams that are available freely for downloading here. These are based on DBA, and are a modification of a similar set of rules that appeared in an old article in Wargames Illustrated.

These are not for single-ship, Hood vs. Bismarck-like duels. They were designed for manoeuvring squadrons and fleets rather than concentrating on individual ships, so battleships are just that- battleships, and ships are classified into generic types rather than being given any individual specific characteristics.

The scenario had called for four separate squadrons coming in from converging points of the compass, but due to the shape of the piece of blue cloth I was using for a playing surface, we ended up having to play using a long- but far too narrow- table. Given that the gunnery ranges were up to a max of 24", this had ships blazing away at each other by turn two.

To cut a long story short (and saving the Russian command from too much undue embarrassment), the Japanese battleship squadron managed- less by design and more as a result of serendipity, what with the table being too narrow- to end up bisecting the table and crossing the "T" of both the Russian Pacific squadron coming at them on their port side, and the armoured cruisers of the Vladivostok squadron heading directly to meet it coming in from the starboard side! Talk about a target-rich environment.

The game went very much in favour of the Japanese right from the beginning, with the Pacific squadron's flagship- the Petropavlovsk under Makaroff- being blown to fragments, taking it's admiral down with it (-1 to all CP rolls). Tough cookies, made all that much tougher when the next ship taken out happened to be the Peresviet- the 2inC's ship, imposing a further CP penalty on the entire squadron. Ouch.

The game effectively came to an end when a shell from the Hatsuse managed to detonate the Czarevitch's magazine. "Blowed up reeel good!", which meant that the Pacific squadron- having now lost more than 25% of its battleships- was sent scurrying back to Port Arthur. In doing so, it left the Vladivostok squadron to the tender mercies of the Japanese main battle line in front of it, as well as to Kamimura's force of modern armoured cruisers and obsolete battleships to the rear, following hard on the Russian cruisers' heels.

Banzai! Russian armoured cruiser sandwich as a snack to go with our sake tonight, boys!

The crowning insult was when a 12" shell plunged into the innards of the protected cruiser Bogatyr, which was bringing up the rear of the Vladivostok Squadron. No more Bogatyr. Credit for this sinking went to, of all things, the Chin Yen. This was an obsolete battleship- a war prize taken by the Japanese from the Chinese the previous century- with pitiful guns and woeful speed. Oh, the shame...

The only Japanese losses were a destroyer and the light cruiser Niitaka, which were scouting for the Japanese main battle line and took a pummelling from the Pacific Squadron's guns for their pains.

*******

I think this is a period and a set of rules we will come back to, as it was easy to pick up, doesn't bog down in too much detail when using a lot of ships, and we were able to reach a conclusion in three hours (it would have been much less if we had been familiar with the rules).

With hindsight the scenario was too ambitious; I should have set up two separate games or made do with fewer ships per command, but towards the end of the game everyone seemed to have gotten the hang of the rules and things were moving pretty smoothly. But it definitely should have been played on a wider table. That, or I should have or reduced gun range and movement accordingly, but to me, that would have been a less attractive option.

One of the good things about the rules was, I felt, the generic treatment of ship classes. This meant that players unfamiliar with the period and ships didn't have to be frustrated with or worry about the strengths and weaknesses of individual vessels in their fleet.

Again, the focus is on commanding fleets and squadrons; maintaining fleet/squadron integrity, using small vessels to scout out the enemy or to screen the battle line, and to concentrate on manoeuvring your ships into position where they can deliver the most effective fire. And all the while trying to minimize the risk of receiving any overwhelming return fire from the enemy fleet. All this is what admirals and flag officers are supposed to do.

The rules do provide some variation between opposing fleets; there are modifications for training, seaworthiness, and leadership. The only one we used was the +1 combat factor for Japanese superior fire control. That proved pretty brutal, and I am glad I didn't penalize the Russians with a minus factor for leadership or inferior coal, as that would have been a real rout. Next time the Japanese don't get so many ships, or else they have been at sea on blockade duty too long so as their speed is penalized due to fouling of the hulls.

Destroyers were pretty ineffective- true historically too- but I realized that they could be very useful when ships are immobilized. As they alone get a +2 CF against stationary targets, they could be very effective at taking out cripples while the main battle fleet engages new targets. We didn't have so many Dead-in-the-Waters though. Those critical hits that did take place were mostly the dreaded double sixes- exploding magazines!

Some suggested alterations to the rules;

1) We were a little confused as to how destroyers were meant to be handled. According to the rules, destroyers are defined as "a collection of small torpedo-armed vessels". We were using four or five boats to a stand rather than individually basing these very small models, as was the intention of the original rules published in WI.

This worked fine on the tabletop, but does a flotilla count it's CF of 1 as a flotilla, or as each individual boat in the flotilla? We decided that a flotilla would attack with a CF of 1 per vessel to a max of CF 4, and that each time a destroyer was sent to the bottom- they are considered sunk upon receiving any critical hit- the attack strength would be reduced by a -1 accordingly. We really didn't have much opportunity to test this out, but we'll give it a try next time.

2) It was agreed that there should have been some kind of modifier for target size. Battleships were just having much too much damn fun!

Lighter, faster-moving targets are generally more agile and harder to hit. So in cases when larger ships are firing at vessels which are of a lower rank in the pecking order, I would propose a -1 modifier for every step difference between vessel category when firing at medium or long range.

So for example, if a battleship is firing on an armoured cruiser at medium range, it would receive a firing modifier of -1 as an AC is one step down from a BB. If the same battleship was to engage a light cruiser at the same distance, it would then receive a -2 modifier, and so on.

Note that this wouldn't apply to engagements at short range. Nor would it apply to secondary batteries engaging light cruisers and torpedo vessels, as these would be quick-firing guns able to range in on a target and reload relatively quickly.

*******

All in all it was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to another game some time in the future. This time with minefields! And I promise to get all the names put on the ship bases!

Do you have any pics, Giovanni?

-Robert

PS- Wouldn't it be great if we could do a game like this on board the Mikasa one day?

Breakout from Vladivostok!

2010-01-18T23:41:00.004+09:00

Bditelni leads Bezposhtchadni, Boevoi, and Boiki on a torpedo attack on the Japanese fleet. 1/2400 Panzerschiffes resin models. Cheap 'n cheerful!

Torpedo boats and destroyers are tiny even in this scale, and are based in groups on 60mm square bases. Other ships are based individually. Not all the models will be based as nicely as this one, but I'm working on it.

I've put together a scenario- loosely historically based- for the game on Saturday. In between trying like a madman to get as many as possible of my ships based and labelled (I don't know how many of you may be familiar with RJ-War ships, so adding names will make things go faster).

Click here to read the scenario. Four or more players, depending on how many people show up I can change forces accordingly. I'll post the order of battle soon. Luckily, the rules require no bookkeeping. But does anyone have any white golf tees to use as hit markers?

Don't expect the Yamato and salvoes of 18'' shells raining down in buckets here- we're way down the technological ladder in 1904!

-Robert

Smoke on the Water, 1904 vintage.

2010-01-16T22:46:00.003+09:00

Next Saturday (Jan. 23rd) will see some Russo-Japanese War naval action using my 1/2400 Panzerschiffe models.

Will the Russian Fleet at Port Arthur break out and give Admiral Togo a bloody nose? Will our Seaborne Samurai stop them?

I'll post details of the scenario in a few days.

Until then, some mood music. (Sorry to disappoint you if you were expecting Deep Purple...)

-Robert

Merry Christmass & Happy New Year

2009-12-17T14:18:00.008+09:00

I thought about writing a message to wish as the title suggests a Merry Christmass and a Happy New Year and to talk about gaming stuff in general.
2009 has seen a fantastic increase of members and gaming going on, I think we all enjoyed miniature wargames, boardgames and chatting, so the "augur" for 2010 is to do more gaming, more painting and more chatting, and most of all recruiting new members for the club. I will be off to Italy for 2 weeks, which means that I will be collecting a couple of orders for a new army of Austrians 1683 for the famous Ottoman siege!! and I will be resting for a while and sitting from a table to another and eating loads of home made food!

The dates for january 2010 have to be decided but unfortunately I will not be able to do it before I come back, but be assured that as soon as we arrive I will eb thinking about a possible date. It might also be that we meet at the beginning of February. We will probably play a Blitzkrieg Commander game sponsored by Robert who's busy painting Germans and Russians with loads of tanks. It will look very nice!

Recentely I also got back on my interest for BoardWargames and re read the rules for Bitter Victory a game about the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, I will be testing it with my brother back home and see if I will have to get into boardwargames or just leave it. we will see.

In the mean time, please enjoy the new year breake, and paint as much as you can! I am looking forwrd to see you all in 2010 and enjoy gaming togeather.

2009-12-10T20:59:00.004+09:00

WOW! We had another great game last Saturday.

As we where planning we decided to go for DBA and we teamed up for a Big Battle DBA.

Macedonians,Romans and Assiryans against, Egyptians,Sumerians and Nubians. IT has been a very interesting game, which made me realize how deep is that system. No mattershow many times you read the rules, there is always something to learn.

Me and Brian lost the game, since we had to face the roman legions that proved their superiority, although re reading the rules we made a mistake. Groups cannot go back togeather with one PIP! we will remmember that next game.

Dai wa kind enough to write a very nice and explainatory article in Japanese about the game with two pictures, so hopefully we can appeal to local players too.

I will soon be planning the dates for January so get tuned.

<ウォーゲームを製作する歴史学の講義：フィリップ・セービンの革新的試み>
2009年12月06日著Dai Kurahara
　ロンドン・キングス・カレッジの戦略学教授フィリップ・セービン（Philip Sabin）は、大学・大学院の講義で学生たちにウォーゲームを製作させて歴史の動きを理解させるという授業の方法を始めています。　詳細は→ ( http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/ws/people/academic/professors/sabin/conflictsimulation.html )
************************************************************************【ウォーゲームの製作は立派な歴史研究です】
　フィリップ・セービンの教育理念は下記のサイトで説明されていますので、ここでは要点のみ簡単に紹介します。　Conflict Simulation :Philip Sabin :King's College London: ( http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/ws/people/academic/professors/sabin/conflictsimulation.html )
　セービンの授業の目的は、文献史学では解明しにくい歴史の動き、とくに「空中戦の戦術、第二次ポエニ戦争や第二次世界大戦の戦況の動向などを視覚化する」(to illustrate topics such as aerial dogfight tactics or the strategic dynamics of the Second Punic or Second World Wars)ことに力点を置いています(*1)。従って彼の講義では単にゲームを制作するというよりは、史学上の先行研究を踏まえた上でその要約としてのシミュレーションを作ります、というわけで講義を聴講する学生はそのセービンの方針にそってゲームを設計しています。なお授業で提出されたゲームが上記 webページで無料公開されているのも面白い所です。
　ここで面白いのは、セービンは「ハリウッド風のド派手な活劇を重んじて正確性を犠牲にする作品」（those where accuracy is sacrificed for Hollywood-style dramatics）を嫌い(*2)、コンピュータを用いない所謂アナログゲームを制作するよう学生を指導している事です。ですから愉しみのためのゲームというよりは、学術研究としての評価に堪えうる一種の論文、としてウォーゲームが制作されている事になります（事実、セービンのサイトで公開されている一連のゲームのルールブックには参考文献リストが付いていました）。
　どんな学生作ゲームがあるのか、上記ページから一部抜粋してみました。
　Alexander at Arbela (331 BC), by Panagiotis Bakalis　The Battle of the River Trebia, 218 BC, by Matthew Brown　Gladius et Sarissa (Cynoscephalae, 197 BC), by Michael Ng　Clash of Empires (Magnesia, 190 BC), by Simon Elliott　Whigs and Scalps (French & Indian War, 1754-60), by Kevin Forcet　Battle to the Gates of Hell (Bunker Hill, 1775), by Timothy Mason　Turning the Tide (Bemis Heights, 1777), by Jerry Schultz　Westminister Abbey or Glorious Victory (Cape St Vincent, 1797), by William Jobling　Death on the Nile (1798), by Paul Banner　Austerlitz 1805, by Konstantinos Tigkos　Bautzen: the Beginning of the End (1813), by Stephen Ho　1847: The Road to Mexico City, by Derek Liu　Mexico City Campaign (1847) by Francisco Franco　1st Manassas (1861), by Alexander Woodward　Grant vs Lee: The Overland Campaign (1864), by Nicholas Inns　La Bataille de la Bouteille, Champagne 1915, by Jonathan Krause　The Battle of Jutland (1916), by David Chisholm　The Battle of Brunete (1937), by Viktoria Spaiser　Suomussalmi (1939-40), by Jonathan Woollgar　Comet (Crete, 1941), by Andrew McGrenary　1941: Fall of the Fortress (Singapore), by Shiqin Ku　The Battle of Midway: Four Fatal Hours (1942), by Matt Jeffrey　The First Battle of Alamein (1942), by Jamie Walsh　Sensuikan (Solomons submarine warfare, 1942), by Alessio Patalano　When Hell Froze Over (Stalingrad, 1942), by David Hiley　Outward North Atlantic Slow Convoy Five (1943), by Nicolas Benton　The Citadel of Prokhorovka (Kursk, 1943), by Dimitris Terzis　Operation Husky (1943), by Silvia Ricchetti　Anzio – Drive to Rome (1944), by William Durrant　Trenches in the Tropics (Dien Bien Phu, 1954), by Pierre Bartouilh de Taillac　The Battle of Algiers (1957)by Antoine de Gunzbourg　Plei Me (1965), by Edward Farren　Thiet Giap, the struggle for An Loc (1972), by Arrigo Velicogna　Task Force 421 (Iran-Iraq naval war, 1980), by Farzin Nadimi　Afghanistan 1980, by Barnaby Cook　Day of the Rangers (Mogadishu 1993), by Daniel McGrath　Battle for Fallujah, April 2004, by John Anderson
　ちなみにセービン教授自らも、古代戦を再演するウォーゲームのルールブックLost Battles(2007)を刊行しています( http://mixi.jp/view_diary.pl?id=1297254189&owner_id=2281505 )。　なお、yahooの掲示板の中に、このLost Battlesに関する議論を扱っている場所があります( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lostbattles/ )。この掲示板のスゴイ所は、著者のP.Sabin自身が"Philp"の名前で書き込み対応をしている点です。もちろん議論は全部英語ですが、とはいえ原著者と直接丁々発止できるというのはなかなかない機会でしょう。
　それから「氷川 TRPG 研究室」( http://www.trpg-labo.com/ )でご紹介がありましたので、こちらにも転載ということで公開します。以下の記事は『日経サイエンス』（2006年1月号）に掲載された記事の概説です。
　バーチャル考古学　シミュレーションで迫る古代社会:　( http://www.nikkei-science.com/page/magazine/0601/archaeology.html )
　こちらの話も、基本的には文献史学では追跡できない古代の社会環境を、シミュレーション実験を通じて推測するという考古学界の動向を報告しています。「コンピューターが登場すると，考古学者たちは先史時代の人間を調べる手段としてシミュレーション実験を利用するようになった。考え方は単純だ。人口増加や資源利用などの変遷をまねるようコンピューターをプログラムして，その予測結果と考古学的な記録がどの程度一致するかを調べる」というわけで、シミュレーションの利活用は急速に広がっているようですね。
*** Attention!: please insert picture "DK-article01-a" into here. ***
************************************************************************【脚　注】(1)Philip Sabin. 2008. "Simulation Techniques in the Modelling of Past Conflicts." Conflict Simulation :Philip Sabin :King's College London. Retrieved Nov.16, 2009 ( http://www.kcl.ac.uk/content/1/c6/05/06/60/SIMULATIONTECHNIQUESINTHEMODELLINGOFPASTCONFLICTS.doc ), p.2.(2)ibid.. p.2.
――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――【関連記事】〔2009年12月02日加筆〕
○ ウォーゲームを製作する歴史学の講義 - Flying to Wake Island:( http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Thorn/20091125/p1 )・岡和田様の記事です。
○ 氷川 TRPG 研究室 - 研究日誌 : about 「ウォーゲームを製作する歴史学の講義」 by kilica:( http://www.trpg-labo.com/modules/wordpress/index.php?p=835 )・氷川様の記事です。
○ lostbattles : Lost Battles:( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lostbattles/ )・yahooの掲示板の中に、このLost Battlesに関する議論を扱っている場所があります。

Christmass session 5th of December

2009-11-25T14:43:00.003+09:00

Hi ALL

Thank you for participating in the last event, it was good fun and with the new entry of Yannis we got new energy for our events. As mentioned earlier I think there was a general ineterst to go back to miniatures. So to keep things easy I thought we should play either DBA or DBR condensed scale. At home I think I can sport 2-3 playing areas varying on the scale of the miniatures. Since I am quinte willing to push DBR and Brian should have 100 points of Samurai, it would be nice to play DBR, I can organize about 2-3 small armies and with what Gareth has we can play without troubles.

As for DBA (ancient wargaming) I have enugh armies for everyone.

This time I would rather start at 14.00 because last time we almost took the table cloth from the table when people where coming up the stairs!!

See you all soon

Maharaja report

2009-11-22T08:46:00.006+09:00

So yesterday the 21st of Nov. we met and had a game of Maharaja. Where I think Yannis was the overall winner with the most victory points.
THe game was fairly simple but a bit too shceduled. I enjoyt it quite a lot, but I found difficult to follow up things an game turns is kind of complex. I also have to admit that I was distracted by Daugter, th internet and so on so at times they had to call me to the table! (Sorry about that!)
Here is a picture where Yannis is considering one of his final winning moves with Brian's Mandarines in the foreground.

Close up of the board, I was playing several nations but most of the time they where sent off the board by invasions, combat and whatsoever!

Panoramic of the game. Next time we will probably go back to miniatures since we have been playing boardgames twice. Next event the 5th of December. See you all soon

Date change! Next Meeting NOVEMBER 21ST

2009-11-05T11:26:00.004+09:00

HI All,

Due to a small mis-calculation in my schedule we will have to change teh date for the next Session.

The new date is the 21st of November and we will still play Maharaja. Perhaps there might be more participants than I thought (which is absolutely great!) so I will also be running a participation game of DBA for the people who might not fit in the maximum number of players of Maharaja.

Looking forward to see you all

Giovanni

Session 29th November

2009-10-30T22:44:00.002+09:00

We will be meeting again for teh 29th again fro a board game.

This time will be the turn of Maharaja an historical game of the conquest of India.

Looking forward to enjoy the game!

Session of the 24th Great Day!

2009-10-24T19:57:00.003+09:00

Wow, we had a great time today!

It is the first war boardgame we played at the West Tokyo Wargamers and we really had a great time. Shogun is fairly easy, but without the help from Gareth that checked the rules time to time, and the effort of all of the other members it would not have been as fun as it has been.

We loosely started at about 14.00 and finished about 19.30. Unfortunately we did not manage to finish the game completely, and we did count the number of provinces and guess.... I ended up winning. It hardly happens so I am more satified than I thought.

Next gaming session will be the 29th of November and we will play the rather exciting game of Maharaja from Avalon Hill.

It is a very interesting game of the conquest of India during the centuries from Alexander the Great to the British colonization of the country.

Thank you to all the participant, and as usual we are looking forward to meet new members

Contact us!

Next session 24th October SHOGUN

2009-10-12T19:31:00.004+09:00

Next session of gaming will be held on the 24th of October and we will be fighting for the domination of Medieval Japan. We will be playing a classic Milton Bradley game called Shogun.

I am sure it will be a lot of fune and I am looking forward seeing all of the player strategies in this simple but detailed game.

If anyone is interested in joining us even in the future send us an e mail at the address you will find on the side of this page, we will be happy to have new players joining us.

Damn Battleships Again

2009-09-21T19:43:00.003+09:00

Just in additon of what Robert wrote,

you can find the downloadable version of DBA (Damn Battleships Again) on Phil Barker's official website.

www.phil-barker.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

You can also find the very interesting Horse Foot and Guns that covers the period 1700-1914 for wargaming.

Enjoy

DBR (and possible DBA Naval?)

2009-09-21T12:38:00.009+09:00

We had a pretty decisive DBR game last night, the Ottoman Turks vs. the Knights of St. John. More on that later once I finish the battle report. In the meantime, a teaser. It was a good-looking game with some very nicely painted miniatures on both sides.

Armour-plated "masters of the battlefield" (ahem...).

Gareth mentioned some interest in doing a WW1 naval game set in the Adriatic using a DBA rule variant. Something I'm interested in doing, having played a few Russo-Japanese naval wargames using a set that appeared in an old issue of Miniature Wargames. The rules worked well, and it would be fun to dust my WW1 ships off and give them an outing again.

I dug out what I have here in Japan of my WW1 models. The balance of the collection- basically the really heavy stuff like dreadnoughts- are still tucked away in a box back in Vancouver somewhere.

Here are the Franco-Italian ships, including the French squadron consisting of the pre-dreadnought Voltaire, cruiser Dupleix and the destroyer Bory at the bottom right. The Italians have the fast battleship Regina Elena and a squadron of beefy armoured cruisers.

And these are my Austrians.

The only Austrian pre-dreadnought I have (at centre-right) is the Radetzky, but honestly I have always had lots of fun just gaming with armoured cruisers and lighter vessels, as well as with their larger brethren. The Austrians have four modern light cruisers of the Admiral Spaun class that can play havoc with older, smaller ships.

I originally envisioned a quick campaign, where the Austrians would usually have the advantage of initiative and would sail out under orders to commit GBH to some Italian naval base or other, so the idea is that they would sail pretty much as a unified fleet. The Italians would be separated into squadrons at various places around the Adriatic, with some French back-up.

Models are 1/2400 Panzerschiffes, along with a few Italian Destroyers from C-in-C. I also have the Panzershiffe rules, which are okay for smaller engagements,

The Panzerschiffe models are cast from resin and are fairly basic, but they are good, robust models for wargaming purposes. I have a large fleets of Russo-Japanese War models for both sides as well, which are also from Panzerschiffes.

Battle Report- Dogfight over Peephinghtohm

2009-09-13T21:33:00.002+09:00

Giovanni and I enjoyed a game of Wings of War this past Sunday- in fact, it was my first non-solo wargame that I've played for many a year! And it was well worth the wait. A fun, simple game that is not so simple to master!

The game ended in victory for yours truly- but not through any great tactical skill or acumen on my part, I assure you.

"Gallant Heroes of the Air"

Both Giovanni and myself pranged a kite each through neglecting to start and end an Immelman loop manoeuvre card with a move in a straight line. That sucked, but at least fate was even-handed. I also soon realized that while the Tripe and Camel are as agile as hell, particularly when making a right turn, they are not all that swift- especially the Fokker.

So as the mission required that I just had to get off the table edge opposite, I put the pedal to the metal, and just made a bee-line to the horizon. Neither pretty nor glorious, but it worked!

Here is an old newsreel found deep in the vaults of the British Pathe collection, celebrating the exploit. While a victory- of sorts- for the RFC, it did cost Capt. Fetlock-Withers a promotion, on account of damaging His Majesty's property through his own recklessness.

(You might want to give some time for the video to load if you have the patience;

I couldn't compress the file as much as I wanted to, as the clarity was already a little iffy).

As the game was really just a training exercise, we dispensed with altitude and other advanced rules. But already I love Wings of War, and I'm sure I'll be coming back to it. The use of the cards is cleverly conceived, you have to think ahead fast, and the production design is first-rate.

Ever since I was a kid I've had a long-held interest in WW1, both air, land and sea. Accordingly I've played a number of WW1 air board games over the years; Richthofen's War, Sopwith, and Ace of Aces to name a few. This one was, along with Sopwith, my favourite so far. It plays fast, which I think is the essence of an airwar game even if it is at the expense of detail.

And unlike Ancients and Napoleonics, it requires little in the way of painting or preparation.

I've already been mulling over ideas for a campaign- and I've always hankered for a flight of SE-5a's.