Tuesday, 20 January 2026

Chain of Command US v Germans - game five

As we continue to play through the book scenarios as part of learning CoC2 we arrive at game number five.

This was in fact the last game I played in 2025, so three weeks ago and my memory has dimmed.

A field in Normandy, June '44



My JoPs ended up poorly positioned. I pushed a squad up early hoping to put pressure on the German JoPs.


A tank arrived. Which was bad news as I had no real A/T capability.


The woods were soon full of Mg42s


Who were soon readied to fire.


My early push was thrown back and instead Germans congregated to attack my JoP.



As the tank rolled up I frantically deployed a squad to protect my JoPs.


They were soon exchanging fire with yet another Mg42


My last squad defended the other corner of the orchard.


We were having some success against the Germans in the open.


Over in the house my men were cornered.

Some additional phone pictures







In the end the Germans managed a fairly comprehensive victory. I was handicapped by a bad patrol phase, exacerbated by poor deployment.
That said it was the usual great nail-biting game that Chain of Command usually gives.

Sunday, 11 January 2026

Warhammer 40,000 Orks v. Black Templars

The Gaming Heir is home from university for the holidays. Out of a spirit of mischief he likes to challenge me to games of 40k, knowing that I would rather play almost anything *other* than "the game for children, deviants and accountants".

Anyway we set up as usual for a 750 point or so game and had at it in a game looking to try and hold objectives. I took the Orks and he took his Templars.

Warboss Gruzzkupp lined up alongside his Kill-o-zap gun.


He had the Kans along with him.


The Templars were out in force


Shoving Novices into the front line.


Soon the Orks were falling on the black armoured marines.


And the Kans had seized the middle ground.


The battle unfolds.

 
One mob snuck up the right flank


While the other mob got stuck in




The Emperor's Champion made a bee line for  Gruzzkupp



On the right the mob secured the objective


 But were forced to abandon it to try and bring down the Emperor's Champion.


As the Black Templar captain wiped out all opposition.

Victory for the forces of the Imperium.

We both surprised ourselves with how well this played - it was quite straightforward and rattled along just fine.Still never going to be my favourite game but it was fun to get the toys out.

Friday, 9 January 2026

Warmaster Forgeworld Castle

Inspired by Andy bringing his lovely Bretonnians over I dug deep into the darkest corers of my stash and recovered a venerable old Forgeworld castle model that I was given many years ago when I worked at GW for helping set up the original UK version of the website and store.

This was a short lived range when Forgeworld was set up and they were I believe licenced from a company called Lilliput Lane and were part of their range for the Irish tourist board of Castles of Ireland.

This one I think after a bit of Googling is Blackrock Castle in Cork.






It's a big old chunk of resin, the scale is wrong and it's also clearly a modernised, Victorian version of a castle rather than a fantasy  medieaval chateau. However it looks mighty fine and was pretty easy to paint up so I'm jolly pleased with it as a centrepiece,or more likely edge "set dressing" for Warmaster games.

I am slightly tempted to try and make some of those French style pointy tower tops to add to see if that gives a better Bretonnian vibe - but that's for another day.

Wednesday, 7 January 2026

Dragon Rampant Campaign - The Valley of Jeff - Game Three

Battered and bruised the Dwarfs of the Oakenfinger Clan are in full retreat from Gruzzkupp's Orc horde.
Arriving at Knutt's Hold they prepare to make a final stand.

Game three and if it all goes wrong for the Dwarfs the campaign could end right here, right now!

Watch on to discover what happens!

I was so caught up in the action I only took a very pictures - and bad quality ones at that.
Anyway, here they are




Gruzzkupp's heroic death charge.


Dwarfs on Goats as light riders are The Goat.

So the campaign continues. Gruzzkupp's lads are fleeing for their lives back through the hills of Uppar with Dwarfs hot on their heels!

Tuesday, 6 January 2026

Warmaster Revolution: Kislev v Nippon

With Winter Warmer on the horizon it was time for a bit of a Warmaster Warm Up.

Matt brought his Nippon force over and I took the Kislev force I'd taken to Wamaster 25.

Here's the video version of events


And here's the pictures. Though I seem to be having problems getting pictures in focus with my camera...

The Kislev forces assemble


Winged lancers held back at first


Loadsa light cavalry on the flank


A blunder put my horse archers in charge range!


The lancers swooped on Nippon cavalry


Over on my left the Ashigaru had occupied a field and were proving tough to shift.


Another field was also filled by the Nippon forces


And still more infantry occupied a wood



Fanatical types charged the war wagon.


The stand off in the field continued


The Bears met their doom in the woods.


My other War Wagon remained untroubled.



Some phone pictures - which are generally nicer for some reason

The horse archers out scout their foe


But are caught in the open following a blunder!


A wizard, failing to turn into a bear, which would have been nice.


We have them surrounded sir!


Ashigaru in a defensive setting.


A fanatical assault on the War Wagon.


Whilst the red one remains untouched.


Good fun game that finished in a hard fought draw.
A reminder that some sort of scenario is always a good idea - a straight stand up fight between two armies with high BP can get a little bit grinding.
Also useful for reminding me of some War Wagon results that I completely forgot in the heat of the game.

I'm sticking with this army list until Winter Warmer, after that I'm going to add some new models and make some changes with the hope of going to Wormaster again this year.