Skandal am Sperrbezirk

Sharp Practice Narrative Campaign Day 2019

Revenge! revenge! a gory shroud
To tyrants, and the slaves that yield’
Eternal honor calls aloud
For courage in the battle-field.
Who loves or fears a conquered land
That bows beneath the despot’s hand?

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19562/19562-h/19562-h.htm#oath

Germany 1809 campaign

In 1809, the Austrians took advantage of the French pre-occupation with Spain to plan their revenge. They were in contact with the British and with German rebel leaders, members of the Tugendbund (League of Virtue).

British advancing on the Wies'n
qrf

Together, they came up with a coordinated plan of fomenting rebellion in the German states, while the British would invade the Dutch/German coast and the Austrians attack Bavaria (*). Napoleon did not return in time to take charge of the French, but below commanders were there in 2019, at the Skandal im Sperrbezirk Sharp Practice Campaign Day.

Town/notable terrain Game 1 Empire Game 1 Coalition Game 2 Empire Game 2 Coalition
Donaustadt  Bridge Dick & Taco French/French (Italian) Mark & Alex (Austrians)    
Wies’n Hotel L’Amour Phil & Rogier (French) David & Steven (Brunswick/’Austrians’) Bram & Dick French Maarten & Mark Schill/Austrian
Mistdorf Heath Jos & Jurjen French (Polish)/Westphalians Joe & Maarten Schill Freikorps Leigh & Jurjen French/Westphalian Fred & Alex Austrian
Käseburg Customs House Leigh & Marc French/Danish Robert & Arjan British Phil & Rory French/Holland Steven & Robert British
Roompot Windmill Rory Kingdom of Holland Jenny British (KGL) Rogier & Taco French Joe & Arjan Schill/British
Handwerp Church     Marc & Jos Danish/French (Polish) Jenny & David British (KGL)/Brunswick

Games played. Bold: Major Win, Italic: Minor Loss

Marc (Danish) winner of the campaign

Marc’s Force Commander Johann von Ewald used to be a commander of Hessians in the American War of Independence. By 1809 he was of pensioner age and acted like a Coward accordingly. At Käseburg he let Leigh’s provisional Cuirassier unit win the day with a flank charge on the British Line, while holding off his own opponent. At Handwerp he tried to defend the church with his Jaegers, while Jos’ Poles stood in the open, volleying away with his Polish Uhlans harassing the rear of the coalition forces.

Marc hiding behind the church.
qrf
  • Historically, there were plans for coordinated attacks on the French, but they all failed. The German rebels were defeated piecemeal, and by the time the British invaded Walcheren, the Austrians had already suffered a crushing defeat at Wagram.
hdrpl

Mistletoe Wargaming: Snow On 1st 2020 Club Day

Our New Year Resolution was: to start the year with a bang, a game, big robots and snow on the table! Let It Snow!

The trophy for the best picture today goes to StevenE.

Jingle Bells!

We had a club Dropzone game, with Rob, Rogier, Steven, Jonathan and me as umpire. I robbed the christmas store and added LED’s. Here’s the result.

Mark and Espen had robbed the Albert Heijn and played Flames of War between the AH promo christmas model houses.

The right 15mm size!

Dino, Alessio, Chris and Frank played a big robot game and celebrated that 40.000 is one year nearer.

Robots! Let’s kiss them under the mistletoe! And let many more club days come! Next: 19 january, check the website!

Best Wishes For 2020!

What will next year bring to our club of wargamers?

  • After Brexit, the pound will crash. Finally, wargaming will become a very cheap hobby.
  • GW invents ‘Auto Paint’. Auto Paint is a new multicoloured wash that automatically and magically paints every part of miniature in the right colour.
  • NATO will be renamed as ‘North Atlantic Tin Soldier Organization’
  • Celebrities like Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio will publicly declare that they have been wargamers for a very long time. Suddenly, our hobby is not a geek hobby anymore. Beautiful girls will ask you to bring your favorite miniature to their bedroom, and want you to teach them how to paint to wake their ‘orc inside me’. They will abandon their Porsche Cayenne-boyfriend.
  • In Damascus, the world powers, terrorist organizations, and presidents from Middle Eastern countries agree to spare human lives and fight with dice and hard plastic or white metal figures from now on.
  • The first female pope, Scarlett Johannson I, will open the exhibition ‘Mike’s Mighty Miniatures’ in the Sixtine Chapel in Vatican City, thousands of figures secretly painted by Michelangelo in the 15th century.

And the most radical development:

  • You’re going to paint all your miniatures, even the last one. No lead or plastic pile anymore, ever!

Happy New Year and all the best in 2020!

picture: courtesy of the fantasyhammer blog:

A Birthday In Blood

We had a full house today. Eight tables, half of them 40k, half of them historical. A house divided cannot stand alone 🙂

We also had a birthday party. Jonathan (his name means ‘gift of God’) had his 33rd happy birthday last weekend and brought us cake. Life is a piece of cake when you’re young. Here’s Johnny!

Sorry, mistake.

HERE’s Johnny:

the less hair, the more mature you look

He played a 40 scenario against Björn. Very christmas: a silent night, Space Marine Claus, ho-ho-ho, and shoot-to-kill just like in Israel. He, Björn, Dino, Ruud and a few others had an excellent 40k-time.

Robert, Rogier, Fred and Rob played Blood and Plunder, the pirate game.

Kaj and Mark tried Black Seas, the naval wargame, X-Wing with sails, Mark called it.

I missed an ADLG Spartans vs Athens Mantinea battle 418 BC). Heard it was fun, but isn t wargame always?

From Belgium With Love

Our most distant member is Taco in Kuwait, and we have ex-members in London, Moscow and Australia. Today however we had a visitor from Leuven, the Dutch-Belgian Allied Infantry Force Huub S. We taught him a lesson in DBA.

The same Huub as above, now with head.

Have I ever said that classic DBA is a very subtle, quick system? It’s all maneuvering and using terrain to gain the upper hand. I should play it more regularly, to know the rules by heart (but I should also play Hail Caesar, Maurice, Blücher, Lasalle, Spearhead, IABSM and Dropzone more often :-))

Just 50 15mm miniatures per side and a 90x90cm wargame table – only chess has an easier setup. We played a Roman blades vs Celtic chariots game. Due to bad luck Huubs center companies were slow, so I could corner his flank units before he could roll up my center. Fastplay, easy to learn (and teach), hard to master. Quick thinking needed. We liked that.

We had more stuff from Belgium. We bought bridges at Crisis. Quite happy with the result after painting.

The usual suspects committed their usual crimes: Bolt Action, Flames of War, Blood & Plunder.

No 40K today – next time? Because in the grim dark future, there is only war… 🙂