A Most Dangerous Time

For 2025, I made a conscious decision to pare down my (some would say "massive") hex-and-counter wargame collection.  I managed to make an almost noticeable dent in the collection by moving off more than 40 games.  Since many of these games have been long out of print, I actually showed a profit on some!  Of course, some of these 40 games shifted were offset by additional game purchases but I am still in the black for the year; and by a large margin.  That success is even counting that the November and December bargain season showed its head.

Many wargame companies offer a seemingly steady stream of sales from early November through the end of the year.  This year is no exception with plenty of bargains to be had.  Not only are the manufacturers offering up great deals but ebay bargains are popping up with regular and increasing frequency.  Now, is this plethora of bargains seasonal or a gauge of the state of the economy?  I will not dive into that topic... 

What I do know is that this approach to year-end is a most dangerous time for the shopper and especially me.  

What caught my eye so far in this run up to year-end bargain hunting?

Starting with MMP Games' Veteran's Day Sale, I picked up

From ebay, I snatched up

The selection of ebay-sourced games is an interesting lot.  In each case, the offering either had a very low minimum bid requirement or a Make Offer option.  I won all four by either a having a low opening bid or a ridiculously low offer.  All games are in new condition.

I suppose that I really only effectively managed to swap some inventory in the game closet.  Fortunately, many more games departed than arrived in 2025.

Also, an inexpensive snag on ebay were three more of Brad Butkovich's useful ACW scenario books. Great to be able to add three more titles to my collection.

Cannot overlook this week's Helion Flash Sale of

Of course, this does not account for the year-end sales that many of the figure manufacturers hold.  19th Century Miniatures and Lancashire Games have their year-end sales underway, and Eureka's annual December sale is only about one week away.  Luckily, I only "need" to pick up a few things this year.  Well, let's see how long I can resist.

Prussians on the March

Having laid in a sizable supply of primed and Ready-to-Paint figures in preparation for hunkering down in winter quarters, I pick up the brushes and get back to work.  The completion of undercoating activities appears to cross the finish line only days ahead of a wintertime atmospheric river of moisture headed into the Pacific Northwest.  Did I lay in enough supplies to make it through winter?  Perhaps not but there are always opportunities to step outside to lay a coat of spray primer down on a handful of figures if the stockpile runs low or my interests change.

Anyway, marching out from the workbench today are 48 figures comprising the 96th Infantry Regiment.  These 48 figures are spread across three, 16-figure battalions.  Today's release brings the fledgling FPW Prussian army up to six infantry regiments.  This is probably enough to begin thinking about bringing this small force to the table.  Figures are 15mm Lancashire Games.

With the game table seeing Reconquista armies battling it out at Zallaqah (I still have one BatRep from a week ago to write), it may be little surprise that more figures for this period have been pressed into the painting queue.  More Christian horse and foot are working their way through the production line.  Hopefully, some of these units will find their way to the photo box and eventually here.

photo courtesy wargamesinthedungeon

Later this morning sees a return to the long running AWI series of games with Matt.  It has been a very long time since we last visited this series of games as we fight our way through the AWI.  Today's offering looks at the Battle of the Clouds in a follow-up from the Battle of Brandywine.  Should be fun.

Zallaqah, Again

Following up on the Zallaqah battle with Postie's Rejects (see Zallaqah 1086), I reset the table and invited four more players to try their hands at this scenario on 14 NOV.  These players included three old hands and a new face.  Dave G. was the new addition to this trio and with three Dave's in the game, Chris suggested he ought to be a "Dave" too!  Funny guy!

Players for this iteration of the battle are:

Christian Army under King Alfonso VI

Dave B (DB) The Ragged Soldier - Alfonso VI (blue dice)

Dave G (DG) Small and Perfectly Formed - al-var Fanez (green dice but switched to white in BatRep)

Christian Army

Muslim Army under Yusuf ibn Tashfin

Chris Horse and Musket Gaming - Yusuf ibn Tashfin (black dice)

Dave C (DC) Serener Skies - al-Mu'ta-mid (red dice), Abi Bakr (green dice)

Muslim Army

With commands sorted, on to battle!

As the battle opens, Christian heavy cavalry peel off to both flanks in an attempt to bypass the massed Muslim heavy infantry tercios in the center.  Two bodies of knights remain in the center facing the enemy.  Advancing forward to close the range, Taifa infantry in the first line let loose missile volleys into the Christian horse.  Many of the Christian horsemen are disordered from Muslim shooting.  The Taifa tercios form up into a formidable wall as Muslim cavalry draw up on both flanks.  Something is going to give soon but where?

The battle begins!

Christian heavy horsemen move to the flanks...

while the Taifa tercios form a solid line.

With Muslim camelry moving up on the flanks to counter Christian cavalry in those sectors of the battlefield, Alfonso strikes on the left.  Having brought up light cavalry to harass the enemy camels, Christian cavalry charges in.  Facing camels, the horsemen have difficulty charging with their full weight.  In the ensuing class, the Christian cavalrymen are repulsed with heavy loses to both combatants.  Not wasting an opportunity, a body of knights following up in a second wave plows into the camelry driving them off in great disarray.  The knights take the ground but fail to pursue any farther. 

Attack and repulse!

A second attack...

and the enemy is driven away.

On the other flank, Muslim medium cavalry charges in to try to break the Christian line.  Slipping by the rightmost Christian cavalry, the Muslim horsemen drive back a body of Christian heavy cavalry.  Pursuing into the gap left vacant by the retiring horsemen, Muslim horsemen follow up and re-engage enemy cavalry.  This time, however, these horsemen are supported by massed crossbowmen.  The crossbow fire their bolts into the charging Muslims, disordering their formation.  In the clash, the Muslims are repulsed.   These troopers turn tail and head back to their own lines as the Christian cavalry moves up to takes its place back in the battle line.

Cavalry charges on the Christian Right are not quite finished yet.  Yusuf brings forward another body of camelry to crack the enemy line.  The Christian cavalry's luck has run out.  The camelry scatters what remains of the exhausted troopers to the winds.  Not wanting to face a solid body of crossbow at the ready, the camel riders choose not to pursue.    

Muslim cavalry charge in and pursue...

but are countercharged and driven off!

Exhausted from their efforts,
 Christian cavalry scatter when attacked again.

Battlefield overview after action on the flanks.

Seeing the red knights isolated in front of the Christian battle line, the Badajoz tercio moves forward to engage.  The fight in the center witnesses a titanic struggle with heavy losses on both sides.  Exhausted and badly damaged, the knights just manage to hold the ground as the enemy is compelled to retire.  Back on the Christian Left, Muslim cavalry comes on again.  Again, the Christian cavalry drives the enemy away!

Badajoz tercio attacks...

and is repulsed.

Muslim cavalry driven off after a failed attack.

Battle lines face off in the center.

Returning to the cavalry action on the right, Christian cavalry charge into enemy camelry.  Despite the reluctance to charge head long against camels, the Christians prefer in the clash and scatter the camels.  The Christian cavalry pursues and sees enemy horse archers fall back before them.  Blocking the way is an enemy tercio with long spearpoints gleaming in the sun.  Rather than risk it all in a frontal attack, the horsemen pull up and end their pursuit.  Their hesitation allows the tercio to step forward plugging the gap to the Muslim rear while threatening the cavalry.  In a brief exchange, the Chistian cavalry are forced back.  

Camels destroyed...

and horse archers evade.

After a brief clash, the Christian horsemen fall back.

Now is the time for the infantry battle to begin.

King Alfonso moves his infantry up on the attack. First to go in is his large, heavy infantry block on the left.  They are disordered by crossbow fire on the way in but press on.  The heavy spearmen are too much for the crossbow and it collapses.  Muslim skirmishers fall back in sympathy.  With enemy now immediately on the victorious unit's right, Alfonso, himself, leads more heavy infantry forward in support.  With similar determination, the King drives off the enemy.  In this sector, the Muslim line has been pushed back!  Both armies are approaching their breakpoints at which time they will be compelled to withdraw from battle.

The King offers up a one...

two punch!

The Muslim line is pushed back!

Yusuf does not give up!  Back into the fray he sends his Black Guard under the command of Abi Bakr.  Abi Bakr leads a charge into the enemy spear block.  Suffering tremendous losses, the Christian spearmen turn and run toward the rear.  Abi Bakr pursues crashing into Alfonso and his spearmen.  Abi Bakr's attack is repulsed!  In a series of attacks and counterattacks, the fight continues.  The King leads his men forward in pursuit.  The Muslim spearmen stand firm and the King's men are repulsed!  With heavy losses, the King recoils.  Abi Bakr resumes the pursuit.

Abi Bakr goes in and drives off the enemy!

Pursuit carries Bakr into the King but his attack is repulsed.

Alfonso counterattacks...

and is repulsed.

Abi Bakr follows up in counterattack.

Last attack of the day.

With both Breakpoint Clocks nearing zero, Abi Bakr senses that one last push and a Great Army with be destroyed.  He is right!  While the King must flee to prevent capture or worse, this last attack of the day destroys one of his own units.  This loss is enough to push Yusuf's Army across the threshold.  The Great Army destroyed was Yusuf's!  

A Great Army is destroyed.

My!  What a game!

King Alfonso manages to push Yusuf's Army over the breaking point first but as the blue Breakpoint Clock shows, only a single pip prevents the Christian Army from a similar fate as well.  Had King Alfonso become a casualty in that last melee, both armies would have crossed their breakpoints at the same time.  Such a close contest!

Butcher's Bill

Great game, fellas!  There was a lot of punch and counterpunch throughout and nearly non-stop fighting from the first sounds of battle.  Dave B. and Dave G., congratulations on coming out on top.  Dave C. and Chris, this was too close to call.  With only a '1' point differential on the Breakpoint Clocks, I call this battle a draw.  A hard-fought draw too!

Thank you all, and Dave G. glad you could join into this action.  Hopefully, you will return for more.

Game duration was about four hours.  Oh, the newly installed dice frames worked well too!

Some like It Hoth!

Made the journey to Coeur d'Alene two Friday's ago to join Scott in breaking in his recently arrived Star Wars: Battle of Hoth Commands & Colors game.  After going over the rules and becoming familiar with the units and terrain pieces, we dug into the game on a mission to work through the first few scenarios.

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, rather than by GMT Games, is published by Days of Wonder and offers up a fast-paced, light wargame that recreates the iconic Empire Strikes Back battles using a streamlined Command and Colors system.  Having never played Memoir '44, Scott affirms that Hoth draws heavily from Memoir '44 but with a Star Wars thematic flair.  The miniatures included in the game are actually quite nice although very light being molded in plastic.  I expect Scott will push these figures into his long painting queue at some point.

My initial impression is that play offers a quick, small-sized tabletop miniatures battles with a Stars Wars cinematic theme and a Commands & Colors feel.  Rules are not the same as in CC Ancients, but Hoth's Commands & Colors heritage is certainly present.  With only a handful of units per side in the opening scenarios, setup is quick.  Games are finished almost as quickly.  Our battles were often fought to conclusion in under 30 minutes.  Several were over in about 20 minutes.

While this was only a first introduction to the game, initial impression suggests the system may favor the Imperial Forces.  Imperial infantry can take four hits to the Rebels' three hits and, in our games, the most powerful cards tended to show up in the Imperial player's hand.  Unlike CC Ancients, there is no Battle Back process.  Players attack with impunity so no counterattack possible.  These initial games did not seem to reproduce the same tactical challenges and decision making present in CC Ancients but, perhaps tactics will evolve with more games under our belts?  

In the end, it was a very fun day out and I learned a new game system.  Looking forward to more trials with Hoth.  Did I mention Scott sprung for lunch out too?  Excellent!

This Friday just passed, I hosted a four-player replay of the Zallaqah battle.  Four different players participated in this contest with three "old hands" and a new player.  The game was a real nailbiter right down to the last die roll.  Who came out victorious?  That is a tale for another time. 

I get a chance to try my hand in this scenario in a one-to-one game on Monday.