Cangames 2014 Part I Friday Night

Cangames 2014 Friday May 16

This year’s edition of Cangames was held the weekend of May 16^th to 18^th at the usual site. I got a ride to Ottawa with a fellow gamer to Ottawa and returned home on the train Monday evening to Montreal. 

We arrived too late to get involved in any of the 2:00 PM scheduled games, but I had to meet up with Joseph from Halifax and arrange to get settled into our hotel. When I arrived I saw that Joseph was already into a game and I joined a pick-up game of Pandemic. 

It was the first time I played. I was told it would be all over in about 45 minutes. We’d have won the game or the game would have beaten us. Unfortunately that was the outcome. It was 4:45 and I had some time to kill.       

7:00 PM Flames of War, D-Day Juno Beach Assault Hosted by Serge Carignan

I was booked for a 7:00 PM game of Flames of War. This was a beginner’s game for 6 players. I had never played Flames of War so was interested in seeing what the hype was about. There is no doubt that the game has a large following in Ottawa and a lot of work was put into the presentation. 

The look of the 15mm WW2 figures has an appeal that keeps calling to me. I must resist. I have a large collection ofWW2 and early 1980s microarmour, 20mm early war Japanese, and 28mm WW2 Soviet for skirmish gaming.

Joseph and I, arriving at the last minute for the game were assigned to the role of the defending Germans. There were 4 allied players. Our orders were to keep the allies on the beach, or at least not allow them to advance onto their inland objectives. This was easier said than done. Both our gun emplacements, overlooking the landing site were destroyed in the initial naval bombardment, and our armour reserves had a hard time getting released. When they did, the Jabos (Fighter-Bombers) made short work of them. It was up to our PBI holding a fortified position just behind the beach ridge. 

We were not in a position to see the beaches, but we had a fairly good field of fire for anything poking it’s head above the crest. I am not sure how many turns the game was supposed to have gone, but it was called at about 10:00 PM.  The Germans had held the line, and delayed the Canadian advance, mostly by the sacrifice of one squad at a time. 

On a scale of 1-10, I give Flames of War a 6.5 to 7. It is not sometime I am going to invest in buying. I'll play if opportunity knocks, but I will not be building an army. The rules seemed pretty basic, and I already have some tactical rule sets  that I enjoy playing.

Unfortunately I have no photos of this game. My comrades have  failed to deliver the goods. I plan to add photos when I get the files. In the meantime I thought I should get started on my write-ups.

Cangames 2011 May 20-22, 2011 Part 3

Sunday May 22nd

9:00 AM Diplomacy

The original Game of Thrones, with the seven great powers in Europe. One never knows how many players will show up. It has been a while since there have been three full boards in play, the maximum that Ken plans for. This year we had nine gamers, ready for action. Ken, in his wisdom divided us into two groups, the beginners and the lying, cheating bastards. You can imagine to which group I was consigned.

 The Fall of Austria

It has been a while since I've played in a 5 player game of Diplomacy. I drew Turkey and my buddy, Stephen, who decided to come and play pulled England out of his hat. Following the initial move, it became clear that England and France had formed a Western Alliance, and I had reached an uneasy agreement with Russia. I've had a long history at Cangames playing Diplomacy with Bruce, and I am sure that neither of us felt our borders were secure.

Both Bruce and I tried to get Austria interested in a a three way deal to split the Balkans, Germany and Italy. Our initial moves were to show that we were willing to try to move around Austria but the Austrian player decided that his western frontier was more secure than the eastern one.  He pulled off two quick moves that were decidedly, in our humble opinion pro-western. At this point the graciously went into civil disorder and went off to seek another game. He said he could stay and become rapidly frustrated or bow out now. A true gentleman.

The western powers relentlessly drove east. Russia and I were slowed down but the resilient Austria offense. None of our ploys or negotiations could break the western alliance. It was clear that France was in the drivers  seat and would win the game. I laid a proposal at the Tzar's door. France will win, but I had a chance to catch up if I took advantage of Russia's lack of troops. I would grab a couple of his centres and try to batter my way into Central Europe.

 The End of the Game. Darkness blankets Europe

Unfortunately the game was called at the end of the spring move, at 1:00PM. I had just captured a centre to equal France's total and was in a position to take another from him in the fall. But the official count stood at France with 11 and Turkey with 10. The totals were based on the previous fall total.

2:00 PM Wars of the Roses: 

 My general surveys the battlefield.

Medieval Warfare – Chris Evans – 4 players – 15 mm – In the late 15th century, Lancastrian and Yorkist forces fought for control of the English Crown. Warwick, the Kingmaker, has switched allegiance and now battles Edward IV. Pick a side, and carve your way to glory!

 My General is in H2H Combat as is a unit of Men-at-Arms.

Both have suffered a hit, indicated by the white skull.

My Men-at-Arms are in pursuit.

One of the things I look forward to at Cangames is the opportunity to try out new rule sets. Ottawa has a very active miniature gaming scene and this is reflected in the number of events the Ottawa Miniature Gamers support or put on at Cangames. Hats off to the club and its members!

This day I had the chance to try out Medieval Warfare, Rules for Medieval Battles 450-1515 AD. The rules were written by Terry Gore and are published by Foundry Miniatures.

 Both of my units were successful in combat.

The enemy General has routed and his unit lost a stand. 

I remain with two casualties.

My Men-at-Arms have failed to make contact in their follow -up

What I remember is that each commander, or general of a battle (division or wing) of the army receives between 3 and 5 order chits, depending on his competence. For the purposes of this game, we had identical ratings of 5, each general in command  of 6 or 7 units. Thus one was never able to issue commands to every unit, unless it was the general all units advance.The orders are charge, move, hold, defend, retire, and recover. The chits are played face down and are reveled simultaneously by both sides.

This is a link to a Quick Reference Sheet.

There are two types of movement, strategic and tactical. Strategic occurs when units are beyond 12" of the enemy and tactical when within 12".  Strategic allows you to move further, but you cease  when you enter the 12" enemy ZOC.  Movement is affected by a random die roll when charging or routing. Morale rolls may be required by units under your command. They are determined by a D10, with modifiers. A small difference can bring you to a halt, or disorder your unit. A failure of the morale by 6 points will cause two stands of a unit to vanish.

 My archers are low of ammo.

My C-in-C has his opponent on the run as well.

Missile troops roll 1d10 for each stand firing. Handgunners roll 2d10 per stand firing, while artillery roll 1d10 for each remaining crewman. The die roll is modified by range and other tactical factors to determine casualties. Melee uses a D6 to which modifiers are added and then multiplied by the number of stands in combat. The resulting number is divided by 10 to get the number of casualties. When a unit receives a number of casualties equal to the number of figures on a stand, the stand is removed.

 The Battle goes well for the House of York.

Victory will be Ours.

All in all, I found this to be a enjoyable game. We were using units with between 3 or 4 elements (stands) each but it was easy to see that you could easily double the number of troops on the table and have no effect on the complexity of play. It is a more complex game then DBA, but if you'd like to cover a table with troops for the afternoon. It is a way to go.

7:00 DBA Open Book Tournament

De Bellus Antiquitas (DBA) 2.2 – Tod Creasey – 32 players – 15 mm – 4 rounds open book DBA tournament with NASAMW clarifications. Bring your army or borrow one of the (limited number of) loaner armies provided. Some teaching of the rules may be provided but players should be aware this is a tournament. Prize (a painted Morean Byzantine army) provided by GM.

This is the main event of the weekend for me. As I wrote in Captain's Blog earlier this year I planned to bring a Burgundian Ordnance Army with me.

The organizer has a sense of humour and in the first round, I faced the winner of  last year's tournament Vlad Kinastowski, or Vlad the Impaler as he was known. Things went well for me and I easily destroyed the Early Polish Host  that I was against.

Vlad's army consisted of 1x2LH,  3x3Kn, 4x4Sp, 1x4Bd, 3x4Bw, and 1x 2Ps. I only lost 1x4Cb while Vlad lost his General (1x3Kn) , 2x 3Kn and 1x2LH. I was thinking, good, very good. This bodes well for the evening. Alas that was my final victory for the night.

My casualties mount, including my General.

My 2nd battle was against a Eastern Roman Army commanded by a Ron Taylor, a transplanted Brit. We had an enjoyable conversation as his army  destroyed mine. My third round opponent was a fellow commander from the Face of Battle Game on Saturday morning. I believe it was his chariots (Late Hittite if I remember correctly) that ran rings around my troops, but I may be wrong. In either case, chariots did run rings around my poor boys.

Unfortunately, almost two months have passed since the tournament was held. The demands of the accounting program I am in do not leave much time for gaming reflection and I have not found all the notes I made regarding the enemies my army faced. I regret that I have not done justice to my opponents.

By the end of the night I finished in either eighth or ninth position out of the 16 players who took part in the tournament. As always it was a lot of fun and I hope to be back in 2012 for the Flames Across the Border Edition of Cangames. It will be the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.

Cangames 2011 May 20-22, 2011 Part 2

Friday May 20, 2011

After the end of the Agira game, I joined a couple of other gamers to a quick trip for supper in Chinatown. We let our waitress know that we were on a tight schedule.

7:00 PM Junta

Junta – Noral Rebin – 14 players – Players represent various office holders in the ruling Junta. Players may attempt to assassinate the other players by guessing where they will be from among five locations If the players are unhappy, and there is an excuse, they can call for a coup, where the opposition players seek to take control of a majority of the power centers. A game of lying cheating and stealing how can you go wrong? (ends 11 pm)

 Our Friday Night Game

Junta is always a popular board game. Noral runs two tables of Junta and another couple of Samurai Swords/Shogun at the same time. First place goes to the person with the highest amount in his Swiss Bank account. Second place goes to the player in the same position in the other game

I was fortunate to arrive in time to grab the final spot at one of the boards. I was disappointed by the overall play of the table. One coup per game is fine, but beyond that you are slowing the game down, for whatever reason. The end result was that our table had one of the lowest  money scores I have ever seen in Junta.

Saturday May 21 9:00AM

After the Action Report: With Rage and Sorrow

Face of Battle – Michael Ball – 6 players – 25mm – Canadian infantry and tanks clash with elite SS Panzer divisions after the Normandy Landings in June 1944. For all the horror endured on June 6, every soldier on this front line knew the worst was yet to come. World War Two skirmish using The Face of Battle rules.

I was very interested in trying out this rule set. I picked up the rules, 1st edition either in 2006 or 2007 at a local gaming store. I have read the rules twice but I never attempted to play them. It was  great to be able to take part in a game that was run by the author. We were playing the 2nd edition. I ended up on the German team.

The Battlefield as viewed from the Canadian Edge

Near the centre of the table is a crossroads with 5 buildings/ruins. The object of both sides is to gain control of the cross roads. Three of the structures are on the eastern (German) side of the board but to compensate the Canadians start closer to the crossroads. Actions are dictated by the simultaneous draw of cards. Each player had a deck of 42 cards.

 

 View from the German Side of the Board

Each squad member is mentioned on a card. Command elements, NCOs or Officers (Leadership Cards) appear more often. They can use their card to act themselves or order an underling to move or fire, if they are within the leaders command range. It is a nice clean system. Having played a fair number of Combat Commander games in the last 6 months I have become a fan of the card driven system of orders. 

Some cards may be for group (i.e. vehicle movement) and other are no effect. It really adds nicely to the fog of war. As a commander you have to plan, but you never really know if lady luck will be with you. Movement is 6 inches, but you can run double the distance. This creates fatigue on the figure. Fatigue will effect your ability to preform. Your choices include using a order option to rest and remove fatigue .

In the above two photos my Squad leaves their Assembly Area (the Barn) and advance towards the crossroads as rapidly as possible. Note the generous use of Fatigue markers.

 

The Canadians advance at the same time.

and they have Friends.

It became a rapid movement game. The Canadians gain control of the church and the other building on the western side of the crossroads. I occupy the two ruins in front of me and begin a long and drawn out game of sniper and toss the grenade with my Canadian opponent. Luck was with me today and bullets just seem to have no effect on my squad. I'd be hit, but pass my saving throw. It was a lot of fun. While this was going on the Sherman tank was slowly advancing to take me in the flank. I had countered this by moving my panzerfaust into position to take it out. Just in a nick of time, the panzers arrive and the Sherman is brewed in a long distance duel.

As the game grows more intense, I have less and less time to take photos. It is a shame because this is such a great scale to photograph. My fellow German commander launched an assault across the road and ends up in fierce hand to hand combat with the Canadian squad he faces.

I was not as aggressive as I could have been but I didn't like the odds of assaulting a solid stone church. With the enemy tank out of the way, I was trying to move the panzerfaust into a position where I could hopefully blow a hole into the church, or at least remove the door If that works, then I'll launch a close assault. In the meantime I had taken out a second sniper in the bell tower.

Overview at the end of the allotted time. It was almost 1:00 PM and the game had to end. The German team has control of  four of the required buildings at the crossroads. I found this to be a very enjoyable game and I am looking forward to doing some of my own eastern front skirmish gaming using the Face of Battles rule set.

Mike Ball (on the left) and two of my fellow gamers. The gentleman in the blue shirt is Alex Klesen, currently in Quebec, but from Europe.  He was one of the Canadian team members. The gentleman on his right is a fellow German team member and was declared overall winner for his fierce successful crossroad attack. Thanks to all the players who made this game possible. This photo was posted by Doug Blair.

After this game I departed the con for the rest of the day. I had planned on a 7:00 PM return, but I didn't leave the BBQ I went to until after 8:00 PM. It was such a beautiful day.

Part 3 will cover my Sunday gaming adventures.

Cangames 2011 May 20-22, 2011 Part 1

Each year in May I look forward to going to the Cangames Convention in Ottawa for the Victoria Day Weekend. This year I arrived Thursday night and departed Monday evening. I'd like to thank my friends Stephen and Doreen for putting up with me once again for this annual event. The doors at the con open Friday at noon and shut Sunday night after 11:00 PM. There is a full schedule of events, with games for children off all ages, easily 8 to 80. Cangames is very open and runs the full gambit of miniatures, boardgames and RPGs.

 Sign at Entrance (Photo from 2009)

The venue of the event is the Rideau Curling Club, which is located minutes from downtown Ottawa. Last year the club was in the middle of renovations and there were problems with the lighting and the air exchange. This year, everything was ready. A bar is available on the main floor, and a kitchen with a reasonable menu (towards fast food) and hours is located in the building. Ottawa's Chinatown is just one block around the corner, and has a great selection of restaurants to choose from.

 View of the upstairs Board Gaming Area

I noticed that this year the attendance at the convention was down. My own thoughts were it was the first really nice weekend in months. We had a long, cool wet spring in southern Quebec, and Ottawa is just about100 minutes away by car from Montreal. Weather systems often roll through Ottawa before hitting Montreal. The Victoria Day weekend was perfect. I even accepted an invitation to a Saturday afternoon BBQ, instead of gaming. It was great to just sit in the sun, drink some coolers and enjoy the greens and the blues of a warm, spring day. I didn't return to the con until Sunday morning, but here I digress. 

 

Main Ice Surface showing Miniatures Area 

I come to Cangames with two major games I want to take part in. First is Ken Murry's Diplomacy game and the second is the DBA round robin, open book tournament. Everything else is icing on cake. Diplomacy is scheduled every year for Sunday morning at 9:00AM, and the DBA for the last two years has been slotted into Sunday evening with a 7:00PM start time. My understanding is that many of the local Ottawa gamers who take part  in the tournament run games during the convention and it is felt that having the DBA late Sunday doesn't draw away the talent pool from other events.

Friday May 20, 2011

I left Stephan and Doreen's Friday morning about 10:30PM to head down to Fandom II, one of Ottawa's major gaming stores. The only item I purchased there was a set of Warlord Games Pike & Shotte Parliament Cavalry, for only $20. Oh so many periods and so little time. I slowly made my way to the convention arriving on site by about 1:00 PM. Doors were open, and I was quickly processed, having preregistered. I sat with the latest schedule and started to plan my campaign for the weekend.

2:00 PM: Agira: The Canadians in Sicily 1943
After the Action Report

Great Battles of WWII – Patrick Laffey – 3 players – 1/285 – Sicily: With the British pushing from the south and Patton advancing from the west, the crossroads at Agria are critical. Can you, as the Canadians take it; or as the Germans hold it?

It had been a while since I played in a microarmour and I decided that this was my cup of tea. After introductions Patrick gave me the German command. I was experienced and had fewer forces. I was being faced by two inexperience Canadian (one was actually Dutch) players.

 

I really liked the terrain for this game. It was homemade, and looked very much as if it was inspired by geohex. It had my vote for the best terrain of the convention. Trees and hedges were abstract, as were boundaries of the towns. You were in the town, or on the edge of the town, or outside the town. For purposes of the hilltops, you were either at the edge looking down (and thus can be seen) or were away from the edge. The two Canadian players, each in command of a brigade,  either on the west edge of the board. They have to clear the road. As the Germans I can sit up as far west as the first town, on the first hill.

Agira is not seen in this photo but is further east, along the road in the lower right hand edge of the above  photo.

The view from Agira, looking west down the road. The cemetery belong the town provides hard cover, but wasn't needed in this game. Bare spots on all the hills are cliff faces and are impassable terrain in the game.

The Canadians decide to assault the hill and the town of Nissoria from two sides. The Germans are dug in and prepared. The Canadians have an advantage of a lot more off board artillery. Each turn represents roughly an hour of real time and I only have three requests for the day. I have to use them wisely. A unit take casualties and suffers morale losses. A point will come were units will call a halt to operations for the day. This is what happened to the Canadian assault as they failed to dislodge the Germans from their position.

Night falls and the Canadians regroup. I have pulled pack all my forces except an Infantry Battalion that I left in Nissoria. In the lead up to nightfall the Canadian have pushed some forces westwards in the valley to the south of the hilly region. I have set up, prepared to meet them, but they still have to clear and take the road to achieve their victory conditions. In the morning they have assumed that I have pulled out of Nissoria and move forward in column. A close assault combat results and the Canadians are once again stopped in their tracks on the 2nd day.

After two days, the Canadians have failed to take the first of their objectives. we have played for about 3 and 1/2 hours and it is time to pack up. Needless to say I had an enjoyable game. Patrick has run this game at Cangames for a number of years. This was the first year I had to opportunity to play. Merci

On that note I'll end my tale here. I'll post the remaining details of my Cangames experience this weekend.

Bonne St-Jean à tout le monde!