I do actually wargame, once in a while.

Allegedly, this is a wargaming blog! A LOTR wargaming blog, even.despite the lack of traffic here, I have been playing a bit - and I think I have a little project for LOTR wargaming to get started on too. I was meant to do it this week (since I was on late shifts and had the mornings) but have been pretty wiped through getting sick, then the kids, then... So here are some pics from recent wargames and I promise the LOTR thing NEXT WEEK.
Now I've said it, I have to do it!.

 A few week's ago, Chris W and I played some Flames and Xbox (Perfect Dark - the BEST FPS ever made). To avoid Blue on Blue, I suggested 1000 pt LW. Like the fool that I am.

Using his usual sense of humour, Chris rocked up with that RT Panzer-Brigade list. 1000 pts = Four Panthers, Five Pz IVs and Seven Halftracks worth of Armoured infantry. I had Five T-34/85s, Three IS-2s and a Coy of Soviet Infantry.

Chris' first Salvo took out the Plt Command of the IS-2s.

Chris was actually laughing at this point. To be honest I was pretty amused too. I mean, we know LW is now a bit of an unbalanced mess but the RT Panther list takes the cake. It is awesome vs a lot of ordinary lists and if you wanted to plan for lists like it, your own options are pretty restricted. At least we will be getting to play Xbox more quickly. In that spirit - in went the early PzGren assault







However, they were no match for the brave RKKA! Cold comfort for me. Now I only had to fend of six Panthers using two IS-2s and some T-34s. Chris started making a move on the other objective, since the IS-2s couldn't exactly move to contest.....








 What did I do? Well they ARE a RT list so I tried to break them. I saw off Chris' Pz IVs and then raced the T-34s out to try and get the Pz Gren to test and take out the Coy Commander to force them to break. No luck though. A well deserved victory to Chris and it was actually a pretty fun game, with lots of racing about.

Pity Chris beat me at Xbox though.

The next game has been written about in more detail elsewhere. We played SAGA and gave the Challenge scenario a go. 'Ragnar' led the 'JomsVikings' out to take on Ruriks Kievan Rus (modeled using the Viking list and Hadrada).

The twist in this one is that the Warlord gets heaps of hitpoints and they start facing each other in the middle, miles away from their warbands.

Ragnar started this clash on the back-foot (since after-all, my Warlord is usually more inclined to adopt a 'General's view'...). Rurik kept coming at him and got the first turn and the game was a rearguard action while I tried to get the Warlord to safety, thin out the Rus, then store up enough Joms-Viking power to come back at Rurik and make up for the huge VP deficit I had accumulated.

The outcome? Despite using the full swath of Joms-Viking powers - cutting down every last one of Rurik's men - and finally sending Ragnar back into the fray: the best the Joms-Vikings could manage was a draw.

Guess my boys didn't get paid enough to give that 1% more and win it?

Well done Rurik (Adam). Lots of fun, as always.

Last of all, we have the mighty FSA taking on the perfidious Empire of the Blazing Sun. EoBS Admiral Jason has long been a thorn in my side. But I had a Dreadnaught. Continuing this blogpost's theme of 4x4' tables (seriously, it's the new big thing), we clashed amongst the Islands and my innovative tactics involved basically parking the Dreadnaught (FSS Ragnarok) on 'all stop' and using it as a gun and rocket platform to first damage the enemy battleship, then support my Cruisers on the right flank.






What was innovative, for me, was actually boarding something. I never usually bother to do that. It turns out it works quite well. It could catch on amongst the FSA command corps...










The battle ended with the EoBS forces to my right shattered, lots of my frigates dead and the Ragnarok still trucking on happily, waiting it's chance to finish off the enemy battleship. We ended the game there. The game was actually heaps of fun. I think that 800 pts on a 4x4' is getting back to the type of Dystopian Wars that hooked me in, in the first place. Once I have this Dreadnaught thing out of my system, I think that it will likely be benched in favour of just a Battleship. If they can just fix the uselessness of Carriers, then everything in the game will be great. I definitely intend to pick up the latest fleet: White Russia, when it comes out late July.




Finally, the project. I'm thinking SAGA LOTR. I know people have been working on some stuff but I have my own ideas, watch this space.