Now this is an interesting game: Atlantic Chase - GMT Games

From the moment I saw this game advertised on the GMT P500's I knew there was something special about it and after wantonly staring at it over several visits I finally subscribed, six months later a very heavy thud on the doormat announced the beast had arrived (see below, lovely box art of "you know who" as they are making their breakout run into the Atlantic in search of convoys):   

Oh, it has not disappointed me, in fact I feel very invigourated as it shows a fresh new approach to naval campaigning .. but more of that later. The rules are beautifully laid out and theer are accompanying explanatory videos. Even better, I had the great fortune to receive great 1-2-1 tuition via Table Top Simulator (TTS) at the recent Connections Online Conference hosted by the Armchair Dragoons for the Connections family based in the US. 

I must give a shout out to Karl and Tom for their sterling work in instructing me on the nuances of the game as we hunted down the Bremmen! Now that was one German ship I do not have in 1/3000 scale as she is a fast liner!

The Finished Minotaur .. I am gong to call him Finbar

The finished "beast" (see below, pity the poor fool of an adventurer who tries to take him on alone, in a disorientating underground maze): 

I toyed with the colour scheme, originally having him much browner but my eldest son convinced me to go more "fleshy" and I am glad he did (see bellow, looking rather Spartan with his bare buttocks): 

A bit of bounce off glare perhaps spoils the total effect but up close and personal this dude is going to tear hit points off you):  

Scratch this one off the bucket list, but maybe I need one with an axe too?

Play Secure Online - One Heck of a Conference, Wargaming with Attitude with Real-World Benefits

Hats off to the organisers of the "Play Secure Online Conference" (25th to 28th March https://playsecure.mssconference.com/) as this was one heck of a thought provoking conference. A conference that affected the 'deep ways' in which the processes the brain tick. You came away "thinking much differently" about Security and the Organisations you work in than you did before it. Spooky in many ways. It challenged, enlightened and gave stark warnings of how things could easily be if left to their own devices and not actively worked on. All teh above are marks of a good conference in my book (see below and link above, not online gambling but Internet Cyber Security with professionals engaging with the concept of "play" to harness creativity and ingenuity): 

The takeaway is that Cyber Security "does not stand alone" and is far "too serious a level of risk" for it to be under the provenance of Certified Professionals Only, it's holistic thing easily compromised. The comfort zone for many is "not to think about it". Cyber Security is holistic and inclusive .. the alternative is a passive bunker mentality that is a "minimal spend (or rather a known unchallenged under-spend)" and a "let's hope it does not happen here". It is a scary thing to think about, however put a bit of fun into things and the creativity oozes out of people and it did so in buckets. No better example of teh power of creativity in that the unique Gather conferencing tool that had been configured to work like a video game - avatar and arrow key movement and bumping into people to say hello (see below, it was very retro '90s avatar in style.. I was one of many of the white snowmen (the most popular avatar) distinguished only by the wearing of a different coloured scarf [mine was green], others were friendly Snoopy style character avatars - note the snapshot of the empty room was taken while everybody was rushing to the main lecture hall without personal avatars names showing):  

Kitsch and cool at the same time. The content of the conference was hard-core or put another way gold-dust (and very, very wargaming related). How "hacking" (in the original MIT sense of the word - of open exploration of the world) is critical to learning - people teach themselves far better than any other method known to date. Simple game concepts stimulate this such as: What's in the Box?; Escape Rooms; Capture the Flag; How do you Open a Lock without a Key?; How can you Destroy a Light Bulb in 10 Different Ways? The realisation that simple Social Engineering is the easiest (and perhaps the most deadly) but psychologically trickiest to spot Red Attack Tool. Importantly you learn (more, much more) from your failures rather your successes. Adversarial games stretch you more. It was also humbling to hear some of the back stories of some of the people and how they had overcome adversity, no more so than the programmer Peter Moore who was unfortunately taken hostage in Iraq. Throughout there was a hidden message of integrity. You have integrity if you are prepared to test yourself, test others (including 'systems') and accept the findings, the implied limitations and most importantly act. The most important message I took from the conference was "Never bend the knee" on a matter of principle that is critically important to who you are. Otherwise you become no better than a slave and regret it later as you will undoubtedly need to carry through actions with conviction. That was a very powerful message that certainly echoes back in time to the ancients in a more wargaming sense. 

Once again many thanks to the organisers for a fantastic thought provoking conference. I really enjoyed all those conversations. It was also very good to see some of my Wargamer Developer friends from Connections UK and CoW there! I honestly believe there is a strong need for wargaming design concepts to be shared and adopted.

Bucket List: Fantasy Monsters - I always wanted a .. decent Minotaur figure (WIP)

The Minotaur is an iconic monster and one I never had as a kid, but it was always on the "bucket list" of D&D monsters to get. Lock-down and internet browsing lets certain things happen and while "purchasing" a WW2 28mm German infantry gun (more about that in another post) from Black Tree Design something dropped into the Cart and once in I just could not figure how to remove it (see below, I think they called it a Minotaur Champion but it looks like how any Minotaur should look to me - based up on Milliput to avoid it embarrassingly falling over): 

The base texturing came from my son's hobby tip courtesy of the Critical Roll podcasts - crumple up some tin foil into a small ball and roll it over the still pliable Milliput. He took pity on his farther cursing his old school efforts with an old toothbrush. Airfix Acrylic primer under coat was added (see below, ready for the painting tray to begin proper - really impressed with this sculpt): 

Note: This one might be a race against time to get this one ready for his (or its) campaign debut! Just saying to any PCs casually reading this blog post ;)  

Politics with Pointy Sticks: The Art of Diplomacy in the Peloponnesian War - pre-VCoW 2020 Tester Game

And it came to pass that the Athenians did land a force of hoplites on a beach near Amphipolis lead by the great Strategos Cleon. He incited the people of the City State of Gaton to rebel against their overarching neighbouring City State of Stoliphion, the latter being in the armed camp of Sparta. To this peril the Spartan Strategos Brasidas raised a contingent force and marched towards the sea to meet his foe in armed battle. The rights of passage to the ancient ruined shrine of Artimis being a superficial excuse for this blood shed (see below, the dots to the right are the 1/1200 scale ships of the Athenians beached on the shores):

The rocky hinterland rising up from behind the ruined shrine of Artimis is clearly visible in this picture (see below, a "Zoom special" and how the players saw most of this battle - adding beautifully to the 'Fog of War' experience):  

The two armies arrange themselves for battle (see below seen from the Spartan lines, the Athenians concentrate with a skirmish line to their front, whereas the Spartans adopt a wider horseshoe formation): 

Looking from the Athenian lines at the Spartans (see below, the Athenians hope to make a big impact against the Stoliphon hoplites, outnumbering them four phalanxes to three): 

The Athenian battlelines (see below, Xyston ancient Greeks, lovely figures - 25mm level of detail in 15mm figures, I always enjoy painting them): 

The Spartans are a mixed bunch of Irregular Miniatures and Chariot Miniatures (see below, there may be the odd Xyston Psiloi refugee hiding amongst them): 

The Athenians boldly advance forwards (see below, they clearly have a hanging flank): 

And on that flank are some Greek mercenary horses waiting their chance (see below, these are Chariot Miniatures): 

The Spartans close the Athenians, almost to combat with the Athenian Skirmishers. The Spartans swing their cavalry around to the flank of the Athenian battle-line (see below, the Athenians pepper the Spartan hoplites with stones, slingshots and various other missiles which bounce harmlessly off their Spartan armoured foes):   

A battle-royal starts with hoplite trading blows with hoplite in a grinding battle of attrition, but it is the flanking Spartan cavalry that is having a dramatic effect on the Athenian left (see below, [right hand side of the photograph] pinned to the front the Athenians were taken in the flank and crumbled - a poet would say "reaped like ripe stalks of wheat"):   

In their counterattack the Athenians dispatched the unit of Persian mercenary archers fighting with teh Spartans on their right [let hand side of the photograph below] and engaged in hand to hand combat with the Spartan Skirmishers on their right (see below, both sides hoplites in the center are approaching "breaking points"): 

And so it ends for the Athenian, a second phalanx dissipates and the Spatan phalanx under Brasidas himself destroys the Athenian skirmishers in a devastating rear attack. The last remaining (battered) Athenian phalanx faces off against the fresh unit of Greek mercenary horse in a futile battle (see below, the last remaining Athenian troops are the foolishly advised Gatonian hoplites and skirmishers who quietly "slip the field" while they can): 

Thus a forgotten episode in an ancient epic civil war ends. The ruined shrine of Artimis now resides in the Stoliphonian sphere of influence. What survivors there are of the Athenians are frantically manning their triremes, but are leaving many to the victorious Spartans who will put them to good use against their former owners. 

All-in-all a very good Zoom battle and a good run out for Neil Thomas "One Hour Wargame" rules, unashamedly simple but perfect for a remote game like this.  

Oh When The Saints .. EPIC Warlord Games ACW .. "off the sprue"

Well there certainly is a lot of them (see below, but the nice thing about the stands is that they seem to have an amount of "gravity" and "believability" about them - they are "marching into battle"): 

The three pieces of the sprue - infantry, artillery and a commander - look good next to each other (see below, I do want to see how "good" they look "in mass" together):  

From one sprue .. this is a lot (see below, five infantry regiments, one artillery and a commander per sprue - and there was twelve sprues a side [Union/Confederate]): 

These look perfect for Bob Cordery's "The Portable Wargame" rule set and Neil Thomas' "One Hour Wargame" rules. I am putting off painting them and concentrating on getting them cleanly off the sprues (they come off really cleanly but I am trying to be patient, the only issue I have hit is with the artillery and my "fat fingers"), I keep getting this heretical thought - "Do I really need to paint them?" Even if I do "paint them" - then to what degree? A spray can, a wash and a little bit of flock. I know the artists at Warlord Games have done some fine painting - but why wait, through these chaps into a game asap? Black Powder does not look like a simple set of rules to pick up .. why not throw them at a simpler set? 

On the workbench: 15mm Macedonian Phalanx (WIP #1)

Once the flash was removed and the figures washed, Airfix Acrylic Primer was applied (see below, six boys, two new Phalanxes):  

Next step apply a Vallejo "brown wash" (see below, a muddy brown "campaigning look"): 

Vallejo Game Colour "Dark Flesh" (see below, small change - a darker brown on a brown background):  

An even darker Vallejo Game Colour, Charcoal/Burnt Brown for the wood bits (see below, everything is getting blurry now - help I need colour):  

 

I decided these boys would have a Vallejo Game Colour Imperial Blue as a "blue" tunic (see below, not too sure how this will work out, but let's see): 

The linen tunic armour gets a Vallejo Plague Yellow as a shade colour (see below, slow progress but getting there): 

Finally the armour, a dark bronze is needed, time to use Vallejo Model Colour  Bronze mixed [50:50] with Vallejo Model Smoke to get a lovely dimmed bronze shade colour (see below, looking sinister): 

Exhausting but I am going to push on. looking forward to the lighter base shades ;)