IHMN Campaign: Gunfire in the Piazza

The first battle of our inaugural In Her Majesty's Name campaign has been fought!

Waterloo: captured French eagles reunited

The weekend saw me making a special trip into Edinburgh to see the two eagles captured at the Battle of Waterloo. The eagles have gone on display together for the first time in almost 60 years as part of an exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland. As I'm currently reading Bernard Cornwall's book on the subject, and have read many other articles and books over the years covering the Napoleonic period, I couldn't resist the opportunity to see these two iconic symbols from the famous battle. Weirdly though, I've never - yet - indulged in gaming this period! A couple of the guys from Livingston Battleground will be travelling to Belgium for the 200th anniversary next month.  

 

The Eagle of the 45th French Infantry, captured by Sergeant Charles Ewart during the charge of the Scots Greys, is currently being displayed alongside the Eagle from the standard of the 105th French Infantry captured by the Royal Dragoons. Ewart’s Eagle, usually displayed in Edinburgh Castle, will be on show throughout the exhibition run, while the Eagle from the 105th, which is on loan from The National Army Museum London, will only be displayed until May 31. There is even a pub on the Royal Mile called the Ensign Ewart!

The Waterloo exhibit itself was small, basically the eagles and a few items picked up from the battlefield by souvenir hunters. However a trip to the National Museum of Scotland is always worthwhile. I used to frequent the museum a lot when I was younger and lived nearby. Its recently had a an extension to the wonderful Victorian halls. Its large, houses a diverse range of exhibits and its free!

So, if my reader is ever visiting Edinburgh for the first time, I recommend The National Museum for the itinerary list!

Zombicide in the Big W

With Firefly being a demonstratively popular multi-player club game - at least, at Livingston Battleground anyway -  I thought it would be a good opportunity to try another game I've had lurking in my 'Play me! Play me!' gaming shelf - Zombicide from Guillotine Games.

The choices we make

What makes a perfect gaming session? Like all things in life, it's subjective, and open to so many variables. But sometimes, enough of those variables align to say, yeah, that was just right.

At Livingston Battleground this weekend, four gaming veterans - or old farts as the younglings called us - reverted to another game of Firefly. A regular stalwart for when none of us had organised a particular game.

Its probably whimsy, but when you have four experienced gaming mates, playing a semi-familiar board game over a four hour period; chilled, (as I believe those same younglings say), with much hilarious craic, fun and camaraderie, it's the perfect antidote for a heavy working week.

What helps, is that Firefly is not overtly adversarial. In line with the TV (and movie) series, it's all about individual traders meeting the overall objective. At the beginning of the game, a random scenario card is drawn. It's the first player to meet to meet those objectives that wins. Each player is free to do what they please. Cooperation, or not, it's up to you. At the start of the game, you draw ship and owner;  it's up to you to find crew, kit and supplies...

Lets go shopping...

It's a great game, highly recommended for club play with 3 or more players. We played with the expanded 'Verse, so we had the Reavers and Rim space to navigate amongst all the normal difficulties. I've reported on a few games now, so I won't go over old ground. Suffice to say I thoroughly enjoyed the club game this weekend. Massive thanks to JF, JM, and BG! 

Bad Jack is loose!

Lord Edward Ronan Curr has been given an opportunity to go hunting. And to hunt a reported monster no less! How could he refuse? With his custom hunting rifle freshly cleaned he assembles a select few from his Q Division and makes for a remote laboratory where the quarry was last seen...

Carronade 2015

Carronade 2015, the annual wargaming show organised by Falkirk & District Wargames club, opened its doors promptly at 10am at the Graeme High school, Falkirk on Saturday. Being relatively local - its only a 30 minutes or so drive - it's become a permanent fixture on my wargaming calendar. Indeed, it was the very first show I ever attended. As always the organisers had done a fantastic job, with no less than 5 halls hosting 43 games and 44 traders.

The Dompfaff

With the possibility of Lord Curr's Q Division, Extraordinary Affairs, having to see off a Martian invasion, an new addition to his arsenal arrived today - the Dompfaff  from Tobsen77 Miniaturen.

This lovely wee resin/metal 28mm kit arrived today from Germany, complete with a packet of Haribo (nom nom!) and a Tobsen77 die! Good, friendly customer service too and a site full of delightful miniatures, some of which I've no doubt will be finding their way into my collection. 

I highly recommend having a browse. I'll post up a picture in due course once the Dompfaff is built, painted and launched from the Sarissa SF hanger!

The Martians are coming!

Doh! Just as I thought my shopping list was all set for Carronade '15 on Saturday - the annual wargaming show from Falkirk and District wargames club - an enticing free, 17 page supplement has been added to the In Her Majesty's Name Bonus material page, The Martian Invasion!

For me, this hits the sweet spot - VSF and aliens! I can see another burst of miniature purchasing coming on.

I've always been a big fan of the original HG Wells book, along with the various film, TV, radio, musical and genre literature produced over the years. Maybe my purchasing of Sarissa SF buildings recently was spookily prescient.  The Martian Invasion, by Craig Cartmell & Charles Murton, (first published in Great Britain in 2015 by Wargames, Soldiers& Strategy Magazine, issue 76), introduces the supplement as...

May the 4th be with you...

Those twin distractions of work and family commitments have been eating into my gaming time the last couple of weeks.

However I still managed to attend my local gaming club (Livingston Battleground) for a return to the Star Wars and Star Trek universes, so a couple of quick summaries for you...