On Saturday y I had a pretty hectic day and enjoyed myself thoroughly. From 10.30 till 4.00 I was involved, via Skype and YouTube, in a 30 Years War game hosted by Steve in Lincolnshire, along several other 'virtual wargamers’ from the usual group.
Steve had set up a refight of the Battle of Nordlingen in 1632. In the real battle the Swedes took a right old pasting, so on the basis that I couldn't do worse I volunteered to be Swedish, joining Shaun and Dave. I was somehow elected to be Horn the Swedish CinC . Facing us were Paul, Nigel and John the Red as the not quite combined Spanish and Catholic League armies. We were using In Deo Veritas published by Helion. We even had the author Phil Garton in ethereal attendance to offer help and advice as we'd only tried them once before.
The game was great, as was the usual sledging and banter. The Swedes did rather better than in the real battle, helped by the very late arrival of most of the Spanish! Whether we'd have won in the end is one of those great unknowns. Now, readers may recall I reviewed these rules some months back, with the caveat that I had yet to play them. Well, I have now played them twice. I liked them and some of the mechanisms are great, but overall I don’t think they’re aimed at large multi player games such as we all play, especially in the Burrow. They’re more of a club night or competition game. On that basis while I might see how they work for my 1670s armies of perhaps my Poles, I think the search is still on for a suitable set of rules for the 30 Years War.
The technology involved in delivering the game to us all worked really well with no interruptions which is always a bonus.
After a short break I joined up via Zoom with the Virtual Wargames Group, hosted by Phil Olley. This gathering has been going on since lockdown and has a solid core of maybe 25 members from all over the world, e.g. the UK, Europe, the Philippines, Australia and several time zones across the USA. Each week we participate in a ‘show and tell’ of members’ current projects, as well as presentations by individuals on a recent battle, campaign or project. We also have breakout rooms to discuss topics selected by the group or by Phil. These are great as it allows us a window into people’s hobbey rooms that Would otherwise pass us by. Equally great are the opportunities to chat with fellow war gamers from across the globe. We’re all equally obsessive towards our hobby.
Amazingly I didn’t finish anything last week. Not a single thing. There’s loads nearly done so with a bit of luck this week will be different. We also have a campaign game this coming Saturday, which could be a cruncher. Austrians and Prussians v the French this time. I can’t wait.
Glad you are keeping busy, it keeps you off the streets at least!😉
ReplyDeleteIt would be great to see Pictures of the Nördlingen (1634?) game.
ReplyDeleteThe stream (no sound) is still available at https://youtu.be/bEEkqCWdDbA
ReplyDeleteI’ll post edited highlights with commentary later this week.