NapNuts News

Sci-fi: Microarmour and Starmada

2007-11-27T15:10:00.000+01:00

The Republican Carrier Group in combat formation.

The Eldar centre. In the foreground a Titan in its holofield can be seen.

The Eldar right wing.

The Malcostrain mining operations.

The native garrison, featuring a giant tank.

The set-up.

Starmada: Lyran-Lagomorph War 1 - First Contact

2007-10-21T14:48:00.000+02:00

The Lyran-Lagomorph War was a brief but costly war for the Lyrans when they first entered the Dead Zone for mining purposes, unwittingly trespassing onto territory held by the secretive, asteroid-dwelling Lagomorphs.

A Lyran scount sent to investigate a cluster of asteroids mysteriously disappears, prompting the Lyrans to send a full combat squadron to investigate.

The Lyrans split their formation and begin a spectral analysis of the asteroids.

Suddenly, a hyperspace signal is detected from within one of the asteroid - a Lyran destroyer is hit by a salvo of hyperspace torpedoes and destroyed!

The remainder of the squadron approach the asteroid, but run into a minefield.

After a brief exchange of fire, the Lyrans lost three of their ships and the asteroid entered hyperspace.

Battles of Sector X - Sunspiders 2

2007-10-14T13:45:00.000+02:00

The sunspiders continue to breed and encroach on Ming territory, and the Ming Empire begins a search-and-destroy campaign.

A Ming probe discovers a brood of juveniles at a brown dwarf.

A Ming squadron augmented with Centauri mercenaries attack the brood.

The juveniles fight ferociously, destorying the Centauri squadron with little loss.

Adult sunspiders arrive at the sun and destroy the Ming ships and their mercenaries, but lose a few adults in the battle.

Battles of Sector X - Sunspiders

2007-09-23T14:36:00.000+02:00

A previously unknown species of space creatures, dubbed Sunspiders by the races which encountered them, recently entered Sector X. Scientists believe they originated from the galactic core.

So far they have clashed with the cloaked ships of the Ming fleet and the Lyran Empire. It is expected that they will encroach upon the areas held by the other races of Sector X in the near future.

Game Report: Starmada

2007-09-09T15:55:00.000+02:00

After a long lull, FG and I decided to play another Starmada game.

The scenario is a straight-forward encounter battle at an asteroid field.

The Lyran squadron at the start.

The Kanzian sqaudron.

The Lyrans move into the asteroid field to take advantage of the cover. The longer range of the Battlecruiser allows the Lyrans to draw first blood and take out a Kanzian escort.

The Kanzian fighters move round to the Lyran right flank.

The Lyran commander sends a striker to attack the fighters. The two sides come into close quarters, but due to a navigation error the Lyrans are unable to utilise their Shockwave without causing friendly fire.

The Lyran commander tries to space his ships out, but by now the Area Defence Network of the Kanzian ships have caused heavy damage to the Lyran ships, reducing the effects of their Shockwave attacks.

His flagship crippled and surrounded by largely the intact Kanzian ships, the Lyran commander strikes colour.

Game Report: An Airfield Near Mandalay

2006-10-19T10:19:00.000+02:00

Here is the latest episode in the Doc Thompson adventure. After driving all night to escape from Mo Chee Chung's bandits at the Lost Temple of Fu, Doc and Maria approach an Airfield Near Mandalay. "Look! Here's an airfield! Maybe we can get someone to fly us out of here!"...

Read the full report here:
http://www.napnuts.com/gallery_airfield.htm

Game Report: Doc Thompson and the Lost Temple

2006-10-17T23:54:00.000+02:00

Here is the second game in the Doc Thompson Pulp Fiction series. The game is a continuation of "Doc Thompson and the Curse of the Chinese Treasure".

The full report of the Lost Temple game can be found by following this link:

Doc Thompson and the Lost Temple

War of the Roses Campaign: Finale

2006-07-23T16:31:00.000+02:00

The two contenders for the throne face off in a climatic melee

The War of the Roses Campaign came to an end (finally!) today.

York and Lancaster clashed head-on near the village of Midden-on-Heap (famed for its peanuts). The initial deployment was the same as for previous games: the two contending Kings in the centre battles, while in the wings Percy faced Neville and Herbert faced Beaufort.

The battle began with Lancastrian forces advancing forward boldy to try and force a decision. On the wings, Warwick quickly moved into the built-up area of Midden-on-Heap, from which he was never dislodged for the remainder of the game. His presence there eventually bent the advancing Lancastrian line, as their flanks folded back to avoid the concentrated arrow fire from the village.

On the other flank, Somerset's forces swung round the woods to face Herbert. After some jostling for position, Somerset's troops, led by his household cavalry, smashed into Herbert's forces, already depleted from the last battle. The tide of battle seemed to be swinging the Lancastrian's way as the knights carried all before them.

Edward committed his mounted retinue to this flank to attack Somerset's forces: eventually, after some hard fighting, Herbert beat back Somerset's knights and defeated them, and advancing with Edward's knights, wiped out Somerset's forces to the last man, bringing the Lancastrians to within 1 unit of breaking.

Meanwhile, the Lancastrian attack in the centre had finally developed, their forming-up having been disrupted by archery and skirmishers. Two units of knights, the household retinues of Percy and Edward (the Lancastrian one: confusingly, this battle was between two King Edwards) formed an armoured fist ready to punch into the Yorkist centre.

The endgame overview

(click on the picture for a larger version)

At the last minute, concentrated bow fire from Warwick and Edward's archers drove Percy's knights back, so only one unit of knights charged home. Their initial success was met with a counterattack from the Yorkist foot, with Edward himself joining his retinue archers in a flank attack, while the (other) Edward threw himself into the melee with his knights.

In a fittingly spectacular end to the battle, and the campaign, both Kings faced each other in a single final melee that ended it all. The outcome of this single combat decided the game both by break-point, and by the death of the Lancastrian contender. Edward was dead: long live Edward!

Game Report: Doc Thompson and the Curse of the Chinese Treasure Chest!

2006-06-13T14:20:00.000+02:00

This was a Pulp fiction game played on 10 June 2006 at Battlefield Berlin.

The game is set somewhere in Chinese Turkmenistan in the late-1920s. Doc Thompson and his intrepid band of American adventurers have heard rumours about a fabulous Chinese treasure chest hidden in a tiny village near the city of Khotan in Chinese Turkmenistan.

The treasure chest was once owned by the evil Mandarin Warlord Fu Manchu, but was recently stolen by the Chinese bandit chief Mao Chee Chung. Doc Thompson and his men have tracked Mao to this tiny border village on the Karakoram mountain range.

Little does Doc Thompson know that one of his men is a British agent in disguise, and that he has alerted the Indian Army to the valuable Chinese treasure hoard, who are at this very moment crossing the Karakorams. Meanwhile, Fu Manchu himself has sent a force under his trusted ally, General Chiang Hai Chek, to recover the fabled treasure...

Doc Thompson sends Jones and George to check out the village.

Jones and Texas oil-tycoon George discuss the best way to take the village.

Mao's bandits on the lookout.

Bandit Chief Mao Chee Chung checks on his treasure.

Doc Thompson launches his raid!

Mao decides to move the treasure to a safer location.

"Not so fast, my friend!" Doc Thompson races over to intercept Mao.

"Curses!" Mao runs!

"Yoo Hoo! Look behind you!" Mao foils Doc Thompson's men with an ancient Chinese martial arts move!

In a rage, Doc Thompson bashes the bandits! "Where's the treasure, you fools!"

Too late for Doc Thompson! The British arrive!

Oh no! General Chiang's forces arrive as well!

Time for Mao and his men to escape with the treasure!

General Chiang's men enter the village. "Hand over the treasure you fools! Or feel the wrath of Fu Manchu!"

"Fix bayonets, Chaarge!" The British charge Chiang's forces.

British regulars in close combat with Chiang's "Dare to Die" fighters!

Doc Thompson lends the British a hand!

But they are all too late...Mao and his bandits have escaped with the treasure. Who will get the treasure in the end? What is the treasure? Tune in for the next episode of "Doc Thompson and the Curse of the Chinese Treasure Chest!"

Game Report: The Battle of Stamford Bridge

2006-04-23T18:10:00.000+02:00

This was a test game between Cpt Arjun and me in anticipation of the 1066 campaign we're intending to run in 2007 (yes: not only do the Napnuts buy figures way in advance of actually using, or even painting them, but we do also plan in advance!).

The rules were Warmaster, and the scenario we used saw the invading Vikings set up separated by the river Derwent: in the picture above, you can see Earl Tostig's forces on the far bank, while Harald's are on the near bank. The Vikings start off with several disadvantages - they cannot be brigaded, and they suffer a -1 penalty to armour saves. Historically, they were at Stamford Bridge to receive hostages from a previous victory, and had taken off their mail byrnies. Harold's Saxons caught them by surprise, and it was a bitter struggle for survival.

Although we've seen this happen before in the War of the Roses campaign , this Warmaster game had some of the most imbalanced die rolls ever: at one point, two units of Saxon Fyrd in column attacked a single Viking skirmisher unit in line - 9 dice versus 6, with no saves for the Viking skirmishers. The Saxons rolled no hits out of 9: the Vikings rolled 5 hits out of 6, with no saves from the Saxons. This was the most extreme of several improbable die rolls, and it meant that Earl Tostig's isolated forces held out against the Saxon onslaught far longer than expected (and killed a unit of Huscarls!). In the end, a tumbling melee drew Harold Godwinsson into a melee with Earl Tostig, and the battle was decided by the death of Harold.

Further pictures and detailed commentary are here, in our gallery.

tags:gaming,wargames,warmaster,1066,viking

Band of Brothers - Brecourt Manor

2006-03-14T23:13:00.000+01:00

Here's a WW2 scenario for all you skirmish fans. It is a historical scenario based on Lt Dick Winters' assault on Brecourt battery on D-Day, made famous in the HBO Band of Brothers series. The action at Brecourt is dramatized in Band of Brothers Episode 2: "Day of Days", and Winters' successful use of surprise and supporting MG fire to defeat a numerically superior enemy is still used as a textbook case by the US Army to demonstrate an assault on a fixed position.

As the Brecourt Battery is firing on the US landings at Utah beach, it is important to silence it. Therefore, the US objective for the scenario is to destroy all 4 guns in the battery. The German objective is to defend the guns and prevent the US player from achieving his objectives.

The order of battle is as follows:

US Airborne Forces

1st Group
Lt Winters (M1 Rifle)
Cpl Joe Toye (M1 Rifle)
Pvt Popeye Wynn (M1 Rifle)
Pvt Gerald Lorraine (M1 Rifle)
2nd Group
Pvt John Plesha - 0.3 cal MMG
Pvt Walter Hendrix - assistant
3rd Group
Pvt Joe Liebgott - 0.3 cal MMG
Pvt Cleveland Petty - assistant
4th Group
Lt Buck Compton (Thomson SMG)
Sgt Bill Guarniere (Thomson SMG)
Sgt Don Malarkey (M1 Rifle)
5th Group
Sgt Carwood Lipton (M1 Carbine)
Sgt Mike Ranney (M1 Rifle)
Reinforcement Group (Appears later opposite the 3rd gun position after it is captured)
Lt Spiers (Thomson SMG)
Sgt SMG
Pvt Rifle
Pvt Rifle
Pvt Rifle
Pvt Rifle

German Forces
According to Winters' after action report, his troops managed to kill or capture 20 German troops out of an estimated total of 40-50 Germans. However, if we gave the German player in this scenario his full historical order of battle, the US troops would have no chance. In order to simulate the surprise and confusion faced by the German troops, it is necessary to give the German player only half of his historical force. In addition, the artillery gunners should be of poorer quality than the defending regular infantry.

Thus, available German forces for this scenario are as follows:

3 German gunners in each gun pit
1 MG34 team (Tripod mounted) between the 1st and 2nd gun pit.
2 MG34 teams and 10 Regular German infantry to enter the game as reinforcements after the 2nd turn. These troops enter at the corner of the board furthest away from Winters' original starting positions.

Special Scenario Rule - To simulate the total surprise achieved by Winters, the first US turn is a free turn without any German reaction.

Tom Weiss and Dom tried out the above scenario using the Disposable Heroes skirmish rule set. The US Airborne figures are 28mm Artizan painted by Tom Weiss. The Germans are a mix of 28mm Crusader and TAG painted by Dominic. The artillery pieces are German sIG33 150mm regimental guns from Force of Arms. (I could not find the correct artillery pieces in 28mm scale.) Even with the German handicaps, it turned out to be a fairly close run thing. I think this indicates that the scenario is pretty well-balanced. Here are some pics from the game, with some brief comments on the action:

Here's the layout of the Battery. Winters' entry area is on the extreme left of the board.

Winters' begins his assault on the first gun. The MG team in the foreground provides covering fire.

Lt Buck Compton and his group secures the 1st gun for demolition, while Winters' moves ahead to silence the MG nest before moving to the 2nd gun.

Winters' blows the 2nd and 3rd guns. Casualties have been pretty high. He moves his MG teams into the trench system to provide supporting fire against the German MG nests and reinforcements.

After the 3rd gun is blown, Lt Spiers and his team appear and request permission to take out the 4th gun!

German reinforcements arrive just in time to hold the final gun pit. Spiers' team is wiped out, and Spiers himself is pinned. Winters makes a hard decision and decides to charge the numerically superior German forces.

A bloody melee ensues in which Winters' is knocked down. US MG fire cuts down the last remaining German. The US player wins the game, barely! Click here to see the above pics in larger format.

LOTOW in Berlin

2006-03-12T23:39:00.001+01:00

On a cold winter's day, we trudged down to the local game shop - Battlefield Berlin - to try out the Legends of the Old West (LOTOW) ruleset from Warhammer Historical. As you can see, the snow is falling hard and everything is covered in a blanket of white. The only problem is that it is already mid-March, and it is still snowing! The shop is located in the north of Berlin at Muellerstrasse 61A. The nearest U-Bahn station (which is almost in front of the shop) is Rehberge on the U6 line.

At least the company in Battlefield Berlin is warm, even if it is cold outside. The shop window advertises Warhammer, but you will also find historicals inside. There are 15mm Flames of War, Corvus Belli Ancients, 28mm Artizan Old West, 28mm Copplestone Gangsters, Back of Beyond, and 28mm Black Tree Designs WW2. You'll also find a wide selection of gaming accessories, miniature carrying cases and terrain pieces.

There is a gaming area in the back. 3 tables set up for different games, or 1 big table. This is where we tried out LOTOW. The shop was kind enough to organise a LOTOW campaign for us, complete with table and terrain. The only thing we have to do is to learn the rules and paint up our own Posse. The next few weekends will only be practice games. Once we are familiar with the rules, the campaign will start.

More later!

War of the Roses Campaign: Game 4

2006-03-06T03:07:00.000+01:00

Year 2 of the Wars of the Roses began spectacularly, in a game marked by the most aggressive attacking we've seen so far, as well as possibly the poorest die rolling as well. Read on to find out which side failed to appease the gods of dice, and which side won in the Spring of 1462.

The starting line-up was as shown in the picture above - (left to right in each case)
York: Neville, Edward, Herbert
Lancaster: Percy, Margaret, Beaufort.
A small hamlet occupied the centre, which we named the Hamlet of Dogg (a nod of the head to Tom Stoppard here).

The battle began with aggressive advances on both flanks. Warwick advanced his knights to strike at the right of Beaufort's line (3a above). A unit of skirmishers skirted around the hill (seen on the far left of the picture) and tied up several of Beaufort's units for a few turns, but otherwise did nothing for the rest of the game. In the centre, Margeret stole a march on Edward, and occupied Dogg's Hamlet with a unit of skirmishers (3b above) while advancing strongly with her remaining troops, using the built-up area as an anchor for their flanks. On the far right, Herbert advanced aggressively into contact with Percy (3c above).

Warwick's attack on the left went badly. The initial assault (1, above) failed to break the line, whereupon Beaufort's troops surrounded the knights (2, above) - one of them (the unit that's attacking the rear of the knights) making 3 successive command rolls at cumulative penalties of minus 4 to march across a hill, and through the woods to get there! The beleaguered knights were cut down in the melee: the 'before' and 'after' in the picture above (2 and 3) tells the story more poignantly than words could. This is the kind of thing that breaks a wargamer's heart to see ...

The situation looked grim for the Yorkists: the assault on the left was stalled (1) with the Lancastrian's re-forming their lines. In the middle (2), Edward had been pushed back by archery (Margaret's sharpshooters got 3 hits out of 3 dice twice, killing whole bases and pushing units back). On the right, a grim battle between Herbert and Percy initially swung in Percy's favour (3), again with bad dice from the Yorkists, but then swung back to Herbert as the scrum developed (4). That battle would eventually claim 3 whole units from Percy, and deplete Herbert's force similarly, continuing Herbert's reputation for hard fighting.

In the centre, Edward's billmen launched a flank attack on Margaret's exposed troops, but failed to win (by this point it should be clear which side was rolling appallingly). The Lancastrians counter-attacked, but in a series of surprising reverses, a flank attack against a single element of Edward's bill by two elements of Margaret's bow (pictured in 1 above: the units concerned are just right of centre) was defeated: the cramped battlefield meant that the archers suffered the "buttocks of death", and the victorious single element advanced into flank attack against the attacking billmen (seen on the top right of 1).

Meanwhile, Margaret's retinue bowmen had launched an attack on Edward's complete retinue, who had moved up to try and rescue the situation. In (1) above, you can see on the left an "L"-shaped unit of archers (Margaret's retinue) attacking a unit of bow in line and knights in column (Edward's retinue, showing the Yorkist falcon-and-fetterlock, as well as the boar flag of Richard of Gloucester, Edward's youngest brother). Queen Margaret herself joined the combat, against the protests of her brother Beaufort. The resulting combat saw the Lancastrian retinue first pushed back, and then wiped out to a man, as Margaret herself was slain in battle (2, above).

In one swift stroke, the battle was over. Across the battlefield, 3 players had lost their personal retinues, an unprecedented level of slaughter for the campaign, and some 8 units had been lost in total. Spring has seen a bloody start to the year: it remains to be seen whether the summer of 1462 will see the winter of discontent made glorious by the sun of York, or whether this internecine conflict will grind on ...

Game Report: War of the Roses Campaign, Game 3

2006-02-26T15:28:00.000+01:00

The opening phase of the game: Percy's retinue have crashed into Herbert's forces and are locked in a battle to the death (1). Meanwhile, Percy's remaining billmen advance to join the attack (2), but come under fire from Edward's cannon (3) and suffer heavy attrition, delaying them. Edward's cannon later swings round to pummel the Lancastrian forces advancing in the centre (dashed line), while Warwick's knights (4) get ready to smash into the Lancastrian right flank.

(more pictures can be seen here)

We all knew that the final battle of each year would be no holds barred and all stops pulled, since the troops are levied anew the next campaign year. Battle 3 lived up to expectations in a suitably bloody manner.

The forces arrayed with York as the defender, (from left to right) Richard Earl of Warwick, Edward IV, and Herbert Earl of Pembroke: Lancaster as attacker, (from their left to right) Percy Earl of Northumberland, Queen Margeret, and Henry Duke of Somerset.

Percy launched a bold attack on the Lancastrian left, leading with his retinue of knights (see 1, in the picture above). The knights charged into Herbert's forces, much depleted from the previous two battles, and in a series of combats destroyed several of Herbert's weakened units before a climactic clash with the remnants of Herbert's own retinue (the famous victors of Herbert's Hill). By this time, Edward's own retinue had also moved to join the combat: the depleted mounted retinue died early on, but the archers fared better in the rolling scrum. In a fittingly martial end, both Herbert and Percy's retinues killed each other to the last man.

Meanwhile, an aggressive advance by Warwick on the Yorkist left clashed with a similar advance by Somerset. Somerset, his forces depleted from previous battles, was gradually rolled up by the advancing Yorkist forces, but fought on to the last man in a touching display of loyalty to his sister. Somerset's sacrifice sheltered Margeret's right flank for a few crucial turns, and held back the main line of Warwick's forces, but eventually Warwick's victorious knights maneuvered themselves into a position flanking Margeret's exposed line (see 4 above).

In the centre, Edward's forces first blasted away to the right at Percy's troops, pushing back and delaying the advance of two of Percy's billmen units moving to support the engaged retinue (see 2 above), leaving the knights to fend for themselves as described above. Eventually, cannon fire, handgunners and archers destroyed one unit entirely (3), and the other was pushed back by Edward's last reserve of intact billmen. The line of archers and artillery then swung left to first blast at Margeret's advancing forces in the centre (3), and then further left at the forces turning to face Warwick's flank attack.

At the endgame, with Warwick's forces bearing down on the Lancastrian right, and Percy's last fighting unit on the left surrounded by Edward's fresh reserve of billmen, the Lancastrians weathered one breakpoint by barely surviving Warwick's attack, but succumbed when the last of Percy's men fell in battle in the melee with Edward's last reserve. The battle was truly hard fought to the bitter end: Somerset was left with no soldiers, and Percy and Herbert left with single element units.

Game Report: Zombies!

2006-02-20T02:28:00.000+01:00

FG hosted one of the most visually stunning games the Napnuts have played in a long time. Just take a look at these pictures!

The gallery can be viewed here, but I've selected some of the ones that show the wonderful detail in the buildings and figures.

Some of the pics approach photorealism: a little bit of work airbrushing the bases away, and they'd look like photographs of real scenes, such is the detail of the buildings and background.

According to FG, the street tiles are from worldworks, while the buildings are mostly from microtactix. Take a look in the gallery to see more pics of this game.

War of the Roses Campaign: Game 2

2006-02-06T01:05:00.000+01:00

Following the Lancastrian defeat at Herbert Hill, the Yorkists follow-up, meeting their enemy in battle before the ruins of Corbonaught Castle. No changes in allegiance occured in the interim, so the starting line-up of Lords was the same

The Lancastrians set-up with Queen Margaret in the centre, flanked by Somerset to her left (facing a small wood) and Northumberland to her right (facing a swamp). The Yorkists set-up with Edward IV in the centre, the newly promoted Earl of Pembroke to his right, and the Earl of Warwick to the left.

The battle opened with Edward's forces boldly surging forward: half of his line advanced towards the junction of Margaret and Somerset's lines (1), but failed command rolls meant that the remainder of the forces lagged behind. The two Yorkist lords moved slowly - Pembroke's forces were weakened from the last battle (Warmaster imposes command penalties on incomplete units), while Warwick had a set of bad command rolls, including a blunder that hampered one of his units. By the time battle was joined, Edward's forces were echeloned from right to left (2) and engaging Margaret's troops. Off to the right, Somerset advanced his forces to support his sister. Meanwhile, Warwick finally bestirred himself into action (3), swinging his line of archers into position to start shooting Northumberland's troops: the old rivalry between the Nevilles and the Percy's was very much alive and well! The battle having taken most of the original attacking force, Edward committed his household retinue of Knights and archers, and together with Pembroke's forces (who had advanced in time to form a line), faced off with Somerset's own personal retinue (4): it was household versus household!

A bloody fight between the two retinues ensued. Meanwhile, Edward's other forces were shot to pieces advancing on the Lancastrian line (5), and though Somerset's retinue was cut down to the last man, it was a Pyrrhic victory (6), with only a remnant of Edward's own retinue left, and almost all his forces left dead on the field. The treachery of Warwick sealed the battle: as panicked cries of "treachery!" sounded on Edward's left, a last desperate push at the very centre of Margeret's line failed in a withering hail of arrows, and Edward quit the field to lick his wounds and fight another day.

In the wake of the battle, Queen Margeret rewarded her Lords (including Warwick) handsomely with counties from the Lancastrian royal fiefs. The campaign is now perfectly tied, with each Royal at one victory, and every Lord with one more county than they started with.

Game Report: War of the Roses Campaign, Game 1

2006-01-31T16:27:00.000+01:00

The first game of the War of the Roses campaign provided a suitably bloody start to things.

Lancastrians defended, and set up with the Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (Mike) on their left, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland in the centre (Boon), and Henry VI (Arjun) taking the right flank.

Yorkists set with with William Herbert Earl of Pembroke (FG) on the left (facing Henry VI), Edward IV (me) in the centre (facing Northumberland) and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (Corbon) on the right, facing Somerset.

The short summary of the battle: FG and Arjun slogged it out for a hill on the Lancastrian right flank, a brutal see-saw battle which saw Henry VI himself joining the fight to bring things to a decisive conclusion - which it did, with Henry's death in battle. The rest of us stood in the wings and watched, with Mike and Corbon settling into a Mexican standoff on the Yorkist right flank, and me ineffectually trying to come to grips with Boon's forces.

The 3 pictures above show the rough progress of the battle for Herbert's hill: after an unopposed occupation of the ridge line, FG's archers were pushed back over the top, while his billmen and retinue engaged one of Boon's (Northumberland's) archers that had strayed onto the right side of the hill (1). The heavy foot wiped out the archers just as Henry's forces closed in on the hill for a decisive clash (2), reforming just in the nick of time to face this assault. The lines bounced back and forth over the top of the hill until Arjun (Henry VI) managed to get a unit of bill in a flanking position to roll up the line (3): FG responded by sending the depleted remnants of his retinue (still powerful) and a single base of billmen to meet the flank attack (making a command roll of 3 to motivate a brigade that had a -2 penalty on commands), prompting Arjun to throw in his command base to the fight.

Henry VI (left) falls to Herbert, Kingslayer (right)

One quick combat, and it was over: FG's heavy retinue chopped up the billmen, and Queen Margaret now commands the Lancastrian forces ...

Game Report: Operation Vertitable

2006-01-22T03:29:00.000+01:00

The NN had their usual Lye-Keong-comes-to-town WW2 Crossfire game yesterday. The scenario, chosen by LK, was this one here: Operation Veritable.

View from the British side: initial set-up

What complicated the thing for both sides was the fact that we didn't know our victory conditions - neither Mike (commanding the Gerries), nor I (commanding the British) really knew what we were supposed to do to win (other than "kill the enemy", which is a given) - part of LK's devious plans to spice up the scenario.

Any hesitation this "fog of war" may have introduced into the equation was quickly overcome by the fact that we were playing open deployment. This is something we haven't done for a long time - the pros are that it speeds the game up, and requires less paperwork from the umpire and players. The cons, as demonstrated, are that in a system like Crossfire's, where a single player's move may be indefinitely prolonged by careful avoidance of anything that loses initiative, knowing exactly where all forces were on the map gives serious first-mover advantage - especially when the first mover (me in this case) outnumbers the other, and has better quality troops, and tanks (versus no tanks), AND half of the other side's forces set up in the open, on a road.

The general consensus at the end was that one or more of the following would have balanced the game a bit more:
- hidden movement
- letting the Germans move first

Still, this was possibly the shortest WW2 game the Nuts have ever played, and on the plus side, we actually finished it with time to go for kway teow = ).

Disposable Heroes Game in Berlin

2006-01-20T09:50:00.000+01:00

Napnuts Newsflash from Berlin:

Dom's Paras were blooded in action yesterday night with Tom Weiss' rock hard Fallschirmjaeger.

Ruleset used was "Disposable Heroes" available from http://www.ironivangames.com/index.html

This is a skirmish ruleset and appears to be a simplification of the old Battleground WW2 rules by EasyEight and provide a fast-paced, if somewhat bloody, game. The sequence of play is basically an initiative die-roll followed by sequential activation of units. The person with the initiative activates one of his units. He can move, fire and close combat with that unit. Defender may react fire, but only at close range, and only at reduced accuracy. Then it is the defender's turn to activate, and so on until all units are activated, and the cycle resumes again.

Combat resolution is pretty easy. Roll to hit based on the shooter's accuracy, then roll each hit to kill, based on the weapon's killing power. For eg an MG42 gets 8x D10s to hit with a 50-50 chance of hitting, followed by an 80% chance of killing! Woe to the squad that finds itself inadvertently in the cross-hairs of an MG42 gunner!! (In comparison, a Bren only gets 3x D10 to hit with a 50% chance of hitting and a 60% chance of killing).

After movement and firing comes close combat, and this is also a pretty dicey and bloody affair. The person with the initiative (reroll for initiative just before CC), hits first with all his figures (1xD10 per fig), then the REMAINING defending figures fight back, and so on until one side is totally wiped out! Really bloody business!

Enough about the rules. How did the game go? As this was a training game, we only played with 2 sections on each side. The first game was with 2 sections of British Paras advancing to take a Fallschirmjaeger-held village. One section of Paras advanced up a road, covered by a Bren team, but was massacred by deadly accurate MG42 fire! The other section outflanked the MG42 team by working its way out of LOS of the MG team. Once in range, grenades were thrown and the Paras charged into close combat. This was a bloody affair, with only one Para left standing at the end. The Paras therefore had to beat a hasty retreat as there was still one Fallschirmjaeger section in the village. The whole game took only one hour to complete.

For play balance, it is necessary to limit the number of MGs on the German side (a provision made for in the rules by making them more costly in terms of points). Anyway, it was a fun game and a good learning experience. Hopefully there will be more reports to come!

More pics of Tom's Fallschirmjaeger and Dom's Paras.

War of the Roses Campaign

2006-01-13T11:19:00.000+01:00

The Napnuts have just launched a War of the Roses Campaign using 15mm figures. Here is a comment from the campaign organiser, Cpt Arjun:

"Wahj, corbon and I have been working on a set of campaign rules for the War of the Roses, to be played using Warmaster Ancients rules (with lists drawn up by ourselves). The campaign requires 6 players (i.e. we need 3 more players, no campaign moderator required), and we hope to run it from Feb to Apr, with one battle each weekend, maybe two when we become more familiar with the rules.

About 150 elements of figures will be used for the battles, 2/3 of which will be provided by corbon; wahj and I will each provide 1/6. The other players will only need to paint up one base of foot command and one of mounted (total 10 figures) to represent his own commander. The figures will be provided by me (when I receive them anyway). Other stuff like terrain we will use what we already have, plus some I have ordered. That's the hardware.

The campaign features a two-tier system. wahj and myself, as the contesting Royals of the Houses of York and Lancaster, must try to win the campaign by winning battles. The other players, the Nobles, must try to be the one holding the largest number of counties by the end of the campaign.

The campaign is a mapless one but 'counties' are the currency of the system. Royal players gain or lose them in battle, and Nobles can gain them by grant from Royal players, or by ransom for captured rival Nobles (or you can execute them and make the player use a lousier commander with poorer stats). Noble players do not have to stick with the same Royal player but may switch allegiance throughout the campaign to gain an advantage."

Watch out for more news!

Welcome!

2005-08-08T10:09:00.000+02:00

The Napnuts are a group of historical miniature wargamers based in Singapore. We are keen to meet people interested in wargaming. To contact us, please visit our website - Napnuts.com. Our interests are wide ranging. We mainly play 15mm Ancients, 15mm Napoleonics, 15/20mm World War Two and 28mm Pulp Fiction/Victorian Science Fiction. You can find battle reports of our games in the Napnuts.com website. You can also see photos of our members' minis in our Napnuts Photo Gallery. BTW - ignore the time stamp on this message, as it is just a way to keep this welcome message at the top of the blog. You will find the latest update directly below this message.

Wargames Shops in Singapore?

2005-08-24T16:39:00.000+02:00

Apart from "How do you play wargames? Do you roll the dice and move the figures the number of spaces shown on the dice?", one of the most-asked questions is "Are there any wargames shops in Singapore?"

Unfortunately, for historical gamers, the answer is a resounding "no". We get all our figures and stuff by mail order. However, there are several model shops in Singapore where we go to get things like paint, brushes, thinner, the occasional 1/72 tank, and 20mm plastic figs. Here is a list of model shops in Singapore. Some model shops we frequent more than others, mainly because of familiarity and convenient location are (not in order of preference):

Central Hobby Plus
The Orchard Store
Miniature Hobby

For Sci Fi/Fantasy gamers, there is more choice. These two shops are the most well-known (to us at least):

Paradigm Infinitum (or PI)
Comics Mart

Finally, I should not leave out our favourite book store - Borders, which has an excellent selection of military history books, Osprey guides, Squadron/Signal guides, and every month - the latest issue of Wargames Illustrated.

The Philosophy of Wargaming

2005-08-24T11:00:00.000+02:00

Our very own Captain Arjun has started a blog to muse on the philosophy of wargaming. Why do we wargame? Ever think about the 3000 foot General? Fun vs Historicity, Game vs Simulation? It's all there. Click here to check it out.

Napnuts Group Photo Aug 2004

2005-08-24T10:01:00.000+02:00

Just thought I'd do a quick post today. I managed to unearth the latest group photo of the Napnuts. This was taken at Boone's place in August 2004 after the VSF Tonkin finale.

Who are the Napnuts?

2005-08-10T23:32:00.000+02:00

The Napnuts group was originally formed by a couple of Singaporeans living in Germany back in 1998. The games played back then were mainly Napoleonics using 20mm plastic figures. (Hence the origins of the name - Napnuts.) During our time in Germany, we linked up with an active group of German wargamers - The Dortmund Amateur Wargamers - and travelled with them to several wargaming conventions around Europe.

The group was founded in Singapore in 2000. The pic here shows the original Napnuts members with a visiting wargamer from the US. Interests moved from 20mm Napoleonics into 20mm WW2, and numerous games were played. As some group members became interested in Ancients, the group also began playing 20mm Ancients using Warhammer Ancient Battles.

Around this time, a major foray was made into the metal figure market. Members purchased 20mm metal figures to supplement their plastic armies. At the same time, some members moved into 15mm scale for Ancients and Napoleonics. The group also grew to around 8 members and wargaming became a weekly, instead of a once monthly affair. The pic at the right shows the Napnuts in 2003.

The Napnuts are now active in almost all popular scales and genres. In addition to the standard historical periods and scales, we also play fantasy, science fiction, Victorian Science Fiction, 28mm Pulp Fiction, and 28mm moderns. On the left is a pic of the Napnuts in 2004.