Vapnartak 2025

 We played Ravenna again last week. The French won again, this time without even reaching the barricades of the Holy League, let alone crossing them. It is just possible that the scenario parameters (i.e. the number of morale chips) aren't quite right. On the other hand it was both fun and all over in an evening, both of which are factors not to be sniffed at. I'm afraid I only took this one, terrible photo.

I thought we were going to be doing the Italian Wars for a while, but this week - tomorrow in fact - promises something very different.

On Sunday I went to Vapnartak, and thought it was pretty poor. It was certainly rather empty, both of punters and traders; there never have been that many display games. One blogger I have read since compared it to the declining years of Triples. I didn't experience those due to 'an incident' after which we never returned. I hope the parallel doesn't prove to be accurate.

I went to York with one of my occasional companions, who was overall more positive than me, but then she'd never been to a wargames show before and was possibly just relieved that it wasn't as bad as her worse fears. She said that everyone there reminded her of her brother. Having observed their sibling relationship for a few years I don't think this was a compliment.

It's All Over Now

 

Ravenna

 There has been the first wargame of the year, the snow having cleared and Storm Éowyn not having yet arrived. We are going to have a run of Italian Wars games as the one we played a couple of months ago convinced James that the rules needed to be tweaked to reflect current thinking. What does that mean? Well, a bit more classic Piquet, a lot more streamlined. Now you know.

The chosen battle was Ravenna, which I know we have played many times, but about which I can remember very little. I was the defenders, which I'm pretty sure made me the Spanish; should you know differently feel free to leave a comment. There was a certain amount of making it up as we went along. but the game flowed well and finished easily in one evening. Whilst there were a series of cavalry melees on the left flank, the key action was as shown above. A whole line of pike blocks charged a single tercio behind a barricade. The white dice you can see relate to a somewhat complicated mechanism for reflecting stubbornness. I never like to see a rule without using it, so I spent morale freely to maintain my position at the defences and repel all three pike blocks. Unfortunately I spent the whole lot, which meant I had lost. A more sensible strategy might have been to withdraw the battered tercio at some point and let the pike blocks face the fresh one in reserve. Next time.

No Rules, Everyone Loses

 

"Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again." - André Gide

In Which I have Money To Spend, But Nowhere To Spend It

 Back to the Mexican Revolution, but probably not for long. So, I bought some 20mm Mexican Revolution figures on eBay for a price that I thought was reasonable, intending it to be the start of a new project. I knew how many figures overall and the split between foot and mounted, but nothing more (*). It didn't matter because the total quantity was such that I needed to top it up before I could play a game. That, of course, would not be a problem as there are three suppliers of 20mm Mexican Revolution figures: Shell Hole Scenics, Early War Miniatures (these being the two represented in my purchase) and Jacklex. Even as I analysed what I'd bought I discovered that Shell Hole Scenics had shut down. Disappointing, but no problem. I had, in parallel with the eBay transaction, ordered the Jacklex sampler for the period. This put me on their mailing list, which is how I found out last week that they had also, in their words, permanently closed. Well, there's always EWM. Or at least there may be in due course; their website is down, has been for some time, and despite their promises doesn't really show any signs of being brought back up to speed.

Your bloggist reviews potential new recruits

I am well aware that these are all small businesses and have every sympathy for the problems they face, among which are the inevitable difficulties in exporting to the EU now the UK is no longer a member (**). However, I do fear it is a sign of things to come in the hobby. Anyway, we've waited a long time for this project, looks like we're going to wait a bit longer.

* For the record there are about twice as many revolutionaries as federales.

** Although, reading between the lines, one of the owners voted for it and still hasn't acknowledged his error.

Let's Hope It's A Good One