Sunday 27 February 2022

From PeterD: Sub-Roman British for Noel's Comet (50 points)

My students and family can tell you that I could give Noel a run for his money on verbosity, but hopefully I keep this within everyone attention span.

Love the Sutton Hoo helmet and the Draco.

Back in September 1980 I started University and a new FLGS opened up in Halifax, in a location that was at least not too far off my walk home.  The FLGS turned out to be run by Ross McFarland of the Battle Game of the Month blog, With MacDuff to the Frontier rules and servant to the world's most superior looking wargaming cat. Ross' store was short lived, my university career lasted 5 years as a student and 20 years as an instructor (with a 15 plus year interlude in between) and we still keep in touch.  We have gamed in the past on my visits back to Nova Scotia, and were hoping to do so again at Christmas, but Omicron put the boots to that idea.  We should try a Zoom game.

The chap on the left is from a Pictish command pack but fits in with the unit.


One of Ross' projects at the time was Late Roman/Sub Roman Britain, a project which I've returned to in my recent Beowulf gaming.  I have another 6 figures from a Sub-Roman rulers comitatus.  These are Gripping Beast 28mm figures and most are from their Arthurian range.  Some of the facial details has gone soft, but it's kinda like painting old minifigs which is pleasant nostalgia in its own right.  As is my way I freehanded some noble headed shields and bodged together a flag using Celtic clip art and MS Word.  


I'm quite happy with the cloaks.  I think that the Pictish fellow is supposed to have a mail coif but it works as ringlets.

In digging through the family photos recently, I found some pictures from a Convention game that Ross ran at Dalhousie in 1987 or 1988, which I am sharing below.

Ross resolving combat on the Pratzen.  The vibrant cloth is still in my basement.  I remember that it was fall when I bought it and the salesgirl at Fabricland asked if I was going as a Frog for Halloween.


This was an Austerlitz scenario featuring Soult's assault on the Pratzen and the defence of the Goldbach (40K players will need to google this).  It was fought using Ross' home-brew rules, 15mm figures and at a 1:40ish scale with individual casualties.   The next year I ran a Jutland scenario using my home brew rules and 1/3000 scale Navwar ships. Ken Reilly you're not the only one who can run crazy big games. 

Struggle for the Goldbach crossings.  We achieved an impressively historical log jam.  Those are my white and green coated Italians masquerading as French on the defence and my Russian infrantry.  


Ross and I were chatting about this game via his blog comments recently.  He gave the French commands to the most experienced players (I was Marshall Soult) and the Allied commands were given to newbies who didn't know the history.  The Allied column commanders were told to follow written orders based on the actual orders of the day.  As a way to simulate historical fog of war and command confusion it worked the charm.  Ross reminded me that the problem was that the newbies figured they'd been set up as sacrificial offerings and some of them left the game in huff.  I had not recalled that aspect, but then again it was 35 years ago and I was rather busy directing St Hilaire and Vandamme.


I still think that it was a great achievement and I have fond memories of those big games are played with small figures in the 80s, as well as the small games that we played with big figures (54mms) in the 90s and 2000s.

Points wise that 6 28mm figures for 30 points and I hope the yarn ents me another 20 for Noel's Comet.


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A great post Peter, and a wonderful bit of nostalgia about past games and good friends. 

Your sub Romans look excellent, and your hand painted shields and banner do the trick. I quite liked Ross' novel approach to simulating the superiority of the French at Austerlitz, but I can also sympathise with the annoyance of the opposing players upon figuring out they were being used as ill-informed dupes. Granted, while perhaps not the best at making friends, one could argue that Ross' 'rules mechanic' had the hidden benefit of nicely simulating the final collapse of the Coalition at Austerlitz. :)

- Curt


19 comments:

  1. Cheers Curt. The handicapping based on gamers experience can work very well, and the allied players were not sold down the river as we have them advice. In the end it was a learning experience.

    It was a pity that we couldn’t figure out how to game the famous Kutuzov Tsar Alexander conversation from that morning.

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    1. Yes, I know it can, but the weaker team has to be in full acceptance of the scenario's design, knowing that they are probably in for a brutal drubbing, otherwise it can be a pretty bruising (and maddening) experience (as you describe yourself). Gaming these historically asymmetrical, on-a-knife-edge scenarios can be very difficult. Auerstedt is another example of a battle that is nigh but impossible to give a proper sense of the victory the French pulled off. These scenarios often benefit having the one side run by the GM, where the players are instead cooperating to achieve victory (or stem defeat). It's that fine balance in wargaming: Simulations can be intellectually interesting, but games should also be fun.

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    2. In retrospect yes, but it was 35 years ago and we’d do it differently now. On the day most of the players really enjoyed the game.

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  2. A great tribute to your friendship, Peter! :)

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  3. Fantastic looking British command group. The banner and painted shields are a nice addition to the unit.

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    1. Thanks Stuart. I know lots of gamers get good effects with pomade flags and transfers for shields, but I always prefer home makes ones. Part of it is that I’m cheap and impatient so can’t be bothered to order them, part is that I was always rubbish with decals and hate using them.

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  4. A very nice tale of friendship and gaming! Your figures are great - I really like the shields!

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  5. Well done Peter, I'm the opposite and don't have the patience to paint my own shields as it takes so long! Usually I try and order transfers in advance. Lovely story

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    1. Thanks. Ordering in advance would require that I know what designs I want in advance and that I don’t change my mind before they arrive!

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  6. Hi Peter:
    These are excellent sub-Romans. It would be easier to model them as submersible Romans (you'd just need a periscope or maybe some reeds sticking above the water) some I'm proud that you took the high road on this.
    I really appreciated your photos of Ross and your friendship with him, he is a Grand Old Man of the Canadian hobby and hopefully will be a guest on the podcast this spring.
    Well done Peter.
    Cheers, MikeP

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    1. Thanks Padre. I am sure there's some tale of Celtic warriors using hollow marsh reeds to walk underwater past some sentries (or maybe's that's an OT story). I do have a horn blower on the paint table that looks like he could be suing a large schnorkel.

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  7. A warm story and nicely painted minis with good looking shields!

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  8. what a great story Peter, thanks heaps for sharing it with us!

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  9. Good work. If you’ve got that cloth you can still dress as a frog!

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    1. Thanks Barks. I think I’ve still got it in my basement, complete with vintage lichen bits

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