AAR: Buckskins & Rangers: British and Indian Engagement

  On a recent Saturday, Kalissa and I went out to our local Hobbytown, U.S.A. to play a French & Indian War game. In this game, we were testing out Buckskins & Rangers as a game. I had acquired these rules a couple of Historicons back. It is about time to play these rules, otherwise why have them? Of course, I also know lots of fellow gamers that love to collect rules sets in search of the "Holy Grail" of rules. I am not saying that they don't exist, but I am aware my taste in games changes other gaming. I like to think of that idea like a "fine wine". In my case, maybe, a well aged whiskey. But in our household, Kalissa and I try to play all of the rules set with gain. Sometimes, this process take a year or two.
    There is another reason for dusting these rules off. I am on a mission of finding rules for my next Historicon Project.  Buckskins & Rangers has some nice elements that can fit what I am trying to do. It is a card drive game that uses both D6's and D20's. You have your unit of six people that you have to roll you number of actions for each one on D6. The lead figure is your command figure. If you want you unit to move as a group, you can just use you commanders actions for the whole group with the command range or you can play everyone with their individual actions. So there is a lot of flexibility with these rules, which can be good for a convention game. Also, I first played this game at Historicon. Imagine that!
    However, in our game, Kalissa had never played these rules or read them. Yes, it is an unfair advantage! In my defense, you have to realize how smart and logical my wife is. She picks up on games very easy. In fact, too easy! After killing five of her natives, she still striking back. There were a lot of bad rolling on my wife's side that gave her an up hill battle, but that did not stop her from coming out on top. It came down a single duel between to men. I lost the game in a final end on turn seven. I still like to think her man tripped and fell on a sword while leaving the battlefield. We both had a lot of fun with this game. We will have to play some more.

Call to Arms: Bolt Action Tournament 2019

    As mentioned in the previous post, this was our second Call to Arms Convention which was held in Williamsburg, VA. This was also their second convention around this timeframe under the name. Kalissa managed to drum up eleven players originally for the singles tournament on a Saturday. The first year, we tried multiply events, but the combination of the hurricane and the first show ever did not work out. However, we made enough of an impact from the previous year that we saw repeat players willing to practice on bare tables for our tournament. It slightly slowed my terrain set up.
   Because of the odd players, I ended up playing in the tournament for the first two rounds. I did not get the vibe from the Early War French player that I wrecked his confidence for the rest of the tournament. My 10th SS lost only one Sd Kfz 222 Armored car during the whole affair. I tried telling him that is was lucky dice; this was not normal for me. I ended up playing a second round to beat down someone in rank, since I was in second place. This game resulted in a "Draw" after many casualties.
   Honesty, this tournament brought out some of the best in gaming. We had several games that reverse the order of placement in the tournament in the end. Plus, we had more players than last year! This is always a good thing! Either way, Kalissa and I hope to continue this tourament for years to come. Here are the the pictures. Enjoy!

AAR: Call To Arms: 2019 Convention Review.

     These are some pictures from one of Kalissa and I's adventures with wargaming. Once again, we went to the second Call to Arms, ever! The first one had many issues dealing with a hurricane. We, actually beat the hurricane by five hours on our way up to Williamsburg, VA. This time, we saw the sun for our trip! However, the numbers seemed to be a little slim. If I were to compare last year's to this year's, Call to Arms was a little shy in numbers. However, that was not to say that there was no found fun. Here are some pictures of the convention games.