Colonial Barracks, 2012 (Nov 2-4)

It has been over a week since the Colonial Barracks convention in New Orleans, so I suppose I should post my pictures from the convention.  Not all the games were photographed as I was involved in playing or running games from Friday evening through Saturday evening.

So here they are, grouped by the game:

The Battle of Jalapa - 1846 -- a fictitious action based on a "what if" Santa Ana had not taken his army north to its destruction in the Buena Vista campaign, but kept them to face General Winfield Scott's army advancing from Veracruz.  My friend, Electric Ed, ran this game using Larry Brom's The Sound of the Guns rules and his own 15mm American and Mexican armies.

The American left wing, commanded by yours truly, with the right wing visible in the distance beyond the woods.

Part of the Mexican right wing and center.

Mexican defenders of Jalapa.

The American left wing is threatened by Mexican cavalry from across the stream.

While one American infantry regiment lines the bank of the stream, other regiments are attacked by the second Mexican cavalry regiment.  But a battery of American artillery suddenly finds an straight shot down the Mexican cavalry line.  BOOM! 
Lead regiments of the second American division enter, led by the Regiment of U.S. Marines (red flag on left).

As the Mexican cavalry advanced across the stream,  the 1st Mississippi Rifles (red shirts in foreground) deploy across the stream to outflank the Mexican cavalry.

What happened to the Mexican cavalry?  What is left of them can be seen in the distance as they have fallen back a considerable distance.  The Americans continue their advance against the Mexican infantry who have deployed in lines across the road to Mexico City.

A closer view of the Mexican right wing infantry deployed to contest the American advance after their cavalry attack was defeated.  The American battery in the right foreground has already routed a Mexican unit by fire, receiving a marker (the yellow ring) which signifies that when they test their initial morale, they will automatically be upgraded one morale grade.

In the center, the Americans steadily advance.  Their artillery and musket fire forces the defenders of Jalapa to retreat.

On the American right flank, the 2nd U.S. Dragoons attack a Mexican artillery battery on a small hill.  The Mexican cavalry in the foreground have just defeated the Tennessee Militia Cavalry, forcing them to withdraw.

 The Defense of Beaune-La-Rolande, 28 Nov 1870.  A small force of Prussians defends this French village needed by the French Army of the Loire on its advance to Paris.  Can the Prussians hold out until their reinforcements can "march to the sound of the guns?"  I ran this game using Larry Brom's Chassepot and Needlegun rules and figures from Doc Ord's, Lord Sterling's, and my Franco-German War armies.

Beaune-La-Rolande with its Prussian garrison moving into position.

Two of the French commanders advance their forces against the Prussian defenders.  The Prussian heavy battery on the hill in the foreground lost one of 6 gunners to French Mitrailleuse fire and fled in abject rout.  Luckily they were rallied and eventually returned to their guns.

At this time my rechargeable batteries finally gave up the ghost.  Not having any replacements, I was unable to finish photographing my game.  However John from the Nomadic Old School Gamer blog did get a bunch of pictures.  During the lunch break, I ran out and bought some regular batteries for my camera so I could get additional pictures.

The Great European War of 1892.  Paul Arceneaux ran this battle using his vintage 54mm figures, some of which were, as Paul said, "old enough to be your grandfather."

An overview of the battle after its conclusion.

A close-up of the British army as it resists the attacks from its opposing European Consortium forces.

Scottish Highlanders and Indian Army sepoys flanked by British battalions.

The Hive and the Flame demonstration.  Rules developer Terry Sofian flew down from St. Louis with his rules, some British forces, and his bugs.  Combining elements of The Sword and the Flame and 800 Fighting Englishmen, The Hive and the Flame pits the British Empire at the end of the 19th Century against its most formidable enemies - alien arthropods controlled by "the Hive."  I commanded a "brigade" of the bugs in this battle.

This was also probably a first for a TSATF game - we had more female players (3, 2 British and 1 bug commanders) than male players (both bug commanders).  One of the British commanders was no other than Lori Brom herself, the "great man's" daughter!

The mighty British, supported by four steam tanks, advances across the plains.

One of the many bug units consisting of 20 warriors and 4 "brains"

Bugs advance towards the British

Initial contact between the bugs and the British.

After being swarmed by bugs, one of the British tanks has blown up!

Although threatened by a tank, my bugs ignore it to surround and later annihilate a British machinegun unit and the remnants of an infantry unit.  But the bug line on the right are leaderless and have turned "amok."  They will attack the closest unit, which unfortunately turned out to be mine.  OOPS!

After beating off the "amok" bugs, I turn the remnants of my lead command against a British square.  The British finally got smart and began to fight from squares.  Lori Brom commanded this square and her dice rolling was phenominal.  She thoroughly defeated my bug attack.  She has evidently not inherited her dad's abysmal dice rolling gene.

As the battle drew to a close, the bugs swarmed another British tank and, I believe, caused it to blow up as well, to the detriment of the bugs on and around it.

In Nicaragua, 1926.  Using With Ol' Gimlet Eye, Ken Hafer ran a battle between the Sandinista rebels and a column of U.S. Marines and sailors.  For the second year in a row, the Marines and sailors were clobbered.

My friend, Electric Ed, looks over the battlefield.

The Battle of Cowpens.  Doc Ord used Disperse, Ye Damned Rebels! to run this battle using his finely painted 28mm American Revolutionary forces.

Doc Ord overseeing the battle from his position behind the American lines.  A Tory cavalry unit is advancing in the foreground.

American infantry face off against an advancing line of British infantry.

American Civil War Skirmish.  My friend, Lord Sterling, unveiled a new rule set, The Sword and Secession, a variant of The Sword and the Flame, at this convention.  His game pitted small sized Union and Confederate units in the wilds of somewhere in the South.

Lord Sterling, seated in the center with the beard and balding head, oversees the game using his new rules.

Along the Sweetwater Canal, Egypt, 1882.  Using Larry Brom's old 30mm Anglo-Indian and Egyptian army, Lord Sterling ran a mega-game of the Anglo-Indian attack against Colonel Arabi's Egyptian army in 1882.  This was the piece-de-resistance game of the convention.  We had six Egyptian commanders and five British commanders, each with a brigade of infantry or cavalry.  I was so busy as the Anglo-Indian commander that this is the only picture I took.  John's Nomadic Old School Gamer blog (link above) has more pictures.

My brigade on the Anglo-Indian left flank consisted of two Highland battalions, the Grenadier Guards, and an artillery battery.  We held off and then defeated a brigade of two Egyptian cavalry regiments and a brigade of three Egyptian infantry battalions.  I will have to be honest and tell that one of my Highland battalions did get routed and I could not rally them before they scampered away.

After the Gaming Was Over.  We all sat around and told stories of old gamers, conventions long ago, and games in which we had played.  It was a grand old time.

The "after gaming" session.

And finally, the grand old man himself, with whose rules we have all had such fun in gaming over the decades:

Photo by Tim Chadwick

Larry Brom (Sergeant, USMC, Korean War veteran)

Author of The Sword and the Flame and all the other rules we have enjoyed

Larry's sweatshirt reads:

To err is human

To forgive divine

Neither is

Marine Corps policy