Galleys & Galleons, part 1

Last weekend, my lovely wife and I sat down to give Galleys & Galleons, the renaissance-era naval rules now in playtest, a go.  You will need to forgive the pics, as I do not have miniatures painted up, and I forgot to get my blue felt out for an appropriate backdrop!

This pic was taken after the full first turn.  The table is roughly 3 feet square, and we are using counters out of the Close Action game by Clash of Arms.  We kept details simple for this first game - 3 galleons each, with equal stats.  My wife is closing fast, as she rolled very aggressively (and well) throughout the game.  At this point, two of my ships are in irons - i.e. pointed into the wind.  It is an omen of things to come!

A few more turns in, and I am trying to shake my squadron back into a line.  My ships are taking damage, and Little Miss Horatio Nelson is about to break my line!

Even though one of her ships is out of contact, things are not looking good for me.  Yes, that ship of mine got raked and will strike its colors in the next turn, and the one on the right side is about to get raked, catch fire, and explode (!) in the next turn.

Here is the next to last turn - my last ship is trying to get off the board. She agreed that if my last ship could sail off the table, that it would escape as my wife's ships would need to return and claim the surrendered vessel.  Fortunately for me, my last vessel escaped...





So far, the verdict on the rules is quite favorable.  Even my lovely wife enjoys them, and she is a hard sell on sailing ship games.



As I would rather play with miniatures than counters:

Here is the start of a fleet of Figurehead 1/2400 ships on the workbench.  The bases are just temporary until I can order some better ones.

More blogs

A couple of nice, new blogs relating to Renaissance-era gaming:

Renaissance Miniatures

Info and pics of 25mm Renaissance miniatures, including photo comparisons.

Pike & Plunder

An ongoing Renaissance campaign. Great pics and free downloads of the campaign rules and other info.



Good stuff!


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Projects: status report

OK. This is a summary of where everything is now...

Painting table - I am finally to the point where the table can actually be used for painting!

Mini project #1: Tau (40K) - Still in boxes from the move. Now that the painting table is ready, I'm going to unload one unit and get it on the table.

Mini project #2: Reptus (Warlord) - These are going to stay in their box for now. The unopened blisters will be sold off. The ones that I have started will most likely be finished sometime in the distant future.

Mini project #3: Renaissance - This project is in a state of flux. I love the pageantry of the period, but I am torn between the many ways it could be represented. Part of me wants to keep it historical, and part of me wants to make an Empire force for Warhammer Fantasy. I am even now entertaining thoughts about using 15mm, especially for the historical bent. I do know that, if I go the route of Warhammer, I will be using Old Glory historical minis as proxies for the expensive GW minis.

Computer gaming: World of Warcraft has been replaced by our return to Everquest2. And, we are having a lot of fun so far even though we are starting from scratch without much coin or equipment. One of the biggest problems with EQ2 - tradeskills - has been greatly simplified, and the continuing slide of WoW into universal PvP (player vs. player) is a turn-off.

Hot new topic: Tekumel, the Empire of the Petal Throne - This is replacing Warlord in the mini line-up. The launch of the great new line of 28mm minis from Eureka Miniatures - link - really has me jazzed. I was able to find excellent copies of two of the Tekumel novels - Man of Gold and Flamesong - for reasonable prices. I first read these novels 20+ years ago in college, and brought some of the other gaming-related pamphlets also. I do not remember what fate became them; they probably were lost during the divorce. Much of the printed items are still available, of course for a premium price! I do want to find the pamphlets that covered the armies of the period, for they contain painting guides for those units.


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The Renaissance Project, part 1

I've been talking and thinking about my Renaissance project for quite a while. I have yet to make much progress, but here is what I have.

First off, I actually do have a plan! I need to work on four different aspects:

1. Research

2. Rules

3. Miniatures

4. Gaming

I have made some progress through the Research bit. I have a small but growing collection of books on the subject. These include Ospreys (doesn't every gamer have at least a dozen?) and some more scholarly works. Here is the list so far:

Osprey MAA # 58: The Landsknechts link
Osprey MAA # 94: The Swiss at War link
Osprey Campaign # 43: Fornovo 1495 link
Osprey Campaign # 44: Pavia 1525 link

These Ospreys have been in my collection for five years or so, and have been looked through extensively. They are an excellent way to whet one's appetite for more substantial reading material, and the color plates are helpful for painting.


The Art of War in Italy, 1494-1529 (Taylor) link
The Renaissance at War (Arnold) link
Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance (Hale) link

These volumes are more recent additions, with Taylor's book being a Christmas gift from my wife (yay!). Arnold's book is a very concise overview of the 16th century, being a part of the Cassell History of War series. I have yet to read Hale's book, but it is filled with illustrations and woodcuts by period artists.

Of course, I want to purchase more books. These will be added slowly, worked in with the schedule for miniatures purchases.


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