Make ready for Make Ready!

Happy new year fight fans!

Our local group hasn't been ther most active over the past year, we will see what 2010 brings.
People has been busy with work, family and new activities.  So while we may not post much over
the new year (if at all) you guys all have access to our archives of reports, tips, links and memories.
Best of all access to the rules and army lists ... enjoy them, complain about them, modify them.

All the best in the new year!

KeithCon Photos !!!!!

Finally here are the photos from KeithCon 2008!

Here we have those famous generals from the battle of Kolin .... and in matching Hawaiian shirts no less! The fine upstanding gentleman is Steve O'Brien ... one half of the Make Ready! Rules team and acting offical for this battle ... no chance of cheating at this table.

Lots of ponies down on this end of the table!

Looks to be early in the game as the mounted look to the flanks.

Here is a nice over view of the game developing.

Wil and Skip's flashy fashions don't seem to be impressing Dave very much.

Wow! That Dave gets around ... here he is trying his hand at a 400AP game in Spain. This is a nice size game ... 4x3 table with 2 commands. A bit of painting involved to get something usable on the table but not overwhelming.

Here is a view of the game as it developed.

.... looks a bit PIP heavy!

And finally a look at the third table we had setup. You will notice that those hands belong to the other half of the rules creation team Keith Gregoire. This is another 400AP battle ... First Manassas.

OH, oh! Look at that flank march!

Bye-bye Union!

Well that's how the games looked at KeithCon this year. So download your copy of the rules, slap some paint and we will see you next year on the tables!

Thanks!

I would like to give a hearty thanks to everyone who made this year's KeithCon a success.
Specifically,
Erik & Skip for arranging for an excellent venue.
Steve for driving all the way up from new Hampshire to host the Kolin scenario
Dave for loaning his figures for the Kolin scenario and running the Funtes de Onoro scenario
Gary for organizing and running the First Manassas scenario
Don Cameron of Five Arrows Figures for being our vendor and sponsoring the day with gift certificate prizes
and of course....
all the participants who came out and made the day fun.

I hope to see you all (and those who couldn't make it) again next year.

If people could send me anypictures they took, I will try to get them up on the website.

Keith

Keith Con 2008

Mark your calendars everyone!

This year KeithCon will be on June 7th, 2008.

The format will be entirely different this year. Instead of a single tournament, there will be a multiple historic scenarios in a variety of sizes (of battles) and scales (of figures). The time period covered will still be the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries using our Make Ready! rules.

It's really important for me that lack of familiarity with our rules should not stop anyone from having a good time at the Con. Last year, the time constraints of tournament gaming (and a few other issues) detracted from people's enjoyment. This year will see a more relaxed pace. There will be more time to yak with old friends and check out our Vendor: Five Arrows Figures.

The location will be the Military Family Resource Centre at 50 Rivers Drive East, Trenton. It's a great venue with lots of space, good lighting and it's right next to a Timmies and a pub. (No alcohol allowed on MFRC premises)

Start time will be 9AM and we will finish at 4:30PM. Afterward we will go out for dinner at the Britannia Pub.

Below is a list of the games that will be going on.
Table #1: The Battle of Kolin
SYW Prussian/Austrian
Scale: 25mm
Players: 4-8
Time: 4-6hrs

Table#2: Seven Years War Campaign
DBA campaign SYW
Scale: 2mm
Players: 5
Time: All day

Table #3: Yanks & Rebs
ACW: First Manassas
Scale: 15mm
Players: 2-4
Time: 2-3hrs

Table #4: The Thin Red Line
Napoleonics: Fuentes de Onoro
Scale: 15mm
Players: 2-4
Time: 2-3hrs

Your options are:
a) Spend the day at table #1
b) Spend the day at table #2
c) Spend the AM at table #3 and the PM at table #4 or
d) Spend the AM at table #4 and the PM at table #3

You can always wander by tables of other games and check them out during lulls in your own table, of course :-)

Please let me know if you are planning to come and what table(s) you might be interested in. If we get more attendees, we can easily open more tables.

I look forward to seeing you there. Please feel free to email me with any questions or comments.

The Russian Army of the Seven Years War

Well, it's finished! I have completed a SYW Russian army in 2mm.


The plan is to complete all five major armies of the Seven Years War for a DBA-style SYW campaign which will be part of the festivities at KeithCon this June!

Watch for announcements about KeithCon soon. Until then enjoy the picture of my "hot off the press" Russians on a standard DBA 2'x2' board.

A Napoleonic Solo Game

I had a chance to play out a Napoleonic solo game set in the Peninsula this week. The picture below shows Wellington ad his boys forming up at the top of the picture. The brown cut out hills are steep, the lighter ones are gentle sloped, but rocky. The British left is held by the light troops, with a brigade of heavy infantry held in reserve. The center of the line is held by the Portguese and on the British right, we can see a brigade of cavalry and a brigade of infantry in column.The French have formed up with deep columns of infantry in the center, some light infantry holding the left flank and with their entire force of cavalry off table to the right, trying to out flank the British left. Unfortunately for the French the opening dice favoured the British, who seized the initiative and brought the fight to the French before their cavalry could arrive. By the time the French cavalry were getting into position, the British heavy cavalry had raced forward and caused the French light infantry to retreat to the safety of the hills, leaving their left flank exposed as we see below.

Here's a close up of the British attack on the French left one bound earlier. The British light dragoons are charging down on the French guns who have been unable to withdraw due to the fire of the British horse artillery. A regiment of Portguese dragoons rushes in to help.Fire from the French guns decimated one of the light dragoon regiments, but the other one and the Portuguese moved in as well, the guns was overrun and (since the French infantry had turned to face the threat) the victorious cavalry pulled out to allow the horse artillery to continue doing its work.

Meanwhile, an unsuccessful push in the center, left the French with only one chance of victory: turning the British left. The initial French charge looked promising. The French caused some significant damage and burst through the British hussars and horse artillery.....

But the British infantry had managed to get into fairly good position to stem the tide and held back the mounted onslaught with their unshakeable "thin red line".

With the French left in tatters and their cavalry attack on the right repulsed, the ongoing losses in the center of the battlefield tipped the balance and the French army quit the field in some disorder. The British were hard hit on their own left flank, but otherwise had suffered minimal losses. British 9-1 victory.

A French & Indian War game

Well, I finally got a chance to put together a few pictures. Emen and I played a little French & Indian War game recently. Here we see the opening stages of the game. A fleury of French & Indian skirmishers has raced forward to pin the British in their position in the corner. The British are deployed there as they are concerned about what mught be lurking in the woods off to their left....
Here's the view from the British side. Regular troops to the right of the gun with grenadiers and militia to the left. More militia and some ranger elements are moving to the right to fill out the line and possibly drive off the French skirmishers.

Emen's fears were founded. Several hundred Indians charge out of the woods and across the swamp.....

The rest of the French line formed up with them, with the French regular troops double timing it to take their place on the far left of the French line.

The basic French plan worked, which was to use numeric superiority to overwhelm their opponent's advantage in quality by a double envelopment. The Canadiens skirmished with the elite British line and the six pounders in the center,.........

while the Indians raced in against the colonial militia holding the British left flank........

and the French regulars charged in depth, hitting the militia holding the British right flank:

The French took their fair share of losses, too, but did manage to turn both flanks. The British army collapsed and the French carried the day.

Thanks for a fun game Emen.