The Boxing Day Game 2025

Greetings…

So…I have finally got around to writing this post up… My apologies for the delay 😁

Due to not being able to use the big “New” table… It is still covered in boxes and books… We opted to use my little dining room table.

Which is big enough to take The Christmas village, Some woods and all the protagonists.

 Here we see the layout of the battlefield…

Force Blue… In two groups moving up from the South.

Force Red… In two groups moving down from the North.

And..

The Snow defending the Village and most importantly the Yule Goat.

https://www.visitgavle.se/en/gavle-goatGävlebocken | Visit Gävle

The Snow…

We decided we would tweak our rules for the Snow People… And have given them a chance to regenerate.

This added an interesting dimension to the game… It turns out they were quite good at regeneration.

The Yule Goat sits in the middle of the village and will catch fire if a Toy Town Soldier remains in contact with it and rolls high…

Let’s not forget… The demented Snowball in the woods.

As before this moves randomly and ricochets around the table creating chaos where ever it goes…

I have to admit that this is one of my favourite figures/ characters…

Much to my surprise… And theirs… The Snow immediately start taking casualties.

The psychotic Snowball and a nervous Snowman have an uncomfortable encounter 😳

The Snowman/ person is bowled over and Psycho Snowball careers towards Reds Troops…

Take note of the position of my men…

It doesn’t change much 🙀😳.

Psycho Snowball demolishes Reds Troops…

Come on… That’s pretty impressive 🤣

The Snowman jumps up oblivious to what has just happened….

Although looking like Henri is about to make a daring solo attack on a Snow sentry… This is actually another fine example of my men simply not moving…

You are on your own old chap…

Oh!… Was he stunningly successful in his endeavours?…. I hear you asking.

Of course not… He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn 🙄

Rust manages to untangle himself from the mass of twisted limbs, splinters and chipped paint.

And bravely dives for cover…

The ‘Snow’ has started to regenerate…Psycho Snow looks around for something/someone new to play with…

Red’s men… those that are still on their feet… attack the village.

And my men…. 🤔. Sigh!

Ah!… It looks like it’s my men that Psycho Snow wants to play with…😳

Surprisingly my men manage to run out of the way…

Except…..🙀

Pierre… Mummy!

Snowball… I’m not your Mummy … I’m a ball of snow with anger management issues…

Pierre… Eek!

Snowball… Brace yourself! 😈

The onslaught continues… Reds men push into the village… Colonel Snow encourages his “ Men” to hold on and most importantly… Regenerate… Fast!

Out of nowhere… Rust rushes in and sets fire to the Goat…🙀🙀🙀

Then gets his brains blown out 💀💀💀

Horrified… Force Red breaks and runs…

And…

A brave snowman sacrifices himself by diving on the flames, Melting and saving the Goat…

A glorious victory for The Snow…

By actually getting into the village and doing something Force Red come Second.

And me?

Third 🤣🤣🤣.

A thoroughly enjoyable game…

With… What is now a predictable outcome…

I shall try and do a round up of 2025 in the next few days…

It’s been an odd year but hopefully still interesting…

All the best.   Aly

“Go To” Books… Napoleonic French.

Greetings…

A question by Glen in my previous post prompted me to consider what were my “Go To” books for French Napoleonic uniforms…. And whether I had actually posted images of them.

It would appear I have not shown them all together on one post..

So here we go…

For useful and clear illustrations and information… All the above.

There are of course many more out there…but with these in your library I don’t think you can go far wrong.

For a deeper dive Paul L Dawson is the place to go…

As I unpack all my other books and bring them up from the cellar…

I shall put together a few more “ Go To “ collections…

Thanks to you Glen for giving me the inspiration…

All the best.  Aly

Shiny Napoleonics… French 3rd Infantry.

Greetings…

Here is the latest unit for my Shiny Napoleonics collection…

The 3rd French Infantry…

They took a little bit longer than I thought they would… but I am trying not to put too much strain on the new eyes.

They are certainly working a lot better 😁

Here we go…

The figures are Minifigs Intermediate Range…

And were as always a joy to paint…

The Tunics are… Citadel… Kantor Blue.

The White bits are… Citadel… Pallid Wytch Flesh.

The Red bits are… Citadel… Evil Sunz Scarlet.

The Green bits are… Citadel… Warboss Green.

The Yellow bits are… Citadel… Averland Sunset.

The Light Blue bits are… Citadel… Hoeth Blue.

The Belts are… Citadel… Corax White.

The Backpacks and Muskets are… Citadel… Mournfang Brown.

Everything was given a coat of Aly’s Brown Liquid and highlighted with the original colours. The Belts were also highlighted up to a pure White.

The paints are Citadel...

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Painting-Modelling

The bases are as always...

https://warbases.co.uk/product-category/bases/round-cornered-bases/

The Flag is GMB Designs...

https://gmbdesigns.com/product-category/28mm-range/28mm-range-napoleonic-wars/

I have a little bit of ( shiny) rebasing to do next… Then maybe a bit more Shiny Napoleonics.

All the best.  Aly

Clashing Katanas… The Dashing Daimyo.

Greetings…

The other week the youngsters and I gathered at our friend Matt’s house for a game of Clash of Katanas…

It was the first time I had played this game, fortunately Alessandro had played before and volunteered to run things for us…

The scenario involved Alessandro (Takeda Clan)and Steven (Oda Clan) on the one side (The baddies ) and Israel (Hosokawa Clan), Matt (Shimazu Clan) and myself ( Using our friend Nye’s toys which were based on the Hojo Clan) on the other ( The Goodies)…

Alessandro and Steven were facing off against Israel and Matt and while this was going on I had to make my way in disguise across the table…In the company of  my personal bodyguards.

If Alessandro or Steven spotted me… On a dice roll based on the distance they were from me… They would attack me immediately… My Daimyo was basically unarmed so could only rely on my bodyguards. And of course the intervention of my comrades Israel and Matt.

An overview of the of the battlefield…

My starting point on the bridge… My escape route was down through the village and off the edge of the table at the end of the road.

It doesn’t look that far… But if I made a mad dash for it I risked drawing attention to my identity and therefore increasing the chance of attack… Apparently Steven and Alessandro’s men really hated me and wanted my head… I expect it was because my glowing good looks and intelligence made them feel inadequate… Honest! 🤔.

Israel’s troops advance cautiously into the village…

Steven’s cavalry also charge towards the village…

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed something is missing from one of the figures…

Yup!… It’s the Japanese headless horseman… 

His head came off/ went missing on the way over but we used him anyway… He was actually promoted to the leader of the Oda Clan. 🤣

A view from above…

I haven’t moved much… Alessandro is trying to sneak up behind me and Matt’s men have started to enter the fray…

Headless orders his arquebusiers to fire… It looked impressive but even the barn door walked away without a scratch…

I send my bodyguards forward to clear the road ahead…

Takeda (Alessandro ) throws his Samurai at Shimazu’s (Matt’s) Ashigaru…

Oda ( Steven) follows suit and heads (less) into attack Hosokawa (Israel)…

Again the keen eyed will notice some ‘ minimal’ basing on show… “youngsters today “ you might say as you roll your eyes…🙀

But I shall remind you good reader… That is six more cavalry than I managed to start let alone finish 🤣.

Ouch! Not looking too good for Israel… But Steven should be able to pick up a few spare heads to replace his own… 😁.

Matt’s Ashigaru …surprisingly… do much better against Alessandro’s Samurai…

Isreal adds his Ashigaru into the fight…

I send my rear bodyguards to slow down Alessandro’s pursuit… Even though it might attract attention to my important self…

An overview of the battlefield…

Much to everyone’s surprise… The fighting in the village still continues.

The dice gods appear to be shining on both sides… I suspect that they are simply enjoying the carnage 💀💀💀.

I order my forward bodyguards to attack Steven’s infantry… I think they all now know that I am the Dashing Daimyo

“Sore o toru!”

It looks like Oda is about to lose his H…!?? 🙀🤣🤣.

My bodyguards see off Alessandro’s men… Hurrah!

I start dashing…

My bodyguard don’t do as well as I would wish… But more importantly their bravery and loyalty is buying me time.

Looking in the rear mirror ( I have a very modern palanquin) I noticed that my men are a bit thinner on the ground than I would wish…

I continue to dash…

I reach the relative safety of Hosokawa and his brave warriors…

A lone Hosokawa Samurai decides to go and show Oda’s Ashigaru who is boss… And manages to force them back onto the spears of Shimazu’s warriors…Hurrah!

We decided to end the game here… 

A victory for the Dashing Daimyo… Hurrah!

What a very enjoyable game in excellent company…

I think we will be playing these rules again.

My new Shiny Napoleonic unit continues slowly but steadily forward… Just over half way now.

All the best.  Aly