First Game with Torpedoes and Tides

 When Cruel Seas first came out we played it a lot and Colin and myself invested heavily in additional boats. But after a while the rules became more complicated and less fun, so we stopped playing. My little ships have sat on the self for a few years and every now and then I've thought about getting them out, but never bothered.

So, I got very exited about Torpedoes and Tides, the new WW2 costal forces wargame by Thomas Brandstetter (published by Ganesha Games). The rules use the same mechanisms as Galleys and Galleons, which in turn is built on A Song of Blades and Heroes (both also published by Ganesha Games). This makes the game somewhat more abstract than other rules systems, but also provides for a truly fast-play rule set. Reading through we both liked the very clever way that spotting and the strength and position of the moon played important roles, after all, the majority of small boat encounters took place at night.

Colin came over the other day, so that we could try the game out with my old Cruel Seas boats.

We started off with a historical scenario from the book, Making a Beginning, which the author suggests as a good place for players to familiarise themselves with the basic rules.

It's a simple scenario, 2 S Boats are returning to port and ambushed by 3 RN gunboats.

Nothing much happened for the first move, the Germans ran for home and the British closed in. In turn two one of the British boats revealed itself and fired a star shell, which made spotting the S boats easier. Boats cannot fire, or be targeted, whilst they are moving on a blind.

Here is the situation at the end of turn 2, one S boat has been spotted, the blue splash marker represents the star shell (getting to reuse some of the Cruel Seas gubbins!).

                                               

In turn 3 all of the gunboats pounded the closest S Boat, which took heavy damage and had a gun knocked out. With 3 hits it was now battered and now activated with 3 red dice (or in our case black dice). I rolled two 6s and a 1. Rolling a 1 on a red die means taking an All At Sea test (a sort of panic test). My result was to fire blindly at the closest target. 

Fortunately I had already moved my other S Boat out of the way, so I blasted the closest British gunboat, not causing any damage but suppressing it.

In turn 4 my damaged S Boat took more hits and exploded! The other S Boat managed to slink off table, unharmed. An easy win for the RN, but fun to play and it gave us an understanding of the rules.

Our second game was a convey mission. The Germans had two freighters escorted by a Vorpstenboot and 2 Kriegfischkutters pounced on by 2 RN MTBs and 2 RN MGBs.

Turn 1 didn't start well for the British, the first blind rolled one activation and 2 fails, so moved forward alone and passed the turn over to the Germans. For activations, players roll 1 to 3 d6s per boat/blind, if they roll 2 or more fails its a turnover and the initiative passes to the other player.

I had the British so, once I got going, I threw the MGBs forward to engage the escorts and try and spot the freighters, whilst the MTBs hung back, waiting for targets!

This tactic worked brilliantly as the German escorts broke formation to engage the MGBs and Colin moved one of his little Kriegfischkutters (I need to find an abbreviation for that!) into the path of his Vorpostenboot! Both boats took damage from the collision, combined with the gunfire from the MGBs the Kriegfischkutter was now battered (3 hits) and the Vorpostenboot not much better (2 hits).

I saw a gap and one of my MTBs sped forward and launched 2 torpedoes....which both missed! The rules say that torpedoes that miss the target are taken off, but we decided to let them run after missing the target. We marked the launch point and the full extent of the torpedo's run, if anything crossed the line until the next British turn, we would roll for another torpedo attack on that target. This is something the author originally thought of including, laying a stick on the table to mark the torpedo's run, but decided to reject in the end.

Colin now failed his first activation in two consecutive turns (he started with a freighter both times which are difficult to activate). This did mean that the first freighter crawled forward (an activated ship must move, if a player doesn't use any actions to move it, it makes a compulsory short move straight ahead). This allowed my boats to swing around the convoy like Comanche around a wagon train! As the MTB pulled itself around to make a second pass it blasted the other Kreigfischkutter, scoring a lucky hit and setting it on fire!

The second MTB launched two more torpedoes, also missing the freighter! The MGBs were now the other side of the freighters, blasting them with all they had. the light weaponry on the small boats meant that I needed lucky dice to effect the bigger ships, but it was worth a chance and I did some damage! The MGBs were safe from the torpedoes, as their shallow draft meant that the fish just passed underneath them. The battered Kreigfischkutter now rolled a 1 for one of it's activations and the skipper panicked and fled. The boat must now use at least two of it's activations to leave the table.

The first MTB had now moved around to make a second run, launching it's last 2 torpedoes, missing again!

Fortunately for me, the second freighter ten moved into the path of the torpedoes and I rolled a hit, at last!

I rolled well on the effects chart and the freighter was wrecked!

At this point the remaining German vessels moved off the table edge, so it was game over. I has battered all three escorts, sunk one freighter and badly damaged the other with gunfire, for just some scratched paintwork on the MGBs. However my Victory Conditions were 3VPs for a sunk freighter and VP for a battered one. Colin got 3 VPs for each escaped freighter, so it was a draw!

We loved the rules, each game was under an hour and really was fast play. the simplicity of the basic mechanisms allowed tactics to be more important, rather than the minutia of  different weapons charts and whether a particular boat travels at 30 knots or 35.

First impressions are a well thought-out set of rules that get a superb and fun game. I'm looking forward to trying the rules out with larger forces and more players.

BuckMoot - A Midgard Heroic Battles Gaming Day in Aylesbury - Update 1

 CALLING ALL MIDGARD PLAYERS

We are still open to further games for Buckmoot. To host a game you do not need to be an  umpire, just bring the armies along and join in the fun and play it. Or even leave the players to get on with it, while you join in another game you fancy. 

If you have written a scenario you want to test out, or created a couple of army lists and would like other players’ feedback, this would be an opportunity to get it on the table and try it out! 

The game selection is not finalised, but far we have:

Bronze Age Historical - recreate the epics of Homer on the plain before the walls of Troy

Chronopia Fantasy - battle in the hot sands of the Land of Two Rivers

Italian Wars Historical - Lead the chivalry of France to glory against the League of Venice

BUCKMOOT: A fun day of Midgard Heroic Battles games in mid-Buckinghamshire

When: 19th September 2026 10am - 4pm

Where: Walton Parish Hall, Walton Street, Aylesbury, HP21 7QX

Cost: £11 including tea, coffee and biscuits

Anyone interested in hosting a game, or just attending as a player, please contact me on BuckMoot@gmail.com

Herts of Lard 2026

 On Saturday Mark and I trekked to Rickmansworth (well drove 45 minutes actually!) for Herts of Lard 2026. This is a day of Two Fat Lardies games and great fun. This year there were 15 different games and about 78 participants.

In the morning I played an Aliens scenario, using a variant of What a Cowboy. I'd never player these rules before, but (as with many lardie rules) they were fun to play and easy to pick up the basics. I got to play with the heroes of the film, Ripley and Hicks.

We got lucky a few times, but managed to kill the Alien Queen. We ran out of time to finish the game, but we had a clear escape route, so the umpire gave us a win. the only player killed was Burke, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation lacky, so no one was sorry about that!

Sucess, Ripley finds Newt!

My afternoon game was a Dark Age base using Midgard. This was a superb scenario, based on the Battle of Cynuit from Bernard Cornwell's novel The Last Kingdom. Despite being slaughtered as the Saxons, I had so much fun I forgot to take any pictures! So here is a shot of the morning game by the scenario's creator, Simon Stokes.

Here is a few shots of the other games.

 

A rather superb 28mm Chain of Command game set in 1940. I loved this railway station, it reminded my of a couple of stops on the heritage railway we visited in Alsace last year.

Another WW2 game, this might have been I Ain't Bin Shot Mum!

Another 28mm Chain of Command bash, again nice buildings.

A snowy Battle of the Bulge game, again Chain of Command.

What a Commando, a WW2 special forces dust up using a variant of What a Cowboy.

Napoleonic ships, not sure what rules, I don't think this was Kiss me Hardy..

A really nice Shape Practice! again based on an incident from a Bernard Cornwell novel.

A Chain of command game set in Normandy.

Another Sharpe Practice! game, no prizes for guessing where this is set.

And one more WW2 game, set in the North Africa. Not sure, but I suspect this was also a Chain of Command game.

There was also Sink the Scharnhorst, a Bag the Hun aerial game, but when I passed by the table there was nothing to see, except an expanse of sea!

This year I arranged things to stay on and join the evening gathering at the pub for a very nice meal and a few beers. I spent a very pleasant evening with a bunch of gamers who had travelled down from Yorkshire, then staggered off to the station and got the train home. A fantastic day and I'm looking forward to next year!

Refighting Chronopia with Midgard 3

 Colin and I tried another outing with my Chronopia armies. This time I had tweaked the Devout list to give them a separate magic user, as the Army Commander had been too busy in the previous game to use and spells.

Turn One:

The Devout start off as the Attacker and move forward. The Stygian match them and I charge my unit of Great Warriors (Knihjts) into the end of the Devout battle line. Out of camera shot are the two lighter mounted units on either end of my line, who were intend the envelope the Devout armies flanks, but both refused to pass their second movement!

The Great Warriors charge! 

A view from the Devout side of the table.

Some outstanding dice rolling for the Great Warriors, wiping the Risen unit out in a single round of melee!

 

Turn Two

The Devout's turn to get aggressive. The fast moving Tormented charge the Warriors in front of them, the Soul Flayer Demon flys across the rocky ground and slams into the unit behind.

 

On the flank the unit of Swordsmen  turn and, passing their second movement test, charge the Great Warriors. Who fail to countercharge!!!

As expected, the Tormented push the little Stygian Warrior back.

As does the Soul Flayer Demon.

But, despite suffering casualties, the Great Warriors push their attackers back.

The Stygian turn and the Priestess casts a Weakness spell on the Cursed Axemen (reducing their armour). Then the Stygian Guardian leads the Embalmed in a charge into the reeling axemen. Gaining a good bonus of Reputation Points, Hero charging, Army Commander charging and targeting the enemy Army Commander. They wipe the Cursed out and their Commander runs to the safety on the nearby unit.

On the other side of the table the Starved charge the Greatswordsmne in front of them. The Starved are a bit of a one-shot weapon, very effective in combate but lacking in armour, so die quickly.

A view of the Soul Flayer from the unfortunate Stygian perspective, just before the Demon rips the last survivors apart.

At the end of Turn Two the Reputation is 8:5 to the Stygian army (I'd already turned the die over before taking this picture).

 

Turn Three

Blood and guts all over the place in this turn, as units fade away on both sides of the table. The Damned (nasty big beastie) charges into a fresh unit of warriors.

Devout Greatswordsmen charge the badly wounded Embalmed, killing it. This is a nasty shock for the Stygian, the creature is a loss of 5 Rep points!!! Somehow the unit facing the Tormented fight it to a standstill.

The Damned gets pushed back and the Staved and their opponents cut each other down, leaving the two Heroes to fight on. In the Stygian combat round the Heroes batter away at each other, taking a wound apeice, before the Stygian falls beneath his opponent's blade.

I manage to charge a fresh unit into the rear of the tormented and the creature is slain. But the battlefield is looking pretty empty now.

At the end of Turn Three we both had Zero Reputation. We decided to call it there, as neither of us could see a way that either side could make much difference in the following turn. A Draw, we had battered each other to a standstill.

A great fun game to play. Very bloody and fast. As neither side had any missile capability to speak of, it was just a case of getting stuck in to the gory business as quickly as possible.