Ancients Competition 

27 December 2004. The first semi-final was won by Brett, using an Alexandrian Imperial army, against Philip with New Kingdom Egyptians. Brett goes on to play the winner of the other semi-final game between Andrew and Paul.

Club meeting 19 December 

The last meeting of the year was a fairly quiet one. Aaron, Dan, Matt and Rob continued with the Warhammer Quest, and the card game Illuminati also made an appearance.
Flames of War - Rob's British beat Kit's Italian colonial army in an early war battle.
DBR 15mm - Kelly's Ottoman Turkish army defeated Philip's Algerians with Spanish allies. We used 450 AP armies.

Club meeting 5 December 

Warhammer Fantasy Battle - There were a couple of WHFB games, followed by some Warhammer Quest roleplaying. In one of the battles, Dan the Vampire Count won with a slim margin over Rob the Chaos Mortal.
DBR 15mm - Philip's Algerians and Jono's Parliamentarians fought to a draw, with both armies breaking. To avoid shipwreck the Algerian galleys beached themselves. The marines then landed only to be shot to pieces by the English dragoons. It's a tough life in the navy.
Shattered Lances - Brendan and Philip had another test game. The Ghaznavid general perched on top of an elephant had a splendid view of his army disappearing in rout around him. The Turkomen general didn't have such a good view of his victorious army, having himself fled in rout...
The old favourite Space Crusade also appeared at the club.

Natcon 2005 

The Christchurch Wargaming Club is hosting the national wargaming convention at Easter next year. They have some information about the convention on the Natcon website. There will be competitions in these periods:
Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer Fantasy
DBM 15mm
DBM 25mm
Flames of War
Lord of the Rings
Volley and Bayonet
Panzer Marsch!

Club meeting 21 November 

Flames of War - Rob's Germans defeated Gerard's Americans
Warhammer Fantasy Battle - Dan "The Bad Guys won" and the Vampire Counts beat Aaron and Matt's Elven and Empire Armies.
DBM 15mm - Brett and Lee had an Ancient competition game. Brett's Alexandrian Macedonians scored a 10-0 win over Lee's Han Chinese.
Shattered Lances - Brendan and Andrew had a test game.
 ... and yes, Dr Lucky copped it again.

Club meeting 7 November 

Flames of War - Rob's Brits defeated Garth's Germans.
Flames of War - Kendall (Germans) and Kit (Indians) had a game (result unknown at this time)
Warhammer Fantasy Battle - Aaron's Elves took on Dan's Vampire Counts.
DBR 15mm - Nic and Brett played an English Civil War scenario, with a win to the Royalists.
DBM 25mm - Paul and Andrew had a competition rematch, this time Paul's Burgundians gaining a 10-0 victory over Andrew's Chinese.
Principles of War 15mm - Philip and Edwin had a game using 1859 Austrians and Piedmontese.
... and a couple of rounds of "Kill Dr Lucky" to wrap up the club meeting.

BattleCry 2005 

America: Auckland University Roleplaying Group have a mixed event coming up called BattleCry, which includes wargaming, card gaming and roleplaying tournaments. It is to be held the weekend of the 19th and 20th of February 2005 at the Freemans Bay Community Hall. At the moment they  have confirmed a Warhammer 40K tournament (2 days), a Blood Bowl tournament (1 day), an Ancients/Medieval 25mm DBM tournament (2 days). They are also running a Jyhad cardgaming (2 days), 2 1-day Magic cardgaming tournaments, a Starwars cardgaming tournament (1 day), a DnD minatures tournament (1 day) and 2 days of roleplaying. There will be a Live Action game on the Saturday night and there may be some sort of game of Trollball/papersword battle on the Sunday. There are some other gaming-type tournaments not yet confirmed. These include Flames of War, Warhammer Fantasy and L5R (Legends of the 5 Rings) cardgaming. 

Black Tree Design Miniatures

30 October 2004. Dave Knowles is the Oz agent for Black Tree Design Miniatures and he is offering members of wargames clubs a 10% discount on their ranges of miniatures. This of course would not be included if the miniatures were on sale already. There is a poster attached that pretty much explains how to order and contact details. Discount will be given for orders that come thru Dave and not using the online ordering system on the web. Any question please drop him a line [email protected]
Black Tree Design has ranges of 28mm miniatures: Harlequin Fantasy, Fantasy Armies, Legions of the Realm, Ancients, Hundred Years War, Feudal, Dark Ages, Zulu Wars, World War 2.

Club meeting 24 October

Flames of War - Kit and Garth had a game, using Kit's new Indians and also his Italian army.
DBM 25mm - In a closely fought competition game, Andrew gained a 9-1 victory over Paul. Andrew used Han Chinese, Paul used Burgundians.
DBMM 25mm - Gerard (Early Imperial Roman) beat Brett (Medieval Germans)
Moderns 6mm - Kendall (Germans) beat Philip (Russians)
Concluding the meeting, several of us played a couple of games of the splendid boardgame "Kill Dr Lucky."

Club meeting 10 October

A day that started full of promise - the club was buzzing with activity. The hall was full of tables with all sorts of interesting games. Some of us were painting new figures, planning new armies, and trying new rules. After the first of the games had concluded a few keen chaps went to support the mighty North Harbour, while the rest of us had a TV set up at the club hall...
The wargames:
WWII Aerial - Andrew and Matthew had a dogfight, but with little credit to the pilots the British flew home after running out of ammunition.
Flames of War - Michael's Germans won a 4-3 victory over Kit's Russians in a 4000-point game. That's a lot of Russians on the table! Michael maintained his record of dive-bombing his own panzers three games in a row.
Flames of War - Rob's British took on Garth's Germans.
Flames of War - Grant (Germans) and Kendall (British) played a FoW game using 6mm figures, with quite a satisfactory game both from the visual aspect and in game play. After lots of armour was destroyed the win went to the British.
DBM 15mm - Jono's Lydian hoplites redeemed themselves, winning a resounding victory over Danny's crusaders.
Shattered Lances 15mm - Brendan ran a couple of scenarios using the latest draft of Shattered Lances, the first game against Brett,and then against Jono.
DBR 15mm - Our newest club member, Nic, played a renaissance game with Philip. Nic's Dutch defeated Philip's Maximilian Imperialists.
Rugby (full scale) - North Harbour almost won the game...

Club meeting 26 September

DBM 15mm - Philip's Mithridatics and loyal Armenian allies defeated Jono's Lydians with unreliable Greek allies.
DBMM 15mm - Brett (Early Samurai) beat Andrew (Hittite Empire)
DBR 15mm - Grant (Cossacks) beat John (Italian Wars French)
Flames of War - Michael's late war Germans beat Kendall's American airborne force.
Flames of War - Kit's Russians beat Garth's Germans.
Warhammer - Rob had a game against Dan the Vampire Count.

Club meeting 12 September

Quite an interesting meeting today, with our club's usual eclectic array of games. It was good to see a few new faces at the club, and old faces returning. There were a few more games in the club ancients competition which has been rather quiet recently.

Shattered Lances  - Brendan and Kendall refought the battle of Ascalon 1099.
DBM 15mm - Brett's Carthaginians defeated Jono's Persians. Hannibal's warbands bowled over the Greek mercenary hoplites in the Persian army.
DBM 25mm - Philip (Kushite Egyptian) beat Al  (the Spartan.) It was a particularly successful day for the Kushite archers. The battle was decided by a combat between the two C-in-Cs, only the Egyptians had a fast Light Horse sneaking around the flank...
DBM 25mm - Andrew (Han Chinese) beat John (Later Samurai)
DBR 15mm - Danny (German Catholics) beat Grant (Cossacks)
Flames of War - Garth's Germans took on vast numbers of Michael's Russians.
And no club meeting would be complete without those Damn Battleships Again! Andrew's new British fleet inflicted a defeat on Stu's Americans. The American admiral travelled in style on a yacht, but the rest of the fleet struggled against the more modern British battleships. Andrew deployed an innocent looking merchant ship... sowing a minefield behind it. 

Push of Pike

On the weekend of 4 & 5 September 2004 we hosted the first Push of Pike 15mm DBR Renaissance wargaming tournament. Congratulations to Danny who led his Imperialists in four straight wins to take out the trophy. Full details are on the Renaissance page.

This is who we are... Standing, left to right: Dave, Kendall, Stu, John, Danny. Seated: Philip, Kelly, Brett, Jono. (Richard absent from the picture.) Note in the background the subtle interplay of light and shadow, together with a glimpse of the coffee machine.

"Its importance in the game is to increase staying power (starving and ragged troops may not fight well)" DBR, p.8, paragraph 4. Also, in the background, the battle between the Muslim Indians and Early Danes.

Club meeting 29 August

DBR 15mm - Stuart (Montrose Scottish) beat Jono (Parliamentarian)
DBM 25mm -  Al's Spartans were defeated by Andrew's Han Chinese (with an early flank march)
Flames of War - Several FoW games today: Kendall (British) v Lee (Russian); Brett (Germans) v Lee (Russians); Kit Germans) v Brett (Russians); and Garth (Germans) v Rob (Brits in the crucible).
Warhammer Fantasy Battle - Another three-sided game, with lots of Elves and Undead.
Moderns 1/300 - Gerard's British defeated Philip's Russians (actually Kieran's Russians under new management.)

Club meeting 15 August

Shattered Lances - A game between Brendan and Philip using Brendan's new Crusades era ruleset. A unit of chevaliers charged gallantly into a body of horse archers, but were soon routed leaving behind their dead general. The rest of the Ghaznavid army was manoeuvring to surround the confused crusaders.
DBR 15mm - Brendan's Early Danes took on John's German Minor States. A game of mutually assured destruction with both armies breaking.
DBR 15mm -  Philip (Knights of St John) beat Jono (Parliamentarian). A good day for the fast blades!
Flames of War - A large game between the allies, Kendall (US Airborne) and Rob (British armour), and the Germans, Brett and Garth. A decisive win to the allies. Kendall: "Not such a silly game."
Warhammer Fantasy Battle - Dan the Undead took on an army of Elves.
Napoleonics 15mm - Two games between Gerard and Andrew. In the first one, using Principles of War rules, Gerard claimed a 'crushing victory' over Andrew's Italians. In the second game Andrew upgraded to an French army. Regrettably his results weren't upgraded. That game was played using a new set of rules being developed by Andrew and other Napoleonic players at the club.
Naval - Certainly the most stylish game of the day was an 1898 Spanish-American naval battle between Stu and El Andrew, using the Damn Battleships Again rules. The battle was a win to the Spanish, but they still have to explain how one of their ships collided with a stationary island. Both fleets were scratch built by Stu, as was the island.

Club meeting 1 August

DBMM 15mm - Two Alexandrian Imperial armies faced each other, commanded by Jono and Brett. Jono's larger mounted wing quickly overthrew Brett's cavalry, but Brett's four-deep pikes defeated Jono's three-deep formation giving him the victory. One of the Alexanders made a 'brilliant stroke' charging into some rough going, and was never seen again...
DBR 15mm - A historical match between Philip (Knights of St John) and Kelly (Ottoman Turks). The Knights had only two mounted elements, neither of which survived the game, but the firepower of their galleys, arquebusiers, and artillery in a fortified town gave them the victory over the invading Turks.
Rapid Fire 15mm - Kit and Kendall played a WWII scenario, the Groesbeek Heights, with the Germans counterattacking the American landing zones near Nijmegen. By the end of the day the American paratroopers were pinned down and surrounded. Kendall : "Stupid game!"

Flames of War Stalingrad book

31 July 2004. Stalingrad is the latest book for Flames of War, due to be released next Thursday, cost $40. Fans of the movie Enemy at the Gates will be pleased to see that Vassili Zaitsev and Koenig both make an appearance!

New Wargames Shop

23 July 2004. Our intelligence agent in Newmarket reports that there is a new toy soldier shop called Urban Warfare (suppressed laughter). Historic Games now have competition. Who will survive?

Club meeting 18 July

DBMM 15mm - Andrew's Early Germans beat Kendall's Normans in Sicily, losing only two and a half element equivalents. Kendall : "Stupid game!"
DBM 25mm - Philip's Kushite Egyptians beat Brett's Medieval Germans in a club competition game.
DBR 15mm - Danny's Danes beat Jono's brand new Parliamentarians, an army completely painted in two weeks!
Flames of War - Rob and Kit had a game using Afrika Korps and Brits, in a mid-war game. Much amusement for everyone witnessing the glorious British solo truck assault on some paks, but ultimately a 4-3 win to the Germans.

Club meeting 4 July

WHFB - Dan's Vampire Counts got a minor victory over Rob's Beastmen.
DBR 15mm - Philip's Algerians defeated Danny's Eastern Frontier Imperialists. A lucky cannon shot knocked the German C-in-C off his horse, and then the Janissaries and Algerian warbands charged forward.
DBMM 25mm - Brett's Medieval Germans beat Kelly's French Ordinance. The German battle report has their cavalry turning a flank, the Swiss allies of the French advancing down the centre creating a gap through which the German knights attacked. A more satisfying game than using the DBM rules, especially for the winner who got the points for the ancient competition.
Franco-Prussian - Matthew and Kendall had a game using the 1870 Grand Tactical Rules for the Franco-Prussian War.