El Presidente is currently indisposed wearing a white hat amongst a sea of green with blue and white flags. So his trusty sidekick the humble note taker is summarising the news from the front.
July was a busy month at both venues in the club with good turnouts and a wide variety of games being played. The number of members and visitors attending Friday and Saturday meetings averages just below 40 and at some meetings nearly all the playing space and tables are in use. Thankfully we have lots of multiplayer games and people who are happy to move around the tables socialising and working out what to play on their next visit. So far this year we have had over 85 visitors sign in and a decent number decide we are a nice mob to hand out with and join the NWA membership ranks which has just reached 84.
At Croydon Bloodbowl has made a return with a couple of games running every week, the Cold Steel crew continue to battle it out down back and Bush Wars has returned to centre stage on the pool table. Amongst these tables there continues to be a bit of SF, a bit of medieval and WWII in each week too.
Zulu Wars continues to be a regular fixture at Blackburn, the Frostgrave campaign is progressing nicely and Battletech has established a firm foothold with 3-4 games happening each week.
Don’t forget to use the Facebook Group Poll to list the games you have arranged or looking to play each week. I know that many of you work out your games behind the scenes but the poll and comments really do help new members learn more about the club and find games.
Finally Games Day 23 is only a few weeks away on the 26th August. So put it in your diary and spread the news so we get as many people through the door at Ringwood Central Community Centre on the day.
Remember if you have anything you would like to pass onto the committee or give feedback to the club don’t hesitate to email either president@nwa.org.au, secretary@nwa.org.au or submit a comments at the bottom of the page.
Participation games and traders for Games Day 23 are locked in. We are going to have a very full hall and a great selection of games covering all periods of history and genres. Please share the website with your friends, colleagues or any strangers you think will find the day interesting.
This year we have a wonder team of game organisers and assistants from NWA with members from Berwick Wargames Association, League of Ancients and Axes & Ales also running tables for us. The 20 games are:
Why did I join NWA – Member Vox Pop
“Gday, I’m Dennis and I’m one of the newest official members at NWA. I’m not really sure what was my reason was to first attend my first meeting at NWA, but Lorne introduced me to NWA when I was helping facilitate a three way Battletech mech trade between him and another guy I know out west. So I turned up to a Friday night meeting and long story short: great community, easy to get to via public transport (even if it is bloody far from me), a good excuse to crash at my best friend’s (and see his cat), and guaranteed games of Battletech makes my attendance at the fortnightly Blackburn meetings a must for me. Battletech is my game, and it’s awesome to see new players there as well as returning veterans using models older than I am. I’m very keen to smash mechs there more, and hopefully I’ll see you there! “
The Barons’ War is an early medieval skirmish game designed by Andy Hobday from Footsore Miniatures and published through Warhost. It is one of the games being demonstrated at Games Day 23 and you may have seen it being played down at Croydon meetings and maybe wondering what it is like.
The Barons’ War is set in 13th century England during the time of the first and second Barons’ Wars which stared with King John refusing the sign the Magna Carta; a splitting of the nobility into English and French camps; an uneasy peace for a decade or so; and, a constitutional crisis leading to more fighting during Henry III’s reign. In short it is a great period in which to play in with lots of local feuding lords, plenty of opportunities for ransacking, stealing your neighbours pigs and waylaying taxes. Plus it is early medieval so heraldry and surcoats bring lots of colour to the battlefield.
The game is built on a local lords retinue containing a mix of trusted companions, loyal retainers and whoever they can scrounge up for some mischief. Units are between 3-6ish figures of the same troop type, and are individualised based on experience, abilities, weapons and armour. Each retinue must be lead by a Baron or Lord with his own group. Aside from a minimum of 10% of your retinue consisting of ‘green’ troops, list building is very flexible.
The Barons’ War is a pretty simple game, using predominately D10s and encourages aggression. That said it has some unusual complexity in the game that takes a little getting used to and not everything is intuitive, especially melee combat, morale and using abilities. The quick reference sheets capture most stuff, but you will need to keep referring to the rulebook for some things and whist it has a good index, the answers are not always easy to find.
The big difference between The Baron’s War and other similar games is that whilst there are game turns, units are activated on a I Go You Go basis. So you need to anticipate how your opponent with react and the immediate implications of each move. Most units only have a single activation per turn, although a character figure maybe able encourage a unit to do a second at a critical moment.
What I like about the game is it brutality, terrain dense scenarios, decisive play being rewarded and game results often teetering on a knife edge.
The Barons’ War is well supported with supplements (Conquest – Vikings, Saxons and Normans during the 10/11th centuries and Outrider – Islamic and Christian forces in the Holy Land) and campaign books in PDF. Footsore has released The Barons’ War ranges via Kickstarter, but any and all ranges of plastic, metal or 3D printed figures of the period will work well.
A glowing yellow fly on the wall at Croydon RSL rolled their eyes at last months tall tale. So in their honour we think this might be a bit closer to home 😉
