Had a great time at M-Con this weekend. I spent most (all) of my time either playing, game mastering or kibitzing 54mm All the King's Men games. Players were introduced to the game; not a negative vibe was heard about the rules set. 54mm collecting and wargaming is relatively new for me. I enjoy painting All the King's Men figures by Ken Cliffe. I don't work for him but am an avid collector, painter and yeah....a fanboy! So sue me already! Here's some shots of the weekend's festivities. The photos are all taken with a phone camera so the quality won't be that of Ansel Adams.
I put on several ATKM (All the King's Men) games this weekend. My collection is primarily American Revolutionary War at this time. My games were played on an 8x6 table with custom terrain squares I've had for years.
Ken Cliffe released American Civil War 54mm miniatures. He also was able to get Del Prado artillery models for this and his Napoleonic line. I'm sure the purist and collector geek will pick this line apart but they're fun to paint, and look great in units either in the display case or on the wargaming table.
In the background of this shot is All the King's men buildings. I've got a few of these buildings. They're foam/resin/I don't know. They paint up really nicely and are scaled to fit the figures. No more dinky buildings for a 54mm game.
We played a six player BFG at MCon. We played on a 6x16' table with 18 units per side. Ken ran a great game. The rules handle multi-player games well. The game is card driven. That turns some players off as there is a perception of a lack of fairness as cards are turned. Using only two suits of cards works just fine. Ken also used secret objectives for each player so working together got a bit more difficult. This shot is my British contingent. Two line infantry battalions and a Highlander battalion "without trews". Flanking them is a Hessian medium gun battery/crew. The general didn't use them correctly and proceeded to get the only artillery piece on the British side silenced much to the frowns of his fellow generals.
I painted a unit of Hessian Jagers recently. I finally got to use them personally. They were fun to paint and pretty cool to use on the game battlefield. They held their own throughout the game as the Patriot general tried to take the hasty works position. In the background, my Continentals and militia are moving up to take the works. The red "bead" by the Jagers is part of the game system. The unit is out of functions and gives/takes casualties with a roll of "6" on a D6.
Wargaming with 54mm figures is a definite visual treat. The games draw young and old gamers. The older gamers tend to reminisce about "those games I played as a kid" and the younger gamers tend to just want to know if they can play. This shot is one of my British Line Infantry units. In the background are my Fusiliers and Highlanders.
We pushed the Patriots away from the clearing to the right. It was quite costly for both sides. Multiple units were wiped out by fire and by melee. The game handles both extremely well. It looked like a clear flank to turn.
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| British Arty-ATKM |
A shot of my British artillery. More All the King's Men figures and artillery models. Great stuff! Fun to paint
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| Continental Infantry-ATKM |
A shot of one of my Continental infantry units advancing. In the background is a shot of a Patriot militia units. The Continentals are All the King's Men figures while the figures in the back are plastic Accurate Miniatures. Both lines paint well with no chipping of paint to date using a Rustoleum white primer, Vallejo Acrylic base coats, Minwax Royal Walnut brushed on, flat sprayed, highlighted with Vallejo colors and flat sprayed again. Easy to do, fast to complete, and they look good!
Not so good shot of General Fop. This is another All the King's Men miniature. Looks as if he had a reins malfunction. That sucks. I thought I had fixed all of them before the game!
Hessians and that pesky Anhalt depot battalion advance under fire.
More BFG....Hessian Fusiliers and Grenadiers move up to fill a gap "if you please, sir".
American militia....all we're asking for is two good shots! That's two GOOD shots.
British Light Infantry. I like these figures. Fun to paint and look cool on the table!
I'm well on my way with the Napoleonic 54mm project. I picked up a box set of Victrix French Grenadiers, two battalions of French Line infantry (ATKM of course), British Line infantry (1812 stovepipes), French artillery and Britsh RHA. The journey continues! You should join me! The figures are not expensive, they paint quickly and are consistently fun to paint. We've got a small (very small) cadre of players and folks beginning to paint their collections. Drop me a line here or at pilum40@sbcglobal.net if you're interested in learning more or playing a game or three!
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