Last night finished a four-evening saga, over two weekends, the battle of Tsushima 1905

Used our pre-dreadnought variant of General Quarters I/II, a very amusing time had by all with many of the ships being unable to hit the opponents that sailed past, let alone damage them. The Russian flagship and two other Borodino class battleships managed to get past the main Japanese fleet and headed for Vladivostok. The same could not be said for quite a few of the remainder of the Second Pacific Squadron.

Four players 10.5 hours playing time

Last games - Lost a Battlegroup Overlord as Germans. The there was the winning demo at Phalanx, my contribution the mustang and acidity 

Yesterday was the BBB Bash Day convention. Full report on this excellent day will follow.

I played in one of the games: Chattanooga (ACW).
I was on the Union side. I think our plan was sound enough, working around both flanks and drawing rebel units out of their fortified positions by manoeuvre rather than frontal assault, before attacking in the centre as well.
There was one pivotal moment, an assault against one of the Confederate divisions linking Missionary Ridge with Lookout Mountain, that went in with pretty good odds but got bounced off by bad dice. Had it succeeded, we'd have been through there in time to seize a road junction objective plus help to roll up Missionary Ridge from both ends. As it was, we barely managed a draw.
Excellent scenario, full of options for both sides and replay value.

ACW: Shiloh. (BBB rules.)
Visited the Abingdon club and joined BBB newcomers Bob and Phil.
Classic bloody tussle in the woods.
Our Confederates stormed up the table past Shiloh Church and carried the Sunken Road and the Hornet's Nest.
We played all of Day 1.
At the end of it, the Union still held enough objectives to claim victory.
However, if we'd fought Day 2, even though the Union would get reinforcements, I think the Confederates could well have turned it around, because the Union army was so battered (5 of its 7 divisions on-table were Spent) that we could have rolled up.
With four players, we'd have been able to play Day 2 as well. As it was, good fun and left us with a what-if that makes me want to play it again.

Got behind on the count, whoops
Sabresquadron Korea

ACW Black Powder - Glory Hallelujah 3 players 2.5 hours, with a 4th joining for the last hour on the second evening

Fighting over the Bloody lane at Antietam again, a Confederate victory this time

For King & Parliament Two games 2 hours and 1.5 hours, two players

Used 80 point armies to check how long the games would take and if there were enough troops to be interesting games

First game was a nail-biter either unit could have won the game. The Royalist Pike & Shot charged a unit of Pike & Shot that had been pinned in hedgehog but a plucky unit of mounted Dragoons. The attack went very badly, the Royalist unit was lost, breaking the army   

Second game was much more straight forward. The Royalist Horse was broken forcing a unit of Pike & Shot into hedgehog. The Parliamentarian foot punched through the centre. Royalist army broke with no loss to Parliament       

The tests were successful, games could comfortably be played in a couple of hours and there were plenty of decisions and options for both players. A few slightly different chits in the second game could have given the Royalist a chance of victory

Great to hear people still having fun with FK&P!  That includes me, by the way!

Six of us had a splendid time on Sunday fighting the three-day battle of Pered (1849).
I like to think of this as "Hungary's Waterloo" as there are so many parallels: basically, the Hungarians are trying to beat the Austrian army before the Russians can turn up to save them.
Full photo-AAR on the BBBBlog:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2025/07/decisions-decisions-players-gambles-pay.html

Top report Chris

QuoteQ1: Nineteen
Ancients 1
FWR 1
Napoleonic 1
ACW 1
Boer War 3
RJW 1
WWI(Air) 1
WWII 8
WWII(Air) 2

WWII(Air) is a bit unusual as we are doing the Big Week campaign with Fire in the Sky.  WWII land comprise two new rules under development: Monty / Eisenhower Unchained (E rewritten without the grid), and a card based system without dice.  Our Boer War refight has moved from Principles of War to BBB!  ACW is Altered of Freedom, a club rewrite of the original AoF rules.

Q2: Twenty-Three
Ancients 3
ACW 1
Sudan War 1
Sengoku Period 1
WWI(Air) 1
WWII 12
WWII(Air) 2
WWII (Naval) 1
Modern 1

Good scores

BKCIV
More on this later.

Quote from: Duke Speedy of Leighton on 02 July 2025, 08:35:10 PMBKCIV
More on this later.

CONTACT... wait... out.

One game of Guards of Traitor's Toll.

Finally got to play Sabre Squadron (company-level moderns).
Arab-Israeli tank action in 1973.
Centurions demonstrated their superiority over T-55s in both attack and defence.
AAR here:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2025/07/sabre-squadron-arab-israeli.html