BBB Bash Day V, Daventry, Sunday 19 May 2024

The Bloody Big Battles Bash Day has established itself as a highly entertaining wargames convention for veterans and new recruits alike. Come to Bash Day V at Battlefield Hobbies in Daventry on Sunday 19 May and find out for yourself!

There is no need to know the rules, just dive in and enjoy the historical battles on offer. While BBB games have clear objectives and victory conditions, this is not a tournament but an opportunity to discover history, banter with like-minded souls, and revel in the (mis)fortunes of war. BBB is easy to pick up and the games will be multi-player, so you will have experienced gamemasters and fellow players to assist you.  The rules won't get in the way of your tactics!

There will be time for you to play at least two in the day, maybe even three, and discover how a single ruleset opens up so many different gaming possibilities. Games available will probably include, among others:

Napoleonic: Hanau. (From the forthcoming book of scenarios for the Emperor Napoleon's battles.) BBB lets you fight even the hugest, such as Borodino or Bautzen, in just 3 or 4 hours. Feel the thrill as you shift whole corps from sector to sector and enjoy the ebb and flow as titanic armies slug it out!

Sikh Wars: Mudki. Still Napoleonic weaponry but with a very different flavour. The asymmetric nature of these battles - small but high-quality British and EIC forces against less well-trained but more numerous opponents with lots of cavalry - produces truly fascinating tactical challenges!

Crimean War: The Alma and Balaclava. Famous battles recreated as two gorgeous games by Matt Bradley. A rare chance to see his outstanding work in the flesh, as displayed on his 'Pushing Tin' blog.

(possibly) 2nd Italian War of Independence: Montebello (1859). Small 'training game', tremendous fun, pitting ponderous raw passive Austrians against outnumbered but aggressive French in a clever tactical puzzle.

(possibly) Austro-Prussian War: Langensalza (1866). Another fun tactical puzzle / training game, this time with Prussians fighting a delaying action against the Hanoverian army.

American Civil War: Brandy Station, the largest cavalry battle of the ACW. Tons of movement and action all over the pitch!

Franco-Prussian War: we will have not just one but two FPW games.  From the Imperial phase of the war, Mars-la-Tour, as Bazaine's army tries to escape west from Metz while the Germans rush up to cut him off. Play outnumbered, beleaguered Germans or passive, indecisive French! Then the republican phase will be represented by Champigny / Villiers, the largest French sortie from besieged Paris - featuring forts, gunboats and railway guns!

Zulu War: Isandlwana! A battle that needs little introduction. This game shows off Bruce's gorgeous 28mm figures and went down a storm as a participation game at Colours last year!

Spion Kop (2nd Boer War). Another famous battle brought to life on the tabletop. Can the outnumbered Boers hold off the imperial juggernaut?

Details of venue, timings, etc:

When: Sunday 19 May. 09:00-17:00 (games start ~09:30+). Whenever you turn up and however short or long a stay you can manage, we will do our best to fit you in.

Where: Battlefield Hobbies, South March, Daventry, Northants NN11 4PH.

How: turn up on the day, or (better) sign up in advance via the Battlefield Hobbies website (tab through the Events list to May) and pay £7. Spaces are limited and half have gone already (per 7 March). Book early to improve your chances of playing your preferred games.

Who: to express interest or ask questions, contact us at bbb.bashday @ gmail.com .

Read about previous Bash Days to get the flavour here.

Bash Day IV brief report (Leeds 2023)

Pre-COVID we ran three Bloody Big Battles 'Bash Day!' conventions in 2016, 2017 and 2019. I see all three reports mention 'by popular demand' and 'convivial' and I see no reason to break with tradition now. Hence: by popular demand, we were all set to run Bash Day IV in 2020 when plague struck and cancelled everything.

By the time normality returned, our BD IV organiser, Colin, had emigrated to Yorkshire and become a member of Leeds Wargames Club. LWC is blessed with its own large premises, Hicks Hall, thanks to the generosity of the late Brian Hicks. LWC kindly let us have the use of the hall to take Bash Day oop north and away from Oxford for the first time.

Colin has put a full report with plenty of pretty pictures on his own blog here, so I will try to avoid duplicating his comments in making my own. Do read his as well.

Numbers were smaller than the previous events in Oxford, as distance made it unfeasible for quite a few regulars to attend, but BBB is about quality rather than quantity and we met some high-quality people for the first time. I'm only sorry I didn't get to chat to everyone as much as I'd have liked.

The Union V and XII Corps massed at the Chancellorsville crossroads, nestled in the heart of Virginia's famous rubberised horsehair woods. Battlemat and armies generously loaned by their creator, Crispin (much appreciated, thank you). Chancellor House also hand-crafted by Crispin. I don't usually bother with unit labels but I made the effort for Bash Day and they did help, especially the highlighted text to note distinctive unit attributes (yellow and green to show XII Cps is Fragile and Raw etc).

I ran my Chancellorsville ACW scenario, of which I'm rather proud, and it did not disappoint. On Day 1 everything that could go wrong for the Confederates did go wrong and they looked likely to be steamrollered. On Day 2 they turned it round completely, defeated a well-choreographed Union punch in the center, counter-attacked, smashed several Union corps and turned ignominious defeat into emphatic victory. I have to pay tribute to CSA C-in-C Ian for cheerfully laughing in the face of adversity, and also to his US opponents Guy and Stephen for equally cheerfully accepting their eventual defeat.

In the afternoon I got to play alongside Tom and against Guy in Matt Bradley's 2nd Manassas scenario, kindly run by Tim Carne - a good tough scrap, recommended. (Scenario is in the 1861 folder of the BBB group files.)

With the prior approval of Pete Berry at Baccus, we had scheduled Bash Day to happen the day before Baccus's Joy of Six show in Sheffield. The idea was that the prospect of the two events would attract more people to make the trip to Yorkshire and attend both. That may have worked in one or two cases; it may also have deterred some local gamers who could manage one wargames day in a weekend but not two. I've no idea what the net effect was really, but at least it meant we could go to JoS ourselves and have a convivial time there as well. (See what I did there?)

All told it was a thoroughly successful and enjoyable weekend. We met a lot of good people, entertained and inspired some new players sufficiently to invest in the BBB rules, caught up with some old friends, and generally had a great time. The guys are already talking about planning Bash Day V!

Update: Bash Day V will be held at Battlefield Hobbies, Daventry, on Sunday 19 May. Details here.

=/=

Sunday's entertainment at Joy of Six. Ian and the Deesside wargamers (IIRC) laid on this beautiful game of the German invasion of Leros in 1943. Cleverly streamlined rules for convention play produced a fast and close game in which the brilliant defence Mark and I planned was narrowly overcome by jammy German dice. (That's my story anyway.) Many thanks to our good hosts and our gallant opponents.

=/=

Finally, a propos of nothing, a different recent outing:

If you are ever in central Birmingham (UK) and fancy a WWI-themed lunch of superior pub grub, you could do worse than 'The Old Contemptibles'.

BBB Bash Day IV - Leeds, 1 July 2023

BBB BASH DAY IS BACK! 

The fourth Bloody Big Battles* BASH DAY will be held in Leeds on Saturday, 1 July. This is deliberately planned to be in conjunction with the Joy of Six** show run by Baccus in Sheffield on Sunday, 2 July. (Our thanks to Peter at Baccus for his kind blessing for this plan, and to Leeds Wargames Club*** for making their fine premises available.)

The format is entirely participation games based on historical battles and using the Bloody Big Battles (BBB) rules. For the best chance of playing the game that interests you most, please sign up in advance. However, we will do our best to accommodate walk-in participants on the day. For an idea of what to expect, see reports of Bash Day I, Bash Day II and Bash Day III.

Games offered will include Napoleonic, American Civil War, Franco-Prussian War, Sikh Wars, and other C18 or C19 conflicts. The intention is that players should be able to play an entire game in the morning and/or another entire game in the afternoon. A post-battle team curry is also on the agenda. I will try to keep the list here up to date. Planned games [updated per 15 May 2023] include:

- Napoleonic (Aspern-Essling and another 1813/1814 battle TBC)

- Second Sikh War (Gujrat)

- American Civil War (2nd Manassas and Chancellorsville)

- Austro-Prussian War (Kissingen - Bavarians vs Prussians)

- Franco-Prussian War (Sedan)

- Zulu War (Nyezane or Isandhlwana)

- and maybe a BBB Q&A/discussion session over lunch.

Invitations have been sent to our existing list of potential gamemasters, but we welcome proposals from others interested in running games at Bash Day IV.

Go on, treat yourself to a wargaming weekend in Yorkshire - come to BBB Bash Day IV and Joy of Six on 1-2 July!

Colin & Chris

Bleeding Big Bash Day Team

Contact us Colin on:

bbb.bashday@gmail.com

or by PM on Facebook, write a message on the bloody big battles io group (see below) or put a comment on this BBB or Colin the wargamer blog.

 

Eye Candy

Here are some pictures taken at previous bash days and of other BBB games. Thanks to Matt Bradley, Crispin Matson, Alan Millicheap, Chris Pringle and Colin Wilcock for their kind permission to use these.

 

 

Links:

 

*Bloody Big Battles

http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/

https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles

 

**Joy of Six announcement

https://www.baccus6mm.com/news/09-01-2023/TheJoyofSix2023/

 

***Leeds Wargames Club

https://leedswargamesclub.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LeedsWargamesClub/

 

 

OWS website

https://www.oxfordwargamessociety.org.uk/

 

Practical information:

Venue address

Leeds Wargames Club - Hicks Hall, 60 Bankfield Terrace, Burley, Leeds LS4 2JR

 

Timings

Date – 1st  July 2023 - 09.00 - 17.00

 

Parking

It’s a residential area, so free, but there’s a lot of housing, so expect to spend a few minutes finding a space and walking to the club.

 

Tea & coffee will be provided but please bring your own lunch.

 

Other details will be added in due course – watch this space!

 

 

 

 

Colours 2022 - it's about the people

One of the things many of us wargamers have missed over the last three years has been gathering at conventions. My excursion to Joy of Six in July was my first show since 2019. Pre-pandemic, the annual Colours wargames convention in Newbury was an important fixture in my calendar. I was therefore happy to see it return this year - doubly so that the organisers took the smart decision to throw the doors open and make entry free to ensure a good turnout for the traders. A huge thank you to all involved in making Colours happen. Well done.

My own contribution was to help run one of the display/participation games, as I last did back in 2016, I was surprised to find. Ours was as obscure as they come: Pákozd (1848), the opening skirmish of what was to become the (unsuccessful) Hungarian War of Independence. The reason for our choice was to help announce the imminent publication of the next BBB campaign supplement, "Bloody Big Hungary '48 Battles!", coming soon to all good bookstores.

For a thorough report of the whole show, with lavish photos, see Steve J's "Wargaming Addict" blog, excellent as always. Here's just one token photo of our game. A humble 4'x4' mat with 6mm figures, not aspiring to the same heights of craftsmanship as some of the spectacular 28mm scale works of art alongside it, but rather endeavouring to show what is easily feasible for the average gamer with limited time and space who still wants to fight an entire battle in an evening.

I won't say much about the game itself - the scenario has been reported before in the PS to this post - beyond noting that we ran it to conclusion twice, with novice participants, and at a leisurely pace while interacting with passing punters.

And what a lot of punters passed, or rather, stopped to chat, comment, enquire, admire, and play! Remote gaming is all well and good but for me, at least, wargaming is very much a social activity, and it was incredibly stimulating to meet so many fellow gamers. The day was a blur and I talked myself hoarse. Barely managed to do a quick lap of the other games (such beautiful work on display) and a hasty squint at a couple of the trade stands (sorry I couldn't spend more dosh with you guys!) and down a much-needed pint with my oldest mate. I can't remember everyone's name and never even got to ask in some cases - maybe next time the organisers could give everyone a sticky label to write names on? I therefore won't name individuals here. But I was pleased to meet some luminaries of our hobby (magazine editors, noted authors, rules writers, esteemed bloggers, and the like); old friends from many a game or convention in the past; fellow forum frequenters whose names were very familiar but whom I had not met before in person; fellow enthusiasts for the period, or the scale, or the rules, or just the hobby in general; a nice Hungarian couple who were surprised and delighted to see their nation's struggle represented on the tabletop (Gábor, let me know your website!); and especially all our new friends who were excited enough to join in the game and get a taste of BBB.

All these good people added up to a long full day of almost non-stop nattering, ending up exhausted but euphoric. Well worth it!

In conclusion, then: the eye-candy of gorgeous games is nice; the chance to try new games is nice; the chance to look up close at (and buy) some of the models and figures we've seen on the web is nice; but really, wargames shows are about the interactions of all kinds with fellow gamers. It's the people that make the show and the people that make the hobby. Ladies and gentlemen, it was a pleasure to meet you all last Saturday and I hope to see you again at another show soon!

On which note, you might want to mark the weekend of 1-2 July 2023 in your diaries. Sunday 2 July will be the date of the next Joy of Six in Sheffield, the 6mm convention run by Baccus. With Baccus's blessing and the generous support of the Leeds wargames club, we plan to hold the next BBB Bash Day the day before, Saturday 1 July 2023, in Leeds. We hope this double draw will attract lots of you to Yorkshire for an epic wargames weekend! To see what to expect, reports of previous Bash Days are here.

===

Update 12 October 2022: our Colours game got a nice write-up on p20 of  "The Foreign Correspondent" issue 136 (October 2022). Many thanks to Ralph Weaver. FC is the newsletter of the Continental Wars Society. If you're interested in learning more about CWS and perhaps joining to receive FC, contact: 

Ralph Weaver, 37 Yeading Avenue, Harrow, Middlesex HA2 9RL, UK. ralphcws@hotmail.com 

Or if you are in the US:

Robert Burke, 1919 Mount Conness Way, Antioch CA 94531, USA. burker1@aol.com 

Bash Day III was a blast!

The third Bloody Big Battles Bash Day was held in Oxford on Sunday 12 May 2019. Thirty players got together and played morning and afternoon games of the seven participation games on offer.

Upstart rebels confront forces of the Crown at Germantown.

(No, that's not a local rival of The Plough.)

Photo by kind permission of Alan Millicheap.

Let me pay tribute here to all the dedicated and creative gamemasters who laid on such beautiful and enjoyable games. In chronological order by battle:

Bruce McCallum: Edgehill (1642), English Civil War

Haim Ben-Zion: Helsingborg (1710), Great Northern War

Rodge Williams & Alan Millicheap: Germantown (1777), American War of Independence

Dave Whaley: 2nd Battle of Komárom (1849), Hungarian War of Independence

Crispin Matson: Italian War (1859) – trio of Montebello, Palestro and Magenta

Simon Dunsterville: Gettysburg (1863), American Civil War

Anton van Dellen: Colenso (1899), Second Boer War

These gentlemen's efforts included creating custom terrain, designing scenarios, painting up armies specially, and above all, getting up unreasonably early on a Sunday morning to set up to entertain others. Huge thank yous and very well done. (Some photos of a couple of the games here.)


Thank you also to those who helped out with logistical support in various ways, setting up tables, collecting entrance fees, washing up etc, lending troops, having reserve games ready in case of dropouts, and general encouragement and moral support.

Last but not least, thank you to the players. Thank you all for coming to Bash Day and participating in such good spirit.

To those who wanted to be there but couldn't for various reasons: sorry you couldn't make it, we missed you, and hope you can get to the next one.

It was a bonus that we were so efficient this year that almost all the games were done by 4:30 p.m., enabling a very convivial reorg and replen phase in the Plough.


It was a great day and could hardly have gone better. We had a wonderful variety of games (over 250 years of history) and scales (2mm, 6mm, 10mm and 15mm all on display). We had pretty much ideal ratios of players to games, so by and large everyone got two or even three games in and had a fair share of battle, no players sidelined and no GMs sitting forlorn and neglected. People mixed and mingled, made new friends and got new ideas. Above all, we all achieved the #1 victory condition, to have fun.

Therefore, my final thank you is to all those who nudged and chivvied me for the last year or so and finally prompted me to run Bash Day III. As I write this on a tide of caffeine, sleep deprivation and general euphoria, I can say with some confidence that we will want to repeat it and run Bash Day IV in 2020. Comments welcome as to what features to keep, and what to change and improve, etc.

Until then: Bash On!

Chris