PBI Playtesting

I travelled down to Weymouth on Friday for a day of playtesting PBI3. The journey was hampered by bank holiday traffic and it took me 6 hours instead of the usual 4, but it gave me plenty of time to listen to The Bleeding Land by Giles Kritian on Audible. 

As usual Martin put me up and after a delicious meal cooked by Julie we moved upto the Peter Pig workshop to play a game in the evening. The below picture shows Rob Roriston who played Panzer Grenadiers all mounted in half tracks up against my Russian infantry company supported by 3 T34's Rob made a big push against my objective to the left of the picture and eventually took it using a flamethrower to kill my bases in the bunker. Rob won in the end, but not by much.

Once the game was finished we cleared away and I was bedded down in the workshop. I reckoned I was in the company of around 50,000 Peter Pig figures. I was in Piggie heaven!

The remaining pictures are from the Saturday which saw about 12 of us playing with Martin floating around as rules official. Fred Cartwright was there too who has done sterling work on the armour side of the rules. The Weymouth Levellers club have been playtesting this new version of PBI for over 12 months and I think Martin is getting to the position where he is happy with how they are playing. I think he would like to get them out around October but sometime before Christmas may be more realistic.

The new PBI is a streamlined version of the previous incarnation. It still represents a company action with some support which might be a couple of tanks or guns. I didn't play PBI2 much to be honest as WW2 isn't a main interest of mine, but I am really enjoying this version and have made a few purchases to get my own armies upto strength. I have late war German and US companies plus a Russian force that will do for any period of the war. I wont go into any detail of how the rules have changed; that is for Martin to reveal when he is ready, but I can say that if the rules were released as they are tomorrow I would buy and play them.

Ade and hopefully Keith are coming over on Wednesday for a game of Men of Company B, Vietnam action in country close to the Cambodian border. A suitable soundtrack is being compiled. 

More soon...

Wargamer

Not sure why the layout is so bad on the Rome post but despite editing it several times it still comes out looking crap. Sorry about that.

Today I went down to the 'Wargamer' show in Great Barr. This use to be held in Aston a few years ago, in September if I recall. Back then it rivalled Alumwell for number of traders and demo games. Now though it is showing its age. The number of traders is reduced with no big figure manufacturers there. The games ranged from quite nice to pretty poor efforts.

Nicest game was by the 'Cobridge Old Contemptibles', playing out a Penninsular encounter in 28mm using 'Carnage and Glory' computer moderated rules. A handful of units a side with lots of character and Spanish.

Really nice to catch up with Jon Murphy and Jeff Davies. Jeff was playing for a change as he normally organises and umpires ACW games. I hadn't seen Jeff for some time and it was nice to see him. He continues his enthusiasm for the hobby and he is probably the major reason I am a wargamer and ACW nut to this day. We had a good chat about all things wargaming and beyond.

I also spoke to Jon Murphy about

http://www.stoke-challenge.co.uk/

which is a small event run in Stoke on Trent every year involving numerous wargames competitions. Along with Keith, we may look at expandingay into the an 'open day' with some participation games and demos. I also discussed the possibility of putting on a Peter Pig competition, probably PBI but maybe AK47 as well, with upto 16 or so players. I'll keep you posted.

Keith was there wih Ade and Martin. Especially good to see Martyn for reasons I wont go into, but if by any chance your reading this mate, Lisa and me are thinking of you. Keep rolling those 6's old lad.

'Off to War'

Portbury Knights held their annual PBI competition at Portbury Village Hall today. A couple of hours drive found me playing three games over the day. Great amosphere with a group of people of a similar bent. Unfortunately I only realisec I had forgotten my camera once past Birmingham so again no pictures. My New Years resolution will be to put far more pictures up as pages of just text is a bit dry.

It was great to meet up with Kevan Gunn again. A gentleman and a scholar if ever there was one. He must surely be the most travelled PBI player out there, hailing from north of the border as he does. He really taught me the game at Bournemouth earlier in the year despite him being somewhat under the weather. So he is the one to blame from me now having a PBI competitive record of 0-6! Still, winnings not everything.

And so it proved as I lost all three games today using my late war US troops. First game against Mark Robinson who was a real gent throughout whilst still kicking me all over the place. Final score 135 -3 to Mark.

Next up was David Ley who attacked and my troops held onto two objectives despite heavy losses, although he did take the primary objective. A big win to David, but I did manage 30 odd points.

Finally Peter Sides with his late war Germans. I was attacking again and the dice deserted me towards the end, leaving me with 3 bases on the table, the rest having buggered off on break tests. Over 100 points to Peter, -6 to me. Mmmmm. maybe Kevan is right about a third platoon!

Now I have played in several Brixcon AK47 events, two PBI competitions as well as numerous Warhammer Fantasy tournaments. My win ratio is pretty embarassing. Not that I mind, winning has never been the be all and end all to me on the wargames table. Consequently the only prize I have ever won was at Brixcon when I took the prize for 'the Greatest Hurt' (ie I came last). Which was ok in my eyes as Peter Pig awarded a £20 voucher for doing so.

So, much to my suprise, today I won the Best Painted Army award for my US troops. Not bad for an army painted with a base colour and Army painter dip! I was dead chuffed, especially when Martin Goddard handed to me my prize which was the Farm house and barn from the Peter Pig scenary range which I had been eyeing up as a Christmas present to me from Lisa!. Not only that but there was also some high walls and other odds and ends in the box which will be put to good use for my PBI set up.

I was also really pleased when Kevan took Most Sporting opponent which in my eyes is a real compliment to any gamer, win lose or draw. Well done Kev!

Had a nice chat with Kevan and Martin about the upcoming American War of Independance rules too which we are playtesting at the moment. Although we communicate via the YahooGroup with thoughts and ideas, it was good to talk face to face about a few things. Really liking how these are shaping up and Martin is clearly brimming with ideas.

More soon, a bit tired now after 5 hours of driving,...