Cigar Box Wargame & C&C Tricorne Dice

         Last week I took the week off. My Mother-in-Law passed away, and I stayed with my wife to keep her company. I started thinking of different projects  that I could try to start working on. One thing that troubled me about my Cigar Box Wargame is that everything was just thrown in with no organization. I wanted to thin out both the 2mm units and landscape terrain.

     I did find a couple of small trays that I could put the units into. I then added a center divider, and made a lid to cover the trays of figures. The other half holds the terrain pieces and dice.

The new setup of my Cigar Box Wargame.

     I also found some custom Command & Colors Tricorne dice, which I ordered. They were a little pricy, but I'm happy with the purchase.

Laptop Wargaming

         Personal issues have stopped just about all my gaming in the last couple of months. I also started working on an indoor target range,  which I use BB and pellet guns. Also, although the current pandemic have many people losing their jobs, my job is still considered "essential", so I still have a job to go to.
         There have been several wargame projects I have several wargame project I have been trying to get off the ground. Unfortunately, by the time I have free time, I'm too tired to work on them.

         This week I really wanted to get a game in. My wife has been out of work since January with another work injury. Needless to say I am concerned with her health, and try to spend as much time as I can with her, even if it's just watching TV.  I decided that I could use a tray with a chessboard for a  wargame on my laptop desk, which I use when writing out bills at night.  I found some old Battle Cry figures (from the old Milton Bradley game from the 1960's) to use with Chris Salander's Horse & Musket 2.0 rules.  I did get a game in, and decided that for now I will use these "Laptop Wargames" until things go back to normal.

     Last night I brought up my Cigar Box Wargame, and used this in place of the chessboard. Hopefully I can get more games played this week.

The Battle Cry armies deployed. The figures were randomly placed. I bought these loose figures years ago to use with these rules.

One Union unit breaks through the center.

The end of the game. As I didn't set any goals for the battle, it ended a draw, a rather  disappointing result.

Cigar Box Wargame set up. The terrain was placed based on terrain cards drawn randomly. 

The game setup on my lap desk. I put the board on a tray, in case of some disruption,  hopefully the playing pieces won't end up on the floor. The dice box has a foam bottom, so the sound of the dice is muted, so as not to bother my wife.

For this game I used A Stronghold Rebuilt "See the Elephant" rules, except I used Battle Cry dice..

When I use these rules, victory goes to the first army to lose 2/3 of their army, unless  I concede the battle before then.

Cigar Box Wargame Played

        The cigar box top has been gridded off. The grid comes out 7x8. By using 2mm units of 4 infantry, 3 cavalry, or 2 artillery, the playing pieces fit on the board nicely. I played a quick game to see if this system will work. I was happy with the result. This setup should work well when I want a quick game.

The two armies deployed.

Instead of a normal pencil to mark the squares, I used a brown colored pencil to make the grid less conspicuous.

While the top is only painted now, I think a coat of flat lacquer might protect the top.

Cigar Box Wargame

     This week I had no time to do any work on gaming. I was offered some overtime; I had to work every night. With my wife's union talking about going on strike, we might need that extra money.
However, the time working gave me plenty of time to think about different ideas on my future wargame plans.

     Today I was working out some ideas on basing Peter Laing wagons. Before starting to base the wagons, I decided I should try to clear my work/wargame table. I also wanted to start consolidating different collections. On the table I found several small boxes of 2mm figures.  I noticed a nice cigar box I had picked up at the tobacco shop a few weeks ago and realized this was ideal for the collection. After putting the figures in the box, I went back upstairs, as Donna and I had errants to run. After I few minutes, it dawned on me that the cigar box top might be the right size for a small gridded battlefield. I went down and measured the top. at 7.5 X 8 inches. It's the right size for a gridded 8x8 board (although one row will be short). What's more, when the top is flipped over, it sits snug on top of the box. If I throw in some spare dice, it's a nice, portable game.

The Cigar Box.

The 2mm armies and terrain in the box.

The box top flipped over and seated into the box.

The top painted. Next I will draw on the grids and the Cigar Box Wargame will be set.