"Mad Guru's 140th Anniversary Battle of Kandahar game" Topic

This past Saturday we played this game I've been prepping since January with help from friends across the country. Because of ongoing pandemic none of the 6 players were physically present around the 12' x 6' table but our remote hookup via 2 webcams and 2 iPhone cameras (one of each for each side) and the efforts of myself and my two fellow GMs (one for each side), actually worked pretty well. We were able to complete a turn in one hour, using armies of approx. 350 and 450 figures commanded by 3 players per side. Unfortunately a 4 hour blackout made it impossible for us to finish the game in one day (on Saturday it was 103°F here in Los Angeles), but players across the country reconvened when power came back on and we were able to get in another, very eventful, turn. All in all, despite the somewhat massive monkey wrench, I rate it as a definite success. The most important thing is it seems like everyone involved -- all 6 players and myself and my 2 fellow GMs -- really enjoyed themselves. To top it off those first three were very balanced, with both the Afghans and British achieving successes and suffering losses, plus there were a number of surprises for both sides, and at this point there's certainly no way to predict how it will end.

I will be back with much more detailed info on this past final month or so of prep for the game as well as more detail on how those first 3 turns proceeded, but for now I just want to share the good vibes, post some good pics and also say a big THANK YOU to all the players involved, many of whom are fixtures here on TMP: Bob Ridenhour, Nick Stern, Jeff Baumal, Dan Gurule, Mike Lucas, and Phil Chiu -- thanks guys!

Thanks to Bob and Jeff for providing multiple units of painted & based figures for the game, as well as bespoke terrain pieces!

Last but not least for extra special thanks I have to single out "Captain" Mike Lucas for providing the webcams, which were vital to our success, and to my son Skylar and our good friend Matthew Rigdon, for volunteering to serve as my fellow GMs, without whom the "remote" version of this game would have been completely impossible.

Here's a LINK to the post I just put up on my blog, featuring about 50 pics of the game, and if you click on it and visit the site, thanks in advance for your time:

link

…and here's some sample pics to whet your appetite, so to speak:

I had been looking forward to this. And it certainly didn't disappoint. Fantastic!

The table looked great. Your effort was well rewarded! Nice job!

Nicely done

Amazing table and minis – thanks for sharing!

Wow, this looks to have been a great looking EVENT!

Thanks.

John

I really like the hill in the first photo. It looks a lot like hills/mountains I've seen here in Colorado, though we do have many more trees.

Grelber

Fantastic and love the cardinal direction signs up on the windows!

Absolutely superb! Massive project well done and great table and minis. Thank you!

Thus far the game has gone extremely well and we are having a blast!
The table, terrain, and minis are just superb!
Cheers,
Sgt Guinness, aka, General Roberts

Having a lot of fun playing this game. We Afghans are eagerly awaiting the restart so we can resume slaughtering the infidel invaders. Thanks Mad Guru for all your hard work and effort. Also a shout out to Matthew and Skylar.

ښه صحت ولری
Ayub Khan

Bob, definitely buddy. A big thank you to All involved!!!

Thanks for all the comments fellow TMPers!

To Rhingyll/Ayub Khan/Bob: You are very welcome my friend, and thanks for the shout-outs to Skylar (AKA Mad Guru, Jr.) and Matthew, who most certainly deserve it!

To SgtGuinness/Jeff/General Roberts: Brother, it would have been sweet if we could've all REALLY been around the table together, but thanks to you and Bob and all your fellow players for playing long distance style!

Here's a LINK to the next chapter of this game, which I posted last night here on TMP:

TMP link