Rally Round the Fridge

If January was all about finding a system for my Warring States Project, February was meant to be a time for testing the system's limits and developing the campaign. However, a problem arose. I lost my battlefield.

I live in a small NYC apartment, so I don't have a workshop or basement or garage to call my own. In fact, I've only got one table large enough to accommodate a war game, and my wife has been using it a lot for baking this month. Honestly, for the last three weeks, it has been nearly impossible to get the table to myself for a few hours! And I can't play with the paper tokens on the living room floor because my cat will invariably mess everything up!

So, rather than get my own place, I came up with the following solution:

My fridge, my battlefield

I remade my tokens with personally-modified top downs from Junior General and printed them out on Staples Magnet Sheets along with terrain images (there are two Woods and a Hill in the above pic), a ruler, hit counters, and the Rally Round the King QRS pages.

Chinese Cavalry

Inkjet Magnet Sheets

The sheets cut well with ordinary scissors, and the magnets are strong enough to keep the units secure on the refrigerator's surface. I also attached one to a small AMAC box with tiny dice inside - two white for "rolling" 2d6 and one black die for "rolling" 1d6. So, everything I need to play RRtK is stuck on my fridge!

Last night's first game - though unfinished thus far - went extremely well! Two Ancient Chinese armies clashed in rough countryside with two very solid centers of armored levies meeting in the middle.

Initially, arrows filled the sky, and my horse archers tried to take advantage of the weakened enemy front units. In response, the enemy cavalry charged forward to scatter my mounted skirmishers. And then -

And then I needed to make dinner. Though my wife is the baker, I'm Sicilian, so, when it comes to non-dessert foods, the kitchen is primarily my domain - and that means I was able to sneak in a few turns while cooking!

As the meal (tilapia, spicy homemade tartar sauce, sauteed broccoli rabe, and a passable Spanish Chardonnay) came together, I tried to charge forward my center, failed to do so, then needed my own cavalry to confront the enemy skirmishers sent to harass my center.

My cavalry blasted through the skirmishers and, when I left them to serve dinner, were on the way to face the enemy horse archers in reserve. Meanwhile, my center levies were struggling with some bad rolls and one unit had already routed. Not really sure who has the upper hand right now. I'll finish the game later today.

Yeah, so, there it is: war games with refrigerator magnets...for desperate solo gamers who want to be close to the Chardonnay.