Some Really Beautiful Terrain and WWII Wargame Figures

  Here are some beautiful 28mm vehicles and matching terrain from my friend Ralph.  I think these are among his best work, which is saying a lot as he does amazing work in all time periods and scales of figures.  Enjoy these photos!

May Game Night

   I played in a great Napoleonic wargame last night at our game club monthly game night.  The rules were written by my friend Charlie and they are called "Napoleon's Rules of War".  The scenario was Barrosa, 1811 and pitted French troops against a combined Anglo-Spanish force.  The game was really pretty close.  Unlike the historical battle which saw the Spanish fire one volley and run away leaving the British to defeat the French, our game saw the Spanish do almost all the fighting.  The French pushed the Spanish hard and they were just preparing to develop a major attack on the British position when we had to call the end of the game.

Overall, the rules play very well for a tactical Napoleonic game.  In our particular scenario there were about three divisions (six brigades) on each side and we got about seven turns in a three hour game.  I think the rules are very realistic in the game results.  They definitely favor a player who tries to use combined arms and deploys lines, columns and elite companies in the proper manner.

Here are some photos of the game and troops.

One of the French Divisions

The British Division including the 1st Scots Guards and Coldstream Guards

Two divisions of Spanish troops - The heroes of the battle!

The Spanish Cavalry detachment - never did get to charge!

French and Spanish troops duke it out in the major woods at the middle of the game board.

The French try to turn the British division off their strong position on a hill.

More of the combat between French and Spanish in the woods.

Charlie's troops are very well painted and the organization markers are very clear to the players.  I really had a great time playing this game and I look forward to the next game.

Huzzah! 2014

Well, just got home from. Huzzah!  Had a really good time playing in games on Friday night and hosting a game this AM.  Only had one player for my game, but we played a short game to use the latest changes in the rules.  They worked very well!  Can't wait to try them out on a real scenario soon!

On Friday night I played in a WW I Dogfight game called Aerodrome hosted by my friend Andre.  We had a blast flying three missions and bringing down the English dogs with our clearly superior Fokker Tri-planes.  Well, ok, maybe it was some lucky shots - but it was a victory non-the-less!  Here is a photo of my aircraft from the game.

I also managed to spend a little hard earned cash at the vendors getting Bolt Action rules and the German and British Army Books as well as a couple of 20mm buildings.  Just a little re-basing and I will be ready to to play a game or two of these very nice WW II Skirmish rules.  Can't wait!

Headed to HUZZAH! 2014

Heading to Maine tomorrow to attend the HUZZAH! Wargame Convention.  Looking forward to playing in some games and hosting a game on Saturday AM.  This is a big trial for my heavily revised Modern skirmish rules - Special Operations Forces.

Probably will give into the allure of new lead figures - or more likely some 20mm European buildings.  I also will be looking for some Bolt Action rule books and Army supplements!  I was checking out the 20mm figure and vehicle inventory and I have over 110 figures and around 20 vehicles already painted and ready to be based on individual stands!  I think I would be able to set up quite a few interesting scenarios with what I have ready to go so I want to secure the rules and get to re-basing.  I will have to keep the blog updated with those efforts.

I will be taking some photos and posting them here on the blog when I return.

Have a great weekend.  Andrew completes his finals tonight and will be home tomorrow.  I will see him on Saturday evening so that will be another great part of the weekend!

First Bolt Action Game - Excellent!

Last night I played in my first Bolt Action WWII Game hosted by my friend Ralph.  I was an excellent game pitting an attacking American Infantry Company against a defending German Infantry Company.  The first time I looked at the table, I didn't think the Americans had a chance!  Making a few good deployment choices and using a base of fire and maneuver concept helped the Americans though and they managed to squeak out a marginal victory!  Here are a couple of photos of the excellent terrain and figures that Ralph has put together for the rules.  Just awesome!

My Command for the evening - An American Infantry Platoon of Two Squads and a Weapons/Command Team

The German defenders await the attack.  A strong position with a small stream, stone walls and a town!

On the first shot of the game the German Pak40 destroyed the American armor support!

Here is my unit forcing the stream defenses and bringing the fight to the Germans!

Actually this is not the first time I have EVER played Bolt Action.  It was, however, the first time that I played the rules correctly and with someone who would explain the rules to me BEFORE I was expected to make a game decision.

THANKS Ralph  for a really great game!  Thank you also to my fellow American commanders - AJ, Dave and Charlie and our capable enemy commanders - Ed, Owen and Rob.

Really Cool Picture!

I know it is not technically about my wargames, but this picture of a flight of A-10 'Warthogs' is just too cool to pass up.

New Rules Still Not Right

Well here are a couple of photos from one of the recent games I have hosted using my Special Operations Forces Rules set.

Here are those photos!

French troops secure a victory marker in a Special Operations Forces game.

DRM Government troops secure a victory marker in a Special Operations Forces game.

 I really like how the games look and I like the basing convention and organization of the units.  The biggest problem has been spotting targets and the integration and game play decisions between moving and shooting/other actions.  I have moved away from an action by action system and gone to a more conventional total move and affects on how units spot others and affects how they fire on targets.  Spotting has been simplified and will allow players to better visualize how their troops are seeing other units on the board.  I think that these changes will solve the problems that we were having with the playtests.  We will have to wait and see at the Huzzah! game convention.