2021 Re-Visit Continued

 This is the second installment of my catch-up for gaming through 2021 and 2022.  As I did not keep a full journal of my gaming, I can only go by my available photos to recount my gaming experiences.  

The middle part of my 2021 gaming included a good dose of WWII Rules and Scenarios.  First among these games was a  version of Bolt Action at Adler Gaming Shop.  The rules set is called Bolt Action Firefight I believe.  This is a smaller scale game where each figure has a command die instead of each squad.  Here are a couple of photos from a BAF game in June of 2021:

I like BA Firefight.  The smaller scale means the table set up can be smaller and more detailed.  The game can also be quicker to play, making it a good gaming system for an evening between two friends.  I would recommend the game to others.

Along the same lines of WWII Skirmish gaming, I also revived the excellent CROSSFIRE rules set.  I have taken my 20mm British and Germans that I use for my Pegasus Bridge Scenario and mounted them individually for use with other rules such as Bolt Action or Chain of Command.  Here are photos of a game I hosted in the summer of 2021 at the Northern Conspiracy:

Although designed as a two-player game, I find that CROSSFIRE is easily converted into a nice game for four players and can even take up to six players in a pinch.  I believe that this game had four players that night.  CROSSFIRE is one of my favorite set of wargame rules ever.  You must approach the game as a real commander by planning for your movement using cover and concealment.  Moving in the open once contact is made will almost always lead to heavy losses.  One must also provide covering fire when moving in the face of the enemy, suppressing enemy forces before closing with them.

Here is another Bolt Action game that I played in at Adler Gaming Shop.  Proprietor Gordon hosted a demonstration game - Chariots of Steel.  This is set in the N. African Desert between Australian and Italian forces outside of Trobruk in 1941.  I have played the scenario a couple of times and the game is challenging and fun for both sides.  Gordon has tweaked the terrain, figures and vehicles over the years and developed a very nice looking game as well.

That's all for right now.  I will post again soon to continue through 2021.

New Game Mat for the Table

I recently invested in one of the new mats from Killing Fields Battle Mats company.  It arrived last week and I have to say that it is just as advertised.  Here are some photos to show you what the mat looks like.  I will comment more on the mat as I use it in games.

The mat is approximately 4' by 6' and although it had some ripples in it from being folded during delivery, it has relaxed well and there shouldn't be any issue with use in games.

The buildings are from Cresent Root.  These are excellent pre-painted and assembled buildings that come ready to unpack and put on the table.  The roads are from Deep Cut Studios.  The straight sections of roads are as you see them in the photos.  I trimmed the intersections and corner pieces to match the width of the straight sections more closely.  I do not know the manufacturer of the hills.

Photos:

I am looking forward to having actual games on this mat in the near future.

Gaming for the 2nd Half of 2019

As I was looking at my Hobby Activities for the Year (See Below), I noticed that so far in 2019 I have played the largest number of different rule sets than any other year I've been in the hobby - by far.

It just seems that I have been willing to go out on a limb and try new things (such as Star Wars ver 2, Warlords of Erehwon, and GW Kill Team).  More so, it seems, then ever.  I'm not really sure why this is, it just seems to all be piling up this year.

And I don't think that the trend will be slowing down either.  Right now I am planning to play in a game of 'Fistful of Lead' later this month (I'm painting up some US Cavalry and Plains Infantry, complete with Gatling Gun for that game!).  I also have planned to try a game of Black Ops from Osprey War-games sometimes later this summer.  And right now I am reading another set of rules from Osprey, Rebels and Patriots, that I want to try out for that all elusive 'great' rules set for my War of 1812 skirmishes.

So many games, so little time!  I really want to settle on a rules that I enjoy playing and that I have enough painted minis to do effective games and/or campaigns.  There will always be one off games like the Fistful of Lead at my local hobby store, but I am talking about rules that I play enough to get comfortable with, or that I 'work harder' at so I can become somewhat proficient.  I don't ever want to 'work' on game system to be a competitive player, but I would like to develop a feel for some game systems so I can game master a game or campaign and be do a pretty good job.

Right now I think that is the following games in the indicated period:

Napoleonics
Volley & Bayonet Wing Scale
Napoleon's Rules of War

War of 1812
Volley & Bayonet Wing Scale (Ed's Edits) - For battles
Rebels and Patriots - For skirmishes

WWII
Cruel Seas - Naval
Blood Red Skies - Air
Bolt Action - Skirmishes

Modern
???

Sci Fi and Fantasy
X-Wing ver 2
GW Kill Team
Warlords of Erehwon

Ten sets of rules plus at least one for modern gaming!  Too many, I think.  But these are all rules that I have tried out and I really have enjoyed each one of them for their own reasons.  I think that I will have to consider them one-by-one and pair out the ones that I really don't want to play on a regular basis.

I have figures for most, if not all, of them so painting isn't really an issue - just have to finish off lead that I already have as I go along and then get stuff out to the table.  Terrain is also not an issue as I have all types of terrain already made for all of the scales of figures that I have and for all of the time periods and settings (Europe, N. America, etc.).

I will update the blog as I play through these.

Bolt Action Campaign Started!

Last week I had a chance to play in the first round of the Adler Hobby WWII Campaign.  This campaign is being played with forces from the new Western Desert campaign book.  We are using the Road to Victory campaign system with variable units.  You can find a copy of the system book here.

In this campaign I am using my French forces (Foreign Legion, Senegalese, and vehicles) as the new Western Desert campaign book has formalized these forces.  I have also started painting figures from the new British 8th Army box.  These will be troops from the North African Infantry units in the 1st Free French Brigade.  I am using these figures with British helmets, French Adrian helmets and wool comforter caps for headgear in this unit.  I only took a couple of photos during the game, but here they are:

The Foreign Legion squad seizes a building!  They were taxied into combat aboard the Laffly truck in the photo.

A Senegalese squad also seizes a building.  Just so happens to be the same building complex the DAK commander was occupying.  It ended up being a very bad day for the DAK commander!

The Senegalese squad and a North African squad push the attack around the building complex that made up a major part of the terrain on our board.

In this system you build two squads of regular infantry of no more than 110 points each.  These are commanded by a regular 2LT with two soldiers.  The French also get a light howitzer as their national based unit.  This is your base force for the campaign.  In addition to the base force, you roll on tables to determine two additional units to add to your force.

For this round I had the two squads of infantry; the command element; a 75mm gun and spotter; an inexperienced infantry squad of Senegalese Tirallieurs; and a veteran infantry squad of Foreign Legionnaires.  I also rolled for two transports/tows which I used to carry the FFL and to tow the howitzer.

The first game went pretty well for my troops.  I ended up with a close victory against a well commanded DAK army run by my friend Patrick.  After the game we rolled to determine the results of the units damaged or destroyed during the game and to find out what two new units would be added to our force.  I ended up permanently losing one of my transports.  I also improved the morale of my officer to Veteran and one of my regular base infantry squads to Veteran.  Then I added a second Veteran infantry squad.  The best roll, however, was when I added an SPAA vehicle to my force!  I will now have a quad HMG on a truck added to the army!  Should be interesting to see how effective this unit is against infantry.

I am going to use the Rubicon Russian Quad HMG on a truck mount.  I know they are Maxim HMG's on the Rubicon model and the French used the naval mount from their ships on trucks in the desert, but I am going to bend history a little bit.  I will provide photos as soon as the models are built and painted.

I will provide another game report as soon as I can get back to the campaign.  Vive la France!

Game Night at Adler Hobby

I had a great game night yesterday at Adler Hobby.  I played in a great Bolt Action Game with Russ Vickery.

The game was 1250 points pitting a late war French force against strong German force from the Hermann Goering Panzer Division.

We used the Demolition Scenario from the Main BA rule book.  Russ played the French and I played the Germans.  We each had our objectives set in hard cover terrain within 4" of our respective table edges.

THE ARMIES
The French Army is a force that I have been working on for awhile.  This is a late-war army which can be found in the Battle of Bulge theatre book.  The army has two regular infantry squads, a Veteran 1LT, a veteran Goumier squad, a veteran Brigade de Choc (para-commando types), a veteran Jeep with MMG, a regular bazooka team, a veteran Sniper team, a veteran MMG team, a regular Light Howitzer and a 3/4-ton Dodge truck as a tow vehicle and capped off with a regular M4 Sherman.  Overall command is a veteran Captain.  I use US Infantry for the French regulars and the Bazooka team.  I have Goumiers from Artizan Designs, and I use the new plastic American Airborne to represent the 1er Regiment de Chassuers Parachutiste (1 RCP) for the Brigade de Choc squad.  The artillerist are the American 75mm Pack Howitzer with US Crew.  The Jeep is a Rubicon model with Old Glory crew painted as the paratroopers.

On the German side I use Old Glory (Westwind) for the majority of my forces.  I have two squads of regular grenadiers, a veteran Kubelwagon with MMG, a veteran Marder III, an regular Sdkfz 251/1 half-track, two veteran MMG teams, a regular Medium Mortar, a veteran 20mm light anti-aircraft gun, a veteran Pioneer squad with Flamethrower and LMG teams, a veteran Sniper team, and a regular Goliath Team. Command is provided by a veteran Oberluentnant (1LT) and veteran Hauptmann (CPT) The pioneers and Goliath team are primarily Warlord plastics with a couple of metal figures in the mix.  The 20mm AA gun is a kit from Ace Models with crew from the extensive Victory Force line of WW2 figures.

THE BATTLE
We were playing the Demolition scenario and that makes you try to both take the offensive and capture the enemy HQ while defending your own HQ.  We both placed our HQ well back and set up our forces to protect.

Here is the game table.  Russ set up on the left and I set up on the right table edge.  Russ' HQ was behind the hard cover ruins at the middle left.  I set up my HQ in the ruins behind the destroyed building middle right of the picture.  The Sherman would move down the road in the middle of the picture with impunity thanks to my terrible dice rolling!

Russ played an excellent game and with the luck of the dice got to place his Sherman last during deployment so he could see where my Marder set up.  He of course placed the Sherman on the opposite side of the table. on the road in the middle of the table photo above.  The Sherman would move with impunity down the road due to terrible dice rolling (one of the German grenadiers was heard to exclaim, "Herr Hauptmann, there is something wrong with our anti-tank weapons today!").
In succession, the Goliath team, the Marder and two Panzerfausts either were destroyed by fire or missed the Sherman - or both!  He basically drove the Sherman down the road and right up to my HQ.  Totally fearless, totally crazy and TOTALLY EFFECTIVE!

Meanwhile the Kubelwagen was making an end run on the other flank aided by fire support from the Pioneer squad and the Hauptmann command squad.   Destroying any Frenchman who got in the way, the Kubelwagon managed to get to the objective and with the German commander covering the flank from those who would cause harm - we managed to secure the draw.

Overall the game was vicious from the start and included very effective flamethrower shots, close combat that went very well for the French as the attacked, but also went very poorly for them as the HG Grenadiers gave as much as the got.  Russ did a great job pounding away with the howitzer almost causing one of my grenadier squads to break and run for it.  The combat also included some very effective longer range shots from my AA gun on a dominating hill.  Neither one of our sniper teams could hit anything.  The German MMG teams chewed up several of his units before they could get within range to threaten my HQ.

One of the regular Grenadier squads from the HG Panzer Division!

The Marder overmatching the German defenses.  The Sherman would come down the left side of the picture and although I did get turned towards hime and fired off a round, it bounced and he killed me as soon as he got the chance!

The German pioneer squad and Kubelwagon.  They would play a key role in capturing the German HQ.

One of my Grenadier squads holds off the French Goumier squad in close combat.  My guys ended up winning and routing the Goumiers as they couldn't kill any Germans!  Only killed one of them, but that was all I needed.

The German pioneers take on another French Squad after destroying the French Marquis squad.  Note the flamethrower in the lead!  This is the first time that I have use a flamethrower in a BA game.

The Sherman makes quick work of the half-track, the mortar squad and he starts to take on the  LT.

A grenadier squad also gets between the Sherman and my HQ.

Doesn't make a bit of a difference!  I passed my morale test, but that only means that we get out of the way and he reaches the objective!

On the other side of the table, my Kubelwagon captures the French HQ!  The game is a draw!

Another view of my guys on the objective.  Kubelwagon and the Hauptmann squad.

Overall I have to say that this was a super fun game!  There were great dice rolls on both sides - a terrible dice rolls on both sides!  We had a very good Chinese Food dinner at half-time.  The company and social interaction was excellent!  Best night of gaming I have had in a long time.

Bolt Action Gaming So Far This Year

I know I have been off the blog for the past several months but there have been big changes in my personal life and the annual challenges of a new fiscal year.  But now waters are calmer and I have been spending some time at the gaming table.  We have been involved in an Escalation League at our local Hobby Shop - Alder Hobby's Gaming Cafe.  We are only at the first level of the league but we are having a ton of fun!

My French force fighting against the hated Boche somewhere in France, 1944.  The recon jeep in the middle of the photo tried to secure the objective but ended up dying.  I ended up losing this game in a near run thing.

Another view of the battle.  One of my squads advances on the Germans but cannot overcome the firepower. 

So far I'm having a good time in the league.  I am looking forward to moving to the 1000 point level as both of my lists have some pretty interesting additions with the extra points!  Plus I found a really interesting option that I had not known about that is going to throw an interesting curveball for my opponents moving forward.

New Buildings in the Collection

I have added some relly nice buildings from Cresent Root to the collections. They are very detailed, nicely painted and best of all they come all assembled. Out of the box and they are ready to put on the table!  As I get older, I am willing to pay the little extra to have things ready for gaming!

Here are some photos of the buildings as I unwrapped them.

Here are all of the buildings that I bought in this order.  It will make a very nice small town.  One and two story buildings and even a couple of destroyed buildings.

A small compound with house and workshop.  The gate even open and close.

The two-story buildings are really nice.  One of them has an attached outbuilding.

The two-story buildings can be fitted with a  destroyed top story.  The destroyed buildings can be used individually or can be used to replace building(s) in the compound shown above.

I highly recommend any of the Cresent Root line of buildings.  Some might consider them pricey, however, you really get great buildings for the price.

Big Anzio Bolt Action Game

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to participate in a 10-player Bolt Action Game at Adler Hobby.  We we playing a stylized Anzio scenario with five Allied players defending the beachhead against an attack from five Axis players.  Gordon set the scenario in the historical context of the start of the German offensive of Operation Fischfang. This would mean tired Allied units facing strong German units including armor and heavy artillery.  The saving grace for the Allies would be strong artillery units on the beach and a preparatory bombardment called in by a British Forward Observer.  Many of the Allied units would begin the game dug-in giving them the 'Down' modifier while still allowing them to shoot.  The plethora of flamethrower (both vehicle and man pack) in the Axis army would negate most of the benefits of the foxholes, but it would help against other weapons.  Each army was a 750 point base with available extra points/units from the campaign capped at 1000 points.

Here is the excellent beach side of the board set-up by Gordon at Adler Hobby:

The Allies are on the left and the Germans would advance from the right.  The next photo shows the Axis portion of the board.  Each Allied unit began the game with one pin marker to represent the hard fighting they had already done prior to the start of the German offensive.

The Axis side of the board including their initially deployment units.

The Germans would push very hard on both flanks and straight down the road in the center of the photo above.  My forces (Fench CEF) along with a British force would face the center and the German halftracks on the right of the photo above.

The British/French flank of the battlefield with the initial deployment of Axis players.

Bold first and second turn moves by Axis forces (flame tanks) in the center.  The tanks would include riders who as Veterans wearing body armor, would stand around the brown building for almost the entire game.  They caused some significant damage.

British and French forces on the Allied Right Flank.  The German halftracks on the right of the photo would get nearly to the water's edge, destroying many allied units on the way.  But the British troops would give good amount of themselves as would the French in front of them.

The battle proceeded through the first six turns and the Allies were hard pressed with only a few squads and one Sherman tank left on the beach.  The Axis forces were closing in for the kill!

Then the miraculous happened.  All of the Axis units within range of Allied troops on the beach fired during Turn 7.  It came down to one German command squad firing at the remnants of the last French squad.  Only one rifle was left to shoot and the die was cast.  IT CAME UP A "1"!!!  The French survived!  It was just barely an Allied victory!

The two remaining infantrymen from an Algerian Tirailleurs squad who, along with a lone American Sherman tank would secure the beachhead for the Allies. 

This was one of the best games I have played in for a long time.  My hat is off to my Allied co-players and all of our Axis opponents.

At the end of the game Gordon had some really cool awards and raffle prizes.

Huzzah! Game a Success

My game at Huzzah! on Friday night went pretty well.  I had six players and all seemed really engaged and interested in the scenario.  At the end of the game the Freedom Fighters (FF) had outgunned the French/Moan government troops and secured the crashed aircraft.  The dice gods were definitely against the French and government troops during the game as the Freedom Fighters had activation dice drawn consecutively on several occasions.  The FF players took advantage of the fortunes of war and took pretty aggressive actions which resulted in the destruction of government vehicles and several infantry squads.

Here are some photos of the action:

The Moan armored cars seize the crossroads on Turn 1.  They would not move again in the six move game!  

The Moan troops, from the 22nd Airborne Commando Battalion and the 63rd Mechanized Regiment move up to support the armored cars.  

Kitty Hawk down!  The aircraft crashed right near the crossroads.The armored cars had already been destroyed.  The Freedom Fighters have a squad along the wall of the building at the top right, a motorcycle rider at the bottom right and a squad in the building at the tail of the aircraft.  They also have the government troops in the building a the bottom of the photo under fire from several different units.  The French would try to close in from the top of the photo, but they would not be able to extricate the Moan troops from the kill zones.

The French troops coming to the rescue!  Well, at least they are trying.

The Freedom Fighters mass for the attack!

A close-up of some infantry of the Democratic Republic of Moa.

By the end of the battle, the Freedom Fighters had not only secured Kitty Hawk, they had destroyed eight of the allied units and killed or wounded several French soldiers.  The political fallout for the French government may be so severe as to cause the withdrawal of French regulars from the DRM.  What will happen as the Freedom Fighters continue their push south further into Moa?  Stay tuned to find out!

Getting Ready for Huzzah! Game

Well,  the bags and game supplies are packed and I am ready to head out tomorrow afternoon for Portland and some time at Huzzah!  I am putting on a scenario using my modern 20mm Bolt Action figures at the convention.

My scenario is from the 2016 additional scenario pack and is called "Kitty Hawk Down!"  I have put on the scenario a couple of times, but using Bolt Action version 1.  I have made all of the appropriate changes for version 2 and we will have to see if the Modern rules play as well as they did in the earlier games.  This is the same scenario that I hosted at the club game night back in January.  During that game, the victory conditions were not met until the last couple of dice of the last turn.  To me that is a sign of a pretty balanced scenario!

If everything goes well I am going to use the results of this game as the start of a mini campaign set in the fictional African country - The Democratic Republic of Moa (DRM).

Watch this site for an update by the end of the weekend!  The player slots are full and I hope that all of the players have a really good time.

Vacation Time Work on the German Bolt Action Army

I have been on a week long vacation and I have had an opportunity to work on my German forces for Bolt Action.  I am still working on platoons and supports for a Herman Goering Division unit.  This particular unit requires that each of the infantry units be mechanized or motorized.  Consequently, I have built a couple of Sdkfz 251's to transport my Panzer-grenadiers.  Also, the HG army in Bolt Action can have multiple Anti-aircraft units.  So, I have added a Flak 38 20mm AA gun.

During vacation, I built all three models and got them base coated with Dark Yellow spray paint.  Here are the results of the work so far:

I have base coated the models in Warlord Dark Yellow spray paint.  I really like the color which is not as dark as it appears in this photo.  I think it will be easy to add some details and have the models ready for the table pretty quickly.

I'll post additional photos when i have them done.

First Italian Campaign BA Game

Had a chance to travel to Aldernest Cafe and play a the first Bolt Action game in the Italian Campaign that store owner Gordon is hosting.  I had a really great time playing with Eric as our Romanian (Eric) and FFL (mine) Armies squared off.  We rolled for the scenario and got "Envelopment".  Eric ended up being the defender and I took on the role of attacker.  Eric's army is really well painted and he has done an amazing job of converting a range of figures into a really excellent army.

Here are some pictures of my forces in the game as it progressed:

A French Foreign Legion Infantry Squad advance on the enemy!

Fire Support being provided by the 62nd African Artillery Regiment.  Note the spotter in the upper floor balcony.  The gun provided very effective fire support for the infantry, taking out a Romanian Light Howitzer.

French Stuart and Medium MG advancing in the center of the French position.

A French Infantry squad passing a burning Romanian R-35 Light Tank,  The Renault survived three turns of shots from Bazookas, Stuart main gun shots and even a close assault by the before mentioned infantry squad armed with anti-tank grenades!

The Stuart prepares to cross the open area of a rail road ben.  Most of the game there was a Romanian AT gun on the rail line at the top of the photo in Ambush.  A very good position, but once it was given up and the gun moved, it opened up the middle of the board.

The game was pretty one-sided.  The dice gods really favored me and I was able to destroy several units including an infantry squad, a tank and two guns.  I was also able to get two of my squads off board or within a foot of his side of the board.

As a part of the campaign I was able to gather another useful terrain piece which will allow me to add 30 more points to my army in each game.  Overall it was a very good result for the Allies.

Eric is new to Bolt Action and I haven't played in a while.  But we muddled through the rules and we both learned things.  For me, I think that I will need to have two different available army lists so I can play one as the attacker and the other as the defender.  This game could have gone very badly if there were enemy units in slightly different positions or if the dice had gone just a little bit his way.