2021 Re-Visit Part II

So the gaming and modeling continued through 2021.  Played a WWII Skirmish Game at Ralph's and a lot of Bolt Action and Pikemen's Lament, Wings of Glory (WWI), and other games.  

Here are some photos of the second half of the year.

A great addition to my Wings of Glory collection - A Target!!

A big Wings of Glory game at the Adlernest!  Lots of canvas and lead flying around the table!

German Tobruk Pillbox for my German Bolt Action forces.

Added a Command Stand for my British Bolt Action forces

Plastic Modern Russian troops for 7 Days to the River Rhine (7DTTRR)

A really nice WWII skirmish game table at Ralph's

Towards the end of 2021 I played a couple of games of Pikemen's Lament.  This is one of the Osprey Blue Book rule sets.  It is very fun to play, and our club has revised the rules (as we do every set of rules we use) to make them even more fun (and more historically accurate the way as we see it).

Some photos of a PL game during 2021:

Ed's beautiful gaming table and troops.  I'm a cavalry commander in war-games, but those troopers at the bottom left of the photo caused me quite a bit of grief in this game!

Pike and Shotte units in Pikemen's Lament.

Ed and AJ as we play through a game turn.

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.

Reboot After a Long Absence

 Ok.  Wow!  It has been more than two years.  Hard to believe all of that time has passed by.  It has been a busy time in my wargame experiences as I have branched out into several new areas and worked on completing new projects in my normal gaming areas.

I think I will spend the next couple of months sharing some photos and recollections of games that I have been playing.  I also will be reporting on my gaming experiences during 2023 on a much more regular basis.

I will begin by going back to January of 2021 and show some of the gaming/projects I undertook at that time:

The year began with a wonderful event (especially for the COVID era!).  Our son married his sweetheart.  The ceremony was small due to the pandemic.  Her dress, his uniform and the simplicity of the event gave it a WWII era feeling that was incredible!  We were all very happy!

Early in the year my gaming focus was on Blood Red Skies and Cruel Seas.  The collections grew immensely!

Among my favorites were these He-162 Volksjaeger jet aircraft.  They bring the "Jet" rule into BRS without the overwhelming force of the Me-262.  During this time I also developed a movement and firing system that used hexes instead of the movement and firing sticks for the game.  I feel that the hexes make movement and combat resolution much easier, but does not affect the feel of the game.

He-162 and Fw-190 on the gaming table.

F4U Corsairs of the Fleet Air Arm in their first game.

Also in early 2021 I worked very hard on my Cruel Seas navies.  At the same time, I took the plunge and purchased by 3D printer.  Here are a couple of photos which combine both of these.  This is a picture of an RAF Rescue Launch that I printed and added to my RN Coastal Forces.  This in one of my favorite models in the collection.

3D printed RAF Rescue Launch. I am mounting my ships on clear acrylic bases to help with movement.

RAF Launch for the top down.  Print lines are prominent, but do not detract too much.

So, this covers the first few months of 2021.  During this period, we were still pretty deep into COVID restrictions so the gaming experiences were not that great.  But I have to say, I certainly added significantly to my painted forces.  Also, I was 3D printing my heart out on the new printer.  I hope to get some additional photos up of my boats and other vehicles/terrain in the near future.  So stay tuned.

2020 Hobby Activities

2020 was certainly one for the record books, in many ways.  Unfortunately, gaming activity was not among those ways! Here is the tally for the year.  

Figures Painted

25-28mm

Figures - 43

Vehicles/Guns - 4

Other Game Pieces - 10

1/200 

Aircraft - 47

 

1/100

Aircraft - 4

Games Played - 

Blood Red Skies - 3

Black Powder - 4

Brother Against Brother (Napoleonics) - 1

Axis & Allies War at Sea - 2

Axis & Allies Bandits High - 3

Wings of Glory - 4

Cruel Seas - 1

Rebels & Patriots - 1

Other
28mm Figures Finished Basing - 83

Invested in Wet-Pallette

Put Airbrush into Sustained Use

In an effort to up production in 2021, I’m going to maintain a painting log and track what I complete day-by-day during the year. The goal is to complete an average of at least one figure/gaming piece per day over the year. I am also going to track my gaming on the same sheet. Given that we didn’t do much gaming in 2020, I think there is going to be a real incentive to be together so the game count should be way up there!  And like any Wargames worth their salt, I have plenty of ‘unpainted reserves’ to be attended to. 

Well, here’s hoping that the coming 365 days are more enjoyable than the past 365!

A Great WWI Aerial Game

Well, this is a great game!  Wings of Glory (WW1) has really captured my imagination and it is pretty popular at our FLGS here in New Hampshire.  I have gotten several new planes over the past week and one of them is the massive Zeppelin Staaken VI R.   All of the Ares models are beautifully painted making them really fun to collect and use on the game table.  For only 

$16 - $20 for a single engine fighter and less than $30 for the larger single engine bombers, they are really affordable.  Even the huge Zeppelin bombers at around $70 not that bad.  Don't forget, for that price you are not only getting a wonderfully painted aircraft, but the decals are historically accurate and they well applied.  

So, with the pandemic going on around here (were is it not going on?) I had to play a solo game to get my new Zeppelin on the game table.  The scenario was simple - a Zeppelin moving in to bomb dockyards at a small Belgian city.  Two American aircraft in the area (Rickenbacher in a SPAD XIII and Hartney in a Nieuport Ni. 28) spotted the German mammoth flying through their zone and move to intercept.

There were no German fighters available to escort the bomber so the defending gunners had to be really on their game.

Here are some photos of the game:

The end of the first turn with everyone charging straight ahead in an effort to close the range and get within fighting distance.

The first phase of Turn 2 and here is the damage dealt out in the first round of firing in the game.  This is devastating for the Zeppelin as it suffers 19 points of damage!  The charge has cost Rickenbacker

as he no longer can shoot.  But Hartney hasn't even gotten within range yet.   From this point on the bomber is doomed.  Now it is a question of whether or not bombs can be effectively brought onto the target.

End of the second impulse of the second turn.  The Zeppelin has taken an additional five points of damage and is heading into a final run on the docks.  Rickenbacker at the top has taken a jammed rudder and damaged machine gun.  He is effectively out of the fight.  Hartney at the bottom of the photo dealt out the damage to the bomber but is now suffering from a smoking engine.

The bomber moves away from the target during Turn 3 as the docks are pulverized by the entire bomb load.  Rickenbacker is headed back to base to have his machine guns and aircraft repaired.  Hartney turns around to take his revenge on the bomber.

Rickenbacker flies off the board.  The docks burn.  Hartney puts the final five points of damage on the bomber and it slowly falls into the fields just outside of the Town.

The final damage cards for the bomber.

Final damage records for the two fighters.

   As I said, I really like this game and I look forward to many more games in the future.

Fleet Air Arm Corsairs

 I had a great time painting up these corsairs for my British Blood Red Skies Fleet Air Arm Squadrons!  I clipped the wing tips to reflect the British aircraft. Apparently, the British Aircraft Carriers had less room between the flight deck and the hanger deck so the wing tips had to be removed so the folded wings fit into the hold. 

The decals are for 1836 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Victorious, during Operation TUNGSTEN and are from my good friend, Kevin, at Miscellaneous Miniatures.  Operation Tungsten was an air strike plan to attack the German battleship Tirpitz in her Norwegian base at Kaafjord.  During the attack on 4 April, 1944, Fairey Barracuda dive bombers, escorted by Corsairs and Seafires from Victorious and HMS Furious conducted level and dive bombing attacks  

I have not had the opportunity to gloss coat and flat coat the aircraft yet. I will post another photo when I get them totally complete.

Hope you like the photos. I am looking forward to trying them out on the gaming table!

Cruel Seas and Airbrush Tutorial

 My Friend AJ of AJ’s Wargaming Blog came to visit yesterday to give me some pointers on airbrush techniques and maintenance. After the airbrush tutorial we had a game of Warlord’s Cruel Seas. It was a nail biting, good old fashioned Donnybrook between my Kriegsmarine force and AJ’s Royal Navy flotilla including an American Elco pressed into British service. 

AJ gives you a blow-by-blow account and shows some game pics HERE. As AJ points out, the real winner was the English Channel as 7 out of the 10 boats/ships engaged were sunk during the battle!

I had forgotten how fun Cruel Seas can be.  It is fast paced and there are many tactical decisions to make during a game.  Each skipper has to think a turn or two ahead to make sure that he doesn’t run into his own boat or random shoal (a lesson I needed to re-learn a couple of times during this game!).  Now that I have been reminded of how much fun this can be, I am looking forward to getting some additional boats painted up - AJ’s airbrush lessons  will come in right handy - and look at the scenario list which is available on the Dock Office FB HomePage.  If you are interested in torpedo boat actions of WWII, I would recommend that you join this FB page and checkout all of the resources available to help you run challenging scenarios or use a new type of boat.  There are a lot of really great ideas out there for you to take advantage of.  

It was a great bit of fun in an otherwise barren gaming season this spring and summer. Thanks to AJ for the great airbrush tips and for a really fun game. I look forward to the next game on the high seas!