Game Stuff This Week

This week has been pretty busy on the hobby front. I got some painted figures delivered in the mail. These are for my expanding Chocolate Box Wars (CBW) collection. I also got to go to my friend Ed’s house on Friday evening for a game night. 

First, the painted figures:  These are some really nice Confederate figures that I got on EBay. I will use these figures including infantry, both regulars and zouaves, a commander figure and an artillery piece and crew. Here are some photos:

Maryland Guard Zouaves. Perry plastics. 

McClellan’s Zouaves S. Carolina. Perry plastics ACW Infantry. 

Louisiana Tiger Zouaves. Perry plastics. 

Artillery battery. Early Perry plastics. These are smaller than more current models. 

Regular infantry. Perry plastics ACW. 

These entire order of regular infantry. 

These are some really well painted figures. I find that sometimes you get lucky on EBay and this is definitely the case this time for me. With the 36 regulars and 18 Zouaves, I have 9 infantry units and the required artillery battery for my CBW force. Combined with the Confederate Cavalry regiment and commanders that I have, the force will be ready for use. Exciting to have my third CBW army ready to play!

I also got to help Ed prepare his Baroque Wars scenario for this week’s club game night. This is a homegrown set of rules for 6mm grid-based game system. The scenario is a re-creation of the Battle of Rocroi 1643 in the later stages of the Thirty Years War. Ed developed the game system and you can find his blog page about the rules at this link: https://edmwargamemeanderings.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_28.html

I didn’t take any photos during the game. I was separated from my phone and I was having too much fun to step away from the table. Take my word for it. The figures, although small by today’s standards, are superbly painted.  Ed has uploaded some photos at his link above but the figures are much better in person. 

2025 Hobby Goals

 A freezing day here in the northeast US.  A really good day (and weekend) to huddle at the hobby desk and get some painting done. I hopefully will have some pictures to share in the next few days. 

I have been looking at my outstanding pile of shame and trying to set some hobby goals for the coming year. I think I have settled on three game systems and their related painting and modeling opportunities. Here they are in no particular order:

Cold War Commander - I have a really good start on this project with diverse units already painted for both NATO and WARPAC forces. I still have a lot of unpainted stuff including FRG, Americans and round-out both French and Czechs. We have been working on rules revisions/modifications of the base Cold War Commanders v2 rules.  Our club definitely has an approach to simplify the extraneous parts of the rules to make them more playable within our usual three to four hour gaming timeframe. Our club has never really had a set of rules for anything more ‘modern’ than WWII so I’m hoping that these CWCv2 rules will give us the opportunity to expand our wargaming experience. 

Chocolate Box Wars - As you can see from my recent posts, I’m currently working very hard on getting my first two CBW armies completed. I have the base forces done and now I’m adding some extras to have the ability to field four-player games and use different upgrades within my forces. I’m also looking at adding two other armies (ACW Confederates and Maximilian French in Mexico) during the year. I really enjoy playing these simple, yet challenging rules and I want to bring other members of the club into this gaming experience. 

One-Hour Skirmish Rules - This is a pretty simple, card-driven rules set that can be used for many different eras. My Friend AJ and I are working on specific rule changes for WWII era gaming. We have made a few tweaks and are now just waiting for schedules to work out for a test four-player game. Stay tuned for a battle report(s) later this month. Ed M. also has made some modifications to play the rules in his Age of Rifles timeframe (1850’s to 1880’s).  We have all agreed that the rules can be played as written for everything Ancients to Napoleonics. So, there will be a wide range of gaming opportunities with these rules. I have several additions that I can make to my WWII collection including Afrika Korps and 8th Army, early-war German and British and a couple of late-war German units.  I also have some Pony Wars US cavalry which I can use for the AoR era. Setting up some scenarios will give me an excuse to get these forces painted and on the table.

So there you have it, my gaming goals for 2025. Let’s see how things go.

Cold War Commander

A couple days ago, I posted photos of my Cold War Gone Hot French and Czech armies. I have been building these two forces to use in a hypothetical campaign set in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in 1985. The rules that I’m trying for this campaign are Cold War Commander (CWC) which is a version of the Blitzkrieg Commander (BC) rules system.  BC is based on Rick Priestley’s Warmaster rules and have a solid game system using stands of infantry and individual vehicles to represent platoons  controlling eight to ten such units, a player fills the role of a Battalion or “Task Force” commander during a game. 

I have been on a search for many years for a set of Modern rules which would be the right combination of realism and simplicity for our club’s use. WWII gamers seemed really sold on Blitzkrieg Commander so I decided to give Cold War Commander a go.  The CWC rules seem to be a good balance of realism and play-ability after our first play test. I don’t have a full-blown game report of this game as my friend Ed and I were trying to work our way through the rules as we played. I did take some photos as we played and here they are:

I am using these individual buildings as villages in the rules.

We set up a simple battlefield to try out the rules.  The Czechs attacked from the left and the French defended along the village/hill line to the right of the road moving away from the camera.

French armor platoons defend a village against Czech Recon units

French units, including a Forward Observer, control a kill zone in front of this hill.

Our club does tend to modify rules to meet when we think there are problems and CWC is no exceptions.  I have tried to simplify the rules a little bit so we can fit games into our typical 3-4 hour play time during monthly game nights.

As I said, this rules set seems to have possibilities and we plan to play more games during 2025, including a debut game night game in the summer.  I hope to add to the painted armies in the coming months and will try to give everyone a look at them as they are finished right here on the blog.

World War III What If

 During 2024 I worked quite a bit on my armies for the Cold War Commander (CWC) rules system. In these rules each vehicle/infantry stand is a platoon. I was a cavalry officer in 1st Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in the FRG 1983-1986. Part of our mission was to patrol along the FRG/DDR/CSR border.

Because of that US Army experience and my interest in just about everything French Militare, I have focused my WWIII interests to the southern area of operations. Hence my first units have included French and Czech armor and infantry units. Here are some pictures of the French units first:

Gazelle with HOT ATGM’s

AMX-30B2 Company HQ tank

A Company of AMX-30B2’s on line

AMX-10RC heavy recon company. 

VBL light recon vehicle. 

VAB light APC. 

French infantry platoon stand. 

Battalion command stand. 

VBL light recon vehicle with Milan ATGM. 

I really like the French paint scheme and I found an excellent set of decals from Peddinghaus 1/100 scale decal range for these vehicles. There are tanks, APC’s, Artillery, and soft skins on the sheet. The really tiny door decals on each of the wheeled vehicles are a pain, but they add a lot to the end product!  I am using a mix of Team Yankee plastics and resin vehicles as well as 3d printed vehicles. 

To face off with my French forces, I have Czech tanks, APC’s, SP Artillery, and command stands. Here are a few examples: 

OT-64C APC and BRDM command vehicle

An OT-64C Battalion ready for action!

A divisional reconnaissance battalion with BRDM-2 command and recon versions and BMP-1R’s including one with ‘Small Fred’ radar. Note the BMP-1R’s do not carry the Sagger ATGM. 

T-55AM Tank Battalion. 

Czech Battlegroup ready to invade the FRG!

I plan to expand my collection of 15mm moderns with Germans and Americans over the next few months. Just need to get another project done and I can get back into these. 

Chocolate Box Wars - First Armies

 I have been playing a lot of Chocolate Box Wars (CBW) during 2024.  This is a set of homegrown rules by my friend Ed of Ed M’s Wargames Meanderings blog https://edmwargamemeanderings.blogspot.com/. You can find everything about CBW including rules, playing aids and extensive material on building forces in different areas around the world. This is a great game focused on the mid 19th Century (1840-1880) rifle-dominated battlefield. There were a myriad of wars, small and large, where weapons became more deadly and leaders struggled to determine the best tactics for the new age.

Ed and others in our gaming club are collecting and building European based armies.  Just so we have more options for gaming, I decided to focus on N. America.  My first army is the Union Army of the American Civil War (ACW).  Here are some photos of my Union troops:

Here is my complete Union Army ready for combat.  

My Union army is composed of (left to right) four regular infantry regiments, the Berdan Sharpshooters, a Zouave regiment, Iron Brigade regiment and artillery battery, 2nd Dragoons cavalry regiment, a command stand and an ADC (second in command) stand.

A work in progress shot of my Iron Brigade veteran infantry unit. 

Work in progress of my Union artillery battery. 

Having the Union Army, I now needed an opposing force.  I decided to raise a British force based on the excellent Perry Miniatures British Interventionist Forces. With the Fenian movement threatening an invasion of Canada at the end of the ACW, the British moved several units to reinforce Canadian militia units along the Niagara Peninsula.  The British were also supportive of the Confederacy and so these forces along the northern border could have engaged in combat with Federal forces.  In fact, I am working on a scenario for a future club game night that I call ‘The 2nd Battle of Lundy’s Lane’ with an 1866 version of the War of 1812 battle.  Here are some photos of my British CBW forces:

 

My British Army ready for battle!

My British Army is made up of (from left to right) a Confederate infantry regiment Auxiliary unit, four regular infantry units (including a Gurkha battalion), a Royal Artillery battery, the combined Guards light Coys, the 42nd Royal Highlanders veteran regiment, the 11th Hussars and my commander and ADC.

A work in progress of my British 11th Hussar Regiment.

A work in progress of the combined Guard light companies which is my light regiment. 

These forces are great base forces for my CBW armies. I am adding to them and will publish more photos as I get into 2025. I also have a new front on the N. American area of operation. I am currently basing forces for a Maximillian Adventure of my own - a ‘What if?’ of the Union Army chasing Franco-Mexican Imperial forces along the Rio Grande River.  Who knows, maybe some rouge Texas Confederates will join the Imperial cause in fight the hated ‘Bluebellies’!

Blood Red Skies

 Blood Red Skies is an excellent set of rules for WWII Aerial Combat. I have always loved the game system with one exception - the movement system is a big challenge particularly for a new player. I have addressed what I consider to be a potentially fatal drawback by adapting the rules to a hex based movement system. 

Here is a pic of a game in progress using the hexes:

I make a one to one relationship of inches to hexes so I do not have to change the rules in any way. Even though the hexes are 1.25” each, the rules are unaffected. I have models face a hex side and make a 45-degree turn as on hex side and 180-degree turns as three hex sides. I also have developed a template to show when an aircraft is ‘tailing’ an opponent and when the shooter is in range to fire and when in short range. 

We played several games of BRS as part of a recent Northern Conspiracy club game day. The game day was a combination of land (Blitzkreig Commander Rules), sea (General Quarters Rules) and BRS for air combat to recreate a fictitious Italian and German invasion of Malta in 1942. This campaign gave me an opportunity to paint some really interesting aircraft and paint schemes. Here are some photos of planes I painted for the game day:

These aircraft are a combination of Warlord resin, 3d prints and Warlord plastics. All of the decals are from Miscellaneous Miniatures. 

The day went well with three BRS games.  The Axis definitely had the better of the games through out the day. There were some interesting scenarios being generated by the pre-game campaign play. I do not have access to game photos on my current device, so I will have to do another post for game narratives/recaps. I think the hex system worked really well and I look forward to more games in 2025. 

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.