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.

African Figures

Wow!  It has been a long time since I last posted.  Here are some photos of my African Modern figures.  The whole project is coming along quite nicely.  Only about 16 more figures to paint and everything will be ready for the first scenario.  I will be posting more once work let's up a bit next week.  Until then enjoy these photos.  More coming soon!

President Seliki Mumbato of the Democratic Republic of Moa

The DRM Presidential Guard Battalion

Huge ACW Club Game!!!

Here are some photos of the very large ACW Game that we played on Saturday.  Club members Ralph, Bob and Charlie hosted a great game.  The scenario was set in campaign around Fort Donelson in 1863(?).  We used the Regimental Fire and Fury game system with some slight modifications.  The game included some really great terrain, beautifully painted figures and very creative ironclads and riverboat transports.

So, let's see the photos:

The brave Rebel defenders of Fort Donelson!

Dover under "Aerial Spying!"

A Union Division attempts to turn the Rebel right flank.

The entire table looking north over Dover to Fort Donelson - The Cumberland river is on the right.

The last photo should really give you an idea of how large the game was - 6-7 feet wide by about 18 feet long!  Plenty of troops, but no so many that you couldn't maneuver.  The entire side of the table on the right of the photo above represented the Cumberland River.  There were three custom built ironclads (2 Union, 1 Confederate) and a couple of river boats pressed into service as troop transports (1 on each side) on a very inventive rolling stand mechanism.  This allowed them to "steam up and down the river" firing their guns, landing troops and just generally causing all kinds of havoc and tactical problems for the commanders on land.

There was also a re-supply component to the Confederate play where they had to use a train (visible at the bottom of the overall table photo above) or their river boat to re-supply the heavy artillery in Fort Donelson.  The supplies were dropped off in Dover and then moved by wagons to the fort itself.  We did manage to get two wagons worth of supplies to the fort before the supply line was cut and never did have to slacken our fire from the big guns.

The battle was a pretty even affair until the Union managed to dock their transport river boat right near the fort, disembark a brigade of infantry and two heavy mortars and proceed to bombard our brave defenders of states' rights into oblivion!   The gunboats did some pretty significant damage to the fort and to the Confederates trying to hold open the supply route between Dover and Fort Donelson.

Just overall a beautiful game to look at and a very fun game to play in.  The rule set worked really well and while simple in many ways, it plays very close to what one would read a battle being like in the American Civil War.  I hope to play in another one very soon!

Fire & Fury Game

I played in a Fire & Fury game yesterday at my friend Ralph's house.  We are preparing for a huge all day game in a couple of weeks.  The scenario will be set around the area of Fort Donelson.  We will be playing Fire & Fury Regimental scale using some beautiful 28mm figures painted by Ralph and Charlie.  I have attached a couple of photos below which I took last night with my iPad.  They really do not do justice to the figures - you have to see them in person to appreciate them!

I can't wait to see a 6' by 18' table filled with excellent terrain and hundreds of these beautiful figures!

Here are the pics.

 I will make sure that I get copies of the higher quality photos that will be taken at game day and make sure I post them here.

The African Campaign Gets Reinforcements

I am currently designing and painting in preparation for a campaign set in a fictional country of modern day Africa.  My fictional country is based very closely on Mali and the recent/on-going French intervention there.

The name of my country is "The Democratic Republic of Moa" or "DRM".  Located near present day Mali, Moa is a poor country governed by corrupt and greedy politicians who are focused more on their Swiss bank accounts than on the proper governance of their country.  The DRM is currently under attack from the north by several factions including several Islamic Rebel groups seeking to overthrow the government and establish a fundamentalist Islamic Theocracy in Moa.  Not all of the political and religious aims of these groups coincide, however, and this leads to conflict amongst the groups as well as with the DRM government troops.  There is a strong UN presence in Moa and Canadian troops are currently trying to occupy a buffer zone between DRM government troops and rebel groups in order to prevent civilian casualties.  The UN Regional Commissioner is currently in DRM trying to broker a ceasefire to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the current fighting.  In the southern part of the country, a warlord has formed his followers into a fledgling army and is moving to cut off government control of the Moa River.  The Moa River is a key part of the nation's economy and DRM troops are trying to re-establish their control of the waterway and keep what little commerce happens in Moa going.  France and Great Britain have publicly stated their support of the government of DRM's president Seliki Mumbato.  While he is not the ideal leader for the country, he is all they have right now and it is unacceptable to the EU and other "Western Interests" to have the DRM turned into another training haven for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).  Western units are attempting to bolster DRM government forces while training new units to take over the fight.  The French have the largest contingent in Moa.  They concentrate most of their combat elements in the north while the British have accepted responsibility for the southern half of the country and the Moa River.  All of this makes for great evening news footage and there is a large contingent of journalist throughout the region, giving UN troops and western commanders even more to consider.

More about the DRM and the back story later.

One of the groups fighting in Moa is the "White Sheiks" Islamic rebels.  Backed by Saudi financial interests, the White Sheiks are relatively well supplied with weapons and vehicles.  They are part of the AQIM uprising and as such regularly clash with DRM government forces and their western allies.  Here are a couple of quick pictures of the current White Sheik contingent.

The White Sheiks currently have two platoons and a section of "engineers" in their infantry forces.

The "White Mullah" (kneeling figure left part of the picture) is the military and spiritual leader of the White Sheiks forces.  He is reputed to be the nephew of a high ranking Saudi politician, but his face has never been photographed!

Hope you enjoy the story and the photos.  I will be posting more in the near future.

Inaugural Game in the Hobby Room!

Had a chance to host a game in my new Hobby Room last night.  We played a new scenario for Special Operations Forces set in my fictitious African country - the Democratic Republic of Moa.

My friends Ralph, Charlie, Ed and AJ were able to travel up and play in this initial game.  We had a really good time and the new rule set is really coming along!

Here is a picture of the guys after the game:

And here is a couple of photos of the game in action:

The White Sheiks and Black Terror on the Attack

French and African Allies make use of cover and concealment