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A FISHING TRAWLER

3/19/2014

I got the following ship from Hobby Lobby (wait until it is on half-price sale, which it is on a regular basis). A large fishing trawler, very handy for Interwar to present.

First, I cut it down to waterline. That wasn't easy. I don't know what wood it is made of but that and the junk they put in the make it heavy (some kind of plaster I think) made it a hard job. I mounted it on a board cut to match the hull, and patched the ragged sections with wood putty. I then removed a lot of the excess deck detail, because that detail would gotten in the way of moving the figure around (I do the same with my sailing ship and leave off the yards and sails on the bigger ones, otherwise it is too hard to move figures around with my big fat fingers). In doing so I unseated the superstructure leaving me with this....

I put the superstructure back on and place a few miniatures on it. Yes, they look about right for the size of the ship. I don't know about the superstructure though. The funnel looks a bit too modern for Interwar or Pulp.

A close up of the miniatures on the trawler.

OK the superstructure is going to have to go. I can't place a miniature on each side sothe figure stands flat on the deck. You can also tell I didn't do a perfect job cutting it down to waterline. There is a slight lean to the port.

I'll need to redo the superstructure, a little smaller with a more rounded funnel. More in a much later post.

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GENCON PART THE THIRD

10/15/2013

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Sorry I am late with this posting. I kept hoping to get pictures of the Mordheim Round Robin game I took part in, but mine are crap and the guy running the game never sent me his. Oh well.

Another game at the Con was a massive Wings of War (over 40 players). To run such a large game, the people running it simplified it. See my card below for the Camel I was running.

Despite the massive number of planes on the table, I started with a one-on-one against an Albatross.

After a bit of dodging around, I settled in on his tail, using my rotary turn to blaze away at him for a couple turns (doing him little to no damage of course).

Having had enough of that, he went left when I went right and headed away from me at top speed. Unfortunately, I had taken an engine hit so had to do a slow each turn. This kept me from catching up with him (not that Sopwith Camels are very speedy anyway).

A shot of part of the hordes of gamers this game drew.

Finally catching up to him, I find that too many allies spoils the fight, as he survives by overlapping a enemy plane which kept him from getting shot at.

This happened again!

And again!!

And yet again!!!

Having had quite enough of this, I flew away from that battle looking for other Jerries to shoot. Every time I came close to a fight, the last German was shot down. So the game ended with me alive, but with no kills. Overall, it was a smashing victory for the allies, as the Huns were driven from the skies.

I learned one thing from all of this. If I am ever outnumbered, I'll fly right into the furball. It is safest there (at least it is if you are up against five or six planes being flown by different players).

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GENCON 2013 PART 2

9/2/2013

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One of the things I like to do at CONs is try out games I've never played before.

1879
1879 is a VSF game where Brits have gone through a gate and found a new world. Unfortunately for them, ancient Mesopotamians had gone through thousands of years before. In that time they develop science (rail-gun rifles) and dark magic (zombies). I really can't say the rules are OK or not. I only had two units and a hero vs. two units (one Zombie) and two heroes. Since there were only two units per side and I had initiative I pulled a fast one. He set up one on his right, I set up one near the middle. Then he set up on one his left and I put one on my right near the other unit. This let me take on each unit one at time.

First came the Zombies. Tough, but melee only troops. With fire from two units only a few made it close. And they "died" when I got off a volley as they charged in.

One of my units took some damage from the rail rifles on the hill and a really bad die roll on my part disrupted the other unit, when the rail rifles switched fire to my unhurt unit.

Eventually I got that other unit under control. I lost the other one in the meantime (though it did damage to his only surviving unit). In the end it ended up two stands to one and I squeezed out a victory despite some bad rolls on my part (those rail rifles were more lethal than my Martini-Henry's and had a longer range).

With so few units I can't tell you if the system was good or not. It really needed to have at least six units on each side, and more kinds of units (Cavalry, Heavy Weapons. Landships). I just couldn't get a good VSF vibe off of it because of how it was run.

BOLT ACTION
I know that Bolt Action has been out for a while, but this is the first time I played it. Me and two others where on the British side, and faced a father and son team on the German side. On the Brits left were a Matilda I, a Stuart, an A-10, PIAT team, and two squads of foot infantry. The Germans had a three mechanized infantry squads (two in half-tracks and one that could use a truck) Sd. Kfz. 222, a Panzer II a captured A-10 (Beute Panzerkampfwagen), a Panzer IV, a PanzerJager I and a Tiger!!!

Needless to say, I shit a brick about the last item, because on the right all I had was a Matilda I, a Grant (or maybe a Lee, I can never tell them apart without a tank books), an A-10, PIAT team, and three squads of foot infantry with enough Bren Gun Carriers to carry one of them. Down in the Wadi, between the two Brit forces, was a MKVI British light tank with a 15mm BESA. I don't know where the Brits scrapped up the obsolete A-10s and Matilda I's but to throw trash like that against a Tiger could only be suicide (but that's not the way it turned out).

The 222 pulled out of the Wadi and up on a hill, where it came under fire from the MKVI which immobilized it by blowing off a tire with it's 15MM. The MK IV moved partially out of the Wadi and picked off the Stuart.

There were two objectives on the board, a knocked out German half track, and a destroyed Churchill. The Germans ran a load of infantry in a halftrack up to one objective while another German squad ran to the other objective (while using the truck for cover?!?!). It worked but they lost their truck. On the left it was a very busy turn. The Tiger moved onto the side of the Wadi and killed the A-10 (an 88 Vs. A-10 armor, not at all an even match). The Panzer II and the halftrack full of Germans made an end move around an outcropping. A British squad that moved down into the Wadi, charged the halftrack with grenades and sticky bombs. They scored 8 hits and would have killed it on anything but a 1, so of course a 1 was rolled. The PIAT team took out the Panzer II. Then the German squad lept out of the Halftrack and close assaulted the Brits, killing four. Then the Brits with only 6 men left, made 5 kills on the Germans and won the battle (destroying the German squad and the now empty halftrack). They Don't Like It Up Them!!!

On the right flank (which I was running) my Infantry and Bren Gun Carriers took cover the Wadi. While my tanks engaged the Panzer IV and the Panzerjager I in a long range (and ultimately ineffective ) duel, I sent the squad farthest from the enemy tanks in a charge towards the objective.

Then once more in with the bayonets (They Still Don't Like it Up Them) and cleared out the German squad.

Meanwhile the Tiger made its way around knocked out and suppressed armor, all to take the last British tank (a Matilda I) under fire, because it had been firing at the last squad of German Infantry holding the other objective. Dad should have told the kid you don't get close to Infantry without other Infantry to protect you when in a tank. For the Brit infantry charged forward once again with grenades and sticky bombs. This time they got the kill and took out the Tiger

At the end no one could claim either objective. A lone German officer survived a volley of fire from the squad near the Churchill and while another Brit squad scaled the cliffs in the Wadi to deny what was left of the last German infantry squad procession of the other objective.

The last running German tank, the Panzer IV, found itself facing two squads of infantry, a PIAT team and three tanks (OK one was a Matilda I and the .50 it carried wasn't a threat). There the game ended with a crushing defeat of the Afrika Korp.

I like Bolt Action. Its a simple, fast system that is easy to learn and play. As an old time Gamer (remember Angriff) I found the armor rules a bit simplistic. I want more than just light, medium, and heavy guns and more than just light, medium and heavy armor (I'm sure there is extra heavy in both categories for Jagdtigers and JS tanks). While I would buy a copy of the rules and build myself an army, I have no one to play against. I'll just save my money for something else.

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PIKE AND SHOT AT WINTER WAR 40

2/17/2013

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One of the things that I like about Cons is the chance to play in a big historical mini game. Skirmish, airbattles, and board games are good, but those are games I can get in occasionally where I live. But the big historical miniatures game with hundreds of painted figures is beyond what the local gamers can do.

This year at Winter War I got to play in a big 15mm Pike and Shot (a variant of the Blackpowder rules) game. The relief of the Siege of Vienna. The Allies (Poles, Austrians, and others) had to break the siege by defeating part of the huge Turkish Army. A victory would open the way to Vienna, defeat would mean it's fall.

The Allied Army (Note the Winged Hussars in the middle)

The Terrible Turks

I was on the far right flank with 5 squadrons of Austrian Cavalry and 5 regiments of Austrian Infantry.

Valiantly my cavalry counter-charged the advancing Turkish tribal cavalry.

And were thrown back losing a squadron. Maybe we should try pistols (with a little help from some infantry). Yes, that's much better

On the left Allied flank confusion reigned (10 Blunder rolls (12 on 2d6) in five turns!!!!) but eventually they made if off the hills.

The valianty Poles thrust forward in the center while the Janissaries sat around doing nothing (the Sultan must have been late with their pay again).

While the Turkish Lancers charge someone elses Austrian infantry, I charge the shotup, weakened and unsteady Turkish cavalry for an easy victory.

Where did everybody go? I won the charge and took a couple casualties and then rolled snake-eyes for morale. The Turkish cavalry fled while my cavalry merely fell back to regroup (maybe someplace in France or Spain or maybe the New World). The Turkish Lancers also evaporated after a couple charges against the line of Austrian infantry.

On the left the Allies and Turks still slugged it out.

But between the Polish advance in the center, the Austrian advance on the right flank, the lossof all the Turkish cavalry on that flank, and the failure of the Janissaries to get moving in time it was a resounding victory for the West and Vienna was relieved.

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STILL MORE WINTER WAR 40 STUFF

2/10/2013

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I tied for second in the Settlers of Catan Tournament

Various games I didn't play in.

The vile Barneys fought the Atomic Zombies (sorry no pics of the Atomic Zombies, they just were not as photogenic as the Barneys.