Recent Games

 I've gotten a couple games in over the last week, as well as a bit of painting. No painting pics, but a few from the games. Last Sunday, David and I got in a game of Battletech Alpha Strike. We played the Reconnaissance scenario from the MRB. David used a 6-mech force of mid-cost mechs, ranged in the 30-42 point area: Battlemaster, 2 X Shadowhawk 2H, Guillotine 3N, Catapult K2, and Crab 20. I put the list together for him using my collection and he approved it. My preferred force was a much lighter affair, built for speed, agility and swarming. I had eight mechs : 3 X Wolfhound, Jenner, Locust 1M, Mercury 99, Raven 4x, Uziel. I was the defender in the scenario and set up 13 marked buildings across the center of the battlefield. David needed to locate SIX of the buildings I had chosen in secret, then evacuate a unit off the table to report the information back to HQ.

David deployed in a cluster on my left, while I had very much spread out.

My poor Locust gets dusted by the Battlemaster.

A measure of revenge against the Guillotine.

After a few hours of playing and a lot of blown up mechs, David located the last objective and RAN with the Catapult, his last 'Mech. A Wolfhound caught it with a headshot and, well, that'll do it! Minor victory for my Marik forces. This was a tense, drawn-out game of movement and sporadic damage. It was ridiculously enjoyable.

Then yesterday I drove up to Statesboro for a big D-Day Bolt Action game. I took my Canadians and helped storm the beaches! The game was hosted by the Statesboro Warhammer Club. A co-worker of mine, Landon is a member and invited me a few weeks ago.

There were three Axis players and five or six Allies. In fact, all three of the guys in this picture are the Axis players. As you can imagine, especially if you have every played a D-Day game, there was a bit of a logjam on the beach in no time.

I got all three of my infantry squads onto the beach / surf on turn 1. Well, one squad had to wade in, their boat having hit a sand bar. 

A real motley crew! The table was about 8' wide and 5-6' deep. We Allies were supposed to capture roads at the far end to ensure victory.

After a turn of shooting, my troops on the beach disappeared. Yes, some players were using their personal collections as proxies, thus the "Japanese" defenders.

I did manage to take out a bunker!

And we got a flank attack of three tanks. My Firefly VC cooked the StuG. 

But by 4:00, with so many players and units, we hadn't gotten far and the game was officially called. Minor Axis victory, they'd lost the beach entirely. I had a really good time and the Statesboro crew are a good group of guys.

Otter of My Own Fate

 Still no Battletech AAR. Motivation has been hard to come by. I did however paint up an armored car / recon car for the Bolt Action Canadians. I picked it up on Etsy a couple weeks ago and it arrived last Saturday. Well, one chunky solid easy-to-paint model later (and a week off work) and job's done! Rather than leaving it boring solid OD Green, I gave it a basic camo pattern of OD and medium brown. I like the final look and it's a fun and welcome addition to the collection. 

I need to order decals. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Blood and Plunder and Painting

 A few of us got together for some Saturday afternoon Blood and Plunder last weekend. It was refresher situation for us - it's been months since we played last. I played two games against Mike using identical forces each time, while David played more of a learning game against one of the other fellows who showed up, Dennis.

I used my South American natives while Mike used a high-end English force with some cavalry borrowed from Dennis. Just a basic 100-point smash-em-up, nothing fancy.

My deployment. The corner in which I was deployed was a billiard table of open ground. Not even remotely ideal for a force like mine which absolutely must stay in cover.

Mike consolidated into the center pretty quickly and kept the musketballs coming a steady pace. After four or five turns, Mike put his cavalry in the open and they became easy meat for flurries of poisoned arrows. Once they were forced back, the rest of the English followed suit. 

And there they go to tell the tale of woe to any others who'd invade our land!

We reset and played the same matchup again. We did address the open terrain the second time around and flopped deployment corners, right to left.

The game ran similarly, but Mike was eager to get his mounted troops into melee this time. Unfortunately for him, charging across open ground into a full strength unit of good shooters is quite predictable. The arrows accounted for three of the horsemen and they were forced to fall back. After that, it was just another mopping up operation for my tribesmen. 

We both learned a few lessons and rather enjoyed our gaming. I haven't played with those minis in years and they were just as much fun as I remember.

There's David commanding my Spanish on the other side of the table. I think he won his game.

I ordered some more 28mm FIW troops a couple weeks ago from Sash and Sabre. I put the finishing touches on those last evening. Here are a couple shots of them - nothing too crazy, just basic colors and a wash. English Militia and more French Woodsmen for my Blood and Plunder Canada / New England battles.

AAR: Bolt Action - Canadians' First Outing

 I met Wayne on Sunday afternoon for an intro game of Bolt Action with my recently completed Canadian infantry. He used a Fallschirmjager platoon, better quality troops for sure, but not as many of them. 

We very simply used the terrain as printed on the game mat he had set up. We played in "late summer" so the fields were dense and provided cover. We each placed an objective for the other guy to capture. Wayne of course buried his deep in a field on his side of the table. I placed the German objective on the crossroad since it was an obvious location of interest and value. 

Most of my force was deployed in the woods in the center with one squad and the Bren carrier off to the right flank.

The first shooting of the game... my mortar team's spotter calls one in on the Puma right next to an FJ squad.

Miraculously, it's on target. Even more miraculously, the Puma catches fire and the crew bail out and run! The Puma was out on shot #1 and all of a sudden this was an entirely different situation. The Fallschirmjager squad also took a hit and received some pin markers. Wow.

I worked the Bren carrier and rightmost squad forward. The mortar kept a steady stream of bombs falling on the German infantry while the UC's machineguns kept constant fire at the hard-pressed paratroopers.

Over on the left, Wayne left me an opportunity to move out of the woods which I did. Again, some miraculous dice and miserable German rolls saw that FJ squad run for it! The halftrack was to be another story. I had a PIAT nearby and was trying to get that set up for an easy kill.

The infantry on the right assault Wayne's command section, easily winning that combat.

But back on the left I messed up and announced an Advance order when I should have said Run. That poor squad was shot to bits by the FJs which had rallied and the 251's machinegun. My lousy PIAT was still struggling to get a rocket on target.

But on the right, things were still rosy - my infantry section wiped out the remaining Fallschirmjagers in a brutal assault, capturing the objective in the process. 

While those assaults were going on, I relocated the spotter to a new vantage point. The mortar's incredible steak of murder and despair continued, smashing rounds down on the German infantry on the left and even briefly rattling the halftrack which suffered no permanent damage. 

But it wasn't enough and the last of Left Section was cut down. 

We called the game there. A solid Canadian victory, 5-1. The mortar's ruthless hot streak made 100% of the difference. Killing the pricey armored car right out of the gates was huge. All of a sudden, my Bren Carrier was the nastiest thing on the table with two LMGs, whereas I'd started the game assuming it would be running for its life for as long as it lasted! My dice were well-behaved when necessary, whereas Wayne's betrayed him at a few key moments. I also had a 2:1 order dice advantage for much of the game which allowed me to what I wanted, whenever I wanted. 

It's tough to learn lessons from a very successful game, but I made a couple mistakes that I'll not make again. For starters, I placed an immobile MMG in a position in which it couldn't fire at any enemy all game. Also also mishandled the section on the left and was punished for that error. All in all though, Wayne was a gracious host and opponent and I'm sure he'll run me ragged next time we face off! 

Be well and good gaming!

The Bottom of the Box

 And here they are, the last of the British/Canadian infantry starter box. I'm still surprised that I was able to get it all completed to a very nice standard in short order. The box arrived on May 3rd and I put the final touches on these on June 3rd. 

The .30 cal

3 inch mortar

And of course the 6 pounder.

Bolt Action - AFVs

 I finished up the Bren Carrier from the box and a 3d printed Sherman I picked up from Mike for $20. The Churchill that came with the set will probably sit for a while since it's not really a Canadian thing. I'm sure the markings on the Sherman are wildly incorrect given the decals I had available, but I like how the vehicles turned out.

Given how long the carrier took to assemble, I couldn't be happier about my decision to buy the two-piece Sherman for such a nice price.

Hole In Head - Status Report

I've really been enjoying the process with the Bolt Action minis. Nothing like a bog box of interesting miniatures to keep me happy! It's all more or less complete except for decals and weathering on the vehicles and some additional ground cover / foliage on the weapons teams' bases. I took some pictures of the infantry last evening. WITNESS ME!*

First Section

Second Section

Third Section

And oddballs including an extra sergeant with a Sten, a Forward Observer, PIAT guy, extra rifleman / helper, Lieutenant and light mortar guy.

I've got an intro game set up with Wayne next weekend. Obviously, I'm quite looking forward to that. I'll get pics of the 6 pdr, HMG and Mortar along with the UC and Sherman as soon as they're wrapped up.

* We saw Furiosa last weekend. Hells yes. So much fun and a worthy successor to Fury Road.

A Hole in my Head

 I did the thing. I bought Bolt Action stuff. 

Not sure how I feel about that, but you know what? I'm enjoying the hell out of the build process! 

I bought a British infantry starter army, though they'll be dolled up as wicked nasty Canadians. I'll need to pawn the Churchill that came in the box off on someone or trade it for a Sherman. 

So, what was I thinking, right? Well, after the flood, renovations and my wife and son re-decorating to their taste, my ability to host games in my dining room has been severely affected. This means that My out-of-the-house gaming will likely increase. Mike runs a lots of Warlord games at his club and having a BA force gives me an opportunity to throw dice.

I did up 36 MDF bases with putty, sand and a basecoat to help keep the sand in place.

Some tough dudes awaiting their bases.

Other tough dudes being supported by their metal gun crew brethren while the superglue sets.

 I'm enjoying this so far. If you know me at all, I really do love the building and painting part of the hobby and this scratches that itch very well.