WIP & Fleets in Drydock

So here are pics of the hobby room and home office I mentioned in an earlier post. Also, here are the ships that I've purchased for Naval Thunder. The ships turned out to be Davco ships from 1977. They were only $1.00 each at The Miniature Market so I picked up 8 Italian and German ships. And 8 British. I had to take what they had because they'd obviously bought these at an auction or something. There were a few more there I could get. We'll see how these paint up. I'll post a list of what I acquired in the near future.

Hobby Room Beginnings

Home Office WIP

3 of the Davco ships now in Dry Dock

The Naval Thunder Dry Dock Fleet

Tanksgiving BKCII Rules Test

View of the board-bottom tanks moved to left for flank deployment

The German 88's view before setup was complete. At game start all these visible tanks were behind the hills

German Assault Gun Company rushing to flank & exploit from behind.

The result of the flank, all but 1 tank platoon left and fighting for it's life.

The two tanks behind the hill are PzIVs and will be destroyed after this photo is taken.

I didn't finish this game so I could prepare for some hobby room remodeling. The US was suffering bad, but was making a steady comeback. I used the BKCII rules and was trying out the rules I would use for high area terrain, the impenetrable terrain, the restricted fire arc in, into, and out of these areas. I liked them. I also tried my LOS and LOF clarifications that I discussed in this entry.

This 4-day Thanksgiving holiday saw a lot of 1:1 modeling. IE painting deck railing and preparing my wife's business home office. All that, the holiday, the naval game and 4 turns of BKCII, and preparing or hobby room fixing up. I would say it was a pretty productive 4 days.

Sink The Bismark! Naval Thunder Style

Bismark goes down in 4 turns. Fires and flooding take her down.
Prince of Wales had no damage.
Hood had rudder damage, had lost speed 2" of speed, and 1 main turret.
I should find a Prinz Eugen model, 'cause Bismark needs the help. I guess if I'm using paper I could just cut out some paper and say it's the Prinz.

The ships began the battle fairly close to start so they got into gun range immediately...which, for the sake of what I was trying to do, learn the mechanics.

I was testing the Naval Thunder ruleset out. Very straightforward and fairly easy to remember the various nation specific rules.

I enjoyed myself much more than I thought I would. I've not had much interest in Naval or Space Combat games (Tried Firestorm Armada once and just couldn't get into it.). But I saw a couple at the recent Command Con and my interest was piqued. I had fun seeing the damage done, but it's not in so much detail that it's overwhelming.

I read on the Steel Dreadnought Forums that one of the players adds the fire and flooding situations to each other. In the rules you just have one flooding marker, even if you get another flood critical. But having multiples was pretty fun reading. Though, in the case of my game, it would've been over sooner than it was.

And referring to fast play, these are pretty fast and the games are definitely fast to set up and get going.

Lastly, with the damage, shooting; and movement tracking I felt I was playing a role playing game. (Side note: for some reason the thought of keeping track of Battletechs in those games has never appealed to me. But this was fun.)

I've heard these rules work very well with the pre-dreadnought era. As I type this, I wasn't even sure what it that term meant. So, now to the all knowing site, Wikipedia:

Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905.^[1] Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, and protected by hardened steel armour, pre-dreadnought battleships carried a main battery of very heavy guns in barbettes (open or with armored gunhouses) supported by one or more secondary batteries of lighter weapons. They were powered by coal-fuelled triple-expansion steam engines.
These battleships were abruptly made obsolete by the arrival of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. Dreadnought followed the trend in battleship design to heavier, longer-ranged guns by adopting an "all-big-gun" armament scheme of ten 12-inch (305 mm) guns; her innovative steam turbine engines also made her faster.^[4]

Fast Play thoughts

Saw this interesting post on The Fast Play Myth the Wargaming for Grown-Ups blog.

I've been thinking about this because I'm always on the look out for a fast play mini game - WWII mainly. When I say fast play I mean 2-3 hours (4 at the most) because this is the kind of time I have right now in my life.

And, after my November Con (Blitzkrieg Commander) game one of the players of my game said, "These 'fast-play rules' really arent' that fast." And I know what he meant. It wasn't just that they were all new to the game, a lot had to do with people getting multiple command rolls. Therefore other players would have to wait for the fortunate player to make decisions on what to do. Also, the fact that there 3 players each side also slowed it down.

Most of my games so far have been solo and this generally takes more time because I'm thinking about both sides moves and having to do the thinking that normally another opponent will have thought through while I was making my own moves.

I suppose I would still consider BKCII fast play compared to CD:TOB (the other game that plays at a similar scale) only because there are fewer things to look up and memorize. However, I've been told that 2 knowledgeable players can work through an average CD:TOB scenario in less than 4 hours.

So, I agree with his theory. And I think a lot of what I should do is learn the rules and game play better for the games I've chosen.

High area terrain explained

This is a diagram that "adesant" came up with on the BKCII forum to help explain woods LOS and concealment. This was one big discussion during the con game. One reason I'm playing a quick scenario right now is to work through some of my thoughts on woods. As good as this diagram is, I'm going to go with woods and buas are both impenetrable. This means that you can only see in or out if you're on the border of the terrain feature. 

I'm also trying out the rules that you can only shoot with the 90 degree arc when shooting in or out of the terrain.

In addition, I'm saying that you use any part of the base front to any part of the enemy stand to determine LOS. However, for LOF, there are three conditions. If you can see just the corner of the stand you will be able to shoot but will only hit on a 6. If you can see the middle of the nearest enemy edge, then you will hit on a 5+. If you can see the center of the stand then you will hit on a 4+. Terrain modifiers will overrule these to hit numbers. This allows for a unit to fire from behind terrain, hit the enemy at a 4+ and the enemy can only hit on a 5 or 6+. I'll have to work out a diagram on this.

Command Con Vendors

Here's a quick video I took of John, from The Game Room, in Washington, Illinois.  I surprised him by asking him on the spot if I could interview him. He did great. However, I wasn't confident how I'd done with it so I didn't interview the others. In hindsight, it turned out ok and I should've interviewed the rest.


The vendors at 2011 Command Con were:
The Game Room
108 Washington Sq.
Washington, IL 61571
www.gameroomil.com

Wargamer's Cave
3665 Nameoki Rd
Granite City, IL 62040
618-560-4348
 This is a fairly new business, and seems to specialize in mainstream miniature suppliers. Has room for gaming in his store.

George Knapp's Books and Figs
2600 24th Street
Leavenworth, KS 66048
913-758-1846
No website, but you can email him at gknapp@kc.rr.com
He has an eclectic collection of books, rules and miniatures for sale. He was also demoing a large hex map game of his own.

Recreational Conflict
Richard Brooks
1230 Locust Street
Owensboro, Kentucky 42301
richard@recreationalconflict.com
270-683-1086
They had paints and a large collection of white metal minis. Sci Fi, Fantasy and historical. His son (I believe) painted a lot of the minis on display and for sale. And they look great. Some cool unique figs you could use in one offs, Rpg, or skirmish games. He even had some 6mm terrain! Painted very well. The pic at the right are some of their inventory for sale. 

This year I didn't buy anything from the vendors - not much in the support side. Again, hindsight, I should purchase to support so they come back.  Even if just a little something. 

Amazing Simple Dice Usage

Learned this simple dice trick at the con this weekend. It's so easy that I'm slightly embarassed to say I'd never thought of it.

I was playing the Mexican American War game and I wanted to move my troops at an angle. I was told I could go as far as a 45 degree angle. I began to eyeball it, when one of my team members said, "Use a 3 on the die."

I wasn't sure what he was saying. I thought he was saying I had to roll for some mechanic to determine if I could do it.

Sensing the thickness before him, he very nicely placed the die in front of the unit to show me the 45 degree line.

Very cool.

56th AIB - WIP and some other to-dos

Above is a picture of my progress on my first Armored Infantry Battalion (I'll call this one the 56th, since that's the one my Grandfather served in - Captain, Supply).

I've decided my next modelling project before I build or buy anything else is to check my inventory and see where I stand in my project for building an Armored Division where each stand is a platoon.

For the Germans I would like to build a Panzer Grenadier Battalion/Regiment (still learning the org charts), a Panzer Battalions, A FJ battalion, a Volksgrenadier Battalion, and some support. Won't be a perfect Division, but it will give me enough oppenents for the allies.

I'll be building a new spreadsheet to track this project.

For terrain, I would like to finish the buildings I own, build the paper terrain buildings out, build out the rest of the trees, and build a variety of hills, and oh yeah figure out a couple of small lakes, and oh yeah an orchard, and yeah, finish a few more Bocage, and oh yeah, touch up the scour pad hedges...figure out trenches...and

And, get a game on in the next 2 weeks, even if solo.

Stuff from con

Below is the great little bridge that Bill Gaynor built me...just cause. Made out of balsa wood and pink foam, this bridge saw action as a railroad bridge during my Con Game as a railroad bridge. I made a gap in my embankment and it fit perfect. Thank you Bill.

Below are some pre-painted Tigers, King Tigers, and SpKz 250/9 (with the 20mm gun)

Command Con Day 3

More pics. End pictures are of my introductory play testing with Norris Dale (? correct me if I'm wrong someone) of Johnny Reb Civil War rules. My first ever Civil War Minis game. More enjoyable than I was prepared for. Rules were very similar to Command Decision to me. Many steps and lots of modifiers. Not too bad, but they're there. I would play again. And, I can't imagine painting an army. We used 15mm - and they were great. Acquired 5 painted Tigers, 2 King Tigers, and 3 250/2s(The ones with the 20mm gun on them.)

Command Con Day 3

And here are pics from that 3rd GM I mentioned yesterday, Blake. His games usually had a lot of noise coming from them.

Blakes pics on flickr

More of Blakes pics on flickr
 Photos of Zulu War Game and 28-mm Modern Afghanistan using Ambush Alley. Blake

First pics from the Con Game

US players to left planning their strategy.

The beginning of the US demise.

Basically, the scenario was designed too historically accurate and I hadn't adjusted the victory conditions enough to help the US out a bit. The 43rd Armored Division was lost, just like in real life. 2 of those lost because I forgot the arty rule that it only hits full AFVs on 6. By the end the German players had a better grasp of the game than me. Which is odd, 'cause I thought I had it down.

Also lack of clarity on spotting, LOS, how units are targeted, etc.

Also, it took a looooong time to get through the turns because some of the commanders were getting multiple rolls, a lot to think about for all the players, a lot of maneuvering, ??? Will have to look into it.

US player morale suffered greatly as game wore on and they just couldn't move beyond the town.

We got 3 turns in out of 8. Unfortunately, it soured me on scenario design. Unfortunately, because I would like to design more for the 12th AD. Soured me just cause it's tons of work that needs more work. Basically, I'll get over it.

Now, there were three games that I heard yelling (excited, cheerful, happy) coming from tables. In the past, I've played in two of the GMs games that were running these happy places. And, they're both good GMs. Says a lot. One ruleset is well tested and one is a major modified Rapid Fire. The other was Ambush Alley/Force on Force. Don't know the GM but both his games have generated shout and hollers.

Now, I've heard grumbling about some other games either from the GMs or players. Not terrible, just that the games didn't go well, scenario wasn't up to snuff, benign. But still not excitement and hooting and hollering. So, I'm not alone.

This leads me to a few quick thoughts - which I shouldn't be doing at this hour:

• Design a smaller scenario or use a smaller scenario
• Do like Jerry and Ed and design a small one and have two playings of the scenario happening at the same table. And the games last short enough that each player takes command of each commander in 3 playings of the game. For example, in their game there were 2 Unions Commanders and 1 Confederate. Basically, each player would play one command and then when the game was done, they would move to the next command. They had two playings just to get more players in. Really, it's supposed to be a big game. Take 4 hours. It appeared they had just a small part of a scenario or a well designed small one.
• People suggested letting everyone have at least one command every turn with one possibility of doing something. (I'm not sure this is a problem because I allowed mulligans, so there weren't many first time failures.)
• They also suggested I just let everyone have their turn and that's it. No friction - Hmmm. But it would limit the number of turns someone can do something. I could also limit the number of actions. Or, I believe Hail Caesar and Black Powder have changed the command structure. I should buy them just for this reason.

I'll still have to think about this. One thing I do wish: that I could get out there and do another one quickly to keep up the momentum and to keep growing and improving what I'm learning. 'Cause I think I like GMing more than playing.

2011 Command Con Day 2

GMed the game today. Will make a post about the experience. Had 6 players and about 4 others that wanted to play. Not sure I made any converts. Anyway, here are the pics. I played my first ever Mexican American War game. Interesting. This game dominates the end of the photostream.

2011 Command Con Day 2

Command Con St Louis BMHMA

1st Day at Command Con at the Crestwood Mall in St Louis.

Nordwind Con Game Summary and Play Aids

Below are the links to the mission summary and play aids (from the Blitzkrieg Commander site)
Mission Summary

2 sided Blitzkrieg Commander Quick Reference Sheet

Blitzkrieg Commander Summary Sheet

Final Map for Nordwind Con Game

Just 3 days away to the launch of Operation Nordwind, and what I'm most nervous about is the balance I'd the game.
I played the first two turns last night and it was not going well for the Americans, 2 Inf platoons and 2 tank platoons lost. Germans had lost the Stug.
Need to remember smoke.
Better half saw the table and was very complimentary of the way it looks. Cool.