Hello Again!

Well I am back! I see I hadn't posted since September so I thought I had better get everyone up to speed.

Since my last posting regarding our group's ACW campaign, we have not done another battle. It appears that the campaign has tapered off into history like so many others our group has done over the years. It lasted for several years which is a fine accomplishment in itself! We had some good times, but now my figs will sit until we decide to just game individual battles. This will allow me to try out some various deviations with my rules. I want to include skirmishers and I have a fairly good idea how I want to handle them. I have also re-organized my ACW units into divisions and corp units. As I have it now, I have 2 corp for each side broken into 2 divisions each. Some of the divisions have more brigades but fewer stands per brigade. I have 4 brigades of horse for the Confederates and 6 brigades for the Union. I am also trying to paint up more artillery to give each side a reserve corp of artillery to assign as they see fit, or as how the design of the game will dictate their use. I went on a painting binge for a short time to add plenty of generals to aid in the upcoming games.

Im went to an ACW re-enactment that was held locally. I have some pictures and once I sort through them, I will post a few here for all to see. I have a friend who is a re-enactor which is somewhat related to how I got into ACW period gaming.

The latest painting project I am working on is for 10mm WW2. I may have mentioned this in earlier blogs but I have finally got at the project with full force. Many of the German vehicles are painted up and my buddy has been purchasing a few odds and ends to add for them. I think the hardest part about the vehicles was the assembly. To me, no logic exists as to why companies do this. Some are only a couple pieces to glue together, some are multiple pieces that can create confusion and frustration. I am about 1/3 done with painting the infantry. Considering I have only attempted to paint 10mm figs once, I am doing rather well at it. I use toothpicks for the majority which works very well. Plus Germans are rather easy to paint. Most of the Russian units are painted and mounted, but my buddy had a head start as they were used for a different period of WW2 and only had to be re-mounted. No rules have been decided on, but we are still looking for that right set...if one even exists. I am sure we will be modifying our own based upon many different sets. I don't foresee a play test anytime soon, but when it does come about, a full briefing will blogged.

The majority of our group made it to the Rock Con convention in Rockford Illinois this year. (Fri/Sat/Sun Nov 2,3,4) I had a good time, getting in on a game for all 3 sessions on Saturday. We only gamed the one day with my friend putting on a game with his ancients. The first game was a dogfight in Vietnam. The game was modeled after Operation Bolo. This was the battle led by Col Robin Olds and his plan to imitate Thud bombers with his F-4 Phantoms. The plan was to draw the North Vietnamese out into an ambush to try and shoot down as many Migs as possible. The real dogfight knocked out 7 Migs with no Phantom losses. In our game, we managed to knock down 3 Migs with 1 Phantom loss. The game was challenging in the sense that we as the Phantom drivers had no guns at this time, only missile's.

The 2nd game was a Barbary Coast pirates game in 15mm scale. The pirates had captured an American merchantman and were to try and get her into port. As the American player, we were to stop it. The merchant was crewed by pirates, so it was a 3 vs 3 ship fight. As the Americans, we succeeded in stopping the merchant by sinking her. A fun game!

The 3rd session was a Napoleonic battle. French vs Austrians 15mm. I played an Austrian and managed to achieve my assigned victory condition. I captured a town, killed a French commander and took control of a sunken road. The French at my end were paralyzed without a commander. The rules were a homemade set and rather fast. Again, another fun game. A good time was had by all.

Well enough for now and I hope to keep up better. I am pleased that I have managed to make it almost a year posting!