Back Again!

Been awhile since I blogged obviously:) I haven't gamed much at all this summer do to some personal issues and I think I am finally back on track for more gaming. What have I been doing? Well pretty simple: Not much. I have on occasion been re-mounting and touch up painting the figs I purchased earlier this year. I have several of them ready to go, just need to give them unit names and add them appropriately to each army.

I am planning an ACW game for this weekend with my group. It will be an all cavalry game which is a bit from the norm. I was just looking to try something new and this is what I came up with. I plan on reporting this after the game.

In the future, I am looking at doing a small campaign game with my ACW figs. I am looking at basing it on Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. I am thinking of taking a few of the battles and replaying them. My friend has been doing something similar which inspired me. I believe I have blogged about this.

Hopefully things have calmed down enough now to allow me to pursue more gaming this upcoming fall and winter. It will allow me to continue with my blog since I have had it up for a good amount of time now.

Until next time, happy gaming!

WW2 Mini Campaign

A little background. Our group is doing a WW2 mini campaign. Germans/Russians. It is modeled after the first few battles of the 1941 invasion by the Germans. The figs are the 10/12mm. Basicly, it is a serioes of 5 battles. The Germans can afford to only lose 1 in the series otherwise it would be a Russian campaign victory. This is the first battle in the campaign:

After Action ReportOn Turn 1 the Germans got 6 Stuka air strikes they could use anywhere on the board. Taken by surprise, the Russians were not allowed any antiaircraft response. The airstrikes did better than usual this game but then our Germans normally havent rolled too well for aerial attacks in our game experience.This time they destroyed an AT gun, AA gun truck, arty emplacement with 76.2mm gun inside, and killed some personnel caught in tents in a camp outside of the town. They pummeled some entrenchments too but no Russians were inside them.Then the attack went in. The German recon battalion raced their armored cars across one bridge where the gallant Soviet border guards beat off one rush only to get gunned down on a second. Though taking the bridge easily, the Germans did get stretched out very badly on the road due to command roll problems. In the center the German infantry battalion paddled their first wave across on boats and only lost one boatload of infantry to enemy fire. Then they took a small woods and the main central ridgeline on the Russian side of the river. There was quite a fierce firefight on the ridge with some Russian borderguards. I was a bit surprised when they didnt use any smoke to cover the crossing as they had been alloted some. But it worked.Finally on the second bridge, the main German tank effort drove across that without incident. Soon after the Russians began bombarding the bridge with a dug in 76.2 howitzer in an effort to knock down the bridge. Though the Russians got some hits, the bridge remained up.The Germans then engaged a large Russian pillbox with tank fire and an infantry assault, causing the Russians to abandon the pillbox. Finally the Russians armor support showed up, streaming down one road in a piecemeal effort (command rolls not cooperating). There was an armored battle and the Germans formed a firing line compared to the Russians long column on the road. By the time some Russian vehicles scattered then advanced they ran headlong into quite a lot of German tank fire. The Germans killed Russian AFVs at a 6:1 ratio. Russian morale cracked eventually and what was left of the defenders abandoned the town and fled down all three roads off the board. A definite German victory.Overall I thought the Germans played it quite well. They did bring up halftracks right into the front line in an infantry firefight and - as the real Germans did - soon found out these vehicles are quite vulnerable. They lost a couple to infantry.By the end of the battle the Germans had killed Russian infantry at a 5:1 ratio. Lopsided but realistic.The Russians fought bravely and did their best given a tough scenario though their armor tactics weren't imaginative. In their defense, Russians are clumsier with activations and they didnt roll all that great.Probably quite realistic given the 1941 scenario.So at the end of Game 1 the Germans lead 1-0 in a 5 game campaign.

What's Been Going On!

Well since my last post way back in June, I am pleased to report that I am back to blogging and gaming! First of all, I didn't have to do anything to my hobby work area. I was real fortunate that I had no damage, just some water on my carpet. I have indoor/outdoor so all I had to do was shop vac the water up and turn on the fan to dry things out.

As for gaming, well I managed to game a couple times since my last post. I have been busy with summer activities and work. I will post a battle report written by one of my fellow gamers next. I have managed to get a good portion of my Union fellows I purchased re-mounted and touched up. I still have the Rebs to do, but with summer, I haven't been as active in getting them done. To some extent, I am looking forward to fall and winter. Oh I don't mind summer, but I pretty much had enough at the end of June:)

I had planned on an ACW game this past weekend, but work got in the way so I had to cancel. I figured I would end up working late and true to Murphy's Law, I did.

Well this is it for now. I hope to get another gaming report out soon. Next week is historicon so there will be no gaming for me as a few of the guys are heading out to Pennsylvania.

Till Next Time!

Update

This is another brief update to my gaming activities. In the last week, my city has received about 10" of water and caused some minor damage to my hobby area in my basement. My figs are all fine, but my work area will need to be disassembled and the wall I built torn out to get at the wet insulation. I have every intention of setting up my work area again and am hope full that I will have it up and running so I may continue to re-mount my ACW figs and to continue on with other projects. I thought that maybe I would be more upset, but after seeing the flood damage first hand about my area today, my issue is minor and I am thank full that I did not encounter such massive flooding as my brother had as well as the others in town. Property can be replaced whether it be hobby items or a TVs. People are not replaceable! We had no deaths or significant injuries in my area which is a bonus considering the widespread damage incurred. As soon as I am back up and running, I will make another post. I will continue to post on gaming activities with my friends but I know I will be a bit busy in the very near future.

What's New

Well obviously it has been quite sometime since my last post. So I thought I would type a few lines to say hi and to let you all know what I have been up to.

First of all, I haven't gamed in awhile now. With the weather getting a little nicer finally, I have been doing yard work/house chores etc. A little bit of life has interrupted my general routine. You will have that:)

What I have been doing is starting to re-mount some figs I purchased awhile back from a friend. They are an ACW collection and I needed to re-mount them to match my rules system. I have also been doing some touch up painting on them. I am also putting them onto metal stands that need to be re flocked and units names need to be added. I am working on the Feds right now.

While doing this, I realized this would be a perfect time to add a different unit to the Feds. This would be Wilders Brigade. This was a unit from the Ohio area that were mounted infantry. They would ride to the fight as Cav, but dismount and fight like regular infantry. This saved me from having to re-mount the cav. I just have to add the unit name. I have the infantry available and just need to be mounted etc. Being primarily a Confederate player, this should be a nasty surprise to the others but I like the idea of the unit. It also had an artillery battery that went with them so it will almost resemble a flying column.

I will not be gaming for a few more weeks so I more than likely won't have another post for awhile. If something does arise, I will be sure to get it blogged!

Hi to all in the gaming world. Been a couple weeks and I figured I had better produce another blog:) 2 weeks ago our group did not game as a few of the members went down to Illinois for the gaming convention. I myself did not go this time around but I had gone once before. From what I understood from my buddies, they all had a good time and a real positive experience.

This past weekend, we did a game with 25mm. The period is from the Mexican Revolution and I wished I had brought my camera but I left it at home. The figs are very nice looking and the game is pretty simple from a rules standpoint. I was amazed at how the figs took up so much room on the table. It really shrunk it up and we use an 8'x6' sized table.

Even though there were two groups fighting, the Rebels and the Mexican government, there were some disputes within the various Generals involved. This made it an obvious game within the game. Each General had a some victory conditions assigned to them which is always a nice way to randomize the game.

As one of the Rebel players, we had to attack a Federal garrison that were behind walls, and had reinforcements approaching onto the field outside of the walls. My command and another Rebel player each had poor command. We constituted the left flank on the attack. Needless to say, we didn't move very often:) However, I did manage to reach the walls and in fact get inside with my cavalry. With them, I killed the mayor of the town:) Victory condition for me. My infantry group never made it. Again, poor command. On the right, another Rebel general managed to defeat the reinforcements. The center group held back some, but did use his artillery fire effectively. He did get to the town with some American mercenaries. The government forces did put up a spirited fight until they decided it was in their best interest to loot the town!

In the end, the Rebel faction won the overall battle, but one of the Government players was the winner based on victory conditions. He did some serious looting. I tied for 2nd along with a couple other players.

I liked the game; a very beer and pretzels type. Rules are easy to learn. The shooting isn't very good but that was expected. From what was told to us, the Mexican army/rebels were very poor shots which played out well in the game.

Next game we have, I plan on bringing my camera. Very nice figs including some women Rebels. Something you don't always see in games. Just a small note, the image I used for this blog is from a previous game from the Mexican/American War.

What Has Been Going On

Hi All! Well I haven't gamed in a few weeks now and I don't plan on gaming until at least the 2nd weekend of April. I can also say that I haven't really worked on any projects lately. Mostly because I have been exhausted from the normal grind of life as well as the above normal activity at work. I have always said that if the hobby begins to resemble a job, it is time to quit the hobby. Breaks are good thing because I do enjoy my hobby!

With that said, I have managed to add to my ACW collection. I recently purchased a large amount of troops from a friend of mine. He is clearing out his collection and I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a good deal. I will have increased my collection by a minimum of 400 figs. This includes some cav/artillery and extra command figures. I will have some re-mounting ahead of me, but this recent transaction has giving me new life to get back into the swing of things. I also need to get down stairs and get my brigades back in order from the last game.

One of the things I have planned is to do another large ACW game. I have also purchased some balsa wood to make my own pontoon bridges. I would like to do a river crossing and have at least 3 bridges completed for the game. I have taken a look at some Civil War pontoon bridges and I am confident that I can make a decent replica for my gaming purposes. I am of the opinion that a die roll will determine who the attacker will be, but I don't want to make it to difficult as I want some fighting to emerge from the scenario. One other scenario I was toying with was the Battle of New Orleans from the War of 1812. Yes I know this is not the ACW period, but our group once did a game like this. using a different time period for the battle. These can be very interesting IMO.

I have recently signed up for a RPG via the Internet. It is a bit slow for the moment as I am just getting my character established, but I am very confident that things will pick up for my character. I have played in a number of RPG's and I think I will enjoy this one based on the old west. 1879 is the time frame.

One side note about the picture I have chosen for this article. This man is walking across America. He is walking a mile for each man/women lost in this current conflict. On Friday, I passed him up as I came home from work. I had seen a story about him and quickly hit the net to get some information. He started in Nevada and is headed for Washington D.C. I admire his commitment and determination to finish his mission and I wanted to get his picture and a little of his story out there. This picture is from my local newspaper.