El Guettar Turns 1 and 2

Tim and I have completed the first two battles of our El Guettar campaign.  Each battle represents one game turn.  The first battle was Hold the Line with the Germans defending.  Tim brought a Panzer Grenadier company with lots of dismounted grenadiers, some Pak40s, a couple 88s and some artillery.  He also brought some air support.  The US forces consisted of a Tank company with some Shermans, Lees, M3 TD and T19 artillery.  The US has sporatic air support.

The battle was close and a real nail-biter.  The US pushed hard for a single objective and lost a tank platoon right at the start.  Things quickly turned and the US pulled out a 5-2 win.

The battle was Breakthrough with the same forces.  The US was the attacker again.  This game was a first for me in that it was the first time that I used a smoke barrage and actually had it work.  The US would take this game also by a 5-2 score.

The US is off to a good start in the campaign, winner the first two games and capturing the first objective - Kasserine.  The cost was high.  Here is the scoring so far:

Victory Points
US - 10
German -4

Casualties
US - 20
Germans - 14

Vehicles lost
US - 20
Germans - 0

Guns lost
US - 0
Germans - 5

El Guettar - A Flames of War Campaign

Tim and I have been playing lots of games of Flames of War over the last year and a half.  These games have mostly been set in North Africa in the mid war period.  The games have been fun but we always talk about doing some sort of campaign.

After much talk and a little research we decided to do a FoW axis if attack campaign loosely based on the attacks of the US II Corps in the El Guettar area of Tunisia in 1943.  This is a neat area for a campaign as the forces involved are fairly limited but very interesting - German armor, Italian armor and US infantry and armor.  Since there is only two of us playing we have dropped the Italians for now.

The strategic situation is that the US has just suffered an humiliating defeat at Kasserine Pass but the Germans lack the strength to exploit their success.  The German forces begin a slow withdrawal to the southeast in order to better protect the route of the Afrika Korps into Tunisia.  The US II Corps new commander, Gen. Patton, is eager to press the Germans and cutoff the Afrika Korps route into Tunisia.  To do this the US must capture the town of Gabes before the DAK cam make their escape.  Patton also wants to prove that the first all US command of the war is able to take on tough opposition and defeat veteran Germans units.

The campaign rules are a modified version of the Noob Friendly Tunisia Campaign run by the WWPD guys a couple years ago.

The Rules

1. Mapped based axis of attack format (See the crappy map above) based on Patton's II Corps attack through El Guettar to cutoff the retreat of the Africa Corps.
2. Armies involved - US Armor and Infantry; German Armor and Panzer Grenadiers. Lists are to be created from the North Africa book and the Tunisia lists for US and Germans.
3. Battles will be randomly generated from the FoW rule book or by agreement of the players.  Battles will be scored per the normal VP scoring system.
4. The Allies have the strategic initiative.  The Axis forces cannot capture territories they can only try and slow the advance of the allies.  A territory is captured when the Allies achieve 6 VP for
battles fought in that territory.  This means it will take between one and six battles to capture a territory.  The Germans start the campaign controlling all territories.
5. The allies will have 12 campaign turns to capture the final objective - Gabes.  Each game represents one campaign turn.
6. Each player should pick a nationality to play for the entire campaign.  Players are free to change their army lists from game to game but should not switch nationalities.
7.  Progress in the campaign will be tracked several ways.  Number of territories held, Strategic objective, VP accumulated,  and Casualties suffered (each team lost in a battle counts as a casualty).  The strategic objective for the US is to capture Gabes and for the Germans it is to prevent the US from achieving their objective.


So those are the basic rules for the campaign.  Tim will be playing the Germans which is an army has is very familiar with.  I will be playing the Americans which is a new army for me.  It should prove interesting and hopefully I can put up a good enough fight to take it all the way to 12 games.  No matter how it turns out I can see us running this campaign a couple of times so we each have a chance to play both armies.

The first battle is tomorrow so here's hoping it goes well for the Allies!

Flames of War US Tank Company

I have been wanting to build a US Tank Company for a long time.  Last year I bought some Plastic Soldier Company M4A1 and M4A2 models from a friend that was getting out of the hobby.  I had already started collecting some PSC models before I purchased the collection.  After playing a few games with my friends old tanks I decided they just were not getting the job done, so I decided to build and paint my own collection.

Here are the first 10 tanks for my new army, along with a couple of extras.

First up are the commander and the 2iC.  The figures are Battlefront and the tanks are PSC.

 The first platoon is also PSC with a Battlefront commander.  These tanks have the M34 gun mantlet and some have the rounded hull.

The second platoon are PSC with an Old Glory commander.  These tanks have the M34A1 mantlet and all have the bolted hull fronts.

This is the classic Battlefront US objective marker.  It is a knocked out version of their M4A1 model.  I never really liked the BF version of this tank.  The slope of the front armor looks wrong to me.

Finally we have the M32 TRV from Battlefront.  I will actually be playing this as the M31 for the time being until I order the correct model from BF.  I really like the new plastic tracks that BF are doing.  They are much nicer than the old metal ones.

Not a bad start on a new army.  This is just under 1200 points.  I have an M10 TD platoon and an M7 artillery battery in process so they will be getting some reinforcements soon.

Happy 6 Years to My Blog!

Today marks the sixth anniversary of my painting blog.  It is hard to believe I have kept this up for 6 years.  I have actually found that blogging helps me stay somewhat focused and motivated.  Thanks to all my followers and regular commenters.  I love getting feedback even if I an terrible at replying to comments.

Here is a little blast from the past - The First Post.

Happy gaming everyone!

Robert

2013 - The Year As It Might Be

2013 is here and that means it is time to ponder the year ahead.  These types of posts are pretty common in the game blog community and I rather like them.  It is chance to document where my head is at right now.  Of course, what I write here will, most likely, have little to do with what I actually do with my hobby in the coming year.

This year poses some challenges for me.  First of all, the girls are getting older and are in need of more room.  Since the economy and the housing market are in the crapper moving is not in the cards.  So we have been switching around the rooms.  No longer does Dad get the largest of the rooms as an office/hobby room.  Now I have the smallest.  This means that my killer painting desk has been moved out to the garage (it just will not fit in this small room).  I now have a small IKEA table for painting.  Just this change will greatly impact the hobby for weeks to come.

Since moving is not an option the wife and I have decided that now is the time to put some $$$ into the house as we will likely be here for quite some time.  These domestic expenditures will really cut into the fun money.

With the caveats out of the way let's jump into the meat of the matter!

Bolt Action

This game has really come on strong in the last few weeks.  It feels really good to get my 28mm figures back on the table.  Since I have been collecting an painting 28mm WW2 figures and vehicles for many years I am ready for just about anything.  First up will be to fill in the gaps in my Fallschirmjager collection.  Tim and I have talked about doing some Crete games from the Skirmish Campaign books so I am hoping we can get that going.

My friends Tim, Mike and Jerry are doing a painting challenge for Bolt Action this year.  Their progress will be posted on their blogs as well as the BoltAction.Net site. Tim and I have also talked about doing a battle report for the same site.  Stay tuned for more on this.

Flames of War

Over the last couple of years this has become my main game.  Last year was a great year for me and Flames of War and I hope to keep things going this year.  With the rise of Bolt Action things with FoW has cooled a bit bit I hope to get back into the game soon.  This game has lots of things going for it that keep me coming back.  We have a great local following for the game and many of my friends are players (though some are dropping out).  There are plenty of events (tournaments) and the availability of product local is good.

It is true that I am a little put off by some for the business practices of Battle Front.  I think their book release/production policy is a mess.  I understand that they are trying to keep the game in balance to help the players but the high frequency of new releases/re-releases make it very expensive to keep up.  The easy solution to this is I don't buy everything they release and I never buy it when it first comes out.

As for projects, the only thing I have planned is to continue my Early War French project.  I have a solid plan in place and have started to collect the HQ elements.   I would like to have this completed this year.

Black Powder

Building on the success of our first real game I plan to keep making progress on this.  I need to get my Confederate forces painted up for ACW.  I have a large collection of figures I just need to get motivated and paint them.  I also need to get the casualty figures done and come up with some other markers for disorder.  I would love to see this on the table a couple of times this year.

A few of the guys have expressed an interest in getting into Napoleonics in 28mm.  I already have a start on some French and since no one else wants to do French I will try to get some of this done this year.  If that goes well I would like to do Austrians.  All the new Victrix stuff is just amazing.

28mm Ancients

I had this on the list last year but managed to do nothing with it.  I still want to get in some games of Clash of Empires and Hail Caesar.  I did start to reconfigure my WAB Saxons for these games and I would like to finish that up and get these games on the table.  If things take off with either of these I would be very tempted to do a plastic Greek army...

Warhammer 40K

This is the game that will not go away and I am OK with that.  I have no plans for any new projects but I am sure I will continue to paint my collection of Orks and Catachans.  It would take an amazing release by GW to get me to spend any money.  I am sure I will get in several games in the coming year.

Other Games

I am interested to see where Rick Preistley's new project, Beyond the Gates of Antares goes.  I think many of my friends are really looking for a new and fresh sci-fi game and maybe this one will get some interest going.  Time will tell.

While I have no specific plans many of the old stand by games are still on the radar.  This year might see some old west gaming and maybe even some LOTR (or The Hobbit:SBG if I can find a used copy).  I would still like to do some WWI gaming but this would require a new figure collection and I just don't think the funds will be there.

Other Hobbies

Since this blog is devoted to my miniature painting and gaming hobby I almost never mention other things I am into.  Many of these other interests have been ignored for a long time and some of them may get more attention this year.

1. Comic Book Collection - I first collected comics as a kid in the 70's.  My brother and I have lots of cool comic books (his were cooler because he had a job and could afford to go the the comic book store and buy even cooler stuff).  In the early 80's my bother went off to the Navy and I went to high school.  Like a fool I sold off my collection to another kid (who got a smokin' deal) and never thought about them again.  In 2009 I jumped back into collecting for about 9 months (curse you Dark Reign!) and things got a little crazy for a while.  Then for my birthday this year my brother sent me his collection from when we were kids.  It was amazing!  Now the fire is back stronger than ever.
2. Guitars - For many years in the 80's and 90's this was my main hobby.  I have a collection of 4 Ibanez electric guitars and I used to have a killer amp rig (the amp was stolen several years ago).  For a long time I have wanted to get back into playing.  I really kick myself for not working harder at this when I was younger.  I have never called myself a guitar player but rather someone that plays with guitars.  I would like to play.
3. Drawing - About the time I rediscovered comics I got into drawing.  For about a year I was really into art and even took some art classes.  I even have a sketch blog!  But for some reason I just stopped.  It would be nice to find time to dome some this again.
4. Shooting - This is another hobby I used to really be into but has been on the back burner for years and years.  In 2012 I finally purchased my first handgun and I have been slowly been getting back into the hobby.  While I don't plan to buy anymore guns I would like to get lots more trigger time this year.
5. Jeepin - I love my Jeep!  This year will mark 2 years with the Jeep and I look forward to getting out on more tails than ever this year.
6. The Great Outdoors - I live in one of the greatest places on Earth for enjoying the outdoors - Arizona.  I love hiking, camping and fishing.  I want to do more of these things this year.

Well, there you have it.  Another glimpse into the acrylic ball in a misguided attempt to foretell the future.  It should be a good year.

Figures painted:

28mm WW2 - 45
28mm ACW - 24
LOTR - 4 (1 Chariot, 1 mounted)
Flames of War - 79 (1 aircraft, 8 tanks, 4 guns)
40K - 63 (1 Battlewagon, 1 Valkyrie, 1 Dakkajet, 5 Deffkoptas)

Total - 222

Game Record:

40K 0-5-0
LOTR 4-5-1
FOW 18-11-3
Bolt Action 5-1-0

2012 Gaming Year in Review

Another year has passed (nearly) and it is time for me to look back and see how my game plans stack up against my game reality.  Back in January I posted my thoughts and plans for 2012 (you can see that post if you like).  I do this every year mostly just to show myself that I really have very little idea where my hobby will take me over the course of a year.  So, without further delay...

Terrain

I really planned on this being a major focus for the year.  I had thoughts of all sorts of projects from scratch built terrain to GW terrain kits.  Lord know I have lots of kits to build.  Things started slow but by April I finally got around to working on terrain.  The first project was the Normandy roads.  I am really pleased with how this project turned out and these roads have seen lots of table time this year.

The next project came in September with the fields.  This was super easy project.  In fact, it was so easy I have trouble calling it a project.  This was a long overdue effort that has also seen lots of table time this year.

For the most part this is all I have really done for terrain this year.  I did sign up for the Battlefront house subscription but I have been very disappointed with this.  So far I have received 4 houses, which are very nice, but I should have received 6 by now.  Poor planning and mismanagement on the part of Battlefront have seen delays and production schedule changes.  I have fears that there will be more issues before the final 8 houses in this deal are delivered.  Oh well, I guess my issues are rather petty.

I did recently acquire some cool 15mm terrain items for the East front and for Italy.  I think I will have some cool stuff to post next year on this.

My ideas of creating some hex based terrain never made it off of the drawing board.  In the end it just seems like too much trouble.

Lord of the Rings SBG

This has been the 'game' for me and my friends for several years and back in January I had no real reason to believe this would change.  It is true that even as early as January I was starting to cool on the game but that was mostly due to some mild burnout from painting my Dwarves last year as well as maybe playing it too much.  Leave it to GW to drive a stake through the heart of this game for me.

Just before Gathering in the Desert in February GW pulled the Legions of Middle-Earth book, which was the source book for point matched games.  This book was awesome and the only complaint I had was there were some models listed in some of the lists that had no stats and no models.  GW decided to release 5 new books to replace the one LOME book.  Each of the new books was focused on a grouping of factions and contained stats and army construction rules.  They also contained new scenarios.  These books were thin and expensive and nearly half the contents of the books were the same across all 5 books.  To me this was just a huge money grab by GW before retiring the game later in the year for the new Hobbit game.

Needless to say I hated the new books.  To be fair I did give the new concept a try and even played in a local store tun tournament using the new armies.  The kinds of armies that were played and the stuff you could no longer do legally with the new ary construction just reinforced my dislike.

At around the same time GW  snuck in a doubling of the miniature price by halving the number of plastics in a box and by the Finecast price increases.  All of these changes come so quickly and all being o negative really put me off from the game.  I have not played it or even looked at it since March.  I have no interest at all in the Hobbit game because of all this and the fact that that game is even more expensive.

Flames of War

This was the real bright spot in the hobby this year.  I knew that I would be a big focus for the year but I really had no idea.  We got a new version of the rules early in the year and Battlefront's free rulebook offer really helped keep me interested.  Tim and I got in dozens of games with the new rules and we even played in our first Flames of War tournament.

On the painting and modeling side I painted more of my Fallschirmjagers as well as a few more Germans tanks for North Africa and Italy.  I never really got started on a mid war Soviet tank army but I did build a new Soviet models from Plastic Soldier Company and Zvezda.  I started a series of posts on planning a new Flames of War army.  This planning got off to a good start and I even collected the first of the models but a new distraction derailed that a bit (more on that later).

I had lots of great times with this game this year and I really hope this stays in the game rotation for a long time to come.

28mm World War II (Bolt Action)

Back in January I had big hope for some 28mm World War II action this year.  I have been trying to find the 'perfect' rules for this period/scale for a loooong time.  It seems that every time a new set of rules comes out there are big hopes and then things fail to pan out.  At the beginning of the year I had some high hopes for the Kampfgruppe: Normandy rules and Tim and I got in a game (check out the batrep).  We both actually enjoyed the game a lot but it seemed to be lacking something to get use really fired up.

I really wanted to get Rules of Engagement back on the table.  Tim and I had played a some games a couple of years ago and it was an OK set of rules.  I really wanted to give them another look.  After rereading the rules I came to the conclusion that I really hate them.  I also looked over Rate of Fire again and felt about the same.  Things were not looking hopeful.

When I heard that Warlord games was finally working on rules to go along with their Bolt Actions line of figures I was a little ho-hum about it.  When I heard that Rick Priestley and Alessio Cavatore were the authors I took notice.  I generally like their work and I had a feeling they could put out a really good game.  Over the summer my local shop got a play-test copy of the rules and a few of the regulars started playing.  It seemed like every time I heard the guys at the shop talking I really hated what I heard.  Then I would read an article by Rick explaining the game and I would think it sounded cool.  All this kept me from getting too excited about the game.

I did pick-up the rules when they came out and read through them.  The game seemed a little simple and the army lists were kind of generic.  The first couple of games that I played were fun but I still had trouble getting excited.  I really wanted to see what they would do with the army lists.  When the Armies of Germany book came out my friend Jerry had an extra copy and he gave it to me (thanks Jerry!).  I think it was this book that really helped me accept the game and start to get into it.  I really like where they are going with this game.

I have managed to get in 4 games of Bolt Action and each one has been better than the last which is amazing because they have all been really good games.  I really think I have found the game I have been looking for for 28mm World War II.

Warhammer 40,000

I started the year with a bad attitude about this game.  I knew a new version was on the way and I knew they were going to charge mint for it.  I also knew I would buy it.  I think my feelings of anger about a new version had to do with feeling like I have not gotten my money's worth out of 5th edition.  Even though 5th had been out for 4+ years I really hadn't played very many games and the ones I did play I really enjoyed.  I thought 5th was a great version and did not need to be changed (and I still feel that way).

The first thing that GW did to draw me into the idea of the new rules was the flyer release.  The new Ork Bomber is freakin' cool!  Once I saw it knew I must have it and if the new rules made these things work I would have to step up to 6th.  GW are evil geniuses when it come to getting money from me.

So I bought the new rules and the new Bomber kit.  I painted a bunch of Ork models to expand the army and I got in some games against my friend Lonnie.  As a whole it has been a nice year for the game but I am a long way from being excited about it.  I have a generally negative view of the GW hobby right now and like a junky I am trying to break the habit.

28mm Ancients

I thought I might get something do for this in 2012.  Aside from starting a re-base project for my Saxons I really did nothing.

Black Powder

This is a game I have dreamed of getting on the table for a couple of years.  I hoped that this year would be the year.  Finally, a couple of weeks ago , we got in an ACW game.  It was a real blast t finally play and everyone had a great time.  I really think this game has a bright future and for the last several days we have all been chatting about what project we should do.  This was probably the best single game of the year for me.

All the Other Games

I had mentioned a whole bunch other other games that I might jump into or start collecting.  Turns out that I spent so much time and money on the stuff above I didn't get to anything else.  Which is fine because I had lots of good times this year.

Orks vs. Eldar Pictures

Here are few pictures of a 40K game I played against my friend Lonnie back in October.  It was our fourth game of 6th edition.  It was the fourth time I brought Orks and the fourth different army for Lonnie.  It was the fourth time I felt good about the game going into turn 2 and the fourth time Lonnie crushed me.  It was a very fun game, as all of my 6th edition games have been.  I just wish I figure out how to get in a win.