No battle reports for Early November

Mantis Warriors assassinate the Nobz in a wartruk. Such Fun!

Due to my work schedule and poor timing, I was unable to attend the Armchair Ambassador's night. Terry put on a game of pre-dreadnoughts using 1/3000 naval miniatures. I heard good things about the game but have no photos.

Likewise I missed the SNS game night where Jeff G put on another game of Blackpowder Napoleonics. A fun time was had by all, but alas, I again have no photos.

So, in the interest of keeping your interest, I include a couple of photos of a Warhammer 40K game I played against Dave B quite some time ago. My older-figures Mantis Warriors Space Marines fought a tough battle against his Space Orks.

One way to take down a warlord.

(Note the old-style dreadnought!)

In the meantime, I'm busy priming and painting a French tank company for Flames of War using the BlitzKrieg army lists. These troops will counterattack the blitzing Germans in the Tanksgiving FOW battle at GAJO on Saturday. Hopefully a worthy account will follow.

October Game: BlackPowder Napoleonics

Allied left flank- the cavalry brigades.

Again there was no Armchair Admirals night this month. There was a big game of BlackPowder Napoleonics, though! Dennis put a scenario in 1813 together so our guys can get their fix for this fun game. Not as large as the game at Kenn's during the summer, this one took up 3 of the tables at GAJO. The basic scenario is a French spoiling attack on the advancing units of Russians and Prussians.

French Right- Infantry columns and a light cav brigade.

Allied Center- includes Russian grenadier battalions.

French Center- includes some veteran units.

Allied Right. French left in distance.

On allied left, French Cav deploys while infantry bumble about.

Allied center. French attack columns make grand assault across a river into the allied lines. Lucky dice rolls, or Napoleon's genius?

Allied right flank hit by heavy French cav. French left bumbles about and refuses to advance.

Allied cav sees off the French cav on the allied left. French infantry still undecided about their enthusiasm for this battle.

Allied center battalions are being pushed back by veteran French troops. Terrible casualties reported.

Some of the French left infantry begin to advance. The most left French brigade still isn't willing to attack. Did the courier fall wounded on the field?

Allied right. Here comes another wave of French infantry.

Prussian jägers defend the woods on the allied right. No wonder the French don't advance in this sector...

The French right forms square and begins a slow, methodical march towards the allied cav brigades.

Uppity French light infantry make a sudden march through the woods to attack the flank of the motionless allied cav, shocked at this French arrogance.

The allied center-right is definitely feeling the pressure of French columns...

Orders evidently never arrived to the French left brigade, which sat there for the game. Bummer, monsieur...

And with that we ran out of time. The guys have decided to have another go at this in November for Game night.

September Game nights

Jeff's Prussians stand like a rock against Frank's Austrian infantry.

The September Armchair admirals game was cancelled after it was apparent no one was signing up for it. Russ had alerted me previously he would be unavailable that Saturday, but evidently no one else could make it or was not interested.

There were two games scheduled for our group's game night, the second Saturday night of the month. The first was to be a 15mm Vietnam war game trying out the new rules (Firefight, I think). Unfortunately, everyone who was so interested in this game suddenly backed out until only Russ came to set up a game.

I'm really disappointed that this has happened. I think it's important that people who commit to a game need to responsible enough to make sure they are there or else give plenty of notice that something has come up and they can't make it. I know that this sometimes happens, including to me, but how about a phone call at least? The person preparing a game goes through a lot of effort to set games up, and it's only good manners to be responsible about our schedules.

Our second game was Age of Reason Seven Years War in 15mm. Jeff G and Gary R played Prussians while I teamed with visitor Frank on the Austrian side. It was a learning game for Frank and Gary, both of them did very well. In fact Gary planned and executed a successful cavalry attack against my right flank. After some very bad rolls, my brigades were finished and the Austrians were doomed! A fun game, and we learned a lot about the rules.

Prussian setup, cavalry on their left flank.

Austrian setup, my cavalry and infantry brigades on our right.

After routing my cav, Gary's cavalry cave in my infantry brigade.

August Game nights

WW1 Naval action in 1/6000. Figurehead ships.

Things got busy and I almost forgot to report on our August game nights. On our Armchair Admirals night, Russ led a few of us in a game experimenting with a new WW1 naval game he's been working on. It's based on his successful game Micronauts: The Game published by GHQ miniatures. While MN:TG is for WW2, the new game uses similar mechanics with WW1 data to create the feel of Dreadnought actions. In our test game, based on Dogger bank, the German Battlecruisers are escaping from the British Battlecruisers while the destroyers and light cruisers class. In our game, there was no chance of catching the German capital ships so the British turned their wrath on the smaller ships, obliterating several of them before calling the game. The circle of string represents a moving squall, which seriously interfered with some of the British shooting. Fun game, includes a lot of individual ship data. We'll be playing this more to help Russ develop the game.

15mm Goths and Romans clash.

On game night there was another episode of Flames of War WW2 action in our ongoing Operation Goodwood campaign (British loss). I'm sorry that I don't have a picture to post, I got too wrapped up in umpiring the other game! On the other table, I was experimenting with using my 15mm Dominate Romans in battle against Early Visigoths using Warmaster Ancients. This was a test, because the minis I have were based for the Osprey game series Fields of Glory. The good thing is that the basing is very similar at 40mm wide bases, with only varying depth and a different way to mount cavalry. I'm happy to report that figures mounted for FOG can be played just fine using WMA rules. The reverse is not necessarily true, that is, WMA figure mounting does not have the base depths needed for FOG. So I'm happy to note now that I have 10mm and 15mm ancients for use with WMA. I'll keep basing my 15mm guys for FOG, knowing they can be used in WMA whenever needed.

Blackpowder Big Bash

Kenn's BIG table outside. View from the east, I think.

On the last Saturday in July, Kenn invite the clubmembers to a gigantic game of BlackPowder napoleonics held at his home up in the mountains. The scenario was loosely based on the "what if?" idea that Napoleon had slipped away from a tactical victory at Waterloo and was rushing eastward to defeat the Austrians and Russians who had a little bit of help from Prussians and English troops as well. Actually it was a great excuse to use all of our club's 28mm napoleonic forces in one giant game! Ken had built a giant table on his backyard porch for the event. Unfortunately, it was one of the summer's hottest days and the minis got a bit warm to the touch. SO did some of the players... actually I think I melted, just a bit... but we survived. We also took a a break midway through the game for a cookout with sausages, bratwurst, and lots of delicious salads and chips. A great game as well. Thanks to Kenn and everybody who helped make it fun.

Austro-Russian deployment in the west. Austrians closest to camera. This turned into a giant traffic jam along the road, as the off-camera woods to the east were quickly occupied by the French and held throughout the game.

In the foreground, the obstructing woods. Mike's casualty counters at the ready. A giant alien bowl of chips has landed in the battlefield, only temporarily. Stella the Wonder Dog patrols for dropped food.

The Monster of Europe appears to lead his troops in battle. Hmmm, safe behind the artillery, I see...

The French columns move towards the eastern town.

Clash of Titans. The French win this one.

French artillery and cavalry move to block the advancing Russians.

For now the Prussians and British hold the town.

Allied defenses in the town. The mysterious moving Coke monument in the background.

Overall view. It's hot, very hot, yet we're still very much into the big game concepts outlined in the BlackPowder rules.

For much of the game the traffic jam continues, as the Austrians and Russians have command roll problems getting their troops forward into battle, and the French gleefully launch cavalry regiments at the leading columns.

On the left, the French hold the obstructing woods. In the center, Austrian cuirassiers capture a battery and battle the enemy cavalry. On the right, the Russians finally get rolling.

Command problems keep the Asutrian heavy cav from charging when they need to... their flanks in danger.

Austrian infantry shift their attacks on the woods to one flank.

French columns hit the town defenses. Nasty, and complicated.

The Russians push out of the agricultural zone and head for a large hill covered with French.

Town ownership is in doubt, and the allied line moves back...

The French western defensive lines. Here come the Austrians and Russians...

French cavalry counterattack Russian infantry which I notice are not in square. Oops. Ouch. Crash!

The French have held those darned woods the entire game. But now the Russians and Austrians move down the road toward the dwindling French main line.

We had to stop the game when dark rain clouds appeared over the mountain tops. We could tell Salt Lake City, on the other side of those mountains, was getting hit good, so it was only a matter of time for us, and take down would take a while. Still, the game was enjoyable, the food and companionship excellent. Another big bash will occur.

BKC with WFHGS

WW2 Soviet armor columns rush to the front lines.

Normally I don't post much on games I play with the Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society, as Matt Irsik usually takes the pictures and creates a battle report for that club's blog, at http://www.wfhgs.com. Unfortunately, Matt and a few of the other gamers couldn't make to their last game, so I've got some pictures I'll post here. We played BKC, WW2 microarmor on the Russian front. I used a terrain layout similar to the game Russ and I played. In this scenario, the Soviets have occupied a couple of towns with infantry. German armor and infantry are counterattacking and Soviet tank brigades are trying to reinforce. The beauty of this game is that the command system must be used carefully of command foul-ups can wreck your plans in a hurry!

Germans deploying on the far right. In the right corner, a Panzer IV battalion is beginning a flanking sweep around the occupied town. It was at this point that the dice began to roll badly for the Soviets!

Good command rolls place the Panzer battalion on the flank of the dawdling T-34's.

Soviet command can barely manage to deploy one battalion to face the panzers. The rest of the column failed to move!

The Germans learn from Sgt. York, the turkey shoot begins. T-34's and SU-76's burn after several very good German command phase rolls.

Some damage to Pz IV'x as the Mech Infantry move to attack the river crossing.

Meanwhile, Dave D's Russian tanks and infantry try to hold back Gary S's Assault guns and Tiger.

Endgame. PanzerGrenadiers occupy the river crossing and cut off the Soviet supply route. With the armor destroyed, the infantry in the villages can't last long.