Naval Action at SNS

Dave surveys the initial deployment of Battlecruisers.

While I haven't posted many pictures of our SNS group's games the last couple of months, in my defense I can say that most of those games have had pictures posted at GAJO's website here: http://www.gajominis.com/blog/blog%202013/blog2013.html

I wanted to get the group involved in some naval gaming, so I developed a series of narrative-linked scenarios that would introduce players to the rules Victory At Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts. I would be using my own 1/6000 scale Figurehead WW1 miniatures. In the first game we unfortunately did not have the sea cloth cover, so instead used some of the sea 2' x 2' boards stored at GAJO. The action was to take place somewhere along the channel, so we weren't worried about the land at opposite corners of the table.

The High Seas Fleet Approaches the Grand Fleet. Ships open fire with misses.

The first scenario was to introduce players to the basic rules, without worrying about squadron formations, small ships, torpedoes, etc. Just big ships blasting away at each other. In the scenario, the Germans are trying to get a Battlecruiser to break through and head out to the Atlantic where it can hopefully make its way to the Mediterranean and the Turks. Different from history, the German player can decide on a different ship than the actual Goeben. To help get the ship away, the fleet has sailed under extreme secrecy. To confuse the Grand Fleet, the German fleet split up and made different tracks back to port while the Battlecruiser squadron made a dash for the channel to give their secret ship a chance. Having been confused, the British fleet broke into different hunting groups, and belatedly a late discovery meant they could only attempt to reach the escaping Germans with their Battlecruisers.

Goeben comes under fire. Splashes soak the battlecruiser.

In Age of Dreadnoughts, when multiple ships fire at the same target, the splashes can confuse the fire directing, so I use ship splash markers from Litko to indicate a ship has been fired at by at least one ship. Then players can know to add the -1 modifier for hitting if they fire at it again from a different ship. In this game, the Germans spread out a little bit, and a couple of the ships made directly for the British battlecruisers and the shortest distance off the table.

Battlecruisers close to dangerous, near point-blank ranges and suffer critical hits and fires break out. Quietly, Von der Tann (at bottom right) fires on Indomitable but steers for a corner of the engagemant zone.

The Germans are mixing it up with the British to confuse them about which ship is trying to make its escape. The British decide among themselves that Seydlitz is the obvious choice. Goeben suffers from major fires, and Seydlitz takes a pounding by two British ships who tenaciously move closer and closer. Indomitable takes hits. Most of the the ships suffer damage except for a couple.

Ships clobber each other at short range but no one does down.

Goeben and Indomitable fit fires as well as each other. Lion and Indefatigable catch Seydlitz in crossfire but the tough ship just takes a licking and soldiers on, giving back just as good as she gets.

...and, there goes the Von der Tann... off to the Med.

Suddenly the British captains see the Von der Tann sneak off the game corner, strategically winning the scenario. But they vow revenge and go after the the Seydlitz with fury. To no vail! CLosing time at the store, and with the game called, the Seydlitz is still afloat and under power, but VERY beat up and will need time to be repaired in a dock along with Goeben and Moltke. Indefatigable, Indomitable, and Lion will also be a long time in drydocks.

Fun was had by all and in the end it looks like Dave W really enjoyed the game and may get into collecting some ship minis. I also played this scenario with the WFHGS group. There, the outcome was a little different.

Death of a battlecruiser.

In the WFHGS version of the scenario, Dennis decided to spread his German battlecruisers wide, and try to spread out the British, which is exactly what happened. In this game, however, Von der Tann made straight toward the center of the enemy at fast speed, drawing their attention. Seydlitz, meanwhile, stayed close to the edge of the battlezone, and snuck off to the Med without a scratch. Poor Von der Tann, however, took some severe crticial hits slowing her down and reducing her firepower. After a particularly deadly barrage, a magzine hit went terribly bad and the ship exploded in a giant cloud of flame. Still, the Germans won, and I have become convinced that players of WW1 naval games eagerly hope to see ANYBODY's cruisers blow up! Such is the legacy of Jutland perhaps.

2013 Catch-up

My 10mm Hittite army for Warmaster Ancients.

Time to get caught up on the wargame fun of the last couple of months. Hadn't intended a break but there you are. First up are pictures of the WFHGS Warmaster mini-tournament. Because we didn't have as much time to play, we limited the armies to 750 points PLUS the general and then bonus units for the territories you owned. As you can see from the picture above, that still means I can bring a horde of Hittites! We played 3 rounds in 6 hours, and it was a ton of fun!

My skirmish-capable Chariot units. Remember, these are 10mm.

The Hittites get slammed by Norman heavy cavalry. And promptly get destroyed. 

Hittites vs. Vikings this time. Hittites hate armored troops.

Hittites vs. Indians this time. A close win for me.

This year I came in third place, just barely ahead of Matt's Indian army. We had so much fun with this set up that we have decided to hold a couple of these mini-tournaments this year at the 750-point level.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles: Orks vs. Vampire Counts.

Just to be different, Kenn and Dave sponsored a weeknight SNS group battles of Warhammer. I showed up with my favorite greenskins. It's been a long time since I played last, and we had to refer to the rules a bit, but somehow I managed to avoid destruction at the skeletal hands of Dave's Vampire Counts. We should do this again some time, it will give me incentive to paint some more.

Battlefield of Friedland 1807. Center and left of the Russian positions. Greg is texting to find out where the Imperial Guard have gone to.

Kai put on a very nice game of Grande Armée, the battle of Friedland. On the Russian side, we decided to put caution to the wind and attack with aggression. Due to some very good intiative rolls, we were able to do that, while the French seemed to have trouble bringing their reinforcements (Imperial Guard) to the table.

On the Russian right, the French are smashed and have to reform on the center's flank. These Russian troops were then free to march to the river for a flank attack on the French center.

While the Russian left kept the French right pinned and busy, the Russian center troops finally pushed the French center back. Cossacks helped to keep skirmishers away from the Russian troops, and finally the French center broke. The Russians have a win against Napoleon in 1807! Kai is planning another Grande Armée game soon.

Somewhere in Tunisia, 1943. Flames of War 15mm.

If I can keep my gaming tables cleaned off, my brother and I intend to do some gaming in my command bunker. This time we played a simple 1000 point game of Flames of War. I sent a Panzer company against Dave's Armored recon. Only his armored recon included a platoon of M3 Lees and an artillery battery. Before I knew it my Panzer III's were gone, company HQ surrounded and burning and Panzer IV's on fire. Darn those bazookas!

December SNS games

FOW Action, 15mm. Gary R. (red shirt) gives instructions.

Back to describing the last games of the year. The Saturday Night Skirmishers (SNS) usually game on the first and second Saturdays of the month, but to satisfy the demands of our members who want more tank action, we also set apart the third Fridays as FOW night. Our indefatigable Gary Rhay had set up a Russian Front campaign to help create battles for that night, and December saw a mighty German attack in progress as the Soviets tried to escape the closing pincers of panzers.

StuG G assault guns head towards dug in Russian infantry.

I was unable to play, but stopped by for some photos. I believe I heard that the Germans are winning the campaign so far, but someone please tell me if I have that wrong.

Crusaders (foreground) vs. Saracens. 28mm Deus Vult game.

Several of our group were very impatient to play the new game Deus Vult. Thankfully, Kai has 28mm armies of Crusaders and Saracens available, so as soon as Dennis had the rules in hand a game time was set up. The game includes a fairly hefty section on activities leading up to the battle which include scouting, deployment, and terrain selection, but for this battle that part was skipped and the armies deployed for immediate action. 

Crusader Knights and Saracen cavalry clash on the Crusader left wing.

Each army was divided into three "battles' or divisions, each of which comprised three or more units. Kai's forces are based singly so that he can adapt to any rules set by placing their magnetized bases on unit bases. On the Crusader right wing, the heavy infantry and crossbows took their sweet time trying to move forward while the center and left knight units charged out to meet the foe. The Saracen bow units had trouble advancing, but did try to pepper the Crusaders with arrows. In the center and right, the cavalry clash kept us all very busy as we tried to figure out how the close combat system worked. It took a lot of discussion to try to figure out the author's intent on close combat sequence and morale results. 

The slaughtered Knights retire to their lines.

Unfortunately, one of Gary S' knight units had trouble forming up to charge, and so the combatting knights were outnumbered and outfought by the Saracens. PLUS the Crusader players rolled really bad. The knights were nearly wiped out and the remnants retreated. With nothing to stop the Saracen center, the crusader infantry had to retreat from the field.  Now that we have a better sense of the game, I'm pretty sure we'll be trying it again.

The other battles played down at GAJO were store-sponsored events, and you can see pictures of those games on the GAJO website, including one of the most fun games so far of Bolt Action WW2.

I did take pictures of the X-Wing mini-tournament.

Rebel Alliance fighters vs. Imperial T.I.E. fighters. New A-Wing fighter in the center.

In this small tournament, named "Kessel Run" or something, four new ships were introduced and were actually given out to participating players! Then players set up their 100-point forces to play against each other in multiple rounds. In each scenario, the players had to fight around 8 asteroid counters and I can tell you that it isn't as easy as you think, I took several hits from glancing blows that crippled my ships.

Slave-1 and escorts battle Rebel fighters. It's dropping a seismic charge which will destroy that A-Wing.

My brother Dave won the A-Wing fighter and I won the Slave-1 ship. The new models are awesome! Take a look at the new Millenium Falcon below:

It's big but not agile, and carries a lot of firepower.

There's something to be said about the quality of quantity. The Empire player can take lots of lower-quality pilots in T.I.E. fighters, but it gives them lots of shots which can be the deciding factor. However, the droid technology of the Alliance can be a game-decider as well. Lots of fun!

The last big game for December is tomorrow, a War of the Ring game down at GAJO, and I'll try to get there for some photos of the battle for Pelenor field.

December 2012 Catch-up

Grand Fleet action, 1/2400 Figurehead ships. A wind change catches the British fleet on the leeward side of an island.

Don't say anything, I know, I know... WAY TOO LONG  between posts. Well, sometimes It's hard for me to want to do computer things when I've been on the computer already all day long for work. All I can say is I'll try to do better. Today I'm posting a representation of the events for the second half of the year, both SNS and my other gaming club friends, WFHGS. I'll try to come back to some of these and post more pics as well. SNS games are held at GAJO Games in Sandy, Utah. WFHGS games are held at various homes of the members.

Normandy Firefight in 20mm. Great skirmish game.

Dystopian Wars. My British steampunk ironclads attempting to round an island and intercept the Prussian fleet.

Fire and Fury 15mm, WFHGS action. 

My Irish Guards AT 6pdrs try to hold off my brother Dave's Wiking SS in Flames of War, 15mm. Marginal victory for me (YAY).

WW1 Tank action in 28mm. Rules are a modification of the new Bolt Action WW1 rules. It plays extremely well, and you'll see more of this in the future. Tanks by Craig, owner of GAJO.

Trench action in the same game. My 28mm 1918 stormtroopers are about to take a trench line from the few Tommies remaining. GAJO has a big post about this battle on their website.

Back with WFHGS. Matt's Early war Germans blitz past a Russian farm (I tell you it's RUSSIAN) but are hit from a KV-1 off to the right. Our first try at the revised I Ain't Been Shot Mum rules in 28mm. Vehicles are some diecast, some 1/48 Tamiya or Hobby Boss.

Napoleonic French infantry advancing in columns. Gary Scott put on a BIG game of General de Brigade in 28mm.

SNS holds FOW night on the third Friday each month at GAJO. Here, Gary Rhay's panzer recon company sends their Panzerjaeger support platoon across a bridge on my flank. Only lucky hit for me that night was on the one tank that didn't make it across. Most disastrous FOW defeat I've suffered so far. Must get revenge.

More Fire & Fury 15mm with WFHGS. We really like this game, and we're painting more forces.

Another game we love at WFHGS is Warmaster Ancients in 10mm. Here, Matt tries to get his Seleucid Pike blocks into an attack before the Indian army overruns him. We'll be playing our annual WA mini-tournament soon after Christmas.

Bart Woods of NUTS wargame group has modified FOW for modern armor games. This was part of a huge 1973 Arab-Israeli bash at GAJO in 15mm.

Tanksgiving at GAJO. Battle of Arracourt, FOW 15mm. Using the lists from the Blood and Guts book. 

Finally, we come back to Sci-Fi. My brother and I try out the new X-Wing game. Great little Star Wars models, easy to learn, fun to play. More on this soon.

More pictures of SNS games and other giant games at GAJO at http://www.gajominis.com/.

Matt keeps a Friday Night Update at the WFHGS website: http://www.wfhgs.com/

Catching Up

Uh, oh, I let my blog writing slip again. Sorry about that. I'll try to make up for it with extra postings in weeks ahead. Fortunately, some of the games I've been playing can also be found at the WFHGS Friday night reports at http://www.wfhgs.com/friday.html and at the GAJO big games blog at http://www.gajominis.com/blog/blog%202012/blog2012.html

Here's some tidbits of the recent past:

Age of Eagles Napoleonic game. Peninsula, 1810.

Games continue on alternating Friday nights with the Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society (WFHGS). In the photo above Gary (Sapp) and Matt prepare French troops under Massena as the British and Portuguese under Wellington try to extend their thin red lines along a ridge. No doubts left about Gary's college football loyalties.

General de Brigade action, 28mm, at GAJO.

Of course the Saturday Night Skirmishers (SNS) continue to game on multiple nights down at GAJO games in Sandy. In the picture above, Lynn and Gary (Scott) play a grand game of General de Brigade using many of their Napoleonic French and Austrian 28mm collections. They were going through the new deluxe rules before putting on a game for the group.

28mm Austrian artillery prepare to fend off a French attack.

It's not just Napoleonics with SNS, there have been a lot of Flames of War games being played as Gary R has set up a Russian Front campaign. Sorry, no pics of these!

The Afghan Fortress. Rather impregnable looking. Thanks to Dave B for providing the objective of the game. And thanks to Jim for building it!

March saw the long-awaited return of The Sword and the Flame games to our group. Our Saturday game lasted into the evening until we had to call the game on time, so the fortress remained in the hands of the wily Pathans while the British Empire withdrew to lick its wounds. Plenty of casualties due to Martini-Henries and vicious hand-to-hand melees.

Newly-painted Bengal Lancers are driven off the table by ferocious Pathan tribesmen.

One band of Pathans eats lead while another warband breaks through and heads for the baggage!

Might and Reason, SYW in 15mm at GAJO.

Chris keeps expanding his Seven Years War armies for use with the Grand Campaign of Might and Reason rules. Having just finished most of his English, Hannoverian and German allies, it was time to refresh our minds with the rules before the Rossbach game put on by the store. Chris organized a scenario for Greg, Lynn, Gary (Scott) and me playing the allies versus the French. The picture above shows the general dispositions near the start of the game. It was a close-run affair, with great cavalry assaults and heavy musketry until the battle was called off due to the end of daylight (in game terms, of course).

Egads, I rolled a blunder! The British cavalry exceed their orders and charge headlong into heavy French fire. It was tricky getting them out alive.

AOE, 15mm Battle of Vimeiro 1808. At GAJO.

During one of those rare nights when WFHGS needed to use the tables at GAJO, I put on a scenario for AOE in 15mm, the Battle of Vimeiro. This was Wellesley's first victory in Portugal against French General Junot. It's a rather small scenario for AOE, but just right for when you need a shorter game. This was also possibly one of the worst die-rolling nights I've had. I couldn't possibly roll the hits I needed to make. Unfortunately, my co-general also had bad die rolling so it was a most decisive French victory that night! It was a fun scenario though, so I'll be wanting to tweak this game a bit and shoot for a rematch.

This next Saturday promises a large battle of Black Powder in the American Civil War, so hold on for more photos!

January SNS: FOW 15mm, 1945

Three 6 x 4 tables. Chris laid out the great terrain per Gary R's instructions.

Our January SNS group game started at 2pm on the 14th. Gary Rhay set up a "what if" 1945 scenario for FOW, where the US and Soviet troops come together to cut German rail lines and grab vital European art on the tracks. In the layout pictured above, Germans on the left, allies on the right.

German infantry defend the rail line on their right flank as a convoy moves along the rails.

I could only be there for the beginning of the game, so I still haven't heard the outcome. Kevin brought some visitors to the game, I hope they had a fun time being introduced to historical gaming with our group.

Panzer IVH tanks protect the FO on the hill.

No doubt about it, FOW remains the favorite game in our group for WW2 combat. However, it's not the only WW2 game we play. I'm a sucker for WW2 games. Recently Jeff G and I have been learning to play "I Ain't Been Shot, Mum" by the TooFatLardies group, in 28mm. Several of us, and Chris at GAJO, play "Rapid Fire" in 15mm, and several in the group and I love playing "BlitzKreig Commander" in micro-armor.

US armor on the allied left flank deploying.

More US armor in the allied center.

Soviet armor on the allied right.

The German left is dug in. German armor reserve in the back, at their center.

Soviet T-34/85s roll forward. Models are from Quality Castings.

German 105's knock out an SU-122. Russians move forward.

Kevin directs his US armor to advance in the center.