TRUDY FINDS A CRIB!

It's been too long since I updated the former Miss Holly Wood's adventures.  So I decided that a romp in the countryside to find a safe house would be now Miss Trudy Holmes' new goal.

Seems she remembers an old desanctified mission way out on a dirt road, and hoped it was still available.
She and Myron drove the VW microbus and H2 close to the location, but out of earshot, and hopped out and walked up the road.

After their initial move of 8" up the road, Myron advised Trudy that they had zombies off to their left.

Turn 1: Humans 3, Zombies 1

Trudy and Myron move another 8" up the road, and Trudy takes a shot at the nearest zombie, and kills it.  The other zombies follow the humans.

The gunfire draws no zombies.  Since this is a rural area, they only appear on a die roll of "6".

Turn 2: Humans 1, Zombies 6

Trudy remembers that the mission had a stout gate, and heads in it's direction.  The zombies stall.

Turn 3: Humans 3, Zombies 1

Trudy moves to the gate and finds it locked.

Myron noticed an open window to their right, so they move to it, having been only 2" from the gate at the start of their activation.

The zombies have lost sight of the humans, so they continue towards the sound of gunfire.

Turn 4: Humans 5, Zombies 2

Trudy sends Myron through the window first, since he is only Rep 4, but can activate on Trudy's Rep of 5.  I decided that the building would have 2 sections in the main room, so they scan the main room and see no zombies nor humans.

The zombies continue on their current path.

Turn 5: Humans 2, Zombies 1

Trudy moves to the second section of the building, and sees no one and no zombies.

Myron searches the first section, and comes up with a set of house keys.  (no vehicles in this game, so keys need to be for something else.)

The zombies are confused, seeing no humans and hearing no gunfire.

Turn 6: Humans 1, Zombies 4

The zombies move to the sound of voices.

Trudy searchs her section and finds nothing.  Myron moves into the courtyard and sees another door.

Turn 7: Humans 4, Zombies 4

Trudy moves to back up Myron.  Myron moves to the door, finds it unlocked, and pulls it open.  The room is empty.

The zombies move to the window where they heard voices, but sense no one.

Turn 8: Humans 3, Zombies 5

Myron sees a ladder in the room and Trudy sends him up it while she searches the room and finds a crossbow!  When Myron reaches the top of the ladder, he sees 2 zombies and fires!  The one he hits doesn't even notice the bullet from his puny SMG, and he and the other one cahrge him.  Myron ties one zombie and kills the other in melee.

Firing attracts no new zombies.

Turn 9: Humans 2, Zombies 1

Trudy searches the visible courtyard and finds food!  Myron melees the remaining zombie, and kills him.  The 3 zombies in the road, maddened by the gunfire attack the gate.  Since it was so stout, and barred from the inside, I gave it a DV of 4.  The zombies would roll 1d6 each, and each success would lower the DV by 1.  They get one success, lowering the DV of the gate to 3.

(Myron and the zombie bodies are not on the roof.  It was more convenient to put them there.)

Turn 10:  Humans 2, Zombies 5
Trudy turns the corner in the courtyard, and sees a girl pointing a pistol.  Trudy adds her 2d6 for Charisma to her 5 for Rep.  The girl is a Rep 4 Ganger.  She is beaten by only one success, so she joins Trudy's gang only for the duration of the mission.  (So much for Charisma!)

Myron moves to the roof and finds it empty.

Turn 11: Humans 4, Zombies 2

Trudy searches this little section of courtyard and finds another Food.

Myron moves to the edge of the roof, and kills 2 of the zombies attempting to break down the gate.

Trudy sends the girl to watch the gate, in case the zombies break through.

The one remaing zombie claws at the gate, to no effect.

Turn 12:  Humeans 1, Zombies 6

Trudy fast moves to the gate, and has Myron throw her the keys.  She intends to investigate a building that Myron has seen to the rear of the mission.  The girl opens the gate on Turdy's command , and there's a zombie.  Both Trudy and the girl take an In Sight, and pass.  Trudy fires her semi-automatic rifle, and rolls two "1's".  Click, click, out of ammo.  The girl fires her BA pistol, and misses.

All this firing attracts no zombies.

Turn 13:  Humans 1, Zombies 3

There are no zombies.

Trudy backs up and reloads.  The girl fires and misses.

Myron fires and kills the zombie.

Once again, the gunfire attracts no zombies.

Turn 14: Humans 1, Zombies 3

There are no zombies.

Trudy and the girl move out of the gate, and come face-to-face with Charles Many, Rep 3 Survivor with a bolt-action rifle.  Trudy suceeds so well, even though she loses 2d6 for different philosophies, that Charles joins up.

Turn 15: Humans 6, Zombies 1

No zombies

Turn 16: Humans 5, Zombies 2

Trudy's group moves toward the building.

Turn 17:  Humans 5, Zombies 6

Trudy tells the girls to try the door.  It's locked, but Trudy's key fits the door.  Trudy and the girl enter the room to find a single zombie.  Trudy passes 2d6, the girl 1d6, and the zombie, 1d6 on the Zombie Surprise test.  Trudy fires and kills the zombie.

Trudy's fire attracts one zombie, in the woods to the left of the building.

Turn 18: Humans 6, Zombies 1

The zombie in the woods moves towards Charles, the only human he can see.

Turn 19: Humans 3, Zombies 1

Trudy searches the room and finds even more food!  Myron moves to the ladder to get down from the roof.  Charles fires at the zombie in the wood, and misses.  The zombie charges, and Charles kills him in melee.

Turn 19: Humans 2, Zombies 3

There are no zombies.  Trudy and the girls move into the back room, and face 2 Survivors, both male, a Rep 4 with an SMG, and a Rep 5 with a bolt-action rifle.  Trudy passes 1 more D6, so they join for the duration if the mission, but the mission is acheived, so they and the girl leave.

After the battle:  Trudy has gained her safe house, not to mention 3 supplies of food and a crossbow.  She has gained a gang member.  Myron advanced his Rep to 5, and gains the attribute Empathy. 

Keeping it together:  Trudy scored 6 successes.  Myron scored 3, and Charles scored none.  So everyone is fat and happy, and Trudy's group has increased to 3.

Paint jobs

Since I've been so remiss in updating my blog, I decided to upload a few pictures of some of my painted figures.  There's no rhyme or reason, just various figures I've taken photos of.

Here's a skimmer I made out of a toy cell phone from the Dollar Tree, inspired by the "Heart of Gold" episode of Firefly.

Some Nasty Hishen that I got from Two Hour Wargames, now available from Acheson.

RSM colonial British light infantry.

A Dixon western figure in front of Fiddler's Green store, enlarged from HO scale.

E. Johnson, Five-fingered Jake, a Grenadier car, and a 1/48 model of a Piper Super Cub, all used in my Cherry 2000 game at Bayou Wars.

And 15mm Kurgen (not-Mangalores) from Rebel Minis.  Lovely figures, and so easy to paint!

More on Brother in Arms

Chris Swearingen graciously assented to my use of his email to the Two Hour Wargames Yahoo group on my blog, so without further ado, here's his admittedly biased report!

Ken Hafer ran a great SCW scenario, with Italian Rep 3
troops on both sides!

The Fascists were atop a hill with tankette support
(oh, and a mortar)

Our loyal brave dedicated anarco/communist/freethinking
Italians had snazzy motorcycle infantry,
some stylish foot sloggers, and 2 heroic HMG teams.

The clever Motoguzzi troops drew the Tankettes out in
the middle, while our valiant infantry squads swept wide
to the right to outflank the Fascists.
The remaining motorcycle troops then started a sweep to the left
(most survived, as the Rep3 tankettes just kept making them
duck back)

The HMG teams finally set up behind a farm wall,

started laying down fire support on the tankettes,
and actually managed to knock 2 of them out!
(right after I finished putting together my new
Litko "Burning Wreckage" markers!)

The surviving tankette, with guns constantly running
out of ammo, twice tried to overrun our infantry
sweeping left, and both times our valiant comrades managed
to jam the tankettes treads with their otherwise useless
Rep3 bodies.

The squads on the right managed to completely outflank the
Fascist left, took out the mortar team,
captured wine and prisoners in the smaller building,
and laid down a withering volley of "pitiful shots"
to pin down the Fascist reserves in the main hacienda.

With the last tankette still immobilized by valiant motoguzzi volunteer Pedro, the remaining cycle troops stormed the hacienda and
finally downed the Fascist Tenente.

A great game and great fun!

Heat of Battle V

I stopped in Friday, Aug. 12, to pick up my packet so I'd be ready to get going at opening on Saturday.  There was a nice crowd already playing, and since I was in between runs and couldn't play anything, I went over and talked to Mike Bobe of Bobe's Hobby Shop in the dark under the stairs.  All the really interesting 1/144 aircraft had already been snapped up.

Saturday, I arrived at 9 and got into the Knight's Cross game being run by Darrin Mesinna, Flying Tigers vs a flight of Betty's accompanied by Zero's.  One Betty was shot down by Larry Touhy about halfway thru the game.  I fired ineffectively for most of the game, got hit a couple of time inconsequentialy, and finally downed a Betty with a lucky shot (fuel tank explodes) just before it exited the table.  (This would later haunt me.)  Darrin declared the game a victory for the Flying Tigers, since we shot down 2/3 of the Betty's with our P-40s.

Duane Guilbeau and I adjurned to the Ugly Dog Saloon a block away for some good barbeque.

The it was time to set up my game, Brothers in Arms, using NUTS! 2.0.  As always, Duane was an enormous help in setting up the game.
Here is the game description:

Brothers in Arms - Brihuega, Spain, March 12, 1937
Elements of the Italian Black Flames Division, having encountered a motorcycle patrol of the Republican Garibaldi Batallion, mistakenly assumed that these Italians were part of another Italian division.  As the light tanks of the Black Flames advanced, they were fired upon by machine guns of the Garibaldis, who did not at first realize that they too were fighting their fellow Italians.  Attempts to woo the CTV over to the Republican side with propaganda leaflets broke down when several mutilated Garibali corpses were found with the leaflets stuck in their mouths.  Thereafter, the Italians fought their own civil war centered around a country villa called the Ibarra Palace.

The Black Flames have a 2-squad infantry platoon, supported by a Brixia mortar and 3 x  L3/35 tankettes.
The Garibaldis have a 3-squad infantry platoon with one LMG.  They are supported with 2 Maxims.  There is also a 2-squad motorcycle platoon.

Players who enlisted on the Black Flame side were Ron Gros, Justin Touhy, and Walter, who's last name I didn't get.  The Garibaldis were taken by Al Himel, Chris Swearingen, and Duane Guilbeau.

As you can see, the terrain was fairly open, the lichen being just for appearances, with a rise to the buildings.  There are plenty of walls for cover, and dead ground in front of the rise.

Ron took the squad in the "palace", Justin took the squad in the farm house, and Walter (Whittmann) took the tankettes for the Fiamme Nere.
Al and Chris split the infantry platoon, with Chris taking the MG's.  Duane took the motorcycle platoon, and attempted to rush across to his left flank.
The Brixia mortar and the tankette MG's stopped the advance, knocking a couple of figures off their bikes.

The motorcyclists headed for the dead ground just in front of the rise in the center of the table.
They were kept from advancing by inaccurate fire from the tankettes and the squad in the farm house.

An infantry squad rushes forward to help the depleted motorcyclists.
The Garibaldi heavy MG's managed to disable 2 of the tankettes, who's crews fled.
The Garibaldi's on the right flank moved up, and after being stopped by the mortar, managed to get too close for it to fire, and drove them off with inaccurate infantry fire.  Then they captured the farmhouse, who's squad had hunkered down from the fire of the heavy MG's.

One of the Garibaldi motorcycle squads managed to sneak up on a blind spot at the "palace", hoping to bayonet the Fiamme Nere concealed there.

Unfortunately for them, they failed to take into account the last tankette, manned by Walter Whitmann, who charged firing and attempting to overrun the infantry.

He played havoc with the left flank, but kept running out of ammo while his driver got stuck on his next attempt.  The infantry finally reached the "palace", shot the Tiente.  The remaining Fiamme Nere retreated, and the tankette, still out of ammo, skedaddled.

Almost all of the figures on the board were Rep 3, so there were tons of "pitiful shot" rolls.

I really enjoyed putting on this game, because of the attitudes of the gamers.  It was a blast, thanks entirely to them.  When I started repacking my figures on Monday evening, I found that the troops had been put back in order by the gamers.  Thanks, guys!

So I went back to Darrin's Knight's Cross, this time in the South Pacific, flying a Hellcat.  Both Corsairs got shot down twice.  I managed to hang on to the last of 24 turns, and then got hit massively, and rulled the fuel tank explodes chit for myself.  The US Air Force was savagely handled by the Japanese.  I don't think we shot down a single plane.

Sunday

On Sunday, I got into a Berlin '45 game using I Ain't Been Shot, Mum rules from Too Fat Lardies.

It was a really nice table with lots of my favorite, paper buildings, run by Brian Weathersby .  Of course, Chris Swearingen and I played the Russians.

Chris took the left flank, and had tough going.  I took the right flank and hung back too long with IS-I's.  When I finally decided to help Chris, I shattered a building so badly that the SS in there had to retreat.  I then began advancing up the right flank with my infantry, from building to building, taking casualties from the Volkstrum on the second floor.

My IS-I's were challenged by 2 Panthers, one of which got brewed up immediately by Chris's T34/85.

The other disabled one of my IS-I's, but ran out of gas just as my infantry flanked it.

The Russian won, thanks to the meat grinder Chris put them through on the left.  They just ran out of troops to throw in.

It was a great two days!

Pelicon

My brother-in-law Ron Gros and I decided to go to Pelicon in Pensacola, FL, on July 24th.  It was held in a square dance hall which is exactly the same as VFW hall minus the bar, because, as a former square dancer, you can't drink and promenade.

There were 3 or 4 rows of gaming tables, filled end to end with games.  Immediately upon arriving, I got into Brian Simmons' 5150 game.  The Tusken raider were trying to drive out the Empire, represented, of course, by stormtroopers and ship's troops.

I was given a 31-figure melee unit with a single leader.  We had two more melee units of approximately the same size, and a rifle armed unit also the same size.  Here's a picture of our home turf that we were supposed to drive the plastic boys out of.

And here we are arranged on the heights.

A closer view of some of the good and true Tuskens without any of those repugnant plastic boys.



And our cavalry.

As we charged charged down the slope, we learned that sticks and a worn-out creed are no match for a blaster, boy.  Let's say we were roughly handled.  A bit.  I ended up with about 5 of my boys left, as did the right flank.  The Tusken riflemen did their best, but hey, those rifles have no sights!

The luckiest thing for us was that the rocket launchers only hit once.  There were more 1's rolled for those shots than the Emperor would allow.

We did get down onto the floor and crack a little plastic armor, but not a lot.

This was the high point of our advance.  As you will see in the next picture, most of my guys were

gunned down, as were Dave's across the table.

At this point, we decided to fade back in the hills, and let the Emperor declare a victory.  My remaining troops are in between the 2 identical rock formation, having taken advantage of the Auto-kill to dispatch 3 OOF stormtroopers.  It was a lot of fun even if those plastic boys did drive us out of our valley!

Now it was my turn to put on a game, and I chose Safe Haven with All Thing Zombie: Better Dead Than Zed to inflict on the gamers.  There were 12 French Foreign Legion who were supposed to protect the civilians in the haven.

Here's an early shot of the FFL lining the wall and mowing down zombies.





The end of the wall was the end of the table.  The vehicles are paper from Chez Ebble.  Easy so far.
Of course, the more zombies you shoot, the more zombies you generate.  The humvee with the MG on the top was unable to keep the zombies from reaching the barricade.  The troops on the wall were too spread out, and not concentrating on the zombies coming up the road.

After a couple of tries, the zombies tore down the barricade.  Until they pass the wall, zombies are only able to generate outside the wall, but once they pass it, they can generate anywhere.

The humvee wisely pulled back to try to continue to keep the zombies out, but to no avail.  To make things worse, the building that had 12 cases of Scotch and 12 more FAMAS rifles caught fire.  And that, of course brought more zombies.

Then an 18-wheeler, followed by 6 gangers on motorcycles, appeared.

Their intent was to get into the compound and steal whatever they could find.  Things didn't go too well for them.  Intent on running over zombies, the driver overturned the rig just as he reached the downed barricade.  And then intiative went to the zombies, and they started attacking the bikers.  One went down and was munched.  The one behind him failed his See Zombie Feast, and headed off for parts unknown.  The leader beat insurmountable odds to escape, and another escaped with him.

The French Foreign Legion decided they had had enough.  They had loaded 2 of the civilians in a van, and a case of Scotch into another.  They ran to their vehicles and escaped.  Hey, everybody else was zombie food.  Who's gonna tell?

The last game I played in was a NUTS! game run by Brian Simmons.  We SS were tasked with holding a crossroads against the advancing US.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Brian's excellent table, and only took 2 pictures, but the bocage is not the best for sweeping vista shots.

I moved into a house right at the crossroads with an MG34 in the second story window.  My Stug III was in reserve behind the last building on our left flank.  Another squad held the right flank behind a bocage hedge.  We had a Pz IV in the rear on the right, and a Sdfz 250 with a 37mm gun to the left.

The US had a Stuart, 2 Sherman 75's, and a jeep with a .50 cal.

The US attempted to move up a .30 cal MG to the rear of the park just in front of the building that I occupied in the center.  My MG 34 stopped that from happening.  They attempted to set up a mortar down the road to the right of my center, but a gap in the hedge allowed me to surpress them also.

On the right, the US moved close to the hedge that the other squad was defending, and they kept each other pinned down.  The jeep with the .50 moved up, but was run off by the other squad's MG 42.

A US squad got into the gap between the two building at the bottom, but they were bunched up faceing the road and the 250 came up behind them and put a 37mm shell in the middle of them, knocking out 2/3's of the squad.

About this time, an artillery strike was called in on the building I occupied, and though all my squad survived, I knew I couldn't be so lucky again, so we headed for the rear, looking for someplace that the artillery hadn't registered.  I had another MG 42 set up to protect me as I retreated.

A Sherman came up and took out the halftrack, but the Pz IV caught it in the flank, and destroyed it.

Brian decided that the other Sherman would pull out, and the US infantry would follow, so we held the crossroads.  Another enjoyable game.

Here's a closer view of my squad in the ruin.  The MG 34 closest to the camera was the hold-up for the US in my sector, and the halftrack sealed the fate of the US right flank.

Now, because I was playing all day, I barely got to look around, but I saw the FOG guys stretched from the front to the rear of the hall, naval games, fantasy, SF space, and Napoleonic.

It was a great time with a great bunch of gamers, and I'm going back next year!









Latest Figures

It's been too long since I posted, so hopefully I'll add two posts today.
The first will be a few figures I've painted for colonials.
Ral Partha Highlanders.  I always swore that I would never paint these figures because of the details on the jacket and kilt.  So I cheated, khaki jackets, and only one horizontal line on the kilt.  I also snipped the officer's sword from his pith helmet and put it into what I feel is a more natural position.

And now the mounted officer.  The figure supplied is the one from the Zulu war command pack, so I cut off his head and replaced it from an unfortunate Highlander extra figure.  I also moved the sword arm, but you can't really see that in the photo.  I call these the 52nd RKO Highlanders (after "Gunga Din").

Now all I need to do is remove the rifles from the hands af a few figures to have the Higlander artillerymen used in Gunga Din.  I've go plenty of elephants, so a pack of Gatling guns from Creative Endeavours, and I've got one to mount on the elephant, and one for battle!

These are in a 20-man unit to fit Colonial Adventures, or The Sword And The Flame.

Since 2 sets of command came in the command pack, I have another 20 to paint!