Heat of Battle

Heat of Battle is over and done and lots of lead and plastic soldiers fell by the wayside.  I went in early Friday to get my Game Master's packet and hung around until 9:30am, when I was called to work until the rest of the day.

On Saturday, I came in early to bring my stuff into the hall, and was able to snap pics of some of the exhibits.
First was the nose section of a B-24 Liberator.  You can go to the rear of this exhibit and view the cockpit and the area behind it.

Next, my favorite tank, the Sherman.  I know way too much about the American workhorse, shared with just about every ally.

An M3 halftrack and truck, laoded with goodies that you can only see from the sky walks.

Too good to pass up: a Willys Jeep with a Bantam trail, mounting a dovecote.

Then I ascended to the second floor to get better pictures of the aircraft hanging above out heads.

 And then a skywalk for even better pictures (not for the vertiginous)

Since it wasn't yet opening time, I walked over to the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion, and snapped a few mor pics.

AS a guy who runs WWII Russians, I couldn't pass up the Russian machine gun.

Next to it was the U.S. doorknocker, the 37mm anti-tank gun, and an amphibious jeep in the background.

And the cutest gun in WWII, the German infantry support gun.

And a German 88mm anti-aircraft gun with a typical gamer in front.

Since it was time for the museum and Heat of Battle to begin, I headed back to the Freedom Pavilion where all the gaming that did not involve Flames of War was scheduled.

 At 9:00am, I got into Bob Kelso's Chateau Thierry game, commanding a unit of Americans and a Mark I female tank. With my usual luck, my tank wouldn't move on the initial move, but carried on afterwards.

Since movement was card-driven, I had plenty of time to look around at other games.  A Bolt Action game that hadn't started yet.

A Command Decision game.

The assault on Omaha Beach, but I don't know what game system.  Best looking game periscope I've ever seen!

A Johnny Reb game hosted by Duane Rock, whose terrain is beyond great!

Unfortunately, Chateau Thierry ran beyond it's slated time, and since I only had an hour to eat and set up my game, I slunk off to Ugly Dog Saloon two blocks away for my traditional incredible pulled pork lunch.  I was accompanied by Mark Mod and Alvin Himmel, ruining both their diets, while I munched down guilt-free.  I later found out that the Americans took Chateau Theirry without too many losses.

My Game.

I ran a game set in 1929 Nicaragua.  The US Marines found out that the Sandanistas intended to attack a trading post run by US citizens, so they sent a full platoon to halt this affront.  I used NUTS! Final Version for my game.  Both sides started from opposite ends of the table, trying to rush forward and achieve their goals.  The table was mostly jungle with a few clearings, the post, and a wavery road going past the front of the post, defended by the poorly armed, MR & Mrs. Smith (yeah, right), "Pops" Smith, O'Rourke (with the only rifle), and maid Lucy.

The Marines troop down the road. Figures are mostly Cannon Fodder Miniatures augmented by Pulp Figures for 2 BAR's and the medium machine gun.

Firing began as both sides tried to command the road in front of the post.

But the Marines were able to get to the post first. Some climbed the fences, and others made for the gate.

The Sandanistas were held off.  2 or 4 got into the compound, and were shot down after taking out a few Marines.

The Marines lost 20% of their figures dead or wounded, and the Sandanistas lost about 23%.  So it was a victory for the Marines, who successfully defeated the Sandanistas.  Newspapers back in the states heralded a great victory by a Marine platoon against 1000 Sandanistas.
The lovely Sarissa buildings were loaned by friend Chris Swearingen, who was unable to attend, alas.  The actual troops involved were: US Marines, 42 rank, file, and Lt..  2 2-man Lewis gun teams, and a medium machine gun, which never got into action.  Sandanistas: 72 figures, including 2 2-man Lewis gun teams.
Once the Marines got into the post, the Sandanistas had very little chance of driving them out.

With all mu goodies put away, I joined in Mark Mod's And A Bottle Of Rum game, "Blackbeard's Last Battle"  There was the sloop Adventure, with 10 4-pounders, that Blackbeard was forced to use following the wreck of Queen Anne's Revenge.  They were chased by the Royal Navy in 2 sloops, the Jane and the Ranger, from which the guns had been removed, and the hold filled with fighting men.  Mark had a great banner-printed coast and estuary that ran the length of the table, adorned with 3 GHQ sloops.

The Blackbeard player, for some reason, followed Blackbeard's mistake and followed the u-turn to board the Jane, which had many more sailors than he.  They grappled, and the fight was on, with Blackbeard losing most of his men.  He managed to load his guns with grape, and was going to cut the grapples and sail away at the end of the game.

And as a final shot, the dive bomber that hung above us!

I intended to return on Sunday, but was once again called to work.  I picked up a few things from Bobe's Hobbies, the only vendor other than the museum itself, and really enjoyed myself!  Of course, I'll return next year.
The National World War II Museum:
http://www.nationalww2museum.org/

Grishnak's Grief.

Yes it's always that black orc Grishnac, isn't it?  Well, he won't be coming back!
This is a Rally Round the King game of orcs versus elves.  It did not go well for the orcs.
But yours truly forgot some things, of course.  For this game the orc commander had a War Rating of 4 and the elf commander 3.  Of course, the orcs out-scouted the elves, with a skirmish unit against nothing but heavy infantry for the elves.  So the orcs are the attacker.
Here we have the orc army, straight out of the lists.

They stretched out as far as they could.  The wolf riders are off the left of the picture.  They were further hampered by bad going in the middle of their line.

The elves, out-numbered, chose a compact formation with a bow unit on each wing, and the marines as reserve, since they're the fastest elves.

In turn 1, the orcs advanced and the elves brought the bows to touch the back corner of the flank, thereby hopefully staying out of melee, but able to support the line.

In turn 2 the orcs advanced further, while the elves stood firm.

IN turn 3, the orcs advanced into bow range.  The orc unit on the left flank of the center battle line was handled roughly by the bowman.  The bows hit him and cause him to advance 1/2 half move, which caused the bow to take an Enemy Threat test, and fire again.  This time the orc unit ic forced to retire and take 1 hit.  He now has 3 hits, and as a Rep 4 unit is pretty much out of the fight.  The wolf riders advance towards the marines.

The elf commander decides to call a charge, but fails and must stand still.  The elves' right wing bow unit turns 90 degrees to face the skirmish unit, if it ever gets there.

Turn 4: The orc commander orders a charge, and the elves do not countercharge, but stand to receive it.  In the combat the orcs' dice total 16 hits and the elves 18.  This is not so good, as all but 1 orc unit has AC 2 and the elves are all AC 4.

The wolf riders get into threat range of marines who are dual armed, and put 1 into the orcs. The wolves completed their charge and take another hit.  The elves take 2 . And the wolf riders retire and take another hit!
 It's now the elves initiative and they continue the melee.  The orcs score 13 to the elves 7. And the 2 orc units on the right fail their UD roll and stand still.  Another orc unit retires and takes another hit.  And the orc leader dies, leaving them with a War Rating of 1.  The loss of their leader causes the wolf riders to rout.

Turn 5:  The orcs have no choice but to tough it out in melee. The orcs take another hit, and so do the elves.  2 of the orc stands rout, and incredibly the elves fall back taking another hit each.

But it's all over for the orcs.  The elves charge, the orcs stand, and the last element in the line rout, leaving the field to the elves.  The orcs have 3 stands left that have not been in combat, but being UD would be fodder for the elves.  The elves have all their stands, but all but 2 have taken hits.

The orcs at the bottom of the picture have no chance against the better disciplined elves.

Did I forget some stuff? You betcha!  I forgot that the orcs have frenzy and are UD, so those two sort of cancel out.  I forgot to start from the right of the line on the orcs twice, which benefited them.  All in all a fun game played in about 45 minutes including taking pictures and writing everything down.  Both sides had the advantage of my dismal die rolling.

Rally Round the King armies from Mighty Armies boxes

I have two Mighty Armies that have sat in the box since the rules came out in 2004.  At that time we would play 6 or 8 man DBA tournaments on Wednesday night.  I had my barbarian army and a couple of others had other armies.  If you've ever played a friendly DBA tourney, you know that 2 guys will finish way before the other and have to twiddle their thumbs white waiting for their next opponent.   So the Mighty Armies was played in between the DBA games.  Of course, Katrina ended all that, wiping out the game store where we played, and a couple of our guys lost their homes and armies.

So, I now have a couple of friends who are willing to play Rally Round the King.  I have converted my Barbarian army to that ruleset and done my Orc army to the same.  Let's start with the Orcs.

Here's the whole army in one shot.
                                 
There are 5 Orc bases at 24 points for a total of 120.

 Plus a Foot Skirmish (Archers) at 8 points, a Black Orcs base (where my general is) for 36 points and a Dire Wolf Rider base for 36 points.

This is a 200 point, 8 base, army straight out of the army list.  After making your 200 point army, you are left with another Dire Wolf Rider base @ 36 points, 2 goblin bases @ 20 points (40 points) and a 3-figure Orc base which would be 18 points (derived by dividing the 4-figure orc base by 4 and then multiplying by 3, duh!).  So you have an additional 94 points in the box.  Oh, and you get a spellcaster.

Now for my take on the Barbarian army.  YMMV.
Being a dyed-in-the-wool DBA gamer with a penchant for warband armies, the Mighty Armies set up didn't light my fire.  So here we go.  All bases are AC 2. All but the Archer bases are Frenzy UD, and the Berserkers add Fanatic.
For the general, I used a 4-figure base, figuring he would have more hangers-on, and gave him a Rep 5 for 24 points.  Since Mighty Armies has a separate pack of Berserkers, I included a 3-man base at Rep 6 for 30 points.

Then we add 7, yes 7, 3-man bases of Warriors @ 18 points for a total of 126. ( I did 2 pics of them to show the mass.  Neither is sparkling.)

And two 2-man Rep 4 bases of Archers (Foot Skirmish), 8 points each for 16 points.

This gives you a total of 11(!) bases at 196 points.  When the Mammoth is available again from Rebel Minis I'll add it at 6 points (Rep 4), either dropping a base of Archers for a total of 194 points, or if I'm playing a charitable opponent, add him for a total of 204 points.  Of course, elephants are just as iffy in Rally Round the King as in DBA, but much easier to hurt, with only AC2.  What's left?  Only an Archer base, since I used 2 of them with swords held high to fill out a Warrior base (the last base in the top photo of the Warriors.)   I could have filled it out with figures from the Berserker pack, but I wanted the Berserker base to be unique in my army.  By the by, this is one of the few armies for which you can buy extra Warriors and Berserkers.  Oh, and the spellcaster!

I hope this gives players a little hint about how to make your own armies.  I'm sure one could go into the historical army and find a use for the chariots, but they are so huge that they would have to be mounted on 40mm x 50mm bases.  You don't want 4 of something that enormous falling back!  Here's a picture of them.  I may at some point get bases for them and go to the historical lists for an army, but they would only be either Rep 5 light chariots (Mounted Missile) at 7 points or Rep 5 (Mounted Melee - Dual Shock) at 12 points.  At any rate, here's a photo of them.

Though I've showed them before, here is my other army so far, Amazons straight from the Valkae list.

2 noble bases, ET, one containing the general.

3 Warriors - Frenzy

1 base of Sword Maidens Frenzy Elite and one of Marines Dual.

and 2 Archers

To swap out I have 1 base of Noble Cavalry, Shock and 2 of Cavalry (Mounted Skirmish)

Now if I can only get time and energy to get some solo games in.  The Amazons are from Black Falcon.  All other figures are from Rebel Minis, who is the supplier for all things Mighty Armies.

VSF, VBCW, and fantasy

Between helping my wife recover from surgery and a 4-week (so far) engine replacement in my van, I've been a bit busy, but I do have a few more figures to present.

A friend has become interested in A Very British Civil War, so I dug out an old pack of Wessex Games armed Victorian British constables.  I tried to get a tiny bit of blue in their uniforms by painting them in Deca Ceramcoat Blue Velvet, washed with P3 Armour Wash.  I then painted the belts and shoes, helmet straps, and edging with black, and gloss coated them.  All pistols and the shotgun were painted with IWM Steel.  Skin was a craft flesh washed with a light brown wash.  And no, I didn't paint duty bands on the left cuff.  Happily, they weren't molded on.

The constable to the far right will be called "Monkey" for obvious reasons.  These are older figures and are not on Wessex Games page anymore, unless you go through images on Yahoo.  So I don't know if they are even available anymore.

Next up are rat warriors from Mega Minis, also no longer available.  I got them not long before they sold all their molds.

Unusual for me I primed them in black, dry-brushed them and washed them with a brown wash.

And a Hasslefree vampire hunter, and old GW pirate.  Though it's not apparent in this photo, I drilled out the end of his cannon.  His base still needs terraining.

And here's a paper Winnebago I couldn't resist, since I love Spaceballs!

And, of course, no post of mine is complete without some partially clothed horrible harridan!  I'm not sure who made her, but from the size of her feet, I'd guess GW, though probably Metal Magic for real.

T-t-t-t-thats all folks!

Since the beginning of the year...

What have I been doing?  Well, my wife had rotator cuff surgery on Jan. 2.  So, she's not able to wait on me hand and foot.  I actually have to do a few things around the house.  However, she's making good progress.

All I've done so far is a bit of painting.  I painted 10 conquistadors from Monday Knight Productions. http://www.mondayknight.com/Miniature%20Pages/GoldandFeathers/Conquistadors.htm  These are old Pass of the North figures, and nearer true 25mm.  Why these instead of Foundry's lovely figures?  Cost, and they are near in size to some salacious Native American maiden warriors I painted a looong time ago (maybe 20 - 25 years ago.)

So I figured I would emulate Vampifan and show the front and rear of the figures.

I ordered the 10 random figure set.  The 1st figure left is armored with leather studded armor, and has the most detail of the bunch.  The second figure is half-armored and holding a pike.  He was the first one I painted, and I decided that there wouldn't be too many more stripes, since their clothing is basically landesqueknect, and a pain to paint.  The third figure is 3/4 armored.

The arquebusier is unarmored except for the helmet and has a few apostles hanging from his bandolier. Last is the figure in the leather coat and shield.  Because of the great amount of armor, I deviated from my normal course of black undercoating on the metal, and a single coat of some sort of metal paint.  I undercoated in black, the added P3 Pig Iron, and then used GW Mithral Silver for the greater part of the metal, leaving the Pig Iron untouched for depth in the crevices and crannies.  The soft clothing was painted with various P3 and craft acrylics, and then washed with a brown wash.  There skin was painted a darker flesh tone, again craft paint from which the label has long disappeared.

 The remaining 5 from left to right.  The first figure is wearing a leather vest.  The crossbowman is wearing quilted clothe armor.  One of the ends of his crossbow was missing, so I fashioned a new one from scrap lead, pewter, whatever.  The next figure is half-armored and probably a dismounted horseman from his thigh boots.

I consider the next figure to be the leader, so he got a gold-hilted sword and some brass on his helmet, a black scabbard, and matching upper and lower clothing.  The final is basically a duplicate of the second figure in the first bunch but with a burgeonet instead of a morion.  He has pink britches because I saw a photo of a reenactor with pink britches online.

Now for the salacious Native American maidens.  I don't know who made these figures.  I got them a very long time ago, and have 21 including the queen.

I had originally painted all their weapons metal, but a closer look, and a remembered conversation from when I originally painted them convinced me to paint the axes as stone and the spears and daggers as obsidian.  I just added EZ Line bowstrings to all the bows.  The queen is a Ral Partha figure.  I repainted her sword as a wooden club.  I'm sure these were painted with GW and crafts paints, maybe some D&D paints, and washed with a brown wash.

My plan is to have 4 of the conquistadors lost in New Spain searching for Cibola, and running across the maidens.  I'll be using Warrior Heroes Legends.  It covers the armor types, and while it doesn't cover firearms, I have enough experience (and other THW rulesets) for that to be no problem.  The four conquistadors stats are already done, and 11 (2-12 on 2d6) pefs generated to represent the girls.  My aim is to see if heavier armor can just walk over the unarmored.  I also have, unpainted, a couple of bags of early Apaches from the lamented London War Room.

And, of course, I forgot that I had bags of Frontier conquistadors and mule train that I got from Time Portal Hobbies a couple of months ago.  There are a total of 4 mounted figures, more than enough for any conquistador game, even were I to add of the Frontier.  Oh, the Monday Knight Productions figures have the seeder (a leather-worker tool) eyes just like Frontier.

No, they will never see Aztecs.  Now all I need is the time to play the game!

Boring Boers & another pointless nude!

I haven't been able to play a single game since Colonial Battles III, so here's a few things I painted.  Dale Kemper was there of Stellar Miniatures, and among other things, I picked up 2 20-man units of Boers.  Then I went through some figures Al Reis had given me and found a half-painted unit of Boers and artillerymen.  A look through a box donated by Paul Harruff found a few Boer corporals by Falcon US and 18 - 20 mounted Boers by Ral Partha.  Here's the first stuff I painted.

A unit of Ral Partha's with a Falcon US corporal.

A unit of Ral Partha's with a couple of artillerymen converted by Al Reis, including the corporal.

And the Ral Partha artillerymen with a Falcon US officer.  Al had painted them for German Southwest Africa, and I painted them "freely interpreted" for the second Boer War.

And finally, to maintain my salacious reputation, an old sorceress I recently obtained and painted on the misspelled Pegasus "Alter of Evil".

Not much of a post, but all I've got at the present.