I've been Tangoed!

 Last month while scrolling through The Miniatures Page I saw a post for Donnybrook GNW. Certainly a period and rules I'd be interested in. I clicked on it and was a bit surprised it was a post about one of my own blog posts. I then realized that I hadn't posted in quite awhile and needed to get back into the blogsphere. So here's a bit of a gaming update to start with.

As part of the get the figures we have and rules we own onto the table we started out with Fireball Forward and some Pacific figures.

We've enjoyed the games and found the scenarios gave a tense game. Out came the Americans and Germans.

After 5-6 games we took a break and went with A Gentleman's War set in the AWI. 

Then with only a short time to play we went with One Hour Skirmish Wargames. The first game took a little longer but we got the hang of it and knocked out a couple of more. Interwar with Mark's Little Soldiers and East Front WW2.

The Last few weeks have been the Wild West with Ruthless and Warhammer Legends of the Old West.

While there hasn't been much blogging there has been three new rulesets played and six armies either new or not used in several years out on the table. Yes we did play a game of Donnybrook but set in the AWI and I didn't get any pictures.

Thanks for reading.

"The Bear" Fireball Forward Guadalcanal scenario.

One of the games on the the list to try this year is Fireball Forward.It's for company level actions similar to Crossfire. Using a card activation system players alternat moving units but all units get to activte each turn. The firing system seemed a bit fiddly at first but once we became accustomed to it worked well. You roll a white D6,a red D6 and a D20. The white die is what's used to determin hits and can be modified. The red die only hits on a 6. The D20 adds range to the base fire range. Movement is anywhere in a 12" radius contingent on terrain.The system takes a lillte bit to wrap your head around but seems to work well. They have a few videos on YouTube explaining the game seaquence and an iogroups. Last night we played our second game using The Bear scenario from the The Marines at Guadalcanal book. The Japanese had to eliminate more Marine units than they lost and exit a squad and platoon leader off the board. The Mairines had to not let that happen.

I was a hard fought contest but I believe the Marines eeked out a victory. More photos from the Japanese view point here Thanks for reading.

NUTS the second time I played

Last night we got together to play a game of NUTS from Two Hour Wargames. Howard and I had played them years ago but only once or twice. Nate and Matt had tried them of few weeks back but I was unable to be at those games. The rules have had gone through some revisions since I had played last and it seems for the better.  I don't own the rules but Nate had a set and both he and Matt pick these things up much quicker than I do so just as well. We chose a scenario involving Russians attacking a German position and attempting to cross the bridge. Matt provided most of the miniatures and scenery I brought a themed beer.

T-34s protect the Baltika #5 from the Huns.

So the scenario had the Germans defending the bridge with a Pak 40 and one squad of Infantry. Other forces would arrive based on some rule I didn't quite follow but worked pretty well. The Russians had two tanks, one halftrack, a squad of scouts, two squads of infantry, and a commissar with a heavy machine gun. Their objectives were to capture the command bunker and exit one tank off the bridge. Here's the link to the scenario. sbminisguy, nuts-stalingrad-filippov-at-the-bridge.

The Russians moved first. I raced my tank up the road hoping to reach cover before Nate could fire at me. I didn't make it. Luckily the tank was only immobilized but could still fire. 

Crossing open ground in front of a pak40 is never a good idea.

The tank offered no protection for the riders.

Howard worked the scouts and halftrack up the right flank and came under fire from a German squad on his left which forced him to duck back. I managed to knock out Nate's pak40 but was forced to duck back from the same squad hitting Howard troops. 

German HMG holding up the Russian assault.

The Russians are forced to duck back.

Nate rolled for one of the hidden units (there was a term for this but don't remember it.) It appeared in a house in front of Matt's group. He close assaulted the house with grenades and sub machine guns remove the threat. Matt then moved up his tank and took out the troops causing the Russians so much grief.

Scouts and tank begin there advance.

Surprised by a German squad the Russians go in for a close assault.

With the infantry ducked back the T-34 heads for the bridge.

I laid down covering fire as Matt's squad went in for the attack on the bunker.

Two Russian squads prepare for the assault on the bunker.

For the rest of the AAR you'll need to visit Matt's blog saltflats1929again.

So how did the game go. Very well. We came to a conclusion in under two hours even with some reference to the rules. Years back when we played I seem to remember activating each figure and going into what was a mini turn as the the figures reacted back and forth to each other, this game seemed much more stream lined.  Having not read the rules and nor really using a crib sheet it didn't take long to figure out what was needed to activate and fire. I'm looking forward to playing a few more games of this.

If you are in a hurry you should scurry!

We decided to give Five Core Company Command another try. Our first game was fun, we did fudge some rules tweak the activation system and left stuff out but it was fun and after we were able to see what we missed.

The rules use a activation system were you are given a number activations equal to one activation per three squads in your force. You then roll a D6. A 1 lets you activate all your units but you can only move your units and after the other side can move theirs that were in line of site of the ones you moved. 2-5 allows you to activate your units (move ,rally,fire) based on the number of activations you have in your pool, a 6 has you shooting all and then opponents return fire. Combat uses two different color D6s one is a shock die the other a kill die. Rolls of 1and 6 affect the unit, 2-5 having no effect. Ivan explains it much better in the rules:-).

Our scenario was much the same as last time with the Germans and Americans attempting to occupy and hold the village. Matt moved his troops up quickly while I was a little slower to advance. It then became a slow grind for the Americans to dislodge the Germans from the buildings.

We finished the game in about two hours. Was a tie but came down to the last die roll with the Americans rallying a unit to get control of the building.

There's a newer version of the rules than the one I had so the next time we'll try those out and add the bits we've missed.

American armor approach the village

German Infantry move up.

Another building occupied by the Germans.

Two Shermans are knocked out.

Finally the Americans get into a building.

German armor threatening the American flank.

Again there's more photos over on Matt's saltflats1929again blog

Littler figures bigger scale.

We broke out the 15mm WWII figures for a try at Five Core Company Command. We've been looking a larger level of WWII game and I wanted to get all those mini's I bought when I thought I was going to play Flames of War on the table. 

Once again Matt set out a great looking table. We each selected a company of infantry with some armour support and started rolling dice. As I learned from the 6x6 challenge last year it takes me about two to three games to get a decent grip on the rules., A few things were missed and some just skipped over but I felt we got the basics right and the game moved along well. The game uses a D6 for everything. Two color dice are needed one for shock and one for kills, sometimes they are rolled at the same time, we used white and red. A few things that I felt were unclear from the reading of the rules immediatly became apparent upon rolling the dice. We could have used a few markers for some action but worked our way through it. Occuping the buildings in the village was the objective and in the end it came down to a draw.

The Americans advance towards the town as the Germans move up.

US troops take cover behind the wall and open fire on the Germans.

The Puma moves down the road engaging the US squad.

An American platoon moves in to occupy the church.

Definatly a rule set that needs further exploration. Check out Nordic Weasel's  Blog for more info.

Matt has a good AAR on his blog Saltflats1929

Went on down to Dixie.

We just got back from visiting our daughter down in North Carolina. Ten and a half hours of driving broken up by a stop at the Petersburg battlefield. We didn't want to stop long so it was a quick stop with a movie at the visitors center and three of the eight stops. 

Stop #1

 Confederate #5 battery

The Dictator

Gun and caisson.

Stop #3

Battery #9

Stop #8

Start of the Union tunnel

Approach to the tunnel.

The Crater

My wife's reference for all this.

A good spot to stop for BBQ before or after the Battlefield

Jumping forward ninety years we went to see the USS North Carolina. Although my father was a destroyer man during WWII I enjoy seeing any of the ships from that era. It always amazes me at the technology available and the logistics involved with a Navy ship.

 

You could climb into two of the 16" turrets and one of the 5" turrets. The AA guns were set up so they could be moved up and down and side to side. 

The  last spot of interest was Moore's Creek Battlefield.  The visitors center was closed so there was no overview of the battle but there was a nice interpretive trail. 

Widow Moore's bridge.

The view from the Patriots side.

The Patriot earthworks.

A 3# field piece.

Whig view of the Loyalists advance..

From behind the earthworks.

After this it was off to pick strawberries at Lewis Farms .

A great trip all around.