FFT big game

I got to have a big game of Fist Full of Tows up at the Oxford club with Alasdair of "Lord Hoof" fame.

He put on a scenario and all the toys which made life easy for me, I just brought doughnuts.

Scenario, a civil war in a middle east country, the Crown Prince and brother are caught in the open by the rebel national guard and have to get off  the table.  The Crown Prince and his brother are deployed in two convoys in the centre of the table.

All of my troops were average and Alasdair's were poor which we soon found would make a big difference as the poor ran away almost every time they were shot at.

The game ended a draw, the Crown Prince got off the table, his brother didn't and there were heavy casualties on both sides.

Playing FFT again was really good and makes me think its much better than Cold War Commander.  The major difference is quality of troops really makes a difference.  It allows you to have crap troops with good kit vs say a high quality troops with average kit and get a good game.  Good way to recreate the Sinai battle or other historical engagements with highly motivated and trained troops vs mass of low quality.

The national guard want them dead or captured.....

National Guard tank and inf company start to move on

The Crown Prince stuck in the town.  Due to their level of competence, the convoy stays in town for several turns.

The Crown Prince finally moves out of the town, loyalists engage the rebels and the difference in quality starts to show as the rebels run away.

The table

Horizon Wars from Osprey

Ooooh!

Osprey are releasing a 6mm sci fi game at Salute 2016.

Osprey seem to be releasing some very interesting games at the moment, I picked up their Black Ops rules as well.

I've been looking for a good 6mm scifi game for a while.  Future War Commander was good but no one at my club plays it, they prefer Epic, which I loathe.  Maybe this might get some traction.

"Beyond today's horizons lie uncountable wars still to be fought by mankind - on battlefields, against foes, and with weapons that can only be imagined. With Horizon Wars, wargamers can bring these future conflicts to the tabletop, no matter their exact vision of the future of warfare. Combining the feel of real-world combat and tactics with versatile and quick-to-learn rules, Horizon Wars is a 6mm company-level game that incorporates ground forces, aircraft and the titans of the battlefield - mechs. Whether you want to pit a handful of mechs against each other in quick clash of patrols, or line up combined-arms forces for a huge battle, the game remains fast-moving and enjoyable. Also included are full rules for building units from the ground up, allowing players to tailor their forces to suit the mission objectives or their figure collections."

I can see me having a good look at these rules at Salute.

6mm goodness

I can't remember where I saw these on the internet, but they are beautiful.

Does make me want to get my 6mm sci-fi out again.

6mm Modern americans

I bought some 6mm yanks from Heroics and Ros a while ago and have been struggling to work out how to paint them. I didn't just want to paint them green, done that before and it's boring. I got some inspiration from a few friends and the Internet and this is what I've done.

A-10 Warthog


MLRS and support


M109 artillery


The HQ stand


Sub commanders, forward observers


M1A1 tanks.


Lav-25


Lav-25 AT units


Lav-25 mortar units



Bradleys



Now to do the inf.

I used to do my inf on 30mmx15mm bases but this time I'm going to use 30mmx30mm bases, like the vehicles. It gives me a bit more space to work with and looks better

6mm US army WIP

After the FFT weekend, I got all inspired to do a US army for Cold War Commander.

So, off to H&R I went and a few things came my way.

I'm going with Lav-25 and M1s for this army, with a few black hawks, Apaches and a CH-53, just because I love the model.

I do love the look of the Lav-25.

Army painter green base coat.

Fist Full of Tows weekend

This weekend I went up with The Madaxeman to Oxford to play in a two day Fist Full of Tows weekend.  FFT isn't my usual choice for moderns (Cold War Commander is), but two days of 6mm goodness sounded fantastic.

The scenario was set just after the first Gulf War, the Iraqi's saw an opportunity to capture several Saudi princes and staged a bold attack.

The game spanned four tables, with a port at one end, a city scape, air field and then open desert.

I was given the Iraqi airborne division and staged an air assault on the air field.

By the end of the weekend, the Iraqi's had captured all the princes but were surrounded by Saudi and US forces bent on freeing them.

It was a great weekend, good excuse to get lots of 6mm out on the table, including A-10s, Harriers, Hinds, Osperys, lots of terrain and maybe a few pints....  :-)

A few photos of the game

The airfield with the city scape in the back ground

The Port.

Tim, got a land a mechanised regiment from the ship and captured the town.

The city with a mosque

The mosque

 Flight KLM01 arrived with a small surprise, a battalion of paratroopers!  Surprise!

The RoRos arrive with lots of tanks

The refinery

Power station

The Saudi LAV-25 platoon in a defensive position

The air assault arrives, surprising the defenders and avoiding their cleverly placed mine fields

Another air assault, swiftly capturing the princes in the 1st class lounge.

The Saudi relief force arrives and rapidly dispenses with the Iraqi tank division.  Poorly trained troops don't make great defenders.  The theme rapidly became "RUN AWAY!!!!"

The assault on the city

The assault has landed

 The defenders get swiftly pushed out of the port

UN command bases

I'm going to be playing in a large Fist Full of Tows moderns game in a few weeks and have been asked to bring up some command bases for the UN observers.

So, here they are

I've used BTR-80s as the vehicles.  I have always liked the look of them and have seen photos of real UN troops using these vehicles.