Games, Post Holiday

I did a little gaming over the holidays but generally just relaxed enjoying a variety of European beers I had received, the hops part of my blog title!

Tristan and I usually throw down a fairly large miniature game over the holidays but this year the interest just wasn't there so we gave it a pass, maybe next year.

We did play a couple of games of Conquest of Nerath, a fantasy themed board game of world conquest, which he had received for Christmas. One game between just him and I which we played using 1/2 the board and then a 4 player game with a couple of his friends. Both games were fun with Tristan winning both. We also played a game of Ascension, a deck building game,which I won by 1 point, a surprise to us both because it really looked like Tristan had it in the bag.

I did play a fair bit of Pathfinder, acting as the DM and 2 more players will be joining next session which will make a 4 player adventuring party. It has been awhile since I DM'd for a full group of PC's so there will be some relearning but it should be fun. I am running this game over the internet using the Roll20 web based program which seems to be working out pretty good. I have started a blog about the campaign, mostly for the players but anyone can check it out here.

One of the next miniature games I am planning on playing is another Force on Force game set in Iraq from the Road to Baghdad book. Unfortunately I thought all I needed was to build and paint the USMC transport, an AAV-7, but when I looked at my forces needed for the scenario I realized I had not painted up the second squad of 13 men. So the last few days I have been prepping and painting up the second squad and should have it done fairly soon. While I am at it I am taking the opportunity to paint up the rest of the troops I have which isn't that much extra but does include a sniper team and a few special teams. Once they are completed I will post a picture of the complete force. Down the road I think I might want to get a few more HMMWV's, maybe a LAV or 2 as well as a MRAP(Mine Resistant Ambush Protected).

I hope everyone had a good holiday and got some gaming goodness in.

Force on Force Battle Report

The Crown Jewel; Az Zubayr pumping station March 21,2003

This scenario was taken from the Road to Baghdad scenario book from Ambush Alley Games. We played the first scenario called The Crown Jewel and depicts a small group of US Marines  trying to capture an oil pumping station before the Iraqi forces can destroy it.

The Forces:

USMC: 1 squad(12men) and a squad leader with an AAVTP-7(amtrack)
             A Cobra Helicopter is available on turn 3+

Iraqi:     Fedayeen death squad(6 men) and a Ba'ath Party Official with a SUV
            Iraqi Army Section(9 men) and a leader

The miniatures are mostly by Elhiem Figures with the AAVTP-7 by Dragon Models.

Before we started we clarified a few things like when the helicopter would be available and how to breach the fencing around the perimeter. 

This was the setup. Here the Iraqi defenders are being placed. The large building is the administration building while the 2 smaller ones are the pump houses.

We usually play on a slightly bigger board than the book suggest. This is a 3' by 3' as opposed to the 2' by 2' suggested in the book. We do this strictly for the looks as sometimes the 20mm figures and vehicles can get a little cramped on the smaller area. To compensate for this I increased the turns available to complete the mission from 6 to 9. This was suggested to me on the Ambush Alley Game forums by one of the game designers when increasing the table size.

The Iraqi forces in waiting. The ones in the Admin building are hidden and hard to spot until they take some action.

Turn 1. The USMC comes on inside the amtrack avoiding the main road and crushing the fence while the Iraqi troops in the admin building adjust their positions to cover the rear.

And then a sand storm blew in reducing visibility though this did not have a big effect on the game

The amtrack continues to the corner of the building.

And the first team debusses.

USMC fire causes 1 casualty in the pump house.

The Iraqi view.

The other 2 teams head into the admin building.

Taking up positions to fire unto the pump house. The other team is going to head up stairs to the roof.

The team by the amtrack takes 2 serious and 1 light wound and the friction of war starts to build up against the USMC.

The state of things, the Iraqi forces have only taken 1 light wound so far.

The Iraqis get some help.

And they quickly take up positions overlooking one of the USMC teams firing on them, 2 down.

The situation so far. Both USMC and Iraqis occupy the admin buildings while surprisingly accurate Iraqi fire has halted the USMC advance.

Finally the Cobra comes on. It wasn't called in earlier because it was not allowed engage targets in the pump houses and until the Iraqi SF team opened fire the units in the admin building were still hidden.

The Cobra opens fire on the admin building causing little damage and then getting called away next turn.

The USMC clears out the first pump house with the help of a sniper team that lended a hand. But the team on the roof is taken out by the Iraqi SF team. One of the guns jams up on the amtrack!

The admin building completely held by the Iraqis and the USMC do not have enough of a force to continue the engagement.

 We called it at this point two turns early. The Iraqi side had caused too many USMC serious wounds for them to recover enough VP's to win. The game was fast and furious though and lots of fun to play. We had 4 Fog of War cards that came up that really added some twists to the game making things, for the most part, more difficult for the USMC.

We are planning on playing the next scenario, Umm Qasr, so I have started to assemble a DragonModel AVVTP-7 to have two.

A Christmas Game Weekend, HOHOHO

Hi, a few weekends ago I invited some friends over for a weekend of games. This seems to becoming another annual event alongside the Malifaux weekend I hold in the spring and consists of mostly the same group of people.

So, for this weekend I had in attendance, Pierre, Eric, Julian, Ian, Shawn and Chet as well as my oldest son, Tristan. This weekend had no particular game theme so people brought over board games and a few miniature games.

We kicked off the games  with a 3 player game of Force on Force playing the 1st scenario out of the Road to Baghdad scenario book. I, as the USMC was pitted against Eric and Pierre during the Iraq war in 2003. This was, I think, the most enjoyable game I have played of Force on Force yet and I will post a full battle report later this week.

While that was going on Shawn pulled out his game of Dungeon Command and battled it out with Tristan.

Soon Chet arrived and we had a 4 player game of X-Wing which was a lot of fun and was similar to Wings of Glory which I have played a fair bit.

Then Ian and Julian arrived and yet more games of Dungeon Command were played with the day ending(or the next day beginning!) in a titanic 6 player game of X-Wing with(if I remember correctly) 48 ships on the table. A glorious day for the Empire!

The next day people had to head home but we played some more Dungeon Command and a game of Zombicide with the players that were available.

Of course throughout the weekend there was time filled in with some good conversations, food and a few drinks.

It was great seeing everyone, some I see only a few times a year, some more frequently but I think everyone had a good time with lots of games played and a few rematches demanded. And Chet, the rebel scum will never defeat the might of the Empire.

Force on Force turn 1. The Marines have driven through the fence.

Near the end, things went bad for the USMC, "the friction of war"

My first X-Wing game. Chet and Eric trying to take down the Empire...not today!

A close up. The game is fun and fast and because it is Fantasy Flight Games it has lots of counters.

Shawn and Tristan with Dungeon Command, Tristan really liked this game.

A 4 player game. Shawn and Julian shown with Tristan and Ian out of the frame.

The game continues.

Craft time! Chet spent a fair bit of time trying to put a paper model of the Millennium Falcon together.

The big battle, the forces of order. We had a chart to track damage etc. so the table wouldn't get cluttered with counters.

The forces of anarchy.

The Rebel scum, Tristan, Chet and Julian.

The Empire, me, Ian and Shawn.

The forces close.

...and clash.

The mayhem continues.

...and continues...

...and continues till around 3:00am

The next day. Zombicide, somewhat fitting.

And the last game. A 4 player Dungeon Command.

The End.

Lots of Games

I played loads of game this time round between some at home and the demo games at Hal-con its been a pretty full period for games.

Tristan and I played another game of Battlelore in which I finally got a win. After finishing all the scenarios in the main rule book we have started the scenarios from the Dwarf expansion that Tristan has. We have been ticking off each scenario as we go so we know exactly how many we have played.

At Hal-con I ran a few demos. I was only there on Sunday and was running the demos by myself but I did manage to get some interest in the games I had brought, running a few demo games of Dust Warfare and Infinity and some detailed game turn explanations for Infinity and Malifaux for interested folks.

I also played a game of Zombicide by Cool Mini or Not. My friend Chet had brought the game down and we had 6 players while he ran the zombies until one of the players had to go and then he hopped into that players spot. It was a fun game and very tense action. We managed to get a win though 3 characters died, including mine.

Eric, another friend came over on a day off and we played a game of Force on Force by Ambush Alley Games . The first turn took quite some time because it had been awhile since we had played last and we were introducing vehicles. After the first turn the game came back to us and we played fairly quickly after that and I got a marginal victory. We had made our own scenario with 2 HUMVEE's of USMC troops coming onto the board accompanied by a truck with a unit of Iraqi army soldiers working with the Americans. The insurgents were in ambush already on the board. The insurgents waited for the Iraqi army unit to drive by and destroyed the following HUMVEE with a RPG hit causing 1 light wound. The second HUMVEE swung wide and took cover behind a building. From then on the American forces slowly caused casualties to the insurgents with the second team flanking around the enemy on foot. The Iraqi army unit was badly mauled in the action and the USMC took 1 KIA before chasing the insurgents off the board taking a few POW's in the process.  

We also managed to play a small game of Infinity which was very quick with me losing. We played at 100 pts with my PanO troops taking on Eric's  Araidna. This was still a learning game and I learned that when the other player has a lot more units on the board I have to be very careful with the few, if powerful, units I have. The game was very fun though and we will play this again soon.

Finally Tristan and I played a 800pt game of Flames of War pitting an American Infantry Co. against a German Armoured Panzergrenadier Co. I took pictures during the battle so take a look below to follow the battle. Tristan wants to give this another go soon as well. I found the 3rd edition to be clearly written, easy to look things up during the game and fast to play, so I give this edition a thumbs up.

Hal-con 2012

The games room, Sunday morning, just starting.

From the other corner.

My demo games setup, Malifaux and Infinity. Dust Warfare came out later.

The Empire was well represented.

Zombicide, my character(red)about to be pulled down by a dozen zombie's, no wait one of the other players throws in a molotov cocktail and kills them...and me.

The empty square where I was, many more zombies on the way. The player that killed me was killed very shortly!

Flames of War

Initial deployment. Germans at the top. Panzergrenadiers on both flanks with StuG's in the middle. American infantry spread out along their deployment zone at the bottom with Shermans on 1 flank and a mortar platoon and HMG platoon on the other. The 2 beige stands are the American objectives while the 2 turretless panthers are the German objectives. 

German turn 1. The StuG's have taken up position in the crops, 1 panzergrenadier platoon moved into the town while the other is flanking behind the hill to advance on the objective.

American turn 1. Mortars try to lay down fire(miss), infantry advances on the town while the Sherman's advance on their objective taking out a StuG on the way. HMG's take up position on the hill.

End of turn 2. StuG's and Sherman's trade ineffectual fire. German's consolidate in the town inflicting casualties on the exposed American infantry. Out of the picture, on the hill, the American HMG's are overrun by an assault.

A view as the Americans approach the town.

End game The Shermans are halted by StuG fire. The Germans hold the town as the 2nd panzergrenadier platoon completes it's sweep onto the objective.

Force on Force

The set up. The USMC supported by an Iraqi patrol prepared to enter the board. Insurgents hidden in the compound and 2 areas of bush, one near the road where the USMC/Iraqi will enter and the other group further down the road near the hill.

Looking up the road. Insurgents hidden on the left and directly ahead.

The Iraqi's are pinned down under fire, 1st HUMVEE taken out with crew dismounted. The 2nd HUMVEE is behind the building with it's crew occupying the building. The first group of insurgents by the road have been taken care of.

The 2nd group of insurgents(top right in the bush) suffer from USMC fire.

The USMC team in the building(far back) advanced along the hill and took the building while the other team moved to the white truck and pinned the insurgents to cover their advance. A sand storm had blown up to help cover the movement.

 Infinity

The board set up. PanO on the bottom, Ariadna on the top.

A street view from the Ariadna side. One of my fallen troops in the background.

That's all or now folks,