It has been the worst day of a rough week in a month of rough weeks. A day of sleeplessness, physical pain, ridiculous stress, and getting home with realization that work may have been the easiest part of the day.
And then something strange happened.
Earlier this summer, I mentioned having problems with an order from QRF. I contacted QRF, and they said that they would fix the problems. And I waited a bit, and nothing happened. And I got impatient, as I sometimes do. And a little more time passed. And then I got home from work today, and there was an unexpected package in the mail.
As I opened the package, rays of sunshine burst forth, slicing through the gloom, and I'm sure that I heard angel's sing (either that or my neighbor's stereo was too high again), and inside were all sorts of 15mm modern goodness. They fixed the problems and much more.
Seriously, QRF went above and beyond, correcting the error and making things well beyond right. My thanks to QRF, Chas, Geoff, and to anyone there that I am missing. Absolutely first class. It couldn't have come at a better time. Again, thank you very, very much.
And, the newly re-molded Saracen is really nice. Crisp, clean, and regal in all its Cold War glory (for those who might be considering them).
Friday, September 25, 2015
Saturday, September 19, 2015
I'm Not A Real Wargamer
I recently read a thread on a miniature wargaming site, where several posts were dismissive and insulting of gamers with gaming preferences different from that of the poster. The posts reminded me of the a moment in 1982, at my first gaming convention, when one of the figureheads from a large gaming club/group told me that I wasn't a real wargamer, because I gamed WWII. He said" Real wargamers don't play games with tanks." I ran into this recurring theme several times in the 1980s.
This lead me to reflecting back over the last 33 years, of all of the things that I've been told that "Real Wargamers" don't do. In thinking about this, it struck me as curious that the term "Real Wargamer" or "Real Wargames" was used in so many of these instances. I've never had any particular attachment to the idea of being a "real wargamer" or any other sort of label related to the hobby. Apparently, over the years I've gotten it plenty wrong. And just to help make sure all of you don't get it (real wargaming) wrong, I thought that I'd share these with you:
On scales:
Real wargamers don't game with 6mm figs. (as I was running a micro-armor game at a convention)
Real wargamers don't game with 15mm figs.
Real wargamers game with 20mm figs.
Real wargamers game with 25mm figs. (while running a 20mm Cold War game at a convention)
Real wargames use a ground scale that is different from the figure scale.
Real wargames use 54mm figs.
One basing:
Real wargamers always put multiple figures on a base (or stand).
Real wargamers never base figures individually.
On the scope of games:
Skirmish games don't really matter, because they aren't real wargames. (while running a skirmish game at a con.)
Real wargamers always want to command divisions.
On Terrain:
Real wargamers don't need terrain, it just gets in the way of the battle. (during a WRG ancients tournament)
Real wargamers game on a colored sheet. (offered in contrast to my 3D modular foam terrain)
Real wargamers game on a wargaming mat.
Real wargamers use terrain to indicate an area of affect, not as individual terrain features. (while running a skirmish game with wysiwyg terrain at a convention)
On Tournaments:
Real wargamers only play in tournaments.
Real wargamers never play in tournaments.
On Numbers of figures/stand/elements:
Real wargamers never game with more 30-40 stands.
Real wargames never have less than a thousand figures.
On periods and genres:
Real wargamers don't game WWII. (as I was running a micro-armor game at a convention)
Real wargamers don't game Vietnam.
Real wargamers don't game the Cold War.
Real wargamers never play games with tanks.
Real wargamers don't do role playing.
Real wargamers don't game fantasy.
Real wargamers don't game science fiction.
Real wargamers don't game Star Trek. (while playing a SFB tournament with miniatures, at a con.)
Dogfighting is not wargaming.
Middle Earth is not wargaming.
Real wargamers don't play adventure games.
The American Civil War isn't a real wargaming.
Colonials aren't real wargaming.
On painting:
Real Wargamers only game with painted figures.
The most important thing in wargaming is quality of the painting.
Real wargamers only paint their own figures.
On dice:
Real wargames use six sided dice.
Real wargames don't use d10s.
And other things:
Real wargamers paint there own flags.
Real wargamers are only concerned with winning.
Real wargamers don't use points.
Real wargamers always use army lists (in this case, he was referring to lists with points)
A real wargame should only last a few turns.
A real wargame should last all day.
Real wargames are only about history.
Wargaming is serious business, there shouldn't be laughing at the game table. (to which I broke up laughing and walked away).
And at a Baordgame convention, I was set straight:
Miniatures aren't real wargaming, real wargames are boardgames.
I'm sure I missed a few, but there you have it. So, get it right people. And whatever you do, have fun.
This lead me to reflecting back over the last 33 years, of all of the things that I've been told that "Real Wargamers" don't do. In thinking about this, it struck me as curious that the term "Real Wargamer" or "Real Wargames" was used in so many of these instances. I've never had any particular attachment to the idea of being a "real wargamer" or any other sort of label related to the hobby. Apparently, over the years I've gotten it plenty wrong. And just to help make sure all of you don't get it (real wargaming) wrong, I thought that I'd share these with you:
On scales:
Real wargamers don't game with 6mm figs. (as I was running a micro-armor game at a convention)
Real wargamers don't game with 15mm figs.
Real wargamers game with 20mm figs.
Real wargamers game with 25mm figs. (while running a 20mm Cold War game at a convention)
Real wargames use a ground scale that is different from the figure scale.
Real wargames use 54mm figs.
One basing:
Real wargamers always put multiple figures on a base (or stand).
Real wargamers never base figures individually.
On the scope of games:
Skirmish games don't really matter, because they aren't real wargames. (while running a skirmish game at a con.)
Real wargamers always want to command divisions.
On Terrain:
Real wargamers don't need terrain, it just gets in the way of the battle. (during a WRG ancients tournament)
Real wargamers game on a colored sheet. (offered in contrast to my 3D modular foam terrain)
Real wargamers game on a wargaming mat.
Real wargamers use terrain to indicate an area of affect, not as individual terrain features. (while running a skirmish game with wysiwyg terrain at a convention)
On Tournaments:
Real wargamers only play in tournaments.
Real wargamers never play in tournaments.
On Numbers of figures/stand/elements:
Real wargamers never game with more 30-40 stands.
Real wargames never have less than a thousand figures.
On periods and genres:
Real wargamers don't game WWII. (as I was running a micro-armor game at a convention)
Real wargamers don't game Vietnam.
Real wargamers don't game the Cold War.
Real wargamers never play games with tanks.
Real wargamers don't do role playing.
Real wargamers don't game fantasy.
Real wargamers don't game science fiction.
Real wargamers don't game Star Trek. (while playing a SFB tournament with miniatures, at a con.)
Dogfighting is not wargaming.
Middle Earth is not wargaming.
Real wargamers don't play adventure games.
The American Civil War isn't a real wargaming.
Colonials aren't real wargaming.
On painting:
Real Wargamers only game with painted figures.
The most important thing in wargaming is quality of the painting.
Real wargamers only paint their own figures.
On dice:
Real wargames use six sided dice.
Real wargames don't use d10s.
And other things:
Real wargamers paint there own flags.
Real wargamers are only concerned with winning.
Real wargamers don't use points.
Real wargamers always use army lists (in this case, he was referring to lists with points)
A real wargame should only last a few turns.
A real wargame should last all day.
Real wargames are only about history.
Wargaming is serious business, there shouldn't be laughing at the game table. (to which I broke up laughing and walked away).
And at a Baordgame convention, I was set straight:
Miniatures aren't real wargaming, real wargames are boardgames.
I'm sure I missed a few, but there you have it. So, get it right people. And whatever you do, have fun.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Cleaning My Shelves, Books for Sale
Partially as a result of my last post, and as a result of an uninsured driver totaling my parked car a couple of weekends back, I am selling a bunch of stuff, including some books.
The current batch consists of history, military history, archeology, myth and legend, covering mostly American Civil War, medieval, Arthurian, Roman Britain, Rome, and pre-Roman Britain and Celtic history and legend. There are a few other things in there as well.
I've created a website listing the books that I have for sale here:
https://sites.google.com/site/irishserbsbooksforsale/
Sorry for this being nothing but an advertisement, but like my car, I'm in a bit of a crunch.
I will update it a couple of times per day, or as needed otherwise, and will be adding more over the next couple of weeks (probably on Saturdays) with any luck.
Thanks for looking.
The current batch consists of history, military history, archeology, myth and legend, covering mostly American Civil War, medieval, Arthurian, Roman Britain, Rome, and pre-Roman Britain and Celtic history and legend. There are a few other things in there as well.
I've created a website listing the books that I have for sale here:
https://sites.google.com/site/irishserbsbooksforsale/
Sorry for this being nothing but an advertisement, but like my car, I'm in a bit of a crunch.
I will update it a couple of times per day, or as needed otherwise, and will be adding more over the next couple of weeks (probably on Saturdays) with any luck.
Thanks for looking.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Books Mr. Rico, Thousands of Them...
As I sit here this morning, pondering which incomplete project I should make little progress on, the thought occurred to me that I should straighten up the book room. It is the "book room", as "library" is much too elegant a term for it, and it is a mess.
Books everywhere, on the shelves, stacked on the table, the floor, the computer desk. etc. And all sorts of "gamer" clutter; a stack of un-played board games, old maps, historical photos, post cards, even a few old cigarette cards, and other bits of paper that captured my interest for one reason or another. There are other things too. A rack of Mustangs and Messerschmitts airplane models that haven't seen a game in 15 years, a M1 helmet, a Martini-Henry bayonet, a Soviet Panama hat, an assortment of other bits of militaria, Sir Stuart the Silver Knight, a couple of antique coins from Ceylon, and all sorts of important gamer junk. But mostly, there are books.
As I look around me, I realize that I still have upwards of 1500 books in this room. A few hundred of their companions have migrated throughout the house. There are other books throughout the house also, but they are not like these books, for these are my hobby books. There were many more, but since 2006, I've managed to reduce their number by at least half.
Many are what one might expect of a miniatures or historical gamer, traditional histories, specialized painting guides and cyclopedias of equipment. Some are recent publications, others nearly contemporary with the exploits of Napoleon. But many are seemingly unrelated to the hobby; "The Pioneers: The Early British Tea & Coffee Planters..." a history of the tea and coffee trade in India, or "Cycads of the World" by Jones, or "The Secret Collection of Mankind", a collection of photos of native peoples of earth captioned with an amazing cultural bias, dating from probably the 1890s to the 1920s.
Many of the books were bought as references or inspiration for projects seemingly unrelated to the subject of the text. Guadalupi's "The Discovery of the Nile" was purchased as inspiration for fantasy terrain, "The Lost Cities of the Mayas" translated to a ruined & unexplored science-fiction world. The Cycad book helped with the jungles of Vietnam, south pacific islands and various alien worlds.
Possibly the most important single miniatures gaming book that I ever purchased was "The People from the Horizon" by Snow & Waine, a history of the relationship between Europeans and South Sea Islanders. When crossed with the idea initially presented by the movie "Nate & Hayes" and Frank Clune's "Captain Bully Hayes" (which addresses far more than just the exploits of Bully Hayes) provided a huge portion of the background for my Ponape games, 28mm Victorian era piracy and adventure in the South Pacific.
The traditional hobby related texts are indispensable, even with the rise of the internet, the level of detail about armies, battlefields, equipment, and tactics can't be equaled. But in my case, I find that many of these non-traditional hobby sources are equally important. These "non-hobby" books make up roughly a third (easily 600) of my current hobby book collection. Most of these books come at very little cost, and most are readily available. A few are harder to get, but none are particularly rare.
Though not my first history or military book, the first of my hobby book collection, Fighting Vehicles, by Ellis & Chamberlain, received in late fall of the 1973 still sets on my shelves (yes, I have always been, and shall always be a treadhead). As I scan the shelves, I see many titles that are now outdated, redundant, or rendered unnecessary by the internet.
As I view this imposing hoard, probably the most surprising consideration is that I have one book for every six miniatures that I own. I would expect that ratio to be more like 50 to 1 or maybe even 25 to 1.
Oh well, better quit wasting time and get to work. Besides, I need to make room on the shelves, may wife wants to stop by Half Price Books later today...
Books everywhere, on the shelves, stacked on the table, the floor, the computer desk. etc. And all sorts of "gamer" clutter; a stack of un-played board games, old maps, historical photos, post cards, even a few old cigarette cards, and other bits of paper that captured my interest for one reason or another. There are other things too. A rack of Mustangs and Messerschmitts airplane models that haven't seen a game in 15 years, a M1 helmet, a Martini-Henry bayonet, a Soviet Panama hat, an assortment of other bits of militaria, Sir Stuart the Silver Knight, a couple of antique coins from Ceylon, and all sorts of important gamer junk. But mostly, there are books.
As I look around me, I realize that I still have upwards of 1500 books in this room. A few hundred of their companions have migrated throughout the house. There are other books throughout the house also, but they are not like these books, for these are my hobby books. There were many more, but since 2006, I've managed to reduce their number by at least half.
Many are what one might expect of a miniatures or historical gamer, traditional histories, specialized painting guides and cyclopedias of equipment. Some are recent publications, others nearly contemporary with the exploits of Napoleon. But many are seemingly unrelated to the hobby; "The Pioneers: The Early British Tea & Coffee Planters..." a history of the tea and coffee trade in India, or "Cycads of the World" by Jones, or "The Secret Collection of Mankind", a collection of photos of native peoples of earth captioned with an amazing cultural bias, dating from probably the 1890s to the 1920s.
Many of the books were bought as references or inspiration for projects seemingly unrelated to the subject of the text. Guadalupi's "The Discovery of the Nile" was purchased as inspiration for fantasy terrain, "The Lost Cities of the Mayas" translated to a ruined & unexplored science-fiction world. The Cycad book helped with the jungles of Vietnam, south pacific islands and various alien worlds.
Possibly the most important single miniatures gaming book that I ever purchased was "The People from the Horizon" by Snow & Waine, a history of the relationship between Europeans and South Sea Islanders. When crossed with the idea initially presented by the movie "Nate & Hayes" and Frank Clune's "Captain Bully Hayes" (which addresses far more than just the exploits of Bully Hayes) provided a huge portion of the background for my Ponape games, 28mm Victorian era piracy and adventure in the South Pacific.
The traditional hobby related texts are indispensable, even with the rise of the internet, the level of detail about armies, battlefields, equipment, and tactics can't be equaled. But in my case, I find that many of these non-traditional hobby sources are equally important. These "non-hobby" books make up roughly a third (easily 600) of my current hobby book collection. Most of these books come at very little cost, and most are readily available. A few are harder to get, but none are particularly rare.
Though not my first history or military book, the first of my hobby book collection, Fighting Vehicles, by Ellis & Chamberlain, received in late fall of the 1973 still sets on my shelves (yes, I have always been, and shall always be a treadhead). As I scan the shelves, I see many titles that are now outdated, redundant, or rendered unnecessary by the internet.
As I view this imposing hoard, probably the most surprising consideration is that I have one book for every six miniatures that I own. I would expect that ratio to be more like 50 to 1 or maybe even 25 to 1.
Oh well, better quit wasting time and get to work. Besides, I need to make room on the shelves, may wife wants to stop by Half Price Books later today...
Saturday, August 1, 2015
AAR17: On the Cusp... (A battle of the Uwanda-Mugabia War)
As Uwanda's second attack on objective B-15 began, Mugabian reinforcements started their advance to B-15 as well. The reinforcements quickly got word that the attack had begun, and that they could not possibly get there in time to help.
Later, the reinforcements did link up with the Mugabian forces retreating from B-15, and a decision was made to establish a line of defense just south of B-14. The combined force had a little time to dig in, and did so with Col. Chumah in command.
The Uwandan forces stopped long enough at B-15 to re-group and reload, before advancing to objective B-14. Without sufficient reconnaissance or air cover, the advance was a little more cautious than it might otherwise have been. This served the Mugabian forces, allowing time to prepare for the defence of B-14.
As soon as Col. Chumah saw the reinforcements, he bagan to consider how best to stop the Uwandan advance. Though somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt a brief sense of relief, he hated himself for it, and re-focused on his mission even more so.
Somewhat surprisingly, central command placed the delaying force under the command of the Col. Chumah. Apparently his success in the first defense of B-15, outweighed his failure in the second.
Col. Chumah's combined forces consisted of 3x SU100, 3x T34/85, and 6x BTR152 with 46 troops. He chose a to defend along a tree line running perpendicular to the main road, and looking across the open ground of farm fields.
Uwandan forces were more numerous with 3x Ferrets, 7x Fireflies, 11x M3 halftrack, 6x Saracens, 2x Wombats in Landrovers, and a single M42 AA gun all supported by a battery of six M7 Priests.
The Uwandans advanced in column, up the road, with the Ferrets single file and some distance in the lead. Hopefully when the first shot came, the worst result would be the loss of a Ferret.
They call it, "Tip of the Spear", But Cpl. Zuberi called it, "First to die." As his Ferret clumsily advanced down the dirt track, violating almost everything he had been taught as a scout, Zuberi only hoped that the first Mugabian to shoot, was as short sighted as his commander's orders.
As the lead Ferret clear another clump of forest, and entered into an open area of road, straddled by farm fields, the report of a 100mm gun was heard.
Cpl. Zuberi thought dying would be more painful, then realized that the giant hammer blow didn't kill him. As he and his gunner both managed to escape the smashed armored car, he immediately began looking for his would-be killer.
The other Ferrets slowly advanced in cover, one soon destroyed by the SU100 on the rise to the Uwandan right, but not within sight of the other scouts. The Uwandan commander carefully advanced dismounted infantry and advanced on the Uwandan right, hoping to make contact.
Advancing ever so slowly, the infantry finally found their Mugabian counterparts, and after a few rounds from the Priests, both the Mugabian infantry and the previously unseen SU100 withdrew. The Uwandan infantry platoon continued to advance, exchanging fire with Mugabians, and finally killed the SU100 with a LAW rocket. Despite repeated calls, the fire from the Priests stopped. Nobody knew why.
A second infantry platoon advanced with the first, and slowly, the Mugabian left began to be rolled up. The Mugabians shifted some of their armor to better support their left, and at about that time the Uwandan commander, feeling pretty good about how the advance was progressing, ordered a general advance of his other infantry and armor across the fields.
Mugabian infantry on the left began withdrawing from their positions, as Uwandan infantry began entering the Mugabian tree line, supported by M3s and their .50cal HMGs. Uwandan infantry took cover in the bushes separating the fields, and Fireflies looked for targets in the tree-line.
The Fireflies found targets, but couldn't hit them. Their targets had more luck, and in a very brief time, four Fireflies, and three more M3 halftracks were destroyed for the cost of a single T34. At the same time, the advancing Uwandan infantry in the Mugabian tree line were blind-sided by a captured Saracen, resulting in the temporary halt of the Uwandan success.
At about this time, Col Chumah was hit by fire from the Uwandan infantry in the fields. One of his command team panicked, and ordered a general withdraw. The fighting ended with Uwandan M3s destroying the captured Saracen, while all of the other Mugabian forces withdrew from the action.
Wounded, captured, his forces withdrawing, it would be some time, before Col. Chumah would discover that he was a recognized as a hero for his victory south the village at B-14. He was angry with himself for the slight sense of relief he felt at the sight of the Uwanadan medic.
Suddenly, the Uwandan commander was left with the treeline, no enemy, and insufficient resources with which to continue the advance. A battle won and lost in the same moment.
______
This was a bizarre game. The Uwandan dismounted infantry advance was painfully slow. Then, once they made contact, an intense infantry battle took place for dozens of turns.
For the longest time, it appeared that the Uwandans had wrapped up the battle, Mugabians had lost a lot of troops, they were withdrawing, etc. Then in a couple of turns, the Uwandans took a bunch of casualties to their armor and APCs, and the Mugabians just disappeared. The End. Oh yeah, and the Priests just vanished, a third of the way into the game.
Losses were also weird (I'll get to that in a minute), and were as follows:
Uwanda
1x Ferret (1 more tracked)
4x Firefly (2 more tracked)
5x M3 halftrack (2 more tracked)
Mugabia
1x T34/85
1x BTR152 (captured by Uwanda)
1x Saracen (previously captured by Mugabia)
And the weird part:
Uwanda
7x KIA
16WIA
Mugabia
3x KIA
13 WIA all taken prisoner by Uwanda
I'm pretty sure that I rolled over a thousand small-arms rolls (this game lasted over 130 turns), and there were only 10 infantry killed (and three of those were from cannon fire).
Combined with their previous losses at B-15, Uwanda's equipment losses were too great, and their offensive has stalled. By the time they could get to B-14 proper, the entire Muagbian army could be there. The Uwandans will withdraw back to objective B-15. I'll have to hit up the "fate tables" to see what happens next.
Oh, and the deal on the Priests will be explained in AA18, coming up shortly.
Later, the reinforcements did link up with the Mugabian forces retreating from B-15, and a decision was made to establish a line of defense just south of B-14. The combined force had a little time to dig in, and did so with Col. Chumah in command.
Objective B-14 is in the lower portion of the map, right of center.
The Uwandan forces stopped long enough at B-15 to re-group and reload, before advancing to objective B-14. Without sufficient reconnaissance or air cover, the advance was a little more cautious than it might otherwise have been. This served the Mugabian forces, allowing time to prepare for the defence of B-14.
As soon as Col. Chumah saw the reinforcements, he bagan to consider how best to stop the Uwandan advance. Though somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt a brief sense of relief, he hated himself for it, and re-focused on his mission even more so.
Somewhat surprisingly, central command placed the delaying force under the command of the Col. Chumah. Apparently his success in the first defense of B-15, outweighed his failure in the second.
Col. Chumah's combined forces consisted of 3x SU100, 3x T34/85, and 6x BTR152 with 46 troops. He chose a to defend along a tree line running perpendicular to the main road, and looking across the open ground of farm fields.
The Mugabian view looking south.
Uwandan forces were more numerous with 3x Ferrets, 7x Fireflies, 11x M3 halftrack, 6x Saracens, 2x Wombats in Landrovers, and a single M42 AA gun all supported by a battery of six M7 Priests.
Uwanda's view looking north.
The Uwandans advanced in column, up the road, with the Ferrets single file and some distance in the lead. Hopefully when the first shot came, the worst result would be the loss of a Ferret.
They call it, "Tip of the Spear", But Cpl. Zuberi called it, "First to die." As his Ferret clumsily advanced down the dirt track, violating almost everything he had been taught as a scout, Zuberi only hoped that the first Mugabian to shoot, was as short sighted as his commander's orders.
Uwanan Ferrets advance.
As the lead Ferret clear another clump of forest, and entered into an open area of road, straddled by farm fields, the report of a 100mm gun was heard.
The SU100's view looking southwest. Cpl. Zuberi's Ferret is in the distance
near the puff of smoke in the upper right of the photo.
Cpl. Zuberi thought dying would be more painful, then realized that the giant hammer blow didn't kill him. As he and his gunner both managed to escape the smashed armored car, he immediately began looking for his would-be killer.
The other Ferrets slowly advanced in cover, one soon destroyed by the SU100 on the rise to the Uwandan right, but not within sight of the other scouts. The Uwandan commander carefully advanced dismounted infantry and advanced on the Uwandan right, hoping to make contact.
Uwanda infantry advanced over the rise opposite the SU100.
Advancing ever so slowly, the infantry finally found their Mugabian counterparts, and after a few rounds from the Priests, both the Mugabian infantry and the previously unseen SU100 withdrew. The Uwandan infantry platoon continued to advance, exchanging fire with Mugabians, and finally killed the SU100 with a LAW rocket. Despite repeated calls, the fire from the Priests stopped. Nobody knew why.
Uwanda infantry advance down the rise, after destroying the SU100.
A second infantry platoon advanced with the first, and slowly, the Mugabian left began to be rolled up. The Mugabians shifted some of their armor to better support their left, and at about that time the Uwandan commander, feeling pretty good about how the advance was progressing, ordered a general advance of his other infantry and armor across the fields.
Looking south at the advancing Uwanan forces. The rise, where heavy infantry
action was centered, is at the left, almost out of the photo.
Looking southeast, Uwandan forces advance across the fields.
The Fireflies found targets, but couldn't hit them. Their targets had more luck, and in a very brief time, four Fireflies, and three more M3 halftracks were destroyed for the cost of a single T34. At the same time, the advancing Uwandan infantry in the Mugabian tree line were blind-sided by a captured Saracen, resulting in the temporary halt of the Uwandan success.
The situation suddenly changes.
At about this time, Col Chumah was hit by fire from the Uwandan infantry in the fields. One of his command team panicked, and ordered a general withdraw. The fighting ended with Uwandan M3s destroying the captured Saracen, while all of the other Mugabian forces withdrew from the action.
Wounded, captured, his forces withdrawing, it would be some time, before Col. Chumah would discover that he was a recognized as a hero for his victory south the village at B-14. He was angry with himself for the slight sense of relief he felt at the sight of the Uwanadan medic.
Another view of the Uwandan losses at the time of the Mugabian withdraw.
Suddenly, the Uwandan commander was left with the treeline, no enemy, and insufficient resources with which to continue the advance. A battle won and lost in the same moment.
______
This was a bizarre game. The Uwandan dismounted infantry advance was painfully slow. Then, once they made contact, an intense infantry battle took place for dozens of turns.
For the longest time, it appeared that the Uwandans had wrapped up the battle, Mugabians had lost a lot of troops, they were withdrawing, etc. Then in a couple of turns, the Uwandans took a bunch of casualties to their armor and APCs, and the Mugabians just disappeared. The End. Oh yeah, and the Priests just vanished, a third of the way into the game.
Losses were also weird (I'll get to that in a minute), and were as follows:
Uwanda
1x Ferret (1 more tracked)
4x Firefly (2 more tracked)
5x M3 halftrack (2 more tracked)
Mugabia
1x T34/85
1x BTR152 (captured by Uwanda)
1x Saracen (previously captured by Mugabia)
And the weird part:
Uwanda
7x KIA
16WIA
Mugabia
3x KIA
13 WIA all taken prisoner by Uwanda
I'm pretty sure that I rolled over a thousand small-arms rolls (this game lasted over 130 turns), and there were only 10 infantry killed (and three of those were from cannon fire).
Combined with their previous losses at B-15, Uwanda's equipment losses were too great, and their offensive has stalled. By the time they could get to B-14 proper, the entire Muagbian army could be there. The Uwandans will withdraw back to objective B-15. I'll have to hit up the "fate tables" to see what happens next.
Oh, and the deal on the Priests will be explained in AA18, coming up shortly.
Monday, July 20, 2015
1/100, 15mm Models from Armaments In Miniature
I recently placed my first order with Armaments In Miniature for a couple of 1/100 scale planes for use with my African imagi-nations. Let say that I am very happy with my order, and will definitely be ordering from them again.
I received a 1/100 scale T-28 Trojan and Dassault Ouragan. The models are exceptionally well detailed and finely cast, as are the separate munitions that come with them. I haven't painted them yet, but wanted to share my experience and excitement regarding my order. Here are a few pix:
The T-28...
And the Ouragan...
Armaments In Miniature has a wonderful selection of WWII aircraft in 1/100 and 1/200, a smaller section of post war and modern aircraft in 1/100, 1/300 transports and bombers, 1/144 WWI balloons, vehicles, landing craft, decals airplane stands and gaming accessories. The castings are beautiful and the price is very reasonable. Armaments In Miniature can be reached at:
http://www.armamentsinminiature.com/
I received a 1/100 scale T-28 Trojan and Dassault Ouragan. The models are exceptionally well detailed and finely cast, as are the separate munitions that come with them. I haven't painted them yet, but wanted to share my experience and excitement regarding my order. Here are a few pix:
The T-28...
And the Ouragan...
Armaments In Miniature has a wonderful selection of WWII aircraft in 1/100 and 1/200, a smaller section of post war and modern aircraft in 1/100, 1/300 transports and bombers, 1/144 WWI balloons, vehicles, landing craft, decals airplane stands and gaming accessories. The castings are beautiful and the price is very reasonable. Armaments In Miniature can be reached at:
http://www.armamentsinminiature.com/
Saturday, July 18, 2015
On the Work Bench (7-15)
My plans for playing my African campaign game have been put off for a week (going to play a game at a friend's house tomorrow instead). So I thought I'd babble briefly about things that I'm working on.
This year, I've been bouncing between sci-fi/post-apoc and African imagi-nation projects, and right now my work table is mostly covered with sci-fi and post-apoc stuff.
For Christmas, I got several Reaper figures, and despite being in the hobby for 30 plus years and having 15,000ish figs, these are my first Reaper figs. Below are the first two that I've opened to paint. At first, my thought was that the dude was too tall to work with my generally 28mm figs, but after posing them next to a couple older figs, while he is tall, I think it was just that he is lean and so well sculpted that it created the illusion that he wouldn't fit.
My wife isn't a gamer, so ordering figures is always a bit intimidating, but she said that Reaper was great to deal with, and that they shipped really fast at the peak of Xmas season, so I thought that I should share the good word, if a little late.
_______
Next up, I solved a minor problem for my old Imperial Guard vehicles. I hate sculpting/modeling/creating tires. Just kind of boring and tedious, so I have been putting off making the tires for my IG scout cars. While cleaning up, I found two old Humvee kits that were in the box for the last couple of decades, and decided that the wheels would work for the scout cars. They are just slightly smaller than what I was going to make, but I have the right number of them, and they will save be about four days of building, mold making, casting and cleaning, which translates into like two months of irishserb hobby time. Here's a pic of the wheels positioned next to one of the cars.
I think that they will work out well. I just need to build the suspensions now.
______
Years ago, I painted up a couple of Kryomek Talos figs. Originally, I saw them as an addition to my old IG figs, then painted them to be part of a sci-fi corporate army, and will probably end up just using them as alien critters of some sort. I liked the figs, but wasn't crazy about the weapons, so I did some simple conversion work on the weapons.
Anyway, a couple of years after painting the first two, I picked up a couple of more packs at a convention, but never did anything with them. I recently came across them after maybe 10 years on the shelf, and they have finally made it to my work table. I'll probably modify the weapons similarly, and then try to figure out which gang/faction/army/race they belong to. Ooh, have an idea, maybe they will fight for my old guard figs after all.
_______
This is a hover-bot that I made a gazillion years ago. It made it with the idea of using it as a security bot and maybe a sort of probe drone, but stopped working on it after becoming disenchanted with the base coat of paint.
I still like the concept, but it wasn't well executed at the time. I think I'm going to strip this down, update it and give it another try. If it turns out, maybe update the master parts a little, make new molds and give another it another go.
This year, I've been bouncing between sci-fi/post-apoc and African imagi-nation projects, and right now my work table is mostly covered with sci-fi and post-apoc stuff.
For Christmas, I got several Reaper figures, and despite being in the hobby for 30 plus years and having 15,000ish figs, these are my first Reaper figs. Below are the first two that I've opened to paint. At first, my thought was that the dude was too tall to work with my generally 28mm figs, but after posing them next to a couple older figs, while he is tall, I think it was just that he is lean and so well sculpted that it created the illusion that he wouldn't fit.
My wife isn't a gamer, so ordering figures is always a bit intimidating, but she said that Reaper was great to deal with, and that they shipped really fast at the peak of Xmas season, so I thought that I should share the good word, if a little late.
_______
Next up, I solved a minor problem for my old Imperial Guard vehicles. I hate sculpting/modeling/creating tires. Just kind of boring and tedious, so I have been putting off making the tires for my IG scout cars. While cleaning up, I found two old Humvee kits that were in the box for the last couple of decades, and decided that the wheels would work for the scout cars. They are just slightly smaller than what I was going to make, but I have the right number of them, and they will save be about four days of building, mold making, casting and cleaning, which translates into like two months of irishserb hobby time. Here's a pic of the wheels positioned next to one of the cars.
______
Years ago, I painted up a couple of Kryomek Talos figs. Originally, I saw them as an addition to my old IG figs, then painted them to be part of a sci-fi corporate army, and will probably end up just using them as alien critters of some sort. I liked the figs, but wasn't crazy about the weapons, so I did some simple conversion work on the weapons.
Anyway, a couple of years after painting the first two, I picked up a couple of more packs at a convention, but never did anything with them. I recently came across them after maybe 10 years on the shelf, and they have finally made it to my work table. I'll probably modify the weapons similarly, and then try to figure out which gang/faction/army/race they belong to. Ooh, have an idea, maybe they will fight for my old guard figs after all.
_______
This is a hover-bot that I made a gazillion years ago. It made it with the idea of using it as a security bot and maybe a sort of probe drone, but stopped working on it after becoming disenchanted with the base coat of paint.
I still like the concept, but it wasn't well executed at the time. I think I'm going to strip this down, update it and give it another try. If it turns out, maybe update the master parts a little, make new molds and give another it another go.
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