I had listened to an interview about the Skirmish Sangin game on the Meeples & Miniatures podcast and now I see they have a kickstarter for the Maalintii Rangers rules and figures dealing with Somalia.
The rules seem like they would be interesting (if maybe a bit high on the complexity scale for what I want at the moment) and the figures that they have in the kickstarter look pretty good. The figures on the website for the main game are still ok but maybe not really worth the 4 for 7 pounds plus shipping cost.
The big question for me is do I really want to go to 28mm for Moderns and I think the answer is a qualified no. I have enough 28mm terrain for generic industrial buildings now that terrain is no longer the all purpose excuse that it once was for me to go to 28mm but I think I still like the scope that 15mm allows. With the Cold War gone Hot stuff from Flames of War arriving in the not too distant future, I will likely be buying more 15mm for that and I think 15mm is the right scale for what I want to do for Vietnam (even if the progress towards that can best be described as glacial).
Force on Force / Ambush Alley is likely to remain my go to small scale modern game and as a unit based game, I think it works well at 15mm -- I remember having a discussion with Stan a few years ago about this and I still think 15mm is the best scale for the game, though I think it would work with 28mm as well.
I think I will give the kickstarter a miss but I will pick up the PDF of the basic rules and see what I think.
(Added September 27) Here is a link to a picture of a game played in 15mm (from the comments below), it looks fun.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Odds and Ends and Half-Finished projects
I managed to get in a few games in the past weeks. Last weekend I played in a Pike and Shotte Samurai game run by Mike (with his AAR here ). I like this game, the tweaks from Hail Ceasar seem appropriate for the period but it keeps the same basic system and uses the "useful rules" to apply some flavour.
Earlier that week I played some X-Wing with the guys that I usually play Imperial Assualt with. It is a fun game with a surprising amount of depth. I don't have any real urge to pick it up for myself since I don't think I would play it all that much (I did try to convince Meredith it might be fun since she is a big Star Wars fan but there was no interest). There also isn't much non-playing hobby aspect to the game and I spend more time doing that than playing at the moment.
Since Cangames I have been in a bit of a painting slump but I think I am starting to get out of it. Now I just need to finish some stuff before starting new stuff (which is not helped by spending this morning gluing a bunch of new stuff together).
My main focus at the moment are my 28mm Germans for Bolt Action (ultimately for my Ortona games but in the short term just to get enough that I can actually play). The half-tracks are nearly done and the basic infantry platoon is on the way.
This morning I assembled the support weapons and command which is all I am going to do before moving on to the British.
Speaking of which, I assembled the downed pilot and Mad Jack Churchill which were freebies with my latest Warlord purchase.
I put together the Khurusan order stuff which consisted of some modern vehicles (and M1A2, 2 M1114s and a HMMWV cargo carrier)
as well as Dirty Harry and Scorpio.
Since I knew that the glue I was using was going to likely seize up in a week or two anyway (it is "Hot Stuff" which is very good but tends to glue itself shut in fairly short order despite my best efforts) I also put together the Transylvanian force provided by Mike for By Sword and Flame. These are fairly nice figures but if you are designing a game where figures are based side by side, there is probably a limit as to how many riders firing their musket/matchlock/gun off the side you want to make.
As to other stuff I need to get finished, I have some NVA infantry that I airbrushed khaki and now need to finish up.
Some US self-propelled howitzers that need to be finished
a 28 mm Cromwell
and some Saga Camel troops
If I can get through the Germans without starting anything else, I think I will be happy!
Earlier that week I played some X-Wing with the guys that I usually play Imperial Assualt with. It is a fun game with a surprising amount of depth. I don't have any real urge to pick it up for myself since I don't think I would play it all that much (I did try to convince Meredith it might be fun since she is a big Star Wars fan but there was no interest). There also isn't much non-playing hobby aspect to the game and I spend more time doing that than playing at the moment.
Since Cangames I have been in a bit of a painting slump but I think I am starting to get out of it. Now I just need to finish some stuff before starting new stuff (which is not helped by spending this morning gluing a bunch of new stuff together).
My main focus at the moment are my 28mm Germans for Bolt Action (ultimately for my Ortona games but in the short term just to get enough that I can actually play). The half-tracks are nearly done and the basic infantry platoon is on the way.
This morning I assembled the support weapons and command which is all I am going to do before moving on to the British.
Speaking of which, I assembled the downed pilot and Mad Jack Churchill which were freebies with my latest Warlord purchase.
I put together the Khurusan order stuff which consisted of some modern vehicles (and M1A2, 2 M1114s and a HMMWV cargo carrier)
as well as Dirty Harry and Scorpio.
Since I knew that the glue I was using was going to likely seize up in a week or two anyway (it is "Hot Stuff" which is very good but tends to glue itself shut in fairly short order despite my best efforts) I also put together the Transylvanian force provided by Mike for By Sword and Flame. These are fairly nice figures but if you are designing a game where figures are based side by side, there is probably a limit as to how many riders firing their musket/matchlock/gun off the side you want to make.
As to other stuff I need to get finished, I have some NVA infantry that I airbrushed khaki and now need to finish up.
Some US self-propelled howitzers that need to be finished
a 28 mm Cromwell
and some Saga Camel troops
If I can get through the Germans without starting anything else, I think I will be happy!
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Firestorm Lorraine Day 3: Panther Party
On Sunday we had the final day of the the Firestorm Lorraine campaign. For this game I decided to go with what I had been waiting for all campaign, lots of Panthers (or at least, things with Panther guns).
My force was an FFH Panzer company consisting of 2 Panthers in the HQ, 2 platoons of 3 Panthers each, 1 platoon (Firestorm) of 3 Pz IV/70(V)'s and 1 platoon of infantry with assualt rifles and panzerfausts in halftracks. Like all the lists in the Blood Guts and Glory list they were rated fearless trained.
I was facing Raphael who had a British Rifle company with US firestorms (Tank and Infantry)
The table consisted of a village in the centre with a long hill on the right and several smaller hills on the left. Raphael but his objectives near the village and I put both mine on the long hill since it seemed to be the best place for the Panthers.
We played the mission that is like Free-for-All with reserves (either Encounter or Meeting Engagement, I can't remember the name). I put the PZ IV/70's and the infantry in reserve and placed the 2 Panther platoons on the hill with the 2 command Panthers holding the objective near the village. The British put a rifle company on each objective and had a 25 pder battery and a medium battery near the hill objective.
My first goal was to get rid of the medium battery as that was the only direct fire threat to the Panthers starting on the board. I managed to chase them with not too much bother but I managed to get bunched up and lost a Panther to a 25pder bombardment
The Panthers then moved on the 25 pder battery. Meanwhile the British infantry were sneaking up through the village (and I missed a few turns where I could have fired my panthers at them but forgot)
My PZIV/70s came on and I tried to use them to threaten the village objective but the Achilles arrived on the other side and managed to take one out.
After taking out the 25pders the Panthers turned to face the Achilles but sadly the Sherman firestorm arrived on the next turn.
By then the pressure on the town was increasing and the command Panther got involved in a sniping duel with a Firefly that resulted in the death of my company commander (the 2IC was still alive though)
The two Panther platoons got wiped out and things were not looking good for the Germans.
The Britsih double timed the Shermans up to the objective. I couldn't really drive them off and hold the village objective so I decided to go all out to try and kill platoons. I managed to get the PZ IV/70s in position but the Panther bogged crossing the woodline. The game ended in a 4-3 victory for the allies.
The campaign ended in a draw (and I think I won 2 and lost 3). The reluctant trained germans were interesting to play.
My force was an FFH Panzer company consisting of 2 Panthers in the HQ, 2 platoons of 3 Panthers each, 1 platoon (Firestorm) of 3 Pz IV/70(V)'s and 1 platoon of infantry with assualt rifles and panzerfausts in halftracks. Like all the lists in the Blood Guts and Glory list they were rated fearless trained.
I was facing Raphael who had a British Rifle company with US firestorms (Tank and Infantry)
We played the mission that is like Free-for-All with reserves (either Encounter or Meeting Engagement, I can't remember the name). I put the PZ IV/70's and the infantry in reserve and placed the 2 Panther platoons on the hill with the 2 command Panthers holding the objective near the village. The British put a rifle company on each objective and had a 25 pder battery and a medium battery near the hill objective.
The campaign ended in a draw (and I think I won 2 and lost 3). The reluctant trained germans were interesting to play.
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