Games at Chick's

This morning Chick had me over for games.  It's so nice to have a good friend who can play during the day.  We played Combat Commander, my second try at a DIY scenario.  Once again a lot of fun.

This time I had a company of Germans in the desert, 1941.  Chick had British guard, holding a ridge in the center of the board.  There was no other terrain!  Between the open objective and my secret objective there was no benefit to taking the ridge.   I set up my HMG's and mortars in  my right flank, and ran the rest of the company toward the far board edge.  Chick's initial position was mostly behind the ridge (very Wellington of him) so he couldn't respond to my first few moves.  Unfortunately my 10-2 leader stumbled into a mine field.  Before he could recover Chick's troops crested the ridge, took aim and killed him!

I ran another leader up.  He promptly got stuck in hidden wire, and killed.  It looked pretty bleak.  On the other hand my fire base was effectively clearing the ridge.   The leader commanding the firebase tried to run up and take command.  Maybe he could get a few squads off the far side of the board.

Nope.  But it was a really fun game that could have gone either way.

After lunch Chick taught me the Call of Cthulhu card game.  Good fun but I'll have to play a few more times to see if it's a game for me.

Next week - Fantasy Flight's War of the Ring - the deluxe edition!

Check Your Six

Friday Robert ran a game of Check Your Six.  I was one of four Germans, taking on the US Airforce.  Despite my complete failure to grasp aerial combat tactics, I managed to line up a couple of great shots.  And miss them all.  This was by far the least bloody Cy6 game I've ever seen.  A few planes fled the field after being damaged, many others ran out of ammo and returned to base.  Only one plane was shot down.

Naturally, that was my plane!

Combat Commander

Chick invited me over this morning to see his figures and play a game.  We played Combat Commander using the random scenario generation system.  It was 1941, I was on the attack with the British.  Chick played Italian Black Shirts.   Victory hung in the balance for most of the game.  Near the end I got lucky when one squad and a leader held off two massive assaults.   I was then able to move forward on the opposite flank and capture a pair of objectives.  A very enjoyable game.  This was my first game using the random scenario system.  It worked very well, I'd like to try it again.  In fact I'd like to try this scenario again, using a different attacking force.  The British have a major advantage in their ability to fire smoke from their light mortars.  This let me avoid most of the Italian machine gun fire.  I wonder how the Americans or Russians would have done.   By the way, thanks Chick for the tip on using smoke (I'd never played the Brits before and hadn't noticed their miraculous smoke laying ability).

I hope we play again soon.

The Dirt brothers are at it again.

Last Friday Doug ran us through two quick games of The Rules With No Name.   In the first game the dastardly Moe (pronounced Mo-A, he's Spanish) put down Rufus Dirt, becoming a "shootist".

In game two, Shamus and Thackery Dirt returned for vengeance.   Thackery brought a rifle. Moe ended up unconcious, and naked.  And probably very very angry.

Here we see Thackery Dirt taking aim at a giant wine bottle.

Looking for a Project

I've got a lot of figures.  A lot of Figures.  But I still want to paint.

Sometimes I've painted just for the heck of it.  But ultimately that's not proven very satisfying to me.  I need to find a project to work on with another person or group.  Something to keep me motivated, and to help ensure that I get to play with the figures when they are done.

So, anyone need help with a project?  Want to join me in starting something new?  

Let me know.

Painting - Teddy Bears

Wanting to paint, but lacking a real project, I've started in on colonial Teddy Bears.   Yes, Animal men.  I could say they were for my kids, but really, they could care less.  Ganesha Games publishes Song of Blades and Heros, a simple skirmish engine they have used for a variety of settings.  Song of Fur and Buttons is their campaign following the efforts of Teddy Bears to secure honey fields in a strange and savage land.  They meet dinosaurs, warrior frogs, Zulu Bears, Pirate Bears, Cow Bears, and uh Turtles.  Sadly I've got most of those figures.

So there's the first batch.  My first figures of 2011.

The best part - painting outdoors.  In January!

First Game of the Year

I'm hoping to play a lot of games this year.  My first game of 2011 is an AWI battle using Black Powder.  The scenario is based on the First Saratoga scenario from the rule book.

This was my first time running a game for the Bengal Club, and only my second time playing Black Powder.  The game played well, though in my excitement I put a few too many units on the table.  In future games we may make some changes so that units are a bit more fragile.  In this game only two or three units actually fled the field.

Here's a view of the table right after the first shots are fired.  The British are on the right.  

The lines clash.  In the foreground British Grenadiers hit a Continental unit.  The british have a supporting unit in the rear, and on their left flank.  Somehow the colonists one (they made all five saving rolls!).  Note the yellow plastic chicken on the Brits.  That means that they have used their "Steady" special ability which lets them pass their first break test with the best possible result.  Further break tests for that unit will be rolled as normal, and could cause them to pull back, or even leave the field.

The American left flank was held by a reluctant militia unit.  They were flanked by bloodthirsty Indians sneaking through the underbrush, and British lights who took up a position behind a fence line.   Needless to say, the result wasn't pretty.

To make matters worse, Jagers joined the fray.

We called the game shortly after this.  The Americans were in a tough place, but had badly bloodied the Red Coats.  That's about what happened in real life.  Burgoyne's army was destroyed as a fighting force and soon surrendered.   

Hello and Welcome

Is this thing on?

2010 was the year of the great move.  My family left our farm in Virginia, and put down roots in lovely Pasadena California.

Now that I'm settled in my new home I want to record some of my adventures in geekery.  The focus will be on gaming, programming, electronics, and of course weird stuff.

Speaking of which, here's a picture of L in front of a mysterious storefront in downtown LA.  It's great to be in a city.