Commission Mission Success!

       This is just a post of another commission board I made for a recent client. I don't always get to see mats I made in use often. But when I do, I am happy to see how other gamers' visions turn out. I was informed when I was making this one that it was going to be used for ACW or Napoleanics. This seems to be a large portion of his ACW figures. I can't even imagine what his Napoleanics is like. I am guessing that it is pretty impressive. Either way, these were some feedback pictures that he sent us. And now, it is shared with you all. Enjoy!

Olustee Project: First Section of the Board.

      I decided to take a little detour from my infantry painting recently. I felt like that I could do more justice to my project if I committed to a color scheme for my board. This way it solidifies my list of terrain items I plan to get. I figure that I could order certain color items to base my troops as well as see how much I will go through. Thus, it helps keep the budget under control without blind ordering. Plus, I feel like the few painted soldiers needed to be on a normal tabletop. Board-wise, I have a long way to go. I have some plans that I may or my not share for later. It depends on how good things work out. Anyway, enjoy as usual!

AAR: Fire & Fury: Part Two of Viniard Field

     After two weeks, it was back to continue the fight at Viniard Field at our friend, Danny's house. It was the hopes that this time would not be followed up with ridiculously bad rolling for the Confederates played by yours truly and Eddie. However, Eddie was not able to make it, so my wife, Kalissa stepped in his stead. That brought some extra hope, since Kalissa rolls much better than most people. However, I believe the damage was already done.
      With Union reinforcements coming in around the same time as some of the Confederates, it really was not a tide turner for the Rebels. Two of the regiments where quickly repulsed. The original Rebel force was still dealing with stiff resistance from the first force. I found that I still could not touch them. By the time the Union troops decided to withdraw, they had lost a total of four stand of infantry versus the twelve stands. Only one charge went in for the Confederates, but it was repulsed.
      We decided to give up on the whole game, since there were no forces that were "Fresh" for the Confederates when 99% of the Union forces were. They also outnumbered us five to one by this point. The Confederates did have reinforcements, but they were going to show up right where the original attack started. Of course, this was after another full round of more Union reinforcements were to arrive. Tim was running them and even said that there was no reason to fight my wife's forces, since he lost nearly no one. He was just going to send the whole reinforcement strait to my side across the table. And rightly so! Our reinforcements show up two turns after his. The Confederates did not win this battle originally. However, we have been told that the first Union blocking force usually does not survive the whole game. I am always great at breaking scenarios!
   

Olustee Project: Trying To Get Somewhere.

      It seems that this project of mine in moving in slow motion in comparison to how I felt when it started. Since the first figure has taken paint, I had lost a project, took an unplanned trip to Florida, and we have lost our AC in the house. But in the good sense of things, I have painted 160 figures out of round one. That is two regiments each of ten stands. Of course, they are not completely finished, since I do not have any flags for our troops. I also decided not to finish with the basing until I truly commit to a color scheme for the board. After all, I plan to match everything for this convention game.
     The goal of this week is to finish painting two more regiments. That is about 80 men for play testing purposes. Apparently, this is a little fast, but I tend to be that way with miniatures if I can. Besides, I found that heat in the form of 95 degrees in the house tend to slow my painting down. I wanted to have a schedule of two regiments a week, and the main board finished. This means I would have had eight full regiments ready to go with  the remainder of them done in the middle of September. I have no worries, since I am only racing myself.

AAR: Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Take that, Darth!

      It took a while, but it had finally come to pass that Kalissa and I bought Star Wars: Imperial Assault. We played this game about a year or more ago. We just had other interests in our wargaming to start into a new system or game. However, Kalissa rather had some good luck and pretty much got it for free. Cheap games really help the push into a new game!
    What I like about this game was that you get cool figures that are pretty easy to paint. They will be painted! After the first game, I primed and painted Darth Vader. I am pretty sure the lack of paint gave away any of his advantages. There probably would have not been the situation above at hand, if he was painted. This game also got our friend, William on board with playing. William has played a few wargames, but none that really took his interest. However, he is a big Star Wars fan! There was an easy push into a game. And there are both, a skirmish game and a campaign. Originally, I thought there was only a campaign. That same weekend, we discovered that people play skirmish tournaments. There you go! Awesome!
      Between William, Kalissa, and I we played three games. The pictures show the skirmish game between William and I. The first game was just a tutorial game. The last was the first game of a campaign that William and I set out to play. My wife ran the Imperials to the point of making the Darkside live up to its name. She played them so evil that we don't even have pictures of that game. Darth Vader was also painted by this point. She found a way to bring him on in the first mission. Needless to say, the Rebels did not win the first campaign game. I am sure this might become a theme. If you have not tried out this game, give it a spin. It is well worth it.

AAR: Fire And Fury: Viniard Field

     It has been a minute since a good posting. That is at least for this month. Despite playing several games, I was interrupted with an emergency trip to Florida. Normally, you do not get to hear that often. However, before Kalissa and I left, we got to get some American Civil Gaming on during the Saturday before we left. We went over to Danny's house to play the Viniard Field scenario out of Fire And Fury. This is the same Fire and Fury that made it into an article involving Donald Trump. I did not know he wargamed! You would have to look at the article and read it for yourself. It would be rather awesome to see political leaders duke it out on a historical wargaming platform! Here was the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jay-mccarthy/fire-and-fury_b_17707716.html.

Trump: "You need to roll a ten to win on a D-10, North Korea!"

     Anyway, the forces were divided against the four of us. Danny and Tim would play as the Union forces. Eddie, a newcomer, and myself would be the Confederates. The scenario starts out with defensive fire in the woods after Union forces stumbled across the Rebels. The actions seemed stacked against the Confederates. We have to beat them out of the woods, and then, capture a road through two other lines of defense and reinforcements. We also get reinforcements at different times. However, the difficulty increased with the combination of bad rolls between the two of us and Danny's stellar rolling. I mean, he was on fire with awesome rolls! Since we only made it to a halfway point, I am hoping to bring some die rolling magic for the completion. Otherwise, this is not going to end well. Here was the game so far!