AAR: Bolt Action Tank War: Guards Darn It! British Guards Armor Versus German.

       It was another Tuesday morning face off with my friend, Danny. And like all games that we have, I have been a goal of beating him in a game twice, since it was only once in the whole year of 2016. But this year, I can feel it! This year is going to be the year! It just was not meant to be today during a Tank War. In the past couple of WW2 tank battles we have been playing, we were using the Iron Cross rules. They are quick and brutal. I figured that I would show Danny the Tank War scenario for Bolt Action and see how it turns out. Honestly, I thought we were going to be playing Wings of Glory! But there tends to be change of plans a lot with in our group. Just like Saturday, two of are friends were going to be playing the Osprey Publishing's Rogue Stars. I keep thinking of the line from the movie Spaceballs every time I hear of these rules. "Only one man would dare give me the raspberry! Lone Star!"
      Back to the tank at hand. Yes, I am corny sometimes! This time, Danny was going to be the wily British armor versus my trusty Germans......who did not sleep well,..... who must be still drunk.... and do not know how to sight targets. Danny had nine Cromwell tanks and four Sherman Fireflies. My Germans were equipped with five Panthers, two Panzer IV H's, and a Puma, since every German player in Bolt Action seems to own this model. As in the scenario, we rolled off for how many objectives and table sides. We had six objective either side can control while with in six inches. The scenario mentions that an objective is not held if another enemy unit is also within six inches. I guess the battles must take place in towns only. Sissies! Well, maybe the game is more interesting in tables full of blocking terrain. Our game was not going to be that way.
      The basic rundown of the game was as follows. The first turn saw a Cromwell tank destroyed. The second, was a Panzer IV destroyed, two Cromwell died, and Sherman Firefly was disabled. Then, there was a lull in the game, because we talked about current American politics, the now silliness of the 80's show Air Wolf that was on T.V., and lunch. That seemed to be a mistake, since I looked liked I was winning. However, third three started with six orders with Danny firing at me rolling fives, fives, fives and sixes, for nearly everything in a row, thus killing three Panthers, forcing one down, and pinning the other. Then, the Puma died. I killed a few more tanks, then, everyone else died on the Germans side. The British only lost four Cromwell tanks!

These first six shots are of the battlefield.

Taking the hill.

The Firefly is hit, but undamaged.

First kill!

Trying to take out the Sherman Firefly on the hill.

Coming in guns a blazin'!

Two German tanks on fire and the cows don't care.

This Firefly got disabled from a hit.

These two were destroyed by Panthers right before lunch.

This Sherman Firefly never killed a tank!

One Cromwell tank dies to good shooting.

These two were the last to go!

Finale shots!

AAR: Road Crossing: My Wife's Recent Bolt Action Game.

   This last Saturday was a busy one for my wife and I. We tend to have people over for wargaming most every Saturday. We do not always play, but we do have good times. And since this hobby of ours is also a Social one, it is always awesome to meet new players like this guy named Mike from Arizona who is here on business at Fort Bragg. He asked for a game with us since he has seen quite a few of our games posted online. I tend to over post and share things.
    In this game, Mike faced off against my wife, Kalissa. Mainly, this was because I have already played that day and She has not played a game, since our last Muskets and Tommahawks game. And she had not played against another person besides myself, since Beth and their Bolt Action Game. I am sure that Mike could give her a fun challenge. This ended up be true, Kalissa had lots of fun, even though she lost the game after turn 8. The fact that there was the extra turns was the main turning point. And with laughs and smiles, we told Mike that is welcome back to play while he is here for the month. Either way, these were their game photos.

AAR: Bolt Action: Welcome to the Jungle: Imperial Japanese Versus American: Game 2

   Though, this was the second game of the same day, I decided to break up the action on this blog. Despite the failed first experience of the Japanese, it seemed the American Airborne learned some serious lessons from Joe's Japanese. Since we were playing a campaign, we had to roll for the changed in experience our troops we had based on the last battle. Would it surprise you that the two command teams gained no new experience based off of doing nothing. Well, mine died and was demoted. My one squad that was labelled "Regular" in the first game demoted to "Inexperienced" in the second. I am sure it had to do with dying 100% without killing a soul in the last game. So, in a sense, the rating system was fairly accurate with exception of the sniper on the Japanese side who gain no promotion, despite hitting a killing every turn. I am not complaining.
   In our second game, I rolled off the game type. We were to play a "Three Point Defense" with myself choosing to defend, despite my two "Inexperienced" units and a possible bombardment before turn one. As for extra support, I rolled for two vehicles. One was a light tank; the other was an armored car. I did not have a light tank, and chose to trade it for a squad of Airborne. This was the smarter choice, since the Japanese seem to be brutal and tanks cannot hold objectives.
   Since the Japanese had to come to me, it was easier to defend against. I ended up winning this battle. Most of this was bad rolling for Joe and great shooting for me. My armored car was the star in most cases. He gained another truck, which is modeled as a M5 Half-track along with a Tankette, and another squad. My armored car shot and kill the tankette, as well as, disabled both trucks! The Sherman Tank learned from the last game and killed the Chi-Ha Tank in the first turn. The rest was a Japanese advance was a slaughter. Oddly, I took more pictures of this game. This was not because I was winning. This was mostly because we had a longer game! So, again, Joe and I are even on victories! The never-ending  cycle continues!

Demo Games And New Friends.

      This last Saturday has been pretty awesome for us in our Cape Fear Miniatures Wargaming Group. For the most part, we have all been consistantly coming together for a few games and laughs. Maybe, the most important thing is that we have great conversions about our hobby and lives. And a a mission, it is great to branch out and meet new people. Since we play at our house more than other places, it is not always as easy to get more members. However, Bill managed to bring a friend over to see what we do. Naturally, we wanted him to play a game. Despite what most people may say at first when looking at a hobby, I am firm believer that hands on playing hooks the hobby addict into the joys we call wargaming.
    In this case, Robert, an enthusiast of 1/35 modelling of tanks, it seemed natural to play a Bolt Action game with him. For one, the scale is not that much smaller. Two, it is still within his interest. Three, it is a fairly simple game in comparison to other gaming systems. Bill, somehow, wiggled out of his assigned spot of playing the British. I trying to see if I could get him to play against the grain as British player, since he is like me, a mainly German player in most WW2 games.
  Either way, the line up was my wife and I on the same side as British  Airborne (Rare) against Bill and Robert as the Germans. For some reason, the British Airborne seemed to have a great work out this week alone. I don't think we ever played any games more than two times in a row. By the end of Saturday, they will have seen four engagements.
   I cannot really say that my wife or I took this game seriously. If anything, this was more of a demo game testing as many possibilities as we could in a game to show game mechanics. And with every demo, that is how it should be. I noticed how Robert would worry about certain units on the table. Some of them were fairly valid. Others, like the pinned, one-man PIAT team against the Stug III was not really as threatening. The cool thing is that I know that he enjoyed himself. I know this, because we were told he had only a few hours to play at most. He stayed the whole game and then, some. And the hope is that he will play on even if that does not mean gaming with Kalissa and myself. It is just a good feeling to know that some had a good experience with something. Oh, and his side won mainly with his shooting!