First Round For the British Versus the French and Indians.

     After painting up the British force I had for Muskets & Tomahawks, it was time to take them out on their first adventure in battle. It turns out with upgrades, the British I had equaled to the French and the Indians put together. That really worked out, even if I still have more British to paint. It just means more French and/or Indians.
   For the first test, my wife, Kalissa decided to play the French and Indians. I gave her the choice, but I figured she would want to play against the British. Also, she wrote the list for those "Woods Ninjas". Unfortunately for the French, she did not seem to care about their lives as the Indians. I think her plan was to roll up with the French in the center and attack the British in a pincer move with the Indians. Honestly, I played a little cautious based on how hard it is to hit the Indians in the woods. The British did have some excellent shooting. They managed to end the game by killing the French force leaving the Indians to take one the enemy. We did not play out the rest of the game based on going to a Civil War reenactment for Averasboro, NC. We will see if the British do well next time.

AAR: Ladies Versus Gents in Aerial WW1 Dogfights!

     These are photos of a Wings of Glory game that my friend, Danny and I played against our partners in crime! Danny and I took the Germans. Kalissa and Susan took the British. I must say that it was a fun filled game. The first shot in anger took out one of my planes instantly! The rest of the time were some nice forms of flying. The British lost everyone in the end while two German planes remained. It was still fun, and I suspect there with be a rematch! Needless to say, it was quicker that the three hour game Danny and I played that day where I lost, but made him work for it. Here are the Ladies Vs. Gents pictures. Enjoy!     

The British Are Coming! The Muskets & Tomahawks British Force.

   After finishing off the French Marines and the Natives, I felt the need to have the British side as well. Kalissa had found a bunch of metal Warlord box sets for the French, the Indians, and the British. The problem was that I could not for the life of me figure out what I did with the British box set. I was really unsure if I bought it over from the move into our house. So for a while, I had written them off as casualties of moving. To make up for this, I made a trade with a friend of ours who has a membership with Old Glory Miniatures to get a discount. The figures in this post are them. I think they were fairly decent figures to paint. There were a lot to a pack, so I can see how a discount can make a good dent in rather large army purchases.
    However, as a update, like this was Unsolved Mysteries, I happened to find the missing British the other day. It just means the British will out number the other two factions. It just means more figures in the long run. This is turning into a real tragedy, I dare say! Here are some shots!

White Tiger: A Little Convention Game Idea And Playtest.

       After watching the Russian movie called "White Tiger," I thought of a convention idea. This seems to happen a lot with me. I will see a movie or read in a book and lightning will hit me with an idea. I think all wargamers are guilty of this. I have at least twelve ideas for convention games, if not scenarios to play for fun. And they range for all over time periods and fantasy. With the "White Tiger" movie, I was rather impressed with the story. The ending could have been better, but the core movie is pretty awesome and seems to be like Herman Melville's Moby Dick. However, the movie was based off of the novel The White Tiger  by Ilya Boyashov. I do not know if there is an English version of this book, since it is written by a Russian. I will have to look for that later.
    Anyway, most of my little convention games and ideas do not pan out. I know that there are some few people who wonder when I will come out with the Sharknado Game I wrote up. The difference about this game idea is that it fell into my lab, so to speak. I don't really like Tiger Tanks that much, because they always seem to do horribly in most of the games I play. I have still not got a King Tiger for my Market Garden lists. So Warlord Games comes out with a "Hollywood Tiger" for cheesy wargames and other character that are all based on the film "Kelly's Heroes." I still did not jump out to get this tank. I ended up getting it at the Siege of Augusta Convention. I nice young guy named Davis bought it for me, though he clearly did not have to. He just heard about one of my crazy wargaming ideas. Thus, the White Tiger was born!
    After building and painting it, I think it looks pretty good and almost endangers me to make a "Kelly's Heroes" game now added to my never ending list of game ideas! The model was fairly strait forward and simple. I am aware that it does not look like the one in the movie, because I found out that that one was based off of a IS-2 chassis. The Hollywood Tiger is based off of a T-34 much like the one in "Saving Private Ryan". It never amazes me when people point out the inaccuracy of an inaccurate tank from a historical based movie.
    So, to the game! The idea is to have the White Tiger play against a whole company of tanks and the one T-34/85 Special that Sgt. Ivan Naydenov commands. Since the White Tiger cannot not officially die, it is like a survival point game for six turns. Most likely, if the game is played with other players, they will mostly likely lose all of their tanks. That is the great thing with play tests. You can find the problems.
      The special rules for the White Tiger were as follows based off of Bolt Action Rules.

1.  The White Tiger cannot die. If killed as normal, it can reappear at any table edge!
2.  It hits on a 3 always! Modifiers do not apply! The exception is hitting on a 2+  at point blank!
3.  Disabled results only half the movement distance.
4.  The Tiger is treated as a medium tank for movement.
5.  The Tiger had multiple order dice. 
6.  Pins and Morale have no effect on this tank.

   The Soviets were going to have an uphill battle. Their tanks have all of the regular Bolt Action rules for tank warfare. The only one exempt from these rules was the T-34/85 Special tank commanded by Sgt. Naydenov.

   Naydenov's T-34/85 Rules:

1.  His tank never dies and can reappear at any table edge no closer than 12" away from the White Tiger.
2.  His tank hits on a 3+ always  like the White Tiger.
3.  Can start the game on table in Ambush and hits at a 2+ from Ambush.
4.  Can fix his disabled tank with a Rally order.
5.   Has a Super-Heavy gun.
6.  Also had multiple order dice.

 The game had all of the Soviet tanks on the table with the option of Naydenov's T-34/85 off table. The White Tiger can start anywhere a start the killfest. Below were the results.

We were just saying these were Land-lease Shermans.

Hiding in the woods.

I painted these T-34/85 tanks based off of some from a Guards Division during the Summer 1944 Offensive. I have had people actually argue about it a lot, despite finding thirty photo references and sources to back this up. 

Granny had to give these tankers cookies! 

Again, Land Lease Churchill Tank. The beauty of running out of decals!

The Hollywood White Tiger!

Hitting with no problems!

The town is cleared after turn two.

Naydenov's Tank takes aim!

The Sherman in the woods vaporizes!

Naydenov fires!

    In conclusion, the game was fairly quick for a six turn game. Of course, I would say there needs to be more tanks for the Soviets. Turn three, everyone was dead, but Naydenov. I am also sure that more cover would help, but that is why it was a trial run. It will be tweaked for improvement!

Project Sicily: Update for February.

      As it was mentioned before, I am on a mission for my Historicon 2017 Convention Project. For those who have not followed this, this project was going to be a historical one based on the first actions with the Canadians against the Germans in Sicily for Operation Husky in 1943. I have been finding all sorts of information about the battle or engagement. Below is the map that I will be using for Grammichele, Sicily. I have not started making the board yet, but I have, with the help of my wife, started below budget for this project.

Since this is going to be in 28mm, this board with not be this big.

    So what has changed since the last time?  We have got sponsership from Trenchworx, Blitzkrieg Miniatures. and Charlie Foxtrot Models. We have already ordered a lot of models. We bought some of the new Charlie Foxtrot buildings. Below are the ones from the Pentile designs

.     From Blitzkrieg, we have ordered two 8.8cm Flak Guns and the transports, as well as, Panzer IV G's. The Panzer IV G's are the same as the one I have for my Romanians. With Trenchworx, we are waiting until March to buy the Shermans for the Canadians. With this happening, the project is one the move. I am looking forward to some more updates for everyone.