Spring at the Club

In May and June we got back into weekly meetings, which I know has been a great relief to us all!  The most played game these days is definitely Kings of War, but we also played some Konflict '47, Warmaster, Rangers of Shadowdeep, and Gunfighter's Paradise. 

Gunfighter's Paradise: Gun duels in the streets

Ren's Brit automatons advance on
Buck's Russians in a Konflict '47 game.

Eric ponders his move in Kings of War.

More Kings of War.

More Konflict '47

Chuck thoroughly explains Kings of War. 

Buck pulls an order die for Konflict '47
on the snowy steppes.

The fighting is hot amid the frosty ruins. 

Warmaster proves an excellent game.

Stalking the gnoll camp in Rangers of Shadowdeep.

Pandemic Painting IX

This will be the final Pandemic Painting Post, showing some of our painting through early June.  We're back to regualr weekly meetings now, so we'll start posting about games and tournaments again. but enjoy this last look at how we stayed busy!  

Eric: "Behold and tremble curs of the false god emperor!
The 3rd Legion in epic scale is here to smite you!
The Emperor’s Children are ready to battle!"

Jeffrey: "GIGN ready to insert"

Jeffrey's first attempt at Japanese camo.

Jeffrey's Japanese for BA. "90% are 3D printed"

Chris: "Armored spear and
armored sword groups done, plus a banner."

Jeffrey's 3d printed, Japanese Type 91 105mm, with gunners made from Warlord plastic figures.

Jeffrey's terrain painting.

Buck's DsHK Hvy MG.

Buck's truck for Daughters of the Motherland in Konflikt '47.

Ren & I team worked this one. He built and painted it then I did details and wash.
Thanks Chuck for 3D printing it for us so long ago. It works as an airfield control tower
or, as my wife recently pointed out, a tower for a POW camp. 

Jeffrey's Zebra in 28mm.

Matt is building a dwarf army for Kings of War.
"Not potato picture of my first unit done."

Paul's owlbear and Medusa, painted for D&D. 

Jeffrey's Free French: "Did all the French flags on plain helmet by hand."

Matt: "I finally painted the greater earth elemental
I’ve had since the KOW V2 KS."

Bolt Action: Battle in the Ruins

 

Add the end of the first turn, all the troops had moved on
the board.

Last week, Ren & I went to Your Hobby Place - Fredericksburg and played out a socially distanced game of Bolt Action. 

I played a German Afrika Korps list, while Ren played 8th Army South Africans. We both played tank platoons with infantry in support. (see bottom of post for the army lists).

We used the desert terrain board the store had set up to market some of the cool desert terrain they sell, which perhaps put more terrain on the board then was usual for the North African desert.  This nameless skirmish was fought amongst ancient ruins using the "Encounter" mission from the main book. 

The South Africans secured the palm grove and a strong line,
while the artillery and mortars prepared to soften up the Germans.

A Panzer II dashe sup to hide behind a dune, waiting for 
British armor to appear.

When Turn 3 starts, at the top of the image, German infantry
backed by a PzII & SDKFz222 rush forward
to avoid artillery and mortar fire. At the bottom of the picture,
German armor and halftrack borne infantry advance.

A close up of German forces going for the Mortar and artillery
observer on the dune, while the Stuart and a Vickers  sprays
them with fire. 

The SDKFz222 and infantry go for the mortar, while the
Stuart and the PzII duke it out.  

The SDKFz222 machinegunned the mortar crew out of
existence, while the infantry squads exchanged fire and 
the PzII knocked out the Stuart with a point blank
flank shot.

On the other flank, both sides rolled a long of misses - the
PzIIs rolled 4 1s in a row! - as the A13 and Crusader took
on 3 PzIIs. The Halftrack rolled up on the flank and its 
infantry prepared to rush out at the British.

Turn 4 ended, however, with the British infantry
slaughtering the Germans after they assaulted 
from the halftrack. And the Crusader drove
right up next to a PzII and knocked it out. 
At this point the Brits were ahead on VPs.

On the German left, they managed to wipe out the infantry squad
but the German infantry were decimated themselves. 

On the German right flank, thinks became grim, as the Brits
launched an infantry assault on the halftrack, knocking it out. 
Try as they might, the Germans could quite get the A13 or
Crusader to go down, and the Brits couldn't get the PzIIs. 

In the final turn, the Germans managed to get the A13 knocked out, earning the 1 VP more then the Brits in a close fought, bloody victory.  

It was a fun game. :)

Here are the army lists, as promised. 

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

Blast From the Past: Fearless Veteran 2017

The 2017 Fearless Veteran tournament trophy.

When Game Vault was still open, our club was predominantly a Flames of War 3rd edition club. At that time, the game was flying high, running large tournaments at games stores nation wide, as well as at conventions like Historicon. In fact, there were two Flames of War tournaments at Historicon in those days.  The 2 day Nationals tournament, and a single day I-95 tournament, often with teams.  

I enjoyed the game immensely, but the tournament scene not always so much. It felt repetitive and overly competitive at times, and didn't support historical simulation nor interesting "what if" scenarios.  

Many club members seemed to feel the way, and I thought it would be fun to establish an annual club tournament, where the winner would be declared the "Fearless Veteran", the highest troop rating available in Flames of War. I managed to run three Fearless Veteran Tournaments, in 2016, 2017, and 2018.  The majority of the clubs members didn't switch over to Flames of War 4th edition, and the Fearless Veteran tournaments died away.  But they were fun while they lasted!

I think 2017 was the most fun, I really got inventive with the tournament rules, the missions, and especially the terrain. The theme was 1942-43 amphibious warfare in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. Players were limited to running 1600 point Mid-War companies from the North Africa or Burning Empires books, or 1500 point Late War companies from the Banzai or Gung-ho books. the result was companies you never saw at the large convention tournaments.

Instead of doing missions by round, as was the norm for tournaments, they were assigned by table along with the terrain, which was unique and not standard for tournaments. There were six tables:

2 beach tables (1 Pacific, 1 Mediterranean) for the Island Landing mission (landing craft provided).

1 Jungle and 1 Desert table for the Fair Fight mission.

1 Matanikau (Jungle) River and 1 Italian Mountain table for the Blind Domination mission.

Ed and John ponder as Ed's Japanese fight
against John's LRDG in a jungle free for all.

Chris and Ken ponder over their round 1
blind domination mission on the jungle river.

In the first round, Allen's Canadians land against Wayne's Japanese.

Chris moves his Marines against Paul's Afrika Korps
Grenadiers in the Jungle free for all in round 2.

Allen and Ed fight Blind Domination
in the Italian mountains in round 2.

Ren's Marines face off against Wayne's Japanese
 in a free for all in the desert in round 2.

Ren's Marines launch an assault!

John's LRDG try to land on the Pacific Island
defended by Ken's Italian Bersaglieri in round 2.

John's LRDG storm ashore in round 2!

Wayne directs his Japanese against John's
Long Range Desert Group as they fight
a Blind domination mission on over a jungle river.

Ed takes a break from slaughtering Paul's Afrika Korps grenadiers
 in the 3rd round on the Pacific Island amphibious assault board.

Ren and Ken ponder their 3rd round
Blind Domination mission in the Italian mountains.

Allen and Chris debate the rules in their
desert board free for all. (3rd round game).

2016's "Fearless Veteran", Ken, passes on the trophy
to 2017's "Fearless Veteran", Wayne!

8 January 2017 Flames of War Tournament Final Rankings:

1. Wayne (Japanese),  3 wins, 0 losses, 22 points

2. Chris (US Marines), 3 wins, 0 losses, 16 points

3. Ken (Italian Bersaglieri), 2 wins, 1 loss, 16 points

4. Allen (Canadians), 1 win, 2 losses, 13 points

5. Ed (Japanese), 1 win, 2 losses, 11 points

5. Ren (US Marines), 1 win, 2 losses, 11 points

6. John (Long Range Desert Group),3 losses, 5 points

6. Paul (Afrika Korps Grenadiers), 3 losses, 5 points 

One of my favorite tournaments to run so far. I loved the variety of terrain and missions, I don't think it was quite like any other Flames of War tournament. 

Other Fearless Veteran tournaments are described here: 2021 & 2022

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.