Village Games' Blog

The other day we got in a quick game of 6mm Micro Armor. The setting was a ‘what if’ scenario from the Cold War (c. 1982) – Soviet forces were trying to outflank the American position with a probing attack.  I was playing the Americans and John M. was playing the evil hordes of communists (J).  

THE BATTLEFIELD WITH THE VILLAGE TO THE EAST [LEFT]

The battlefield was relatively small – 3’x3’ – representing the western side of a small village. The Soviets were tasked with quickly moving up past the village and clear a path for the oncoming forces. They had a second-line company of T-72 tanks and a company of BMP mounted infantry to accomplish this with.

THE SOVIET DASH TO THE WEST MEETS THE US ARTILLERY

The Americans had but one platoon of infantry and a single platoon of four of the new-fangled M1 tanks (the original 105mm mounted version). They were in position, though, to try and hold off the Soviet advance. The game had a 90 minute limit, and we were using the Combat Cards as the ruleset.

THE SOVIET INFANTRY TRIES TO QUIETLY MOVE FORWARD

The game went really fast; the Soviet armor pushed had up the western flank and pinned the Americans with their backs against their table edge. Only through some fortuitous artillery, and aggressive maneuvering by the Americans, were they stopped short of reaching their objective on the western side.

AN AMERICAN M1 COUNTER-ATTACKS

In the main village, the Soviets were much more cautious – they knew and house-to-house fighting would greatly slow their advance. Instead they tried to slip between the village and a small wood to the west. The American commander (being brilliant of course J) had laid a minefield in the gap which forced the Soviet infantry to detour even further to the west – right into the waiting American positions. 

In the end the Americans were able to stop the Soviet advance by inflicting enough casualties. It was a short & sweet game that was fun. John is a fun opponent despite his logic-defying luck. 

Well until next time… 

Happy Gaming! 

Dan

A couple of quick pics of some 40K games at the shop recently. Our resident 40K guru Trent, just wrapped up a league that was pretty successful. He used a unique schedule (two weeks of games, followed by an off-week, followed by two weeks of games, etc.) and custom designed scenarios to give everybody a little different twist on the usual. Everybody seemed to have a great time, and is looking forward to the league ending 40K Rogue Trader Tournament we are hosting on the 6^th of December (which is open to everyone).

Because there were league points for painting on the line as well as for victories, Trent even managed to get some of the… least motivated, shall we say, members of the league to paint up their armies. Congrats to the whole group! Trent if now feverishly working on a campaign/league for the start of the new year.

I have also included a couple of shots of a display board one of our resident expert painters is working on (Robb S.). The board is working out great, although I am not sure Robb is so enthused about the Space Marine army he is prepping to put on it (is his starting a Tau army a bad sign???)

Anyways, enjoy the shots.  Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

AERIAL DOGFIGHTS

A couple of regulars to the shop were in the other day playing WWII aerial combat with 10mm pre-painted planes.  Unfortunately the rules they were using required a hex map, so as a quick solution they had marked out a cheapo tablecloth. They are working on much more aesthetically pleasing options, but I thought the dogfights over the lava field still looked cool. J

I believe they said they are working on some amendments to the rules to allow campaign play, so I am curious to see how that turns out. An aerial combat campaign game – now that would be interesting. Think of the potential – the Battle of Britain, aerial duels in the Solomons/The Slot, Allied pre-D-Day fighter sweeps over Europe, etc.

Anyways, enjoy the pictures!

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

BROTHER VS. BROTHER GETS BIGGER AND BETTER  

Todd and Doug have been working really hard to get regular American Civil War games going at the shop. Both have painted up armies, and together they have been staging quasi-demo/introductory games. Recently, they played another one with all of the stuff they have ready and painted.

OVERVIEW OF THE BATTLE

I was too busy with the shop that night to find out who won, or even how the battle really went, but from the sounds of it – and from the number of people they had stopping by to watch and ask questions – it must have gone pretty well.

THE REBS ATTACK

A UNION LINE ADVANCES

One of the hesitancies people have about the ACW (and all horse and musket periods in general) is that they are slow moving and dull games; there is little real movement or strategy; the rules are cumbersome and the games take all day with no real outcome. I don’t think those grievances hold as true today as they once did. Now there much more dynamic and interesting rulesets out there (the guys love their Johnny Reb III) which allow for fast paced, playable yet realistic games that just about anyone can enjoy. 

"HOLD YOUR GROUND MEN!"

UNION CANNONS TO SAVE THE DAY

If this period, or any of the other related periods (American Revolution, Seven Years War, Napoleon’s Wars, etc.) are something that interests you, I would recommend talking to folks at the shop. I think there are quite a few people who might be willing to stick their proverbial “toes in the water” if things started to happen in those periods. Also, Carl and I are already starting to look towards the next wave of expansion and we would love to carry more in the way of those miniatures lines. Without folks really playing any of them at the shop, it makes it hard for us to put those high on the priority list though. If you would like to see move of those periods at the shop (and maybe even in multiple scales) now is the time to start fanning the flames. 

"HELP IS ON THE WAY BOYS!"

AND HERE IT IS...

As for Todd and Doug, I know they are eager to get more players involved – they have even been offering to loan out troops to anyone who wanted to give it a try – so if you are interested keep an eye on the webpage calendar for their next event and swing by. I think you might be pleasantly surprised how fun the ACW can be. 

Until next time… 

Keep them sixes coming! 

Dan