Historical Games

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

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

TRYING TO CATCH UP

Now that the store’s big anniversary bash is behind us, I am going to try and catch up on my blogging. There is a lot of exciting stuff going on around the shop, and I want to share as much as I can – or at least as much as my stubby little fingers will allow me to write about. 

Today, I have some shots of a skirmish game we played a couple of weeks ago. The setting was a joint US & British raid on a terrorist controlled village where an unknown number of hostages were being held. I was playing the British, Pete the Americans and evil Todd (J) the terrorists. We were using the Combat Cards: Skirmish for our ruleset, which Pete was new to.

THE BRITISH SET OUT

The game started out OK for the coalition forces; though disorganized they did make progress forward. It really hit the fan though, when the terrorists began to let loose from their concealed positions. The Americans, now screened behind a series of smoke grenades, hunkered down and waited (for what, I wasn’t quite sure…). Unfortunately the British were still pressing the attack forward to the large building in front of them, which meant their flank was now exposed. 

FIGHTING THEIR WAY INTO POSITION

A British team did manage to suppress many of the nearby terrorist units as they positioned themselves for a forcible entry into the compound. The fighting into the house was vicious as expected, with both sides taking significant casualties. Eventually the Brits were able to clear the structure, though there turned out to be no hostages within. Due to time constraints, we really were not able to go much further than that in the game. That was probably OK as the coalition forces (at least the Brits) had effectively lost too many folks to continue.

THE AMERICANS START OUT

After the game, we were talking about the attack by coalition forces – what had gone right and what had not. One frustration I had was how Todd always seemed to have the perfect combination of cards (actions & situations) to thwart whatever I was attempting to do. Was he just that lucky? Was I just that unlucky? Or was it some cosmic conspiracy to drive me insane? (Personally, I am still sticking with the latter…).

TEH TERRORISTS HAD PRETTY GOOD POSITIONS

As we discussed it more though it dawned on us that the game mechanics had mirrored real life tactics. As the British made their big push, the terrorists had cards to answer for everything. At that point – just like in a real battle when your main thrust stalls – you need to divert the attention of your enemy. Cause them to commit resources a different direction through a feint, a secondary attack, etc. so that they no longer able to be as focused on your main effort. 

THE BRITS CLOSE IN ON THE BUILDING

With our game it meant that Pete probably should have started pressing an aggressive attack of his own as the Brits were getting hammered, so that Todd would have had to commit some of his forces (and possibly some of his best cards) to fending him off. This may have allowed the Brits to regain the initiative in their attack or, if Todd hadn’t responded properly to the new threat, the Americans to suddenly have some success themselves.

READY TO MAKE ENTRY...

Realizing this only served to increase my appreciation for the subtlety of the cards, and how effectively they mirror real world tactics. Off course, it would have been better to understand all this during the game and be able to make adjustments. Now that I know though, I will definitely be more aware of it in the future and work to apply all the real world tactics I can to my games.  

THE AMERICAN ENCLAVE

In any event, we all had a pretty good time which is the point after all. J 

Well, until next time… 

Happy Gaming!

Dan