Last Game I Played - Field of Glory Renaissance

800 points practice game before the April tournament.

Operation Z Lion - 2016 Christmas Game

Below are some photos from the 2016 Christmas game  using ome brew rules from Adam and Lon.

Walmington-on-Sea was one of the landing sites for the Nazi Operation Z Lion. Could the British defenders throw the walking dead back into the sea?

A fun game was had by all - lots of crazy moments as zombies were shot up and driven over. Didn't save me (I drove that Grace Bros van into a horde and was eventually ripped apart!).

Battle of Lutter (1626) - a Field of Glory Renaissance Scenario

My 15mm rennaissance collection spans 1500 to at best the early part of the Thirty Years' War.

I decided I wanted to give the collection some focus, so aim to give it a slight Catholic flavour with generals with appropriate banners and themed troop types. And a suitable scenario for a game.

I settled on the Battle of Lutter in 1626 as it was one with equal size opposing forces that could have gone either way. Background infomation on the battle can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lutter

The scenario would be on normal table (6' x 4') using 800 points for each army.
 The table would look something like this:

The Hummecke River with some swampy ground running along the middle length of the table, with the Neile River parallel about a foot away from the defenders (red) right table edge (i.e. a "T" of rivers). The town of Lutter would be in the middle of the defender's baseline. A small hill where Philip of Hesse deployed and forest on most edges and corners.

Because of the bad weather no double and triple moves are allowed. Deployment distance will be reduced. Defenders can deploy up to 24" in (i.e. on the river's edge) and attackers 12" in from their base edge.

The attacker can have one flank march that starts from a wooded edge, but can only be mounted and only be up to two Battle Groups (instead of the normal three). However, no General needs to accompany them and they arrive on a 9+. When the Flank March arrives it will need to test for Straggling as normal.

Everything else follows as normal for a game of FoGR.

Here are some photos of the game:

Reflections after the game had me thinking that if I was to play this game again changes would include:

• Moving the large forest on the western side of the battle to the defender's corner,
• Shortening the Hummecke River four or so inches before it becomes a swamp,
• Allowing double (but not triple) moves,
• Not making any river defensible,
• Having the Neile River about 18" from the table edge, not 12" as stated above (this change was made pre-game),
• Adding a few objectives for the attacker and defender to fight over, which will force both sides to want to cross the river, and
• Possibly allowing delayed reserves (3 BGs) for the defender (turning up on a 5+ from turn 3).

However, it was good to get the Renaissance toys out.

Battle of Empress Augusta Bay

At the League last Sunday we refought the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay using 'Victory at Sea'. Brett and Liam commanded the IJN (coming in from the north west), while Ara and I commanded the US Navy.

Background on the battle can be read on Wikipedia here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Empress_Augusta_Bay

While the US Navy Action Report Film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJfwtv9e1EQ

And the interrogation of Vice Admiral Omori: 
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/IJO/IJO-78.html

Were useful in setting up the game and terrain.

Fleet compositions were as follows:

Imperial Japanese Navy
Cruiser Squadron
Myōkō (Myōkō-class heavy cruiser)
Haguro (Myōkō-class heavy cruiser)

10th Cruiser Squadron
Agano (Agano-class light cruiser)
Naganami (Yūgumo-class destroyer)
Hatsukaze (Kagerō-class destroyer)
Wakatsuki (Akizuki-class destroyer)

3rd Destroyer Squadron
Sendai (Sendai-class light cruiser)
Shigure (Shiratsuyu-class destroyer)
Samidare (Shiratsuyu-class destroyer)
Shiratsuyu (Shiratsuyu-class destroyer)

United States Navy
CruDiv 12
USS Montpelier (Cleveland-class light cruiser)
USS Cleveland (Cleveland-class light cruiser)
USS Columbia (Cleveland-class light cruiser)
USS Denver (Cleveland-class light cruiser)

DesDiv 45
USS Charles Ausburne (Fletcher-class destroyer)
USS Dyson (Fletcher-class destroyer)
USS Stanley (Fletcher-class destroyer)
USS Claxton (Fletcher-class destroyer)

DesDiv 46
USS Spence (Fletcher-class destroyer)
USS Thatcher (Fletcher-class destroyer)
USS Converse (Fletcher-class destroyer)
USS Foote (Fletcher-class destroyer)

The set up followed the situation from the point Admiral Merril ordered DesDiv 46 to attack with the USS Foote misinterpreting the commandand continuing on south. Game play was streamlined by having the destroyer squadrons' movement and shooting worked out together, and pairs of cruisers (though as the game went on we allowed independent activation for the cruisers) doing the same. The photo below is turn two or three, with the rain clouds (acting as cover) at the bottom of the photo. These would play an important part in the battle.

As it was a night battle, another element we used was flares that two Japenese snooper aircraft could drop over an enemy aircraft that would negate the negative to hit modifers for spotting at night under the rules. The aircraft cound move 15" at the start of each turn when the Japanese players activated their first squadron. The flare marker would then stay with the ship before being removed at the end of the turn. Normal spotting and night fighting rules (as per main rulebook and the OOB supplement) were also used, though I muddled them a little in the heat of the battle.

Ara and I fudged the defensive of the tranport ships (worth 3 victory points each), allowing the 10th Cruiser Squadron to slip through the rain clouds and launch torpedos without any opposition. We called the game when it was clear the ships would've all sunk before the remnants of the US Navy could have returned to protect the transports (none sank as I had made them too resilient). The Americans had only saved some honour in sinking more enemy crusiers (worth 3 victory points each) and detroyers (worth 1 victory point each).

Reflections on the game had us thinking that the torpedos for the Fletcher-class destroyers definitely seemed to be too powerful, so we're going to reread the rules to see if we missed something. I also made the transport ships too powerful (i.e. too many hull boxes), so for the next game I'll make them easier to sink.

Finally, there were too many ships on the table. Our previous games have been refights of River Plate, Cape Spada and the Bismarck with only a handful of ships on the table. For this battle there were a total of 22 ships, plus another 5 transport ships. The 6' x 4' table felt too crowded. Simple solution though - less ships or a bigger table. We'll play smaller actions in the next few months, but the squadron activation certainly allows for larger actions.

Rules: Mongoose Publishing 'Victory at Sea'
Scale: 1/1800 ships and 1/900 aircraft
Miniatures: Wizards of the Coast's 'War at Sea'
Table size: 6' x 4'

Little Wars Melbourne 2016

A low key Little Wars this year, playing in Ben, Django and Tyler's Long Tan game, using Battlefront's Vietnam Rules and figures. I didn't take any photos, but there was a lot of jungle.

Weird WWII Doctors

Lead Adventure Forum (LAF) is having a Weird Wars Painting club, so I looked through my unpainted miniatures and found these two weird WWII doctors.

Dr Oetker

Originally got these 5+ years ago from Darkson Designs (now sold by Black Ball Games) in their AE-WWII range. Never played the game, but finally may have use for them as generic mad doctors.

Dr Viktor Haaren

The painting's okay (got these done in an hour or two - that's fast for me), but white paint jobs and crappy mobile photos aren't the best. I have finally got a digital camera, but I need to find/buy a cable so I can transfer the photos to my computer.

Wargaming Shops in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan

I'm back from my two weeks in Japan (Tokyo, a little town close to Nagoya and Osaka). The little town obviously had nothing of note, so I'll give a comprehensive review of each of the cities below.

Tokyo
Shinjuku
Yodabashi Camera - didn't make it here. Wish I had though after going to the one in Umeda, Osaka.

Shibuya
Tokyu Hands (north west of the station on Inokashira Dori) - top level has a whole floor of N scale railway stuff (large range), 1/72 & 1/48 Baidai Star Wars (full range), mecha kits (large range) and other bits and pieces. The toy section on another floor is also worth checking out. I have been to this store on a previous trip; the other Tokyu Hands locations aren't that great wargaming-wise. (http://www.tokyu-hands.co.jp/foreign.html)

Akihabara
Yellow Submarine - Great range of plastic sets, mainly mecha and related. There's a whole lot of other stores in the same building and adjacent area (behind the Sega building where Kotobukiya is, etc). (http://www.yellowsubmarine.co.jp/)

Aomi
Toys R Us (at Decks Odaiba) - Tamiya sets (small range, cars and a few 1/48 modern Japanese tanks), mecha (medium range), Tomica diecast cars (full range), 1/72 & 1/48 Baidai Star Wars (full range). (http://www.odaiba-decks.com/)

Full-size Gundam Statue (at DiverCity Tokyo Plaza) - two tiny shops with plastic kits and other Gundam-related toys. (http://www.divercity-tokyo.com/en/)

Toy sections in various department stores are also worth checking out for cars, trains, mecha and dinosaurs. They won't be cheap but not overly expensive.

Osaka
Namba
Joshin Super Kids Land (on Sakai-suji east of Namba Parks) - There's two locations, one with mecha, the other location further south is mainly electronic goods, but on a higher floors there's model kits, train sets and remote-controlled cars. Tamiya sets (large range from naval, vehicles and planes), mecha (large range), Tomica diecast cars (full range), lots of other bit and pieces. The area between Sakai-suji and Namba Parks is full (similar to Akihabara) of places like Kotobukiya, etc.

Umeda
Yodobashi Camera - A lot of stuff. Like a lot. Will have to go to the Tokyo location next time. Tamiya sets (large range from naval, vehicles and planes), mecha (large range), Doyusha 1/350 samurai castles, Tomica diecast cars (full range), lots of other bit and pieces. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yodobashi_Camera)

So what did I buy? We travelled light as it was with a budget airline and a spur of the moment decision to go on the trip. Therefore I was limited to 7 kilos in carry-on, with an additional 15 kilos check-in on the way back (using one of our carry-on size bags). This didn't give me a lot to take back (as I wanted to bring back a bit of sake, etc in the check-in as it was going to be heavier).

Wargaming-wise I got:

• Bandai 1/48 AT-ST for ¥2000 (~US$16) from Toys R Us, everywhere else was selling it for ¥2400. Yodobashi (when I got there) had it for ~¥1800. Will be used to make a Simon Stalenhag inspired mecha.
• Bandai 1/144 MS-06F Zaku II for ¥292 (~US$2.35) from Tokyu Hands. Will be converted for sci-fi neo-noir/anime gaming with its twin, below.
• Bandai 1/144 MS-06S Zaku II for ¥226 (~US$1.80) from Joshin Super Kids Land.
• Doyusha 1/350 Gifu Castle for ¥1360 (~US$11) from Yodobashi. The other castles in the range were up to ~¥2000. Very nice (large box!) kit. Perfect for 15mm terrain piece.
• Tamiya 1/100 MiG-19 for ¥432 (~US$3.50) from Yodobashi. Just couldn't say no at that price and I was using up coins on my last day.
• A few of the Tomica diecast cars for 25/28mm Japanese-themed gaming (I have a growing collection). This also includes a DeLorean time machine from Universal Studios in Osaka.

I think if you can make it to a Yodobashi or Joshin you'll be set. Everything else is slightly more expensive with a much smaller range.

S.D.Z.A. / Simon Stålenhag Project

Last year on Lead Adventure Forum (http://www.lead-adventure.de) someone posted a link to Simon Stålenhag's gallery of his illustrations (warning for those that haven't seen it before, it's big):
http://www.simonstalenhag.se/

As soon as I saw this collection I was enchanted. There's  mecha, dinosaurs, Scandinavian landscape and snow; what's not to love?

Over the last year I have been casually trawling my unpainted collection to see what miniatures could be used for a project inspired by these illustrations and I've placed them together to the side.

I didn't have a ruleset in mind, but the more I read about  S.D.Z.A. (Super-Hero Dinosaur Zombie Apocalypse) by Van-Helsing/Nexus Miniatures, the more I could see them fitting together.

More on S.D.Z.A. here:
http://www.nexus-miniatures.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/nexus.miniatures
http://sdza-nexus-miniatures.blogspot.co.uk/

I hope over the coming months to record my work for this project; from miniatures, terrain pieces to games.

I'm currently putting together some dinosaurs to start the project, a ~1/60 scale T-Rex and some 28mm raptors from Eureka Miniatures. Photos for them prepped ready for painting in the next week or so.

Little Wars Melbourne 2015

Little Wars again. These photos were taken from the Little Wars Facebook page and posted in the future. Magic. The first game was a sci-fi game using a lot of Ground Zero Games' (GZG) figures and vehicles. Was fast-paced and fun from memory. The second game was a trench raid game run by Mark and played like a dungeon crawl game full of team members determined to undermine(!) their teammates to get to grips with the Turks.

A Saga Begins

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:
"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
"On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!"

Lost Battle of Barad Duin Between Elves and Orcs

[Note - this post was published in May 2021 after I came across the photos from May 2015 in my phone. I had no background in my emails, etc of what the scenario was, but after talking to Bruce he found his notes.]

Bruce and I got out our Lord of the Rings miniatures to play a large scenario of Games Workshop's War of the Ring rules. He fielded his trusty elves, I the orcs and trolls of Mordor (with some of Bruce's orcs).

As this game was played when the League of Ancient meetings were still held at the German Club Tivoli on Dandenong Road I decided to name the battle in honour of that time. Dandenong is likely to mean "high" or "lofty" in the language of the indigenous Boon wurrung and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin nation, and translating "Lofty River" into Tolkien's Sindarin language I came with the appropriately sounding 'Lost Battle of Barad Duin' for this encounter. The ruined tower could also fit that name as being a "water keep".

We played using a modified Hold the Line scenario (from the third edition of the Flames of War WWII rules).

The details of the scenario were:

1. Game length is eight turns.
2. There are three objectives. Winner is the side that controls 2+ at the end (objectives are a ruined tower, wooded hill and bridge).
3. Elves deploy first, occupying two of the objectives (ruined tower and wooded hill), which are defensible terrain.
4. Third objective (bridge) is just outside of the orc force deployment zone.
5. Half of the elf force is in reserve. From turn one, the elf player must throw 4+ on a D6 to receive reserves (1 formation per successful throw). Elf players adds 1D6 each turn for the reserves roll.
6. Apart from any formations that may deploy in ambush as part of their description, the elf player may have half of their formations deployed in ambush. 
7. Elf ambushers must be outside of 24 inches if in open, outside of eight if in cover. 
8. Orcs deploy entire force.
9. Throw as usual for initiative.

Terrain was as per the War of the Ring rulebook, except for the stream and road. The stream did not slow formations crossing but prevented the ability to double move when crossing, and formations had to be adjacent to it at start of their turn to be able to cross it. The road allowed formations to double move, even if they did not have a captain/hero, but they must have been on the road for their entire move and be in column.

This game represented a small skirmish to defend the borders of Lothlorien from an orc incursion. Those elf formations were not as flimsy as they look. One was led by Galadriel. Also, there were a lot of them (the first photo doesn't have all the formations in reserve and in ambush).

From what I can remember I charged forward, Bruce tried to stem the tide, but five trolls are hard to stop. Eventually he did though and the elves were able to win the day, in particular when an ent strolled in and killed the last troll holding the tower.

Talking to Bruce six years later he also isn't sure how I lost but is it a quirk of the rules that Monsters can't hold objectives (but they can obviously clear them).

Bruce - I will happily go for a rematch any day. With less trolls too.

Blood Bowl Night Goblin Team

Years (decades) ago I bought the Games Workshop plastic Night Goblin box set along with the mid-nineties Goblin fanatics and converted 14 of them into a Blood Bowl team. They sat in their undercoat for years.

This year some of us decided to play a 4th division league (with, well, 4th division teams); mostly Goblins, Halflings and Ogres. The games have been... frustratingly fun.

Anyway, here's my Night Goblin team, based on the Münchner Kindl:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchner_Kindl

They were a lot of fun to paint.

15mm Mark IV Male and A7V WWI Tanks

I painted these as a German Beutepanzer for an upcoming Flames of War tournament.

I bought them years ago and they're very dated Irregular Miniatures sculpts. With Battlefront's recent offerings I would not recommend these now. Lots of cleaning up, but once painted I was happy enough and they do have a certain charm.

The platoon was also my first attempt at using decal softer, no idea how I lasted so long without this product.