Added a force multiplier that will please any would-be Warlord. Finally finished one of my Back of Beyond aircraft. It’s the Hobby Lobby ship….not historically correct, but no assembly required and, after priming, painting and dry-brushing, it looks OK. Should be nice on the table and add something extra to the scenario mix. Will keep it in neutral colors/markings so it can be all things to all armies whenever the scenario deems it so.
As mentioned earlier, finally getting back to playing my dormant Renaissance Scenario, It’s a replay of one reported earlier, but with a few tweaks. Will dispense with impaired photos.
Used percentage dice to dictate the Polish infantry entry through the village. They entered much earlier than last game.
Shifted the Polish Hussars to the left flank to engage the Russian Sipahis, rather than battering themselves silly against the Streltsy infantry.
Finally, allowed the Streltsy to advance against the two Polish infantry units in the center. Suck them in so they cannot effect the work of the Hussars and Pancerni on the flanks.
Along with the percentage dice, I started using some of the other dice I purchased back in February.
Now using the “Yes, No, Maybe” dice for command decisions and reaction. For example “Should I Commit My Reserve”, or, for the latter, “Do I See The Poles Flanking My Position?.
From a solitaire standpoint, things get easier….it’s not you…..it’s the bloody general that’s doing these things.
Not cutting edge, but it does liven things up.
finished up my 15mm Arab Village using JR Miniatures buildings. The following photos also include the palm trees I painted from my Weapons and Warriors Pirates set, as well as scratch-built camp (for DBA) and a small caravan using Essex figures.
Glad I finished it up, and hope to use it in my East Africa campaign.
Just returned from four days of fishing and cycling in SE Oregon. Nights were windy and rainy, so I spent a lot of time buttoned up reading back issues of Miniature Wargames on my IPad. Unfortunately all those great photos and articles didn’t get me all fired up to dive back into things when I returned.
I’m messing around with Thunderbolt/Apache Leader, pushing some DBR lead, painting a few 15mm Arab houses and a mosque, even reading the flight rules for Enemy Coast Ahead, and poking my nose into Carrier. Still, it’s just messing around.
Got to get to work…………ahhhhh, maybe that’s the trouble…..it seems like work. Need to think about that for awhile.
Not a great time for wargaming. Temperature in the 70’s, Baseball starting, yard work (with chainsaw) the order of the day. Plus, a new Surly ECR to ride. Just too many other things to do.
Still, have been hacking away at Thunderbolt/Apache Leader. Granted, I’m beating up on the hapless Iraqis, but it is fun zipping around in an A-10 using just cannon and rockeyes. Ground game mechanics are limited, but with a purpose. No sense getting bogged down in that, when the simple mechanics do put pressure on you to attrit as many enemy battalions as possible, stretching your assets to the maximum, or have your airbase overrun.
Received a book on the Dambusters today. Looking forward to getting into that and start building up knowledge for the preparation and flight phases of Enemy Coast Ahead.
Fishing and riding for the rest of the week.
Don’t answer that…….
Had to take both games down Monday morning. Reasons aren’t worth going into.
Put Thunderbolt/Apache Leader back up and made it through one turn. Limited myself to cannons & rockeyes in order to simply things concerning line of sight rules. Just grinding without any regard for results, just grasping the rules.
Speaking of rules, plowing through Dambuster’s flight rules. Will get that up on the table again.
Finally put down the rules and started to play last night. Heavy lifting. The download mentioned in the previous post was absolutely necessary. Do not start playing this game without it. Why?
When I went through my teacher training early in the millenium the rage was about learning styles. There were seven of them. Each learning style was to be used (if possible) in the lesson plan because each student has different ways of accessing the material presented in the lesson.
Well, my learning style(s) certainly did not mesh with the RAW for Enemy Coast Ahead. I’ve been cutting back on the booze, so I think I have my wits about me, but discerning game flow was damn near impossible.
It took a few days to figure out that the BACK of the scenario contained important set up information, especially as to where on the map to place critical counters.
The game-aid cards (with one each for the planning, flight and attack portions of the game), have all kinds of information not accessible (at least to me) in the rules.
As a result, the first play through involved juggling the rules, scenario, attack player aid card, and the download on my IPad. Again, get the damn download!!!
I think I have it now, and it is fun once you struggle through it.
What a difference from the Thunderbolt/Apache rules. With these rules, you can start reading and play right up to the primary attack phase. There things get a little stickier, but the introduction is easy and painless.
Hoping my next session is easier.
Earlier this month I set up Thunderbolt/Apache Leader. Made it through part of one turn before it came down for the Wavell’s War East African Campaign.
Set it back up the other day and started going through the rules. Short term memory is shot.
However, competition arrived in the form of Enemy Coast Ahead: The Dambuster Raid. This is a solitaire, GMT game, with great looking components and programmed rules. I am working on Scenario 5, which is the “newbie’s” scenario.
The Errata and Scenario 5 Replay download is extremely helpful.
Will work on both over the next few days. Should be fun with two well considered solo games on the table.
Had a nice talk with Tim last night about our recent Wavell’s War game and, especially, his posted comments.
I had some real second thoughts about the validity of using scrapped unit replacement points to build new headquarters. Big sigh of relief when I checked the rules this morning and confirmed it is OK.
We also talked about the low level of victory point (VIP) totals in the game, especially since they are calculated, for the most part, in January and July, only. This makes the status of Massua absolutely critical. This city is worth three VIPs per initial phase on or after April I/II ’41 for the side that controls the city.
With this in mind, Tim’s analyses of his attack supply and railroad construction challenges are very pertinent to successful Allied play.
I think we agreed to try it again. The when is TBD.
Back from Spring Training. Tim forwarded his observations while I was in Arizona. Here they are:
I like your idea of using your RPs from scrapping units to buy back HQs. Clever!
Having no SMPs in the Sudan really hurts the British. Once I moved forward from my railheads, I couldn’t use my attack supply. My logistics problems were of distributing attack supply, rather than the Italian problem of not having any. It didn’t help that I didn’t know that I only had to build two hexes of rail line. It wasn’t until I read the appendix on transportation lines that I found out that the rest of that rail road connecting the Sudan and Eritrea had been built. Being able to rail supply into Eritrea would have really helped the British.
I was pleased with my use of the motorized SDF battalions. Those guys saved my butt more than once!
I didn’t read the OB as closely as I normally do, which hurt me. I missed the Blen 1 unit in Aden and could have built a light armored battalion several turns sooner than I actually did. I’m embarrassed as I normally carefully read the OBs, which always pays off.
I think I dispersed my forces too much. In retrospect I probably should have used both divisions together in the Sudan and moved some non divisional units down the coast (in my defense, I didn’t realize how bad those ravine hexsides were– they really help the defense). The same applies in the south where I should have stacked some colonial units with the South Africans since I had lots of colonial RPs.
I wonder if I should have taken festung Berbera and then moved into the interior…
That exchange on the South Africans really hurt! That attack came to a halt until I could bring up another division from the coast, which cost me at least a month when I really couldn’t afford it. I had a couple of other exchanges and they all hurt, especially once I had to start withdrawing units.
I didn’t use my amphibious landing ability. I wonder if I should have tried taking some of the ports from the sea or landed next to Massawa…
The weather was a real headache. In most games its pretty predictable but in this one, it wasn’t.
There are a lot of Italian ants. I’m sure from the Italian point of view, it feels like you’re getting wiped out but from the British point of view, it felt like the ants were getting ready to overwhelm the anteaters. Once the Italians can concentrate their units it gets harder to destroy them.