HOUSE DISASTER AND MORE AWI

 It has been nearly a month since I last posted and I can sum up the delay in one phrase, Gen Con Prep. The big show is less than two weeks away, and I will be heading to Indianapolis in a week. Still, I have not only been working, but I have new buildings finished and a couple of AWI games AARs. 

Building Disaster: OK, not really. I have been constructing new 15mm 4Ground buildings for my upcoming WWII game. The first batch is all damage buildings, while the second are more of the intact versions. As usual my goal is to have enough to make towns, and eventually cities to fight in. 

Vehicles Added to Provide Scale. The Central Grand Hotel is Missing its Roof. I Have Spent a Long Time Trying to Dry Fit This. It is a Tricky Thing. 

On the AWI front I ran two games of Rebels and Patriots. The first is a repeat of the previous scenario with new players. This was a reversal of the last fight with the Colonials making a very strong defense against the Loyalist forces. A last-minute surge by the Loyalist Regulars saw them pull off a tie in Honor Points but having suffered tremendous casualties in the process. 

This Time the Colonials Chose to Make Their Initial Stand at the River on Their Left Instead of on the Hill Behind. 

Colonials Also Chose to Make a Direct Defense of the Bridge.

A Command Failure Forced the Light Troops into an Assault Against the Bridge Defenders. This Turned Out to be a Blessing in Disguise. On the Opposite Flank the Colonials Fire has Chased of the Iroquois and Compelled the Loyalist to Advance Through the Woods.   

A Quick Dash by the Light Infantry Took the Bridge Objective, but Only an Amazing Morale Check Allowed Them to Hold it. In the Right Background can be Seen the Loyalist Advance from the Woods into the Open Ground. The Capture of that Objective on the Final Turn Prevented a Loyalist Disaster. 

Consistent Poor Command Rolls and Colonial Firepower Prevented the Rest of the Loyalist Forces Ever Crossing the River. 

A lot has to go right to win a decisive victory in Rebels and Patriots, or a lot wrong. I will have another ARR with my next post, and a preview of some upcoming things in 2024. 

Bits, Bobs and Future Projects

 I have been working on a lot of projects simultaneously, so thought I would share what is coming in the future. First off, if the map is not a giveaway, there are the campaigns. WWII Toy Soldiers, see previous post, 19th Century Unification Wars, Dog Wars, and another project are all being given maps. The first two will be sharing the same map, or at least s similar one. The rest will have their own as their setting are quite different. 

Painting, painting and more painting. My never-ending chore that is self-inflicted. Like most gamers I have enough figures already to keep me at this for two lifetimes. OK, more like three or four lifetimes. I will never be done, as there is always a next project. I don't really finish any project, I just need to add a few more figures. Honest! Everything just needs that extra unit, or two, or three, or dozen, or ... To that end I added the new Army Painter SpeedPaint 2.0 to my collection. It's just a few colors. OK, OK, it's 89 colors, including 10 metals, and as SpeedPaint that means no deep shades, highlights, just each one doing a single full shade coat. Will I use all of these? Oh sure. 

Organized and Ready to Go. 

WWII Toy Soldiers painting continues. I have completed all the basic forces and am now on to the filling out stage, things like more First Line Infantry, Mortars, Anti-tank Rifles, trucks, tanks and so on. I have multiple sets of rules to tryout, Arriba Espana, Xenos Rampant, and Chain of Command. Each of these has their own feel and complexity and I need to decide which works the best for the games I want to run. 

Republican MGs

Royalist MGs

Royalist SMG Unit

Royalist Mortar and Anti-tank Rifle

High Command of Both Sides and Kaboom Markers

Bob and I got in a few play test games of Arriba Espana and Xenoes Rampant. I need to create a crib sheet for Arriba to help track all the things you do in the game. Xenoes turns out to be a bust. We played two games in under twenty minutes, and both were disasters. Xenoes looks like it would be fine to play alternative rules for 40K, but not very good at WWII. 

First Turn of Game One. 

Start of Game Two. We Both Have Learned a Few Things from Our Earlier Playthrough. 

End of Game Two. Bob Nearly Won This as His Forces are About to Breakthrough When His Army Becomes Exhausted. My Own Army was on the Brink of Exhaustion Too. 

WWII Toy Soldiers Progress - Part 2

 

I have started working on a map for amongst other things the WWII Toy Soldiers. This is the outline I am working from and there is a lot of changes I will be making, but this is the starting point. 

I got some more figures completed and am close to having enough ready for the first play test. My target is to have that ready early next week. No new troop types like Machineguns and Mortars added yet, but those are next on deck. I thought while I was posting I should add some better pictures of the Republicans. 

Royalist First Line Infantry

Royalist Second Line Infantry and High Command.

Royalist Artillery 

Royalist Army

Republicans and Royalist Side-by-Side View. 

Republican First Line Infantry. 

Republican Second Line Infantry.

Republican Artillery. 

The Republican Army. 

Royalist Defending a Border Town Against a Republican Attack. 

Republicans Storm the Town. 

Republican and Royalist Second Line Infantry Clash Outside of Town. 

WWII Toy Soldiers Progress

 

I have gotten a bit farther on both the world design and the painting sides of my game. The two sides are now the Royalists and the Republicans, not very original, but it covers the immediate needs of describing them. If you know anything about my style it is that I like Civil Wars with both sides being similar, with only slight variables. 

Background: After the Great Wars the victorious Nations dictated the abdication of all their adversaries' ruling families and their replacement by elected governments. The losing Nations would also have their territories broken up to prevent future wars. This all seemed grand to the victors by promoting democracy around the world, and self-autonomy to the various "repressed" peoples. It was not viewed as well by the people who had lived together for hundreds of years and whose cultures were split apart and given a form of government they know little about. Needless to say, things did not go over as expected. All the reforms did was replace a well governed kingdom with a group of small, self-serving countries. 

Coming: The Return of the King.

Here are additional pictures of the progress. These are not the best, and my wife the photographer would chastise me for taking the group shots facing the sun. I got it right on the rest. 

Republic Army First Line

Republic Second Line Troops

Republic Field Artillery

Republic SMG Troops

Republic Line Officers 

Royalist Test Figures. Still Undecide on the Helmet Color. 
Left side is Brown Violet, Right side is Olive Grey. Opinions Welcome. 

Same as Above, just a more Distant Look. 

A Comparative Look at Royalist Tests and Republican First Line. 
The Royalist Figures are not yet Satin Sealed. 

Republican Army in the Field. 
Note to Self. Keep the Sun at Your Back. 

Another New Project - WWII Toy Solders

 I have started another small project, this time it is Between the War/WWII era using toy soldiers. The figures are from Mark Coppelstone's Little Soldiers, which he refers to as pseudo-nostalgic Neo-Retro. What I call them is simple cool.   

This is more of a quick side project as I gear up for the new REALLY big thing, more on that in a future post. I have built two, as of now, unnamed forces, both organized along similar lines of four units of rifleman with a supporting LMG and officer for every other unit. There are two HMGs, a mortar group, anti-tank rifle and artillery gun with crew of four. There is also a second line pair of units, along with either and LMG, or HMG depending on the side. 

This is Army A Awaiting Painting. 

Here is Army B. 

I am envisioning these forces as something along the lines of Balkan's nations, or perhaps something like the opposite sides in the Spanish Civil War. I will be trying out a number of different rules sets such as Xenos Rampant, The Portable Wargame, Command and Colors WWI, or even something of my own design. 

I am also doing something different, at least for me, with all of these figures getting a Satin Varnish coat instead of the normal Dullcoat I use. This to me really changes the look from Historical Figures, to Toy Soldiers. 

First Basic Test Colors Based somewhat on US Regulation Uniform of the Era. 

A More Comple Version that I Rejected. 

The Final Unform for Army A. You can See the Shiny Effect of the Satin Coating on These Vs the Previous Image. This is the Standard Squad of Four Riflemen. 

TANKSGIVING - Toy for Tots

 This past Thanksgiving week there were a number of games played in support of the Toy for Tots Charitie. The Bulge games were run on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The North Africa games on Wednesday and Saturday, and to round it off a massive Team Yankee game on Saturday as well. Credit goes to HMGS Midwest, Games Plus in Mount Prospect and the Wednesday Night Historical Group who provided the games, space, models and a host of participants. They raised over 80 toys for this worthwhile endeavor.  

I personally participated in the Wednesday North Africa game on the British side, but no others as my work schedule required me elsewhere. I did get to glance in on the games throughout the days, and it looked like a good time was had by everyone. 

North Africa was a Meeting Engagement with the British Vs the Italians in 1940. There was a large mix of armor on both sides. In this timeframe the Italian armor is very good compared to the British. Both sides launched drives from their respective right flanks. The British was tied down until late in the game when they finally started making headway, but too late to be decisive. The Italians did much better and were only stopped at the last moments by the British pulling reinforcements from their center to stem the tide. 

British Starting Point. Australian Mixed Armor, Infantry and Artillery Support on Each Flank Stands British Armor. 

In the Center the Italians Held a Dominate Ridgeline That Held Up British Forces.

British Bring up Australian Reserves to try and Break the Center Deadlock to no Avail.  

On the British Left the Italians Advance with Massed Armor Supported by 90mm Anti-tank Guns.

This Proved Very Effective with Only a Last-Minute Reinforcement from the Center Stopping the Advance Short of Their Objective (Burned Out Tank Bottom of Picture).  

On the British Right Italian Light and Medium Tanks Stall the British for Most of the Game. 

Finally, in the Last Few Turns the British Make a Breakthrough, but it is too Late to be of Any Real Effect. 

In the end the game was a draw with both sides heavily bloodied.

British Command Observes the Carnage Safely from the Rear. 

As this Bulge game was going on simultaneously with the North Africa event, I was unable to get details. The Americans were tasked with holding off an attack by the Gross Deutschland forces along a wide front. In the end accurate German artillery fire and superior tank tactics won the day, giving the Germans a minor victory. 

Start of the Game Showing the US Center.

On Their Right US Tanks Await Behind Cover for the German Advance. 

German Center Advances

And is Slowed by some Accurate Fire. 

German Advances in the Center Continue as US Casualties Begin to Mount Up. 

On the American Right More Disaster Continues. 

On the Left Having Secured the Town the Germans Begin Turning the Flank. 

Near Games End and the Grim Harvest of the American Defense on the Left.