DBA 28mm Later Carthaginians II/32

... Continued

The second 28mm army I was fortunate enough to acquire at Historicon 2009.

Later Carthaginians II/32:

An excellent example of a 28mm War Elephant.

Cavalry.

Numidian Light Horse.

Gallic Warbands.

Italian Auxilia.

Spanish Auxilia.

Balearic Slingers.

DBA 28mm Marian Romans II/49

This is the first of a two part entry.

At Historicon 2009 I was fortunate enough to come accross two 28mm DBA armies for sale at what I would call a very good price. These armies are very well done and I consider myself very lucky to have acquired them. These two armies are the first 28mm armies I have owned for DBA. In the past I had to borrow an army to play in 28mm DBA events. I do not know the miniature manufacturer.

Marian Romans II/49:

2 Cavalry Stands

4 Blades

4 More Blades

2 Psiloi

To Be Continued: DBA 28mm Later Carthaginians II/32

28mm WWII U.S. Paratroopers

Posting my goals got me to thinking about my U.S. Paratroopers I painted for Disposable Heroes and I decided to do a quick photoshoot of the miniatures. Artizan Designs is the manufacturer.

Command Section

Rifle Section 1

Rifle Section 2

Machine Gun Team 1

Machine Gun Team 2

60mm Mortar Weapons Team

2010 Gaming Goals

I work better if I have a clear set of objectives to be completed in a set amount of time. I suppose I get a feeling of accomplishment from marking completed items off of a list and depending on the goal I may also get the added benefit of new gaming materials. Certainly the list of goals must be attainable and given my current work requirements I may have to keep the list somewhat short for it to be realistically attainable.

Disposable Heroes German Regular Platoon

This is probably the biggest project I want to accomplish this year. My U.S. paratroopers have been finished for years and I can never host an entire game at my place with only one force. I have had the miniatures to do this for years as well, but being away from home for work purposes for up to a year at a time has really put a hurting on my gaming production.

G01 - By the end of 2010 have a German WWII platoon for DH&C7B either by painting the figures I have or by purchasing an already painted force. Obviously I am leaving myself an out here, but the actual possession of said platoon for the purposes of playing the game is more important to me than actually painting them myself.

G02 - Host at least 1 game using the U.S. and German forces.

Battletech

At the end of 2002 I was getting a serious jones for some heavy Battletech action and decided to purchase some miniatures and terrain to start playing again. I noticed WizKids had come out with a new game that used collectable Battletech figures that came painted out of the box but they were not 6mm scale like the original Battletech and Iron Wind metals was re-releasing many miniatures in the original scale as well. This was definitely a great time to get back into it. I chose the Mechwarrior path and have had the intent all these years of using the pre-painted minis to play Battletech. I have attempted to use them on several occasions over the years, but things didn't work as smoothly as the original hex based game board, so over the years I spent a lot of time surfing the internet for ideas and thinking about ways to use my MechWarrior minis that worked like the original game. I think I have come up with that recipe and now I need to actually follow through.

G03 - Mount a generous selection of MechWarrior miniatures on 2" hexes and finish the bases.

G04 - Actually host a game using the figures, hex map, hex terrain and buildings I have gathered over the years.

G05 - Build the 15mm hangar I purchased at Historicon last year.

Finish Mounting HeroClix Minis for Supers

In 2008 Mongo and Doc Merkury were responsible for introducing me to the world of Supers. Of course I wanted my own setup once I got into it and have been collecting vehicles, buildings and minis to use for such a game.

G06 - Finish basing a generous selection of HeroClix minis.

G07 - Create Supers stats for each based mini.

G08 - Actually host a game using the mounted figures, vehicles and building I have gathered.

Finish Middle Kingdom Egyptian DBA Army

Well, I have only been working on painting this army for 6 years. Its only 12 stands for crying out loud. What is the problem? Actually I have no idea, but it is so close to done that there is no reason not to finish it this year.

G09 - Completely finish my Egytian DBA Army.

General

A few general items have come up over the years as well and have been nagging me for completion.

G10 - Finish the bases on my 6mm trees.

G11 - Create a large river from MDF board.

G12 - Fashion bridge ends for a 28mm rail bridge I got at Historicon in 2008.

G13 - Create a set of foam terrain like Doc Merkury's.

G14 - Re-base the pulp figures I purchased recently.

G15 - Post 52 blog entries in 2010.

Well, there it is. I guess I am on the hook for some progress.
B.

The Battle of the Weser River, 16 AD

The Battle of the Weser River, sometimes known as a first Battle of Minden, was fought in 16 A.D. between Roman legions commanded by Emperor Tiberius' heir and adopted son Germanicus, and an alliance of Germanic tribes commanded by Arminius. The battle marked the end of a three-year campaign by Germanicus in Germania.

The Germanic chief, Arminius, had been instrumental in the organising of the Teutoburg Forest massacre, in which three Roman legions, moving east to winter quarters, were ambushed and annihilated by allied Germanic forces in the deep forests of western Germania. This loss loomed large in the Roman psyche and revenge for this defeat, as well as the neutralising of the threat of Arminius, were the impetus for Germanicus' campaign. In the year before the battle, 15 AD, Germanicus had marched against the Chatti and then against the Cherusci under Arminius. During that campaign, the Romans advanced along the region of the Teutoburg Forest where the legions had been massacred and buried the bones of the Roman soldiers that still lay there. A Legionary standard from the battle was also recovered. Skirmishes with the Germans were constant but the Romans could not draw them into open battle. (Wikipedia)

The scenario was very loosely historical in nature since we used whatever minis we had that were close and terrain is somewhat of an unknown since the exact location of the battle is not recorded. We used DBA rules with some minor modifications for 24 stands instead of 12 since there were 3 of us playing. The first side to reach 8 victory points would be the winner.

Battlefield Layout.

The Romans are on the right side of the picture in the open the way they like it and the Germans are positioned on a hill and taking advantage of some wooded areas on the left side of the picture.

The German cavalry advance through a break in the trees to charge the Roman leader on the left flank. The appear to have the upper hand as far as numbers are concerned.

The Romans advancing toward the German line waiting on the hill.

The Roman line infantry have done their job but are out of position to save their leader. The Germans slayed the Roman leader on the left and paralyzed the Roman advance.

The Germanic troops on the hill would deal a few more blows against the Romans and in the end the Germanic tribes would gain a very close victory over the Romans.

Not a historical result but fun none the less. This was a very fast game and we had enough time to teach a game of Commands and Colors before the evening was concluded.

New Pulp Vehicles

A few weeks ago one of the NL Wargamer group members told me about a local place that sells Matchbox Models of Yesteryear vehicles for around $5 each. I went over and looked through the easy access boxes and chose a few models. I grabbed a 1927 Talbot Van, 1930 Ford "A" and a 1928 Bugatti Type 44. I will have to go back and grab a few more. Apparently the remaining boxes were not easy to get at when I was there.

1927 Talbot Van

1930 Ford "A"

1928 Bugatti Type 44

Fang's Flight From Justice

I finally got to play Where Heroes Dare! over at Six Feet Under Games. Seven of us played while Doc M presided. The forces of good were the Communist Chinese, Interpol and Michael's Co-Prosperity Sphere. The forces of evil were Kong Fang, The Cult of Al, Zepplin Pirates and Natives. The object of the game (at least initially) was for each side to locate "the goods" and use one of two sea planes to make a getaway. The goods could be located at one of several Dare locations including the four trucks placed toward the center of the board.

Board Layout.

The Cult of Al and the Natives disperse toward the dare locations in search of the goods.

Kong Fang and his giant mechanical menace make a b-line toward the Communist Chinese ahead in the woods .

The Interpol group heads toward a sea plane.

By now the Interpol group has made it to the far sea plane and started the engine. Shortly after that the Communist Chinese find the goods in a wooded area and things start looking desperate for the evil faction. Apparently things were not well between the Interpol and the Communist Chinese because the Interpol group saw fit to leave without the goods or any other faction.

Apparently things weren't good between Kong Fang and the Cult of Al either because the Communist Chinese and Kong Fang allied and the lumbering menace made his way toward the Natives and the Cult of Al.

Kong Fang's robot tried to use its mind ray eyes on the Cult of Al and experienced a catastrophic failure causing an explosion and the loss of the weapon. This didn't stop it from continuing to crush things though.

While the Cult of Al tried to deal with the robot, the natives didn't take well to betrayal and charged Kong Fang in the woods trying to make his way to the plane with the goods.

At this point it was 9 pm and the store was closing soon so the game was called. The natives disolved Kong Fangs forces in the woods leaving a tenuous situation. Team play had been abandoned and it was every gang for themselves . The ending could have gone several ways, but we'll never know exactly how it all ended. Maybe the stories will be told in a future adventures ...

An excellent introduction for me to these fast play rules with infinite possibility. I look forward to the next game. :-)

Kernstown, 1862

A few friends and I gathered to play a little ACW the other night. The rules dujour were Rally 'Round the Flag. A little background on the scenario from Wikipedia:

The First Battle of Kernstown was fought on March 23, 1862, in Frederick County and Winchester, Virginia, the opening battle of Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War.

Attempting to tie down the Union forces in the Valley, under the overall command of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, Jackson received incorrect intelligence that a small detachment under Col. Nathan Kimball was vulnerable, but it was in fact a full infantry division more than twice the size of Jackson's force. His initial cavalry attack was forced back and he immediately reinforced it with a small infantry brigade. With his other two brigades, Jackson sought to envelop the Union right by way of Sandy Ridge. But Col. Erastus B. Tyler's brigade countered this movement, and, when Kimball's brigade moved to his assistance, the Confederates were driven from the field. There was no effective Union pursuit.

Although the battle was a Confederate tactical defeat, and in fact Jackson's only defeat in the war, it represented a strategic victory for the South by preventing the Union from transferring forces from the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce the Peninsula Campaign against the Confederate capital, Richmond. Kernstown started Jackson on the road to being one of the most celebrated Confederate generals.

Battlefield layout

The Confederates racing up the Union right side to get good position on Sandy Ridge.

Union soldiers in the center prepare for the eventual Confederate charge.

The Confederate charge in the center finally comes. This wasn't to last for long. After a few rounds of melee, the crack Confederate troops broke the morale of the Union troops in contact with them and the Union troops in reserve behind. The cannon to the right of the melee would be lost as well and eventually another command would be required to shore up the Union center.

The Confederates manage to get their riflemen and cannons in excellent position on the Union right flank. Something would have to be done about this ....

The most immediate threat in the center had been answered and a whole lotta Union troops are poised to make their way to Sandy Ridge on the Union right flank. Off in the distance on the left flank you can see the makings of what eventually became a failed cavalry charge.

With the Union cavalry out of the picture on the left the Confederates advance. The Confederates are advancing in the center as well, but fortunately the Union troops had some time to manuever.

The stage for the final skirmish in the center.

On the left the Union troops move forward to meet the Confederate advance. In the center, Union troops were finally successful in routing the Confederates.

In the end, the Union would control the center and the right, and the confederates controlled the left. This ruleset does not have an army morale system (that I know of) and we unanimously agreed the Confederates would have left the field to the Union. I believe this game effectively captured essence of the real historical conflict and was great fun. I wouldn't recommend these rules for further ACW play without some modifications though.