Tanksgiving 2018

Last Saturday I actually had the day off, so a decided to drive to Waycross to join in on Tanksgiving.  Tanksgiving is an annual event held by my friend Mike Baker just before Thanksgiving and is a series of armor games. This is the first time I'd been able to attend. We first started with Destopian Wars, a game I hadn't played before. It was the Prussians and French verses the British and Russians. I commanded one of the Prussian groups. 

On the right is my group which consist of a group of light tanks, a battery of artillery, and a Giant Robot that will from now on be call Mecha-Krout. On the left is the other Prussian group, consisting of another group of light tanks, a company of medium tanks, and a land carrier. 

A picture of my French allies, which include a land ship and  another rolling carrier. 

Some of the enemy British forces passing by the lake as a monster watches. Sadly it did not attack.

My units advancing through the town with Mecha-Krout trying to hide among the buildings. Didn't work out too well. 

Mecha-Krout charges forward to destroy the last Russian heavy anti-tank vehicle, before going down for the count.

Things don't go well on the French side either as their landship is destroyed.

In a final act of pettiness, the Russians use their mechanical earth worm, to run over the last of the Prussian light tanks

 In the end the French and Prussians suffered too many casualties and we lost. We then moved on to a game of Blitzkrieg Commander. The game was Russians verses Germans mid 44. This time I was playing on the Russian side. For the Russians we had a tank brigade of T-34s, supported by some heavy armor.

My force consisting of a battalion of T-34/76 and a company of infantry.

The rest of the Russian force. On my right a battalion of T-34/85 plus infantry company. On my left another battalion of      T-34/76 plus infantry. Farther to left out of the picture is the Russian heavy armor consisting of 2 KV-1 and 2 ISU-122.

The T-34/85 battalion moves into the nearest village. 

Meanwhile my battalion moved up to capture the central hill.

The bigger picture with the T-34 battalion on my left taking the other forward ridge line. Mikes heavy armor goes to the center to try to take on the German king tigers. On the left you can see one the kumpf groups equipped with Pzr IV tanks and some rather annoying PAK-40s. The king tigers were set up near the town behind a wall. On the right is the other kumpf group consisting of Pzr IV and Panther companies..

At end of the game on the left side my battalion was starting to take casualties while we lost all our heavy armor.

The right side at the end of the game. The T-34/85 battalion had taken heavy casualties, also inflecting losses on the Germans.

 In the end the we lost due to casualties. It was a fun time and I enjoyed it, I'm going to see about going to the next Tanksgiving. As of now I working on some new ships for the gnome con game.

"New" Books!

I know I said I'd have the new unit painted, but I got wrapped up in a combination of distraction and procrastination. The new unit is just about done (all I have to do is paint on the unit crest and flock the bases), in the mean time let's look at one of those distractions. A couple of months ago I spent the last of my Amazon gift cards I got for Christmas. I brought a new set of rules and a lot of cold war goodness.

First up we have World War 3 edited by Shelford Bidwell. This book was printed in 1978, so it should be an interesting read. The book is broken into two parts. The first part that I'm on now is a analytical look at the history, politics, and forces involved up to the printing date. The second part is a hypothetical scenario set in the near future of 1981.

The next book is a real gem, First Clash by Kenneth Macksey. I used to have this book in paperback back in the eighties and I can kick myself for letting it get tore up. This book was written as a training manual for the Canadian army and is a very detailed account of the Canadian's 4th Mechanized brigades defense against a soviet tank division in WWIII. I would suggest it to anyone interested in cold war military operations.

Speaking of military operations, the last book is Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics by William Baxter. This book is actually about Soviet army doctrine. I had seen this on Amazon several times at a very low price, but always decided not to buy it. However after hearing good things about it from Cold War Gamer, I decided to give it a try.

Finally I got a new set of Game Rules, Dragon Rampant by Daniel Mersey. I brought this as an alternative to HOTT. Like HOTT, Dragon Rampant is a fantasy version of a previous historical rules set, called Lion Rampant. While in someways more detail than HOTT, some of its rules are also simpler. Like HOTT the unit's are pretty generic. However, the option of additional add-ons allow for units that have more character than HOTT units, such as mounted shooters. The magic system is way more detailed with actual spells and some units able to have partial magical ability. Anyway I look forward to trying these rules out on the table.

Well those are the "new" books, I've also been thinking of doing some more naval warfare soon.

James

HOTT at Gnome Con V

Last weekend was Gnome Con V, our own game convention here in Savannah. Because of my work schedule I was only able to attend the first two days and I wasn't able to game much. Friday I arrived to late to take part in any games but I did stay to watch Christian's Star Dust game, with the Red Guard vs. the Dogs.

The next day me and Christian sat down for a few games of HOTT. The first being my drunk pirates vs. Christian's giant mutant farm animals.

I started out strong with good activation rolls, and I manage to take out several high powered units like his paladin and knights. My water lurker was especially useful, despite being out numbered.

Unfortunately, Christian was just able to squeak by a victory by points.

The pirates really hated the giant goat. 

The next game was between my Dinosaurs and Christian's Narnians.

Here General Gor Gor gives his troops another motivational speech.

Things went well at first, but due to a mistake a made in choosing the terrain Christian was able to push a couple of units off the table to win the game.

I wish I had more time to game last weekend. My new Megablitz unit is well under way. I've gathered the troops and equipment, cut the bases, and started gluing the heavy equipment to the bases. I hope to have pictures of the new unit up next week, then I'll be making some more terrain.

We're the Pirates of the Whiskey Seas!

Getting ready for Gnome Con, I decided to turn my attention to my long neglected Pirate army for HOTT. I'm planning to used this army on Saturday. Here are pictures of the new unit.

Here's the army all together. All these guys are by Rebel Miniatures.

A close up of my blade/war-band units.

The army also has a good amount of shooters. Note not all these stands would be used in a game.

Next up the Hero/Generals. From left to Right we have the Disney Pirates, Bonnie Anne and her raging bitches, and the Crips.

Of course it isn't a pirate army without a cannon!

Finally we have the special units a trio of sea witches and a water lurking Mermaid.

That's the new army next week I should have some good pictures from Gnome Con. After that I not sure what I'm doing next ether some new terrain of a new Megablitz unit, we'll see.

Starfleet Battles

Last Sunday I managed to get the time off to participate in the monthly SFB game. The scenario was the continuation of last months fighter game. It had the Orions trying to pick up their fighters as the Federation, Lyran, and Kzinti are closing in for revenge. I was playing the Federation which had a pretty powerful frigate. Mike was controlling a less powerful Kzinti frigate, and Bill was controling a Lyran frigate. On the other side Christian was controlling the Orion Salvage Cruiser and Alan was controlling an Orion Light Raider. Here are the pictures of the game.

My Federation frigate and Mike's Kzinti frigate at the start of the game.

The enemy Christian and Alan with their two ships close together. Bill's frigate can by seen in upper right corner. Unfortunately he had to use a substitute ship because of a broken stand.

The Lyran frigate and Orion Light Raider go at it. The orions got the better of this engagement.

Me and Mike Close on the Lyrans. I was following a swarm of drones Mike had launched. The Kzinti was not in a good position to support my attack as he wanted to take a few pot shots at the Lyrans.  

Bill frantically running away from a large group of drones.

The Kzinti and the light raider fighting it out, as the salvage cruiser tries to make a getaway.

In the end I was able to use some long range phaser shots to take out a third fighter thus giving our side a minor victory. Overall it was a fun game and I'm definitely planning to get back into SFB. On other news I started painting my pirate army a couple of weeks ago. It's been slow going, but they're starting to take shape.

One of the worst things to paint in this hobby is an irregular unit.

HOTT game

A couple of weeks ago me and Christian played a couple of games of HOTT. Unfortunately because of work and car problems, I've fallen behind and I'm only now getting around to posting the pictures from those games. So here are the pictures.

The first game was Christian's Romans vs. my Dinosaur army, Gor Gor and the Daring Beast of the lost world.

Christian's Roman army
4 blades
4 spears
2 riders
1 hero (General)

My dinosaur army had
3 riders
3 knights
2 beast
1 lurker
1 Cleric
1 Behemoth (General)

My forces lined up to face the Romans.

General Gor Gor gives his troops a motivational speech before the battle.

General Gor Gor attacks the Roman riders, while Christan's hero attacks my Cleric in what would be a protracted battle.

Meanwhile my Raptor lurkers ambush one of the Roman blade units.

The Roman hero and my Cleric continue to duke it out.

Meanwhile on the right flank. My carnivor riders engage more of Christin's blades and my horned knights engaged his spears.

The battle with the blades was indisive, while my knights and Christian's spears exchanged casualties.

Christian's hero fanally chases my Cleric off the board only to be confronted with Gor Gor himself.

My knights shift to engage Christians blades. Unfortunetly I lost too many stands and Christian won the game on.casulities.

The second game was between my dinosuars and Christian's Halloween army. This time I was the defender.

Christian's new army had the following:
1 magician (General)
2 shooters
2 blades
2 lurkers
2 riders
2 hordes
1 God

I was using the same troops as before.

The initial setup. My army set up on either side of our stronghold the plattoe.

Christian's ghost lurkers attacked my beast but they weren't afraid of ghost.

Gor Gor, who likes horse meat, eats some of Christian's cavalry, while his rat hordes move through the woods.

The Halloween army's god appear, and like many overpowered units disappears the next turn. Unfortunately, as is a bad habit of mine, I didn't get any pictures of the end of the game. Which is a shame as I had won the game by inflicting more casualties.

 Over all I enjoy the game and will probably play again once I have some more armies up. Anyway I've started on another Megablitz unit. I've actually finished painting it and I'll have the pictures in the next post. Here's a sneak peek.