North Africa Campaign, Day 1

   Last weekend the Clear Lake Area Wargamers Squad (CLAWS) kicked off our North African campaign using Flames of War. We managed to get in six games and rolled off the unfought battles for the turn, including an unsuccessful LRDG raid. Darn it. Overall, the first day went well for the Axis, unfortunately, but in our second turn... I predict the Allies will surge back. Personally, I lost a 4-3 and won a 4-3. So pretty close on both fronts.

A shot of the room. Three tables in play.

Some of Gerald's amazing Algerian terrain.

A sight to warm the cockles of every Desert Rat's heart: Jerry tanks brewing up.

Some of Gerald's Vichy French (Senegalese, I think).

   I have a British Indian infantry company as my base force, with a variety of add-ons. I made the mistake of choosing to use a special rule in my first game which allows me to attack at night. Unfortunately, my opponent had fielded a German Pionierkompanie, and they can hold like the devil. The night-time also kept my air off the table. Plus, he rolled a freaking Tiger I-E as his Firestorm unit (we are using a modified Firestorm Bagration ruleset), and I got a platoon of Crusader IIs. Not a fair trade. Ah well. It was still an interesting game.

   In the second game, my placement of artillery left something to be desired. Zach's Panzers almost made mincemeat of them, and did kill off the staff team and one gun crew. He also took out my only real armour on the board, a platoon of Grants. I did enjoy machinegunning down a platoon of his infantry, trapped in the open, with a patrol of India Pattern Scout cars, aka lightly armoured mobile MG nests. A separate patrol did fine work against his anti-air platoon as well. In the end, I managed to stave off defeat because we ran out of time. Otherwise, it might easily have been a 4-3 loss in my second game as well. I might have been able to keep the objectives contested long enough to pull off a victory. Maybe.

Zach's Been Busy, pt. II

  As promised the last time, more of Zach's progress. I'm showing off his, because I haven't made much. However, I am starting to feel like painting again, so maybe something good will happen.

   This first mini was painted in one hour of brush time. It's a 40K figure, supposed to be a Dark Angel Space Marine, I think.

Not bad for just 60 minutes of brush time.

Zach reminds us "Strong Tone Ink Wash is Your Friend."

   This next one is for Infiniti. She's not finished yet. Me, I don't even know exactly to which faction she belongs. He's used a metallic blue paint for her armor. Which prompts the poll question.

   Well, that's all for now. Hope you liked them. Today I am supposed to play in a Flames of War North African campaign game. (I'm scheduling this post for later.) I will try to get a few shots of my brave Sikhs and British Tommies fighting Rommel's Huns.

Zach's Been Busy, pt. I

   You've heard me talk about my buddy Zach before. He invited me around this morning to see what he's been up to lately. Lots of painting going on at Casa de Maloney.

   First up, some Rebel Minis 15mm Sci-Fi. Zach said that the owner was a really pleasant guy to work with in ordering everything.

These fellows bear a striking resemblance to mercenaries from The Fifth Element.

Unlike the movie version, these have orange skin. Why?

"Because they're mine and I can paint 'em any color I want."

Really like these guys.

Here are some skeletal robots armed with heavy weapons.

And with some regular weapons - phased plasma rifles in the 40 Watt range.

I really like how he did his bases. Very "urban ruin" feeling.

   Zach also had a little bit of 28mm stuff to show me, some unfinished. I'll post those tomorrow, maybe Sunday. Something to which you may look forward!

Game Day Today...

   Today was a really busy game day for me.  I attended a sort of mini-convention near my home. My buddy Zach went along and we spent the day playing a variety of games - more games combined in one day than I've played so far this year.

   First up was an Infinity demo. Zach is quite keen on this game, having played in one other demo previously. I took a small Nomad force and he took a PanOceania force. The terrain was pretty heavy - something I understand is pretty important for the game. I ended up winning by eliminating three of his four troopers at the cost of two of my own. We kept to just the basics, but it seems like a fun game. I'll have to talk him into buying some terrain. Maybe if I offer to paint it for him... Anyway, thanks to Duncan and Curtis for helping put this together.

Lots of nice terrain for Infinity - laser cut MDF from various manufacturers.

   Next we played a couple of games of Zombicide: Black Plague, which is the medieval fantasy themed version of Zombicide. The first game ended rather abruptly as our victory conditions required that all six of the survivors (players) had to exit the board through a particular space. One of the survivors was killed, ending the game for us. We re-played the same scenario a second time (the fifth scenario "The Commandery," if you are familiar with it). We succeeded this time, despite one player doing exactly the same thing he had done in the first game that led to his demise the first time around!

Hordes of zeds headed our way in Zombicide: Black Plague.

   After that I went and played a few games of King of Tokyo. This is a fun, relatively quick game that combines kaiju monsters, Yahtzee-like dice rolling, power-up cards, and 'king of the hill.' I lost the first game, but won the second on Victory Points. Judicious use of a power-up card (Wings) kept me from being eliminated by some pretty heavy attacks.

   The last game in which I participated was a weird little card game called Exploding Kittens. Essentially, you don't want to draw an Exploding Kitten card. If you do, you're out. Last man standing wins. You play cards to make other people draw cards, avoid having to draw them yourself, steal a card from their hand, and so on. It's alright, but maybe a little odd in terms of art and card titles and such for me.

Summer in the UK

Hurrah!

My family and I will be returning to the UK again this summer. Booked airfare last night. Our itnerary is less focused than usual, as yet.

We will be in London on July 11-12. My son has a tour of a college campus (University of East London) that he is interested in attending.

We will be in Edinburgh from the 13-17 July. After that, Momma heads back to the US and the boys and I go... somewhere. Considering a day or two in Weymouth again, as it was lovely, and I'd like to see the Goddards again and stay in that lovely little hotel from last time. The owners were wonderful.

Also considering a visit to northern cities. Any suggestions? We will be there another week.

Finally, I would love to meet any gamers in the areas in which we visit. Just give a shout!