North Africa Campaign (2)

Last night I stopped by Adler hobby to drop off some laser-cut bases I made for Adam, pick up some unpainted, figures I bought from Keith and to pick up my copy of the Black Powder rulebook. While I was there I participated in another game in the North Africa campaign we're playing there. My contribution was my light armor squadron. Chris brought his infantry company which included three Matilda tanks and an eight gun artillery battery.

We deployed with Chris on the left facing Gordon's Italian armor swarm supported by some German Stug G tanks. Chris was reinforced with our firestorm unit - my Deacon 6-LB self-propelled ATGs. On the right my armor faced against Adam's Fallschirmjäger infantry rhich was reinforced by some 8-rad armored cars, mortars and an 88 which Adam placed opposite Chris' Matilda tanks.

Chris held off Gordon's tidal wave of light tanks although he lost the Decaons and an both infantry platoons, one of which got blown up in their trucks by Adam's Infantry. I lost one platoon of Crusader II tanks which got destroyed trying to assault Adam's panzerknacker-armed infantry. The Germans lost Adam's armored cars, two platoons of Gordon's tanks. By the time we called it my tanks had reached our objective and it was a matter of time before they would capture it. On the other side Gordon's assault faltered as he started to run out of tanks in the face of the nearly indestructible Matildas. It was a good game, and I finally got my first win with my British armor.

Chris finished up the guns for his 8-gun battery of British 25-lb artillery. While I was taking photos of it Chris asked me to snap a couple photos of his Matildas.

Northern Conspiracy Game Night - July 2011

This past Friday we had our monthly club game night. Since it was a summer month we had two games scheduled instead of the normal three we put on during colder months. Pictured on the left is Michael the game master for one of the two games: Viking Dawn. This local version of the megga-game from this past year's Huzzah! convention. Michael ran this game with the help of the other club members who participated in the Huzzah! game as part of our club's participation in the convention event. This large game featured plenty of Vikings, Saxons, long boats, cogs, civilians, livestock and other valuables to plunder! I didn't play in the game but everyone seemed to have boatloads of fun.

The other game was a battle of the bulge WWII game run by club member Charlie (pictured below) using 15mm figures and Battlefront rules. I played one of the three attacking German commands with a small infantry contingent and four Stug assault guns. The Stugs fared well against the American's Sherman tanks, but were unable to dislodge the stubborn paratroopers defending the small town. In the end time ran out with the Americans firmly holding both objectives. Good game by them. They took heavy losses in their armor assets but the Airborne held firm.

Caribbean

Saturday at Adler we had a smaller than normal turn out due to Historicon being this weekend and it being a very nice day outside. Adam continued to use the day as a modeling day flocking the bases of a bunch of his 7YW figures. Gordon, Eric and I played a game of Caribbean.

Caribbean is a pure beer-and-pretzels game of piracy in the Caribbean. You play the role of a European merchant company who controls several ports in the area. Your goal is to get the local pirates to deliver their 'booty' to your ports. To accomplish this goal you bribe them with barrels of rum of course! Early on I ran off with a small lead due to a couple of clever steals of cargo. Gordon was close on my heals with Eric a distant third....but he was scheming a plan. During the mid game Eric climbed back into contention and in the final few turns he pushed Gordon and I down to 2nd and 3rd place with a couple of great cargo steals in the last two turns. Well played.

Thursday night at Adler Hobby & Bee Template

With so many people on vacation this week the Thursday night Adler Hobby gaming group decided to have a modeling night instead of a gaming night. Adam was painting some 15mm 18th century Russians (Seven Years War I believe) and re-basing some of his other 7YW figures. Chris was painting a FOW British 25 lb. battery including gunners and Gordon was working on his 28mm WWI desert figures for his 'Battle of the Bees' scenario.

For my contribution I brought a couple new 'Bee Templates' for Gordon to use in his game. The templates were made on my laser and will represent the swarms of bees that plagued the battlefield. The bee swarms will move randomly about the table and cause havoc for any troops who are unlucky enough to be 'swarmed'. If you're interested in a bee template or similar custom laser-cut gaming aids, feel free to contact me at my business site, Wright Brothers R/C and Engraving.

While people painted we talked about various things and had a great relaxing evening.
 

National Civil War Museum

One of the great things about vacationing in an RV is the fact that you can take side trips on a moment's notice when the mood hits you. During one afternoon of our trip it was particularly hot so instead of going to Hershey park for another day we took a drive to neighboring Harrisburg, PA to visit the National Civil War Museum. This Smithsonian affiliated museum is not something you'd stumble upon, but is well worth the trip to visit. They have a well organized and wonderfully presented collection of artifacts. The self-led tour of the museum is punctuated with many video presentations including a movie in a small theater.  There are two additional galleries with temporary exhibits which are rotated periodically. During our visit these featured an exhibit on animals in the Civil war and an exhibit on the first year of the war in time for the 150th anniversary.  Outdoors there are several artillery pieces on exhibit. Our visit took a couple of hours, but could have easily taken twice that time had we wished.

Of particular note for wargamers are two excellent dioramas. One of  Rohrbach bridge at Antietam (in 25mm) seen below on the left, and one of the "Hornets Nest" at Shiloh (in 40mm) seen below on the right.