Austin,College Station, Dallas, Ft.Worth,
Houston, Midland, San Antonio, Waco

From a post to the LSHMaustin yahoogroup by Lance Hardaway

Our game yesterday pitted the Allies led by General Stork seconded by Generals van Hardaway and McCllelan against Duque Bennett supported by Generals Dunn, Brady and Gordon (lots of expatriate Brits in that army!)It was the first game played with the newly published “Beneath
the Lily Banners” by Barry Hilton.

The Allies deployed in a good defensive position, fortunately, because they fielded a majority of plodding brigadiers. Danish, Dutch and British troops faced the Hispano-French forces. Both sides tried turning movements on their left with the Latins advancing in the center. Artillery seemed to be very effective for both sides, causing steady shaking and retro movements for all. Whilst the Allied center and left prepared for the French attack catastrophe struck on the
right. The ferocious Duque Dave led his recently raised Spanish cavalry in an devastating onslaught on Gen. Stork’s British cavalry and infantry. A series of shocking dice rolls led to a cascade of routs by the Redcoats. Even the Blues and the reserve infantry could not stop the redoubtable Spanish. The Dutch and Danish cavalry supported by Gen. McClellan’s Dutch infantry girded themselves for a rearguard action. Sputtering with frustration Gen. Stork promised a rematch in a month with new subordinates, perhaps the hard-fighting Gen. Farmer and the elusive Gen. von Miller. While celebrating with the finest wines of Castille and champagne the Latin Allies looked forward to the return of Generals. de Allnutt, von Chun, and the mysterious Duc du Lys.

The game was interesting with mixed views on BLB. Another trial will be needed before tweaking may begin and GHG still has plenty of copies for those interested. By special dispatch from Gen. van Hardaway to the Hollandaise Gazette, your saucy source of news!

Being 20th C. day, there was a lot of action at the store, including two games of Flames of War, a large Spanish Civil War game and some ancients.

Spanish Civil War - Premira Batalla!
   
Dave A, Lance and Jeff command the nationalist forces.
Kevin, Gordon and Dave Mc command the republicans.
Nationalist Asaltos in prepared positions ready to repel the communist onslaught.

  
Communist militia supported by Andalucian militia.
Communist militia advance under cover.
Carlist Requetes taunt their leftist enemies from the safety of trenches.

Flames of War - West Front
   
Scott and William prepare for Americans versus Germans as Joe looks on.
Germans defend in the Breakthrough.
German Grenadiers.
Americans cover the cross roads.

Flames of War - East Front
   
The Soviet players on the left, including Fred on the right (who in all these years has never played Soviets!)
The Axis players: Biff and Sander on the left.
Soviet T-34/85s and Soviet JS-2s.

   
StuG in the woods.
Germans take advantage of cover.
German 12 cm Mortar crew.
German 10.5 cm battery.

Field of Glory - Gauls versus Welsh
  
Hank. Nathan. The armies clash.

 
Overview of 15mm Welsh versus 10mm Gauls.
Nathan’s Gaulic masses.

Miniatures gaming was moderate on this final Sunday of April, with some Glory! Napoleonics, Field of Glory, and some WWI miniatures.

Field of Glory Ancients
 
Nathan, Marty, Kevin, and Hank played Germans versus Welsh (I think). The Germans won, but I don’t know any of the details.

WWI

Cornell designed his own miniatures game and borrowed some of my miniatures to play with his brother and mom.

Glory! Napoleonics
At Gordon’s suggestion, we decided to play a big battle of Glory! Napoleonics. We had about 6000 points per side. The French forces consisted of three brigades of infantry (total of 13 battalions), one cavalry brigade (one Polish Uhlan regiment and one French Dragoon regt.) and one 8 pounder foot battery.

The Allies fielded a mixed Austrian infantry force of two Hungarian infantry battalions, one German infantry battalion, one Hungarian grenadier battalion, one Grenzer battalion, and a 6 pounder battery. The Austrian cavalry brigade consisted of two Dragoon regts., and a fast 6 pounder battery. The Russians contributed four small regiments of musketeers, a grenadier battalion, and a 6 pounder foot battery. 
  
Sander, Gordon, Dave McL, and Scott command the Austrians and Russians.
William, Dave B, Ken and I command the French.

   
Initial deployments, French on the right and Austro-Russian forces on the left of the first picture.
Hungarian infantry and 6 pounder battery on the Allied right.
Austrian Grenzers, Grenadiers and Infantry push forward to envelop the French left.
French line, legere, and artillery on the left flank.

Cavalry Battle on the French right
   
As the infantry lines closed and artillery batteries wrecked havoc on the enemy, the cavalry regiments of both sides clashed repeatedly. It looked good for the French as William initially was able to concentrate both his regiments against a single Austrian dragoon regiment. But Scott rallied the Austrian dragoons and in the mean time threw his other regiment in, sending the French reeling. But William managed to stabilize the situation with supporting infantry battalions, who threw back the Austrian charges with severe losses.

General Advance
  
On the French left and center, the infantry forces rushed forward to grab the buildings and hedged gardens. The Austrian flanking movement tops the crest of a hill, bringing additional pressure on the French left.

Conclusion
  
Sander’s flanking force finally arrived and assaulted the French left, driving them out of the town. But the Austrians and Russians were thrown back in the center. On the French right, the Austrian cavalry were finally driven off suffering heavy casulaties. William’s reserve infantry brigade and Dave’s battalions pressed the Russians in the center.

In the end, it was declared a French victory based on Glory points from the close action victories. William won the majority of the French Glory with the cavalry engagements, but Ken and I contributed a few Glory as well throwing back Austrian and Russian attacks.

The rules are working pretty smoothly now. After our major changes to the command and control system, we have made few changes, other than some minor tweaks. The army lists for French, Austrians, Russians, British, and Spanish (all 1813 - 14) are now posted as well. You can request membership to our Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/napoleon-miniatures-rules where you can download the rules and army lists.

This past Sunday we played the first battle in the Punic Wars FOG mini campaign.

you can find the full campaign rules here

Chip played the role of Hannibal and his brothers while Dave M and John A. where on the Roman side with the Cornelius brothers.

 The campaign is a “what if” campaign starting right after the fall of Saguntum to Hannibal. The Roman Senate has decided to react to this act by sending a consular army to Tarraco under the command of Publius Cornelius Scipio ( Father of Scipio to be “Africanus” ).

Here is the deployment map and some pictures

             

 Here are some more pictures and maps of the battle

   

The commanders only had partial information on each others armies based on the pre-battle initiative and we used cardboard templates to represent hidden units and some dummy markers. Units deployed behind other units where hidden.

  

  

I wrote a full battle report but in order not to use the full LSHM front page I placed it on the FOG web forum, you can find the full battle report with lots of pictures and detailed explanations and what happened at this link

  Full Battle Report

The next battle of the mini campaign will be in about five weeks !

Francisco

We came together on Monday Night to play our 3rd game of CAV2. Rich & Roger squared off with 4000pts of elements from “Section 7″ (Rich) & “The Black Jacks” (Roger) vs a like number of points from my “Legacy Operations Group” commanded by Jim, Mike and me.

Rich designed a very cool scenario whereby each force would converge on an industrial area in map center which had been taken over by a Prison Labor Force which was now armed with small arms (from the security guards) and improvised weapons. The idea being that both sides would not only contend with each other but also the prisoners which would automatically fire at the closest target. As per many of our games, Rich worked game event cards which would give a random element to the game. Ex: One card allowed the drawing side to play a “Improvised weapon” event whereby the prisoners rolled explosive drums of fuel/chemicals at the other side, which could cause some moderate damage to an advancing model (imagine the fuel dump scene in “The Battle of Bulge”).

The game was very close with Section 7 & The Black Jacks causing more damage, but Legacy destroying more models for the final victory.

We are begining to learn some of the finer points of the game with indirect fire, orbital strikes, ecm/est playing a bigger role.

Legacy (Left) advances on the industrial complex, while Section 7 (bottom right) attempt an end run. The Black Jacks can be seen near the industrial complex (top right).

Legacy forces take out one of the buildings held by the inmates.

  

Left: Close up of the industrial complex. Right: Section 7 Gunships.

Overview of the table.

Happy Gaming…Faron.

Well, FOW Fest 2008 has come and gone again, with great competition from players all across Texas: Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. We had 20 attendees, ten in the Mid War division and ten in the Late War division. Here are the results:

Mid War Division

Name

Army

Total

John Anhaiser-1st

Italian - Bersagliari

15

Aaron Somerville-2nd

German - Infantry?

14

Will Burns

Soviet - Tankovy

12

Ian Strauss

US - Infantry

11

Dave Vajgert

British - Rifle Coy

10

Alec Aaron

German - Falschirmjager

9

Bill Brock

German - Panzergrenadier

9

Chip Aaron

Indian - Motor Inf.?

9

Stuart Yee

Italian - Bersagliari

5

Alan Duff

US - Armored Infantry

4

Late War Division

Name

Army

Total

Andy Blozinski -1st

German - Evil SS Panzer Pion

16

Mark Brown -2nd

German - Infantry

13

David Coon

German - Panzerkompanie

12

Hall Rudd

Soviet - Tankovy

11

William Boykin

Soviet - Tankovy

10

Christopher Baker

German - Panzerkompany

9

Everett Chun

German - Panzerpioneer

7

William Coleman

German Panzer Grenadier

7

Biff Coon

British - Airlanding Coy.

6

Mike May

Soviet - Tankovy

6

Best Painted
Two Armies were judged as best painted this year:

  
British Air Landing Coy by Biff Coon

  
Italian Bersagliari by Stuart Yee

Pictures of the Games…
   

   

   

   

   

More pictures to follow…

We old timers tend to think of the event as Muster Day, but whatever you call it, the folks at Camp Mabry put on their annual show this weekend. I took my niece and nephew to the event and they had a blast. We visited all the vehicle displays on the parade ground, watched the search and rescue dog demonstration, visited the museum, then watched the demonstrations for the Texas Revolution, the Texas Rangers, and the Civil War. These could hardly be called reinactments. There were six guys for the Texas Revolution, three guys for the Rangers, and only two Civil War reinactors. Now the WWII reinactment was a show worth the price of admission (the event is free by the way) all by itself. They did an impression based on the last battle of the 36th Infantry Division (TXANG) and it was impressive. Tanks, artillery simulators, jeeps, kubelwagens, machine guns, a hetzer and plenty of troops fighting over a well prepared battlefield with shellholes, dragons teeth, and buildings. The first thing my niece asked me after the WWII reinactment was could we come back next year. Well done guys!!!

A tad late in posting but here is the game report for the club meeting last Sunday. There were two games being played. One was a playtest of Rob’s GLORY! Napoleonic rules and the other was a big game of our house rules for Under the Lily Banner for War of the Spanish Succession.

Left: French battalion prepares to battle the approaching enemy.
Right: Gordon Derr, William, and Scott McKinley playing GLORY!

Left: The Spanish-Franco-Bavarian line at the start of the battle
Right: The Dutch line at the start of the battle

This was a very fun game even though we got started late. The Spanish cavalry did an end-around and took on the cavalry reserve while Dave Allnut commanding the French cavalry took the Dutch head on in the center of the line. Both sides gleefully chewed each others horse into hamburger. The Spanish pressed the Dutch right flank hard and was in the process of turning it as time ran out. Sadly the Bavarians on the other end of the table were getting hard pressed by the Dutch on that flank. Pretty much a bloody draw but a fun one. We are all looking forward to seeing the commercial version of these rules. Hopefully they will be good enough for us to go back to the written set. Nothing wrong my house rules, but commercial rules have the advantage of anyone can get a set and if folks want to play at Millennium they don’t have to learn our house rules from scratch.

While “better late then never” is an oft used cliché, it is equally most often simply a lame excuse for procrastination.  I really have no excuse for why it has taken me so long to get these results posted, except perhaps that real life just got in the way.  Let me start off then by not making further excuses and just say to those who participated in last February’s OwlCon Flames of War (FoW) events, and those that supported them with prizes, that I am extremely grateful for your involvement and assistance in making it an enjoyable and successful event and I am profusely sorry it has taken me this long to post the final results.  I’m sure all involved in this past event have moved on now and probably long forgotten what happened that weekend in early February; however I do believe that the effort put in by those of you involved in the two tournaments is worth this summary of what transpired, if to serve no other purpose then to wrap things up once and for all.

SUPPORT

Between the generosities of Lone Star Historical Miniatures (who donated two boxed platoons of tanks), Battlefront (who donated a large passel of merchandise including Festung Europa, several platoon boxes, and other assorted minis and accessories), and Little Wars (who filled in with additional accessories) we were able to send everyone away with something - which is always our goal, if possible.  To you all my sincerest thanks.  We all enjoy our FoW hobby and routinely play it for no more reward then having a good time, but it is always nice to take away a treat when you commit the time and energy to play in an organized all-day event like a tournament. 

A special thank you is also in order for the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.  They were kind enough to assemble a number of shrink wrapped sets consisting of one Museum monogrammed leather bound notebook, writing implement, and dog tags.  They provided sufficient numbers of these that each WWII themed event at OwlCon received one as a prize.  One was thus handed out as a prize to each of the two FOW tournament groups.

FORMAT

The tournaments were both 1500 point three round affairs, with 2.5 hours allotted for each round.  We had ten players in mid-war and nine players in late-war, so “byes” were used on Sunday.  Some of the guys played in both tournaments.  We awarded prizes for Best General, Best Army (by popular vote), Best Sportsman (popular vote), and Best Table Terrain (again popular vote).  A “Dunkirk” award, in the form of Battlefront’s fire and smoke accessory, was awarded to the last-place player in each tournament, to commemorate the “smoking” they received at the hands of their opponents. 

This year I tried something new, allowing each player to submit three variations on the same core company list.  They essentially had three “slots” they could fill.  They could use a single 1500 point list to fill all three “slots”, use a single list in each of two “slots” and provide a variation to that list for the third “slot”, or provide three different lists, one for each “slot”.  Much like the Axis of Attack campaign rules in FoW, players had to pick a single nationality and company type for their army, then each alternative list for that army could have different support platoon choices (including aircraft) or differing numbers of sections/equipment in their HQ, combat and/or weapon platoons.  If they wished to add, remove, or substitute combat and/or weapon platoons to differentiate one list from another then they had to pay a VP penalty, which was deducted from their tournament total.  Once a player knew what table they were playing on, who their opponent was - more importantly what type of army their opponent had - and whether they would be the attacker or defender then they would have to decide which “slot” to use for that game.  Once committed to a round that “slot” could not be used again.

I wanted players to have the flexibility to field the right list for the task at hand, particularly as each type of opponent, scenario, and role in that scenario is best addressed by different tactics and different list choices.  An infantry company faced with an opposing infantry company requires a different mix of weapons then that same infantry company up against an armored company.  From past personal experience, trying to design and field a general jack-of-all-trades company with only 1500 points, to use competitively in a tournament, can lead to frustration from the outset if the luck of the draw always has you at a slight to moderate disadvantage.  I felt my approach added a bit more “strategizing” to players’ decision making regarding what they brought to the tournament and how they utilized what they had.  “Should I use an ant-tank heavy force in one slot in case I come up against a lot of tanks, or should I use it in two slots because the trend seems to be that more players are playing tank armies then before?”  “Should one of my armies have AA in it in case my opponent fields air support?”  I felt that FoW has been out long enough for most folks to have built up sizeable armies, but for those who might not have all the bells and whistles to choose from they could just field a single list in all three “slots” and still do well.  I’d be interested in hearing from the participants in these tournaments whether or not they felt their success and enjoyment of the games they played was heightened by using this system of list variation.  Of course the other way to deal with this is to field larger armies, 1750 points or more, but the concern I have there is that with 2.5 hour rounds and larger numbers of platoons you run a greater risk that not all platoons will get onto the table, or will arrive too late in the game to have any real effect (assuming reserve rules are in use).

The other reason I wanted players to bring alternate lists was that I planned a further wrinkle.  Each tournament told a story.  The first round of the mid-war tournament postulated that the Axis side was again on the attack, so the first scenario was Breakthrough, with the Axis players attacking on all tables.  We had equal numbers of Axis and Allied players in the mid-war tournament, and were only off by one in the late-war, so I totaled the Axis VP and Allied VP after each round, kept a running total between rounds, and used that running total to decide the “course” of the “war”.  This meant that for some of the rounds the Axis or Allied sides were considered the attackers, on every table, regardless of the Fair Fight special rule.  It was my hope that with three list variations available to them that players would recognize that occasionally their infantry company might be asked to attack an armored company.  I compensated players for the “hardship” this situation would put them in by awarding a bonus of two VP to players who would otherwise be expected to defend under the Fair Fight special rule but in fact were asked to attack by circumstance.  I think this radical approach added interest and a touch more realism to the match-ups, simulating those situations where higher level commanders have ordered a unit to perform tasks that they might not be equipped to handle.  In hindsight I should have publicized this wrinkle before the tournaments began so the potential for a “disadvantaged” match-up could have been partially compensated for by judicious use of the aforementioned list variation approach.

MID-WAR

We had six tables for mid-war, decorated with terrain by volunteers.  We used five at a time, relying on Battlefront’s Tournament database to decide for us which five.  You can see photos of each table in the photo collection linked at the end of this article.  Congratulations to Chris Kitchen for winning the nicest table award with his Mediterranean theme.  His use of Scott Washburn’s PaperTerrain and the relief he added with foam under his cloth made for a really attractive table.  Congratulations also to Brook Burg, whose Tunisian Desert table was runner-up.  The tables were…

• Table 1 - Mediterranean - Chris Kitchen
• Table 2 - Tunisian Desert - Brook Burg
• Table 3 - Eastern Front - Trujillo Francisco
• Table 4 - Kursk Steppes - Bill Green
• Table 5 - Rural France - Mark Long
• Table 6 - Bombed out City - Dave Whitford

The following round descriptions have been paraphrased from the handout I provided all players.

Round 1 - The Axis war machine was still wallowing in the early successes of the war.  In a bold, but not entirely unexpected, move Hitler ordered renewed offensives on all fronts, intent on capturing the next set of crucial political and military objectives, wherever his forces were in action.

Scenario: Breakthrough - Axis players HAD to be the attackers.  Fighting was fierce but the final VP tally saw the Axis jump out to an early lead with 21 VP to the Allies 13, with John and Dave scoring six each for the Axis and Will delivering the single six for the Allies.

Round 2 - Axis won round one.  The initial attacks met with great success, whether that success could be followed up had to be determined.  The Allies needed to regain lost ground, to buy time for their reinforcements to arrive.

Scenario: The Cauldron - Allied players HAD to be the attackers.  This time, the Axis players absolutely trounced the Allies, 27 to 8, with Dave and Chris raking in sixes and the Allies settling with just ones and twos.  This brought the cumulative totals to 48 and 21.

Round 3 - Axis were winning.  As with so many other battles, the initial Axis blitzkrieg had its effect.  The allies were clearly on the defensive again and needed to pull back, gracefully, to form new defensive lines.

Scenario: Fighting Withdrawal - Axis players HAD to be the attackers.  In this final round the Allies bounced back handily, grabbing an impressive 27 VP to beat the Axis’ 16.  Of note were sixes awarded to Allies Will, Mark, Willis and Walter.  Dave scored the lone six for the Axis.

This brought the grand totals to Axis: 64 and Allies: 48, a clear win for the Axis side.  Final scores looked like this…

Dave Whitford (Ostfront Panzerkompanie)	18
Chris Kitchen (Italian Afrika Compagnia Bersaglieri)	14
Will Burns (Soviet Tankovy Batalon)	13
John Daigle (Romanian Companie Cari de Lupta)	12
Mark Long (Soviet Tankovy Batalon)	12
Bill Green (German Ostfront Panzergrenadierkompanie)	11
Brook Burg (German Ostfront Grenadierkompanie)	9
Walter McGovern (US Afrika Armored Infantry Company)	9
Willis Marti (US Afrika Armored Infantry Company)	9
Trujillo Francisco (Soviet Guard Strelkovy Batalon)	5

Congratulations to Best General Dave Whitford, whose sterling command successes would continue the following day.  Best Army was a tie in the popular vote, between Chris Kitchen and John Daigle.  They rolled dice off in true gamesmanship fashion and John won and got his choice of prize.  Chris also won for his beautiful terrain and got a copy of the Art of War for his generalship as well.  Mark Long received top billing in terms of Best Sportsman.  Last but not least, Jil Francisco walked away from the day with the coveted “Dunkirk” award, with a gentle reminder to use plenty of smoke so the enemy won’t get a clear shot in the future.   

LATE-WAR

We had five tables for this tournament, but only nine players, so again one table went unused each round.  You can see photos of each table in the photo collection linked at the end of this article.  Congratulations to Brook Burg for his exceptional Tunisian Desert table.  Again, his use of PaperTerrain buildings and a LARGE collection of palm trees made the whole table look marvelous.  Honorable Mention went to Eric Warren.  He had constructed six terrain squares and arranged them to represent a gully and some nearby low hills.  The tables were…

• Table 1 - Eastern Front - Andy Blozinski
• Table 2 - Tunisian Desert - Brook Burg
• Table 3 - Rural Normandy - Eric Warren
• Table 4 - Rural Europe - Scott Wilson
• Table 5 - Bombed out City - Dave Whitford

The following round descriptions have been paraphrased from the handout I provided all players.

Round 1 - The tide had turned and now the Allies were resurgent.  Successes in North Africa, Italy and at Kursk had set the stage for a Germany now very much on the defensive.  With the Allies ashore in Normandy, and the Germans trying to protect Rome, Joe Stalin set in motion his next big push as well.

Scenario: Breakthrough - Allied players HAD to be the attackers.  The Allied players managed to eke out a victory, narrowly eclipsing the Axis total of 16 with 18 of their own VP.  Besides the six that Mark received for a ‘bye”, Brook earned six and, despite having one fewer player then the Axis side, the remainder of the Allies combined VP totals still managed to beat the Axis.  Andy’s five was the best the Axis could do in this opening round.

Round 2 - The Allies had won round one.  The Allied attack had made good ground and Axis forces were in a serious predicament.  To preserve the situation the local Axis commanders decided to ignore their “stand fast” orders and withdrew to better defensive positions.

Scenario: Fighting Withdrawal - Allied players HAD to be the attackers.  Not content to sit and take it, the Axis players bounced right back and in a flurry of battles won back the advantage to the tune of 17 to 13, bringing their total to 33 against the Allies 31.  David again won six VP for the Axis and Scott countered with six for the Allies to keep the round totals tight.  Carl’s “bye” six was discounted this round to keep the sides even in terms of players.

Round 3 - The Axis were winning.  The situation had stabilized and for the moment the Allied offensive had been all but stopped.  As forces from both sides settled into their new front line positions, occasional clashes between opposing elements continued to occur, and a few of these encounters escalated quickly.

Scenario: Encounter - The scenario rules were used to determine attacker and defender.  Amazingly this round ended with a dramatic tie, with the Allies and Axis both capturing 14 VP.  Dave completed his hat trick and won another six, handily becoming our General of the tournament.  On the Allied side both Scott and Eric came away with sixes.  Jil’s “bye” six was discounted, again to balance the teams. 

This brought the grand total to Axis: 47 and Allies: 45, a very near fought day indeed.  Final scores looked like this…

Dave Whitford (German FE Panzerkompanie)	16
Scott Wilson (7th Armored Division Armored Squadron)	15
Andy Blozinski (German FE SS Panzergrenadierkompanie)	14
Carl Bellatti (German FE Panzerkompanie)	13
Brook Burg (US Airborne Company)	11
Eric Warren (7th Armored Division Armored Squadron)	11
Trujillo Francisco (German FE SS Panzergrenadierkompanie)	8
Mark Long (Soviet Tankovy Batalon)	8
Phil Brod (German FE Panzerkompanie)	8

Congratulations to Dave Whitford for receiving the Best General award, he managed to take top generalship honors in both tournaments.  Carl Bellatti won Best Army for his terrific looking winter panzer company.  Carl also took a prize home in the con’s miniature painting competition, although his entry was not a historical mini one.  Many congratulations to you Carl.  Brook Burg won the Best Sportsman award, as well as the aforementioned table design prize.  Finally, Phil Brod was the proud recipient of the “Dunkirk” award, the cloud of smoke and fire.

PHOTOS

I’ve compiled collections of photos for both tournaments that include the players, their armies, the laid-out tables, and a few pictures from each round’s action on each table.  Rather then cross posting them to each of the Yahoo groups I have instead placed them on Fileden.  Please feel free to download them and have a look.  I have additional photos from the events not included here so if you are interested in seeing those please contact me offline.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/29/1125327/OwlCon%202008%20FoW/Mid-War.zip

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/29/1125327/OwlCon%202008%20FoW/Late-War.zip

CONCLUSION

Thanks again to all those involved and a special thanks to Andy Solberg, Gaming Coordinator for OwlCon, who trusted in me enough to give me the much coveted tables for TWO tournaments and worked with me throughout to ensure you all had a good experience.

I had a great time organizing and running these events and thought it was terrific to see some new faces and meet some of you guys for the first time.

I look forward to next year and hope to see us get ten to twelve early commitments to the pre-reg process so we will know who is in the events next year.  I shall also endeavor to send out the rules earlier next year.  I believe the experiments attempted this year were worthwhile and from what guys have told me they were well received.  Expect more of the same next year and, as a precursor to OwlCon 2009, please do not forget to attend Heat of Battle II in New Orleans the weekend of August 22, 23, and 24 2008, when I plan to run a very similar 10-12 player late-war tournament on Saturday night the 23^rd and Sunday the 24th.

Thanks again for reading my long post and I look forward to meeting and playing you all in the future. J\

–Andy Bouffard (abouffard@esri.com)

Our 2nd CAV game featured the same ruined city terrain but with a new scenario. Both sides entered the North board edge (Legacy - North East & Section 7 - North West) and fought their way South to the Governors Palace. The game was a race to see who could rescue/capture the Governor and get him off board. We used more vehicles and less CAV’s in this 3K game. Each side split off a significant portion of their armored sections to run down the center East-West street (Strassbourg Blvd) in hopes of cutting off the other sides’ force heading for the Governor’s Compound. A huge armored battle ensued in the city center.

Section 7 (Grey) forces managed to beat Legacy (Tan) to the compound, made the succesful roll to find & secure the Governor. The game was afoot, however, when Legacy downed the S7 Hedgehog APC that was to fly the Governor offboard. The S7 Heavy Mech Infantry had to escort the Governor on foot and managed to escape offboard before the pursiung Legacy armor could intercept or kill them.

 In this game we learned the value of ECM. Also, after having used 2 Despots & 4 Chieftains as Legacy’s main armored force, I think that the Despots are a poor buy @ 348 pts. The Chieftans seem cost effective however. We will probably see my forces use more CAV’s in the next game.

     

    

Top left to bottom right: Legacy Armor proceeds down Strassbourg Blvd in hopes of cutting S7 forces off, S7 responds w/ their Chieftans, Battle developes downtown, S7 Dictator 60 comes in from behind, supported by Poltergists the S7 forces engage a Legacy Mech section, Battle for the city center heats up, S7 beats Legacy to the Governors Compound, Despot survives huge air & armor battle near the compound, S7 inf make off with the Governor thus ensuring his safety.

We will play again next Monday Night (4/21)…

Happy Gaming….Faron. 

Rich and Roger squared off against Me, Mike and Griff in Big Spring on Monday Night for our first look at CAV. Two weeks of painting for the game yielded each of us a 3000 point army, so we ran a basic scenario whereby my Mercenary Force (Legacy) defended the Governor’s Palace on Tunis IV. Rich’s Mercs (IMS) came on board and tried to fight their way thru dense packed urban ruins (…we used my old WW2 28mm ruined buildings - kind of looked like a massive nuked city, but you had to imagine the windows as huge blown out plate glass windows…). The result was a hopeless situation for IMS due to both sides being equal in points and we had the advantage of defending, but it was still a good trial run. We found the rules to be fun and exciting, albiet typical of most mini rules these days - fast play (gamey) at the expense of other aspects. We dont see that as a negative, just will take some getting used to as compared to some of the Historical stuff we have done in the past. We look forward to a more balanced scenario for our next game.

      

     

IMS forces are mostly grey…Legacy units are in Desert Camo and/or Tan. “Hey, why didnt the contractors tell us we were going to be fighting downtown?”

Houston, I have a problem……

I’m looking for an assist with contacting ANYONE at Little Wars. Over the course of the last several months I’ve sent them multiple emails, left multiple phone messages, and even sent registered snail mail, but gotten no response from them. I’d appreciate anyone giving them my contact info below. I’ve had a paid order in with them since October, and they don’t seem willing or able to fill it (or refund my money). I’d like to give them one last chance to make this right - I’d appreciate any help.

Tom Arielly
74 Bighorn Canyon
San Antonio, Tx 78258

H: (210)497-4046
W: (210) 293-9906

email: tomarielly@hotmail.com

Thanks alot for the assist.
regards,
Tom

After a long hiatus of only sporadic gaming the past few months, the Midland Group is back in action with the entry into CAV 2nd ed. Ilan & Barry from San Angelo and Rich, myself and Roger from Big Spring are preparing “armies” for the rules set…there is also talk of a mini-campaign using the system…

Here are a few pics of our progress:

     

Pictured above are a sampling of my models…ready for action…

  

A couple of Rich’s Models w/ cool paint schemes…

Happy Gaming…faron 

By Dave da Webhead

My friend Steve sent me this video and its so cute I just had to share it. I’m glad to see I am not the only one perverting the young with a love for painting miniatures

See the Movie

Field of Glory
It was a heavy day of FoG at Great Hall Games as many players turned out to play some more Field of Glory on Ancients day. There were three games, two in 15mm and one in 10mm, accommodating 12 players, as the more experienced players helped the newbies. We all learned a lot and had a great time. Armies that have not been seen on a gaming table in years are making re-appearances with the arrival of FoG.

Caesar in Gaul - 10mm
Late Republican Romans versus the Gauls using armies originally based for Warmaster, and now converted to FoG.

Nathan and Francisco prepare to meet the Roman invaders.
Dave contemplates the coming battle as William checks on a rule.
The Romans actually use the road. I don’t think I’ve seen this in any ancients game, unless it ran through bad terrain.

The waiting host of Gauls.
Legions hit the Gallic hordes at the bottom of the hill.
Action on the flank.

Seleucids versus Carthage - 15mm
Lance broke out his Seleucids to face down Fred’s long-serving Carthagenians.

Mark and Lance command the Seleucid army while Fred and Eric command the Carthos.
The Seleucid pike blocks rumble forward.
Impending cavalry battle on the flank.

View of the center as the Seleucids struggle to come to grips with the Carthagenian battle line.
Carthagenian elephants are victorious in defeating the Seleucid cavalry.
The pikes close with hapless Spaniards who were unable (or unwilling) to withdraw.

Syracus versus Pontus - 15mm
Kevin S dug out his Eastern pike army and put together a Pontic army. This was its first appearance in years. Assisted by Kevin D they met Brady and me commanding the Syracusans.

The Syracusan hoplite line with Balaeric slingers battling Sarmatian light horse in the foreground.
Rear of the hoplite phalanx.
Sarmatian heavy cavalry cuts across the front of the Pontic line to help crush the Syracusan left. I was not able to get my skirmisher forward fast enough to prevent this maneuver. Next time I’ll attach a commander to the skirmish line to get it out there and tie down the enemy.

The lines close. We were trying to push into the Pontic left before they could finish off our left. Alas, we lost the race, as several hoplite units went fragmented, despite the fact they had actually held up quite well initially. Learned a lot and it was a great game. I am really enjoying FoG.

Flames of War
Marty ran another tutorial FOW game.

No idea what happened.