HAWKS

Rob Dean

November has been a month; not an especially good one, but better than some.  I got started for the month with the intention of working up some scenery for games.  I had a package of fantasy scenics from the Bones 4 kickstarter, and started off with two pieces.  Bother required some boiling to encourage them to assume their proper unwarped shape.  Boiling large pieces is problematic; it’s hard to fit them in the pot without contacting overly hot surfaces, hard to cool them quickly without further twisting, and hard to pull them out of the water with kitchen tongs.  Nevertheless, I managed it, only to find that the spray primer I used on them remained tacky.  A coat of paint and some final varnish seems to have contained it, at least for now.

Bones 4 ruined doorway

The set also included this attractive ruined temple.  Once I was done with it, though, I wondered a bit at the scale.  I have fantasy figures in three similar scales which I don’t generally mix (1/72 plastic, vintage “true 25s”, and modern Reapers, whatever you want to call that scale).  I’ll show the comparison pictures, but to my eye, it looks like it would be more comfortable with the 1/72 scale plastics than with the Bones.

Bones 4 ruined temple

Bones 4 ruined temple with 1/72 Caesar Adventurer

Bones 4 Ruined Temple with Bones figure

My brother and I bought a village worth of resin buildings from Apocalypse Miniatures about two years ago, and I hadn’t gotten any of them painted yet. So I dug out a couple, and decided to start with the simplest…

Apocalypse Miniatures building

And the other side…

Unfortunately, the other two I unpacked haven’t seen much work yet this, and other, more urgent matters will soon overtake them.

In an effort to clear my desk, I finished off a vintage Minifigs Ent.  This fellow is ME37, the “large” ent.  I attempted to suggest a more bark-like patter, based on the tree in front of my window at my desk at home.  I wasn’t displease, but possibly a finer brush and longer strokes next time.

Minifigs ME37 Large Ent

Large Ent again

After that, all done the first weekend, things rapidly spiraled out of control.  I had arranged to take a week off from work and expected to get some painting done, but we ended up getting a new furnace installed instead.  So, I had to restack all of my storage boxes to be out of the way of the work crews, and then the house was rather cold for two days.  Rather than paint, I ended up spending my time baking, including getting a start on my Christmas cookies.  That still counts as “productive”, but wasn’t what I had been planning.  

With all the baking going on, I managed to spend enough at the local grocery store to qualify for a free turkey.  My older son, Norman, was hosting the joint family Thanksgiving dinner, so he came up last Saturday to collect it.  We took the opportunity to play a game of Dan Mersey’s Dux Bellorum, with Saxons against Romano-British.  The Romano-British, consisting mostly of figures given to me by Ross Macfarlane, gained a narrow victory over the Saxon hordes.  I looked through my records…this is only the third time Norman and I have played, but I finally felt like I had an idea of what I wanted to do with the leadership points, and I am hoping that the next game will both be sooner, and include a few more figure choices for each side.

Norman and a Dux Bellorum game

Romano-British holding off the Saxons

And that was November…

With time off coming up in December, I really need to get back to the French Revolution project, if I hope to bear my part of a six player game for Huzzah.  At least the casting has ben done…

via The Sharp End of the Brush http://sharpbrush.blogspot.com/2019/11/november-activity.html
from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/189394107528
via IFTTT

Chris Palmer

     This past week I didn’t have a lot of time for painting, so I selected the Beggar from the Bones 4 Core Set Townsfolk group to work on.
     I prepped the figure in the usual way, soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying it.  I then glued the figure to a black-primed 1" fender washer with Aleene’s Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.

      I began by painting his face, hands and foot with Reaper MSP “Tanned Shadow”, and his pants with Americana “Charcoal Grey”.  I then painted his tunic Pathfinder MSP “Medusa Green”, and his cape with Americana “Neutral Grey”.

Next, I painted his boots with Americana “Aspahltum”, and his staff with Reaper MSP “Turkey Brown”.  I then painted his bowl with Americana “Mississippi Mud”, and then painted his hair with Crafter’s Acrylic “Cinnamon Brown."  After that,  I painted his patches an assortment of colors I had sitting around the painting table.

      I painted his belt with Nicole’s "Brown”, and then let the figure dry for awhile. When the paint was good and dry, I began with the washes.  First I applied a coat of Citadel “Reikland Feleshade” wash to the face hands and foot.  When that was dry, I applied Citadel “Nuln Oil” wash to the cape.  When that was dry, I applied Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” to the rest of the figure.

     When all the washes were dry, I began work on the face, painting the eyes and his single tooth, and then highlighting all the skin with Reaper MSP “Tanned Skin” and “Tanned Highlight”.  After that I highlighted the hair with Americana “Sable Brown”, and then highlighted the pants with a mix of the “Mississippi Mud” and the base “Charcoal Grey”.  After that I highlighted the tunic with Americana “Jade Green”.

     A nice simple figure; not my best, but an easy and fun paint.

via All Bones About It http://allbonesabout.blogspot.com/2019/11/townsfolk-beggar-bones-4-figure.html
from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/189290914973
via IFTTT

Chris Palmer

     This past week I painted Merrowyn Lightstar, Female Elf Paladin, from the Bones 4 Original Core Set.  Like last week’s figure, I needed this elf to act as a commander for a game I was going to be doing at the Fall-In convention this past weekend.
      I prepped the figure in the usual way, soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying it.  I then glued the figure to a black-primed 1" fender washer with Aleene’s Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.

  I started by painting the figure entirely with Ceramcoat “Black”.  When the Black was dry, I drybrushed the figure with  Folk Art Metallics “Gunmetal Grey”.  I then passed over it with a lighter drybrush of Citadel “Mithril Silver”.

      Next, I painted the face and hands with Crafter’s Acrylic “Flesh”, and then the cloth  with Americana “Wedgewood Blue”.  I then painted the scabbards, and belts with Americana “True Blue”, and the sword blade with Americana “Zinc”.  After that, I painted the shield with Reaper MSP Bones “Tropical Blue”, and the back of the shield with Crafter’s Acrylic “Navy Blue”. I then did her hair with Americana “Light Cinnamon”, and the sword grip with Americana “Asphaltum”. I also painted the border of the shield with Americana “Grey Sky”, and did the metal canister at her waist with Reaper MSP “Aged Pewter”.
     I let everything dry for a while, and then gave the face and hands a coat of  Citadel “Reikland Fleshshade” wash.   When that was dry, I gave the clothing, scabbards, and shield, all a coat of Citadel “Nuln Oil” wash.  Lastly, I gave her hair a coat of Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” wash.

      When the washes all were dry, I painted her eyes using the “True Blue”, and then highlighted her skin with an unnamed Reaper Sample paint I have.  After that, I highlighted her hair, first with the some Americana “Sable Brown” and then with some Americana “Fawn”.

via All Bones About It http://allbonesabout.blogspot.com/2019/11/merrowyn-lightstar-female-elf-paladin.html
from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/189147534078
via IFTTT

Saturday action in the HAWKS room at Fall-In!

from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/189116676728
via IFTTT

Friday action in the HAWKs room at Fall-In!

from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/189100367943
via IFTTT

Chris Palmer

   This past week I painted Alandin, Elf Paladin, from the Bones 4 Core Set Elves group.  I needed a couple more leader figures for the Elf forces I’m using for my Feudal Patrol game at Fall-In, and thought this fellow looked suitably like a commander.  I planned to paint him in the same colors I used for the rest of my Elf Army to help him blend in.
  I prepped the figure in the usual way, soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying it.  I then glued the figure to a black-primed 1" fender washer with Aleene’s Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.

      I started by painting the figure entirely with Ceramcoat “Black”.  When the Black was dry, I drybrushed the figure with  Folk Art Metallics “Gunmetal Grey”.  I then passed over it with a lighter drybrush of Citadel “Mithril Silver”.

     Next, I painted the face and hands with Crafter’s Acrylic “Flesh”, and the tunic with Americana “Wedgewood Blue”.  I then painted the cape with Crafter’s Acrylic “Tropical Blue”, and the boots, scabbards, and belt with Americana “True Blue”.  After that, I painted the shield with Reaper MSP Bones “Tropical Blue”, and the back of the shield with Crafter’s Acrylic “Navy Blue”.

     I then painted the sword and the armor on the boots with  Americana “Zinc”.  I also painted the grips of the sword and the dagger with Americana “Asphaltum”. After that, I painted the decorations on the shield and the scabbard with Americana “Grey Sky”.  I also used this color to do a simple border design on the bottom of the cape.   I also did his hair at this point with Americana “Bleached Sand”.

        Next, I let everything dry for a while, and then gave the faces and hands a coat of  Citadel “Reikland Fleshshade” wash.   When that was dry, I gave the clothing, scabbards, and shield, all a coat of Citadel “Nuln Oil” wash.  Lastly, I gave his hair a coat of Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” wash.

     When the washes all were dry, I painted his eyes, and then highlighted his skin with an unnamed Reaper Sample paint I have.  After that, I highlighted his hair, first with the base “Bleached Sand”, and then with some Americana “Snow White”.

     Next, I highlighted his tunic with some of the base color “Wedgewood Blue” mixed with some Crafter’s Acrylic “Dark Turquoise”.   I then highlighted the cape with some of the base Crafter’s Acrylic  “Tropical Blue” mixed with Crafter’s Acrylic “Cool Blue”. I also highlighted the shield with the Crafter’s Acrylic “Tropical Blue”.   After that, I highlighted his boots and scabbards with the Reaper MSP “Tropical Blue”, and then used the “Snow White” to highlight the decoration on the shield, the cross stitching on the scabbard, and the border decoration on the cape.  I also did some piping on the tunic with the “Snow White”. 
     I then moved on to the metallics, painting the sword and armor on the boots with the “Gunmetal Grey”, and then doing highlights with the “Mithril Silver”.   Lastly, I painted the base with Americana “Mississippi Mud”.
      I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana “DuraClear Matte” varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to flock the base.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed it with Testor’s “Dullcote”.

     I’m happy with how this turned out.  It’s just a quick figure for gaming, but I think it ended up looking pretty good.

via All Bones About It http://allbonesabout.blogspot.com/2019/11/alandin-elf-paladin-bones-4-figure.html
from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/188986077538
via IFTTT

Chris Palmer

      This past week I painted a pair of the Dark Dwarf “Striker”, “Smiter”, and a pair of the “Cleaver” figures, from the Bones 4 Fan Favorites Expansion.    I wanted to use these for a unit of regular Dwarves, having more gaming use for them that way than painted up as Dark Dwarves; and while they’re a little more ragged looking than the average Dwarf, I thought they’d fill the bill of a  unit of normal Dwarves just fine. Maybe hard worn veterans.  Last week I painted the first half of my unit, doing the “Irontongue Priests” and “Pounder” figures from this set.
       I prepped the figures in the usual way, soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then glued them to 1" black-primed fender washers with Aleene’s Tacky glue.  I then glued the figures in onto tongue depressors.

      I started with the two “Striker” figures and the “Smiter”; painting them entirely with Ceramcoat “Black”.  When the Black was dry, I drybrushed the figure with  Folk Art Metallics “Gunmetal Grey”.  I then passed over it with a lighter drybrush of Ceramcoat “Metallic Silver”.
      Next, I painted their tunics and shields with Reaper MSP “Fresh Blood”, and their faces and hands with Americana “Shading Flesh”.   After that, I painted the spikes on their shields with Americana “Zinc”, and then their hammers with Reaper MSP “Aged Pewter”.

      I then painted the beards and eyebrows on the first and third with Americana “Neutral Grey”, and the beard and eyebrows on the center one with some  Americana"Asphaltum".  I also painted the eyepatches with the “Black”.   Next, I let everything dry for a while, and then gave their faces and hands a coat of  Citadel “Reikland Fleshshade” wash.   When that was dry, I gave the tunics, shields, and the center beard a coat of Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” wash. Lastly, I gave the beards on the first and third a coat of Citadel “Nuln Oil” wash. After that, I painted the two pouches on the “Smiter” with Americana “Raw Umber” for one, and Americana “Mississippi Mud” for the other.

        At this point I moved on to the two “Cleaver” figures, painting them entirely with the “Black”.  When the Black was dry, I drybrushed the figure with the “Gunmetal Grey”.  I then passed over it with a lighter drybrush of the “Metallic Silver”.

       Next, I painted the spikes on the shilds with the “Zinc”.   After that, I let everything dry for a while, and then gave their faces and hands a coat of the “Reikland Fleshshade” wash.   When that was dry, I gave the tunics and the beards a coat of Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” wash.

 I let all the figures dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana “DuraClear Matte” varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to flock the bases.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed them with Testor’s “Dullcote”.

     I’m really happy with this unit turned out and was even lucky to be able to use them in a game last Friday!  I will be using them again in a game I’m doing at the Fall-In convention in a couple weeks.

via All Bones About It http://allbonesabout.blogspot.com/2019/11/dark-dwarves-striker-smiter-and-cleaver.html
from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/188817876588
via IFTTT

Mark A. Morin

On October 19th, 2019, the Fort Devens Gaming Day was held at the Fort Devens Museum.  This was our monthly gaming day as an “away” game day for the Mass Pikemen Gaming Club.  Our club sponsored two games as Scott Howland ran a pulp game in another room which was very well-received. I believe it was similar to this one.

This was my second time attending this small convention and my first time as a game master there.  For nostalgia alone, I really looked forward to the event as I was stationed at the old Fort Devens before it was closed in the 1990’s.   It has since been converted to commercial uses and some US Army Reserve functions.  Running a game here was fun.

Mike Morgan graciously helped me set up my game in the museum among the exhibits (as you will see below)).  Thanks so much Mike!  Mike also supported Scott as a player in his game, and that was very cool.  I ran my Normandy Breakout game for What a Tanker©.  We had seven players – including several from the Mass Pikemen.  On the German side were Chris, Peter, and Steve.  On the Allied side were Leif and Walter (US), and Evan and Alex (UK).

Both sides started with 150 points/chips to use during the game.  The Allies started with a 40 points worth of vehicles.  For the UK, they bought a Dingo scout car and a Churchill “TIM” (nicknamed for theimperfectmodeler aka TIM), along with an M5 Stuart, and an M8 Greyhound for the US.  The Germans spent slightly less, choosing to buy an SdKfz 231 scout car, a StuG IIIG, and a Panzer IVH for 36 points.

The Germans took up very good ambush positions – especially the Panzer IVH, which was hull-down behind a stone wall.  The M5 Stuart successfully reconned it, and the German fired point-blank at the light tank, missing it.  The Stuart then prudently backed up behind the hedgerow.  The Churchill “TIM” then moved up the road, to be also shot at, and again missed by the Panzer IVH.  Amazingly, the Churchill immediately reversed the bad German die rolls, and miraculously hit and knocked out the Panzer IVH for its first kill ring of the day.

The Allies then successfully reconned nine possible German positions at 2 points apiece, adding to their score.  They also successfully crossed the tabletop with an M8 Greyhound, gained the points, and respawned as another M8.  The Germans spent some points and respawned the destroyed Panzer IVH crew into a Panther D which drove up next to the burning Panzer IVH.  The Churchill “TIM” went Panther hunting.

Meanwhile, the Germans tried to put an end to the Allied reconnaissance successes.  The StuG IIIG ambushed both the M5 and the Dingo gaining them crucial points, which they used to buy a Marder III.  The Allies respawned both losses with similar models.

The Allies spent some chips to respawn the Dingo as a Cromwell IV nicknamed “IRO” aka imperialrebelork.  The Germans dropped some obscuring smoke in front of the Cromwell.

“TIM” continued its winning ways and managed a flank shot on the Panther D.  Its good dice rolling (and the German bad dice rolling) yielded a second kill ring for “TIM”.

The Germans were aghast at this expensive loss and vowed revenge.  The SdKfz 231 managed to call in a rare Luftwaffe air strike on the Churchill, which destroyed “TIM” after it had been so effective.

The British mourned this loss, and respawned it as an Achilles 17-pounder nicknamed “Per”.  The British also bought another Dingo and a Cromwell IV nicknamed “JNV” or justneedsvarnish.  The US bought an M10 Wolverine.  The Germans went for broke and bought a Jagdpanther and an SdKfz 233.

The StuG IIIG went head-to-head with the Cromwell “IRO”, and took it out.  The Jagdpanther caught the Achilles “Per” in the open and made short work of it.  In the meantime, the Allies successfully crossed a Dingo and an M8 Greyhound.  This resulted in denying the Germans any end of game bonus points for preventing more than two Allied vehicles crossing the table.

To make matters worse for the Germans, the respawned M5 Stuart knocked out a well-hidden Marder III with some help from a supporting infantry assault (see how I use bonus attack cards here) and well-placed 37mm rounds.  As the game was winding down, and it was clear the Allies had a commanding edge in the score, The Germans bought a Tiger I and converged all vehicles on the plucky M5.

At games end, the final score was Allies 193, Germans 142.  This game yet again delivered a different result.  Player choices, and player luck all made this game fun and unique.

This is my 12th post about my development and running of this scenario and the models that went into making it.  I started back in May 2019, so it’s been a lot of work, but one project that I really am proud of now.

I wanted to honor the history and the struggle of the Allies in the days after the D-Day landing 75 years ago.  I will continue to run the game, and at this point I really only need to add a StuG IV to be really complete vehicle-wise (and I have one to build!).  To read about previous games and related posts, see the following:

• My Barrage 2019 Recap
• Normandy Breakout Game at Mass Pikemen
• Knocked-Out Tank Markers for What a Tanker
• US Tanks and Tank Destroyers for Normandy Breakout Scenario
• British Armor and Some Blogs Worth a Look
• Normandy Breakout Game of What a Tanker!
• Dingoes and Greyhounds for Normandy
• I just wanted to do this!
• A Preponderance of Panzers – Chapter 2 – Scout Cars and Behemoths
• A Preponderance of Panzers
• US Armor for 75th D-Day Anniversary

Thanks to the Fort Devens Museum, Peter Lowitt. and the guys at Fencing Frog Gaming Adventures for running the event.  I hope to see you next year, if not sooner.  I also hope that some of the players join us at The Mass Pikemen Gaming Club.

I hope you enjoyed this post and would love to read your feedback!

from Mark A. Morin https://markamorin.com/2019/11/04/allies-defeat-germans-at-fort-devens-game-day/
via IFTTT
from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/188810997548
via IFTTT

Mark A. Morin

The wonderful Barrage wargaming convention was held back on September 27-28 in Havre de Grace, Maryland.  It is run by the Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers (HAWKS), and I have attended the last few years and run a few games there as well as a GM.  This year marked the 25th Anniversary of the convention.

The trip was enjoyable – and even though it’s been over a month since the event – I wanted to share some of the pics and details of the event from my perspective.  It’s not an all-encompassing review – but hopefully it will give you a flavor of the event and some nice views of some worthwhile and visually interesting tabletop games.

Three only slightly aging West Pointers – Dave Wood (’84), me (’84), and Buck Surdu (’85).  Dave and Buck are in the HAWKS and going to the convention doubles as a mini-reunion for us.  Plus I get to see how much better in shape they are than I am.

I drove down from Massachusetts and arrived Thursday night (the night before the convention) to help the HAWKS set up.  As a bonus, we got to play a few turns of Eric Schlegel’s Antietam: The Cornfield game using the A Union So Tested rules set.  It was a fun start.

The convention started in earnest on Friday – and I got a chance to check out some amazing tabletops.  Bill Molyneaux had a brilliant Boxer Rebellion game that had incredible terrain.  I did not get to play this game, but would have loved to try it.

I walked around Friday’s game and took some pics of a few games I loved seeing (but did not get to play) before I got into playing a Feudal Patrol game.  Here you can see a Napoleonic game (run by Dave Wood), a Gundam game, and a really neat G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T.  Sherlock Holmes themed game (run by Sam Fuson).   There was a Flames of War Tournament.  I have not played that game despite having (as regular readers know) a TON of FoW models.  The games looked a bit crowded figure-wise – and maybe that’s normal for that game.  Note the US TIE fighter (the gamer said he did not have a proper US plane so he painted this model)…not sure about that particular add personally.

I really wanted to try another game of Feudal Patrol.  I had played one at HUZZAH! run by Duncan Adams earlier this year.  Feudal Patrol is a novel skirmish game (yet unpublished) and is similar to Combat Patrol – except it is for pike and shot periods and earlier.  I am hoping to write an Aztec supplement for it for Buck.

Chris Palmer ran a War of the Roses scenario involving securing an abandoned supply train of three wagons.   It was just the two of us, but as Buck came available, he joined in on Chris’ side.  I started off well, but in due course I got my ass handed to me by Buck and Chris!  Still, I was glad to try it and I feel confident that this will be another great system by Buck.

Not the greatest sign up!  Too bad as it was fun.

My forces, with the enemy Yorkists across the table.  The abandoned wagon train (the objective) is in the center.The Lancastrians.Wagon train objective.Buck confers with Chris (off-camera) as the two forces cavalry converge.Chris moves his Yorkists up and takes two wagons.I moved a leader on top of the remaining wagon to seize it.  Unfortunately, the Yorkist crossbowmen ended that effort by turning him into a pin cushion, and pinning his subordinates in the process.

After this game, I walked around and took some more shots of some cool tables.  There was a 54mm scale ACW game, and a 54mm medieval mayhem game.  Greg Priebe had a Poland 1940 Combat Patrol  game for replete with an armored train.  Lastly, there was an Aliens-inspired scratch built table that was impressive.  These shots are below.

Another ACW game, in larger scale.

The last game that I played on Friday was with Dave Wood and another player.  It recreated the scenario made famous by the events portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down.  The rules were Force on Force, which had an interesting set of mechanics, but very complicated for a short game.  We actually ran the game twice, with Dave and I as the Americans.  All agreed that the scenario was impossible to win for the US.  Still, the GM Carl Olsen made the experience enjoyable.

The tabletop for the scenario.Even with air support, the mission was too difficult for the US.

That finished off Friday.  Saturday presented an opportunity to play the massive Combat Patrol Star Wars Battle of Hoth scenario (from The Empire Strikes Back) of the Battle of Hoth that Buck and Greg Priebe ran at Historicon.  It was pure eye-candy (as you’ll see below), and a blast to play.  We had a full table of 10-12 players.  The Combat Patrol Star Wars supplement was used – and was easily picked up by the players who were new.  Buck and Greg did an outstanding job of running this massive game.

I played with several other players on the Imperial side with the goal of destroying the Millennium Falcon before it could fly out of the cave it was hiding in with the other rebel ships.  We succeeded in eventually knocking out the shield generator with an AT-AT.  Subsequently the Millennium Falcon was destroyed when our forces could get a clear shot.  A strategic victory was had for the Empire!

Scenario designers and GM’s Buck Surdu and Greg PriebeA view from the attacking Imperial forces side – the rebels and their spacecraft were in the cave on the far side.  The shield generator is on the far right.  The rebel trenches and positions were beautiful.  All the models were so fun.Imperial set up before the game.Rebel spaceships getting positioned in cave.  The Millennium Falcon was not yet set up on the top corner.Imperial speeders storm anti-vehicle weapons positions.A bloody affair.The advance continues.A very unique set of walker positions.Bye bye shield generator!

After the victory, I had some time before I needed to set up and run my Normandy Breakout scenario for What a Tanker© that I have previously run a few times.  I took a few more shots of some interesting games.  One of these was a Dungeon Crawl run by a gentleman (sorry as I forgot his name) who makes his own miniatures out of small bits of wood and paints them really well – check them out below.

After this, it was on to setting up and running my Normandy Breakout game.  I have really gotten this game to be a great gaming experience – based on both my opinion and consistent feedback from the players.  This time, I had between 9 and 11 different players as some came and went.

The Germans made some very good decisions on terrain use and vehicle selection.  The Allies did not choose enough reconnaissance vehicles, and were less effective using terrain as a whole.  The Allies did not do a good job at crossing the table – with only a M10 Wolverine (by Dave Wood) and an M5 Stuart (by Buck Surdu) crossing the board.  To be fair, the dice abandoned the Allies at a few critical junctures.

The Germans chose expensive vehicles, such as the Panther D (Greg Priebe), Jadgpanther (Andrew) and Tiger II (run by a woman known as April or “Queen Tiger” in the game), but used them effectively to stop the Allies.   This put them in a points disadvantage, that they made up with their kills.  Don Hogge’s used his SdKfz 233 very well to delay and harass the Allies.  The Germans lost no vehicles, and the Allies lost a total of 5: a Dingo scout car, an M3A1 Stuart, an M10 Wolverine, and two 17-pounder Achilles.  The Allies vehicle choices hurt them (not enough tanks and reconnaissance versus tank destroyers). This had not happened in previous runs, and is a testament to the German players having a good plan.  The final score was 160-123 in favor of the Germans.  I will continue to run this game – it has never been the same twice.

I GM the mid game action (photo by Chris Palmer)Players on the Allied side get ready to play.Here the Americans smashed an M3A1 Stuart through a hedgerow – where it discovered a Panther D.  It took the flank shot and managed to do some temporary and permanent damage.The Panther then turned and knocked the Stuart out – the black smoke indicates that the crew lived and bailed out, but the tank was destroyed.With a burning Dingo behind him, a Jagdpanther confronts the Achilles “Tabitha” (named after my granddaughter).  German artillery-delivered smoke dissipates in the top of this photo.The poor Achilles “Tabitha” is no match for the Jagdpanther, and is brewed up on the next activation.An American M10 Wolverine gets a rear shot on the Greg Priebe’s damaged Panther, but not enough damage is inflicted… …and on the next activation, the Panther turned and knocked out the Wolverine.

After picking up, the last game I played in was a Roman Circus Chariot game with rules by DeWitt.  My chariot flipped and I lost – but it was fun!

And the flea market was outstanding!

Thanks to the HAWKS for a great weekend!

And thanks to you, dear reader, for looking – feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section!

from Mark A. Morin https://markamorin.com/2019/11/03/my-barrage-2019-recap/
via IFTTT
from Tumblr https://harfordhawks.tumblr.com/post/188800828488
via IFTTT