Table Talk

Have you notice the large amount of WW2 Skirmish rules lately:

Iron Ivan Games: Disposable Heroes and Coffin for Seven Brothers

                           Disposable Heroes: Point Blank

Crusader Publishing: Rate of Fire

Great Escape Games: Rules of Engagement

Warhammer Historical: Kampfgruppe Normandy

Britton Publishers: Final Combat

Two Hour Games: Nuts!

TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum

Buck Surdu: Look Sarge, No Charts

Guts 'N Glory

Osprey: Force on Force (WW2 version)

Seems all rules are cyclic in nature. I have read many reviews on some.

So which one is good: both all and none. Generally I think if the players

"feel" it realistic yet somewhat playable, it will be enjoyed. I have probably

missed some rules. It comes down to what "I" am comfortable with to

host. It's like me hosting C21 Air War with modern CY6 available.

I have thought of doing a review myself on various sets of rules I own.

Finally taking time off this week. Hope to get something hobby wise done:

C21 Air War: prep&paint planes for China vs. Taiwan scenario

Flaklighter 1/600 PT boats: paint the Pac boats

K46 1/300 WW2 Air: Put together the first 2 scenarios for play.

SBG 1/6000 Modern naval: Paint some ships.

Ok, this all won't happen this week, nice thought though. I do plan to host

a game at Battle at the Crossroads in Feb12.

Gaming in General

I was lucky and made it to ATC convention here in Ohio. I had only an hour
to stay before traveling to work so it was more a recon session. I was
disappointed for a fellow gamer who had a Friday and Saturday game.
First was a 1/6000 General Quarters III Fleet Action Imminent game, the
second was a 1/300 scale Point of Attack 20th Century Piquet rules. Both
had no players sign up. Luckily a friend was at hand to "play". It made me
think what makes a game "non-interesting":
1. Rules?
2. Scale?
3. Period?
4. All the above?
I related to his experience with my last few games pulling teeth for players.

I've sluggishly moved forward with hobby interests. I've cut down to a small
number of interests to pursue that requires $$ and time.  One is WW2 air
combat using Kamikaze 1946 by Marty Fenelon. The major difference with
this rule set vs. CY6 is K46 is more grand tactical. Similar in idea to C21 Air
War.The other is WW2 1/600 PT boat warfare using Flaklighter II.

Two conventions are around the corner: Pro or Con and Game Day Ft. Meigs.

Table Talk

Ahh, its been awhile. Home and work..... you know the drill. Recently our Great Dane
of 10 years passed away. Luckily I was in town, my wife didn't take it too well.

I have not gamed since I hosted the Flaklighter game. I'm putting together the Taiwan
vs. China scenario Dave S. kindly gave me. The bad part is I ordered the planes in
April, and still only have 80% delivered. They are H&R planes which I believe the US
distributor is The Last Square in WI. I plan to run the game in Sep, great I have THAT
much lead time.

More to come.

Flaklighter Game

Ran the Pac scenario at Drum in Ohio. It was on a 4x8' hex cloth, one side was a jungle
shoreline. The scenario was US Naval intelligence heard a very important cargo referred
to as "Rice Petal" was being transfered by barge to a local port for transfer to a seaplane
base. They figured it was the area admiral in charge. Four PT boats were dispatche to
take care of the this. The Japanese had around 13 Daihatsu barges in a "convoy". These
were escorted by 2 armed barges and a T-51 gunboat. There was also a shore gun
available.
The game started with 2 PT boats waiting off the shoreline wondering where their other
2 comrades were (delayed). Finally they spotted the barges but was unaware of T-51.
They rev'd up the engines and advanced forward. The barges immediately detected them.
Due to bad rolls on both sides, the T-51 and a PT was only 150yards away when they
detected each other. Tracer filled the air! The 2 delayed PTs slowly crept in the area,
totally unaware of friend or foe. Of course they had bad detection rolls also and found
themselves within 300yds of the front of the barge convoy. More tracers, a PT boat is
afire making it a big bullet catcher.
This activity makes a patrolling DD very interested. With the PT boats taking damage but
sinking barges, they are unaware of the DD until a starshell lights up, then another next turn.
Due to pre-plotting, a PT found itself in the starshell bloom. This attracted 4" shells. First
blood, the PT is shattered. This was one of two only boats with torpedoes. The other two
were gunboats only. The PT capt realizing he was the only one capable does a Hollywood
and goes straight at the DD for a torpedo attack. He launches 4 torpedoes at very
minimum range. The quad 25mm guns lay waste to the PT.
Tension was high when it was time to roll the dice. Out of 4 torpedoes....2 miss! The
PT capt rolls for potential damage........both DUDS!! The Japanese sailors breath sigh!
The remaining 2 PT gunboats finish sinking the barges as well as T-51. One last turn
was made to see if they both escape. They did, one boat was shot up very badly, one
only minor.A minor US victory, the barges sunk at a cost of 2 PTs and 1 heavily
damaged. Later it was determined by intelligence "Rice Petal" was cases of sake for
 the admiral. (which he won't recieve).

The top picture shows two (ok, they are unpainted) shooting at the barges. The PT  boat
withing the starshell that has the oil slick is the remains of one. The lower pic is the
Japanese DD (Tamiya 1/700 model). Yes I apoligize, I have always been prepared
with my games but work sucked away the time and energy. None the less all players
had fun. Of the 5 players, 4 were repeat players.
Photos are from Mike on Flikr. Thanks!

Flaklighter II scenario

How life slows down the hobby world! Now that I need a small bank loan to fill
the car, the hobby really takes a back seat!

I am putting together the Pacific isle scenario for Drums at Fort Meigs game day.
This will be the first time I've run a Pac game. This time I HAVE to use hidden
movement. I will be using ships form PT Dockyard and Dave's Flaklighter II rules
modified for hexes.

Torpedo movement was a problem in a "60°" hex world. So the gaming
group brain stormed alot and decided If we hexes for
ship movement, then why not use a torpedo hex move all its own.

The pic shows the red lines indicating 60° is the launch envelope.
The hex rules is for the torpedo move. The first 2 hexes are for
the torpedo arming distance. If any part of the torp ruler hex is in
a ship hex, then you have a hit.

The next brain storm was plotting movement. My last game I had the players put
"arrow" hexes to show the vessel direction at the end of the move. They placed
it for the current and next turn. The pics of the game show it was TOO much
table clutter. So I thought this:

This card shows the pic of the vessel with 2 place holders for the end of move arrow.
The wooden hexes (Litko) hides them till its turn. It's easy plotting and keeps the
table clear. Since the detection phase is prior to the move phase, if it detects an enemy
it can change orders. I have not firmly decided on the present or the both turns. Since
the turn is only 30 sec, I'm on the fence. I want to keep the pre plotting, it makes the
players forward think of where they will be. The last game we had 3 collisions, 2 of them
was with vessels who where going straight for many moves.

Being a Pac game, ship grounding is VERY high on the danger list.

Flaklighter II Game

I hosted a Flalklighter II game at "Battlefields" in Dearborn MI. It started off bad
because at 9am (start time) no one had signed up. At around 9:15 I'm groaning
about the 3 hour drive. I was saved by 3 players who walked by and wanted to
play.

The pic shows 2 S-boats lining up for a torp shot against the Brit Corvette. The
lone upper e-boats feels very lonely with 3 Brits firing at him.

The pic shows out of 4 torps fired, one hit the Corvette. Of course it went underneath
the Vosper to do it!  The Corvette crew manned life boats

The pic shows the end result of me imposing  pre plotting movement. The hexes
with arrows is my way of easy plotting. The arrow points towards the direction at
the end of movement. The corvette although hit still had forward momentum.

This pic shows a Brit tailing a Siebel ferry. It got lucky and silenced the quad
20mm. The oil slick is what is left of a 70' Vosper that tried to attack the
Trawler. The 88mm gun took care of it, making an oil slick. Also the torpedo
track barely missed the Trawler. Cheers from the crew! But it has 2
Fairmiles going after it now.

This busy pic shows:

1. A Fairmile getting hit was an e-boat torpedo
2. A Vosper who lost the bridge and collided with the Seibel Ferry
3. Another Fairmile colliding with the Trawler.

End result:

1. The Fairmile was obliterated
2. The Vosper made many toothpicks, the ferry was hurt very badly
3. The Fairmile was sunk, the trawler needed more paint! This happened
    due to a steering hit.

The Fairmile D attacked the wounded Ferry (which had 3 flooding hits).
It came down to see whether the crew could stop the flooding. German
naval training saved her, it was saved by only 2 points.

The game was called, a bloody nose for the British although ALOT of battle
damaged German ships. Good game.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well you all read about my missing A-4 plane at Cincycon. Well it must
be a full moon. I had set up a flee market at the con. Unfortunately it
was out of eye shot of me. (I relied on player honesty). It didn't work
this time. Someone had stolen the TSR game rules "Tractics". For those
who have been around the block, all know how much that could be
sold. I would have sold it for $20-30, thats what burns me.  Lets hope in
May when I host my Pacific PT boat game nothing happens. Damn
full moon.

CincyCon C21 Game

I hosted the C21 Vietnam USN strike game. The new facility was great. The
only bad thing was just after setting up I had all the planes out on the table.
(eye candy). I was not even 10ft away talking with a vendor when I looked back
and one of the A-4s went MIA. Luckily I had an extra to cover.

I apoligize to the person who pre-registered for my game for 3pm. The time was
changed to 11:30a but was never updated on the website.

I played the Vietnamese player with 2 players as the USN. The Iron Hand flight
once again took all missiles to take out the SAM radar. The SEAD flight was
talented in taking out 3 AA guns, but the fourth cost them an A-4. The strike A-4s
flew in and released, of the 4 only 2 hit the mark. End result the target was 60%
damaged. So far in this "living" scenario the USN is 1 for 2 in completing the
objective.

My only concern is the less and less players I am getting. I will have to change
the scenario to other parts of the world to keep it fresh.

C21 and Cincycon

I will be hosting another C21 Vietnam air strike scenario at CincyCon:
http://cincycon.org/ on 19 March.
The start time is 11:30am (although the website still reads 3pm)

Flaklighter II Scenario

I also ran a 1/600 coastal scenario. This was a put together that was based on
the number of players at 4pm. I didn't take pictures but Jeff R. did, the link is below.

A force of Vospers, Fairmiles, and Grey Goose went against Siebel ferries,
S-boats, and a trawler. Due to a lucky golden bullet the gasoline drums on a ferry
exploded. The Grey goose got shot up but still fighting. Still had to tweek my
hex based rules though on certain issues.

Yes, running 2 events is a bit tiring at the end of the day, especially with a 2 hour
drive back home. My congrats to Jeff for a great game day!

Battle at the Crossroads

Jeff provided a link to the day's games.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59181474@N07/

C21 Air War







Played the C21 Vietnam air strike scenario at Battle at the Crossroads. The USN

forces were:

x2 F-4 (MigCap)

x2 A-4 (Iron Hand w/Shrikes)

x2 A-4 (SEAD w/cluster bombs & zuni's)

x4 A-4 (strike with 500lb bombs)

The defender (me) had 6 potential targets to protect. Once I placed my AAA

sites (37,57,85, and 100mm guns) the USN player rolled to see which one

he was actually targeting. The first picture shows the layout, even with low

clouds.

Picture 2 shows the SAM site firing the same time the Shrikes launch. Both

built by ACME, missing badly.

 Picture 3 shows 2 Iron Hand A-4s making a bomb run on the SAM site. They

fired 4 Shrikes, of which only 1 hit. Although damaged still operational. During

their attack run one of the MigCap F-4s felt very froggy and zoomed in between

the SAM site and the Iron Hand guys. Alot of cursing was in the radio chatter. As

well as a missed SAM radar lockon. Lucky times for the foolish. Flak filled the

air.

Picture 3 shows the SAM shooting at the stirke A-4s. It rattled on so badly he

missed the factory.

Picture 4 shows the outbound strike A-4s after the last aircraft's bomb load

succeeds and destroys the factory. (just enough). Photo also shows a

F-4 pilot's parachute. Guess the foolish did pay (85mm).

To add to the level of AA fire I rolled a d20 after a certain point on the map for

each aircraft. If a "20" is rolled the a/c takes a d4 damage. This represents

the volume of 22mm and lower gunfire randomly fired in the air. This also

reduces the number of counters on the table.

USN lost 1 F-4, x3 planes damaged. I lost the factory, but there is another day.

Table Talk

I will be heading to "Battle at the Crossroads" in Cambridge OH next weekend.
I start off with the C21 Air war game-Vietnam air strike. The second game
will be Flaklighter II (mod). The scenario is very fluid, it will depend upon how
many people want to play. Pictures to follow.

Next month I run a Pac scenario for Flaklighter. Dave S. is kind enough for me
to use his Chinese vs. Taiwan C21 scenario.  This will probably be done in May.

I have an Adriatic Flaklighter scenario brewing.

Kaiju Kaos

Played a game of Kaiju Kaos, a playtest set of rules by Bryan Borgman.
The website is: http://www.baileyrecords.com/kaijukaos.html

The Battlefield

The battle heats up, the noodle shop was saved though!

 The battle raged with Godzilla, Mecha Godzilla and Gigan. Mecha Godzilla
was the winner this day. We played this scenario at Pakrat Comics in
Hilliard, OH. A good set of rules that has the flavor of Kaiju battles. Bryan
has the rules and a miniature line in the works.

Table Talk

For those of you that goto gaming cons, what game do you play?

1. Learn rules you bought that has not been used?
2. Play the period you like?
3. Learn a new set of rules?
4. Don't matter, I wanna push lead!
5. Play a game you always host, yet never get to play.
6. Play what I already play
7. Boy, that looks fun!
8. Experience a new period?
9. The one with the knockout terrain and minis?
10. The one that your friend/gaming group is hosting?
11. Anything but the "flavor of the year"
12. Any other game that's not hosting by him/her!

Things I was thinking about. I try to host games that I like and scenarios that you locally
don't see alot of. I love going to cons and just looking at all the games. I always say
"now that's a great idea" for something.

Flaklighter II game

Due to life's conflicts the game has been delayed, probably till Feb.

Upcoming Cons & Games

19 Feb: Battle at the Cross Roads (OH)- Hosting a 1/300 C21 Vietnam Air war game,
             possibley a 1/600 Flaklighter II scenario. Hope to see the MOGG crew again.

19 Mar: CincyCon (OH)- Hosting another 1/300 C21 Vietnam Air war game,
              possibley a 1/600 Flaklighter II scenario. Hope John L. can finally play a game.

26 Mar: Battlefields (MI)- Probably going as a player. I may run only a morning game
              due to the 5+ hours of driving. If so the PT game, I feel there are enough
              flight games there.

In between, the Lima boyz and MOGG crew gaming at various places.

Once I get the Pac supplement for Luft 46, I plan to start a small scenario for local
gaming.

Table Talk

Ok, its 2011 and what to do.

1. Round out 1/600 Coastal scenarios for Pac, Med, Channel, and even Baltic.
    Rules: Flaklighter II mod
2. Finish the 1/300 Vietnam air field
    Rules: C21 Air War mod
3. Make a scenario for 1/700 modern naval
    Rules: Bulldogs Away (thanks Dave S.)
4. Slooowly work on 1/300 Ploesti project
    Rules: Squadron series (thanks Tom S.)
5. Put together miniatures/terrain for Normandy Jun-Aug 44' in 10mm
    Rules: BKC II (need to play to learn)
6. Finish 1/300 Falkland scenario
    Rules C21 Air War mod

And "maybe" do:

1. 3-Muskeeters bar scenario in 40mm
    Rules: Swashbuckler
2. Scenario for Normandy in 20mm
    Rules: I don't know, alot of new ones out there to try.

Of course all of this is set in warm jello.

Flaklighter Game

The game went very well. Jim and Joe (IHOG group) came down from Lima.



Jim 'Gotta stay away from that damned 88 gun"

 

Fairmiles and Eboats buzzing around!
A torpedo wake is traveling towards
the far VP Trawler.



 

It took 4 Brit torpedoes to take down the German VP trawler. Three duds!

The Vosper (after losing the bridge) rammed the VP. Vosper sank, VP

needed paint. Alot of steering damage and lucky hits.  Many boats were

over 50% damaged. Overall it was a small German victory, we didn't

sink the Siebel Ferrys. One sunk Trawler to 3 Brit MTBs sunk.

We are refining the hex version of the rules. Detection is a major part

yet major playing problem.