Interesting Book Find

As much as I prefer online shopping by and large, there is something lost when it comes to book shopping - the serendipitous discovery possible only when one is browsing shelves and the eye stumbles on a some hitherto unknown (to you) title on a topic of real interest.

While out on a Dollar Tree run (I wanted some of their cheap brush sets for base coating), we swung by a Half-Priced Books store. I wandered to the Military History section ter taking a detour thorough Science Fiction / Fantasy in hopes of finding the next book in Burroughs's Venus series (my hopes were dashed). As usual, the WWI section was skimpy at best, with mostly general histories and the "illustrated encyclopedias".  Although I don't have one, and probably ought to pick one up for easy reference,  my eyes soon fell upon this and I knew it was coming home with me:

White War, Black Soldiers: Two African Accounts of World War I contains two accounts of the war, written by African soldiers and these accounts were previously only available in French. I'm quite excited to read it for a fresh perspective on the war.

I make no promises one way or another about a Senegalese unit for my wargames. 

An Unfortunate Oversight: Another Test of My Variant Rules

Took some time to put my One Hour Wargames WWII variant on the table Thursday night. The changes I made between the last time and this worked as I hoped. The rules are probably set as far as I am concerned, but another game or two will determine that fully.

The scenario was "An Unfortunate Oversight" from One Hour Wargames.

The Germans were defending. They had three rifle units and chose (by die roll) to distribute the weapons company platoons to the rifle units (so, two of the rifle units had attached MGs and one had a mortar). They also had two artillery units - which, I allow to be on table or off, with the latter requiring an FOO). By die roll they chose one on-table and one off, attaching the FOO to one of the rifle units. They had a single tank unit.

The Americans had the same setup of rifle units with distributed company heavy weapon assets. They had but one artillery unit and that was to be off-table (again, decided by die roll), with an FOO assigned to a rifle unit. Two tank units rounded out the force.

By way of a note, when a rifle unit with attached weapons platoons or FOO is eliminated, so too are the attached platoons/FOO.

Also a note, both on- and off-table artillery, which, as in the original rules, is quite powerful, receive a limited number of fire missions: as few as 3 to as many as 6.  I determined these values based on the fact that most of my OHW games have always gone less than 12 turns and because units typically can either move or fire. This nerfs the artillery a bit, but feels a bit more realistic - otherwise it just dominates the game. While all on-table units can spot for on-table artillery, only the FOO can spot for off-table artillery - thus further limiting impact (pardon the pun!).

In the pictures below, the counters on the rifle stands indicate which heavy weapon platoon is attached. I could have used figures for those, but I wanted to try it with markers this time.

The initial dispositions. Yet again determined by die roll.

A half-hearted attempt to dislodge the Germans from village began on the American left. German on-table artillery, called in by the rifle unit in the village, made quick work of the American armor.

On the American right, the assault on the hill took shape and involved a long range tank duel, and artillery from both sides. (the two on the die indicates they've taken 8 hits. A green die for 1-6, yellow for 7-12, and red for 13+)

The Americans drove the Germans from the hill and the battle for the village was decided shortly after this was taken: the Americans took the village via close combat and pressed up the road shortly after.

On turn 12, the Americans had captured the hill, the German artillery on-table was out of rounds/fire missions (they function as a rifle unit thereafter, however they roll 1d3 to a max range of 6" and cannot make smoke) and the Panzers were badly beaten up (they had taken 12 of their 15 points of damage). Victory to the Americans.

Back to the Painting Table

The Philly trip was quite fun - I ate my body weight in soft pretzels, took everyone around to see various sites and museums, places I lived, my favorite place to do laundry, and even caught the Circle Jerks / 7 Seconds / Negative Approach show with some friends.

 

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution. Which, as it turns out, might be a British soldier or even not a soldier at all. Washington Square Park.

 

I never noticed this before on the ground up at Logan Square, which is, to be accurate, a circle, and hence is also called Logan Circle. I probably didn't notice before because WWI was not a focus when I lived in Philly.

 

Me and the little monkey who isn't so little anymore. My phone's selfie camera had some gunk on it that gave this pic the glamour shot look. My shirt, for the curious, it's the "Noise Not Music" symbol - while I do play typical music styles (I'm in a crust band, for example), I really enjoy playing with noise.

 

Upon return, I picked up the brush and started painting again. I've got multiple projects on the paint table now - including an Austro-Hungarian MG team (Well, Germans and a paint conversion), French Foreign Legion, SCS Direct lizard warriors, and Tanitian Light Infantry. 

The latter I painted up in the same way as the heavy infantry, but they just don't have the same impact. I did three in that fashion, but their smaller shields, general lack of kit, and bare legs don't grab the eye. 

So, I grabbed a fourth figure I had started at the same time (I work in threes, but painting a fourth figure solid orange is hardly difficult - it's the multiple coats followed by the black lining and correcting black line errors that takes forever) and decided to do it as Greek black-figure pottery (which is the opposite of the red-figure pottery style I was using as a basis) by painting over the orange and leaving gaps between materials/surfaces:

If you are questioning my beverage choice, it's a Ghost energy drink, Bubbilicious Strawberry Splash.

To my eyes it is much more interesting this way. 

Now, this sample was done in a rush and over the gloss coat I put down before I black line (the pens are easier to use over gloss - he says for the 100th time) so the black paint definitely needs a second coat but you get the idea.

I can speed things up for this method by priming in white, then painting orange ONLY over bits that will have the orange outline - the head gear, weapons, belt and straps (of which there isn't much) and the tunics at the sleeve ends and above the thigh. Everything else I'll leave white. Without the gloss coat, I can cover up everything, white or orange, with black much more easily.

Or so that's my theory at least.

One-Off Fantasy Battle

Yesterday, I finished painting up another 3-figure batch of the SCS Direct lizard warriors (the marine iguana themed ones). I've also been re-basing my Deetail knights individually so they can be used either on Venus or in small fantasy skirmishes. 

It seemed like a good as time as any to put a small battle on the table. The rules were the Ancient rules from Developing the Portable Wargame. The scenario was "Take the High Ground" from One Hour Wargames. The "table" is 7 grid spaces wide by 6 deep. Grid spaces are 5" square.

Deployment grid spaces were determined by die roll.

The foot knights were heavy infantry, the archers were treated as close order. The mounted knights were heavy cavalry. All foot lizards were light infantry, while the triceratops was treated as a war elephant. The spinosaurus was treated as heavy infantry with a +2 bonus in the first round of close combat, +1 thereafter.

Turn 3 or 4:  Flank attacks aplenty.

I was quite pleased both in how the game played and the look of the thing.  Unfortunately my phone died not even half-way through!

However, I did manage the classic "rule book with the table" photo before that happened:

I will undoubtedly play more games like this as my Venusians slowly build up. There'll be no painting this week though, as I'm off to Philly tonight. I plan to show my son my favorite city and gorge myself on soft pretzels and Goldberg's Peanut Chews.

For the flights, and for late evening downtime, I have some research planned: Edgar Rice Burroughs's Pirates of Venus.

It's definitely of the "summer reading" variety of research, but should provide inspiration and fodder for planning while I'm away from my toys.

Here We Go Again: One Hour Wargames WWII

For a variety of reasons that I don't feel I can articulate well to others, I've been thinking a lot about my 54mm WWII plastic figure collection lately. 

I don't see myself purchasing anything further for it - whether it be armor or ATGs or whatever - unless I stumble across some insanely good deal. Indeed I may sell/donate some of the unpainted stuff which I have amassed. Borrowing Ross Mac's taxonomy, this is a primary reserve collection - but it will probably hit the table nearly as much as an active collection, given that I feel I have what I need to play games, particularly of the One Hour Wargames variety.

Now, I hear you saying, "Don't you often criticize One Hour Wargames WWII rules?" Yes. Yes I do.

But, I really like the Medieval and Machine-age rules and found the Rifle & Sabre rules satisfactory. The simplicity is appealing as is a uniform mechanism that works period-to-period. It means I can get a game on the table sooner rather than later (much as The Portable Wargame does for grid games). Which is why I'm sort of ignoring my various Morschauser Modern modifications here.

A number of people have addressed issues they found with the WWII rules, but often at levels higher or lower than I like to play. For some reason, with my WWII 1/32 figures, it's easier for me to see 3-4 figures on a base as a company and 2 figures as a squad, than to see platoons, battalions, or anything else. 

So, I decided to make my own variant to address the deficiencies, as I see them, with the rules-as-written.

My goal was to avoid adding complexity for the sake of complexity , while adding meaningful (I hope!) decision points for the player. So, in addition to the company basing, the changes I made include: adding close combat, smoke, and limited fire missions for artillery.

The US heavy company drops their mortars on the Germans on the hill and the infantry companies drop their smoke just shy of the hill to cover their advance (smoke lasts through the enemy's next turn).

I played a game with my first draft addressing the areas above (plus more) and it was quite a bit of fun, while also very simple - which is what I want from most of my rules really. I don't like consulting rules much if at all once the game is underway. They are also still very much One Hour Wargames WWII rules at their heart, just a bit of chrome bolted on.

They did need a little further tweaking, I felt, so I'll give them another go soon. Of course, I'm not exactly sure when "soon" will be!

An Elephant Never Forgets

The other day I saw a post over on The Eastern Garrison and I knew I had to completely redo the elephant I had done earlier.

He was fine as he was - although I had never finished painting his base - but I really wanted him to blend in better with the Tanitians (he is a spell caster/beast for them/servant of the Yellow King, Azathoth,  Cthulhu, and the other Elder Beings - no need of a howdah and crew). Having witnessed the glossy black elephants in the Eastern Garrison post, I saw the path forward with clarity.

Behold!

The symbol is one of Cthulhu that I found online.

He still has two red eyes and the central yellow Third Eye.

HaT markets him as 1/32 but he looks small to me. However, in comparison to the triceratops, he is the right size (the triceratops should be. and is. bigger). So, at least they are in scale to each other.

On the march.

Warriors, forever!

In Fistful of Lead: Bigger Battles beasts/monsters count as two units - they have quite a few abilities. In GASLIGHT, I would undoubtedly give him hit points to bring down and make him a main character, so he would be allowed saving rolls as well, making him formidable. 

I think the only change I would still make at this point is a round base for him, so he fits in better with the others. However, I have no rounds of sufficient size. I want the base to extend beyond his horns - the tusks are long, yes, but the horns are quite big, and both are delicate, too, as they are made of air-dry clay.

In any case, I had already started on a batch of three SCS Direct lizard warrior when I was distracted by this idea. Back to those!