On the Grid Again

 Friday the dam burst and I played a flurry of games on a grid - spurred in no small part by my acquisition of a foldable card table.

It measures 38 in. square, which with my current grid cloth is still just 6x6 of 6 inch squares. But that's fine for One Hour Wargames scenarios with small forces.

I set out Scenario 14: Static Defence  - a favorite of mine  - and I tried some rules I had written up over the course of the preceding week. 

In this iteration, weapon companies were split up into attachments to rifle companies.

Soviet ATR companies can engage armor up to 1 space away. Other infantry have to close assault it.

I played two games like this. They were Ok but they weren't quite what I had hoped and had some flaws I found bothersome.  I combined them with some ideas from The Portable Wargame and tried again.

That was better but still not quite right. So I gave The Portable Wargame a chance as written - but using three hits per unit.

Soviets held off the attack on the town - which was the German target. They instead captured the hill rather accidentally.

That still wasn't quite right, for me. So, I scribbled some ideas down and slept on it.

Saturday morning, I set up a new scenario (Scenario 20: Fighting Retreat) because I needed a change from the last one.

Dramatic sunlight.

Classic Toy Solider MG team holding off the Soviet advance.

Very close to what the end of the last game looked like. The Soviet advance collapsed due to losses. I set exhaustion at 50% of strength points due to the small totals for each force.

The end result was exactly the kind of game I had wanted to play. I played twice even, just to be sure.

In the end it was an amalgamation of my own preferences, Hold the  Line, Bob Cordery's Memoir of Modern Battle and The Portable Wargame, and a little Morschauser (4's and 6's to hit and 2/4/6 for MGs).

Operation Citadel-ish

In the mood for getting some kind of game on the table, I flipped, well, scrolled, through, my copy of One Hour Wargames and realized I could treat scenario 8: Melee as a suitable substitute for Grossdeutschland's attack on Cherkasskoye in July, 1943.

Regular readers may recall that I fought this battle as part of a campaign last year.

Panzer and Tiger units from GD advance in front of PzGrenadiers.

Elements of Soviet 199th Guard Rifle Regiment protect the hill, while others advance to meet the fascist invaders.

GD Panzer IVs were completely destroyed but GD recon unit and additional PzGrenadiers arrive to press the attack.

Two AT batteries of the 67th Guards Rifle Division reinforce what remains of the 199th.

Assault lead by Pz Grenadiers supported by recon and Tigers (off camera)

The Soviet left flank collapses under the weight of GD's advance.

Recon foolishly leads the charge to eliminate the last of the defenders.

The Soviets lose Cherkasskoye at great cost, while GD losses are minimal.

I used improvised rules based on my Division Squares: Simple WW2 Combat on a Square Grid but converted to grid-less.  The biggest changes, besides using a ruler, were that I left out leaders and artillery. 

Obviously some of the specifics of the scenario didn't match my original from last year - which I tried to base on research - the Soviets weren't dug in, there was no artillery barrage, and there was no village, but honestly, it was close enough and just as enjoyable.

Austria Inches Closer to War

I can't say the progress on these is substantial, at least not visibly. Inwardly though, I decided to let go a little of my perfectionism (well, attempts at) and embrace the "the best is the enemy of the good" mentality. There are a couple of sloppy spots that I will have to fix for my sanity, but the rest stays as is. 

They do need a gloss finish though, of course. However, I need to figure out basing first. I was all set for 2 figures on a 2 inch square, like my WWII Eastern Front collection. But then I saw them just singly on the table and I felt nostalgic for the simple early days of my own wargaming where individual figures and 1:1 ratios were all I knew.

This could be a fun Fistful of Lead force or One Hour Skirmish.

 So I'm not sure which I'll do yet. Maybe 1"x2" bases, so I can fake 2" squares?

Bayonets properly shiny. Figures based this way are suitable for Trench Hammer, Portable Wargame, Crossfire, etc.

 

I do try to make each collection provide  a different experience. More to think on regarding that.

Island Hopping or Rebasing the PTO

No gaming afoot but I did get inspired to rebase my 1/72 Pacific Theater figures.

Originally they were individually based on U.S. pennies but now I'm basing them on foamcore, for use in Crossfire, Blitzkrieg Commander 1st ed., The Portable Wargame, my Morschauser Modified Modern rules, my various grid games, etc.

I have between 40 and 50 figures for each side (painted around 10 years ago and gamed with very often for a time)- so more than enough for my current small multi-figure base games.

The proof of concept batch.

I liked the light I was getting, so another one of the same batch.

More figures on bases. Perhaps they are fighting in winter? Nope, just haven't painted the bases yet.

Finally, not exactly gaming related but certainly tangential. I acquired a copy of The Legacy of World War II in European Arthouse Cinema by Samm Deighan. I've known Samm for over a decade now and I have been eagerly awaiting this book since I first heard whispers she was working on it, many years ago. By the way, lest you feel like you might be hoodwinked into some affiliate link, the link is to the Google book preview rather than to Amazon for a whole host of reasons.

Cheers to you all  - I have been popping in to read your blogs whenever I can. I've been swamped with multiple efforts on multiple fronts (and enjoying all but the ones involving my day job) and your posts keep me connected to the hobby, inspired, and itching to play. 

I do hope to get a game in tonight or this weekend - a board game perhaps or maybe toy soldiers. We'll see what hand fortune deals us!

15mm Sci-Fi Sideshow

Well, I never got Burning Mountains on the table. Starting a business, even a small side-gig like teaching guitar lessons takes a lot of time. And my band started rehearsing again after a year away - so it's been like starting over.

That said, I really wanted to play a game but I didn't want to do any setting up.

I've been contemplating letting go a lot of my smaller scale figures as I rarely if ever use them, but I like my 15mm sci-fi collection of figures too much to let it go. I had to get them out to justify holding on to them.

So here is a very hastily setup game set up on a piece and half of craft foam:

 

Scenario is based on the one I always use from MG-42. The dice are a wall, not dice.

 

Control *boo hiss*

Our heroes. Cigar chomping bi-pedal bears and Goldilocks.

Gratuitous close up #1

Gratuitous close up #2

Rules used were One Brain Cell Toy Soldiers. 

I played several times in the span of maybe 30 minutes - our heroes managed a victory only once, ending in a rooftop duel between Goldilocks and the Control NCO. Cinematic, quick and simple and scratched the itch.

Miniatures are all from Khurasan, painted and purchased probably seven or eight years ago.

Update!

I've been away from the wargame and toy soldier blog world - so much to catch up on, I do hope to get some time to read your posts this evening.

With pandemic restrictions slowly relaxing (or too rapidly in some cases) and having had my second  shot, other activities are starting to resume and it's quite a juggling act.

Although the pandemic didn't impact me workwise, this past year has had me thinking more about what I really want to do "when I grow up" (I'm 49 so it's not a foregone conclusion I will ever grow up). I appear to have landed on teach others how to play guitar.

So, I've been busy working to get that going and that eats into a lot of what would have otherwise been gaming time. (jyguitarstudio.com if your curiosity is killing you). 

I'm still out here though - and hope to get Burning Mountains onto the table this week for the 105th anniversary of the 1916 Austrian Strafexpedition. I am in the process of rounding the corners on the counters and reacquainting myself with the rules (which aren't terribly complicated - at least now that I have experience with Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit).

With no games or painting to report, I'll note that I visited Atlanta's Oakland cemetery recently - there quite a few US Civil War era graves throughout :

This is clearly a newer marker - the period stones are quite worn in comparison, and most are barely legible.

For those with an interest in the period, it's a worthwhile visit if you're in the area, and for the rest of us, it's a beautiful place with rich greenery and abundant flowers throughout.

(Minimal) Austrian Progress

 To keep me pushing on, I decided to post where I've gotten to since last time. In short: not far!

Everyone now has both hands painted and the helmets as well. I originally mixed  shade that matched the Isonzo braun examples i found online, but then realized I'd have to mix enough for all of my Austrians and promptly went with a shade of Vallejo brown green (or is it green brown?) that I had on hand.

I won't even attempt to make a guess as to when these will be finished. Maybe this month?