Category: Wargaming

The gaming group to which I belong, the Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers (HAWKs), celebrated New Years Eve as we have done every New Year since 2009.  A large contingent came to my house for a couple of miniatures games, a toast to the new year, and an early culmination of events.  This year, the first game used the recently-released Star Wars supplement to Combat Patrol(TM): WWII.  The Imperial forces attacked a Rebel installation from two directions.  The Imperial goal was to cause as much destruction as possible.  This included destroying moisture vaporators, buildings, and gun emplacements.  They couldn’t merely blow them up from a distance, they had to put someone next to them with a thermal detonator.

The Rebels forces included a platoon with a heavy weapon squad, some Wookies, some Sand People, and some heroes (Han, Leia, Luke, and Chewbacca).  The Imperial forces included two infantry platoons, to AT-STs, an AT-AT, and some speeders.  The AT-AT was GM controlled (by me) and had the mission of driving up to the installation, dropping some “commandos” inside, and then blowing up the pallets of ammunition in the middle of the installation.

At first it looked like the Imperial forces would easily get the upper hand as the Rebel gun turrets got some early out of ammunition results, and the HE effect of the medium blaster cannons on the AT-ST’s negating much of the Rebel cover in the first line of defense.

Some of Duncan’s Rebel infantry fired on the speeder carrying a Stormtrooper squad, stunning a couple of troopers and forcing them to dismount.  This meant that they now had a long walk across the open to get to the installation.

I controlled the AT-AT as a sort of play balance.  If the Imperial forces were getting spanked, I could unleash the heavy blaster cannons.  (After the game, I realized that the black base on the AT-AT comes off with four screws, so it won’t spoil the aesthetics in future games.)  The Rebels had a few anti-tank type weapons: the four turrets and some shoulder-fired rocket launchers.  They fired several shots at the AT-AT and the AT-STs, but they were unable to score penetrating hits.

In Combat Patrol(TM), when units are on high ground like these Rebels, they get the “foxhole” cover protection.  In Combat Patrol, when a figure scores a hit on an area occupied by troops, you draw the next card from the Action Deck to determine which figure was hit and how severely.  This card also has some cover icons.  If the icon appears for the cover occupied by the randomly determined figure, the figure is stunned instead of wounded or incapacitated.  This made defending the high, rocky cliffs very effective for the Rebels.

The Imperial forces never got very close to the installation, so many of the defenders were maneuvered out of the scintillation to delay the enemy.

After a couple of turns, Chris’ Sand People aligned with the Rebels, revealed themselves atop the rocky cliff and began sniping at Geoff’s Stormtroopers, slowing them down.  In this picture you can see a gray bunker.  The bunker and the gun turret were both objectives worth blowing up, but they were defended by Wookies.  Although the Wookies had few blasters, they acquitted themselves well in hand-to-hand combat with the Stormtroopers.

Stormtroopers worked their way around a building to assault the Rebels.  The Rebel’s on the hillsides really slowed down this group of Stormtroopers, making it difficult for them to achieve their objectives.

Both sides seemed to have a good time.  In the end, it was a Rebel Victory.  They still held five of their moisture vaporators, and the Rebels held seven.  Also, one for he Sith supporting the Stormtroopers and Captain Palmer (Phasma) were knocked out, while none of the Rebel heroes were Incapacitated.

A high point in the game was when Princess Leia ran out and planted a thermal detonator on the leg of my AT-AT.  It blew up, receiving a penetrating hit, that caused the leg to collapse and the machine to topple.  The “commandos” escaped, but they were stunned, and Leia missed being crushed by the falling AT-AT.  Then the commandos who were supposed to have been dropped inside the installation fought against rebels between the fallen AT-AT and the installation gateway.

It was a very fun game that involved 16 players.  The game ran from 1600-2030 with a short break for dinner.  I think it is a testament to the rules that you can play a game this large and still finish in a reasonable amount of time.

 

One of the guys in our club, Duncan, traditionally hosts a war-game sometime between Christmas and New Years Day at his house.  This year we combined a viewing of the new Star Wars movie in the morning with a Star Wars game in the afternoon.  For this game, we used the recently released Star Wars supplement for Combat Patrol(TM): WWII.  The scenario, The Trap, involved a group of Rebels attacking the cargo bay of an Imperial ship.  Stormtroopers counterattack from two sides and dealt he blast doors.  Later in the scenario, the crew of the Phantom from the Rebels TV series reinforce the rebels and try to get them out of the bay.  The Rebels are also assisted by Asoka Tano.

We rebels were in the middle of the bay as sitting ducks when the Stormtroopers sprang their trap.  The Stormtroopers were led by Darth Duncan (Vader).

One of the Rebel squads was pretty well decimated early in the game by advancing Stormtroopers.  Asoka launchd herself at the Stormtroopers.  After a few rounds of hand-to-hand combat, she defeated a squad.

To win, the Rebels had to get out of one of the two blast doors on opposite sides of the cargo bay.  They picked one side and dashed for it.  Unfortunately, that was the side led by Darth Duncan.  Duncan unleashed the Sith power of “Rage.”  This essentially launched his Stormtroopers in a banzai charge against the Rebels.  While Darth Duncan’s Stormtroopers were pretty badly mangled in the attack, he tied up the Rebels and gave the other Stormtroopers a chance to close on our rear from the other blast door.

By the end of the game, most of our named heroes had been incapacitated except for Asoka, and most of our Rebels were also knocked out.  It was a pretty convincing victory for the Imperial forces.  Greg will be running this scenario at Barrage and Cold Wars.

I recently purchased four 3D-printed buildings from Imperial Terrain.  My daughter was home from school for Christmas, and she likes to paint terrain.  I usually hold any terrain projects until she is home and focus on figure painting.  She jumped right in and began to work on these buildings.

We wanted the buildings to have some rough texture to them, and also we wanted to hide some of the printing lines in the buildings.  We did not want to texture the pipes, consoles, and other details.  My daughter spent many hours with masking tape and an Xacto knife masking the portions we did not want to have a rough texture.

After all the buildings we masked, we sprayed them with black matte primer and then a coat of Testor’s fleckstone paint.

After the masking tape was removed, we re-primed the buildings with a  dark brown spray paint.  Now all the masked portions as well as the fleckstone portions were brown.  She applied four coats of dry brushing to the texture portions of the buildings and then went in an painted the other details.

This one building took her four hours to paint after the final priming coat, so this is the only one she has completed.  I don’t know if I will work on the other three myself or save them for the next time she is home.  I am very happy with the results of all this work.

 

A few days ago, I posted some pictures of female cuirassiers.  This is a rocket artillery battery that goes with those figures.  I really like the way his figures look like girls without being ridiculously proportioned.

While at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, I picked up these last few figures.  They were somewhat over priced, but they were unique and fun to paint.

I ordered some hobbit cavalrymen from The Assault Group to mount on Baker Company reindeer to give to my buddy Chris for Christmas.  In the package with the hobbit riders, they included these three hobbit figures.  I can’t stand to have unpainted lead around, so I knocked these out.

Chris gave me these very cool science fiction figures from a Russian company.

Sally 4th has produced these very nice vehicle cards that are already filled in with all the information you need to play Combat Patrol(TM): WWII.  While it is easy to create these vehicle cards from the data tables and blank cards included with the rules, these cards make it easier to start playing a game — and they look great.  They can be purchased directly from Sally 4th’s Web page.

Sally 4th also recently started a new page on their Web site, called Front Line Reporting.   This is space for battle reports of Combat Patrol games.  If you post a battle report on some on-line forum and send us the link, either Chris Abbey or I will send you some of these cards for free as a thank you.

Barrage 2017 will be held 19-20 January 2018.  The even listing is quite full, with exciting games on both FRIDAY and SATURDAY.  Food is available at a reasonable price on the premises, and there are a number of nice restaurants close by.  We will have vendors, TWO Flames of War Tournaments, and an Art de la Guerre tournament.  We pack a lot of fun into two full days of gaming, so come to BOTH DAYS of Barrage.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted some pictures of some worm men with lasers that I recently painted form Hydra Miniatures.   In the same order, I purchased ten of these blocky robots. I really like them, but they all came with empty hands.  I wanted to add additional weapons.  In some cases, I had to cut off the right hand and turn it 90 degrees so that the robot could hold a ray gun or some other weapon.

 

 

I bought into Kickstarter some months back for figures from Joe Corsaro, called Venus 1888 Women at War.  I really like the figures, and I finally got around to painting them.

I really like the mechanical unicorns on unicycles.  These riders are very cool looking figures.  They look female without being pornographic or exaggerated.

I recently received these space worms from Hydra Miniatures.  I really like them.  Service from Hydra was excellent.

When I work them into a Combat Patrol game, I may give them the ability to burrow through the ground and come up behind the enemy.

I also ordered these ducks from New Zealand.  I really like them, and I recently bought into his new Kickstarter.

The event listing for Barrage 2017 (which will be held January 19 and 20, 2018) is nearly full.  We can handle a couple more Friday and Saturday games, but if you take a look at the Web page, you will see many great events.

Go to the Web page, www.hawks-barrage.org, and create an account.  Then you can register for the convention.  Once registered, you can submit games or sign up for games.  If after you sign up for a game, something else catches your eye, you can change your mind.

Don’t miss out on this excellent two-day event.  Come for both days.  Come early, stay late.  Bring a buddy.