Category: Wargaming

At Historicon this Summer I had a chance to pick up the Sarissa armored train for 28mm figures.  Though it is meant to be a German train, I think, it works pretty well as a Polish train.  In these pictures you can see that I have sprayed it in field yellow and have not air brushed the brown and green camouflage pattern.  (I got out the airbrush and found out is was broken.)   Last Friday I put the scenario I plan to run at Fall In (in November) on the table at club night.

In the scenario, a Polish train has parked on a road that the Germans need.  The leading German forces have been tasked to capture the train so that it can be moved.  The Polish platoon is trying to defeat as many Germans as possible.  The idea is that a major German offensive is coming down this road, and it is imperative to get the train out of the way.  The rear car of the train has a gun that has run out of ammunition, so the train’s only armament is a 37mm gun in the forward turret.  The Germans entered the table along the top edge of the photo.  They had two half tracks and a truck full of infantry.  They had three more infantry squads and two Pz 38(t) light tanks.  The Poles had a light anti-tank gun and an anti-tank rifle.

Note that the Germans did not have to destroy all the Poles.  They merely needed to capture the train.  Most gamers will stop and fight, regardless of the mission, but this group had seasoned HAWKs who focused on the objective of capturing the train.  I defined capturing the train as having three infantrymen in the cab.

The Poles deployed no infantry in or around the train, deciding to defend well forward.  The Germans wisely avoided the obvious killing ground in the center of the table and attacked along both flanks.  The Germans did not know that only one of the two train turrets was operational, so they moved cautiously to stay out of its lines of sight.  The shack in the center of the table was unoccupied, and the Poles didn’t really have an opportunity to occupy it.  The shack did serve to limit the Poles’ lines of sight and enable the German infantry to move forward from the corn field.

The Poles had a strong infantry defensive position in the center, but the Germans avoided the area.  On the Polish left, the green German squads in the halftracks and truck moved up through the woods.  The Poles had place a small force on the small hill just off to the right of the picture above.  Their purpose was to slow down the German advance.  They did so, but at extreme cost.  They even tried to toss a satchel charge into the midst of the advancing Germans but it didn’t land were intended and did no damage.  As we called the game the Germans were swarming over the hill and advancing toward the front of the train.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any shots of the German armor advancing on the Polish right flank.  They kept well out of line of sight of the anti-tank gun.  The ATR got off a shot, but missed.  The right flank Polish squad had been all but wiped out by the combined fire of several German squads and tank fire.  At the end we called the game a German victory, because it was obvious that they were going to get to the train.

See Ma’k Morin’s blog post about Roomans here.

Yesterday I painted 13 that Ma’k converted to “space Roomans” by combining parts of a Ral Partha Rooman with the body of a Reaper science fiction figure.  I think the conversion was quite effective.

I cut some of the arms and re-glued them to give a little more variety to the posing.  It was a primitive conversion job, but from wargaming distance, they look okay.

Beware space farers when you hear the fear-inspiring battle cry of the Romman marines:  “Roop! Roop! Adoop!”

My buddy Ma’k made some molds of these long out-of-production figures.  They are ducks from the RuneQuest line.  He gave them to me a few months back, and this weekend I was able to get them painted.

I painted half with the “sun” design on their shields and the other half with the “moon” design.  This unit should see action in the near future, I hope.  The the feathers fly!

A few months back, I ordered some giant space aliens to go with my growing science fiction figure collection for Combat Patrol(TM).  This weekend I finally finished painting them.   I decided that the giant, fierce-looking aliens would look good in ice-cream colored uniforms.

I think for a science fiction game it is neat to have some oversized creatures.  Not everyone on every planet might be the same size.

I like the leader with the whip and pistol.  He’s ready to keep his rough and ready squad in line — or conduct his lion taming show in the circus.

I hope they don’t have trouble fitting through the hatches when they board and attack the space ship I intend to build.

War-games Illustrated Magazine posted a video of Combat Patrol(TM) on their Website today.  See link here:  http://wargamesillustrated.net/combat-patrol-playthrough/  Thanks to Chris Abbey at Sally 4th for taking the time to travel to War-games Illustrated to show them the game.

See the Combat Patrol(TM) Web page for more information on the game, information on how to get the game, free downloads, and how-to videos.

For my birthday my kids bought me this kit from Powered Play Gaming.  It took me a little while to assemble the kit, paint it, and decorate it.  It was designed as a billboard.  I decided to convert it into a drive-in theater screen for my town of Granville I use for my Pulp games.

You can see a little more in this video:  IMG_2942

I used the technique shown on this Web page to create the rust effect.

The HAWKs are well-known for running many children’s games at various HMGS conventions.  We also run the Armies for Kids Giveaway games that have been blogged about on our club blog and on TMP.  In the Armies for Kids Giveaway, we present the kids who participate in the game with two armies, rules, dice, and terrain bits so that they can go home and show their buddies wargaming.

The Harford Area Weekly Kreigspeilers (HAWKs) are running Barrage on 30 September and 1 October.  We want you to bring your children and your children’s buddies to Barrage.  On the Barrage Web page you will see a number of games that are listed as “kid friendly” (those in purple).  More are being added daily.  We want to see a lot of kids at Barrage along with host of adults.

For 2o years Barrage has been an outstanding gaming day.  This year Barrage will be two days, Friday, 30 September, and Saturday, 1 October.  The HAWKs want to see your children at Barrage.

Come to Barrage.  Bring children.  Have a great time!

The HAWKs want your children at Barrage!

Some months back, I discovered Pig Iron and their terrific line of science fiction figures and vehicles.  I had planned to build a platoon of these figures once the first few arrived and I painted them.  THEN, Pig Iron announced they were going out of business.  I ordered a bunch of their figures, only to find out that they were out of stock of many of those I needed and would not be producing more.  THEN, Pig Iron announced that they were being sold and that the figures would be available again.  They were made available again about two months ago.   I finished the last ten figures this evening and completed my platoon.

I have organized my platoon into three ten-figure squads, divided into two teams.  Each team has a heavy weapon, not unlike a BAR in a US WWII platoon.  In addition to the three squads, there is also a weapon squad and a platoon headquarters.

I just posted a free optional rules supplement on the Web page for Combat Patrol(TM):  http://www.bucksurdu.com/Buck_Surdu/Combat_Patrol.html .  Like all the supplements to date, this supplement is <b>free</b>.

So what is in the optional rules supplement?  It includes some rules that I didn’t have time to fully play test before releasing the rule book some months ago.  It also includes some clarifications as well as an alternative set of rules for spotting hidden enemies.  Examples include cavalry (on horses), night fighting, body armor, expansion on rules for firing small arms and machine-guns at light vehicles, etc.

So head over the the Combat Patrol(TM) Web page and get your copy of the supplement today.  While you are there, download some of the other free goodies that I have posted there.  If you have not tried Combat Patrol (TM) yet, you are missing out on a very enjoyable gaming experience.  Also take a look at some of the <b>how to videos</b> that explain how this unique set of rules works.  More free videos are in production.

The theme for Fall In 2016 in November is Poland.  I have always enjoyed the early WWII campaigns, including Poland.  I have quite a few 20mm / 1:72 scale figures, but I have been slowly duplicating my 20mm WWII collection with 28mm figures, which I like better.  I signed up to run a very large 10mm Look, Sarge, No Charts: World War II game, the battle of Lvov in Poland in 1939, and two 28mm skirmish games with Combat Patrol (TM).  Since I didn’t have 28mm Polish, I needed to get a platoon painted up quickly.

To assemble a platoon of Poles to run my Combat Patrol (TM) games at Fall In, immediately upon returning from Historicon in July, I ordered a platoon of Poles in 28mm from Warlord.  It took several weeks to file, prime, base, and paint these 60 figures, but I finished them this weekend.

I block painted the figures and then dipped them in the lighter brown shade from Army Painter.  This is the first time I tried to completely dip figures with Army Painter rather than brushing it on the figures.  I am pleased with the effect.  I don’t see myself using this technique on 18th century figures, where I will want the brighter colors, but I am pleased with the speed and effect on WWII figures.

Polish squads could be quite large, as large as 18 men, including two leaders and a  version of the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) produced under license in Poland.  My squads are a little smaller than that, at 16 figures.

Warlord, one of the few — perhaps the only — manufacturers of 28mm Polish infantry, also makes a 75mm gun and a 37mm gun.  I didn’t quite get the color right on the guns, but they are passable.  Neither gun would be organic to a platoon, or even a company, but again, they will mike nice attached support weapons for specific scenarios.

The platoon HQ should be five men, including the two-man anti-tank rifle team.  The machine-gun would not be organic to the platoon, but might be assigned by from battalion or company for specific missions.

There is nothing like committing to run games at a convention, when you don’t have all the figures to run the games, to provide the necessary impetus to get painting done.  I am very satisfied with the platoon and will be quite happy to field them on a gaming table soon.