Category: Wargaming

Combat Patrol was released las week (see previous post and information here:  http://www.bucksurdu.com/Buck_Surdu/Combat_Patrol.html).  I ran two games featuring the rules at Fall In this weekend, and Eric Schlegel ran another.  There was to be a fourth game using Combat Patrol for the Napoleonic Wars, but the game was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances by the GM.

Both games went extremely well.  The first game was over full, but I managed to cram everyone into the game.  I had a couple of players from the first game come back to play again in the second game — including a small child who was able to control his own forces and work the rules without assistance.

The two scenarios were linked.  The ending positions from the first scenario were the starting positions for the second scenario.  The first scenario involved a German platoon and an American platoon bumping into each other in a small village at an important crossroads.  Both sides had the objective of gaining and maintaining an advantageous position before reinforcements arrived (the second scenario).

Between the scenarios I reconstituted some of the squads the had been badly shot up, but mostly I left the forces where they were at the end of the first scenario.  I think this worked really well.  The starting positions for this second scenario were in better and more interesting positions than I probably would have put them if I was running the second scenario without the benefit of the first scenario.

This picture (above) shows the general layout of the table before the fighting began.  This is from the perspective of the Americans.

Both scenarios were closely run affairs, with neither side having a significant advantage until toward the end of the second scenario.

In the picture (above) you can see the command dice next to the three elements that make up the US squad.  This was their starting position for the first scenario.  This squad was patrolling up the road when the fun began.

In the picture (above) you can see that part of a US squad was in the woods on the left, and the other half of that squad, including a bazooka team had the up position in the building.  The player thought he had a great position for his bazooka.  When the German halftrack rushed past the opening, the bazooka team passed its Reaction roll to fire, but THEN the player realized there was no window on that side of the building!  We had a lot of fun at his expense after that.

Since his bazooka as ineffective, the team in the woods hit the halftrack with a captured Panzerfaust, knocking out the driver and the forward machine-gun.  Then the Americans assaulted it.  The Germans had dismounted, so for a while the two groups tossed grenades over the vehicle at each other.

Everyone seemed to grasp the rules quick, and they all seemed to have a good time.  There were no glaring issues — which would have been disappointing after three and a half years of development.  All in all, I was very satisfied with the results.

There were some die-hard fans of other rules in the the two games, but I didn’t hear any of the “in rules ___, they do this…” types of comments, which I thought was a good sign.  A number of folks asked how they could get the rules, and I had some prepared flyers with QR codes that they could scan to go straight to the rules.  I did not see a bump in sales over the weekend, but most of the flyers I posted around the conventions kept disappearing.  Presumable they were taken by folks interested in the rules and not by competitors.

There was a lot of dancing around between the German Pz. IV, the US Sherman, and the US Stuart.  The Pz. IV got stuck trying to climb over this brick wall.  Then the Sherman pulled up behind it, put a round through the engine, and knocked it out.  The smoke shown is scary painted cotton batting glued to battery-operated tea lights with black bases.

I probably lost a few sales by not having decks of cards in the dealer area.  I also got some complaints over the weekend from someone who thought the game was too expensive in England with shipping costs.  Still, I want to let this electronic-only distribution run its course for a little while.

We pay as much for rules shipped to the US, and it’s unlikely Brits will buy a set of rules written by a Yank anyway.  (That’s meant to be a joke!)  I have attempted to reduce the risk by providing the YouTube how-to video and by making the basic rules free so that prospective customers can read them before purchasing the cards.  The rules are available worldwide without having to find a local stockist or distributor.  That’s the best I can do.

In addition to my two Combat Patrol games, Eric Schlegel ran a game with the rules as well.  Several of the HAWKs ran a series of games on the same town table all weekend, including Battleground, Dr. Who, and others.

 

I am dotting the last few I’s and crossing the last couple of T’s with DriveThru.  The game should go live tomorrow (Tuesday).  It has been a long, long journey.

I was busy creating a promotion and demonstration video for Combat Patrol, which used most of my hobby time this weekend.  I did manage to finish the Monarch Theater from Multiverse Gaming Terrain (http://www.multiversegamingterrain.com/the-monarch-theatre-p-46.html).  This was a very fun kit to assemble and paint.  Most of it was painted partially assembled and then the paint parts were put together to make the final building.  This made the painting easier and the lines cleaner.

I haven’t decided what movie to put on the marquee yet.

Like all the Multiverse kits, assembly was easy — even without directions — and the number of exposed tabs is minimal.  I did make one mistake that required me to pull apart something and re-do it.

The detail on this theater was quite nice.  My only nit is that it would be nice to have an interior stairwell, but that really is a nit.

I typically put this gravel look on all of my flat-roofed buildings.

I wanted the color scheme to stand out and reflect the ambiance of the golden age of movies and movie houses but be period appropriate.  I used this photo of art deco color schemes as inspiration.

The final editing is completed.  I will be coordinating with DriveThru Cards to make the rules and cards available Monday or Tuesday this week.

In the meantime enjoy this promotional video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSChdQcZZJs&feature=youtu.be

I also made this video that demonstrates how combat resolution is conducted in the game:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0hinO2KaMY&feature=youtu.be  My videography skills are primitive, so the video has some flaws, but you will get the basic idea.

Thanks to Rob Dean, I have completed the final edit of Combat Patrol: World War Two.   Last night I shot a few pictures to fill white space in the booklet.  These are photos that don’t actually have a role in the booklet except as eye candy.  I plan to finish filling white space over the weekend and upload the rules to DriveThru.  That means the rules will be available Monday or Tuesday of next week — ahead of my Fall In goal.

The basic rules are just eight pages long.  The whole book is 44 pages plus table of contents, cover page, etc.  This includes extensive tables of vehicle and anti-tank weapon attributes.

I have been busy getting Combat Patrol (TM) ready for publication, so I haven’t done much painting lately.  I did finish these two buildings for the airport near the town of Granville I use for my pulp games.

I will be running two games at Fall In featuring the about-to-be-released Combat Patrol: World War II rules.  As of yesterday, there were still slots open for these games.  Be the first in your club to try out this new game.

I started last weekend and finished this weekend.  I completed the Plasticville Hobo Village set.  The hobo village will be on the outskirts of Granville in my next pulp game.  This is a nice place for gangsters to hole up waiting their chance to kidnap Professor Serafini Nannini and his daughter Gianna Nannini.

I also completed the roadside produce stand.  A two lane highway runs past Granville, and this will be a nice place to sell all that fresh produce from the local farms.

The fence in the background will eventually go around my drive in theater.  I made the fences high to keep out all the young boys hoping for a glimpse of Betty Grable’s legs.

I guess the guy with his “dukes” up is unhappy with the price of corn.

Chris found some Viking looking boats in the dollar store.  At Barrage we talked about having some painted as “good” and others as “evil.”  So I painted mine as “good.”

I made the sails in PowerPoint and printed them.  I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

I have a number of partially completed items on the painting table, but nothing new to show.  I did have a thought yesterday that I felt I would share with both readers of this blog.  🙂

I got a recent Pulp update from Beasts of War (http://www.beastsofwar.com).  Actually the update was Pulp, Punk, Horror, and Weird — dominated by the latter three and light on the first.  As I was perusing the Email update, I wondered, “When did it all get so dark?”  New releases of rules and figures seem to be focusing on the dark side of Pulp — daemons, vampires, daemons, zombies, more daemons, etc.  The stuff hitting the market these days makes Lovecraft look like Charles Schultz.

I guess I like my pulp lighter than the current tastes:  Duke Morrison and his buddies, “Wrench” Web,” “Boats” Morgan, Professor Nannini, Sergeant Preston, and others working to foil the insensate evil of the nameless “Eastern Menace,” Nazi Zeppelin troopers, etc.  I like bigger than life, barrel-chested, steely eyed killers of men and small fur-bearing animals locked in struggles to rescue beautiful ingenues, recapture stolen scientific marvels, or mystical devices.  I don’t much care for daemons, devils, and zombies cluttering up my pulp action; although, I do play the occasional zombie game.  My pulp is the Maltese Falcon, the Saturday morning serials, Flash Gordon, The Thin Man, Lives of the Bengal Lancers, the Real Glory, the Drums, The Four Feathers, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Alan Quartermaine, just about anything John Wayne ever did, etc.  These are lighthearted adventures with clear heroes and villains.

Similarly, Victorian science fiction seems to be getting hijacked by the darker steam punk cum post apocalyptic craze.  Who wants VSF troopers in gas masks?  Apparently many.  I prefer bold, perhaps xenophobic, arrogant, and proselytizing, adventurers venturing into unknown worlds where they battle native tribes, prehistoric creatures, alien beings, and other European powers battle for control of resources in The Great Game.  I know none of that is politically correct these days, but as much as we want to pretend the colonial period never happened, it did.  And in most cases colonization of Africa was done by honorable men — by the standards of their day — attempting noble deeds as they saw them.

So clearly gaming can be what anyone wants it to be:  dark or light, ultra high resolution or highly abstract, fast or slow.  For me, though, I like my games to be a little lighter than the current trend in the hobby seems to be — at least judging by newly released games, rules, and figures.  Clearly I remain out of step with the rest of the hobby.

How do you like your pulp?

Yesterday, the HAWKs hosted our Barrage gaming day in Northern Maryland.  We had a record turnout, a Flames of War Tournament, a L’Art De La Guerre tournament, and lots of fun.  Below are some pictures from the day’s gaming.

One of the highlights of Barrage was seeing an old buddy Ma’k Morin.  He brought his wife and daughter to Barrage.  It was the first time I had seen him in almost 20 years, even though we have kept in contact via Email and phone calls.  It was great to game with him again, and I think his family enjoyed it too.