Month: March 2019

Cold Wars in the HAWKs Room

Below are some pictures I took in the HAWKs room this past weekend at Cold Wars.

Friday:

Greg’s This is Not a Test game on winter terrain:

Duncan’s Soynara Gringo game:

This game is based on a report in the newspapers in 1916.  It was reported that Japanese had landed in Mexico and were preparing to invade the US.  In this scenario, Japanese with a few Mexicans were attacking into Mexico.

Dave Wood’s Colonial Combat Patrol(TM) game:

Zeb Cook’s High Himalayas pulp game:

My Combat Patrol(TM) 1939 Winter War game:

Saturday

Chris Palmer’s Feudal Patrol(TM) War of the Roses game:

This game featured the under-development Feudal Patrol rules based on Combat Patrol(TM): WWII.

My Barbarossa Combat Patrol(TM) game:

This game involved German infantry supported by the 211th Armored Battalion, which was equipped with captured French tanks, attacking the Russians near Murmansk.   This scenario was based on a true incident.

Thou it didn’t win an award, I was quite happy with the look of the table.  The players seemed to have a good time.

Bill Molyneau running Beer and Pretzels Ironclads:

 

Mike and Kevin Fisher running a stompy robot game:

My GASLIGHT game, called Tales of the Gold Monkey:

This was a typical GASLIGHT free-for-all with multiple factions trying to round up treasure in the jungle.  Most of the board was just palm trees.  As the factions began to explore I placed more terrain, natives, creatures, and treasure.

Geoff’s Lego Pirate game for kids:

Dave Wood’s Look, Sarge, No Charts: World War II game:

This was the first war-game ever for the person in the green shirt on the right.

Harry and Michael Kogleshotz’ Samurai game:

Harry used Blood and Swash for this game.

Steve’s WWI game:

Bill Acheson’s Combat Patrol(TM) game set in Italy:

Bill had a relative who won a Distinguished Service Cross in this battle.

There were a number of other nice games, but I was busy running my four games and didn’t get pictures of them all.  Zeb Cook ran a very nice looking Finland 1939 game using Combat Patrol(TM), but I don’t have any pictures of it.

Ducks on the Ghost Archipelago

Today we played our monthly campaign game of Ghost Archipelago.  I have been crazy busy at work so for me “monthly” has been more like “every four or five months.”  While the other crews are at sixth or eighth level, I was at zero level today.


My Heritor is Robin Duck (top right of the picture).  My Warden, at the bottom of the picture, is Friar Duck.  At this point in the game, three of my normal crewmen were fighting a ghoul to gain control of a treasure while my Heritor and Warden moved forward to challenge Greg’s crew for a central treasure.  You can see Devil Duck in the lead.  He looks cool, but he is just a minion.

Her you can see that MacDuck, my Guide, has rushed forward and is fighting one of Greg’s minions.  Duckhilda (the blonde), an archer, and two of my minions have advanced.

Here you can see Robin Duck, MacDuck, and an archer in a bit of jungle firing arrows at some of Greg’s crewmen.

This is another view of the game.

In the end, I lost no figures (for a change), captured a treasure, and captured a “central treasure.”  In the process I killed three of Greg’s minions and knocked out his Warden.  It was an unusually successful game for me.

As an infrequent campaigner, I don’t take the campaign too seriously.  I think the Frostgrave / Ghost Archipelago schtick is getting old.  For me, the monthly games are more about hanging out with the guys and swapping puns and funny stories.   It is also a chance to get my ducks on the table.

Some WWII Tanks

This weekend we were supposed to see my son’s Ultimate Frisbee tournament, but it was cancelled due to weather, so I had a chance to knock out some vehicles that have been in the project queue.

The first was a Churchill Mk. VII Crocodile.  This is a Tamiya 1:48 scale kit.

The second was a Sherman “Easy Eight.”

Finally, I completed two Dingo Mk. II scout cars.

In addition to these WWII vehicle, I also completed an AT-ST.  Like all Bandai kits, this one had nice, clear instructions and assembled quite easily.

 

Play Test of “Tales of the Gold Monkey” Game

Last night at the club meeting I play tested my Tales of the Gold Monkey game for Cold Wars in two weeks.  For this game I am using the G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. rules, but I gave all the extras a Save as well as the Main Characters.  The game began with most of the board blank, covered with palm trees.  As the different groups of explorers and adventurers pushed into the jungle, they discovered different sources of treasure, from a native village to idols with jeweled eyes.  These were, of course, guarded by natives, animals, or monster.  Each player had a “cut” card they could use for one free re-roll.  In addition, each player had three dirty tricks cards they could use to slow down other players.

Jake Cutter and the Sergeants Three gangs move out.
The table at the beginning of the game. The players begin near the trading post by the lagoon.
A closer view of the trading post.
Bing, Bob, Dorothy, and the Andrews Sisters of Mercy climb a ridge to find a lizard idol with jewels for eyes.  Later in the game, Bing and Bob killed a couple of Italians with golf balls.
A giant spider has other ideas for Bing and Bob.
It’s a grim day for the Andrews Sisters of Mercy.
And then to add insult to injury, another player played a dirty tricks card that had a herd of oryx stampede through them.
Despite all their setbacks, and the death of Dorothy being gored by an oryx, Bob and Bing were able to retrieve one treasure.
The Italians found the lost elephant idol — but it was guarded by pygmies.
The Italians lost many men to pygmy attacks but were able to get a treasure at the elephant idol.
A much-reduced Italian contingent is attacked by an angry elephant (another player’s dirty trick), but they managed to secure a second treasure at the raptor excavation.
The French Foreign Legion ran into apes guarding an idol.
There seemed to be a never-ending supply of apes!
The foreign legion found a treasure after defeating a LOT of apes. They also found Amelia Earhart and a boat and were headed down the river to the lagoon when they were attacked by giant tentacles of some unseen monster. In a “Von Ryan’s Express” moment, the last Legionnaire tried to leap into the boat as it floated past. He rolled a 20, fell into the water, and was eaten by the crocodile you can see in the bottom right of this picture.
Teddy Roosevelt, two “dangerous dames,” the lady photographer, and his band of fearless adventurers ran into natives guarding an idol. As Kurt was the first one to find a treasure, players played FOUR dirty tricks cards on him, stacking up natives. But Kurt has perennial kid luck and easily swept them aside.
At this point, the Easter Island heads at the lagoon turned around and started to cut off Teddy’s path back to the lagoon. Teddy and his group tried to cross the river to avoid them but ran into some trouble.
The Sergeants Three found a native village where they were preparing to sacrifice a white woman for some purpose.
It took some time, but in the end the Sergeants One (as two died) freed the woman and advanced on another idol.
The Sergeant One approaches the idol to get a second treasure, but Jake Cutter and Professor Challenger beat them to it.
Jake Cutter and the American infantry ran into a giant scorpion defending the lost temple. Almost all the American infantry were killed, but Don was able to grab the treasure and also find Professor Challenger to add to his party.

The game was sufficiently chaotic and bloody, so I don’t plan to make any changes before Cold Wars.  I think all the players had a really good time.  This will make a good Saturday night game at the convention.