This weekend we had a small play test of a scenario I am going to run at Fall In with Greg Priebe using To Be Continued… by GASLIGHT. The scenario involves six groups of US soldiers advancing into a secret Nazi laboratory where the mad scientists are experimenting with creating creatures to help with the war effort. These include giant ants, a giant crab, and other baddies. Also in the lab is a brilliant allied scientist who you can see in the picture above.
Each player had a team of six soldiers armed with a submachine gun, BAR, and four rifles. The Americans were competing to be the first to get a scientific device or other information out of the laboratory. They had cards they could plan on each other to lay German patrols or giant ants on the other players.
The Germans and ants got tougher the closer they got to the laboratory. In the picture above, a gelatin creature engages in hand to hand combat with three Americans.
The giant crab was a difficult opponent, killing one or two soldiers, but eventually the American firepower prevailed.
An overview of the table before the action kicked off. The caverns are from https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1084069684/tablescapes-dungeons-modular-rpg-dungeons-by-secre/description.
Of the four players who started the game, two were wiped out, and two other players each got off the table with one scientific device. This is meant to be a six-player game, so with the added firepower, American casualties should be lower.
Despite working a string of 50-60 hour weeks and missing most of my club’s gaming events, I have managed to complete a handful of 1:48 vehicles. I can do these a little at a time, so they fit into my work schedule where painting the 80 Russian infantry sitting on the painting table have had to take a back seat.
2x 1:48 scale BA-64B’s from Tamiya2x 1:48 scale British Bedford trucks from TamiyaBritish 7-ton Armored Car Mk. IV in 1:48 scale from TamiyaJapanese staff car with the top down from TamiyaThe same staff car with the top up. I think this car looks “cute.”Two 1:48 scale BA-6 armored cars from Butler’s Printed ModelsBritish light utility car from TamiyaT-28 tank from Butler’s Printed Models2x M-8 Greyhound armored cars from TamiyaRussian 1.5 ton Zis truck, 1941, by Tamiya.
I have been converting some 1:56 scale Bren carriers into unmanned ground vehicles for science fiction skirmish games. I finished them earlier this week in my copious free time.
At the last minute I decided to keep them olive drab instead of painting them with some wild camouflage pattern. See them with some Pig Iron figures in the picture above. I think they came out pretty nicely.
I also finished two Tamiya M-8 Scout cars. I need to put the stars on the front this weekend.
Preparations are in full swing for Barrage 2018, 28-29 September in Havre de Grace, MD, USA. Barrage is a great little convention, which will feature upwards of 5o events over two days. No politics, no hassles. On site food at reasonable rates and dining options within a short drive. Easy parking. A broad spectrum of games. Friendly HAWKs! Many kid-friendly games.
The guys from LittleWarsTV will be there filming.
We’ll be publishing a list of vendors soon.
TWO Flames of War tournaments.
The largest ADLG tournament East of the Mississippi.
If you go to the Barrage Web site, http://www.hawks-barrage.org, you will see the currently scheduled games. The number is what we usually have seven weeks before the convention, and more are being added literally every day. If you’d like to run a game, please sign up soon.
This Saturday we held an organizational meeting for Barrage with the HAWKs who usually participate in running the convention. After lunch we played a fun game of Combat Patrol. Greg and I will be running this Sea Lion game at both Barrage (28-29 September) and Fall In. The terrain will look similar to that of our Sea Lion games at Historicon 2018. Little Basely by the Sea is once again the scene of a German attempt to gain a foothold on British soil.
Just as the game began, the Germans are coming over the sea wall while a 35(t) comes up the narrow ramp. We placed many trucks near the waterfront to give the Germans and opportunity to steal them to help them get to the airfield.
The Germans landed in force on the beach. This landing craft and these Germans in rubber rafts were somewhat separated from he main body. Their goal was to disrupt the nearby airfield so that the RAF could would be hampered in its attempts to support the beaches. The German objective was to get across the table and into the corner of the airfield represented on the table to blow up a Spitfire. That is a long distance to cover in a four-hour game, so we placed a lot of trucks and cars near the sea wall to enable the Germans to steal them and move more rapidly.
Early in the game, the Women’s Land Army hears the alarm and runs from the fields to “fight them on the beaches.”
The British forces consisted of two squads (sections) of Home Guardsman with Boys ATRs, a 6-lb. Smith Gun, one squad of regular army British soldiers. The locals got into the action in the form of Land Girls from the Women’s Land Army, church ladies, and some women’s auxiliary with improvised weapons.
The German forces consisted of a full platoon of German infantry, two 35(t) tanks, and a Panzer III.
I had a squad (section) of sailors who were — of course — in the Frog and Firkin pub when the shooting started.
The British thought that they also had a squad (section) of sailors, but it turns out they were Fifth Columnists. They were actually German sailors in disguise. I decided that their best use would be to run over to where the Home Guard had set up some AT weapons kill the crews and make it easier for the German tanks to get off the beaches.
German tanks coming up from the beach, Germans disguised as British sailors, and a civilian truck full of Germans.The Sailors (who are really Germans in disguise) attack the Home Guard’s Boys AT Rifle to pave the way fro the German tanks.
The German players didn’t realize I was on their side and almost began to fire on my sailors.
The fight between the Fifth Columnists and the Home Guard gets ugly.
The entire squad (section) of sailors was killed by the end of the game, but I had successfully kept the ATR out of the action and even began to threaten the Smith Gun with my single survivor.
The Smith Gun takes aim — and misses bot the civilian truck full of Germans and the 35(t).
In the meantime, Duncan had advanced his 35(t)s up the ramp from the beach and was “racing” toward their objective. One of them kept getting really poor movement distances and the other bogged down in the woods for a couple of turns. The Smith Gun took a shot at the advancing truck full of German infantry, but it missed horribly. Then the 35(t) rolled into sight.
The Smith Gun fires!A scene in the middle of the game from the beach. One 35(t) is burning, but the Germans are advancing on the left. The ladies’ auxiliary is harassing the Germans on the right.The Home Guard getting organized to fight the advancing Germans coming up from the shore.
The game was set up so that the Germans were supposed to have an easy advance until the British reinforcements were released. Geoff’s Home Guard and Eric’s particularly aggressive Women’s Auxiliaries slowed them more than anticipated. When Greg’s truck full of Germans got to the third table (between the town and the airfield), that was the trigger to release the troops from the airfield. The reinforcements consisted of four Bren carriers. While none were equipped with ATRs, this gave the British six Brens and a .30 cal. water cooled machine-gun. The .30 cal. could disable the lightly-armored early war tanks but failed to do so. In the last turn, the Pz. III got close enough to shell the airfield, the British machine-gun got two shots the tank but failed to cause any damage (it was a long shot anyway). So, I called the game a German victory.
Late in the game, the advance of the Germans has triggered the release of some reinforcements from the airfield: four Bren carriers.Eric turns his Women’s Land Army girls toward the center of the bagel, while Greg ponders his position.
It was a very fun scenario. With one or two small tweaks, I think it will go well at Barrage and Fall In.
