What a Tanker

We managed to fit in a test game of Too Fat Lardies WAT - a fun/silly set of WWII tank combat. We fought with 2 * Sherman M4s vs a Panther D. We played 2 games over 2 hours.

In game 1 the Panther took-out a Sherman early, before being battered into submission by the other. 

In game 2 we spent lots of manoeuvring. The Panther was surrounded but managed to destroy both Shermans. 

It was nice to get a game in, even if socially distanced and refreshment free. Next week we'll add the second table and trial Zoom'ing in.

Painting Update

Now that work is mostly back to normal I've had less time to paint that previously, but I've managed to complete a few things over the last two weeks.

I've added a further unit of Azabs to the Ottoman forces - these are the first full unit of the Wargames Atlantic Afghan figures. I'll probably have three of these in the end to form a brigade. 

The other painting is some Abyssal Dwarves from Mantic. These are evil dwarfs corrupted by demonic forces. I've based these singly for use in Vanguard skirmish games but they can also be used for mass-battle gaming.

The command group is an Immoral Guardian, an Overmaster in a battle suit and a Mobile Katsuchan rocket launcher.    

 Mobile Katsuchan

Overmaster

Immortal Guardian

The rank and file are in a couple of types. The Decimators are ranged troops a type of blunderbuss. Blacksouls are your basic grunts with hand weapons.   

You also get some dogs on the sprue, which add a bit of speed to the force.

The final elements are a hexcaster and the large lava monster Charnox.

Return to the fray

     

We're planning to restart with some socially distant gaming next week and preparations are in full swing. A couple of areas of attention to enable this to happen

The physical environment 

Keeping everyone 2 metre apart and limiting contact points are key, so we have planned:

• Use of two tables, not the usual one, so there is plenty of space for people to sit apart.
• Bring your own dice, tapes and play-sheets. I will have spares bagged-up 72 hours before the game just in  case.
• Strictly no touching others models - well a chap should never fondle another chaps toy soldiers 
• No refreshments
• Careful game choice to limit the contact   

The Choice of game

Choosing the right game should really help to limit the contact, so we've gone for What A Tanker as:

• There are few playing pieces - 1 or 2 tanks each only.
• Angles, measuring. movement etc are not very critical. So it has none of the things that leads to gamers huddling over the models.
• There is no need to touch the opponents models
• Its IGO-UGO so people can naturally take turns and sit well back from the table
• Its a simple game and everyone can have a dashboard & play-sheet with all they need on it  

Including everyone

We have a couple of people who can nt restart even with the proposed precautions as they are shielding. Joining by Zoom is an option for a chat but I'll also investigate a Zoom-based Kriegspiel game once I've got the socially distanced version up and running.

Portal fun

This week's game was the penultimate one featuring the Demon Drech'nok vs Abbess Severina. In this instalment both are seeking recover various power crystals around the battlefield to power the Demon Portal. The scenario was Fools Gold - both players place objective markers worth 0,1, or 2 VPs in the enemy half, face down, They are revealed at the half-way point, so lots of options to try and dupe the enemy.   

The Abyss went with a line spread across the table with a fast left (Abyssal Horsemen) and a tough but slower right (Moloch demons). The centre was Abyssal Guards and lots of shooting. It subsequently transpired they had spread their objectives fairly evenly across the table.   

Molochs - big old demon dudes

The Basileans went for a punchy army with Ogre Palace guards, Boomers (Ogres with 9pdr cannons) and some Paladins in the centre. The right was Knights and flying with Ogres in support, with the left left vacant except for a sole unit of Scouts. All the scoring tokens were on the right opposite the Knights. 

Scouts guarding the flank

On the Basilean right I attacked swiftly to try and exploit the advantage I had there. some average rolls and dreaded double-1 for the Nerve test meant the enemy Horsemen died but lasted a turn longer than expected.  In KOW on a double-1 am unit holds no matter how badly damaged. 

Centrally things were pretty even with the Basileans eking-out an advantage until the unopposed Molochs arrived from the Abyssal left. The Molochs got stuck-in but managed to roll three double-1s  on Nerve tests against outnumbered opponents. This probably cost them about 2 turns

Having cleared their right the Basilean cavalry were able to turn the flank and move to support the units in the centre, claiming 3 points worth of objectives.

With the Abyssals held-up on their onw right by stubborn Basilean resistance the game ended a 4-3 win for the men in blue. The Boomers first outing was a fairly short and bloody affair - they pushed-up and even with 18 shots did very little damage, they then got double charged by Succubi and deleted ;-( 

Big Robots

Although not as Scifi player myself we recently hosted game of 40K - this one featured some very large mechs and a cluster of marines. Most of the terrain was an early lockdown project - march seeming like a very long time ago now.

28mm Ottomans

I've been able to complete a further batch of Ottomans this week, helped by having some already painted that just needed some rebasing.

Ottoman naming conventions are pretty fluid but I'm adopting the most common ones here. First up are Tufecki - professional troops raised at the regional level and of good discipline. These figures are a bit of a mix. There are some Dixon Miniatures I painted many years ago supplemented with Wargames Atlantic Afghans sporting Gripping Beast Turkoman heads. 

Tufecki

Tufecki 

Secondly some more Janissaries, as with the last batch these are Warlord Games.

Janissaries

Janissaries

Finally some skirmishers. Classifications for the levy units are subject to debate some I'm going to call these Azabs - garrison units. They could though by the lower quality Seymen (add your own jokes).     

Azabs