And the Long Drought is Over!!!

BG is back! Not that it ever left, but it seems that the parties involved have ironed things out and are going forward with what matters, more Battlegroup!

Here is the press release in it's entirety:

PRESS RELEASE - MAY 2019

Well the long wait has finally ended!

From the end of May 2019, The Plastic Soldier Company will be taking over exclusive ownership of the Battlegroup gaming series from Ironfist Publishing.

What will this mean to our players?

Well not much will change for you but we hope it will finally secure new production and reprints going forward.

Warwick will be writing the rest of the books and finishing the series as always planned. Piers will be looking after the support and promotion of the game along with helping out on books as needed in terms of writing and photos. So in this regard nothing changes.

What will change is that along with the new books, PSC will commence reprinting the currently out of print titles. First up will be the first half of Overlord (D-Day) to pair with Beyond the Beaches. Following this will be Kursk and Fall of the Reich. It's planned all this will be in softback form, in order to lower costs in both production, shipping and retail.

The next hardback book release will be Battlegroup: Pacific War, later in 2019, followed by the series returning to the Eastern and Southern Fronts in 2020.

As regards NORTHAG, we will now be helping PSC with its final production and release, plus looking at a first supplement for the NORTHAG series.

Outside of Battlegroup and NORTHAG with PSC, other rules will be published by Artorus Games, and this will commence with Soldiers of Rome, which is almost complete. Vietnam will then follow.

We hope this brings security and stability to Battlegroup and it's community in the future and look forward to working with PSC on the game and increasing its popularity.

Piers and Warwick

And there you have it. I will keep folks apprised of what I know, when I know it. But for now, rejoice, the drought is over!

UPDATE:

Preorders for the Overlord D-DAY supplement are up on the PSC Site!

And the cover looks amazing!

Have You Seen This Wargame?

OK PSC, Where is Battlegroup?

Or, “Have you seen this wargame?”

Despite the title, this is not meant as an attack on PSC, more of a plaintive “Can we get more for the game system we love?” Almost all the books for the game are out of print, and for a system as both lovingly supported by its rabid fans (of which I am one), and it’s many fine reviews, there is no reason for this game to be allowed to die.

Now comes news that BG will not be at Salute in any form. Now, I’m a Yank, so I have never attended Salute. Guess what, even this guy knows not being at Salute is a BIG deal for a major rules set, especially with the recent release of Spring Awakening.

Now, I am not saying “Let’s march on PSC with pitchforks and torches.” We don’t know the sales numbers, we don’t know a lot of the “inside baseball” (or Cricket for you antipodes) that goes into the decision to continue to support a game, or pull the plug.

I do know this, as a person who was a big fan, and eventually ran the newsletter for the game, I for one would like to see the game back in a big way. I want to see NORTHAG released, we fans have been clamoring for it for a long while, and Warwick and Piers have put from the looks of what we saw in the playtests, a lot of work into the final product.

But it all rests with PSC.

So, humble readers, I am going to circulate this post far and wide. Here’s what we need to do. A simple letter writing campaign. We’re going to be polite. We’re going to be nice. But we’re going to be firm.

First open your email browser, and address an email to the following email address:

info@theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk

Subject Line: Have you seen this wargame?

Then take a picture of your BG Book Collection and attach it into the email.

Then hit send.

I trust they’ll get the message after a while. And perhaps, we’ll get an explanation. Really, it’s all the fans want. And after the support we’ve given the game, it’s what we deserve. The truth.

Lots going on in Festungplatz Land!!!!

Well, it seems that lots of good came on the Wargaming front recently. I was a guest on a podcast. It wasn't my first, but it was my first "serious" one.

I was a guest on History to Wargames "Battlegroup Shorts" podcast and they well, had me on to talk about the Dutch. We digressed a bit here and there, but Rob did a nice job of keeping us on topic. I really did have fun, and they have invited me on again when the next issue hits, that will probably be sometime this winter, though I already have begun a bit of work on it..mostly researching the composition of German Panzer Brigades, and reading a lot on Arracourt, Metz, and Singling. As I have said before, it's a labor of love for my grandfather, as he lived a lot of that fighting.

You can listen to the show, and/or download it here:

http://thebrittheyankandtheyhobby.libsyn.com/battlegroup-shorts-dispatches-and-dutch-1940

And, I ran my game derived from the book "No Triumphant Procession" at the National Capitol Model Soldier Show's inaugural wargaming component. I lost out on "best game" to a gorgeous AWI setup, and my game only ran five turns, but hey, it ran, I got some decent pics out of it, and yes, I still need to up my terrain game!

My terrain needs work, and while it's not all bad, I wasn't completely pleased with it. Some scatter terrain seems to be the order of the day methinks, but I welcome everyone's comments.

Well, TTFN, but I will be around! 

Dispatches 3 for Battlegroup World War II has been released!

Good news everyone!

No, not that kind of good news 

(taken from Wikipedia's article on the good professor!)

Dispatches 3 is out!

Isn't it a great looking over??

  That's right, the irregular web magazine for all things Battlegroup is back. And yes, I am the "editor" so to speak. Or at least, Warick promised he was cool with it. It's for the fans, by the fans, and will be published on an irregular basis. This issue has a Blitzkrieg theme, with an army list for the Dutch, and a couple of scenarios, and a guide on how to convert Squad Leader scenarios to Battlegroup.

I want to thank Warick for his help and advice, not to mention letting this get off the ground. Piers Brand for his ideas as well, and Mike Bersiks for his contributions. All in all, I think Dispatches is off to a fine start, and I do want to keep it going.

As for future contributions, please do! I will take anything for Battlegroup, but we are going with a theme format, and next issue's theme will be "Patton in Lorraine, Arracourt to Singling" and I am working on a list for Panzer Brigades!

Download Issue 3 here!

I took the liberty of adding download links for Issues 1 and 2 because not everyone is on Facebook.

Issue 1

Issue 2

Happy Gaming! 

Lessons Learned - A Bridge Too Near?

Well, the project I have been working my tail off on has finally been playtested, and there's a lot to learn from this. I think overall, the scenario works, but as this is my first river crossing game, I did make some rookie mistakes, or at least, I think I did....anyhow, 6 of us met at the Games Tavern in Chantilly, which I have spoken about before on "500 Miles...", and the staff went OUT of their way to accommodate us. Thanks so much, Doshu! I wish more game stores were like this. Well done to Games Tavern indeed.

The Good:

• Was for the most part, pretty well organized, though I need to do better organizing the troops into units, I think I am going to color code bases to make that easier. Shouldn't be TOO odious a project.
• I did a decent job of keeping the game moving once we got started, and we played to a conclusion, even if that conclusion was a bit of a British curbstomp of the Germans.
• My alternate plan for the British worked...after a fashion, but I really need to potentially give the British another alternative, perhaps a transport with some rubber rafts?
• We got done in 10 turns (granted, the German BR went from 75 to 29 and showed no sign of slowing down), but yes, this was a rough one for the Germans. 

The Bad:

• I forgot the damn Churchills. I did a packing list, on my phone...which I don't think works as well as paper (the wife pointed that out and boy, is she right).
• I still cannot seem to get the artillery in BG right, or is it my confidence levels in getting it right, I still cannot tell?
• I should have split up the experienced players, but their both being British did keep the game moving.
• I should have had the Volksgrenadier be the starting force, and the Volkssturm be the reinforcement option. I think I need to have set forces, and take this out of the hands of the players.
• River Crossing games make for some of the most complicated wargaming I have ever done, and yeah, I need to get some opinions from the internet brain trust (the wife said, "ask Piers", Piers, if that isn't a damned endorsement, I do not know what is?)
• 7 turns was too long for the Germans to expect to hold on without reinforcements.
• Should have moved the river closer to the middle, give the Brits less travel time, and the Germans more depth.
• The German OOB may need some work.
• Learn to take a breath and not get overwhelmed. It's a game and as long as people have fun, let it be.

All in all, it went well for a playtest, learned a lot, and I think it will be better next time. Now that said, I will be color coding my figure bases and finishing up the flocking. I think once that is achieved, setup will go faster, much faster.

Some players also suggested allowing the Germans a rear guard on the British side of the river, but I wonder if that is counter-intuitive to speeding up the game a hair?

Anyhow, here are the pictures!

The British objective was simple, get units off the British edge (the Germans had to pull one chit for every British squad or vehicle that got off their edge). The Germans had to simply hold on and prevent this, and collapse the British morale, somehow....

The game itself started off with the British making an approach march along the road to the bridge, and there being some desultory fire from both sides. The Germans blew the bridge in the face of the British, and a British tank was pinned as a result. Later fire from a German Hetzer took out the only British tank lost, as the British scrambled to shift the Churchill down from their right to replace the bridge at the center. This took three turns whereby the German Mk IIIN and the Marder II were both knocked out by British fire. A Typhoon strike took out the Flak 88 and caused more mayhem. This was in conjunction with the British recon elements and their FO calling in very accurate artillery fire (2 25lbr batteries and a 4.5in battery). 

After the bridge was deployed, the British rushed across, deploying their motor battalion and combat engineers to overrun the weak German defenses in a series of brutal close combats (and yet another lesson in why Flamethrowers in BG might be a bit overpowered, one took out an entire VS squad in a building without a second thought).

The British then ran the entire truck mounted British airborne platoon off the table, and inflicted more losses, which even the late arriving reinforcements (which the German player could begin to dice for on turn 7, that's going to change), could not stop. With the German BR sinking to 29 out of 75 and showing no sign of ceasing to drop, the game was called and a British victory was awarded.

PS: I just realized, this is Post #20 here at Festungplatz..well, on to September!!!

Painting like Mad for a BG WWII game set in 1945...the British this time!

 The game is loosely based off of events set described in the book, "No Triumphant Procession" where a company sized British force is facing off against a German Kampfgruppe somewhere in Northern Germany in March-April of 1945. The British have had, until now, an easy advance, and this small German force, holding a bridge over a minor tributary of the Wesser, isn't welcome to a lot of war-weary British troops who would just like to get the whole thing with over already.

 So, the painting is going well, and I am churning out about 5-10 figures a day, a mix of FAA and AB to complement the mix of British I have already from Platoon 20, Hotspur, and MLR. Ironically, this will be the first game most of the British have seen, as most of my games have been with the Russians, so this will be a nice change of pace, and we'll see how the British do in FOTR. I suspect they'll bring a bit more finesse to the party, and bit less close range firepower.

 The Germans are a mixed force, Volksturm, Volksgrenadiers (playing the German 2nd Marine Division, who didn't by this point, look a whole hell of a lot different from the rest of the German Army, or at least that's what my research found, and it's given me an excuse to paint up my Hungarians for future games, as a battalion of Hungarian infantry trainees was apparently attached to the division!) There's also reinforcements from some local SS Panzergrenadiers, and some Fallschirmjager, but not too much, and the usual mix of ironmongery the Germans might want, if it's morale holds up, and it doesn't run out of gas!

 Needless to say, I am pretty excited about this. I am running it for my birthday, and I do this every year, run a big game for my friends. It keeps my hand in and it gives me an excuse to paint and play (and keeps my wife from letting me go nuts, thanks Honey!)

 So, on with the WIP pics, some could be better, as I am still getting better at the whole miniature photography thing.

Admittedly the light could be better on some of the pictures, but I was pretty happy with the results of my painting sessions. I used a mix of sources, first, I used my go to for most WWII projects, Mick Farnsworth's Painting Guides he worked on for Artizan and Crusader. I was pretty happy with the results for the regular British infantry..not so much for the British Paras...I was just not feeling it. Sorry, Mick, I tried. But I found this PDF guide that was very helpful! 

But, in the interest of completeness, I will list the colors and techniques I used:

I hit them with a matt black Rustoleum primer to start..never again. It dries too slow and is a bit tacky for at least a day after use. I then used the PSC English Uniform Spray, BIG TIME SAVER that, but it doesn't exactly match the Vallejo color..more on that later. 

After that, I used Vallejo 924 Russian Uniform for the details like webgear, helmet covers, gaiters, and rucksacks. I tend to blockpaint and wash, but you can use whatever method you like. For uncovered helmets, like on some of the FAA figures, 

I used Russian Green 894. The boots for EMs, I did up with P3's Thamar Black, but any black will do. I used a mix of Flat Brown 894 and Chocolate Brown 872 for all the wooden parts. Jerkins for the officers got the same Flat Brown, as I have really fallen in love with that color. Metal parts for the weapons got P3's Pig Iron, which I like as it's a oily, black looking color. It looks the business as a weapons color. Bit shiny, but a good wash will tone it down. Officer boots were done in 874 Tan Earth. Hands and faces were done in a mix of the following, with the basecoat being P3's Midlund Flesh, then followed it up with P3's Flesh Wash. Finally, I used AK 3013's Highlight Flesh to hit raised areas and make the flesh "pop".

As for the Denison Smocks for the Paras, I used 914 Green Ochre for the base, 983 Flat Earth, and 890 Reflective Green for the other colors of the smock. It looks good, not great, but good enough for three feet away!

I followed it all up with this Magik Mudd Black Wash, which I found on eBay of all things after the suggestion of a friend. It's one of the better washes I have used, and I rather like it. I may have to do some highlighting to cover up some places where the wash congregated, but overall, it worked. 

The hessian tape on the helmets of the AB figures is a bit problematic, I tried Flat Brown and Chocolate Brown, but still don't like it, any suggestions out there?

But all in all, pleased with the results and it's giving me gameable figures at the rate of 10 a night in three hours. Ought to be done with them all in a couple of days. 

With the death of the Guild...other fora are springing up in their place...

With the unfortunate demise of the Guild, as detailed in my blog entry on "500 Miles...", there has been a lot of forums rising to take their place. One of them is the "Armchair Generals" FB Group on the blog, which, while limiting membership to former Guild members, is attempting to carry on the spirit of the Guild on Facebook. This a welcome development, and I think promises to be an excellent idea.

Another place is the Wargamer's Forum, which is attempting to carry on the spirit of the Guild, and is taking new members. Traffic is currently light, but I think as word gets around...traffic will pick up. That said, I look forward to the discussion to come.

Finally, established today, is a forum run by Ironfist Publishing itself for Battlegroup. We'll be seeing Piers, Woz, and the gang on the website from time to time I am sure, and the site is in the early stages, so I cannot wait to see where it goes as well.

So, while the Guild is gone, there has been some efforts to seal the breech, and I for one plan to support these efforts.

Book Review for 1945 by AK Productions

First, off, sorry I have not posted in awhile. Holidays +  Getting married = Not a ton of time for modeling and gaming. But, I decided some book reviews might be in order. So, we're going to start with a book by AK Productions that will be of some interest to the Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich player, especially those building a German army. (Note: I have an electronic version of the book from Google Books, sadly, dead tree versions are hard to come by and expensive).

Title: 1945 - German Colors
Publisher: AK Productions
Date and Place of Copyright: Madrid, 2012
Details: 76 pages, with 180 color renderings

Cover Image taken from Amazon.com

So, one would think, why the special attention on the German army in 1945, right? I mean it's the same three color camo, right? Dunkelgelb with Olivegrun and Rottbrun, right? Um, not quite, as it turns out.

So, what are the big surprises to a guy like me? Well, I'd been using the Panzer Colors series and the Squadron Signal series books (Blitzkrieg, D-Day to Berlin and Eastern Front) as my go-tos. None of them as it turns out, do much to cover the German Army in 1945. So this book fills a real need.

For example, how many of us knew out there that the Germans after September of 1944, that the Germans decided to use the red-brown oxide primer as the base color for their AFV, or that the Dunkelgelb had changed formulas, (and wound up being two versions!), and thus, shades (yes, I am a bit of a rivet counter when it comes to paint schemes). The Greens and Browns are well have multiple shades, and well, there was also all sorts of older paints being broken out...and yep, the German vehicles look different.

Taken from Sunward Hobbies.com

As you can see the renderings are very well done, and while each render only gets about a sentence or two, it does do a good job of describing the image, and where and when this particular vehicle was seen.

Yes, they've got some items for the 1946 Paper Panzers as they call them, but it doesn't detract from the historicals section at all, and even some ideas for burnt out vehicles (yep, wrecks done in detail!). I also like the fact they covered older vehicles that were brought out from training detachments.

It's got quite the breath and depth of images and places to choose from for your German army for 1945.

Sadly, it's only really available in the electronic realm, but a good tablet should be able to render the images very nicely.

I would say, if you're doing a Fall of the Reich German army, I would get this book, as it's got a lot of inspiration in it's pages.

I give it 4 out of 5 tanks, if you can get the dead tree version of this book for an affordable price, do so!

Blood in the Streets, Part Deux

The After Action Review from Potomac Wargamers has arrived in my inbox, with some really smashing pictures of my game from August. I figured, why not share it with you all?

Download it here!

Picture taken from PW Review, Picture by Fred Haub

Picture taken from PW Review, Picture by Fred Haub

More for Battlegroup WW-II, to the Rhine by Christmas, just in time for Christmas!

To quote a favorite movie of mine:

In September 1944, Montgomery devised a new and spectacular plan code named "Market Garden". Eisenhower, under great pressure from his superiors, finally sided with Montgomery, and "Operation Market Garden" became a reality. The plan, like so many plans in so many wars before it, was meant to end the fighting by Christmas, and bring the boys back home.

From the movie "Bridge Too Far" (1977)

 I always liked the fighting around Arnhem for the subject of a World War II game, and I've fought and refought the battle influenced by the book "A Bridge Too Far" and the subsequent movie with Sean Connery, et. al. many times in my teens and 20s (where I gained a reputation as a wargamer as being a bit hard on paratroopers). 

  But with the recent scholarship with Martin Middlebrook, and Robert Kershaw, amongst others, we are getting a nuanced view of a battle that until the 1970s, was rather glossed over in the triumphant view of the Allied advance across Europe. Cornelius Ryan, for all of his faults, was a good historian, and he did a good job of illustrating a battle that has had a ton of ink spilled about it since. 

  Now, I am happy to say Piers Brand has entered the fray with a supplement for my favorite game, Battlegroup. He's putting out a scenario pack simply entitled, Battlegroup: Market Garden. I must say that I am rather excited about this, and I have had some British Paras waiting for an opportunity, as well as some American Paras in M43 Uniforms waiting to duke it out with scratch groups of Germans for the bridges at Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem. The supplement as usual, promises a lot of potential background, and even if you don't run the scenarios provided, you have more than enough to run other games set during the fateful struggle for the bridges.

Cover for BG Market Garden, Photo from Ironfist/PSC

The book will be 96 pages and have a collection of scenarios, a history on the battle and even a mini-campaign. It also has amendments and additions for both the German and Allied army lists. Keep in mind, the book requires ownership of Battlegroup Overlord (currently OOP) or Battlegroup Overlord, Beyond the Beaches.

  

Contents and 1st page of BG Market Garden, Photo from Ironfist/PSC

PSC is taking preorders now, with release to occur the weekend of November 3rd. so have your wallets ready! I am already warming up the movie soundtrack...When I get some time after the wedding, I will post up my British paras and we'll begin to build them out for Market-Garden!

Blood in the Streets, A Fall of the Reich AAR!

 Well folks, as part of the Potomac Wargamer's series of games, I ran a 1500 point company level game of Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich (hereafter referred to as BG:FOTR). It was a bloody, fun game with well, probably some of the best terrain I have ever laid out, and while I wish we had a bit more time, I do feel with the time we had, we did have a pretty good game nonetheless.

 The game itself was a modified version of the "City Assault" scenario found in the BG:FOTR book, with some small differences, mainly the only objectives for the Soviets were the Factory, and the Government Administration Building. I allowed a one BR penalty for that, as well as allowed the Soviets to have a "color party" of three men who had to get to the building and raise the Red Banner over one of the two buildings for an additional BR penalty to the Germans.

  We also played with some modified orders rules, by which each unit had 1 automatic order, and then each side commander rolled 1D6 for a pool of orders by which they could activate a unit for a second order. If a BG HQ was present, another D6 was rolled for them, by which that result could be pooled amongst the side commanders. It was a good system, but in my opinions, it needed tweaks.

  Anyhow, here was the load of stuff I brought with me for this urban maelstrom:

Good lord, was it a lot of stuff to bring! But the effort was SO worth it.

 For the sides, we had Fred, Brian, and Lou. For the Germans, it was Norm (who was new to BG) and Mike, who was an experienced BG referee and player,and was a huge help to me on Saturday, THANK YOU MIKE.

  The sides consisted as follows:

     German:

       1 Inexperienced Volksgrenadier Platoon (with a Pak 97/38)
       1 Inexperienced Volkssturm Platoon
       1 Veteran SS PanzerGrenadier Platoon (with a Pak 40 and a Quad 20mm Flak)
       1 HJ Tank Hunter Squad
       1 Feldgemanderie Team
       1 FO with a battery of off table 120mm Mortars
       1 Panther
       1 Hetzer
       1 Puma Armored Car
       1 Sniper Team
       1 Minefield
       4 Barbed Wire (About 40", I wound up a few inches short, but it did not matter)
       1 Road Block
       3 Barricades
       1 Sniper Hideout
   
     
    Soviets:
      1 Inexperienced Rifle Platoon (with ATR and Maxim Machine Gun)
      1 Regular Motor Rifle Platoon

      1 Veteran Pioneer Assault Platoon
      1 Company of 10 T-34/85s (+ 1 more as the Battlegroup HQ)
      3 SU-76
      1 Scout Sniper team
      1 M3 Scout Car with a Mechanized Recon patrol
      1 FO with a battery of off table 82mm Mortars

  As you can see, the Soviets had a lot of armor, and some very good and nasty infantry at their disposal. They also had a plentiful number of T-34s. It was hammer against what looked to be a very shaky German anvil, but we would see how this would play out, eh?

Soviet recon forces lead the advance, Urrah!

A shot of the table early in the battle, there's the factory on the left and the government administration building on the right.

  The game began with the Germans losing the recon battle, and ending up drawing two chits for that and the confusion of the urban game, to the Soviet one. it was interesting, considering the events that occurred later. The Soviets led off with their Rifle platoon, though minus it's heavy weapons, which I found to be really an interesting play, and the Germans began the defense with their Volksgrenadier Platoon. 

   As German resistance stiffened, and a few Soviet squads began to get wiped out (2 in the space of a few turns), the Soviets brought in their tanks, and AFV, who began to reduce the German positions one by one (none of the German squads were wiped out, per se, but two out of the three German squads had 1-2 men left, and had shot off their only Panzerfausts in an attempt to slow down the Russian advance, but early on, the Germans were throwing a ton of "1s".

  But, soon, German fire began to tell, first, it was the hapless M3 Scout Car (who has only survived one game, and that was because it hid all game, but that's another story). It hosed down a German position with MG fire, but exposed itself to the Hetzer...and was promptly blown apart.

White Scout Car go Boom!

  It wasn't long before a Panzerfaust found a T-34 and fireballed it as well, but this was going to be the extent of German anti-tank futures for quite some time:

Panzerfaust, meet T-34?

  After some fire between the withdrawing Volksgrenadier, and the advancing Soviets, and some exchange of mortar fire (most of which wound up being called off due to the fact that both sides spotting rounds were redefining the definition of "danger close"). The Soviets continued the advance with the armor in the lead, and using their T-34 mobility to great effect, running down barbed wire and speeding through a minefield (which failed to do much more than give the Soviet players some minor anxiety, as the Germans flubbed that die roll too). 

T-34 about to breach the barbed wire

  The Soviets continued their advance, and after knocking out the hapless Pak 97/38 (which did little more than pin a T-34), looked as if things were looking bad for the Germans, whose reinforcements couldn't have arrived at a better time. The Puma went and reinforced the German left, which after knocking out the M3 Scout Car, looked as if it was doing alright, the Volkssturm also took up positions in the Government Admin building, which made any Soviet prospect of victory in that direction look iffy at best. So, all eyes turned to the factory, and on came the German Panther..it rolled on with an attitude of "Here Come the Judge! Here Come the Judge!" I thought German fortunes might change at this point.

   Um nope. The Soviets did what smart Soviets did, they massed their fire on the Panther. The first hit pinned it..and the second, forced it to be abandoned. Abysmal morale rolls were just killing the Germans that day.

The Panther, taunting the German players with its ineffectiveness.

  At this point, the Germans were losing faith, and I think Mike had failed his Wargamer Morale Check. He and Norm were drawing up lists of whom to shoot after the game (I pointed out that at the rate they were going, they were liable to shoot just about all the survivors on their side.) But, to their credit, they hung in there and shifted some reserves and brought in the Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiers.

  And that's when German fortunes began to swing...a little. The Hetzer shifted position from the German left, to the center, and quickly picked off another T-34, and the German mortars began to be a little more accurate (but the booby traps proved not to be much of a thing, killing a grand total of two Soviets). 

  By the end, we had run out of time, but the Germans won on points, having lost only 15BR to the Soviet 38BR. There were some complaints as to the randomness of the BR system being random, but morale and the staying power of a force is pretty random in general, if you ask me.

  All in all, I think it was a good game, and the terrain really was some of the best I had ever put out. One person did mention that I should reduce the size of the game, and make the entry of forces a bit more "structured", and they're right, so if I run this at a con, expect to see forces half of what I put on the table.

 But good god, it was fun! And, I just noticed, this is post # 10! I want to thank my players, Fred, Brian, Lou, Mike, and Norm. You guys made a great game. Brian, thank you for hosting us! I more than appreciate it! 

A SU-76 cautiously noses its way forward.

The Soviets roll forward towards the Factory

A German Pak-40 sets up in the open in a desperate attempt to slow down the Soviet advance

Soviet troops occupy the remains of a church

Another panorama of the battlefield.

Another Soviet position

My Awesome Historicon Adventure, Part 2.

As I said on "500 Miles...", there was a lot of stuff for my historical side to be engaged in, as most of the games I got into last weekend were of the World War II variety. No complaints at all, but I figured it would be of more interest here.

As for stuff for my historicals, I picked up in 20mm a pair of painted BT-7s and a BA-10 or 32 (I cannot tell the difference) and a Puma (I needed to get a replacement) as well as another M-18 and a M-10. I also got another Stug-IIIG, but it has a broken barrel, and I might have the means to fix it, if someone out there can let me know whether or not the Stug packed a 75L48 or not? I also got some painted Hungarians (11 of them)...and the piece de resistance...a very nicely done factory. It's going to replace my current one......I honestly wasn't nuts about the Gamercraft one...This one is astethically much nicer and I will have some pics of it up soon!

On Thursday, I got into "Battle of the Atlantic" which was a fictional WW-II battleship bash between the Germans (the Germans had some fictional H class ships to even it up) and Italians on one side, and the Americans, British, and French on the other, the French being represented by Dunkurque. I played Iowa and Missouri, and well, the Germans and Italians had a rough day...and I mean rough. On turn 4, we were basically getting hits at long range on the Germans, and we forced Scharnhorst, Geniesenau, Lutzow, Roma, and Vittoria to retire with heavy damage.

So, the Germans sped ahead with their two H-Class monsters, and then engaged the modern American battleline, made up of 2 Iowas, 2 North Carolinas and 2 Alabamas...considering one of the two ships was named after the old Austrian House Painter himself...guess which of the two caught all the fire? I am happy to say, we sank her, and left her sister pretty shot up by game end, which handed the Allies the victory, at the cost of some very damaged British battleships (mostly older ones) as well as Alaska who had gotten the worst of a gun duel with the Italians.

For those asking, Bismark and Tirpitz were there, and were shot up, but still able to fight. My own ships had taken a bit of a pasting, Iowa was getting ready to head off the table, and Missouri was detaching to fight on when the game ended.

Here are some photos of this madness!

The next morning, I played in a Rapid Fire game called "RattenKrieg", which to be honest, I found to be *meh* though most of the company was personable enough. Simply put, the victory conditions as the game was laid out were impossible for the Soviets (being a Soviet player), and I said so after the game was done. We were to hold a block of six buildings for 10 turns...we had lost half our troops by turn 2. We would pop out, kill a few Germans,and then get massacred...in hard cover. It made no sense to be honest, and smoke was a little TOO powerful in Rapid Fire. I had suggested, that since the ref said we had inflicted more casualties on points than we lost, he should change it to a delaying action aka, come out ahead on points? (We did kill a lot of Germans, especially tanks). I wasn't nuts about the game and I passed on attending another session. But...I did get some photos of the excellent terrain!

I then took a ton of photos around the con, and some of the games were downright gorgeous:

On Saturday, I got into a WWII fighter combat game based on the old AH "Air Force/Dauntless" rules, moderated by smartphone/tablet Java app..and my god it was fun. It was a 4v4 fight of Wildcat v. Zero. Both sides lost one a/c a piece, and I leaned an advanced tactic of "banking" my ability to turn, and it was a tight, fun game...lots of damaged a/c and I leaned, "use the vertical vs. the Zero." I got very good at staying out of other's firing arcs.

Here's some pics to have a look at.

After that, I played some other games as mentioned on "500 Miles.." , and this led to my final game of the con, a Saturday pickup game of Battlegroup: Kursk, run ably by Mike Pierce. I had fun, though there were a few things were some of us went huh, and I consulted Piers Brand today about. suffice to say, I liked the answers I got, and learned something.

The game was a toughie for us Russians, as we had to cross a lot of open ground to take a hill and a village (though the village had some wheatfields for cover). We did have some Katyusha prep fire, and we used it well, thanks to Mike Byrne, who's former life as an artilleryman proved very useful there. Who knew the German commander could roll like a demon! My first wave of tanks got in, but we bled for it, and we took the front face of the hill by game end, the village to our left, however, was a different story, and would probably have fallen to us if given two to three more turns.

Now the question remained, what of the approaching German armored counter attack? They had lost a couple of Mk IVs, but they still had a lot of tanks...we still did too and the fact was, we had the advantage of terrain now, so I think if their assault had gone in...it probably would have chewed up both sides rather badly.

Mike also mentioned that Fall In will correspond with the 75th anniversary of Stalingrad...I really see an opportunity for that factory!!! In any event, I intend to use it soon...probably as early as next month..might roll out my "East Front Cityfight game" again!

And yes, I have some photos here as well:

In short, it was a good end to a great convention. I had a ton of fun, I will be putting some closing remarks and some items of interest to Battletech/Alpha Strike players in Part 3 on my Alpha Strike Blog.