Bag the Hun

 

Strange Times, but Wargaming has to continue! Myself and my friend Pierre-Yves played our first wargame last night by a remote video hook-up. The set up was in Montreal while I connected to there by Google Hangouts. P-Y had a 5 camera set up which worked quite well and there was very little lag as we played the game.

We decided to play Bag the Hun, a TFL WWII aerial combat game, this was my first time playing the game and P-Y's third, it actually went very smoothly and we both had a good time. We played the starter scenario from the book which utilized a single section of 4 planes aside, I had 4 Me-109's and P-Y had 4 Spitfires. 

1Schwarm

Germans coming from left, the photo demonstrates  that the Brits are having difficulty as they are looking directly in the sun

In an open Finger Four formation

Terrific job by P-Y on the aircraft and the stands, especially the altitude indicators.

Brits in a closed Finger Four formation

1/600 scale...just beautiful.

I split off my original formation in to 2 pairs, can  not see it well here but I sent by Klink, with his wingman in a long loop to his left, while the other pair attacked from behind.

I was able to down 2 spitfires and have all 4 Me 109's to base...beginner's luck!

 

I really liked the game, it was relatively easy and fun to play, it is slightly chart heavy but I actually felt like I was a Schwarmfurhrer, leading his 4 Me-109's. I really got a sense of maneuver from the game.I really have to thank P-Y, it was a lot of work for him moving the planes etc but I believe he had fun as well.

In respect to the video set up, it went well, the only thing I had difficulty with was seeing the actual direction of the planes, I think P-Y is going to slightly modify the flight stands. I am trying to download OBS on my computer so I can add a remote camera showing my dice box...I threw my own dice but it would have been more dramatic if my opponent could directly see the throw as it happened. I think P-Y is planning a campaign so more to come. The game itself where there is a simple terrain with hexes, lead itself well to long distance gaming.

Wargaming in the Times of Covid!

I was supposed to be in Montreal this week, wargaming and visiting my daughter, well things have conspired against this happening, but my friend Pierre-Yves is quite good at sorting through things.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1243100651237900288 

Wish us luck!We are planning a 2000h start EDT, I will try to add a live stream link here if everything goes to plan.

Eleven Hearthguard-AHPCX # 10

 

Still plugging away at the painting. One of my goals during the challenge was to complete a Lords of the Wild warband using elves from my LOTR collection for SAGA AoM. Next up are 2 Hearthguard units. These were half painted by my son many years ago, they were airbrushed with Tamiya flat black and re-painted and based to match the the current war band. I thought about stripping the metal casts but decided against it, so they are a little less defined than the plastic sculpts which just had been previously primed. I am happy enough with them. I have 11 more figures to go but I somehow another think that this will not get done for the Challenge.

 

 

 

Sainte-Mère-Église: AHPCX #9

 

This model has been an albatross around my neck throughout the AHPCX, without exaggeration there is probably over 300 hours of print time here with multiple failed pieces. This is a model from 3d-print-terrain, there are 14 pieces to print, the longest one clocking out at 38 hours alone. I had multiple problems throughout with both adhesion and extrusion problems. Anyway, I suspect most of you shall have no idea what I am talking about, so I shall stop. The fence come from the same set and I found the headstones on Thingiverse.

I needed a church, as I sold my massive Italeri hard plastic one, this is much nicer and of course Sainte-Mère-Èglise is one of the classic WWII Normandy set pieces. I based it on two old placemats and added a small cemetery as you can see.

 

 

 

I will treat it as 3 separate units in respect to bombardment for CoC, the two large roofs come off, and the centre tower comes off. Difficult to say whether the ground floor windows can be used as firing positions but there are 3 doors, one large and certainly the tower would be an excellent firing position. Funny how I think of terrain in game terms!

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Some Terrain for Epic: AHPCX #8

Myself and Iannick are planning to have our first 30k Epic game in three weeks, I have never played before and I do not think that Iannick has played Epic Armageddon since he was a young lad.  We are planning to use 2000 +/- 100 point forces and are playing the NetEA rules with the Horus Heresy lists. I am playing the Blood Angels and Iannick the Emperor's Children. I believe the plan is to play on a 4x4 terrain with no spaceship's, but everything else goes. I have my list together but keeping it a secret in order to confound Iannick. as we had no terrain, I have been keeping the CR10S busy. I already have a desert mat and some hills (from Rommel) as well as some 6 mm roads and rivers which will do, I really can not imagine the 30k world being a lush, verdant one, but of course I really have no idea as I know nothing about this world! I am looking forward to getting my force on the table though and the rules themselves do not look too complicated.

A Warhound for scale, I am hoping it is right

Ruined buildings, some objective markers and game tokens, all done on the 3D printer.

Regimental HQ in bottom left. I will make an orbital blast marker later but only needed this one for our upcoming game.

Bit of a challenge to match colouring with mat but pretty good I believe.

Detail of markers and and objectives.

Wish us luck in our game.

Black Seas: Catch the Prize

 

This past Friday, myself and Adam had a go at Black Seas, this was Adam's first game and my fifth. He is planning to put on a game a small con at the end of the month and want to playtest the rules as well as his scenario.

He decided to go with Scenario 5 from the books with the only advanced national rules being in play. The scenario pits a frigate and a brig against other, he elected to go with French and US ships, with one force escorting an unarmed merchant ship across so treacherous waters. Here are a few photos from the game.

 

These are all Adam's ships which were very nicely done. We played the scenario twice with us each taking a turn being the defender, and in both games the defender (the escorting force) winning. Both games took around 60 minutes, cementing my belief that this is an excellent set of rules which give a fun game. We used my off table card holders which obviate the need for wake markers. I think Adam has decided after the game to remove the bases, they do making measuring and turning using the included templates a little more difficult. I used my linear laser for the first time to decide which ship is closest to the wind, thus going first. With the wind gauge in the middle of the terrain this is an absolute plus and I highly recommend it. 

It was a fun game!