Despite absences...

I've been slow to blog lately. This time of year does get busy for people in my line of work. Still... some worthwhile things have happened.
Two weeks ago, a group of us played a game using the Warhammer Ancient Battles rules - Early Imperial Romans vs. Gauls. There will be no report on this game since it didn't go so well for me. The reasons are immaterial, but the photos are worthwhile.



Andy's Roman legionaries advance in an appropriately bellecose manner.



An overview of the Gallic side.

The Gauls move to the advance.

Skirmishers from both sides meet in the wood.

Germans - adding to the colour... and odor of the Gallic army.



Gallic Fanatics, defended by shield, tattoo, and attitude.
They did very little during the game.




A good view of the western center of the table.






















That's quite enough about that fiasco. Last week, we did an old favourite - the Tiger Hunt. Take Iron Ivan's "Disposable Heroes/Coffin for Seven Brothers" rules, give each player a Tiger tank (Pzkwgn VI) or a Panther tank (Pzkwgn V), and it's every man for himself. When we've done a mini-con of sorts, this always goes well. It also help us to drill ourselves on the armour rules in the rule set. It's always a scream. When your tank is knocked out, you go get another from the pool. (1-3 on a d6, a Tiger, 4-6 a Panther, until those models run out, then the Koenigstiger and Jagdpanther can appear. This time we added a few "Guests" like 2 Ferdinands, a Firefly, and a Churchill with a 75mm gun so it would have a fighting chance. We actually played two games. In Game 2, all players got a Tiger and it "respawned" as a Panther, but there wasn't a third chance.



The table begins to be set up.




Der Laurentiger im Stadt (The Lurking Tiger in the town)




A Panther prepares to move. See, it IS a game!




Panthers, alive and dead, and the Koenigstiger



The Churchill - commanded by Robby - cruises into place.



The Firefly I decided to test drive. Nasty weapon, armour could be better.




Panthers close up. The blue chips represent penetrating hits.
The rules make your tank more vulnerable with each penetrating hit.




Ferdinand on parade. This frightened some folks until they realized it has
no turret to turn!




A nice photo of a Panther looking for prey.




A Forward Observer's eye-view of the table.
No extra points for shooting livestock.




















This week, the club was playing a Dreadnought-era naval game, but I could not make it due to vehicle troubles. I'll try next time. Our next scheduled game is one of the Age of Sail, an old nugget called "Don't Give Up the Ship." One of the authors was the late Gary Gygax, done prior to his D&D publication. Before Christmas, we'll do our now-traditional (as in "We've done it once") Wings of War game with Snoopy leading the Allied squadrons.

The air battle of the ages from last Christmas.

More on that later,