Back from nowhere in particular

Let's see if I remember how to do this...
For reasons of busy-ness, I haven't blogged in a while. Meanwhile, lots of things have happened.
Around the celebration of Thanksgiving (in October here in Ontario), the whole family played a game of "Disposable Heroes" using German and Russian troops. Beth and Katie commanded the Russians... mostly because Katie likes to use the commissar rules to help troops recover from a morale/Guts failure. Basically, the commissar shoots a soldier and the unit passes morale. Rob and I ran the German side. In the end, Rob and I had to concede.

Rob and Katie lay out the terrain and discuss just how many guys can occupy that big building.
We play in our front room so there's lots of light and a cheering section for Katie's rats.

The NKVD heavy machine gun team move up to use the knocked out T-34 as cover.
It's not a tank at this point; it's TERRAIN!

A rather crowded table, full of wooden houses bought for $1.25 at the local Dollar Store.

Rob holds forth on something or other.

Another Red Army HMG set up near the large house.

Snipers!

A rifle squad come up with the support of the NKVD HMG.

German infantry move into the town. One group is already in the house. The small piece of paper with a figure drawn on it represents a casualty. It beats leaving the figure there on it's side.

Moving so fast they're blurred, a Red Army rifle squad moves up with a commissar in the lead.
He's a Copplestone Casting while the rest are Bolt Action or Artizan.
I love the broom-handle Mauser held by the Commissar.

More German troops move into the buildings.

The Soviet scouts have entered the building, having wiped out the previous occupants, but they are faced by more Germans who knocked them out. Standing atop a building model mean the figure is in the building. The 38t is not active but is terrain. The HMG in front of it is quite active...  ...as the ladies found out.

Another eagle's eye view of the field. The blue d10 in the left foreground is a directional marker, showing which way the wind blows. We use a lot of smoke in our games, having discovered that mortars are of little other use. The cotton in the middle of the street is just such a smoke screen. What is Katie handling? Read on.

Retractable ruler? Check. Bowl of Goldfish snack crackers? Check. Beagle watching the action... especially of the snack crackers? Check. Rat in the middle of the village? Check.

The Soviet secret weapon! Tovarich Gizmo Ratofsky (Gizmo the rat) samples the tree flocking. He ran around the board between moves and didn't mess with the figures, having no taste for either plastic or pewter. As you can see, Katie has "Dumbo" rats.

A fun game with nothing really on the line. Rob and I found that battles in a built-up area are really tough. It was a good way to pass the time on a holiday.