Canvas Eagles Newbies

  My friend, Doug, asked if I could bring over a  WW2 game for his son and and his son's scout friends. They had gone to Recruit-Con and gotten bitten by the wargame bug. My WW2 stuff was in a bit of dissaray so  asked if  WW1 Canvas Eagles would do. I had been working on some rules mods and welcomed the opportunity to give them a run throughly.
   I decided to keep this event simple and focus on learning the basics, not tracking fuel or ammo. They flew 3 Dr1s vs a single Brisfit, flown by the dad, an experienced CE player. After setting up a little too far apart the boys each picked  different approach to their prey. Two were cautious Ryan skirting high on the right flank, Will on the other flank choosing a lower approach. Joe, flying a red tripe, opted for a more direct approach from a slightly higher altitude. Doug knowing the strengths of his Brisfit and weakness of the Dr1, welcomed the attack of these pups. The first casualty was Joe, although getting a stinging hit against the Brisfit, he was taken out by a Pilot Killed result, from a long burst of a single Vickers gun. Ryan and Will gasped and eyed the Bristol wearily. Too late for caution as Doug's Brisfit dove down on Will's lowflying  blue triplane. Engine hits were scored and smoke began to steam from Will's engine cowling.  Will flew past the Bristol and circled around to attack the Bristol from the rear only to fall victim to a long burst  from the rear  Lewis gun, causing Will's Blue triplane  to explode from a Fuel Tank Hit! But the Bristol was belching smoke from it's engine. Now Ryan became more hesitant, meanwhile the brothers, Joe and Will remounted their tripes and were eager for payback! At one point both the Brisfit and a tripe were spinning side by side from critcal hits, but recovered the next turn.  In the end Doug's Brisfit suffered from numerous wing hits and finally a Fuel Tank Explosion, delivered by his son Ryan, who had closed in on the ragged Brisfit.
  The boys did well for their first taste of miniatures 3D  air combat. Canvas Eagles is a bit daunting at first but plays easily after  few rounds.
 The room was a bit dark so picture quality on my iPad suffered.

left to right,Doug and son, Ryan,  friends, Joe, and his brother Will.

Rugged Brisfit

smoke aplenty

The crowded sky

Vultures circling their prey?

A good time!

Fortune and Glory

 

 Tonight brought another boardgame night at Angela and Donnie Williams home. This  time it was Flying Frog Productions, Fortune and Glory, the Cliffhanger Game.
  The setting for this pulp action adventure set in then1930s. Full of action and adventure, loaded with exotic locations, treasures, mobsters and Nazis. Players take on the roles of uniquely talented adventurers.  I felt like I was playing in a Indiana Jones adventure movie.
 I had bought this game shortly after playing it once at ConnCon. I was impressed enough to shell out the $80 for it. I really like Flying Frog's stuff. Fun games, well constructed, high on replay value.
  Tonight was a three player game, like my first experience. Donnie had play in an eight play game at Ted Conn's and was more familiar with the rules, so he ran the game. After set up the game ran smoothly, stopping only to clarify a few points with the rulebook.The game was eventful with a lot of unexpected events with players and npcs in the game, Mobsters, Villains , and Nazis  seemed to be around every corner to thwart our endeavors.

  The game is designed to accommodate up to eight players, but plays best with three to five, more if experienced players. We played about fifteen turns in three hours, referencing  the rules to be sure we were doing thing correctly. Donnie took the lead at the beginning of the game, with Angela close behind.. It wasn't until the last third of the game that I finally made progress. Angela pulled a coup when a Villain beat her to a artifact, and the Angela snatched from him. I used all my resources to slow her down but in the end it was not enough.
  Fortune and Glory is a great game.  I can heartily recommend it.

Fields of Honor, Gameorama!

  I was  fortune enough to attend Fields of Honor, game con again. I thought I had a great time last year, this time it was even better! Trent Burg, Jeff Hyland and their wives give their all to make this con a success, as well as all the great game masters. Five full sessions of awesome gaming, with some hard game choices to make!

  Friday night I participated in Ryan Skow's,  28mm game, Down on the Farm-1970.  ZANLA guerrillas attacking a Rhodesian farm under cover of darkness, defended by well armed farmers.There was Rhodesian  police force as a relief force that showed up on a random die roll. Rules by Ambush Alley Games Force on Force, and supplement Bush Wars.

 Ryan is a master modeler and worked from photos of the real farm to make this wonderful compound. I played this twice, once as the ZANLA, then as the Rhodesians. Afterwards we sat around and discussed the scenario. Ryan ran this a couple more times Saturday morning, with many people admiring this awesome gameboard. I will post a separate review with more pictures. 

  Saturday morning I played in Trent Burg's Star Wars Starfighter game. Rebel X, Y,and A-wings attacking an Imperial convoy escorted by TIE  fighters and interceptors. Rules by Trent and minis were micro machines. I am a big fan of Trent's Warbirds in Miniature WW2 air combat rule, and this rule set is just as good. I flew 2Y wings and followed the X and A wings in the fray. Destroy the freighters and bug out was the mission.

Imperial Convoy and escorts

My Y-wings running the gauntlet!

 

  All Imperial Freighters destroyed, as well as a lot of TIEs . I lost a Y-wing but destroyed a freighter and a TIE interceptor. I was able to fly my two ships and work them together to defend themselves. This rule set is great and three dimensional combat blows the two dimensional. You really feel like your dogfighting, you can always add the bells and whistles of the newer game. Great job Trent, I can't wait untill you post the rules on the yahoo group! This game is FUN!

   Saturday midday I played in Jeff Guillin's  Kings Musketeers skirmish game, One For ALL, One For All!, using his own rules, Ilse de France Swashbuckler miniature rules. I played two of the King's Musketeers aiding in the search for a insolent merchant, who has defied the courts summons.

Gully running the game.

   This game was extremely fun and very Hollywood, rules easy to learn.

Saturday evening  I finally got to experience SAGA Dark Age rules. I've read  a lot about them and was anxious to play. Not your average rules,the battle boards a huge factor in the game. We were in a dark side of the room so the photos aren't great and I was more focused on the game.

My Vikings

The Bretons

 troops closed. My Beserkers were charged by his cavalry and got too  close and were decimated, Fun game I hope to play more of. My thanks to the gamemasters for providing figures and gracious opponent whole helped me learn this interesting games.

  Sunday, I had signed up to play a wild west Bar Room Brawl, but was lured to play a gorgeous 28mm WW1 trench action game. Rifle Grenadiers to the Forward SAP!  Warhammer Historicals, The Great War rules. Beautiful figures and awesome terrain provided by Jude Becker. I enjoyed myself immensely and plan to do this also, possibly in 20mm though. I will provide a later post to further detail this game .

Jude,in the white shirt

The Huns move forward

The French under mortar fire

   The will be another post on this Event showing games I did not get to play in as well as more detailed reviews of A couple of games. I'm already looking forward to my next Fields of Honor. A great convention with great people!

Bungle in the Jungle, Ambush Valley

core rules

supplement

 

 
  Phil Flores's interest in gaming the Vietnam conflict has taken him from Charlie Company to Ambush Valley rules. Phil has a nice selection of 20mm figures and terrain that he has been collecting over the past years, off and on. Always searching for that perfect set of rules, there never is, Phil has found Ambush Valley suits him best for now. I have played in a couple of his games but never got around to posting them, and so here they are. Once at his house and another time at ConnCon, pretty much the same scenario both time, with a few minor differencess. Forces consisted of a few M113 ACAVs supported by a couple of M-48s, along with six squads of grunts, and in one game a Huey Slick. All on their way to "liberate' a VC held village. They were expected and ambushed by the garrison, luckily the main force was elsewhere. Of course the VC forces were hidden with each group represented by three dummy counter each, to be revealed on a successful spotting check. Both games were fun and very different. Phil also plays Lock 'N Loads
" Forgotten Heroes"  Nam board game, lots of fun and challenging.


Here we are at ConnCon 2012. That's Phil on the left, Greg Moore in the black tee, and Tedd Conn in the blue tee.Phil has set the game up and explaining rules and objectives.

Zippo time

Greg eyeballing that slick, he is a VC player

 Now we at Phil's house with Brad Jenison, in the white tee and glasses the on he left, and Jim Harbison the other guy sitting.

                                  Brad playing the VC, planning his ambush.

   Pictures from the games.

Eclipse Space Strategy Game

   Another of Angela and Donnie Williams latest acquisitions from Gencon. I consider this a worthy rival of Twilight Imperium, not better but very fun, that is until the combat starts then, viscous. Main difference is the space exploration vs knowing what solar systems are available.  Donnie introduced Eclipse to Phil Flores and I one evening and we had at it. It easy to learn mechanics, and being our first game Donnie helped us through. Eclipse is fun and not overly complex, but with a lot of strategy. Unique is having to fight NPCs over a newly discovered system. I would also say it has a high replay value with 2-6 players. Having a well organized storage system helps speed the pre game set-up.Visit  BBGs:  http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/72125/eclipse  for a comprehensive review. Thanks Donnie for a fun evening of gaming!  

                       Last phases of the game, no place left to explore, now only war!

                                             Donnie helping Phil on ship configurations.

  ,     Phil must go through the dreaded center Galactic Council Territory to gain access for conquest.

Lyssan Medieval boardgame

 Angela and  Donnie Williams are the boardgame drivers in our little circle, and have many interesting games and the most current. They go to Gencon and bring back all these awesome games, seems more than we have time to play, but we try anyway.
  The latest is "Lyssan" touted as a Medieval strategy/combat game, fast playing and with a high replay value. See a comprehensive review at BoardGameGeek: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/97939/lyssan, they do a much better review than I can. I only wish Lyssan could accommodate 5-6 players instead of 4.
  A pleasant evening of gaming was provide by Angela and Donnie, both gracious gamers and hosts indeed.

                                                           Angela and Donnie
                                                 Donnie in his official Lyssan t-shirt!
                         

                                                                      Lyssan

Axis & Allies 1940 Global

  I have been playing Axis and Allies 1940 Global for about three months, almost every other weekend. Yes this game takes 8-12 hours to play, but is a blast! Even so we always have 6-8 players. The group I play with is studies WWII actively and we are tweeking the rules. I bought the Pacific 1940 and opened the box, then down loaded the 10 page errata/rules corrections. What a broken piece of crap it was! Rushed  into production. I was obsessed with getting the Europe game but it was going for $225 on ebay. I lucked out and got it for $88 new! I've tried my hand playing each of the factions. This game is fun and frustrating to play and time flies by. My only complaint is that America can't declare war until the end of the 3rd turn, because  historically Congress were "Isolationists" and wouldn't let Roosevelt declare war. Japan gets to invade Russia on turn one even though historically the Japanese invaded the soviet union twice, the first time it was 1937 and the last time it was 1940/1941. The Japanese were beaten back with heavy losses both times due to heavy fire power from Russian tanks-artillery -infantry by Marshal Georgi Zhukov.The game doesn't allow for this.

Recruits-Con Fall 2012

http://recruits.mtswebsites.com/index.php

  Recruits-Con Fall 2012 has come and gone. Thanks to Duane Fleck and his band of merry men and ladies, I and many others had a wonderful game filled weekend. There were a few regulars missed but there were many new faces and venders. The thing that stood out the most to me was the large number of under 16 year old attendees, whom I refer to as the future of our hobby. Indeed this convention is aptly named and very successful in it's mission. 10 years, 20 shows, and still  recruiting!!

  There were so many great games to choose from, allocating my time was difficult. The theme was "Old School" and many veteran gamemasters brought back golden oldies from earlier shows.I could of spent the whole show walking around taking pictures, but that what the Recruits-Con website is for, check out the gallery for the latest pictures when it gets upgraded, http://recruits.mtswebsites.com/Gallery.php     

 Chris Cluckey's amazing French and Indian War, Battle of Quebec.Using John Jenkins limited edition 54mm figures and Iron Ivan Games, "This Very Ground" Rules. Chris ran this game the whole convention and always had a table full of participants.

Kenneth Van Pelt's awesome 1/35th scale WWII skirmish! Mamayev Kurgan, Break through in Stalingrad, home rules. I would have loved to play in this one

 Kenneth Van Pelt's   "N" Country, Airmobile Operations in Veitnam.. N scale, home rules.
All of the players will take the Chain of command for a US air-mobile battalion in Vietnam. The enemy encounters are generated from a deck of cards when US forces are searching areas of a valley. The encounters generated in the search mission are researched typical events that occurred for American soldiers. This is a simulation game that is difficult to decide winner and loser- only experience.
 

Ambush Alley Games, Contracting Trouble. This is one of my favorite AAG games hosted by Shawn and Peggy Carpenter. A ton of fun in a very small package, full of suprises!

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It Came From Beyond The Still by special guest Robert Adams, ran by Mike Williams. This game is a hoot!

    Hillbillies vs. Aliens, is the ultimae miniatures skirmish game of down-home alien butt-kicking. Come play as the Hatfields, McCoys, ODaries, or Grangers and fued to the last man. Or, play the Grey aliens, blobs or The Green Menace From Uranus and probe or destroy all life on Earth. Other factions include Cultists set out to summon Great Old Ones and lessor servitors, those Meddling Kids, the Men in Black, The Boys Scouts or Revenuers. 

 16 Miniatures on a Lead Man's Chest,  28MM,  Fist Full of Seaman rules.
 Set Sail and weigh anchor in the Largest Pirate game in North America. Immerse yourself in over 700 square feet of playable terrain where you decide your scalawag’s fate. Trade goods, plunder shipping lanes, hunt for lost treasure, destroy the enemies of the crown, feast with cannibals, or haunt the seas for eternity aboard the ghost ship Petit Mort.