A Year In Gaming - 2023

 And we're back here again! 

What a year; some big personal changes for me impacted my gaming and painting schedule. However, it looks like I've some some good people down here to hobby with, so 2024 looks bright. 

So here's the games I played this year:

• 'O' Group - 1
• All Quiet on the Martian Front - 1
• Arena Rex - 2
• BattleTech: Alpha Strike - 2
• Breakthrough - 1
• Chain of Command - 9
• Combat Patrol - 1
• Downsync - 3
• General d'Armee - 1
• Live Free or Die - 1
• Midgard - 1
• So Convenient for Hewing - 1
• Strength & Honour - 4
• Wars of Ozz - 1
• Washington's War - 1
• What a Tanker - 2

32 games in total. One less than 2022, but I did pack up and move in the middle of the year, so overall I can't say it's that bad. Chain of Command definitely wins the "Most Played" spot, thanks in large part to Ted's focusing on the rules for his campaign (and what a shame that I never got to see the conclusion to it!). 

As for what I painted:

• 15mm Artillery - 4
• 15mm Cavalry - 42
• 15mm Infantry - 190
• 15mm Vehicle - 4
• 28mm Infantry - 31
• 28mm Vehicle - 3
• 2mm Cavalry - 2
• 2mm Infantry - 5
• 6mm Infantry - 20
• 6mm Vehicle - 5

Again, not too bad, especially since I had to pack everything up for a couple months and lost my enthusiasm while focusing on my new job. There was a focus on 15mm this year, thanks to my Napoleonics project. I expect to see the same focus in 2024 as I work on the French. 

And the usual recap of the games I played in:

'O' Group

All Quiet on the Martian Front

Breakthrough

Chain of Command

Combat Patrol

Downsync

Live Free or Die

Midgard

So Convenient for Hewing

Strength & Honour

Wars of Ozz

Washington's War

Painting Update - Epic Orks, Downsync

I haven't just been painting Napoleonics!

At some point I'd like to have an Epic: Armageddon force, and decided on Orks as they seem a good mix of aggressive infantry and vehicles. I picked up some Skinners from Vanguard Miniatures (which are fantastic!) and did a few test bases to see what combination of primer, paint, and wash colors worked best. I ended up liking a black primer, a thinned black wash, and brighter metallics. 

I've also started work on my Downsync Republic of Terra force, starting with a Courier APC. I wanted a quick color scheme, and I think the green and orange works well together. 

Of course, what good is an APC without some personnel to carry? So I painted an accompanying Vector Squad. 

The Crusader tank is the mainstay armored vehicle of the Republic, holding back the cybernetic hordes of the Coalition. I've filled two of my Medium slots with these tanks, as they seem pretty efficient in taking out enemy units and are as fast as the Republic's light scanning vehicle. 

And the mighty Samson tank is one of the Republic's heavy choices. 

The New Group - 'O' Group AAR

Since moving down to Maryland, I haven't had a chance to game as much compared to back up in Jersey where I was in a couple of regular gaming groups. 

I finally had the chance to meet up with a local group of gamers (the "Army of Central Maryland") for their first game of 'O' Group, which I enjoyed playing with Ted last year. 

The scenario was a meeting engagement in Italy, 1943, between an American battalion and a German battalion. The Germans were approaching from the left side of the table, while the Americans were coming from the right. 

Both sides were looking to cause four FUBARs. If the Germans took the town of Persano, it would cause an automatic FUBAR against the Americans. If the Americans took the hill in the Germans' deployment zone, it would cause an automatic FUBAR against the Germans. 

Due to my semi-familiarity with the rules, I was tasked with leading the German battalion with Kevin and Scott, while Kelly was in charge of the American battalion with Mike and Alex. 

The Germans pushed up the flanks, using the forest and ravines as cover. 

While covering their own flanks, the Americans pushed hard for the orchards just outside the town.

After a fierce battle, the Germans ended up winning the fight for the orchard, helped by weight of fire coming from the company in the woods and some lucky artillery. The Americans lost a platoon and were forced back. They brought on their tank platoon for added support, and the Germans countered by calling up their assault gun platoon. 

The Germans StuGs managed to knocked out a Sherman section, and the other tank section retreated behind the hill. The Americans brought their artillery to bear against the Germans in the orchards, causing a decent amount of shock and pushing back the newly-deployed company commander.

At this point, the game had reached a bit of a lull. Both sides were firing at long range and not accomplishing much, although the Americans were down a couple battalion dice from from their two FUBARS. Scott was starting to push his German company against the American right flank, but Alex's lone platoon was shrugging off hits left and right. 

Hoping to apply pressure, the German battalion launched attacks on both flanks, while still keeping a platoon and a couple Combat Patrols in the middle orchards. Alex's single platoon was ice-cold while facing down an entire German company, while they were supported by HMG and artillery fire from the American position in Persano. 

On the other flank, the Americans under Mike were falling back as Kevin pushed forward, supported by the StuG platoon. 

Unfortunately I had to leave at this point, and the rest of the group played on a bit longer. The town was still safe, but the Americans were almost at their FUBAR break point while the Germans were still relatively fresh.

It was fun to play 'O' Group again, and the Maryland guys are a great crew. I'm looking forward to participating in more games with them!

Painting Update - Napoleonics

I've not played many games recently, but painting continues!

Here's another battalion of Russian infantry, from the Tchernigov regiment. 

And the last of the line infantry battalions, from the Revel regiment.

The scenario for Weissenfels gives the Russian a large battery of horse artillery. I may consider adding a couple horse teams with limbers and ammo caissons.

The last infantry brigade for the Russian is a trio of Jager battalions (of which I'm just showing one since they don't have any real distinguishing features without any flags). I decided to go with the green winter trousers to further distinguish them from the line battalions. 

And finally, the last of the commanders for the scenario. 

And here's a shot of the Russians for Weissenfels. Whew! That's half the first scenario done, and it only took me... 12 months?! 

I was hoping to have the Russians finished by the end of June, and then have the French done by the end of December. Of course, "no plan survives contact with the enemy”, and this year my "enemy" was a massive change in location, job, and gaming groups. 

I'm going to continue working on this project (with a couple diversions elsewhere since this is taking way longer than expected) through the next year. The French force for Weissenfels has twice as many infantry stands as the Russians, but at least they have a third of the amount of cavalry. I'm going to take a break and work on a couple other projects just for fun, and then dive back into Napoleonics in 2024.