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. 

Borodino, 1941 - Breakthrough AAR

My last game of the weekend was Breakthrough, a hopefully soon-to-be-released ruleset from Frank Chadwick. 

The scenario for the game was based on the Battle of Borodino, part of the larger Battle of Moscow.

The Germans had smashed the Soviet frontline units and were still pushing forward. The Soviets were somewhat scattered across the table, with two regiments battered but still somewhat intact. The rest of the Soviet forces were Siberian troops, fresh and ready to fight back. 

The Germans would need to keep themselves from getting bogged down before the Soviets could rally, and push off the opposite table edge to achieve victory. 

The starting German division consisted of two infantry regiments and an armored regiment. 

Using the massive road movement, the German tanks pushed up the center, while the infantry regiments covered the flanks. 

Tenacious Soviet defenders, however, pushed the attacking armor back. This would be a familiar sight for this game. 

While the German infantry on the left flank was doing well enough, the infantry on the right was also having a tough time. While the Soviets were slowly being pushed back, it wasn't fast enough. 

The Germans had to take their night turn to reorganize and bring up their artillery support. 

Unfortunately, I failed to bring the German armored regiment out of their reorganization stance, leaving the Soviet center free to bring up reinforcements and dig in. 

The German left flank was having a better go of it, scattering the Soviet defenders. 

Meanwhile, the Soviets' armored regiment had recuperated enough to begin rolling out. 

Time and time again the German center and right flank regiments were repelled. With so many disrupted battalions, the Germans lost their momentum as HQ units desperately tried to get their troops back in order. 

The Soviets countered with artillery and a sneaky armored car unit that threatened the infantry regiment's flank. 

The German regiments continued to receive reinforcements, but so did the Soviets, and the defenders' lines continued to deepen. 

I had to split my armored regiment into two groups to attack entrenched defenders, but finally managed to drive the Soviets from their positions. 

Of course, the German attackers were so disrupted (all those red markers) that we couldn't do much to exploit this.

A combination of Soviet armor joining the battle and a fortuitous night attack that pushed back the German left flank, we decided to call the game there for time. In-game, around three days had passed and the Germans were battered. The Soviets had lost more stands but were in a better overall position. The Germans would likely be able to push through, but the delay would be hugely detrimental. 

This game was alright, and I probably would have enjoyed it more had I a better grip on the intricacies of the rules. I think the scenario was decided early on when the Germans failed to keep up their momentum, allowing the Soviets to consolidate and deepen their defenses. It also didn't help that the Soviet players made some incredible saving throws, keeping their battalions in the game against the odds!

The Battle of Pharsalus, 48 BCE - Strength & Honour AAR

Saturday was the main day of the convention, and I had decided to focus on historical games. 

My first game of the day was Strength & Honour, which I haven't had a chance to play in a while. 

We were refighting the Battle of Pharsalus, between Caesar and Pompey for the fate of Rome. 

The Caesarian army was smaller but made up of more elite units, while the Pompeian army was more numerous but less experienced. 

The goal was the break the enemy army (the Caesarian morale was 19, the Pompeian morale was 23). The Pompeians did have a special rule, in that they could send a unit of cavalry off the opposing table edge to try and capture Caesar's scattered baggage train, which would be a Disaster card if successful. 

As the larger army, the Pompeians started with the first turn. Thanks to another special rule (that would give Pompeian legions a first-time only reroll on saving throughs in combat), we move conservatively, keeping our line formed up. Meanwhile, our cavalry force pushed hard on the left flank, intending to hit the Caesarian baggage train and get that Disaster card asap. 

The Caesarians had a tougher go of it, failing several movement tests and moving forward in a broken line. 

The Pompeian cavalry engaged first, forcing back a unit of enemy skirmishers. 

Over on my side of the table, the two battle lines squared off, neither side wanting to commit. 

The Pompeian cavalry pushed back the enemy skirmishers and ended up in the flank of the elite Caesarian Xth Legion. 

The Pompeian light cavalry also managed to get past the Caesarian lines and looted their baggage train. 

In an astounding result, the Xth Legion was broken and fled from the battle! This gave the Pompeian a perfect chance to launch a charge into another Caesarian legion's flank.

The other half of the Caesarian line came on and Roman shields clashed. 

With their better units, the Caesarians largely disrupted the Pompeian lines, but not enough to rout or disrupt any of my units. I was lucky with my movement dice and reformed my line. 

However, the lost of the Xth Legion and the collapse of Caesar's right flank gave them enough Setback and Disaster cards that the Pompeian were willing to call Haemonculus Est. It was delayed for a turn thanks to a Command token, but the next turn saw Caesar's morale collapse. With a decisive victory for Pompey and the Senate, history would be changed forever!

This was a great game, but I felt like the Caesarian players had a rough go of it. Lacking cavalry, they would've had a tough time stopping the enemy cavalry from sacking their baggage, and they had quite  a few bad dice rolls at critical moments that definitely saved me from losing my weaker legions. 

Despite that, I continue to enjoy playing Strength & Honour!