Regarding the troops, of course I was invested in the boys, and I tried to develop other characters, but then typically they would get killed or medically evacuated. The Operation Utah fights were the most fun of the entire first tour for me, just a ton of great action and great scenarios, pulled straight out of the official US Marine Corps history books for Vietnam. The squad started out with fights against the Viet Cong, and then things really ramped up with Operation Utah and the first fights between the USMC and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), which the squad ran into again during its first trip to the DMZ for Operation Hastings. My modifications of KR-16 did a pretty good job for Operation Hastings I think, but there's just still something missing. And if I'm having a hard time with true skirmish (a handful of guys per side), I'm REALLY having a hard time finding a set of platoon-level rules I like. The only problem is that it still can seem a bit disjointed I forget the actual quote, but Ed Texeira of Nuts!/Two Hour Wargames has written something along the lines of the challenge of skirmish games is having leadership matter, that it's a military op, not a gang fight. I suppose I'll never find a perfect set of skirmish rules, but my variation of Five Men at Kursk sure seems to give an exciting fight. I also loved the way I was able to interweave real history into the various tabletop operations and games, without getting too bogged down (I hope). I loved the way I played out patrol actions using the cards to dictate the action, timing, enemy force, and random events, it worked awesome (or at least I think so). To be sure, 24 fights was a lot of battles, probably too many, particularly given the time period 1965-1966, where things were 'relatively' quiet compared to '67, '68, and '69. I actually finished these in November and December, respectfully, but haven't had time to take photos.So, the first tour was an absolute blast, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I've updated the Miniatures page with some Lone Gunman Games' Amazons and Highlander Studio's Zombie Rednecks. Other than Texicon, no real gaming this year.
I'm thinking about giving it an honest go this year. It was equally rewarding to hear the positive feedback from the judges.
MACHINAS TWO HOUR WARGAMES PROFESSIONAL
I didn't place (big surprise since I didn't know I was competing until about 30 seconds before I submitted my miniature), but it was very rewarding to realize a professional painter thought my work was good enough for a competition. Painter Shannon Stiltz even talked me into entering my Maelee MicroBabe into the painting competition. I did manage to go to Texicon 2015 and enjoy myself playing games and watching my son get bitten by the tabletop gaming bug. Add to that completing my son's homeschooling, getting him in college, re-purposing the classroom, and a zillion other drags on my leisure time, and I didn't have a chance to do much painting or gaming last year. 2015 began with the great Pipe Break and Identity Theft Caper (not related to each other) from which we are still recovering from. Talk about life getting in front of pleasure. You can see their first mission here at Board Game Geek.
I've started a campaign following the crew of the B-17F "Miss Pfitt". The game is a bit repetitive, but I think that goes a long way to portraying the "99% boredom/1% sheer terror" aspect of war. You are simply along for the ride, carrying out the missions assigned to you and reacting to what happens. The game is different in that you really have no control over what happens. In Target for Today, you play the part of a crew of an American bomber as you carry out the bombing campaign against the Nazis. The game is the spiritual successor of B-17 Queen of the Skies. I've really developed a liking for Legion Wargames' Target for Today. I made some time to actually play some games lately. I've been debating whether to display photos of those here as I envisioned this blog showcasing 15s. While I haven't been painting 15s, I have been painting miniatures for Steve Jackson Games Ogre and Starfire Design Studio's Starfire. I can't even get near the paint table these days! Sheesh. That, and I inadvertently created a monster by introducing mt son to the world of wargaming (Warhammer 40k in his case) and painting miniatures. It's been nearly a year since I last painted a 15mm miniature, primarily due to a complete lack of time to paint.
MACHINAS TWO HOUR WARGAMES SKIN
These are some seriously beautiful sculpts that I used as practice on shading of skin tones. Well, after an very long and unexpected hiatus, I'm back with some photos of Copplestone Castings Barbarian Heroes.
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