Retro

 I had a grand game with my ASL stuff, it was very loosely based on the battle for Oosterbeek in 1944.

This home made scenario featured British Paras with a full company with MG support and a hidden 17pdr AT gun defending five key buildings from the SS with 15 squads, 6 mounted in halftracks and a pair of Panther tanks, whoever held the majority of the buildings after nine turns would be the winner.

For rules I used Retro, I loved ASL rules but they can be hard work so nowadays it has to be Retro with a few house rules. I find them easier, quicker and just as exciting. 

After three turns I took a few photos...

 At the end of my first session the Germans had lost both of their Panther tanks and a Hanomag from a hidden 17pdr before the crew were defeated in close combat. The Brits were largely holding firm but the SS had made some progress on the eastern side of the town.

The second session saw the  British slowly withdraw towards the objective buildings under steady pressure from the SS who had now taken heavy losses. I never have much luck with Satchel Charges under either rules, it is much easier to place one in Retro but a roll of eleven won't do any damage!.

The SS took an objective but were struggling to make much headway, their attack in the east failed very badly and the Brits were sitting pretty.

Then with my British hat on I blundered, I got carried away and squandered my squads mopping up defeated units who didn't pose a threat. I left a key building unguarded on one side and against the odds a bold German move paid off for them.

Then the Brits were dashing back in an attempt to hold off three SS squads one of which had just rallied. The Germans broke cover braving MG fire and managed to capture two more key buildings on their last turn!.

The Paras had one last turn but only managed to retake one of the buildings in a very risky assault, the Germans had won the game 3-2.

What a thriller!.

The situation at the end of the game...

Retro

Another very entertaing game.

Zona Alfa : a day trip to the yellow zone.

 Two rival crews enter the Zone, a military crew and an independant crew...

Approaching the hotspots.

A yellow warning sign confirms the threat level.

The Indy crew attract a gaggle of Zombies.

Rutger is on alert with his flamethrower...

But Rutger fluffs his shot when he recognises an old comrade amongst the zombies and some of the undead pounce on Bolter (blue spot on his base) and Yak (yellow spot).

The leader of the crew, Bolter is wounded before Yak finishes the Zombie!.

Meanwhile, the Military crew attract a huge mutant worm.

An anomaly pops up too!.

Sgt. Renko and his men kill off the monster.

And Renko successfully inspects the anomaly.

Revived by Yak's medikit Bolter moves on the hotspot.

Renko moves up.

Rutger is lurking near the objective and he's alert    ( be alert, the country needs lerts).

Another monstrous worm is awakened. Ganz is ready and blazes away at the horror.

But he fails to stop the worm.

Bolter dashes over and kills the worm with his SMG.

Sgt. Renko sprints over and gives Ganz first aid, the crews will now work together to get out of the zone.

Bolter inspects the anomaly and finds valuable artifacts.

It is time to get out fast as the sky goes abnormally black. Both crews have well over 5K of salvage and artifacts for their troubles. Not a bad payday!.

Zona Alfa is a canny game, a nice change from my usual games.

 

Skirmishing with my old toy soldiers.

 

Taking a breather from some very intense games of "ASL" I got out some of my oldest toys and have been playing some "One Hour Skirmish Wargames".

The soldiers are my Airfix and Britains Deetail 1/32nd which I have had since I was about eight years old. Veterans for sure!.

I have put labels under their stands with names on, I mainly used names from "Combat Commander" leaders. The narrative of the game means more somehow when the wee men have names.

I am having a lot of fun with these rules, I kept all the distances the same but I use a bigger 5 inch grenade template for the larger figures.

I staged a few photos for this post, this isn't actual gameplay.

I have a bunch of Russians to play with as well, I made the signage on the buildings detachable so I can go from the Western Front to the Eastern Front in a jiffy.

I'm planning another game tonight in which a cut off US officer needs rescuing from a village swarming with Germans. It should be fun!.

A nice change of pace, "One Hour Skirmish Wargames" gets a recommendation from me!.

Baroque - English Civil War.

 Well I'm still battling away with me ECW toys. After many good games with "Furioso" rules I found the rule set I originally fancied at a good price.

These rules are entitled "Baroque" and are published by Dadi&Piombo. I decided to half my unit size to suit the rules on my small table.

The rules play well with commands activating by initiative as the opposing units may react to the activating sides actions. It is all very to and fro.

There is a very good blogpost featuring Baroque here... link It is well worth a peep for anyone interested, I have found it very useful.

I discovered that I needed a couple of camps to be protected so I set to and made some today.

I've spent some time improving my terrain a bit too, I've invested in some new trees, painted my fields and had a right good time of it.

I love learning a new rules set and I reckon Baroque is well worth learning.

Furioso

I got my English Civil War toys out and have had a lot of fun trying out rulesets with them. I played "Warhammer ECW" for a few games and that was enjoyable but didn't quite hit the spot.

 Then I tried out "Furioso" by Steve Danes, I bought these rules a couple of years back when I had wild ideas about wargaming the Italian Wars.

Furioso is designed to wargame the sixteenth century, somewhat earlier than the English Civil War so I had to use similar unit stats to suit my collection.

I enjoyed my first couple of games, I particularly liked the initiative system.

The next couple of games knocked me back a bit, one or two implausible events occurred. 

Then I found that I had missed some rules so I had another game which was much better.

I played more, introducing some skirmishers and found some more depth to the rules.

The upshot is that I am very pleased with Furioso, the rulebook was a bit hard for me to grok but definitely worth persevering with.

For those that are interested in Furioso there is a great blogpost here... link

The rules are available from Alternative Armies... link

I foresee plenty of good games ahead.

Great stuff!.