Victory: The Blocks of War

 I have fancied a copy of Columbia Games "Victory: The Blocks of War" for years and when I saw a not too badly water damaged second hand copy for sale for a few quid I jumped in.

It had six extra maps which looked barely marked, the blocks were bagged but the rulebook and box looked pretty rough. That didn't matter as the rules are available for free online.

Well, the box and rules went into the recycle bin as I suspected but the maps were worse than I had thought. The blocks were damp in the bag with one missing and one too damaged to read.

Never mind, I cleaned the card maps as best I could and coloured in some of the worst damage, I photocopied the damaged/missing block labels and replaced them. Luckily the spare blocks were there and I dried them all out in the sun. The rules were downloaded and printed off and I even washed the dice.

Some of the worst damage after colouring in.

A bit disappointing but at least they ain't too smelly.

An eight map board, the generic World War Two theme is what attracted me to the game.

It reminded my of Phil Dunn's World War game in his Sea Battle Games which I have owned since I was about fifteen.

I loved the idea of WW2 Imagi-Nations but never got into all the complexities of Mr Dunn's game.

However I reckoned Victory: The Blocks of War would give me some of that flavour in a manageable way. Here are some of the blocks, some are a bit marked but they are still legible.

There are battleships and bombers, fighters and dive bombers, aircraft carriers and submarines as well as tanks and infantry in the game.

I tried out the 2 map "sleeping giant" scenario in which the red army has fewer starting units but greater production capacity.

The blue Hellenic League swamped the sleeping giant red Teutonic Fatherland in this game which featured sea battles, carpet bombing and combined arms battles.

I need to work on my defensive strategy I reckon.

I omitted the aircraft carriers and the airborne and marine infantry in this game until I get used to the rules for such exotica.

Good stuff, though.

Memoir '44: Pacific Theater

 After playing Airfix Battles for a few weeks I fancied a bit of a change, I have been eyeing up some very attractive squad level boardgames of the Squad Leader type but they all seem too complicated for me or too hard to play solo. I used to have Squad Leader but I never really got into it and it went mouldy and went in the bin many years ago, oh well.

So I got out Memoir '44, it is nice and simple even with snipers, engineers, heavy weapons and other complications. I have played and thoroughly enjoyed some made up scenarios set in the Pacific.

Japanese moving up under cover of darkness.

The American lines.

The sun has still to rise, visibility is only two hexes.

The Japanese begin fording the river on the American right.

The US Marines send out a probe on the opposite flank ( I got bored awaiting the Japanese assault).

The American right comes under attack.

The American probe comes under attack.

And the survivors fall back.

 The sun is coming up.

The Japanese have flanked the American position.

After much ferocious fighting the Americans fall back.

But with a bold counterattack the USMC win the battle 8 medals to 7.

Semper Fi.

Jolly good fun.

I did actually buy a boardgame after all but it is nothing like squad level. When it comes I'll take some photos and make a post.

Airfix Battles without the grid

 I couldn't resist trying Airfix Battles without the gridded maps so I dug out some of my 1/72nd toys and set up the board.

I converted one square on the grid to four inches on the table and went for it.

I used some very old models for this game, for example the Panzer IV has been with me since the early '70's and it is not the right mark for Normandy. But who cares, I certainly don't!.

Here are some pictures of the salient parts of the battle, there was a lot going on that I didn't get photos of like a tank assault that went badly for the Allies.

A Sherman gets a good shot at the Tiger tanks rear. Both Airfix originals, you need Airfix models for Airfix Battles!.

German Grenadiers, Revell, Italeri and a lone Airfix Panzerfaust man from the first version of Airfix Germans.

Americans take over a building close to one of the objectives.

The Tiger moves behind the Sherman but before it can shoot the Sherman gets a flank shot in and KO's the monster. Note the red Fire Interrupt card.

The American Captain calls in artillery support.

Causing casualties and pinning this German squad. They still managed to repel a Sherman tank later in the game.

The British Sergeant in his Sherman moves to outflank the German command tank.

But the Airfix Panzer IV reacts and eventually gets the better of the exchange.

The Americans improve their position with a Dig In card, from there they managed to outgun and force a German squad to retreat.

While another squad captures one of the objectives.

The Germans assault to oust the Yanks but are repelled with severe losses.

As the game nears it's end the venerable Panzer IV takes the other objective, it was painted white when I was a boy. I think I can still see a bit of white paint in this photo.

The tank survives Bazooka fire from the adjacent ruins.

After fierce fighting over the other objective the opposing Captains and their veterans engage in close combat.

The American Captain wins the melee. He looks very proud of his mould lines!.

Suddenly the American Bazookas hit the spot and the Panzer IV is toast.

A 17-11 win for the Allies and a very enjoyable afternoon. 

More Airfix Battles

 I played Airfix Battles all day today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Once again I used models from my 15mm Flames of War collection which is a bit limited in regards to matching up with the unit cards in the box. 

 I had to use StuG IIIs instead of Panzer IVs and I am short of halftracks and heavy weapons too. I could of course use the counters in the box but I'm not too keen on the infantry counters. 

Here are some pics from Scenario7 PUSH DOWN THE ROAD TO ST LO! / DEFEND THE ROUTE TO ST LO

I used some Flames of War building templates as they are bigger and have more presence on the board.

A Sherman gets itself in position to cover one of the objectives, it was KO'd in the following turns.

A Tiger tank rolls up the road to engage the Shermans but eventually gets outmanoeuvred and destroyed.

There are two objectives on the road to be captured in this scenario.

Which card to choose?, the game gives you plenty of dilemmas.

I like the Interrupt cards which can spoil a good plan.

The Yanks take one objective.

And the tanks drive the Germans from the other objective on the last turn.

An entertaining game, the Germans were struggling after their panzer commander was killed which reduced their hand of order cards drastically, a lesson learned!.

I could fancy playing this with my 1/72nd toys, I could maybe ditch the grid and measure four inches per square. I think I'll have to give it a go.

Airfix Battles

 I managed to get myself a copy of Airfix Battles for a good price and it arrived today.

My permanent games table has a game of Warmaster set up ready to go so I opened the box on the kitchen table and couldn't resist a quickie.

I grabbed some of my Flames of War stuff and some hit/casualty markers and got straight into it.

The 15mm stuff fits the map squares better than 1/72nd scale but I have a board marked with 100mm squares and plan to use that when I get used to the rules.

Below are a few shots of todays action. I had to clear the game away and go for my second Covid jab so I didn't get long with it.

I will play the game of Warmaster tonight and free up the table for more Airfix Battles tomorrow.