Monte Cassino battle game in 54mm by Gilbert & Ronny

WW2 Commando Raid in 54mm

While researching the disastrous Dieppe raid, I read about the only successful element of Operation Jubilee, a commando raid that took out a German coastal battery west of the Dieppe. I played a game based on the raid this past weekend. We used the popular Bolt action rules. I should say popular with some, but not all. The players with a deep knowledge of WW2 facts, like armor thicknesses, felt it was too generic: "Warhammer for WW2", it provided four of us with a fast moving, exciting game. As historically, the British Commandos began their attack in the hour before dawn, so we employed the night fighting spotting rules, which allowed the Commandos to sneak up to the wire surrounding the battery. The Commandos were rated Veterans, while the German artillerymen were rated Inexperienced, so it was hardly a fair fight, although being on the defensive, helped the Germans' staying power.

Trench Raid Game

I think all the northern European members must, wisely, be on their summer holidays, but being Americans, we never take vacations ;). Yesterday we played a WW1 trench raid game in 54mm. The very simple rules are in Wargames Illustrated Issue 235. Four players each had five miniatures, either British (defenders) or Germans ( raiders). The rules, as I said, are very beer and pretzels simple, but they do allow for exciting moments like being able to pick up a thrown hand grenade and tossing it back. The game moved along so quickly that we had time to play it twice, each time with very different results.

 

Apologies for monopolizing the blog this summer. I hosted a Wild West shootout game based on the original film version of the Magnificent Seven. We had six players, three for the bandits and three for the Seven, plus farmers. I used my favorite gunfight rules: Fistful of Lead Reloaded. I bought the figures and buildings second hand. They were featured in Wargames Illustrated 259, pages 52-55. We played until half the thirty bandits were killed or wounded. In the course of the game, three of the Seven were killed: Harry Luck, Chris (Yul Brynner) and Brett (James Coburn).

Apache Skirmish Additional Photos

I received a request for more long shots of the game. The table was 6 feet by 5 feet. The Apaches started from diagonal corners of the table. The Apaches had the option of starting the game mounted or on foot. The Apache player decided on all his warriors being on foot. So the photos of the mounted Apache are just posed for the photos.

Apache Skirmish Game

I ran a small Old West skirmish game for my friend Alan's birthday on June 16. He shares his birthday with Quatre Bras, which I think is very cool. I love a good skirmish game because it reminds me that you can have as much fun with a handful of figures as you can  with 200. We used the Fistful of Lead rules, which I like because they use a clever playing card activation system that keeps all the players engaged in the game. In this scenario, the US Cavalry are attacked while they are crossing a river and they must hold out for 6 or more turns before reinforcements arrive. Five cavalrymen must hold off ten Apaches. In this game, the cards and the dice worked in favor of the cavalry, but it could easily have gone the other way.