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A new book with 59 scenarios for the War of 1812. |
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Sample page of a scenario. |
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Table of Contents. |
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I am a solo war gamer endlessly searching for old Peter Laing figures, and the perfect war-game rules to use with them
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A new book with 59 scenarios for the War of 1812. |
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Sample page of a scenario. |
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Table of Contents. |
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While looking for ACW figures, I came across a small lot of Kinder ACW figures, which included a general wearing a chapeau bras bicorne dress hat. The lot was bought, so now the Kinder troops have a well dressed general.
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No sooner than I received my new Mike Lambo books on solitaire wargames, than he came out with a new one, "The Race to Bastogne". In this book you control armor units trying to break through to the encircled American forces in Bastogne. As with his other games, the AI forces are unknown. One feature that's new is "Recon", where a reconnaissance unit can expose enemy units without coming within firing range of that unit; if you get the right roll, of course. Also, in this book Mr. Lambo put unit markers in the back so one can make their own unit counters. For me, I chose to buy new "Axis &Allies" tokens from an online store, Historic Board Games.
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New units for "The Race to Bastogne". I accidentally ordered more Shermans than needed. |
While playing wargames using Mike Lambo solitaire games, I started to think if the scenarios could be used with other rules. I am thinking along the lines of a hybrid game, where using certain rules in his game would be used, but once contact with the enemy was made, different combat rules would be used. Alternatively, perhaps one Mike Lambo game could be turned into a simple campaign, where contact with the enemy would be shifted to a board, to be played out using other rules.
With this, I did use some of Battlescale hexes to set up the first scenario in "The Fields of Normandy". Below is a couple of shots of the setup. I also saw on a Facebook group I follow someone using Horoscape hexes to lay out a battlefield, using different color hexes to represent different terrain features.
All in all, if nothing else, Mr Lambo series on solitaire wargames has me playing wargames again ( 8 since I received his games) and thinking of different uses for his games.
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The first scenario in. "The fields of Normandy", with the Battlescape battlefield laid out. |
This week I have been helping the wife do some gardening. Spread throughout her gardens are garden gnomes. I like teasing her about them, as no one else in the surrounding neighborhoods have gnomes. I jokingly call her "the neighborhood crazy gnome lady". While working under the gaze of the gnomes, I was daydreaming of using different time periods or figures for Mike Lambos' different solitaire games. While trying to ignore the gnomes staring at me, I thought it might be fun to play a game using the Peter Pig gnomes.
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The Garden Gnomes prepare to defend their garden against invading Wood Gnomes. |
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The inspiration for this wargame. |
This last week I have played four games using Battles of Medieval Britain (1 win- 3 losses). I have played the first two scenarios twice. While my continued lack of success (I blame poor dice rolls)was frustrating, it's been good getting some kind of wargames in. I also took the time to rebase some Peter Laing figures to use on the board. I am even thinking of rebasing more of my Peter Laing Medievals to use with later period games.
I also bought Mike Lambos' Ghosts of the Jungle and wanted to try a game. As I don't have any 15mm Vietnam War figures, I rebased some Peter Pig modern African War figures. I did finally get a game in. I do believe that I made several mistakes in the game. Somehow I was continually interrupted reading the rules. I figured the rules are simple enough that I could just play through. However, I found myself trying to find how certain rules work. Still, it was an enjoyable game. This particular game doesn't have a limited number of moves; after all you are on a stealth mission where you are trying to accomplish your mission without being detected.
The end of the game. My dice rolls continued to work against the team. The random dice rolls continued to work in the enemy's favor, and they continued to close in on the team. In this game every time the team shoots, it activates more enemy reinforcements. Also, you must roll a 4 to "hide" a team member. My team rolled very few 4s. At this point Trooper Baker decided to backtrack to aid his comrades. Baker had already taken one hit on this mission. Baker killed one of the blocking force. The rest of the team was getting ready to attack. Only Sgt. Allen hadn't been wounded. However, Trooper Baker was in the open. Two enemy soldiers on the road spot him and open fire. Trooper Baker is killed; the mission is a failure.
At the end of the turn, each AI soldier gets to roll. They can move, fire or Hunt if they roll doubles. Both the managed to roll hits, that killed Baker.
In my last post about these rules, I mentioned that each unit gets to roll a certain number of dice and can use as many of the dice rolls to activate that unit. I have never used this in a game before. I really liked this system, although it can prove frustrating in a game.
In my first game there was a particular roll that showed how this system can be used. For dice rolls in this scenario if you roll a 1 the unit can form a Shieldwall. Roll a 2,3, or 4 and the unit can move. Roll a 5 or 6 and you can attack. I will show one units' move below just to show how clever this system can be.
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The first scenario in the book: The Battle of Brunanburh. This is after I moved my first units. As can be seen, the defenders (on top) have a gap in their line. I decided to make for that gap. |
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One of my units destroy one of the defending units. My other units weren't getting good movement rolls. |
A little over a month ago I purchased an old metal toy soldier mold. It was a three figure mold of Prussian SYW fusiliers. I have never seen this mold, but the figures were quite handsome. I placed a bid, which was successful. Unfortunately, the day it was delivered I had come down with a bad cold, which in turn became bronchitis. What's more, I became so dehydrated that my gout flared up in both my legs, leaving me barely able to walk for 3 weeks. However, the miracle of modern medicine got me back on my feet and back to work.
My poor wife, after being my personal nurse for four weeks, was invited to a birthday party, with the added bonus that she got to get away from her problem patient. I decided to try the mold out.
I was surprised that I got some useful figures, as the metal in the pot was low and tends to be contaminated at the end. The figures themself seem to be about 45mm tall. If they could be molded properly they would be great figures. For me, the mold was bought a a whim and how much use it will get is anyone's guess.
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The mold |
The completed casting. I had a 50% success rate; although the the bayonets didn't come out and the pigtails broke off (due to my clumsy handling). |
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One of the casting compared to a Prince August 40mm grenadier. I measured the fusilier using a ruler, and it came out to roughly 45mm to where the top of his head would be. |
Actually, this is not the first wargame, but the first wargame worth reporting on. I fought another one using my chessboard; however, it was the same predictable game. I wanted to do something different that was less predictable.
My first plan was to play a scenario from Stuart Asquith's Guide to Solo Gaming. I did end up using Chris Salander's H&M 2.0, except that instead of using the chessboard I would use a measuring stick. Instead of moving based on number of squares, I would roll 4 6D dice to decide how many figures were to move. I also wanted to try the game on a new portable table, which has a small top.
The Blue Army is on the left, the Grey Army on the right. |
The grey army reaches the ruins first. The ruins are occupied by a blast from the past, Barnaby of the Rifles. He led forward 4 of his riflemen to accomplish his mission. |