What's on your table right now?

[MengJiao]

  Hoplites on the floor, but on the table above them, maybe some SBDs intercepting Mavises or something.  (Bomb vs Bomber should make the Fighting Wings rules simpler, maybe).

For a bomber the SBD Dauntless had some serious take-down power with 2x50-cal over the engine and twin 30's on a flex mount in the back. It was probably the most maneuverable and heavily armed single engine purpose-built bomber of WW2. IIRC, the Dauntless shot down more enemy planes that it itself suffered in combat losses. One SBD pilot shot down two Zeros and rammed a third, destroying it, all during the same dogfight. Still, the Mavis was festooned with defensive armament of its own, including a 20mm cannon, so it could be an interesting fight.

3 Zeros might be hard to simulate, but  I think I can get a Mavis flying along.  And once that works, add an SBD.

  So I got the Mavis flying.  These flying boats tended to get spotted down low when an SBD did the attack.  Wildcat interceptions tended to be higher since in those cases usually the Mavis had been detected by carrier air search radar (even in 1942!).

Anyway, the SBDs can catch the Mavises eventually, even though at some altitudes the MAvis can outclimb the SBD.

So out of 5 attacks I ran in the Fighting Wings system (Wildcat from Whistling Death, Mavis from Spitfires over Darwin), the SBD had to break off from hits from the 20mm tail gun 4 out of 5 times.  In the real world 4 out of 5 times the SBD shot down the Mavis.  So either I'm doing something wrong or the SBD pilots were quite good or something else. (eg, Mavis gunners not that good etc.)

I guess I'll try two Wildcats versus 1 Mavis -- that always seems to have turned out badly for the Mavis in reality.

[Nefaro]

  So I got the Mavis flying.  These flying boats tended to get spotted down low when an SBD did the attack.  Wildcat interceptions tended to be higher since in those cases usually the Mavis had been detected by carrier air search radar (even in 1942!).

Anyway, the SBDs can catch the Mavises eventually, even though at some altitudes the MAvis can outclimb the SBD.

So out of 5 attacks I ran in the Fighting Wings system (Wildcat from Whistling Death, Mavis from Spitfires over Darwin), the SBD had to break off from hits from the 20mm tail gun 4 out of 5 times.  In the real world 4 out of 5 times the SBD shot down the Mavis.  So either I'm doing something wrong or the SBD pilots were quite good or something else. (eg, Mavis gunners not that good etc.)

I guess I'll try two Wildcats versus 1 Mavis -- that always seems to have turned out badly for the Mavis in reality.

Related..

I saw copies of both Achtung Spitfire and Over The Reich on eBay yesterday.  They don't seem to be resold as often as many other out-of-print games.  I suppose that goes for all the Clash Of Arms games.

I managed to pick mine up from Noble Knight last year.

[Arctic Blast]

Duel of Ages II, just messing around a bit with the content the Master Set added. Sweet merciful crap is this a fantastic game.  :D

[Cyrano]

Brant's the one that pointed out that Risk: Battlefield Rogue was on sooper sale at Target.

It is therefore his fault that i went out, bought it, and now have three games in.

Shockingly not horrible.

All it really owes to Risk is area movement/combat and the three dice - two dice combat mechanic.  I like the way the classes are borrowed from the video game and my six-year-old has declared it good enough to merit a replay, so it can't be all bad.

Prepare, however, for a fair amount of home-ruling as the rules, for all their simplicity, are a bit of a tangle with big holes in it.

Best,

JIm
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[bayonetbrant]

Sure blame me! Next week, unboxing crystal meth!

[GJK]

Played some Blood Bowl on a new custom pitch that I made (more pics later):



And also played some Force on Force over the weekend:

[bayonetbrant]

Congo Merc tonight around grading papers

[Tinkershuffle]

The situation is starting to heat up around Nijmegen...



...and also on the outskirts of Arnhem.

[GJK]

Simply one of the best looking wargame maps ever printed.

[MengJiao]

Simply one of the best looking wargame maps ever printed.

  Yep.  Those are fantastic games.  I have the other two (Where Eagles Dare and No Question of Surrender).

[GJK]

The counters aren't clipped though... :P

[Tinkershuffle]

The counters aren't clipped though... :P

Nope, at our pace the game wouldn't have ever got going if that was a requirement..:)

[GJK]

The counters aren't clipped though... :P

Nope, at our pace the game wouldn't have ever got going if that was a requirement.. :)

You could clip as you play and make it a 6-month affair!!  ??? :D

[Barthheart]

Don't do it! Leave the poor defenceless counters in all their natural fuzziness.
Help stop the madness! 

[Ubercat]

At WBC 2013, a group of guys had Where Eagles Dare and The Devils Cauldron set up together and were playing all week. Anyone could walk up, get a quick rules primer, and carry out a random formation activation. They were probably a little over half done with the game at weeks end. The games were on a custom made table that had a bend in the middle to accommodate the shape and size of the combined maps. It was about 20 feet long.

I bought a copy of Where Eagles Dare from the MMP booth for $116 and still have it in shrinkwrap.