Monthly Archives: September 2016

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 2 Part 3

Airboy’s extended AAR across the Pacific rolls on ~

Avery Abernethy, 12 September 2016

click images to enlarge

My primary objective is protecting the Henderson Field airstrip. The four secondary objectives are: raid Tenaru; raid Matanikau; destroy 5 Japanese aircraft and protect both construction groups.

Last time, I was breaking out from my perimeter and taking the fight to the Japanese, until the air battle ramped up

Turn 26 and trying to take the center

Turn 26 and trying to take the center

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 2 Part 2

Airboy’s extended AAR across the Pacific rolls on ~

Avery Abernethy, 11 September 2016

click images to enlarge

My primary objective is protecting the Henderson Field airstrip. The four secondary objectives are: raid Tenaru; raid Matanikau; destroy 5 Japanese aircraft and protect both construction groups.

Last episode, I had counter-attacked in the North along the coast with a coordinated attack towards the center of the Island after taking Tenaru. The Japanese received even more reinforcements. One Japanese column almost got to Henderson Field.

Turn 14 Marines advancing towards Tenaru

Turn 14 Marines advancing towards Tenaru

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 2 Part 1

Airboy’s extended AAR across the Pacific rolls on ~

Avery Abernethy, 10 September 2016

click images to enlarge

My primary objective is protecting the Henderson Field airstrip. The four secondary objectives are: raid Tenaru; raid Matanikau; destroy 5 Japanese aircraft and protect both construction groups. The construction groups are one bulldozer unit close to Henderson Field and one Seabees unit in the North coastal area. Both are weak and immobile.

There is a lot of ground to defend and holding the airfield is critical. Initially I have only one fighter unit. I attached truck or half-tracks to most of the Marine infantry. My initial forces had one Lee tank.

Primary and secondary objectives

Primary and secondary objectives

 

Car Wars – A Trip Down The Memory Fast Lane, Part 1

The first of a series, Michael looks back at the wasted years of burning rubber through the blacktop battlefields of yesterday ~

Michael Eckenfels, 09 September 2016

CAR WARS: A MEGA-ARTICLE RETRO LOOK

 Back in 1983 or so, when I was transitioning from middle school to high school, hobby stores were a refuge of mine. Mostly I, as well as some of my friends, were into role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. I still remember the modules at this store costing six dollars, which at the time was of course a princely sum for a 13-14 year old. (My first job in 1986 paid minimum wage, which I think was $3.25 an hour.) I’d be lucky to get five dollars from my cash-strapped parents, and having to save that money was a chore of epic proportions, because this was, of course, the heyday of the arcades.

Arcade games like Dig-Dug, Tron, Jungle Hunt, Zaxxon, Joust, and Burger Time hypnotized many a kid into pouring quarters into them, and I was one of the zombies. Saving money was never my strong suit, but when I found something I wanted in the hobby store, I’d save up religiously for it. Car Wars was one of those games.

Modern-Day Napoleonic Battles & Travels, Part the First

Cyrano delves deep into the world of Napoleonic battlefields in preparation for an eventual visit, and more ~

Jim Owczarski, 08 September 2016

Most images click to enlarge

People are incessantly telling me I’m missing the point.  (ed note – he frequently is, but usually about other things)

They wonder how someone can visit Paris and prefer the Army Museum to the Louvre — pace those areas given over to David — or would rather spend time crawling over an Old Vineyard in Bohemia rather than sitting in a coffee house in Vienna two hours to the south.

They even have a word for what I love to do, viz., “dark tourism”.  I suspect it’s not intended as a compliment.

But I, and I am assuredly not alone, am obsessed with Napoleonic battlefields.  I read about them, watch movies about them, play as many games about them as I can lay my hands on, and, far less frequently than I would like, visit them.  I’ve been to Waterloo twice, Austerlitz once, and, having spent this Summer taking my son to middle-American water parks, am determined that next Summer will bring a visit to Jena-Austerstadt.  The management has asked me to share my own journey to Jena as well as talk about those conflict simulations that take up the campaign and its battles.