Eli's annual D-Day game

So every year Eli puts on a D-Day game. He and Fred built the terrain and forces years ago. Fred, a stalwart of the gaming community, is no longer with us but this game always keeps his memory alive.
We miss you Fred, you set some pretty high standards!

This year it was Eli, Pat and Guy hitting the beaches while Steven, Charlie and I tried to hold firm.
The scenario is an older FOW one and we used most of the rules from v4. The game lasted some
4 hours with an American tactical victory, taking 3 of the 4 objectives. Thanks again Eli!

   

Mini Monday: The Big Table

Mini Monday: The Big Table

When Discover Games was being set up, Eli and I were asked if we would like a permanent big table. "Oh Yeah!" was our reply, "A 5x16 foot table would be great!" As things turned out that 5x16 foot table soon became a 5x20 and finaly before the store opened it was increased to a 5x24! Think about it guys and gals, 5 feet x 24 feet of continous table to run a Big Big Big Game! So in the year since the store has opened we've run many games on the big table, with the biggest being 5 x 16 feet.

16foot Fantasy Siege

Well this past week Eli put on a Tankgiving game at Discover games. A 15mm Flames of War WWII game with over 300 tanks and terrain that stretched 20 feet! Eleven gamers took part. So a big shout out to Eli!

Start of game, many reserves to enter later

End of game. Soviet win

Now Eli spent at least 5 hours setting up the game and probably another 5 organizing the forces and preparing lists for each one. He has also been collecting forces, table sheets and terrain for years. So as we can see it took no small effort to put on this 20 foot show. But then Eli is, as Stelios once put it, a Master Gamer.

But now as the New Year approaches, thought turns to finally conquering the Big Table. What extravaganza will finally reach the goal of 24 feet?
Yes, Eli and I, as Troy likes to put it  suffer from the go big or go home disease, and no amout of skirmish games will ever cure it.
Mind you it takes a lot of terrain to cover that much space. And mind you I'm always talking about nice terrain and painted minis. No WOW factor in hodge podge terrain and unpainted minis.
Well here are some potential games under serious consideration, from most likely to still in the daydream stage.

Operation Market Garden FOW 15mm, really just a matter of when everyone can make it.
(Remember, one of the biggest obstacles to big group games is finding a perfect date that everyone can make, especially the players with the key forces)

Martian Empires: 15mm Colonial Battle for Mars, just a question of when everyone can make it. Terrain is ready.

Operation Kharkov, Konflict 47/DUST game in 28mm where the Germans must break out a besieged force. Over 30 Mechs and tanks.
(Urban parts being finished up)

The Thirty Years War, 28mm using Pikeman's Lament, with Pike and Shotte games hitting a bi monthly phase next year it should not be much of an effort by late summer to put on a huge game. More terrain, yes Glen more terrain, is still being planned. 

Battle of the Saragossa Sea, 28mm Pirate game, various factions will battle on sea and land to capture the great treasure. (Ships and Islands under construction)

1917-18 The Western Front, 15mm WW1 with Flames of War in 15mm, Kurt has something in mind, and he's talking big! So I'll leave this spot for him because if anyone can build that much terrain it'll be Kurt Braunsroth.

Quest for the Holy City, Lion Rampant 28mm, Crusaders fight along the coastline capturing towns as they seek out the Holy City itself. Played down the 24ft side.
(Terrain and figures still under construction)

Our growing FoW group.

So Eli suckered me into Flames of War a few years back with Arab Israeli War, then it was Team Yankee and now WWII. We usually play about 2-3 times a month and mostly WWII. Lately our games have been growing as more people show up to play our weekly or biweekly game. Today I ran a quick 200 point desert battle for 4 guys still getting their feet wet. It was a blast! Our FoW group really has some of the easiest going players in the store. And now we're up to potentially 10 players for Eli's big Kursk game in a month or two. Just some pics of todays game.

Flames of War v.4 North Africa

3 rd game of the new rules, 211 points per side. Roy brings his newly painted Germans to join Eli's. My Brits on the attack.

First of the Soviet Tanks for Team Yankee

New project for 2016, Team Yankee. My Sweet wife, Sabrina bought me the Team Yankee Soviet starter box. But I also bought some Zvezda tanks at Treefort.

Zvezda T-72s with reactive armor trimmed off

Battlefront T-72 with Zvezda M1 and T-72 for comparison

First game of 15mm Arab Israeli "Fate of a Nation"

Some last year a few of us at Treefort games decided that we would raise some forces for Battlefront's newest Fate of a Nation supplement for the Arab Israeli Six Day War. It took a few months but Eli finished his Jordanians and then taunted me till at long last my Israelis were complete. So this Sunday after months of planning and painting, we finally got a chance play. And let me tell you it was a great game! Eli's Jordanians were defending a few key villages awaiting reinforcements while my Israeli force attacked down the long side of the Table. The Jordanians had selected their slow moving Centurions to hold the line with some artillery while the Pattons and infantry in M113's raced to shore up the line. My Sho'ts took up a postion overlooking the town and preceded to lay fire while my infantry, supported my Super Shermans and AMX-13s moved to take the first town and objective. The Israeli infantry and AMX-13s took up positions in the town, and started to harass the Centurions, which were slowly getting the worse of it in the exchange with the Sho'ts, while the Shermans tried to flank the Centurions. Unfortunately Super Shermans are no match for Patton tanks. And there were a lot of Jordanian Pattons! Or so it seemed to to the Sherman tankers. Only a great deal of luck allowed them to last as long as they did. Meanwhile my air support and mortars were dueling it out with the a huge Jordanian battery and targeting Eli's infantry which had just arrived. This was one tough game! The crack Sho't were tearing up everything, but the Pattons were almost impervious to the Shermans, air support and the AMXs! Ah, the AMX-13s, they were my little joys, operating in and out of the town, fire and run then fire again. They were soooooo lucky, taking out a few Centurions and even a Patton on the flank! Supported by some tough infantry with a few bazookas, who managed to flank and toast another Patton. Well eventually the 2 surviving Sho'ts managed to finish off the Pattons, which made the Jordanians check morae, before Eli could kill another tank and make me check company morale. Thanks goodness Eli failed, the second time that is, the Jordanians fought on another turn after there commanding officer high tailed it to the rear! I never even got near the second town. We both agreed that the game had been close run thing, which is probably why it was sooo much fun! In fact we had gotten into the game to the point that we had forgotten to take photos! But good ole Charlie was there taking pics of the Sunday games. So here are a few.

No shooting my AMX-13s!

Setup, some of that terrain my look familiar!

Israeli advance

Six Day War the Israeli are done!

Had yet to build a force of my own for Flames of War, but when I saw the Arab-Israeli supplement for FoW
I was hooked. Just finished up my infantry last night. Most of the armor is from Battle Honours and the infantry form Battlefront.

Infantry

 

Sho't Tanks

M113 Mortar