Combat Cards Week 5, 7/27/11

Week 5 down, and only one more to go!

Two more furious games were played.  Jeff and I played in what turned out to be a hard fought, yet uneventful game.  The combat was tight, and there was a near constant barrage of artillery, mortar, bombs, cannons and small arms fire, but both sides were able to hang in for a long time!

Not much for pictures.  We were just too busy trying to pound each other into the dirt!

Dan and Todd face off on the Russian countryside.

A small village. 

Sorry for not getting more pictures of this game.  It was over and done with before I knew what was going on.

A French village and farm.  The village center of the table is quite dense with buildings and bocage. 

The same table from the other side.  Fighting was heaviest around the farm on the opposite side of the table.

The eternal battle.  With a Tiger I, 2 StuG III's and an infantry unit nearby, it still took me many, many rounds to destroy the Sherman 76.  And Jeff dispatched my Tiger immediately after, nulifying my efforts.

A German mortar team is harassed by American infiltrators.  This one eventually became a mutual destruction.

Unfortunately that's it!  I will try to get more pictures for next week's finale. 

Dan was victorious over Todd, and Jeff rallied at the end to destroy me. 

Combat Cards Week 4, 7/20/11

We were town two players this week, but it didn't matter.  The four that did play were in games so engaging and brutal it was more than enough!

Jeff and Todd faced each other again.  This time the game was very quick and deadly, with Jeff scoring a win.

The table.  A small village surrounded by hills and woods.

Armor clash!  An M10 and a Sherman take cover in woods while German Panzers push the offensive.

German infantry and put "Out of Action" while moving towards a mysterious wreck.

Unfortunately these were the only shots I was able to get before the game ended.  Jeff won the day today!

For the first time I faced off against Dan, the current league leader, my boss, AND the creator of the game.  No pressure here! :)  Our table was a farm bordering a wood.

Russians hunker down in the farm yard. 

A look to the south from the farm.  Germans have entrenched themselves in one of the orchards, with Russians occupying the other. 

Late game carnage.  Both German and Russian forces have taken heavy damage from the fighting around the farm. 

The Tiger approaches a T34 it destroyed earlier.  Or is it destroyed?  The greenery around it is ablaze, but the tank seems to be OK!  The Tiger crew is Confused! (Don't worry, the T34 really was Eliminated.)

A StuG III burns brilliantly while Russian Infiltrators survey a hill.

No unit escaped the fury!  Three of five aircraft were destroyed in a vicious dog fight. 

In the end I was able to squeak out a narrow victory.  Regarless of who won or lost, fun was had by all!

Combat Cards Week 3, 7/13/11

And another week of play is behind us.  Only two games this week as one player didn't show up and forced the other player into a bye.  They were both fun games though, and despite the outcomes I think everyone had a good time.

I remembered to use my fire markers this time to make some shots more interesting.

Here's a look at the table Jeff and Dan played on.  Dan's bomber passes over with a fighter escort.

Todd and I squared off for another game.  Against my better judgement, I went light on the buildings today.

Our table from the other end.

Todd's Americans receive a heavy shelling while moving through the bocage.  One of my infantry units tries to sneak up on the Sherman.

German amor and mortar team taking cover in the woods.

U.S. infantry and a mortar team wait for tank support...

...While German infantry moves around their own minefield and into a defensive position.

Only a few miles way (Ok, actually a few feet on another table) Jeff's Sherman 76 takes up position in a farmstead.

Both Dan's Panzers and Jeff's Ronsons :) getting cozy in the woods.

KA- BLAAAAAAAM!!! 

My Tiger scores a direct hit on Todd's M4, sending it up in flames.

My squad of infantry finally assault another one of Todd's Shermans, just to destroy themselves in the process.

Behmoth's pound on each other on Dan and Jeff's table.

Jeff's mortar team is down, but not out! 

(Well, they are Out of Action.  Which is technically "out" I suppose.  You know what I mean.)

The games were a good time as always.  I would like to thank Todd especially.  It simply wasn't his night for gaming, but he was still a very good sport about it!

Winners this week were Dan and myself.

Combat Cards League, Week 2, 7/5/11

Another week of league play has come and gone, with 3 more great games played.  I did manage to grab a few shots of the other games being played this week.

My table.  I had the pleasure of facing off against Jeff in this dense village setup.

A shot of the table from the other side.  Jeff's Flames of War wrecked vehicles were very distracting.  Throughout the game I kept confusing them as Jeff's units!

The only real action shot of the game.  American infiltrators snuck up on my Tiger and blew it straight to hell.  The Americans suffer no lasting effects.

 A look at the village mid- game.  The units are few, and the table is big, so it looks quiet.  My StuG is advancing along the road along the right side, trying to get a better angle on the Sherman 76 and mortar team.  Minefields block off- road access to the other half of the table.

A look at Dan and John's game.  Soviets battle it out with those pesky Germans!  

A Soviet T-34/85 uses the woods and smoke cover to sneak up on a German Elefant.

 Soviet armor watching for the German advance.  Infantry tangle with German armor at the top of the picture.

Todd and Mike face off with Germans and Russians. 

Russian infantry hide behind a tank, in the smoke and woods.  Why?

Because there's a confused German command in the open!!! :)

German forces move in to dislodge Soviet infantry from the farmhouse.

Jeff, John and Mike pulled down victories today; all of them close, well played, and fun!  If you're not playing you are really missing out.

Never heard of Combat Cards?  Check out their website: http://www.tacticalassaultgames.com/

Easy Roads

For some time I've been trying to come up with a simple, easy and cheap method for creating roads for my games.  I wanted them to be flexible to conform to terrain, as well as be easy to transport.

A friend of mine had come up with a great idea using some offcut rubber strip he got from a customer a long time ago.  I wanted to have roads like these, but the material he used was not readily available.

I finally figured out a good way to do what I like to call "Dan roads".

The roads are made from Con- Tact Premium Grip Liner.  I picked this up at the local DIY store.  I would imagine this could be found pretty much anywhere.  It is a textured, rubber mat about 1/8" thick and comes in a 4' roll.  The roll is 18" wide.

I simply slid back the outer wrapper to expose as much liner as I needed for the width of my road and started slicing through with a sharp utility knife.  I then learned there is a cardboard spool in the center, and a layer of clear plastic as well.  The spool slid out easy enough, and cutting continued. 

I measured the width of my roads based on the size of a 15mm infantry base.  I also didn't use a straight edge, so the road edge came out uneven.  For me this is OK because it will look more like a dirt road.  For city streets I would use more care to make sure the edge was true.

Once cutting was done I unrolled the pieces and gave them a generous coat of dark brown acrylic paint.  I then hung them to dry.  The pictures shows them drying.  I painted them one half at a time for ease of handling.  It is a rubber material, so the paint didn't cover that well.  I used cheap craft paint, so I was not worried about using too much and slathered it on.

A light brown/ tan was then streaked and drybrushed over the brown.  The liner has just enough texture to pick up from some drybrushing, which looks OK for a dirt road in 6- 15mm, and would look pretty good for asphalt in larger scales.  A bit of off white was then lightly drybrushed  onto the roads, and they were finished.

Here are a few shots of the finished roads in use. 

The roads are stored rolled up.  The end in the center of the roll curls very hard, causing it to bow up from the table.  I think alternating the direction the roads are rolled up will help them lay flat in the future.

 A detail shot of the road.

Overall I like the way they turned out.  There is a good cost/ time/ detail ratio with these roads.  I'm just curious now as to how well the paint will hold up to the rigors of gaming.