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.

Combat Cards League, Week 1

The Tactical Assault: Combat Cards league at Village Games in Anoka, MN officially kicked off on Tuesday.  7 players showed up and three games were played.  I would have liked to get some shots of the other games, but I got too engrossed in my own game.  I took very few meaningful pictures of my own!

I had the pleasure of playing Todd in a German training exercise (we were both running German armies.)

A shot of the table before deployment.  Each building counted as a covering template, with medium elevation if a unit was above the 1st floor.

Units Deployed.  My Germans took positions in town, and to the south and east of town.  Todd split his forces, approaching from the northeast and west sides.

My Stug III takes a position in the woods on the east side.  Todd had a Pz IV there a minute ago...

Two of my machine guns teams watch over the village.  Todd's Panzer tucks in behind a building to harass the MG's while avoiding the Tiger I on the south side of the table.

A view from the smoke.  After shrouding my Tiger in smoke, two more of Todd's armored units maneuver into position to destroy it as soon as the smoke clears.

Todd's units taking cover on the west side of the table.

One of my infiltrators standing in the open.  They had just eliminated another Panzer IV.

Todd moves a StuG III to assault the Tiger I.  These two units spent much of the last portion of the game confused.

My StuG III's begin pushing toward the west side of the map to support the beleaguered Tiger I.

Unable to clear the confusion on his StuG III, Todd braces for an assault from the Tiger I.  Do not fear; it survived the attack and almost caused the Tiger to flee the tabletop!

This was a great game that could have gone either way.  At the end I was ahead by 11 points, giving me only a marginal victory. 

More action to come next week!

Combat Cards 6/22/11

Tuesday we played a practice game of Tactical Assault: Combat Cards in anticipation for the league beginning 7/28/2011. 

I played Dan in a WWII Russians vs. Germans battle.  We each had 48 points to build our armies, and we played on a 4' x 6' table.  Very Long was 48" and the towns were treated as Covering Template terrain.

The battlefield.  At the crossroads is a small village.  Surrounding are fields and some stands of trees.

The church and fountain were considered impassible blocking terrain as both sides had too much reverence for these structures to attack them.

A shot of the table from the west end.  The Germans are taking up positions surrounding the city from the west to the south to the south east.  Russians are coming in from the north to northeast, and already occupy the city.

Russian armor rolls into town while a German MG 42 watches.

Aerial recon of the village.  Two German machine gun teams are on the move.

A Russian T-34/ 85 waits...

German Infiltrators pounce on Russian armor.  The fighting is furious, but the armor is victorious.

German infantry sneak up on a T-34.

Russian infiltrators suprise a German mortar team, but are chased off by another unit of German infiltrators.

Dogfight!  Sturmovics and Stukas mix it up.  One Stuka goes down in a fiery explosion.

A late game shot of the table.  The Germans push towards the center of town, their losses slowly building.  The Russians dig in, determined to stop the enemy.

The table from the east side.  A Tiger I has managed to flank a T-34.

A T-34/ 76 pounds away at a German mortar.

Surrounded!  The crew of this Russian 85 fight valiantly against the vicious German assault.  Their efforts are not in vain, as they survive the day!

A fun game, and a much needed re- orientation to the cards for me.  I'm really looking forward to the league!