592 - Smashing Bolt Action Game Vs Russians

Hullo, All!

Work's been busy recently (hell - I've still got an entire bloomin' tournament to update you with!) but I've an easy day tomorrow, Robot Wars is on iplayer, and not too much washing-up to do...so here, with no energy for the details, are some very pretty pics from a recent meet-up game against a lovely chap in my home town, Portsmouth.

Venue: Fistful of Dice, Southsea, Portmouth.
Forces: Sam, with his gorgeous and characterful Late-War Russians, versus my 11th Armoured Division, 4 KSLI
Points: 750
Mission: Hold Until Relieved (ugh!)
Attacker: Russians
Result: a marvellously fought draw! :)

Sam was an absolute gent to play against, and the venue was ace!

Anyway - no more words; just prettiness!

Cheers,


- Drax

591 - Sorting Stuff Out (3) Flames of War!

Hullo All,

Time for another blast from the past...and the future! In this case, back to Flames of War, for a farewell re-familiarisation before the launch of Fourth Edition!

The rather splendid and entirely patient 'CM' hosted me at DarkStar in Plymouth for a Late-War 1515pt game. I took these fellows:

[Well, that's most of them!]

...and CM had some Fallschirmjager. Very similar forces, in fact, but I was rather wary of her Nebelwerfen and trio of StuGs. 

My right flank - 4,2" Mortars, 3Pl,
Carrier Patrol and Shermans

My centre - 25pdr Battery and 6pdrs

My left - 1Pl, 2Pl, 3" Mortars,
Shermans and (at the top) my S-P Bofors.
The Bofors, by the way, were SUPERB!

We played 'Meeting Engagement' by virtue of it being the most straightforward mission, but we still only got (I think) four whole turns.


The light had broken above our table, so it was pretty gloomy (and hard to discern one 15mm unit from another at times) but still, CM's table (she made the cloth herself!) really helped to make it all look very pretty. One forgets just how cool our toys can look at 15mm!

A blurry shot of the gloomy table; maybe
taken from my Auster AOP! Gorgeous table.

The verdict?

- Well, bring on 4th Edition. I'd forgotten just how frustratingly ponderous and turgid Flames of War (3rd) can be - doubly so when you're three-and-a-half-years rusty. I really, honestly struggled to enjoy it, despite CM's best efforts and the fact that - technically - I 'won'. 

My two Shermans and a Firefly finish off the
scary StuGs (top; overturned)...

...And then turned and blatted the two 8-Rads to smithereens too.

Version 4, however, genuinely looks like a far slicker operation, and I'm looking forward to both securing my free new rulebooks (who doesn't love Battlefront's awesome approach to customer service, eh?!) and giving it a whirl.  

...and then, at some point, there's always the Battlegroup rules set at 15mm too, of course!

- Drax.