Monday, November 14, 2011

FOW Game and a couple wall pictures

"KAAA.... BOOM....BOOM"
Hanz  felt the concussion of the the two Pak 40's firing almost simultaneously but as a veteran of nearly constant action over several years he was used to it and so kept his binoculars trained on the advancing  British Churchill's to check the effect of their fire .  A slow smile turned his normally stern lips into a upward turn as he saw two Churchill's explode in a fountain of burning lead and smoke.  This caused the remaining tank to go in reverse and leave the field which Franz noticed seemed to be what the British were doing across the entire visible sector.  He knew they would be back, but for today they held their position and that was good enough for him.
He could remember the glory days of when he actually was a Jäger jumping out of planes and doing the job of a Fallschirmjäger, but those days were long gone which found him replacing his chute for a spade. Now his only concern was keeping himself and his men alive and for today at least it was by and large a success.
"Ok good work gentlemen now clean the barrels, set a watch and get some food inside you and what rest you can as the English will come knocking  again tomorrow."
With that he lit a cigarette and wearily set his back to a tree and began writing his AAR. 

 I invited a couple friends over to my house for a FOW game to have a game and show off my new room.
We played 4000pts using the Fortress Europe lists with Mixer playing A British Rifle company vs Scnugg(Panzergrenadiers) and myself Fallschirmjäger.
I won't give a blow by blow account, but rather a brief report of the battle.
Things started well for the British when virtually 2 platoons of Schnugg's stugs and 2 platoon's of infantry were shredded in a aggressive attempt to pressure the British. After this the Germans pulled back and started an air and artillery duel where they began inflicting some casualties.
The British decided to take the initiative and go on the offensive and this is were things started to really go wrong for them as the Germans were weakened , but far from out of it. A combination of  artillery, MG fire, anti-tank, a small Tiger offensive combined with infantry stopped the Brits cold and eventually broke their army.
In fairness to Mixer he could have sat back with his Brits and probably stood a far better chance to win, but since this was a friendly game he kept the game fun and went on the counter offence. It didn't help him much that he rolled pretty darn abysmal while doing it and we as a whole rolled quite good for the second half which all coupled altogether spelled doom for the Brits.
I had a great time playing and really enjoyed the company and hope to have them back soon.
Here are few quick pics of the game.  The pics didn't turn out all that well as I need to polish my in game photography skills, but hopefully it gives you somewhat of an impression of our game.


I used a cloth blanket that is spray painted to get ground color texture. I still need to work it up some more, but I'm happy in the direction it's going.  I vastly prefer cloth to any other playing surface as you can place hills underneath to give more subtle changes to the elevation and it's kind to models plus easy to manipulate. I also use sand for roads as it looks more natural in both in color and how it lays out on the board compared to modelled ones in my opinion. The hedges and fields are still raw and need some color foliage added to give better depth which is on my to do list along with some buildings and such. I also plan to base some of my trees in groups and leave others as singles. No doubt plenty of work yet to do on my terrain, but it's progressing as I see more what needs improving.
Here a couple pics I added to my walls of which Troini's 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg takes pride of place as I like the pic a great deal and it's my home state.

Thanks for viewing!

17 comments :

  1. Got to love Troiani's artwork. Where did you get the prints from?

    I've found them yet to be available from the US only, but unfortunately postage and the risk of additional tax seems prohibitive.

    Cheers
    SG

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  2. Hi SG,

    I can't remember the company I got them from as it took some time to arrive, but I got a very nice price. However, it did come from the US. I'll look around and see if I can find the company and PM you it if I can.

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  3. Great looking game and nice gaming room. Every gamer needs his man cave!

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  4. You have a great looking table, christopher...love the pictures.

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  5. That setup looks like so much fun! I wish there was somewhere around here like that.

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  6. Lovely work Chris. How did your FJ go?

    Cheers,

    Helen

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  7. Thanks guys for the comments.

    @Helen
    It went well for my FJ's , but like all elite troops they are good at what they do,however are expensive therefore few in number which forces one to be careful how you use them.

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  8. Lovely table set up and batrep, real nice set up.

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  9. Thanks Chris. Sounds great what you have achieved.

    Cheers,

    Helen

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  10. Great busy looking table and a great looking games room too, your a lucky guy!!!

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  11. The game looks great, My nephew is painting his way through a few 15mm FOW armies at the moment. I still can't break with my 1/72 scale (20mm) stuff.

    Wanted to ask you about where you got the ACW pictures?

    Own my bro and as he is ACW daft I thought I may pick him 1 up.
    Cheers
    Paul

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  12. Great looking table and the Troiani prints are very cool!
    Cheers
    Jan

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  13. Thanks guys!:-)

    If I remember and/or can find the company I got the pics from I'll send it to both you and SG.

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  14. Fine looking table you got there. Great pictures!

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  15. Great looking artwork...I need something for the AWI.

    Not a FOW player as I use Rapid Fire but the WWII looks good.

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  16. Those are awesome. I am inspired!

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