Rolling up the Stick (DH's AAR)

Last Saturday a friend and myself played a game of Disposable Heroes.I must apologize for the bad pictures and not having more close ups which is my fault. Of course I also forgot to take more pictures after the game got started which is again my fault. Also, as you can see we need to work on our terrain some more as the road we have just isn't up to snuff and our buildings just to generic.
He played an elite German Grenadier platoon composed roughly of:

HQ
2 full rifle squads
Sdkfz 222
Mortar squad

vs my elite US Para platoon:

HQ
extra Machine gun team
2 full rifle squads

The scenario we played was titled "rolling up the stick" which is para drop scenario somewhere in Normandy. The scenario starts with the para's landing their team sections through a dice attempt for on target. Then the Germans enter on 3 board edges. The goal of the game is for the paras to reach a rally point and survive 6 turns, the Germans attempt to block this by capturing the rally point or wiping out the para's.
I won't describe each turn but give a few highlights.The para's managed to land 3 out 5 sections on target which was great, but after that things just went down hill for my valiant, but doomed para's as one of my sections landed off table causing half to be casualties. My bazooka never hit his sdkz 222 which in turn wiped out the depleted squad. I did manage to take out a few Germans, but more less my para's got shredded and pushed off the objective by the very determined Germans. Not a successful para drop in results, but no question a lot of fun in terms of a game!
My impression of Disposable is that it's easy to understand and flows very nice. We still need to work on the vehicle rules, but that shouldn't be to hard. I'm really looking forward to my next game and getting my para's back into action.

Some battlefield pics

One of my platoons that landed in a wheat field

My friend's Germans cowering...errr taking up position behind a wall that is

His German command moving to occupy the building

 Perfect landing

My para's holding the rally point..... temporarily

Airborne Command and Mortar Squad

Just finished my command and mortar squad a few days ago and now getting around to posting them. At this point I'm ahead of my friend on points and so I'll take a  break and paint some of my other back logged stuff while he catches up to me. We also managed to get a game in of Disposable Heroes. I'll post some pictures of that if the pics come out.
As always thank you for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Artizan Miniatures

Command

1st LT.(Platoon Leader)w/ Thomson, 2nd LT. w/ Thomson, Platoon Sergeant w/Greasegun, Radio man w/carbine

Platoon Guide w/M1 Gerand, Trooper w/M1 Gerand, Sniper w/scoped Rifle, Attached 30. cal MG Team

Mortar Squad

Sergeant w/Thomson and radio, Trooper w/M1 Gerand, Trooper w/M1 Gerand, Trooper w/M1 Gerand, M60 Mortar operator and assistant

M60 Mortar operator and assistant close ups

Who me....an award you say!

The award has these easy to follow rules:

1.Give a thank you and link back to the person giving you the award.
I've just been nominated for The Stylish blogger Award by the very kind Hein over at http://av-priest.blogspot.com/. Thank you very much Hein and please folks go visit his very nice blog!

2.Share seven things about yourself others may not know.
-I'm a total night owl as is my Mother, Father, Brother and Daughter.
-Pizza tops my list as the most tasty dish(wish my waist liked it as well!)
-I'm an absolute fan of epic Fantasy and in particular of George R. R. Martin and Steven Erikson's works.
-I'm a terrible speller(So bad my wife corrects it and she's German!),to add to my embarrassment my writing is so poor with forgetting things I've become an edit addict. :-0 I guess a slight case of dyslexia doesn't help either.
-My favourite mini series and book I might add is James Clavell's Shogun.
-My dream is to rent an RV and visit all the major Civil War battlefields in America.
-I watch a great deal of news on the TV.

3. Select 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award
In random order.

http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/-Stunning blend of history and modeling
http://minimike-ministories.blogspot.com/- Wonderful painting(really like the ACW)
http://saxondog.blogspot.com/-Awesome ECW among other things.
http://lonelygamers.blogspot.com/-A wealth of periods covered arrayed on great tables
http://geektactica.blogspot.com/-Superb Gothic/Horror adventure wargaming
http://olicanalad.blogspot.com/-Amazing amount of well painted mini's on each battlefield
http://warcabinet.blogspot.com/-Lovely boards with equally lovely mini's.
http://tankgirl666.blogspot.com/-Great WWII Japanese
http://paintingshed.blogspot.com/-Super AWI modeling
http://theleutnantsdiary.blogspot.com/-Great RCW and other things.
http://lead-mountain.blogspot.com/-More nice painting.
http://docphobossdiary.blogspot.com/-Super painting.
http://flintlockandtomahawk.blogspot.com/-Fantastic F&IW blog!
http://macpheesminiaturemen.blogspot.com/-Just a great ACW blog.
http://lairoftheubergeek.blogspot.com/-Great tables!

If you don't see your blog listed it's just that I ran out of room. I like all the blogs I follow and keep up to date on each and so please don't feel left out. Some of course are not listed as they already have several nominations!

4.Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award
I'll do my best to make contact.

Clash of Empires

Just got my copy yesterday. It arrived damaged which didn't please me, but I tried to set that aside in my observation.
Clash of Empires is a rule set designed for playing the Ancient Period right on up to late Medieval and is a successor game to Warhammer Ancient Battles. This has largely came about due to the poor support from FW/GW in handling WAB and the pages of Errata.
The book is a nice hardback with lots of useful diagrams and pictures. Easy to read and understand with a very nice summery at the back. Worth buying for sure.
However, to be fair when comparing the look and layout of this book to WAB2 here is my opinion:

Cover of the book- WAB2 looks better.
Pages-Grainy feel and somewhat cheap. WAB2 superior quality in this.
Art work- Again, vastly prefer the WAB artists and artwork
Photo's- Yet once again, WAB2 has superior photographs without any blurred images and dark pictures found in some picks in COE. Generally, the armies shown in WAB2 are better painted then in COE as well. Not to say there are not some really nicely painted mini's in COE which there are!
WAB2 is more expensive then COE, but this is justified by the higher quality.


As we know, looks are only a part of the package with the rules themselves the other.


Here is a quick observation of the rules themselves:


I Like:
-Basing similar to WAB2 makes easy transitions between the two games, however I wish they would have followed WAB2 exactly even if they say it's not important to avoid any confusion.
- minimum unit size
-Abundance of helpful diagrams
-Oblique manoeuvre
-Interpenetration of units allows for ease of movement
-Impetuous/Reckless troops(an extra rule that makes controlling some troops more difficult and adds flavour)
-Massed fire not allowed vs chargers or units with rear rank in woods
-Disruption(extra element not found in WAB that adds an extra level to the state of troops)
-Bonus to combat for closest unit to General( nice that the general can effect combat in units he is not personally in)
-Limited amount of skirmish units(very nice, as I hate clouds of skirmishers)
-Easily understood and mechanics similar to WAB
-Nice summery

I Don't like:
-Centimetres instead on inches!!
-Maximums on unit sizes.(I personally like to decide that)
-No BSB(I like a BSB to steady the line)
-Rolling to kill/Wound after armour saves(Prefer the WAB2 order)
-Only one character per unit
-Unit standards and musicians having no effect in
combat
-Prefer percentage to slots when choosing my
armies

Undecided(must play test):
-Discipline tests(Tests you have to make before making certain manoeuvres)
-Forming square as that's really not a typical ancient
manoeuvre, but could be good for play.
-Intercept(Allows cavalry and chariots to intercept flank and rear charges)
- Concerned it may be to easy to kill characters in close combat(2 wounds on a unit and roll a d6 and character is killed on a 1)
-Much, much more that will come to light after playing


Overall, on the basis of rules I don't think I will change from WAB2 to COE as my primary Ancients game even with FW/GW mistakes as I still think WAB2 is a great game. But, for sure I will add COE to games that I play and why not I say as basing similarities makes hopping between the two pretty painless!

Year of the the Rules

I'd have to say this year looks to be the year of buying rulebooks and supporting material to rival a third of my miniature expenditures. What's even more surprising is a great deal of it is core rules! It's bordering downright overwhelming!

So far I've already purchased just this year alone:
Lasalle
Regimental Fire and Fury
A House Divided
Guns at Gettysburg
SOTR
Numerous Source books and Osprey's 

Making it's way to me as I write this:
Heartland Scenario Book
British Grenadier Scenario book 3

On the to get list that's already been released:
Black Powder
Hail Caesar
General de Brigade deluxe edition
General de Brigade scenario books
Impetus series(I have the basic)

On the to get list when released:
British Grenadier deluxe editionClash of Empires
War and Conquest
Kampfgruppe Normandy(if the reviews are tops)
Blücher(if it's released this year)
Stonewall(if it's released this year)
GASLIGHT Compendium 

What's even more crazy is this list will grow as more things are added not yet published or announced yet, plus some I forgot to mention!!:-0

2nd Airborne squad Finished!

Just finished up my 2nd Airborne squad and this time added some US and Airborne decals from Company B and I like them. The helmet decals were to big and so I left those Off. Command and some support up next. Thank you for viewing. :-)

Rifle Section w/Sergeant with M1 Carbine, Bazooka Gunner and Assistant, Trooper with M1 Garand

Rifle section w/2 Troopers with M1  Garand's and 2 with BAR's(one will go to the other squad)

LMG section w/ Corporal with a Thomson, Trooper, LGM Gunner and Assistant

Close ups of LMG Gunner and Assistant

Miniature Company- Artizan Designs

Added a couple fun polls

Added a couple running polls to my blog on the side bar to see where wargamers collecting habits tended to be. I tend(not always) to fall between quite a few and recorded history for range of periods and embarrassingly completely buried and still ordering more for completions!  :-0
Thank you for joining in!:-)