Autumn 2003

October 2003. Followed that with a Megablitz game. A German infantry division is defending a town against an American armored division, supported by an infantry division. After the first day (6 turns) a German armoured division appears on the German right flank...

November 2003. Played the Chancellorsville scenario of Battle Cry. Used 3 by 2 board on the bed (!!). Rebels won 6-3.

Went to Warfare in Reading. Bought the McGill book on Barnet, a secondhand copy of "The Last Battle" by Cornelius Ryan (for £2!) and a platoon of 15mm SGII (Islamics). Had a chat with David Commerford (from the VLB rules discussion group).

Designed a Talavera scenario for Battle Cry Napoleonic. Played it, worked fine.
Had another look at "Quatre Bras" rules in the light of the discussions on the VLB group. Modified it and tried the Quatre Bras scenario. Played well, but still need to understand grand tactical evolutions better. Dug out Georg W. Jeffery's notes on this.

Summer 2003

Easter 2003 - virtually no gaming again this holiday. Spent a lot of time working on the Roman fort for CHJS, so perhaps that was a reason. The fort is mostly done - just the walls left to do and adding detail, grass mat etc. Games need space - and not much available right now. A certain PC has also been getting in the way… Didn't even play Battle Cry! Perhaps I should have done. Decided I needed a 3ft * 2ft board for things like 6mm Napoleonic, so cut down one of the old 4*2's (with blue hexes on) and painted the "rough" side green.

Salute is this Saturday (26th April) and I have a shopping list. Why am I going to buy a lot of 20mm WWII? Maybe because I like them and a bit of nostalgia. The only place we can play Rapid Fire is in the Gable Room (at the church), so I am wondering about "downsizing" to 1/200??

(August 19th) Very little wargaming over the last several weeks (personal reasons). A propos previous entry, I am going to stick with 20mm WWII. Too much stuff already and too much nostalgia to change. I'll just have to live with the space problem. (Thought: reduce moves and ranges in RF??). Slowly getting back into things now. Have played a couple of FMA-B test games - shaping up nicely. Revamping old South American fleets for "Damn Battleships Again".

Following on from the previous entry, I thought I'd try reducing all moves and ranges in Rapid Fire to 2/3. Produced a "Rapid Fire 2/3" playsheet. Tried it out with a scenario using the Russians for the first time - worked a treat! This could also be done by producing a "reduced ruler" - a 12in ruler that is actually only 8" long. Then you don't need to use a special version of the playsheet... I think perhaps Dirtside II and Stargrunt II might benefit from a similar treatment?

Set up a refight of Talavera using HF&G. The French won - but only just!!

Spring 2003

Made the first Panzer II to Wespe conversion. Bought a Revell German Artillery set to get the guns. This will also give me a spare trail and limber for the existing horse drawn guns. Found a side view of a Wespe on the 'net and did a scale reduction on the drawing board to get the dimensions for the gun compartment. Used thin card to build the gun compartment. Looks really nice. Need to finish painting it. Will get another Panzer II from Frontline for the other one.

The Aristia campaign season has now finished with a resounding win by the Carinthian forces. The allies sued for peace. The problem with this campaign is that the countries are geographically far apart which means that it takes a lot of map moving to get any battles. Secondly, the armies that I wanted to fight insist on being peaceful!! Because of this I am going to try running a "from the book" DBA campaign of the Norman conquest. Checked out the Fanaticus web site and found a version but I didn't like the map - a simple linked block map. Also it had Ireland as a participant for some unaccountable reason. Designed a new linked areas map as described in the rules. Vikings moved first and advanced to York (no problem with sea crossing). English army moved from Mercia to York in response. Battle of Stamford Bridge! The Saxons won, with the Vikings losing 4 4Bd elements. Very historical.

Half term holiday. David and I went to Essex Miniatures. He bought 6 crossbowmen to paint up as orcs. I bought the Rapid Fire Market Garden supplement, some Coat D'Arms paints, some AWI Hessians, some more WOTR men-at-arms and some sacks and barrels for the Western town. Also some grave stones with which I've made a "Boot Hill".

Worked out a shopping list from Frontline Wargaming. If I get everything on the list its just over £60! Hmm… will have to drop some of it then...

Set up an FMA game using the SF police background. The Cops have to stop the bad guys from escaping off the table. The multi level SF terrain can be a bit fiddly.

I'm currently working up Megablitz orbats from the RF supplement for Market Garden. I can fit the whole thing on two tables 60km by 40km.

Nugget arrived yesterday (Wednesday 26th Feb) with my 2 articles in it. John A. needs more stuff...