Star Wars : Clone Wars
Rules: Modified Star Grunt II
Figures : WOC
4 players.

The game involved the clones attacking the Seperatist Droid army who was harboring a Viceroy.

The Clones had to advance with 2 squads, 1 command squad, 1 commando squad, 6 speeder bikes and 2 Jedi. The droid army had battle droids, super battle droids, spider droids and 2 assassin droids as snipers. There was one Sith preset on the field to counter the Jedi threat. The Viceroy was hidden in a bunker complex with a personal guard.

The Clones launched rockets against the 2 vehicles, destroying the walker tank and advanced while firing. The droid missile vehicle fired and the Clones took light casualties. Battle droids and snipers began returning fire.




The Clones advanced and the first Jedi was impatient and jumped into the first battle droid squad. Several droids fell back in disarray. The clones tried to take the momentum and pushed forward. The Jedi pushed too far ahead and was soon isolated.

Suddenly the lone Sith took an aggressive stance and attacked the Jedi, pushing him back. Amid lasers and rockets the Sith pushed forward.

The Sith then rushed forward to engage the first Clone squad. Deflecting shots she jumps into the formation killing and wounding all.

She then retreated behind the wall to defend herself from the lasers and explosion. The the droids fire several squads at the wounded Jedi...he fell trying to hold off the droid onslaught.


The remaing Clone forces pushed ahead. The commandos fought to secure the shuttle pad while speeder bikes flew ahead and thinned out or suppressed the frontline droid squads.

Eventually the defenders proved too much for the attackers.

The rules are very good and depend on die shifts as combat modifiers. I am currently working on modiying them for WWII.

Macedonians and Persians and Welcome Burt

Rules : Fire and Fury (Ancients Variant)
Hosted by Jim Carpenter
Played January 30, 2009
Figures: Essex and Old Glory 15mm
Based : As per DBA

The game consisted of a sizable Macedonian force facing off against a large Persian army contingent.


Greek Phalanx, Persians , Macedonian and Thessalian cavalry faced off against one another .

The Persians placed their heavy infantry (Greeks) in the center rear. The light and medium troops were placed forward center and to the right flank. A token Persian light cavalry unit was placed forward right and scythed chariots were placed in a hidden position on the far right. The Persian left consisted of medium and heavy cavalry.


The Macedonians placed most of their cavalry on their left flank. The phalanxes were center an to the right. Light and medium troops filled out the center .

We realized quickly that the phalanxes moved at a very slow pace.
6 inches at the most, medium and light infantry moved at 9 and 12 inched respectively. The phalanxes were quickly outpaced on both sides.Heavy cavalry on the Persian left clash against Macedonian and Greek formations. Heavy cavalry proved quite valuable in this set of rules for both commanders.





About one hour into the game the heavy fighting began. We learned a long time ago to set up opposing forces close enough to get into the fighting quickly, we only have a 4 hour window.

The Macedonians are aas good as an armored column in modern combat. Light and medium troops struggled.






A broad shot of the battlefield shows the scope and size of the battle. Many of the group were familiar with Fire and Fury which helped the game move along.







There were many units on the field but maneuvering was not a problem. This is the sign of a great game.

The Persian left struggled but their right flank made progress.
About 2/3 through the game some Macedonian units took severe casualties. Like most games t helps when you roll well.






Macedonians and Thessalian cavalry progressed quickly across the field.

The white markers denote disordered troops. Disordered troops can slow movement and have negative combat modifiers.







Persian troops advance as they steadily gain ground but were ground down as they faced fresh Macedonian reserves.








Light Persian cavalry face off against heavy Macedonian infantry....the result wasn't pretty.

In the end the Persians did fare better than the Macedonians. A very close game. Our newest member, Burt, played his first ancients game. He seemed to really enjoy the game and hopefully he will be a regular player.

So far I have completed 11 Plasticville buildings. I added interior walls for room to room conflict. As I stated in the last post I went to a train show that had a flea market. Most of the buildings cost $1.00 - $2.00 because they had cracks or missing pieces.

I still have a city hall, airport and riverfront dock/pier to complete, but I am getting tired of gluing and assembling.
The soda machines and news paper stands are paper down loads from various web sites.



This is a street level shot. When I add cars, trucks and trees it will look very different. I just wanted to get an inventory of what was finished.




Here is a shot of the Diner and Robotic Shop. Adding vehicles will help the gaming experience.

I added interior details such as floors, wall paper and I even found a bathroom set to scale. These I bought for $0.50 a piece but they are a real pain to cut and fit.

I used 2 different styles of grass mats to mix up the look.


I am hoping to use this for some Sci-Fi or Zombie games. Hopefully these will get to see the table at a convention soon.

O scale buildings

I have always wanted to build a modern town in a larger scale. The problem is that resin buildings are too expensive and my modeling skills are minimal.

So I went to the local train show and found the answer. Plasticville structures on sale for cheap...dirt cheap. I picked up 10 buildings for $1.00 each. I then purchased foam mats for $0.50 each and some scrap book paper for $0.50 a sheet.


A little paint and inspiration and the town started taking shape.
I also went to Michael's craft store to find sheets of grass which I glued to the foam. The one problem I found is the dreaded warping effect. I plan to use terrain pieces, like mail boxes and pone booths to weigh dowm some of the problem areas.


I wanted the slum look to the town so it had a post apocalyptic look. I used scrap light bulb packaging for the corrugated metal look. Not every business succeeds so I decided to clos a few shops. I guess the Happy Days are behind us!

This abandon building was fun to do and makes a good hard point position against any foe. The building had many broken parts so I used additional pieces to show a run down look which also hid the broken parts.







The combination adult book store and free clinic was another fun building to do.
This makes another fun building to fight over.





The interior was also simple. I used scrap balsa wood for interior walls so some room to room fighting could take place. I used scrap book paper for flooring. It takes about two nights to complete a building and base. The side walk is painted to save time and material.







Currently HBO is constantly running Sweeny Todd, so the name for the food stand became quite obvious. A dollar well spent in my opinion.
The meat pie stand took no time at all to finish.











Behind the diner I placed some old wrecks. I also used a different type of grass mat for that uncut look. I have a few more buildings to go, I am currently working on the Oppenheimer robotics building. Cyborgs need a home too.

After these buildings are done I plan to start HO buildings I picked up for an Eastern Russia game in 20mm.

Rourke's Drift

Rules : The Sword and the Flame
Scale: 25mm
Host Jim Ferich

Truly a classic battle as a few British soldiers hold off the Zulu nation. The game was played with 8 man units which helps players from cluttering up large numbers of figures in a small space. The Zulu goal was to capture or burn the hospital and capture the storage building.

The thin red line holds fast as chants of ZULUUU are heard in the distance

As the British set up to cover all the areas of approach. They did not know the initial entry was condensed to one area of the board.

The barriers help keep the Zulus at bay so they do not overrun the British. Any melee modifier is welcomed.



Here come the natives, the Zulus enter and start to take casualties as only they can. The first wave hits the Brits, additional waves wait for their turn.


The Zulus close fast so they can melee before taking too many casualties.

Some units falter and leave before making contact.





The 8 man units keeps the battle spread out and easy to play.


The Zulus round the corner only to be met by a devastating volley. No worries, there are thousands more in the wings.











Zulus finally close on the Brits, the stone wall has less protection than other areas.


The Zulus break through the defenses after slaughtering the wounded.

Zulus are also approaching the hospital with a meager defense. Most of the Brits are fending off the natives around the store room.









A few defenders fire from the roof as the Zulus run over the undefended walls. The British are in disarray as they are getting hit from all sides.










Here come more Zulus pouring through looking for anything wearing red. Note the last stand of Bromhead....poor bloke. It looks like another rough day for the 24th.










Truly a bad day as the stores are being overrun, perhaps the Brits should get inside?

There are just too many of 'em and the defenses have fallen apart.











Knock , knock.....who's there?











The Zulus start to swarm the lightly defended hospital. The defenders desperately try to hold off and avoid a terrible fate.

The fighting is getting into close quarters. The wounded and sick await their fate.









Over by the store room a firing line forms to buy time...it is too little too late.











A top view of the hospital....the Zulus did well in this game.

A very popular game with the club, everyone had fun. important to note that the second wave of Zulus never acme on as it was getting late.

Normandy Breakout

Host: Jim and Chris Ferich
Rules: Flames of War
Scale: 15mm
Game Length: 4.5 hours
Objective: The British were to exit as many units as possible off of the opposite edge.

On Saturday 3/22/08 a game was played on a 6'x6' playing surface. The game consisted of German Fallschirmjaegers and SS holding off British infantry and armor units breaking out around Caen. The Germans were veteran units that set up hidden across the board, and had the support of a company of Tiger Tanks.
As you can see the game board consisted mostly of bocage with narrow roads leading out of the town. There were a few hills that were used by German mortars and tanks to fire long range harassing fire. The bocage rules in FoW make movement very difficult, infantry had to stop when reaching it and could then pass through the next turn. Tracked vehicles were in danger of bogging down and exposing the vulnerable under carriage to enemy fire.
Germans were secretly deployed in the fields waiting to ambush the advancing British forces.


The beautifully painted town was a focal point of the British advance. The Gemans did not deploy in the town, bu the British player did not know where the German deployment zone was located.





The British enter and deploy mortars and Sexton SPG's to lend support to the upcoming advance. Since there were no targets, the artillery sat idle until recon units arrived to find targets. The British have established a rather large support group. They deployed behind the town fearing the possibility of urban combat. The biggest worry to the British is the thought of dealing with Germans in the hedgerows. Hopefully the artillery would be the great equalizer.



British recon units begin to enter the town. They have a special ability allowing them to see hidden units in an 8" range. These prove extremely useful in uncovering enemy units lying in wait. Without these troops the British casualties would quickly mount.

These units made it safely through the town after thoroughly inspecting each town section. The British player was wondering what was on the other side of town.

German Fallschirmjaegers open fire on advancing British Troops.

German paratroopers guarding the left flank attack, they inflicted light casualties. Stuart tanks lend support, even these light tanks are a threat as the Germans had little anti-tank capability.

The British recon arrive a little too late to uncover the ambush but their machine gun support and artillery spotting ability make up for their late arrival. The Germans are really up against it.

(Note - These are the same figures appearing in the Flames of War supplement.... these are fantastic to look at and are really inspiring.)

Action on the British left.

The British that advanced on the left flank opposite the town had open ground to cover. The Achilles tank destroyers gave the British some comfort knowing that a company of Tiger tanks were roaming the field. The lethality of the Tiger was evident as British armor suffered from long range fire. British armor approaches a farmhouse.

British reinforcements arrive and stack up along the road. If there were only a Stuka provided the British may not have been so bold.

The reinforcements arrived by company, every turn added a D6, for every die roll grater than or equal to 5 the British could bring in a company. Unfortunately for the British most of the results were lower than needed and the companies entered piecemeal.

Sherman tanks start to brew up from long range shots. The Firefly is still out of range to counter the Tiger tank threat. The British press forward to close the attack.



German paratroopers take casualties as British troops press on. The Germans are forced back to a second line of defense as they also dish out fire and take a few Tommies with them.
British armor scoots around to the road and are trying to find more hidden Germans waiting in ambush.

Sextons wait in a field waiting for a target to be called in.

Germans line the road and try to halt the armor by any means

The lightly armored recon units suffer from a hidden recoiless rifle...definitely a cheap (cheat?) shot.

The British are running out of time.

The town is stacking up with armor for the final push.


Anti tank guns are brought in to try and help break out.


The British attempt to double move but the Germans bring the Tiger company to bear on the column.

Time has run out ...the game was very close, but the Germans held out.

Army of Epirus continued

I have just completed painting the Macedonian phalanx and light troops. I then based them on steel bases. Each figure has a 20mm X 20mm base, but I have used 20x60 and 20x 40 so units will be easier to move for the WAB rules.

As you can see the shields are plain with little to no embellishment, I am not that talented to attempt a shield design. Now to find out who has the best range of 20mm shield decals.

The figures cost about $7.00 a box with 40-50 figures per box. The steel bases cost $3.75 per pack. This a very cheap alternative to metal figures. I returned from Cold Wars with a few 25mm metal figures, the costs hover around $3.00 per figure depending on the manufacturer. Doing a skirmish game in 25mm is not too bad if you stay with a limited number of figures. Ancient battles in 25 mm is way out of my price range, and I don't care for 15mm ancients, so the 20mm plastics are a good alternative. Te steel bases will help give weight to the figures. I did try wood and plastic bases, but the figures fall over too easily and are too light. It just feels wrong.

A closer look at the Zvezda range of Macedonian infantry

At Cold Wars I picked up Thessalian Cavalry and Mercenary Greeks from HaT for $12.00 and Republican Romans from Zvezda for $7.00 which helped stretch the dollar. The only problem with the Greeks is that no weapons are supplied, so I must now be creative.

I also managed to finish some of the Macedonian cavalry from Zvezda, they really have set a high bar for the rest of the manufacturers to follow.


Here you can see the Macedonian cavalry. I thought these to be very high quality for plastic figures.

These will be part of a 8 or 10 figure unit. I can only imagine the size of the army this time next year. I have a tendency to burn out on figures and ranges. I thought that if I paint a little every week, and take my time, it will help me keep my pace and stay focused. I am wanting to collect figures for conflicts in modern Africa.

Well until next time.