Village Games' Blog

NEW HORDES’ STRONGHOLDS

In my never ending attempt to get our HOTTS (Hordes of the Things) campaign off the ground, I recently finished up a couple of new strongholds for my armies. The one on the right is a classic “cavern” motif (complete with an element of flyers soaring over), while the one on the left is the more ominous magical “fog cloud” for an arriving enemy army.

Hordes' Strongholds

I now have ten complete armies for use in the campaign, some of which I may even be willing to share with some newbies who would like to try the campaign. Hopefully we will be able to have a campaign day in January for this.

Well, until the next army is completed…er, next time…

Cheers & Happy Holidays!

Dan

A SLICE OF EVERYDAY LIFE…

I had a couple of shots of one of the game rooms in the shop I thought would be nice to post. The one directly below is a typical Thursday night. In the far back there was a playtest game of “Sci-Fi Commander” (more on the playtesting we are doing for that in the shop in a future post). In  front of them, others were preparing for a game of Federation Commander.

Our resident Blitzkrieg Commander / Cold War Commander resident fanatic John (to the left) was in the middle of a BKC game. In the forefront is Mike Z. (our resident AT-43 fanatic) ogling all of the new stuff we just got in – stuff which I get to spend my night checking in and putting away. I guess someone has to be the martyr J.  Behind Mike are a group of 40K players busy prepping models, painting and working themselves into an Apocalypse frenzy.

The other shot shows a bunch of Warmachine / Hordes plays on an early Saturday afternoon. I had to include their picture, as they come in every other week to play a bunch of games and always appear to be having so much fun!

Well, until next time…

Cheers & Happy Holidays!

Dan

CAN THE AMERICANS SURVIVE?

We played another game of Blitzkrieg Commander the other day to see if it is possible for the Americans to win under their current army lists. John was the Germans, while I played my Americans. The battle was a meeting engagement between and American armor heavy task force and a German tank heavy Kampfgruppe in 6mm Micro Armor. We were using the Objective Cards and the Order Cards that we have developed for use in the shop.

THE GOAL

The key element for this battle was to see if the American’s force could actually accomplish its mission, given the resources allowed by the army lists and despite the German’s obvious qualitative superiority. In addition to the max number of Shermans and armored infantry, the Americans also beefed-up with several recon M8 armored cars and the max number of M7 Priest batteries. They also had air support in the form of a flight of two P-47 Thunderbolts with rockets.

THE BATTLE

The game went very well. Once again both of us enjoyed the Order Cards – they add a degree of fairness to the battle and ensuring a fairly competitive game – but keep the unpredictable flavor of the base game. The Objective Cards provided an interesting selection of objectives between us.

The Battle in the Central Village

The American airpower proved devastating, catching several panzers and a Tiger I in the village at one point and turning them into scrap metal. The American artillery was painful, but not overwhelming to the German forces.

Looking Down the Battlefield

The Germans, despite some of the massive firepower available to the Americans, played a great game. They used their tanks to stall American advances wherever possible, and then used their infantry to seize their objectives. In the end their strategies paid off as the Americans were just never really able to reach their objective, nor were they able to push the German’s off of theirs.

An American Infantry Company Advances on the Right Flank

CONCLUSIONS

In the final analysis, both of us felt that the Americans did have a chance this time. The fact that they lost was more due to the excellent tactics of the Germans rather than due to weaknesses in the American equipment lists.  This was what we were hoping for as we really do enjoy the BKC rules, and look forward to playing them for a long time to come.

Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Until next time…

Cheers & Happy Holidays!

Dan

THE COLD WARS CONTINUE…

There is a group of guys who regularly game modern and near modern battles at the shop using the Cold War Commander rules and 6mm Micro Armor. Almost every Saturday at 10:30 am they are here hashing out the “what could have happened” and the “what may yet happen” scenarios.

I try to snap a few pictures of their games whenever I can, as they are usually quite a spectacle. Unfortunately one of the gentlemen (we won’t mention names, will we John…) has been quite remiss in getting his moderns fully painted, so the pictures aren't quite as cool as they could be. Maybe a little public humiliation will provide some motivation. J

Anyways, the first picture is from a recreation they did of a Soviet-Chinese battle that really occurred on a river island in Manchuria in the mid-seventies. It was quite a site sith all of the mechanized forces, and very little cover. I don’t exactly remember who got the worst of it, but I think it was the Soviets.

The Chinese Advance

The other pictures are from a US vs. West Germany scenario set in the mid-eighties, where the Germans have decided they don’t want any foreign armies on their soil. It was a brutal game but I believe both sides had a great time.

I guess the T-shirt says it all...

These guys are always looking for new players – they are willing to teach and borrow equipment for your first games. If you are interested, call the shop and find out when they are next playing.

Until next time…

Cheers & Happy Holidays!

Dan