Fall 2016 Catch Up Post

Life has caught up to me again and not much gaming has been done for a long stretch.

Back in September, I was working furiously on my Glider Rifle company in a desperate attempt finish in time for the Late-War FOWSA tournament. Sadly, my wife got a call that a close family member was very ill. This prompted us to jump in the car on the day of the tournament and rush to be with family.

I wonder if I'm ever going to attend this tournament.

Here is short recap of the games I was able to participate in.

MillenniumCon 19 was successful for another year. I'm part of the convention staff but could only make it to the con for one afternoon. While, I was there, I took part in the HUGE Ogre game put on by Desert Scarab. I was given the GEV-Ogre to command. Not one but TWO nuclear-tipped cruise missiles were launched and and the beautiful city of Monopolis was left burning. For details on the game, check out Scarab's blog here.

There is a full photo gallery of the entire convention in our Photobucket album.

After Thanksgiving, my friend Joe inspired me to do some good old fashioned hex-n-counter games. We dusted off his old copy of 2nd Fleet from Victory Games. This is a great Cold War era simulation of combined naval and airborne forces in the North Atlantic.


The first intro game involved NATO surface ships versus Soviet air power. I played Soviets , Joe played NATO. Lots of missiles launched but NATO shoot down too many Soviet jets. NATO victory.


Admiral Joe plotting his move.

Next intro game involved sub vs sub warfare. Soviet goal was to get any subs to Greenland while NATO attempted to stop them.

NATO was able to disable the Soviet subs just in time.


The next game involved fully combined forces. Soviets attempted a preemptive attack on Norway.

Several NATO ships were sunk, a cruise missile was launched at the Soviet air base with no effect. The Norwegians kept air superiority and managed to squeak out with a NATO marginal victory.

We will probably attempt the 7th Fleet game which is essentially the same rules but for the Western Pacific Ocean. Those of you who follow current events might recognize that China continues to threaten the South China Sea. I would love to play a prescient game that reflects a real geo-political climate.

And since I got some more free time just before the holidays, I decided to start experimenting with my new 3D printer. More on that in my next post!

Comments

The Blog is going on a Permanent Vacation

Ok, I haven't had any comments on this blog on an post for many, many months. The only post that seems to get any traffic is my 2015 post about Star Fleet Battles. I don't fully understand why that post has generated so much interest, while the rest of my content has been mostly ignored. Clearly, this has not been an successful blog. I get much more traffic with my Facebook content and the YouTube channel is showing promise. Perhaps the subjects of my posts have been too random. I may need to focus on a specific game or subject. Maybe I didn't generate enough posts to keep the audience connected. Whatever the case, I am ending this blog with this final post. I'm calling it a 'permanent vacation' because the blog and posts will still be here, though I will not be adding any new content. I might continue to comment on the SFB post since that is still generating traffic 3 years after it was published. To anyone who might still be reading, I say 'Thank

Gulf Strike - Final Turns 26,27,28,29, and 30

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules. We have reached the final turns of the scenario. Turn 30 is the last turn, when we will count the number of cities captured by the Soviets and determine the margin of victory. The Soviets currently have 10 cities captured. The US is building a supply network in southern Iran. Can they reach the Iranian cities in time to help defend? Most of the air missions and ground assaults have been reduced due to decreasing supply for both sides. Turn 26 - US/Iran still have the initiative On Land: The last few Iranian infantry brigades move toward Esfahan. The Soviets assault the city of Kashan and capture it. This is the 11th city for the Soviets. This qualifies them for a 'marginal victory'. At Sea: The US LHA carrier with a compliment of AV-8 Harrier aircraft, moves northwest to the Iranian port city of Abadan. In the Air: Harriers launch air strikes against Soviet targets approaching Ahraz, but are ineffecti

Gulf Strike - Turns 18 and 19

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviets are moving further south in Iran. The Americans now have supply chain problems. There are two points of failure. A Soviet heavy cruiser is bombarding the supply head at Diego Garcia The supply chain has been broken at Konark. Turn 18 - In Air; F-4s bomb a supply depot in Afghanistan, further weakening the Soviets there. Soviet Backfires make a conventional bombing attack on Iranian Militia in Hamadan, but the militia gets some incredibly lucky rolls and put a hit on the bombers. This forces the bombers to retreat. Su-24s provide close air support for the assault on Hamadan and Qom. On Land; SpecOps raids destroy a truck unit in Afghanistan. Soviets push out the remaining militia and capture the holy city of Qom. At Sea; The Soviet CA is finally sunk by an American SSN. This is the last Soviet naval unit in the Indian Ocean. US heavy transport ships reach the friendly port in Somalia.

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