The Painted Thumb

I've started my new 15mm WW2 army for Flames of War . Even though some of the local players have decided to stop playing FoW, I still believe there is a lot of life left in this game. Even if they are correct, I seriously doubt that WW2 games in 15mm will go away any time soon. Case in point; my friend Dale has decided to purchase the rulebook for the excellent game I Ain't Been Shot Mum . He asked me if I'd be willing to learn the game with him and I agreed. I've played the game before and discussed it in this earlier post. This game provides a bit more realism than Flames of War and there are times when I really enjoy the gritty details of a serious wargame. So, we've setup a goal for each of us to paint up an army. I will build a US Glider Rifle Company and Dale will do a German PanzerGrenadier Company. I've purchased a box of the plastic US Infantry from The Plastic Soldier Company. They are great sculpts for the price. The only trick will be to figure o...

We had planned a Flames of War game day this past Saturday but the turnout was light. Good thing that Garrett had also planned a introductory game of "I Ain't Been Shot Mum!" that same day. IABSM is another WWII miniatures game using the same size and bases as Flames of War. For this game, Garrett laid out a beautiful map based on an actual location in northern France.  One of the features of IABSM is the map uses a 'true' scale with 15mm figs. If a figure or squad has line of sight to a target then they can hit that target assuming they have standard rifles or better. Actions were determined by flipping the top card of the deck. Each card had a platoon's name or a leader's name on it. So, when a card is flipped, that platoon or leader could take action. There were two 'Tea Break' cards in the deck and once both of these cards have been pulled, the turn ends. This is a different system than the IGO-UGO routine in FoW and that created some tac...