Reminder: This Weekend is Legends in the Fall

This weekend is our annual Legends in the Fall convention at the Doubletree Hotel in Mundelein, IL. I will be there representing Ambush Alley Games; other vendors include Scale Creep Miniatures, Unique Gifts and Games, Legends-in-Time. I will be running Tomorrow’s War and Force on Force games at my booth…and rumor has it I may have some advance copies of Cold War Gone Hot, the latest Force on Force supplement, for sale. My sons Will and Steve will be running Starship Troopers/Tomorrow’s War and Post-Apocalyptic/Tomorrow’s War games. Additionally, Saturday night will see the inaugural “Legends of the Skies” Battle of Britain dogfight tournament, replete with Squadron Leader Skip Peterson and Fleigermeister Roots as your guides. Visit http://legends-in-time.com/WordPress/?page_id=2 for more details. I hope to see you there!

Cold War Gone Hot off to Osprey

Well, the team has put another one to rest. Shawn Carpenter sent the final draft of Cold War Gone Hot to Osprey for editing and layout. We still have play testing and tweaking to do on a few of the scenarios, but the heavy lifting is done. My hats off to Shawn, Jim Wonacott, Rich Chambers and Piers Brand as my fellow writers, as well as all the usual folks in the development and consultation roles at Ambush Alley Games. Right now CWGH is slated for a November release.

The next major project is focused on Historicon and getting the two demo games ready for play. As I’ve mentioned before, we’re doing a vehicle-heavy Arab-Israeli scenario from 73; essentially a scaled-up version of the Yehudia Road scenario in the new Force on Force books. My son Will has been instrumental in helping me assemble all the QRF vehicles. I am now in the process of painting. I purchased a new Aztek Testor’s airbrush for doing the Syrian camo patterns and coating the Israeli armor in its distinctive yellow-olive color. Skip Peterson is helping with the terrain boards; we’re getting together tonight to start painting the Golan Heights.

The other scenario is from the Green Zone in Afghanistan and is a slightly modified version of the Bala Baluk scenario in the soon-to-be-released Operation Enduring Freedom supplement for Force on Force. Again, I’ve enlisted the help of Skip Peterson for the terrain boards and his excellently-painted Taliban figures from Elheim. Jon Walters is assisting with the USMC (also Elheim figures). Shawn Carpenter is providing buildings and vehicles for the scenario.

Once Historicon is done, I plan to get back to work on a few of my own pet projects. 15mm Vietnam has called out to me to get involved and I have made quite a few purchases of Battlefront, Flashpoint and QRF vehicles and figures. The other project is getting back to 28mm Perry Samurai.

More Cold War Gone Hot Play Testing this Weekend

OK, this weekend there is no major holiday that I am aware of, nor do I have any personal events going on, so I’m expecting my play test team to return in force

We have two scenarios on top this weekend…one is a play test of my Berlin city fight scenario and a scenario involving the BAOR, both upcoming scenarios from Cold War Gone Hot. Game time as always is 1 PM at Unique Gifts and Games in Grayslake, IL.

Work Progresses on Cold War Gone Hot…and Planning for Next Painting Project

I’ve been writing day and night the past few weeks. I’m just getting around to finishing the last scenario drafts for the upcoming Cold War Gone Hot supplement for Force on Force. I am learning a lot about small unit organizations during the Cold War, that’s for sure. Most of my Cold War gaming experience falls into two categories: microarmor games and my involvement with GDWs Assault/Boots & Saddles games from the 1980s. My library is full of Cold War books. And yet I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the material that I’ve played or been exposed to has been at the battalion level and above. Tracking down accurate squad level TO&Es during the 1980s, particularly for Warsaw Pact forces, is challenging, but I want to thank the team of folks I’m working with, particularly Piers Brand and Jim Wonacott, who have been very helpful in keeping me accurate and true to the sources we do have.

Painting is on a back burner right now until the first draft manuscript is done for Cold War Gone Hot.  Then it’s get ready for Historicon and a full weekend of Ambush Alley Games demos. It’s been awhile since I’ve painted 20mm, so this should be fun working in a larger scale again. We’re planning on two different demo tables; one in 20mm and one in 15mm. Once the Historicon program listing is finalized, I’ll share what we’re doing, but I can tell you that one is going to be a combined arms game and one is a vehicle heavy game (you can guess which one is in 15mm).

The next project is one for me and me alone. It’s Vietnam in 15mm. With the upcoming Ambush Valley for Force on Force, I’ve decided to take the plunge and get back into Southeast Asia. My last tour of duty was Charlie Company, a great set of rules by John Reeves that I play tested years ago and enjoyed tremendously. Piers and Joe have done a fabulous job on the new Ambush Alley.  I also love the new 15mm miniatures coming out from Battlefront; coupled with some great QRF and Flashpoint stuff and some Timecast hooches, I want to do some actions involving the Blackhorse regiment.

I’m also continuing to paint up modern stuff. I just received a shipment of Hummer’s and Bradleys from the incomparable Irish Serb. The castings are crisp and being made of resin makes them a quicker assembly than metal vehicles.

Cold War Scenario Play Testing

This Ambush Sunday we will be play testing a few scenarios from the upcoming Cold War Gone Hot supplement from Ambush Alley Games. I have been writing like mad (over 30 pages on Sunday alone) since the deadline is looming for the first draft of the book. My Soviet T-80s and T-72s have been repaired and re-based (some minor hits taken during a basement reorganization), so we should be good to go. We’ll also plan on having an organizational meeting for those who’d like to help me get ready for Historicon (I am in charge of the AAG demo tables this year). I am in need of vehicle assemblers (I have 17 Syrian T-62s that need putting together!), painters and terrain makers. As always, game time is at 1 PM at Unique Gifts and Games in Grayslake, IL. Many of us have been gathering a little earlier over at Something’s Brewing next door for lunch, so you’re welcome to enjoy the sarcasm and joking, I mean conversation and constructive debate

Easter Sunday Ambush

After the requisite Easter morning activities, we will be running Ambush Sunday at Unique Gifts and Games in Grayslake, IL. Game time starts at 1 PM. Scenario at this point will most likely be a play test of a scenario for the upcoming Cold War Gone Hot supplement from Ambush Alley Games. I’d love to see some of our missing-in-action regulars this week (yes, Chad Anderson, this means you ). I also would like to have a short play test team organizational meeting concerning Cold War Gone Hot and an upcoming AAG project called Historicon. I am responsible for the two demo games for Ambush Alley and need help on terrain construction, vehicle assembly and painting. I know this is a holiday, so we may not be able to have the meeting, but if you have the time and inclination and can’t make it, please drop me a note here and I’ll get in contact with you.

On the more personal front, I’ve been slammed at work, and have also been involved in getting the new Ambush Alley Games website finished, so not a lot of painting or modeling going on. I have managed to assemble and base a number of Irish Serb’s excellent Hummvee’s, in preparation for replacing some of my Old Glory vehicles. I am planning on adding two QRF M1A1s to my force, as well as another LAV-25 and six (yes six!) AAVPs for my Marines. I really, really want to run a larger Nasiriyah game and it’s time I got off my butt and did it. Also on the docket is Afghanistan, which, given the more infantry nature of the fighting and the wonderful, wonderful Elheim figures available now, I have decided to do in 20mm. Oh, and I’m doing some Cold War stuff, too. I have nine T-72s assembled, three T-80s assembled and painted, and am looking at getting my BMPs bumped up the schedule.

Cold War Gone Hot…Heats Up :)

Well, it’s been a busy time for me and Ambush Alley Games, that’s for sure. Congratulations to Shawn, Peggy, Robby and the whole AAG team for the successful launch of Force on Force and Road to Baghdad. We did it!

Since I posted this over on the Ambush Alley Games Forums, I know I’m OK in mentioning it here. I am the lead author on the Cold War Gone Hot supplement for Force on Force. It is due for publication later this year. The book will have three main divisions:

1) Cold War Fears…this is a collection of essays, scenarios and stats for what we thought was going to happen. E.g., Fulda Gap, Soviet breakthroughs, etc. The main thrust of these scenarios is getting back into the mindset that existed during the 1980s when NATO and the US were trying to figure out a way to survive the Soviet/Pact superiority in numbers.

2) Cold War Realities…this section will focus on what we know today about the 1980s. The declassification of documents on both sides shows that the Soviet Union was a lot tougher on paper than in reality. Think, The Bear Went Over the Mountain applied to all the likely theaters of conflict. Would the Soviets have been able to achieve a breakthrough? How would the Warsaw Pact forces handle a major slugfest with NATO?

3) Cold War Hollywood. We all have our favorite movies and books…we’re taking it one step further and writing scenarios in that vein. If you’re a fan of fictional encounters like Ice Station Zebra and Red Storm Rising, you won’t be disappointed.

The book will feature scenarios for all budgets. There will indeed be a few “armor park” scenarios as one might expect for the Cold War, but there will be plenty of special ops, infantry slugfests and whatever other coolness we choose to throw in the book. In addition, we’ll be focusing on TO&Es for the major NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, vehicle listings, historiography, and bibliography. Work is progressing nicely and the team we’ve assembled has put together some good stuff so far.

First Efforts with Pico Armor/Oddzial Army 3mm

Will and I have been prepping, basing, priming and starting to paint our 3mm purchases from last weekend. First up are some T-72s that I primered Soviet Green, then drybrushed with Vallejo Gray-Green. I washed the road wheels and tracks with Flesh Wash, then hit a few details. Basing is on metal stands covered with a green/earth Woodland Scenics flock mix with a few clumps of GW Static Grass for effect.

Soviet T-72s in 3mm from Oddzial Army/Pico Armor

A closer view. Total paint time per stand = 5 minutes!

Next up are some M1 Abrams tanks painted by Will. He attempted to do the classic tricolor NATO camo from the 80s.

M1s from Oddzial Army/Pico Armor in 3mm.

Top down view of the M1s.

Will is going to use a little less brown on the next batch, but I think he’s off to a great start. We’ll post more photos of our forces as they develop. Will is building the 11th Cav for Fulda Gap, while I am building an appropriate Soviet/Warsaw Pact attacking force.