intro

A random series of articles on war gaming in 40K, FOW and other systems. The headings are, WiP; Conversions and models in various states of assembly. PiP; Paint works on various models. Mission Critical; scenarios or missions to bring a bit of a twist to a normal game. MiA; rules for units and characters that could/should/might appear in a game. Dig In; How to guides on making various types of terrain for different game systems. Sit Rep; Battle reports and after action reports on games played

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Missiom Critical (BFG): the battle for Koh Chang station

Background:
During the Badah crusade the Siam protectorate believing the imperium was beginning to crumble declared independence. Scraping together a fleet of ships the protectorate station its fleet at Koh Chang station at the gate to the Siam system ready to block and imperial retribution. 


Terrain:
The gate to the Siam system filled with plasma clouds making navigation difficult and occasionally dangerous.  The map below shows the setup for the battle of Koh Chang Station. Koh Chow station is marked point A. B1 and B2 the imperial entry points.  The white clouds represent plasma clouds. 

The battlefeild

Forces:
The Siam protectorate
3 cruisers
2 squadrons of  two escorts
1 squadron of three escorts

Koh Chow Station with rebel merchant man

The Imperium of Man
1 grand cruiser
2 cruisers
1 light cruiser
1 squadron of five escorts
2 squadrons of four escorts

Imperial retribution force

Deployment;
The Siam protectorate must deploy first and place all its ships within 6" to the space station.  The Imperials have the first turn.  The imperial player must split his fleet with one half arriving within 6" of B1 while the other arrives within 6" on B2

Special rules:
-plasma clouds : any ship which moves through a plasma cloud takes an automatic critical hit. Firing through a cloud has a penalty.
-Little but not light: escorts which are destroyed are not automatically removed from play instead roll a D6 in each recovery phase.
~~1-2 No hope.  The ship cannot be saved and the crew abandon ship. The escort is removed from play.
~~3-5 Struggle on.  The crew struggle to bring the escort back online. The escort moves d6” ahead and can not do anything else.
~~6 Under control. The crew bring the escort back on line and the ship in can be used as normal for the rest of the game.

Imperial cruiser begins its attack run on the station

Victory conditions:
The Siam protectorate fleet must escape to fight another day it has 35 points worth of ships (one for each hit point of a ship). If 24 points or more exit the table within 6" of point B1 or B2 then they have won if less than 12 points exits the table within 6" of point B1 or B2. 


Imperial cruiser opens fire on the station and a nearby merchant man.

Design Note: based on David Manley's Battle of Koh Chang in WI 183.

Monday, July 11, 2011

WIP; The postman cometh

With the move and the new job I seem to have built up a back log on projects to work on. So much so that I considered a no more purchases plan until some of the back log was cleared. That plan lasted about day before I caved in ordered some stuff online. To make it more interesting four packages were ordered from four different countries across three different continents. I was curious to see how the postman would cope.



Pack 1
Start location; Poland
Final location; Neighbour's apartment
Contents; Maxmini Miniatures goodies (barricades, gun platform, Armoured torsos)
The plan;The barricades are there just to see what kind of terrain Maxmini is turning out. They are nice but not essential. The gun platform and armoured toros are for the crazy eight project (or time for a new gaurd company)


Pack 2

Start location; America
Final location; Apartment one level below
Contents; Secret weapon miniatures goodies. (Brass etch containers and back packs)
The plan; The back packs are also intented for the crazy eight project to add a bit if varity and realism to any conversions.  The brass etched parts are just to spruce up any conversion to any IG tanks for the crazy eight project.


Pack 3
Start location; Australia
Final location; Main sort post office
Contents; Victoria lamb studios goodies (Highland guard conversion)
The plan; The crazy eights are earmarked to be a highlander regiment but it depends on how the initial platoon/squad turn out and how well painting tartan goes.


Pack 4
Start location; England
Final location; Kehab shop next door (even worse they greeted me by name went I finally figured out what Nachbarn meant)
Contents; Forged in battle goodies
The plan;Since battlefront have started enforce price fixing I am keen to try out some of their competition. Enter Forged in Battle's shermans. Hopifully a western front army eg a British tank company, might be more acceptable in this neck of the woods. Eastern front might be a bit too close to home. Spree wald is only 70K north of Dresden.