Crossfire

I had a game of Crossfire today. Just a small game. Two Australian platoons advancing on a German platoon somewhere in Greece 1941. Crossfire is very brutal and not like any other miniature game I have played before. There is not much detail, very simple to understand, but enjoyable. Not for gamers who like details such as the combat modifiers for cross winds etc. The Australians took the objective very easily. Next time for balance I will face off equal sized forces. Game area size for this battle was 2ft x 2ft. A neat little game.

Jap Destroyers

My first painting effort of 2009. Six WWII Jap Destroyers painted up and sailing across the green fields of my pool table. Shiratsuyu, Shigue, Yugure, Ariake, Hatsuharu, and Wakaba. All ships are Navwar 1/3000 scale.

Landser

Last night I had a playtest game of 28mm WWI skirmish using the Landser rules under development.

The night started off with my wife asking me if I was going over to Guido's to play with my He-Men. No I'm not, I playing with my historical miniatures.

This was my first go at Landser. Two sections of Anzac infantry advancing on a fence line held by Germans. I controlled one of the Anzac sections.

The game moved well but really became bogged down with excessive dice rolling and book work. If a figure suffers a wound you dice to see what that wound is. Usually the figure has to hit the ground for a full turn and suffers from ailments such as move half speed, shoot at -1 to the dice roll. All of which need to be recorded. And when that figure recovers again he forgets who shot at him and has to attempt to spot before firing again. The game sort of has a role-playing feel to it. I'm not really sold yet but that's what play testing is about.

2009 to do list

So far, the year has started very slowly painting wise. Very slow indeed. Like none!

To join the trend of wargaming bloggers I am posting my top 5 things to do in 2009.

1...Finish painting my 1000pt Anzac 28mm WWI army for The Great War.

2...Finish my 1500pt Romano British 28mm army for WAB

3...Finish my obsession to paint all ships involved in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

4...Buy more terrain and make a WWI trench table.

5...Play a game once a month.

The hardest goal to finish will be number 2. I have a long way to go. Playing games is tough as well when you work shift work and weekends but I will attempt to game once a month. Report card to follow at the end of the year.

Australian Soldier Wins Victoria Cross

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24920703-601,00.html

SAS Trooper Mark Donaldson wins Australia's first Victoria Cross since Vietnam. He was awarded the VC whilst fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Esperance

I'm back after a short break at the parents house in Esperance. It's a 9 hour drive but worth it. I came back with a freezer full of snapper. Nice.

Confessions of a Wargamer

http://landser.wordpress.com/

Here's a new blog from one of the hobbies best painters, known on ebay as the Scullmeister.

Scully is re-developing the long lost WWII skirmish "Landser" rules, which were very popular during the mid 90's. Like a lot of rules they have faded into memory. Scully hopes to upgrade the basic system and release a flashy rule book that will take the hobby world by storm.

You can read all about it on his blog.