GAMING NEWS: R.I.P. Scott.

. Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately, Scott didn't make it. May he rest in peace and may his family be consoled by the community that rallied behind him.

I'm including a photo from a "Weeping Willow Memorial" in Budapest that came to mind...

Tony visited him:

I visited with Scott and his family today. Scott was not conscious. Everyone is upset including me.We are hanging in there.
Tony M.

And Mark made the announcement today:

Friends,
Well, despite our prayers, our good friend, Scott Hayes, veteran of many a war game, has passed away. Our thoughts are with his family. He will be sorely missed.
I will let you know the details of the memorial service.
Mark A. Steinberg.

I suppose in one way that having a friend pass away on your birthday (Today is mine... Halloween) is a bad thing, but in another way, it's a good thing because as I understand it, Scott was in pain and not even conscious near the end so I'm glad that his pain is over and he'll soon be in a better place if he isn't there already.

------

And a little news I shared over at the Epicomms boards with a bunch of fellow gamers and friends were kind enough to wish me the best on my day:

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all of the happy wishes.

I'm still keeping up my blog...

My roommate bought me a copy of a movie we love yesterday "Office Space"...

And I've been playing this silly little game called "Swords & Sandals" here:

http://www.playaholics.com/play/swordsandsandals/

I have been going crazy with my hobby stuff lately...

- Took 2nd place in a Dreamblade tournament this past weekend with an army of left-overs I made from a buddy's cast-offs... It's good to be me sometimes! LOL

- Working on a 28mm Skeleton Pirate army made of bargain bin pirates for a friend who invited me to join their WHFB Lustria campaign AND lent me a Vampire Counts army! Wanted to do a little something in return... build him a new unit as thanks.

- Making good on the New Years resolution to get a new city board ready... well on the way to 1'x1' foot square of based buildings and city flats... I'm not sure if I'll have it ready before the end of the year, but I have all of the pieces set side for a big kaiju / Godzilla "stomp the city" game ready... planning to run one at ConQuest Sac 2007 (April 2007)...

- Still working on my long-enduring 6mm sci-fi Epic Jopalli army... found an old friend who does resin molds and casting and am working on some unique flyers for the army...

- Also have 6mm ancients historical and fantasy armies on the bench as well as...

- 6mm Napoleonics waiting in arms...

- And lastly off the top of my mind and memory of the top of my workbench, I have several 10mm sci-fi armies that have been based for ASQL (Alien Squad Leader)... GROPOS, Star Wars - Hoth, Starsiege and a few others...

So, my hobby life has been good...

I've also been kept busy working on the new Baccus Sci-fi rules... Peter wants them out VERY SOON... before the end of November!

I can only hope that the rest of you are doing as well...

Although the thing I'd like best would be for all of the old friends here to reunite, leave behind old differences and get down to what is important... our longlasting friendships and common hobby interests! Omayn! It should be such!

Have a Happy Halloween!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

GAMING NEWS: Please Send Positive Thoughts To Local Gamer!

. Hi Everyone,

Well, amidst some gaming this weekend, I've heard some news, both good and bad...

First the bad news, well-known and well-liked local gamer Scott Hayes is in the hospital, ailing and it's very possible he might not make it. For those of you who know Scott, you probably know him because you:

A. Bought "lead" (miniatures) from him...

Or...

B. Enjoyed playing WAB (Warhammer Ancient Battles) with him.

You might have played other games with him as I did... specifically Crossfire back in the day and even occasionally WHFB (Warhammer Fantasy Battles). While you certainly could always seem to find some aspect of the rules to quibble over, Scott has always been a good and reliable opponent. I have many fond memories of gaming with him over the years.

Among those fond memories, I'll never forget a game in which Scott and I were playing a WWII Eastern Front scenario and I had a little Russian recon tank, a T-37 if I remember correctly, penetrate and destroy one of those big armored WWII German monstrosities, a Tiger if memory serves. Lucky hit! Mark had rented the conference room of the Red Lion Hotel that year to host a big gaming bash. Last Friday I started getting worried when Mark started sending E-mails to the local community after being asked why he didn't run his traditional Westerns game recently:

Sorry, gang. I was planning on running a small French Foreign Legion Western Algeria game. But instead I was at the Hospital talking to my best friend, Scott Hayes. He is slipping fast. Damn Cancer.

Hopefully, we will be back up and gaming by next week.

And then...

Scott is at a local Eskaton Hospice Center. His brothers are with him as well as his father. His cousin is there as well. He was not really ever conscious today(Sunday). Manny R., my brother Joel and I visited him today. His family liked the idea that Dante C., myself, Manny R. and Roger M. came up with. That was keeping his Romans and Carthaginians together, maybe some of the better painters finishing any other units and having an annual Scott Hayes refight of Cannae or some other battle from the Second Punic War.
Mark.

If you're interested in helping out Scott or his family, please contact Mark Steinberg or I. If you contact me, I'll pass your message along to Mark.

And then...

Sorry to hear of this guys. I really enjoyed the times the boys, dad and I got to game with Scott. I got to play in a playtest with Scott for the Scenario game he was putting on with those Romans and Carthaginians. Picked up the WAB supplement that's come out since, but haven't done much gaming lately. I heard how serious the situation with Scott was at the ConQuest SAC planning meeting today (Sunday). I think it is a great idea to keep those two armies together.

Thinking of Scott,
Alfred A.

And then...

Yes, this sucks. Scott is a good player and an asset to the Sacramento gaming community. Hopefully he'll get through this somehow. If not, it will definitely be a blow to our community.
Mark H.

All I can say is that I've put Scott in my prayers and that I'd ask any others who are willing to put Scott and his family in your prayers or whatever your beliefs allow you to do.

There has been some talk of putting together an annual ancients game in Scott's name and I plan to contribute however I'm able. I'll keep people updated here as to how the game evolves.

However, there is good news as well... Jon von Compton AKA Grand Naval Commander and Baron Otto Heinrich von Compton just announced that he is expecting a child with his wife. I'm very happy for him... couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Mazel Tov, Jon and Carolyn!

Have a great Monday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

HUMOUR: Dad's a Graphic Artist...

. The Original Crazy Mean Baby!

Hi Everyone,

Leopold's done it again... sent me something that was genuinely entertaining... and funny to boot!

This is what happens when your father is a Graphic Designer...

Crazy Mean Junior G.I. Joe! Yo Joey!

Crazy Mean Pirate Baby! Yar, Matey!

Crazy Mean Sith Lord Baby! EVIL!

Crazy Mean Colonel Baby! Finger Lick'in Good!

Crazy Mean Flam'in Demon Zombie Baby! Spooky!

Crazy Mean Junior Hulkster Baby! Aaarrgggghhh!

Crazy Mean Junior Fu Man Chu Baby! Mini Crouching Tiger!

Crazy Mean KISS Fan Baby! AKA Junior Bat Boy!

Crazy Mean Green Shrek Spawn! AKA Junior David Banner!

This is hysterical...

And the even more bizarre thing is that there is a whole web site chocked full of these images:

Yes, boys and girls... it's back. Due to changes in life-circumstances, I am once again able to bring you the ONLY source for the complete collection of crazy mean babies. Read HERE for the whole story.

http://www.crazymeanbaby.net/

Have a great Thursday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
One last image:

I sense the force is strong with this one!

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI WARGAMING: Revisiting the Great War (14 October 2006)

. Hi Everyone,

I received a few digital photos from one of our WWI flying aces so I'm republishing the battle report from the recent MWSS game with the new photos. Many thanks to Mike W. for the photos!

------
1/87 WWI Dogfight Game
- Sponsored by Rob "Mako" Kent.
Ruleset: Blue Max modified for miniatures play.

The Entente Powers (British & French):
- Connor the "Knife" flying a Sopwith Camel
- Maksim "Headhunter" Smelchak flying a Sopwith Camel
- Rob "Mako" Kent flying a RAF S.E.5
- Russell "Big Kahuna" Kent flying a RAF S.E.5.

The Central Powers (Germans):
- Mike the "Iceman" flying a Pfalz D.XII
- Brian F. the "Executioner" flying a Pfalz D.XII
- Brad the "Barbarian" flying a Fokker Dr.I Triplane
- Bernie, The Mysterious Unknown German! flying a Fokker Dr.I Triplane

This was the center ring event of the day and it went well... my only reservation is that Blue Max is very specifically a hex-based game and the hexless adaptation still had a few kinks to work out. It was absolutely fabulous of Rob to host though so many thanks to him!

You can see Connor to the left and Bernie to the right in this photo. If you look very carefully, you can see a WWII P-40 in front of Bernie's t-shirt... I have no idea how that got there! Someone must have been having a bit of fun...

The airplane flights of the opposing powers started at opposite ends of a WWI trench battlefield, complete with a WWI-era German AV7 tank crawling along the battlefield. The Entente powers had difficulty maintaining flight formations on the way in and were furiously communicating with hand signals... as the much more composed Germans kept near perfect flight order before they pounced.

On one end of the battlefield, the two Kents engaged both of the expertly flown German biplanes and quickly ended up in a rapidly turning furball. After a few passes, Russell fell wounded to German guns and his plane began to smoke furiously...

In this shot Rob and Russell have their heads chopped off while examining the dog fight. Russel was near the end at this point...

Meanwhile Connor and I had to face the near invincible German triplanes. Connor tried to make a radical turn to surprise the wiley Germans, but Brad the "Barbarian" was not fooled by this ruse. He managed to pick up Connor's tail and persistently stuck on it until Connor went down after a dozen or so turns of being whittled on.

And I, Maksim, managed to break suddently and through Bernie, the Mysterious Unknown German, out of the fight, but I couldn't keep my spot as Connor's wingman. I ended up entering the Kent furball shortly later, in which despite several succesful machine gun hits on German planes, I never managed to do more than glancing damage. Bernie eventually entered the fight and we made head-on passes at each other, but weren't able to do any significant damage...

You can see Connor again in the bottom right of this photo. The poor kid left the initial scrum to be tailed quickly by Brad, who wouldn't let go. He's quite the camper though and didn't let things get him down.

I was eventually jumped by Mike the "Iceman," a distinguished German ace, and barely managed to escape with my life after being wounded by him. I didn't even see him coming! The game ended as a very decisive Central Powers victory!

All hail Mike, Brian, Bernie and especially Brad the "Barbarian!"

UPDATE from Rob (10-19-2006):

I just wanted to send out a note to thank those that participated in the aerial game last Saturday. It was a lot of fun for me, despite having been shot out of the air at the end of the game, and I hope you had a good time as well.

I would especially like to thank Mike W. for going to all of the trouble to glue a few extra planes together, and to get them painted, and "magnetized" in short order. They really looked great on the table. I have a soft spot for those Albatrosses, since they are such beautiful birds. I also want to congratulate the German pilots, for their resounding dominance of the dogfight. Clearly, their techniques were superior on this day.

Maks, thanks for posting a note about the game on the website.

Just a minor correction though, the Allied aircraft were Camels and Spad VII's.The latter have a rather anemic firepower rating, so while they look nice, I can't say that I would recommend them in battle. 1 FP vs. 2 FP's for all of the other aircraft.

Best regards,
Rob, who doesn't like flying a Spad VII!

P.S.
Look for further sorties of WW I aircraft at future club meetings, using a proper hexmat.

UPDATE from Mike W. (10-19-2006):

Ha. Those planes you reported as Pfalz were actually Albatros D.Vs. The Pfalz weren't to be seen yet. I had great fun flying the Blue Ice Albatros with the executioner's ax painted on the side.

I had great fun too. The period was late 1917. If we want, we could progress through the remainder of the war: phase out older planes and introduce newer. The next would be early 1918 with SPAD 13s instead of 7s - Allies have the advantage. After that would be mid 1918 with introduction of the much feared Fokker D.VIIs instead of the Albatros and the Germans have the advantage. Finally end with Sopwith Camel with Bentleys and SPAD 13s vs the Fokker D.VIIF - even match. Need to throw together a couple of the Revell kits.

Mike "the Iceman"

This shot was taken near the end of the game and shows what a furball we were in. The aircraft were all circling each other until some Entente aircraft were shot down and then the tide quickly turned.

------

Have a great Monday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

GAMING NEWS: The Road Warrior in Washington...

. Hi Everyone,

You ever have one of those friends who is simply car-obsessed? Someone who not only enjoyed the "Road Warrior" AKA "Mad Max," but can quote entire lines from it... with even the tone of speech right?

Well, I have such a friend only he's sort of the Christian high Octane version of the Road Warrior. His name is Joel and the poor guy's not been too high on his luck until just recently... He just got a job in Washington and has hit the road again...

Hiya Maks!
Great to hear from you guys. You wouldn't believe how busy I've been. Somebody finally decided to give me a job in Washington last month, so here I am. I'm in a town called Port Ludlow. I've forwarded some E-mails to you that I sent to my mom, "Grizzly Tim" and his squaw. The "Job" was kind of a rush thing. They needed somebody right now like RIGHT NOW so I packed up the Pontiac, added on the Nitrous injectors and hit the road. I'm also sending some photos I took out the window of my battlewagon and will send more whenever the heck I can. I'd love to see some more of the local gaming scene and even ol' Leopold. I've been enjoying the game coverage on your blog. Talk to you soon if the buzzards don't get you. Shalom!

Tiny disclaimer: This E-mail may have been slightly modified by Maks under the cover of bad humour.

Joel is a very talented mechanic and I'm sure that he's already began to acquire grease, oil and other unidentifiable grit under his fingernails while turning wrenches in Port Ludlow, Washington... whereever the heck that is. And I can certainly empathize... you see, I used to be a bit of a mechanic myself... turned wrenches on I don't know how many Volkswagens (The "buggy" types) and even rebuilt an ol' Harley Sportster back in the day...

But back to gaming, Joel was one of the cornerstones of the local gaming community at one time... ran our Necromunda campaign, played the near hopeless Orkz in our Epic-40k campaign, ran one of the best BFG (Battle Fleet Gothic) campaigns I've ever enjoyed, and never gave up on Starfleet Battles even when the rest of us gave up after having found ourselves lost in the umpty-zillion three-ring binders of the old SFB... good guy and great gamer! We'll miss him much.

Well, one of Joel's other great loves were the old big-gunned naval warwagons of W.W.I and W.W.II. There were times it seemed as if Joel knew every nut and bolt of those old warwagons... I know I always looked for battlewagon swag for Joel when I poked my way through used book stores. There was many a time I picked up a W.W.I dreadnought book for him when I had the chance...

Well, luckily for Joel, Mongoose Publishing is getting ready to come out with their WWII naval clash game:

Victory at Sea!

Bill over at TMP was good enough to publish an announcement of the upcoming game over at TMP:

Victory at Sea is the game of naval combat during the Second World War. Throughout 1939-45, the nations of the world duelled across the oceans of the world, only to discover the fundamental nature of naval warfare changing in the face of developing technologies. Now you can play out these confrontations on the tabletop with entire fleets drawn from the Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, Kriegsmarine or any one of the many other nations featured in Victory at Sea.

From skirmishes involving single destroyers hunting down merchantmen to the clashing of allied fleets against implacable enemies, Victory at Sea is your ticket to exciting battles that take place in the oceans of World War II.

Victory at Sea will be available in your local stores from December 11th, but you can grab a short preview from our website!

Many thanks to Bill and his excellent site, TMP, which I have linked here at my blog. I also have some experience with Mongoose Publishing and can highly recommend their fine product.

You can check out Bill's original post here:

http://theminiaturespage.com/news/787737

And who could bring up "Mad Max" in conversation without sharing a few choice links:

These guys are THE source on the muscle machines of the Road Warrior:

http://tinyurl.com/du6yq

This guy built a rock'in model of the Road Warrior Interceptor:

http://tinyurl.com/y3of8d

Check out some fine 28mm Road Warrior vehicles from Second City here:

http://tinyurl.com/v7apn

And who wouldn't want a remote-controlled Interceptor?

http://tinyurl.com/y4p6j9

------

Have a great Friday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
Check out this piece of miniatures cheesecake from my friend Marcus at http://www.skankgame.com/:


Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI WARGAMING: The Carper'ian Castle Wolfenstein?

. Hi Everyone,

Some of you may remember a classic old video game called Castle Wolfenstein...

Castle Wolfenstein was amazing for its time... it was the story of a WWII commando / GI sort of fellow who had to infiltrate a Nazi fortress... The original game had an overhead view and the sound effects were nothing short of amazing...

Later, Castle Wolfenstein turned into one of the first and best of the "first-person shooter" games...

The above view isn't the original "first-person shooter" version, it's from one of the sequels with fancier graphics.

I have many fond memories of slaying Nazis and uttering the classic Indiana Jones line:

"Nazis! I hate those guys..."

Why did I bring this up? Well, because my friend Mark Carper recently made an amazing piece of miniatures terrain... a castle that brought back fond memories...

Mark is an amazing terrain builder and miniature painter; when you can get Mark away from "The World of Warcrack TM," he's an amazing game opponent as well as pretty darn good company!

At any rate, I should stop blowing his horn and simply say that he's outdone himself and built one of the most impressive pieces of gaming terrain I've ever seen...

I've also added a link to his Photobucket over on my sidebar:
Mark's Photobucket Albums

While he only has his Carper'ian Castle Wolfenstein up so far, expect more good things from him in the future.

Mark has nominally scaled it for 15mm (...all of the minis pictured with it are 15mm) and it's made out of pink insulation styrofoam, ground cover, spackling, castle walls from some kind of cork board and who knows what else out of Mark's mad scientist laboratory...

Have a great Thursday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
I also added in a photo of the Wolfenstein honeys... just because!

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS: Small Acts of Kindness...

. Hi Everyone,

Every now and then, you hear a story that just warms your heart and this is one such:

[Setting: Standing on line in a bakery in Israel on Friday afternoon, casually eavesdropping on two women having a conversation behind me]

Woman 1: I'm running really late today... I wonder if they've already locked the cash registers.

Woman 2: 'Locked the cash registers?' What does that mean... they won't take our money?

W1: Yeah... basically. Thirty to forty-five minutes before they officially close, the owner goes around to each cash register and locks the drawers... and then goes home. The cashiers have instructions to tell anyone coming after the drawers are locked that they have no way to accept money so whatever the customers have picked out is free.

W2: I don't get it... why would the owner do that?

W1: Don't you see... it's just like in Machane Yehuda [the open air produce market in Jerusalem] where a lot of the vendors who sell perishables slash their prices an hour before closing for Shabbat. That way the poor people can 'buy' the things they need for Shabbat with dignity... and the vendors basically give things that can't be stored over Shabbat to a worthy cause. And because some of the people doing last minute shopping really are simply running late, there is no shame for the poor because nobody knows who is who.

W2: Wait, so you're telling me it's an open secret that poor people come here during the last hour before closing and they get their baked goods for free?

W1: Exactly, only everyone's dignity is protected by the fact that some shoppers are actually running late... and by the owner's little charade of the locked cash registers. This way everyone wins; The owner of the bakery performs a 'chesed' [roughly translates as an act of kindness]... the cashiers get to take part in the act... and the recipients can just as easily be genuinely running late as poor... so there is no embarrassment to anyone at being on the receiving end of the act.

W2: [after a brief pause] Y'know... sometimes I love this country!

[Author's note: Me too!]

Check out Treppenwitz to read the whole article if you get a chance:

http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/

Have a great Tuesday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
Hat tip to Yehuda and Treppenwitz.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

PERSONAL NEWS: Mazel Tov Dave & Kimbo!

. Hi Everyone,

I wanted to make two quick notes...

It was my friend Kimbo's birthday this past weekend and I wanted to wish him a belated and very loud...

Happy Birthday!

The above photo is of Kimbo (Guy in the center background glancing ominously at the patriotic cake) celebrating his birthday with some lesser guy, a "virtual unknown" (The funny-looking guy to the right) to the greater gaming community... probably a custodian or something like that... red "power" ties are so blah these days (As an aside, I have no idea who the "face" on the left is... could he be Kimbo's handservant?)...

And as a weird coincidence, U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney bears a remarkable resemblance to Kimbo although I doubt he has anything like Kimbo's world famous gaming acumen.

This next photo is of Kimbo (On the right) and I (On the left in deep, deep thought!) playing games at ConQuest Sac 2006... Kimbo gave me a real beating while playing games at this convention... I wasn't kidding about Kimbo and his renowned gaming abilities! Kimbo looks much different when out of his customary suit and tie. He usually only wears flannel when hunting and playing certain other games...

And my friend Dave...

Mazel Tov on getting married!

They're both great guys and well known throughout the local gaming community for being fun folks to game with. Dave is well known for being a fanatical ASL (Advanced Squad Leader) player and Kimbo... for playing everything and anything!

Have a great day!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
Personally, I think Kimbo looks more like Ariel Sharon despite the Cheney similarity, but that's just me. I've always wondered if Arik was subtly giving the photographer the bird in this shot...

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI WARGAMING: Dogfight at MWSS!

. Hi Everyone,

This past Saturday (14 October 2006) was the big MWSS (Miniature Wargaming Society of Sacramento) meeting and what a meeting it was!

First of all, we had a club business meeting (Discussion of issues, reading of minutes, etc.), which was boring as heck and then we got down to the real business of any game club... We played games!

The highlight of the business meeting for me was playing Rochambeau (More popularly known as Rock, Paper, Scissors) with my friend Mike W.'s son Connor. Connor knows a bunch of cool tricks like the flamethrower and the stealth bomber, that might have not been all that fair, but they're fun and he's eleven-years-old so I cut him a break every now and then...

However, I wasn't able to take any photos as my digital camera was unavailable yesterday... but, a few other folks took photos and told me they'd send them into me ASAP... until then, I'll just throw up a few stock images.

------
1/87 WWI Dogfight Game
- Sponsored by Rob "Mako" Kent.
Ruleset: Blue Max modified for miniatures play.

The Entente Powers (British & French):
- Connor the "Knife" flying a Sopwith Camel
- Maksim "Headhunter" Smelchak flying a Sopwith Camel
- Rob "Mako" Kent flying a RAF S.E.5
- Russell "Big Kahuna" Kent flying a RAF S.E.5.

The Central Powers (Germans):
- Mike the "Iceman" flying a Pfalz D.XII
- Brad the "Barbarian" flying a Fokker Dr.I Triplane
- Brian F. the "Executioner" flying a Pfalz D.XII
- Bernie, The Mysterious Unknown German! flying a Fokker Dr.I Triplane

This was the center ring event of the day and it went well... my only reservation is that Blue Max is very specifically a hex-based game and the hexless adaptation still had a few kinks to work out. It was absolutely fabulous of Rob to host though so many thanks to him!

The airplane flights of the opposing powers started at opposite ends of a WWI trench battlefield, complete with a WWI-era German AV7 tank crawling along the battlefield. The Entente powers had difficulty maintaining flight formations on the way in and were furiously communicating with hand signals... as the much more composed Germans kept near perfect flight order before they pounced.

On one end of the battlefield, the two Kents engaged both of the expertly flown German biplanes and quickly ended up in a rapidly turning furball. After a few passes, Russell fell wounded to German guns and his plane began to smoke furiously...

Meanwhile Connor and I had to face the near invincible German triplanes. Connor tried to make a radical turn to surprise the wiley Germans, but Brad the "Barbarian" was not fooled by this ruse. He managed to pick up Connor's tail and persistently stuck on it until Connor went down after a dozen or so turns of being whittled on.

And I, Maksim, managed to break suddently and through Bernie, the Mysterious Unknown German, out of the fight, but I couldn't keep my spot as Connor's wingman. I ended up entering the Kent furball shortly later, in which despite several succesful machine gun hits on German planes, I never managed to do more than glancing damage. Bernie eventually entered the fight and we made head-on passes at each other, but weren't able to do any significant damage...

I was eventually jumped by Mike the "Iceman," a distinguished German ace, and barely managed to escape with my life after being wounded by him. I didn't even see him coming! The game ended as a very decisive Central Powers victory!

All hail Mike, Brian, Bernie and especially Brad the "Barbarian!"

UPDATE from Rob (10-19-2006):

I just wanted to send out a note to thank those that participated in the aerial game last Saturday. It was a lot of fun for me, despite having been shot out of the air at the end of the game, and I hope you had a good time as well.

I would especially like to thank Mike W. for going to all of the trouble to glue a few extra planes together, and to get them painted, and "magnetized" in short order. They really looked great on the table. I have a soft spot for those Albatrosses, since they are such beautiful birds.

I also want to congratulate the German pilots, for their resounding dominance of the dogfight. Clearly, their techniques were superior on this day.

Maks, thanks for posting a note about the game on the website.

Just a minor correction though, the Allied aircraft were Camels and Spad VII's.The latter have a rather anemic firepower rating, so while they look nice, I can't say that I would recommend them in battle. 1 FP vs. 2 FP's for all of the other aircraft.

Best regards,
Rob, who doesn't like flying a Spad VII!

P.S.
Look for further sorties of WW I aircraft at future club meetings, using a proper hexmat.

UPDATE from Mike W. (10-19-2006):

Ha. Those planes you reported as Pfalz were actually Albatros D.Vs. The Pfalz weren't to be seen yet. I had great fun flying the Blue Ice Albatros with the executioner's ax painted on the side.

I had great fun too. The period was late 1917. If we want, we could progress through the remainder of the war: phase out older planes and introduce newer. The next would be early 1918 with SPAD 13s instead of 7s - Allies have the advantage. After that would be mid 1918 with introduction of the much feared Fokker D.VIIs instead of the Albatros and the Germans have the advantage. Finally end with Sopwith Camel with Bentleys and SPAD 13s vs the Fokker D.VIIF - even match. Need to throw together a couple of the Revell kits.

Mike "the Iceman"

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15mm The Battle of Princeton
- Hosted by Mike O.
Ruleset: I do not recall...

- This was the classic Battle of Princeton that occurred during the American War of Independence, a battle in which George Washington fought. Greg, Mike and possibly someone else were playing this game, in which I beleive the Americans managed to pull off a historic victory, but at the cost of George Washington having been slain in the battle... alas... I didn't play in this game, but it was an amazing set-up and looked like a ton of fun.

UPDATE From Mike (10-19-2006):

Thanks for the writeup, Maksim...

The Battle of Princeton was played by Chris O. (Col Mawhood) and Greg M. (General Washington). Historically, the Rebels won, Washington was shot at and had several rounds hit his coat and hat but didn't receive a scratch and the British suffered a tactical and strategic loss. In our reenactment of the battle, The British lost tactically but received a huge morale raise when General Washington was caught up in hand to hand fighting and died.

As usual I used the superb Guns of Liberty II edition rules.

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28mm WWII Skirmish Game
- Run by Keith and Joe B.
Ruleset: Stargrunt II by GZG modified for WWII skirmish.

- Keith and Joe absolutely love the GZG rulesets and particularly Stargrunt II... I think they've used it for nearly every historic era possible from the French-Indian Wars to Western shoot-outs and now... W.W.II! They're great guys and no matter what kind of game they host... everyone always has a good time.

In their game, they had elite American Airbourne troops facing off against regular German Wehrmacht troops over a village in Europe. Everyone had a good time... even my friend Don, who has a theory that all WWII games favor the Germans... although it appeared that the Americans pulled off victory the last time I checked on the game.

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15mm Fantasy Skirmish Game
- Hosted by Mark Carper.
Ruleset: Battleground WWII modified for fantasy skirmish.

- Mark and Kurt are the best of friends and they love tinkering with rules as much as Joe and Keith... only in their case, they're big fans of Battleground WWII, an interesting skirmish game with random turn order determined by drawing playing cards. Mark took a group of "bad guy" Orcs, Wargs and assorted evil creatures versus Kurt, who took the "good guys," some human knights, a few dwarves and some halflings. Mark and Kurt are still fine-tuning their adapatation of Battleground WWII to fantasy skirmish games so they were playtesting. It was hard to tell who won, but as usual, it really doesn't matter since both gentlemen obviously enjoyed themselves.

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Open Dreamblade Gaming
- Run by Mike O. & Dick Mitchell.

- Towards the end of the afternoon, Dick and Mike pulled out their Dreamblade armies and played a few games. Dreamblade is an interesting mix of game types, collectible in one aspect, chess-like in another and more CCG (Collectible Card Game) in another... They had a good time and in the last game of the day, Connor and I teamed up to give Mike O'Brien a hard time using Dick's army.

Kudos to Mike O. for being such a great sport against the fiendishly powerful rolling of Connor!

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Have a great Monday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures: These are not all my images. I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).