Wargame at my house

[sfcgreg29er]

Explosions are made from gray foam glued on clear plastic bases. Smoke from regular old cotton balls.

Cantilever bridge was scratch built using Evergreen styrene products.

[Mk 1]

As promised. Pictures of the game...

Uh, give me a second here. My eyes have popped out, and are rolling across my keyboard. Gotta put 'em back in....

This was the first experience o playing micro armor for my friends who participated. Way too many units to push across the battlefield.

I've been guilty of that myself on too many occasions to count.

But ... I wonder if your new gamers might have been more helped more by a smaller total force, or by a homogenous force. In looking at some of my recent games I have concluded that I too often give a very interesting force to each player, when I should be giving a very homogenous force to some of them, while making the force interesting or balanced in total for the side rather than for each player.

Easier on the newbie to push 20 medium tanks, than 5 medium tanks, 5 halftracks, and 5 infantry squads.

I think. Could be wrong, though.

Still had tons of fun and one of my friends just purchased some Russian armor.

And that's what counts, isn't it? (The tons of fun part, but the purchase is also evidence of another innocent falling into our trap! Muhahahaha! Another one hooked on micro armor! )

We used the GHQ rule set which plays fairly quickly once everyone had a firm grasp of the rules.

This was a very substantial battle you put on! It appears to me that your battle involved a lot of issues that ring true from my readings of history (in the Lorraine battles and the Ardennes campaign). To that point I give credit to the fantastic set-up you created, and also to the rules.

Kudos to you for the game, and now I am wondering if I should pick up a copy of GHQ's rules for myself (like I don't have enough rulesets already!).

Next time, I'll reduce the number of units.

I just hope that next time you don't reduce the number of pics, nor the quality of the AAR!
'Cause your story was first-rate!

[gunbunny]

sfcgreg29er,

Great AAR! I'm a new poster myself but have lurked on these boards for years. I have gleaned so much information from this board that I probably should have paid all you guys royalties.

I have been developing my own terrain maker board, now that I have a fellow interested in gaming at this scale. I noticed you have some very nice river hexes. What colors do you use as a base coat? What product are you using to simulate the water? I have to admit I'm having a real difficult time simulating water in a way that is both realistic and pleasing to the eye. Anyone else have any advice on this?

[sfcgreg29er]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

I used a blackish grey latex house paint for the rivers.. while the black paint was still wet I used earth colored paint and working from the outer edge into the center I blended the colors..thus the middle of the river is the darkest(deeper) out the outer edge which is lighter(shallower)
I then used Modge Podge to clear coat the river which made it shiny.. don't use blue paint for you rivers. it doesn't look realistic..look at any google map satelite picture and you'll see what I mean

[gunbunny]

sfcgreg29er,

Currently working up an example of what you described. I have to say that I have followed the TM hex guru Tom Stockton's examples on his website for most of my techniques. Without his tutorials I would have made hexes that looked like a third grade glue macaroni project that barely got a C-. He mentioned somewhere around here that he just liked the way the blue looked and did not care as much about the realism of the water. I just can't let it past me to do the same. (No offense Mr Stockton). I have also tried future floor wax and woodland scenics realistic water. While the WS realistic water is a very nice finish it is WAY to much work to do on every hex not to mention its price.

[ferret701]

sfcgreg29er,

I'm in Northern Virginia, and if you need another player, by all means, drop me a line. I've only played moderns in the past, but have several sizeable WWII armies (French 1940, early UK Desert, Italian desert/Tunisia/Sicily/whatever)

Pat Callahan
www.microarmormayhem.com