AARs: Show Us Yer Games!

Ritter · Post by **Ritter** » Sat May 19, 2007 12:22 am

Nicely done! Im no Navy guy but the detail of your AAR inspired me - too bad I gotta go to work...Sundy, gotta paint on Sunday...

Troy

cbovill · Post by **cbovill** » Sat May 19, 2007 2:46 am

Nice AAR Mickel - what rules were you using for the battle?

Mk 1 · Post by **Mk 1** » Sat May 19, 2007 3:35 am

That's what I like to see! Nice AAR. Good description, good pics.

Let's see now. This naval stuff ... you get great GHQ models, all the detail, all the quality in the castings, all the fun painting 'em up, a little more assembling to do. Then there is the unit scale. One for one unit scale, with two whole units per side? Maybe a big game, with three or four units per side? So to be an effective gamer, you need what ... like four or five units? Then you get the terrain... a blue table-top. Then the time involved ... looks like a game, played through to conclusion, takes what -- about 4 or 6 turns?

Oy, I got to get myself into some of this naval stuff!

Mickel · Post by **Mickel** » Sat May 19, 2007 7:01 am

Thanks Gentlemen. The photos weren't the best.

I used General Quarters 3. It was my first attempt with them. I prefer more in-depth rules for small actions. These are good for larger ones. I probably did a few things wrong, but it's a start. I'll try the same situation with Seekrieg 5 and see what happens. I haven't use those rules before either. I expect the moving to be similar, but the gunnery to have a different result. I think this was over in five turns. I guess I could have pushed it further, but I'm not one for fighting to the last ship. It was 30 minutes of simulated time, and played out a lot faster than the 3 minutes from the Harpoon game (but then had a lot fewer units). I think it was about an hour of real time.

The situation wasn't particularly historically based - it was day time on the open ocean. Had it been night, and in more enclosed waters, Helena would have been more useful as her 6" guns would be able to penetrate the Japanese armour.

Mr One, you know as well as I do that you wouldn't just be able to get four or five units and leave it at that. The bug would bite.

Mk 1 · Post by **Mk 1** » Sat May 19, 2007 9:20 am

Mickel mentioned
I used General Quarters 3. It was my first attempt with them. I prefer more in-depth rules for small actions. These are good for larger ones. ... I'll try the same situation with Seekrieg 5 and see what happens. I haven't use those rules before either.

You might try Mobius' naval rules too. I am not a naval gamer (yet?), so I offer no particular opinion of his rules.* But if they are anywhere near as well researched and written as his WW2 armor rules, then for a 2 vs. 2 battle I doubt you'll find a better manual simulation. Oh, and they're free. Free is good. Such a nice fellow, he is.

*Well, actually I tend to offer lots of opinions on lots of things I know little about. But in this case I'll restrain myself. Flee while ye may!

Mr One, you know as well as I do that you wouldn't just be able to get four or five units and leave it at that. The bug would bite.

Ah, right you are, mate. Right you are!

I am so conservative in picking up new periods/games due in large part to my tendancy to go out and buy a small (not so small?) mountain of stuff every time I find something I want to play.

In fact I did play one WW2 naval battle at a club event once. Fun enough, but I didn't get hooked. Not hooked, like how I'm hooked on micro armor, that is. But hooked enough that I DID buy a couple micro ships. OK, more than a couple. What was it ... I think if I include the destroyers (2 or 3 to a pack) I managed to get about 8 or 10 WW2 ships, an about 4 or 6 moderns.

But they've been in my "to do" box since about '95, and they haven't managed to paint themselves yet.

So many toys, so little time!

cbovill · Post by **cbovill** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:31 am

If you're interested in trying out naval warfare to see if it "bites" you, Mobius has done quite a bit of the work for you for FREE! His rules are out there for free download and they work very well. Buy two ships from each of two countries and you are in business. For you land lubbers out there it could be a new flavor to try when you 've gamed out your favorite venue too much (yes, it is possible

). I myself like switching back and forth between land battles and sea battles to keep my interest level high in each.

Chris

Hugewally · Post by **Hugewally** » Sat May 26, 2007 11:06 am

Mk 1 wrote:
mluther mentioned:
That is really the biggest problem when taking pics of actual games in progress. I do the setup in my basement, which has overhead flourescents and a good floor lamp, but still not enough for good reproductions. We have a pretty short time limit on gaming also, so I try to be as quick as possible with the shots. Combine that with just figuring out how to work this camera and posting photos and there you have it.
I've struggled with the photography as well. My digital camera is really not up to date, and I have seen the difference in the photos between my camera and the cameras that other guys have used.

But I muddle along as best I can with what I have.

One thing I have found that helps me out on game day ... practice beforehand! Set up a small part of your terrain, and take some photos of your micros when you are not under as much time pressure by the limits of game time and gamers' patience.

Then you get to be a better/quicker photographer, and we get to see more pictures of your stuff! I score that as a win-win in my book.

I still haven't figured out how one post photos to this site?
Easy. Like this:

The string is img, and /img. You put it inside brackets [ ].

You start with OPEN BRACKET img CLOSE BRACKET,
you put in the URL of the .jpg you've parked up on FLIKr (or whatever photo hosting site you use),
and then you put an OPEN BRACKET /img CLOSE BRACKET at the end.

Just hit the quote button to reply to my posting, and you can see what I've done to insert the photo. Look for the URL with the .jpg at the end. You'll see it between the img and /img.

Works just like magic. Not tough at all. And then the crowd gives you oohs and aaahs for your fine work!

Having a decent photo imaging program will help with the pics. That'll allow you to modify the light levels/colors/sharpness of the pics. Most of the programs that come with digital cameras will allow you to adjust those settings.

Mickel · Post by **Mickel** » Mon May 28, 2007 4:10 pm

I re-ran that game above with SK-V. This time the US luck was better. San Francisco was hit and penetrated, but nothing enormously serious (except for a couple of magazine detonation rolls, but they came to nothing) and Helena hit, but not penetrated. Next turn, San Francisco landed five 8" SAP shells on Atago (that needed a roll of 2% and then 3% to get all five). Knocked out her No.3 turret out-right. A shell passing through without exploding caused an electrical failure in the after part of the ship, which left her after two 8" turrets not working and comms loss to the engine rooms. Flooded an area aft, causing the loss of a prop shaft. Started a couple of fires. A standing eight count (is that the term?) and time to run away.

At that point I gave up, since I was only out to see how the mechanics worked.

So the honours are even at this point.

Mike

mluther · Post by **mluther** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:55 pm

Just posting a link to pics from our Essel Bridgehead game last week. The scenaio is loosely based on accounts from "No Triumphant Procession", the Brits in North Germany in April, 1945. We had a couple of Comet troops and an infantry coy advancing against unknown German forces. The Germans had the remnants of a couple of SS coy and a KG that included Tigers and SdKfz251/22s. Played with IABSM rules. Lots of fun. I'll post a couple of individual photos when I get a chance.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8155094@N0 ... 634704156/

Mk 1 · Post by **Mk 1** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:26 pm

mluther wrote:Just posting a link to pics from our Essel Bridgehead game last week.
... I'll post a couple of individual photos when I get a chance.

Oh please, do post. The pics, and the descriptions you've written-up on the flickr site, are fantastic!

What a battleboard! What a game. Excellent, excellent stuff. A real delight to read through.

Post it, post it, post it, oh PUHLEASE post it!

And BTW, what are IABSM rules? I get confused easily by TMMLAs*.

*Too many multi-letter acronyms

Mk 1 · Post by **Mk 1** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:36 pm

Mk 1 wrote:
mluther wrote:
Just posting a link to pics from our Essel Bridgehead game last week.
What a battleboard! What a game. Excellent, excellent stuff.

I am completely enamored with your terrain techniques. Just wowed. Love it, love it, love it.

Love the overall look. The roads, the elevations. The walls, the telephone poles. Everything. It has "the look", and the level of flexibility, that makes a winning combination in my book!

If you ever decide to do a "how-to", it will be much appreciated!

mluther · Post by **mluther** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:08 am

Sorry for the delay in answering questions.
The rules used in the Essel Bridgehead game were I Ain't Been Shot Mum!, (IABSM) by Toofatlardies. They are really designed for 15 to 20mm, but work fine in micro.
The terrain is a greenish sheet over various forms to represent heights with pastel used for the roads, slope lines, or whatever. It mostly washes out. What ever residue is left can then be sprayd over --just adds to the nonspecific color base. Trees, fields buildings, works,... are then placed on the sheet.
Still can't seem to get individual pics to post, sorry

Mark

Hugewally · Post by **Hugewally** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:19 am

Mark, the link following is from one of your pics on the Flickr site.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1094/710 ... d1.jpg?v=0 (thats the Brit HQ image)

Normally you would just post the link using the IMG buttons to get the link to look like this -

That would convert the link to an image for this forum, but as you know - it doesn't work.

So, to make it work for individual images using the Flickr site, find the image you want to post (I'll use the Brit HQ one again).

Left click on it in Flickr to make it a single image.
Right click on the image and select properties.
Copy the entire URL address shown in the properties box.
Navigate back to the GHQ forum and open a post text box.
Left click on the Img button

appears.

If it all works - this is what you should see when you click preview or post...

Zeppelin · Post by **Zeppelin** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:15 pm

mluther wrote:
The rules used in the Essel Bridgehead game were I Ain't Been Shot Mum!, (IABSM) by Toofatlardies. They are really designed for 15 to 20mm, but work fine in micro.
Mark

Interesting! I've played a game using those rules, but what modifications did you make to adjust fo bases of 3 figures, and the ranges? I found IABSM to move fast and accomodate multiple players pretty well.

Our group has also had success with Disposable Heroes WW2. I guess I'm most interested in the accomodation made for using 1/285 infantry figures instead of a large single figure!

Mark D in Utah

mluther · Post by **mluther** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:49 pm

Ah, if posting were so simple. For whatever reason, I am unable to copy and paste from the properties on flickr with this laptop. So I did write out the whole string between the bracket groups as suggested, but alas, it was unable to post in the forum.
I deleted that attempt.
The next game I am running will be a Poland 39 scenario with mainly nonGHQ items, so I wasn't planning on posting those pics at any rate.
Thanks for the info and effort, --Hope to see you in Atlanta soon.
Mark