Wednesday, March 20, 2024

WIP Wednesday: Moving the Needle, Ever So Slowly!


 Another week, another WIP Wednesday in the books.  Not much "progress" to speak of this week but I did manage to get some quality gaming time in this past weekend, playing Peter's "Napoleonic Large Battles" and even posting a hasty AAR on them.  I also was able to take the same, 6x unit forces and play some "Valour & Fortitude" as I enjoy those rules and how quickly they move a game along.  I'd like to post a V&F BATREP, however there is still much to do first in the way of posting!  

Kasserine Pass Scenario Considerations Post Incoming!!!

For starters, and in the spirit of "WIP Wednesday", I am working on a huge Kasserine Pass "Scenario Considerations" post that has been at least a week so far in the making.  The post will encompass how I'm building the Kasserine Pass "36 Inch Battlefields" scenario, including OOB, victory conditions, reinforcement schedules, starting positions, maps, etc.  Just to give everyone a glimpse into the game's preparations, here is a snapshot of something special from the scenario post:

Sneak Preview - The Random Events I'm proposing for the Kasserine Pass game.  Martin Rapier's KP scenario has 8 turns.  If those represent 8 days, we can roughly assume 8 x 12 hour operational periods.  That's 96 hours of operations.  I'm going to "up" that to 104/108 hours but with a twist - players will roll 2D6 at the end of each turn to see how many hours have elapsed.  In that sense you wont know exactly when the game ends but it will be in the ballpark of  12-14 turns.  Exactly like how the clock works in Norm's "Into Battle" rules, when "doubles" are rolled, players will roll on the random events table.  Those proposed events are above.

This will all lend itself to the creation of a PDF document for those of you so bold who wish to play the scenario with Peter's WW2 rules, or any other large-scale WW2 rules.  I will be using my modifications to Peter's rules as those have given us good, quick games with plausible results.  What more could you ask for there?  I am indebted to Martin Rapier for his excellent research and assistance as I've continued to develop this scenario, and you can expect to see more stuff from Martin as I continue to build the scenario in posts coming up.

In terms of the Kasserine Pass preparations, I am creating a few more town hexes, awaiting a few items to arrive in the mail, including some terrain items, mapping items, and some 3D printed 6mm aircraft stands to represent air sorties.  I promise it will be worth the wait!  I may even print unit labels just for added effects!  

15mm Sci Fi Developments - Blood Pact Nearing Completion

Also continuing with my preparations to play One Page Rules' "Grimdark Future" I am continuing on with the development of the "Blood Pact" Infantry Platoon and it is shaping up nicely.  There are 4 x squads, a command team, and some support elements including an Anti Tank specialist, sniper, flamethrower, and mortar team.  Not quite sure how much this is in terms of points, but considering the fact that I don't have to buy new terrain, invest in a whole new scale, and the cost of a single pack of infantry is less than half (or maybe even less than that!) of what it costs to buy a single box of 28mm sci fi, I'm quite satisfied by this project so far.

Figures are Rebel Minis' "Titan Marines" from their 15mm Sci Fi collection.

The whole "platoon" so far...

Will be adding a light wash to them so they look a bit more grimdark-ish but overall I'm pleased

ready to stomp on some planetary defense forces!


a "unit" or "Squad" in GD is 5 soldiers armed similarly.  You can combine similar units into 10 x troop squads as well.

L to R - sniper, flamethrower, and Anti Tank specialist

unfinished mortar section

Command figures.  One guy (unpainted in the front) looks as if he is holding some kind of a tablet or "data slate" as it would be called in the Black Library Dan Abnett books...  Really cant wait for my first game of Grimdark!!!

So that's pretty much it for now.  Hope everyone is having a great week!



12 comments:

  1. I’ve come to feel that any and all progress … is progress, especially when like you, you have several projects all competing for the same piece of time!

    the Sci-Fi are looking good,

    The new second edition of V&F seem to do a better job at handling lower unit density, due to brigade deterioration being more nuanced. Have your group been convinced by them ‘yet’?

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    1. Greetings, Norm! I agree sir! And these posts have done much to infuse some motivation into me and my brushes, and thanks for your kind words on the Sci fi troops.
      I have enjoyed every game of V and F that I've played. Unfortunately I can't really speak for "my group" as I'm on the outs with them. I took a break from gaming with them last August and it looks from my end like things will remain that way. I still game with my buddy Dave with whom I've been gaming since 200 but otherwise my group is:

      "me, myself, and I, and sometimes Dave"

      But I have enjoyed playing V and F immensely and will continue to play it.

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    2. Over the last few months your mojo, creativity and enthusiasm has gone roof high, possibly the effects of liberation from the group dynamic!

      Probably more than 2/3 of my gaming time is me, the rest is with a gaming buddy of some 36 years, it is a balance that seems to work.

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    3. Certainly seems that way, Norm. I'm not beholden to any one project or other people's insistence of rules or games to play. I can, and have, explored my own interests and am playing rules and games that I like.

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    4. Steve, you have the right mindset for enjoyable Wargaming especially for solo ventures.

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    5. Thanks Jon. Took me almost 10 years to figure that out.

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  2. Any progress is progress as Norm has already mentioned, especially with all the pressures of 'modern' living. I've had some games and figures ready for painting for two weeks now, but a suddenly busy schedule on the caring front and family visits have meant nothing has happened. Even so the old grey cells are working in the background, so at least I feel I'm doing something vaguely gaming related!

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    1. Hi Steve I'm in complete agreement sir. We paint and game when we can. For me, life is going to get very busy with kids schedules (typical in April and October with fall and spring sports and activities) so I'm actually grateful I've been able to get some stuff done.

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  3. Your Kasserine pass scenario is slowly building and nice looking Sci-Fi figures.

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    1. Thanks Peter, slowly but surely grinding forward! Looking forward to actually gaming!

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  4. As always, Steve, lots going on in your hobby world again this week!

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    1. Hi Keith - sorry for the late reply! Yes I try to keep busy sir :)

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