Here is where I will be posting my photos to share on other forums.

Ironclad sets sail.

Like I said in my previous post I'll get back here more often. I've been doing quite a bit of painting of late. Mostly the continuation of my micro scale Czech force, completing a company of T-55s, half a company of T-72s, 10 OT-65s and motorcycles for the regimental recon company. I've also started on my Federation ships I got a while back. They are rather large in comparison to other Star Trek ships I have had in the past. But, they are fairly nice models and should paint up nice. I'll be adding custom made decals from Tenneshington.com.

But as the title of this post states, an ironclad has set sail here in Homeport Arnold. I got to play a ACW naval game this past Sunday and remembered I had a 1:600 scale CSS Virginia model I have had for more than 20 years just sitting in its box unassembled and unpainted. Since I have been in a painting mood I decided to pull out the box and put the model together and get her painted up.

So with out further ado here she is, CSS Virginia.

Of course this means I will need to purchase USS Monitor from Thoroughbred Miniatures.

This coming weekend I hope to sit down with a friend of mine and show him Limit of Advance. Of course that means I need to finish out the T-72 company and figure out a way for him to have some infantry since I don't have any for my Czechs. 

Well that's about it for now, see y'all on the gaming table.

HALF A YEAR, WHERE DID IT GO?!?!?

Has it really been almost 6 months since I came back here and posted anything? The last post says March so it's been at least 5 months. Well, with school finally back in session I hope to focus some more on my gaming world.

Unfortunately I will not be making my annual trek up to Lee's Summit to enjoy a weekend of gaming at Recruits this September. And it turns out I won't be getting a chance to go to Millennium Con here in Round Rock either. Oh well them's the breaks I guess.

I am still working on Ocean Thunder. I am currently working on a complete rework of the gunnery numbers and armor values. But I think it will be for the best I'm going from a range band of three to a range band of five and I'm pulling numbers form new updated sources compared to what I had access to 20 years ago when all this madness started.

As for Limit of Advance, the micro armor game I've been working on with my buddy Evan, it is still being worked on as well. We are currently working on creating a balanced way to build scenarios for the game. I'm also working on finishing out my Czech force. When "complete" (is any army truly competed?) I will have a battalion of T-55s, the only T-72 battalion the Czechs had and a a battalion of mechanized infantry in OT-64s and 65s. That should shore up fairly well with my Americans, as long as I keep the M1s as base M1s and not M1A2s or later.

I am also in the process of painting my SL2500 Federation ships from Mongoose Games/Amarillo Design Bureau. I decided to go light grey with them and will be getting custom decals from Tenneshington Decals. Of course since these ships are so much bigger than anything else I have in the Star Trek universe I will be forced into picking up some Klingons from the same line.

Well that is it for now. I hope it won't be another 5 or 6 months before I pick up the keyboard and point my browser this way.

See y'all on the game table.

The only constant is change.

I know it's bee. A while since I wrote anything, but it has t been due to no gaming to write about. I've been working on Ocean Thunder, I've tweaked some of the rules for movement and gunnery.

For movement I have cut the distance moved by half and have been thinking of changing up how the ships turn during their movement. Instead of having a given angle they can turn at the end of movement they will instead have a template that is used to push the ship around. This looks like it will help keep the opposing forces from closing too quickly. Also the changes made in the ships turning will be more realistic.

The gunnery changes have really been streamlined. I'm not worrying about a percentage of shells possibly hitting the target area anymore. All guns that can be brought to bear will have a die rolled for it. In doing so I have also made the to it number based on distance one higher at each range bracket. I think it has become a more playable game in that a player is able to control more ships at a time with out making it an all day affair just to complete a single turn.

I really think the changes are going to make this a more modern feeling game. The game design is so much more advanced than I had it before.

Keep watching for more updates.

Tanks for the memories

So it isn't exactly later today but here are some pictures of some of my vehicles I'm painting up for my Czech micro-scale force.

T-72 MBT

More T-72s

OT-64 APC

Yes, that thing in the middle is a GamaGoat built and used by the US Army during the late 60s and early to mid 70s. It was also seen in Stripes as truck used by the Czechs. In particular, Bill Murray as he is driving in front of the EM-50 into the Czech Army base.

Although I don't have a picture of it yet, I do have a platoon of the M48s with M60 turrets ready to go, again as seen as Czech tanks in Stripes.

I think it will be fun to put those out, I suspect I might get a few strange looks. But that's half the fun.

Stay tuned for more posts. I will probably be discussing Ocean Thunder on my next post. I'm planning on running it this weekend. I'll post pictures, if I remember to take any.

It's like going to Wisconsin...

C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like going into Wisconsin. 

One of the greatest lines from one of my favorite movies from the 80s, Stripes. With that in mind I decided to create an early 80s Czechoslovakia Army force for micro-scale armor. I started with getting some OT-64s for CinC miniatures. Then picked up some M48s with M60 turrets (as seen in the movie) and some T-72s.

I decided to go with a basic WARPAC green paint scheme. I will be posting pictures later of the newly painted vehicles later today when I get them taken.

Be on the look out.

Combined Arms: Modern Combat in Micro-Scale

As stated in my previous post I am working on a set of rules for modern combat. Again as with Ocean Thunder it started with a friend, this time Evan, and I not liking any of the offerings out there. We wanted a quick and easy set of rules that would allow us to play a company to battalion level game in roughly two and a half to three hours with believable combat results and game outcome.

Evan had been working on the basis of this for a while before he came to me and asked if I would give what he day a look over. After a quick once over I saw that it had potential but needed some touching up. I expressed my interest to work on this with him and for the past four months or so we have been play testing the rules making adjustments and generally busting our chops on the rules. We feel we have a pretty good core of rules going and we have tested it up to battalion to regiment level at our local game store, Great Hall Games here in Austin. Everyone that plays it has been pleasantly surprised by the set and want to see us continue with the development.

This has also generated a rush on Micro-Scale minis at the store, anything that will help our FLGS keep running is good in my book.

Here are some pictures I have taken while working on this project so far.

 M2 Bradley.

 M1A1

 M60A3

My mixed armor/mech infantry task force. There is a Company of M1s, a company of M60A3s, a company of mech infantry with M113s and their weapons platoon with 2 M901s and 3 M125s (81mm mortar carriers.) Along with 2 F-4 Phantoms and 2 AH-1 Cobras.

The table was 5x8, I don't think anything smaller would have done it justice. Here the armor can be seen rolling up the main road and some infantry following and moving into position  at the first town.

The Sovs brought three battalions. One with T-72s, one with T-62s and a mech infantry battalion. after four and a half hours it was determined that the Sovs had kept the Americans from successfully completing their mission.

Much fun was had and people are asking Evan and me when we are going to run the game again. I'm glad people are enjoying it. I'm also glad I have Ocean Thunder to work on. In the past I got burnt out to easy when working on the rules, now I can bounce between the two.

Please leave any comments and suggestions.

Keep tuned for further developments.