My Old Game Room... I'M BACK!!! :)

Moved back into my original game room last wee and I LOVE it. So much better in here. The lighting is way better as well so I should be able to get some better vids  and pics posted.

Here are some pics of my first battle back in the old room :)

Anzio Practice weekend!

More FoW action this weekend. This time around sees us playing some practice battles set in Italy, in preparation for an upcoming Firestorm: Anzio campaign.

 

Even though the terrain is boggy all around (difficult going), both sides are using armored forces. However, this 1,500 pt. Battle does feature airborne troops on BOTH sides - fearless-vet fun!
 

Germans moving up along the dry roads. FJ units in the fields to their left head for the vineyard just ahead.

Only the roads and high ground are not boggy. Both sides can be seen rushing through the wet fields to get both dry ground and objectives!

My gepanzerte grenadiers move up and partially disembark from their 251 HT's to contest an objective. A small platoon of U.S. Airborne infantry heads through the wood to assault!

My FJ are all but destroyed by an assault by U.S. armored infantry after being pinned at the central objective in the vineyard. Close support fire from the U.S. Stuarts helped a lot here. In the background the remaining Shermans (including two 76's) puts down fire on the closing Panthers,

One of my Panthers is taken out by a 76 Sherman! The shot was on the rear of my Panther and I wasn't paying attention there. Too over-confident to be sure.

My 1ic can be seen looking out from his PzIV. Tow of his tanks have been taken out already by Shermans near the vineyard/ Ahead lies a platoon of U.S. Stuarts'; always a pain in the ass for my Germans!

Yes, those are the 'dead' FJ teams closest to me.

Panthers move to out flank the vineyard position held by the Americans. One promptly bogs!

The U.S. 1ic.



End of the day for our FoW Demo Day

Our Flames of War Demo day was a success! Everyone had a blast and made plans or more FoW in the future.

 

My Germans played well :)
 

The American forces def. distinguished themselves.

Another FoW Day!

More FoW demo battles today. In this case the Germans did much better. Here are some pics of our last battle this afternoon.

 

 

 

Overview of the awesome Cigar Box terrain mat. Germans have reached the central positions of the battlefield. Note the burning Shermans!

Early on the Germans took out the American 2iC with a hull down PaK40 on the hill on the right.



The American Shermans on the left are hit hard by advancing PzIV's!



The Americans move up an Armored Infantry platoon in hopes of securing a central objective near the house. gepanzerte grenadiers await them along the road.



The initial deployment of the American infantry.



A look at the lay-out.

FoW Demo Game Played Tonight

Put on a small demo battle of FoW tonight. Was very fun even considering the small size of the forces. It's been a while for myself as well and I seemed to have forgot how fun FoW is. Definitely planning more games over the weekend.

Below are a few pics of the battle. We featured a U.S. Sherman 75 platoon vs. a German Panzer IV H platoon. Each entered the battlefield from the short sides along a road. Terrain was simple with a few gentle hills scattered about, some fields and a large wood to one side. We used the Europe II mat from Cigar Box for this battle.

The lay-out. Germans would be entering on the edge closest; Americans the opposite.

Lots of rough ground to cross.

Americans had the first turn of the battle, moving up the road for a couple turns (as did the Germans). We taught the basics of moving at this stage. The Americans quickly moved their tanks up on to the high ground just off to the side of the road. The Germans brought their guns closer by advancing on down the road.




Americans take the high ground. One Sherman bogs in the ruins on the left.

The Germans started to break off from the road and sought cover in the fields to their right. Would the American's be up on the German (me) out-flanking move?

Germans head off the road to get into the fields. Shots are taken.

The Germans start to get clustered together as the lead tank bogs twice trying to get off the road.

Both sides traded long range shots with little effect (we were teaching the shooting rules at this point). However, both the Germans and Americans managed to repeatedly "bog" one tank apiece foolishly trying to navigate into the rubble buildings along the road. the Germans in particular had their leading PzIV tank bog twice trying to get off the road and into the fields! This caused some clustering in the road which slowed any further advance.




The fight starts to heat up as both sides engage in the fields.

The German bogged tank on the road was soon destroyed by a well placed side armor shot from a hull-down Sherman ahead along the road. Not good news at all for the German side. First blood to the Americans! But wait! There is more...

The Americans start taking losses as they come off the high ground and get into the fields.

... the German platoon commander was soon destroyed as well right behind the previous PzIV that got blown to pieces. Thankfully, the commander transferred over to one of the PzIV tanks in the field.

At this point both sides sat back (Americans attempting smoke several times but failing) and blasted at one another from cover. Slowly they advanced closer through the fields.

The tide turned for the Germans for a turn as they managed to take out three Shermans along the road (one PzIV getting a side armor shot). However, the Germans had to make a risky move closing in on the Shermans in the field in order to accomplish this. If they didn't take out the closest Shermans, they would be flanked!

Three Shermans destroyed along the road. Ahead of them, the two PzIV destroyed earlier.

The Shermans get the edge at the end, destroying the German platoon commander and his back up panzer.

Disaster! Although three Shermans on the road were taken out, the remaining two (including the platoon commander) were close enough to close in on the German command tank and get some side armor shots at very close range. in addition, the Americans also managed to pass there platoon morale (trained). Using their stabilizers they managed to take out the panzer commander as well as a second tank behind (which effectively left the German platoon commander with no tank - i.e., DEAD!).

With the battle lost, the last panzer makes off the battlefield full throttle!.

With the loss of four out of five Panzer the Germans failed their platoon morale and headed off the battlefield - a loss!

Was a very fun battle.

Cigar Box Europe II Mat

Just a couple pics to show off the Europe II mat.

Fresh out of the bag! Added some depth underneath (the same as for the pics of the Europe I mat earlier).

Some terrain added. An excellent mat with fewer fields. Don't mind the creases, as they have been in a bag and folded all this time; never used. This is a fleece mat, so creases don't last long once laid out.

Cigar Box Europe I Mat Video: First Impression

Here is a quick video o the Cigar Box Europe I mat I posted on earlier today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick Battle using Cigar Box Europe I Mat!!!!

Had a quick battle today using the Cigar Box Europe mat. This was a fantastic battle with lots going on. Here are a few pics demonstrating the lay-out using the mat. It should be noted that I am using the "25mm" scale mats with my 15mm scale miniatures and terrain. The only difference between the 25mm and 15mm versions of the mats are the width of the roads. The roads on the 25mm scale version are about 3" wide (1" wide for the 15mm version). I prefer the 3" width actually as this equates more to the scale of roads in 15mm (such as used with Flames of War).

This is the Europe I mat. American forces are moving up from the fields and along the road at the top of the pic. There is a nice rise in elevation on the top left.

One of the great advantages of using a Cigar Box mat is the fact you can smoothly represent elevations - depth on the battlefield. I have always felt that throwing down pre-made hills never looked right. For one thing they are usually too small to avoid standing out un-realistically. Lay-outs tend to look like flat surfaces with bumps randomly placed about as a result. Well, I am happy to report that using the Cigar Box mats has solved that problem for me. For one thing you can now stick hills (books, foam, or if your lucky, some Geo-Hex terrain boards) under the mat to allow for large (or small) height changes. These changes look much more natural and actually blend very well into the lay-out.

Another look at the Europe I mat. German forces rush to the sector to slow the advance of the Americans.

At first it took some getting use to, but the tables seemed much more brighter. My lay-outs tended to be very dark green with mostly dark browns scattered about for variety. However, the Europe mats by Cigar Box tend to be much brighter, using lighter tones and color on the mat. This is not a bad thing at all.

First elements make contact! In the center is one of my own felt fields - dark brown - placed on the mat.

Another thing we did in the battle is make use of some of my felt forest and field pieces. I placed these over top the mat to add variety to the lay-out. I can report that yes indeed, it is very easy to change up the pre-made lay-out on the mats by adding your own terrain pieces. Simply throw them on top of the mat to cover-up areas, or otherwise change it up.

American M-10 tanks move up. Again, the dark brown field is my own terrain placed atop the mat. Blends in perfect!

All in all it was a fantastic battle. I really enjoyed the lay-out. I bought both Cigar Box Europe I and II mats for even more variety. I can combine these together to add even more variety if I so choose - or simply use both at once to cover a huge battlefield.

A look down a thin path-way.

I should note one thing. Compared to the Desert mat, the Europe mats are slightly smaller along the long sides, perhaps only a 6" overlap on a 4' wide table. The Desert mat looks more like a full 12" overlap. However, this makes very little difference. I used some pretty good sized hills under the mat in this battle, there was still plenty of over-hang all around the 6' x 4' table we used. So it is possible to just go crazy with placing hills underneath the mat.

A German recon element spot s the American advance. Note the natural elevation change here.

I should be doing some full video reviews on these two mats shortly. So stay tuned for that.

Check out Cigar Box here.

Cigar Box "Desert" Mat - Quick Video Review

Here is a quick video review of the Cigar Box "Desert" Battle Mat. A very nice 6' x 4' mat for your lay-out. Actually, the mat is closer to a 5' x 6' mat in size. Very nice indeed. The texturing is not painted on either, so it wont wear off or flake after long use. Perfect for those desert battles!

Note that this review is from my Wall of Shields Blog/Vlog. You might want to check that out to :)

What looks to be a "rise" in elevation if desired.