Still here...

Just an update that I am still around, and will try to get an update here some time soon.

Regards,
Greg

Be careful what you wish for....

Just my advice....

I am hoping to get this blog going again in 2012. I seem to have terrible luck with digital cameras, and I think my latest one is on the blink!

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's holiday, and I hope I can get more postings out here than I have in recent months.

New Year, New Job, New Camera!

...well, the title says it all. After getting laid off, seeing my wife through a bout with breast cancer, and FINALLY getting a new job (and a new camera...), I'm ready to pick up where I left off.

So, no kidding this time, more posts are on the way!

Some musings on blogs, and local gaming stores

I just don't get it. You'd figure there is nothing to this "blogging" thing. Yet, I cannot for the life of me get the formatting of my photos correct. I can never seem to post them so a viewer can "click to enlarge". I'm of average intelligence, so maybe it's the system? Oh well. I'd love to get some feedback from you on how to manage this beastie called blogging!

Local hobby stores. They're getting harder and harder to find. I just made my first visit up to Maplewood, NJ to browse at Maplewood Hobbies. Great store; huge selection of paint and FOW items, friendly owner and patrons, and pretty active as well. Huge upstairs gaming area with 3 or 4 tables. Very nice, and a great visit. Then the owner told me he's having a difficult time staying open. This isn't the first time I've heard this. My local store, Gamer's Realm in West Windsor, NJ has told me the same tale.

Years ago I had a dream that maybe one day I'd open a hobby store. It makes me sad to say I'm relieved I never realised that dream. I guess it's the "internet revolution", and nobody even thinks of buying from a brick and mortar store anymore. I wish both of these stores, and their owners, nothing but the best. It would be a far more boring world out there without them.

The GWOT: The Good Guys

I've been working on these for a while. The first is a photo of all of my completed western forces:

This force is comprised of US marines (3 fireteams), British Infantry (3 fireteams), 1 fireteam of Australian Special Forces, and one fireteam of US Special Forces (since they all dress in the same mixture of clothing, they can be any of the services forces, Delta, SEALs, of SF). All are from Liberation Miniatures.



Here are a few close ups:

USMC

Australians

British

I've painted and organised these for use with Ambush Alley, and they'll soon be seeing service in Afghanistan.

I found these incredibly easy to paint and base up - I'm using US nickels as bases as they have the "heft" I prefer.

In a near-future posting, I'll have some photos of the bad guys.

Rumblings afoot!

It's been a long time since my last post, but I'm just about ready to re-ignite the flame!

Stay tuned for reports on what I've been up to lately.

Ambush Z!!

We had our first game of Ambush Z over the memorial day weekend. Here are some photos of the game:

This first photo gives shows the table layout before the action started. It's the first scenario in the rulebook, modified slightly to take advantage of the terrain I currently have. The objective is the red house (by Perry Miniatures) at the lower right. The teams had to rescue 2 scientists holed up in the house.

The teams enter...

The teams started in the upper left hand corner, behind the colonial brick house. Our dear friends Cliff and Deb, as well as my wife, controlled 3 teams of 3 spec ops types. They had to cross the board, rescue the scientists, and escort them off the board. The game length was supposed to be 6 turns, but being everyone's first game we ignored the turn limit. All the players are non-gamers, and my wife Carmen only has some TSATF experience under her belt. I was the zombie player/umpire.

I won't go through a turn-by-turn description here, but give an overview.

The game started with an ominous event, when a quirk of fate card rendered the team's support weapon useless. So much for the M-60!

The first zombies move towards the team

Much to my surprise, Deb showed great tactical insight and immediately indicated that her team would climb to the upper floor of the ruined building to provide covering fire while the 2 remaining teams moved out towards the target.

Note Deb's team on the top floor of the ruin

A pre-game view of the cemetary

Cliff and Carmen's teams moved smartly through the graveyard, dispatching several zombies along the way. Deb's team, although hampered by some bad dice rolls, did a great job of eliminating larger threats before they could get close to the moving teams.

It didn't take long for the 2 moving teams to approach the target house. The 2 scientists, seeing their rescuers approaching, burst out of the house and linked up with Cliff's team.

It was also at this time that another quirk of fate card brought happy news - Deb's team witnessed some inspired leadership and their troop quality went up a die!

The scientists are rescued...or are they?

The teams moved back towards their entry point, again eliminating any zombie threats as they appeared. During the first part of the game, taking into account everyone's inexperience with gaming, I reduced the number of zombies appearing during the reinforcement segment. At the player's insistence, I removed this artificial limit and gave them "both barrels" for the remainder of the game. That's when things began to fall apart.

In true zombie movie style, as the teams approached their exit point the nearby "hot spots" spawned massive numbers of zombies. By this time, Deb had removed her overwatch team from the ruined building so the zombies were able to approach the teams up close and personally!

The mission starts to unravel

Two large mobs of zombies descended upon the teams, and in the first melee of the game were able to kill one of Carmen's team members.

The teams move as quickly as possible towards the exit, but neglected to use any type of fire-and-move tactics, resulting in a horde of zombies descending upon Cliff and Carmen's teams. Deb did all she could to kill as many zombies as possible, but the writing was on the wall.

In a massive melee, another team member went down, and then, horribly, one of the scientists bit the dust.

The huge melee that resulted in 2 team members lost

Finally, the 3 teams regrouped and were able to kill any zombies that were close enough to pose a threat. The teams managed to exit with one scientist as a dependent.

A team covers the other's escape

The humans won, but just barely.

I can't begin to tell you how much fun we had playing this game! Upon further study, I was able to identify a few rules that were either misinterpreted, or not applied. I'm not sure if it would have made a huge amount of difference to the outcome, but next time we'll be even more prepared!