Old Dominion Military Society

Bunker Hill, part 3

2012-01-15T20:56:00.009-05:00

Flocking via a vinyl grass mat...

I started with a 50x100 inch vinyl grass mat from Woodland
scenics, and after spending $32 for the material at my local hobby shop and carefully cutting out my roads, shorelines, etc. I came to the frustrating decision to remove the mat because nothing I tried could make it actually stick to my contours. I should note that I did not have a proper heat gun and that the temperature in my garage was in the 40 degree range.

Too, something I really did not consider to be a significant problem turned into one - the way that I was installing the mat gave it no stretch, so I had problems forming the grass mat to my hills.

Below are pictures of the grass mat process from it's start to the "last straw" issue that made me pull it all up. - my inability to shape this material around my hills. That all said, I kept a big piece of the gass mat to experiment with after I pick up a heat gun.

Next post - flocking, resin, and pot toppers...

AAR - Fire and Fury, January 10

2012-01-12T16:58:00.002-05:00

We had a great game of Fire ad Fury, set up by Wayne, using his really attractive 10mm GHQ ACW armies. Here is an after action review written by John Snelling . . .

New guys are being attracted every time we play on Tuesday nights at World's Best Comics, which is great.

It was a long time since I've played F and F and really forgot how quick units get into action more on that later. Accouple games of Wings of War lost one and won one they were fast games.

It's good to see Rob planning to come by and run an ACW ship game - WOW that's been a long time since I've gamed ACW ships decades ago. It should be really nice.

Action at Green Castle scenario by Wayne (Dewayne) Hill
The Union really got the jump on the Rebels but the Rebels stubbornly fought back.

A standstill. No side giving ground despite numerous charges. No give and take just stand your ground and trade volley after volley.

Union General Turnista was carried off the field due to exhaustion. Then Union General Dietrick was wounded severly when his horse was shot and went down, after a long struggle he finally freed himself only to be kicked in the groin by the horses last gasp of life.

What would the Union do?

Without any hesitataion Col. J. Dent arose to the occassion. The word spread from brigade to brigade, regiment to regiment, man to man that the Col. was a fightin man's man. Gaining courage, like strong fingers turning into a steel fist, the Union soldiers charged again and again into a hailstorm of hell to emerge victorious. The stubborn and equally courageous rebs could stand no more and were routed from the field.

Triumph on the field. Soldiers carried Col. Dent on their shoulders praising him for his wisdom and bravery. Later Col. Dent was promoted to General by the President.

Bunker Hill, part 2

2012-01-09T22:48:00.020-05:00

This post will get you from the basic map to the pre-flocking stage for the layout.

1.) Choose the rules for your game. In my case, I like the rules published by the Canadian Wargamer's Group in Habitants & Highlanders. Picking the rules sets the groundscale - in H&H, 25 yards is 1 inch on tabletop.

2.) Using the groundscale from your ruleset and the map scale, draw a box around the area you want to use for your battlefield. In my case, I am using a 4x6 table, and the black block marks the area I want to use for my battlefield. I then broke up that grid into smaller grids to help me draw the major terrain details as accurately as possible. I had 18"x12" paper, and I drew in the coastlines, roads, and elevation changes, using different colors for each
(that was a bit more organized than necessary).

3.) Fit up the tracing paper as you draw features that cross between pages, and mark each page for a grid - I used A-D and 1-4.

4.) Lay out all of the pages to check that you have everything placed right, then start from one corner of the table and start cutting out the outermost line, adding your grid numbers to each piece cut out, then working to the next, next, next, etc. This is again more organized that some of you might choose to be, but it made sense to me.

5.) Cut the shoreline in the blue foam bottom layer. I have some landing beaches on the short edge of the map that I cut with a shallow angle, but most of the banks are cut at a pretty steep angle - something like 75 degrees. This is because I want to distinguish between the landing beaches and the rest of the shorelines. My tool for cutting the foam - a hacksaw blade. I find that I have more control with it than a hot wire, and the mess is really negligible.

6.) Glue down the blue foam bottom layer. I used a construction adhesive made for foam.

7.) Cut the elevations, using the grid sections you cut out before. I used 1/2" thick foam for the bottom layer, but I wanted to really show the elevations for Moulton's Hill (30 feet) and Breed's Hill (60 feet), so I decided to magnify them by using 1.5" thick foam for Moulton's Hill and two layers of 1.5" thick foam for Breed's Hill. This scaled the heights to the figures more so than to the ground scale, but we of course do the same thing with roads, bridges, buildings, etc and I like the visual effect - it should give the players a sense of the terrain that played a role in the battle.

8.) Shape the hills. I wish I could tell you that I had a single perfect method for cutting the hills, but I actually used everything I could think of. I started with a saw, but finally settled on a wire brush, and then used an electric sander with a drywall screen to smooth things out, and a foam sanding block for more smoothing. The mess took quite a while to clean up, and I made sure to do this while my wife was away for several days...

9.) Add joint compound or spackling to smooth the banks. I actually added this to the various slopes too, but later had to remove that - I'll get into that in another post when I get to flocking...

10.) Just to see a bit of what the final product will look like, I laid out the works and some troops.

Next post, flocking...

Bunker Hill

2012-01-03T00:43:00.003-05:00

My "theme" game for the Williamsburg Muster will be Bunker Hill. Given that I am using a battle that predates the "Wars of 1812" it is a bit of a stretch, but it does feature Americans and British troops at least.

I want to use this blog to walk through my process to create a gaming layout for a convention game. I try to create games for our conventions that go a considerable step beyond the standard club game, trying to give the many gamers who travel to our convention something special.

Here is the wikipedia entry for Bunker Hill - I am using both of the battle maps from there to make my gaming table.

Link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bunker_Hill

I have several rulesets that I want to playtest with, and the coming month should see several playtests. I am set on a 25 yards per 1 inch groundscale, with 1 figure equaling 25 men, and an effective musket range of 75 yards.

Now for the setup:

My layout will be 4'x6', fitting cleanly on a 5x6 convention table with 6" to spare on each long side for the players to put their dice, tape measures, rosters, etc. Conveniently, a 4x6 layout also fits perfectly in my SUV for the drive to the convention.

I have a base of 1/8" thick masonite because the insulation sheathing that I am using to construct the terrain is somewhat fragile, and the masonite will help to prevent any major damage. Too, I can paint the masonite where necessary to provide the illusion of depth to the "water" that I add to the gameboard.

In my next post, I'll show how I cut the foam and build the terrain layers. Here is a teaser picture of the gameboard after the first night's efforts.

AAR - December 3 - Shako, at the Hangar

2011-12-06T11:07:00.001-05:00

Steve McCabe posted the following After Action Review of a Shako Battle, held at the Hangar on December 3. It was a refight of the battle of Salamanca, from 1812.

Everyone,

Just wanted to comment on this weekend's game. Thanks to all who came.

This was by far the largest Shako battle we have fought to date. With the British numbering roughly 37 infantry battalions, 4 cavalry regiments and 3 artillery, while the French had roughly 50 infantry battalions, 5 cavalry regiments, and 7 artillery.

The initial set up was Thomieres (Callahan), Maucune (Dave), and Cuto's Cavalry (Dave) swining around the left flank. Claussel (Oscar) was marching straight down the center, with Brennier & Ferey in reserve, and Foy (Scott) waiting on the British right flank for something to happen. That is when as per history, Marshall Marmont was wounded, and Bonnet (historically Bonnet was wounded as well, but the French lucked (?) out) took command at the end of turn 3.

At the end of turn 1, Wellington sent send orders for Crauford (Carl) to advance against Scott. Turn 2 saw Leith's 4th Division (me) advancing on timed orders against Oscar and Carl advancing against Scott. While the French continued their flank movement.

Turn 3 saw the trap enfold that Wellington had set up for Marmont. Pakenham's 3rd Division (John) was waiting for for Thomiers in line. The British Cavalry Division (I forgot the gentlemen who played this division) showed up on Johns flank. The unexpected appearance of the 3rd Division and the cavalry shocked the French players as much their historical counterparts. At this time, the British 1st Division began their timed advance up the slope toward the flanking units. ADCs from the now Bonnet were dispatched, and each one met an untimely demise for the French.

Turn 4 saw Calhan's fore units get destroyed by volley and charges, The British Cavalry charging Dave's lead cavalry elements and the rear brigade of Calahan's. In the mean time 2 heavy french guns commanded by artillery master Scott, was blasting holes thru my portuguese and highlanders. This pounding went on and on and on. By the way Scott, did I tell you how much I DON'T like you! :-)

Turn 5 on... The British 3rd division destroyed Callahan's lead division (which is historically what happend). The British Cavalry division destroyed Cuto's division. My division fertilized field with blood but eventually defeated Oscar's Claussal's division. Another division, Brennier's followed up and even though I had a significant help from 1st division, eventually broke (historical note, the 4th division was the only division that broke in the actual battle, and this was done by Clausal's). The British Cavalry broke against Dave's Maucuane Division. Meanwhile, Carl's Light Division was beating up Scott's Foy Division. Carl was on the verge of routing Scott's division, when ADC's finally made it to Ferey now led by Callahan, and started turning Carl's flank. There were desperate cries of help from Carl, but there was no one near enough to help. The closest division was mine and it was in its own death throes. Callahan was relentless in advance, with two battalions of the elite 95th rifles routing. Scott in turn counterattacked turning the table on the other two light battalions. Scott, Callahan, and Carl ran the fight all the way to night time, where Carl's light division barely survived with two Portuguese Cacadores badly wounded but still holding their own. They limped away, with the French unable to claim a victory there, but the casualties on the light were tremendous.

For the rest of the game, we called the fight at the end of turn 11. Dave's Maucune division was almost entirely gone between John's hammer blows and Justin's division in the center on the hill fighting Dave's rear and flank. That division was ready to break. Oscar's Ferey Division was badly mauled but was still fighting against Justin. We ended the game with a 3-2 victory for the British. The right and center was in pretty much a British victory but the left flank of the British was only being held with barely two battalions against two divisions, even though one was badly mauled.

As a historical note, there were a lot more British divisions on the table then we played with. There was also the 5th, 6th, and 7th... I did take the liberty to move the 1st division to the British right center (this was historically next to the light division) and boosted it with two additional guard battalions which did not make it to the division until 1813. As for my 4th division, this actually was the only British division routed in the battle, but the new 6th division (which we didn't play with) ended up turning back Clausal's division. The 3rd division in history did surprise the French on the flank and rolled up one division after another. Instead of British KGL's on their flank, there were actually Portuguese Cavalry and in one of those rare moments, performed quite well, and routed the French light cavalry they went against. Where the 1st division was situated, there was actually the British Dragoons. This heavy cavalry charged over the hill and into the flank of the french. With infantry and Portuguese cavalry to their front, and heavy cavalry on their flank, whole French divisions evaporated. On the other side of the battle, both Ferey and Foy didin't get into the fight and acted as a rear guard when things went bad for the French. There was only one division we didn't play with for the French, which was Bonnet (which I believe never was close) as well as the Army Heavy Cavalry (dragoons) that were never even on the maps...

So ended the Battle of Salamanca, 1812... Thanks everyone for joining in...

Search for the Quantum Eagle

2011-11-16T13:16:00.001-05:00

This is an AAR from a Combat: Alien War Game from the 2011 Guns of August convention by Alex Hoover. I suspect that Alex and his crew will be back with more C:AW gaming at Williamsburg Muster 2012.

A progressive scenario of small sci-fi skirmishes where teams brave hostile terrain,natives, and each other to retrieve a mysterious alien artifact played at ODMS’ Guns of August convention, 2011.

Mission Briefing:Scientists have detected an anomalous reading originating from a remote world that has been of no particular interest to date. The signals are a closely protected state secret, so obviously, everybody in the galaxy knows about it.A squad of US Marines has been detached to locate and retrieve the source of the anomaly and will be racing against teams from rival nations, privateers, mercenaries, rebel groups, and "entrepreneurs" to be the first to grab the glory.This world, as uninteresting as it is, has been charted by the United States and volumes of data about it have been published in official ledgers. As such, nobody is sure what they will find there.This scenario used the following squad level teams:

USMC Squad (13)

Squad Sergeant V NCO
Team A Leader E NCO SSW
Team A CAA E NCO ASSW
Team A Member G
Team A Member G
Team B Leader E NCO SSW
Team B CAA E NCO ASSW
Team B Member G
Team B Member G
Team C Leader E NCO SSW
Team C CAA E NCO ASSW
Team C Member G
Team C Member G

Mercenary Team (5)

Merc V NCO G(1)
Merc V NCO G(1)
Merc V NCO G(1)
Merc V NCO G(1)
Merc V NCO G(1)

Alien Team (9)

Jedun E NCO
Soldier E
Soldier E
Jedun E NCO
Soldier E
Soldier E
Jedun E NCO
Soldier E
Soldier E

Local Yokel “Militia” (20)

Foreman G NCO (x 2)
Yokel G (x 18)

The game was conducted in a progressive campaign of three vignettes. In the first vignette, a player had to get his squad across a 2’x2’ board, corner to corner. Another player played the local fauna, the Krgrgkrt (no guns, but pick the best of two dice during close combat), starting in the other two corners, whose goal was to eat the squad. The first vignette was run twice, with players swapping squad and bug play. In the second vignette, two players started their teams in adjacent corners and had to transit to their own opposite corner, obviously inhibited by the other team. Wounded combatants who made it off the board were given a stim-pack, so they were back to full up around for the second vignette. Wounded combatants left on the board became Krgrgkt snacks. The third vignette pushed all the boards together, with a hole in the center for the “Quantum Eagle” a millennial-old crashed space ship from an unknown alien culture. All the surviving teams started on the outskirts of the board and had to get a “scan” of the QE from each of the four corners. Scanning didn’t take a turn, it just required a team member to end is turn on a corner of the terrain piece. Three extra squads of six Krgrgkrt were added to the board and played by the umpire, since it sounded like a good idea.

a typical setup for a bug scenario

The terrain used had two effects. First running was limited to 3+d6 inches to simulate swampiness and to keep it from being too easy to dash across the board. The tufts of marsh grass both cut movement rate to half to cross and provided one level of cover. Setups varied board to board, and players swapped out to different boards for different vignettes.

While the idea for the three progressive vignettes was very structured and flowing, the actual play at the convention was a little less so. We had quite a few walk-ups, a few people who just played a quick one-off vignette waiting for another game (which says nice things about the rules that you can do that), and a few initial vignettes when one of the referees would play the bugs to accommodate the walkups.

The bug vignettes played out fairly well with players getting a good chance to exercise the rules in simplified combat (only one side with guns). All the squads played out fairly evenly and proved to be a significant over-match for the bugs, but at an expense of 20-25% of their forces.

The most common tactic was to first sprint to what looked like a good location for a stand, then open up on the bugs. Several Marine players discussed the merits of suppressing one squad of bugs and trying to outmaneuver the other, however, none actually did that. It is probably a little different in the abstract and when the bugs are up in your grill. A few players did successfully charge one element of bugs, raining lead, then blow through on that side. Falling back and picking bugs off at long range (even through the cover) was also effective. One bug player was able to eat an alien squad down to one solider left. We let that player have a try with another team.

After taking a few lumps and drawing a little blood, the second vignette ran fairly smoothly as well. While tactics tended to be a little more conservative (perhaps thinking ahead to the third vignette), taking a few potshots and lobbing a grenade or two, while keeping mobile was the order of the day. There was a little bit of confusion a time or two when a “Mad as Hell” retaliation during an interrupt action turned into a “Who the Hell’s turn is it?” Those were quickly sorted out after a couple of deep breaths. Only one player decidedly left a string of wounded behind (playing the alien team with the uzi titin’ monkeys pictured above, lower right), but a few early casualties were left behind to ensure a team would make it all the way across the board.

The four vignettes on the table.Tracks of the action in two of the vignettes . . .

And the fourth one

The final vignette, the all-in race to capture the data on the Quantum Eagle for your side, ended up playing relatively smoothly. Major questions were ironed out in the initial play, so the players were pretty much autonomous.The militia squad was able to use their numbers effectively, both in spreading out and using a little bit of meat-shield tactics. The mercs were able to effectively press their skill advantage by just muscling at everything in sight (including charging into close combat with bugs!). The multiple SSW carried by the Marine squad was put to good use clearing them an open path to the objective. The alien team found it relatively easy to split up and hit the corners of the QE, securing the first couple of scans. While the Marines did a good job taking out the bugs at range with heavy firepower (and were the only team to have all their combatants who entered the final scenario survive), it bogged them down a little, so they were late getting to the objective. The mercenaries pretty much brute forced their way to getting three scans first. However, the militia made a mad sprint (with some excellent 9” run rolls) late in the game and was able to secure three scans in one turn, winning the game.

From Alex: lessee ... i ‘member the bugs are yellow and the “vikings” were the minis for one of the merc teams ... ~ a 50min scenario ... X’s are killed figures and W’s are wounded ... dotted lines are for “tactical repositioning to the rear ... also, though I thought the shirtless tattooed minis I made were rednecks, but everyone else was calling them “pirates,” hence the “P” ... everything else is self explanatory, right?

A referee providing some guidance on the finer points of bug-slaughter.

Peanut butter logistics were key to keeping the forces marching in the marshes.

The militia readies for a final push to win the game!

John Snelling Collection - Sale

2011-11-12T23:06:00.000-05:00

Hello - John Snelling is trying to move a pretty large collection of miniatures. Write to him for lists and details - johnsnelling@live.com

He has:
Napoleonics
Russians
Swedes
Prussians
Bavarians
French

Ancients
Gauls
Romans
Persians
Spanish

Write to John for details...

All-American Gamers doing a FLAMES OF WAR tournament - August 6

2011-07-27T11:25:00.000-04:00

On 6 August 2011 the All-American Gamers will host a 1000 Point Late War, Italy Themed FOW Campaign-Tourney: "Tough Old Gut".

Location is Southern Pines, NC. (one hour south of Raleigh).

Details are in the updated sign-up thread at:
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=126&aff=14&aft=529906&afv=topic&afpgj=2#840304

This is just one week before our convention, so would be a great warm up event!

Apache Pass Scenario Notes for Guns of August 2011

2011-07-24T00:17:00.000-04:00

These are the expanded scenario notes for Cliff Creech's scenario, Apache Pass, that he will be running at Guns of August 2011. There is a great article online discussing the battle. Cliff will be running his game on Friday and again on Sunday morning.

At noon on July 15, the Union column was attacked by some 500 Apache warriors led by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise. Geronimo, sometime before his death in 1909, claimed to have fought in this battle but this has never been confirmed.

The Americans were not in a good position to fight. They had just walked dozens of miles across the hot Arizona desert, they were heading for the spring at Apache Pass which was now beyond an army of well armed Chiricahua warriors.

Lacking water, and with the risk of losing dozens of men by retreating back to Tucson without water, the column's commander, Lt. Thomas L. Roberts chose to fight. The natives had constructed defenses, several breastworks made of stone. They also had set up an ambush, they waited until the Americans came within thirty to eighty yards of their positions, then opened fire.

Behind almost every mesquite tree and boulder hid an Apache with his rifle, six-shooter and knife. At first the Union troops could barely see the natives firing on them. After a few more moments of intense combat Roberts ordered retreat, so his force withdrew to the mouth of Apache Pass, regrouped and unlimbered mountain howitzers for a second advance.

This was one of the first times the United States Army had been able to use artillery against the native Americans. Roberts ordered his infantry to take the hills overlooking the pass, while he, his officers and howitzers stayed inside of the pass to direct artillery support. The skirmishers moved forward, where they came across an abandoned Butterfield Overland Mail station, which was then used to provide cover from the accurate Apache rifle fire. The infantry was now about 600 yards from the spring, overlooking the water supply were two hills, one that overlooked from the east, the other from the south. On both of the steep hills sat the breastworks, manned by Apache riflemen, doing their best to keep back the American skirmishers.

Roberts moved his howitzers forward and commenced fire along with his infantry, the shots were not very effective because of their position some 300 to 400 feet below the Apache defenses. The artillery would have to be moved again if it was to be effective in this battle. So again the artillery was movedforward, under heavy enemy fire.

Once the guns were in effective range, the commanding sergeant ordered his artillerymen to engage.

Until nightfall the Apaches were bombarded when they broke and fled the engagement in all directions, abandoning the breastworks and leaving the Union troops with a victory and access to the spring.

Guns of August - coming up in just a few weeks!!

2011-07-20T02:06:00.000-04:00

Lots of up to date information at the Guns of August website.

Over 60 events in our Preliminary Event Listing, covering miniatures and boardgaming.

Over 20 events in our RPG listing, covering all sorts of RPGs.

See you there!

Upcoming Conventions and Events

2011-06-10T10:56:00.000-04:00

Here are some upcoming events - conventions and so on - that might be of Particular interest to ODMS members.

June 11

July 7-10

August 12-14

September 23-25

Military History Weekend 2011

October 15-16

Fall In 2011

October 28-20

Williamsburg Muster 2012

February 3-5

Military History Weekend - In October, Williamsburg

2011-04-06T22:51:00.001-04:00

We (ODMS) will be hosting a game or two at this event again this year. Good times.

http://www.mhwshow.com/2011/

Virginia Battles of the American Civil War

2011-03-14T13:59:00.000-04:00

This is a great website that Carl found and shared with the group. Check it out - it is most excellent!

http://www.americancivilwar.com/statepic/Civil_War_Virginia_Battles_1862.html

Hunt for Hampton History - March 19, 2011

2011-03-14T13:57:00.000-04:00

ODMS will again participate in the Hunt for Hampton History at the History Museum of Hampton, this coming weekend (Saturday, March 19, 2011 - from 10am until 4pm).

We will be demonstrating some ACW games, in keeping with the theme of this year's event (the 150th anniversary of the Civil 1861-2011)

Cliff will be running a 15mm ACW battle, using the Neil Thomas rules as modified by Creech. I plan to bring a copy of BattleCry to set up on a side table (last year we did Rev War on the side table).

Show up if you can.

Here are some links:

Article on PR Web

Article on James River Journal

Downloadable Flyer (pdf)

Game Ideas - Guns Of August, part 3

2011-02-25T21:25:00.005-05:00

I now have the terrain elevations, courtesy of a quick google search for topographical maps of Apache Pass. I did not record the name of the site where I found them, but it was nice because it let you pinpoint landmarks on the satellite image.

Eight (8) elevations should make Outlook Ridge (the first part of it is what looks like a hill here, extending off the righthand side of the table, above the spring) a pretty impressive elevation, all the more so when the players see that it will be made from 2" thick insulation sheets and 16" tall.

For terrain that I plan to keep, I like to use the high density foam (blue or pink), but for this project I am using beadboard - the styrofoam that breaks into little beads when you break it. That cuts way down on cost because the beadboard is about 1/4 of the price of the high density foam (making it must less painful to part with the terrain at the end of the convention).

I'm still researching the vegetation, because it is clear to me that I am going to need a lot of it to get the look right. So far, I have a few bags of Woodland scenics 3/4" to 2" tall trees that will become passable mesquite trees with a bit of work and a very modest amount of foliage, but I want to add some other types of vegetation, rocks, etc. to get the look right.

I'm also still thinking about how to do the dry wash. A latex riverbed filled in with sand and vegetation seems like the right way to go on it, with one or two pieces to make it (a significant limiting factor is the availability of a large enough sheet of glass to serve as the bottom of the mold for the latex pour.

The next post should have some photos of the terrain as I move this project from the PC to the garage and start cutting the beadboard for the elevations.

Game Ideas - Guns Of August, part 2

2011-02-22T21:52:00.007-05:00

I've chosen a historic battle as the basis of my western scenario at Guns Of August - the Battle of Apache Pass, fought in July 1862 in Arizona. I found the movie poster you see here at http://www.posterpalace.com/.

Wikipedia gives a concise background for the battle at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Apache_Pass

Converting the forces to units for "The Tomahawk & The Flame" and fudging the math a bit to stay within my budget and minimize wasted figures (Old Glory's 25mm figures are sold with 30 infantry or 10 cavalry to a pack), I end up with the following:

US Army: Captain Roberts in command of 3 infantry companies (10 men in each) from the 1st California Infantry, an attached battery of two 12 lb. mountain howitzers, and a cavalry escort from the 2nd Regiment of California Volunteer Cavalry (10 men); 5 total units, suitable for 2 players.

Apache: Two commanders - Mangas Coloradas and Cochise, each in command of 6 warbands (10 men in each); 12 total units, suitable for 4 players.

Note that the conversions above have 1 figure on tabletop for every 4 men in the battle; this is simply a concession to the realities of limited time and budgets :)

To keep the game looking like a western battle, I want to ensure that I give the units plenty of room to maneuver, so I plan to use a 4ft deep and 9ft wide table (this also leaves room around the edges of the 5ft x 10ft convention table for dice, reference sheets, etc).

Unusual for this battle, the Apache used stone breastworks until they were driven from them by the fire of the mountain howitzers. The only other terrain piece mentioned in the battle is an abandoned Butterfield Overland Mail station, which I plan to represent with this Old Glory "Medium Stucco House" http://oldglory25s.com/images/H-2.jpg.

Next steps - laying out the battlefield elevations and placing my orders.

Game Ideas - Guns Of August

2011-02-16T21:26:00.004-05:00

The "War From A Horse" theme has me thinking about games that I want to run at Guns Of August 2011 (August 12-14, Williamsburg, VA).

With the many westerns I watched as a child for inspiration, my favorite idea thus far is a Wild West game using 28mm figures and "Tomahawk & The Flame" rules (of course based on TSATF).

Simply to ensure that everything comes together before the convention (177 days away) I'm thinking that I need to have one side mounted and the other mostly dismounted, with roughly balanced troop quality on both sides, so a punitive mission by US Cavalry against an Apache camp sounds just about perfect.

For figures, I'm pretty much sold on the Old Glory "War Paint" 28mm range. 15mm is of course more affordable, but I like the visual appeal of 28mm figures. Brian C can take credit for that...

For terrain, I'll use a hot knife to carve insulation foamboard and add wood chips to make some attractive and affordable canyons, mesas, etc. A good tutorial on these methods is at http://www.quindia.com/studioarticles.htm.

For the Apache camp, Acheson Creations has several 28mm pieces that I like - the Sioux tepee and the campfire are obviously useful, but I think I'll need to scratch build a horse corral.

That's it for now. I'll update this post as the game starts to take shape.

Williamsburg Muster - a Musical Remembrance

2011-02-09T00:02:00.001-05:00

The convention weekend started for us (on the committee) months ago, as we did a lot of planning and contacting of vendors, GMs, raffle supporters, the hotel, etc. During this phase, the slow but steady buildup of duties and anticipation of the convention reminded me a lot of "Saturn: The Bringer of Old Age" by Holst It starts out quiet and you almost don't notice it, but it builds. Still subtle, but before you know it, there is an urgency...

About a month before the show, in early January, things really pick up. Stuff starts coming together. At this point it is well ordered and everything looks fine. The 3rd of the Brandenburg Concertos (J.S. Bach) comes to mind - in my mind one of the greatest testaments to the Human Mind and its ability to construct order out of nothing.

Soon, it is the week before the convention and a lot is not done. Things go from orderly to scary. The demons begin rising up out of the schedule, and stuff gets lost. It should have been done two weeks ago, but human beings haven't changed for 10,000 years. Chuck Time rules (ask an ODMS member what Chuck Time is). At this point, the scene goes to Mussorgsky and his perfect Night on Bald Mountain.

Thursday the tables are set up, and the Vendors start coming in with their treasures. Watching those guys trudge all that great stuff in has to be accompanied by the Volga Boatmen Song, and no version is as pure as the one sung by the Red Army in 1965 (as old as me).

Finally, at about 1:00 on Friday, the first miniatures games start. This really brought up a couple of things in my mind. First, I thought the Triumphal March by Verdi, from Aida . . . but no. Then I thought of the Prince of Denmark's March (much better) by Clarke.

The tournament players line up - mostly the Flames of War guys - like Monks in their Cells. If I were a bit more quixotic I might think of something modern and romantic like Mea Culpa by Enigma, but rather I am reminded of Gregorian Chant as they go through the litany of rules and modifiers back and forth. Hail Holy Queen by the Monks of Notre Dame gets the nod here. Close your eyes and imagine the FoW guys going through the motions while listening . . . but try not to pollute the sacred music too much with whimsy.

In fact, a better option might be the Monk's Chant from Monty Python.

Seeing all the great games set up and playing can only stir (in a wargamer of a certain age) the strings and melody of La Victoire est à Nous. This version is complete with images from Waterloo, and is a montage along with La vieille Garde and The Girl I left behind me (played during the death scene of Picton).

Finally I get around to running my own game - a large game of The Sword and the Flame - and it is a blast. This has to be O Fortuna by Orff.

Time comes to pack up and leave the convention. Saying goodbye to old gamers, fellow brothers from the club, new friends and gaming comrades, and all the great people that make our conventions fun. This has to be done with only one piece of music - not for me, but for the folks leaving the convention!

The bad part of this year was that I realized sometime Sunday Morning (as people were starting to leave) that the Guns of August flyers we put out were misprinted with the wrong information! Horrors, my very soul dropped through the floor as I felt bad about this mistake. It was all my fault, and I tried to tell everyone I could, but the fact is the dates on the flyer were wrong (correct dates below). This was such a blow, the only thing I felt is summed up by the poet/king David, and set to music in Miserere Mei.

Anyway, I hope you had a good time at Williamsburg Muster, and will think about Guns of August. We would be glad to spend some time gaming with you.

National Guard Image Gallery

2011-02-08T23:55:00.001-05:00

Since we are on the topic of Military Images - the National Guard Image Gallery is online, and the images are in the public domain. Enjoy!

http://www.ng.mil/resources/photo_gallery/index.html

World War One color photo collection

2011-02-08T23:50:00.001-05:00

This is a great resource!

http://www.worldwaronecolorphotos.com/

Williamsburg Muster draws near

2011-01-18T12:05:00.000-05:00

Get your dice ready, and prepare to ride to battle!!

The Williamsburg Muster is coming up, only a few short weeks away. The PEL on the website is chock full of awesome games, and there will be terriffic vendors at the show, as well as the hospitality suite, the great raffle, and Winston Churchill (in the flesh).

Don't forget - it is February 4,5,6 in Williamsburg.

See the website for loads of details - http://www.odms-club.com/convention/

Chuck

Battle hymn 2011 - May 7, 2011

2011-01-18T12:03:00.000-05:00

[The following is an announcement from fellow gaming club the "Richmond Leisure Society"]

It's time once again for Battle Hymn, a friendly local gaming convention taking place on Saturday May 7, 2011 near Richmond, Virginia! This year, the Richmond Leisure Society has once again combined forces with the Virginia Aviation Museum to put on quite a show. Only at the Virginia Aviation Museum can you get up close and personal with an actual World War I fighter, an SR-71 Blackbird, a Huey Slick, and William Randolph Hearst's personal luxury plane!

The central hall of the museum and the concourse area have been given over to gaming, and a significant number of both rectangular and circular tables with chairs are available.

The Richmond Leisure Society has several games planned for the event, but we need more folks willing to present some games. Any type of miniatures game is welcome, whether historical, science fiction or fantasy. Board and card gamers are encouraged to join us! The general public will be attending, so introductory games would be appreciated in addition to games for experienced players.

Based on the Virginia Aviation Museum's operating schedule, the time available for the gaming tables has been divided into two 2.5 hour slots, with an hour break in between, as follows:
1000 – 1230 slot one
1330 – 1600 slot two

The Museum opens at 0930 and closes at 1700, so we have uninterrupted time in between. If anyone would like to use two slots for a longer game, it can be arranged.

Besides our miniatures and board gaming, attractions include a mini movie theater continuously showing the late war installment of the Soviet classic "Liberation" and other films, a full-motion flight simulator, and all of the outstanding exhibits that are part of the museum! A guided tour of the exhibits will be given during the break in gaming as well.

Admission is $6 USD per adult, $5 USD per child under 18. Seniors and active military enjoy reduced rates.

Folks interested in running a game, please contact me at: Battlehymn (at) inbox (dot) com and I can reserve a table and slot for your game.

If any games publisher would care to send a representative to demo a game, we'd be more than happy to accommodate you!

For information about the Virginia Aviation Museum, including driving directions check their website.

For information about Battle Hymn, including updates check their Facebook Page.

Scott Craig
Battle Hymn Events Coordinator
The Richmond Leisure Society

Double Blind Wargaming?

2010-11-16T22:23:00.000-05:00

This is a fun, and somewhat different than usual, wargaming experience. I have seen (and participated) in games that used this concept in several ways. These include:

Double Blind Setup - a sheet or screen is set up on the tabletop - both sides then set up their units, up to the screen, anywhere on the table. Can lead to exciting and hilarious results, usually results in a great game.

Double Blind Throughout - both sides have some information hidden from each other. This could be from using generic markers for units; from not having units on the board (using hidden map movement); or from using dummy markers/units to do feints. This can be generally very exciting, although it is handled best with a referee.

Double Blind for some players - This one was done best, years ago at the old Hampton "Campaign Headquarters" store (a great wargaming shop, if there ever was one), during an extravaganza Kursk game. The game was talked about for weeks and involved most of the regulars at the shop. The tactical moves and combat were done on an extremely large wargaming table (I think it consisted of a 6x12 and two 5x9s) by tactical commanders on both the German and Russian sides. However they had to act under orders from their respective commanders - who were sitting in another room with just paper maps, pizza, and beer. Every other turn the German C-in-C could get updates from his tactical commanders (and then mark up his map, and issue orders, dedicate artillery, etc). The Russian C-in-C was limited to every third turn. It was great. A lot of vodka was consumed that night by the Russian side (I was a Russian infantry commander).

What are your experiences, and what would you like to see ODMS try out in this area? Please comment...

Barrage XV

2010-11-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

Notice posted by Duncan Adams about the upcoming HAWKS convention -

Historical Miniatures Gaming Convention Saturday January 22th, 2011

To be held Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore.

Sponsored by the Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers

A one day historical miniatures mini-convention in Baltimore Maryland, for all periods and scales.

The convention will run from 9:00 AM till 10:00 PM. Arrive early to enjoy the full day. Setup for 9:00 AM games and for flea market tables will begin at 8:30.

Admission $8 at the door. FREE admission for Children under 13 (with adult)

Vendor / flea market tables are available. ($6.00 for 1/2 day, $10.00 all day plus admission)

Contact: Geoff Graff 410-557-2456 ggraff7@verizon.net
Duncan Adams 410-647-5734 dnbadams@aol.com

For Info: http://www.bucksurdu.com/Barrage/barrage2010.html
Draft PEL is in work now.

Coming from North of Baltimore take I-95 South. About 3 miles below I-695 (the Beltway) at the I-95/I-895 split, get in the RIGHT lanes and take I-895. About 1/2 mile beyond the split take the Moravia Road exit. Turn right onto Moravia Road and go about 0.7 mile to Sinclair Lane. Turn left on Sinclair Lane and go about 1 mile to the school on the left. OR take exit 32 South (Belair Road) off I-695, (the Beltway). This is the exit just West of the I-95/I-695 intersection. Go about 3.5 miles to Moravia Road. Turn left on Moravia, and about 1 mile later right on Sinclair lane. Again, about 1 mile to the school on the left.

From South of Baltimore, take I-95 through the Fort McHenry tunnel. About 3 miles later take the Moravia Road exit. bout 2 miles later turn left onto Sinclair Lane, and again about 1 mile to the school, on the left.

Ammunition Rules for Wings of War

2010-11-15T09:08:00.000-05:00

The following great article is from John Snelling . . .

Tried ammo restrictions with WoW Thursday and really enjoyed it. It also evens out 2 seaters vs the single seat fighters. Here is the rules.
Try them I think you will like them.

These rules are now standard in my games. You will need a six-sided die and pencil and a pad of paper to record the following; one person on each team can record the ammo counts of a dozen aircraft with ease.

Firing Guns
Regarding guns and bullets, historically the Lewis gun had a 97-round magazine (we'll say 100) while the Spandau had 500 and the others (ie Vickers, Schwarzlose 400). Parabellum treated same as Lewis. Rates of Fire for each gun were close so this factor becomes negligable. Thus the ammo counts for each gun are:
- Spandau 25
- Vickers 20
- Schwartlose 15
- Lewis 5
A long range shot use 2 ammo counts, short range uses 1 ammo counts. Thus the Lewis can only fire three times (2.5 rounded up) at long range, or 5 times at short range, or a combination. Once ammo is depleted it is gone, but Lewis and Parabellum guns can reload. Each pilot has an initial load plus 2 reloads (15 counts); rear gunner has initial plus 4 reloads.

Reloading and Unjamming
Green jam card jams one gun (ie half of a twin-barrelled Spandau); red card jams all firing guns. A partially jammed Spandau (or Vickers or SE5a mixed weaponry) can still fire, but as "B" damage instead of "A" damage. Gun jam counter for a pilot is only removed if:
- plane is not on fire
- plane flies straight maneouver that is not part of immelman or overdive
- pilot not involved in shooting or reloading
Reloading follows similar procedure with respect to plane on fire and plane flying a true straight maneouver. Only one barrel/gun can be unjammed at a time. If the SE5a Vickers/Lewis gun suffers a partial jam, roll the 1D6 die: 1-3 = Lewis; 4-6 = Vickers.

Sounds complicated, but it's not.

On top of this, I add historical airframe realism:
- Nieuport 11 and Fokker A.III receive four gun jam counters instead of three (no Foster or other mount to help pilot access gun)
- Schwarzlose equipped Albatross D.III and Aviatik D.1 receive one permanently jammed barrel if a red gun jam card is drawn, non-Schwarzlose planes are not affected (I have another chart showing aircraft availability and selection)
- Pflaz D.III cannot unjam (it couldn't due to pilot inaccessibility; but problem was rectified with D.IIIa variant)
- Albatross D.V and D.Va only get 2 jam counters - these aircraft had a forced trim on the control stick which centered it, arguably making it easier for a pilot to focus attention on other matters (such as unjamming)

Williamsburg Muster 2011 - Feb 4-6

2010-11-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

Coming Up in February will be our club's third Winter convention!

If you haven't already done so - stop by the website and register to run a game!

The crowd at our shows come to play games. The more the better, and there is no better way to try out a new idea, ruleset or army. And you'll make some more friends in the Wargaming world.

So, support ODMS by supporting the convention - and the best way to do that is to run and play games. See you in February!

Chuck

Siege of Augusta

2010-09-17T12:10:00.002-04:00

Siege of Augusta in Full Gear! Jan 21-23 2011

See our website here...
http://www.siegeofaugusta.com/cgi/index.php
Plan now to attend SOA XX in Augusta GA.

While many great things have been said about the Siege of Augusta, Phil Viverito, of Classical Hack fame and frequent attendee (who is often the person who drives the farthest to attend the Siege), has summed it up best as to what makes a convention great and why The Siege of Augusta falls into that category:

"There are many conventions all over the United States and Canada, we know we go to many of them and they are all nothing short of good. A good convention is a first and foremost a gathering place. Second it is a place to mingle with old friends and new. Then too it is an agora where you can make those important purchases and find out what is new and exciting. One thing for sure it is not size-quality always beats quantity. Other important things that make a good con include nice accommodations, easy access to and from the event and local places of interest and need. Most importantly it is where attendees simply do their thing: in this case GAME! So a good con offers a fine time, an equally fine place to gather and finally dissolving into good memories.

What Makes a GREAT Convention?

While we have found the 9 conventions we attend to always fulfill our expectations of a good and fine time, there is often the convention event that goes beyond being either of these two things. A GREAT convention is somehow different. It in some way leaves cleaner and sharper images of the convention experience. Perhaps there is no way to express it in words but the memories remain more intense. For us The Siege of Augusta is one of those GREAT conventions. Why? Perhaps it is the weather or the lovely town with its sights and sounds. It is certainly the people that attend. Heck that is a given; besides we would not even come if it was not for the people we see. Whatever the criteria may or may not be for some unexplainable reason, The Siege of Augusta fulfills our ideas and ideals of what a Great Convention is." Phil Viverito, December 1999. (emphasis added).

Autumn Wargaming with ODMS

2010-08-30T12:08:00.000-04:00

Upcoming Events -

Now that Guns of August is over, and before we get started in earnest on Williamsburg Muster, the ODMS guys can take a breather and enjoy some good old fashioned, down home, family values wargaming. You know - lots of dice and doom and despair.

The following schedule is a work in progress, but it lets you know what is going on...

Sept 2 -
Sept 9 - Hellenes (Chuck & Wayne),

Warrior (Dave, Cliff, Kai, others welcome) Macedonians v. Athenians (first round in the Phillip Fest)
Sept 16 - C&C:Ancients (Wayne & Chuck - others welcome!)
Sept 23 - Blitzkrieg Commander - WWII (Wayne & Paul),

Day before Southern Front (Sept 24-26), in Raleigh
Sept 30 - Caucasus Campaign (Wayne & Paul)
Oct 7
Oct 14
Oct 21 - BattleLore Epic Agincourt! (Chuck & ??)
Oct 28

Day before Fall In (Oct 29-31), in Lancaster

Please, if you want to run a game, let us know so that you will be sure to have plenty of gamers (and the right gamers, who like your stuff) show up. We have room for some Napoleonics (hint hint) as well as more stuff on WWII and Moderns.

Chuck

Guns of August After Action Review

2010-08-18T15:23:00.002-04:00

The convention was a great success, from the perspective of the staff. I can only hope the gamers felt the same way! (comment about your experience, please!)

On Thursday we got to the hotel (a day before the official start) to meet with the hotel staff and make sure everything was ship-shape. The tables we rent were late getting there, so some of the ODMS guys helped to set them up right, so that everyones games would go off with a minimum of disturbance over the weekend.

After all the setup (and getting the hundreds of sodas and snacks loaded into our Hospitality Room), there was a round of boardgaming in the gaming area (the tables have to be broken in, you know). The Vendors continued arriving all evening, from all over the eastern half of the US, and set up their fantastic wares.

The Thursday night boardgaming was terriffic. I played a really neat game of Reef Encounter (polyps anyone?), and then proceeded to totally Borg out in repeated games of Commands & Colors: Ancients (for those who don't know, Richard Borg is the designer of C&C:A).

The Reef Encounter game was with Anita, Heidi and Jeremy, and was a lot of fun. Jeremy was king Shrimple, getting his prolific shrimp all over the ocean floor, and it turned out that his Parrot Fish ate the most coral.

The C&C:A games were mostly against Wayne, but I also played against John Snelling as well. the battle was the same for each game - the Battle of Leuctra. Every time I played the Theben army, and every time I got the Sacred Band killed off by the Spartans. The first game was the most humiliating, as Wayne's Spartans totally evicerated me in about four turns. I actually won a game or two, but still lost the Sacred Band each and every time. I guess they weren't that Sacred after all.

Friday came, and there were plenty and plenty of miniatures games, as well as a whole lot of board games. I had to leave the convention in the afternoon for a few short hours, but in the evening when I returned, I got to run my "Neil Thomas" rules Napoleonics game. It was an ahistorical scenario - set in 1813 Saxony, with a British force facing off a French force twice its size, trying to buy time for the Prussian command in the area to arrive and help against the French. The British were played by Paul Knight, the Prussians were played by Scott Kidd, and the French were played by two players new to the rules, whom I did not know, but whom were real gentlemen to play with. The game went well, with Paul playing the role of a British commander very well (form a defended and anchored line of Infantry and hold it against repeated French assaults). The Prussians finally arrived, and the French decided that they had enough. My apologies to my players for not providing some really good player aids (the game needed quick-reference sheets).

Saturday came, and during the day all I did was to help out with the convention (spending many hours in the morning working Registration and meeting many of the great gamers who came to play at our show). In the afternoon, I got to spend a few short hours enjoying the hotel swimming pool (highly recommended) with my Daughter and some friends, and spending time talking to new gaming friends as well. Very nice.

Saturday afternoon, our Boardgaming room was a complete hit! It was filled to overflowing with boardgamers playing old and new wargames, and the Euro-games library that we had in the Hospitality Suite was really put to good use, with a bunch of gamers checking things out (most popular - SmallWorld and Steam). Tons of gaming in the Hospitality suite as well - Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, and so on.

On the Wargaming front, everything from the old SPI classic 1918 to the much newer Washington's War were being played. There was also the double blind Axis and Allies game (each player only knew where his own pieces were, not even his allies). Neato.

Napoleon came and visited the convention on Saturday afternoon, and stayed until about 5:00 or so, when he gave an address to the gamers and bid his Adieu. Afterwards, the great Guns of August Raffle took place, and thirty great gaming prizes were raffled off.

Saturday evening brought a new round of gaming for all involved, and I got to run my game of The Sword and the Flame. It was a total fun-fest, with the Anglo-Indian army attempting to rescue a small command of Miners waiting for transport down a river, and suddenly attacked by hostile hill tribesmen. This time, the British and the Indian troops were able to rescue the miners. A few casualties, but it was a successful operation.

Late night Saturday there was more gaming. Card gaming, to be sure. Plagues and Pestilence, which I (miraculously) won. I almost never win those kinds of games, because there is almost always a "pile on chuck" phase, but this time I drank some excellent imported beer, and played it cool, while my fellow Medieval City Builders were busily destroying each other with mongols, vikings and bubonic bonbons.

Sunday came, with more gaming and final shopping in the great Guns of August Hobby Bazaar, and afterward the vendors started breaking up and heading home, and the final games were played, and we all sang hey nonny nonny and bid each faretheewell until the Williamsburg Muster.

It was a great time, and I hope you can make it to our next show!

Napoleon to appear at Guns of August

2010-07-27T20:49:00.000-04:00

It is true! Mark Schneider, in the role of the Emperor Napoleon, will be appearing at Guns of August!

See the press release at The Miniatures Page.

For more information on the convention see the Guns of August website!

Upcoming Events

2010-06-29T15:16:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks - we have a couple of Momentous upcoming events.

First, there is Historicon - July 8-11 in Valley Forge, PA

Second there is CarlCon (this year's theme - "Carl isn't going to be there") - at the hanger July 8-11 (for those not able to make it to Valley Forge)

Third, there is Guns of August - ODMS's first Summertime convention! Go, play games, no snow. August 13-15, Williamsburg VA.

Fourth, there is Southern Front - TSS's headliner convention, the oldest miniatures wargaming convention in America, going back to the Baroque Era. Held September 24-26, in Raleigh NC.

Fifth there is Fall In - HMGS's fall convention, moved this year from Gettysburg to Lancaster. Held October 28-31

As you can see - there are plenty of dates in between for games. Send me your list(s) of games and I'll get them posted. Also, we are looking for victims, er, hosts for games during CarlCon!! Likewise we are looking for more games for Guns of August!!

Chuck (friendly local GM)

Battle of McDowell - June 17 at the Hangar

2010-06-11T11:51:00.000-04:00

June 17 - Battle of McDowell (May 8, 1862)

4 player playtest of my ACW battle for Guns Of August using the Niel Thomas ACW rules (with some modifications). The play area is 4ft square with a lot of elevation changes (see this map):

My elevations and rivers will be all done, but I'd like to get some help from the club to use the available ODMS stock of buildings, bridges, trees, crops, etc to make for some nice eye candy.

In particular, I need to get the town of McDowell to look pretty good for the second scenario, where Jackson attacks the Federals in the town.

Upcoming Games for ODMS at the Hangar!

2010-06-11T11:48:00.000-04:00

Hey Lads - some wargaming is about to commence!!

Okay, here at the upcoming dates -

June 12 - Battle of Oder (15mm Napoleonics, Shako2, Steven Maccabe) - 6pm

June 17 - Battle of McDowell (15mm ACW, Neil Thomas Rules, Cliff Creech) - 6pm

June 19 - Crossing the Hoffhandel (15mm Napoleonics, Shako2, Chuck Turnitsa) - 10am

July 8 - Entering Beulah Land (28mm ACW, Black Powder, Chuck Turnitsa) - 6pm

Upcoming Conventions -

July 8-11 - Carl Con - Our "Consolation" convention - held at the Hangar (for those that can't make it to Valley Forge this year).

July 8-11 - Historicon - in Valley Forge, PA.

August 13-15 - Guns of August - Williamsburg, VA.

September 24-26 - Southern Front, Raleigh, NC.

October 29-31 - Fall In, Lancaster, PA.

We need more events (both at the Hangar, and for Guns of August) - send em in!!

-blog management

AAR - May 27

2010-05-28T14:56:00.004-04:00

A great time playing Shako, hosted by Wayne. See the posting over at Gaming with Chuck.

Also, Cliff had an older (but still looked quite nice) campaign system for ACW gaming, and he was working with Justin on how to modify it to work with the Neil Thomas rules.

Lots of murmurings about the upcoming Guns of August, and also what the club wants to do about attending Southern Front, en masse. We are thinking of running a bunch of games.

While we (those of us playing miniatures) played on in our Shako Game, quite a few of the other guys there played a few rounds of Plague and Pestilence. Always a winner at ODMS.

In all - a great time, although I brought Steam with me, and we never did get to play.

There were, as a consolation prize, some really good meatball sandwiches for everyone.

Chuck

Wargamer Identification Guide

2010-05-23T18:17:00.004-04:00

Okay, everyone in the hobby basically knows that there is a difference between British Wargamers and US Wargamers. Here is the proof . . .

First, we see Edward Woodward (d. in 2009, RIP), a British actor who was also a wargamer. Clean cut, and dapper. Obviously a lover of toy soldiers.

Now we have Carl Sciscio. Sitting at an empty game table, with a gun and a bottle of hooch. Enough said.

June 12 Shako Game - Mac

2010-05-22T12:02:00.002-04:00

Steven MacCabe will be hosting what sounds like a very cool Shako game, on Saturday June 12, at 6PM. Here is his announcement form the mailing list . . .

The Russians have won the costly 1812 Campaign in Russia. January and February has seen the Russians advance into Poland, crossing the Vistula and Niemen River. The Prussians have risen in revolt and are mobilizing their forces. On Februrary 26, the Prussians and Russians sign a peace treaty.

The Russians have suffered greatly, but they are now on the advance and have the advantage of shorter supply lines than the French. The French now occupy a hostile country. To the south, is the Army of Austria, the only army still intact after the Russian Campaign. They are waiting for the moment to switch sides and go against their ancient enemy and revenge for all the many defeats.

The French are led by the very capable Eugene Geauharnais, who has been left in charge in Germany to reorganize and refit the shattered remanants. Even if a former shell of what advanced into Russia, he has done a brilliant job of fufilling his mission. Napoleon sends the order to make a stand at the Oder River and stop the Russian advance. In defiance of the Emperor, on March 1st, Eugene decides to abandon the Oder River and move his forces back to Berlin rather than confront the Russians.

Fiction:
On March 2nd, Eugene realizes the significance of the Oder River. If he can stop or delay the Russians, it will buy more time for Napoleon to mobilize his forces in France. If he can have a decisive victory, it may alter the course of 1813 completely, with Napoleon being able to trounce the Prussians and the Austrians may decide not to go against the French. And of course, there will be forever the name of Eugene Geauharnais in the anals of history.

June 12th at 6PM, we will be running "the Battle of the Oder". A movement to contact as both sides move to control the strategic locations, of the Bridge, the town, and the summit. Will you be the Russian commander that will push aside the French forces and speed up the liberation of Germany or will you be the French commander, proving your worth as the more capable commander, yet not really accomplishing anything of true strategic importance? Or will you be the French commander that brings about the decisive victory that France so desperatly needs?

Who will you be?

Hope to see you on the 12th. This will be a $5 event at the Hanger...

Further, he posted some info about the OB and the scenario. Here it is:

OOB will be out of the Shako Book for 1813 with one bonus selection. Very large fight. Multiple divisions coming in at different times based on Order of March.

I have built a "reserve chart" to determine what turn units are coming in.

Speed Circuit - May 20

2010-05-19T11:30:00.002-04:00

Special Notice from Racemaster Wayne about the Speed Circuit games on May 20 (at the Hangar)

Up to 8 Drivers; 1 warm-up race (1 lap, to learn/refresh memories);

3 races (2 laps each):
1. The Grand Prix of Ipsus,
2. The Grand Prix of Lützen,
3. The Grand Prix of Uranus (don't get excited Paul, it's named after Zhukov's Operation Uranus!).

Points for finishing each race, as per the current F1 Points System:

1st: 25 points
2nd: 18 points
3rd: 15 points
4th: 12 points
5th: 10 points
6th: 8 points
7th: 6 points
8th: 4 points

The driver with the most points after all 3 races wins the season;
Prize? Maybe : )

Slideshow of our intro to the game a few weeks ago

Cars roll off at 6:39 (Special Time for the staff of Gaming with Chuck, think 6:03!)

More Info about D-Day Game (June 5, 2010)

2010-05-17T09:14:00.003-04:00

Hi this is Joseph Berry, Gamemaster for this years D-DAY game.

This game will be held on June 5th the first Saturday in June, at the Hangar (see the ODMS club page for directions). This is are 3rd Annual D-day Game and the Germans have won two years in a row.

It is time for the Allied forces to actually win, hopefully. I have already quite a few people signed up.

There are only 3 German spots left open and 1 British spot, then we are full.

The people I have signed up are.

Utah Beach (Americans- John Callahan Jr. and his assistant)
Ste. Marie-du-mont (Americans- Joseph Berry) (Germans- Jimi)
Ste Mere Eglise (Americans- John Callahan Sr. and Tom) (Germans- John Pate)
Pointe Du Hoc (Americans- David Dietrich)
Pegasus Bridge (Germans- Dean)

I need a German player to defend Utah beach;
I need a German player to defend Pointe Du Hoc;
I need a German player in Ste Mere Eglise;
and I need a British player to assault Pegasus Bridge.

Contact me if you wish to play, there are not a lot of spots open.

The Books that will be used in this D-Day game are D-Minus 1, Bloody Omaha, D-Day and Festung Europa

In this D-Day game there are no tank companies at all. All infantry companies with tank support that’s it.

I will be sending out further details at a later date.

Thanks Joseph strike23462@cox.net

AAR - Thursday May 6

2010-05-08T15:25:00.002-04:00

This was a great night at the Hangar for ODMS.

Two main games were played, at least while this reporter was still there.

First was the Spanish American War miniatures game. Six players and a referee, having fun with 15mm Spanish-American figures (the old Richard Houston collection, re-released late last year by The Virtual Armchair General). Earlier posts on that game are located here, here and here. Pictures from the game are here. On the Spanish side, the players were Justin Grabowski (C-in-C), David Dietrich, and John Dent. On the US side, the players were Carl Sciscio, Kai Weaver (C-in-C), and Eric Terry. The Spanish were defending a walled town at the top of a hill. The rules were tried out for the first time, and could use a little polish.

The second game played was Horus Heresy, by Ken Whitehurst and Scott Kidd.

More on these later, as well as photos.

Spanish American War 15mm - Thursday, May 6

2010-05-05T10:35:00.005-04:00

Scenario: La Colina Verde (fictional)
Rules: "A Splendid Little War" - homebrew by Chuck Turnitsa
Scale: 15mm
Period: Spanish American War

On the Spain-held island of San Balkano, in the Caribbean, the ring of hills around the Spanish capitol city of Puerto Gris is held by an assortment of Spanish troops from the Spanish Army, the Spanish Foreign Legion, and even Spanish Sailors from the port. The American division under General Rider has decided to break through on a gentle slope known as Green Hill (Colina Verde) against a couple of Spanish held towns. Will the advantage of smokeless powder help the Spanish? Will the elite US Colored troops break through the Spanish defenses? Can the dynamite gun provide all the excitement of a loose meat-log in a convention hotel room?

Here is a map (with the rough location of the Spanish brigades shown in Red, and the US brigades shown in Blue).

The rules are a modification of Chuck's Russo-Japanese war rules. The major difference (other than for some weapons and tactics of the SAW that differ from the RJW) will be in unit activation. A card for a brigade, draw cards. One brigade from each side gets a bonus move each turn. Should make the game fluid.

Come on Thursday, May 6, and give the game a try.

Chuck (referee)

Swap Meet - a great success!

2010-05-02T16:39:00.003-04:00

Lots of guys showed up at the ODMS swap meet on May 1, at the Hangar. There were lots of things for sale, including toy soldiers, books, games and loads of accessories. No fresh vegetables were available, however, some members of the club brought close to a dozen boxes of donuts, and lots of goodies were cooked on the grill (burgers, hot dogs, etc).

A lot about the Guns of August was discussed, and lots of the guys attending mentioned that they would be either (1) running games, or (2) helping with the staffing of the convention. We need both, but more games are always welcomed!

Other than a lovely and relaxing day spent outside in the shade, talking wargaming and other fun stuff, the evening drew to a close around dinner time with a hand of Naval War. Byron won, probably because he is a world famous wargame designer, and because he brought some watermelon soaked in coconut rum.

A great day, and hopefully we'll have many more at Carl's Place.

-ODMS Social Correspondent

Community Connection

2010-04-27T11:33:00.005-04:00

Our club participated in the very nicely run Hunt for Hampton History - a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Hampton, and other settlement of our local area here in Virginia.

We set up some games - American War of Independence and American Civil War - and then played these out in public, as demonstrations. Whenever someone showed interest in the game and how it worked, we tried to get them to sit in and play one of the commands for a few turns. There were a good number of kids who played, and I think that we made a good impression on the community about wargaming.

It was a real fun time, and I would like to do more. If you think this is a good idea, leave some comments below.

May 8 - Battle Hymn (Richmond)

2010-04-27T11:29:00.003-04:00

Here is an announcement from Scott Craig (coordinator)

It's time once again for Battle Hymn, a friendly local gaming convention taking place on Saturday May 8, 2010 here near Richmond, Virginia!

This year, the Richmond Leisure Society has combined forces with the Virginia Aviation Museum to put on quite a show. We're especially excited about this partnership. Only at the Virginia Aviation Museum can you get up close and personal with an actual Great War fighter, an SR-71 Blackbird, a Huey Slick, an F-14 Tomcat and William Randolph Hearst's personal air-limo!

The central hall of the museum has been given over to gaming, and several secondary areas have been made available for our use.

The Museum opens at 9:30 and closes at 5:00, so we have uninterrupted time in between.

Besides our miniatures and board gaming, attractions include a mini movie theater showing the Soviet classic "Liberation" and other films, a state of the art flight simulator, and all of the outstanding exhibits that are part of the museum! A guided tour of the exhibits will be given during the break in gaming as well.

Admission is $6 USD per adult, $5 USD per child under 18. Seniors and active military enjoy reduced rates.

Here is a list of the games being hosted this year.

Flames of War miniatures game Demo Table
Flames of War Mega Game
Colonial Adventures miniatures game
Warhammer Legends of the Old West
Warhammer Fantasy Battles Demo
Warhammer 40K Apocalypse Battle
Zap! boardgame tournament
Lycanthropes in Lorraine Weird War II
Tin Cans and Greyhounds WWII naval game
Imperial boardgame
Steam Over Holland railroad game
Wings of War WWI boardgame
Racing boardgames
Canvas Eagles miniatures game
Junior Eagles WWI Aerial Combat miniatures game
Advanced Civilization boardgame
Confrontation v3.5 miniatures game
Black Powder American Revolution miniatures game
Miniatures Sculpting Demo by Jared Anderson
Magic: The Gathering tournament
Open miniatures gaming tables
Open board gaming tables

For information about the Virginia Aviation Museum, including driving directions:

vam.smv.org

For information about Battle Hymn, including updates:

Myspace: myspace.com/battlehymn

or

Facebook: link

Scott Craig
Battle Hymn Events Coordinator
The Richmond Leisure Society

May 1 - Swap Meet and Game Day at the Hangar

2010-04-26T14:04:00.000-04:00

Hello All - just a reminder about an upcoming Wargaming Event in Hampton Virginia.

There will be a swap meet, game day, and cookout at The Hangar (Carl Sciscio's place) in Hampton on May 1. There will be tables available for open gaming, there will be some games planned (WWII, Russian Civil War, Boardgames), and of course the swap meet. Bring what you like to sell or trade, and come ready to trade or buy! Also there will be a cookout - so be sure to bring something to share with everyone, and join in for the food.

ODMS Game Day/Swap Meet
The Hangar (directions at http://www.odms-club.com/)
May 1 - 10:00am EDT

Thanks to all of ODMS and Carl Sciscio

AAR - Shako II, April 17 - at the Hangar

2010-04-19T23:33:00.003-04:00

Here are some observations on the game from Steve McCabe - a game run by Scott Kidd!

I wanted to say great game and thanks for putting it on Saturday night. Two weeks in a row of Shako... getting spoiled! The French under Crouch, John, and Carl pretty much crushed the Russian / Prussian alliance. Not that we didn't do our fair share of damage, but I think the final point spread was 2 points for the alliance and almost 5 for the French.

I figured I could go over some observations here for a pick-up game:

1) They are big!

2) Not a lot of Cavalry. 4 or 5 regiments out of 31-40 line units.

3) Objectives: I think the objectives need to be more spread out. A town with two VPs, created both a bottleneck and a very strong position with woodline to both sides of it. My suggestions are:
a)two VPs spread out seperated by at least 24" so that there are not the bottle necks.
OR
b)Use no strategic VPs and instead base it on the destruction of the enemy army, the typical 1 point per division destroyed.

4) Movement to Contact. I think an interesting idea to play is that there is no "attacker and defender", instead there are two objectives more or less in the middle of the board. That way, there is no 20% additional, and both sides would have to think of a plan to not only take the objectives, but how to hold them.

5) Reserves: March to the sound of the guns. Instead of the 1 division in reserve like we did this time. The commander gets to decide maybe one or two divisions that will be the vanguard. Arrange the divisions in their "marching order" And roll to see which turn the actually come in on. The Prussian/Russian alliance had 5 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry division. These were no midget divisions, but big ones. Phasing might make the board a little more manageable, let combat take place, and also make the positions much more tenable. The Russian Reserve division came in at the end of turn 3. Never used. The French reserve division came in at the end of turn 4. It was finally used during turn 9+ and only as the capacity to add depth to the front line troops. Wonder if the French couldn't form a complete line. Think how worried they would be about getting those reserves in.

6: Bonus Selection. If we play with notes 4 & 5 above, we could in fact also make room for possibly one bonus selection, especially if you see Note 2, not a lot of cavalry!

Just some observations.

Anyway, great game Scott and thanks for being brave enough to run the first pick-up game. I like historical scenarios better throwing in the odd mix of pick-up games I think that is a great way to spice things up.

La Colina Verde - Spanish American War (May 6)

2010-04-17T00:13:00.007-04:00

On May 6, Chuck will be running a Spanish-American War game. Plenty of room for commanders, just drop him an email through the ODMS mailing list. The scenario will be called "La Colina Verde" and will take place in San Balkano (my fictional version of Cuba, for wargaming).

The Spanish hold the villa at the top of Colina Verde, and have heavy reinforcements moving through the area to the river docks, but they Americans have the hill surrounded. Can the Spanish sally down the hill and clear the way for their reinforcement column? Or will the US Forces prove too tough for the Spanish and their "Havana Rifle" allies? (pictured below - American forces attempting to force the Spanish Position)

A fascinating conflict, and (as far as I know) a new one for ODMS. These will be new rules ("A Splendid Little War"), but will be based on "Forward for the Czar" (my Russo-Japanese Rules).

Some good links on the Spanish-American War are

Crucible of Empire - the PBS show
and related links.
War in Cuba - maps, OOB and history articles

Upcoming Schedule for ODMS

2010-04-17T00:08:00.001-04:00

April 22 - Across Eight Centuries - Medieval Rules from Wayne

April 24-25 - Tank Shock (Danville VA)

May 1 - Swap Meet, Cook Out, Game Day - At the Hangar!
Includes Go for Broke - 28mm WWII (Justin)

May 6 - La Colina Verde - 15mm Spanish-American War (Chuck)

May 8 - Battle of Hagelberg - 15mm Napoleonics (Scott)

May 20 - Speed Circuit - Wayne

May 27 - Speed Circuit - Wayne

June 5 - Flames of War - Joseph

June 19 - Crossing the Hoffhandel - 15mm Napoleonics (Chuck)

July 8 - Into Beulah Land - ACW 25mm (Chuck)

August 13-15 - Guns of August

May 8 - Shako II Battle at the Hangar

2010-04-16T11:44:00.007-04:00

May 8th Shako game, Battle of Hagelberg
10:00am-2:00pm

Hosted by Scott Kidd

Here are some cool weblinks to find out about the battle:

Great History here.
Great Gaming files here.

April 10 - AAR - Shako Battle

2010-04-10T16:23:00.007-04:00

The battle of Tudela (links here, here, here and here) was fought today at the Hangar, put on by Mancave Productions (John and Steve).

It was a great time. The Spanish finally managed to pull off a victory, but it was real close.

Here is an excellent AAR written by Steve (one of the Referee staff, and also a Spanish commander) . . .

I wanted to that all for joining in the battle this weekend. We had a tough fight with Carl, Eric, Cliff, and John as the French and Scott, Justin, Chuck, and myself as the Spanish.

I believe this was the largest or very close the largest engagement we have played (number of figures involved) to date. The objectives were of course the elimination of the enemy and the occupation of the the little farming community of Tudela.

The Spanish held some strong defensive positions with a stream, and then hill positions, but most of the center and left flank forces were made up of Second Rate with a small core of regular (with one elite). The right flank was made up mostly of unreliable with some regular to boost it. There was a reserve cavalry force made up of Second Rate (SR) and Unreliable Cavalry with one regiment of regular.

The French were assaulting with 3 divisions of regular infantry, and one division of the Elite Vistula Legion (Poles). In support were a cavalry division the was lead by a currasier. The French opted to do the flank march with the Vistula Legion, which took them out for almost half the game, but when they came on, they were like a steam roller.

I personally believe the decisive moment of the game came when the French cavalry, instead of assaulting the defending infantry across the stream, the launched an attack between the two hills of the center and right flank of the Spanish. A great tactical move, unfortunately, both line units passed their hasty square and halted and then eventually destroyed the cavalry division. It was the dice roll for the hasty square, for if the cavalry got through, the right flank and center would have been in a hard fight to survive.

The French forces under Carl on the French right flank battled at the Spanish left flank under Scott. Carl was like a hammer on an anvil, and even though the whole affair was bloody and costly for the French, the Spanish could not hold in the end and the Spanish left flank finally had enough and decided a Siesta was more enjoyable to fighting the French.

The smaller French division on the left flank under Cliff had the opposite effect, causing heavy casualties on my forces, but the larger Spanish division was able to outlast and eventually destroy the smaller force. Cliff's persistence though diverted the Spanish from the real threat though, which was the flanking force under John, the Elite Vistula. When they came on, the Spanish with one of their best, a line unit held the town, confident that the town would be safe. Instead, the town was not even road bump, as the Vistula Legion not only took the town, but then started playing havoc in the rear of the Spanish right flank and center.

The center for the Spanish seemed secure for a long time until the French reserve division came in under Eric. Eric's French initially played havoc on Justin's Second rate infantry at the creek, but then Justin reinforced the line, and with the help of the Spanish Cavalry Division eventually the French Center was destroyed. The Spanish Cavalry then tried to show initiative and turn to the left flank, but alas one victory (and the only victory for the Spanish cavalry to date) was more than enough. Elated with victory the cavalry stood fast and let the French occupy the Spanish left flank.

I thought this was a great fight. Very bloody and could have gone either way. I still believe the decisive moment was the hasty square, because if the Spanish failed there, the French would have in all honestly vaporized my division.

The final score was:

French (1 enemy division destroyed and occupation of Tudela): 2 Victory points

Spanish (3 enemy divisions destroyed): 3 Victory points.

Once again, thanks for everyone joining.

So when is the next fight? Scott, I will send you my school schedule. Hopefully you can schedule it on a weekend I am not at school as I would like to do another game of Shako. If not, I understand.

French/Polish side was commanded by John, Cliff, Eric and Carl.

Spanish side was commanded by Steve, Justin, Scott and Chuck.

The only thing that was missing, was the theme song of the Spanish side of the battle (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). So here it is.

April 8 AAR - Speed Circuit

2010-04-09T11:23:00.003-04:00

Wayne hosted a half dozen Speed Circuit games at the Hangar last night, and they were all fun.

The best match was one where Carl and Oscar raced out in front of everyone else, and were battling pretty close right up until the crossing of the line by Carl!

Great fun.

Tank Shock - April 24/25

2010-04-05T10:56:00.003-04:00

Mini-Con hosted by Triangle Simulation Society in Danville Virginia.

Tanks, Miniatures, Gaming - all under one roof.

Info on the convention (and registration rates, which look to be $12 per day at the door) are at Tank Shock Website.

Information about the American Armored Foundation Tank Museum in Danville Virginia is located at the AAF Tank Museum Website.

Information on TSS (who are a bunch of great guys, putting on two full sized conventions, a games day, and Tank Shock) is located at the Triangle Simulation Website.

It would be great if some ODMSers went to Tank Shock to play FOW or whatever.

June 5 - Big FoW D-Day battle at the Hangar

2010-04-02T11:28:00.003-04:00

Joseph Berry is going to host a large (multiple player, multiple table) game of Flames of War at the Hangar on June 5.

The game will feature a number of players, representing German, US, and British commands. Write to Joseph at strike23462@yahoo.com for details about participating.

If you can't play, come and watch!

Battle of Tudela - Shako II - April 10

2010-03-19T14:18:00.001-04:00

The Battle of Tudela will be Coming Soon to the Hangar (April 10)

This is a fight between 19,000 Spanish, and 30,000 French and Polish troops. Not surprising, the French/Polish alliance won, and it was a bloody slaughter! However, not all is lost, and it is a decent battle to wargame!

Another fine ManCave gaming production (John and Steven McCabe)!

The battle of Tudela, in 15mm at Carl's joint.

See you there!
Chuck

Historicon 2010 in Valley Forge!

2010-03-15T23:50:00.003-04:00

The following is the official press release for this years Historicon location!
HISTORICON 2010 LOCATION

HISTORICON July 8-11, 2010 will take place at the Valley Forge Convention Center located in historic Valley Forge, PA. http://www.vfconventioncenter.com/

Here is a snapshot of what attendees can expect for HISTORICON 2010

* 108,000+ Square Feet of Historical Miniature Gaming
* 2,500 FREE Parking Spaces
* 488 hotel rooms on-site - HMGS special rates Single, Double, Triple, Quad/$109.00, Suites/$124.00 (plus Tax)
* Additional Hotels and Food nearby
* Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) approximately 45 minutes (shuttles available) to the VFCC
* Budget Car Rental onsite no need to rent car for full time or pay 1 way rental fees

For GMs/Gamers “

* Same great convention, cozy new location "no big box" feel
* Easy load in/out access to gaming areas
* 24 hour gaming
* Several Bars, Restaurants and Food Concessions onsite.
* Bigger Vendor Hall, better flea market, best historical gaming

For the History

* Valley Forge National Park - http://www.nps.gov/vafo/index.htm
* Battleship New Jersey - http://www.battleshipnewjersey.org/
* Historic Philadelphia - http://www.gophila.com/C/Historic_Philadelphia/624.html

For the Family -

* Famed King of Prussia Mall - http://www.kingofprussiamall.com/
* Philadelphia Premium Outlets - http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=75

Nearby -

o Adventure Aquarium, Camden, NJ - http://www.adventureaquarium.com/
o Philadelphia Museum of Art - http://www.philamuseum.org/
o Please Touch Museum - http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/
o The Franklin Institute - http://www2.fi.edu/
* And much more - http://www.vfconventioncenter.com/local_attractions.htm

For Vendors

* Non-Union Facility
* Good access to load/unload areas
* Working Air-conditioning and plumbing
* Drayage Services Available

We will continue to post further separate releases and updates for the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society membership, and to the gaming community as soon as additional details are confirmed.

Sincerely,

The HMGS Board of Directors

Frank Preziosa
Michelle Preziosa
Orest Swystun
Dudley Garidel
Jim Petrie
Heather Blush
Pete Panzeri

Operation Market Garden - March 27, 2010

2010-02-23T00:37:00.002-05:00

Joseph and Ken need 10 people who wanna play in an "Operation Market Garden" scenario. 5 for the Germans and 5 for the Allies. Each person will need a 2000pt army in order to play.

Here is the list of armies people can sign up for that way they know whether or not they have the necessary troops to play

Allies
101st airborne
82nd airborne
British 1st airborne
Polish 1st Independent para brigade or British Glider Company
Guards Armoured Div British with infantry for support

Axis
LXXXVIII Corps Infantry divisions
Fallschirmjaeger 6th regiment
Fallschirmjaeger regiment
II SS Panzer Corps
712th Infantry division

The game will be once again on MARCH 27, 2010 STARTING AT 10:00AM

At the Hangar!

Flames of War tournament - Fort Lee - Jan 16

2010-01-12T12:54:00.001-05:00

Hello FoWarriors;

The invasion of France and the Low Countries will happen this Saturday 16 Jan 2010. As a added special event a guide tour of 1940era AFVs will be included.

The 5th Annual FoW day at the US Army Women's Museum, FT Lee, VA will kick off at 0900-1800 with 24 players committed to fight; 12 Germans (5ea INF, 4ea Armor, 1ea Cav, 1ea FJ) will face off against French forces(4ea Inf, 2ea Ar) and the BEF (2ea Inf, 1ea Motor Inf, 2ea Armor)

Scenarios include:1ea River Crossing, Death from Above, Roadblock Free for All, City Fight, Encounter, Ar encounter, Fight Withdrawal, 3ea No Retreat, 2ea Breakthrough

Players will each play two rounds.

Spectators and fans of EW are welcome to come visit the museums at FT Lee (Quartermaster and Women's) and watch the tournament in play. Vote for the best painted army and talk Early War.

Between game rounds there will also be a guided tour of the 1940 ear tanks being stored at FT Lee in prep of the Ordnance Museums move in 2011.

This is a guided tour only so you will need to be at the US Army Women's Museum NLT 1200 noon to participate!

All visitors to FT Lee will need a photo ID to enter the base. Vehicle drivers will also need a valid Dr Lic, Veh Registration and Proof of Insurance.

Any questions please contact Ron Bingham at (804)734-4411

AAR - Shako II - December 26, 2009

2010-01-06T15:08:00.004-05:00

The day after Christmas saw a most excellent game of Shako II being played at the Hangar.

It was a Peninsula battle, with the French trying to oust the Spanish.

The Spanish forces were divided into three forces. The first, played by Me (chuck) was defending a walled town and a bridge approaching the main gate. I had a pile of second rate (and worse) infantry and a heavy gun battery defending from (mostly) behind the walls.

The other two forces (commanded by Steve M. and Cliff) were relief commands that would enter the game later on.

Against the Spanish was a respectable French column, played by Carl, Eric and John M. They came up and got close to the town, to be pummeled by the Spanish artillery and some infantry fire, but eventually overwhelmed the valiant defense put up by Don Turnitsa. French Marshal McCabe stormed the bridge and breached the Spanish defenses a few turns after the Spanish Relief forces arrived and began harassing the other elements in the French Column.

I (personally) wasn't there to see the end of the fight, but it is fun to play with lesser quality troops sometimes. Not every battle can be a cosmic struggle for truth and justice between the Old Guard and the Black Watch. You gotta have fun, and that is what this splendid little Christmas scenario from the McCabe brothers was all about.

Thanks for the chance to play, and thanks for helping to increase the value of being a gamer in ODMS.

Williamsburg Muster - 1 Month Away!!

2010-01-06T14:54:00.002-05:00

1 Month Away until the second convention hosted by ODMS.

We have a good number of games already registered as of writing this posting (Jan 6), and expect more over the next few weeks. This looks like it will be a great show!

Chuck
http://www.odms-club.com/convention/

A Saturday in November

2009-11-14T23:21:00.004-05:00

Okay, so Fall In was a great success for all the ODMS guys who went (Carl and Jim did good in the Dealer's hall; John and Paul did good in the flea market; Lots of good games played by everyone else; Rob bought drinks for the guys in the bar).

This weekend (following a terrible storm - wind, rain, flooding) we played an 1809 game using Shako II rules over at Carl's place. It was a lot of fun.

Austrians vs. Polish. Austrians (John M., James, and Carl) were assaulting across a river against a poorly defended Polish position. Polish (Steven M., Chuck, Erik) were defending against a marshy river crossing, holding on for 7 turns until the Lancers would show up.

Against the common wisdom of the scenario. the Polish did REALLY quite good early on (their artillery was doing well, and the forlorn hope division that Erik commanded across the river did excellent). By the time the Lancers arrived at the battlefield, it was almost all over for the poor Austrians.

This one was so weird (great dice for the Polish, again and again; poor dice for the Austrians) that it almost demands a replay.

Here is a picture of the Shot Up Austrians, beginning to cross the only bridge over the marshy (but fordable) river.

AAR - October 29 - the Hangar

2009-10-30T00:52:00.004-04:00

Great meeting of the club members tonight. There were a couple of games going on - several DBA games - Dave v. Wayne, and Dave v. Chuck. Both matchups were Carthaginians v. Camillan Romans. Dave played the Romans in the first game, losing to Wayne, and he played Dread Carthago in the second game, and beat Chuck.

The highlight game of the night seemed to be the great looking Cold War Commander game between Scott and Carl. US vs. Soviets. M1A1 Abrams vs. T80s. Bradleys, Super-Cobras, Soviet Artillery with Thermobaric rounds. All the cool modern toys. Looked like a great scenario. This modern stuff is infectious.

Finally, there was some Settlers of Catan being played after. Sandy won the first game (edging out Erik, Dave and Chuck), and Erik won the second game (squashing Sandy, Oscar and Chuck).

Good times, sorry for all those who weren't there.

Next week is Fall In (huzzah), and the week after we will be back to more gaming!

AAR - October 22 - Cold War Commander

2009-10-23T13:37:00.002-04:00

Scott and I played a game of Cold War Commander last night, with 2000 point armies from the Arab-Isreali Wars. We chose the Yom Kippur war (1973) as our topic. Airpower and AA units were off the list.

The Israeli force I put together looked like this:
1x CO (command 10)
2x HQ (command 9)
1x FAO (command 7)
1x Recce Infantry Scouts

1xAssault Armor Platoon - 2xM-60 Magach tanks, and 1xM113 APC (with two squads of infantry, armed with IATW)

1xAssault Armor Platoon - 2xCenturion Sh'ot tanks, and 1xM113 APC (with two squads of infantry, armed with IATW)

1xMech Infantry Platoon - 3xM113 APC (with two squads of infantry, armed with IATW; 1x infantry 81mm mortar; 1x infantry MAPATS ATGW; 2x infantry HMG teams)

1xReserve Infantry Ambush - three squads of infantry, armed with IATW

2xOffboard L-33 155mm howitzers

The Arab force (a Syrian force) against us was armed with T55s and T62s, but had more of them than our Centurions and M-60s. Their infantry seemed to be in BMPs and they were also supported by BRDMs.

Joining me on the Israeli side were Ken Whitehurst and John Callahan, each commanding one of the assault armor platoons.

Joining Scott on the Arab side was David Dietrich.

The game was a lot of fun, although it dragged for a while. The Israeli artillery was pretty successful at counter-battery fire. We won, but that just means it is time for a rematch (soon).

Services for Rich Villella

2009-10-06T11:50:00.002-04:00

A while back, a good friend of ours, and a member of the local wargaming community passed away. There is a eulogy at Chuck's blog remembering Rich Villella.

For ODMS members who remember Rich Villella - this was forwarded by James Curtis -

A memorial service will be held in honor of Richard S. Villella on Friday, October 16, 2009 at 5:30 PM at the Bucktrout Funeral Home on Ironbound Road in Williamsburg . Richard passed away unexpectedly August 21, 2009 at his home. He was 59 years old and worked for Colonial Williamsburg for 28 years as a human resources generalist. Richard will be remembered for his love of family and friends, travel and history. Friends and colleagues are invited to join his family at the memorial.

Location & time:
Bucktrout of Williamsburg
4124 Ironbound RD
16 Oct 09 5:30 PM

Directions from Hampton:
I-64W exit 242B to 199
199 take Monticello exit.
veer right on to Monticello Ave
first traffic light take a right on to Ironbound RD
Follow to next light: located on the right

Dress: civilian casual; any military uniform; or Colonial Williamsburg in costume if coming from work.

Funeral Home URL:
http://www.bucktroutfuneralhome.net/

If you have any questions, please contact me at 757-639-2121

James Curtis

View Larger Map

My Galley Sally - Photo Report

2009-10-05T11:01:00.002-04:00

Photos from the recent (Sept 24) ancient naval battle, hosted by Dave and using the "My Galley Sally" rules, have been posted online at:

Pictures!

AAR - Successor Campaign

2009-10-04T00:21:00.004-04:00

We played Wayne's excellent home-made Successor campaign this past Thursday (Oct 1).

The game featured four players - Dave, John, Wayne, and myself. Wayne also served as mentor, tutor, girl-guide, and boy scout to us all as we learned his new system.

The system is a bit more involved (in a very good way) than most of the mini-campaigns that we have tried in the past. It all worked together, however, very well and produced a number of battles (which is the point).

We used a random army system where every army that engaged had its composition randomly determined each battle season (from a list of Successor armies, from the DBA rulebook).

The game featured some naval action (in an abstracted, but satisfying, manner).

The components were very skillfully done by Wayne, and are very interesting in themselves.

I must admit that it was fun to be on the winning side (Team Blue, which consisted of myself and John, vs. Team Red, which was Dave and Wayne). And that was with me fighting my first battle using the Arkansas Chug-a-Bug of Successor armies (II/18c - Macedonian Early Successor, Kassandros). That army has 4 pike, but gets rewarded by having 4 aux (whoopie). Still, it did well enough against Wayne's army (which I don't recall, but had to be either Seleucid II/19a or Ptolemaic II/20a), even though he had 2 Knights and 1 Light Horse, to my 1 Knight and 1 Cav. Very interesting fight. My elephant beat a unit of his auxilia which were backed by psiloi. Splat!

See some of the action in these great photos.

Great stuff - I can't wait for our next DBA night, which will be October 29.

-Chuck (roving reporter of the ODMS wargaming scene)

Upcoming Schedule - October

2009-10-04T00:13:00.001-04:00

Upcoming Events at the Hangar (and ODMS related Conventions)

Oct 8 - Go for Broke (Pacific) 28mm - Cliff and Justin

Oct 8 - Cold War Commander - 6mm - Scott and Chuck

Oct 9-11 - Southern Front website

Oct 15 - ??

Oct 17-18 - Military History Weekend (Williamsburg) flyer

Oct 22 - 1/285th scale Arab-Israeli Wars scenario for Cold War Commander (org. by Wayne, Chuck, others)

Oct 29 - DBA free for all (Org by Wayne and John Dent) 15mm

Nov 6-8 - Fall In! (Gettysburg) website

Go for Broke - Pacific

2009-09-25T14:59:00.001-04:00

Cliff is announcing the following game - at the Hangar!

Oct 15 (Thursday) - WW2 Pacific in 28mm (USMC vs. Japanese SNLF), using Go For Broke! rules.

USMC attacking with objective to destroy Japanese field gun and occupy Japanese position.

USMC OOB:
Platoon HQ (with spotter), 3 rifle squads, offboard mortar support.

Japanese SNLF:
Platoon HQ, 70mm field gun, mortar squad, 2 rifle squads.

WAB Punic Wars - Sept 10 2009 AAR

2009-09-11T19:47:00.020-04:00

This week, at the ODMS meeting at the Hangar, we played a game of Warhammer Ancient Battles, modeled (loosely) after the great and terrible conflicts of the Punic Wars (such as the battles of Trebbia, Lake Trasimene, Cannae, or later, Zama). More appropriately it was modeled after a bunch of aging wargamers in denial about their lumbago, but still wanting to roll dice and boast about it.

Example - "A-ha!! I rolled two sixes! See, proof of my Tactical Genius!!"

Leading the Carthaginian Horde was General Paulus Barco. Named "Paulus Decrepticus" by his ardent follows, and some besmirching roman historians. More importantly than his knowledge of the period, and his love of wargaming, are perhaps the facts that he owns the singularly most beautiful Carthaginian army in 28mm that I have ever seen. And a copy of the Warhammer Hannibal book. Paulus was overall commander of the Carthaginian horde, and on the field he commanded the Carthaginian Left - consisting of the Punic Heavy Cavalry, and the African Infantry, and the Punic Veteran Infantry. Oh yeah, he also suffered from some disease called Ligurians. Or is that a pasta dish? In the game, they were some unit of barbarian infantry, also known as the Ligurian Mixed Weapons of Sudden Doom. In addition he had a unit of Balearic Slingers of Death. Ah, yes. There are also the War Elephants. All in all, Paulus Decrepticus was a very able commander in the game. But on the Carthaginian staff, he was not alone. In general the fighting was pretty thick on the Carthaginian Left. Paulus was facing the Roman Consul Brianus of Tampa (he's not there yet), but more on him later.

In the center there was General Darylius Pontificatus. General Darylius seems to have joined the Carthaginian army only recently, being fresh from the provinces. General Darylius commanded the remainder of the Carthaginian battleline of heavy infantry, complementing General Paulus' African and Punic infantry with two additional units of African Infantry. It is possible that these formations are based on the Sacred Band of Carthage (from the Fourth Century, famous for participating in the Third Punic War, and distinguishing themselves at the battle of Crimissus in Sicily, 340 BC). On the other hand, it is equally likely that they are based on the sacred band of Doobie Brothers. I am not sure how the formations were modeled in the Hannibal book, but in this alternate list from Tony Edwards and the St. Louis area WAB players, they model the Citizen infantry with a WS of only 2. Stinky!

Finally, on the Carthaginian right, was general Davidian the Fanatici. It is worth noting that General Davidian only ever fights on the right, and never on the left. He was left with the unenviable task of facing Consul Chuckus Maximus (brave stalwart of Rome, and wielder of the sacred pen). General Davidian was left with three units of Skirmishing infantry, and three units of light Cavalry. With these he did very well against his opponent, but will always be remembered more for the fact that he had Negroid Numidians, rather than Semitic Numidians. Evidently a point of contention for those involved in the battle. They were considered to be "berbers" according to Livy, but what did he know. General Davidian had a couple of units of his skirmishing infantry (of dubious national origin) face off against some Light Legionaires, and given the better equipment and training of the legionaires, they fared poorly. There was a unit of Spanish, however who, in addition to be Sneaky (see countless BlackAdder references on sneaky Spanish for reference - "Pardon me, Meeester"), fought rather well in the rocky terrain on that part of the battlefield. General Davidian assures us that soon, he will introduce us to his galley, which is named Sally.

On the Roman side we had the overall commander being Consul Brianus of Tampa (he's not there yet). He commanded troops on the right, favoring a Strong Infantry Formation. Consul Brianus (he's not there yet) was in command of four strong (24 figure) formations of Roman Legionaires. A powerful group of figures, led by his personal figure, and a Lictor bearing his personal standard. After some maneuvering, and Dealing with the Balearic Slingers of Death, and the Ligurian Mixed Weapons of Sudden Doom he was able to finally come to grips with the real meat of General Paulus Decrepticus. That meant fighting the African Infantry, the Veteran Infantry, and the Elephants. All in all, Consul Brianus (he's not there yet) performed very well. Those Legionaires are really worth the points they cost, don't be deceived. Being Drilled and Stubborn (no, that is not a comment on their lifestyle) is an incredible benefit. And they have great equipment options. We (Roman Wargames Commanders) should thank those ancient Italian guys for having such great foresight. Oh, at this point it should be pointed out that this battle is a complete farce. The Roman side used the Early Imperial Roman army list, rather than the Consular Army List from Spartacus, or the Republican Roman army list from either Hannibal or Ancient Armies. This is because the Roman players did not have the correct figures available to them, in sufficient numbers to use those lists. Meh. To quote Donaldus Rumsfeldus (another famous Roman Consul), "You go to war with the army you have."
The Roman Center was commanded by a sort of anomaly. Sir Scott of Calais, a Norman Knight, was on lend lease to the Roman Army, by way of student exchange program.He was in the center, and commanded a unit of Legionaires, a Scorpion (rock you like a hurricane), and a unit of Lanciarii (Light Legionaires). They fared against General Darylius, from the Provinces. Sir Scott (lacking anything riding a warhorse, and in the unseemly scale of 28mm) did pretty well against the competition, and in fact was able to poke General Paulus' elephants a couple of times with the Scorpion. As Sir Scott has a number of additional Unpainted Roman Figures, but now has time and a place to paint, perhaps we shall see more of him in 28mm in the future. Other than poking the elephant with the Scorpion, he also was able to use the cool Drilled infantry skill of sidestepping against an Elephant charge. He was therefore fighting not only General Darylius but also General Paulus.

Finally, on the Roman Left, facing the Carthaginian Right, there is Consul Chuckus Maximus, whose idea the whole thing was in the first place. However, it would not have been possible without the assistance of General Paulus and Consul Brianus (he's not there yet). Consul Chuckus commanded two large (24 figure) units of Veteran Legionaires, upgraded with heavy army, and a single unit of Lanciarii (Light Legionaires, upgraded with slings). His second unit of Lanciarii was given to the able Sir Scott in the center. Leading this band of merry Roman ne'r do wells was the Consul himself, and a personal Standard. Facing off against Consul Chuckus was General Davidian. Although there was a fierce fight between the Skirmishing infantry of dubious national origin and the Roman Lanciarii (which the Romans won), the Lanciarii subsequently found themselves trapped between Spanish infantry ("Pardon me Meester") and some Spanish light cavalry. The Lanciarii went out whirring their slings. That is not code talk.

The game was a lot of fun, but it went rather slowly (probably due to rustiness on the rules, and also starting late). Next time, agree to points ahead of time and have the battle lists ready.

Also present at the game were the usual ODMS worthies. Carl, Justin, Snelling and John Dent were there.

Danny Jackson made an appearance. He mentioned his ancient rules (Danhammer) and is looking to set up a game.

Oscar was there, and is interested in more Blitzkrieg Commander and Cold War Commander.

Unfortunately, noticeably absent were both Krigbaum and Josephus. Rumor has it that Krigbaum is really quite busy, and that Josephus has been taking private tutor lessons from a baby squirrel on how to look cute for his girlfriend. Maybe we'll see both of them at the next game session.

UPCOMING EVENTS - September and October 2009

2009-08-28T14:16:00.005-04:00

All of these will be at the Hanger (except the two conventions) in coming weeks . . .

Sept 12 - Shako II Battle of Talavera - 15mm (John C.)

Sept 17 - Go For Broke (WWII Skirmish) - 28mm (Oscar)

Sept 24 - My Galley Sally (Ancient Naval Action) - 15mm (Dave)

Sept 26 - Flames of War Late War Tournament - 1750 points, qualifier event for the Nationals in October - 15mm

Oct 1 - Alexandrian Successors DBA Campaign - run by Zama Granicus (Wayne) - 15mm

Oct 9,10,11 - Southern Front

Oct 17,18 - Military History Weekend in Williamsburg

Oct 22 - 1/285th scale Arab-Israeli Wars scenario for Cold War Commander (org. by Wayne, Chuck, others)

Oct 29 - DBA free for all (Org by Wayne and John Dent) 15mm

Military History Weekend in Williamsburg (Oct 16-18)

2009-08-26T21:09:00.002-04:00

Osprey announces . . .

We are pleased to announce the imminent arrival of a new military history show, partly sponsored by Osprey. The Military History Weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia, which runs from October 16-18, 2009, is a chance for you to join us and meet World War II veterans, re-enactors, family history experts and authors to learn more about your military heritage.

Bring your family along too, as kids' activities and events for partners are also available.

More Information.

Shako II game - August 15 at the Hangar

2009-08-08T01:50:00.002-04:00

Organized by John McCabe.

Still looking for players, from what I have heard.

Check in on the mailing list...

Fall In - November

2009-08-08T01:43:00.002-04:00

Coming Sooner than you think!

Just like Southern Front, it would be good to have a nice ODMS showing. Andy Turlington (of Southern Maryland Partisans) is running it. He and his club put on some excellent games at the Muster, and this will be the last Fall In at Gettysburg.

I'm going, and I'm running some games (ed.) - anyone else? Sound off on the mailing list.

Southern Front - coming soon!

2009-08-08T01:38:00.002-04:00

Triangle Simulation Society's excellent Autumn wargaming convention:
October 9,10,11
Raleigh, NC
Raleigh Hilton - $105 per night

It would be great to have a dozen ODMS guys there, all running games, having a good time, supporting one of the best regional cons in the country, promoting Williamsburg Muster, and drinking beer.

Website
Pics from 2008

Anyone interested? sound off on the mailing list

Delenda est Carthago

2009-08-08T01:27:00.006-04:00

Upcoming - Warhammer Ancient Battles slug-a-thon at the Hangar. Featuring the unstoppable Carthaginian Horde of Paul Crouch vs. all comers.

Friends of the Republic! Listen to me while I tell you that Carthage must be Destroyed!

I know I (ed.) will personally be there to defend the virtues of Rome and her Republic! There could be room for commanders on both sides, as well as a host of barbarian allies (numidians? gauls? spaniards?).

Other than Paul's spendid collection, Brian and I have romans out the wazoo (a technical term). Hopefully Action Dan can play (with his many barbarians). There might even be newly painted miniatures on the table. I think that Jim has Romans as well - which is good because Paul's North African Bruhaha (read: his Carthaginian Army) is quite sizable.

This game will be announced soon, but start thinking about mustering your courage to command 28mm figures in a large ODMS Punic War toy soldier fest!

August 27 - DBA Medieval Event

2009-08-08T01:18:00.007-04:00

"A Knight in August" - DBA mini campaign - Medieval Baltic powers. Organized by Zama. This will be a 15mm campaign, done in one night, with armies from Zama and others. If you have a mid-to-late medieval army, bring it. It could be worked in. Write a question to the mailing list if you want to know more.

For some inspiration - here is a link to a good history of the Teutonic Order from founding to Prussian Crusade.

There is also an excellent review of a similar DBA event online that was held by the WADBAG guys, called the Baltic Crusades.

One of the most famous battles of the era is known by several names. Most Western sources know it as the first battle of Tannenburg (1410AD). It is known to the Poles as the battle of Grunwald, and to the Lithuanians as the battle of Zaligris. The Teutonic Order was (sadly) defeated, which laid the path to Polish and Lithuanian independence. About a century later the grandmaster of the Order converted to Lutheranism, and the order ceased being a Crusading entity.

The battle inspired a fantastic painting in 1878, by Jan Matejko of Poland. A nice version of it is online, with a fantastic closeup of detail showing Grandmaster Ulrich von Jungingen.

Finally, a nice video of the battle exists in four parts on YouTube (in Polish but with English subtitles).

Part 1 shows the two commanders (Jagiello of Poland and Ulrich Von Jungingen) planning their strategies and making speeches.

Part 2 shows the stratagems talk with the commanders (showing their secret plans - wolftraps vs. hiding in the woods), and the delivery of threats by the German Knights to the Polish command.

Part 3 shows some good action starting with the charge of the light horse (Lithuanians - practically a Mongol Horde, ala Krigbaum) against the German Foot. Pathetic. Then the Teutonic Knights come back at em.

Part 4 ends the battle with some good fight scenes. Knights on foot fighting over the Polish banner...Teutonic Knights charging in wedge. Cool stuff.

Some images of medieval Baltic warriors (poles, lithuanians, etc)
Foot troops.
Mounted troops
Lithuanian and Polish knights.

Anyway the event should be a great time. Come and play.

Historicon was Great

2009-08-08T00:13:00.001-04:00

Many ODMS guys were at Historicon 2009 - a great time. Next year Historicon will be at the Baltimore Convention Center, instead of at the Lancaster Host Resort. What do you think? (Comment below or on the email list)

July 9th - Gnome Wars

2009-06-24T14:21:00.003-04:00

Dave and Jim are planning on a Gnome Wars game at the Hangar, on July 9th, just in time to get your "Gnome" on for Historicon!

D-Day Battle at the Hangar - June 6, 2009

2009-06-05T15:34:00.003-04:00

In honor of the big battle that Joseph is organizing for June 6, here are a couple of inspirational pictures.

First, Jon Krigbaum's Germans...

Click on the image to get the real horror of these 20th Century Warriors.

Next we have a message concerning Oscar's Germans...

I think it really captures the feel of the Oscar Stephenson German Army.

(now that's thinking with your dipstick, Jimmy)

Historicon Media Update

2009-05-27T22:06:00.001-04:00

HISTORICON Celebrates 25 Years of Historical Miniatures Gaming

Pre-Registration Now Open

Bel Air, MD (May 27 2009) -- The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society East (www.HMGS.org) commemorates the silver anniversary of HISTORICON, “the mother of all war gaming conventions” from July 16 – 19, 2009 at the Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Attracting thousands of historical gaming hobbyists, HISTORICON 2009 celebrates its 25th year with four days of fun on the convention theme of the 200th Anniversary of 1809 Napoleonic Wars. HMGS is a non-profit educational organization that promotes the study of military history through historical miniatures gaming, seminars, grants, and conventions.

HISTORICON 2009 features over 600 events, including elaborate historical miniatures games reflecting Napoleon’s 1809 Austrian Campaign and the Peninsular War (1807-14) and the massive and most extensive tournament program in North America – everything from DBA, DBR, and Warhammer Ancients to Field of Glory (FoG) and Flames of War (FoW). More than 700 games over the entire four days of the convention attract players from across the United States and Europe.

“The Napoleonic era has always been a great period for the wargamer and this theme allows for a broad cross-section of games, from formal massed European armies to the Spanish guerilla actions and games involving Sharpe’s Riﬂes,” said Pete Panzeri. “Aside from the Napoleonic era, HISTORICON 2009 offers hundreds of games and tournament events from nearly every other period of military history.”

HISTORICON also holds the HMGS War College with 40 historical presentations by scholars such as René Chartrand, military historian and author of 30+ books, and Matt Eversmann, veteran of the Battle of Mogadishu (‘Blackhawk Down’), and a Napoleonic Wars Exposition: “The Sharpe Experience.” The convention’s Painting and Modeling University allows participants to choose from a variety of classes to learn new techniques for miniature painting. Attendees can also register for the “Iron Paintbrush” Competition where teams compete to create the most eye-catching ﬁgure mini-diorama.

Other special HISTORICON events include a Wild West costume contest with prizes for kids and an adult costume contest related to pirates of 1809 – British, Spanish, French, American Navy or Marines. As part of the silver anniversary of HISTORICON, all attendees are invited to join in the free celebration. The ﬁrst 3,000 attendees will receive a free 10-foot long lockable metal tape measure, and exhibitors Old Glory, Wargames Factory and Warlords will provide free ﬁgures to attendees (while supplies last). A special 25th Anniversary cake is being made just for HISTORICON by Charm City Cakes (of the Ace of Cakes Food Network show) featuring the original “Hands Bridge” logo created by artist Rich Hasenauer to promote the ﬁrst HISTORICON in 1984. The cake will be on display Friday and will be served to attendees.

Everyone is invited to HISTORICON’s Silver Celebration Party on Friday at 9:30 p.m. in the Windows Restaurant. Free beer samples and promotional items will be provided by various distributors, including Kirchner (Yuengling/Sam Adams), Lancaster Beverage (Coors Light/Heineken), Sheffer (Miller Lite/Lancaster Brew), and Wilsback (Budweiser).

As the popularity of HISTORICON grows, in 2010 the convention will move to the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland, where it can accommodate (##???) attendees and (##???) vendors. Baltimore offers a wide variety of budget, mid-range and luxury accommodations, and access to historical attractions such as Fort Henry, the USS Constellation, and the Baltimore Civil War Museum.

HISTORICON is the largest historical miniatures gaming convention in the United States. Each year, thousands of avid gamers descend on what the New York Times has described as the "mother of all war gaming conventions." The event features thousands of attendees (adults and children), hundreds and hundreds of games, the world's biggest war game hobby shop, painting events, and a special awards celebration. Admission to the 4-day convention is $15 for HMGS members and $35 for non-members.

Other HMGS events include the annual “Fall In” convention to be held Nov. 6 – 9, 2009 in Gettysburg, PA, “Cold Wars”, to be held March 11 – 14, 2010 in Lancaster, PA, and “HISTORICON 2010” to be held July 8 -11, 2010 in Baltimore, MD.

For more information on HMGS, visit www.hmgs.org. For more information on HISTORICON, visit www.HISTORICON.org.

DBA Tournament Army Info Online

2009-05-27T01:40:00.002-04:00

At my Chuck's personal wargaming blog, he posted the Army information for the upcoming (June 2009) DBA Tournament at the Hangar.

-The Management

Coming Soon - Williamsburg Muster website update

2009-04-26T21:40:00.003-04:00

Coming Soon - a revamp of the Williamsburg Muster website, with pictures from 2009!

May/June Game Schedule

2009-04-26T21:21:00.007-04:00

Okay, the next two months already have some games/events planned - here is the list so far

April 30 (Thur) - DBA (Chuck, Wayne)
May 7 (Thur) - DBA (Chuck, Justin)
May 14 (Thur) - ??
May 21 (Thur) - WAB (Chuck, Dan)
May 23 (Sat) - Swap Meet, Cookout
May 28 (Thur) - Fast Warrior (Dave)
June 4 (Thur) - First week of DBA tournament (Chuck)
June 6 (Sat) - Big D-Day Game (Joseph, others)
June 11 (Thur) - ??
June 18 (Thur) - ??
June 20 (Sat) - Bagration FoW Game (Steven McCabe, others)
June 25(Thur) - ??

Send more games to cturnitsa@yahoo.com or the ODMS or Hangar mailing lists.

Alea Iacta Est - an Age of Rome DBA Tournament

2009-04-01T12:11:00.003-04:00

The Die is Cast - an upcoming DBA Tournament, to be held in the month of June.

If there is enough player interest, I would like to run a DBA tournament during the month of June. As this tournament will stretch over four weeks, it is similar to a mapless campaign. Each battle will follow the normal rules of DBA v2.0 for terrain selection and set up. The referree (Chuck) will provide a number of pre-made playmaps for the typical terrain types of armies of this era. The games will be played in 15mm. If you want to play but don't have an army, then let me know and I can gladly lend you one. The tournament has a handicap/points system to determine the winners (four trophies, provided by me), but the players only need to be worried about playing games. As many as possible, and wherever is convenient for the players (at home, at the Hangar, at the Battle Barn, etc).

Tournament Name: The End of the Republic

Tournament Theme: The final century of the Roman Republic and the first century of the Roman Imperium saw warfare involving some of the most colorful empires and leaders in all of history. This is an exciting time to wargame, and the variety of armies really lends itself to a DBA tournament.

Description: Beginning with the reforms of Marius in the Roman army (107BC), and leading through the following two hundred years, some of the most colorful military leaders would battle in and around the Mediterranean basin. Leaders such as Marius, Jugurtha, Boudica, Vercingeterox, Agricola, Mithradates, Cleopatra, Sulla, Pompey, not to mention Julius Caesar and Marc Antony make this a very exciting period to wargame in. The Roman Legions are just the start. There are exciting armies to command ranging from the Numidians and Ptolemaic Egyptians of North Africa through the Gauls and Germans of Europe, and the armies of Pontus and Judea in the east. All of the classic troop types represented in DBA are available here. There are chariot armies, pike armies, warband armies, and blade armies. A ripe field for tournament play.

Rules:

Each play must submit, via email, a preferred army list, from the DBA Version 2.0 rulebook (Feb. 2001), chosen from the list presented below. This list is (broadly) the Marian Roman army, the Early Imperial Roman army, and their enemies (with the exception of the Middle Imperial Roman army). This army choice must be emailed to the referee (Chuck) no later than the end of May. If you don't have an army in 15mm to play in this tournament, then ask, I have plenty to lend.
Beginning with the first week in June, each player has the opportunity to play in as many DBA games as they can arrange. Each other opponent in the tournament can be played once per week. Specific standings will not be posted until the end of the tournament, but it is in the player's best interest to play as many games per week as practical. Playing other players who have a "winning record" also pays off. Defeating a weak player may not be worth as many points as losing to a really good player. However, all games are worth points - nobody can lose points by playing.
There will be four awards given. Two for the top two players, in a run-off battle - these are chosen by having highest total score. Then the player with the highest win/lose ratio. Finally, the player who plays the most number of games.
Required paperwork - each week, each player must turn in a list of all games played, and against whom, and who won. It is sufficient to say "Brian played Dave, and Brian Won". This should be emailed to the referree at the end of the week.
The reason that turns are oriented on weeks, rather than on Thursday nights, is to give players an opportunity to play on the weekend. Each week starts on a Monday, and ends the following Sunday (so all games play Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday count as in the same week).
Final handicap of each player (at the end of the tournament) is equal to the number of games won, plus 1. So (example) if a player plays a total of eleven games in the tournament, and wins six of them, then at the end that players handicap will be equal to "7".
Final score of a player will be determined by the handicap of other players he played against. For each game played, a player gains the other player's handicap in points if he beats the other player, and he gains half the other player's points if he loses to the other player.
Calculation of handicap and points will be done by the Referee, so players only have to keep track of who they play, and who wins each game (this information is turned in each week, as mentioned in number 4 above).

Awards:
Four awards will be made, with trophies, to be labelled with the winning player's names, and to be displayed at the Hanger and on the ODMS website - these include "Dicatator of Rome", "Magister of Equitum", "Orator of the Senate", and "Tribune of the Plebs".

In the end, the two player with the highest total scores will be awarded the status of "Consul of Rome" and will play each other in the final battle.
The player winning the final battle is awarded the title of "Dictator of Rome".
The player losing the final battle will be awarded the title of "Magister Equitum".
The player (other than the Consuls) won has the highest "handicap value" (i.e. - highest win/lose ratio) will be "Orator of the Senate".
The player (other than the Consuls or Orator) who plays the most games will be awarded with the title of "Tribune of the Plebs".

Schedule:
Week 1 1-7
Week 2 8-14
Week 3 15-21
Week 4 22-28

Winners will be announced and awarded with suitable laurels the first Thursday evening in July (July 2).

Spring Fever - this weekend

2009-04-01T12:10:00.001-04:00

There will be a handful of ODMS gamers running events at Spring Fever. I hope that as many of you as possible can make it!

Upcoming Events

2009-03-29T00:34:00.001-04:00

There seem to be a couple of Flames of War events brewing that will be played at the hangar in the upcoming months. Also a DBA tournament, in the month of June. Watch this space for details...

Historicon in Baltimore for 2010 and 2011

2009-03-12T09:23:00.002-04:00

UPDATE! The convention has changed (at least for 2010) from Baltimore to Valley Forge! For update see this posting

It's official . . .

Following several years of research and fact-finding, HMGS East has contracted the Baltimore Convention Center, Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland, for Historicon 2010 and 2011.

The Board determined that this location provides a great new opportunity to accomplish HMGS' Charter and Purpose of "Promoting the Hobby of Historical Miniatures Gaming."

After extended negotiations to meet all of HMGS's requirements, the final agreement addresses issues raised from wide-ranging discussions and Member/Vendor feedback. The Historicon Convention Team and HMGS East will continue to take input as we prepare for the move.

The Historicon Convention Team and HMGS East Board Members will now devote our full effort to meeting all of our attendee and vendor needs for Historicon to include no price increase, as well as appealing hotel, parking, dining and access/loading options.

HMGS East will release more details as soon as possible via the HMGS East Newsletter and the HMGS East Issues Forum.

Tank Shock - April 25-26 - Danville VA

2009-03-03T11:42:00.003-05:00

TSS has a website with the details about Tank Shock (April 25-26 at the American Armoured Foundation's museum in Danville Virginia). For details check it out.

If anyone in ODMS is interested in running an event, then taking some Williamsburg Muster flyers and also the banner to hang on the table would be a good thing. Email Pat Walther (email patwalther@earthlink.net) to register an event.

AAR - Vietnam, Saturday Feb 28, 2009

2009-03-01T09:50:00.002-05:00

Justin submitted this AAR to the email list -

Played two Vietnam games at the Hangar using modified Flashpoint Vietnam rules.

The first game John Snelling, Carl, and Brian Compton played U.S. Army squads heloed in to search a village that intel stated contained VC. I played the VC.

On landing, Sgt. Compton's squad immediately when toe-to-toe with a VC machinegun bunker in a firefight losing a man. Lt. Sciscio's squad was chopped up by a VC fire team concealed in a set of rice paddies losing two men in the process.

Compton continued fighting the bunker losing another man but taking out one VC. Sciscio could not return fire at the concealed VC in the rice paddy as he could not acquire their location but Sgt. Snelling's squad did and took out one of the VC.

VC concealed in the jungle behind Sciscio's section laid down fire on this squad killing one man and the VC in the rice paddy killing another of Sciscio's men.

Sciscio's squad finally acquired the VC in the rice paddy but their fire was weak as the result of having to have to split fire to fight the enemy in the jungle behind. Snelling's split his squad on the left of Sciscio to fire at both the VC in the rice paddy and the VC in the jungle behind his position. Snelling's fire team using overwhelming fire power finally took out the VC fire team in the paddy but could not acquire the jungle VC. Compton continued his fight with the MG nest but pulled back a little to concentrate his fire more.

Another VC fire team concealed in a hog pen began firing on Sciscio's squad killing one man. The VC in the jungle behind Sciscio fired at both Snelling and Sciscio to no effect. The MG nest in front of Compton traded shots with his squad.

Using maximum firepower, Compton took out the machinegun nest. Sciscio traded shots with both the VC in the jungle and the VC in the village accomplishing nothing. After swing around Snelling's squad obliterated the jungle VC with withering fire. It was at this point the VC withdrew.

The second game was played by Kriegbaum, and Oscar as U.S. Army heloed in to an area to search a village and hold a bridge. Carl's force rolled on the battlefield in APCs and some special forces. The VC were Snelling and Justin.

Although Sgt. Oscar's force was chewed up on landing, he held his own against three VC fire teams. Lt. Kriegbaum sick with beri-beri fever than landed in support. Soon after rolling on the battlefield came the APC's under Sgt. Sciscio demoted as a result of a recent event. Although fired at by RPGs the APC's rolled on. Accurate fire by Sgt. Oscar's squad soon had the VC running with the assistance of Lt. Kriegbaum.

It seemed everyone like the game and we are going to play it again maybe this Thursday (MAR5) as it seems to be Carl's favorite period after WWII.

March Gaming Schedule at the Hangar

2009-02-26T14:01:00.002-05:00

Here are some gaming dates coming up for March at the Hangar - (note, Saturdays not included, but always something going on)

Thursday March 5 - Russian Civil War (Chuck), still looking for another game
Thursday March 12 - Cold Wars (see you in Lancaster)
Thursday March 19 - Field of Glory (Scott - running Nikephorian Byzantine and Hamdanid Dynasty of Aleppo)
Thursday March 26 - Napoleonics (John Callahan - Rules to be announced)

See you at the tables!
http://www.odms-club.com/

Logsheets posted for Close Action games

2009-02-26T11:33:00.003-05:00

Tracy Johnson posted the logsheets from the Close Action games he hosted at the Williamsburg Muster. Both of these games looked really good.

The logsheets can be viewed here: Log Sheets

More information about Close Action can be seen here, and here, and here.

Field of Glory - at the Hangar March 19

2009-02-26T11:32:00.002-05:00

Scott has volunteered to run some ancients, using Field of Glory on March 19th at the Hangar. I can't wait...

Some More Williamsburg Muster Photos

2009-02-23T23:25:00.003-05:00

See these websites -

http://indierockclimber.blogspot.com/2009/02/williamsburg-muster-report-pt-1.html

http://picasaweb.google.com/cturnitsa/WilliamsburgMusterPictures#

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218897&id=726380340&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=726380340#/album.php?aid=218002&id=726380340&ref=nf

Battle Hymn - Feb 28, in Richmond

2009-02-23T23:11:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to all the details, on the Battle Hymn myspace page.

The event is Feb 28, with gaming running from 9:30 until 4:00. There will be a gaming raffle at 4:30.

Here is the gaming schedule (10 tables).

Vietnam 1966 game AAR - from Joe

2009-02-23T22:59:00.003-05:00

This is an AAR from Joe - The_Legans4@msn.com
Started a infantry platoon using my infantry rules. Had my third game and thought I would share the AAR with the group.

It was damn hot! The thermometer was at 102 F. Lt Jaroze's platoon had been inserted into the valley this morning after Charlie had attacked a special forces camp last night. They were to sweep a hamlet on the way to the river in the valley. They had found little in the hamlet except some mongrel dogs. Now onto the river; down a cart path. There were rice patties on the left just hidden by a hedge that ran along the road, a barn on the right and elephant grass all around.

Lt Jaroze was one of those leaders who instinctively knew what to do. (gr IV dynamic leader). He reflected on his men. SSgt Davis was a solid influence (gr III) and Jaroze wish he had 3 clones. 2nd squad had Sgt Tillman (gr I ). Tillman was terrible and his squad knew it. 2 missions ago Tillman had lost 3 KIA and worse had 2 POW when Charlie uncharacteristically closed and physically drove the squad out of a hamlet while Jaroze was on the other side of several buildings. Lt Jaroze had requested Sgt Tillman be relieved but the Captain would have no of it. " All he needs is some mentoring, besides there is no one else available." is what he was told. Sgt Colton (gr I) had the third squad and while he was weak, he was better than Tillman.

Lt Jaroze vacillated between giving Tillman the toughest jobs hoping he would be wounded and giving him the easiest so his men wouldn't be captured. He kept Tillman back during the sweep. He now put Tillman's squad on point along the cart path to the river. It should be easy since the obvious place for Charlie to strike would have been from the hamlet. Ssgt Davis was with first squad and a pig (M60 LMG) 40 yards behind. Jaroze followed with 3rd squad and a second pig to keep tabs on Sgt Colton.Up ahead automatic weapons fire shook Jaroze out of his ponderings. Sgt Tillman reported over the net that they had walked into an ambush to the front (bunker in the elephant grass) and from behind the hedge to the left. He had 3 down and was retreating to the barn on the right. Jaroze cursed his decision to let Tillman lead. He immediately ordered Davis to take his squad left and fire down the hedge line. He moved up to get a better look at the situation. Automatic fire (MMG) was sweeping the path and now turned to the barn where Tillman's squad lay shaken. He radioed Tillman to lay suppressive fire on the MG so Davis could move up. He had just ordered Sgt Colton's squad to sweep left around a hill to take the MG from the rear when Sgt Tillman and 5 grunts came streaming out of the barn towards the hamlet. Jaroze was so furious he forgot the fire sweeping the road and stopped his 6 charges 20 yards from the barn.

He rallied them and sent them back. picture 1 SSgt Davis had by now cleared the hedge of VC as evidenced by 3 motionless bodies clad in black. Where the h--- was Colton? Sgt Colton was cautiously working his way around the hill; too cautiously
for Jaroze's liking. The MG was tearing into the barn where Sgt Tillman's men were at least now firing at the MMG. Jaroze caught up with Colton and started them moving in a hurry. They ran into a squad of VC in the paddies and Pvt Hocking went down with a bad stomach wound. Jaroze working in tandem with SSgt Davis drove the
VC out of the paddies and into the elephant grass. Lt Jaroze drove his men to cross the road but the VC machine gunners were faster.

SSgt Davis's squad did manage to catch 4 VC crossing the path into the elephant grass and they paid the ultimate price for their communist ideology. By the time 3rd squad found the back of the VC bunker the gun and men had fled.

2 american KIA and 2 WIA while the VC lost 6 KIA including 1 leader and several blood trails led through the grass.

After the game Lt Jaroze had a 50% chance of relieving Tillman and missed his roll. Will Tillman get killed? fragged? better? Who knows, but that is half the fun I get from playing.

Thursday, Feb 19, AAR from the Hangar

2009-02-23T01:23:00.002-05:00

Wow! What a great turnout. There were something like 20 gamers at peak time at the Hangar for our weekly ODMS meeting.

Spotted were a number of games - Classic BattleTech, Flames of War (a couple of games), Fast Warrior, and the ever-lovin Settlers of Catan.

New projects mentioned - (1) rumor of more rule sets to be published by ODMS guys... I guess there is publication envy for Justin's "Go for Broke", (2) Russian Civil War next two weeks (chuck getting ready for his Cold Wars game), (3) Frontline General tactical situation next week (miniatures based), (4) Vietnam as delivered by Carl - he has dug out dozens of troops and helicopters, and has started making some rice paddies, (5) Napoleonics - 15mm John Callahan, (6) Ancients - Danny's rules as well as Warhammer Ancients, DBA (this saturday) and more Fast Warrior, (7) ACW - Paul, I believe.

Lets keep the momentum going - volunteer to run or play games, and get the word out.

Chuck

Spring Fever - Raleigh - April 3,4,5 2009

2009-02-20T00:21:00.003-05:00

Our North Carolina brother gamers (Triangle Simulation Society) are hosting Spring Fever, April 3,4,5.

I hope that we have a great ODMS showing - at least a couple of ODMS related Dealers will be present (Miniatures of Chesepeake, Cotton Jim, Quartermaster).

DBA - Saturday, Feb 21 - at the Hangar

2009-02-20T00:18:00.002-05:00

David D will be hosting DBA at the Hangar on Saturday, beginning at 1pm. DBA is cool. You should play.

Cold Wars coming - March 12-15 in Lancaster Pennsylvania

2009-02-18T22:03:00.002-05:00

ODMS will be at Cold Wars. The theme this year is "Long Live the Revolution" - wars of Revolution. The only official ODMS event is "Last Charge of Colonel Bulgarov" - an RCW game being hosted Friday at Noon. Here is the excerpt from the online PEL -

F-106 - Last Charge of Colonel Bulgarov - Theme Game
Fri. 12:00 PM, 3 hrs, 6 players
GM: Charles Turnitsa
Sponsor: Old Dominion Military Society
Inter-War 15mm, Rules: Forward Comrades!
The old man and his beloved Cossacks have come to join the White's cause and are seeking to throw the Reds out of the railroad village of Ritvosk. The freshly appointed Cheka director in the Ritvosk Administrative Sector is looking to make a name for himself in the new Government, so he has decided to rouse the Red Guard in defense of the People's Railroad Station, and to destroy that old regime drunkard, Colonel Bulgarov. A fun RCW game, featuring armored cars, tanks, cossacks, and lots of Reds eager to die for the cause.
Beginner Friendly, Rules Taught.

In addition, there will be a number of ODMS gamers taking part in several of the tournaments and other events.

There are at least two ODMS related Dealers that will be at the show - Miniatures of Chesapeake and Cotton Jim Flags.

Of other related local gaming clubs (especially our Sister organization in Williamsburg - the Battle Barn Gamers) we hope to see some attendees as well. Hopefully the weather will be great!

Upcoming Games - February 26

2009-02-18T21:58:00.002-05:00

Byron -
WWII Miniatures Skirmish using Collins Epic Wargame rules (from Frontline General)

Chuck -
15mm Russian Civil War scenario playtest using modified Forward Comrades rules from Jackson Gamers.

Looking for more games!

Good comments on the Muster on TMP

2009-02-09T11:43:00.002-05:00

The Miniatures Page (TMP) has a thread with good feedback and comments on the Williamsburg Muster.

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=161755

Charles Cabell - a good friend of Kai's from Fort Mill (one town over from where I lived in South Carolina) got some great photos of the show. Wow.
http://picasaweb.google.com/charlescab/WilliamsburgMuster#

Great comments from the guys in TSS on their mailing list, and also from the SMP guys.

I think we had a winner - and there is already anticipation for next year!

Early Morning Vittoria Battle at the Muster

2009-02-08T21:48:00.002-05:00

Patrick Berkebile - with the Southern Maryland Partizans wargaming club - hosted the battle of Vittoria early on Saturday morning. It was a very well attended, attractive game. One of many at the Muster in 09.