Planning 2016 and Happy New Year

A traditional final year post, taking stock of my activity in the year about to end and describing my plans for the year coming.

First, how I did in 2015 compared to plans... well not good at all, missing most of the marks looking at what I wrote at the end of December 2014:

- The Jarama Campaign for the Spanish Civil War never took place, actually it was not even discussed in the gaming group... I wonder who's idea it was (not me for sure) and why it never took off.

- The El Cid Project for Crescent and The Cross, was supposedly the star project of the year... never took off too... quite bizarre as we (me included) painted models like mad during the first months of the year but it just faded why. Honestly, I cannot remember why we did not pursue the project (must ask my mates). Well ate least I won’t have to invest time in painting Moors next year…

- First World War: the TooFatLardies Xmas Special 2014 with an adaptation for Chain of Command created some excitement but was short lived

So as you see, nil out of 3. But was 2015 a terrible year then? Not at all. On the contrary, gaming wise has been one of my most active periods in years and I have to put marks, I would say 9 over 10.

Operation Marlet Campaign - (New) Game 2

The second game of the new Martlet campaign for Chain of Command concluded with a new British victory, a most remarkable feat considering this was in  table where in the first attempt to play the campaign, we bogged down for four games and could not break the German defensive scheme.  Being honest, I did not well with the Germans, deciding to withdraw in the heat of the moment…  a quite stupid move as you’ll see.

In this second game the British must break through the village of Fontenay, where the German outposts are located, before crashing with the enemy’s main defensive line. This is a scenario Three of the main rules (Attack-Defend);  to win, one side must force the other to withdraw or surrender due to fall in the Force Moral level.

Merry Christmas

May you all enjoy a most Merry Christmas, peace and health.
I hope you spend a happy night with all your dearest family members and friends.

Operation Martlet Campaign - Game 5 ... And a New Beginning

Today we had an international visitor at the club: Will is a young 14-year old historical (!!!) wargamer from Virginia, with a deep afection for the Spanish Civil War. Showing a surprisingly mature personality for his youth, he's spending the Christmas holidays in Spain with his family, have already visited the Ciudad Universitaria and tomorrow the Jarama battlefields. 

After contactting our club email, we invited him to play a Chain of Command with us this morning. As I know he follows this blog, I'd like to thank him for his visit and hope he has enjoyed the morning despite some lack of action in the two games played this morning. Obviously, the invitation to visit us is open to any you travelling to Madrid.

The fifth game of the Martlet campaign for Chain of Command was the straw that broke the (British) camel's back. Already the patrol phase was far from auspicious to the British interests, as the Germans got 5 (!) free moves that basically cornered our deployment area to a narrow belt along the table edge, hindering our options.

Warming Up to the Challenge

I will spend most of this weekend priming my models for Curt's Analogue Hobbies challenge, which is merely 2 days away now. My plan is to paint a German Fallschirmjager platoon for Chain of Command together with several supports (engineers, mortars, HMG, recoilless ATG and a Hetzer), reinforcements for my German infantry units (the recently released  wonderful Warlord German in snow uniform are on their way home as we speak...), some vehicles and a few French Napoleonic cavalry and infantry.

This should be close to the 500 points that I decided to use as my challenge level. 

What you see in the photo is part of the work done so far stored with my French Dragoons (I have noticed an alarmingly scarcity of storage space at home!!!). You may notice some models already initiated: don't worry, I won't cheat and use them to my challenge count; actually I put them on purpose in the photo... These are models I was painting when the challenge was announced and are part of the units I'm using for the contest.

Also, some of the models will "arrive" under the tree next 24th December and for obvious reasons can't even start the priming phase yet. The Xmas holidays will be useful to catch up.

So brushes, paints and models on the table ... on my marks, ready... BANG

Operation Martlet Campaign - Game 4

The fourth game of the Martlet Campaign for Chain of Command resulted into another defeat of the British forces, the third in a row. After a very promising start, the truth is that the offensive bogged down and is becoming crucial to break the deadlock if we want to have a minimum chance to win the campaign.

After the disaster of the previous game, we introduced a couple of changes: first, we decided to take the initiative despite being on the defensive, and not wait for the Germans to deploy their units;  and second, we reinforced the artillery component of our force by adding a Churchill AVRE with its powerful petard mortar gun. This was necessary as the Germans had already fortified three buildings and converted into mini-fortress.

Abyssinia 1935 for Chain of Command

A quick alert to those interested in dark but interesting war theaters pre-Second World War. Jim Hale and Rolf Grein, the same guys that two years ago produced the excellent supplements for the Spanish Civil War, will be realising a new supplement and lists for the wars in Abyssinia in 1935.

The first article of the series was publshed on December 2 in the official blog of TooFatLardies, introducing the period and providing some special rules to play it with Chain of Command. Since then, a number of army lists have been released almost daily, that you will find in the same site.

As I already have an Italian Army for the North African desert, it may a good opportunity to confront against some (unlike the British) exotic foes... should I convince one of may gaming buddies to jump into this wagon.

UPDATE: You can also follow the wide campaign and related topics here

Operation Martlet Campaign - Game 3

Resuming now normal program, after almost two weeks out travelling. 

We continue with the Martlet campaign as it was a national holiday in Spain; you may remember we decided to pull out in the second game after losing a significant number of units in the mist. In the third game the mist lifted so no more hassle, but the initiative was now German and they declared a counter-attack.

The truth is that at least on paper this was an option that may favour the British, being an opportunity to force the attrition of the German units. The truth is that the game´s outcome was totally the opposite: the British had to give ground again when the Force Moral fell to a dangerous level of 4.