Swamp Fox Supplement for Sharp Practice version 2

Rich has taken my supplement and is busy turning it into a work of art. The original working name was "Murder and Devastation in Every Quarter." That comes from a quote from General Greene as he described the situation in South Carolina when he arrived in Hillsboro, NC to take over command of the Southern Theater. We are changing the name to Swamp Fox as it is focused on Francis Marion's battles and skirmishes.

Rich has shared the edited text with me and it is looking great. In addition, he has been running some playtest games that he has posted on Twitter.

Mark Luther also ran a playtest of the first scenario in the supplement over the past weekend at Gigabytes Cafe in Marietta. As always, his games are beautiful. He has posted some pictures of it here. Stop by and take a look at the game. He really did a good job capturing the look that I was going for with the scenarios.

Things are proceeding quickly and I think the supplement will see the light of day in a few weeks time.

Second Kharkov Campain

Wanted to post an update here. I managed to break my 3d printer. I think I have replacement parts already but I am very sad about it.

I managed to get some writing done and have the first of several pint sized campaigns laid out. It begins with the initial assault of the german positions at Federovka. The small town was laid out on a dirt road that ran north to south. It provided a natural spot for the Germans to set up a hedgehog defense line. It was in the direct line from Stari Staltov to Kharkov.

From the 1:50,000 scale map that I have, i have outlined the two areas I am looking to use for the town battle. The first is the initial outposts that are positioned along a balka or deep ditch that runs outside of the town on the hill the town resides on.

I annotated the map based on a document I found on-line that explains russian map symbols. It is very comprehensive and makes for a very useful key. I am going to provide a map like this in the booklet so people can move the map around to match the terrain that they have if they wish instead of the spots that I picked.

The Germans had a bad position as their line of retreat was through a grassy swamp that was directly to their rear. Initially the infantry held up against the infantry assault. But when airsupport and tanks arrived, the Germans at Federovka broke and fled to the rear. These troop pulled back to hill 119 that is just to the left of the map above.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Another Christmas is in the books. Plenty of great memories from this year that I will cherish. The Santa Clause and Secret Santa projects came up with some very nice presents that were hobby related. First up is the Santa Clause items.

I received these beautiful figures. I really don't have a good emplaced 88mm gun to go with my Germans and I will need one for a support option for the Second Battle of Kharkov. I am very excited about this set. Thank you very much Santa Clause Ken. (Since I am the organizer, I know who everyone had.)

For the Secret Santa that Jason organized this year, I ended up with a really neat Chain of Command Morale tracker.

This is from a company I have never heard of, Phalanx Consortium. They are pretty cool. They provide lots of helpful reminders for things that I normally forget. These are very nice. I will have to check them out and get some more for my other armies. Thank you Secret Santa. This is much appreciated. Very cool.

I hope each of you had a great Christmas and will have a marvelous 2018. Game on.

TooFatLardies Game Day Georgia - Nov 11 2017

Saturday we held a Lardy games day at Gigabytes cafe in Marietta, Georgia. We had three games of Chain of Command, two of Sharp Practice and a game of Coastal Patrol. I was able to play in the Coastal Patrol game run by Jim, the author of the rules.

I managed to take two lousy pictures of the game. I played 3 higgins boats. My ships did well at first and landed some minor hits on some German S Boats that were moving at maximum speed. But once my ships mixed it up with the convoy, the heavy guns on the trawlers left me with one ship sunk and one dead in the water. The other running for its life at reduced speed. I had great fun but lost badly. The british player had more success and sunk two of the convoy ships. That made the game a draw.

Then I ran my pirates game. It was a naval landing by Spanish regulars and marines being landed by the Spanish Navy. They were attacking a pirate base at night. It started well for the Spanish. They made good progress before the pirate sentry awoke and raised the alarm.

I took few pictures of the game. I was too focused on running it. I think the players had a good time. The Spanish committed their forces as separate groups. When the pirates finally tried to charge the Spanish, the Spanish quickly crumbled. Pirates in close combat are fearsome. The Spanish eventually were either captured or forced back to their boats. It was a fun game for me.

While the coastal patrol game was going on, there was another pirate game of sharp practice. In the game masters words it was peter pan meets Captain Blood.

Then there were games of Chain of Command that I wish I could have joined.

It was a fantastic day all around.

Painting Update

There is nothing like the very last minute to get one in the mood to paint. I just finished four more oarsmen, three seated militia, three seated spanish regulars and three pirate gun crew. I now have the figures that I need for the game tomorrow.

I have also been busy working with my new 3d printer. I have a three piece shipwreck printed. That will be the prize for my game. The aft section took several reprints to get it right, but it looks great. I also have printed a pirate shack that I won't have time to paint for the game and a tudor style caribbean house. These really look good but since they are still the black PLA, they do not take pictures of well.

Another item I printed was a rowboat. It came out great. It has deeper seats and the crews I have painted ride in them much better than the other ones that I have. If I had the time, I would print more and used those instead. The one part it had trouble printing was the rudder handle. It snapped off immediately. But that can be replaced easy enough.

Also started work on an east front windmill. I have the blade finally glued in place. I also have it based and the base textured. I should start painting it next week. My goal is to get all the terrain I need for Second Kharkov done before year's end. The second battle of Kharkov was mainly fought in the small villages that surrounded the city rather than in the city itself. So my rural terrain if perfect for it. The Kickstarter that I participated in for the East Front has everything that I need to complete out the terrain requirements. Stay tuned. It should be fun.