Big Box of Goodies

I managed to get over to Steve (The Baggage Train)  Oates’s house on Saturday evening to collect the Arnhem Bridge model that Steve has kindly donated to the SOTCW for use in the Crisis Point game and beyond. 

Steve very kindly provided me with a huge box of goodies:

Quite apart from the bridge:

...which is going to be a bit of a challenge, Steve also very kindly provided a whole load of Atlantic Wall style bunkers and command positions:

Oh, and another bridge!

I don’t see why the NATO forces shouldn’t reuse old Westwall fortifications so some of these will be used in the big game.  Others will see the light of day in future SOTCW demo games.

I can’t recommend Steve’s stuff too highly.  Check it out at The Baggage Train.

Crisis Point

Planning for the big Cold War Commander game in Sheffield (21 and 22 April 2012) is going really well.  The game has now acquired a title, "Crisis Point", reflecting the fact that a victory for either side here will almost certainly determine the outcome of the war in Germany.

For details see the Yahoo group here.

Big Game at Sheffield, 21-22 April 2012

There seeming to be little enthusiasm for an SOTCW game at Hammerhead, it seems our next event will be the Big Game I am organising for Sheffield this coming Spring.

The event will be a weekend-long tabletop campaign based upon General Sir John Hackett's The Third World War.  The plan is to put on a game (using Cold War Commander rules) that explores modern(-ish) mechanised warfare in width and depth.  I want commanders to have to worry about their supply lines (without getting bogged down in book-keeping) and to have to think about protecting key points from raids by enemy airborne forces etc.

The venue is Dungworth Green Hall in Dungworth, near Sheffield.  The cost will be £10 per player and the event will run from 10am to 5pm on the Sunday and Saturday.  There are B&Bs within walking distance.

Please make yourself known if you'd like to play.

Hammerhead show, 12th February 2012

Do we want to put on a participation game at Hammerhead in Newark, Notts this coming year?

I had originally planned to put on a 6mm scale Cold War Commander game set in Andreivia and designed to showcase The Baggage Train's 1/300th scale Arnhem Bridge model.  However, the show coincides with a family commitment of mine so I can't make it.  I'll lend kit, though, if there's the enthusiasm to put on a game and it's needed.

I haven't specified to the organisers what, if anything, we'd put on so were not committed to scale or subject it just has to be a participation game within our society's scope.

Can you please let me know what you think so I can let the organisers know if we are interested.

Richard

Game for 2012

The time has come to plan the SOTCW game(s) for Hammerhead, Gauntlet and where ever else we end up playing.

I've agreed with Stephen Oates from The Baggage Train that we'll showcase his massive Arnhem Bridge.   Now I'm not keen on building Arnhem so I thought we'd move the bridge to Andreivia.

If you're up for discussion of the possibilities of a 6mm scale Andreivian game using (I propose) Cold War Commander, follow me now to Andreivian Tales....

Saturday in Barnsley

The Gathering this weekend was a pleasant and successful event thanks to the cheerful participation of the visiting SOTCW members and local Barnsley club members and in particular thanks to the organising efforts of Mark Kniveton.

We ended up with five games (I left my Arc of Fire game it is boxes as we didn't need it).  On the "big table" Mark Kniveton ran the Battle for Lingevres in 28mm using Disposable Heroes.  This looked really good and kept its four or five players enthralled all day.  Here we see a Panther that's just taken a fatal penetrating hit on the mantlet from the Sherman Firefly in the distance.

We had a couple of small, fast play games.  Phil Gray presented "The Men From Del Monte" in which, hours after Pearl Harbor, USAAF B-17s operating from dispersal fields on a Del Monte pineapple plantation, try to launch ad hoc bombing raids against the Japanese.  Meanwhile, Gordon Hanson ran his
short game "Intervention Strategy".

Meanwhile, a couple of the Barnsley members put on a very pretty Rapid Fire game:

And I got to play in Rob Connolly's epic Plickem Ridge game.  This was a Square Bashing game using the authentic order of battle for this bloody sector of the Passchendaele campaign.  Phil took on the role of General Blackadder (no, really, one of the British commanders actually was...) and Carl Luxford and I took the Germans.

The muddy fields of Flanders can be seen below.  Huge mass of Brits in front of Phil in the foreground; thin line of gallant Landsers in front of Carl in the distance:

A Map of Barnsley

This map shows where to park your fuel guzzling, CO2 belching, death machine.

I'll be bringing mine ;-)