Another Tournament Win

Marders tried to flank the Sextons....died.

Yes, I went to my 3rd tournament and won my 3rd one in a row.

Although I can take ZERO credit for it.

It was a 1250 doubles event.  I took Ersatz, with 2 Tigers, and 4 Marder III's.

Shawn was my partner again, and think he was ready to send me home, and play my army for me.

I played AWFUL.  I rolled like crap, my platoons couldn't do anything.  Especially my Marder III's.  Because they are one of my very favorite paint jobs, I had to use them.  Well they suck balls.   {not a kids show}

Dug in Hungarians and Ersatz.

Through 4 games my Marders failed ALL but 1 Stormtrooper move.  They died in 3 out of 4 battles.  In the 4 battle, 3 of them died, I made my motivation, and then just ran the last one off so we would get a 6-1 win.  AWFUL Marder III's.

They were the BEST looking vehicles there {even though I didn't win paint} but performed the worst out of anything there.  I don't know if I'll ever use them again.  They are just around to look good.  Kinda like my wife...right honey?  {shhhhh, I spent way to much money this tournament}

So, I'm sorry Shawn.  Thanx for carrying me through 4 games.  And besides all that I was really rusty.  I had a hard time deciding what to do.

Honestly my Ersatz did pretty well.  They did their job and held objectives.  really it was only the Marders that really sucked.

Defended onslaught of German Vets.

So, breaking it down out of 4 games I had 16 marders...15 of them were destroyed, and the last one ran home to momma.

But it worked out in the end.  Got a free JagdPanther Platoon with my winnings. 

Sorry don't have many pics.  My camera died at the start of game 3.

Destroyed Panzer IV's

Finally finished the D-Day project.

And I'd have to say, these destroyed Panzer IV's are some of my favorite work.  They turned out so well that It makes me want to paint my Panzer IV army.

They will show up on one of Shawn Morris' new D-Day terrain boards.  I can't wait to see pictures.

I really don't have too much to say about them.  Just enjoy the pictures I guess.
I added black soot to the front becasue shawn wanted them destroyed form the front as they were coming over bocage. 

Oh wait...I did discover one thing.  EXPENSIVE BRUSHES WORK!

Ya, I was one of those guys that always bought the cheap brushes.  They curled so fast, and I did a lot of dry brushing in my early days.  That just destroys your brushes.  I Finally broke down and bought a $40 brush.  I probably didn't use it for months because I was scared it would just curl and it would be a waste of money.  That was over a year ago, and the tip still hasn't curled.

So, I decided to buy an expensive flat brush for dry brushing.  And I used it for the first time on these Panzer IV's.  Usually when I dry brush, I have to be realy careful because you can get "streaks".  I always thought this was just becasue I still had too much paint on my brush, or the paint was too watered down.  Well now I believe it may have been the cheap brushes I was using.  This new brush did dry brush lines perfectly.  And I wasn't even trying to be careful because they were destroyed tanks after all.

Any way...enjoy.

Before any weathering

Mud and damage added

Mud and Damage

added chipped paint

More Chipped paint

added black soot

Rules Nazi Episode X - Assaults Part II:Tanks, Main Guns, Covering Fire...oh my!

FoW Version 3. 

Before I begin this episode I'd like to talk about version 3 a tiny bit, and the Turret BS.  Its been pretty much confirmed that Version 3 is coming in the spring.  And Red Bear and Grey Wolf have been "streamlined" to fit these new rules.

The very first thing I noticed is that they have "FIXED" Limited Vision and Slow Traverse.
They now measure from the turret instead of the Hull.....HOORAY!

Tanks and Main Guns in Assaults

I think my friends in Saskatoon need a new Rules Nazi episode on Assaulting.  I went to assault with My Tigers during this last tournament and I was told I couldn't because I shot my Main gun.  I could not fathom where that rule came from.  And every single one of them "knew" this was the rule.  Shawn and I were a little dumb founded by this.  But we scowered the rules anyway.  I'm not always right.  Especially at a tournament, where I don't have the befit of researching something before I say something stupid.

So, we asked them.  Where is this rule?  What they were doing was looking at the Rules summary in the back of the book.  Where it says;

Assaulting Tanks
-can't fire main guns.

They took this to mean that if a tank team fires its main gun it can't assault.  Which of course is incorrect.  What it really means is that Tanks can't fire their main guns during Assaults.  And since during an assault its a skill check, the only time that happens is during defensive fire. 

Covering Fire - For Taran

This section is totally useless.  Everyone talks covering fire.  THERE IS NO SUCH THING.  Its a complete waste of an entire page of confusion.

All this means is that if you shoot full ROF, you can't assault....that's it.  There is no "ACTUAL" Covering Fire. 

I just said the same thing in one sentence.  Even if you don't move and you want to assault, either don't shoot or shoot at a reduced rate of fire as if you had moved.

So, my tigers could have assaulted, because they shot at a reduced rate of fire.

Defensive Fire

Yes tanks can't shoot their main guns in defensive fire....UNLESS they are a ROF 4 Anti-Aircaft Gun.

This does not include the AA MG.  Remember these are different, if you've read Episode VII.  Even though they are AA with a ROF of 3, they are still an MG.  ROF 4 anti-aircraft guns are NOT MG's they are Main guns....confusing I know.

Just a quick side note on AA MG's, I found it amazing how many people at this tournament didn't know you can't fire the AA MG and Main gun at the same time.  So many Shermans firing their AA 50 cals along with their main guns.

Hopefully I didn't miss anything.  I don't have my books in front of me.  Lets see if I have this one correct from memory.

I Be Where I'm At

Sorry, Title is a little bit of an inside joke....right Robin?

Anyway, a few people have been wondering why no posts lately.
So, thought I would give a quick update.

I have 3 projects on the go.  Trying to get as much done on all 3.

#1 - D-Day commission project - this is almost done.  i'll be done tonight or tomorrow.  I'll have a post about that soon. Oh, and the hetzers are included in that project.

#2 - FoW campaign.  Still trying to work some kinks out.  I have a map ready to go.

#3 - FoW tournament app 2.0.  Still working hard on this, even though I haven't given an update.

I have a tournament this weekend, so I should be able to post about that.  I haven't been to one in a long time.  I had to bail on the last 3 for one reason or another.

Rules Nazi - Someone has asked that I cover "Covering Fire".  Probably not much to say, but worth a post.  This confused the hell out of me as well at first.  When really it should totally be taken out of the book.  So, I will do that next.

See you all soon.

Flames of War Tournament App 2.01

With the permission of Joe Krone and with his guidance, I have begun work on a new official Flames of War Tournament app.  Yes to go along with the other umpteen FoW projects I have on the go.  Do I love this game or what?

The reason being is I could never get the old one to work on a windows 7 machine.  And even when I did get it to work on an old XP machine, there were...issues.  Plus it uses access...who develops with access anyway?  Actually whom ever did it, this was probably they only "database" (i use the term loosely when talking about Access) they had available.  No offense to whom ever took the time to build it, but I've never liked access.  And since I'm a professional developer, I might as well put my skills to use for the game I love.

What I'd really like to see in the long run is a web based one, where clubs can log into, and battlefront could keep a central database for all tournaments run around the world.  But I'll start with a stand alone app for now. 

I've even been talking to Greg who built the AWESOME Easyarmy app.  There could be some potential to integrate the 2 apps in the future. 

I've got a pretty good start on it.  I'm going by the old app as much as I can as a model.  Then I will change and add features.  Hopefully when I'm done we'll have something that Battlefront will be proud of, and we can all use.

The tricky part is a portable database that isn't Access.  I have a lot of experience with SQL, and you can't exactly have a portable version of SQL Server...or can you? Why yes you can.  I spent the past weekend setting this all up.  So, we are off and running.

What I would like to do is hear what people liked and hated about the old one.  Maybe even some suggestions of what people would like to see.  If some people would like to even be testers, you could send me your e-mail address.  Just remember Battlefront and Joe Krone have final say on everything.  And I realized a long time ago you'll never make everyone happy.  Your lucky if you ever make one person totally happy.  So, please don't take offense if your ideas aren't used.  I'll always do whats best for the app.

One of the biggest issues for developers is things never work in deployment the same as they do in development.  So half the battle is just getting the app to install on different machines.

Post ideas and suggestions here and/or send me your e-mail address.

ckopciuch (at) sasktel (dot) net

I'd especially like to hear from Steve and the WWPD guys.  I know they have some development experiance in their group and have lots of tournament experience.

Once Joe gives me the go ahead I will also start looking for testers. 

You can follow the progress on the FOW App Page.

Rules Nazi Q&A

Well I didn't realize you couldn't post comments on a separate page.   You can only put comments on a post.

So thought I better start a 'Post', where people could ask me rules questions.

If its a quick answer, I'll stick it on here, if its worthy, I'll make an entire episode.
If you would like to see something covered here, then let me know.

I may have to do Artillery next.

Some people seem to think you can stack all your hits on to one target, and that you can't apply hits to bailed out vehicles first, when in fact you can.  They seem to think ALL regular shoot rules apply, when they don't. 

Campaign Part II - Weather System and Turns

This is just a starting point.


So far, looks like I'll do 6 turns per year.
I'll expand it as I iron out how things work.

2d6	Jan/Feb	Mar/Apr	May/Jun	Jul/Aug	Sep/Oct	Nov/Dec
2	Storm/Blizzard	Storm/Blizzard	Rain/Snow	Storm/Blizzard	Rain/Snow	Storm/Blizzard
3	Storm/Blizzard	Rain/Snow	Windy	Overcast	Rain/Snow	Rain/Snow
4	Rain/Snow	Windy	Overcast	Clear	Windy	Rain/Snow
5	Windy	Overcast	Clear	Clear	Overcast	Rain/Snow
6	Overcast	Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear	Overcast
7	Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear
8	Overcast	Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear	Overcast
9	Windy	Overcast	Clear	Clear	Overcast	Rain/Snow
10	Rain/Snow	Windy	Overcast	Clear	Overcast	Rain/Snow
11	Storm/Blizzard	Rain/Snow	Windy	Overcast	Rain/Snow	Rain/Snow
12	Storm/Blizzard	Rain/Snow	Rain/Snow	Storm/Blizzard	Rain/Snow	Storm/Blizzard

Weather Effects
Clear - no effect
Overcast - Roll 2 aircraft dice for number of planes, take lowest.
Windy - Start with 2 fewer air support dice, -12" from Arty Range
Rain/Snow - No Aircraft, Reduce Terrain by 1 level*, Night Fighting Rules (-1)**
Storm/Blizzard, No Aircraft, Night Fighting Rules (-2)**, Reduce terrain by 1 level*.

* If Terrain is Road - becomes cross-country.
Cross-country - becomes difficult
Difficult - becomes very difficult
Very Difficult - Becomes Impassable.

** Use Night fighting rules, but British Night Attacks abilities have no effect.
NEW - (?) number in the brackets is the penalty to visibility dice roll. 

EDIT - removed the arty range penalty after some comments on the forum.  added a shorter visibility instead.

Feel free to make suggestions.  Again this is just a prelim to get things started.
try to keep simple for now. 

For those  that maybe don't play many other board games, I'll explain why I didn't give high dice rolls the better weather.  With 2 dice, the odds are you more likely roll in the middle of the 2-12 range.  2 and 12 probably being the most rare rolls.  Thus increasing the chances of getting clear weather.

Turns

I like the idea of real time where guys can declare battles any time they want.  But then you run into problems where some players have more time then others.

So thought I would take a page out of the European board games and rotate turn order.

Turn 1
Player 1
Player 2
Player 3
Player 4
Player 5

Turn 2
Player 2
Player 3
Player 4
Player 5
Player 1

and so on.

Each player could declare 1 battle per turn, or spend VP's to pass.
Maybe even spending VP's to move up or down positions. 

You could also add the real time in for diplomacy and such.  Give players a week to talk to each other.
But so far it looks like it will be 6 turns per year....think I said that already. ;)