Wargaming In An Exceedingly Poor Manner…

[Just Jack]

All,

Believe it or not, despite limited wargaming time, I’ve actually been quite busy using up every minute I could spare. I just haven’t used it in a intelligent manner… Once again I have found myself in a gaming void, lacking motivation, then gaining motivation but then lacking proper miniatures, gathering proper miniatures but then lacking appropriate rules, or having my motivation for whatever project I was working on superseded by another, new project. I’ve been spending time and money like I’m independently wealthy, which, I assure you, is not the case… I’ve had so much going on that I need to break this post up into sections (should really be separate posts, I suppose, but I’m feeling too lazy for that at the moment).

I’m going to post a bunch of photos here to give you a taste, but please understand there are hundreds more on the blog, if you are so inclined.

More troops for WWII North Africa. A whole bunch of tanks, guns, and infantry, representing forces from seven nations! From far left, down, to right, up to far right, we have Yanks, Brits, Australians, Indians, Italians, Germans, and French.

Some 2-pdr Portees. The vehicles and guns are from Gaming Models, the drivers are Battlefront, and the gun crews are Peter Pig.

How about some Indians?

More Yanks.

French.

Bersaglieri.

Folgore.

Afrika Korps engineers. Did some Fallschirmjaeger engineers, too.

Some Hermann Goering Panzergrenadier Division troops.

Some individually-based American paratroopers…

And Germans.

Tried an Operation Barbarossa fight, didn’t like the rules.

Tried a US/German fight in Tunisia, wasn’t satisfied.

Got into Blood Red Skies.

Got me some Royal Marines.

And some Waffen SS.

Some modern Marines for the desert.

And some for more temperate climes.

Here’s a pic of some Vietnam-era US advisors from Peter Pig. I re-based most of my 15mm Vietnam-era troops, including late-war ARVN, US Army, NVA, VC, and Montagnards. Even my French Foreign Legion and Vietminh.

Then I painted up a bunch of Peter Pig WWII US Marines as early war ARVN.

And did up some armor for them, as well.

If you’d like to see boatload more photos, please click the link to the blog:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2022/12/wargaming-in-exceedingly-poor-manner.html

So, there it is, a glimpse into the never-ending void of my wargaming mind. Can’t say I haven’t done anything, just haven’t done much in the way of gaming. As my buddy Shaun says, I’m in peril of becoming a ‘collector,’ having lost my ‘wargamer’ status. Believe it or not, I am actively attempting to rectify the situation; my plan is to basically transfer my KG Klink concept to the Americans.
That is, I’m planning to take a fictional, stylized US “Combat Command,” but sort of ‘bathtub’ it down to battalion size, with a company of tanks, a company of mechanized infantry, and supporting ATGs, MGs, mortars, SPGs, TDs, armored cars, and engineers, with each vehicle commander and small unit leader as a named character, and follow them through the entire war, tracking their campaigns, wounds, and medals for valor. My plan is to start with Operation Torch (thus the need for some Vichy French), then into Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy. At some point they’ll leave Italy and go to France; not sure yet if I want to do the breakout from Salerno then go to Normandy, or do Anzio and then Operation Dragoon. Either way they’ll end up pushing into Germany, going to hit Hurtgen Forest, maybe the Bulge, and then all the way to the bitter end.

Any minute now 😉

V/R,
Jack

 

[Whirlwind]

Wow! Lots of great looking stuff in there…full of promise for the future!

I have always loved your KG Klink concept so looking forward to seeing you do a US version of that.

[Darkest Star Games]

You have been one busy dude!  Very glad to see you’re still at it.

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Just Jack]

Hello John and Darby, it’s good to see some old friends still around!  I hope all is well, and I appreciate the kind words.

I have good news regarding the gaming: I’ve played seven fights in North Africa so far, with number eight all set up, just waiting for me.  Will begin posting them soon.

V/R,
Jack

[Deleted User]

I like the camo on the germans and US woodland, I think you have more surface area to paint on?

You didn’t play a game of Blood Red Sky?

Here’s hoping next time you switch scale you’ll go for 3mm. You wouldn’t care about diffrent types of trucks anymore and do the full kampfgruppen action.

I recently found out you dabbled in Bitzkrieg/Cold war Comander years ago and used it solo? I couldn’t find the changes you made to make it solo though.

[Just Jack]

Hey buddy, hope all is well, and hope things are looking up; if I recall correctly, last time we talked you had experienced a calamity with your figures.

Yeah, camo is definitely easier on 15mm figures than 10mm 😉

Haven’t played a game of Blood Red Skies yet. Yeah, I’m a wargaming imbecile (maybe just a regular old imbecile, too): I just can’t control myself, the ‘ooh, shiny’ effect was too much for me, took me from ‘Tiny Air Combat’ to ‘Pretty Damn Big Air Combat’…

Regarding 3mm and BKC/CWC, I don’t have any pics of it, but back when I first started out in wargaming (2009), I actually began with CWC in 3mm, then moved into BKC in 3mm, with probably a hundred games played between then and 2012, when I moved on and sold off all the 3mm gear, before buying some more for Africa Imagi-nations (and a couple side projects), but sold all that off as well (found a sizable batch of WWII aircraft lying in a box not long ago, need to sell them to someone that will use them).

In any case, yes, played quite a bit of BKC/CWC games, mostly against my father, but quite a few solo as well. I made some changes to play a skirmish version (http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2013/12/insurgent-commander.html?m=0) and I made some alterations to make games against my kids quicker, but I don’t know that I did anything special to make it solo; its activation system seemed to take care of all that!

I certainly miss your crazy-ass campaigns, regardless of setting, and hope to get the opportunity to see some more. If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.

V/R,

Jack

[Andrew Beasley]

Impressive collection.

Love the explosion markers.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the link.
Similar to you I’ve been jumping from one project to another. This whole year I might have playedd two games as a test. Once it gets warmer I’m planning to do some painting.

[willz]

Nice wargaming stuff.

[Just Jack]

Thanks, Andrew and Willz, I appreciate it.

Thomaston – Two games and no painting!!!??? What the hell have you been doing?  Not still trying to kill yourself running, or picked up some other non-wargaming habit, have ya?  ‘Cause we both know it’s not worth it 😉

V/R,
Jack

[OotKust]

Very nice, love the WWII stuff.

Even poor gaming is better than none… but research fills voids.!

I can truly say that less than poor has occurred, yet in the minority and insignificance; even badly lost games have been more enjoyable than the others worst days.

cheers and best wishes___ d

[Dave54]

“I’m planning to take a fictional, stylized US “Combat Command,” but sort of ‘bathtub’ it down to battalion size, ”

No need to ‘bathtub it’. Call it a Task Force–that was the term for battalion-sized sub-groups of a combat command.

[Rod Robertson]

Great work Jack! Lovely minis and vehicles. You are as always an eclectic gamer and as KiyoteBlue said a bit of a project butterfly. I love the North African stuff! I miss KG Klink but look forward to Battlegroup Hogan. Best wishes to you and your’s for 2023 and let’s hope it’s a good year for your hobby too.

Cheers and be well.

Rod Robertson

[Just Jack]

Ootkust – No doubt, thanks!

Dave – Yep, that’s exactly what I did, called them Task Force Reisman, after their commander.  It’s a tank company, a rifle company, a recon company (armored cars and halftracked infantry), and attached platoons of engineers, ATGs, MGs, 81mm mortars, and M7 SPGs).

Rod – Yessir, no doubt I am.  Klink isn’t dead, I’m dying to get into Barbarossa, but after two false starts I’ve decided to head off in a different direction for a bit.  I’m planning on beginning to post this new stuff next week.  Hope you and your family are doing great, Happy New Year!

V/R,
Jack

[Author]

Posts