'Infamy, Infamy!' At The Vapnartak Wargames Convention In York

At the Vapnartak wargames convention at the York Racecourse on Sun 2nd Feb, my friend John Savage who goes to the Harrogate Wargames Club put on a superb looking demo game (with some help from other members) using the shortly to be released 'Infamy, Infamy!' rules by the Too Fat Lardies.  Here's a few pictures of a couple of the games that were played.

New Blog Header Picture - Picture Of The Week - No 63

Just changed the header on the Blog to this fabulous (cropped) one showing an awesome looking sci-fi tank.

This picture speaks to me...  It encapsulates beautifully my interests; wargaming, sci-fi, military vehicles, great artwork, simply love it.  Not sure of the original author, whoever he is, I hope he doesn't mind me using it :)-
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BEAMSTRIKE RULES & SUPPLEMENTS

I have a great affection for the Beamstrike sci-fi rules (which I contributed to).  They are described as:  "Beamstrike', a free, open source miniatures wargame developed for 15mm Science fiction figures. Inspired by 'Imperial Commander', Beamstrike rules are comprehensive, yet fast moving, there are ample examples of weapon systems, vehicles and equipment. You can use the background universe provided, yet the rules are generic enough to be used in your favourite science fiction setting."


Sadly with the demise of the Yahoo groups and the disappearance of the wed page that the author Neil Copper used to have, it is now difficult to locate all the supplements that were created.  I have decided to remedy that by uploading all the Beamstrike files into dropbox so they are downloadable :)
#1   Core Rules - version 1.22 - author Neil Cooper.
#2   Quick Reference Sheet - version 1-2
#3   Alien Supplement - version 1.2 - authors  Neil Cooper and Din Clarke,. 
#4   Imperial Era Supplement No 1 - author Neil Cooper.
#5   Star Wars Conversion - author Neil Cooper.
#6   Urban War  (draft version) - author Neil Cooper.
#7   Counters & Templates.
#8   Turn Monitor Sheet.
#9   Army Record Sheet.
#10  Visual Record 1.


If you are looking for an alternative set of 15mm Sci-Fi rules, Fubar Sci-Fi Expanded are worth a try, they are currently my rule set of choice.

Titan Terrain NZ

Guys, check out this interesting little company called 'Titan Terrain NZ' that do some great looking mdf terrain ! Link
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Sherman Firefly - Track Change

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A quite long, but yet interesting video showing the challenges faced in changing the tracks on a WWII Sherman Firefly.
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Modern War Institute Podcasts

Guys Stumbled across a fascinating series of Podcasts hosted by the Modern War Institute . They are definitely worth checking out Link.

Tank Chats #47 King Tiger At The Tank Museum

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This is quite an interesting talk.
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Swedish Strv 103 S-Tank

A nice piece of footage I found here showing a preserved Swedish designed S-Tank trundling around.
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'What A Tanker!' At Vapnartak

Our club (The Harrogate Wargames Club) ended up putting on two games at this years Vapnartak wargames convention organised by the York Wargames Society the York Racecourse.  The first game run by John S and Gavin was a 7TV game (rules devised by Crook Dice).  The second 'Kesslers Crossroads' was a 20mm tank game using the Two Fat Lardies rules set 'What A Tanker!'.  John Elwen and myself ran the three participation games, 4 Sherman 75s taking on a lone Panther tank defending a crossroads.  This is a homage to the real life event called Barkman's Corner (or is it in fact a myth ?).  To give the lone Panther a chance, the crew were rated as Elite and as per the rules could convert any 1 Command Dice.  Three entertaining games were played over the day with the Panther (mainly run by me) getting KO'd on each occasion.
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Happy New Year - 2019

I'd like to wish all who visit my Blog a happy and prosperous New Year :)
One my new year resolutions is to try and do more blog postings this year, we shall have to see if I achieve that !
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Something for sci-fi fans, check out this great sci-fi artwork I stumbled across on the net :)   Fantastic stuff, makes me feel like digging out my 15mm sci-fi armies for a battle :)
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Operation Lionheart 84

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Comment: For those interested in Cold war gaming using rules such as Team Yankee there is a lot to enjoy in this the first of what are 10 videos on U-Tube. 

Swedish Tank - Stridsvagn 74

Came across this interesting (light/medium tank that the Swedes used to operate up until the mid eighties.  I'm thinking of getting a platoon of them for my Swedish Flames Of War Team Yankee 10/12mm force.  No one makes the actual model, but I'm thinking that a USA Walker Bulldog looks like the closest model I can find, made by both Minifigs and Pendraken,
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This a great bit of vid of one in a military museum collection.  (Link here in case the U-Tube vid doesn't embed properly)
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Team Yankee Review

There is quite a fair review of the Battlefront Flames of War Team Yankee rules on the Boardgame geek site by a guy called Matt  Link 
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King Tiger at Militracks 2018

Some fantastic footage here of the French Kingtiger at Militracks  2018.

Team Yankee - Musings

Well I've been lazy and haven't posted must this year but I've still been getting plenty gaming in.  Of recent as I mentioned in my posting on 29th September I've been sucked into playing Flames of War Team Yankee with the rest of my group.  I've been and invested in some Swedish tanks from Minifigs.  There is a real shortage of Swedish unique vehicles so I'm having to substitute a few other suitable types instead.  I've contacted Butlers Miniatures to see if he can produce any, but he seems to have a huge wish list of other vehicles to worth through at the moment.

Anyway here are a few photos from recent games since I last posted :)

French AMX tanks.

 My Swedish S Tanks on the prowl :)

My Swedish IKV-91 Tank Destroys moving at speed down the edge of the battlefield. 

Dutch Leopard IIs conduct some long range fire against an East German unit.

Swedish BpvV302 Command APC hangs out in the town whilst the HQ observe the battle from the top of the building to their right. 

Beevor on Arnhem - Podcast

Guys
I've taken to listening the BBC History Extra podcasts whilst I'm out walking my hound on an evening.  I found this one very interesting:   https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/beevor-on-arnhem/ about the battle for Arnhem in WW2 - highly recommended :)
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Flames Of War Team Yankee At The Harrogate Wargames Club

Most of my gaming group at the Harrogate Wargames Club club are into Flames Of War Team Yankee using 10mm (1/444th) scale vehicles.  Over the last couple of weeks I've been watching a few games, and after some deliberation I have decided to join and get my own army.  Years back I used to do modern gaming with 1/300th tanks (mainly Heroics and Ros) with a Swedish army.  I still have a real soft spot for the old S-Tank, so I think that is army I'm going to get in 10mm.  I shall post more in this subject as my army develops.

In the meantime, here are some pictures I took over the last two games that were played.

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RETURN TO DRAGON RAMPANT

Well after about two months of pretty much solidly playing What A Tanker! my gaming group has  returned to an old favourite of ours, Dragon Rampant by Daniel Mersey.  Whilst I was I was really rusty on the rules, a quick speed read through them and the latest version of our club House Rules (link) quickly refreshed me.

I dusted off my Orcs and here are a few pictures of them in action.  The opposition (last picture, far side of the table) had a Hydra with mystical armour that just would not die, so a defeat for my Orcs, but an entertaining game nonetheless :)

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King Tiger Tank - Restoration In Switzerland

There is a King Tiger being restored in Switzerland.  They obtained it in 2006 and have been posting videos (12 thus far) from time to time showing how they are progressing.

They make fascinating viewing are are recommended viewing for any WW2 tank enthusiast :)
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Annoyingly the video link is now dead, but the tank has its own web site, which I would encourage you to visit :)

http://www.koenigstiger.ch/english/story.html
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