The Art of War. In memory of a friend.

I discovered this post, that never got finished nor published, when my friend Antonio Santana Alonso and me tried ADLG a few years ago. It brought me memories so I decided to finally publish it in memory of my friend Antonio who got cancer and passed away this last month. Farewell my friend.

"This is my fourth battle of Art of War, a system I am really enjoying, and so far I have played 100 and 200 points games. So today we tried a semi-official rules for games at 120 points which are great as they allow you to deploy two divisions with one general each for almost the same number of units than games at 100 points with only one general and one division.

We could play two matches in an evening, swapping sides in each game. We played Seleucids vs. Romans with Pergamene allies.

All the forces are H&R 6mm armies from my friend Antonio.

Army lists:
Initial deployment. Romans (me) with allies on right flank (bottom left) to the left and Seleucids to the right."

General War Wagon from DBA 3.0 IV/3 Anglo Norman army.

This is the last piece to complete the army. I was holding it until I could find an appropriate printable figure to represent a painted wooden statue of St. Cuthbert. I also made his banner with a piece of paper and then painted it.

Well, so here you have it, and now the army is completely finished. I'm eager to try this little tank on the battlefield!

A friend mocked the size of the eyes of the priest but I painted like that to represent it is a painted statue, not a person.

I hope it is true what it is said about the Standard of St. Cuthbert and that it will give me many victories :-)

Two new companies.

I painted two more full companies with their supports. So now I have two German companies and two British ones, four in total, and right just before holidays end.

I still have enough unpainted miniatures from the same boxes to do one more company of each nation, and I may paint them in Xmas holidays, but for now I already have enough units to play some games. What I need now is buildings and vehicles; so I think I'll finish two Stugs III I have on the desk, and then do all the buildings to have a proper battlefield to play.

BTW, Jack if you are reading this, I tried Crossfire's introducing scenarios with two friends who were mildly interested in the game. One came from Warhammer and told me he'd read the rules but he didn't in the end. Moreover, he was quite distracted during the game, made many mistakes, confused some units and lost almost all of them. He did not ask for another game and I didn't bother to ask. The second one, who came from Bolt Action, sent me a message a day before the game to tell me that he tried to read the rules but they were too difficult and quit. After failing into finding opponents for Crossfire, I've decided to focus on Company Commander as it can be played solo :)

I am in a local whatsapp group with more than 50 members and who call themselves historic players but they only play Bolt Action, Tanks and Flames of War, games I tried but don't like. It's a pity where I live nobody wants to go out of their confort zone and try new things even if I bring both armies, table, and rules translated into Spanish. I suspect Crossfire and similar old rulesets are difficult to younger people, used to more reachable and friendly readable and playable games.

The four full companies ready for battle.

Some officers and specialists on individual bases for Company Command.

I found these boxes for 1.20€ each that are perfect for storing my little armies.

Late War British Company

My first Late British company. After this, I am doing two more German and British, so four companies more in total, and then vehicles and houses.

Full company with 3 platoons and platoon commanders, mortars, MGs and PIAT.

A closer view. Models are fast painted with diluted paint and a wash. No lights.

My first two companies. Germans on the left, Brits on the right.

I am using pigments for the bases but the mat varnish is killing the colours and whitening the bases. Can you tell me of any way to fix that?

15 mm Late War German Co

The latest boxes of Germans in Normandy and Late War British from PSC are good models and a bargain too for a box of 140 miniatures per 30 €. I have bought both boxes and I am planning to build three companies out of each box for Crossfire or similar rulesets. I have also bought both heavy weapon boxes although their miniatures are slightly smaller.

Here is the first one, a German Leg Infantry Company 1944-45 that contains 3 platoons with 3 squads and 1 platoon commander each, plus 1 company commander and company heavy weapons 1-HMG, 1-120mm and 1-81mm mortar.

These ones below are a few extras for other ruleset that I will play while I paint all the companies, Company Commander from Nordic Weasel.

For those who read up to the end, a question for help: Can you suggest me a good and not too complex WWII ruleset at company to battalion scale and with one base representing one squad, other than the following rulesets that I know?: Crossfire, Company Commander, Blitzkrieg Commander, Flames of War, Cross of Iron, Battlegroup, Poor Bloody infantry, Squad Leader, Rapid Fire or Nuts! Big Battles? TIA.

Dead Man's Hand - Banditos

A friend from the hobby gave me these "bandidos mejicanos" to play some DMH games with him and some other friends just for laughs.

The game is straight forward and easy to play, and very fun too, especially thanks to the cards that allow player interrupt others' actions.

I gave a quick paint work to them so I could play it and also resume my scheduled painting.

DBA 3.0 IV/3 Anglo-Norman done.

I finished the knights and call it done although there is still one more unit to paint, the War Wagon General.