A medley

Hi,

Got in some kitchen table action with the Cub (and even a little assistance from Puddin') this weekend.  For starters, we put together the first of some 4Ground 15mm buildings I picked up prior to leaving Toronto two summers ago, along with a small bridge.  I grabbed them as part of the planned Acadia project, but we started to put them together because he's showing interest in WWII and Bolt Action.

Kits go together quite well, and once you've done one, are basically intuitive.

Having finished the one, I was promptly possessed by the spirit of geek, and finished up most of the rest the same evening, to go with the house and bridge.

I would like to figure out how to add railings.

 I figure in the grand scheme of things, a wood cabin is a wood cabin, so they're standing in as Mittleuropan village dwellings for our Bolt Action games, the first of which took place this afternoon.

Russian conscripts force the river.  The more seasoned troops are happy to let the new boys go first.

The Cub is using Americans, a mix of plastic Wargames Factory figs he scored at Hold the Line a while ago, plus some U.S. paratroops I picked up back in the day after binge-watching Band of Brothers once too often.  We played 200 points, to keep it simple for learning rules, but the Cub did splurge on a forward air observer, to what proved to be gruesome effect.

Both sides started off the table, but had our forces in play by the end of the second turn.  Cub set up a firing line, and made good use of the American infantry's mobility.

Pins start to stack up on the Yanks.

Cub wanted to use the bridge we'd done, so he scammed some blue paper from the Big Bin of Random Craft Junk, and tore it into strips.  Instant river.  Adaptable, that boy.

Reinforcements come across to help.  In the foreground, a PTRD team takes aim.

Pivotal moment in the game came when Cub called in his two (damn 'Murcans!) air strikes, which gutted one, and completely destroyed another, unit.  That plus his uncanny ability to draw red dice in an uninterrupted streak let to an upset win by the rookie side.

The 5 pins are a consquence of the air strike that ripped the conscripts a new one.  You'll also note I'm down to one unit of regular troops.  Thanks, American special rules!

The real clincher was when a squad of my infantry assaulted his officer, out in front of his troops, and not only whiffed, but took a casualty in return, and were wiped out.

The assault that couldn't go wrong, but did.

Could I roll a 4?  No, no I could not ;)

He was so chuffed with his win, he promptly sat down to paint up some of his boys.  He's decided to go with "desert camo", and for a first attempt at 15mm, is doing pretty well.  I'm thinking about picking up some kind of kid's history of the North Africa campaign for him - and would be delighted with any suggestions.

Desert 'Murcans.  Going to suggest Cub hit them with a wash.

Although Puddin' had been helping with drawing order dice, she was feeling a bit left out, so we followed up BA with a few games of Animal upon Animal, which I'd recommend to you with little ones (Puddin' is a precocious 4), and even squeaked in a round of Star Realms.  We picked up both games at Halcon a few weeks back, and they're proving to be quite popular.

FMB