The Boys Play a Game in the New Room

 All,

Alright, first things first: yes, I'm still alive and kicking ;)  I hope all is well with you, things are going okay here.  I've been painting and playing, of course not as much as I'd like, and I haven't (obviously) been blogging it, but I'm trying to get back on the horse.  So bear with me, these aren't going to be the super cool batreps you're accustomed to, but if I can clear the backlog hopefully I can get back to my old ways ;)  I've got a bunch to show you and I'm going to try to kick them out at the cyclic rate, not even going to post them to the wargaming forums.

First up, we had a Saturday with not much going on and I wanted to get back into the swing of things, so I grabbed my boys and headed upstairs for some light wargaming fare.  We hadn't played forever, so I busted out a small table with some super-cool modern minis and let the boys go at it with the "One Hour Skirmish Rules," and it worked, they had a great time.

There is it, a 4' x 4' table, with Sharkbait on the left and Chunkystyle on the right.  I think I gave both of them eight guys, one with a grenade launcher and one with an LMG.

Oh, and they're in the new game room (previously my 'toy room' was behind the door at top left, and the room we're in right now was the boys' playroom (Legos, Star Wars guys, video game consoles, etc...), and the boys had bunk beds and shared a bedroom, but my wife decided she wanted to split the boys up so the little one took my old game room as his bedroom and I took their playroom as my playroom.  It's working out.

A troop with a grenade launcher takes a shot.

An AR-armed soldier returns fire.

Covering some nearby ruins.

A guy with an SMG (MP-7, I believe) creeps forward.

The only problem I'm having with the new game room is it gets more sunlight than the old room and thus washes some color out of the photos sometimes...

A guy gets onto the second floor for a better look.

The game went well, and down to the wire.  The older boy won by putting all the little guy's troops out of the fight, with only two left standing himself.

A look at the game room, walking in.  Look at all that shelving!  My wife nearly died when she finally realized how much crap I have.  And thus, I nearly died ;)

A closet full of stuff.

A look at th east wall.

Southeast.

Southwest.

West-northwest.

And north.

After we finished I kicked the boys out to set up a game for myself. 

I fancied a game of good, old-fashioned 5Core Company Command, played in 15mm on a 4' x 4' table.

I rolled up forces randomly, U.S. on the left, Germans on the right, playing with my new(ish) 15mm troops on the smaller bases (seen in my platoon-level test games).

The Americans: 
Company Commander
MG Team
60mm Mortar Team
Two full rifle platoons (Platoon Commander and three rifle squads)
1 additional Rifle Squad
2 M4 Shermans

The Germans:
Company Commander
80mm Mortar Team
2.0cm AA Gun
Three understrength Rifle Platoons (Platoon Commander and two rifle squads, each)
Stug III

U.S. troops deploy on the table (bottom).

MG team in the house, mortar team just below them, Rifle Platoons on line in the center, ready to push, Shermans ready to follow.

A closer look at the U.S. support.

And one of the assault platoons.

The U.S. Company Commander, with the 'extra' rifle squad standing by.

The other assault platoon.

I place the Germans, heavily focused on/around the hill, although the Stug is lurking up in the fields (top left).

The German left.

German center.

German right.

And just to spoil it for you, I didn't even take any more pictures!  I played a couple turns and it just didn't feel right; to be honest, none of the 5Core Company Command games I've played in 15mm have worked out right (EDIT: wait, that's not true, I had some real crackers with the "Hell on Wheels" campaign in North Africa, they were just taking too long), which is crazy, because I've played literally a million of them in 10mm and never had a bad game!  I think it's all down to the look and feel, which I haven't managed to get right.  Here's what I came away with from this attempt (and the abortive attempts at re-starting KG Klink in 15mm with 5Core Company Command): 

1) I don't like using the small bases, I prefer the 'regular' FOW base footprint for playing 5CCC.

2) I'm trying to put too many troops on the table at once (my best games were smaller ones).

3) I'm playing on too large a table.  My best games were what someone once called "pizza-box gaming," that is, playing on a small surface where there's no real pre-battle maneuver, we're starting in contact, everyone is in range, now let's get it on!  

I shall give it a try soon, but in the interim I've played a bunch of other stuff.

More to follow.

V/R,
Jack