Preparing for Historicon 2018 – Chairborne’s journey

Many of my fellow writers, due to distance or circumstance, will not be able to make the great summer gathering held by HMGS this July 12th through the 15th in Lancaster PA.I am, however, able to attend to, and I am excited to get in some days of intense gaming, catching up with friends, and seeing the sights.

I have been feverishly painting minis in preparation for the events. We will also provide some coverage from the event (on the road podcasting organized by Mitch Reed).  For those looking to find any No Dice No Glory folks to say hi to, this article will give you an idea of where to find me. So come by and say hello!

Painting Furiously

Thursday, July 12th

I will, regrettably, miss the FOW Mid War Charity Doubles Tournament on this day, because I get to work the whole day on teacher things. To those I know who are going to this, I’m sorry my Churchills can’t join you, I can at least provide this proof that they are painted. I expect I will get in late Thursday night and find out which pairs of people did the most damage. I’ll also see if anyone wants a late practice game on any open tables, and will be there to help set up for Team Yankee Nationals, Friday Morning.

3 are resin, 1 is plastic…can you figure out which one?

Friday, July 13th

A very lucky day by any measure.  The big event of the day for me is the Team Yankee tournament which starts bright and early at 9:30 am. Registration and check-in run from 930 to 10 a.m., and we will play a total of four 2-hour rounds. Battle plans will be used (something I have traditionally enjoyed). Last year’s tournament had a huge turnout, great sportsmanship, and was a whole lot of fun.

My personal favorite army from last year was Battlegroup Conan the Barbarian, with an actual statue of the famed barbarian as a terrain piece/objective.

I will have my army with me for any newbie that wants to give it a go.  Email me at NDNG_Tom_M@NoDiceNoGlory.com if you want to use my list of 64 points worth of West Germans. (I’ll take the first person that wants to borrow my army.) The list is as follows.

• A Leo 1 formation with artillery and an OP in support.
• Four Gepards for Anti Air cover
• two bulked up platoons of four Leo 1,
• some Luchs for mobility
• a Jaguar 2 platoon for playing defense
• a Marder platoon.

I think its a well-rounded force considering the low points.  Two hours should be good for these rounds.  I’ll have stat cards, dice, a measuring tape, and template. I am a full-service lender of armies, so please let me know asap and we will make room if you’re a new player who wants to give Team Yankee a try!

Some shots of the loaner army…

I have to duck out to sell some of my overflowing pile of tin at the flea market on Friday from 2 to 5 p.m.. I also have some handmade hills I think turned out pretty well, but I made more of them than I need. I’ll be posting a how-to article on making hills, sometime after I get back from Historicon. So if you’d like to give hill-making a try, stay tuned.

The hills are alive

 

Saturday, July 14th

I will be competing in the Flames of War Early War Nationals. This will be the first time I have ever played in the big game, and I am excited. While I consider myself more of a late war player, I’ve thrown together some Matildas to use with my Poor Bloody Infantry (PBI) and will have a go of it. I discuss this a bit in the podcast we recorded before the convention (coming soon) with Matt, Glenn and Iron-Tom. But here is the list in all its glory.

I think this is a pretty solid “take all comers” list.  The infantry is trained, which isn’t the best, but they are British, which gives them effectively a fearless rating in assault counterattacks.  I gave all the infantry sticky bombs as well, making an assault into them a dicey proposition for tank swarms.  In Early War, the Bofors guns make for a relatively effective rapid-fire AT gun (AT 6 FP 4+ ROF 4). Against some of the Front armour 2 or 3 tanks, they can help hold a position. The 18/25 pdrs are also nothing to be trifled with. Their AT 8 is more than a match for most tanks (aside from a KV or a Matilda).

If I’m fighting infantry, I have 2 batteries of artillery (including the mortars and 25pdrs). If I’m fighting tanks, I can put out a lot of shots.  And due to the way BF has decided to select attacker and defender, it looks like I’ve built what will be an always defends list.  According to the site, to decide attacker and defender, you add up the total points of your force as follows.

Infantry, man packed guns and gun teams = 0
Half-tracked and wheeled vehicles = 1
Fully tracked vehicles = 2

Add the mobility value of your force and the highest value is the attacker. This list scores a total of…4 points. Hello defense.

While my guns aren’t mobile, if I deploy well, then the infantry and matildas should do OK.  We’ll see how this goes. As I type…my Matildas are not painted. I promised myself they would be in caunter. We will see if I can pull that off by Thursday night.

Finally, there is the painting competition.  I have some pretty good units painted, at least I think so, and I’ll see if anyone else likes my work down there too!

Sunday I may pop in for a final go around the vendor hall, play a game or say some goodbyes and then its back north to New England.

See you at Historicon!

-Tom “Chairborne” Mullane