Table for the Crisis Demo

Here is the table set up for the Crisis Demo.  Table size is 4" square.  The terrain is simple, the scenario is as well, purpose is to show the different game mechanics, without getting bogged down in a scenario that is too big for an inexperienced player.
The forest tiles have woodland scenic trees on them, river tiles hand made, roads are strips of rubber, and everything else is scratchbuilt.  I might pass by the model shop tomorrow for some more bling for the roads, I'm thinking a bit of track, some trees alongside the road, electricity poles, but that depends on the time left: Friday it's over to Crisis straight from work, Saturday morning we need to finish the set-up.

Flocking my river tiles

It’s time to start preparing everything for the Crisis demo.  Here I’ve been finishing a few river tiles, to be used in the demo on November 5th.

German Fallschirmjaegers: it ain't easy

I've been painting a few bases of 6FSJ troops for my Normandy scenario, but it's not easy to get a good impression of Oak Leaf Camo here.  Just taking the correct colors and wet mixing seems to give a blotchy result, and a light wash of black increases detail but tends to make the mini's quite dark, and 10 mm need more light than normal, not less.  It's only after making the macro pics (these things look ugly at 14 MP) that I actually saw some stained effect I don't like too much as well.  I'm gonna freshen these guys up again with some sand and try some very fine brown and green pattern, but on a dry underground this time.

Started 6FSJ Germans

I started basing and coating a platoon of German para's for the Bloody Gulch scenario - and others around that period - and after coating them in grey I changed my mind and went for sand color, I think it is gonna be a better base for the camo suits they are getting.  Only thing I am still struggling with a little bit is the paintjob.  In the same scenario I am gonna field some SS Panzer Grenadiers, and they have camouflage armor as well.  There are some minor differences between their uniforms, but there is no chance I - or anyone else as visually challenged as me - is gonna be able to recognize them on a gaming table. 

Eichenlaubmuster

Erbsenmuster

The camouflage pattern itself is different too, the FSJ have erbsenmuster camo (peas, small dots in three different colors of green) and the SS camo uses eichenlaubmuster (oak leaves), alongside a wide variety of other uniforms for commanders, support units, artillery and so on.  Too complicate things further, I also am painting a number of snipers, and they are probably wearing camo uniforms as well, I still have to find out.  First of all, I am going to test a few methods for painting a camo job on a 10 mm soldier.  I fear on this scale, the only way to make a clear difference will be to keep the FSJ uniforms lighter, based on the sand yellow base color, and make the SSPG darker, based on a darker brown.

Scenario: the battle of Bloody Gulch

Picture by Jacques Wood

I am preparing the scenery and units for this recreation of a battle that took place on June 13, 1944 next to the French town of Carentan. This battle took place after the 101 AB Div took Carentan and two batallions were sent east to dig in for the expected counterattack. The counterattack came, but the 6FSJ Div had support from elements from the 17 SS PzGren Div, including some armor and mechanized infantry. The attack was forceful, and when Fox company broke, they left the flank of Dog company open, causing them to start retreating as well. Easy company remained on the line alone, and took the brunt of the attack without breaking.
I am preparing the troop list for the scenario, I will focus on Easy company, I don't think the system can handle more than a company per side without grinding to a halt game-wise.

Sorting through my Pendraken figs

I finally started on sorting several big ziplock bags full of Pendraken 10 mm WWII infantry, a bag of regular Germans, German paratroopers, regular Americans and Airborne troops, have gathered a number of multi-compartment boxes and wrote up some cards for easy searching, coz boy, do these look similar without my glasses.

I'm starting to base the units still needed for the crisis Demo we planned, and I have to make exactly what I need, time is running short, it's only two more months!

Here's what I'll be preparing, basing and prime-coating this week:

German Para Rifle Teams
German Para SMG Teams
German Para MG 34
German Para MG 42
German Para Mortar 80 mm
German Para PSK and PF

Some more Shermans
StuG IV
Tiger I e
JagdPz IV
Opel Blitz
Kubels
Jeeps
2 1/2 Ton Truck
M18 Hellcat

Some German AT guns and other heavier ordnance
Tank commanders + a system to be able to unbutton / button them up
German snipers (somehow I failed to acquire the US ones but Germans is a fine start for early Normandy)

Another platoon of US Airborne, more leaders and support, the scenario will be exclusively US Airborne, I need limits!

We'll see where we go from there, I'll be working on the scenario sheet this week as well, I intend to prepare exactly what is needed for the scenario.

Some thoughts on smoke effects in game

I found some interesting articles on smoke employment in the military during my research for a practicable in-game smoke control system: When smoke is used, how will it behave over time, and what are the factors that influence it.  As with everything, this is a search for a playable compromise, we are not making meteorological simulations here.  So what I want to end up with, is a simple sequence every turn to check what happens with smoke on the table.
So I went and listed up what the results in such a sequence can be, and what parameters influence the outcome.  Smoke is an absolute necessity in a good tactical WW2 combat game, and it needs to be implemented well, the thing is to find the limit to realism.  What parameters are most important, what others will further influence the result?