Eastern Front Game at Dave Tuck's House - Part 3 (The Saga continues..)

Before I continue the battle some things need to be added. Whilst some of the scenery orginally came from the club before Dave Tuck worked his magic on it, much of it is home made and the armour is a mix of makers with the german figures from Valiant Miniatures and Shell Hole Scenics with a smattering of Raventhorpe.

Before battle resumed, took this close up of the German Quad Flak Gun.

Close up of one of the Russian Tanks. Mike Barnatt can be seen in the background. This photo was the front page photo for March on our official website.

Close up of some German Infantry in Winter Clothing.

With the battle resumed, more Russian reinforcements appeared. Notice the Katyusha. While a lot of Mike's Vehicles are from manufacturers, a large amount are quite literally handmade. Mike has always been creative.

Along with many Russian Vehicles were the Mounted Cossacks. The Russian forces were quite substantial by this time.

The Russian attack continued heading straight for the German defences. My dice throwing had improved for the second half of the game and we were getting less suppressed. However with so many forces coming our way, sooner or later something was going to give...

The Volksgrenadiers advance towards the front of the German Defences.

Panzers, which had been at the back, move forward in anticipation of trouble.

A German mortar crew which did not fire all game as it turned out.

The Russians slowly chipping away at our defences at the front. Field Guns ganged up on by Tanks.

The Russian forces with reinforcements coming in the background. Despite the casualties at the front of their offence by this time they had destroyed our Field gun, the Quad Flak Gun, the Infantry Gun and some vehicles at the front. The Game was pretty much over.


On the next instalment I will show you how the game looked when it ended. I also have some better shots of Martin Buck's scenery that he provided, to say the least..

Hello, Good Evening and Welcome

I have decided not to go to the club tonight. It is always quiet on bank holidays anyway. So staying in. Whilst staying in tonight though I shall be watching some classic telly. "The Frost Report is Back!" is being repeated on BBC4 from 9pm. A one-off special to celebrate that classic series that started in the 60's which launched the careers of many including the Monty Python team and The Two Ronnies. I am a fan of both.
Wasn't able to track down a YouTube video of the one-off special but managed to find that classic Class Sketch from The Frost Report starring Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett and John Cleese.



Found the latest Doctor Who Trailer for Series 4 starring Catherine Tate, Billie Piper and Freema Agyeman. Really looking forward to the next series. Always been a fan. It starts sometime in April.

Eastern Front game at Dave Tuck's House - Part 2

With Martin Buck arriving along with some scenery he had painted, the game began. Mike Barnatt and Martin Buck were Russian, using Mike's figures and equipment. I was German along with Dave Tuck. All the German figures and equipment were by Dave Tuck.

The scenery was by Dave Tuck. The boards were originally from the Grimsby Wargames Society. Some required some repair. They were then painted up in white. All the trees on these terrain boards are actually cake decorations that Dave cheaply bought from the US before painting them up. The trees quite literally slot into the landscape.

The Russians begin their attack coming on from one side of the table.

The Russians come dangerously close to the German Panzerfaust position.

I should also add that on the hour weather cards were also used which had a direct effect on the game. For example, a card may appear which says "Visibility within 20 inches only" or "Clear" or "Blizzard". Before that on the hour also dice were thrown by both sides to determine when their reinforcements would appear. As each hour went by, those dice were then added to each other. Whichever produced the highest result after the accumulation of the dice throws came on first.

Some Russian reinforcements come on.

My fellow partners in crime in this game. Dave Tuck (left), Mike Barnatt (middle) and Martin Buck (right).

Slightly better pic of them all. Mike is busy organising his forces, Martin is taking a photo with his phone while Dave watches. Notice Mike's artillery on the far left. Martin was the only one who did not bring his digital camera for this game as myself, Dave and Mike did.

It was then that we stopped for dinner that Dave had cooked us. Soup followed by Pizza if we wanted. I sent a photo to the blog at that point. During the first half of the game my dice throwing had not been too bad as the Russians had been taking hits. Unfortunately the rest of the time meant most of the German units ended up having suppressed fire due to my dice throwing.

Returning from dinner the Russians continued their attack, rushing past the Panzerfaust position after destroying it.

A close up of one of the German's vehicles.

To be continued...

Happy Snowy Easter

Happy Easter to all. To my surprise I woke up this morning to find it had snowed overnight. It had been forecast though. It hardly ever snows round here. When it does it is very rare of it to settle even overnight. So took a few photos of it. Don't know when it will snow round here again.

My back garden after I woke up this morning.

View over the wall in next door neighbour's garden.

View towards Earl Street/Littlefield Lane. At least an hour had passed when this pic was taken. Camera had to be charged up. As you can see the snow was starting to melt.

View towards other end of street.

Not sure if we are going to get any more snow this week. Happy Easter anyway. Talking of snow, more Eastern Front later...

Eastern Front Game at Dave Tuck's House - Part 1

The game took place on 8th March 2008.

I had been looking forward to it for days. It had been arranged days ago as had been my transport. I had never been to Dave Tuck's before which was outside Grimsby. My digital camera had been charged up the night before. Also made sure my Dice, tape measure and the rulebook which was "Blitzkrieg Commander" were ready. All bagged and prepared with both my tripods. Dennis Coleman of Hovels was originally going to come and pick me up but he was unable to make it as he was preparing a large order for Triples - in fact, Essex Miniatures - so couldn't. Mike Barnatt was good enough to pick me up to take me to Dave's. Mike had brought along a dozen boxes of Russian Vehicles and Infantry with him for the game. 27,000 points worth I believe.

Playing in this game were Martin Buck, Mike Barnatt, Myself and Dave Tuck. Before I put in a full game report I will show you what the scenery looked like that Dave Tuck had made for the game. The photos below were taken before Martin Buck had arrived so these pics were before approx 10.30am.

Overview of the games table at Dave Tuck's House. Its inside a Shed in fact. This table is not quite as large as the downstairs games table at the club but its not far off.

Some of the German defenses before the game started. Notice the infantry occupying the ruined buildings.

A couple of Tiger Tanks on the hill with more tanks in the background.

A large group of German Tanks ready for action.

Some planes hovering over the battleground.

German Infantry with much needed Panzerfausts lie in wait outside the building.

Close up of the Tiger Tanks. The top left tank had been originally painted by Martin Buck.


More tomorrow as the game begins...

WW1 Game 17th March 2008

It was a 4 player game on Monday: Mark Alcock and John Ogden as the Germans using Mark's Germans, painted by our own Joe Dunn, a professional figure painter; Dave Tuck and Andy Sharpe as the British using Andy Sharpe's British soldiers and Vehicles. Once again, the Germans were in defense against the British attack.

Notice the German Observer on the left on the roof. If you look closely you can see he is using a radio whilst holding a map.

Some German Infantry occupy a building whilst some of them advance.

These German Infantry appear to be on the offensive and hiding in soft cover.

British Infantry advancing alongside an armoured car.

Just some of the advancing British Forces.

British Field Gun.

British Commanders with their motorised transport.


The result was that the Germans lost although they have had worse games.

Snow is here sort of

It was snowing when i took this pic outside the club

Happy 1st Birthday to this Blog

I don't know if anyone has noticed but this blog is exactly 1 year old today. Yes, that's right chaps, I have been blogging for exactly a year now. The first post on this blog was made on March 22nd last year, which was then before Triples. Triples was earlier this year.

In celebration of that fact I am planning a photo spectacular on this blog for the weekend, which is also Easter Weekend. For starters I have yet to put up the game report from the WW1 game on Monday. Secondly, my game report with loads of photos from the Eastern Front game I played in at Dave Tuck's house on March 8th 2008 will be put up - but in several parts. The Eastern Front report will probably start being put up after I have come back from the club after playing in a Magic: The Gathering Tournament there today.

To read my very first blog entry, go here:
http://grantsgrimsbygames.blogspot.com/2007/03/blogging-is-new-thing-for-me.html

I do hope you enjoyed my photos, game reports and other posts over the past year.

My Verdict on Triples 2008

Hope you enjoyed my little blog show that I did on Saturday by blogging on it whilst I was still there. Before I give a slightly more detailed report maybe you should read what I thought of last years Triples on:
http://grantsgrimsbygames.blogspot.com/2007/03/triples-rundown.html
and the Grimsby Wargames Society Official Website at:
http://www.gywargames.co.uk/triples07.html

I did enjoy it however though I spent all show taking photos. I think I'm with Mal on his assessment of the show in that it was poor. Don't think it was even as good as last year's. Mostly the same usual traders with a few new ones. There were some good quality games mainly in the Octagon but not many were absolutely oustanding.
On the way there there was a diversion and somewhere after that we must have taken a wrong turn. Ended up going through Rotherham, taking the scenic route. It was also thick fog which appeared about 20 mins into our Journey and was with us all day. Low Visibility all the way. In the car were myself, Steve Graham, Andy Hamilton and Mal Taylor. We were saved by Mal's Sat Nav on the way into Sheffield. It must have taken us about 20 mins to find a decent car parking space.

Using the Sheffield Wargames Society's website I had already planned which games I was going to visit. Mal and Andy bought some scenics on the way to the cafe. I stopped by to look at a game and temporarily lost them all. I caught up with them in the cafe then we parted company again for me to do what I was going to do.

I was a little disappointed that the Burton and District Wargamers display game was not Flames of War as it had stated in the programme. I like Flames of War and was looking forward to a display game of it. Turned out to be a hundred years war game.
Paid the Blues Bears a visit after I missed them last year at Partizan (Paul didn't). Friendly guys. Took some pics. Really nice miniatures of planes. Would have stayed a bit longer for the next game which was going to be 2pm but was exploring the show so couldn't.

The game on the 4th Floor that really got my attention was the 13th warrior participation game. The figures and scenery were really good. Took a photo for the blog and had just taken out my main digital camera when a professional photographer turned up. Monster Tripod. Excellent but huge digital camera. I said hello and asked who he was. He was about to take some photos for Miniature Wargames. It turned out that this photographer was none other than Richard Ellis, of Richard Ellis Photography. I recognised the name immediately. I mentioned to him about him taking photos of Andy Hamilton's stuff a while ago but he wasn't sure. Introduced myself, mentioned I was from Grimsby. Shortly after that along with several others who were asked to form a gathering at the wargames table, as if we were playing, I became part of the shot. So if you spot someone in glasses and baseball cap at the photo of the 13th warrior game in the next Miniature Wargames, it's me!

There were quite a few games in the Octagon. I liked the look of the large Napoleonic game in there but never got round to looking at it properly. To be honest I was mainly interested in the World War 2 display games. There were 2:
28mm East Africa 1941 by the Ilkley lads then using the Piquet rules;
20mm Western Front 1944 by the Derby Wargames Society which was actually Operation Goodwood July 1944, a Rapid Fire! game using one of Mark Piper's scenarios.
Took photos of both but my favourite had to be the Rapid Fire! game by the Derby lot. Figures were great. Very good terrain and the buildings were also great. The buildings were actually by Rapid Fire Publications therefore had been made by none other than Colin Rumford himself.

Because I had been busy blogging and taking photos all day I left things rather late to go buy some magazines etc We were planning to go just after 4pm. I asked very quickly if I could get some things so I went to Monarch Books just off the Octagon to get the latest issue of Battlegames as well as Issue 2 of it; Picked up the latest Miniature Wargames and chatted to Iain Dickie again mainly regarding specific details for contributing to the magazine - at least 1700 words but no more than 5000 in Microsoft Word Format if emailing;
Went to Grubby Tanks under the Octagon to get a list of Britannia Kits off him whilst impulsively deciding to buy Richard Marsh's "Battle of the Bulge" for Rapid Fire!.

Mal got us all back to Grimsby in around 45 mins. Thanks to Mal for that. I really enjoyed it but as a show it wasn't even as good as last years though there were still some very good games at it. Not sure if I will go to Triples next year. Might try out some other shows instead.

Welcome to foggy grimsby

Its been thick fog all day before we got to sheffield. Thanks for the lift mal.

28mm east africa 1941

By the ilkley lads

Old glory

In the octagon.

40mm napoleonic figures

At the old glory stall

Derby wargames society operation goodwood 1944

Using rapid fire. Mark pipers scenario.

Wss figures

Some of the excellent figures at the front rank stall

Frederick the great and staff

At the front rank stall

13th warrior

By karl clough.

Age of morazan central america

On 4th floor. Display game.

The blues bears

Excellent ww2 participation game

Burton and district wargamers

100 years war. Not flames of war as billed.

Just got here

Finally arrived. Not been here long. Exploring one room on way to cafe.