The Summer That Never Really Was

Whew, what a summer...

The Mini-Me's Camps never happened so like the rest of the US, to retain some sanity we went outside, a LOT

The Mrs.OA even joined us, occasionally

I ran two Dad Camps, we went

Hiking and rock scrambling

We biked the whole Minute Man trail

They were sore after that one!  We also biked the Lexington Battle trail, saw where the first casualty of the revolution took place, where Paul Revere got caught, we went to Highland Mountain Bike Park and more...

We hiked the highest mountain in East Ma (Watchussett) and part of the highest in Ma (Greylock), and some of the Appalachian Trail

Watchussett is on the Midstate trail so we went to the most Northern hills (Wattatic) and had lunch on top.  The Mini-Mes are Scouts/Cub scouts so they made lunch on a hiking stove

We also (takes a big breath), went: kayaking, doing high ropes courses, kite flying, blowing up soda cans with BB guns, camping in the back garden and doing Scout stuff

And...

...How many bikes does a cyclist need?  We usually say the answer is N+1, where N=how many bikes you have.  A while ago when I got the Santa Cruz Bronson I felt it was a real quiver killer, well I stuck to it and sold a few mountain bikes this summer.  Now I'm down to the Bronson, my hardtail for riding with the kids and my cyclocross/commuter bike.

As my cross bike is aging and has done a few thousand miles now I used the proceeds to buy a replacement.  I hit pay dirt with an interwebs sale of last year's model Santa Cruz Stigmata.  This is a huge step up from my aluminium Kona.  It rides beautifully, its super versatile over a wide variety of terrain (I've done gravel, road and singletrack so far) and, I think it too, like the Bronson, is a quiver killer.  Between this and the Bronson all biking needs are totally covered.  OMG, I'm going to have to stop calling myself a cyclist!

The GZG ECC that never was

I was going to run a superhero themed cinegrunt game in 20mm, Mini-Me Minor is a huge Batman fan so I scoured the interwebs for one

On someone else's blog (sorry forgot who) I saw this fig from Hasslefree, it is BatKieran.  Hasslefree sculpts his kids in some of his lines, as he does his lines in 28mm the kids are ideal for 20mm.  It was expensive, but is a great 20mm Batman and in a dynamic pose too.  What I didn't realize was how hard it would be to find this version of the Bat Mobile in 20mm to match.

These were going to be behind all the bad-guy shenanigans.  Brains in a jar, who can resist!

A Fall of Moondust

MoonGrunt, sort of... ...using GZG moongrunt figs with Hammer's slammers Crucible rules.

A small lunar outpost

A well equipped lunar outpost

US Lunar Marines assault the outpost

Two platoons of Marines move up, one leads the assault

The second tried a flank move

European Troupes de Marines Lunaires (TdML) have only one platoon locally to counter the US advance

The TdML bound forwards

Crew evac as fast as possible

TdML move to firing positions

Laser ranging pings off the US Marines

Zzzzap, one US group goes down  (OK, OK, so there's no noise on the moon, but there is in my head...)

TdML inflict more casualties on the US

TdML fire is accurate and the US is paying for advancing across open ground

US scramble to react to their casualties

Second platoon bounds forwards fast

First platoon seeks firing positions in cover

 

Lasers and micro-missiles fly

Taking down several TdML bricks, the TdML flank is now exposed

US gain the initiative and push the assault forward

As the fight gets closer, cover begins to really matter

The US consolidates its base of fire and keeps the pressure on the TdML flank

Effective fire begins to tell

The TdML lose more than half of their elements.  At this point in the HSC rules this means the TdML have lost the game, it is written for Mercs who would surrender to be parleyed back to their units.  The effect for non-HS infantry games is  it acts like simple morale rules, so lose half and their morale breaks

In effect, the game is over, but its not a cinematic ending, so...

TdML dash forwards to secure the moon hopper.  TdML fire suppresses the advance US unit allowing the remaining TdML to run for cover

TdML gain initiative, the TdML troops pour into the moon hopper and escape.  The US captures the outpost intact

Game over, Man!