Take a couple of old friends with their 10 years old boys, a winter evening, a large table in the living room, an old bed sheet and some plastic sci-fi tanks... and the Pz8 Two Pages Sci-Fi wargaming rules... this is the recipe of a big battle!

Planet 001001010100010 is called "The Frozen Planet" because it is completely covered by snow. There are some   human colonies but now it has been invaded by the Non-orks. Here you can see their rusty armoured force... plastic Epic models with some conversions.

Human Forces ("the resistance") hovertanks. I grabbed one box of 1/285 FASA Renegade Legion plastic grav tanks times ago, and painted then in WW2 German-like colours... half in dark grey and half in three tone camo... they are based on round plastic bases, with a drawing pin that makes them "fly" over the ground.

The human colony, defended by Epic infantry. Building complexes are free pdf's downloaded from here... loads of free sci-fi buildings!

The Non-Orks army already occupied one Human Colony and advances... both armies have one big mecha as their HQ.

The battle starts... fast and furious... the naughty Non-Orks (= daddy and friend) tried an enveloping manouvre on the right, but the human Resistance (= the boys) where more clever... and won! It was a catastrophe for the Non-Orks, with 15 tanks destroyed vs only 5 Human. 

"But we will return... with more tanks... and another good cocktail... buahahahahahaha!!!!"

The Soccer War (1969) was a brief armed conflict between El Salvador and Honduras. It was the last time when aircrafts with piston engines fought each others. Both air forces used F4U Corsairs (El Salvador had also  P51 Mustangs); mine are plastic 1/700 from the Aoshima Royal Naval Planes kit, that gives you 32 planes (Swordfish, F4 Wildcat, Supermarine Seafire and the F4U Corsairs) at a very cheap price.

These 1/700 models are tiny (even more than the 1/600 aircrafts I already have in my collection) and not really detailed, but you can paint them fast. I used the Wings Palette website as a reference, a real treasure for all wargamers and modellers. A detailed account of the air operations of this little war can be found in the ACIG website.

I played one game solo using the Pz8 1935-65 Aerial Rules. I started with 2 x Honduran F4U Corsairs (painted overall dark blue with light blue and white national markings) on one corner of the gaming board, and 2 x Salvadoran F4U Corsairs (camouflaged and with distinctive yellow stripes) on the opposite corner. All pilots are Green. After the turn 3, a D6 = 6 means that 2 other F4U Corsairs (Honduran or Salvadoran) enter the board from the same corners.


In the picture you see one damaged Honduran plane trying to escape from the board edge, pursued by the Salvadoran enemy. it was at this point that other 2 Salvadoran Corsairs joined the battle, giving no escape to the poor Honduran pilot. His colleague tried to flee away from the 4 enemies but just when he reached the edge, other 2 blue Corsairs arrived... too late! With one enemy killed and a superiority of 2:1, it was a Salvadoran victory. It was a fun game that I will play again.

From Wikipedia: "The Battles of Khalkhyn Gol (Mongolian: Халхын голын байлдаан; Russian: бой на реке Халхин-Гол) was the decisive engagement of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese Border Wars fought among the Soviet Union, Mongolia and the Empire of Japan in 1939. The conflict was named after the river Khalkhyn Gol, which passes through the battlefield. In Japan, the decisive battle of the conflict is known as the Nomonhan Incident (ノモンハン事件 Nomonhan jiken?) after a nearby village on the border between Mongolia and Manchuria. The battles resulted in total defeat for the Japanese Sixth Army."

For this game I had one weak Japanese infantry Battalion defending a Y junction in the steppe. A Mongolian force, made up of cavalry and armoured cars, come from one road, followed by a Soviet armoured force from another road. Slow and obsolete Japanese tanks are expected as a reinforcement... will they save this strategic position?


Terrain is flat except from some low hills around the Y junction.

Mongolian (Green)

HQ (on horse)

6 x Cavalry

4 x BA10 Armoured Car

2 x45mm AT (horse drawn)

 

Soviet (Green for Fire, Average for Rally)

10 x BT7 (1 is HQ)

4 x T26B

 
Japanese (Green for Fire, Average for Rally)

 4 x Infantry

2 x HMG

1 x 81mm mortar

1 x 37mm gun

12 x Type 89B I-Go  (1 is HQ)

6 x Type 95 Ha-Go

Japanese AT guns and tanks subtract -1 to their attack factor vs armour.

Japanese infantry, HMG, mortar and 37mm gun deploy around the Y junction. Mongolian enter the table from turn 1; Japanese tanks from turn 3; Russian Tanks from turn 5.

If Mongolian loose more than 5 units, they withdraw.

Soviet/Mongolian must take the road junction, losing less than 7 BT7 / T26B tanks.

Japanese must hold the road junction, losing less than 9 Type 89B / Type 95 tanks.

The Mongolians attacked the Japanese position but 3 BA10 armoured cars were immediately destroyed by HMGs in close combat, and 2 Cavalry units were destroyed in the turn after... forcing the Soviet ally to withdraw.


Soviet tanks arrived on the battle scene and started to clear out the Japanese infantry and support units, but a might Japanese armoured group entered the table... Soviet armour deployed around the Y junction and a tank battle started.


The Japanese had a numerical advantage but their guns were not good for AT role... while the Soviets, being committed to hold the ground, could not exploit their superior mobility. After some turns of fire exchange, both sides counted 5 tank units lost. This was not enough for Victory conditions...but with the Soviets firmly holding the junction, and the whole Japanese infantry lost, I gave the victory to the Soviets.

After the battle of Lissa (1866)  there were not other major engagements between the Italian and the Austro-Hungarian fleets. 


This is a fictional naval battle in 1916 (50 years after the famous Italian defeat). 


1/3000 models are by Davco and include two hypotethical super-dreadnoughts: Francesco Caracciolo, that was only partially completed after WW1 and  scrapped in 1921; and the "Schiff VIII" of the Ersatz Monarch Class, that existed only on paper. I used the Pz8 1939-41 Naval Rules without modifications and played solo, picking the Italians with the "random activation" of the Austro-Hungarian.

In the first game the Austro-Hungarian fleet withdrew under smoke screens, after some indecisive fire from the super-dreadnoughts at long range... quite realistical, but I decided to try a second encounter.

This was more exciting with both fleets manouvering and counter-manouvering, until the  Italians managed to deploy broadside and straddle the Austrian-Hungarians... Zrinyi was Crippled, but the K.u.K. Admiral ordered to advance again towards the blazing guns, singing the Imperial Anthem... a rather suicide decision!

Viribus Unitis and Erzerhog Karl are sunk and the guns of the mighty Schiff VIII are silenced... the Imperial fleet retires past the burning Zrinyi and exits the table. A great imaginary victory for the Regia Marina... and a fun game for me.