BMC Miniatures

Monday, 4 July 2022

Golgotha's Games - Victory at Sea First Edition Mongoose Publishing - Pacific Theatre WW II Naval - Part II

Herewith, the continuation and conclusion to what was the first game and first part of a Victory at Sea game. Rather an obvious US victory especially given their typical overwhelming force - but the Japanese did inflict some very hard-hitting casualties with even the US carrier being damaged. The Japanese being really gutted having failed in an opportunity to torpedo the US carrier.

See part I here: https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/2022/06/golgothas-games-victory-at-sea-first.html

Note the overturned counters - Japanese casualties begin to mount in the face of overwhelming US firepower.

See the table below showing WWII aircraft losses - this certainly played out historically in the game - proving very difficult for the Japanese to get any attacks through to the US vessels.

Oops - Japanese aircraft and torpedo got through - a successful attack on the US convoy. Successful Kamikaze attack...

The gun emplacements on the island proved very pesky and took a surprising amount of ordinance including aircraft bombing runs to silence. This was certainly a fun aspect to the game and added a whole new dimension.

A close run thing - this could have been potentially devastating as the Japanese submarine closed on US carrier.

US casualties

Japanese Casualties.

Japanese Survivors - ready for the next game perhaps...

Golgotha's Games - Samurai - Battle Blocks Sengoku

Herewith a Battle Blocks Sengoku Samurai game.

According to the Author "Battle Blocks: Sengoku is a fast playing tabletop game that enables players to fight dramatic ‘battle-map’ style clashes between armies of Samurai and other warriors of the Sengoku Period of Japanese history. Leading armies of colourfully painted wooden blocks (or miniatures, its your choice!) Players will fight for honour and glory on the battlefield. All of this comes from having a super-fast playing system that prioritises ease of play. The game uses fast and simple mechanics that provide results within an hour, and on a playing surface no larger than 2’x2’. This ruleset is intended to provide a way for people to try out a new hobby or genre of wargaming. Feel free to try out different methods of creating Units, making your own labels, using miniatures, or even converting the rules to fit a different historical period. The game will be updated with errata and rules clarifications over time."

The rules are quick and fun – as I played with miniatures I made a few stats specific to match the miniatures giving adjustments like a + or – 1 factor. I also gave disordered units a -1 in combat. For each counter, I used two miniatures so this made units a bit stronger than in the game as it is printed.

I played solo and when I play solo I play both sides to the best of my ability instead of using any sort of AI-type approach and this works better and is twice the fun and realism.

The rules can be found on Wargames Vault, see here:

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/399851/Battle-Blocks-Sengoku

and the rules being explained on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RydFV1x9YFI&t=3s&ab_channel=RJLGames