The addictive perils of being an avid gamer (video and model)!

 So there's been at least a few weeks since I posted some of my more recent work, the more astute of you will notice theres a slight correlation between that tardiness and the release of several blockbuster video games. Yes, I admit it, I'm a video gaming addict and am even more prone to this ailment if a game features either (A) multiplayer co-operative and/or competative features or (B) some insanely massive and immersive world. Cue firstly Batman: Arkham City, then Battlefield 3, then Modern Warfare 3, then Skyrim, in the space of about 3 weeks.

 God help me.

 I'm going toa ctually give these games a mini review over the weekend and give my thoughts on them, however I'll tell you now my time is split between BF3 and Skyrim. If my mates are online I'll hammer the living bejesus out of BF3 if not, it's Skyrim.

 Firstly a quick word on MW3, purely on the multiplayer side you understand as the single player campaign was merely tying up ends and more of the same rinse/repeat CoD action Infinity Ward are famour for. Primarily I was left feeling MW3s multiplayer left a LOT to be desired, its interface is nicely polished, more so than ever before, but I can't help but feel they've opened up the maps way to much and made them very busy and messy. Gone are the open views matched with sometimes frustrating choke points from some of MW2 and Black Ops multiplayer maps, I find this a real loss. The maps are so hectic and fast that you'll just find yourself being gunned down or gunning somebody else down from the side or rear frequently even with team members around you. These maps seem smaller overall but packing in more tunnels and passages than ever before, I find this isn't condusive with my style of game play. Don't get me wrong I'm not a camper as such but I, with my team mates, like to be able to hold down a section of the map and know who's coming from where.
  Away from the negative, if you like fast and very furious you won't be let down, also to be noted is that even on "normal" mode (that is to say not hardcore) you are dropped very quickly compared to the CoDs of old which is one of the few things I like as I've always been a Hardcore only player in previous CoD incarnations.

I'll post thoughts of the other games I mentioned too over the next few days, especially BF3 which I have a massive Love/Hate relationship with at the moment, it's full of an insane number of minor and major bugs but I just keep going back to it. Surely that's the sign of a good game under there somewhere?

Long Over Due Battle Report

Hi everyone, as promised here's the AAR for the game which Nate and Stuart played at the Blyth NAG club. The format on this is going to be the what each play did in their turn followed by pictures from the end of that turn. Instead of reading a wall of text about who did what and what went where it'll be short and sweet bullet points. Anyway on with the show!

The scenario rolled for was Breakthrough with Nate playing SS Kampfgruppe Spindler from A Bridge To Far and Stuart playing Guards Armour from Hell's Highway. The game was a timed two and a half hour game with some time added in just in case

Turn 1

Allies

• Infantry digs in on the hill
• Sexton's range in on the PaK 40 on the first attempt with a six
• Only manage to hit one stand of infantry which passes its save

Axis

• Successfully rolls for reinforcements and brings on the StuG and StuH 42
• Sends the trucks for the pioneers to the rear
• Marches his SS panzer crews towards the objectives
• Moves the StuG and StuH 42 towards the front lines
• Attempts to shoot the Shermans with the StuG and StuH but both fail to hit
• Nebelwerfer's range in on the cluster of Sherman tanks, manage to hit two but both passed their armour saves

Turn 2

Allies

• Sexton's observer digs in on the hill
• Sherman platoon A fired on the StuG platoon scoring three hits (two from the normal Sherman's and one from the Firefly)
• Two regular Sherman hits were saved but the Firefly penetrated the armour yet only bailed him
• The Sexton's rain down fiery death onto the already ranged in PaK40 and surrounding infantry but only managed to hit two stands.
• One stand failed its save but the Sexton's fail their fire power check

Axis

• No reinforcements arrive this turn
• The infantry just hit with the artillery unpins
• The StuH 42 crew remained bailed
• The SS Panzer grenadiers fire on the observer on the hill but miss
• The StuG fires on Sherman platoon A and scores a hit, Nate gun tanks the Firefly and passes the test but fails to penetrate the Firefly
• Nebelwerfer's fail to range in on the Sherman's

Turn 3

Allies

• No reserves arrive
• The 2iC and extra Sherman move forward
• Sherman Platoon A fires on the StuG platoon scoring two regular hits and one Firefly hit
• Two regular hits are saved but the Firefly penetrates and kills the StuH42
• The Sexton's bombard the PaK40 again managing to hit two stands of infantry and the PaK 40
• Infantry pass their saved but the PaK fails, Sexton's fail their firepower

Axis

• No reserves
• Infantry and PaK 40 both fail to unpin
• SS Panzer crew moves closer to the objectives
• The King Tiger comes into play and moves over a hedge and passes its bogging check
• The King Tiger lines his sights up on the Sherman's of platoon A but misses
• The Nebelwerfer's range in this time and score three hits on the cluster of Sherman's but they all pass their armour saves
• The lone StuG fires on Sherman platoon A but misses
• The Panzer grenadier's once again try their luck on trying to kill the observer but miss again

Turn 4

Allies

• Reserves arrive and Stuarts come onto the board
• Stuart's move towards the Nebelwerfer's
• Stuart's open fire on the Nebelwerfer's PaK 40 and one of the rocket launchers and scored six hits, one failed gun save on the PaK 40 and three on the rocket launcher. All fire power tests fail
• Sherman platoon A fires on the lone StuG scoring eight hits (poor bugger), the StuG managed to save four normal Sherman hits and one Firefly but two normal hits and the remaining Firefly penetrate and destroy him
• Sexton's continue to shell the PaK 40 and Panzer grenadier positions but one manages to hit one stand of infantry which failed its save but the fire power failed to kill him

Axis

• Reserves arrive again and the Mobelwagen's move into the fight
• Panzer grenadier's, PaK 40 and Nebelwerfer's all unpin
• SS Panzer crews dig in on the objectives
• The Nebelwerfer's PaK fires at the Stuart's but misses
• The mobelwagen's fire on the Stuart's scoring a hit but only managing to bail it.
• Nate forces Stuart to take a motivation check to see if the Stuart's will break off which he fails so they are forced to retreat
• The King Tiger attempts to fire on Sherman platoon A again but misses once more
• The Nebelwerfer's once again range in on the cluster of Sherman's scoring two hits. Both Sherman's failed their armour saves, one fire power test passed and one failed.
• King Tiger Stormtroopers as do the Mobelwagen's

Turn 5

Allies

• Reserves arrive Sherman platoon B
• The bailed Sherman from platoon A fails to get back in as does the bailed Stuart
• Sherman platoon A moves into the cornfield to attack the SS Pioneers
• Sherman platoon B moves towards the Nebelwerfer's
• Sherman platoon A, CiC, 2iC and extra Sherman all fire their machine guns on the SS Pioneers but only manage two hits both infantry stands pass their saves
• Sherman platoon B fires PaK 40 belonging to the Nebelwerfer's with their main guns and machine guns. They scored one hit with the main guns and two with the machine guns.
• The PaK saved the two machine gun hits but failed to save the hit from the main gun. The Sherman passes its fire power test and the PaK is destroyed

Axis

• The SS Panzer crew moves towards the newly arrived Sherman platoon B
• SS Pioneers move into assault range of Sherman platoon A and the Command team
• The SS Pioneers flame thrower team targets the 2iC and shoots lighting him up
• They then roll a six for the firepower test blowing the tank up good and proper before retiring off the board
• The Mobelwagen's attempt to shoot the Stuart's again scoring three hits but fail to do any damage
• The King Tiger aims at Sherman platoon A and fires scoring one hit. The King Tiger passes his fire power test and cooks the Sherman
• The Nebelwerfer's range in on Sherman platoon A and scores one hit on the Firefly which fails its armour check
• Nebelwerfer rocket passes its fire power check and destroys the Firefly
• Infantry fires upon the Sexton's observer sitting on the hill and scores two hits but fails to kill him
• Sherman platoon A is below half strength and takes a motivation test to stay on the board which they pass
• The SS tank crews storm trooper move closer to Sherman platoon B
• The SS pioneers assault what was left of Sherman platoon A and the Command team, they pass their motivation test to assault tanks however they got pinned in defensive fire and lost two stands of infantry

At this point the time was up and the game declared a draw. I hope you enjoyed this AAR and any comments on how they can be improved are welcome.