CHRISTMAS CARNAGE (Tenth Game!)

Once again, Santa’s Christmas Village and North Pole Workshop are under attack – and Santa must mobilize his North Pole Defense Force to save the holiday season for good little boys and girls everywhere!

That’s right, we’re back again for another year of “Christmas Carnage” – our annual tradition where a new army of miniature tabletop villains form up to attack Santa’s workshop at the North Pole.  This is the TENTH EDITION of our series, we’ve been running games like this almost every Christmas since 2014!

This year we’re going black powder, with a 28mm army of Crimean War Russians.  There’s almost 150 of them on the table, making this by far the biggest army (by figure count) we’ve thrown at Santa.

Can the heroes of the North Pole Defense Force hold out yet again?  Watch the video and find out!

Join Oriskany Jim at the hobby table for a quick paint job of some BTR-80 armored personnel carriers in 15mm, manufactured by Zvezda.  If you’re serious about modern-era wargaming, some BTR-series rigs should definitely be in your collection

Introduced in 1986, the BTR-80 is a great vehicle to have for late Soviet or modern Russian tabletop forces.  Currently in use by dozens of armies in some major conflicts around the world, it’s a great utilitarian tool to get motorized rifles quickly around the battlefield and up to the line of contact.

To cap off our series commemorating the 250th Birthday of the US Marine Corps, we’re featuring a wargame run by Pete Panzeri, recreating the Battle of Derna in April, 1805.

Derna stands on the coast of what is today Libya, then the Tripoli province of the Ottoman Empire and for centuries an open haven for high seas piracy. During the First Barbary War of 1801-1805, the US Marines mounted their first overseas expedition and at Derna, they’d raise the American flag over foreign soil for the first time.

The moment is commemorated in the Marines’ Hymn to this day, with the opening line, “From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli.”

We’re back to finish up our 15mm wargame recreating some of the opening action in the Battle of Nasiriyah.
(recently played with the South Florida Miniature Games Club)

John’s Marines are doing well leveraging their superior firepower, but he’s running out of time to cross the table and reach his objective.

Mark’s Iraqis are also cooking up some nasty surprises with off-board artillery, and of course he still has his IEDs.

Yes, the Marines WILL win the battle … but will they break through in time, without losing too many units?

Join us at the South Florida Miniatures Game Club for a 15mm recreation of the Battle of Nasiriyah, one of the opening engagements of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March, 2003.

The system on the table is Seven Days to the River Rhine by Great Escape Games, adapted to include A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, AH-1W Super Cobras, and Improvised Explosive Devices so infamous during the Iraq War. T

he scenario features “Task Force Tarawa” – a Marine battlegroup heavily engaged in the early stages of this battle. Thus, this episode adds to our ongoing series commemorating the upcoming 250th Birthday of the US Marine Corps.

We had a great game of Seven Days to the River Rhine yesterday at Das Krieg Haus, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Presented in 15mm, the scenario was designed to recreate part of the Battle of Nasiriyah, an engagement during the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March, 2003. In summary, an American Army unit (507th Maintenance Company) had strayed into the AO of the Iraqi 6th Armored Division, Third Corps, where they were pinned down with heavy casualties. Elements of Task Force “Tarawa,” 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, were tasked with breaking through Iraqi forces to relieve the 507th.

The game included new house rules for IEDs. American victory conditions were to get one third of their break points off the north edge of the table along the Nasiriyah Highway, while keeping at least a third on the table to hold open a path of reinforcement or possible fall back. This had to be accomplished by the end of Turn 5. Iraqis victory conditions were to prevent the Marine mission.

I might be the slowest painter in the hobby today, given that it’s taken me since last Christmas to finally finish 66 20mm Middle East Militia figures from Caesar Miniatures.

Hey, if I didn’t make it part of the channel’s production, I’d have NEVER gotten these guys done.

What projects do you have hung up in painting limbo?

We’re back to finish up our speculative wargame, taking some guesses at how  British armored forces might perform in a potential future conflict in Estonia.

In Part 1, we saw the British seize key terrain early on, forcing the Russians to assault entrenched defensive positions.  But rather than attack the British head-on, the Russians flanked them to the north — and when the British responded, the Russians also struck in the south and center, forcing the British into some very tough decisions.

Can the British hold against the onslaught?  Or will Russian numbers pry them off their objectives?