I’ve pondered putting together a Patton 3rd Army in Lorraine campaign. My recent time spent on the Franco-Prussian war and the battles around Metz got me thing about game boards that could be used for both periods. Not sure there is a perfect fit…the Dornot cross is South of Metz while Rezonville and Gravelotte-St Privat are west and north…but there is some overlap with the operations between Thionville and Metz.
I am in the final stages of preparing the materials for an upcoming campaign based around US and Free World Forces operations in the Republic of Vietnam in early 1966. Using the background of Operation Masher / White Wing and the orders of battle for forces present there from later January – early March 1966 I have developed the following campaign map.
Each square is 1 km squared. Companies will be the standard unit represented on the map, although in some cases platoons can be treated separately. 
Operation Masher as it was originally named before being switched to the ironic White Wing after White House concern about aggressive sounding operationally names, was conducted by brigades of the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) against the North Vietnamese 3rd or Yellow Division in Binh Dinh province located on the coast in south central Vietnam.
The communist north relied on the rice harvest from the province and had a strong base of support stretching back decades.
Sometimes a project comes out of nowhere and has enough momentum to carry it to finality in a short time, bumping long planned ventures aside. Such was my rebasing and painting of a collection of World War 2 Pacific models and the quick addition of 1/1250 Cape Aero planes to complete a carrier air group.
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It is more certain than ever that this will be the year that sees my Franco-Prussian armies on the table.
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The scenario has a USMC squad escorting two Afghan National Police to question and or bring in a suspected Taliban agent. The squad deploys and enters the market street outside the suspect’s compound. The ANP enter the compound and interview a man inside. His story doesn’t add up and he’s cuffed for processing. The marines begin searching the street and detect something “funny” about the white pickup. Not sure what it is, they back off. The Taliban decide it’s time to make a run for it with the vehicles if possible. Shooters appear, but the marines fire is dead on and a quick gun battle ends with the Taliban fleeing. End result. 4 Taliban dead, 2 Marines lightly wounded. One prisoner and a weapons’ cache in the back of the white pickup. (Scale 1/56, mostly Empress and Eureka miniatures. Combat rules: Danger Close, with modifications for intel and civilian interactions.)
Blucher
I now have good sized Austrian and Prussian armies — 5 corps for the Austrians and 3-4 for the Prussians. I have an unpainted French army but since one of the club members has one, I’ve focused on others. I’m thinking of painting 2 Russian corps and perhaps other allied forces for the 100 Days period to go with the Prussians. With Austrians, Prussians and Russians that should cover 1813-1815 and give a head start on 1812.
Franco-Prussian War
I’ve read most of the major works, have the figures (Baccus) and after much experimentation have settled on the basing. I’ve played in two of Bruce Weigle’s games and that sets a high standard. This is the project I think will receive that next push. I am considering creating scratch terrain for this ala Bruce, but certainly have terrain that will work fine.
Modern Afghanistan
I am pleased to have a good collection of painted miniatures for this and had been expecting Skirmish Sangin to be the rules, but after four recent playtests I have reluctantly concluded that they just don’t scale. Even with a couple of fireteams and a dozen Taliban the game quickly bogs down. I have a couple of other options that I will evaluate over the next few months
Black powder skirmish
I am excited to hear that TooFatLardies is revising Sharpe Practice. I have a variety of figures (18mm Napoleonics and 28mm ACW) that I want to put into play. Since switching to 6mm for Napoleonics I’ve been aiming to use my 18mm Napoleonics for multi-battalion level games. The original Sharpe Practice was scalable to that level and I had some good games. We’ll see what the next edition holds.
Indochina
I have a squad+ of French Expeditionary Forces and Viet-Minh. Lovely figures from Red Star, now owned by Age of Glory games. There’s a Chain of Command supplement in the works
