Some US Cav Pictures

Here are some living history pictures I had taken out at the stables last Sunday. Unfortunately they were taken during the hottest part of the day so the pictures didn't come out at their best.
Summer 1912 cotton uniform with 1912 Garrison Belt rig.


"Hey Dad, when are we going to get out of the heat and get a beer?!"

Full summer dress uniform with 1912 Garrison Belt

Max and I at the charge...

Draw pistols!

GWHS Footage of WWI Battles at Ozena Valley

Here's some footage of the Great War Historical Society (GWHS) February and April 2008 battles at Ozena Valley:

BAOR - End Game (or if this Tuesday, it must be Belgium)

Well, I solitaired this baby through Game Turn 8 before I called it. Technically, the Soviets had actually "won" by Game Turn 6 according to the game rule criteria.

Overall, it wasn't the slaughterfest I was expecting for the Soviets but it wasn't a party for NATO either. The Belgians performed better than expected in the difficult terrain south of British front, extending to Koln.

The Soviets were ultimately able to use their superior numbers to force crossings at several points along the Weser and to burn the Belgian defending units down through multiple attacks. To destroy or otherwise neutralize a defending batallion, it often took up a full division to do so. The Soviets were also slowing down due to the friction point accummulations building up on their divisions (I liken it to the crud that builds up in plumbing).

The Germans were caught in a salient in the middle but were able to extricate themselves (lots of lucky die rolls) and even mount a couple of counterattacks that pretty much brought the Soviet center to a screeching halt. In the north, the Brits were holding pretty tough, even with depleted numbers due to having to send the 7th Field Force south to bolster the sagging Belgian line. Basically, it was the Western Front, NATO style with nobody going anywhere.

Overall, the Soviets weren't getting to the Rhine quickly and many of their first echelon troops were burned out in the battle. The second echleon was hanging tough but had to be used with caution. Overall, the tempo for the Soviets was severely slowed down and while NATO "lost", they avoided a major disaster helped by the excellent defensive terrain.

Another interesting thing about the game series is that it seems to work better when the situation is fluid but if there's anything resembling a parity of forces (i.e. solidified lines with sufficient reserves), the game slows down immensely.

Soviet airbone was also pretty nasty in that while it didn't accomplish anything major on its own, it did screw up NATO deployment and prevented a more forward deployment of the NATO main forces.

Pretty interesting- it's been awhile since I've visited the Cold War. :smile:

BAOR - More Central Front Series

In my recent obsession with the old SPI Central Front Series, I dug out BAOR, the third installment of the series. Unfortuantely, after some 25 years of contant moving around, I discovered that my copy was missing so I had to go to my friend Mr. Ebay to find a copy. $40 later, here it is.

I Finally set up BAOR last night and played the Soviet first phase last night. There's some very interesting changes in the basic Central Front series rules, most notably that different sized units have different friction point levels. Regiments, artillery and helicopter units still have 5 friction points, batallions have 4 friction points, and companies have 3 friction points. This isn't good for NATO- it makes their units more fragile.

Also, overrun has been transformed into "mobile combat". Now you can't use it in any terrain other than flat or broken BUT you force the defender to use their mobile factor- this greatly helps the Soviets since their mobile combat factor is larger than the regular attack factor (they use their defense factor) and the mobile factor for NATO is substantially lower than their defense factor, on the average. The only saving grace is that units hit with mobile combat don't have to remain in place and absorb the entire friction point loss- they can retreat.

Also, and this is a bit gamey, if done right the NATO defender can withdraw in directions that place the Soviet advancing forces at a disadvantage, especially since they have to follow up with at least on unit per the Soviet doctrine rules.

It will be interesting to apply the revised general rules to 5th Corps and Hof Gap. In the meantime, it's going to be a real interesting battle for the thin Red line. I landed the Soviet 76th Airborne in the NATO rear east of Hanover in an attempt to seize a number of bridges before NATO can blow them- sort of a Market Garden in reverse. We'll see how it owrks out.

More later!

Riding At Night

Last night it was so hot (106 during the day out in the San Fernando Valley) that a group of us decided to start out after the sun had begun to set, roughly 8 PM. We rode out up the wash towards the Cowpens/Electric lines and it was a relatively pleasant ride although you could actually feel warm thermals at several points along the wash (it's bascially a wide canyon you ride up).

We finally made it up to the electric lines and then began to circle back by following the fire road and linking up with the lower Doc Larsen Trail. By this point it was getting dark so I was increasingly dependent on Max to find the way. Fortunately, he was well-behaved and actually thought about where he was placing his feet.

The work we'd done on the Doc Larsen Trail last weekend really paid off in that the weeds were cleared back and you could get a good idea where the trail led, except of course when you entered a shady area, which by now were pitch black. But even here, Max found his way with no problems.

Things got a little interesting when at one point, while making our way back through the wash, the horses saw something potentially threatening and Max began to prance about. My companions told me it was a deer but I couldn't see a thing. I managed to calm Max down and keep him moving so there were no mishaps (thank god!).

By the time we hit the open area just south of Middle Ranch, a full moon had come out and was lighting up the entire area and the temperature was finally cooling down. We were out for about an hour and a half but it was pretty awesome. I've done a lot of riding at night but I still can't get over the limited visibility in darkness. The horses have much better night vision so they can move a lot better than we can and you just have to have complete trust and confidence in your horse- there were places that all I could do is keep a relaxed seat and hope Max made the right decision.

If the weather keeps up this way, I may be doing more riding at night.

Trail Clearance on the Doc

Today I spent a good part of today helping clear brush and trim back vegetation along the Doc Larsen Trail with some friends from ETI Corrals 10 and 20 and a troop of Boy Scouts (I believe they were from Pasadena). Talk about exhausting work!

People often take the trails for granted and somehow assume that the trails are maintained by the Forest Service or some other governmental entity. The reality is that most trail maintenace around where I ride is done by volunteers. While in the past I've benefited from clear trails, I've done nothing in return so now was my chance- apparently the Boy Scouts approached ETI about doing a public service project and I was soon involved through my memebership in ETI.

We were divided into a number of groups who were to start work at various parts of the trial. I volunteered to start with the group furthest out, at the top of the Doc Larsen Trail and we were to work our way down to the bathtub (I've previously posted pictures of this). By the time we had gotten organized, it was about 9:30 am and beginning to warm up.

The section we were working on mostly required tree branch trimming and some work on re-setting water bars (logs set in the trail to help present erosion during rainy periods). That was some pretty tough work- the ground was like concrete and naturally we'd left the pickaxe back at base camp. Somehow I managed to scratch out a groove with a McLeod (a heavy combination hoe & rake; the Forest Service had loaned us a number of these) and then a couple of other people set and wired in the logs.

We worked until about 12 Noon and successfully cleared our portion of the trail up to the Bathtub. We then made our way down the trail until we'd met up with the others and proceeded to the rendevous point at the Oaks. Unfortuantely, we didn't have an adequate amount of people and much of the trail between the Bathtub and the Fire Road was missed. We tried to remove the more obvious stuff but the trail is going to need some more work- perhaps in the Fall.

It was definately hot by the time we made it down to the Oaks and I have to say that I now have a real appreciation for Max- although we only had to go downhill, I have to give it to Max: he's incredibly patient and tough. To haul my 230-pound carcass on a hot day up a steep trail...I love my horse! And you sure learn to appreciate them!

We only had one problem with one of our party getting overcome by the heat but we were able to head off any problems by making sure he drank a lot of water and got him into the shade. Overall, things were successful and we did our good deed for the day. However, the next time we do this, I hope we do it when it's a lot cooler!

RE: Your Mechanic is a Pony...

Here's something for a good laugh:

With some of the idiot mechanics I've had to deal with in the past, I'd take my chances with the pony! :-)

Hof Gap - The Central Front Series

Just re-discovered the Central Front Series after a 25-year hiatus and what an interesting system! Definately OLD SCHOOL SPI (and I love it!). I started off with Hof Gap and played it solitaire. The friction point mechanic can be a bit off-putting but once you get used to it, it makes sense and to a degree replicates the temp of modern combat operations- you can keep hammering but it's going to come at a price.

The Soviets are better equipped to burn out their divisions in exchange for blowing holes in the NATO front line but even they have to be careful. If NATO plays it right, they can make some devastating counter-attacks.The end result was that NATO managed to bring the Soviet offensive (more like the Czech offensive) to a halt and things turned into a modern version of the Western Front. According to the victory conditions, it was a NATO operational victory since the Soviets were unable to get anywhere close to exiting units off the map and they didn't rack up too many NATO casualties. But it was close...

Probably the NATO victory was more the result of my mis-reading or forgetting key rules but also it takes a bit of mental planning to optimize your attacks.Definately worth a deeper look- now to break out 5th Corps and give that a try. Then BAOR...