Strike North - Invasion of Norway April 8 - June 8 1940

Update 7/5/18

Several new cards have been designed & posted such as UK Royal Navy Fire Support, German Junkers Ju-88A, UK Gloster Gladiator, UK Hawker Hurricane Mk I, UK Assault Landing Craft and UK Landing Craft, Mechanized Mk I. All of these will be featured in the next scenario being designed; Orsenet Beach/Narvik. I'm debating on designing one more unit: a rail based artillery gun for the Germans. Historically it was available to the Germans defending Narvik, but was quickly put out of action by Allied forces. In my mind, if I'm going to allow the French to have their H-39 tanks even though they also historically did nothing because they bogged down on the beach, I should give the Germans something as a balance.

The map for Orsenet Beach/Narvik is done and I have created a discussion thread for the scenario. The actual scenario rules are still being worked on, so they have not been posted as of yet. It has taken me about two weeks to get to this point for Orsenet Beach/Narvik. A lot of new map features had to be designed such as piers, ferry landing, cliffs, railroad tunnels, etc. I hope to play test this sometime in the next week or two.

Speaking of play tests, I have made plans to do a group play test session on Saturday August 18th. Previously I had planned to have all maps and scenarios done by beginning of August. Now I have an extra two weeks to finish up that task. I hope to have at least four scenarios play tested on August 18th. Once I have feedback on them, I can make whatever adjustments needed to the maps or scenarios before they are finalized. After that, it will be time to finalize and format the overall campaign rules and get all scenarios and maps ready for printing by early to mid September. Some of the design work being currently done on Orsenet Beach/Narvik will carry over into the remaining scenarios, so that will save time. I'm still on track to get everything done, so that is a positive.

Several aircraft will be featured in this current and future scenarios being worked on. My default will be to make custom counter to represent each aircraft in the game. If I can purchase something later to add, great, but otherwise this is a low priority.

Update 7/12/18

Now considering which of 6 possible scenario ideas to work on. I only need 4, so 2 need to be dropped. I set up a poll to get Forumini members input and also emailed a list of gaming friends to get their opinion. Six possible maps have been developed, but I will only produce four of them for now. Perhaps at a later date (after MaizeCon) I will produce maps & scenarios for the remaining two ideas.

Developing a Norwegian Sniper unit card. Fairly simple to do because I'm using the four existing AAM snipers as a starting point. I'm thinking their one special ability unique to them will be MG crew hunter.

Update 7/26/18

Finished designing and producing the final two maps: Labergal Pass and Kuberget Mountain. Uploaded the maps to my SgtFury web site and created forumini scenario posts for both maps. Scenario rules will be added later. Revised 105mm Railway gun card has been produced and added to the custom cards section.

A lot of work done, but yesterday I suffered the loss of a good friend; George Boyett.

Received a phone call from his mother informing me that George suffered a massive heart attack this past Monday. Medics came, took him to a nearby hospital, but unfortunately they were not able to save him. I was so shocked and very saddened to hear of my friend's sudden death. He was 52. I have known George for at least ten years. We shared a love of gaming, especially AAM. Over the years, he assisted me as I designed AAM scenarios and needed someone to play test them. He did a great job of trying out different things in order to "break" the scenario, finding flaws, errors, etc. Sometimes he came up with crazy ideas and I would say "No, you can't do that". He would quickly respond "Why not?" and I would have to defend what I was thinking. Other times he would come up with something and say "Can I do this?" I would look at it, give it some thought and say "aaaa...yes...I guess you could". An example was his attempt to unload a US Jeep onto the pier found on my Tarawa map. "Can I load this Jeep with a soldier and drive it down the pier?" he asked. After thinking about it, I said he could. Later I read a historical account of just such a thing actually occurring during the historic battle. So George definitely got that one right!

But now, sadly he is gone. I will miss his insight, intelligence and quirky wit. He was a regular at game meetings that were hosted at my home. Many times he was the first to arrive and the last to leave. (Much to my wife's annoyance!) His memorial service will occur on August 4th which ironically was a scheduled game day at my place. I emailed the group and asked what should we do, cancel or delay the meeting? One friend said after the memorial service we should still meet and do some gaming. He pointed out that this would probably be something George would want us to do and that this would be a sort of wake that we could do in his honor. Myself and everyone agreed, so we shall game that day. Probably set up one empty chair to represent George.

RIP George. You will be missed.

Thanks Curtm1911

Sarge:

I also wanted to pass along my condolences.  I'll keep you and George and his family in my prayers!

Thank you