First game in new house!

Now then,

I have moved! (again).... This time its different though, I have moved into my own house, and have my own geek room, and use of the dining room downstairs for the occasional game. (once my planned shed is built I can have bigger games and leave stuff set up etc).

Anyway, my brother popped down for a game of Rapid Fire this afternoon, a good quick game was had, with the soviet defenders (me) beating off the mighty SS with relative ease.

No battle report as such, but heres a few pics.

German forces mass on the right flank,which causes a traffic jam and a juicy target for artillery!

The Pz III Bn sweeps over the low hills towards the outskirts of the distant town and the main objective.

T34's arrive later in the game and its game over for the already struggling SS battlegroup.

Despite the Germans terrible luck with the dice, it was a fun game, and really nice to get my terrain out and set up. Hopefully we will have a rematch later in the week, where we will be swapping sides and playing the same scenario.

Anyway, cheers for reading, updates soon!

Steve

Rapid Fire Soviet Rifle Regiment

Now then,

Since ive moved back to the UK ive been fortunate enough to meet up a few times with a group of gamers in the area, and although ive previously banged on about firstly bolt action then Battlegroup Kursk, the lads are really into Rapid fire. So a bit of sorting out was in order.

First I bought the 2nd edition rapid fire rules, and having had a read through they are dead simple, and the great thing about them is that you can really get all your toys on the table and fight some big battles.

Heres a link to the Rapid Fire website - Rapid Fire
For some more info on Rapid fire, battle reports and loads of cool pictures see the storm of steel blog, here - Storm of Steel

I have sorted out my old Soviet hordes from my days playing Flames of war into a soviet rifle division, with supporting tanks etc.... I have hundreds of them!

Soviet rifle divisions typically consisted of 3 rifle regiments, each containing 3 rifle battalions, with regimental support in the form of A/T guns etc.

Here's one Regiment:






Regimental HQ

CO + 5 men 1 Jeep, 1 Radio Truck.

Gun Battery - 1 x 76.2mm Field/AT gun, 1 Truck
AT battery - 2 x long barreled 45mm AT gun, 2 Trucks
AA Platoon - 1 x 37mm AA, 1 x Prime mover.

SMG Company - 6 Figs

3 x Rifle Battalions, each of the following:

CO + 4 AT Rifle

Coy - 8 Figs
Coy - 8 Figs
Coy - 8 Figs

Sp Coy
1 x 82mm Mortar
1 x50mm Mortar
1 x Maxim MMG

So that's the full strength rifle regiment done, I also have 2 reduced strength rifle regiments, with just 2 battalions each, and limited support. Also I have 2 independent tank battalions and a heavy tank battalion as well as attached assault guns and tank destroyers...artillery....rocket battery... etc..

Ill do a separate post on each of the formations when they are completed. All the figures were painted about 12 years ago, but need lots of repairs and stuff.

Next time Ill put up some pictures of my Das Reich division SS troops, who will be trying to batter a way through all the hordes of Russians!

Cheers,
Steve

New Plans

Now then,

Its been a while since I updated the old blog, so I thought I would update it with what ive been up to recently. Well, first of all, alot of painting. Namely 6mm sci/fi stuff, Space marines and Tau shenanigans mostly. I have a few to finish off so will save the pictures until later. For now the epic stuff is being put on hold, namely because I have other stuff to get done.....

Ill start with whats getting dropped first.

The Fantasy project.

I had hopes that this would get my 2 lads interested, but alas that's not going to happen. Personally im not inspired enough anymore to spend my spare time painting these, so they will be up for sale on the blog shortly, as soon as I can get them photographed etc. If not then eBay may be the way forward.

So whats new?

Well, first off, I should be back home in the UK by this time next year if not before, so my plans are revolving around minimizing projects and getting existing stuff painted.

So maybe the Ancient Greek cavalry will finally get done, or the Theban hoplites may see the light of day (ive had them for nearly 5 years!)

The 6mm Austrian army is nearly finished, I could probably get them done in a few weeks if I concentrated on them......

I also have a few bits and bobs for my 15mm Crusaders and Muslims that need doing, again a pretty quick job....sigh...

My main "thing" at the moment is WW2.

I have recently been re-inspired by initially rediscovering Flames of War, then, after getting hold of the V3 rulebook cheap via eBay, decided that its still crap.

Instead I have discovered Battlegroup Kursk. LINK

Im a massive fan of the Eastern front, and this ruleset seems to offer all the stuff that is lacking from FOW, BKC, and Bolt Action. The book was ordered last week, so I hope to have it in my possession in the next few days.

In the mean time, heres a few links to useful stuff:

Overview of the game

BGK forum on the Guild ( the hardest forum in the world to join!)

Video overview of the book

dux-homunculorum blog review

There are loads more reviews and stuff out there, google it!

Anyway, more epicness in the next update, then its firmly back to historicals!

Cheers for reading,
Steve

First Bolt Action Game

Now then,

The Youth surprised me this morning, when as he was going out the door to school, he asked if I could set up a game for when he gets in!!!  He wants to be the Soviets, which is fine by me.

Gaming with non gamer's or young uns!

Here's my take on it. The most important thing is preparation. To that end I have made some bits and bobs, to make things as easy as possible. Obviously the armies are sorted out, points worked out and reference sheets all done and ready.

Pin markers. These are actually blast markers that I made for epic, but they will serve nicely I think.

Dice cup. I couldn't find anything else, so my "Dads Army" teacup will have to do!

 The cup easily hold about 20 of my homemade BA dice.

German platoon, Pl HQ, 3 squads Grenadiers, MMG team, and a sniper team.

Soviet forces. Pl HQ, Free 12 man conscript squad, 2 LMG squads, 1 10 man SMG squad, MMG squad Light Mortar team and a sniper team!

The massive stone Die, turn marker!.

The mission we will play will be Scenario 2 from the rulebook, Maximum attrition. This one sounds like it will provide suitable carnage. The game needs to as straightforward as possible, so no extra rules etc.

In this mission, no forces are set up initially, half your troops are in reserve and the other half are in the first wave. When troops receive an order, they move onto the table, with either an advance or run.

The beginning of the game saw both sides running into position, The German platoon commander ordered his MG42 team over to his left, to cover that side and the remaining forces moved into the center. The Soviets hastily moved their support weapons into position, with the Soviet sniper taking up a position ready to threaten the MG42 next turn.

The Soviet sniper got the first shot off, and shot one of the MG42 team,  placing a pin marker on it. The return fire was way off its mark. The rest of the troops on both sides moved onto the table, or moved into
position ready for next turn.

The MG42 team took another casualty from sniper fire, before the remaining gunner went to ground. It was to stay that way for the rest of the game, all the while harassed by the sniper. On the soviet side, combined rifle fire and a little bit of help from the light mortar pinned down and hampered the Grenadiers.

The game turned into a long range exchange of fire with the Soviet forces taking heavy casualties, but in the end Soviet manpower overwhelmed the Germans and by games end the German platoon was in a desperate position and withdrew.

Thoughts

The game flowed along at a good pace, despite it being our first game, and trying to teach it to the lad, however he still beat me in the end, the little git. We got a few of the rules wrong, such as order tests for pinned troops etc, but it was good to push some figures about and roll some dice!

He wants another game tomorrow too, we have decided on a Spartan vs Athenian battle using basic impetus.

Cheers
Steve

le.IG.18 75mm and Pak 40 AT gun

Now then,

With the Soviets getting some fire support, I thought it only fair that the Germans get some too. The  le.IG.18 75mm Infantry Support Gun is classed as a light howitzer in Bolt Action, so will provide the grenadiers with a bit of fire support.

Gun and crew by Peter Pig

I'm really liking the Peter pig figures, they have loads of character, the only slight negative is that the faces are a bit dodgy...

What is needed now is a bit of AT capability....

Pak 40 Anti tank gun.

Gun and crew, Peter Pig

This has got to be my favorite bit of kit yet for my Jerrys. A really nice model, it comes with all the camouflage already cast on, so really looks the part, waiting to ambush an unwary soviet tank!

Bolt Action Page!

Anyway, still no bases for the Austrians, so ill have a dig about and see what else there is to paint for tomorrow.

Cheers,
Steve

Soviet Zis 3 Divisional Gun

Now then,

As I have neglected to order a new batch of bases for my Austrians, I have instead painted up this nice Peter Pig Gun for my Bolt Action Soviets. I thought I might need one as I dont think the 45mm is going to cut the mustard!

Gun by Peter Pig, Crew Peter Pig and Battlefront.

All My Eastern Front BA stuff can be seen here - Bolt Action Eastern Front page

For some strange reason I have overlooked Peter Pig models, I really don't know why, they are really nice. For those wishing to do BA in 15mm, I would highly recommend them, as not only are the figures top notch but they do custom orders, so you could order just what you need, instead of having loads of surplus stuff.

I'm already planning my next WW2 project, Western desert anyone?

Cheers for looking.

Steve

Bolt Action SOVIETS

Now then,

I have rebased some of my old flames of war soviet army, the plan being to use them with Bolt Action to take on the German forces on the Eastern front.

WARNING - I painted these up about 12 years ago, and you can tell I mass produced hundreds of them! So I apologise for the sloppy paint jobs...... I did consider (for about a nanosecond) repainting them completely...Life is too short.

Anyway, here they are:

The Soviet commander, accompanied by a kommissar, radio op and standard bearer (armed with an SMG).

The miniatures are a mix of battlefront, peter pig and skytrex.

In bolt Action the Soviets get a free 12 man rifle squad of conscripts, the quality of quantity....

2 Rifle/LMG squads 12 men in each.

A 10 man SMG squad.

Optional stuff...

Sniper pair

Forward artillery officer flare gun at the ready!

Anti tank rifle team

Light mortar team.

Maxim MMG team

45mm Anti tank gun

The whole reinforced platoon so far, I have loads of mid war vehicles to use with them, but im planning on adding a T34/85, or maybe an IS2..?

So there we go, Bolt Action forces done (for now anyway). Next Im planning to get some scenery sorted out, and actually have a game!

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Homemade Bolt Action dice

Now then,

Being the thrifty Yorkshireman that i am, i decided that the bolt action dice were too expensive...So..I have made some dice of my own for Bolt Action. I Bought some blank dice from HERE, and using their blank dice template I made these:

I then printed them out onto sticky label paper,

Cut them out (took ages). And ended up with these.

The dice cost me 19p each, much cheaper than the "official" dice, and i reckon they will serve nicely.  I have 15 dice each for the Germans and the Allies. not bad for £8.00. (ish)

If you want a copy of the labels, comment below, with your email address and ill send you a copy. (I wont publish your address though obviously).

Cheers
Steve.