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

German Vehicles

Now then,

I sat and finished these vehicles off last night, mostly just basing but the trucks in particular needed a bit of work on the camo.

First we have a Panzer IIf.

I tried a dark wash on this one, it has turned out a bit dark, but works ok I think, It just looks a bit dirty....

Next I have a Sdkfz 250/3 command vehicle with a bedstead antenna.

(This is the battlefront "grief" model)

Here I have my Schwimwagons, These are forged in battle models and are very nice.

Again Ive been experimenting with different washes, some are darker than others......

I really enjoyed painting these, with the little drivers and passengers.

Last up I have some trucks, pretty bog standard and boring to paint (id rather be painting tanks...)

These will be used to transport my Panzer grenadiers in the lorried Battalion.

I shall have a proper update tomorrow,

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Panther G and Puma Fixed!

Now then,

I have spent a bit of time over the last day or so going through my WW2 collection, and my Panther and Puma were still sticky from the varnish that was applied in 2014!!

I fixed the problem by putting on  a fresh coat of matt varnish, A simple fix....Thank god for that...

 The Battlefront model comes with 2 turrets, so depending on what you want in your force, you can have either the:

Sdkfz 234/1 Armed with a 20mm cannon, and a coaxial MG.

or

Sdkfz 234/2 PUMA.
An up armoured version, with a fully enclosed turret, armed with a 50mm AT gun

Loads more to come!!

Cheers for looking,
Steve

Rapid Fire Soviets vs SS first game

Now then,

Myself and Stuart had our first test game of Rapid Fire last week, it pitted 2 soviet rifle Battalions supported by a few anti tank guns with 4 T34/75's in reserve against an Armoured SS Pz Grenadier Battalion, supported by an assault gun company (2 x Stug IIIG)

The game played pretty quickly, and there weren't may occasions that we had to check the rule book, mainly the checking was to do with direct HE firing for some reason....

Anyway, the Pz Grenadiers made some headway against the Soviets at first but casualties were heavy, including the Bn CO who was taken out early on. Once the T34's arrived they destroyed both Stugs pretty quickly, and the SS lost their nerve and withdrew. The soviet rifleman who took out the command halftrack with his anti tank rifle was the star of the game (jammy dice rolling).

In the foreground you can see the Bn HQ halftrack burning, and another burning halftrack on the far left, The soviets can be seen emerging from the wheat field, outflanking my forces.

Heres a slightly blurry air reconnaissance shot of the T34's mauling my Stugs and halftracks, the 50mm Pak 38 is being hastily towed into position to try to hold them off... It didnt work!

All in all it was a very enjoyable game, nice and simple with plenty of toys on the table. Next game will be a bit bigger, with more armour!

Hopefully in the next few days ill have another Soviet rifle regiment finished off, as well as a tank brigade. The SS forces have also been sorted out/expanded as well so ill get some pics of those up soon too.

Cheers,
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