2 games in 2 Days!

Now then,

I have been lucky enough to have 2 games this weekend!Firstly on Saturday James popped down for a game of Battlegroup Kursk. It was only a small game, based mostly on the introductory scenario in the Kursk book. It went really well and I like the Battlegroup rules alot. 

James has written a great report over on his blog -

 the mad tin hatter HERE

The second game was with Pete, Stuart and myself having our first game of Impetus Baroque, using our newly painted English Civil war Armies.

It was another cracking game, and it looked ace on Petes terrain.

Both games were really good fun and ill be playing them both again in the near future!

Cheers for looking,
Steve

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 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

Command Decision 15mm. A short Review.

Now then.

Im not in the habit of doing reviews, in fact this is my first ever. Nonetheless, I thought people might be interested. I have recently got back into WW2 gaming namely because of the excellent ruleset that is BG Kursk.

In BG Kursk, it gives the player the option to field some unusual units, (stuff that is often overlooked in other games) such as wire teams, stretcher bearers, signals relay teams etc. Being a soldier myself, I obviously understand how important these things are, even if they are not as "glamorous" or heroic than the "teeth" arms, ie your tanks and infantry etc....

Anyway, I ordered some stuff from Skytrex (link on the right) last week, and they turned up in Cyprus yesterday.

Here's what I ordered:

1 x Opel Blitz command truck
1 x Set of German officers and signalers
4 x German motorcycles
1 x Set of German Casualties and stretcher bearers.
1 x Set of Russian Casualties and stretcher bearers.

Opel Blitz Command truck.

The command truck comes as a multipart metal and resin kit. As you can see from the pictures the command trailer is the resin part. 

My only slight concern with this kit is the separate cab roof, which looks like it might be quite tricky to get into the correct position, and may take a bit of faffing about to get right.

On the plus side, it allows you to put drivers in there before the roof goes on. You have to buy the crew figures separately, it would be nice if they were included in the kit though.

 The best part about the truck is the resin bit, the detail is really crisp, no bubbles in the resin, and it fits the metal chassis perfectly.

Overall, very happy with this kit, although the inclusion of some drivers would make it better.

German officers and signalers

This pack contains 10 different figures. Thats right all 10 are different, which for me is pretty cool. So, on the top row we have the various officers, and on the bottom, radio operators, including a guy (bottom centre) with a reel of comms wire on his back. Very useful figures, hardly any flash but with a few mold lines, especially on the helmets, easy enough to remove though.

These figures are great. I have lots of battlefront, and peter pig figures and these I would say are better than either.

German motorcycles

These are German dispatch riders, mounted on BMW bikes, really useful for BG Kursk. The pose is the same for all of them, but they are very detailed and there is only a small amount of flash, which should clean up in no time.

Also included are the separate dispatch bags, ill have to find out where to stick them, front or back?

I like em!







German and Russian Casualties and stretcher bearers. (might as well do them both together)

In the casualty packs you get 2 stretchers with casualties on them, 4 stretcher bearers to carry them and 5 casualties.

The quality of these sculpts is great, all the separate casualties are different, and the poor buggers look realistically posed, as if they have been thrown in a heap by an explosion etc...

The Russian pack was the same, except that it only had 4 casualties, but again all different sculpts, realistically posed.

The hands for the stretcher bearers will probably need to be drilled out, no problem really, if you have a pin vice or similar.







CONCLUSION

This lot cost me just over £20.00. Value for money? most definitely, really useful bits and bobs that alot of other manufacturers don't produce, or if they do, they are part of bigger packs of stuff that you may not need.

I have been guilty of overlooking Skytrex, in favour of the more well known Battlefront, but these really are worth a close look, they have a large range, and still do the squad packs, very useful for skirmish gamers.

Anyway, happy customer here, just need to get some paint on them now!

SKYTREX WW2

Cheers for reading,
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

Cant see the wood for the trees?

Now then,

This weekend has seen me in a frenzy of terrain making (or just making a mess, if my wife is to be believed). To be fair I did drop my flock tub no less than 3 times, once spectacularly covering myself and everything else in the stuff....

Being clumsy aside, I managed to get this lot done:

First of all, I reinforced the edges of the boards with Green tape to protect them.

6mm Scale Trees

These are cheap trees bought via Amazon from China, a few quid for 50... Cant go wrong really. I should have toned down the green a bit, but they are done now.

15mm Scale trees

These are homemade trees, made out of wire and clump foliage, then dunked in watered down PVA and then the (for some reason hard to keep hold of) Flock.

The end result here is that I reckon both sets of trees, now that they are done will work fine for both scales, what do you think?

Hedges.

These are homemade, out of scouring pads, cut to shape then dunked in the PVA and then flocked. They work really quite well for 6mm, and at a push 15mm too. Thats good because I just don't have the space to store loads of terrain in different scales.... I'm pushing my luck already...

Here is my Terrain setup so far.

Whats next?

Well, for my 6mm I have these that need painting up.

Models - Total Battle Miniatures

For my 15mm, i'm going to order some pre-painted MDF buildings from 4Ground. I'm thinking the timber village set, and maybe a few fences and walls.

The inspiration for this board comes from my favorite Osprey book, Aspern and Wagram 1809. These pictures here....

Cheers for looking,

Steve

Terrain tiles

Now then,

Waiting for stuff in the post can be frustrating. Especially when your on leave, and have planned to get loads of painting done, and forgotten to order bases..... So my projects have stalled a bit. My own fault, My options are to punish myself by watching daytime TV, or be a bit more creative..but what to do?

So im sat in the Garden, enjoying the Cyprus sunshine, when I have a thought (rare as that may be). I have 4 TSS terrain tiles upstairs. But they are desert ones that I bought for playing Crusades games etc. What I really need is some terrain for my Napoleonics, and for Bolt action. Now on the other side of these terrain tiles they are blank......

So a quick woodbine later, and I'm off to the local paint shop. I bought a big pot of mossy green paint, and a few random tester pots, (about 10 euro). Here's what I came up with!

The sight that confronted my wife when she got home from work.... 

So these are the backs of the TSS desert tiles, painted first with the moss green, then while still wet, using the tester pots, random fields are painted on in different shades. It turned out much better than I expected if Im totally honest, and in total took me about an hour to get all 4 tiles painted!

Once dry Iv'e continued working on them, so when the lad got home from his mates house this is what greeted him in his room! (no one is safe from the geekyness in my house). Although he did say or rather mumbled that "they look alright" High praise indeed from James the moody arse teenager.

So next Im going to get some trees sorted out, and some hedges (ill have to make 6mm and 15mm versions of these).

Ill post some better images when ive got some trees etc done, and with some troops on. has anyone got any cunning ways of making hedges?

Cheers for looking,
Steve