First game of 2015. FoW Early War

March sees me play my very first game of 2015. For throwing off the rules rust we went for 1500 points of Early War. German Panzers vs French Panhards and friends. Free for All mission.
A very enjoyable game with those tense moments that could see it swing either way. The club had a Magic Card game event happening and it was rather full and busy. Great to catch up with some fellow gamers I haven't seen in a while after just basically really getting into my painting over the duration of the Painting Challenge.
Enjoy the glory of blurred smartypants phone photos!

At other end my Panzer III platoon and 6 Rads cross craters to head off Motorcycle troops.

Panzer II platoon moves around Church to help force back the Motorcycle troops.

It worked but French infantry make a foothold in a building.

They failed to motivate after orders to assault tanks a few times (despite denying the defensive fire due to within 4")

Panhards look very nice!

As do the fully tracked friends they have.

In the woods some Panhards close in on an Objective. Panzer III 1iC and 2iC with some Panzer II friends rush to intercept.

It got all kinds of crazy in these woods. Panhards are no more but the French Heavys have arrived!

Only two 6 Rads stay on this table end to defend against French Infantry that building hopped to within sight of  an Objective!

Nice French Artillery. Direct fire Anti Tank = kick ass! Bombard on tanks...not so much.

Game end! Germans capture Dirt road exit! French forced to disengage and regroup.

Germans lost the Platoon of Panzer III. Stuka ground attack contributed nothing.

Cold theme challenge = Winter Panzer

The great thing about being challenged is to try something you have not done before. I was thinking about trying out a winter scheme on Early War German tanks for a long time and the Cold theme in the Painting Challenge was the motivation to give it a go.
While not the best photos below you can see how I went with this. Rather than a nicely applied totally white workshop spray job, this tank is in the style of painted with brooms, rags and whatever else came to hand in the field. The snow has started to thaw and the Mud Season is about to begin.
Be sure to go have a look to how other hobbyists responded to the Cold theme here.
The Panzer is an older Battlefront 15mm Resin and metal. I actually prepped and primed the tank black for the last challenge. It painted a lot quicker than I thought it would take.

Is he on the Radio or someone just farted in the Tank?

Cheers from Brendon

Mixing it up

Been relaxing for a couple of weeks at home. Mid year school break here in the Top End which means a 4 week holiday for school kids including my daughter. We sort of split the child minding duties by 1 week in kid day camp, 2 weeks with me and, 2 and a bit weeks with the Mum. It's a fantastic time of the year here with the lower part of Australia in a southern winter while here we call it The Dry. Perfect time for camping which we did for a couple of nights and had great campfire nights with the background of busy sounds of Wallabies in the bush. I also spent the 2 weeks going on Bike rides around town (that sometimes ended with a cold beer at a beach side bar) walking the dog, watching DVDs, movies and the kid had an Eleventh birthday to celebrate.

But you may prefer me to get back to writing about wargaming related things so lets get into it. Below is a close up of a Dungeons & Dragons board game plastic figure. A birthday present for the kid. This is her choice for character for the two games we all played together. I have painted some more figures from the box so will post some more in the future. I plan to complete all of them for her. The figures are a roughly 28mm scale but they are that bendy toy game plastic and some have a bit of flash that I didn't go to the trouble of removing.

In the past when I have had time off I have had a plan of what I am going to paint but this time I decided to not have a plan. I didn't commit as much time to painting as I have in the past but decided to just paint whatever I felt like if I sat down at the painting table. Worked out good actually. No minor frustration if I didn't hit any self made goals. Just enjoyment of painting. 

Here is some progress I made on my Mid-War Crusaders.

The 3 x Crusader II built and up to the same stage as the Crusader IIIs (started a long time back but never finished). rather than find some decals and wait for them in the mail I decided to hand paint the markings. These guys are a part of 9th Armoured (just before Super Charge). 9th Armour (British) was in the 2nd NZ Div for that operation.

Next was yellow squares on turrets. First with white then yellow.
Consistency and accuracy...who cares. It's 15mm wargaming.

A wash of desert dust to get past that fresh out of the workshop look.

The pattern is from the incredibly awesome Mike Starmer publication Alamein and After 42-43. Was it like what 9th Armoured Crusaders looked like historically at Supercharge? Not sure but, according to the orders in Mikes publication it is what they should have looked like by order of the Army! Note...it is a pattern. A repeated design (looks very same-ish on each tank).

After the Caunter schemes of the Early period had stopped many units had their own schemes but this was an intelligence failure as it made it easier to tell divisions etc apart from each other for the Axis forces. Standard army wide vehicle designs and colours became the official orders but no doubt the nature of warfare would have led to a lengthy transition period. Lack of paint, manpower, vehicles not pulled out of action long enough, etc etc.....

Before I made any further progress on them I decided to black primer spray the new Blazing Sun ships from the Shadow Hunter set I went halves with a fellow player. This actually led them to being completed a few days later. A heavy battleship and 3 cruisers with the option of 3 weapon types each. You can see the swappable parts at the rear.

My fleet grows in size and I think I am only lacking one ship design which is the Heavy Cruiser. Only available in a box set which has more of what I already have in the box so until it is available on it's own it will have to wait til it joins my fleet.

Finally an image of some nicely painted French Dystopian ships not painted by me but a fellow gamer. This force fought side by side with me in my first Version 2 game. 2 vs 2 and we did not use the hand of cards options. I think I was the only one (of 4 players) at the table who had the version 2 card deck. Nice looking French ships...really nice.

Cheers from Brendon

One thousand projects and some Mid-War games

In the previous weekend a fellow gamer came over to our table after completing his Warmachine game. He was re-inspired to play Flames of War and has a Mid-War collection. "Anyone up for a Mid-War game next week?"....."Not sure if I can make it yet." a short while later after consulting the oracle... "Yes I can make it. See you there!"

For Mid-War and in particular North Africa a long time ago I started a NZ Div Cav force (Honeys). I expanded it to include options such as the first Shermans to enter combat in WWII. Of course why not add a Crusader platoon or two. If I get some more Shermans I have enough for a British Heavy Tank company. So there you go...project well and truly expanded and under way....but never truly finished.

At some stage new projects came along and this one got put on the back burner. I had some time in the week to think about my army list and search through the archives to uncover this partially finished collection and get a list ready for gaming. Turns out the Crusader platoon option I had created with 3 x Crusader III is no longer an option but I did purchase some Crusader II blisters to make them proper legal looking. Not built but somewhere in the cave. It didn't take long to find them but in doing so I uncovered a lot of unopened blisters. All the blisters purchased for those list ideas and inclusions. It was fun and has inspired me to go back and revisit these projects.
When we got together for our games we both had a story of the same affliction and went through the same process. "Oh that's right. These figures have no heads because of a planned head swap etc, etc". The great thing about going back into these projects is if you stick with the original plan it is unlikely to mean new purchases (unless they have changed the list options or you just really need something else). 

As a start to my re-visit to the sands of North Africa looking at my list options I can access a NZ Anti Tank Platoon of 4 x 17/25pdrs. The slash is because the first 17pdr guns used had an interim gun carriage system of using the 25pdr system. Way, way back I purchased miniatures for this but I was making a NZ list for Italy. Turns out by that time the 17pdr was in it's new mount. So I decided to repaint the platoon as it will make a very strong AT asset in my light tank force. I may just remove the figures with the funky helmets with netting and foliage as I don't think they really fit North Africa.

Before......

....after.

The days gaming was excellent and we went on to have 3 games on the same table at 1600 points (my list did not include the 17/25pdrs). It was a fun way for both of us to explore Mid-War again. I am now keen to finish my mid-war Allied projects. Sorry Mega City One Judges you might have to wait a while.

A bit of work still to do on these. Yet to make the green areas dusty.

NZ Div Cav get side shots on some Panzers.

Then go on to capture an objective.

Massive FV Italian platoon. Can they Hold the Line....

....yes they can! NZ Div Cav lost this one eventually.

Cheers from Brendon

Late War Flames of War Italy game 1250 points

Another game report for the WWPD Italian Campaign and this time I use 1250 points of New Zealand Armour.
Not the later Late War options when they have access to Fireflys, Wasps and other green painted goodies but from a time before that when vehicles mostly had a base of a Light Mud colour and black camo pattern.

I faced Lochy with German Infantry (2 Platoons) backed up with 2 recon 8 Rads, 2 Tigers, a Pak 40 Platoon and a Nebelwerfer platoon.
Me.
HQ 4 x Shermans
2 x Combat Platoons with 3 Shermans in each.
Two Scout Patrols (3 Universal Carriers in each)
A Stuart Jalopy recon platoon (x 3 Jalopys)
6 platoons each.

Mission: Free for All
With only 1250 points and first turn I decided to bravely attack the Germans.
It was really two Kiwi forces at the extreme table ends. One mob heading to the PaK platoon in a wheat field near an Objective while the other headed through some woods to threaten the other objective. Doing this really gave the German side plenty to do in defending and that's what they did.
The 8 Rads played a game of delay the Shermans and it took a few turns for me to finally be rid of them. If they had broken through they could have threatened one of my Objectives. I left nothing back on my starting line. After they had been dealt with the Kiwi force managed to break through the woods and destroy the Nebelwerfer Platoon. A sherman platoon bravely assaulted some dug in infantry but soon had to abandon their tanks.
On the other side the Kiwi force used some wood features to get shots on the Pak 40 Platoon and from here a Sherman Platoon was eventually destroyed by Long Range shooting from the two tigers and the Pak 40s. Eventually though when all that remained on that side was the Sherman 1iC and the Jalopy Platoon the Pak platoon was eliminated through shooting and assaults. This left the Jalopys to assault any German Infantry teams they could reach to hold the Objective. However the Infantry was fed back into 4inch proximity and stalled the Objective from being taken for another turn or two.
Back near the old position of the Nebelwerfers the green Carrier platoon foolishly decided to assault the German Infantry platoon dug in around the objective. A high risk and bold move but it ended predictably with the Carrier platoon destroyed and bringing me to 4 platoons destroyed so my turn.....Company break test required....FAIL!
A very, very close game. Onlookers thought the Kiwi's might have been well and truly done for prior to the destruction of the Pak 40 platoon but once that was gone it could have gone the Kiwi's way. Especially if I played it a bit more cautiously and cunning but we typically play like gentlemen gamers so we both had a very enjoyable and exciting game. The type of game that you go man that was awesome.......I want to play another game.

Table and deployment after Recon Moves.

8 Rads have look at the noises coming from the woods area behind the big Church.

Moving around the towards the wheat field.

It's a trap!

Assault on the Pak Platoon in the wheat field fortress.

Jalopys with Objective in sight and only Dug In Infantry protecting it after the Pak 40s are gone.

Left Objective zone after Nebelwerfers destroyed.

Now that we have survived this far shall we charge that infantry? Hell yeah!

Just about End Game.

After that blast we managed to get two more players involved and had a 2 vs 2 game to introduce a new player and a gamer who had not played Version 3 rules before but has a Mid War army. This actually got us all excited to go back and explore Mid War in the Deserts of North Africa again. I am going to have to dust off my Desert coloured Tanks I think.

Cheers from Brendon

Liri Valley Road Block FoW AAR

A regular opponent at my club Lochy pointed me in the direction of the WWPD Global Italian Campaign for Flames of War games. Awesome! Me, I chose.....ALLIES.
So we registered and planned to have a game or two. Only the thing is....for our first meet up...Lochy had a big night before hand and slept through his alarm and never made it. Very funny.
I suggested that the Germans had an orders mix up when a senior officer had too many Italian wines and failed to occupy a sector of the Liri Valley so the Allies advanced unopposed.
However another week went by and we managed our first campaign game. To cut the rust from our FoW rules memories we went with small point size of 1200 and the first mission...

ROADBLOCK!

My force...Confident Veteran American Tanks advancing into the Liri Valley.
HQ 2 x Shermans
Combat 1- 4 x Shermans
Combat 2 -3 x Shermans
Light Tanks -Stuarts x 5
Light Tanks -Stuarts x 4

Germans Confident Trained except for the Armour CV.
HQ Infantry
2 x Infantry Platoons
3 x Marders
4 x StuGs
3 x 37mm AT guns
2 x Infantry Arty guns
1 x 105 Artillery Battery
I may have missed one as I recall he said he had 8 platoons.

As per the mission rules I spread out 3 Platoons along a road waiting for a Road Block to be cleared. I kept the smaller Stuart platoon in reserve. Kaboom. Suddenly some small German AT guns open fired from ambush on my larger Sherman platoon. Result 1 x dead platoon leader and 2 bailed tanks. Fortunately I didn't lose a platoon as I had anticipated. StuGs and Marders had deployed in good positions and had great lines of sight. What to do. Sit near the objectives and let him come to me or do a series of bold and risky moves to take the fight to the Germans. I went for an Attack as my best form of self defence.
The small AT guns became quickly overwhelmed by combined shooting then an assault into the Grape plantations. My Stuarts at the other end of the road sped towards the Marders who had a nice fortress behind some rock walls. Some got cover from an old ruined church but eventually the Stuarts won the duel at close range.
The StuGs played the re-position game with Storm Troop moves but I sent the Stuarts and a platoon of Shermans around some buildings towards the Artillery line. Using Stabilisers and massed firepower the Artillery was soon overwhelmed and was forced to retire. They had opted not to dig in on previous turns and try bombardments instead.
From that position the StuGs became surrounded with shots from the front and rear and soon became one StuG that moved away to get a shot at the now reduced Stuart Platoon that had defeated the Marders to try and nab a Victory Point by losing me a platoon. It wasn't to be and despite the arrival of the infantry and the small guns for the Germans it was time to retreat.    
Victory for the Allies 6-1
Not what I expected after a break from the game.

The table, deployment then ambush.

Blam! 1 x destroyed Sherman and 3 Bails

Destroy the ambush.

Advance towards the Marders behind the wall.

Try and survive the shooting of the Marders

Move out.

Light Stuarts vs the big guns of the Marders.

Hit em with everything you got!

Artillery no more.

One Marder continues the fight but not for much longer

StuGs are getting surrounded.

Last Stug attempts a Platoon kill on the Stuarts.

Overwhelmed by American Tanks the Germans leave this part of Liri Valley with the Road Block Attempt failed.
No doubt they will have more surprises and delaying actions in store for the Allies.

 Cheers From Brendon (The Kiwi)