...and make their presence felt, decisively!

Objective in flames!

The last of the British Armoured squadron dies on the objective.

Armored Forces Clash in the Desert

A panzerkompanie of the 7th Panzer Regiment is sent forward to retrieve a missing tank recovery vehicle. They are looking in the right place but what they don't realize is that a British tank company has already found it. Both sides are surprised by the sudden apperance of a strong force to their fronts. A meeting engagement in the open desert between armored forces! This is going to be fast and furious! The orders "Button up, Action Front" are passed down the line on both sides. The German Mark IIIs open fire at long range while the British commander sends his light tanks barreling toward the advancing German infantry in an atempt to cut them down before they have a chance to go to ground.

Panzer IIIs at the jumpoff point. These are pretty solid little tanks, with the L50 5.0cm gun. Rate of fire is high enough to make up for the lack of power.  

Grants lined up on the right flank preparing to move forward. And die.  

Grants lined up to protect the lost German recovery vehicle. 

Turn one, the Grants and 'Honey' Stuarts prepare to do their thing. The 'Honeys' will move forward like lightening, while the Grants hold the objective.  

Second blood to the Brits. A Panzer III burns. 

On turn one, the British Bren Carriers speed forward to shoot at the unprotected infantry. Along with the three 'Honey' Stuarts', they killed all but two stands and the commander of the Panzergrenadiers. On turn two a combination of the StuG IIIs and the SdKfz 221/222 recon squadron hosed down the Honeys and the Bren Carriers. The Brens all died, one Honey died, and the command Honey bailed.  

One Grant remains on the right flank. He aggressively moves forward only to be pummeled. 

The last British tank on the right flank burns after his brave, but foolish charge forward. 

A StuG III advances past a burning Honey Stuart. The command tank is bailed, so the center tank didn't move for about 4 turns. It ended up getting bailed, then finally near the end of the game remounted and ran to the rear to cover the objective. It died there. 

The Commander and 2IC prepare to meet the Recon forces as Panzer IIIs move in from the other flank. The two Honeys that are not burning are bailed. They were bailed on turn 3 and stayed that way until only one remained. 

The last StuG III burns beside the decimated Panzergrenadiers. To the left, the three Bren Carriers that hammered the Grenadiers on turn one burn. 

The 2IC tank burns as the last 'Honey' Stuart prepares to die fighting. 

Panzer Kompanie Commander moves past the last of the burning Grant Command tanks. 

Objective taken! Recon commander gaurds the recovered recovery vehicle. 

With the British Armoured Squadrons' command tanks burning and the Panzer Kompanies' Recon commander sitting on their objective, the game ended in a German win with a victory point score of 5-2. (The victory points come out of the rule book, and result is given due to the fact that the victor only lost one full platoon.)

'Bwana' Bill played an excellent game, recovering well from what seemed an initial setback. After my Honey Stuarts and Bren carriers hammered his infantry on my half of turn one, it was looking grim. However, his StuGs were nearly impervious to my fire (mostly due to my poor die rolls! Have I mentioned I have demon-possessed die?) while his long 7.5cm guns were more than a match for the mediocre (POOR!) armor on the Grants.

One thing that I didn't do in the game was to attempt to fire both the guns on the Grants. If I fired the turret 37mm as well as the sponson 75mm, I'd get two more shots per turn. The problem with that is that I have to roll higher on the die to hit due to the vehicle commanders' attention being split between guiding the gunner and trying to aim and fire the turret gun himself. (Both guns are +1 to hit when fired simultatneously.) I chose not to fire both guns, since I already needed 4/5 to hit. That was tough for me to roll, so making it a 5/6 would just mean that I didn't hit as often as I did, which was rare! Hindsight is 20/20 they say, and I think now that if I roll more die, I have a better chance of hitting. So, perhaps I'll try that next game... and we are having a rematch!

While the game may have seemed very lopsided, it was actually very close up until near the end and could have gone either way at various points in the battle.

I think I won't let him bring his StuGs next time! ;-P

I've entered our results for this game into the Race for Messina on the FoW official website.

I'm sure my fellow "Brits" will not appreciate my contribution... oh well. Perhaps I can pull a win out next time!

Uniform Painting Rescource!

(Not Bwana) Bill sent me this link to the New York Public Library. It's an outstanding resource for ideas on painting of uniforms.

Most historical gamers really want accuracy. Hey, what better source than a library?

Enjoy!

Trench Wars Night Fight

Charlie was the only 'regular' to show up, but we still had a blast!

Seems no one really considered night-fighting and true 'small unit' skirmish in Trench Wars! Ok, that's harsh - actually it's only the night fighting they didn't touch on enough, but there is also a definite push for larger, grander games.

I took ten German trenchfighters, one officer, and two NCOs against Charlies' three ten-man squads and a unit of four Royal Engineers - Signalers, and their lone sentry. One of those squads was the crew of a pair of field guns. The Field guns were the objective for the night raid.

We started the game off with me rolling for a random entry point on the table. As fate would have it (or my demon-possessed dice!), I rolled to pop up right in front of the sentry.

But that was ok, since my next roll for "noise and light discipline" was passed easily - so the sentry at least didn't hear my guys!

Unfortunately, since they came on the table so close to his guys, I gave Charlie a roll to see if his sentry could spot them. They were less than six inches away! He made the roll, spotted the raiders, and fired a warning shot.

He missed, but the Royal Engineers in the dugout awoke and one started running to raise the alarm. In addition one of the ten-man squads awoke and started thinking about moving towards the shot.

Next turn, my lads poured into the bunker and a one-sided brawl ensued where the Royal Engineers died valiantly defending their dugout without slowing my lads down very much. Still, there was a lot of ground to cover, and since it was dark, we could only move six inches.

A couple of turns went by with us just maneuvering, and with the last two squads waking up and moving to the sounds of battle. This was not going to be good.

Charlie had one of the gun crews manhandle a gun away from the bunker it was behind and prep it for firing, while the other crew ran up to greet three breakaway trenchfighters.

On my left flank, my officer, an NCO and a handful of trenchfighters ran towards a unit that was firing at medium range in the dark. The raiders took a few casualties, but closed into Bergman range and opened up with two submachine guns and a pistol, kiling half the Brit squad.

The three breakaway lads charged into the five gunners and beat them to a pulp, directly after which the other five gunners opened up and close range with the 18 pounder. It was a direct hit instantly Annihilating all three lads.

A reserve unit came on not long after and hammered the last of my lads, ending the night in a valiant, but futile attempt at spiking the guns.

We had a great time, making rules on the fly that made sense. Charlie liked the game and drew a map of the terrain layout so we can try again sometime.

Fortunately I remembered the camera!! Unfortunately it didn't have it's "memory stick" in it, which is why this is a text-only report. Fear not gentle readers, Eye Candy is on the way soon!!

Trench Wars World War I WARNORD

On Friday night I'll be running a game of Trench Wars at our local shop. Charlie is bringing some newly-painted Brit field guns (I'll try to remember the camera this time!) which we are going to use as objectives for some small-scale skirmish.

The scenario is basically a night-time deep recon, beyond the first trench line. The Germans will be attempting to find and, if possible, spike the guns.

We will have to use the night-fight rules from Warhammer 40K and adjust them a bit.

Trench Wars is a one to one scale World War One skirmish wargame based on the years 1916-1918. Although it is technically "late war" we also do "early war" battles as well.

The rules are straight-forward and easy to understand, and there are additional levels of detail that are "optional rules".

Trench Wars plays quick and easy, and it's always a hoot. Check it out at Old Glory Miniatures.

WARMACHINE – Opening Gambit

I was recently treated to a beginners game of WARMACHINE™ by Privateer Press, presented by Brian, a member of the Privateer Pressgang.

Brian took the time to allow myself and Charlie to run a game, and he walked us/talked us through it from setup to finish. This took a lot longer than a normal game.

Brian was very patient with us and gave us tips along the way - so if Privateer Press reads this, please give him an extra Kudo or whatever you get for being a great "Press gang" person!

I really enjoyed the game, though I must say the turn sequence is tricky to get used to, from the standpoint that it is different from any other game I've ever played - but it is not difficult to play!

Basically, WARMACHINE™ is a fantasy game based in the Iron Kingdoms. Various factions are constantly at war, for different reasons. The factions are Cygnar, Khador, The Protectorate of Menoth, Cryx, and of course, ever-present Mercenaries.

I was playing Menoth and Charlie had Cryx.

Menoth is a very serious religious army. Their primary goal is to burn the heretics. And that means basically everyone else!

Cryx are the Undead army in this game. They have some pretty cool spells and feats.

And speaking of spells and feats, you can run an all troop army, but in order to run an army with the large warmachines or Warjacks, you have to have a Warcaster.

Correction!

Brian popped in for a visit and kindly posted in comments that, while it is true you can run an all infantry army (but what fun is that!?) you still must have a Warcaster as your leader. Make sense! Thanks again Brian!

Your Warcaster provides 'focus points' to other members of your army, which enable them to accomplish more in a turn than normal, or to increase their power during an attack or during the damage phase of their attack.

In addition, War Casters may use focus points to boost their spells, or save their focus to raise their own defense.

Charlie won the game by Warcaster Kill.

I tried everything I had to kill his Liche but in the end Menoth was vanquished by the death of their Warcaster.

I really enjoyed the game and recommend it for several reasons:

1. The rules are far less expensive than, say, GW rulesets.
2. The figures are at LEAST as nice, if not better than GW figures, and at good prices.
3. The figs paint up so very nice, it's a shame not to get into this game!

I recommend you do a bit of surfing over at the Privateer Press site and explore the gallery. Their newest figures aren't in the gallery yet, so check out their new releases pages as well!

Guest Blogger - Flames of War, game two!

This was our 2nd game, and I know for a fact we got some rules/special rules wrong that would have altered the game. Matt probably should have won (we forgot about his british bulldog roll), then again I should have hurt his tanks more (we treated them as veteran, but they are only trained). Either way, it was a super fun game, and was hinged on a single die roll at more than one point.

My List: US Armored Rifle Company

2 Platoons at full strength and 5 bazookas
1 platoon of 2 shermans
1 platoon of 3 shermans

Matt's List: British Motor Company
2 Lorried Motor Platoons w/ light mortar, 1 with PIAT, 1 with AT rifle
1 platoon of 2 Grants
1 platoon of 3 Grants
Limited Air Support


Firstly Matt and I split our tanks into 2 platoons 1 of 2, and 1 of 3. (just to give us more flexibility even though there's no such thing as a 2 tank platoon legally). So the terrain was laid out, and the major feature was a big hill on my left. This battle we decided I would be attacking and Matt would defend. So, even though I knew it would be tough, I wanted to devote a platoon to the attack on that hill. So 1st platoon was put on my left flank with orders to take the hill, but the rest of my force was on the right side to push for that objective. I also left the halftracks at the rear because I had to deploy behind the riverbed, and figured my men could run over it faster than having to navigate it.

TURN ONE

US- So turn one started off well, Matt couldn't move up to take the hill so no one was up there, and I decided I would doubletime 1st platoon towards the hill, staying in cover behind some jutting rocks.







On the right flank everything moved forward, and my shermans fired on his grants, getting lucky and knocking one out.







British- The British tanks return fire but don't do anything, while his troops on the right secure the objective. His troops on the left move forward towards the hill.

TURN TWO
US- one platoon of Shermans keeps up the fire on the grants, the other moves around the right flank, but can't draw line of sight to anything. Meanwhile 1st platoon advances on the hill, and 2nd platoon lays low in some shrubs, waiting to attack until the defending platoon is pinned down.







British- British troops move up the hill, and get ready to repel the US attack. The grants fire on the smaller sherman platoon and knock one out.







TURN THREE
US- 1st Platoon charges headlong up the hill, putting some fire into the brits, and causing light casualties. Meanwhile the shermans on the right flank move around and fire on the grants and manage to knock one out, finishing off the smaller grant platoon.







British- The british platoon on the hill fires on 1st platoon and causes some casualties, pinning them down. The grants fire on the smaller sherman platoon and knock the other one out, finishing off the platoon.







TURN FOUR
US- the turns get a little fuzzy here, things were going quickly. I tried to dig in 1st platoon just to keep busy, but they failed so are just sitting ducks. There is now no hope of taking the hill. The shermans on the other side, however, are having great success. They fire and knock out 2 more grants, and the 3rd fails a morale check to stay on the tabkle (his platoon was below half strength) and falls back. The tank battle has been won!







BRITISH- the defenders on the hill fire on 1st platoon who is totally exposed and having the CO screaming at them to dig. They take massive casualties, and despite the CO urging them to stand their ground they fall back. My left flank has now crumbled. Also, Matt gets 2 planes to come on this turn (he took 100 points of air support to even up the battle, but had been very unlucky.. in fact in 2 games this was the only time the RAF (rare as faeries) showed up. they targeted 2nd platoon and my shermans. My shermans used their anti aircraft machine guns, and were able to make the pilot thing twice, and he flew off without dropping his payload. The infantry just took cover, and took some hits, but held firm.







TURN FIVE
US- my shermans swung around behind his infantry and shot them up some, but didn't do a whole lot to the dug in troops. 2nd platoon launched mortars at the dug in infantry in an attempt to pin them, but couldn't manage.



British- the defending platoon stayed low, but the platoon defending the hill moved down to flank my 2nd platoon.



TURN SIX
US- My shermans decided something had to be done, so fired on the defending platoon, then assaulted. The Assault didn't go as planned. I lost 2 tanks, and had only one remaining. He passed his morale check to stay on the board.







BRITISH-
Matt's platoon that swung around off the hill fired on my 2nd platoon, pinning them down.



TURN SEVEN
US- The objective on my left, behind the hill, was now totally open, so I sent my one remaining sherman double timing through the desert to hold the objective. If i could survive this turn we'd win! I moved my 2nd platoon back, if I lost that platoon I would ahve to make a company morale check, but since my CO was attached to the platoon that fled the battle, I would auto-fail a company morale check since he was gone.



BRITISH- Matt's platoon who was dug in on the right charged out of their foxholes, and double timed it over to close to assault range of my sherman, and were now contesting the objective. This battle was getting down to the wire. His other platoon fired on my platoon, and just barely caused enough damage to force a morale check. If i failed the check I would've lost the battle. But I passed! They stayed on to fight it out.



TURN EIGHT
US- This was it. My 2nd platoon double timed it to behind some cover. My Sherman fired on Matt's infantry that double timed it, but troops who moved at the double are easier to hit, so I caused massive damage forcing a morale check. Matt passed thanks to a british special rule called "british bulldogs", so I decided this had to be it. I assaulted with my sherman, and managed to force his platoon to fail morale, and flee the table against impossible odds. 2nd platoon just had to survive.



BRITISH- Matt only had one option: to destroy 2nd platoon and make my company fail morale. He moved forward to fire, and got a few hits. The game was no down to a 50/50 die roll morale check for 2nd platoon. I passed, and his turn ended, and mine began with the control of an objective. I managed a 4 to 3 narrow victory.

Springtime in the Sudan

(To all, this is a guest article from my son Andrew. Hope you enjoy it. I think he did an especially good job with the photos. Happy Hunting, "Bwana Bill")


Last time at Historicon I had the opportunity to take part in this excellent scenario for The Sword and the Flame, called "Springtime in the Sudan." This had a real good plot to it with lots of little tricks and surprises to keep the game interesting. This is just a brief summary from my point of view because a full battle report will appear in an upcoming issue of the Historical Miniature Gamer magazine (along with some of these pictures I have taken here).

I played the commander of an Egyptian outpost on the Nile (since I was wearing a blue shirt like the Egyptian commander model and my ally was wearing khaki like the British commander) who was an infamous slaver before those pesky Brits came in and made slavery illegal. The Dervishes were about to attack the outpost and my job was to get my boys out of town. There was one problem in that I could only escape by going on the roads which where in the middle of the table and the Dervishes could show up anywhere. Luckily for me, I had a little secret in that the headmaster's building and the outpost's mosque were connected by a secret tunnel (where else are you going to keep your "merchandise"?).

The game began with the British showing up, apparently to help protect the outpost from the Dervishes. A group of Fuzzie Wuzzies appeared early in some brush and attacked the Brits, which held them up a bit. Meanwhile I got one group of my boys ready to bring some hell upon any Dervishes that came down the road while the other group made there way into the headmaster's building (I would have sent my commander in but he was on a horse).

Much to my dismay some Dervishes appeared down on my side of the table and began to charge across the river bank and into the settlement while another group began to take our goats and the Egyptians in the outpost square was facing a charge from the front and the rear. So I had my rear rank turn around so the unit can fire at both enemies. I managed to kill a few of them in the shooting phase, but there were still a whole buttload of them coming at me. Soon the village was swarming with Dervishes and the guys in the square were surrounded on both sides while some Fuzzies charged into the building.

At this point it looked like my original plan was going down the tubes, so I had to develop a new one (where were the British at this time? They were just standing around shooting at the Dervishes in their area; thanks for the help guys). I figured my commander and the guys in the square were done for, but I could still save the soldiers in the headmaster's building using the tunnel.

After one round of close combat the Egyptians in the square (including the commander) were routed. With nowhere to run they were slaughtered. The next turn, the Dervishes charged into the headmaster's building to finish my boys off. That was when I played the tunnels rule and the Egyptians disappeared off the table (I think the shocked and confused look on the Dervish player's face showed how the Dervishes themselves felt). So for now, the Egyptians were safe.

What I didn't account for was that one of the Dervish players was out to destroy the mosque (I guess because it was "defiled") and had moved a group of Fuzzy-Wuzzies into the building cutting off my only escape route. Trapped between the two groups, the Egyptians fought against the normal Dervishes first and after a very lucky round of combat killed about seven of them and chased the others out of the tunnels. But the subsequent combat with the Fuzzies did not turn out so lucky. The Egyptians were locked in combat for a while with the Fuzzies, both sides taking casualties. Then more Dervishes entered the tunnel through the headmaster's building and the Egyptians were trapped between two enemy units once again.

The Egyptians tried to fight their way through the Fuzzy-Wuzzies but the Fuzzies killed many of them and routed them. Without anywhere to run, the Egyptians were slaughtered.

So the battle went on without me. One of the Dervish leaders went to take the head of the Egyptian commander to take revenge for the enslavement of his family, another one proceeded with his mission to kidnap all the goats, and another proceeded in his attempt to destroy the mosque. Then the Dervish player out for the commander's head tried to stop the destruction of the mosque and the two players continually struggled to start and put out the fire. The British finally made their way to the village just as the mosque was blown apart. The British decided to call it quits, but their mission objective was completed already (destroy the garrison).

So in the end everyone won except for the Egyptians (me), but it was probably one of the best games I have ever played. Thanks to Michael Koznarsky and Chuck Turnista for a great game!

Good Gaming!

Andrew

The Egyptians are attacked in the rear by Fuzzy-Wuzzys (Indian Army figures are "proxying" as Egyptian.)

The Dervish Army Storms the Village

The Highlanders finally arrive!

The Egyptians flee into the mosque!

Flames of War: 1st PanzerKompanie Blooded and Bloodied

Their first outing wasn't an complete disaster, though it was a definite loss. After a hard-fought battle, the 1st PanzerKompanie, 21st PanzerGrenadiers "advanced to the rear" to regroup, lick their wounds, and fight another day.

The early (turn 2) loss of the fearless (but foolishly brave) company commander in his Panzer III left the Germans primed for defeat. After losing over 50% of their platoons, the Germans fled.

1st PanzerKompanie, 21st PanzerGrenadier regiment prepares to jump off at the Line of Departure (LOD). 

The Soviet HMG platoon 

Soviet initial setup on the right flank.