Merry Christmas

Battle Report 6.28

My friend came over and we were able to get some gaming in again this month. I got to use a new foldable table i picked up as COSTCO. Its 6ft by 3ft. Great little table. Put my green felt cloth down and some felt and MDF roads. Town is still a work in progress. Looked to try and get 3 games in but we were only able to get two in. Below are the battle reports for each game.

Game 1: Meeting Engagement

Germans vs. United States 500 pts.

I was the Germans and my army conisted of two 10 man Fallshirmjager Squads, a halftrack w/ a forward and rear facing MG all under command of a Second Lt. First move of the game the American infantry began pushing forward. First German move saw the half-track moving forward loaded with a squad of soldiers.

Units pushed forward to the crossroads of the town. One squad went and pushed to the second floor of one of the town center buildings. Americans pushed forward over the hedges and crossed the railroad tracks. As they entered a house, the squad took up positions and they exchanged gunfire with the FJ troops on the second floor. As the gun battle took place, the Americans were pushing on the right in an attempt to flank the FJ unit in the house.

Anticipating the American push, the second FJ squad took up a position in a bombed out building and the half track took a position to provide MG support. The Americans pushed up and the MG opened up in an attempt to slow down the American advance. The FJ squad on the second floor moved to take up a position to flank the Americans in the house.

The halft-track pushed forward to provide support to the moving FJ squads and that way they could use both MGs to their advantage. Combat occurred back and forth. The Americans pushed up to the stone wall in an effort push the flank. After some shooting and grenades, the Germans held the Americans, but at the loss of the Second Lt. The second LT was killed by a direct hit from a grenade, however the officer took some with him as he killed a number of soldiers with a stick grenade of his own.

The Americans held up on the house pushed forward to try and take some real estate on the left. The FJ squad pushed forward and assaulted the building. Had to hand combat ensued. Victory was had by the Germans, but at losses. Another assault occurred and the remained of the squad was killed. Their deaths, however would not be in vein! The second squad assaulted, killing the American squad with only suffering minimal losses. The remained of the squad pushed forward to flank the unit that killed the Second LTt. They arrived behind and killed the unit. 

The Germans won the battle as the game had ended at the conclusion of turn 6.

Game Two: Control Point

Germans vs. Americans 1000pts

Objectives:

- Town Bridge

- Crossroads

- Sandbag Bunker

- Ammo Dump

I was the Germans again and my army consisted of the following:

1 assault engineer squad

1 Heer squad w/ MG

1 half-track

1 Puma Armored Car

1 Marader III H

1 MG 42 team

1 Second LT w/ assistant

1 PAK 40 AT Gun

Opening move saw a strong push by the American armor. A Sherman moved to the crossroads and took up position. Next move the Germans opened up with the PAk 40, disabling it and jamming the turret. American units reacted by another tank firing on the PAK. One of the crewman was killed but the unit remained strong.

As some infantry moved up, the Puma pushed hard up the road and set up for a tank kill on the next turn. However this would be short lived as the second Sherman killed the Puma with one shot.

Combat remained fierce and units pushed hard. The Germans then saw the destruction of their Marader III in turn 3. Infantry units were able to take up positions and slow the American advance At the end of Turn 3 the Germans held the ammo dump and sandbag bunker, and the Americans held the Bridge and Crossroads. 

The Americans pushed the right flank and eventually overwhelmed the Engineer Squad that held the sandbag bunker. The Americans pushed in and eliminated the Heer squad. At the end of the game the Americans held 3 of the 4 objectives.

Happy Fouth of July!

 

Happy Fourth of July to all my American followers out there!

 

 

 

Battle Report 6.11.2018

On Monday I was able to head to my buddy's house again and play some Bolt Action. His son was up and he wanted to take his Russian Army for a test drive. My buddy had been working on Hungarians and he wanted to take them out for a spin too.

We did the same as last. Rolled for control of the board and then picked terrain pieces. The farm was already established. Major pieces were a large farm field, a hill, a pond and woods. One side of the table was a bit terrain heavy, but there was some scatter terrain around. A railroad track, orchard and random fields were added, but these were small and provided no real tactical advantage. 

Point values were huge for this game. Over 3,400 for the Russians which my buddy and I split up between our Hungarian and German Units. I fielded two Fallshirmjager squads which was supported by Luftwaffe Field Division, a light mortar, Panzershrek team and a sniper team. They were upported by a StuG assault gun. They were being supported by a half-track as well. Platoon 2 consisted of 2 Waffen SS Unit squads, a mortar team,a  sniper team, a panzershrek team, a Tiger tank, a light howitzer, a medium mortar with spotter and a half-track. 

Took a long time before any real infantry combat occurred. Tanks pushed forward and began firing at one another. The Tiger proved to be useful halting the advance of Russian armor on the right flank. Infantry units were slowed down by the constant rocket artillery attacks. One attack wiped out a panzershrek team as it was moving up to support Hungarian armor. The Hungarian armored car came under fire by Russian armor and anti-tank rifles, but held on and was able to retreat back to safety.

Hungarian cavalry assisted but they were stopped and proved to be combat ineffective as the continually were pinned down by fire and failed orders. Units moved up to assist but began taking causalities.  

Infantry was able to move up and take position behind a rock wall. Fighting was intense and both sides fought hard but in the end one unit was killed, but the victors retreated. A T-34 was pinned down o the roadway by the Hungarian armor and the Tiger. The Tiger missed knocking out the tank on it first shot (bad luck on the roll), but was able to stun the crew and damage the turret.

 A KV-2 pushed ahead and was in the sights of the Pak 40. The PaK fired but missed. The KV 2 approached the farm and the Luftwaffe Field Division opened up with 2 panzerfausts. Both missed. 

In the end the Russian had a tactical victory but did take causalities.  

Fallshirmjager PaK40

Mortar teams

A Waffen SS Unit moves in toward the orchard.

Overhead view of the battle field. 

Fallshirmjager sniper team in the woods. 3d Printed Hungarian armored car in front.

Puma taking a shot at a T-34.

Artillery Position

So I began working on a position for my artillery piece. Looking at some photos and some things from Warlord I figured I'd take a stab and my own rendition of what Warlord made.

I first measured out some MDF I had laying around. I marked out where the walls would be so i could build up a dirt mound in front.

Next I took some DAS air drying clay and began sculpting a hill for the emplacement. I made sure to wet it down as i wanted it to be fairly smooth.

Next I took some small coffee stirrers and put them against the mount of clay. I followed that up with some match stick posts on wither side. I had some of them stick out to show the reinforcement. 

Once everything dries up i will base coat everything with a brown paint and then begin adding flock and the details. 

Wordless Wednesday

Battle Report 5.28.2018

 Took some time on memorial Day to pay a visit to my buddy to get some gaming in. Nothing too crazy this time and I wanted to get some different figures out. Was playing with some small squads of SS and Fallshirmjager and a full squad of Luftwaffe Field Division.

We did things a little different. We started with an open table and rolled for control. I won and then rolled for the number of terrain pieces. We had 4 pieces of terrain added. two sections of foods, a hill and a river. Games was US vs German.

As the battle began all units were loaded on transports and were pushing for the hill. Using the hill as cover some units made it to the hill. As the Puma pushed forward, it came in range of the approaching Shermans. The Puma opened fire, but missed. The Sherman he was shooting at returned fire and was able to knock out the Puma.

With the Puma being knocked out, the Field Division offloaded. A M10 arrived and took aim at the truck, destroying it. Hunkered down the SS unit began approaching to assist.  

As the supporting infantry approached, Allied air superiority was evident as units came under fire from Allied aircraft. The German Half-track attempted to fend off the incoming aircraft but their efforts failed. The German units were no match. Fallshirmjager units attempted to flank but assaults on the armor proved to be unsuccessful and the units were killed in hand to hand combat in one of the wood line areas. German units were forced to pull back. 

Next game we played was objective based. There were three objectives. A patch of woods, the hill and a orchard/farm. The Germans were quick to secure the farm building and make the push for the hill. Units exchanged fire with approaching troops and armor. The Germans were supported by a Tiger tank but the tiger was destroyed by Allied armor and they lacked the support. However the Germans were able to push forward and take the hill and set up defenses around the farm. The Germans held the farm, but lost all support on the hill. The battle was a draw. 

COLD WARS

So in March the annual Cold Wars was held at the Host Conference Center in Lancaster Pennsylvania. A few months prior was the Fall In convention at the same location. I enjoy going ot these events to pick up some items a the Flea Market for a great price and for checking out gaming tables. I use this as a way to gather ideas for terrain for the tabletop so i can make things a little more interesting. 

One of the first tables I as was a demo game for Chain of Command by Two Fat Lardies. The terrain was amazing. the town was great and the cobblestone streets were amazing. I asked the guy at the table how he got the streets to look like that. He said he was able to get a cobble stone picture and had the picture printed on the cloth at his local Wal-Mart. The detail of this was AMAZING. 

The game they were playing was the Allies and the French Resistance against the Germans at a U-Boat dock. 

After lunch and walking around. I headed on down to the Bolt Action tournament that was going on. I got a watch a few games. All the games were objective based with the standard 3 turns. Maybe next year I will get one of my armies together and use them for a tourney. Some of the models out there were just amazing. 

Lastly here is a little overview of the trip to the vendor area and the flea market. Flea market was great. Was able to get a number of figures to finish out a Waffen SS cavalry unit. I also picked up some guys for my Finnish Army. I picked up some of the ski troops as well as a bunch of primed figures. I'm not sure of the maker but they will ad variety. I also picked up the Historicon 2017 figure from Warlord Games for a $1.00 at the flea market. I picked up some other random figures to add variety. I also picked up a Heer mortar team and the Waffen SS Pioneers. All in all it was a good convention. 

Long Overdue Update

Been almost 4 months since I have updated the blog. There have been a lot of projects that have been ongoing. Looking forward to getting them complete and posting about them. In the mean time I plan on getting as much content out there as I can, and hope the the work life doesn't get in the way as much as it has the past few months.

Things to look forward to:

• Some new models have been built and will provide some posts on them
• Review of the Warlord Games Waffen SS plastic range
• Review and pictures of the Warlord Stug G I built and painted
• Review and pictures of the Company B SiG Self-propelled gun
• Pictures and tips on building terrain
• Review of my trip to Cold Wars in Lancaster, PA.

Stay tuned there is a lot on the way!

Battle Report 1.15

The other day my buddy came over as the war gaming was to take place at my house this time. I do not have a table built yet so we just used my kitchen table. We were able to get 2 games in. Game 1 was just an elimination game where the US and the Germans fought to take the town. Second game was a scenario based where the 101st had to destroy some dragons teeth to clear a way for the advancing armor units that were on the way. 

Game 1: 500 Point Game

My German Forces

• 1x Reinforced Platoon
• 1st LT w/ two soldiers
• One 7 man SS Squad w/ MG42
• One 5 man Veteran Grenadier Squad
• One Puma Armored Car

I was up against 2 regular squads of American regular army, along with some support teams of snipers and bazookas. First few turns units entered the town and met no opposition. The Puma entered the main street with infantry on either side clearing houses.

 As the squads entered the buildings to take up defensive positions, the Puma continued and turned to cut of the advancing Americans. As the Puma turned, the bazooka team that entered the one house, fired from the second floor, knocking out the Puma. This was witnessed by Both infantry units that entered the second floor of the buildings on either side of the street. The Americans were now pushing hard adn coming up the right flank. The SS Squad saw this and took up firing position witht heir MG 42. The MG opened up killing 3 of the 6 man squad that was pushing forward. The MG team continued to keep the unit pinned down for some time until a bazooka team showed up and fired at the house, missing. The MG then was able to redirect fire and kill one of the soldiers in the bazooka team, and caused the assistant to flee the battle field.

With the battle intensifying, the Americans made a push on the left side, engaging in a firefight with the grenadiers in the second floor. Ina n attempt to lead by example, the First LT took his unit to the other side of the building and began engaging the Americans. The Americans became pinned down and took casualties. The Americans were able to overwhelm the Germans and took the fight up close and personal. The command section was killed and the second floor was cleared out. This now left the SS squad as the only unit left in the field. The SS squad held their own but was defeated by the assaulting force. In the end only 3 US soldiers remained to hold the town until reinforced. 

Game Two: Destroy the Objective

My Forces: 

One 8 Man Airborne Squad: mix of SMGs adn Rifles

One 5 man French Resistance squad: mix of rifles and SMG

Opponent:

Two 5 man German squads (garrisoned in buildings)

Two 1 man roving guards

Mission: Destroy Dragons Teeth for advancing armor

Second game we changed things up. This was a night time mission. Two roving guards that would alert the garrisoned units if they observed any of the opposition.

The guards were conducting their routine patrol of the town. Two squads were left to assist but were in the local buildings resting after the long hike to town. As the guards conducted their patrol, a small unit of 101st Airborne troops entered the town to clear out the dragons teeth obstacles for the approaching armored unit. They were met by French Resistance fighters who were assisting the Allied units in the area.

The French entered the building on the end of town in an attempt to stay hidden from the German patrol. AS the guard entered their line of sight, he quickly turned around, cutting his path short and heading back to the light of the houses. The French remained in the place as the Americans went the the tree filled backyards of the houses towards a bridge. As the Americans got near the bridges, one of them stepped on a stick, snapping it and alerting the guard on that side of the town. The guard shined his light and was able to see the Americans and fired a shot. He missed but was began running toward the garrisoned troops. The Americans could fire, but decided to run under the bridge and take refuge behind the house where a small weapons depot was being emptied.   

French Resistance take up firing positions on the Germans. 

As the Americans sought cover to hide, the French Resistance heard the sound of the gunshot and more German voices, the took advantage and entered the street to take up a firing position. As the Germans entered the street, the Resistance opened up on the squad, killing one guard and one of the squad mates. They ended up taking casualties themselves but continued to fight. The Resistance gunfire was what the Americans needed and they took this opportunity to move towards their objective.

With the second squad coming on the battle field the Germans were focused on the Resistance fighters and began focusing fire on them. The airborne were able to set their charges and fired on the Germans as well. Only 4 Germans remained which had now taken over in their garrisoned building. Unknown as to what happened, the Americans were able to escape and the explosives detonated, ending the game.  

German units take up fireing positions after being ambushed.