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.

It's the Little Things

One thing that I have noticed with getting into war-gaming is the addition of different types of terrain. I see things on Facebook and other websites and I think of some things that I'd like to see on my playing surface.

On YouTube I have watched a lot of the Terrain Tutor. He has some great stuff on how to make cheap and easy terrain for your war-gaming tables

I took some the the videos and used the techniques to make some of my own terrain pieces for the table.


One of the first items I worked on was a plowed field. I figured this would be a nice piece of terrain to slow down tanks and the like. I ended up expanding on it and used it to slow down that pesky infantry. The basic part of the field is a cheap door mat from the Dollar Tree. Its a charcoal black/grey and is pretty thin. I picked up two of these to make various fields. I plan on doing a cornfield in the future, along with a harvested one.

I first started off with cutting some MDF board with about a half inch on the sides. I then hot glued it to the MDF. I painted the plowed part of the field with craft paint and dusted the tops. I let it dry for about a day. 

Field painted with regular craft paint, topped off with a dusting of rattle can.

 I then started building the fence to go around the field. This was a bit tedious but turned out ok in the end. Finished it off by painting the fence brown. In the coming weeks I plan to put a wash over the wood to ad a weathered effect

Fence made with match sticks and coffee stirrers. 

 Next I took some of the DAS clay and began using the technique I saw on the Terrain Tutor. I rolled the clay out into a 5mm sausage roll. I then pressed on it lightly to make a 8mm sausage adn began cutting the sandbag at 1cm increments. I did not cut all the way, you could but this would be very time consuming. I cut just enough so that way I could lay the sandbags in one line, as opposed to each bag.

I made 2 sandbag barriers and a bunker. Took about 30-45min to make. It was very fun to build. Went a little quicker than building the actual real life sandbag bunkers!

Small sandbag barrier I made.

Larger sandbag bunker. This can be used as a fire position or an objective marker.

 Once the clay dried, took about a day. I painted the sandbags using Tamiya Khaki. A littel dark so I am thinking I may use a lighter color next time. Once I added the wash for the used look, turned out pretty good. I also based the bunker with something different. I was using some baking soda for objective markers I just made, but I wanted to try a method I picked up with model railroading. I used some watered down white glue, or PVA as you call it over the pond, and applied it with a brush. While it was still wet I added some expresso colored tile grout to the wet surface. Worked great and it looks awesome! I have to try it with my figures.

Finished with basing material and sandbags washed adn painted.

Sandbag bunker w/ Dragons Teeth in the background.

Finished sandbag barrier.

Hope you enjoyed the update! Keep on gaming!

Happy New Year

I would like to wish everyone a Happy and Safe New Year!

Here is to a year of finishing up painting my figures!

Bargain Shopping

Hey guys. Wanted to change things up a bit and get some info out there about getting some materials for terrain building or models in general for war-gaming. Some of this may be old news to some of you vets, but this is here to help the new comers who have found this blog.

Supplies:

So I wanted to share about getting some supplies a great prices. The holiday season provided a plether a of coupons for local craft/hobby stores and lucky for me I have 3 near eachother (AC Moore, Jo Ann Fabric and Michael's). Michael's had a 60% off One Item Coupon and AC Moore had a 50% off One Item Coupon. I took advantage of this to pick up som DAS air dry modeling clay. This has many uses, but my main goal is to make sand bags for MG nests, bunkers and the like. I also want to make some sandbags for the Sherman tanks as well as defensive positions around builds. I am hoping to get this started int eh next day or 2. 

The craft stores run specials every week and it's usually for a percentage off one item, or another percentage off your entire purchase (I have never seen an entire purchase coupon go above 30%...yet). This is great to get some of the more expensive items at a lower price. My buddy uses it to get resin for casting parts.  

Pack of clay I picked up for 60% off!

1:72 Focke-Wulf I was able to pick up at AC Moore

MODELS/FIGURES:

Sometimes you can get great deals on models and figure sets. Warlord Games had a flash sale on resin vehicles, plus free shipping on order of $16.00! I was able to order a Panzer Luchs tank for a recon element I'm building and 2 figure sets (one Partisan squad and one FJ HQ Unit). This was  great deal, especially for the tank. The $16.00 order for free shipping is still going on.

Speaking of sales, Black Tree Designs has a sale going on where infantry is 50% Off! I picked up some partisan figures, US and German casualty sets, and two German infantry units to build up my Wehrmacht. Shipping was reasonable and it arrived on my door step in 2 days! Heck, it even shipped same day I ordered. The figures are nice and provide some variety mixed in with the Warlord figures I have.  

Another place to look out for is NWS gaming as the owner usually runs the same specials as Warlord does, but his prices are already discounted so its a heck of a deal as well. 

For modelers on a budget deals like this are worth saving up for and you can make out good. So keep an eye out and happy modeling!

Battle Report 27.12

This past Saturday I got to have a day of war-gaming with one of my friends and his son. Scenario was like the last time only both sides upped the game. Point value for this game was roughly 2700 points and was armor intensive. Every game we play we try to get a little more in depth with one section of the rules so that way we have a better understanding and we build from there.


The battle started out with moving my armor and loading ground troops on to transports. I wanted to get units to prevent the allies from entering buildings in the town. Even thought he last battle was a victory the Germans were able to counter attack and push the American units back out of the town.

Initial movement of the Stug down the main road in the heart of the town.

 As the armored units pushed forward, ground units set up HQ in the church. As all the armor began to push forward the Panther and Tiger tanks moved out to engage a small unit of Shermans crossing the bridge. As units were getting into position, a column of Shermans to the right flank fired on the Tiger. One of the Shermans scored a lucky hit and knocked out the Tiger.

Once HQ heard of this, I mean heck they even saw the flaming tank yards away from the church, the Fallshirmjager Artillery Observation team quickly moved to the 3 story building and set up on the roof. There they were able to advise the  Haupsturmfuhrer (Captain) that not only was a column of Shermans approaching but a M10 Tank Destroyer and a Priest self propelled gun was arriving as well. THey were supporting two large infantry squads on the right flank. 

First kill of the came. A column of Shermans engaged my Tiger I.

When the time was right, the artillery observation team consulted their map and radioed the artillery barrage in. The artillery battery was free of fire missions so the whole battery unleashed on the coordinates given. Revenge was coming for the Tiger I that was knocked out. All the infantry sections were pinned down by the artillery with 3 casualties resulting. The barrage also halted all tank movement and the American right flank was stopped dead in their tracks.

Artillery bombardment aftermath

With the right flank movement slowed, the armor could now focus on engaging the Shermans that cleared the bridge and were now on the main road. The Panther was subject to being shot at by the right flank so the commander ordered the crew to pull into the ditch on the side of the road just near an abandoned Opel cargo truck that was shot up by French Resistance that was known to be operating in the area. The Shermans pushed forward in an attempt to get around the Panther and shoot it from the rear. A Puma which was near by, and feeling good after killing a Sherman tank that contained a high ranking officer, fired on the Sherman, but missed in the process. The Panther was engaged a point blank but the rounds somehow missed the tank. The Panther was able to engage the rear tank and destroy it. 

As a result of the destroyed Sherman, its partner's crew ended up surrendering to the Panther and the Fallshirmjager Panzershrek unit which moved up after firing at the Shermans. It was time now to focus on the American Scout Car which arrived near the wooded area.  

Panther engaging Sherman tanks. The lead Sherman's crew surrendered to the Panther

The Scout car was able to scoot back after drawing fire from the Puma. The Scout car began engaging a squad of Panzergrenadiers that were clearing from a house to engage the infantry squads that were clearing the last open field by the town. The Panther was able to engage the scout car and destroy it. 

Panther tank with its second kill of the game. An Allied Scout Car.

By this time the M10 was able to move in an attempt to knock out the Panther, but the Stug took up a defensive position and was able to hit the M10 causing a fire which knocked out the tank. Infantry began engaging in combat near the wooded area as well as the open fields near the town. After taking loses from the MG fire from the half-track and Puma, an infantry unit engaged as squad of Waffen SS as they emerged from the wood line. They were met by grenade fire, which killed 3 of the soldiers. 

Gunfire continued as the Panther, Puma and Half-track all engaged the infantry unit that was in the middle of the roadway. More casualties were taken by the Americans. 

Stug with the morale crushing blow, Knocking out the M10 Tank Destroyer.

Seeing that morale was dropping and losses were mounting, the Americans pulled back from their attack and the Germans continued to hold the town.

END REPORT