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.

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!