Painting Update - WWII, 40k

While the local slow grow Bolt Action league has started, I was focused more on learning the rules than taking pictures so I didn't take any pictures to make an after-action report. 

However, I did finish up a few support pieces for my platoon. 

The panzerschreck is a little overkill for 500 point games (it's not like anyone is bringing tanks, and even armored cars aren't showing up), but it will be useful when the games start getting larger.

The flamethrower, however, is a beauty in small games, especially when used in scenarios that allow outflanking. It's always a surprise to the enemy when the two-man team appears halfway down a flank, opens fire (pun intended), and routs an entire unit in one go. I'm also proud of how well the flames turned out.

The last models for my Slow Grow Germans were another officer (who can act as a Captain if I ever need a higher officer) and a medic. I don't see medics get used very often in Bolt Action, but it's a nice addition to have.

My local game store is going to have a painting competition using some Primaris freebies. I don't play 40k, but I hopped in anyway. So I chose to paint the mini as a Rainbow Warrior (yes, that's a Chapter in the universe).

Bad Time on the Banks - Konflikt 47 AAR

This past weekend, Sam hosted a few of us local wargamers over at his place for a game of Konflikt 47. 

The scenario was a Soviet attack along the Vistula River. Hoping to turn the German's flank, the Soviets goals were to push through the German defenders, as well as secure the bridge over the Vistula, which could mean a faster collapse of the German lines.

The German defenders' objectives were fairly straightforward - stop the Soviets from pushing through, and defend the bridge.

Bill and Keith were commanding the Soviets, while Brandon and I lead the Germans.

The battle started with a line of smoke deployed by the Soviet's artillery support. While this meant the Germans couldn't shoot during the first turn, it also meat their positions were hidden by the smoke.

Further complicating the battlefield was the early morning fog along the riverbank, which also obscured line of sight.

Most of the Soviet horde advanced onto the table during the first turn, with an armored car leading the pack.

With the smoke clearing, a squad of inexperienced Soviet soldiers moved to the bridge, only to discover that the Germans had placed their Locust panzermech to defend it. The Locust opened fire and caused a number of casualties, but not enough to force a moral check.

On the other flank, the Germans pushed out with a halftrack full of Rift-tech horrors, which unloaded into the cover of a ruined Polish village.

The Germans also used their artillery observer to call in a barrage.

It was in the next turn that things started to go downhill for the Germans. The artillery bombardment was delayed, and the Schreckwulfen and Nachtjagers squads were shredded when they tried to assault a squad of Soviet paratroopers.

The halftrack managed to recce away from the assaulting Soviet troops, but this left both the German Captain and his attending medic out in the open in front of the oncoming Soviet troops.

You can also see a small part of a second smoke bomardment that the Soviets had laid out, which prevent a number of German units from shooting during the turn. This also allowed the Soviet armored car to speed off the table, scoring a victory point.

And while the Locust was able to defeat both the inexperienced Soviet squad and a unit of the superhuman Daughters of the Motherland, a lucky return-fired Panzerfaust round caught the panzermech squarely in the cockpit, killing the pilot and destroying the walker.

This left the bridge wide open, apart from the Waffen-SS troops defending a ruined building.

The game had now gone on long enough that Soviet outflankers began to show up. The Soviet's had sent a Cossack light walker and a Rift-tech equipped T-34 appeared, ready to cause havoc. Unfortunately, both of the Waffen-SS' Panzerfaust rounds missed the T-34.

The smoke cleared to reveal a much reduced battle along the Vistula, with a small squad of Waffen-SS supported by a light howitzer. On the other side, the Soviet Commissar yelled at an approaching squad of assault engineers to hurry over the bridge.

Also revealed was a Panther armed with a light railgun. The massive weapon charged up a round, aimed at the T-34... and missed.

Luckily, neither the T-34 or the Cossack managed to pierce the Panther's armor.

The German counter-attack had been severely blunted. The Soviets pushed forward as the Germans reeled back with a bloody nose.

Without much firepower, the Waffen-SS squad could only through a few rifle rounds at the approaching Soviets.

They weren't able to do much damage, and the Soviets were firmly in control of the bridge by the end of the game.

While the Panther destroyed the T-34, the strange Rift-tech sound weaponry the Soviet tank had been equipped with did massive damage to the German lines, causing multiple casualties and wiping out a Nebelwerfer's crew.

At that point, we decided to call the game. The Soviets had accomplished multiple objectives, scoring 10 victory points to the Germans' 3, earning Bill and Keith a major victory.

After the game, a vigourous discussion ensued on how the scenario felt. It was agreed that the Germans should have gotten two victory points per enemy unit destroyed, since the Soviets had so many ways to score points. This would have given the Germans a score of 6-10 - still a loss, but not quite so one sided.

Other considerations were perhaps adding some chance to the arrival of the Soviet smoke barrage, and tweaking the Germans to be more of a defensive force.

Overall, it was a fun game and Sam plans to host more games of Konflikt 47 in the future.

Miniature Musings - The Invasion of Poland, 1939

While I've had hobby projects planned for this year, it seems that they've been usurped by my promise to fellow SJGA member Sam to participate in a campaign based on the 1939 Invastion of Poland at the outset of World War II using Bolt Action.

Sam has apparently already amassed quite the collection of Polish infantry, guns, and vehicles, so I will need to put together a matching company using both my own miniatures and those from fellow commanders.

Luckily, Warlord has a good range of Early War Germans, and there are plenty of other manufacturers as well.

I've also put together a simple three linked game campaign chart that we could use, inspired by Steve Balagan's work:

It's fairly straightforward. The only concern is that the rules for Bolt Action assume a "fair fight" of equal points value, which may be difficult to do if we're going to make this a fight between two companies. I'll be discussing this with other club members. 

There's also the potential of using the ladder campaign system from TooFatLardies' At the Sharp End supplement for Chain of Command. It probably wouldn't be too hard to adapt to Bolt Action.

Another idea I've had is to add certain elements from Platoon Forward, written by Joseph Legan and also published by TooFatLardies. It's a system-independent set of rules to "add personality to your tactical level games" - perfect for Bolt Action. There's command traits, in-game events, and simple reinforcement rules to add a little flavor to the games.  

Also, I've been looking into reading material to cover the campaign:

Case White: The German Army in the Polish Campaign, William Russ
Case White: The Invasion of Poland 1939, Robert Forczyk
First to Fight: The Polish War 1939, Roger Moorhouse
Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg, Steven Zaloga
September Campaign + Poland in Flames compilation, Alexander Kawczynski

So look forward to seeing plenty of 1939 German infantry and equipment in the upcoming painting updates!

Painting Update - Battletech, WWII

Here's whats come off the painting table since last time.

A lot of the fiction coming out of the Battletech universe at the moment is set in the "current" era, which is moving from the Dark Age to IlClan. Inspired, I wanted to paint a lance of mechs from this era. I wanted a mixed lance of medium and heavy mechs, since I find light mechs too fragile and assault mechs too boring.

From left to right, the mechs are: Carronade CRN-7M, Kheper KHP-7R, Lament LMT-2R, and Gauntlet GTL-1OB.

The local hobby shop is starting a Bolt Action slow grow league, and I decided to join with some Late War Germans.

If you haven't heard of slow grow leagues, they're ways for a community to build up collections for a game. Players start with small forces, and purchase and paint new miniatures over time. Hopefully this encourages fully painted forces by the end of a set period, maybe with a tournament or other big event.

Now, you may be thinking, Didn't you already have 28mm Germans for Konflikt 47? And yes, I did. But I ended up selling them when I lost my enthusiasm for the game to someone in the local community.

Plus, this lets me put together a platoon for other games like Chain of Command.

This also gave me the opportunity to use different basing materials for a better visual element to the miniatures, and I think they look a lot better compared to my Konflikt 47 Germans.

I'm aiming for a standard platoon (according to Chain of Command) with plenty of options, like a mortar, a medium-machine gun, panzerschreck, flamethrower, etc.

Lawn Care - Warhammer Fantasy: Renaissance AAR

With restrictions lifting in the state, I was able to head out to the local game store and finally get a game of Warhammer Renaissance with my Orcs & Goblins. 

So with mask on and hand sanitizer in my pocket, I packed up my minis and tape measure for the first game I've played in three months!

Nick and I decided on a 1,500 point game.

My Orcs & Goblins warband had six regiments, with Orc Boyz, Black Orcs, Night Goblins, Boar Boyz, and Wolf Riders. They were accompanied by a couple Black Orc heroes, a couple Goblin shamans, and a spear chukka.

Nick's army was much smaller, with most of the points going into a very scary unit of Chaos Warriors of Khorne and a Chaos Warlord. There was also a unit of Bloodletters, a Chaos Chariot, and a Chaos Spawn.

We used the Take the Field scenario, where one of use would need to control the forest in the center, or have the most troops in each four quadrants of the table.

Most of the fighting went down in the middle of the table. Nick's Bloodletters reach the forest first, but I managed to charge them in the rear with my Orc Boyz after they were moved by the Hand of Gork.

My Night Goblins survived long enough to deploy their Fanatics, which killed the Chaos Spawn that lured the mushroom-frenzied loonies out and even killed a few Chaos Warriors. But the regiment was routed by the Chaos Chariot, and two Fanatics killed each other when they unfortunately collided.

The Chaos Warriors went through my Black Orcs like weed-whackers, sending dark green chunks flying everywhere.

The Bloodletters sent my Orc Boyz fleeing after the General was killed in a challenge, which left only my second unit of Orc Boyz and my Battle Standard Bearer to contest the forest. They were quickly flanked by both the Chaos Chariot (which had dodged the spear chukka's poorly aimed bolts) and the Chaos Warlord.

With the Bloodletters joining the fray, it wasn't long until the last of the greenskins were obliterated, and the forest was solidly in Nick's control. We didn't need to tally up the victory points to know that Nick had won a solid victory.

This was my first game in over three months - my last game were at Cold Wars back in early March. I had been worried that I was approaching a hobby burnout and I wasn't enjoying any of the games I was playing. I had planned to take a multi-month break, which just so happened to coincide with the lockdown.

Turns out, it's exactly what I needed. Even with the rules referencing, I was glad to be back at the table, rolling dice and moving my toy soldiers again. I'm looking forward to more gaming, depending on how the pandemic turns out. This may or may not be wishful thinking in hindsight!