Painting Update - WWII

Now that I'm finished with my Historicon posts, here's a look at what I've been painting since my last update.

My main hobby effort has been going towards 1/600 WWII aircraft, focusing on "Big Week", or Operation Argument, in February, 1944. This was the effort by the Allies' air forces to cripple the Luftwaffe prior to the invasion of Normandy later that year.

Last year saw the release of the rules Fire in the Sky , which captured my attention due to it's focus on fast playing, squadron-level aerial combat. It seems like every other aerial combat game focuses on the few seconds in a dogfight where individual planes come into contact. Big Week looks at the "longer" (entire minutes!) engagements, with squadrons engaging, bouncing, and disengaging.

As the first rulebook for Fire in the Sky focuses on Big Week, the center of every scenario is three squadrons of B-17 bombers, which act as the objectives for the German players to shoot down. As a whole, 27 B-17s looks fairly impressive on the table!

The Big Week scenarios call for a number of different Allied planes, with a few scenarios needing two squadrons (six stands) of P-47s.

As well as two squadrons of P-38s. 

And to round out the USAAF planes, three squadrons of P-51s. 

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, 1781 - Live Free or Die AAR

My last game at Historicon was the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, using Live Free or Die, and run by Pat.

This is a scenario I have experience running, as it was what we played using Washington's Wars back when I was in New Jersey.

Pat had been running the Southern Theater over the weekend, with the result that Tarleton's Light Dragoons wouldn't be appearing in this version of the battle. 

There were some further additions to the rules introduced by Pat, such as the use of buck and ball by units of both sides and effective ranges for musket and rifle fire. This led to an overall increase in lethality. 

The British goal was to inflict more losses on the Americans to score a minor victory, and to capture the two road exits on the opposite side of the table as well for a major victory. Any other result would count as an American win.

I was one of two American commanders, and there were two British commanders. 

The game began with the British encountering the first line of American militia. 

The militia were pushed, though not without some fallen redcoats in return. 

To stymie the British, Harry Lee and his light horse launched an assault on the British right flank. Unfortunately, even with favorable odds, the cavalry were repulsed. 

Both sides continued to move and fire. Occasionally a unit was able to halt and fire and volley, or the British decided to launch a charge. 

The American position began to falter somewhat as the first line of militia met the second and tried to move through. 

The Americans did managed to sneak a unit of militia through a gap in the British line, using them to fire upon the redcoats' rear. 

Realizing that having a rebel unit, even a small one, dealing damage in their back lines was a problem, the British quickly routed the militia. 

Having swapped a good part of their lines, the fresh American militia waltzed right into British volley fire. 

At the very last moment, the Continentals stepped off so they could show the British just how well they marched in step. 

The game ended with a decisive American victory, though one with an asterisk. While the Americans caused more casualties overall, I only realized a day later that I and the other American player missed that units moving backwards only do so at half speed. While slower movement would have still kept the British from approaching the two road exits by the end of the game, there's a chance that being forced to stay closer to British units would have results in more American casualties. 

Regardless, Pat ran a fun game, and it was a great way to close out my time at Historicon. 

The Battle of Kutná Hora, 1421- To the Strongest! AAR

A not-so-decent night's sleep (it turns out city center is fairly noisy, and my rental was right next to some sort of municipal building that really wanted me to know it was 3am with its bells) was fixed with a decent cappuccino and an Italian sausage and egg bagel from the Italian bakery next door. Somewhat revitalized, I rocked up on Saturday morning for my morning game; refighting the Battle of Kutná Hora with To the Strongest.

James, the GM, changed the scenario to a defensive siege rather than the charging column that historically saw the Hussites win the battle.

As a fun coincidence, Ted (from the New Jersey gaming group) had also signed up for the game. 

Jan Žižka and his Hussites were deployed atop a hill, their armored war wagons bristling with handguns and crossbows. Supporting the war wagons were a few units of infantry, cavalry, and light artillery.

Surrounding the Hussites was a sea of Catholic forces, with a mix of infantry and cavalry. The most dangerous units were the lance-armed, heavily-armored knights of the nobility. 

The game began with the Catholic forces advancing. The two commands facing the Hussite center had the furthest to go, while the flanking forces were relatively closer. 

Thanks to the seating arrangement, Ted was commanding the Hussite forces opposite my Catholic battalions. 

While the war wagons didn't have traditional flanks that could be attacked for an advantage, the Catholic commanders agreed that the weakest part of the Hussite positions were the spaces where the wagons could be charged on the side. 

Combat started with some desultory fire on both sides. I was hoping to place some Disorder markers on the war wagons before engaging in close combat. 

The Catholic commanders on the other side of the table had the same idea; try to crack the war wagon line where it intersected

While I was able to put a few hits on Ted's wagons, they were able to rally back to normal. Their guns, armored cover, and supply of ammunition meant that I was likely to lose a longer ranged engagement, so I instead decided to charge in. My Noble command (with four units of knights) began shifting to the right. 

And in a stroke of luck, one of the war wagon sections was demolished by a charging unit of Nobles!

Their charge was immediately halted by a failed flank attack on a group of Hussite spearmen.

Another breach was made in the wagon line in the Hussite's center, but the attackers had taken casualties and lacked the heavy cavalry to exploit the exposed position.

Hussite spearmen and Catholic cavalry clashed in the corner of the battlefield. Hussite reinforcements hurried to cover the two breaches made in the wagon line. 

My commands were quickly losing troops as they broke upon the Hussite rocks. 

And not too long after that realization, the game ended! It was a solid Hussite victory, with the Catholic Germans losing too many troops to continue.

All in all, a very fun game, and it was great to roll dice against Ted.