On the High Fantasy Seas - Man O' War AAR

Recently, John put out an invite to play Man O' War, the naval combat game set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe that came out in 1993. 

I was two years old at the time. Yeesh. 

Anyway, I volunteered, got shanghaied, and found myself commanding a dwarf fleet facing off against an orc armada.

The objective was simple - sink more of the other side before they managed to sink you.

The dwarves looked like they were steaming out of the late 19th century, with a Dreadnought, an Ironclad, a Nautilus (submarine) and a squadron of Monitors.

The orcs were fielding (sea-ing?) a large flotilla of barely floating ships. The greenskin admiral led from a Hulk, flanked by two squadrons each of Bigchukkas and Drillakillas.

With both sides equipped with either steam- or slave-powered paddles, neither fleets needed to worry about the direct of the wind, and so powered forward.

The Nautilus was the first to fire a shot, diving and launching torpedos at the oncoming Drillakillas. Unfortunately the orc ships were just out of range.

My Monitor squadron was less lucky, as one of John's Drillakillas surged forward, rammed, and sunk a dwarf ship of the line. The Drillakilla sunk as well.

The dwarfs had their hands full dealing with the Drillakillas, while the slower orc ships advanced in a second wave. My Ironclad and Dreadnought were able to handle the orc assault ships, defeating the crew of one in a boarding action and immobilizing the other.

The Monitors continued their run of misfortune, ultimately sinking after being rammed by more Drillakillas.

The Dreadnought and Ironclad readied for contact with the rest of the orc fleet.

I thought the Nautilus would be enough to handle the three Bigchukkas on its own, but a well aimed shot from a catapult smashed through the submarine, sinking the boat and drowning the crew.

Now it was up to the two Man O' Wars in the dwarf fleet. The Ironclad was taking a pounding, losing hull integrity and taking on water. Both it and the Dreadnought fired volley after volley into the advancing orc Hulk, watching as the massive ship and its close-combat weaponry loomed ever larger.

However, the broadsides eventually broke through the Hulk's hull, causing enough critical hits and damage below the waterline to sink the greenskin juggernaught. With only a few Bigchukkas left, the Orc fleet retreated as the dwarfs raced to rescue their waterlogged compatriots.

Well, damn. Here's another fun set of rules that I'm tempted to get into. And it's only for a game that's been out of print for nearly three decades!

Luckily, John has a massive collection of original models that are beautifully painted. I'll have to read more of the rules and learn how to move ships under sail, as well as learn how wizard and aerial units work. While I'm interested in playing as the Empire, I may join John in a campaign, pitting his Bretonnians versus a combined fleet of Dark Elves and Skaven.

Painting Update - ACW, WWII

The painting continues!

I've restarted progress on my 10mm ACW project. With the Union finished for now, I need to get the Confederates painted up. I started with two mounted commanders and four regiments of infantry. 

I'm not going to drive myself insane trying to mix and match the infantry's clothing at 10mm, so I'm just doing it by regiment. These first four regiments are either entirely gray, or gray with brown hats. 

The Bolt Action slow grow league continues. I was looking to add another squad of infantry, but I wanted something different from the overdone Fallschirmjager or Waffen-SS squads. So I picked up a Luftwaffe Field Division box. The picture unfortunately washed out a lot of the blue from the miniatures. 

I also picked up one of Wargames Illustrated "Giants in Miniature," Captain K. It's an ersatz copy of Captain Klenzendorf from Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit. Which, by the way, is worth watching. 

The pandemic and lockdown has made requisitioning reinforcements for my platoon very difficult. We're getting to the point where tanks and armored cars are going to be more prevalent, so a captured M4 Sherman (that was going to be used for What a Tanker and painted in olive drab) was instead pressed into service with the Wehrmacht and dubbed Kätzchen.

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!