June: End of Month update and Welcome to followers

Wargaming is a question of scale

Welcome to new visitors.
Grigork: A nice blog where you have really tons of photos about games. And very nice one by the way.
Morikun: He is holding a small temple of heaven in the blogosphere, talking minis and other cool subjects that should be more talked about in temples and churches in my own opinion. Worth a visit, or like, a weekly pilgrimage
Sanguinius:  He is hosting a Manchester Area game blog. He has good tips on how to create your own (otherwise) expensive GW units.
Nobody667: If you like zombie games or great stories, this is the blog to go. Now, he is twisting scenarios and set them in very new places. And he is able to convert a pink Barbie house into a convincing rundown building.


This is the end of the Month and what have I done so far?

Bolt Action standard British FOO?

Look like Press to me

Well, I went to UK and brought back few good stuff to increase my (already) huge Partisan army, Late German Levy in a nutshell. These are going to be very great addition to my current campaign, and with the Dad's Army (warlord again), it will be fantastic!

My Partisan have a die hard leader and his trusted bodyguard

I also increased the number of Artizan models I had with the German Sentries and 2 blisters of partisans. Never too late.

We are also building a big Operation, using Bolt Action, to represent the second day of the Battle of Selow Heights in April 1945. That would be played at the wargame society in early July. Stay tuned if you want to know if Zhukov 2014 will be able to break through the defence and run for Berlin, like in 1945, living a sizeable German force behind him. That force will be too far from Berlin with the supply they had and only few were able to break through the Russian lines, to end up mostly in Berlin during the final battle.

The plan will be to play Bolt Action on 3 tables, 2 using 28mm minis, 1 table using 20mm minis and more tanks/AT guns.

German Army in 20mm

War in 20mm, Airfix resin buildings

I also finished my SOTR APE, that make 10 of them. All in metal. The weirdest part of it, is that with Incursion Kickstarter to come, that will be a very huge APE platoon to come. They are painted as French Foreign Legionnaires, to increase my small French army for SOTR.



Talking about the French, they are reinforced by the great looking Panhard 178, a recce vehicle used by the French Army in 1940. (note the marking are missing on purpose, so I can use it for Bolt Action and SOTR).


Finally, I finished painting my Gurkhas given for my birthday (As you will ask, I am 30, and I have been celebrating my 30th birthdays many years now, so I am becoming an expert in 30th birthday if you need one)


I also painted more minis for my Fallout game. Not being happy with another run on the rules, I decided to move to the mystic "Rogue Trader", the wargame from Games Workshop that started W40k.
I painted more retainer, got a box of Marauder from Mantic (great looking Mutants!) and a Knight that is primarily a Grey Knight Terminator.

I played 2 games of Bolt Action recently, with the Partisan and the German army. Partisan was a win, German a loss, but both games rocked.
Here are some pix of the Partisan game

Partisan overriding a Flak.

Of course, there is also Man o' war that got me recently and that was on another post.

House building (Airfix)

I have done some update on the Airfix buildings, and work on adding extra floors to the brewery and the church.

Here is some pictures. Painting is on its way and I have to find some 30's wallpaint to decorate.

Brewery, outside primed

Brewery, long wall

Brewery, inside. As you can see, barren walls and no floors

Floors for the brewery, using cutboard

Floors with their design. I used Dave Graffam Low Ruined set floor template

The church

The church. Inside with its cardboard floor

The house. German design

The house with its card board floor

The floors printed. They all come from the same Dave Graffam Low Ruined set.

The church and its barren floor. All the valuable were removed during the Soviet occupation of 1939-1941

The house and its floor

The brewery and its ground floor

Outside view of the brewery with its ground floor

October Modelling update

Recently, I have dragged into real life and work/family matters, with little time to paint, model and other gaming activities. I was traveling oversea about every week, and got some of my paint removed from the checked-in bag by security when traveling to the USA... Very bad period.

Finally, after the storm,it started to get better again and I can now move again some hobby projects. First of them are terrain for the next Berlin or Bust game, 3 houses for an Eastern Europe village.

You'll see also the recent investment into a jagdpanther, bought for about US$7 in a small shop. The tank is 1/72, die cast and rubber track. It can have watch batteries and played as a toy.

The next item is the bunker, Italeri made. It is named AT/AA bunker, easy to do. I can remove the top and store it without much space used. Obviously, it needs to be painted, more on that soon. The bunker was bought for about US$10 during a sale in a model shop in Mong Kok (Hong Kong).

Coming soon will be 3 of the Airfix houses, under painting. No picture yet. I have spent some time to cut card board to have additional floors and the ground, next to print some of the Dave Graffam.

I have also completed my armors and vehicles of the Germans, glued the schurtzen to the tanks. The hardest part is to glue the tracks of the Sdkfz 251. I think I won't buy anymore models with legacy tracks kits. I am definitely not good enough at doing it, and it is driving me crazy more than anything else. the infantry has also be primed with "Sand" color from Games Workshop. I am planning to complete then within 2 weeks and paint them in industrial mode.

On the 28mm side, I plan to commission Dragon Paint (http://www.dragonpaintingservice.com/) and get my resistance and characters for the ATZ campaign painted. Yes, I know, this is cheating, but after working like a slave, I got some hard earned money and the price will be well within my hobby money. I have been good boy for 3 months and haven't spent anything beside the US$7 Jagdpanther.

Berlin or Bust : First blood

We finally did our real first battle for Berlin or Bust last Saturday and it was fun. We had first tries to get along the rules and the infantry/tank balance.

The scenario was simple. The Germans had control of a small hamlet, and the Soviets have decided to take it by force. We used the Attack/Defense rules of "Section d'Assaut", a French rule set for 20mm miniatures. Basically it states that when you attack you have twice the amount of units of the defender. To balance it, all objectives are within the defender deployment area. We also used their rule for reinforcement. Reinforcements are planned and a reinforcement unit has a decrease cost whether it arrives in the first half (-25%) or the second half (-50%) of the game.

Soviet deploy 10 inch on the left side, German in 3/4 right. Truck and kubelwagens represent the objectives

The main road that will be disputed. The wood will be of high importance for the Soviet

The army list was :
Germans : Veteran, Sturmgrenadier, 1 HQ (medic), 2 grenadier squads (LMG+Panzerfaust), Pioneer squad (Panzerfaust, Panzerschreck and flamethrower), MG team, light mortar, 1 Panzer IV and 1 Panzer IV in reinforcement (Turn 4).

Soviets : Elite, Desant, HQ in a jeep, 3 Rifle squad (5 SMG, 1 Packed LMG) on a halftrack with MG, 2 Antitank rifle team, 2 MG team, 1 medium mortar, 2 antitank gun 1 JSU 122, 2 T34, 2 T34 in reinforcement (turn 5)

The houses are Dave Graffam houses printed to match 20 mm. The floor can be taken out.

We forgot to take pictures as we were under time pressure (last metro) and the first turn took ages.

In a summary, turn 1, the German immobilize the T34 with a lucky panzerfaust while the JSU kept on being missed (and it is a large vehicle, meaning I have a +1 to hit!), the Soviet wiped out 1 half team in the woods and the MG team with heavy fire. German : 3/Soviet 0
 
Turn 2 saw the JSU immobilized too while the Soviet destroy about half the German units. Luckily the Panzer IV is still not affected, leaving the soviet moving carefully to get the objectives.German : 3/Soviet 0

 Turn 3, the Soviet continue their massacre, only the HQ and few grenadiers are left. The German are able to wipe out 1 rifle and the Soviet are hiding in the woods. Their 2 tanks immobilized in the middle of the road are avoiding fast move, while the last T34 move inside the hamlet. German : 2/Soviet 1

Turn 4 see the Panzer IV reinforcement coming, killing a full rifle squad on-board a half-track.That Rifle was about to capture 1 objective. The last T34 is immobilized (but not destroyed!). German : 2/Soviet 1

Turn 5, the German are running low in manpower, only 2 grenadier left. Their last action is to throw a grenade each in the last rifle on-board a half-track, killing half of them, while the rifle successfully throw a grenade back killing the 2 heroes.  The Soviet reinforcements arrive and shoot to the German reinforcement without touching it. Meanwhile, the last AT rifle finally hit the Panzer IV in the hamlet killing on of the crew. German : 2/Soviet 1

Turn 6, the final one. The battle is now with the tanks. If the Soviet can destroy the German tank in the hamlet, they are sure to win as then no German would remain to cover the objectives. The Soviet successfully blow up the Panzer IV reinforcement while the tank in the hamlet is not destroyed.

We conclude on a draw. The Germans have only 1 damaged tank left but the Soviet have suffered heavy losses but would be able to take the hamlet.

Conclusion.
When we started the game, we thought it was too much unbalanced. The Soviet had 100RP and the German 50RP. We thought the Germans would be wiped out easily.
On the contrary, taking heavy losses, the Germans were able to inflict a lot of damages to the Soviet, taking out the tanks (even if immobilized only).
From my point of view (German), I should have kept all my team back instead of putting them in front line. The LMG/HMG are deadly and the survivability of units is very low. At the same time, even if in front line, I should have camouflaged them (can be only attacked within very short distance), or even prone them. Also the houses were supposed to be wood only and the troops inside where easily destroyed with HMG/LMG fire. The stone walls were better protection! I should have also burn the wood with the flamethrower immediately to interdict it.
For the Russian, his main challenge was to get to the objectives and the tanks immobilized in the middle of the road killed his deployment. He also bought 2 AT guns which were of no use (he thought I would have more armors), and the wood were used well by him.

Campaign rules for SOTR/Bellum Europa

Campaign rules

Each Player composes 4 platoons 3 additional support as follow:
Use a 300 point basket and discretionary assign them on 4 platoons and 12 supports options.
 Assign up to 3 supports per platoon and keep the remaining support in a “reinforcement pool”.

Each Player has 1 Attack, 1 Defense and Choice (attack or defend)

Campaign organization:
3 engagements in 3 different locations (Spot) will decide where the final battle will take place.
We will name the 3 locations: Spot 1, Spot 2 and Spot 3
The final battle will take place either in Rear Spot Player A, Rear Spot Player B.

Each Player before starting the campaign will assign 1 platoon in each location, including Rear Spot, only the reinforcement pool is not geographically assigned.
Each Player secretly write for Spot 1, Spot 2 and Spot 3 if he is attacking or defending, using his Attack, Defense and Choice.  Then each Player may schedule Reinforcement using Reinforcement Pool support and units from the platoon in Rear Spot.
When all Players have finished all above, they release the total value committed on each Spot and whether the Player is Attacking or Defending.

Engagement rules
Each engagement have the following rules (exception of the final battle which will have variation)

Before starting the engagement, each player say if he is attacking or defending.

After Attack/Defense resolution, each player note his scheduled and unscheduled reinforcement
Scheduled reinforcement: Reserve Platoon can arrive between Turn 3-6, Reinforcement Support between turn 1-3. Note that reinforcement cannot be sent to other spot. Each Player note on a paper what turn and where reinforcement arrive.
Unscheduled reinforcement: In regards to enemy strength, Player can call in unscheduled reinforcement. Unscheduled reinforcement can arrive between turn 3-6 on a 4+ (turn 4), 5+ (turn 5), 6+ (turn 6). Committed reinforcement will not be available for other spot

Attack:
-   2 free artillery strike
-   Reinforcements are deployed at the end of the turn before entering
-   Attack are deployed at no more than 10 cm from its border
-   1st turn initiative. Note that if both players attack, initiative is resolved as usual.
Defense:
-   Benefit from 1 aerial strike after turn 3
-   1 prepared position
-   Reinforcements are deployed at the beginning of the turn, placed at the border of the table
-   Can be deployed up to half of the table.
-   50% of the force to be deployed as reinforcement.
-   Note that if both players defend, initiative is resolved as usual.

Terrain:
Each Player has 20 points to decide for the terrain on each spot:
-   Small Wood : 8
-   Medium Wood : 10
-   Major Wood : 16
-   Small Hill : 6
-   Medium Hill : 11
-   Big Hill : 14
-   Wall : 4
-   Long wall : 8
-   Small Town : 10
-   Medium Town :  20
-   Farm : 4
-   River + Bridge : 15
-   Swamp : 7
-   Anti-tank (3):  5
-   Mines (Defense only) :  10

Victory locations:
Defender place 3 victory locations, 2 in his deployment zone, 1 in no-man’s-land
Attacker place 2 victory locations, 1 in his deployment zone, 1 in no-man’s-land

Victory Points:
-   Control 1 objective : 10 points
-   Each enemy unit destroyed : value in points
-   Each enemy unit destroyed at 50% or vehicle damaged : 50% value in points
-   Each enemy unit withdrawn : 25% value in points

Final Battle rules

After each engagement, earned Victory Points will decide the Winner.
The winner wins with more 50% more points:
-   All its force can be committed (as reinforcement) in the final battle
The winner wins with between 10-50% more points:
-   50% of its force can be committed (as reinforcement) in the final battle
The winner wins with less than 10% more points:
-   1 unit can be committed (as reinforcement) in the final battle
The loser loses with less than 10% fewer points:
-   All its force can be committed (as reinforcement) in the final battle
The loser loses with between 10-25% fewer points:
-   50% of its force can be committed (as reinforcement) in the final battle
The loser loses with more 25% fewer points:
-   No unit can be committed in the final battle

In the average 3 spots, the Player with overall more points attack the Rear Spot of its opponent.

Special engagement rules in the Final Battle:
Defender:
-   1 Bunker and 1 prepared position
-   Reinforcements from Spot 1, 2 and 3 arrive from the flanks
-   1 free standard infantry squad with no upgrade
Attacker:
-   1 free artillery barrage at the beginning of the first turn
-   1st turn Initiative
-   1 artillery strike
-   Reinforcements from Spot 1, 2 and 3 arrive from the rear

Terrain : As above

1:72 Update

So finally, with my buddy, we went to the store and made some crazy shopping.

Some boxes are missing (1 russian infantry, Antitank specialists and 2 45mm guns), but in total this is a huge amount of stuff for HK$ 1500+, less than US$210!

In total, we got fr German and Russian combined :
286 infantry
8 vehicles
7 tanks
3 guns

For the german, just in infantry, I have:
26x K98
30x MP40
18x MG42 (HMG/LMG)
8x Officer
2 MP40 with Explosive
11 Snipers
2 Radio
9 Panzershreck
8 Mortars
2 Flamethrowers
18x Stg 44
6x Panzerfaust