Gaming - Ardennes

 Yesterday saw the regular monthly meet up . I had my winter table set up at the full 12x6 size . 

Rivers made using the Pendraken MDF pieces 

Some of the Normandy building were used so no snowy roofs on some for now 

Since we last played  I have added in more roads , river and trees so the table looked a lot fuller which is what I was looking for.

A rare sight , a column of King Tigers 

A good game was had , the Germans took a lot of casualties but did take the village . The bridges were either blown or collapsed under the weight of the heavy armour trying to cross it . The German bridging equipment was set up to cross . 

I had picked a few new resin pieces from the Ironclad range at Pendraken ( Link )these were completed this week too. All nice pieces .

Outhouses / sheds 

Fencing 

Water tower 

A garage style building .

Ardennes 44 - German AA / AT 88 and bunkers

 I found a long 88mm in the stash . This is a relatively unusual,Pak41 early more powerful,AA version . I gave it a rattle-can basecoat of dark yellow . Then used the AK pens for dab of colour camo in brown and green . Followed this with dark brown oil wash and one dry a highlight . The crew are from my winter crew stash with a mix of clothing , which seems fine for late 44 /45 . 

I made a simple cobble stone base using milliput to match up,the bases used for the transport wheels . I gave the whole thing a light treatment of the snow gel from AK.

In addition James had come across some of the 15mm bunker sets marketed as Conflix made by Bachmann  the railway company . He picked me up 4 for  £10 .  The are basically table ready , so I just had to winterise them . This was done with a white dry brush , followed by applying the Snow Gel 

 

These are a nice bargain find and have been added to winter terrain stuff . 

Next jib for this collection is another platoon of American Infantry wil will see the Americans start to counterattack .

Gaming - Ardennes , Race for a bridge

 Today saw a regular meet up and James and I did another Ardennes game . This one is based on KG Pieper and a race to capture a bridge . 

Played along the 12 feet with only US Combat Engineer platoon with some ATG support trying to delay while the bridge is prepped for demolition. 

The Germans had elements of Skorzeny’s Kommando and Panzer Brigade 150 leading the way to create confusion and try and sneak through . 

View from the German end 

There were some road blocks and minefields set in obvious places 

US defenders view 

Skorzenys guys manage to sneak through & overwhelms the outpost 

Lone Sherman looks along the road 

ATG proceeds to not hit anything 

The village assault begins 

It’s cleared pretty quickly .

KG commander view progress from the heights 

Pioneers advance 

Infantry advance 

M10 in ambush 

The Tiger and his ace commander are brewed up

The lone US reinforcements raced toward the bridge 

The bridge is blown after seeing a fake German tank approach , but it’s not taken the bridge out properly 

The bridge defenders are replaying charges , and overcome . The bridge is intact but needs some repair 

Overall an excellent and challenging game 

Ardennes - A few new German bits .

 I am a bit behind on posting completed stuff , so just a bit of a catch up post . The latest additions for the Ardennes collection is a small up top of vehicles . The first being the Ersatz Stug ( could do with a few more ) for a poor attempt at fooling the US defenders , a resin piece from battlefront . I picked up a couple of Quad 20mm AA half tracks off e bay several months ago , and found some other half track tractors that will be used for anti tank gun transport in the stash  . I have found the STL for the Ersatz Panther/M10 and have one being produced . 

Earlier in the year I had picked up a 2x2 winter town layout map from Deepcut which is a useful addition 

Armoured cars 

Hetzers  support for the Volksgrenadiers 

Bonkers of course , a niche SturmTiger 

Completed a second King Tiger .
Pleased the paint job was pretty close to the one I did 4 years ago 

Will need to knock out some more infantry support next for the Germans . Then another US infantry platoon . 

We are planning another winter game at the end of the month , so they will have an opportunity to fail miserably pretty soon