Eureka Miniatures - Mujahideen Fighters.

May is one of those catch up months a cluster of bank holidays a couple of free days, a real opportunity to catch up on those projects that needed 'topping up'...

The postman has dropped some reinforcements for Chechnya, these guys have not been on the table for a while, but Eureka Miniatures have recently released some additional Afghan Guerrilla's which with a slightly different paint job gives me a couple of extra Mujahideen units to take on the Russians in Chechnya.

Eureka is still one of those companies where you can purchase individual figures, so you can pick and choose the mini's you need. First up two fire teams, with RPO's.

Another 4 fire teams, the bricks denote squad leaders, based up for Xenos Rampant.

Finally a couple of extra's to bolster the detachment, a heavy machine gun team, sniper and two leaders/spotters.

So many planned games.... :-)

Chechnya - New Xenos Rampant Vehicle Damage rules.

Having painted up a number of in fills an excuse to give them a first outing.

The additional Russian and Chechen support units will come in handy and will give both sides that extra punch.

Now to break the freshly painted curse.

Looking back of previous scenario's I thought about giving the original scenario a run out a mere 8 when it first landed on the table, at the time with less figures using Chris Peers at close quarters rules. I was interested to see if Xenos Rampant gave a better feel.

It did not disappoint.

June 1995 somewhere between Benoi and Vedeno - Chechnya.

A Russian BM21 has broken down on a major supply route, a couple of sections of infantry and supports have been left behind to protect the rocket launcher whilst reinforcements arrive with a repair party. The area is known for insurgent activity who would like nothing more to get their hands on the extra fire power. The Federal forces must protect the vehicle and drive off the Chechen fighters.

The table looks a little better than 8 years ago with more rural looking buildings and repurposed woods. The BM21 can be seen in the centre of the table with the access road at the bottom of the picture. The Chechens will enter randomly on the table edges, with the reinforcements for the Russians appearing on 1d6 turns.

The centre point of the table, 2 squads a HMG and Sniper hardly seem enough to hold back the insurgents.

With the defenders awaiting the column, Chechen militia appear on the wood lined hill tops over looking the valley and the stranded rocket launcher. The Russian HMG and Sniper covering this flank to hold back the fighters.

On the opposite side of the table a Chechen sniper team appears the Russians unable to see him at over 12" push up the hill to drive him off.

A second sniper is spotted and again the Russians advance to close the gap.

The sniper having drawn out the infantry instead of firing calls down mortar fire on the infantry, in the first salvo 50% of the advancing troops are killed or wounded and the rest flee back down the hill.

At the far end of the table Chechen's creep into the settlement ready to slow the rescue party.

The Russian HMG chews up the militia in the tree line.

The Chechen mortar disproving the myth that freshly painted troops always lose, switches his focus to the sniper sending him running for cover.

Meanwhile the rescue column makes it's way on to the table.

Rpg rounds hit the column and the lead BTR70 is destroyed sending the infantry running for cover. 

Another whoosh of AT rounds and the BMP1 falls back behind the house.

Before the rescue party could regroup from out of the barn another RPG round smashes into the BMP forcing it to retire. 

The rescue mission had failed their would be no break through today.

That was fun, heavy weapons such as HMG's can really hurt infantry as can mortar rounds if you catch them in the open. 

The vehicle rules felt like they needed a little extra, if played correctly XR only allow for one vehicle but they can certainly handle multiple vehicles, the only potential downside is the attritional nature of the rules where strength points chip away at units. So I introduced a chart similar to that found within Bolt Action.

It worked well and resulted in the lead APC being destroyed in short order after being hit by a unit with the Anti-Tank capability. Hopefully this does not break the rules but makes the use of vehicles more challenging for larger games and could make for tank on tank encounters a little quicker.

Feedback welcome.

Dispatched from the Front XXXIII - Anything but Arabs.

It's been a while since the last dispatches post. My apologies this entry might be more of a reminder for me to keep me on track.

Chatting during the Cotswold day we shared a listing of half finished projects, we also seem to share one thing in common far to many projects than ever making it to the table. It got me thinking about the need for a clear out or sweep up of the ever going list on the paint table, during lockdown when everyone appeared to have more time I did a full review of projects underway and sold off a number of half finished projects, but things appears to have been building up again with a queue of things that need completing. I can't be the only one that thinks I have two spare figures why don't I buy a regiment to build them out......

So after the mass of figures for the Crusades project a brief pause whilst I clear some of the distractions that need that little bit of focus to get them table ready. My reckoning is that these should be done over 2 weeks - Enough time for a fresh Pendraken order to arrive.

To kick the next two weeks off I found a bunch of spare figures tucked away in a draw for the American Revolution Project. Getting these done will leave me with no spare figures for this project.

Keeping the focus on the AWI I brought a few packs of snake fencing back in March together with some large cosmetic spatula's but they were not wide enough, not wishing to waste anything and gambling that who is really looking in 10mm I straightened them up.  

Not bad basing material for less than £5.00 and these should not take long to get to the table, the sharp sand and I quick spray done over a couple of lunchtimes.

Pretty sure these were 15mm but have been sitting in a box for 25 years!!! Using the same spatula's these barricades were complete in a day, I don't know what took me so long.

Also purchased back in March an extra bunker for the Western Desert a nice piece of kit from Ironclad Miniatures well you can't go to a show and not buy anything. This was half done just needed some extra dry brushing and a light wash. Now ready for the next campaign game.

A package from Studio Historia Miniatures which has been hanging around since the summer. A case of idle hands on a train ride to London and a few clicks later and I am the proud owner of Zombie Camels and the Ramesses II headquarters, I figured the tent would be a good centre piece for my New Kingdom Egyptian forces and the camels for Silver Bayonet in the desert.

They have some great items on the website I can see a few more orders coming their way in the coming months - that damn butterfly.

Hittite Walls and WW2 Greeks - hhhmmm.

A few months ago we gave Xenos Rampant a run out for Chechen Wars, a great game which was really quick to get through in an evening session, it highlighted the need for a few extra heavy weapons, so a quick order from Fighting 15's and there they sat - time to get them done.

That should do for starters 6 different projects to juggle before I even think about projects for next year.

Russian Invasion of Chechnya 1994 - Battle for Lomaz.

The smallest of paragraphs can become inspiration for a game.

COLONEL HUSEIN ISKHANOV 

The first fighting took place in the village of Lomaz Yurt in Nadterechny raion where we had some defences to protect the frontier. We managed to delay the advance of the Russians for a few days. Our men blew up 2 APCs but because of lack of ammunitions were forced to withdraw. We did not plan any large-scale operations – trying to stop the Russians columns near the border would have been pointless because we did not have enough troops. Our “army” was a joke compared to the invading army. We decided to fight in Grozny.

I was looking over Xenos Rampant to convert Russian vehicles to the stats in the book and there is a scenario which seems to fit the initial attack into Lomaz. 

Could the Russians break through the Chechen lines and drive into Grozny to end the war. The Russians can draw upon units from the Mozdok Contingent which was made up of elements of the 106th Airborne Division and the 56th Airborne Brigade.

With unlimited points the Russians need to destroy the defenders, whilst the Chechen's get a point for every turn they stay on the table. 

A great opportunity to try Xenos Rampant in a modern setting, lets see how the rules handle a bunch of armoured vehicles vs RPG touting dug in light infantry. I tried to keep to what felt like the right doctrine. The column advanced up the road and was unable to react to the defenders until they fired or moved. Leading the column was a BRDM2 followed by a main battle tank and then a couple of BTR60's.

The lead vehicle comes under fire and takes a hit, the tank comes off the road to counter the RPG and small arms fire.

The Chechen's release a blaze of fire, HMG and HE rounds send the vehicles scattering, the infantry de-bus looking to lay down some fire on the defenders, but the Russian poor morale forces the MBT and Scout Car crew to bail out as they both took multiple hits.

Not a great start, desperate to get out of the multiple units all hitting the bogged down Russians, I sent the APC's to the right their infantry were looking for cover in the tree line, but if I could get these on the flank there was a chance I could roll up the defenders.

Striped of their infantry support the Chechens ambushed them as they crossed open ground and another vehicle was KO'd. Helped by an artillery strike from their own side which missed their intended target.

Reinforcements were on the way... let's see what the Auto-Cannon's would do to infantry in a building.

Pushing further forward would be madness, the abandoned vehicles littered the battlefield, the infantry were shattered and were hunkered down in the woods and all this for 3 defenders killed.

A really good encounter, giving the commander on both sides an off table Support option was a good way of representing mortars and the like, adding in a medic to help patch up wounded figures felt ok and made the commander more like a platoon or company HQ.

Decreasing the Russian morale made them quite fragile and forced them to go to ground or backwards which felt right.

All played in under 3 hours.... these rules are definitely growing on me for modern gaming. 

So much so that I ordered some extra support weapons and Russian infantry from Eureka.....

The full document is here a very interesting read, with so many echo's of the war in Ukraine today - it does appear the Russian's have not learnt or have forgotten the lessons of 30 years ago.

COLONEL HUSEIN ISKHANOV (smallwarsjournal.com)

1st Chechen war 1994 - Part 2 - The defence of the FOB.

With the Russians having pushed through the Chechen defensive lines, they set about defending their forward operating base.

The BTR's had been sent away with the wounded and the Infantry set about their defensives. They are bolstered by a Heavy Machine Gun and Sniper Team. Would it be enough to hold the line?

The Chechen's wanted them out and supported by a unit of National Guard they advanced on the FOB from all sides.

The Russian defenders sprinted forwards to expand their perimeter and secure improved firing positions as the Chechens made slow progress with a number of turns of low activations.

The Russian HMG poured fire into the oncoming Chechens, however it's supressing fire drew the attention of the snipers who were able to add a number of pins on the heavy weapon.

A valiant defence but slowly the irregulars closed to within range of the FOB, throwing grenades and rushing forwards, the poorly trained defenders were forced down and eventually overcome.

The Invaders would need to rethink their plans....

The Modern variant of Bolt Action gives a really good feel, commanders on both sides played a key part in managing their troops and keeping pinned markers to a minimum. Caught in the open troops do not last long, but supressing fire and a close assault proved to be effective once the Chechen's found suitable launch sites for their assult.

1st Chechen war 1994 - Bolt Action meets Ambush Alley - Part 1

Chechnya 1994.....

A two player game with lots of fog of war....

A Russian Federation Armoured column has orders to secure a Forward Operating Base (FOB) at the far end of the table neither player no the make up of each others forces or their orders. The Chechens have orders to damage the any Russian forces but to keep their own loses light.

The game Russians win once the target building is secure or they are forced to turn back due to losses.

The Russians can enter anywhere on the short edge in the forefront of the picture above. The Chechen's are already in place marked on a map including 2 IED's to slow the Russian advance.

Three sections of Infantry supported by a BRDM2 Scout Car and MBT to support the column.

The Russians opt for an initial advance down the railway line not as fast as the main road but the hope is it will be more lightly defended. As the BTR clears the wood yard the defenders fire off an RPG which narrowly misses the APC.

Russian Infantry debus and seek cover as the APC's HMG pours fire into the defenders who fall back. The Russians don't have it all there own way as snipers pick off a number of key figures in the squad.

The column resumes its progress armour backs up on the raised track heading north, the Chechen commander unware of what is the target or mission.

 

As the defenders rush to fresh positions they land a blow on the fast moving Russians another RPG round knocking out the BRDM2 as it rushes to find cover.

Victory was short lived as the T80 makes it's presence felt a HE shell smashes into one of the ruins killing a troublesome sniper and half a squad. 

The Russian objective is revealed and with Armour and infantry 50 yards from the large concrete two story building the Chechen out of position and with rising casualties are forced to fall back. The Russians have their FOB.

A short but bloody encounter, we used a mixture of Ambush Alley, Modern Bolt Action and Order Dice from Blucher to restrict the number of actions available each turn. A couple of rule errors which we will correct for the next game.... (It would help if the BA rules were better layout.....)

Next up the remaining Russians need to hold the FOB...