Bolt Action - 15mm Late War - The Maus Trap.

Another outing for Bolt Action in 15mm.

I was pointed to the Easy Army Point calculator - A great tool for working out your Bolt Action points you can find it here. which covers every supplement in the BA range.

Essen 1945 and the Russians are closing in on the city and the armaments factory. Both sides have 2000 points to field, we continue to use the Blucher dice mechanism with 2 Command Dice each, giving each side up to 12 Command Dice but only the opposing commander would know what they have to play each turn.

The German defenders can deploy halfway across the table with orders to protect the large red brick factory.

The Panther is tempted by the tiny tin can - the result was as expected.

T34/85's rumble on to the table and in the first turn destroy the Panther dug in....

The defenders are under pressure but help is on the way - in the shape of the latest super tank the Pz VIII the Maus.

The soviet infantry work their way through the ruins and outhouses as the Russian armour pours HE shells into the Volkstrum defenders.

Elsewhere unsure if another Russian thrust would come, other defenders remain in place, but the Russians had massed all their troops in one main concentrated attack.

With the Support from the Maus the Germans throw in their last section in a counterattack.

The Russians rush forwards looking to stem the German counterattack.

The Maus takes several rounds of fire from the T34's who set it on fire, whilst they recover the pins begin to mount. The Maus was stripped of its infantry support as the Soviets closed in on the mammoth vehicle. 

A great game, the Maus with its Supergun could not shake off enough of the pin markers to get a foothold in the game. The Soviets still had units off table which were able to pin the German defenders which allowed the main Russian force to force the breakthrough.

Next up a German counter attack....

Bolt Action Solo Play - Platoon Forward!

Well you have to get your gaming fix somehow....

I picked up a copy of Joe Legan's Platoon Forward! campaign rules several years ago and with the recent game Bolt Action outing and no physical players available, I thought I would combine the two rules together and give Joe's solo rules a run out.

I guess we have all tried various solo rules at one time or another, but I have found these to be the most comprehensive and the most balanced to stop you cheating yourself :-)

After all you know all your own moves and your tactics in game, aggressive, defensive or just darn sneaky. 

The Platoon Forward system was designed for the Too Fat Lardies rule set, but they fit nicely with any WW2 rule set.

The book contains 22 scenario's split between offensive and defensive actions and depending on the stage of the war denotes if you are attacking or defending.

Each mission has the option to generate the terrain depending on the theatre of operations.

Each scenario details the potential for supporting forces and then match up forces with the use of blinds. These could be nothing or a section of Infantry, an MG team or a Tank. Blinds are split into A, B & C's depending on objectives and missions.

A's are largely Infantry.

B's Support Weapons.

C's Armour and vehicles.

The different missions give you number of choices Flank attacks, Scouting missions or all out assault, random events can occur both good and bad, and reinforcements are available to bolster your command.

Now to organise my forces for a first run out......

Meanwhile perfect timing the postman dropped off the following.

Whilst having only played one game of Bolt Action I needed this campaign supplement.
Road to Berlin focuses on the Soviet forces and their advances against the last defenders of the Reich, it contains unit details for a bunch of late war German vehicles and the Polish Home Army and those units involved in the Prague Uprising.

Will I finally get to bring this monster on to the table?

ARR to follow in the coming days.

Man the barricades - Chechnya 1995.

With the first outing of the Chechen project planned for a few weeks time over the the Wyvern Wargamers, I need to put my foot down on the terrain and figure front.

I picked these barricades up at Warfare last year for a £1 each, they seemed perfect for Chechnya or the Eastern Front or any other urban settings.

Very useful for blocking roads and bolstering the defences of buildings and city blocks.

Cast in resin they have plenty of detail for a modern barricade.

On the figure front I finished up a number of support elements for the Chechen defenders.
A senior officer, 2 Snipers and a Heavy Machine Gun

Again castings from Eureka miniatures - modern range with a extra sniper from their WW2 partisan range.

With other members of the club supply the Russians, we should have enough to have a dry run in a couple of weeks, time to think about AFV's and support elements.

Factories & Ruins..... Fieldworks.

Over the years I have tried to make a concerted effort to only buy terrain that can fit a multitude of periods and these factories and ruins are no exception.

Fieldworks produce some excellent buildings for the money particularly if you like the buildings badly damaged and bombed out, perfect for the final days of Berlin or the great seige of London in the 1880 1st Martian War.....

Some of the casts look a bit rough around the edges and don't take paint well but once complete really do look the part, these are painted by Furphy you can check out more of his work here. http://furphy1914.blogspot.co.uk/

Between £10.00 and £16.00 per building what's not to like.

Tabletop Terrian - MDF vs Plastic

I have been casting my eye over a number of 4Grounds MDF kits, Its fair to say much of my gaming is 28mm based, but the recent WOTW's campaign has highlighted the lack of quality terrain in my collection for 15mm and MDF buildings suddenly allow whole towns to created for a fraction of the resin alternatives.....

I spotted these on the the Wargames Table Blog and thought they would be great in 15mm for the Eastern Front and the WOTW campaign.

http://thewargamestable.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/telegraph-poles.html

I like to think its the finer details that make the table look the part and figured that telegraph poles would add a little something to the table and could be used for the various projects including the RJW if I found the right manufacturer.

However I am not convinced that the rise of MDF is necessary the best way to go for all terrain.

These looked great and seem to fit the bill and 9 in pack for £6.50 did not seem a bad price

But having extracted them from the spures and losing two at the base joint and then fiddled about trying to put the elements on, I am thinking that there must be alternatives which require less work and are not so flimsy.

Back to the drawing board......

Half an hour mooching about on the Internet and I found these little gems on E-bay.

18 in a pack for £3.50.

A single cast model which simply needed painting and basing, they feel far more study and in my opinion are likely to standup to the rigor of tabletop encounters far better than the MDF offering and only a third of the cost.

Meanwhile Furphy has kindly stepped up to help me out with some tabletop terrain.

I had picked up some of FieldWorks damaged buildings several months ago good value for money at around £10.00 - £15.00 per building.

I been putting them off as I hate painting buildings. Furphy has done an excellent job creating a style that would fit into Eastern Europe or Victorian England. 

You can see more of his work Here.

Out with the old in with the new....

The first posting of 2015 and the last of the WW2 support elements for 15mm Russo-German Chain of Command.

Unusually I normally have the terrain completed before I get the figures done, but in this case my desire to play out the final month of WW2 on the Eastern front (Due largely to a great read "Zhukov on the Oder") has left me somewhat short of suitable terrain, most of my existing collection has a summer or desert feel to it, Eastern Germany in February was a lot more wintery.....

I have yet to decide on a brown cloth with a white dusting or a white cloth with a Brown dusting.

Thoughts please..?

In any event it needs to fit in with my current basing style which stills gives me the option of playing on the regular TSS type terrain.

Yet more Russian infantry, the additional LMG's will fill out the existing sectiosn and provide me 2 additional support selections if selected.

I am rather pleased with myself, the beginings of this project was started around about 7 years ago, originally designed for the Panzer Grenadier Rules, it was only when Chain of Command came along that I had the enthusiasm to complete the project, filling in the gaps for support elements from the guys at Peter Pig and painting up the various unpainted units which had been languishing in the unpainted draw for years.

German 50 Mortars, Flamthrowers and Sniper Teams to stem the Soviet steamroller.

Soviet shock markers for the Russian armour, a great use for those figures supplied in the Battlefront vehicle blisters and Peter Pig surrendering Germans.

Whilst the figures are now complete I still have plenty to learn to nail the the finer details of the Russian tactics as proven by a recent out a few weeks ago against Ade's Germans over at the Wyvern club house.

You would have though 16 support points should have been enough.... 

But I foolishly put all my eggs in one basket with a JSII, not the best choice with ambushes aplenty, annoying sniper fire and Infantry which falls foul to the German Infantry fire power.

The Railway junction, the objective for the Soviet advance.

The Russian beast over looking the station, but no targets in sight.

The Russians reach the railway junction but are under intense pressure from dug in German Infantry and a Sniper who is intent on taking every NCO out of the game.

With a German jump off point a few meters from the pinned Russians in the wood pile, a German counter attack causes the Russians to break and run, leaving nothing but the JSII intact and a minus 2 on the force morale - Game Over.

Next up the Wyvern Wargames 2015 Project - The Spanish Civil War....

War on the Eastern Front - Campaign Game 2

Having played out the opening salvo of the Eastern Front Campaign last week, time to up the anti.

I picked up a copy of "At the Sharp End" the Too Fat Lardies Campaign suppliment, this should add a little colour to the games, The setting is Koslin in early 1945.

The Russians have captured Bublitz and after a few days of build up are on the move again, looking to break thin German defences. Following the Ladder Campaign structure and having won the initial Patrol Game, we pushed on to Scenario 2 - "The Probe"

After the narrowest of victories last week, we moved north towards the village of Goldbeck, the Panzer Grenadiers had pulled back but were still strong in number they were sure to be blocking the highway, the most logical of stop gaps before Goldbeck.

Having experienced the amount of fire the Germans can lay down with their MG34's I opted to push through the Orchard on the left flank having managed to secure a Jump off point very close to the German base line.

The Germans once again deployed early occupying the brick built houses over looking the road, but I am confident we can break them having drafted an additional section into my platoon for this operation.

I decide to lead my comrades in person, sending two sections through the wood, killing many of the German defenders and pinning the remainder. Confidence was high.

We pressed on but the Germans were tougher than we first thought, they had entrenchments and were greater in number than our scouts had reported.

I ordered the men back deeper into the orchard, to tend to our wounded, victory had been so close.

With my troops broken and running for cover on the left flank, I saw a chance to still win this encounter and break through the German lines, I sent 3rd section off on wide flanking move.

The Facists can only summon a solitary team to block our path, we can still be victorious.

However luck was not on our side, the Germans rolled 6's and gained two turns they rush troops from the centre and flank my section, MG34's ripped through my men who took to their heels.

My force morale is shattered -3 to the Germans 9.

Defeat...

We fall back towards Bublitz my men's opinion of me is not great (German -2, Russian -3) and my force's morale is now -1 for all future operations, speaking with my commander he is far from happy but has given me a chance to redeem myself in the next encounter (Russian -1, German +2) whilst my German counter part is likely to receive both reinforcements and extra supports if things continue.

I will also have to make do with 6 men fewer... War in the East is tough.