Dust Warfare+Painting

Showing posts with label Dust Warfare+Painting. Show all posts

Tuesday, 10 September 2013

Posted by Martin - Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Dust 150 Horton HO-347 Fledermaus

Just a quick update on our Dust 150 project. This time I've got something from the Axis to show, namely the Fledermaus jet fighter! It was the first aircraft for the Axis and to my eyes the best looking aircraft in the game. Both the Russian helicopters and the American Pelican jet look like toy versions of the real thing, kind of cool in a way, but not realistic. The Fledermaus looks kind of like it might actually be flightworthy and has the nice hi-tech look the Axis get from their research of alien technology.

It's been said that it's not a very good unit in game, but I think it looks fine on paper. Will be interesting to see it in action on Saturday.

Anders didn't really provide any commentary to go with the pictures so I'll let them speak for themselves.

He did change the seating in the cockpit a bit so that both pilots are facing forwards.

Rumour has it that Anders is also all but finished with his infantry, which I must say I found quite surprising! A nice surpise to be sure, but a surprise nonetheless. Hehe! With the infantry done it's only the Luther walker to paint and the Axis will be ready for battle.

As for me I've finished one of the Red Thunder anti-tank squads so now I've got one squad left and the crew to the second guntractor. Four days to go...

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Saturday, 24 August 2013

Posted by Martin - Saturday, August 24, 2013

Dust 150: Red Guard Command Squad

I've been painting quite a few vehicles lately. In fact I think I've painted more vehicles for my SSU army in just the last couple of months than I ever did for any of my 40k armies back in the day!

Anyway, the Nikita is done and both self-propelled guns are done (although one still needs its crew) so it was a nice change to paint some infantry when I got started on my Red Guard command squad. I did pretty much the same thing I did when I started painting my regular SSU infantry last year: blocked out solid colours and washed them with Army Builder Strong Tone. Except this time I didn't stop at that stage but followed up for some quick highlights and a few more details. I also picked out the faces better and a couple of them even got eyes!

This is basically what I aim to do with all my infantry once I get around to it - wash and then pick out faces and some details. The Dust infantry models are overall pretty cool looking and look good on the tabletop, but they are not individual works of art like what you see released for Infinity, so I don't really think spending any more time with them than this is worth it. Besides, with the historical connection they have actually not doing strong highlights and leaving them a bit flat adds to the "model builder realism feel" of them. :)

Now I have two Red Thunder anti-tank squads and the crew of the second gun tractor left to paint. I just started with the first basecoat on one of the Thunder squads last night so they'll hopefully be done soon enough.

Also, here's a quick teaser shot of Anders' first project, his Horton fighter jet:

He's actually almost finished it by now, but he couldn't get pictures to me in time so this WIP shot will have to do. For now.

Finally, here's a group shot of what's done so far:

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Thursday, 15 August 2013

Posted by Martin - Thursday, August 15, 2013

Dust Warfare Painting

SSU Heavy Tank Painted!

Here's another little sidetrack that I managed to finish up. the IS-5 heavy tank!

The Mao Zedong variant with its four 85mm anti-aircraft cannons is one of the most feared machines the SSU have, and rightly so! That kind of main armament is a threat to anything on the battlefield and with three DShK machine guns it can really tear apart any infantry squad daring to move that close. While not quite as heavily armoured as its IS-48 cousin it can still take quite a lot of punishment.

The Mao has been a staple for SSU commanders since its arrival, but for some reason I haven't got one until now. At 85 points it doesn't come exactly cheap, but this kind of versatility I think is worth the price you pay. If you're unsure of what the opponent might bring a Mao is always a solid choice, or two.

The Vladimir Lenin variant looks all kinds of badass with its 252mm field mortar, but it's not actually that much better than the more modest Nikita walker (that is also half the price of the Lenin). Also, the main gun must be reloaded between shots further reducing its effectiveness. I'm sure I'll try it out at least once, but if it's artillery I want I think the Nikita or a mortar team might be the better option.

Big and blocky! Yepp, that's Russian alright...

The Vladimir Lenin.

So now I have both tanks painted and ready to roll! I just need to figure out a list where they both fit. Haha!

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Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Posted by Martin - Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Dust Warfare Painting

Attack Helicopter Painted!

As I mentioned last time I have been mixing up my Dust 150 painting goals with some other stuff, and here's my first "other stuff".

I started painting the MIL MI-47 ground attack helicopter last year, but after having done the basic camo I got stuck and was unsure how to proceed. I wanted to go for the classic green and khaki camo you often see on real Hind helicopters rather than the green/grey tiger stripes that Dust Models have used for their studio models.

Only problem was that the large amoeba like pattern didn't translate all that well from the huge fuselage of a real Hind to the tiny, egg-shaped fuselage of the MI-47. I was almost ready to start over and do the tiger stripes instead but Anders and Gille told me to persevere and with some blue grey on the bottom and proper detailing and weathering it came out looking ok. In fact it's really grown on me and now I actually look forward to painting the second one.

Guns! Bombs! Rockets!

This is the Striker loadout with machine guns and two 50mm autocannons.

Here you can really see the egg shape. Ugh...

Then again, this is how I'm used to seeing it which looks a lot better.

A better shot of the crew.

The Airblaster loadout - rocket pods and bombs.

Now with proper flight stand and everything!

The Death Rain loadout with anti-tank and incendiary bombs.

And again, the Striker.

As I mentioned I have one more that needs some love and now I feel a lot more motivated to get it done as well. The helicopters have really served me well during my time as SSU commander and having two painted and ready would be really cool!

I think it's tricky to use less than two in an army as they do go down relatively easy. If you have two you force your opponent to either split his attacks or having to concentrate on only one of them, leaving the other two wreck havoc. I still haven't actually tried the Striker version as I'm so enamoured with bombs, but now that I have other long range anti-tank assets like the Matrioshka it might be time to try it out!

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Monday, 12 August 2013

Posted by Martin - Monday, August 12, 2013

Dust Warfare Painting

Dust 150: Arty Walker and Guntractor

I really haven't painted much Dust for the past six months, but I've been trying to make it up by painting frantically now instead. Hehe!

I started modifying my KV-47 Aero walker back in early spring. Since I knew I would mostly be using the artillery version of the walker (Nikita) I wanted a bit more static pose as the charging forward pose the model comes in doesn't really suit my weapon of choice. So I switched one of the left leg with a standing KV-47 that I had lying around, making it lean back more. I also opened up the hatch and put the tank commander from the IS-48 in it - felt nice and suited an artillery walker.

After applying some paint using the same method as the rest of my vehicles this is what I ended up with:

The Nikita variant with dual quad 120mm mortars. A very effective artillery walker.

The Nastasia variant with two quad DShK machine guns.

The Nina variant with two RPG-47.

This is my favourite of the three as far as looks are concerned.

This model was a lot of fun to paint and has become my favourite walker in the SSU arsenal. If it was possible to buy one without the transport helicopter I would get one more for sure. As it stands I might get one more if I can find a good price.

I have also completed one of the BR-47 self-propelled guns. I don't think the mortar configuration, Red Rain, will see all that much use, but the Red Fury with its 100mm gun that is able to fire at aircraft as well is another story! Cheap anti-air firepower is a rare sight in an SSU army - until the tractor was introduced the expensive Mao Zedong was almost our only choice.

This is a model I would have bought whatever its stats was though, it simply looks cool! I'm really enjoying all the different kinds of vehicles available to the Russians. There are the different kinds of walkers, large tanks, helicopters and self-propelled guns. And there's apparently a jet fighter in the works as well, based on the Yak 23!

The addition of a crew adds a lot to the model I think, but it still feels a little too clean. Anders suggested adding empty shell casings which I think would make it pop more, but it's done for now.

The BR 47-100 "Red Fury". Ka-pow!!

The crew each have a PPSh-48 and grenades meaning they can defend the gun up close.

The BR 47-200 "Red Rain". It looks impressive,

but I think I'll go for the mortar weapon team instead.

So that is two of the three vehicles I need to paint done! The second tractor is actually almost done as well, it just needs weathering and the crew painted and it's ready to go as well.

I know that I usually paint a little more than my two friends so I've decided to do some other stuff as well so that I don't get too far ahead. Next up will be one such excursion...

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Saturday, 10 August 2013

Posted by Martin - Saturday, August 10, 2013

Dust Warfare Painting

Three Dust Armies by September!

A couple of weeks ago I suggested to my friend Anders that we should get some kind of deadline to motivate ourselves when it comes to painting Dust Warfare. My idea was to do something akin to The Tale of Four Gamers from the olden days of White Dward (ten-ish years ago I'd wager).

Basically, we'd commit to an army and a date and then we'd make sure that that army was painted so we could play with it on that date. It's important not to get over enthusiastic when doing things like this so we decided to start out small with only 150 points worth of models. That usually amounts to three or four squads of infantry and one or two walkers. Manageable for painting but enough to make for a fun game.

The aim of this endeavor is of course to get models painted, so our two forces would reflect which models we wanted to paint rather than what we thought would do the best job at killing the enemy.

With this in mind I wanted to make a force centered around my Red Guard and a Nikita walker, as I've never really used artillery before. The Russian gun tractor was also too cool not to include and after some kajiggering I ended up with the following:

Dust Warfare - Force Builder
Faction: SSU ( 150 / 150 )

---  Red Platoon (150)
Command Section: "Red Command" Red Guards Command Squad (25)
1st Section: "Red Thunder" Red Guards Antitank Squad (20)
2nd Section: "Red Thunder" Red Guards Antitank Squad (20)
3rd Section: KV47-E Aero "Nikita" (45)
Support: BR 47-100 "Red Fury" (20)
Support: BR 47-100 "Red Fury" (20)

Again, this is mostly what I wanted to get painted, but I still think it's a decent force that should be able to hold up well against any vehicle heavy opposition. Lots of infantry or even just some heavy infantry might prove trickier, but hopefully the artillery fire from the Nikita will prove versatile enough. Also, the Red Guard squads can be quite nasty against infantry as well if they get close enough.

Anders knew he wanted to include his Horton fighter and a walker so built his force around this. What he ended up with was this:

Dust Warfare - Force Builder
Faction: Axis ( 150 / 150 )

---  Sturmgrenadiere Platoon (150)
Command Section: Manfred (15, Hero)
1st Section: Heavy Flak Grenadiers (26)
2nd Section: Battle Grenadiers (17)
3rd Section: Recon Grenadiers (17)
Support: Horten HO-347.III "Fledermaus III" (45)
Support: MPW II-A "Luther" (30)

Except for using Manfred as the command section these are mostly staple units that I often face when playing against Anders, so good choices for painting. I think I inadvertently created an army that will perform well against this force, except maybe for the Heavy Flak Grenadiers.

What about the third Duster? Well, me and Anders were talking about our little project in our small chat room for painting when our other friend Gille piped up and wanted to join in on the fun! He didn't have any Dust models at the time but had been intrigued when hearing about our battles. After some discussion he ordered a complete 150 point army of Allies and he'll join the project, although I think we might extend his deadline by two weeks or so since he had to order his stuff.

Gille wanted to have as many walkers as possible as well as lots of heavy infantry. He couldn't make it fit with all heavy infantry but I still think the army he ended up with is a good compromise:

Dust Warfare - Force Builder
Faction: Allies ( 150 / 150 )

---  Elite Platoon (150)
Command Section: "Corps Officers" Heavy Ranger Command Squad (30)
1st Section: "Grim Reapers" Heavy Ranger Attack Squad (30)
3rd Section: "The Gunners" Combat Ranger Squad (17)
    + Replace one M1+UGL with M9 Bazooka (3)
4th Section: "Death Dealers" Ranger Weapon Squad (20)
Support: MCW M2-B "Hot Dog" (30)
Support: LAW M1-A "Wildfire" (20)

This is more of a mixed bag and very much simply what looked cool (the best way to choose an army!!). Still, I don't think it will be a bad force on the tabletop either; there's plenty of anti-air and anti-infantry, which is always good in smaller games like this. Long range anti-tank firepower is where it comes in a little short, but up close there are quite a few bazookas and rocket punches to go around. Not to mention the Napalm thrower on the Hot Dog.

Most of all I think both me and Anders will find it difficult to handle that jumping heavy infantry that can simply mow down our poor men! Again, I'll put my trust in the Nikita while I think for Anders it will be a matter of promptly destroying the Wildfire so his plane can have some space to work with.

There you go! Three players and three armies. We've set the deadline to the Saturday on September 14th for me and Anders and the Saturday on the 28th for Gille. On these days we'll meet up and play a game or two with our chosen platoons and if anyone of us has failed to paint something to an acceptable standard, that person will have to buy dinner that day. I'm looking forward to a free meal! :)

I'll post updates as I paint new stuff, and I will try and update when Anders or Gille paint stuff as well. It kind of comest down to if they remember to take pictures or not, but I'll be sure to nag them about it!

Expect an update soon...

2 comments

Thursday, 25 July 2013

Posted by Martin - Thursday, July 25, 2013

Dust Warfare Painting

SSU Armoured Division for Dust Warfare

Hello dear people! It's been quite a while since I wrote anyting here, although I have been playing and painting a decent amount. You know how it is during the summer time... blogging slows down a bit and I even missed covering the last Infinity releases! I have also been moving house which have delayed my blogging even more.

I have a bunch of articles in the pipeline though, covering things like the upcoming Dust Warfare/Tactics releases from Battlefront as well as first impressions and session report of Torchbearer and Dungeon World. I've been painting some of my Descent minis as well so expect to see them here in the near future.

However, today is all about the glorious heavy armour of the Sino-Soviet Union! Almost a year ago I painted my first Dust Warfare models - the KV-47 medium walker and since then I have also painted a bit of infantry to an acceptable gaming standard. But even though I got my hands on the KV-3 heavy walker and the IS-48 super heavy tank quite some time ago they have been sitting unpainted! Until now. Before sitting down to paint though I did what I always do as soon as I get the opportunity: I put some magnets in the pintle mounted machine guns so they are easily detachable.

Might mount an antenna on it later.

I was really happy when Campaign Book Hades was released and the SSU finally got some long range firepower. I had been terrorized by Anders' Wotan with its powerful laser kannone and now it was time for payback! The KV-3 K Matrioshka mounts two 152mm ML-20S guns and rolls the most dice against armour in the game (currently). It has long range and can take a beating as well so a perfect addition to my very infantry who are very much inclined to close quarter combat.

Love the profile on this guy!

If you look close enough you might be able to see the colour shift between

the hull and the barrels and magazines.

The Babushka...

The KV-3 M Babushka switches the two large cannons for two Maxim Gatling guns that are very effective against all kinds of infantry and even light-medium vehicles. But while the Matrioshka fills a great gap in the SSU lines the Babushka, while decent, doesn't really offer all that much that the cheaper Natasha can't do better. Sure, 36" range instead of 24" is nice but Natashas ability to split fire and automatically suppress two squads as well as denying the enemy the benefits of cover I feel is more important. It's not too expensive though at a mere 50AP so I'm sure I'll give it a try some day. Had the Babushka been able to fire on aircraft I would have jumped with joy though! At least it looks really badass. :)

In smaller games I could see how the Babushka might excell though.

The Lavrentiy Beria.

Of the two tank designs released for the SSU so far I've only got the super heavy IS-48 version. First there's the Lavrentiy Beria that is armed with the same 152mm cannon as the Matrioshka - except there's only one of them meaning the Beria rolls a couple of dice less. It has also two turret mounted DShK machine guns and a front mounted ATO-45 flamethrower. All this packaged in a sturdy Armour 7 package, meaning it'll stay on the field for most of the game. It's a solid tank, but I find it hard taking it over the Matrioshka if it's anti-tank firepower I'm looking for. Sure, the Beria will take more of a beating, but it doesn't dish out quite as much damage and it's 20 more points. Probably the best looking tank so far though and I will use it for that reason alone.

I was a little bit worried that drybrushing something so flat such as the IS-48 wouldn't really work, but in the end it came out looking just fine. As long as you don't load to much paint on your brush.

It looks a bit empty from the back. Might see if I could add some stowage etc in the future.

And an antenna.

The Karl Marx.

The other IS-48 design is the Karl Marx. Instead of the 152mm cannon it has a heavy Tesla cannon, which is the SSU trademark "super weapon". Except... it's really not all that super. It kills infantry reasonably well (although, again, probably not as well as the humble Natasha) and can damage vehicles with a lucky hit. It also has the ability to jump and hit another nearby target, but to do this you have to give up the re-rolls you get during a sustained attack and it simply doesn't seem worth it. Interestingly, Alex Davy (who was responsible for Dust Warfare when it was still at FFG) said in a recent post that one of the things they would have FAQed, given a chance, would have been to make the Tesla gun jump during any attack, not just sustained attacks. A small change but something that would have brought the Tesla gun in line with Phasers and Laser cannons. I still haven't used the Karl Marx in a game, but I'm sure I'll give it a try for the novelty of it sooner or later.

The mighty (hah!) Tesla cannon!

Just like the KV-47s last year these were actually quite simple to paint. There's no fancy camouflage to think about or differently coloured parts, it's just... green. Glorious green!

For those who might want to try something similar, here's what I did:

1. Spray the model with Army Painters Army Green. My can of this paint is fairly is for some reason fairly gritty, which I would avoid like the plague normally but actually works to your advantage when painting armour like this as it gives a little bit of texture.

2. Wash the entire model with Army Painters Strong Tone ink. This gives a nice brown/green base colour to start working up from.

3. Drybrush the main hull with Vallejo Model Colour Luftwaffe Camo Green (not Russian Green as you might be inclined to think). Don't be afraid to go at it pretty roughly at this step to bring that nice deep green colour to the model. I chose to do some things, like magazines and fuel barrels, using Russian Green instead to get a slight difference in nuance.

4. Add a bit of Vallejo Game Colour Sunblast Yellow to the Luftwaffe Camo and go at it again. Concentrate more on raised areas and corners this time around, but don't neglect flat open areas entirely.

5. Change the Yellow to Bonewhite and drybrush concentrating almost entirely on sharp edges. This will be the final drybrush so should be fairly light and really only hit the edges.

6. Paint any metal areas. I do mine with Vallejos Natural Steel that then get a black wash and some detailing picked out with silver.

7. Apply decals. I got a sheet of SSU decals from Dust Models that I applied using Micro Set and Micro Sol to make the decal itself more pliable. After it's all well and dry a quick slab of Vallejo Matt Varnish makes it become one with the background (don't forget to shake the bottle! And thin it with water).

8. Chipping! I love this part, it's so much fun! Take out that bottle of liquid magic that is Vallejo Model Colours German Grey and put some of it on your pallete. Then take a bit of foam, like from the back of a blister back, and cut out a small, easily handled piece. Then dip the piece in the German Grey and stipple some of it off on some paper, then get to work on the moddle. Use the sponge to stipple the very edges of the model, or areas where you would expect there to be a lot of wear and tear and worn off paint.

You can do as much or little as you can. Personally I prefer a fairly restrained approach so it doesn't look too beat up.

9. Rust. I use Vallejo Burnt Umber Pigment for my rust effects but there are many good pigments out there today. Simply dusting it on dry will make the vehicle simply appear... dusty so what you do is mix it with a little bit of water (you can use medical alcohol as well if you like, but I've never really noticed much difference) to get a nice almost wash-like rust that can easily be aplied to rivets etc. Try experimenting with the amount of water as it can give very varying results.

10. Drybrush some mud effects on the lower legs/tracks. I use a mix of Vallejo German Tankcrew (a lovely flat brown/grey/black colour) and Earth for this but it all depends on how you base your models.

11. Done! Probably. There might be some small details here and there that need painting but I'm sure you can figure those out yourself.

Sooo.... that's how I do it. Next up is probably a gun tractor (or two), a Nikita artillery walker and perhaps another tank. What? Infantry? Hah!

Talk to you later comrades!

6 comments

Thursday, 15 November 2012

Posted by Martin - Thursday, November 15, 2012

AAR Dust Warfare Painting

Quick n Dirty Painting plus Dust Warfare AAR

I have been putting off painting the infantry of my Sino-Soviet forces for Dust Warfare (or Tactics) because I've been unsure of how to proceed. Thinking about what level of detail I wanted to give them, how advanced a camouflage scheme (if any) and which base colours to use was all up in the air.

A warning before you continue reading. This entire article is pretty much just a big humblebrag, so be prepared. I almost decided against writing it halfway through, but I'm just so commited that I couldn't finish what I had started (see! It's starting already!).

Now, I have always considered Dust Warfare to be my dirty little side project, painting wise, for a couple of reasons; 1) It's an army scale game and considering my painting speed it would take ages to get it to the same standard as, say, my Infinity miniatures. 2) The infantry miniatures are... simpler than the other stuff I'm painting. Don't get me wrong - they look great on the tabletop, but they are perhaps not display level stuff. This is not a negative as simpler minis gives me "mental permission" to lower my painting level. 3) Since I started playing miniature games I've always had an idea to speed paint my armies, but I've never actually managed it. In the end I can't help but spend way too much time on each individual miniature. Too much time for an entire army at least.

Line 'em up and knock 'em down. Halfway done.

So yesterday I sat down and all three things kind of came together and I decided to get to work. Simple base colours followed by a wash. That's it. The plan is to go back later and add some details etc, but at first I want to paint all my infantry to this standard. I'm tired of seeing the mustard brown horde battling it out on the tabletop and even painted to a lower standard looks infinetly better! Oh, and come to think of it I might have been inspired by the "Naked Miniatures" article over at Delta Vector. Good read, check it out.

Anyway, I decided on painting mostly similar to the official FFG/Dust Models minis. Swithced around some of the camo blots, but overall similar. I wanted to make the different units easy to tell apart when playing so khaki with OD blots for the Ohotniki and inverted for the Fakyeli. I also painted Koshka, Nikolai and a Commissar as well. This force amounts to about 200 points and I've managed to finish roughly half of my infantry (basing not done though). Not too shabby for just one evening!

After Action Report
Why did I paint these specific units you ask? Well, we had scheduled a Dust Warfare meet-up for today, using 200 point armies. Simple! It was me with the SSU, Anders with Axis, Kosta with Allies and new acquaintance (for me and Kosta) Viktor with some more Axis. We thought about playing a large battle with two players per side, but in the end decided to split the table into two smaller play areas. Borderline too small, but it worked decently I think. I faced off against Viktor while Kosta would battle Anders.

Since I really like the SSU walkers (and I thought it would be a nasty surprise!) I squeezed in three walkers in my army coupled with some Fakyeli and some Ohotniki:

Dust Warfare - Force BuilderFaction: SSU ( 199 / 200 )

--- Defense Platoon (199)
Upgrade: Political Importance (5)
Command Section: Koshka Rudinova with Grand'ma (53, Hero)
1st Section: "Fakyeli" SSU Close Combat Squad (21)
2nd Section: "Fakyeli" SSU Close Combat Squad (21)
3rd Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
Commissar: "The Fonvizin" (9)
Support: KV47-B "Natasha" (40)
Support: KV47-A "Nadya" (30)

Unluckily for me Viktor had brought a force pretty much built for anti-tank. A Ludvig, some apes and every lasergun in the Third Reich! Ouch...

Dust Warfare - Force BuilderFaction: Axis ( 196 / 200 )

--- Blutkreuz Platoon (196)
Upgrade: Defenses (5)
Command Section: Sigrid Von Thaler (20, Hero)
1st Section: Heavy Laser Grenadiers (35)
2nd Section: Laser Grenadiers (21)
3rd Section: Axis Gorillas (24)
4th Section: Laser Grenadiers (21)
Support: MPW II-B "Ludwig" (40)
Support: MPW II-A "Luther" (30)

Deployment. Notice the neat new (old) trees that Anders have managed to dig up.

French countryside here we come!

After using the battle builder we ended up with Eliminate the Enemy and Close Engagement. I was fairly happy with this as it meant my short range troops could get stuck in fairly quickly... then again so would the short range Axis troops. I combined my Fakyeli using the Fonvizin Commissar (although I took him because he has Assault... that the Fakyeli alraedy have. Doh!).

Turn 1

"Hmm... trees... Burn them!! For the Motherland!"

The first turn was harsh for me as I lost my Natasha walker to fire from the Ludwig and Luther. My plan was to use it for suppression but that kind of went out the window with that. My Nadya advanced on the right flank, scaring off the apes as well as Sigrid and her Grenadiers who hid there. Some fire from my Ohotniki proved ineffectual and we moved on to the next turn.

Turn 2

Sigrid and her Laser Grenadiers. And some very camelion-like apes!

The Ludwig fired at Gran'ma but she escaped damage. Realizing that everything in my army except the Ohotniki ignored cover Viktor advanced with his regular and heavy Laser Grenadiers and fired at my infantry to no effect. I decided to throw Gran'ma in front of the bus and she charged straight into the jaws of the Axis guns (betting I would win initiative the next turn). My riflemen fired on the Laser Grenadiers causing a casualty while my Fakyeli geared up for their attack.

Turn 3

Gran'ma chaaaaaarge!!!

I was lucky enough to win the initiative and used my order phase to open up with Gran'ma. She killed a heavy Laser Grenadier and two of the regular ones. She received fire in return but survived. In the unip phase the Nadya from the flank came lumbering around a corner and opened up on the Ludwig with her sulfur throwers inflicting three hits and setting the walker on fire. Woo! The ohotniki advanced and managed to wipe out the heavy Laser Grenadiers. Woo! In a moment of weakness I decided to take the safe route with my Fakyeli and ran out on the flank the Nadya just came from. Good to protect them, sure, but they're an incredibly offensive unit so charging out, guns blazing, might have done more damage!

Gran'ma managed to get a few more shots off, damaging the Luther but in the end the walker was doomed as the Luther destroyed her with its Kampfzange. Fortunately Koshka managed to get out in time and took cover in the nearby ruins (denying Viktor the superiority point as long as she stayed alive!).

Turn 4

Peeking around the corner...

Things were drawing to a close and we were tied for points, 1-1. The Nadya was fired again on the Ludwig and destroyed it (2-1), but it was in a bad position, with two Laser Grenadiers and an ape nearby. The ape charged and even though I hit it twice with the flamers it survived and inflicted damage, as did one of the Laser Grenadiers. My Fakyeli kept advancing but I realized that they would probably not be able to attack anything as Viktor just kept moving away from them. My Ohotniki kept plinking away at the decimated Laser Grenadier squad but didn't manage to wipe it out. The Luther opened up on Koshka but she espaced unharmed!

Turn 5

Just about to wipe out that Ludwig!

In the final turn the final ape managed to survive another double sulfur thrower attack in my Command Phase and in the Unit Phase the decimated Grenadier squad finished off the Nadya (2-2). The ape (which was worth one point) took refuge in the ruins at my right flank... not too far from my Fakyeli. The Laser Grenadiers poured fire into Koshka and managed to inflict six hits thanks to Sigrid's Berserk ability. I was lucky though and saved twice meaning Koshka survived with two hits left. The Luther started tracking her but she managed to run out of its field of fire. The Ohotniki fired ineffectively but finally... in the last turn my Fakyeli got to fire their first shot. Only three of them and the Commissar were in range, but that provided enough dice to bring down the last ape, bringing the score to 3-2 to me.

Yay! SSU victory!

It was a fun battle that started badly for me, suddenly turned in the middle and then stayed tense until the very last turn! Just the way I like it. Gameplay wise I think I made mostly the right choices. With hindsight I should probably have been more aggressive with my Fakyeli in the mid-game - that was a 50 point unit that only got to attack once. Sure they denied points for Viktor, but they could easily have wrecked the Luther if I had gone that way. Next time!

All that anti-tank firepower was scary and my walkers fell one by one. Against a different force they would probably have been more effective, but against these Germans they mostly acted like bullet (laser) sponges. The Ohotniki who look great on paper have yet to really wow me during a game, but perhaps I'm not using them correctly. Might try some Frontoviki next time.

At the other end of the table the Allied force consisting of mostly heavy infantry were badly beaten by a zombie heavy Axis force. Grr... those darn zombies!

Look at that poor lonely Yankee, swarmed by nasty zombies.

I'm looking forward to getting the attack helicopter, as well as the aero walkers (more than the walker transport as it were). Might be fun to try some artillery themed lists. Also really looking forward to the upcoming SSU infantry - the Red Guard - as they have stuff like missile launchers and UGL's that most of the SSU units are missing. Oh... and tanks.

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