Stalingrad 2019

Been a bit since I've been able to get on and post this.

The aforementioned Stalingrad event turned out to be a lot of fun, though sadly due to it starting a tad late, we couldn't finish. (Due to Densmol's prior arrangements with his inlaws for that evening)

There were 12 players at Ogre's Den in Orange Vale including the Store owner Joe who had to play ringer due to an unexpected dropout on the day. I found myself set to attack the tank factory along with a very nice chap who'd played perhaps one game of Bolt Action previously and who's name completely evades me. Our opponents were Joe and another game fellow and so the Germans and Soviets descended upon the ruins of the factory and had it out.

All started off pretty well for the Soviets with good use of terrain to cover their advances, but after a lucky hit on my partner's tank left it a bunker with a rear facing main gun, and our troops staying clear of the actual factory floor due to the Germans having both a heavy mortar AND and medium mortar AND some off-table artillery ready to light up the first sucker who rolled into the factory things ended up in a stalemate. Not a foot was placed inside the objective until the last two turns where both sides swarmed the building in an effort to hope and pray that they would be the ones left standing when the smoke cleared.

Then Densmol  realised the time and the game was called and I think overall........ it was a draw across all three tables. Not very historic at all. Good times were had by all in attendance and I have to say our end of the extra long (16'x4') table was the most fun with me and Joe giving eachother masses amount of shit each turn and resulting roars of laughter eclipsing the games on the other parts of the board.

Pics taken were not as many as I'd remembered and I blame me for having far too much fun to remember half the time and they are all out of order cos after the first pic I really can't remember which went where, but I think they are good views regardless of a gorgeous table.

The Ogre's Den has since put on a D-Day event last month to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the largest Amphibious assault ever that seemed pretty damn good too, though you'll have to look pics up on their Facebook page as I couldn't go, sadly.

O and the KV-1 tank that I was furiously trying to get painted for the day? Well..... I failed. It got a whitewash and that was it. I aim to try to get it done before the end of the Summer though. We'll see.

D-Day Event

Last month my LGS (Ogre’s Den in Orangevale, California) held an all-day D-Day Bolt Action WW2 event with umpteen players all eager to help recreate this most epic moment of the Second World War.

With multiple players bringing armies to represent both attackers and defenders of the conflict, there really was a LOT to see along with some amazingly well constructed terrain pieces (As the pics will show). As any who’ve followed my blog for at least a little while will know, I do not have a Western Front army for Bolt Action (Mine currently being restricted to Winter Eastern Front games) so I was lucky enough to borrow one from my good pal Densmol and was assigned as a defender on one of the gorgeous beach tables with my partner for the day, Andrew. We were to face the US Ranger landings – us having only 1000 points each and each of the THREE Rangers generals able to make lists of 1500! *this was going to be a heck of a tough, tough game*

This was the beautiful Beach Landing table (Actually two tables long). The top half represented the British landings, whilst the bottom half was where Andrew and I defended against the American landings. *Please note, each table was not allowed to affect the other, so no shooting across tables, etc.*

Other tables described the other action that went on during that storied day – a beach landing by the British on the table next to mine, paratroop drops by both American and Commonwealth forces who were attempting to take out some Flak 88 gun-nests that were providing supporting artillery fire on the beaches and a Commando beach-landing into a German-held French town (Town’s name escapes me now.). Each table looked fab and it sounded like everyone attending had as much fun as I did.

As usual with my battle reports, I’ll keep the blurb brief and leave it to the pics to tell the story with brief commentary beneath. Suffice to say, as history describes for us, the Allied players lived up to their namesakes on almost all of the tables and took the day. But goodness the carnage! Full props to the organisers for designing fun and difficult scenario rules and to Joe the owner of Ogre’s Den for hosting. I believe the next big event will be later in the year where the shop will be running a “Battle of the Bulge” event – perhaps I can use my Winter Germans in an appropriate setting afterall? J

Andrew and I set up our forces, largely consisting of inexperienced Osttrupen and Strafbattalion squads!

This Pak40 Anti-tank gun was the MVP for my force. Long range shots sank 3 landing craft destroying or drowning 6 or 7  squads, vehicles and Officers.

This was the objective area that my force had to defend at all costs. 

Lovely looking trenches with my Straf lads hiding out back and my regular Grenadiers up front, ready to take the brunt of the assault.

 

Meanwhile, over on the Airlanding tables, Flak88's are being defended by both German paratroops and regular Grenadiers. Densmol ran his Fallschirmjagers on one of these tables and I beleive managed to hold off his attacker, though lost his Flak88 in the process. 

There were three 88's on the airlanding table.

The 88's had an ability to be able to fire directly at targets on their own tables or choose to allow the Beach defenders to use them instead to call down a possible indirect artillery barrage. When I got the option to try to call one down, mine failed to hit a bloody thing, but Andrew managed to do some damage to a landing craft and the troops inside on one of his attempts.

The allied preparatory bombardments were rather brutal with both Andrew and I seeing casualties and pin markers aplenty strewn about our forces. The Uphill battle had begun.

So much suppression by those huge naval guns. 

And then the landing craft arrive and start disgorging their desperate cargoes - right into hails of Machine Gun fire by the terrified German defenders.

Each of the black dice represents a Forward Artillery Observer or mortar trying to zero in their nasty payloads on the beleaguered defenders. Yikes.

The Brits on the other beach looked like a bloody swarm.... 

This was my view and I did my best to tackle my immediate opponent's advance, hoping that whittling him down would make it easier to bring to bear whatever I had left against our other two opponents. No, it didn't work.

Already the difference in troop quality (Veteran Rangers and mostly Inexperienced Germans) tells. Glad both Andrew and I brought along a Captain each to help shift our otherwise pinned boys.

Even through all the MG fire, the Rangers start making headway.

And drop a smoke bombardment on my MVP Pak40! No fair.

Commandos assault this town.

Hot Para on Para action.

Off table barrages and mortar bombardments all seem to drop at once and suddenly our center line looks horrifyingly bare! I try to rush my Straffbattlion up to shore the gap. 

Conveniently placed measuring tape will block the objective, right?

Suddenly I am left with three of my squads having barely two members each! Thankful I kept that Captain around to make them pass morale tests!

Fortune favours the bold! I've managed to kill enough stuff on my side to snuff out my immediate opponent's attack, but goodness, there are still enough Rangers in the center advancing!

And so many of them pouring through gaps made in our barbed wire obstacles!

Andrew also is seeing significant troop losses now, we just can't hold on. 

The end game.

I charge those pesky yanks to show them what for. And win.

But it doesn't matter - in the center, Rangers pour over the cliffs and kill everyone in the trenches.

It's not a pretty sigh for the Germans.

Andrew's last stand goes.... poorly. We have lost the beaches and surrender, well, what's left of our forces surrender. 

The 88's all three, were destroyed on the other tables.

One of the attendees set up this nifty display of headwear and uniforms. 

Write-up was a bit of a while coming together, but I've had some stuff come along in my personal life (Trip to the UK, Promotion at work, looking for a place to live.) so hobby has really been on the back burner in general really. Some purchases have been made, namely buying into Burrows and Badgers and I'm waiting on delivery of the new starter set for Relic Knights 2nd Ed sometime in August. Will the buying ever end? I'll try to get some paint on minis some time soon to show off. Thanks for reading.