Pacific War Australians

Hi all, finished these ten Australian figures which are my last painting effort of 2012.  My total painted figure count for the year is 105.  A woeful effort.  Hope you enjoy these pictures, figures are from Brigade Games 28mm Diggers in the Pacific range.  Next on the painting table, a squad of German Mountain troops for Crete.  Hope you all have a great Christmas and an excellent New Year.  See you in 2013.

My 1000pt Bolt Action Army

Three minute vid showing my Waffen SS army for Bolt Action.

Bolt Action near Caen AAR

Hi all.  Another snap shot of a Bolt Action game played this week.  I travelled to Guido HQ with my Waffen SS and I had a crack a Guidos British infantry in a small village setting near Caen in 1944.  We played scenario 1 - Envelopment.  I was the defender.  Defending my base line from the attacking British.  Left side of the table above.  I get 2 points for every British unit destroyed.  The attacker gets 2 points for every German unit destroyed.  2 points for being in my defensive area.  And 3 points for exiting a unit off my base line.

The British start off with a Preparatory Bombardment.  Every unit I have on board is targeted.  The British have a special rule where they get to throw 2 D6 in Prep bombardments and pick them highest result, effectively giving them a double chance at hitting my units.  The attacks left my SS in disarray.  Men blown to bits and everyone pinned down.  My units were spread out evenly across the base line not knowing where the British would come from.  And from the left flank they all came, in a hoard.

 The British set up their medium mortar.  I rate this weapon as one of the best in the game.  The British drop smoke and conceal their advance from MG42s.

The SS mortar crew lost one of their crew in the prep bombardment and took a pin, but they fight back and target the British mortar to no effect.

 A squad of SS are hidden behind a wall.  But no British can be seen because they are going all out on the other side of the board.  Time to redeploy.  Will there be time to get there?

 The British reach the safety of soft cover but are still concealed from a huge smoke cloud out of shot.

 The British dash for the dead ground at the base of the hill directly underneath a MG42.  Bolt Action being true line of sight means the SS cannot see them and the British are now in assault range.

Very blurry picture of the British taking the hill, wiping out a mortar team, HQ team and causing the MG42 to flee for their lives.  Nothing can now stop the British leaving the battlefield and claiming big game points.  The game ended.  British 16.  SS 0.  Big win to the British and I have hell respect for bombardments and British Forward Artillery Observers.  Deadly.  Great game.  Thanks to Guido for whipping my butt and his son Jake for being the rules expert and dice drawer.  Bolt Action is a good game.

Bolt Action - The New Hotness

Really can't wait to get my hands on Bolt Action from Warlord Games.

Soviet Squad

My latest painting efforts see me visit the Eastern Front for the first time.  Just finished this nine man Soviet squad.  I call them the furry hat squad.  I really enjoyed painting these 28mm figures from Black Tree Design.  Currently working on my Dystopian Wars carrier and a couple of Blazing Sun bombers.  They have been on my desk half painted for about 12 months so I need to get them out of the way.   

Australians in the Pacific Command

 The platoon command team.  Officer with a .303 rifle, Sergeant with the Owen SMG, and three riflemen.

Radio Operator Team

Here's a few figures I have been working on.  Not very happy with the command teams faces.  But very happy with the uniforms.  All I have left now for Aussies in the Pacific is one more 10 man section, a flame thrower team, an engineer team, a mountain gun, a 2pdr AT and two Australian variant Stuarts.  Figures above are 28mm Brigade Games.

Disposable Heroes - Japs and Aussies Clash

Youngy came over today for an epic 4 hour clash of Disposable Heroes in the Pacific.  Youngy commanded the Japs and was attacking a small native village on Bouganville, defended by me with a small Australian detachment.
 

 The Battlefield.  Aussies in the middle with the support of a Matilda Frog flamethrower tank.

 Japanese enter on the right with a HaGo Type 95 Tank.

 Japanese entered from the left with another HaGo, and a man pack mountain gun in support.

 Japanese everywhere.

 The Australian Vickers MG crew activate and start firing into the oncoming horde.

An Australian Bren gunner comes under heavy fire, his team pin down in front of the wire.

 Surrounded, the Australians poor out rifle fire.

A Japanese medium mortar crew take cover in a shell hole and start lobbing bombs into the Australian positions.

The Frog confronts a HaGo.  Flames v pop gun.  Who will win? 

The HaGo catches fire and two of the crew jump for their lives as the trapped driver burns.

Suddenly Japs burst from the trees carrying satchel charges and poll mines.  It's a suicide run. 

Meanwhile, the second HaGo is swamped by Australian infantry attempting to drop grenades into the crew hatches.  The Aussies fail.

Crikey, the poll mine carrying Jap charges through MG fire and reaches the frog. 

BANG, the poll mine explodes and rips the Frogs turret apart.  Fuel from the flame tanks ignite and the tank explodes killing all the crew.

The battle ends.  The Japs swamp the Aussies and take the village.  Three Aussies melt into the jungle and live to fight another day.  Another good game of Disposable Heroes.  The pacific rules are interesting.  The Japs are subject to a random chart when pinned down.  The Jap player rolls a couple of dice and the results vary, from making the Japs Banzai attack, or even just kill themselves.  Youngy had 4 soldiers commit suicide.  In the end the battle was costly for both side.  36 Japanese killed.  1 Jap tank and 1 Jap Mountain Gun destroyed.  The Australians lost 33 killed and one tank destroyed.  Thanks Youngy for the good game.  I have pre-ordered Bolt Action from Warlord Games.  I will be interested to see if Bolt Action takes the place of Disposable Heroes as my number one 28mm wargame.

Finns fight the SS in Disposable Heroes

Tuesday night Godders rocked up to my place with a platoon of Late Finns and requested a game of Disposable Heroes.  Who was I to refuse?  I got out my SS, stripped each section of a MG42 to make the game a bit fairer.  And away we went.

Very basic scenario.  Take that hill.  The centre hill is worth 2 points.  The two shell holes worth 1 point each.  The Finns enter the game from the right, the SS from the left.

 The Finns grab the first victory point and set up a HMG in one of the minor victory locations.

 The SS sprint their full 9 inches and take the second shell hole.  Game even so far.

 The Finns Lieutenant waves his arms, and yells "lets take that hill!"

 The Finns hit the crest first, but the SS are nearly there too.  It's time to fix bayonets and fight to the death..

 Sneaky Finn sniper takes out the SS leaders.

The Finns win the close combat battle and take the hill.  The SS try a few sneaky maneuvers but they are countered by the tenacious Finns.  The SS are beaten to a standstill and are force to concede the hill.  Finns victorious.  The battle was costly.  The Finns lost 18 KIA, the SS 20 KIA.  Another great game of Disposable Heroes.  Good win to Godders.  All figures are 28mm.  The SS are Bolt Action and the Finns are Battle Honors.

More Australians

Miniature Wargaming, painting, and blogging have been very slow of late. Apologies for my lack of activity in the blog world. I have been playing a fair bit of the Combat Commander boardgame system and really enjoying it. I highly recommend the game to anyone. I finally managed to paint some figures, my second Diggers in the Pacific squad. Figures are 28mm from Brigade Games.

Australians v Japanese : Point Blank

Last night Youngy and I faced off in our second go at Disposable Heroes Point Blank from Iron Ivan Games. This time round we are set in the South Pacific on the island of Labuan in 1945.  Australians have assaulted the beaches are now streaming inland. The important Bongo Bongo river lays ahead. Who will get there first? The Aussies or the Japs? I am commanding a section of 10 Veteran Aussies lead by a Corporal. Youngy is commanding a section of 13 Veteran Japs lead by a Sergeant. Some may ask, why the uneven numbers? The answer - We are playing historical wargames here, not magical space leprechauns!  The above historical photograph is a posed photo, taken long after the battle ended.

Today's battlefield is a 4x4 table.  A river running up the guts, surrounded by jungle.

The objective of the game is to cross the river ford first.

 The Japs sneaking through the jungle.

Youngy wins initiative in Turn 1 and moves first.  His priority is to get his LMG team in a position to cover the fjord.  This gunner was the Jap hero of the game, hiding in this spot he had good cover and accounted for all Australian causalities.

 One crazy Jap crosses open ground and is subject to snap fire ; PINNED.

The Australians take up positions in the jungle opposite the river.  The lads are a bit apprehensive of advancing as the open ground is covered by the Jap LMG.  I need to do something about that.

A heroic Australian Bren gunner team makes a dash for a shell hole near the river fjord.  He make the shell hole but his offsider does not.  A second Australian rifleman dashed forward to take the fallen mans place.  He does not make it either.  On his own the Aussie bren gunner is a risk of gun jams, but he fights on.  Only to fall victim in time to the Jap LMG.

 The Jap Lance Corporal carrying a SMG, and a rifleman move out to the Japs right flank.

 Another silly Jap runs out into open ground resulting in snap fire : PINNED.

Another group of Japs move out on the Jap left flank, stealthily approaching the river.  Once spotted at the edge of the jungle they come under fire.  One gets pinned.

The Australian section marksman, with his scoped .303, is the Japs biggest threat.  He comes under all sorts of fire but he is not fazed.  He keeps fighting and dropping Japs.  He eventually kills the Japs LMG Gunner.

Slowly the Australian section is whittled away or pined and the Japs are able to cross open ground towards the ford.

The Japs cross the river and Youngy takes victory.  The Australians melt back into the jungle and radio for a Matilda Frog flamethrower tank to come forward.  Buts that another story.  The Japs lost 7 killed, Aussies lost 6.

Good game.  Rules are becoming clearer.  I have a couple of questions to post on the Iron Ivan forum.  This game took about 2 hours.  I am looking forward to more games in the future.  Good win Youngy.