A brief flight of fantasy……

As a brief interlude from historical gaming we decided to throw my Tallarn force into the deepest jungle on a planet far far away……. Sadly the jungle was infested with all manner of lizard creatures !

Although there were technically five objectives the lizards and their thralls appeared more intent on killing  the fine human warriors who had inadvertently entered their jungle. The scene was set could the fire power of the Tallarn kill enough lizards before they got into combat !

Multi coloured lizards race across the table

They appear to have dinosaurs as well 

The men folk dig in and let lose with their supporting artillery

We were using xeno rampant as an easy ruleset, the Tallarn as light infantry get quite a lot of free movement and some free shooting, the lizards foolishly haven’t invented long range weapons other than a few rudimentary blowpipes. 

The Tallarn have tanks too. I thought I had taken more photos than I did, anyway, anybody who deployed on the left of the river got eaten pretty quickly, but the Lizards really struggled to break into the tank. The heavy support weapons in the centre killed lizards in their droves.

On the right a titanic struggle took place which in the first phase went to the dino, who knew they were so tough ! luckily the warriors were able to call in support weapons who drove the dinosaur back and then eventually brought it down.

A lot of blood was split in the jungle but in the end a Tallarn victory, firepower winning out, but it looked pretty sketchy for a while. Those warriors that fell in battle will be mourned, this small portion of the jungle is at least clear for now. 🙂 (no actual lizards were hurt during this battle)

As the weather has been rubbish I have contented myself with painting 

Commanded shot for the ECW

Finished off some penal colony imperial guard to support my Tallarn, these are Wargames Atlantic figures with some kit basing using GW stuff

And just this morning I finished off some smaller ECW cannons…..nearly there for the ECW

Another game planned for Friday which will hopefully get the Naps back on the table.

Thanks as always for checking by Matt ♥️

Armies on Parade : French and Tallarn

After tidying up the weekend sci-fi game I spent a few minutes in the dungeon. Firstly getting the whole Tallarn army out so I could calculate how many points I have in total.

The Tallarn all painted at the moment. Like pretty much all my collections my thoughts immediately go to  thoughts about expansion and what else I might add. Ideally I would have another transport or perhaps another tank. I’m also on the look out for some suitable heavier infantry (stop press these may have been sourced from eBay last night)

Secondly in line with the reboxing of the British I purchased some larger boxes for the French to allow them to be stored safer/easier. So as they were being transferred I did a parade for the French as well.

Obviously I’m pretty happy with these chaps so far. 3 or 4 Brigades of infantry. The lead pile contains quite a bit more infantry and the plan will be to paint these as Legere as I don’t have enough of these. Some guard artillery, another unit of chasseurs and another Curassier regiment. I really mustn’t buy anymore French !

That’s it for now, I been busy painting some more Spanish infantry and something completely different, but they are not quite finished yet.

Thanks as always Matt

Alien Artefact found on Tanus IVb

Having painted up the Tallarn force they needed a proper run out………

Tanus IVb

Somewhere in the depths of space a powerful alien artefact has been located. The Emperor has despatched a crack force of Tallarn desert troops to recover the Artefact and ensure it doesn’t fall into the control of chaos. Unfortunately chaos troops have already landed on the planet. The Tallarn force will have to fight their way from the drop zone, locate and capture the entrance to a series of underground tunnels and then retrieve the Artefact. What neither side knows is the planet is infested with an indigenous species which due to the artefact has mutated and multiplied into a powerful, mindless swarm…….on Tanus IVb you will definitely hear people scream 😱

Scenario

The campaign will be fought over three separate but linked battles using Xeno rampant. Each side having 30 point force for each battle. 

Battle 1 Drop Zone Ambush. We randomly rolled to see which force was landing and which in Ambush. As it happened the Tallarn were landing their objective to get off the table. chaos would be deployed in the corners of the 4x4 table. Only when the ambush was deployed would the Tallarn decide which table edge to escape to, which would force chaos to spread out their troops.

Battle 2 Industrial Complex. The winner of the above would choose their deployment edge in the next battle. A cluttered industrial complex in the desert where 6 tunnel entrances have been located they must be captured and explored. A unit would need to take a turn and activate on a 6+ to open the tunnel entrance to capture it.

Battle 3 The Tunnels. The winner above would be able to choose one tunnel entrance in the final scenario but others would be random. No vehicles in the tunnels the artefact in the centre needed to be captured and if possible removed out of the tunnels.

Indigenous Alien species : these were a NPC they would swarm from Alien spawn points on the table. When any unit moved within 6” of such a node a D6 test would be taken

1&2 nothing happens, 3,4&5 Aliens appear at the node but don’t attack, 6 the aliens arrive and immediately attack. The battle one only small aliens, battle two small and medium and battle three the possibility of giant Xeno arriving. In every wild charge phase a test would be taken for any aliens on the table, and they would randomly assault any unit within range. This fight would then be resolved, these alien wild charges would not prevent the active side also then having to carry out wild charges in their phase. In the first two battles the nodes would act as tunnels with multiple alien units potentially spawning. But in the final battle they would only spawn a single unit.

Obviously with three battles there were a lot of events so as usual not a blow by blow account, just a few highlights.

Battle 1 : Dropzone Ambush

The Tallarn force arrive in the centre and have chosen to exit the table from this nearest edge. In this picture the exit looks easy but there is an enemy Tank off to the left !

The Tallarn mainly light infantry, they do have effective Armour piercing weapons but limited body armour. The Walker is really tough

The Walker stumbles forward triggering the first Aliens to arrive

These charge the Walker but bounce off its armour

and now the theme of the first battle…..more aliens arrive this time charging the chaos militia

Having decided the Walker is too tough more Xeno charge some of the Tallarn infantry

‘Chaos’ now began with Xeno spawning and charging everything in sight, we laughed a lot as our troops were cut to pieces. At one point the Chaos forces chose to spawn another Xeno unit realising the Aliens were tougher and more effective at killing the Tallarn !

The Chaos commander looks on and fires long range into the melee

Finally after a lot of dead Tallarn, and quite a lot of chaos troops one unit and the Walker do make it off the table. However this is not enough and chaos have won the first battle.

Battle 2 : Industrial Complex

After the first turn the two forces now charge forward. Chaos choosing to arrive from the far side

More chaos troops thrown into the attack

Both sides much more cautious if the Xeno spawn points after the first battle !

The chaos General controlling form the rear

Inevitably though more Xeno arrive, in the distance Tallarn have some cavalry who rush forward, but this triggers more Xeno who push them back

With both sides claiming two tunnel entrances, the Chaos Walker manages to reach the central tunnel

Lots more laughing as the Xeno again take control and kill both sides

A final twist as a more powerful Xeno life form is released, these are even more brutal than the smaller species ! But the chaos force has won again having the bulk of the tunnel entrances

Battle 3 : The Tunnels

Having won the previous battles chaos choose to access the tunnels from entrance A and B, Tallarn who have to roll randomly will access from D and C. The Xeno nodes will only release a single unit but there is no way to the Artefact without triggering at least some Xeno

The Tallarn advance cautiously down the first tunnel

Hordes of shambling and ‘contagious’ chaos mutants push down one tunnel

The first Xeno released are luckily still the smaller breed

Ooops spoke too soon  !

Slow progress from this end of the tunnels

The chaos troops are tough but slow and also get caught by Xeno 

Form the far end the Tallarn are quietly making progress

With only one node they manage to push the Xeno back

One of the shambling horde are forced back and inadvertently trigger the node at the artefact itself. With trepidation we rolled on the Xeno chart arrghhhh ! A massive giant creature is realeased, very lucky for the Tallarn they are out of range and it instead heads the other way trapping the chaos forces

An opportunity finally opens up

Chaos forces are pinned back in their tunnels unable to kill the armoured Xeno

Even though it brings them into range the Tallarn infantry rush upto the artefact

Their remaining colleagues sacrifice themselves to draw the Xeno away from the centre, they die a horrible lonely death in a dark tunnel on a remote planet….such is life for the foot soldiers of the Empire !

It takes a turn to remove the artefact but they pass the activation, at this point with chaos pinned down the battle was effectively won. The artefact has been secured for the Emperor.

One final shot of the tunnel complex at the end of the battle

Well that was pretty fun, we had a lot of laughs mainly caused by the random nature of the Xeno and our inability to kill them. In hindsight perhaps we would have made the Xeno slightly easier to kill but such is the way of the universe you never know what you may find on remote planets ? All three battles were fun and quite closely contested. The rules worked out quite well and it was great to get the Tallarn out on the table. We are now planning a larger single battle so we can get all the Tallarn on the table in one go.

A bit more painting going on but I am then away to the Ardennes for a week, but hopefully popping into to Partizan on the way back.

Thanks as always KBO

Matt

Western Desert 1942 and more from this week

Has been a pretty busy week this week lots of hobby time and occasional dashes outside when the rain has stopped. In no particular order……..

Myself and Steve have both been building forces for the western desert 1942 and 1943 and we have been meaning to get them back on the table. Saturday was an opportunity with the weather reasonable enough to setup the bigger shed table to give us as much space as possible. Above the 12x6 foot of desert. No particular historical battle but the Italians would be fighting the British to capture three objectives, the hill in the foreground, the railway station and the small village in the distance.

British Valentines attempt a right flank movement

A battery of 25pounders

British infantry head for the village but the leading trucks are immediate hit at long range throwing the infantry out and pinning them down

In the centre, British Cruiser tanks take immediate fire and get the worse of the fight

Italian tanks cross the railway supported by Semovente assault guns they have weak armour but are armed with powerful guns

The Italians are supported by a German recon unit, and the Italian infantry has made a dash for the railway station, there they come under heavy fire and are heavily pinned down

The Italians push forward, fair to say both sides suffered from some incredible poor dice rolling, both sides on one turn unable to even roll a four with multiple attempts

British heavy Matilda’s move up behind the infantry to assault the village

The valentines are making slow going on the right flank !

Very pleased with the aesthetics of these 15mm tanks in the desert

More Italian infantry approaches the station

The British now attempt a left flank attack as well with a squadron of grants.

British infantry is diverted towards the railway in trucks but these too are knocked out leaving the infantry to struggle across the desert under fire 

Eventually far to much smoke on the British side as the Italians tanks get the better of the combat, the British Bishops eventually knock out Italian antitank guns by the railway station

Perhaps the high (humorous) point of the battle came when one Italian tank squadron managed to roll two blunder double sixes on two consecutive turns causing them to flee the field. Losing my normal decorum the British commander may have let out a small cheer 🙂

Finally the Valentines have made it round the flank but it is really a couple of turns too late

In the centre the tank is tank combat is continuing, but the British are still struggling to make any hits count

The Italian/German air cover attempts to hit the British artillery

Finally the flanks starts to hot up but too late, and even now they struggle to make a decisive break through

In the last throws of the battle the German recon team captures the hill

The railway station is contested 

The village is also contested, but to be fair the Italians have used their numerical superiority to get infantry into both built up areas

The two remaining Grants on the left are now also starting to push forward but it is too late.

All in all the Italians have clearly won the contest the British were really struggling to contest their early capture of the two built up areas. The dice rolling on both sides meant the contest was less decisive than expected. This is the first time we have played with the collection on this scale and we learnt something’s for next time. With fairly balanced forces and open terrain you inevitably get a fairly static battle both sides exchanging long range fire. We decided one option for the future is to amend the rules to make it harder to hit moving targets this would encourage a more mobile battle. It was however, fun to get the collection on the table.

Some painting from this week…

The 8th Army were painted up just in time for the battle, these are forged in battle figures, they are really nice to paint but as the focus is on tanks I’m not sure I would want/need any more ?

A final few Tallarn command figures, these chap came with a broken sword but luckily it matched well with a plastic sword in my bits box

The Imperial standard bearer to match in with other figures in the Tallarn force

This week also saw the next in our Konigsberg Chain of Command Campaign. 

This time the Germans are attacking across a very crowded battlefield with woods and buidlings. The challenge is the Russians don’t need to attack but merely have to defend, so despite loses from pervious battles the Germans have to attack

We tried a mortar battery but really this caused as many problems for the Germans as for the Russian defenders

The Germans give it their best with their pushing forward through the trees on both flanks, but they can’t quite get to grips with the Russian defenders, who concentrate their fire on anybody putting their head out !

Eventually the PzIV makes it through the woods pushing the defenders back but it gets into a deadly duel with a Russian T34.

A critical failed dice roll (story of the week) failing to get a 7 with two dice to hit the advancing T34 the PzIV is knocked out ! The Germans dug in for another couple of turns but really the battle was over, with a fourth campaign battle to take place before possible reinforcements they need to at least try and limit their casualties. A challenging game for the Germans attacking is proving very difficult in CoC !

Finally another outdoor shop from earlier in the week

The weather was very changeable though with blustery showers 😅

That’s it for this week, I have been busy painting more french cavalry for a Napoleonic game hopefully on Wednesday

Thanks as always for checking by 👍 Matt