Ironclad Miniatures - Russian Buildings

First out of the blocks for June and some extra's for Kampfgruppe Sticker and Chechnya, the ruined buildings will be a good compliment to the ones I already own, mostly on one level they will be a useful addition to the town.

The Russian barn when painted does not shrink :-)

It's a nice design and fits the other rural buildings well, but I am not sure I will placing it next to the ruins above. 

The small Russian church is a great casting. I thought long and hard about the colour of the dome, in the end I opted for a blue palette with some gold leaf for the circular spire.... That priest sure knows how to spend his flocks money....

Finally a timber bunker, which will double up as an MG or Observation Post, a number of the Stickler scenario's call for a construction of this nature so this will come in very useful.

The bunker only has two firing slits and no back door so could easily be easily outflanked if the defenders are not careful so hopefully won't dominate the table.

A quick turnaround.

Looking forward to getting these on the table.

Kampfgruppe Stickler #5 - Rats in a trap.

A few miles behind Russian lines over looking one of the main highways to the front, Stickler sheltered from the biting wind waiting for his prey to arrive. The Russians were massing and Battalion Headquarters  had sent him out on a mission to disrupt their supply routes.

As usual troops and equipment are hard to come by, so Stickler only had Kapp and Honig's sections to rely upon, although he did manage to draft in a mortar team in support. He positioned the 251's on the rise looking down the road whilst his infantry lined the tree line.

A after a tense few hours a Soviet column came into sight, the column comprised of an armoured car two sections of infantry and a medium truck. 

Time to give Ivan a bloody nose.
The column crawled it's way into the fire zone like rats in a trap.

Stickler gave the order.... Fire.... Send them to Hell....

Rifle and machine gun rounds raked the column, Kapp's men fired a Pz Faust round catching the armoured dead centre. It burst into flames killing all of the crew, meanwhile the first Russian section gived for cover losing several of their men in the kill zone.  

Honig's men let rip destroying the lorry and a number of it's occupants not bad for a bunch of old men with failing vision.

What does the military manual tell you if caught in an ambush? - Fire and Move...

Kaptain Solmenski watched as the column disintegrated before his eyes, half his men were dead or dying, he had to get out off the road. Under cover of the burning vehicles he charged towards the tree line and Honig's section.

Old men and school boys were no match for the communists and their battle hardened troops. After a vicious firefight Solmenski over ran the defenders, Honig was cut down as the Russians burst through his is position.

Stickler's halftracks swept from the slope clearing the remaining Russians from the road.

Solmenski led his the Russian survivors through the woods. He would have his revenge.

Meanwhile Stickler smiled as his men picked through the wreckage of the column. Today had been a good day.

NEXT WEEK..... Gun fire at dawn.

Well that was short lived, it took longer to set up then play out, good job I did not invite friends round to play.

For once fate fell kindly for Stickler with a number of poor Russian rolls which resulted in a smaller column than anticipated.  Early successes from the Germans in the woods removed half the Russian dice before they could reorganise and return fire.

The loss of Honig was unfortunate but at least he went down fighting.... proper comic book stuff.

Dispatches from the Front VIII

April was a good month with two projects cleared in one go.

May sees a return to the Elizabethan Project with a plan to complete the English forces and some new evil elements entering the campaign.

As we all know a project is never complete, so why not compliment the new infantry with some extra terrain, I ordered a number of new buildings from Iron Clad Miniatures to bolster the Stickler Campaign. They took a little longer than usual arrive due to the new working practices but will fit both the WW2 campaign and my Chechen War stuff.

Two small ruins these should fit in with the other bombed damaged buildings. They come with some additional flooring to make a second storey.

The log bunker is suitable for a number of periods and comes with two firing slits and a detachable roof, a number of the scenarios in Platoon Forward call for bunker clearance or an OP, so I am sure it will get some use in the next couple of weeks.

When they said a large Russian barn they weren't kidding.... I doubt I will be putting the barn and the ruin next to each other on the table top.

Finally a small Russian church enough for a small family and a church mouse. I will base this piece up to give it some texture on the table top. I suspect these should be gaming table ready in a couple of weeks.

The diplomacy campaign continues to keep the club talking I have had a couple of good turns and the Turkish empire continues to expand with new provinces in Russia and the Mediterranean 

We have been trying to give Standard Games - Cry Havoc/Outremer a run out over facetime with both players having the maps deployed, it was a bit of a bugger setting up the maps as our collective eye sight has failed over the years and it was hard to recognise Fulk vs Giles, but played reasonably well if only the Wi-Fi would hold up.

Another potential distraction?

Every couple of years the conversation turns to turning this to a miniatures game.

And with Footsore's Caliphate range back in stock. Hhhhhmm….

Competition time, I was packing away the new reinforcements for the South Koreans and the new M60's when I noticed that the rear guard rail is slightly smaller on one of them. Answers on a postcode if you an identify the different class ?

(Sorry no actual prizes..)

This looks interesting. I quite liked the idea of the Drowned Earth perhaps my Atlanians will have another excuse to entire the table, besides co-op/solo dinosaur hunting? - I mean what's not to like.

Up next Spanish reinforcements and a return to Elizabethan England.

Kampfgruppe Stickler #4 - Honig's Crossing.

The higher ups had scraped together enough armour for a counter attack but first the engineers had to check to see if the ford was passible for the tanks. Stickler had been sent forward to protect the survey party.

As the engineers plotted the course of the river, Stickler rushed his two infantry sections across the ford, including the newbie Gunter Honig and his home guard, the old men and young boys, stared at each other nervously.

Meanwhile he led his heavy weapon section forwards to the high ground over looking the woodland to the East. The wheeled vehicles could not cross the ford and took the long way round.

To Stickler's surprise Russian scout units appeared on the horizon BA64's rushed forward with Infantry in support. The thinly armoured cars rattled forwards towards the Germans rushing to take up defensive positions.

The new man Honig debussed his rag-tag section as the Russian armoured car rushed forwards, grabbing the only sections only Pz Faust he aimed the anti-tank weapon and knocked out the Soviet tin can. 

On the right flank the second armoured car was having better luck it had caught the defenders setting up their HMG and was rattling away with it's own LMG.

Despite the set back of losing the armoured car the Russian infantry continued there advance.

The BA64 was becoming a problem with limited AT weapons the Germans could only sit tight as the bullets flew. The Radio Operator got Regimental Headquarters on the line and called in support from a battery of 105's a several hundred meters behind the lines.

Massively underestimated the coverage of the Artillery it covered the hill top falling on friend and foe alike. Troops of both sides had received several pin markers, Larrs Kapp's section was caught in the open and lost a number of men to their own shells.

Meanwhile a Russian section succeeded in by passing the German defenders and appeared from the tree line over looking the engineers at the ford. The survey team dived for cover as the Russians stopped them from finishing their work. (The survey team needed to amass 20 points, each turn the Germans roll a 1D6 if not under fire.)

Konig's section moved forward to counter the advancing Russians, the second armoured car having escaped unharmed from the artillery barrage faced off against his militia men. A red mist took over him and he he urged his men forward attempting to throw grenades through the open hatches. But the BA64 was to fast. But it beat a hasty retreat beat back by the WW1 veterans.

The Russian assault was blunted  as Stickler pulled in the halftracks to force the Soviets back.

Meanwhile Kapp's section reordered themselves after the friendly fire and were able to get a bead on the Armour Car ripping open the paper thin armour of the BA64.

The loss of the vehicle pushed the Russian morale to breaking point and the engineers were able to complete their task.

Stickler has lost 3 from both Kapp and Konig's sections but the Soviets had been pushed back. It comes to something when half your casualties are from your own side.
Konig had been a real asset. not bad for an old man.....

Meanwhile back at HQ - the Battalion Adjudant pulled Stickler aside. "Stickler I have a mission for you".

NEXT WEEK - A deadly mission.

Germans in Winter Gear - Kampfgruppe Sticker.

This is a very odd feeling. I have actually completed an entire project, not a single piece of unpainted metal exists for this collection. I was ambushed by these last week when reorganising my storage boxes, they had sat based and undercoated in the box for around 5 years.

The combination of locked down, monthly focus on certain projects and desire to clear 30 years of stored figures finally brings them to the table.

Most of the original units have a wintery feel to them a rag tag bunch of Germans in greatcoats and Volkstrum in civilian clothing, so these represent a more well equipment unit in full winter gear.

I remember reading an article several years ago on Operation Werewolf where the German High Command planned to operate behind allied lines carrying out sabotage and ambushes, with members drawn from the Nazi party, Waffen SS and Hitler Youth.

I figured these could be something interesting to bring into the Kampfgruppe Stickler narrative campaign.

The figures are largely early Battlefront and are based in 12 man sections with a MG34 Team and one single Pz Faust which will give them some defence against the Russian armour in the forthcoming Bolt Action games.

Meanwhile continuing with the winter theme I completed these to add to the winter feel, donated to me by a friend of mine several years ago (thanks Dane.) I never did fancy sticking clumps of foliage onto the branches, but they do make rather good winter trees and will give the table that slushily feel after the a heavy frost or the snow begins to melt.

So there we are. One completed project. So that's that it feels like.

Although the Forged in Battle 88mm's are rather nice and to make the postage up I might as well grab some more Soviet Infantry after all you can never have enough Russians, besides I have some spare bases and I would not want to throw them away. These guys will need some transport and they do a nice pack of three Halftracks which includes a radio car, which would be good for a scenario I would like to try...….. Hell I have been in doors for a month and seen how much we waste on food and 'stuff' I should just go ahead and treat myself....

Welcome to mind of a Wargamer.

I guess I am not finished after all.....

Russian Reinforcements - Bolt Action 15mm

I blame my poor dice throwing for this purchase..

How many times in these solo adventures have I rolled on the Platoon Forward blind chart for the Russian MMG's to appear. So a quick order to the guys at Peter Pig and the Soviets have yet more support troops to throw at Stickler.

I might have over done it with the MG's - 4 HMG teams...

Two extra 120mm mortars.

Much like the Germans from the previous post, Observers and Radio Operators to bolster the command choices for the Russians together with a couple of senior command stands which I found languishing in the draw and needed a make over and wintering up.

Let's hope Gunter Honig lives to tell the tale and the Russians need these extra casualty markers.

Not a bad haul and turned around within a week.
I am getting seriously worried that I am now buying and painting new purchases, what will we all do without the lead mountains to talk about :-)

German Reinforcements - Bolt Action 15mm

After the last couple of outings for Stickler I figured it was high time the Germans received some reinforcements or perhaps I finally got to the last of the lead mountain for the WW2 Project. Over recent weeks I have reorganised many of my various armies and unearthed several 'mothballed' projects or hidden packs.... Yes I am a wargames hoarder... 

The last of the German Armour, a Battlefront metal kit and some additional AT support for the Germans. I am not sure how it will stand up to the Russian JS2's.

A collection of Radio Operators, Spotters and Pin Markers. These never made it to the table before but the recent Bolt Action games increased the need for forward observers for calling in the artillery or rare air support. Figures from Peter Pig's German range casualties from their AK47 range.

A pair of 120mm mortars to give some much needed support to Kampfgruppe Stickler. Just realise how out of focus this pic is... :-(

Fresh meat for the grinder. Pretty pleased how these turned out and completed in under 2 days.

Damn just as I thought I had finished the Germans then tucked away in another box is two fresh sections, it looks like this project may have a few more weeks to go. But at least Jerry has some extra infantry to slow the Russian tide.