28mm WWII German Support Teams (2)

These will be the last WWII German support teams for quite a while, possibly forever. These two teams are the last support teams in my German WWII army 'dead lead' pile. On the left a second 120mm heavy mortar to go with the one I painted earlier making a two stand platoon. On the right a 21cm Nebelwerfer 42 rocket launcher. The latter I had to have, both because it's so characteristically German and because the actual soldiers in the Band of Brothers documentary 'Why we fight' specifically mentioned it by its nickname, the 'Screaming Meemie' because of the shrieking sound the rockets made.

Both stands got another coat of Testors Dullcote after photographing as they still had a bit of sheen left on them from the gloss undercoat I use to protect the figures. I'm counting these two stands as eight figures in my painting totals. All figures are Warlord Games purchased from my friend Gordon at Adler Hobby. Next up for figures on the Painting table are some Luftwaffe field division infantry, also from Warlord Games. Next up for vehicles, the last of the German armor - a pair of Hetzers.

I've had a flurry of posts this weekend. Scroll down to read them all!

28mm German WWII Recon Vehicles

Two more reconnaissance vehicles for my WWII German army. Left is an SdKfz 250/9 half track and on the right an SdKfz 222 armored car. These two with the SdKfz 222 I already had will make a three vehicle platoon. Both vehicles are Warlord resin models. They're mostly air brushed with brush painting for the detail work and weathered in Mig pigments.

The commander of the 222 is a conversion. I think he began life as the intended driver of my RSO, but I chose to leave the cabin details out of that model. He's been heavily modified to work here including repositioning his arm and re-sculpting his hand so he would look natural sitting in the turret with only one side of the hatch open. I'm nearing the end of my unpainted German vehicles. All that currently remains are a pair of Hetzers, that are currently sitting on the painting table in primer.

Huzzah! 2018

I took a trip up to Huzzah! 2018 in Portland, Maine to host an AWI game of Electronic Brigadier. Huzzah! is a well run local convention hosted my our northern neighbors, the Maine Historical Wargamers Association. Huzzah! is a great place to meet up with local friends from other clubs in the area, play some games and do some shopping. There are great game offerings, and several excellent vendors. Here is a photo of club members Dave and Greg having a nice talk while Greg ran his Great Northern War game.

Speaking of Greg's game, here are some photos of it during setup and play. The game featured many of Greg's beautifully painted GNW figures, all painted by Greg himself. Greg's game ran concurrently with mine, but fortunately at a table in the same room as mine so I was able to snap these quick photos.

Greg's game ran smoothly and ran to conclusion before the end of the generous four hour game period. 

My friend Ed from Ed M's Wargame Meanderings blog also ran his game concurrently with mine. I took a few more photos of his game, which you will be able to view soon over at his blog.

My game was one that I've run before. The scenario was my Monmouth Courthouse game, "Lee Attacks!" This what-if scenario poses the question what would have come of the battle if Lee had convinced Washington to allow him to attack with volunteer regiments instead of only the individual volunteers from those units.

I was blessed with many players returning for their 2nd or 3rd time playing Electronic Brigadier. The two new players picked up the system quickly and by turn three the game was running itself with me providing a clarification on procedure or GM table ruling here and there. The 27 turns played during the four hour game period went quickly enough that I don't have a great memory of the entire flow of the battle, so I'll just list some significant events from it below.

Both sides played very competently. Dick Bryant's 1st British Lights skirmished the entire game and kept the British left flank secure, while his Dragoons went for a romp in the American back lines, causing some initial panic, but eventually the Americans turned a regiment of continentals and a battery in the direction of the Dragoons which sent them running back to their camp.

On the East flank the New Jersey militia got off one volley before being sent to the rear by a British charge. The 4th brigade commanders seeing how easy that was tried multiple charges into the New Jersey state troops, which were supported by a section of 6# artillery. These charges didin't go as well, eventually exhausting the 4th British brigade.

In the center the British advanced guard slugged it out with the American lead brigades. The Americans formed up their skirmishers after the first wave of charges sent them to the rear. Both armies had good solid lines. Mid-battle the casualties were slightly in favor of the Americans but late in the battle the British made up a lot of the lost ground in that department. In the end two successive charges by the first Guards regiment ended in catastrophic failure as they were repulsed by solid Continental line units. A quick review of the melee 'dice' rolls in the system showed that they got the worst side of  'General Dice' this day. 

At time, both armies had a significant amount of their force streaming to the rear and both armies suffered significant casualties. The American army got the better side of this near draw. End of game statistics were:

British Rear Guard Army cohesion: 64.1% Total Casualties: 737 / 6240 (11.8%) 3 units dispersed 1 routed units Honors to: 132 - 42nd Foot (3 stands)

American Advance Guard Army cohesion: 61.7% Total Casualties: 695 / 7420 (9.4%) 4 units dispersed 2 routed units 1 shaken units Honors to: 204 - 4th, 8th, 12th Virginia

More 28mm German Support Teams

Continuing on with more 28mm Germans for my Iron Cross / Bolt Action army, here are two additional support stands. These are all Warlord figures, painted by me. I've chosen to base them on elongated D-shaped bases. This will allow to use the front straight face for measuring firing arc, while maintaining the esthetics of the round bases in the rear matching other support squads in my armies.

The first stand is a Schweres Wurfgerat 41 - AKA 'Howling Cow' rocket launcher. In terms of Iron Cross this will play like a mortar. I mostly wanted it because of the uniqueness of the model. this was fun to paint up and not difficult to assemble. I highly recommend this model for painters looking for a fun unique unit.

The second unit is a 7.5 cm leichtes Infanteriegeschütz 18 infantry gun. This is more of an early war piece, but I still wanted one since it gives a nice small artillery option on the table, providing the German command with some direct HE fire. A good all-purpose tool. This Warlord model was acceptable to assemble, but required some hand work to get it all to look right. Figures included were great with the operator even having a hand reaching down to the gun trails. I'm counting these as eight (8) figures in my painting totals, counting each weapon as a single figure.

I posted two articles today. Please scroll down to read the other one.

Northern Conspiracy April 2018 Game Night

This past Friday we had an excellent turn out at the Northern Conspiracy's monthly game night. All three games were full of players and great fun was had by all. First on the bill was Robert's Napoleonic 15mm game using his own rules, Robert's Rules of Disorder. I got a couple of photos of Robert's game but didn't play in it. From the sounds coming from the table next door much fun and carnage was had by all.

Next up was Peter's ACW Naval game using Sail and Steam rules.

The third offering was a Crusades skirmish game using the Saga rule set hosted by Mike. I played in this one. Below the Muslim commanders, Rob and Michael. I was teamed up with Dick as the Christians. Mike's scenario has each player with different victory conditions and conflicting goals. Although I didn't necessarily want to attack fellow Christian, Dick, his goals were in direct conflict with mine so care needed to be taken. I was interested in keeping the caravan leader in the middle of the table (run by the GM Mike). Dick wanted him dead as a hammer. Dick won that battle, sending his mounted knights in to the caravan like a cruise missile and sealing the most valuable victory condition on his mission briefing on turn two.

Michael and I met in the middle of the table and while I got the favor of fortune early, Michael's constant pressure and a reverse of fortunes put him on top late, although at a high price. Rob was happy to fight to the last of Michael's troops. I'm not sure how that played with his victory conditions, but in the end he and Michael were both close to Dick in victory points. I pulled up a distant 5th (out of 4 players). Still I found Saga to be great fun for 2-4 players.

Special thanks to volunteer assistant GM Greg, who helped everything go smoothly. Greg's help allowed the rookie at the table (me) keep pace with the other three veteran Saga players as far as understanding the rules went. I found Saga to be initially confusing, but after a single game I feel that I have the system fairly well understood. I look forward to the next game.

28mm Austrian Napoleonics - Ebay Buy

These are three units of 28mm Austrian Napoleonic infantry I picked up on Ebay. They were nicely painted, but suffered a bit from the American Tourister Gorillas at the post office. Here they're seen after a re-basing, touching up and with the addition of a flag. They will fill the ranks of my Austrian army nicely. My 28mm figures bought numbers are pulling away from my 28mm painted numbers. Time to return to the painting table and correct the deficit.

30 Years War Skirmish at Ed's

My friend Ed from Ed M's Wargame Meanderings Blog invited my friend George and I to his gaming loft for a play test of the game he's going to run at the Huzzah! Convention later this month. Ed's game is a 30 Years War skirmish using his own rules. The game featured Ed's wonderfully painted figures with both mounted and matching dismounted figures as well as beautiful terrain, mostly from Miniature Building Authority, with other various bits tossed in. The scenario is set in a post-battle-ravaged town, with Croats, Cossacks and other various looting troops trying to raid a supply depot that was put in the town during the battle, but guarded by an inadequate force. I was given command of a squad of Croats - just my style! They're pictured to the left, mounted and dismounted. Each figure is used as desired to represent the character on the table.

Ed goes over the rules and the scenario. The rules feature a points budget for each figure from which it buys actions, move, shoot, fight, manipulate the environment, etc. The system is very straight forward and easy for convention goers to pick up quickly. Figures last a little bit in combat and are rarely 'one shot'. This means a small squad of figures with which you get to do a lot. Fun.

Ed's known for his work with the word processor and desktop publishing software. His game's QRS and troop tracking cards are helpful and easy to understand. 

As for the game, because it was a play test, we only played a few rounds and then had fun talking about the rules and scenario to help Ed tune the game for Huzzah!

I dashed in with my Croats, dismounted two with muskets and two with pistols. My officer tended to the horses and shouted orders. I bribed one of the quartermaster's men who shot at Ed half heartedly and then ran. My muskets placed a scalding volley on George causing absolutely no damage. My other troops fired on Ed causing only a minor wound. The Croats weren't very good shots rolling five ones out of six die rolls including a 'snake eyes' roll to damage on the one shot I hit.

Ed and George fought a melee in which Ed charged in mounted against one of George's kneeling musket-armed troopers. George counter-charged with another man who drew his sword and made the affair an even fight. Ed still carried the battle due to the fortunes of war. Speaking of fortunes, George picked up an array of small arms in the looting and 10 guilders. Ed scored a couple guilders from two different loot piles. I got only two guilders from the loot store under the Quartermaster's table. Never hide the best loot in plain sight I guess.

This was a fun relaxing evening with friends. The game, for Huzzah! looks to be a fun one; as George would say, 'a ripping yarn'.