Leichte Pionierkompanie

This is a progress update on my early war German Leichte Pionierkompanie for the Flames of War escalation league at Adler Hobby. Recently I completed my second full combat platoon for this force as well as 1500 points worth of troops. Both are milestones that the league rewards with a free blister of figures courtesy of Battlefront. In order to get the reward Battlefront requires the local store furnish them with some paperwork, but Gordon (owner of Adler Hobby) likes to also send them photos of the figures. Gordon also has a 'wall of fame' in his store where he posts the photos. Since I had to take photos, I thought this would be a good time to do a quick review of my progress so far. This photo shows the sum total of figures and vehicles I've painted up since the start of the escalation league back in early September. Actually not pictured is a light AA platoon that I initially painted up, but have since decided not to use. It is shown here in this earlier blog post.

The left section shows my artillery units. In the front is a battery of four 10.5cm NbW35 chemical mortars. These are part of the TO&E for the infantry pioneer list, which I used for most of the lower point games in the league. They're not part of the TO&E for the Leichte Pionierkompanie list, but will still be nice to have around when I use this lead as the infantry pioneers. Behind the mortars is a battery of four 10.5cm leFH18 guns with staff team and transport. These can be used with both lists.

Points for these units: Mortars: 145 points, Artillery 360 points

Center of the force contains the CinC and 2iC with their optional transport of a Pazerbefelswagen tank and motorcycle. Behind them are two full platoons of engineers. Behind that on the left is a platoon of four Panzerjager I tank hunters on the left and a platoon of five Panzer IIc tanks on the right. Behind those are three Panzer IVd  tanks bracketed by my two objective markers.

Points for these units: Company command: 60 points, two platoons of pioneers: 170, 215 or 220 points each depending on motivation and skill, Panzerjager I platoon: 335 points, Panzer IIc (early) platoon: 225 points, Panzer IVd platoon: 450 points, objectives: free.

On the right are my anti-tank guns. In the front a platoon of four PaK36 anti-tank guns. In the rear one 8.8cm FlaK38 Luftwaffe anti-aircraft gun, or more commonly called an '88'. With the 88 is its transportation and to the right transportation for the PaK36 platoon.

Points for these units: Pak36 guns: 145 points, 88 gun: 130 points.

With these figures I'm starting to have a workable force with some options to tailor it to my anticipated opponent(s) or scenario. I still have a few items to finish before I'll consider the pioneer company forces completed. These include: a Panzer I 'destruction platoon' consisting of 5 Panzer I tanks, a second 88 for the heavy AA battery, and six bases of flamethrowers for when I field the pioneers as infantry pioneers.

Once the above items are done I also have a platoon of five Panzer 35(t) tanks and two more Panzer 35(t) tanks for company command which will allow me to use the Panzer I, II and IV tanks along with a platoon of pioneers and the artillery to form what should be a very fun to play Czech Panzerkompanie. The Czech Panzerkompanie will also let me paint up and field a Kradschutzen (motorcycle) platoon that I recently purchased. I just couldn't resist getting them because the models are so 'cool'.

German Panzer IIc Platoon and Halftracks

This is the first of two light tank platoons for my  Leichte Pionierkompanie. Up to now I've been pushing my pioneers as regular infantry pioneers. This platoon is one of two platoons that are key to transitioning from infantry pioneers to mechanized pioneers.

The platoon is made up of five Panzer IIc (early) tanks. These are lightly armored but mount a good AT gun with a rate of fire of 3 shots per turn, amounting to an excellent amount of offensive anti-tank power as well as good machine gun capability should I face Polish infantry or cavalry horde armies, which the local FOW gaming group is fond of. These aren't going to be turning any French or British heavy tanks away, but will serve me well as close support for my pioneers. I think of them filling a similar role that Marders would in mid and late war. This platoon can also serve double duty in a Czech Panzer Company which I think I will work on since it can re-use a lot of the figures and vehicles from my Pioneer force.

I experimented with a few new techniques on these. First I used Flames of War 'War Paint' brand base paint in their 'German Armor' color. This is significantly darker than the Testors Model Master 'Panzer Grey' I've used previously. Because of this I didn't feel I needed a dark wash to bring out the panel lines. I did dry-brush lighter grey over the whole tank as usual and painted the tracks, road wheels and details as I normally would. After this I applied three different applications of Mig detailing powders: Panzer Grey Lightening, European Dust and Dark Mud (in the track areas). Matt overcoat sealed it all in and to my surprise lightened the effect of the detailing powders more than I expected. I like the effect and may actually go back and add the detailing powders to my finished armor.

These are three German halftracks that I've had on my painting table for quite a while. I haven't decided if I'll use them with one of my pioneer platoons or not, but having the Panzer II tanks on the painting table gave me an opportunity to finish them up. These were base coated using the Model Master 'Panzer Grey' spray, and detailed as I have previously done with my other vehicles. I did apply the same three Mig detailing power applications so these will give a good impression of how doing the same to my other older armor will look.

Sorry about the shoddy lighting in the photos. I usually prefer to photograph figures outdoors in natural light but winds here are gusting 30-40 mph and I was afraid they'd blow the figures off the table so I photographed them inside using incandescent light. I really need to invest in a proper photography tent.

Cedar Mountain & February Game Night

Tonight at our monthly club game night I ran my Cedar Mountain game that I play tested a couple weeks ago. Where the first play test was a major Union victory, and the second play test was a marginal Union victory, this game was a stark contrast as the confederates were able to score a major victory replicating history in result if not in tactics. The game was limited to eight (8) turns, but the confederates were able to collapse the Union army's morale in a mere six (6) turns. With the three games running 1-1-1 I think the scenario balance is pretty close to correct, close enough for me to use it at the upcoming Huzzah! convention in May.

I was able to keep this game to my preferred size of five players. Below are photos of the teams. In the left photo are the Confederate players left to right Tom, Charlie and Byron. In the right photo are the Union players left to right Bob and John. The title photo above shows the starting positions with the Union on the left behind the Cedar creek and the Confederates on the right coming down the road and perched on Cedar mountain.

The game started off with the Confederates rushing to each flank and all but ignoring the center. The Union reacted by rushing their cavalry reserve into the woods to attempt to delay the Confederate advance while simultaneously trying to swing their line to react to the confederates on the Union left flank.

After eliminating the Union cavalry the Confederates continued to pressure the Union right flank. In the center the Union drove off a Confederate attach and mounted a successful counter attack but the Union left flank continued to falter to continued attacks by Tom's command which included the excellent Louisiana Tiger Zouaves which lived up to their reputation in this game driving several Union units from the field. In the end the pressure from this flank drove it into the backs of the Union on the other flank all but destroying the Union army. The photos below show the final turns of the game. Units with red and yellow markers are in rout and the Confederates all but hold the crossroads and the battlefield.

Below are a few photos of the other Games at our club's game night. Leo ran a Pacific theater WWII naval game using modified Axis and Allies War at Sea and Phil ran a French and Indian War skirmish game using the Brother against Brother rules.

Early War Escalation League (5)

Saturday we had another session of out escalation league at Adler Hobby. This week we escalated to 1250 points, which required two combat platoons. See my earlier entry for photos of my second platoon of German pioneer infantry.

My opponent for this game was store owner Gordon. Gordon is pushing Polish cavalry with an armored train. Gordon is using a scratch built train he made by kit bashing some HO trains he had. With dazzle camouflage and gun turrets scuttled from 15mm tanks, Gordon's train looked every bit as good as it performed. As far as performance goes, the train proved to be unstoppable for my troops.  I deployed my one platoon of PaK36 AT guns on each side of the tracks in hopes of scoring an early knock-out of the train. Gordon survived round after round of hits with good armor saving rolls and rode the train's 14 MG dice and two main gun batteries to victory. Even my Stuka schwerpunkt didn't seem to be able to stop the train or Gordon's hordes of cavalry and infantry. The Poles seem to be a very nice choice for early war.

Gordon and I had a fun game both learning the train and scenario rules. I definitely made some mistakes in deployment near the train which I will learn from and try not to repeat. When dealing with the train I think treating it like one of the Ogres in Steve Jackson's science fiction board & miniatures game OGRE/GEV might be the way to go. Hit it hard, fast and often until you take it out. I think an all armor force will be less fearful of the train's many MG guns, but for infantry forces the train is a nightmare that has to be dealt with and FAST if you're going to win against it.


We had a good turnout with five players total enabling us to get a game running on each of the three tables Gordon set up. I think the appeal of the larger point totals brought people out for the day of gaming. Photos below are of Don (British Matilda company) and Matt's (German Medium Armor Company) game on the airfield table. And Matt and Jerry's (French Armor) game on the wheatfield table. Matt's Matilda company proved difficult to handle at this point total. I'm encouraged by this since I also have one in the works.

Leichte Pionierkompanie Platoon (2)

This is my second full German light pioneer platoon for my Flames of War German pioneer company. Like the first platoon these are Battlefront figures from several sources: mid-war pioneer blister, Finnish pioneer blister, panzergrenadier blister, etc. Anybody carrying anything remotely like pioneering equipment was pressed into service. I managed to get at least one and in most cases two figures on each stand that are suitably 'pioneerish'.

Since this is my second platoon I needed a way to tell which stands were in each platoon. I chose to mark this platoon with a mustard colored spot at the rear of each stand. I'm hoping this will be sufficient. If not I can always add more later. I just put the finishing protective top coat spray on these this morning in time to head off to escalation league day at Adler Hobby. We're escalating to 1250 points today and two core combat platoons are now required. There's nothing like a game to motivate you to finish a unit!

Now that these are done I can field a full 1500 or 1750 point force for my pioneers. I still have some Panzer I and II tanks to paint up so that I can field these as true Leichte Pioniers. Without the tanks I've been fielding them as standard infantry pioneers. The tanks are in my possession and will be my next project, but for today - we game!

Cedar Mountain Play Tests

Tonight a few of my friends helped me play test an American civil war scenario that I'll be putting on at our club's game night in February. I wanted a smaller scenario so that the game would be sure to be played to completion during a three hour gaming session at our club so I initially selected first Manassas. After getting a lot of RSVPs for my play test session I switched to a slightly larger yet still manageable scenario - the battle of Cedar Mountain - August 9th 1862.

As a starting point I used some historical maps I found on the Internet and the excellent Volley & Bayonet order of battle from Keith McNelly's Volley & Bayonet page. After reading about the battle a bit and reviewing the scenario notes I decided on starting my scenario at the point where the Union forces are approaching the crossroads and the Confederate forces are entering from their side of the battlefield. For sake of speed, I started with all troops on the table and the Union with a 1 victory point advantage. Additional points are scored for holding the crossroads at the end of the game and for exhausting enemy divisions. With the Union easily capturing the crossroads early on their 2nd turn, the burden of attack is clearly in the Confederates hands. Their superior numbers and morale balance this out, or at least that is the plan.

Below we see the two teams. First play test the team on the left comprised of George, Phil, Ross and Ralph played the Confederates and the team on the right comprised of Ed, Robert and Mike played the Union. For the second play test the teams switched sides with Ross remaining Confederate for both games since the Union army could only support three players comfortably.

For both games the Union plan was to set up a firm defense at the crossroads and the Confederate plan was to flank heavily on the Union left flank. On the first game the Confederate attacks went in on turn three and four with the Union repulsing them with heavy losses. After five turns the first game was called as a decisive Union victory. Some photos of this game are below.

For the second game, the new Confederate players chose to take a more patient approach with two of their divisions aiming to take several additional turns to attack the Union lines from the rear forcing them to fight on two fronts. The Union players were forced to make a hasty redeployment that allowed for a swift attack from their front with later attacks from the flank and rear. In the end they held off the Confederates with a final score of 3-1 in victory points, but with both sides having additional divisions only a point or two from exhaustion. During the fighting there was at least one turn where the Union tilted on the brink of disaster, but in the end they were able to consolidate their remaining forces in a firm battle line defending the crossroads.  There are some photos of this game below.

In the end all players got to play both sides of the battle and all agreed that the scenario is pretty close to tuned. I believe that I will only make two small adjustments. One will be removing one of the Union corps batteries, the other will be to somehow bolster Lawton's command, possibly by adding an artillery battery to it, or maybe by just adding some additional strength points to the brigades. I should have a follow up post to this one after our February game night where I will be hosting the final game. I'd like to thank everyone who came tonight to help me play test the scenario.

ACW Re-basing Project (1)

Over the past week I've finished de-basing all of my 15mm ACW figures that were previously based for Fire & Fury and I've started to re-base them for Volley & Bayonet. Tonight I was able to re-base all of my Union officers: 13 division commanders, 5 corps commanders and one army commander. I also was able to start work on my Confederate officers finishing 8 division commanders, 3 corps commanders and one army commander. I still have one more each of Confederate division commander and corps commander. I think this means either I have too many Union officers or too few Confederate officers. Once I start setting up some scenarios I'll know which and either I'll be able to sell off some Union officers or I'll have to paint up a few more Confederates.

Last year I purchased a couple of armies from a friend in our wargaming club which were previously painted by my Uncle. These comprise about half of my collection. After purchasing these figures I re-based a majority of my infantry and cavalry to match the newly-purchased figures. Having a touch of wargaming ADD, I moved on to another project before finishing this one leaving me with the officers, artillery and some infantry left to finish. Below are photos of what I had re-based previously, Union on the left, Confederate on the right:

Below is a photo of what I have left to re-base, mostly artillery (Union and Confederate) and a few units of Confederate infantry and dismounted cavalry.

Yet Another Shameless Plug

Well, we're snowed in today, so I thought I'd continue working on one of my 2011 goals - re-basing my 15mm ACW armies for Volley & Bayonet (V&B). In doing so I've decided that I have too much Confederate cavalry, so I'm not going to re-base all of it. This unit is one I bought at Historicon years ago. Although it's served me well, it's time for it to find a new home. I've listed it on Ebay here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320642242075

These photographs are probably viewable in higher quality than those inserted into the Ebay auction. Hopefully someone will like them as much as I did when I bought and used them. The rest of the figures that I haven't re-based yet are soaking in water to soften up the PVA glue that I used to glue them to the bases. Later this week I should be able to remove them from their bases and get them based properly for V&B.

2011 Goals

I haven't done this in the past, but I thought I'd set out some goals for the upcoming year. I'd like to do this to focus my efforts, which often tend to flow and turn with my changing passions during the year. I'm not promising I still won't get excited about different projects not on my goals list, but hopefully I'll be able to complete most of these.

Goal One - Finish My Early War FOW German Pioneer Company
I'm still waiting on Battlefront to release blisters of the Panzer I and Panzer IIc tanks. I also have two blisters of PaK-36 AT guns on order. Other than that I have to finish painting up my second platoon of engineer infantry, which is sitting on my painting table half finished. This should be a project that I can complete easily this year. The added motivation of being able to use it in the ongoing escalation league at Adler Hobby will help keep me on track with this one.

Goal Two - Finish Re-Basing my 15mm ACW Armies
I've made good progress in re-basing my 15mm ACW armies from Fire & Fury to Volley & Bayonet (V&B), but at about 75% completion I stalled on the project. This year I'd like to put this project to bed and start using the lead to run both V&B games as well as Carnage & Glory games. To motivate me to finish this project I've already scheduled my first two games with these armies.

Goal Three - Finish my Roman and Seleucid FOG Armies
This past year I made GREAT progress on both my Roman and Seleucid Field of Glory (FOG) armies. I'm only missing some mounted commanders to complete the Roman army, which is approaching double the size of a standard 'tournament' army. My Seleucids are looking good as far as core units (Pike, Elephants, Chariots) but still need some additional support. I'm guessing 2-3 more units will complete that army as well.

Goal Four - Convention Participation
Last year I was able to run a game at Huzzah! and run a game and coordinate the Centuries of Conflict event at Carnage. I'd like to do that again this year. I'd also like to try to attend Historicon this year. I didn't go last year and I'm disappointed that I didn't make it. This year I hope to take my motor home down and 'camp' in the convention center parking lot (which is allowed). Maybe I can even get some of the Conspirators to carpool down in the RV.

Reward For Making My Goals
If I can make goals 1-3, I'd like to start work on my 15mm FOW British Infantry Company and Matilda Tank Company. This dual-use command will re-use figures from each, so is only about 25% more work than doing either of the companies alone. 

Variety, the Spice of Life
I hope to sprinkle in at least a couple of 25mm AWI units. This year I only managed a single unit and a mortar. I have PLENTY of unpainted lead left for my AWI collection, mostly new Perry figures which are a joy to paint. Hopefully a couple units will manage to find themselves at the top of the painting queue this year.

Wish me luck in achieving even SOME of these goals. Best of luck to each of you in reaching your own wargaming goals this year.

2010 Wargaming Year In Review

2010 was one of my better years of wargaming for many reasons: I painted a large amount of figures, I enjoyed playing in a lot of games, I hosted several games, I helped coordinate the 2010 Carnage Centuries of Conflict historical game theme and most importantly I made many new friends. Although these milestones aren't listed above in order of importance, let's look at each, one at a time in the order listed.

Here are my painting totals for 2010: 16 28mm foot, 431 15mm figures, 41 15mm vehicles, 21 pieces of terrain/misc, 277 15mm purchased painted or painted via commission.

The 28mm figures were mostly comprised of a single unit, Sargent's Massachusetts Battalion for my AWI figure collection. The 15mm figures were split between four major efforts: the last few units to finish up my Field of Glory (FOG) Roman army, the start of my FOG Seleucid army, the beginning of a Flames of War (FOW) late war Finnish WWII army and my early WWII German Pioneer company also for FOW. Although all of these were exciting projects, I have given the 'photo of the year' award (see above photo) to the Finnish Sturmi platoon I painted up way back in April. These models feature the fun to paint and fun to look at WWII Finnish cammo pattern and scratch-built improvised log armor to ward off enemy bazooka and panzerfaust rounds. This is easily my favorite unit painted in 2010. 

Terrain created in 2010 was mostly centered around laser-created items: 15mm corner ruin objective marker for FOW, 15mm and 28mm versions of a Russian steppes house, and smoke templates for FOW. I also whipped up some barbed wire and minefields for my German engineers to use on the battlefield. Painted figures I purchased were mostly Seleucid units for my FOG army. I also had a large commission completed by fellow blogger Kent from the 15mm paint shack. In my review of Kent's work I also took the time to rate all of the services and companies I buy painted figures from in case anyone is interested in purchasing painted 15mm figures.

I played in many good games this year, many thanks to my good friends at the Northern Conspiracy. I also was able to play in a large number of FOW games at Elite Hobby in Dover and Adler Hobby in Hollis. I attended both Huzzah! and Carnage in 2010 and was able to get in a few games there as well. Not counting the games I hosted myself I was able to play 21 games this year, which is almost two a month! Games I hosted this year included a few 28mm AWI Carnage & Glory games including running one each at Carnage and Huzzah!  My friend Mike C. and I ran a large Magnesia FOG game at our club after a couple of play tests in my basement. I also hosted a couple of HUGE Napoleonic Volley & Bayonet games in my basement as we concluded my 1813 campaign.

The best part about wargaming in 2010 for me has to be all of the new friends I've met. A big chunk of them are the players in the early WWII FOW escalation league at Adler Hobby, but I've also met some great people playing at Elite Hobby and also through my involvement with the Carnage and Huzzah! conventions. To all my new friends, thanks for making 2010 a GREAT wargaming year for me.

AJ