Rommel 1940 British v German Scenario 4 "Evacuation"

Almost immediately after being painted the 10mm British 1940 force for Rommel rolled into action. My opponent again was Andy, this time using 1940 Germans. Feeling it was most appropriate we went for the 'Evacuation' scenario which sees the British defending five objectives that they need to hold for a number of turns. The Germans need to capture three of the five objectives before they are evacuated or night falls:

The Germans have a substantial points advantage (102 to 82) though actual numbers will be closer as many of the German units are elite. I think when I have  played this scenario before as the defender I've gone for defending the three objectives furthest back while committing only delaying forces to the front two objectives.

This time I thought I'd try a different plan and go for a solid defensive line as far forward as possible. The advantage of this approach is that firstly it would be harder for Andy to achieve the devastating flanking attacks he has become very adept at and secondly if all went well I'd only have to survive ten turns (five of Andy's and five of mine). The downside was that to hold the entire line would use up almost all my forces with nothing left in reserve and only single bases holding the other objectives. If Andy broke through the line the game could be over very quickly as well.

My force consisted of an Infantry Brigade supported by the 'Tiger of the early war' Matilda tanks and an Armoured Brigade. I ended up with only 11 terrain choices but still managed to make a decent defensive position and cover the 10 turn objective with a river. The Infantry Brigade deployed on the left, the Armoured Brigade on the right. Andy had a Panzer KG on his right, an Infantry KG in the centre and a Fallschirmjäger KG on his left:

The Germans move up their infantry and Fallschirmjäger while the Panzer KG makes an immediate attack in the open ground to my left which is thrown back by the mighty Matilda's:

A second attack by the Panzer KG is repelled as well:

The German attack is repulsed all along the line:

Another attack on the right of my line fails:

Things are going no better for the Germans in the centre with only one small gain and heavy losses:

With the first objective successfully evacuated, the German units largely spent and the next two objectives unlikely to fall in time the Germans withdraw to reconsider their plans:

I thought it was probably going to be a short but brutal game and that certainly was the case, after a few turns Andy's Germans had taken a pasting not helped by some poor combat dice on his part which made many of his attacks ineffective. On reflection I suspect that if Andy had massed against one part of the line that might have worked better, by matching my line he ended up with few reserves as well so had nothing to follow up on the damage his initial attacks did. All in all a good start for the new army, maybe next time I will use them as Late War British.

Rommel 1940 British

Yet another example of mission creep here. I ordered something from Wayland Games and it wasn't quite enough to get 'free' postage. So, looking around I saw that they had some of the Victrix 12mm Late War British infantry in stock. Having already got Americans if I bought them I could just replace all my American infantry with British ones, use the same vehicles and play as British! Sounds good!

Once they arrive I think well I'd like to have a few Churchills and maybe some proper artillery. So I order some from Pendraken. I finally start painting the infantry.

Then when arranging my next Rommel game Andy mentions he has done some 1940 Germans and wouldn't mind using them some time. I'd only need to add a few more tanks and I could use the British as Early War as well! So I say okay next game I'll use Early War British and off goes another order to Pendraken. I'd better get on with the painting.

An Infantry Brigade:

Supporting Matilda's and Royal Artillery:

An Armoured Brigade of Cruiser Mk IV's:

Plus some 'Cavalry' in Vickers Light Tanks, some Motorised Infantry and more Royal Artillery:

Finally some Army Level Heavy Artillery:

I like the way the tanks especially have come out, the earlier tanks have a charm all of their own. The infantry are very nice little models with loads of detail which I certainly didn't really do justice to but then with such small drab figures in a darkish room it makes little difference.

The army was only finished yesterday and will be going into action later tonight playing the very appropriate for 1940 'Evacuation' scenario.

I'll need to add more elements really as I only have 80 points worth at the moment and for Rommel you really need around 110 points to do all the scenarios. I have a load more infantry to do but will probably end up splashing out on a few more tanks as well.

Back from the dead! Evil fantasy army

When I went through my lead pile a few years ago one of the things I found was a 15mm fantasy army. I had no idea why I bought it, where I bought it or even what make the figures were. The box contained a Salute limited figure of George and the Dragon dated 2005 which I vaguely remember throwing in the box as it was a 'fantasy' figure so the figures must have languished in the box unloved for at least 17 years!

Looking at them again I thought they'd be a useful further test for using the recently acquired Army Painter speed paints so I cleaned some up, undercoated them and painted a few up very speedily. They went so well that, inevitably, I ordered some more having eventually found out they were from Alternative Armies.  

First up some generic Orcs/Goblins I've decided to christen the 'Skull Crushers' in close order:

Loose order Orcs/Goblins, the 'Bone Breakers':

Fire support from the 'Pig Stickers':

Heavier fire support from the 'Bolters':

Mounted component of the army, the 'Wolf Brothers':

Commanders or chariots, the 'Soul Reapers':

The poor wolves pulling these seem rather underpowered!:

The 'Death Whisperers':

Mounted 'Death Whisperers':

Bill and Ben the troll men:

Grizzler the Giant (and he really is a Giant!):

Darko the Demon:

Pyro the Dragon:

Finally Grunt the Wildman:

Using the speed paints really worked well I think, I honestly reckon cleaning up, undercoating and basing the figures took longer than painting them! They are painted in a fairly basic style with a limited palette but I think overall and from a normal table viewing distance they look fine.

They could probably do with a load of command stands adding with flags and some shield designs which would improve the overall look a lot I think. I especially like the 'Death Whisperers' (obviously based on the Black Riders from LoTR) and the wolf riders, the chariots are also nice.

The other vague reason for finally completing these figures was that my club mate Simon, who produced the Renaissance supplement for ADLG, is going to start on a Fantasy version which should be interesting. As a starting point I assume all 'normal' troop types translate to their ADLG equivalent while everything else equals an elephant or expendable!

At least they are painted and ready for action now to emerge from the darkness of a cardboard box for the last 17 years! 

Space Weirdo's Game 4

Game 4 of the Space Weirdo's campaign saw the crew attempting to 'recover' some mining machinery located in the desert:

This time Steed was accompanied by Mrs Peel with both characters staring off in a hover car:

Deciding that a frontal assault was unwise Steed races the car to the flank:

Mrs Peel leaps out to try to take over the machine but is attacked by a space slug!:

A defending crewman leaps into the driver's seat while Mrs Peel is fighting off the slug:

Hyena boy races to the rescue, the vehicle is fitted with flame throwers though so if the operative manages to fire them.....

Hyena boy successfully storms the cockpit while Mrs Peel evades the attentions of the slug:

Tragically one of the defending guards blows Hyena boy away!:

He then attempts to take over the driving seat but is shot down in revenge by Mrs Peel:

Steed arrives to deal with the slug, successfully doing so by inserting his umbrella into it's mouth and opening it sending bits of slug flying everywhere!:

Meanwhile on the other side of the the vehicle the crew's shooters have been happily cutting down the defenders. One has managed to get into the driving seat and is attempting to drive the truck away:

Another slug attacks Mrs Peel:

A sandstorm has blown up and Steed manages to get lost while attempting to attack the slug. Luckily another of the crew appears and prepares to shoot it:

The slug is shot to bits:

Steed finally locates Mrs Peel:

The target vehicle is captured, the defenders wiped out and Steed and Mrs Peel acquire the jeep for the ride home:

Another fun game with a lot of action from the rest of the crew that I didn't manage to capture and Gary and Jacks set up looked great, all home made as well. Unfortunately I'll be away for the next instalment but I suspect Steed and Mrs Peel will be back in the future!