Chain of Command - US v Germans (2)

And so back to the Ilko Gaming Hut for the second part of our Chain of Command game.

I began by pulling back my exposed soldiers in the woods, an and using the sergeant to try and shift some shock.

This meant Von Ballzimmer could shift fire from the tripod MG42 on to the troops cowering behind the fence.

The American squad in the woods was now ready to return to the fray and poured fire into a German unit that had unwisely wandered into the open (and SMG range)

At the fence the squad pulled back and the Senior Leader restored some semblance of order

The German squad in the open was taking some serious shock

But on the far flank the Germans were pushing up on the abandoned fence

The German junior leader took a wound, further hampering their chances of recoevring from the shock storm

Seizing the day (and realising time was running out) the Americans in the wood rushed the pinned Germans and wiped them out.

Unfortunately, despite this causing the German force morale to plummet, the brave Anmerican squad were left exposed.
A fierce counter charge by the Germans wiped them out and the resulting checks saw the US FM fall to zero and the game was up.

A good fun game. Second time around we were starting to see some of the nuances of the system (though I expect they'll remain nuances that other people are good at).

General B opined afterwards that he far preferred it to Bolt Action.
I'm not sure the comparison is entirely fair as BA and CoC trying to do different things, but I do think it suits our preferred style of playing.

A big thumbs up from us and another game planned for next week.

Operation Ziege (komplet)

5 bases of goats plus some bonus barrels.
All ready for Canon tomorrow in Retford.

Operation Ziege (Drei)

I little more paint sapped on (off white and some browns).
Ready for washes this evening.

Operation Ziege (Zwei)

Some goat progress

Don't usually paint bases first, but accidentally squeezed out too much Ochre so used it up on these.
Browns and washes tomorrow I expect.

Operation Ziege

This coming weekend is the Cannon show in Retford.
I'll be going along to help James with his splendid Battle for Crete game.
When he asked for folk to take part I pledged a modest contribution of some goats and some barrels.
I later added a Stuka to the pledge.
So far none of these things are finished, but I'm determined to at least get the goats done.
So here they are all glued to Warbases bases (and one to Brenda's face).

They're a mixture of Warbases, Magister Militum and even a trio of old Amazon models.
(Incidentally if anyone knows who is selling the old Amazon range these days, let me know - I found a link a few months ago but forgot to bookmark it)
They're now sitting in sand waiting for the PVA to dry.

40K Campaign

In an attempt to give some structure and variety to our games the Gaming Heir and I have embarked on a campaign.

We're using the excellent "Little War in the Borderlands" campaign structure from Avian's website though obviously with a 40K rather than WFB theme.

The small out of the way planet of Turtus VII lies far from the main centres of the Empire of Man. It's only footnote in the annals of history is that Rogal Dorn once spent a week of reflective solitude on the planet as respite from the ceaseless war of the Horus Heresy.
Since when the planet has returned to peaceful isolation, a sparsely populated planet of no significance.
The fierce warriors of the Black Templars regard the planet as a shrine, and over the millennia it has not been unheard of for Chapter Masters to follow Dorn's example and spend a short period of reflection alone on the planet, living simply, unburdened by thoughts of constant war.
Doubtless Turtus VII would have continued in this peaceful manner had not a fissure opened in the warp and ejected the ships of Waaagh Gruzzkup unexpectedly into orbit around the planet. Orks, being Orks, made landfall on the planet and with a will have set to burning and rampaging around as Orks are wont to do.
The Templars keep discrete watch over the planet, and learning of the desecration have dispatched a force to ensure the greenskins are obliterated and the planet may once more return to being a place of quiet reflection.

We generated a map using Mighty Empires plastic tiles, and have begun to play.
This is the map. The dice (which we'll replace with some sort of tokens, probably) represent the armies.

In the second turn our armies came in to conflict in a couple of hexes and we played a game based in the hex occupied by Templar army 1.

The result was close, but the marines triumphed and the Orks of army 3 were pushed back a hex.

We still have another game to fight this turn (4v2 at the top of the map) before we update the map.

Chain of Command - US v Germans

Steve is away, so General Ballroom and I have decided to play some Chain of Command. We've both had the rules for ages, and I played some Spanish Civil War and WW1 games using the rules with James and Scrivs but this would be our first time flying solo.

I've had a bit of a chequered history with Too Fat Lardies rules, the games I played with people who knew the rules well and could explain  things to me (the above mentioned CoC plus the games of I Ain't Been Shot Mum for Keren) I have enjoyed. When I've bought the rules and had a go at learning myself (Dux Brit and Sharp Practice) I've found them a struggle and difficult to get my head around.
So this was going to be interesting.

We started off with the Patrol scenario and two basic platoons. The dice gave me an extra two points to spend, so I bought a medic and an adjutant ( I remembered the latter was useful in an earlier SCW game). The Germans ended up with an extra tripod mounted MG42. Ulp!

We played out the patrol phase which seemed quite easy to sort out, but turned out to be quite tense - a clever mechanic. Working out the actual jumping off points proved a bit harder but we got there and then we started.

 End of the patrol phase. US in blue,Germans in red.

The early dice proved quite favourable to me and I was able to get most of my force on quite quickly. Most squads grouped around the small house in the centre of my side of the board.

Fewer Germans appeared, but they had better jump off points and were able to occupy the small house in the centre of their board edge.

The Germans also occupied the wooded hill on my right flank. They'd need dealing with.

So I pushed a squad into the woods and a brisk firefight began

At about this point the MG42 on tripod (Ulp!) turned up and began enfilading the yanks in the wood.

I'd established a reasonably strong position toward the centre of the board, protected by walls and fences and was exchanging fire with the German squad in the small house. Including badly wounding the junior officer accompanying them.

At about this point the Germans used their first CoC dice to bring the turn to a close and we stopped playing - leaving the game set up to continue next week.

It all seemed quite straightforward and simple in it's core mechanics, leaving you to focus on the tactics. Which is fine if you're any god at tactics - it may be a subtler game than we're used to.

There are a few bits to go back and try to make sense of - what's the difference between a 2 and a 3 for activation for instance. By the end we think we'd worked out that a 2 meant the unit could activate, including the leader. But a 3 meant the leader activated and he could use his two activations to order the unit and rally off shock or whatever.
Likewise the rule says if an officer is badly wounded he can't activate. So does that mean on a 2 the unit can activate and he moves along with them, or his just stuck where he falls until turn end?

But these are minor quibbles. General B is already looking forward to including tanks and the like and I'm thinking I may add a few more Americans to my force.

Looking forward to the action continuing next week

Properhammer Orcs v Bretonnians

Both kids were swimming but for once I was not called upon to act as taxi and then stand getting soggy as a judge. Steve was returned from the desolate wasteland known as Worcester and so a game was afoot.
Naturally when unencumbered by General B and his irrational dislike of all that is good about toy soldiers we were able to play some Proper Warhammer 8th edition.
Ranked units, magic phases, the LOT!

I took Orcs and Steve took Bretonnians.
I had forgotten how devastating trebuchets are.

The field of WAR(hammer 8th edition)

I had also forgotten about Pegasus knights

Peasants. LOL.

A bog block o' goblins

Big Uns and Trolls

The battle began with me pushing my boarboys slightly too far and them getting charged. Fortunately they held.

Unfortunately they lost and ran away the following turn. A return to form after their heroics last time out.

Lotsa Knights

Double LOL.

Steve concentrated fire on the Big Uns, so they were somewhat below par when charged in the face by All The Knights.

The Goblins had a sudden rush of blood to the head and charged the pegasus knights who had just ejected their chums from the tower.

It looked spectacular, but did not end well.

The knights inevitably broke and ran down the Big Uns and then turned on the remaining spider riders. This was game over for the Greenskins

Good to get the Warhammer toys out, though I feel a bit rusty these days.
We've agreed on another Good Friday Massacre, so I need to get my drinking boots on.

Kislev Dragon Rampant

I went to the Lenton Gamers Club again for another campaign game of Dragon Rampant.

I received a schooling at the hands of some loverly old Jes Goodwin Wood Elves.

It was nasty, brutal and short.

So short I only managed four pictures.

I shall try and do better next month.

40k Templars vs Orks once more

Over to the Hucknall Palias des Jeux with the Gaming Heir for another game of 40K.
This time Helbrecht was verboten and we used points instead of power.
And it worked a lot better.
We still lost, but it was a lot closer.

 Da Fick Red Line

Thwop, thwop, thwop!

 

Yooz lot ova dere! Yooz lot wiv me!

 

Dirty Bad Moonz allies

 

Bad Moonz meat shield

 

Intoo da wudz

 

Waaagh!

 

Where id they come from?

 

And them?!

 

Protect the Rhino

 

'ave some of dis, Oomie!

 

Exit Land Raider

 

Zooooooom Dakkadakkadakkka!

I'm quite enjoying 40K and have started finishing off some of the boys and Nobs