Peter's flaming pigs!

Yesterday at the club we played "To the strongest" By Simon Miller. A fast play set of "ancients" rules (by "Ancients" I mean Biblical up to late medieval/renaissance!).

WE actually played Romans in Germania. 3 players on each side. The Romans were Graham, bob and Richard, while the German tribesmen were (from left to right) Peter, Tim, and me (on the right wing.) We each had one hidden card which was a special one use tactic! I'll come to tat later.

All terrain and figures were supplied by Graham. Terrain was symmetrical and we had choice of where we positioned the camps. The Roman camp (needless to say) was Fortified while the German camp was not! Oh dear.

Each side had 13 Victory points and it was the first side to take all the Victory points from the other side.

The game looks quits dull and unaspiring but played well.
All Photos taken from my position! (Right wing otf the German Tribes)

Starting positions.
Bob plays his tactic card on me an all my troops
retreat 1 square!

1st turn I manage to get out of the camp
and advance. All the germans likewise advance.
and so do the Romans.

There is a hole in the German line
to which the Roman elite advance
Opps!

First clash is not devastating
The Germans hold all along the line.

We take casualties but still hold firm )
It could be much worse.

While still holding the Fragile Romans
loose heart and with disaterous effects they break at my flank.

I play my tactic card and Flank march my cavalry
Up to this point kept off table and they arrive
behind Richards now faltering line.
The Romans have a praetorian unit on the right wing
but nothing else.
In 1 turn I score 5 Victory points.

Yes my cavalry arrive and while there presence on the boad
 makes the Romans think and ponder
they do not achieve much

The Praetorians were then trapped
with Germans on two flanks.

They kept turning to face the aggressor.
and were played really well.

Over on   the left wing
Peter faced off against Graham a more experienced player.

meanwhile back on the right wing.
I had an aweful run of cards and could not do much.
except threated the camp
but only threaten.

With both Tim and Myself against the Praetorians
Sooner or later we were going to win
Surely we were!
Eventually Tim did!

Peter had a couple of tries to enter the Roman Camp
both tries were unsuccessful
But his troops had for the most part driven the Roman Cavalry off.
It was expensive in troop casualties
but eventually

The last rurns were evenly matched.
Graham played his special card which was an Assassination attempt.
The attempt failed.
But only just.

Time was about up and Peter played his special tactic card.
Flaming warpigs of doom
It was enough to give us the final Victory point and sent a Roman light horse unit running for the hills.

 

Conclusion: I got 5 Victory points all in one turn and the Germans won
quite convincingly in the end. A total of 13 Vp to 6. the rules were good and I can imagine another game in 2 weeks time. But hopefully with some more and better terrain.

Thanks for looking more again soon.

Yesterday atthe club

My Tank
A Panzer 2

I was having a 5H1T day yesterday, everything I tried went wrong. And then I got to the wargames club. and things went right (at least until I left). Ahh the joy of a decent hobby.

I was going to play Matt at Aeronef, but I broke 2 models looking for the fleet and dropped a box of figures. So I phoned Matt and he was "Don't worry we can do something else!" We did do something else, we both Joined a game of "What a Tanker!" which was run by Graham.  This time it started with me and Graham as the Germans and Dick (aka Richard) and Matt playing the British.

The map from
my seat.

 Both the British were in A-13 Crusiers which I had used last game so I knew they were an OK  tank for the period I was in as already mentioned a Panzer 2 while Graham had a Panzer 35 T which is (game wise) exactly the same stats as the Cruisers. So it was even on points.

The map was a little more open than last time and having almost no armour and a little pop pop cannon I was going to be reliant on using any and all cover I could! (Gulp)

Das Hero Panzer(yeah right)



Dick Tank



Grahams Tank

Matt's tank

As Dick shot at me and missed. I was suffering
from cruelty to small tanks Syndrome.
Yes I ran away and tried to put a hill  between us.
It did not work and he shot at me again.
and again missed







Matt went hull down and Graham  started shooting at him

Richard felt confident and pushed forward determined
to persecute a small and weaker tank

But My tank had teeth.
I was able to circle around and By using the Building
as a covering piece of terrain
get behind him and fire into his weakest parts.
 

Despite being hull down Matt takes enough hits to drive him back
 and then destroy him.

Graham takes cover from the 2 new British tanks

Richard tries again to be needlessly cruel to small and cute  small tanks
 and pushes forward . Trapping me behind the building

Matt's Second tank dies easily on the next turn
having only been on the table 1 turn

The cruelty to small tanks continues and Richard sets me on fire.
Seriously guys there needs to be a law against cruelty to small tanks
 



The game did not end here 2 more people joined in. And now I took charge of a panserjaeger 1. (the weakest of all Tank hunters). Naff armour but a good gun for the period.

 

And I turned it around. even if I took no pics. Graham lost his tank and brought on a second 35T. Kev joined the Germans in a Panzer 3 and Tim joined the Brits in another A13 cruiser tank.

 

After a while the game ended.  and the battle field was strewn with tank wrecks. Some German but more British. The only survivors were Matts Bailed out crew on one kill. Grahams crew on no kills and my crew on 4 kills.

 

I know that next time we play they will all target me especially if I am in a Tank Destroyer. Not just for revenge, although I am sure that will be a factor, but as much to stop me becoming an ace tanker and getting an advantage or two. The rotters. (I am sure I would do the same though so I can't really complain). Either that or they will all start to take German panzerjaeger 1's so do not buy any more Graham.

 

 

That's it for now. As no pics you are free to believe I did not do so much damage and I will not blame you even to me it seems far fetched and unlikely! (And I was there, in front of witnesses)

 

Enjoy the day. Play if you get the chance and dream if you can't play

All the best Clint

Yesterdays game

Board of play
Somewhere in Northern France 1940
All pics taken without me leaving my chair!

Before I talk about that I just want to say it is too damn cold in the bloody garage to build terrain. Feel free to call me a wimp but I do not want to be too cold to work properly! Therefore terrain post will get pushed back yet another day.



I had 2 A13's(White and Blue)
Graham and Tim were my adversaries
They each had a single Panzer 2 each.
Points were equal.

Ok here we go. Yesterday at the club we had a game of "What a Tanker!" by Too Fat Lardies. Graham had set it all up before I arrived so it was too late to through a hissy fit and say that I did not want to do France 1940! The electrician was supposed to be coming to the club to give us more lighting...... he did not turn up!

Realising that if I could divide them I stood a better chance
I went right to face Graham.

Tim started to flank me
so I countered as Graham was playing hard to get
the tease!

I was able to trap Tim with the terrain
and some bad dice by him and him not
knowing the rules at all.
Graham had read them, I just watched Youtube videos!



I was able to reduce his command dice at first.
all the while Buttoned up and Graham
using Rapid Fire with a 20mm auto cannon.
Tim reduced Blues command dice as well

But Tim was not able to move as much as he wanted
he was still acquired by both of my tanks
An Aim, a Fire and 3 hits (2 of which were crits)
and Tim brewed up



Graham spent several turns Moving out of cover shooting and
moving into cover BEFORE I could fire back
The result was that while he did nt penetrate my armour he did force me to retreat.
and I retreated backwards into a building
Tim finally arrived and with a Panzer 3 this time.
he fired at my blue tank.
It missed.
So I returned fire and he failed to save with any armour
dice. the consequence is that 2 turns on the table
And Both of my tanks were on one kill.

I was still taking "temporary " damage and losing command dice
But I was holding on.
Time was lucky and managed to bring on a Panzer 4
I was now up against it.



I managed to retreat back but was out flanked.
Blue had slipped down to only 2 command dice.

Things looked bad for Blue Tank!

Tim Fired and it was a Hit on Blue.
But not a penetration and I was forced to retreat yet again!
I did ask them where they wanted me to go
And they both said off the table!

So with 1 tank against 2 having lost 50% of my tanks I conceded the game
AND WON!
 

Conclusion: The British had destroyed 2 German tanks. While the Germans had only damaged 1 British tank. (Tracks and Optics) Yes I had conceded the French village but I had not taken sufficient damage to result in a loss of tank!

So each of my crews get a kill ring and if they each get 4 more (total 5 each tank) they become aces. A long way to go but a very good start.

Aftermath: Now I am faced with a dilemma. Do I Carry on doing the German and Russians, OR do I swap to German and British? 2 kills is not a start I would chose to give up easily. However Russian Zvezda tanks are cheap and to me that makes a difference. In the tying of this I think I have made my mind up but I would still like some input from you.

Until next time Take care have fun and paint if you get the chance. All the best Clint

Hoka Hey (and a few other things)

Painted these for Peter at the club he's had some kind of accident and broken both wrists and elbows, I do not know the details but we wish him well.

These are the foot and mounted figures from Hoka Hey Wargames (Link). It is in the Border reivers section.

I was given the instructions to "Paint it dark" and having sent the pics to Peter I am assured that it is dark enough! Again no work on the bases as I know Peter likes to do his own bases. This is fine by me and I am more than happy to leave it that way. After all less work for me!

I did ask if this member of the clergy was regular or secular and that is what prompted the Paint it dark comment. The figure was very nice and I would be interested in getting a few more it is also quite chunky as you can see. I do not think you would get so many to the kilo as other manufactures would achieve. However it is a very nice figure and I would be happy to paint more of them as they are hardly ever seen in the south of the country.

Meanwhile back at the Ranch (or other similar clichés)

On Thursday I meat Dave stone. Yes that is him in the picture! He turn out to be a really nice bloke. (I will tell the truth another time) he is in charge of Wargames Terrain Workshop, (LINK). Well when I say in charge his good (or maybe not so good) lady might well dispute that! A terribly nice guy and I am sure if we lived closer we would become good friends, no matter how much he would try to put me off! "No sorry Clint I am not in this month.... did I say I was moving?" kind of thing, you get the idea!

If you have not yet checked out his web site please do, I am sure it will be very much appreciated.

While out to meet Dave I did a little shopping! The APC is for my AK 47 force. The Panzer Mk 3 is now started and has already taken me about twice as long as the T-26 did! Yeah I know, This one came with instructions which made it HARDER! The T-60 is yet to be started I'll let you know how I get on! And Finally some Elephant tusks from Wargames Terrain Workshop. Do not expect me to paint these for at least 6 months. They are for a long term project at least 1 year from now!

Well that takes me into Saturday morning and some emails to send and a Panzer to finish hopefully by tomorrow!

Lewis Gunners and Tea chests.

 Well painting for the club members again. The figure on the left (with the finished base) is for Matt. While the two on the right are for Richard (aka Dick).
Starting with Matts figure it is converted and as such has a head swap. This is not a problem for me after all I did not do the work, I just slapped the paint on. It will go with his VBCW collection. I have painted it to fit I with almost any of his factions so It may be a fascist or a miner or an Anglican or well you name it.


The two figures on the right are painted for Dick. They are Ironclad miniatures Miners. Richard did not provide bases or give any indication or how he wanted the bases done. Therefore I have had no input on what exactly he wants so I have left them bare so he may base them. When I paint for Peter at the club (some very soon, hopefully tomorrow) I am instructed not to base them as he will do that himself. Consequently I have left an email for Richard but have not yet received a reply.  And to be honest unless I get one this morning this is how I will hand them back to him.

Finally for me some Ainsty castings Tea chests. They all came in one pack are enough scatter scenery to edge the dieselpunk project just a tiny bit closer. For those younger then myself you may never have come across a Tea chest! I only vaguely recall them from when I was 5 years old. They were used after that time but I have no personal recollection of them at later dates.

Needless to say they were what tea was transported in from China or India to the UK. As such they were wooden chests with metal edges. I have only used 2 colours of brown for the wood as they are just scenery and will get shot by players (no not literally) as figures take cover behind them on the big airships and in the warehouses.

That is it for today. Please enjoy any weather and have as good a day as you possibly can.

All the best Clint