Legions Maxximus - Team Yankee Battle Report

 

As reported previously, Conscript Greg and I ran two games at this year's Legions Maxximus tabletop gaming convention. Greg's Sunday-morning Epic 30K game gained rightful accolades (it looked amazing and played great too), and in the afternoon we ran a Team Yankee mega-game on an 8x5 table.

Here's the blurb: "It's 1985 and the Cold War has suddenly gone very hot indeed! As the Soviets roll across the West German frontier in a seemingly-unstoppable horde of infantry and armour, NATO desperately musters its forces to stop them. A small British armoured battlegroup is surrounded but fighting a determined rearguard action. Can the West German Bundeswehr kampfgruppe rescue the British survivors and continue the fight? Or will they be swamped under the rising Red tide? Tanks, infantry and airpower collide on the battlefields of World War III!"

The initial deployment for the Soviet forces was behind the rail line.

The trapped British battlegroup deployed in the town sector. You can just see the Chieftains around the houses at centre right of the photo, with FV432s behind the petrol station and infantry deployed in that building and in the "McPizza King" right in front of it. Lynx Helarm attack helicopters near, and Swingfires in, the woods.

Here's a higher view of the battlefield; British are at lower-centre left.

Panicked civilians crashed their cars by the Shell station, abandoned them and fled before the advancing Soviets.

Lynx Helarm choppers lurk.

It's on! The Soviet tanks surge across the highway.

View from the Soviet lines as the tank company moves off.

Chieftains light up the FOO in BMP at the treeline.

British deployment quite visible here as the Soviets advance (top centre) - Chieftains at bottom right, Swingfires and helos by the trees just above them, and infantry in the McPizza King.

The Lynxes and Swingfires had a good first turn, lighting up the Soviet SAM launchers and along with help from the Chieftains, decimated a motor rifle company. However in the Soviet turn the ZSU-23-4s got into action and, well... pwnership happened.

PWNED!

As the Soviet T-72s advance they land a few lucky shots - Chieftain brews up.

Over on the other flank, the lone survivor of a T-72 platoon lines up a flank shot on a Chieftain

KA-BOOM!

Chieftains come under fire from Hinds appearing on their flank... not good. The Brits had no anti-aircraft capability and that was a problem for them as they anxiously awaited the arrival of the West Germans from reserve...

Hinds have a target-rich environment. Meanwhile, a Soviet assault on the McPizza King was repulsed, bloodily.

Marauding Hinds take out the last of the Chieftain troop.

Meanwhile, Leopard 2s of the Bundeswehr arrive from reserve to try and salvage the situation. The T-72 company is in a veritable shooting gallery as the Leos heat up the barrels of their Rheinmetall 120mm guns...

Soviet scrapyard...

Over at the McPizza King the British defenders peer out over stacked up pizza boxes and see this...

Motor rifle company closes for the kill.

M109Gs of the Bundeswehr arrive and take aim at the massed Soviet infantry about to assault the McPizza King.

Leopard Zug zips down the highway but is destroyed by the Soviet Frogfoot ground-attack planes. Still no AA on the table for the Allies.

Just as a Team Yankee game should look... massed burning vehicles everywhere.

Conscript Greg reckoned the game ended as pretty much a draw. The British battlegroup was broken and such of the West Germans that made it onto the table were pretty much destroyed as well, except for the M109Gs. The problem for the Allies was not so much the overwhelming amount of Soviet armour - they could deal with that - but the utter lack of any AAA to oppose the Soviet airpower was fatal. Not only did the Hinds impose their will on the Chieftains, but when the Frogfoots showed up things went pretty pear shaped.

However the Soviet losses were... significant, with most (all?) of the battalion's tanks destroyed, and a motor rifle company erased as well. It was a great game and certainly looked very cool with stuff burning everywhere!

Much thanks to Conscript Greg for supplying the board, roads, and most of the buildings, as well as the scenario idea and all of the Soviets (and there were a lot!); also thanks to Conscript Bill who played in the game, and Nathan for making a great last stand with the Brits in the McPizza King! (and of course to Garth of Maxx Collectibles and Bryan of Legions IV Hire for inviting us out to run our game!)

LegioCon 2016: Retreat from Mons Great War Game

In addition to helping Conscript Greg with his amazing 40K game at LegioCon this year, I also volunteered to run an early-Great War game as well. Here is the description:

"The late summer of 1914 was marked by innumerable encounter battles between the German army and the French, Belgian and British forces operating on the Western Front. The game focusses on one of these battles between the Germans and the British Expeditionary Force leading up to the pivotal Battle of Mons in August 1914. Can the plucky "Old Contemptibles" withstand the furious onslaught of the German infantry, Uhlan lancers and even armoured cars? Or will the Huns triumph and drive the BEF back into the Channel? 28mm figures are supplied, rules are "The Great War" by Warhammer Historical.  6 players"

As noted, I used the old tried and true Warhammer "Great War" rules and the "Over the Top" supplement. The scenario we played was "Fighting Retreat", where the defender deploys in a box in the middle of the table, and must exit units off the table. The attacker can hold up to half his force (which totals twice the points of the defender's) in Reserve, and deploys the rest on the opposite short edge. reserves may enter the table on any edge but the defender's home edge.

The forces comprised, for the British defenders, a two-company battalion with three attached machineguns and an 18 pdr field gun. The Germans deployed two battalions each of two companies, plus three machineguns, a cavalry squadron of 12 Uhlans, and two armoured cars. They left one company, the cavalry, and the armoured cars in Reserve, and deployed the rest of the infantry. The models used in the game are all from Foundry's Great War range, with the exception of the Ehrhardt armoured cars (Barrage Miniatures) and the German and British commander models (Paul Hicks's Mutton Chop Miniatures). Some of the Germans were from the collection of our late friend Glenn Shott and I thought of the game as being somewhat in honour of him.

Here's the initial dispositions. German long-range machinegun fire was effective against the British artillery and machinegun. The grey wave rolled forward as the British prepared to withdraw from their positions towards the town behind them.

On turn 2 the Germans were lucky to have all their Reserves appear. An armoured car, an infantry company, and the Uhlans appeared on the British left, while the other armoured car swept in from their right. The unlucky armoured car was torched by "five rounds rapid" fire from the infantry behind the stone wall. Armoured cars in these rules are not proof against small arms fire by any means!

Infantry and Uhlans prepare to assault the British.

Uhlans sweep in! We had a bit of a moment here as we initially played the assault out, the Uhlans absolutely annihilating the British infantry. However, we forgot to apply the Overwatch rule from Over the Top (my fault). Once this was pointed out we rolled back the clock and replayed it with a completely different result - the Brits lit up the Uhlans on their charge and forced a Morale check, which the Uhlans failed, and they failed to make contact with the main British body. The Uhlan Squadron command troop did contact the British company command section, though, and destroyed it utterly.

The infantry company that beat off the Uhlans' charge made it off the table, the first of two units the British needed to exit in order to win. The battalion command group is in the foreground above; you can just see the other German armoured car in the background.

British infantry platoon charges and destroys a German platoon as more Germans approach from behind the woods.

Conscript Bill contemplates a strategic victory but a tactical defeat, as the second British unit escapes the Hun's noose. It was a fun game with much carnage, as you can see from the toppled casualties all over the field. I think the game looked good and the guys had fun - thanks to the Conscripts who came out to play, and Mac, a LegioCon regular who played with us as well.

This was a super-nice surprise for me at the end of the day, as I scrambled to clear away the game (I had to catch a plane for a work trip later that afternoon).

Garth of Maxx Collectibles, one of the prime movers behind LegioCon, said a few very kind words and awarded me this nice token of their appreciation for the games we put on at the Con. It was really nice to be recognized for our participation and I appreciated that a lot. Thanks LegioCon and see you next year!

LegioCon 2016: Warhammer 40K Renegades vs. Vostroyans/Elysians

Two weekends ago, I assisted Conscript Greg with his outstanding Warhammer 40K game staged at LegioCon, a local tabletop gaming event that we have attended and hosted games at pretty much since it began. Above, you can see Greg's amazing desert terrain with my Imperial Bastion, LED Skyshield pad, and bunker/wall complex. It did look good!

We came up with a scenario for my Chaos Renegades and his Elysian/Vostroyan Imperial Guard loosely based on the Siege of Vraks from Forgeworld's "Imperial Armour" book series. Here is the blurb:

As an Imperial Colony is overwhelmed by a revolt, the consular guard make a final stand to protect the Imperial governor at his estate.  And they hope Elysian drop troops will arrive in time to save them? 

Longer version:

The game is set in 813 M.41, early in the 17-year siege of Vraks, an Imperial armoury world that's essentially a weapons locker and staging area for the Imperial Guard.

The Apostate Cardinal Xaphan marshalled hordes of fanatical Renegade followers on Vraks, including uncounted regiments of the Imperial Guard stationed there. Our game will depict part of the battle for the Citadel on Vraks, with loyal Guardsmen defending to the last, hoping against hope for rescue from an airmobile elite Guard unit operating in the area. Those troops have a different objective, however: rescuing the Imperial Commander-Governor of Vraks and ensuring that the arming codes for the virus bombs remaining in the armoury don't fall into Renegade hands. 

Conscripts Dave and Greg survey the bleak terrain of Vraks. The Renegade legions of Cardinal Xaphan are seen at bottom; they include a troop of Leman Russ tanks, a Medusa self-propelled howitzer, a squad of Ogryns, a large mob of workers, a penal squad, a troop of Renegade cavalry (!), and a platoon of Renegade guardsmen with a command squad in a Chimera. Their objective, the Imperial commander with the virus bomb codes, is in the Bastion at centre, defended by a couple squads of Vostroyan honour guard.

The Renegades were lined up and raring to go...

As the Death Riders surged forward, a squad of Elysian heavy bolters deep-struck into position to light them up. And they did...

 

...but while the HBs decimated the cavalry, four or five of their number survived to charge in, and their explosive-tipped hunting lances made short work of the Elysians, wiping them out to a man.

Unfortunately, after they swept over the Elysians, the surviving troopers faced this demoralizing prospect... yes, they all died :-(

Meanwhile, in the centre of the table, the Renegade guardsmen swept forward past the Skyshield defended by a Vostroyan squad.

On the left, the Vostroyan defenders of the Bastion, filled with holy fervour, leapt over the barricades and charged the penal squad! A clever move, as this bought time for the Imperial commander to flee towards the Elysians approaching from their table edge.

The donnybrook between the Vostroyans and the Renegades continued for most of the remainder of the game. But meanwhile, the Imperial commander was getting away...!

Elysian command squad awaiting the commander for extraction... they met a sticky end courtesy of a Renegade Leman Russ' Punisher autocannon.

Elysian flyers crowded the skies as they arrived from reserve, spewing death, destruction, and Elysian drop troops. You can just make out the lone surviving Ogryn Bone 'Ead on the nearside of the Bastion, just past the defence line. He will figure largely into the story later...

The Medusa in action. Jeff, a young fellow who joined us in the game, showed appropriate Renegade spirit as he insisted on dropping large templates alarmingly close to our own models...

This mostly went OK, until a Breacher shell landed on the Renegade command squad that had just deployed from its Chimera transport. The result was predictable, most of the squad died, leaving just the detachment commander and standard bearer alive, and pretty upset ;-)

A target-rich environment, to be sure. Unfortunately I'd left the Blight Drones at home and the Renegades had no anti-aircraft capability. This sounds worse than it was, though, because the mission really required boots on the ground and the flyers were just chrome.

Elysian drop-troops deploy from a Valk, ready to grab the commander.

But what's this! On the last turn the Ogryn Bone 'Ead emerged from the backfield and made a dash for the target... he needed to roll 11 or 12 to make the grab. The first die came up a six! Then the second... a three :-( So close!

So the game ended in a draw...? Yeah, that's it. The Renegades failed to capture the virus bomb codes, though, and we presume that the Imperial commander was the subject of a battlefield execution by the Elysians. Life is cheap in the 41st Millennium and as they say, no matter what happens, "you will not be missed"...

Thanks to LegioCon for inviting us to bring out our game, to Conscript Greg for putting it on, Conscript Dave for his copious 40K rules knowledge and infectious sportsman spirit, and to Gabriel and Jeff for playing it with us, we hope you had a good time.