Inferallti Hussars Transport and Heavy Flamer Squad

 A while back I started a new 30k Army based on the Imperial Militia and Cults army list for Horus Heresy based on the "Old Hundred" regiment known as the Inferallti Hussars. The army list allows for extensive customization in the form of Provenances of War that bestow special stats and bonuses usually in exchange for certain restrictions. On of the options is survivors of the dark age. For people unfamiliar with Warhammer 30k, it follows a period known as the Age of Strife which saw the technological achievements of the previous era largely lost. however, not all societies fell quite so hard and some remnants maintained more advanced technology from a bygone age. Rules wise this Provenance provides +1 to all units armour saves, representing more advanced armour. This rule also allows you to take rhino's and a Land Raider Proteus as a dedicated transport! Thematically, I wanted to add both to the army. I painted up a rhino a while ago, but kept putting off the Land Raider. Last week I finally managed to get to it.

I also painted up a heavy weapon squad. The army list allows you to field a base squad of 5 heavy weapons. The options include all the usual options for an Imperial Guard army with the addition of heavy flamers! With the survivors provenance, they get a 4+ save too. I used a 10 man squad of Forge World Solar Auxilia flamer section mounted 2 to a base.

I doubt this army would perform well against any of the Space Marine Legions, but that's fairly thematic. It sucked to be a normal dude fighting alongside superhumans.

Thanks for visiting

28mm 8th Army Six-Pounder AT Guns

Escalation in the Western Desert continues... I picked up these 28mm Bolt Action 6-pounders and crews from Tista Minis a couple weeks ago - they're the first Brits I've painted for the 8th Army part of the Western Desert project.

Each gun comes with three crew. The base is wood, from Michaels. It's 3" diameter and just about ideal for mounting AT guns. They come 6 in a pack for $3.49.

The crew and gun were painted in the usual way - starting with AK Interactive Light Earth and an Agrax Earthshade wash, highlighting back up to AKILE, and adding some sponge chipping for weathering.

I quite like the animation of the crew here, they're all quite busy with essential tasks. It's just too bad there's no obvious commander for the gun.

Should cause some trouble for the Panzers, what? I decided to go straight for six-pounders in the 8th Army arsenal as the German armour I've got going is on the heavier side, and two-pounders just wouldn't make much of a game.

Fortunately the desert is still holding my attention (re-reading the excellent "War Without Hate" is helping) and I have some more stuff in the pipeline, including the DAK infantry platoon and Panzer reinforcements. Stay tuned!

Getting Back to 30k

Land Raider, Armoured Proteus Variant, painted in the colours of the VI Legion Astartes - resin model from Forge World.

It had been a while since there has been 30k content moving across my painting desk, and as the dust settled on another Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, the thought had been growing in my mind that it was about time to add to the painting side of my 30k pile. When Curt's annual Challenge wraps up, I always take a short breather, but I do sort of always need to be painting something, and usually only a few days go by before I am itching to get the brushes to work on something.

Always fun to check out the not-carbon-neutral propulsion systems on The Emperor's vehicles...

At around the same time the Challenge wrapped up, GW made the formal announcement of new plastic models coming for the Horus Heresy range...well, the jolt of marketing hype pushed my brushes into action. You can see the initial results here - an "Armour Proteus" Land Raider, painted in the colours of the VI Legion Astartes, the Vylka Fenryka. 

I should note, however, that this particular tank was more of a re-paint than a new assemble/paint job. I am doing a bit of consolidation on the loyalist side of my collection, and the vehicle models that had previously been part of my small Iron Hands force are being "re-assigned", as it were, to other loyalists. I'm sure Ferrus Manus would be furious, but...well, who cares, he was beheaded anyway.

Land Raiders are iconic pieces of 30k/40k kit, and I am particularly fond of this "Armoured Proteus" variant for the vehicle, with the twin heavy bolter mount on the front. These vehicles provide combat power and transport capability - and if you play using the fan-made 8th/9th edition of the rules, they are also close to indestructible on the table.

Twin lascannon batteries on the side sponsons, classic Land Raider armament, ready for action on the gaming table.

GW's marketing has launched the steady drip of preview photos and articles that will be released bit by bit in the run-up toward the release of what appears to be a new edition of the Horus Heresy rules. Wow! There will be lots to say and vent about that as time goes along, but for now, it is good to be painting some more stuff for my 30k collection - I hope to be sharing more with all of you as the spring goes along. That's all for now - thanks for ready, and happy painting and gaming!

Battle of Orp - Early-WW2 Bolt Action Battle Report

 

 

So last week Conscript Dallas hosted an in-person game at Conscript Towers - Bolt Action. We have been wanting to do another early-war game since October 2021, when we played the Battle of Stonne, so I picked another scenario out of the early-war Bolt Action book, Germany Strikes!. This was the Battle of Orp, basically a meeting engagement that was part of the larger Battle of Hannut. The tabletop is pictured above - the village of Orp at centre with the table edge at the top of the photo being West. The French entry is along the western table edge, while the Germans enter along the eastern table edge. Victory would go to the side that destroys the most enemy units by the end of the game.

 

 

 

French forces - elements of the 3e Division Légère Mécanique: two infantry sections  and one MMG team each in a truck (models are Solido Simca-Unics), led by a Capitaine. One Hotchkiss H39 command tank, two Somua S35 tanks, and one AMD Panhard 178 armoured car.

 

The Somua crews are rated as Inexperienced, and all the French tanks are affected by the "one man turret" rule where they must make an Order roll on the dice to Advance, regardless of any pins. The command tank provides a +1 morale modifier with a 6" range. All other units are rated as Regulars

 

 

German forces - elements of the 3rd Panzer Division: Two sections of Kradschützen, and one MMG team in a truck, one Panzerbefehlswagen Panzer I, two Panzer IIs, one Panzer III, and one Panzer IV. 

 

All the German units are rated as Regulars and the command tank provides a +1 morale modifier with a 12" range.

 

Conscripts David and Hugh would command the French, while Conscripts Bill and Dallas would command the Germans. Neither side chose to keep anything in reserve, so units would enter the board with either a "Run" or "Advance" order as command dice were drawn.

 

A section of Kradschützen races into Orp

French armour concentrates on their left flank

French Dragons Portés dismount on the edge of Orp

A second section of Kradschützen arrives

Dispostions at the end of Turn 1

 

At the end of first turn, the French had deployed the infantry sections on the edge of Orp, and the MMG team in the woods. Having a captain in command gave them a distinct advantage in both the morale modifier (+3) and the ability to activate up to three additional units. Their tanks were concentrated on the left flank, while the Panhard was on their right flank to pose a threat of potential side shots. The Germans had their motorcycle infantry holding the eastern edge of Orp supported by their MMG team, while their armour advanced on a broad front.

 

German and French infantry blaze away at each other in Orp

French armour cautiously advances

Panzer III is destroyed by the Hotchkiss H39 tank

View of the battle from the French side

While the German and French infantry battled for control of Orp, slowly wearing each other down, the French armour slowly advanced to the East. The German Panzers had difficulty getting any traction, primarily due to unfortunate dice rolls. They rolled high when they needed low numbers and low when they needed high numbers. The Dice Gods definitely were kinder to the French. The Hotchkiss H39 was able to knock out the Panzer III, while the Panhard armoured car destroyed one of the Panzer II tanks on the German left flank.  One of the Somua S35 tanks was hit by the Panzer IV which caused some pins. The French tank failed its command role two turns in a row, and withdrew off the board. The breaking point for the Germans occurred when one of the Kradschützen squads got a "FUBAR" result on the command roll and routed to the rear.

French Somua S35 and Hotchkiss H39 tanks

Routed Kradschützen and knocked out Panzer II

Conscripts Hugh and Bill assessing the damage

At this point, the end of turn 5, we decided to call it a night as it was getting quite late. The result was a French victory, with two German tanks destroyed and only one French tank withdrawing from the battle. This actually matched the historical results of the battle rather closely. The Germans had more tanks knocked out than the French, but were able to recover most of them when the French withdrew.

It was good to play another early war scenario, and be able to put some newly painted figures on the table top. It was a tough one for the Germans since only the Panzer III and IV could really stand up against the Somuas, while even the French Panhard had an anti-tank gun capable of knocking out a German tank. A string of extremely unlucky dice rolls didn't help the German advance either. Until next time.