Battle Report - Tip Of The Spear(head) - 6mm WW2

The Germans roll out toward the Soviet lines.

We recently visited founding conscript Curt C in Regina for a weekend jam-packed with gaming. The weekend's main feature was a massive 28mm Napoleonic game (see here for the report and pictures), but we also sat down to play Spearhead, the wonderful WW2 division-level rules.  The scenario was set in the opening days of the Kursk offensive in the summer of 1943 on the Eastern Front, and pitted the elite troops of the Grossdeutschland Panzer Grenadier Division against the vast defensive reserves of the Red Army.

German forces pre-game.

"Quality of Quantity" for the Russians.

View of the table pre-game.  The German entry is at the top right of the photo, and the Russian table edge is at the lower left.

The table was a 6' x 6' set up, bisected by a road and a rail line, and also a small stream. Some areas of rough going dotted the table, along with a couple of hills and a few forested areas/copses.  Built-up areas were limited to a number of collective farms and one-sector town.  The Germans had 20 turns to exit the majority of their battalions (they had four) from the opposite edge.  Any other outcome was a Russian victory.  Curt took command of the Panzers while I took control of the Russians.

Stug IIIs give the German foot sloggers some armoured support.

Russian 76.2mm guns take defensive position behind the rail line.

The Russians got to start two infantry battalions with some attached AT guns dug in on the table.  They had voluminous reserves in the form of two Guards tank brigades, an independent heavy tank regiment, and an independent heavy assault gun regiment. They also had slim hopes that the Red Air Force could intervene.

The Russian infantry await the German assault.

The German forces were comprised of two panzer battalions, a gepanzert panzer grenadier battalion and a battalion of regular grunts.  They had support from off-table 10.5cn howitzers and the Luftwaffe.

This was a variation on a scenario I last played in 2007 with the gang here in Winnipeg.  I switched it up to better reflect the elite status of the GD Panzer Grenadier division, giving them more Mark IVs in place of the late model Mark III panzers that filled the Panzer battalions of most other line units in this period.  Besides I had just painted a bunch of Mark IVs and wanted to get them on to the table...

One of the aspects of Spearhead I enjoy so much is how well it reflects the relative flexibility (or lack thereof) of the different nations' command and control.  Curt put the German flexibility to good use, creating four different Kampfgruppen by cross-attaching companies among his battalions, so all the tanks had infantry support, and the infantry had some big guns to help. The Russians can't really do this kind of thing (or they can't in 1943).  On the other hand, you have lots and lots of them.

Germans prepare to run over the Russian infantry.

The German engineers punch a hole in the Russian lines.

Curt's troops demolished the on-table Russian infantry with clinical precision.  The Russian infantry gave the German mechanized troops a little trouble at first, but once the German engineer platoons got involved (hello, flamethrowers) it didn't last long.  The destruction of the initial Russian forces brought the reserves on to the table.

Here come the Russian reinforcements....

A Russian tank brigade races to engage the Germans.

Light tanks (aka "ablative armour") lead the Russian advance.

KV-1s rumble into battle.

It starts to go pear-shaped - T-34s fan out, but can't find the range...perhaps all of the burning wreckage obscures the view...

The tide of Russian armour looked dramatic, but it simply did not have the range needed to match the gun power of all those 75mm (and a few 88mm) guns on the German side.  The high-velocity 75s engaged at a range band the Russians could not match, and the Russians were not able to get very close in order to counter-punch.  The steady stream of visits from the Luftwaffe did not help. And while the KV-1 might have been scary in 1941-42, it was pretty lame in 1943. Even the ISU-152s had only a pop-gun range with their weapons.

Luftwaffe makes a visit - the KV-1s are no match for the twin 37mm cannons on the wings.

ISU-152s deal a small check to the Germans.

This Russian brigade is on fire - but not in the good way...

End result was a ton of burning Russian tanks, and a win for the German side.  The Russian did achieve a Thorpian Moral Win with a last-turn air strike by the Sturmoviks that mowed down most of a heavy tank company, but the fact is the Russian defences were going to need a lot more "depth" to stop the GD Panzer Grenadiers that day....

While the game went a little pants for my side, it was a real thrill to play another big Spearhead game.  The rules are outstanding.  Sadly the scenario books available for the game are chock full of unplayable encounters (a problem not limited to Spearhead, unfortunately), but the rules themselves are simple, elegant and fun.

Thorpian Moral Victory as the IL-23s light up some Tiger Tanks....

Big thanks to Curt C and his wife for their incredible hospitality in Regina.  Can't wait to game with the group out west again!

TA-DAAA! Introducing: Fawcett Schwag

Members of our group attend lots of local and not-so-local gaming events - from the Winnipeg 40 Kegger to PrairieCon to Partizan in the UK.

When we do, it's great to be able to represent for our club - especially given the plan for me and Founding Conscript Curt to head out to Salute in April. So a little while back I got in touch with Conscript Kevin, a figure painter and graphic designer of some repute, with a view to designing a kick-ass logo for some Conscripts t-shirts.

So we came up with what you see above! I think Kev did a great job on the design (and thanks Kev for accommodating my constant suggestions ;-)  The basic design is derived from a cool old Scotch whiskey label: the wheat stalks represent our Canadian Prairie heritage; the coat of arms and motto ("Beware the Scottish Number") are referenced on a weekly basis in our games; and the "40% vol." and "26 fl. oz." refer to our other usual Thursday activities ;-)

Anyway, we've now set up a webstore at cafepress to produce our schwag - branded t-shirts and selected other cool stuff like iPad covers and waterbottles.  Feel free to check it out and remember, Fawcett schwag is comfortable, practical, stylish, and makes a great gift!

Hammer Time (part 3)

As previously detailed here and here, a project for me this month has been painting some Hammer's Slammers 28mm blowers from Old Crow. When last I left the project I was waiting for lion rampant decals to finish the Slammers livery... unfortunately when they arrived they were unsuitable, as the lion was stretched out horizontally rather than rearing up vertically... no, that would not do at all.

So I ended up doing what I should've done in the first place, which was paint the insignia on freehand!

 I think they turned out acceptably well. The yellow shield was painted on in GW Iyanden Darksun (a great golden yellow from the Foundation range) and the lion with Mechrite Red highlighted with Blood Red.

Paint chips were added in Boltgun Metal to match the turret. I think these tanks are done now - ready to face whoever their employers deem appropriate!

Skaven Verminlord

A couple evenings last week were spent painting a Skaven Verminlord. I'd picked up the model in a dire state a few weeks ago locally - it was painted (poorly) and broken. I'd always wanted to add a Verminlord to my Skaven army, though, and couldn't resist picking this one up for a song.  So I broke it down, threw it in paint stripper and repainted it.

Doom Glaive blade painted with Boltgun Metal, washed with Devlan Mud and rusted with Dark Flesh

Photographing models is driving me increasingly bonkers. Flash - colours are washed out with distracting shadows. No flash - everything is blurry. I am hoping the solution is this - I've ordered one and will let you know how that works out...

In the meantime, I'm happy with the Verminlord as a two-evening job. I'm thinking of picking up some more old-school Skaven and painting this guy hasn't helped dissuade me... nor has this blog, about one very talented man's obsession with miniatures from the '80s...

Some GHQ WW2 Stuff

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has been a good prod to focus on some historical stuff and get it painted, namely  some GHQ figures I received for my birthday this year.

I based all of these for Spearhead - 1.25 inch square bases, with 30mm round bases representing command elements.  Each vehicle/base in Spearhead represents a platoon.  I have a large collection of Spearhead-based 6mm stuff, and a lot of it (especially the WW2 stuff) is starting to look a bit tired, so this is a good chance to spruce up the ranks a bit.

Up first was a group of German Panzer IV-Gs, and a pair of SPATs - Pak 40s mounted on an RSO chassis. The 10 tanks are sufficient to represent a battalion in Spearhead. The two RSOs will represent batteries of AT guns used by desperate German troops late in the war as hordes of T-34s roll over them.

Note that the crew figures on the RSOs are from Adler - their 6mm infantry is far, far superior to the infantry offered by GHQ.

You know your scraping the bottom when you are mounting Pak 40s on anything with treads...

Up next was a batch of 10 Hetzers, late war German tank destroyers.

And finally a group of 10 German Panzer IV-Hs. As with the other 10-vehicle groups, it includes one on a round command base, and for Spearhead purposes is sufficient to represent a battalion of vehicles in the game (each model representing an actual platoon of 3-5 tanks).

It did not add a whole lot of points for the Challenge, but it has been good to spruce up my German WW2 collection for Spearhead a bit more. Spearhead is one of my favourite games, and I had the opportunity to play a game with Curt C during a visit to Regina last weekend.   I'm just getting some photos organized, and will post the pictures and a battle report to the blog very soon.

Battle Report - FUBAR - The Orks Make Another Escape

The "deal" goes down on 24601.

Last week Dallas hosted a game of FUBAR, 6mm sci-fi skirmish.  The game provided an opportunity for Dallas to premiere his excellent new 6mm detachment that he received for Christmas.  The game would pit Dallas's corporate mercenaries against the nefarious Ork mercenaries who had been a plague upon Mining Colony 24601.  Here are some pictures and a short recounting of the game.

Ork mercenaries pre-game

The Ork mercenary commander

Dallas' awesome troops - infantry from Brigade, and tanks from GZG

Dallas and Brian took command of the Corporate Mercs, while Dave V rolled with the Orks.  The Orks had to hold the mercenaries back while they loaded their stolen components onto the transport craft (working on behalf of parties unknown).  The Mercenaries had hard-hitting power armour troops and sleek grav tanks.  The Orks had some clunky tanks and gun trucks and less-armoured troops, but also sported a pair of anti-tank guns.  They also had the mercenary commander and his mega-armoured bodyguards - very vicious customers.

Ork skirmish line at the start of the game

The corporate power armour enters the table...slowly....

The table was about 4' x 4', with an unmarked but suspiciously well-equipped landing strip at the back corner of the table.  This was the target for the Corporate Mercenaries - if they could spend a whole turn beside the transport and then escape from one of two pre-designated table edges, they will have managed to - ahem - "transfer" the goods in question to new management.

Corporate tanks advance.

Now that's a flank shot! Dave's near-suicidal tactics pay handsome dividends.

Dallas and Brian tried to use the armour to go up the flank, while the infantry punched straight up the middle.  This simple-sounding plan did not pan out very well, as they suffered from awful dice-rolling, particularly on command rolls.  Time was of the essence for them, and the troops struggled to move at all while the Scottish Number held sway. As a result, the armoured thrust moved ahead of the power-armoured troops, and became vulnerable.

Armour without infantry support - it ends in tears for the Corporate guys...

The Ork mercenary commander and his bodyguard literally tear the corporate tanks apart

Dave rolled quite Vegas for his part, and got major mileage out of his outmatched-on-paper tanks.  The Ork tankers made very aggressive, high-risk dashes for the flanks of the merc hover tanks, and managed to sell themselves dearly.  The Ork AT guns also held out very well, knocking out some mercenary tanks before the power armoured infantry overwhelmed them with missiles and assault rifles.

The key decision point in the game came when the un-supported merc armour got within reach (literally) of the Ork mercenary commander and his body guards, who used their power claws etc to rip the tanks apart.  I'm sure the power armoured infantry might have had something to say about this, but all those "1"s for activation rolls were hurting...

Dallas and Brian gave it their best to make up for this loss- the merc power-armoured infantry mowed down a number of the Ork grunts, but they could not get enough command rolls to move forward to the objective.

Heavy fire from the Ork infantry slows the corporate troops down, but does little harm in the end.

The transport prepares to take off - the transaction is complete...

Final result - win for the Orks.  The mysterious components stolen from Binary Petroleum have now moved elsewhere. What will this mean for the humble Colony 24601? Only time will tell...

Final shot of the game - the corporate troops are sweeping toward the target, but it is too late.

We have played several FUBAR games now.  Overall, I think it gets high marks for being simple and fun, but it does suffer in one respect - the whole "roll to activate" approach.  I think this is a great mechanic from an abstract game design perspective, but it sucks as a player.  In the end, bad luck with the dice is bad luck with the dice, whether it is a roll to hit, or a roll to "activate", but in the mind of the player, I would rather have a "chance to shoot" and miss rather than have no chance to shoot at all.  

As it stands, units that fail to activate get to go on a kind of Overwatch, but it's still not that fun to go through, and when you are putting on a game, having fun is the key! I am going to fiddle with the rules a bit to try and ensure some basic options (i.e. a move, or shoot at -1, or something) are always available, even on a failed activation.

Stay tuned for further FUBAR adventures...