AAR: Eastern Front Action with Rate of Fire

 Mark and I got together on Saturday afternoon to let the 1/72 toys out for a spin. I set up a very simple "capture the crossroads" scenario and put together two force lists from my Soviet and German collections using the excellent Rate of Fire rules from Crusader Publishing. The Soviets started a bit closer to the crossroad so they felt a bit more like defenders, fitting given the 1942 date I assumed when I put it all together. 

Pregame... the junction sort of in the center is what we're both attempting to control at the end of 10 turns.

The blown out building near the crossroad became a target for me. It was bloody tough to shift those reds once they'd taken up a position in there!

Oh God... the KV moves to threaten my Panzer II!

I had my little tank pull back, but both the KV and BT-7 could both still see it! The BT's shot missed but the big 76mm shell from the KV got the tank's attention! The shot went wide and the German crew all thanked their lucky stars. The Panzer peppered the infantry in the central ruin, it's little guns unable to do much at that range against the green tanks.

Finally, some German reinforcements arrive, in the shape of a Panzer III. Still basically ineffective against the KV, but it could at least challenge the BT. Mark must've though it was more of a threat because the KV pulled back instead of forcing the issue.

I moved the Panzer II out again, trying to keep fire on the infantry in the middle, Mark's big tank peek around the building at it. Not this again! This time the tank found its mark but it was a glancing hit that only caused a morale test which I of course failed. Panzer II, suppressed. Not terrible though, it just is unable to advance towards visible anti-tank threats.

Now that's an anti-tank threat! Some REAL reinforcements arrive. I need to get this thing set up and hope it doesn't get wrecked while vulnerable.

The Panzer II continues harassing infantry, this time some SMG troops in the woods. At this point, Mark was violently cursing and spewing hate at the little tank that could. 

Time to put up or shut up! The halftrack drops the Flak36 and the crew start prepping it right away. The KV watches. It takes a shot.... weeeoooooooowwww.... boom. The shot sails over the 88, it was a bit high. Won't get that lucky next time!

The BT advances to trade more shots with my Panzer III using the woods for some protection. Our shots missed each other.

The BT bursts out of the woods, screaming towards the 88! My Panzer II took its opportunity fire shot and A HIT! Not a great hit, but it caused crew survival checks for the Russian crew... survey says, dead driver! Fantastic for me, the fast Russian tank was immobilized. Sucks for me that :

1) it has a fully functional gun 

2) it is perhaps seven meters in front of my tank

3) the rest of the crew is screaming for vengeance

The 88 and KV trade shots, both missing. Hmm. At least my 251 filled with infantry survived the quick dart across the gap! 

Yeah, there you go. Mark rolled a 12 to hit. That gun against that "armor" and Ze Schnellhund was done. At least the BT was now just a turret. Unfortunately it was in a really good spot to cover the middle of the table.

The dudes from the halftrack and the squad that had been in the woods to the right side of this picture crept towards the ruined building of death and destruction. The Panzergrenadiers had gotten pasted by mortar and small arms fire, thus the few troops you see here. 

My final spite attack. The Panzer III get in position to take a pot-shot at the KV. The 88 had just hit it and killed the commander. The Soviet mortar rained death on the 88 and killed four crew! My Panzer takes the shot which I really really really needed to hit the tracks. I forgot to aim the shot, but it's a good thing I didn't because I got the hit and hit the tracks anyway! If I had aimed, I'd have missed altogether. Just a "track damaged" result reducing the tank to Slow speed and forcing a morale test. It failed. Heh. Scram, Commie! That was 10 turns and we had ourselves a draw. We'd both been mauled, I think I took more of a beating, but that'll happen to an attacking force in this sort of engagement. Either way, it was a darn entertaining few hours of dice and toy soldiers. Thanks Mark!

AAR: Junkyard Pickin'

 Mark, Wayne and I got together at Roll the Bones game store in Savannah on Sunday afternoon for a game of Shakedown, my modern What A Cowboy variant. I put the scenario together earlier in the week and came up with the following.

The guys running the questionably legal towing business in town towed a car to their junkyard a yesterday that belonged to a weed dealer. They didn't know whose vehicle it was when they towed it. The Clanton family heard about and knew the vehicle was owned by that dealer. They decided to break into the junkyard, find the drugs which are likely still in the vehicle, and make a nice score! Of course the Clantons tripped an alarm on their way in so the local police are on the scene to respond. The police also have long suspected the scumbags running the "towing" operation of also running a chop shop so this would give them a good opportunity to get into the office and look for evidence.

Mark took the Clantons, Wayne took the Towhook Gang and I got to run the boys in blue. 

Our 36 x 36 game area. Twelve cars to search. The Clantons are in the back, circled in yellow. They just popped a section of fence. The Towhooks are in the double-wide office (just made this week!). My police are nearest the bottom of the photo.

In no time at all, Little Dale of the Towhooks had located the wannabe thieves. He gave his MAC-10 a long pull on the trigger and gave Uncle Cy a hell of a spray. One of the bullets hit Cy in the head and he was out of action right away!

Since the other guys started the fight straight away at the other end of the yard, I had a long slog ahead of me!

And then it happened. The godforsaken junkyard dog rushed Officer Murtaugh. Roger was rattled but otherwise OK.

And it wasn't long before the JYD was on top of Earl Clanton! Poor Earl got a bit of a bite during his run-in.

"You OK, man? Was that a dog that got you?"

Meanwhile, Officer Callahan had gotten into the office. He was expecting company and was in position to cover the door. When Cale came in after him, "Dirty" Harry was waiting and with a Bonanza token,  knocked Cale down a peg. Cale was taken out of action a turn later.

The summanabatching dog reappeared and took a bit out of Officer Hannah's ass.

Earl's worked his way over to the other row of cars. I worked Murtaugh up to the shotgun fight between Ricky and Booger Clanton because a third shotgun is always fun!

After Harry had enough evidence on the Towhooks, he rejoined the fight was was pinned by Ricky and his sawed-off 12-gauge. Roger took the opportunity to join the shotgun fight and took Ricky down at close range.

Boom, done.

Meanwhile on the other side of the lot, Earl and Booger were making good progress looking for the dope. Surprise surprise, they found it in the Hippy Van! Earl had hit the jackpot.

Callahan moves up to finish off Darrell, the last of the Towhooks. Of course, their trusty dog was right there, screwing things up! I still managed to get a shot off at Darrell forcing him to fall back pinned.

A minute later Harry slapped the cuffs on him. A nice day's work!

But while that was going on, "Fast Earl" had found his calling and made his way out of the lot with the loot! 

So we called the game there. Wayne's group had taken a beating with three KO'ed and one arrested. The cops had plenty of evidence on the Towhook Gang to shut that operation down but failed to stop the break-in and couldn't round up the drugs. The Clanton's lost two of their group and had two make it out intact. My cops performed well, Clancy Wiggums was knocked out, but the others were OK, except for needing rabies shots. That dog was just the worst!

A darn fun game for sure! When Mark chose to enter the junkyard so close to the office, the game turned into a high-intensity firefight right away. Mark did well to extract two guys and continue searching for the loot while Wayne's guys were busy with me. We all enjoyed things and I'm here to tell you, the addition of the dog (a last minute idea thanks to my wife) was just hugely entertaining. The dog would appear instantly and attack any cop or Clanton that rolled triples on any of his activation dice. So you rolled three sixes, great! Fight this dog first though, sucker! Wayne's idea of being able to summon the dog and sic it on someone for its first appearance is pretty strong and I'll remember that the next time it's appropriate. 

Lizards II

 I finished up the second lot of Wargames Atlantic Lizardmen this morning. This group is armed with some very 19th century-style firearms and should make for a neat Sci-Fi or Pulp force. Other than the weapons, I did everything the same as I did with the previous 12 spear-armed Lizzies. Cheerful and colorful for sure!

 

 

 

Wayne, Mark and I are supposed to be getting together for a game of Shakedown tomorrow, my modern What A Cowboy customization. Looking forward to that for sure and I'll of course get some pictures for the blog. Be well!

A Rehab Project

 I was digging around in the garage a couple weeks ago looking for something or other when I stumbled upon some rather old neglected GW Space Marine miniatures from I'd guess the early 1990s. Eighteen beautiful metal sculpts in need of some love! I stripped the old paint and got cracking on a beautification project. Here are the first fifteen.

Eleven rank-and-file unique sculpts, two librarians, an apothecary and a techmarine. Some close ups...

I must say, these were an absolute joy to paint. They took me back to my gaming and painting roots which really started in 1990 when I first stumbled upon the WH40K Rogue Trader book. I'd already been playing D&D and Avalon Hill games before that, but the pictures of the miniatures just hooked me right away.

So, the next group from this collection that needs work are these bad mammer jammers:

Three Space Marine jet bikes still in the original Crimson Fist colors. Standard GW broken flight pegs. Maybe this collection will make their way into a game of Grimdark Future Firefight?

AAR: Dystopian Wars Returns

 It's been close to year since the last game, but Zig and I broke out the Dystopian Wars toys on Saturday. We decided on a land battle and because they've haven't gotten any play time in recent memory, I used my Prussian forces. Ziggy brought his Polish. The scenario was a nothing-special shoot 'em up. We decided on 1200-point forces and we use the "Fleet Action" rules which Spartan put out right before they closed up shop. It's a much quicker, nicer game that retains 90% of the awesome while reducing the frustration by 100%.

Our setup. I had trouble locating my Prussian air units so I had the Honorable Eclipse Company mercenaries lend a hand. My "big units" are on the cheap side and a shorted a couple units resulting in having a couple extra units compared to Zig's Polish. That ended up making a difference as things progressed.

Early in the going, Ziggy is doing his best to re-create the Led Zeppelin I album cover.

A view from the right flank. We'd been mauling one another pretty well by this point and still only in turn 2.

Stompy heads toward the hated Polish airship.

But it was the H.E.C. interceptors that streaked in to finish off the monster! It's always a relief to see that thing get taken off the table.

Twice I attempted boarding actions with my medium tanks. Both times I was thoroughly smacked and sent packing, resulting in a massive build-up of disruption markers on the unit.

The Rarog Landship is looking a little lonely over there with a massive walker right there, the big Prussian tank as well and the H.E.C. Sky Fortress cruising into blasting range.

Final shot of the game. The Sky Fortress unloaded on the big Polish tank, bombers smash into a medium tank and that was all it took. Ziggy's force was thoroughly decimated and we wrapped the game there. 

What a nice afternoon of gaming! The win was a bonus, but DWFA really does deliver an entertaining experience. It's not terribly deep or thinky, but sometimes you just want an excuse to blast the hell out of each other and roll loads of dice. I'm glad I never got rid of my stuff and boy oh boy do I need to find my Prussian fliers!

I Am Lizard, Hear Me Hiss

 I picked up a box of Wargames Atlantic 28mm Lizardmen a week or so ago for a "change of pace" painting project. I figured they'd be fine multi-purpose model for Pulp or Fantasy gaming. Like all other WGA plastic kits I've worked with, the sprues are generous and the models are brilliant. With 24 models in the kit, I decided to equip 12 as melee troops and will do 12 others with low-tech firearms. I poached shields from some Oathmark Goblins for this first group of fighters.

Gloriously colorful! I went with the Chameleon-style heads and picked up some inexpensive static grass flowers on Amazon to really make them pop. I really like the finished look. The next 12 are in the assembly queue now and should make an appearance here soon.

Ziggy and I are supposed to play Dystopian Wars on Saturday. It's been close to a year since we had those toys out. I'll of course post an AAR; Dystopian Wars is one of the OGs (Original Games) on this blog and has been a constant presence here since early 2012.