Schwimmwagen scouts

In the middle of the Christmas stress have I actually had time for some modelling. As you might read in my previous post that the Grey Wolf has arrived with some changes in the rules. I have during the autumn been building a Stug company  from "Stalins Onslaught" and with the new rules for tank escorts will it be really fun to play it. Before was the cost for the Begleit teams outrageous 30p each and have now come down to 15p each and the new rules that come with them.

To my unit do I need some reconnaissance platoon and for the Stug company do I only have one option which is the Sturm Reconnaissance platoon. The platoon is in base 5 Motorcycle mg teams which you can swap to Schwimmwagens for no cost. There where some confusion regarding the basing and the rules for this new teams because they have introduced the same rules as in Blitzkreig and Hellfire and Back books for EW. 

The new rules are saying that my teams are "reconnaissance" teams while there mounted. They can demount send the bikes/jeeps away and become normal soldiers and later in the game call for the bikes/jeeps again and mount again. The really good thing with the new rules are that they have a 3+ save even when they are mounted. When you use this new kind of rec team is the basing change. You should use the EW way of basing which is a medium base for the command team and a large bases for you MG teams. 

More information regarding Schwimmwagen

Grey Wolf has arrived!

After a long waiting have got hold of the Grey Wolf book. This is the latest compilation for East front, Late war for Flames of War. Battle front have collected all the small separate books on different front sections and added the released PDF´s to this book. It is one massive book of 265 full colour hardbound book it weighs down your already heavy figure bag.
There is a few changes in the points and the abilities. First thing all MG teams have become cheaper which is very welcome. How you bye and build fortifications have changed allot, it reminds to Hell-fire and Back system. Instead of buying separate trenches etc. do you buy a strong point with nests, bunkers and trenches you if you defences do you minimum need to spend 110p which is two strong points. When you deploy you strong points you mark a centre point all of the defences and the attached platoon needs to be with in 30cm and not closer then 15cm of any other strong point defences or from the table edges. This will cause gaps in the defences which I think will give a more fluid game. I have some worries how missions like cauldron will be handled it will be hard to deploy to strong points with the 80cm diameter circle you have for deployment. I think this new rules is for cleaning up the different defences rules and have one common ground for all periods and I think we will see this changes in Flames of War V3 which will be released in the spring.

Next big changes regarding defences are the introduction of Booby traps which have the same rules as in the Vietnam rules. This is one major thing for the infantry because it can halt the Russian infantry advance completely. There is a few rules for the booby trap but shortly what you do is place a small base during your ambush some where in your deployment zone or deadman´s land. It can be placed under a enemy team if so wish. Next turn when your opponent want to cross or move over a booby trap do he need to first role a successful moral and then a successful skill not to be hit and role a save. If one team was hit during his movement will the hole platoon be pinned down after the movement phase is completed. And as we all know a pinned down platoon can not assault. So the Germans win one more round if they are lucky. The Booby trap cost 10points each and is a one time use, in most defensive rooster can you have a maximum of 16 booby traps. I like the new traps but it can cause problem because you can snipe our trap on to commanding teams, for a German player is this not a problem but for a Russian could it cause major problems. I think that we will see allot more of higher command teams so you have in practise to Company commanders and that your commander will not join the assault all the time because he will be a target. I will have to play it a few times to get a opinion about it.

There is off course more big changes. They have change the designated tank riders to tank escorts. You can still tank ride if you want to but the Begliet teams are now bought as separate infantry platoon or as tank escorts. The rules around tank escort is completely changed in short they belong to the tank they can never jump of and they are only killed when the tank is killed. They fight as a separate team in assault and you can chose to fight with the tank escort only if you wish then the tank do not need to role for bog check. This new rules will be allot easier and more streamlined I think. I guess that it is also closer to the new rules that will be released.

And finally the last big change is that they give breakthrough gun to all weapons that are over 10cm in width. I am not 100% confident about this change because it makes it allot harder for infantry to survive, but this have to be game tested. I think Battle front have thought it through and tried to balance it.

So this is the Grey Wolf in general. I think it is a beautiful book and the print and binding is very good. There is changes all over the book and I have only taken up the big changes. For the Russians are there more changes I do not own the book so I will not speak about there changes. I am pleased with the new rules it will change the game play a bit and it will take a few games to get use to it. There will be a big (swedish standards) east front tournament where we are allowed to use the new books + the old ones. So it will be interesting to see the result. Will the new lists be more power full then the old ones? Have Battle front introduced a point inflation to the game as other major game companies?

Beach landing scenario FOW

Last Sunday did I try something new for Flames of War which was very fun. At my local game store did we play a Beach landing scenario and it was a part of the campaign they are running. On of the local gamers supplied with to beautiful beaches and villages so a BIG thanks to him otherwise would this not be possible.

Because it was in the campaign and we are at only 600points at the moment where we 5axis general and 4 allies general with point boost´s. Of course did the Germans have a few coastal defences and the allies more soldiers to storm the beach.

Deployment as normal Germans dig in and try to hold of the allies onslaught.

The allies push forward and there where very few tanks or troops that fell to the sea. So nearly one complete tank companie of 1700points made it to the beach this would pay of later on when they could storm the inner regions.

After turn three did I have to go for other engagements but the result was as expected for a beach landing. The Allies could claim a 5:2 victory and will claim to territories on the campaign map. But I think this will make the campaign more fluid and fun.

So let´s hope that it will be more special events in the future.

First Napoleon at War battalion painted!

I have just completed my first Battalion for my Prussian army for Napoleon at War. It was really fun to paint something different compared to my normal WW2 painting. The models from Man at War are in good quality and have nice distinctive features which makes it easy to paint and get a good result. Time wise because this is my first Battalion was maybe 8hours for the painting and basing.

This is my first Battalion of six so I have more to do. But it is a joy to paint them especially whit all the history that you can read about all the different armies. I have based my figures according to this order of battle:

Prussian Troops in Belgium 1815

• I Army Corps
• II Army Corps 
• 6th Infantry Brigade
• 9th 'Kolberg' Inf. Reg
• 26th 'Elbe' Inf. Reg
• 1st Elba Land. Inf. Reg
• 5th Foot Battery
• Reserv Cavalry 
• III Army Corps
• IV Army Corps

I will build the 6th Infantry Brigade to start with and add Reserve Cavalry. So my first Battalion I have painted belongs to the 9th inf. reg. and I am continuing with the remaining two battalions for this regiment. 

I am currently waiting on Man at War that they should release the Uhlans and Artillery Batteries for my Prussians. But as you might understand do have have allot to paint before I need them at my desk.

Also some Larry Leadhead for your entertainment.

Napoleon at War rules review.

Short review of the rules for Napoleon at War and the rule book. 

My new carriage!

I have to brag about my new nice car that I just bought trough auction today.
So from now on am I a carriage owner. Feels like I collect allot of grown up points the last month.

This is one step towards our house build and we realized that we need a car and it needs to be a efficient diesel engine because of the upcoming commuting. It is a V50 2.0D which only consumes 5,6l/100km.

Flames of War big battle

Though I shall give my short report from my weekends big battle. I warn you because it is allot of pictures and less text.
The arena was set in eastern Europe where the Russian horde was pushing forward some where in Poland.
We where 6 generals on each side commanding in company of 1500points. Following lists where used:

Germans:

• Sturm kompanie with defenses (my army)
• Hungary infantery company with defenses
• Panzer Totekopf
• Panzer
• Panzer
• Aufklärung on bikes
• Schwere panzer with 4 königstigers

Russians:

• Tankovy
• Rota razvedki
• Udarny strelk
• Strelk
• Strelk
• Tankovy
• Kossaks

The game was setup so the Russians will try to push and capture objectives. I and the Hungary inf. started in the center and put up allot of defenses around the villages. We got two strelks rushing towards us with flame tanks assets. 

The Russians push forward and at round two are they already assaulting the defenses of the village. The OT-34 and KV flame tanks unloads there tanks on the German trenches and after that do the strelk´s assault over the minefields. Some fall casualty on the way over but nothing can stop the massive assault. On German left flank do a long draw fire fight start which will continue the hole battle. 

On the German right flank do the Cossack´s rush forward and a Russian ambush is reveled but it is fast silenced from the effective fire from Panthers and panzer IV.

The fighting carries on and the German center around the village is nearly broken trough. The trenches is belonging to the Russian soldiers expect on the right part of the village where the Germans are still owning the houses. German reinforcement are arriving and a tough struggle for the left part of the village After a few turns for chargers and counter charges do the Russian moral falter and they turn home with 7 teams remaining of a total of 54. The grounds are filled with burned German corpses and Russians that have faced the machine gun fire. 

On the German right flank is the Russian push stopped and overturned. On company of panzer IV is on the far side of table and starts to hunt Russian artillery. 

After 7 turns did we call it the day. On the German left flank was there where few German tanks left and allot of Russian tanks on the fields. So if we would continued on more turn do I not believe that it would hold any more. In the center where the crisis solved and there where no clear contester any more. And on the German Right flank was where the German tanks pushing through the Russian lines. On more turn and the Russian flank would have failed. 

So after 10hours of game where the final score  36 to 36 so it was a draw. This proves that the scenario and the objectives where were well balanced. So I thank Andreas for make this event happen.

Updated House plans

According to normal weekend routine do we work with the house plans. Last design suggestion from me was shoot down from the architects and I understand why. So we where back at the drawing table again.
The problem is that we like our setup with the garage and the carport because it is practical but this layout give a very long body with out much windows. So what we are trying to do is to hide this our current solution is to add a open wooden planks. I have also added a few windows and made changes that where incorporated in quotation.

North east 

South west

South east

North east

We are pleased with the result and will try to get the changes in to the drawings. Next step is to place the house on the lot and plan the ground work. Our hope is to get the building application done and sent in January.

We are also starting the work with the kitchen and bathrooms. We have found on tap that is gorges and it gives a feeling of luxury.

Fitting from Tapwell with waterfall effect.

Flames of War campaign round 1.

As I talked about earlier has my local game store started a campaign for Flames of War. It is in late war and the alias are pushing in to Germany.   I think we are about 16-18 people on each side so it is a big campaign. We had our first campaign meeting last weekend and I though I should do a summery of.

Here is the campaign map after the first meeting. My area is marked with the red circle. 

The campaign is individual so every one has small tokens that represent there team and nation. All your games are reported and depending of your gaming outcome will you receive points that you can use to grab land etc. One important rule is that you are only allowed to capture land from a enemy/ally that you have beaten in a campaign match. More about the campaign rules on this link. http://www.wizard-games.com/download/FoW_Tale2011_v1.0.pdf

I was lucky to beat my to opponents (808, 704) during this round and had 5 points to use. I used them to grab on territory of my opponent and fortify it. 

During round two am I again challenge by 808 and we have planed our match next Friday. So now am I planing my list and we shall see what he will show up with. He is playing Polish so it could be Paras or Tanks.

My Napoleon at War has arrived!

I thought I do a summery from the weekend and the end of the last week. But first the most exciting thing. I have received my Napoleon at War rule book and two boxes of Prussian infantry regiments. The Rule book is gorgeous with a lot of pictures and explanations. The layout and type makes you want to reed this book which is a plus. I have not had the time to read it through yet but I am roughly half way. The English is easy to understand and I have not found any contradictions, I had a slight worry for this because it is a translation from Spanish. I will come back with my thoughts on the rules when I read through the book.

Even before I opened the box was I surprised by the weight of it. But I understood why when I opened it. It is 110 18mm Prussians with big hats so they look more like 20mm figures. There is some flash and the metal is softer compared to Battle front miniatures. This is not a problem in my opinion but I need to figure out some storing for them because they are high and the top part of the figures are the thin bayonet. I have thought of magnetize some kind of tool storage box I think I will come up with some solution.I have off course started painting some of the models so I get an idea and see if we paint schema works. I have painted 4 skirmishers for my first battalion. I am pleased with the result and it did not take to long time for the amount of detail I got. So my next goal is to paint one battalion at the time which is 28 figures.

Last Friday did I also play my second and last campaign match for this round. I played a friend from my local game store. He fielded Polish paras and it was my first game against paras. I know that they are hard and probably will not leave the field until I kill them all. I hade roughly the same rooster as the previous game but I switch the Hornisse to 4 Marders III H and 1 more Stug G. I will not go through the game because I have no pictures. But after a long hard struggle did I pull out a 5-2 win against him. This was really good because it gave me more campaign points to spend. We hade also the axis campaign meeting of Sunday and we performed your moves and planed for the next round. Will try to take a picture of the map next time I am in the store and give you a briefing of what's happening. I like the new format of the campaign very much and the feel of it is correct this time. But more about that in my next post.

We have also hade a meeting with our house contractor and received the first quotation. After an extremely long meeting where we have to blame our self because we asked every possible question we got our total sum of the house and it is not too bad. It is actually very close to what we expected. There is off course things that we want to change and add but in total we are pleased. I will not tell you what it is but if we compare to an old house in the neigborhood with sea view it is nearly the same price. So we will continue with the process and keep "HM-hus" as our build contractor. Next step is to get the build permit done and start planning kitchens etc.

This is it that happened for me from my last post.

Flames of War Campaign match 1

This week is all about gaming FoW for the campaign. During the weekend and Monday/Tuesday did I paint the remaining of my 7 Stug G´s for my Stug G company. A paint them with a hand painted hard edge camo. I have found this camo from pictures and the Wehrmacht used it during 1944 on the east front. I am pleased with the out come.

So last night did I do my first battle for the campaign "Road to Berlin" which is held at my "local friendly games store". According to the campaign rules are we at 500p only for this month. But me and my opponent agreed that we should play a bigger game so we can use normal scenarios and practice more for other up coming tournaments. We agreed on to play a 1500p game and to use cauldron because this will come in a tournament in January.

I played with my newly painted Stug´s with a list from Fortress Europe:

• HQ: 2x Stug G + Schurzen
• Combat platoon: 4x Stug G + Schurzen
• Combat platoon: 4x Stug G + Schurzen
• Support platoon: 2x Hornisse
• Support platoon: 3x Panzer werfers + extra crew
• Air support: limited Hs 129 B

My opponent played a Urdany infantery list from Stalins Onslaught I think his list was some thing like this:

• HQ: + 6 sappers + anti-tank rifles + 4 flamers + HMG
• Combat platoon: Full Urdany infantery
• Combat platoon: Full Urdany infantery
• Support platoon: 5x IS2
• Support platoon: 4x Heavy mortar

Because we played Cauldron was he the defender and he put on big platoon of Urdany with allot of attachments on the objektivs and the 5 IS2 in immediate ambush. Cauldron use scattered deployment so it is hard for me to protect my panzer werfers but I know from previous games that if I do not start with them on the field then I would not get to use them that much. So I put my Hornisse and one Stug platoon in reserves. I start to role for deployment and of course do my to platoons end up on the opposite sides of the table. So my Panzer werfers are out of support. So i hide my Stug´s from the immediate ambush in a forest.

Turn 1: The defender has the first turn with his immediate ambush of the 5 IS2. After some consideration do he go after my Panzer Werfers which are easier to hit. The infantry stays hidden and waits for the assault. His shooting has no effect on my Werfers.

My turn I role out my Stug platoon + HQ out of the forest and place my self for the assault. My Panzer Werfes smokes the IS2 and tries to survive on more turn. My assault on the big Urdany infantery platoon takes 3 teams and there are no more team´s with in 10cm so the assault is finished.

Turn 2: The defender sees a golden opportunity to assault my Stug platoon but first flame them with one flamer. The IS2 moves and shoots at the Panzer Werfers again and again no 6´s on the dice so the Werfers survive one more turn. The flamer bails on stug and destroys one more. Half of the Urdany platoon moves in for the kill. I get only 9 dice in defensive fire because of some good movement of my opponent. I do not pin them and after a long struggel I lose all my stug´s and the Urdany have lost a there Komissars + 8 teams so they are below half there strength but the pass the moral, good to be fearless some times.

Here is a picture after the assault. All my lovely stug´s burn.

Turn 3: The defender roles for reservs for the first time, but no reserves arrive. So he push to eliminate my last platoon on the table which is the Panzer Werfers. He shoots out on Werfer and the command team. But they are above half still.

My turn I role for my planes with out luck. Also tree dice reserves with out any luck. My Werfers try to smoke the IS2 but no luck there either. So this was an fast turn.

Turn 4: Second reserve role and no reserves arrive for my relief. He hunts my last werfers and they run of the board.

I get my planes in for the first time, they home in on some planes on the move. My turn 4 dice reserves and I get to platoons which is what I need other wise would this game be over. My Horniss go for IS2 hunt and shoots out one. The Stug platoon goes for assault on the other objective where the remaining of the Urdany platoon sits. The shooting is pointless and my Stugs go in for the kill and run´s of after the first counter assault. So one Stug is burning and one bailed.

Turn 5: Defenders third reserve role and no reserves for the defender. This means that his reserve infantry can not go to the objective and contest the, on round 6 because the objectives are more then 55cm from the board edge. The IS2 is hiding from my Hornisse. His Urdany platoon assaults my Stugs again but with bad result. It is only 3 teams left of the Urdany platoon.

I role for air planes and they come in again only one plan this time and it is only the mighty IS2 that they can shoot at. My Hornisse go on hunt for the IS2 again and shoot on more only 2 IS2 left. My Stugs hunts the remaining Urdany and shoot´s out the remaining of them Now is the Stug platoon contesting the objective.

Turn 6 (The objectives get´s active): Defender roles for reservs and get one platoon in. He march them for the objective. He also moves one IS2 to contest the objektive and they also shoot out one of the Stug´s.

My Hornisse takes out the contesting IS2 and the Stug platoon moves to the other objective wich the contest and there is no possibilty for the oppenent to change it. We call the game here and it is a 4:3 win to me.

My brave Hornisse:

This was an intense game and I fought that it was done after turn 2 when I lost my Stug platoon. It was good training and I learn how important it is to have ROF 2. The IS2 is not that dangerous if you can smoke them so they have to move.

Next game will be on Friday and will try to do a better report then.

Finally do I want to make some puff for a very good site for all Swedish 15mm gamer´s out there.

More about the house

This weekend has been all about the house planing. We have borrowed a car and driving around to various suppliers of kitchens and bathrooms. We also manage to go to IKEA which was not the best choice. A word of advice DO NOT GO TO IKEA ON A WEEKEND! We barely survived the this visit but we gathered god knowledge about there wardrobe systems. I can not understand how there sliding doors can be 100-150% cheaper than the other systems. I do not mind to have IKEA furniture and we need to cut cost some where.

We have been thinking about the house and the outer shape. There have been a feeling that it feels to big. So I sketched up a new solution of the entrance give a appearance of to separate bodies instead of one big house body. Here are some pictures of this. The window setting is not finished yet there will be more windows on the dark grey body and the garage body. But it gives an idea of we are aiming for. It will be interesting to see what our architectures say about this.

Entry facade:

Facade towards the meadows:

I also produced a rough layout of the first floor:

As you may understand have this taken a few our of my painting time so not much have been done on my models. But I got a great message from Maelstrom Games that my Napoleon at War rule book + preussan infantry have been shipped. So I am looking forward to this. I will come back with a short review next time.

This week is pledged for gaming I have to play my to campaign matches before the weekend. On i scheduled on Wednesday and the other one I do not know yet. So I will come back with the results.

Tilt-Shift

Hello

I have a new goal for my travel pics. I need to make at least one good faked Tilt-Shift picture.

Take a look at this short movie clipp to an idea of what I am aiming for.

I will also try this on my next game and see if will give the opposite effekt.

Also has to mention that I finally got some gaming done yesterday. We played a so called oil-game for the Flames of War tale 1200p. I played my Sturm company and meet a Taskforce A list, we played breakout mission which is not the perfect match for me because my infantry needs to move and I do not have that big use of my fortifications. But it was down to the last roll of the dice so it was very close and of course I lost on 6th turn. I realize that I need every practice that I can get. I have to more important matches next week so I will go back to the painting table and get the last models done for this.

So until next time let´s see what I can do.

Back to reality!

I have just come back from my wedding tripp to Indoneasia/Singapore. It has been a lovely time with a lot of adventures. Me and my beautiful wife can not sitt on a beach for a week so we opted for the more action so we spent 8days diving in maybe one of the best diving spots in the world "Bunaken National Marine Park" it was amassing! I have never seen that amount of coral or the diversity and I have been diving in the Caribbean and the Red sea. After a week of diving we took to the mountains and did some tracking in between the volcanoes. And we ended the trip in Singapore for some shopping and good food before we took the 13 hour flight back to Europe.

During our honeymoon did we get the first revised plans for our planed house from the architects. It is 85% correct to our planes but we are getting closer to our dream home. So we are going forward for a first quote. The drawings are where ruff and but give an idea of our planes. Also is the documentation of lot been done so we have a lot for the house in a few weeks. So the house planes are going forward in a fast pace.

During all this have I squeezed in a few hours of painting and finalized a project that I have been on and off for 6months. This is 28mm British WW2 western front squad for "Operation Squad" rules. I am pleased with the result for the amount of hours that I have put in. It have also been a good break from the 15mm painting. I love the figures from "Warlord games" they have a very fine details and the British box are fully modular plastic bits. So I have custom built this for for my rooster for "Operation Squad". Next up for this squad is to paint a 3" mortar and a Vickers HMG.

On my paint table now is the remaining Covenant of Antarctica starter box for "Dystopian wars" they are easy to paint so it should not take to long. I am doing a bit of speed painting because of the scale. I hope that I can play a game or two next week.

And as this was not enough I have ordered a new rule book "Napoleon at War" and to box sets of infantry for the Preussan army. This is a 15mm Napoleon time scale and is fast paced with similarities to Flames of War. I hope that it will be a good system, I have been looking for a good system that works for the Napoleon era. I will come back when I have the rule book and the figures with a quick review.

Thats is all for this week.

Until next time. Aim for this fingers instead of the head of the nail and maybe you will hit the head.

Torbjörn Blom