Raid on Research Station 217

      High above the shining orb that was Hetraxis Prime, Captain Coruscant gazed down through the viewport. Restless, he drummed his fingers on the sill, the servo-assisted gauntlet leaving impressions in the metalwork. Six months they'd been here. Six whole months on this clapped out freighter in high orbit with nothing to do but gaze out of viewports. And wait. Still, the pay could be worse, though the lack of activity and anonymity of his employers was beginning to grate. Wait, they said, and when the alarm sounds head for the Teleporter. That was another thing- a rust bucket like this had no business containing such an enormous and advanced teleporter suite. And the secrecy- Even as the commander of the Cataphracts he had been unable to see anything of the ship, or even more than a handful of the crew. 
        He turned back to face the room full of Cataphracts on stand by. All were in full power armour, armed and waiting. The rest of the company were stood down at the moment. His gaze moved from face to face and saw boredom on each one. And the room was strobed with red light, and a keening noise filled his universe, and with a start he realised the alarm was sounding. He jammed his helmet on and headed for the Teleporter, the deck pounding as twenty of the toughest mercenaries in the Segmentum followed. The comm-link in his ear was alive with chatter and he strained to pick out the intel he would need, "Contact, hostiles sector 5...we're pulling back...Sergeant Drayma, respond...fast movers inbound in s....no life signs detected" The Cataphracts took their positions around him, as the blast doors closed, "Nothing on Auspex, we can't get a lock...med-evac to sector 5, we are taking heavy f-aaarrrggh..." , the suite was filled with a blinding white light as the Teleporter powered up, its energies reducing the vox chatter to garbled static but just before arcane technologies whisked him through a tiny crack in space and time Captain Coruscant was just able to make out a transmission that chilled him to the bone, "contacts identified, ident confirmed...Necrontyr..."



Hello and welcome back. Today, a Battle report. I had a couple of old friends, Dave and Ali over the other weekend, they used to do a fair bit of gaming with me back in the day and after a bit of a hiatus were keen to have a game over a beer or two. So I cooked up a scenario and bought some beer and set up a game for them. I decided we'd use the 2nd ed rules as it would be vaguely familiar to them and it was something I'd been playing a bit recently. And I asked Ali to bring his Necrons.

The Scenario
The Inquisition have found an ancient artifact of obvious alien power. Being totally unimaginative they named it the Shard of Infinite Darkness. Desirous of its arcane cubic secrets they took it to a secure and top secret facility-Ordos Xenos Research Station 217 on the planet Hetraxis Prime. Here, they studied it and attempted to unlock its power but despite years of effort had failed to make any headway. The Station itself is defended by several mercenary contingents, who are not even aware that they in the service of the Inquisition, some of whom openly patrol the surrounding area, and others who await in a disguised freighter in high orbit.
Half a galaxy away, in a forgotten tomb, the Necron Lord Rubix was annoyed. One of his favourite toys, that had kept him occupied during the eons between bouts of exterminating all life in the universe, had gone missing, and he couldn't find it anywhere. Despite turning out every cupboard and looking under all the sarcophagi it remained elusive. In frustration he turned to more arcane means of searching and eventually discovered a website where a conspiracy theorist named the StarChild claimed to have seen a similar cubic artifact in the hands of a human inquisitor. Swiftly, he revived enough warriors for a raiding party and boarded his personal Starship in pursuit!

The table was laid out with the research station in the centre of the table. Large mountains and jungle and ruined buildings were placed around it.

Dave took the Inquisitorial forces under his command-
The Research Station is armed with a Twin Linked AA Autocannon and 2 lasguns covering the walkway.
A Security Team of 7 men armed with lasguns and laspistols.
A Cyborg with powerfist and Grenade Launcher.
These would all start on the table, the security team patrolling.
In Reserve he had Captain Coruscant's Cataphracts- A Captain with Thunderhammer and plasma pistol, wearing power armour, and 4 combat squads of 5 Cataphracts, Variously armed with Lascannon, flamer and heavy plasma guns. These would arrive just off table and move on after the alarm was sounded.

Ali took command of Lord Rubix and his raiders.
These consisted of a Lord,  14 warriors and 4 Destroyers.

I would Gamesmaster.

Ali's task was to get as close as possible without being spotted by Daves patrols or the alarm going off. In hindsight I may have made this a little too easy as Dave managed to raise the alarm almost immediately! He then had to get into the research station and search it (without getting killed) , find the Cube and escape off the table! Simple eh? To be honest I didn't think he'd find it difficult, Necrons have a beefy statline!

 Opening moves; the Necrons try and use the ruined city to cover their advance but
Trooper Drek spots them instantly and sounds the alarm, and is immediately killed! 

The Destroyers head for the station, the now active Cyborg and Security team respond.

The Field of Battle with the Cataphracts arriving at the far end beyond the Research Station.
Most of the Security team are dead, though the AA guns atop the station have taken a heavy toll
on the Necron Destroyers.

The Catphracts Advance!

But the Necrons are closing in!

With the AA guns knocked out the Destroyers head for the Objective.
Landing on the Parking Platform they dismount and smash their way in. Unfortunately
once inside they get lost- One falls down an elevator shaft and other manages to get into
the Xenos enclosures where its is promptly eaten by an Ambull.

Despite the Combat Cyborg's efforts the Necrons mop up the remaining
 Security Troopers with little difficulty.

                                   

Both sides advance to the Station and the Necrons split up- Some fight their way in while
Lord Rubix and his Warriors hold back the Cataphracts!

Lord Rubix prepares to run "DiePunyMortalDie.Exe" but repeated whacks from a thunder
hammer turned this into a "Fatal Error" and he promptly crashed... 

More Necrons surge into the Research Station and take up the search. One
 ends up in a Trash Compactor but 1000010 01101111 01100010 finds the cube and
they head for the exit!

With Necron casualties mounting time is running out- The Destroyers on the landing pad were
out of action so two warriors hotwired the parked Skycar to take the cube to safety . Their fellow
 Warriors provided covering fire as they sped off, gunning down Captain Coruscant!

Only seconds after takeoff they are hit by a stray plasma bolt and the Skycar
goes out of control wedging itself in the side of a ruined building. 01000010 01101111 01100010
and 01010011 01110100 01110101 dive clear

They climb down and sprint for the table edge but around the Research Station the
Cataphracts firepower proves too much and another Warrior falls. Unable to resist the call of ancient
 technosorcery the remaining Warriors phase out!

01000010 01101111 01100010  jumped clear and managed to land on the walkway, and rolled for cover. Not a moment too soon as the primitive SkyCar exploded behind him. 01010011 01110100 01110101 must have bought it, he thought, but stood up to see 01010011 01110100 01110101 stood on the walkway, looking slightly battered, but the living metal already repairing itself. Clutching the Cube they leaped down and climbed through the rubble to safety. Nearly there, thought 01000010 01101111 01100010, just a few more yards till we've cleared their Teleport Jammers. Catching his foot on a tangle of ancient wiring he went down, the Cube falling from his grasp, metal fingers questing for it, and as he felt the irresistible call of the Tomb from half a galaxy away the searching became more desperate. He forced himself to reach it, his fingers brushing its surface, and then closing through it as they lost their physical form, the panic rising as he scrabbled for it as it faded from view. The cube lay there amidst the ruins of a long forgotten civilization, the breeze gently covering it with dust and vegetation, and there, with  its six brightly coloured sides untarnished by the millenia, it lies still.

Conclusion:

This must have been one of the greatest games I've ever had the pleasure of taking part in. Partly the scenario worked pretty well, and partly it developed its own narrative as it went; the Necrons were so close to victory being only a single move from safety when they Phased out! Partly its down to the models and Scenery which all looked the part, and of course the atmosphere of being with two old friends, beer and music was just great!

In future I'd make some changes- Make the Necrons harder to spot in the Sentry phase at the start, and make sure they bring scarabs to disrupt the Cataphracts shooting- Their disruption field would have been very useful! 

Credits

Beer consumed was Stella Artois Cidre and Marstons EPA.

Music Provided by Two Steps from Hell (The Battlecry, Invincible and Skyworld albums) . 

Ankles were duly nudged by Bella.

Scenery Chewing provided by Monty

Inquisitorial forces from Em4 Miniatures

Necrons from Citadel. 

After Action vittles from Kash22. I had the Blue Buffalo...

Into the Underhive, Gauntlet, and other stories.

Alas, I havn't had much painting time since my last post. Well thats not quite true- I've done rather a lot of painting. Mostly on my house though. Still managed to squeeze in some figures though. I was a little miffed at not being able to go to Phalanx (st Helens) this year so I treated myself to some figures online instead, and picked up 6 boxes of em4 plastics for less than £15 and free postage. Mostly these were the space rangers, allowing me to put together a small force. Also included were a box of little space ships and some Mechs which I assume were intended for games like Battle Tech. No idea what what to do with them yet but I quite like them, though the mechs don't go together brilliantly.

Here are the finished rangers- Or Captain Corusants Cataphracts as I've been calling them.

Enough for a 1000 point game in 2nd ed 40- a Tac squad with Lascannon and Flamer, and Dev squad with 4 heavy plasma guns. Camo scheme used is that of the Royal Scots Greys in Italy during ww2. Tempted to get another 1/48 Sherman tank for support in that camo too ( I have one but I would want one to scifiificate!) Due to the lack of variety in the rangers set I did a couple of conversions. Its ok for the big heavy weapons, but I got the flamer from my bits box. The captain got his arm moved ( a fairly major task- that plastic is bloody thick!) a head swap, and a large mace from the bits box as well.  Hopefully we'll get to see how they perform on the table soon!

As the title suggested Necromunda has been high on the agenda this month. My new gang, the Laserburn Boys, has been painted and bloodied! Mostly built from 3 boxes of EM4 gangers plus things from the bits box, I'm sorry to say I consider this set the worst of  the EM4 plastics but they still scrub up ok with some effort. I replaced all the pistols with proper laspistols as they seemed deformed, though the rifles/carbines are better. The knifes were replaced as well for the same reason. With only 5 figures (with little interchangeability between them) head swaps were a must, though I was surprised to find myself with very few female heads, so some  mods to their hair-do's and a varied paint pallet was used to mix things up a little. Anyway, heres a pic-

They fought their first gang fight against a Cawdor mob last week, and got shot to pieces in their efforts to close to melee!  Boro Gyn (dark hair, back right with the lasrifle) got torn apart by a heavy stubber with the opening shot, Caram (Juve with green hair) went down at the same time, and 3 other gangers were down in short order. The laserburn boys didn't even get to hit anyone back, bottling it at the start of turn 3. And not doing any damage to a gang with a lower gang rating meant almost no Xp was collected!  Oh well.

This was just one of a string of defeats that has afflicted me this month.  It all started in FOW. We are currently fighting the Market Garden campaign, and my Armoured Recce opened the ball by charging headlong into a mass of German tanks. Things went well to start with , my Cromwells outflanking and burning 7 Panthers for minimal losses. This rather surprised the huns, who fell back on their Stug-like assault guns behind. Onwards the Cromwells charged, scenting imminent victory; the German CO was dead and another platoon killed would have forced a company morale check. The speed of the cruisers helped 15 of my tanks get within close range of the enemy's side armour- 15 shots at 3's to hit , no saves possible and destroying on 3+. Average dice should have killed more tanks than the Germans had remaining. Alas, a flurry of 1's and 2's later and they hadn't even been hit! There was no such issues with the return fire though, and only my CO was still standing when the smoke cleared..only to fail the Company Morale moments later! From certain victory to utter defeat in a single shooting phase.

A subsequent FOW game went no better, this time facing an infantry company with a whole regiment of AT guns attached. Rather predictably this was all over in just a few turns.  However light is on the horizon. 

Back to 40k the following week with Peribon Krate and the Trevuntular Grenadiers continuing their campaign against a Khornate incursion. Having carved their a bloody path through quite a lot of the blood go's followers they appear to have attracted the attention of the Chaos commander. Unfortunately this turned out to be a Daemon Prince, and the Grenadiers simply hadn't brought firepower sufficient to the task of banishing him. His Mortal lackeys were cut down with relative ease, by a Hellhound dispatched to support the Grenadiers, burning Minotaurs and Chaos Knights alike. Most of the lesser Daemons fell to the well directed las-volleys of the Grenadiers but the Heavy Weapons failed to make their mark against their larger cousin, as he tore the grenadiers apart in melee. A small cottage and its grounds provided only a temporary redoubt; with casualties mounting, and Commissar Tachikowa unable to remember which pocket he'd put his Stasis Grenade in, Peribon Krate ordered the retreat and reported the Daemon Princes presence to Headquarters. This will need some specialist attention!

With 4 defeats in a row it was time for the big one - Gauntlet!

This is the Deeside Defenders annual event, a whole weekend of gaming! I'd only be there for a day- a few of us normally take the opportunity to run a really big game, and Rick had cooked up a Pike and Shotte Scenario- the Swedish invasion of England! We only managed to get 7 of our normal group together for this but this still resulted in around 2000 figures on the table.

We set up a 20 foot long table and were allowed to set up 6 brigades each (both sides having 12), with reserves arriving at randomly chosen points along the table edge. Both sides had different objectives; for the English it was capture the Farms (presumably to fortify them as strong points), for the Swedes it was simple- they scored points for getting within 12" of the English table edge. Looked pretty tricky for the English- we were rather hugely outnumbered. Whilst my 5 Parliamentarian Brigades were full strength 5 of the 7 Royalist brigades only consisted of a single regiment of Pike and Shotte! The 12 Swedish Brigades by were all at least equal to our biggest brigades. On top of that, the Swedish were using the rules from the new Warlord games supplement Devils Playground- They're pretty superhuman at the best of times but were also commanded by a General that allowed all their guns to fire twice a turn, turning their 40 guns into 80! Our own artillery consisted of a mere 7 guns by comparison.  

Deployment was a bit wierd. Each side was allowed to deploy two brigades halfway across the table, the other 4 had to hang back. The Swedes deployed first but would also get first turn. Due to our shortage of numbers therefore we placed the English thusly- A large Parliamentarian Brigade (Essex's) and a large Royalist Brigade as far forward as possible and just left of centre, with the slightly weaker Royalists digging in around the farm there. Threee of the single regiment brigades were deployed in the town on our extreme Right, with Ruperts Brigade of Horse to provide some support

The Swedes to the Left, English to the Right with the left hand of the English
 line closest to camera in the centre of table. 

The understrength Royalists fortify Little Pontefract, and Ruperts
 strong Horse formations form up in support.

The Swedish Centre. With so many Guns in their line and so few English troops
we were unable to deploy anything to oppose them. This left a huge gap in our lines and nothing
between the Swedish hordes and their objective.

The English Centre. Essex's Parliamentarians on the left have and  the Royalists
dug in around the farm. The English were too few to cover the rest of the left flank.

The Swedes have already surrounded the central farm house and with nothing to
oppose them in the centre are attacking from two sides. Essex orders his men forward to try
and relieve pressure on the Farm. Only one regiment obeys and succeeds in overrunning a
 gun despite the  "Double Shott" rule!

Swedish reinforcements arrive behind Windmill Hill . Essex urges his troops forward and
they comply, but are now facing 3 brigades!

Polish Mercenaries in English pay arrive on the extreme left and secure an
objective, and there they remain.

Fighting below Windmill Hill intensifies- a fourth Swedish brigade has arrived
but Essex urges his troops on regardless! The English have overrun several guns
and even managed to drive back the leading Swedish units, causing major congestion issues!

The Swedish Centre, with no enemy to the front, had amused itself with outflanking the two
English enclaves, whilst their mass of guns took long range pot shots at Ruperts immobile Horse. When Fairfax's
squadrons  arrived they found themselves in a large open area with guns facing them on all sides! With no other option they charged, and the "Double Shotte" guns did dreadful work, cutting down swathes of cavalrymen. But the Swedes didn't have it all their own way- due to the number of dice rolled for each shot misfires were inevitable and 4 guns blew up!

                               

The Royalists around the central farm were in trouble with heavy casualties and Swedish units threatening
to lap around behind their position. To make things worse the mass of Swedes around
Windmill Hill had managed to punch through a gap between the Royalists and Essex's Brigades. Help came in the form of a large Brigade of Parliamentarian infantry who had marched from the far left flank, and Cromwell himself, whose Ironsides drove back the marauding Swedish Horse and plugged the gap!

The endgame- The English have stabilised their line- The Royalists around the farm are more secure, as the mass
of Parliamentarian units hits the Swedish line at one end. The traffic jams around Windmill Hill have enabled Essex, now supported by Cromwell, to bottle up no fewer than 5 Swedish brigades! The Poles managed to get a bit of skirmishing in on the far left, but still held the farm. Fairfax and Ruperts respective Cavalry Squadrons were falling back, shattered by Swedish Guns,  but the Swedes infantry were still stalled by the three Royalist Regiments holding Little Pontefract. 

At this point time was called and our GM Rick counted up the points. The English had held 2 of their Objectives. The Swedish, (despite the undefended four foot long gap in our centre!) had failed to get a single unit near our table edge. More points were added for Broken Brigades and the English claimed the Victory, 23 to 13!

An excellent and enjoyable game, and well done to Rick for masterminding it. It was made all the better by a sweet Victory over a more powerful opponent! All players agreed afterwards that something needed to be done about the "Double Shotte" rule. The English players felt the equivalent of 80 guns was a bit much when we were already so out numbered and only had 7 of our own. The Swedish players felt the firepower was fine, but that the increased tendency to explode was not realistic!

How did we manage a victory? Dogged defence by the Royalists at the central farm and around Little Pontefract, combined with the Earl of Essex leading his brigade right into the attack at the exact position where 5 Swedish Brigades were constricted by Windmill Hill and the river and unable to bring their superior numbers to bear. The resulting traffic jam took them the whole game to sort out, and the English made the most of this, pressing the attack to constrict the Swedes further.

Now I suppose we just have to see what happens between the surviving Royalists and Parliamentarians...

Thank you and good night!

'Ere be Dragons!

Well A dragon anyway.

Picked him up at the local Wilko's for about £1.50 .  With the flash removed (mostly) and a bit of paint he scrubs up well.

I've also finished off the 5 plastic troopers from Em4. They scrub up pretty well too, and though the detail is a little soft in places I think they're not bad for 51p each! I've performed some weapon swaps to 40k them up a bit. I have no idea what to use them for at the moment- they strike me as more like a security team or police unit (SWAT or something like that ) rather than any sort of army unit, due to the pistol to rifle ratio. I believe that a separate set of rifles is available, but this seems to be automatic rifles rather than Laser rifles (which to me look more like Phaser Rifles anyway!) 

This weeks game was, as predicted, Ghurkas V Bersaglieri, 2000points, Free for all.

 Both armies were Infantry heavy with minimal armour, though The Ghurkas brought many of the friends in the Royal Artillery, whilst the Italians came with their usual horde of smaller guns. These they abandoned to dash across the battlefield towards the nearest objective whilst the big guns covered them. The Armour skirmished on the flanks, the Semovente 75s coming off worse  on their flank, though the m14's managed to destroy the three shermans facing them, before moving to support the infantry. A chunk was taken out of the Ghurkas line as  platoon fled and the Bersaglieri pressed forward and pushed back the nearest supporting units, though not by enough to hold the objective. The Ghurkas never really pushed forward, untill far to late in the day and lost three platoons to my one, but alas Mark was running late so weren't able to fight to a finish, with a draw declared.   Didn't get many good pics but heres a couple....

Ak47 Republic next time I believe. nice one.

Tanks in the desert and Scenery...In SPACE!

Since my last update I've mostly been building playing 2nd ed 40k- Peribon Krate has been continuing his campaign against the Khornate Warbands at large on the Myrilyon Plains, and so far has been 100% successful, and the mission to eliminate the warband's leader came to fruition when Lord Stabby "May your entrails gum up my Chain Axe" McKilllalot obligingly teleported himself in front of one of the Grenadiers overwatching Missile Launcher teams, possibly having been nudged there by Peribon's home made Teleport Jammer (which he built by collecting the first 67 instalments of the popular part-work  "Make your own Teleport Jammer!" and eventually completed with instructions downloaded from the galaxy -wide-web and parts he'd scrounged from his own kitchen.) .  The Blood Thirsty Coven has beaten a retreat for now, in order to elect a new leader by the ancient rite of "last man breathing".

In expectation of further scifi fun to come I did a bit more terrain building...

Above you can see my new research facility! It features a, er...really big spherical thing with an anti aircraft turret on top, a walkway leading to a landing pad where a grav-car is parked. The facility is situated atop a plateau, itself already home to a variety of interesting flora and fauna... 

A closer view of the landing pad and walkway, the point defence guns just visible.

Numerous household items went into making this model: The plateau is simply a mass of polystyrene and papier mache, the plants are a combination of plastic aquarium plants and their close cousin but slightly cheaper plastic house plants. The stand for the landing pad is a biro tube, the pad itself a random bit of tupperware from the kitchen cupboard. The main building is an old hamster ball atop an upturned soup container.  The Grav-Car is a combination of computer mouse and plastic spoon... 

The whole as assembled and sprinkled with things I found in the bits box.  

In the pictures above you might also spy some new figures. Looking pretty in pink below the landing pad is a cyborg assassin from EM4 miniatures. I was recently looking for a couple of new recruits for the Trevuntular Grenadiers and finding old Rogue Trader Guard figures hard to come by on ebay ( at reasonable prices at least) I decided to look elsewhere, EM4 catching my attention. Some of their Troopers seemed to fit the bill and I put in an order for a selection of figures, picking up some metal and plastic figures. The sculpts are clean and well proportioned , though I'm undecided if they fit the bill being a little more realistic than the old RT Guard figures.  One of the metal troopers is hidden amongst the Grenadiers in the pictures above , but I think his slender figure gives him away.   The plastics are worthy of further attention if you're on a budget working out at 51p a figure! The Trooper are a well proportioned and theres some level of variation with their poses possible. Weapons are only basic pistols and rifles, I swapped the pistols for Las-pistols as I felt they lacked definition. Apparently alternative weapon fits are available separately but were out of stock when I ordered. Might have to get some more at some point.  Not sure what for exactly, but they might make generic sci-fi bad guys for scenarios etc.

I also got some of the Em4 space rangers above. The large power armoured warriors a simple figures with little variation other than weapons. I believe they are from the same era as Space Crusade and if you think of them as being an alternative to the Marines from that game you'll have a fair idea what to expect. 5 figures for £2.55 is cheap as they come and they paint up nicely. A sergeant is included for shouting, and carries pistol and sword, the other 4 figures come with a hefty gun as standard , or you can swap that with one of the 3 heavy weapons in the box. I'm very much tempted to get more of these.  Not many more, maybe another 4 boxes or so. I think the lack of variation would get dull with more than that and most of the figures don't lend themselves well to conversion, but watch this space and I'll see what may be done.

On to this weeks game which was Flames of War!  Foxhole Phil had challenged me to a game set around the Alamein period and then at the last minute substitued his friend Mark- a relative newcomer to FOW. The idea being that I would play Mark and Phil could explain  what was going on and generally advising!

The mission was Hold the Line, with 2000 points aside. I deployed my newly refurbished 3rd Hussars of the 9th Armoured Brigade - 5 Shermans, 9 Grants, 6 Stuarts and a smattering of armoured cars, Bofors and infantry.

My opponent deployed a Grenadier company with every type of anti-tank weapon the Germans can have in mid war...I can't help thinking that there might have been a spy sneaking a peak at my army list before the game! My plan was to advance under cover of smoke! And hope something made it to the other end of the table...not a great plan, but with four dug in AT guns in range before the ball opened, almost no cover, and three Dianas and  a pair of 88's in ambush it was the best I could do!

Phil and Mark prepare for war!

The set up- British tanks ready to roll...The oasis is another recent model of mine.

And They're off! The Honeys and Humbers tear ahead to try and
draw the inevitable ambush.

The Germans bide their time. The British have completely failed to cover their advance with smoke.
The objectives, a burning radio truck and a fuel lorry await.

Suddenly the Germans are pushed back! A honey Troop (rather to everyones surprise) had failed
to draw the ambush but had survived enough AT fire to actually assault, destroying two AT guns and
forcing the huns back! The Dianas and 88s were promptly revealed! 

Casualties were rather heavier on the other flank with the three honeys and 2 grants burning before the
dug in AT guns were dealt with.  But with the germans on the other flank pushed back the troops around the radio
truck found their AT guns destroyed and the Diana's caught in enfilade as the 2IC led his remaining vehicles forward.

Supressing the 88s with smoke the British heavies move into take the objective.
The infantry move up in support, and the 2IC brings the remaining grant and humbers
across from the left flank to help.  It looks good but the first German reinforcements have arrived!

The 88's try and finish off the grants as the panzer 3's attack!

The Bofors move up to support the attack whilst the Mighty Antar begins recovery operations.

The infantry move up to the objective as the final stuka of the day attempts to turn the tide! The Armour provides covering fire, destroying an 88 and smoking the other. German casualties mount and their infantry no longer hold the objective, their only hope is that the panzer III's can move up and hold on until more reinforcements arrive! And then, due to interference from high command, the panzers are pulled back to deal with a lone Grant  rampaging behind the enemy gun line handing victory to the British! Huzzah!

A Good game, and close too, with 11 out of 20 tanks burning! It was Phil's intervention that gave me the win- Whilst he mostly simply informed Mark of his options and explained how to carry them out  during his turn, and then during my turn commentate on my actions and explain the rules behind them, which seemed like a useful and helpful way of doing things, allowing Mark to make all the actual decision and allowing  us to generally simply get on and play, it is unfortunate that when things started to come to a head he began giving "advice", which mark follwed unquestioningly. It was a strange decision from Phil to send the only unit that could bolster their line on a wild goose chase after a lone tank doing no harm to anyone. But there we are. I nearly pointed their mistake out myself but with time cracking on past 10pm we really needed to be packing up, so I adhered to the old adage of "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake"and let them learn the hard way!

Next week Ill be commanding My Italians in the desert once more, against Phil and Mark with Gurkhas.  Till then, as they say on Duplcene IV "Ffarrfarfarrafffarrffaarffaraarrrfffarfarfaarfaffarfffaarar".   Couldn't have said it better myself...

Taking the Scenic Route...

Hello.
Recently I've been making a bit of scenery.
At the toyfair mentioned in my previous post  picked up a few plastic plant bits. I supplemented them with some bits of aquarium plants and made these:

I'm rather pleased with them and they were simple to make; plasticard base, bed the plants down in milliput, add filler, paint and flock the base. oh and add a couple or small stones from the garden. But 4 little bases an Alien Jungle world do not make.

Then I found some cheaper Aquarium plants on ebay so I ordered a pack getting 10 for £4.  So I made these...Still WIP but they should do nicely:

Also I found some GW 40K ruins in the loft. So I built this out of it.

 Used all sorts of bits of plastic and pebbles etc to make areas of fallen rubble and then sprayed the whole lot gray , and then add white spray from directly above. Some barrels and barriers came in a toy pack of tanks and armoured cars Id bought for 15mm scale gaming- they too big to go with the vehicles but look fine with 28mm! They were rusted up and scattered around the street between the buildings.

Then plenty of flock was added to make it look overgrown. So thats a scifi battle field sorted then.

Commander Peribon Krate and the Trevuntular Grenadiers were back in action this week, again in the 41st millenium and this time taking on the forces of Khorne; 16 Berserkers lined up behind their lord and a champion in order to absorb the Grenadiers fire whilst they rushed headlong into melee. This they duly did, most of the Berserkers being cut down as they advanced, but in melee the remainder sent No.1 Squad packing, and Peribon Krate himself came a poor second to a Khornate Lord in single combat. Fortunately the heavy weapon specialists of No's.2 and 3 Squads were on hand to save the day and brought the Lord and the Champion down simultaneously, taking Krate one step further along on the quest laid upon him...There will be a short period of rest and recuperation for Krate while the company medic, Doctor Enfastable, regrows his limbs in a vat...

Thank you for reading.

Aliens and other toys.

More toys trundled off the painting table today so here's some pics.

 Firstly we have some Renaissance Poles who are awaiting a flag. Not the greatest miniatures ever, being rather chunky and awkwardly posed but they were cheap...

Along side are some Giant Ant Swams. Being from a pound store these are a cheap addition to my fantasy armies!

At the back you can see these guys:

These are Black Tree Designs Alven (originally Harlequin). I'm intending to put together a small force suitable for  GOA and 40k 2nd ed (which has seen a bit of interest in these parts), and bought these to try out. The range only has 9 figures and I wanted to see how convertible they were- I reckon I can get a bit of variety in a platoon sized formation. The guys at the back with coats come with strange array of weapons, looks like they mugged a Necromunda gang! Ive done some conversion work to try and unify them a bit, and started work on a heavy weapon drone/support platform thing..which like all my conversions these days is built out of a Sherman Tank turret...because my bits box is full of them!


There was a toy fair in Frodsham last weekend so I dragged the wife along...had to buy her a cake to make up for it. It was the usual collection of model railway stuff and dinky toys, all priced in the bracket known as "more than I'd be willing to pay", but thats not why I go. I spent my time rummaging under tables in toy boxes full of junk in search of bargains, and found this little lot.

Actually there's some more stuff not shown awaiting work, but so far we have a Mighty Antar tank transporter, a Warrior tanker, a pair of general service lorries and an Austin Radio Truck. They're made by  Lesney, the company which apparently became matchbox, and are around 1/100- more or less to within half a centimeter or so, though often approaching it from different directions! they look ok along side the staff team added as a comparison. The Antar, tanker and radio truck are actually early 1950's prototypes but are similar enough in my eyes to pass muster for ww2- indeed I took them down to the club the other day to use as objectives and the resident rivet counters only complaint was that the Radio Truck was perhaps a little on the big side...Not bad for what worked out at about £1 each, eh?

Behind you can see some buildings I've knocked together for FOW, still WIP.  Also in shot is a Daimler Dingo- this is a Corgi Junior model I picked up on a market stall in bradford for £2. Its 1/52nd scale-ish, so will support my desert rats in Bolt Action!

Only played one game recently and forgot to take pics- my 7th Hussars took on the local Napoleon's Italians in FOW, early war. My opponent, Dennis, is known to be nearly invincible at the Deeside Defenders, and it doesn't help that he has an actual Harbinger in the form of Phil who gleefully tells you, at great length, all the ways in which Dennis is about to utterly destroy you. So it was nice that the hard fought game resulted a win for the rats! Dennis, with 17 m13 tanks and 8 field guns on his back line somewhat out numbered and out gunned my 10 A15 and A13 Cruisers (backed with a little infantry, carriers and Bofors AA) - he massed the bulk on one flank as a "feint" and 1 platoon with a pair of AA lorries on the other to sneak around the other flank. I felt compelled to mass my tanks against his "feint" and managed to reduce it his CO and 1 other tank, though at the loss of 6 tanks of my own, 3 of those due to straying within range of his field guns by mistake! As the remains of the Feint pulled back behind their supporting artillery my last 4 tanks rushed to save the other flank where Dennis had managed to eliminate the Bofors for the loss of just one tank, and only the carriers were between him and the objective. With my 4 Crusaders in the middle of the field Dennis made his first and only mistake- he saw an opportunity to destroy my remaining fighting power and moved all 5 of his remaining tanks to achieve it- the artillery barrages did nothing, but with 3 tanks in front already he brought his Co and its friend up behind, and must have thought the odds were favourable. Between them achieved nothing, all the firing being at long range and/or on the move. But Dennis was only one platoon away from his break point, and one of  those platoons was down to one tank, which he had suddenly exposed, and positioned where it could be attacked without his artillery being able to retaliate! The Crusaders turned and fired, shredding the m13. The Italian CO took his command check against his Reluctant rating, needing a 5+ but not getting it, and duly handing the field, 19 burning tanks, and victory to the Hussars!

thanks for reading, see you next time!