Force on Force- How I stopped worrying and learned to love close assault....

Adam and I had our first crack at playing Force on Force last night, He was in charge of most of a squad of marines, whereas I was using some Gerbigsjager which I had freshly painted.

My 6 man team was made up of...

A Junior Officer with MP40

A Three man team, one with MG42, two with Rifles

A two man team one with a rifle, one with an MP40, who will be joined by the Officer.

So, how did it go?

Well, both Adam and I thought we had a good handle on the rules before the game began, only to find that we really didn't know what we were talking about! So our first play through was very, very stop/start with much looking in rulebooks to find out what we were actually meant to be doing!

The first match up was 8 D8/D8 Marines against 6 D10/D8 Gerbigsjager. We put down what we thought was a reasonable amount of terrain, and we spent a fair bit of time shooting each other from it! Adam had his force in two fireteams (not that the term existed in WW2 like it does now), one with a Rifle Grenade and a BAR, the other with an NCO with a combat shotgun. Very quickly, we found the superior trained Germans were able to counter act their poor numbers and poorer firepower by rolling a 9 or a 10! So that kept his support team pinned, leaving his assault platoon to hit my picket without damage. Close Assault in FoF is very, very vicious (as referenced in the title...) Simply, it removes one aspect of the game, first aid. If you become a casualty and your side loses the combat; you are either dead, or a POW. And there is not a high chance of being a POW.

The second and third match ups were based around both sides having equal training, but the marines having to attack a fortified position. Which sounds like it could be good to be German, except that in turn one of game 2, one of Adams fire teams slaughtered my entire force! I had one private with an MG42 left at the end of turn 1! Moral of the story for game 2? Cover is good, but rolling a successful initiative test to fire first is better.

Game 3 was much more interesting. I changed my squads to having a Weapons Team with an MG42 and 2 men, and a fire team of 4 men with the 2 MP40s. This game was much more even, the MG42 team was pumping out 6 dice per turn (2 men, 3 for the weapon, 1 for optimum range) at the enemy, and through successful initiative rolls, was doing it as soon as the Marines hit the treeline. The Weapons team did eventually fall to a vicious assault, but they were avenged by the squad, who cut through the enemy marines with their 2 MP40s in close assault (learn to love it).

Force on Force was fun, for Adam's report head here. Also, Jason I did do some research on your Type 99 LMG, and the bayonet lug is historical. And ridiculous.

"I stab you with my machinegun!". It's the sort of thing out of a Commando Comic....

As for what next? Well there is 3 days left in the Analogue Painting Challenge. So, I will get a SAGA Dark Ages army done and more Greeks so I can use them for Impetvs. If you particularly want to see my take on a hero of the Trojan War, tell me who you want to see in the comments!

At any rate,if I finish all of that it will be a miracle!

CP

More of ze Germans

Well, the painting has been continuing!

Here are some Panzer III's- Pretty standard Panzer Grey. Definitly not as shiny in person- thats just the sun in effect!

These Panzers are part of my Early War army for Valleycon- they get one more to their number (who is on the painting table right now...). Armed with the massive 37mm gun, and lots of MGs these guys are a big part of my Tank defenses for the army.

Another big part are these...

Two PaK 36 guns, for more 37mm goodness! These guys round out the platoon (one was done before) and are my ground pouding AT weapons, ready to hunt those dastardly Limeys and Frogs!

Lastly for Ze Germans this update, and the big guns....

Well not guns per say, rather bombs! Two 1/100th scale Stukas to act as my air support. These are two die cast models, sourced from a random Aircraft magazine (I bought 3, one is an objective marker). Pretty standard German Stuka camo for the invasion of France (that is, none) with the crosses done freehand. Not the neatest thing ever, but they give a good impression of some air support!

Next up? Kiwis for DoD!

But what of Ze Germans?

For those who don't get the title reference, you really should see the movie A Bridge Too Far, and marvel at Gene Hackman's polish accent.

But What of Ze Germans? Here are some I painted a couple of days ago...

First up are some Late War German tank hunters. We have 2 PaK 40 guns (the only ones I own...), as well as one man with a Panzerfaust who will be used as the Warrior team from Stalin's Onslaught.

The last base is a new Company Command team, because this happened to the old one...

Apparently my puppy, Jose, found quite a liking to the taste of Kraut!

So, with Valleycon being Early War, I need to paint a few things for that too (by few, I mean a whole lot)

Some 253 8-rads, cruising the road; mainly because if the road was not there, they would be totally invisible! Perfect German Grey camo!

Here is a much, much smaller AT weapon than the ones earlier, a little PaK 36- not too bad early war, absolutely horrible at any other time. Known to the Germans as the "door-knocker" due to having about as much effect as knocking on a door to an enemy tank! Along side the PaK is two Anti-Tank Rifle teams for my infantry platoons.

Last up, is 3 new command stands. I needed new ones, because most of my other ones have guys with Panzerfausts on their bases! Not at all appropriate for early war....

Oh, I was meant to do a Dystopian Wars update... Sometime? Promise!

Back to the painting table...

CP

Dystopian Wars and Tankiversary

Well, first things first. Tankiversary. Last week marked the first time the Tank was used in combat. So, to commemorate that, here is my favourite tank, the Jagdpanther!

Armed with the long 88mm gun, with heavy, sloping armour and looking as nasty as a tank can be, the Jagdpanther is easily my favourite! I brought my 5 tanks out last week to give them an update, the one above has Step 1 completed; the blacklining done. I will add some decals, and perhaps more weathering.

Dystopian Wars is something that has always, always tempted me. It is a Victorian Steam Punk style game, based around naval fleets clashing over vast oceans, with support from Air units too. I like it because the game mechanics are pretty simple, but more than that, the models are simply fantastic! They have been designed using 3D rendering programs on a computer, then cut the molds from them. This means that the detail on the models is quite simply absurd- these ships have stairs! Simply put, they are jokishly pretty and are a dream to paint.

So, when I saw them on the shelf in a gaming store on my recent trip over the ditch, there was only going to be one result. I invested, relativly heavily!

So, this is my entire Kingdom of Brittania fleet! I will do a total list of what is there tonight, but for right now, here are my first few painted vessels.

 These are Bastion Class Escorts. They have no main guns, but are equipped with Anti-Aircraft and also Anti-Torpedo capability to add to the capital ship that they are defending. I like the rusted-grey look I have gotten there, should look really good as a whole fleet!

More pics later today.

CP