FJ's @ Conquest 2011

Hey Folks,

Just finished up today at Conquest today and things went pretty well, all my joking about "submarining" after Bob's Para's slaughtered me...but I ended up picking up;

Which was awesome.

After much "list frothing" I ran 6th Fallschirmjager from Market Garden as seen here with the addition of two of  Pooch's Jagdpanthers. I did change the list a little bit to have two 7 stand FJ platoons and a 7 stand FJ Pioneer platoon (with 2 Flamethrowers) and a full HMG platoon.  It was quite a good choice in the end.

I didn't take my camara alas, so in brief;

• 1st game was vs's Bob's British Paras in a Free Fall on the Bocage Table...went down 1-6 as I sort of faffed about and didn't plan my attack (or defence) well. Bob played a perfect game and let me hang myself out to dry.  Bob's a great man to play too :)
• 2nd game was vs Simon's British Rifles (with breaching group) in a Fighting Withdrawal...at night!  Simon hadn't played Fighting Withdrawal before and I hadn't fought at night...it was interesting and bloody.  I managed to hold out in the end with a Jagdpanther and one platoon holding out for just long enough (the full 8 turns) wining it 4-3.  Simon should have won and some unlucky unpinning rolls cost him dear. 
• 3rd game was vs Adam's Neisei in the City with Not One Step Back.  I had played plenty of cityfighting but it was Adams first fight in the bloody mess that is Urban warfare.  It takes a bit to get used to how the room/ building interaction works and how tough infantry are.  The Arty/Air got my Jagdpanthers in the end but I ground through his flank to take it 5-2.  As with the game vs Simon the HMG's did good work suppressing the enemy infantry.
• 4th game (today's first game) was vs Jeff's British Rifles (with Croc's and Wasps!) on Craig's Awesome Cassino Table in a No Retreat...and again at night!.  I managed to hold the hordes off and keep most of the flamethrowing vehicles away (no thanks to the Jagdpanthers who continued there suck form).  Jeff failed some critical unpinning checks again and I managed a 6-1 win.
• 5th and final game was vs Jim's Panzergrenadiers in Dust Up.  We both had never played this mission before and it was quite interesting.  We each set up a strong defensive fort in our quarters and once it was obvious he wouldn't come to me (which would have been suicide) I sent a platoon with Vondy off  over a river and towards his edge and my incoming reserves.  Jim had two Tiger I's (ROF3) waiting for my flanking Jagdpanthers and we traded fire with the Jagd's coming off best but losing one in the process. My flanking force got pinned down but the platoon on the trek got in and grabbed the objective after a bitter fight.  This left my initial defence force weak and Jim's flank force almost pushed through and grabbed MY objective.  In the last turn my PaK's ran away so 5-2

Estella picked up a well deserved Best Sports with Pooch and Craig 1st equal, but Craig landing 1stPlace (for like the 10th time :)) as he defeated Pooch in their game.

Thanks heaps to Stephen S for running it and Comic's Compulsion for Hosting the event. 

Cheers

Jason

Dystopian Wars Terrain

Hey Folks,

Did this awhile ago, but here is the first 2' by 2' section of my naval terrain I am making for my impending Prussian Empire fleet;

Steam Punk Oil/ Sturginum drilling platform

So, brass and bricks and wood!

Some of Poochs KoB Destroyers dropping off prisoners to the  Australian Re-education  and Scrivening Enclave (or A.R.S.E Prison Island)

Back of the A.R.S.E facility, with the General Population and Main Prison Admin building. 

Little Arse Island

Little Arse from the other side

Bottom is High Security, Middle General Population and the single building with out the walls is solitary

Board sans Poochies KoB fleet.

Back of the Island

The boards are 3mm MDF (which is a bit thin)  with the water areas covered in tin foil, sprayed a couple of shades of blue, drybrushed a lighter blue and then given a couple of layers of gloss varnish.

The islands are thick as polystyrene covered in bostik gap filler and then a mix of sand with the rocks being pumice.  Painted with test paints.

The kids helped me cover two open flat boards with foil and I have added foil to another board with islands.

I will be looking to add a landmass to one with a largish city as well.

Cheers
Jason

6th Fallschirmjager at Market Garden, Christchurch Cavaliers Total War!

Hey Folks,

Here is a the first 4 turns of the Total War game organised by Simon.  It was super awesome and the other Christchurch Bloggers have been blogging up a storm about it.

Jamies Report

Adam's Flyby

Martins Brilliant Report

Super kudos to Simon for organising it, Andy T for ironing out the game play wrinkles and Stephen S for all his awesome terrain...and I will think you will all agree it looked suitably EPIC :)

Looking from Eindhoven through Nijmegen to Arnhem at the far end. 

Nijmegen

Arnhem

6th FJ Deploy on Hells Highway...yes thats a Jagdpanther

Facing FOUR 30 Corps Companies! 

I don't know why, but the Jagdpanther seemed to put the woolies up the Allied Tank Commanders...

At the other end - British Paras advancing from Oosterbeek

Jamies Sperrverband defending the outskirts of Arnhem

2cm FlaK 38 Portees! Super Cool

Frost's boys hold the bridge

Gott in Himmel! Jabos!

30 Corps Advances...

And starts to grind through my FJ, who fall back toward the Highway in the Center

But Nowhere is Safe!...Panzerfaust Trap team takes out a Bogged Tank left all by itself...

An the Jagd is Bailed, and stays Bailed as a) I cant roll a 4+ to remount in two turns and b) I  seem to only roll ones for Armour Saves!

Panzerschreks race forward but only bail one tank...

So wisely retreat to await the onsalught

And this is how it was when I passed command to Pooch, who was commanding the Luftwaffe Company "holding" Nijmegen...apparently the poor FJ's were  wiped out to a man in subsequent turns.  

And a parting shot of the Para's slowly getting ground down in Arnhem

What I didnt take photos off was my PaK 40 Ambush that I popped on the far flank next to the 2 Priest Batteries that had just double moved...it killed a 3 Priest and drew off a Sherman Platoon and a Motor Rifle Platoon.  Likewise when I pulled out a Panzerfaust Trap team down by the Priest's later on a Motor Rifle Platoon came back to deal with him...

This diversion of forces, defensive tactics (and the Jagdpanther "psy weapon") delayed the Allied Armour and helped ensure they didn't quite get to the Bridge in time to save Frost.

End result was a Narrow Victory to the Germans...how historical!

Cheers
Jason

Laselle British: First KGL unit finished!

Hey Folks,

Finally finished my first Laselle unit, a KGL battalion from my "Brunswick" support choice.

The thin red Hanoverian line, with an additional Skirmisher

Photo makes them look a bit crap, they are better in real life. Honest!

Its a hard life being a Light Company skirmisher!

All kitted out.

And in attack column under the harsh Spanish sun (or camera flash!)

The bases are perhaps a bit too green for Spain, I will be adding some arid grass once I make a trip to my LGS.

I am stoked to get a unit done, but Napoleonics take SO LONG to paint.  Thank god I didn't do Austrians...the white straps are bad enough!

Next up, the Elite KGL unit with Mounted Colonel and the cool Hanoverian shakos.

Cheers
Jason

Lasalle British: KGL Progress

Hi Folks,

A bit of progress on my Lasalle British, or, more correctly Hanoverians from the Kings German Legion.  First up, a painted base of KGL line infantry.  They need a bit of work on the red of the coats, but otherwise should be ok "en masse"

 And here are the three units for my KGL support.  The front and back units are the line infantry while the middle unit is the Elite Line Infantry

 The Elite unit has a mounted Colonel, which is a great idea I nicked off Pooch to show "Elite" Status.  They also all have Hanoverian Shakos with cap cords.

The Skirmishers also have the Hanoverian Shako's, but light company "wings" on their arms.

Looking forward to getting some painting done soon.

Cheers
Jason

Start of a New Napoleonic Lasalle Army: Peninsula British

Hey Folks,

Completely off track from doing a Prussian Army I have acquired a start to a Peninsula British army!

Now as Pooch is using the lovely Perry Models British models as a Waterloo force he had a heap of Perry Peninsula Heads as well as a pile of spare Victrix models I snapped them up :)

Well I am always one to do my wargaming on the cheap so I don't mind that the Victrix models are not as good as the Perry's (well, not THAT much) and to be honest the Perry heads fix the biggest sin of the the Victrix models, they are butt ugly!

So I am doing a Light Division, as its super cool, it has;


1 Rifle (+)
1 Elite Infantry (+)
1 Infantry
2 Caçadore
1 RHA BTY
2 Infantry 


(The + symbol means that its a large 6 base unit instead of the usual 4 bases)

It also has;

If Jamie can have Russell Crowe to leas his Impetus Romans I can have Sean Bean for my 95th Rifles!

Structure looked something like this;

Structure during the Peninsular War

• Commanding Generals: Robert Craufurd, William Erskine, Charles Alten
• 1st Brigade
  • 1/43rd (Monmouthshire Light Infantry) Regiment - This would be the Core Infantry Unit
  • 1/95th Rifles -This Unit combined with the 3/95th could be the Core Large Rifles Unit
  • 3/95th Rifles (HQ & 5 companies)
  • 3rd Portuguese Caçadores  This would be a Core Cacadore Unit (duh) 
• 2nd Brigade
  • 1/52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) - This is the Core Large Elite Infantry Unit (as these guys kicked ass, though not sure on size)
  • 2/95th Rifles
  • 1/17th Portuguese Line
  • 2/17th Portuguese Line
  • 1st Portuguese Caçadores.^{[18] This would be a Core Cacadore Unit}
• Divisional Troops
• 1 troop, Royal Horse Artillery The Core RHA Battery 
• Part of the 14th Light Dragoons
• Part of the 16th Light Dragoons

I'm still not sure on what to run as the support choice. Brunswicks (though maybe run them as Kings German Legion) would be the obvious choice but Allied Portuguese (crappy) or Reserve Light Cavalry (also crappy) would be the historical choice...

Looking forward to getting some paint on some models tomorrow.

Cheers
Jason

Fallschirmjager in Eindhoven: Market Garden Test Game

Hey Folks,


Here was the whole point of the Para Painting Challenge, getting the Fallschirmjager done for the Market Garden Test game:

Board from JOE's bridge end, the first town their is Eindhoven 

Fallschirmjager with masses of Panzerfaust lurk in the town while the larger platoon holds the Crossroads. 

Welsh Guards Cromwells race down a side road to avoid the town, 

PaK 40's ambush...

More Ambushing PaK's

Meanwhile the 107 Panzerbrigade reserves turn up and are jumped by the mighty Beep Beeps!

And a massive horde of German Grenadiers from KG Tettau overuns the British Para's in Arnhem

The Cromwells overrun the PaK's (eventually!) but are in turn jumped by the Panzerfaust Trap teams ...

Cromwells burn round the other flank and avoid the town...

...and Assualt the big Para platoon and are eventually ground  down.

The poor Welsh Guards didnt really have a chance once the first platoon got nailed. This has led to a re-write of the scenario deployment.

Looking forward to the next Trial game!

Cheers
Jason