Sunday 25 September 2016

Flames of War - The Snows of Erzurum

We recently fought our alt-history mid war Flames of War tournament, over the oil fields of the Caucasus.

I managed to pull of a victory in my first round match, admittedly against an opponent who hadn't played in a while. It was still a close run battle.

The important part of the battle was fought along this rail line.


While my reserves advanced along it from the North

The final assaults were bloody, but well executed - especially by my standards.



We skipped the second match and decided to play a large battle royal, where British and Soviet forces managed to put aside the differences which had plagued the campaign, and faced off against three German companies.

Panorama time!

A close up of Stus massive soviet blob. I believe most of the infantry in the centre is one unit.

The whole field. Left to right, my previous opponent, another soviet player, me.

A close-up from my guns

From the German side

My paras begin their advance up the rubble strewn streets

More blobbiness on the right. Everyone was very closely packed.

The Soviets in the centre set up a firing line/meat shield.

Soviets advance on the left flank. (The red gems are SMGs)

Both armies meet in the centre of the board.

Losses begin to mount on the left flank

The centre left has a lot of clear ground

The Soviet blob seizes the centre

While my spotter (building right) calls down the pain on bunched up German troops

My advance slows to a crawl as I encounter an impenetrable looted KV1 and German infantry readying themselves in buildings

While the left flank cleans up and closes the distance
Not pictured; the German forces facing me getting nailed by British and Soviet artillery, pushed back by paras and routing piecemeal.

There were ticking victory points available throughout the battle, and although I didn't manage to contribute much in the early game, by early late game we were comfortably ahead. This, combined with the fact that I was the only one on my side to win their first round, led me to an overall win!

Swag.

On the objective I took on the last turn - mostly for showboating reasons...

1st for being more or less worthless

My troops that linked up with the Soviets on my left, in order to attack the final German troops holding the centre.

My extreme right flank; the unit that pushed through ready to attack the German rear area.

Friday 2 September 2016

Thing a Week 21

Emergency mortars!

I realised two days ago that I was short two mortars for the company HQ attachment so I knocked these out in a few hours.


Thing a Week 20

So I managed to push out three and a half platoons in four days. I hate painting at the best of times, but more so when I have to do so industrially, under a deadline, and when it eats up my entire bank holiday.

I watched 3 seasons of Cougartown (now 100% cougar free) the latest season of Ripper Street and hours of YouTube lets plays while painting these bastards.

In any case I am now ready for our Midwar alt-history game on Saturday.

The final 2 MG's for my para MG platoon

A full 25pdr battery

I've got to interject at this point. The rifle platoon consisted of the worst moulds I have ever received from Battlefront. Details were muggy or non-existent in places - one command figure was missing his face.


Front and centre. That's not just blurriness. He has no face.
I will seriously be looking at PCS plastics when I get round to my D-Day company.

And finally some Matildas to round out the force


Thursday 1 September 2016

Actual games are being played!

In lieu of painting stuff, here's some pics of a quick game of Flames of War I managed to get in a couple of weeks ago.

I decided to whip out my tank list against an opponent whose list really wasn't the right shape to take them on. Coincidentally. I don't do that shit on purpose.

Even so, it was a close thing.

I'm bogging here and I'm going to stay bogged for the rest of the fight. Veteran? What's that?

Surprise StuGs!

Ach! Nein!

Ambushing Pioneers (in buildings, right) make short work of virtually defenceless Cromwells and Challengers

British infantry, disguised as paras, prepare for a counter attack

Meanwhile, on the relevant side of the board, tanks punch through German infantry for massive damage

Winning the game, but at a high cost.

Wednesday 31 August 2016

Status Update and IPMS Thornbury photos [Pic heavy]

A little update on where things are at.

Its been a little quiet here recently, mostly because I recently acquired a rather bigger painting project.

Namely, an entire flat


Regardless, there's an alternate history Flames of War tournament being run by Vanguard at the start of next month for which I need to put some new units together, so there'll be some photos of them as they are completed.

For now, here are some photos of last months IPMS in Thorbury, which seems to have been overrun by gamers rather than modellers (not that I'm complaining...)

Might as well use my expensive new phone for something right?










 Someone wrote up various new races for WFB and plays them at 35mm or thereabouts. It is glorious!









Pretty sure this was here last year...



An interesting Cthulhu-esque RPG-ish game with great production values that I ultimately didn't buy into.



These guys wouldn't let us play with their toys...

There was a painting competition for wargaming figures, which, last year only had three entries. This year, however.







I was mostly there to showcase All That Remains and you can nip over to the All That Remains blog for pics.