COVID cup update 2

Alright, more painting done!

Not as much as I was expecting again, but I think being introduced to multiplayer Hearts of Iron 4 might be bad for my productivity...

The latest British Flames of War book has allowed each platoon to take 2 PIATs, so I made a few more, and converted the now obsolete infantry spotters to PIATs as well.

Also 2 regular rifle teams to convert a newly obsolete Airlanding Assault Platoon into a regular Airlanding Platoon.
 

Giant leaches! Inspired by this scene, and once destined for Darwin's World or Pathfinder before I caught the Pawns bug.
 

The bear, again, destined for RPGs before I fell hard for Pawns.

AHPC Roundup - not dead, not infected!

First up, not dead!

Second up, just completed the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge for the second time, and have had an ongoing, unadulterated excuse to clear as much of the lead pile as possible, in the form of Covid-19.

AHPC X output - once again a bonus points heavy strategy prevailed

It looks like the Bristol wargaming scene is taking some inspiration from the Challenge - no points, no rewards however - and is planning to share it's endevours via WhatsApp - to keep admin low. I will be reporting my progress on this blog every Sunday.

So to the various bots that regularly trawl this blog for content, and the maybe one follower who checks in for nostalgia's sake, hello again, goodbye for now, and stay safe out there!

Thing a Week 28

The French EW forces continue to take shape, here's my artillery group. All photos, no waiting.

Gaming Roundup

The whole damn army (minus newly supercilious command teams)

Plus the French

TwiceLord Jadhak and company take care of a rogue druid (while accidentally leaving a man to die)

A weird collection of ancient people gather for a scrap on a ping-pong table

 

The Welsh make things tasty after spending the entire game frustrating their opponents

A mammoth leads a hoard of barbarians against the wastes' favourite drinking establishment

 

But is more or less instantly killed by a floating octopus robot

 

Sinister gunmen await the horde

 

Crush your foes, drive them before you, and hear the bitching of their women :P

After action look at the control board for Urban Nightmare in Chipenham (the giant green blob in the lower is my massive troop buildup)

Jono's super huge Soviet tank spam rocks up to Tanksgiving

My force from round 1 of out de-escalation tournament.

Things get weird for the Desert Rats as Soviet armour dashes down the board to protect them from Axis aligned Hungarians

Operation Goulash - Offensive Bogs Down In Central Hungary

This'll probably be more of a photo dump than a play by play. In the end the game came down a single random objective card that could have gone either way. It was a very fraught game all in all.

2000pts of paras face off against 2000pts of combined Germans and Hungarians

17pdrs set up to control the high street

German artillery and mechanised prepare while Hungarian fascists advance.

75mm howitzers begin to take damage while the center reaches stalemate

...while the RAF bombs advancing infantry

Para MGs lay down a barrage of suppressing fire

A worrying amount of Hungarians pour through the back gardens of the town

Before being cut apart by re-positioning paras and machineguns

While the RAF strike again

Flanking assault paratroopers hole up in a two story house, to prevent the Hungarians getting easy victory points

The ballsy Hungarian infantry push is wiped out, quite literally, to a man.

The Hungarian assault pancakes begin the Axis counterattack.

British armour and paras return the favour

Axis artillery hits the 6pdrs holding the right flank

The British reserves advance cautiously

Assaults against the German infantry are costlier and hoped

The Hungarian reserves make their presence felt

Paras push on to the rear objective

While Hungarians arrive on the other flank in force.

Operation Goulash - British Tanks Engage Facist Sympathisers!

My second game of Operation Goulash seem the lead elements of British armour going up against elements of the Arrow Cross.

At a 1000pts my Armoured Reconnaissance company was stretched thin across two objectives, and heavily outnumbered.

Fascists advance on the left and right - and hide in yellow building

From the start, the game balanced on a knife edge, with I unwilling to commit fully to any one objective or able to take advantage of my mobility,

Arrow Cross blackshirts take cover in a wood under machinegun fire

I attempted to lure and skewer the StuGs (my main worry) with my scouting Cromwells, but succeeded in only attracting the Hungarian artillery.

And exchanging a few long ranged shots to no effect

Meanwhile, on another table, the main British armoured column ran into a StuG company...

On my right, my smaller platoon and HQ platoon bombarded the infantry holed up in the yellow building, while taking fire from supporting German aircraft.

In the heart of the action the StuGs re-positioned and brought the pain to 1st platoon...

Killing two in exchange for one of their own.

 The flanking infantry manged to finish off the platoon, who were bailed and vulnerable, protected only by the IC in a tetrarch. He managed to put up quite a fight, but was eventually blown up by with a panzershrek. They really should have redeployed...

Oops...

As it turns out, I would have lost anyway, as you can now put yourself out of good spirits by having a platoon out of command, so even if I had won the assault, I would have failed my formation last stand anyway. Something to remember for the future.

The captured flaktrack burns as my line collapses

Operation Goulash - Democratic Uprising Finds It's Feet In Hungary! Jerry On The Run As Our Boys Aid Local Resistance!

Our little Flames of War community has grown slightly of late, with new forces arriving in the form of the Hungarians. In order to make sense of a 3 player game we played - British and Hungarians vs Germans - we decided that the background was a second front being opened up in the Balkans after successes in Italy. The paras have been sent in to link up with democratic elements that the Foreign Office has been convinced are primed for insurrection.

Apparently there was a democratic (along with communist) resistance to the German occupation. They weren't very effective. This may have been because of the rampaging armoured trains.

Paras and feral university students stream through the streets of Portsmouth a nameless Hungarian town

Things got off to a bad start when Alex' reserves turned up on turn 1...

*Sigh* Choo choo motherfuckers...

The opening rounds of the game mostly consisted in maneuvering towards the German lines which exchanging artillery fire.

Hungarian StuGs loaned by the occupying Germans are now turned against their creators

The PzIVs executed their ambush, sniping at the distant StuGs, killing one, leaving my 6pdrs badly out of place. As they began the ardous process of re positioning, Hungarian anti-tank guns destroyed the lead car on the train.

Paras push to the right to support the Hungarian rebels...

Who take up positions in the buildings in front, supported by the StuGs

The German armoured train rains artillery down on the paras mortars, killing two, and pinning the Hungarian AT...

While the PzIV's advance towards lurking panzershreks

Version 4 is the first time I've had to worry about enemy air power. There are no real anti air choices in my go to lists, and it's slightly annoying.

The Luftwaffe kills bombs the paras pushing right

While reserves arrive to take the rear objective, uncontested!

Towards the mid-game the lines bogged down, mostly trading fire as we set up our assault on the right.

Things go badly wrong for the PzIVs...

...As the para assault platoon prepares to attack, supported by the StuGs and covering fire from the buildings behind them

At this point, more German reserves showed up, this time in our rear, too late to change the flow of the battle, but with enough firepower to cause us problems.

Brummbars? More like Room Brooms

After taking significant casualties, the assault platoon digs in and leaves this fight to the Hungarians

Meanwhile, any German assault on the left ran into trouble.

Southern Rail regrets to inform you...

The Hungarian StuGs push the Germans off the forward objective

German infantry dismounts from the train and begins to advance on the rear objective, but too late, as Hungarian artillery pins them in place

The 6pdrs get some action, killing a Brummbar

Hungarian conscripts decide to attack the Germans from the rear

While others spot an easy target in the shape of  the final - bailed out - PzIV

The battle ended with the from of the German train engulfed in flames while its infantry contingent tried, too late, to oust the Paras from the rear objective. But with the other objective safely under the protection of the StuGs it really was a solid victory for the democratic rebels and their paras allies.

Operation Goulash will return!