Achtung! The State of My German Army

Fighting for the Fatherland, your 2015 German force:

Because they fight both my Soviets and my US troops, and because Ultimate Soldier/Forces of Valor/21st Century toys vehicles tend to be available every now and then for very cheap, they are by far the best equipped of my 1/32 armies.

They are the only force with an engineer (flamethrower in the picture below) and two HMGs ready to go (the US has one already, and a second awaiting painting, whereas the Germans have one waiting assembly and that's it). 

The right-most is the CTS HMG team from their older German infantry set, and the left team is from CanDo (1/35 pre-painted figures from Dragon).

The mortar crews are Ultimate Soldier  I believe. Well, one of those companies - I actually have 3 mortars for the Germans, but until I pant the Italeri gun crew for the PAK 40 (below), I have assigned them to serve the gun.

All of my armies have been based in the same way:  2 figures to a base, except for leaders and other special figures. The Waffen SS (W. Britain, behind Unit "Airfix") , I left singly based, since they will see use primarily in very small 1:1 scenarios against my British paratroops.

Finally, unlike the US with only one vehicle capable of moving personnel, and the Soviets, who have one awaiting assembly, the Germans are in rather good shape here (CTS and Ultimate Soldier) thanks to the Morsermannschaft  which came with the mortar crews (I gave the third one to my son. These things are models, not toys, and it was quickly destroyed, although he still loves to play with it.)

The kubelwagen (Britain Deetail) can transport an officer if necessary, but is usually used in a scouting role.

The figures are a mix of Matchbox, Airfix (which are my favorite), CTS, Ultimate Soldier and Britain. 

In the queue is the crew for the pictured PAK 40, as well as a 2nd PAK 40 and crew. I also have a King Tiger model to assemble, but I'm terrified of it and will start with something easier and work up to it. They will undoubtedly be the first of my forces to be able to meet any configuration Neil Thomas's scenarios throw at me.

10 Games, 10 Times: Iron Ivan's Disposable Heroes / Coffin for Seven Brothers

Soviets try to get their tanks across the table in a later game in the series.

i had played DH/C7B a handful of times before, initially not really digging it, but later coming to decide that it might well be my favorite set or 1:1 WWII gaming, for squad to a platoon per side. Yet, I hardly played it thereafter, and when i did, it was primarily infantry only conflicts, hence its inclusion on my 10 Games, 10 times challenge list.  

The first few games were straight up infantry affairs to help me shake off the cobwebs and figure out where I was forgetting rules.

Backing up, for those who don't know, DH/C7B is a 1:1 set of WWII skirmish rules, where the basic unit is the fire team. It's recommended for up to a platoon per side, with support, although you can extend it further if you have time or multiple players.

My sole gripe with the rules is the use of markers for tracking activation, pinned, acquisition status (for armor), and # of armor penetration hits. You also need some way of tracking the number of destroyed units for each side, as these, plus the # of currently pinned units effect the initiative score.

So many markers. The white cards are blinds - I used Platoon Forward for many scenarios, along with its enemy force generation method. This is from one of the last games I played in the series - after I had mounted the figures to 3 inch squares.

However, so many games require markers, that it seems like short of an all or nothing approach to hits, or off table tracking (difficult in a 1 figure = 1 man game with more than a handful of figures per side), there really isn't a better option.

So, other than that, the game has a lot going for it although it took me 5 or so games to really see how good they were, as I kept forgetting rules in the early games or situations just didn't come up:

• The Guts score - it effects both initiative and morale, including the ability to rally. It's a mix of quality and motivation.
• simplified movement
• if one figure reaches cover, the whole group does
• move one figure, then place the rest around that figure, rather than measuring for all
• terrain does not effect movement rates of infantry
• Movement rate determines what additional actions a unit may perform and any penalties
• Snap (opportunity) fire is restricted to one enemy unit.
• Using grenades to supplement a charge is abstracted and works quite smoothly
• Taking fire, regardless of result, triggers a Guts check - this seems right to me, but surprisingly few systems I have played incorporate it
• It is difficult to score a hit on a target in cover - based on what i've read about the expenditure of ammo in WWII to hit a target, this too seems right to me.
• The way it handles armor.

I wanted to really go big,both because i wanted to see if it made a big difference in my enjoyment, and also as a way to see if I could at some point eliminate a table and the space it takes up. Playing on the floor was loads of fun but no more so than a table, as it turns out.

One thing that has flummoxed me about some other systems at the 1:1 scale has been armor: either they are too simple, and the type of vehicle does not matter, or too complex to the point of having to use calculus to understand the tables. DH/C7B's system for attacks by and against armor sits somewhere in the middle and I rather like it. It has enough flavor to get a feel for the period and the differences in equipment, but not so complicated that every rivet matters.

I had to fudge any vehicle that wasn't a tank, since no stats are included in the core rules beyond a vehicle or two per army.

One  downside is the mix of roll low/roll high is somewhat annoying - you want to roll low always -to acquire a target, to hit, to pass a Guts check, but  when you're rolling for armor penetration, then you want to roll high. 

It's hard to see, but the PZ. IV had just made it onto the table when one of the T-34s brewed it up on a single hit This is less frequent an occurrence than my pictures might relate.

The other is that the core rules, which contain the "big four" nations, do not include much in the way of vehicles for these. As such, I had to fudge a bit on anything not remotely covered. The force supplements contain the desired data but those are additional purchases.

The core rules do, however, cover tank riders!

Once again, the 10 Games, 10 Times Challenge comes through, and I have a new understanding and appreciation for this game. That said, I also have come to realize, that i prefer 1:1 games with 3-5 figures, rather than squad to platoon sized engagements. 

As a bonus, I suspect these rules could work well for that - treating each figure as their own fire team and disregarding the man-alone rule and the "only 1/2 figures per unit can shoot" rule. I may try them in that respect at some later date, but Five Men in Normandy awaits first.

First Game Of the Year : A One Hour Wargames Scenario

I began the new year of gaming with a play through of Scenario #3: Control the River from Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames. The objective for both sides is to control both fords and thus the river, before 15 turns pass. 

OHW scenarios seem to all have 15 turn limits. Regardless of the rules used, I have only hit the 15th turn one time in 10+ games using scenarios from the book. In my experience playing the 1st two scenarios, that limit does very little to force movement, and so, I have modified the turn limit to 10 turns  + 1d6-1 turns if necessary.

OOB Randomly Generated by the method in OHW:

U.S.A.	Germany
3 Infantry Units	4 Infantry Units
0 Mortars	0 Mortars
1 ATG	1 ATG
2 Tanks	1 Tank

For those who haven't yet read somewhere else, OHW limits forces to 4 unit types, and a max of 6 units per side, to fit the game within a 3' x 3' space.

The WWII rules in One Hour Wargames use a 4-6" frontage for Infantry, which represents a platoon, A single tank model represents somewhere between a section and a platoon., a mortar represents about 3 mortars and their crews, and ATGs represent about 3 such guns and their crews. 

I played this scenario on 12/31/14 with the OHW WWII rules as written (I don't dislike them, but I don't love them), but then kicked off the New Year using my own rules that are a mash-up of Morschauser, Featherstone, Cordery and Mr. Thomas himself. I've been playing these rules a lot over the past week, tweaking them here and there - I'll post them eventually.

In this scenario,  both sides start off the table and arrive on turn 1. Since I'm playing solo, I diced the location of all units on turn 1, and then play began with turn 2. 

FYI, the grid is not in use during this game, it's just on the cloth - although it does help with measuring. The sad plastic trees indicate where the fords are.

Here's what the dice gave me:

Early in the game probably turn 2, the Germans appear to concentrate on their right:

But it was a trick, and the Germans split their force to take each ford:

In my rules, a unit is two bases, and can take two hits before being completely eliminated. Units throw one die per base, so loss of a base impacts combat effectiveness. You can see one German and one US unit reduced to one base in this picture.

The clash on the left:

On the right, things aren't quite as bad. Or so it would seem. Shortly after this picture was taken, the pictured US platoon was destroyed:

The guns blaze away and the dice are merciless, yet neither side has definitively taken control of one ford, let alone two:

 One of the high points of the game, the ATG scores a hit and brews up the PZ IV:

It's not enough to score a hit on armor. I'm using Featherstone's method of rolling 2d6 and on a score of 9 the tank falls back 1 move, a 10 it falls back two moves and on an 11 or 12 it's destroyed.

It looks like things could go either way at this point - we're nearing turn 10 and no one has control over both fords. The German platoon on my right seems to have things under control, and on my left, the ATG will provide the other German platoon with some protection from the Sherman:

Alas, it is not to be for Germany, and the US eliminates them entirely with some well placed rounds:

I don't think a PAK 40 would smoke if hit but I like the visual!

A fast and enjoyable game that could have gone either way - I've already played this scenario twice since, once again with Mr. Thomas's rules and once with my own.

As I said, I'll post some thoughts on the book itself later, but I will say, whether tor not you play the OHW rules as written, the scenarios, and the small space they require, makes the book a must have for those of us who don't have access to a space much larger than a kitchen table.

It's All Done with Mirrors and Painted Smiles

Last week, I had some time off, and since the nanny was here during the day to take care of the Young Lord, I spent much of those two days painting:


Fearless Men Who Jump and Die!

The Flames of War Open Fire! box is a heck of a value, whether or not you plan to play FoW. Of course, it's only a value if you actually do something with the included bits. I started this platoon of US Airborne last year, put it aside and then, suddenly felt the urge to complete them.

This is my first time ever using static grass. I don't know if I did it right or not, but i love it!

It Was Just My Imagi-nation Running Away from Me

I got a Risk set (the AWI looking bits) a few years ago, thinking I'd use the map for a campaign. But it sat in my closet. Lately, I've been reading about Imagi-nations and getting excited again by the idea. And so, inspired by Kaptain Kobold's Great Northern War project with Risk figures I pondered whether or not I could do something similar. And then it hit me, Riseling vs Sauvignon-Blanc 100 years before the current conflict.

Here are 40 Risk figures painted as the Saintonge Regiment of France, which participated in the AWI.  

There are four bases of line infantry, 2 bases of light infantry. 

I speed painted these to look decent as a group, at wargaming distance. Up close, not so much. (it doesn't help that the figures themselves are terrible. Misshapen heads, missing feet, etc). 

Leader of the PAK

1 1/32 Italeri PAK 40 - nice, easy to build model, it took 3 attempts at priming to get it to stick.

It fits nicely into the 6" grid I use for the 1/32 toys.

Itsy-bitsy Teenie Weeny

Sometime last year I picked up 2 sample packs from GHQ just to see what 6mm looked like in person (yes yes, I can look at a ruler but that didn't tell me what I needed to know).

Here are 3 GHQ 6mm US Army Infantry - painted the same way I paint my 1/32 stuff - this was a test to see 1)if i could paint 6mm, 2)if i would like the results. 

Oh. My. God! This may be my second favorite scale after 54mm (what can i say? I am a man of extremes). They painted up super easily - the details are easy to hit with a brush without painting over previously completed kit. I suspect could knock out a 1:1 company in in a few hours. It's just about all I can do to restrain myself from taking advantage of their holiday 15% off orders over $50.00 deal. 

Bonus:
This may not look like much, but some regular readers might know what's afoot.

On their way to a Slitherin village, two Riesling platoons, led by Feldwebels Feuerbach and Handel, are ambushed by lizard warriors.