Mid War 71 points Desert Rats vs German Pzr's Counterattack

Marder III with wounded on board, last survivors of their unit.

So let's dive in to Game 2, where hopefully I don't botch too many more rules!   As always, Video Battle Report at the end!  So we rolled up Counter-Attack, with me defending.  We used the same lists as Game 1,  and we both used Spearhead liberally, as this mission allows good movement.  Matt Spearheaded everything into No-Man's Land, deployment is below

Mid War 71 points Desert Rats vs Panzer IV Ko. Breakthrough

Tally Ho, Chaps!

Matt and I had another set of Mid War tester games.   This is game 1.   We played 71 points, as that is what Cdn Nationals will be Sept 2018.    Matt is waiting for Eastern Front lists, but is just using the DAK Panzer Ko. for now until that comes out.   I went with my trusty Desert Rats, we rolled Breakthrough, with me defending, as I had an Inf. Formation in my Force    As always, Video Batrep at the end.

His list:

HQ Panzer III

3 x Panzer IV 'Long'

2 x Panzer IV 'Long'   (in Flanking Reserves)

2 x 8 Rads

3 x Marders

My list:

Crusader HQ 2x CS, 2 x Crusader II

Crusader 2 x II, 1 x III (I completely forgot these were IIIs in game!)

Crusader 2 x II, 1 x III (reserves)

Grants x 3  (reserves)

Motor Co HQ

Motor Co

4x 6lbrs

3 x Bren Gun Carriers

2 Hurricanes (reserves)

Deployment, I Spearhead'ed the Carriers and deployed on both objectives

Anglo-Zulu Project: PART TWO Infantry and Mounted Officer complete

Part 2, I have 2 sticks of 4 Infantry completed, as well as Surgeon Reynolds and Colour Sgt Bourne.  Video walk-through at the end.   Enjoy

My first 4 infantry, done!

Surgeon Reynolds tending to the wounded.

Surgeon had white stripes on trousers, now fixed!

More infantry completed!

Mtd Officer trying to to get the Colours out.   Thanks to Scott for this figure.

Chaplain Smith, handing out Ammunition, with CSgt Bourne's epic mutton chops beside him

CCgt Bourne has a burgundy sash when not hoisting the Colours

Union Flag bundled up, mustn't let the heathens near it, eh?

Leopard 2A4 CAN for Team Yankee

When Team Yankee came out I wanted to do a Canadian army whether they had lists or not.  I was actually fielding Canadian troops before Team Yankee came out.  For now I'm using the West German Panzertruppen lists as they contain a lot of vehicles that were used by Canada in 1985.  Vehicles like the M113, M577, M109 and Leopard 1 could be painted in Canadian cam patterns and the German vehicles would be painted up as West German allies. In the TY time period the West Germans had Leopard 2's, but Canada didn't get that tank until about two decades later (and used Dutch ones at that). I didn't care about the time difference so I painted up my Leopard 2s as current Canadian Leopard 2A4 CANs. I also made some changes to the turrets to bring them up to date. I sanded off some of the smoke launchers and the details on the back of the turret.  I then added a top to the opening on the top of the turret rear and added the current bins on the rear corners of the turret.  I then painted them in Nato Green, added some flags and the black maple leafs on the turret sides.  The German crew figures easily matched Canadian crewmen when painted right.

Anglo-Zulu Project: PART ONE Test model of Bromhead & other Prep-work

Michael Caine's first movie was Zulu! portraying Lt. G. Bromhead, VC

Well, after all that Team Yankee painting the past few weeks, I figured I'd go for something completely different:  Anglo-Zulu War british Colonials.   I picked up some models last year and have most of them built and with the dark blue, skin and dark red basecoats on but that's it.   After watching this Tutorial I decided I would modify it slightly (to use paints I already own) and do up a test model.   And what better character to do a test model than to do the Michael Caine sculpt of Bromhead!  I'll be going step-by-step so if you are more advanced, feel free to skip ahead!  I'll have a full breakdown of colours used at the end.

First though, glue your models onto whatever basing you will use, some go for singles as I have, but if you know for sure you are going to be going with 4 to a base, by all means, go that route.   I use a pre-mixed tub of ultra-fine sand, mixed in with some larger rocks and crushed slate.

Pre-Mix tub at left, officer on horse superglued onto his green base, with white glue (PVA) painted on the top of the base.

After being dipped and swirled around in the tub, the officer now has a scenic base.  I like to do this prior to painting since i get messy drybrushing the sand and rocks!

Even though my models will be on single bases, gluing them temporarily on paint strips means I can work on 4 models at a time.  You can see their bases are already done. 

Trousers are done with the above colours.   Close-up of the blue-gray trousers when finished.   1 base, 2 highlights.

first 2 colours of red:  Burnt Red and Cavalry Brown (which is more red than brown)  This is also a good close-up of the finished blue-grey trousers.

3rd red is Carmine red.  Front.

Back.   Leave the stitching lines where you see them sculpted (metal models mainly)

Final Red is Vermillion red.  If you want, go edge-highlight in Orange-Red, but I thought it was much and stayed with Vermillion

Skin has been inked in Army Painter Soft-tone, 2 layer green regimental colours and collars, yellow piping (normally white, but he is a Lt) in Desert Yellow.

Face and hands re-highlighted, webbing done in light gray and white, leathers is 3 layer of brown, gun stock is same except last colour is reddish brown to differentiate.   His blond hair was highlighted in Desert Yellow.  I could have used a different yellow but I am already using it on other things, so up to you!

 The next shots are just different angle shots for you guys.    Full palette after we are done.  Enjoy!

The Vermillion really pops here.   You can also see the one pouch under his left arm.

Full colour palette:   All Vallejo unless otherwise noted.    Order of colours is dark-to-light in steps

Desert basing:   Beige Brown 70875, then successive drybrushes of  Brown Sand 70876,  Desert Yellow 70977 and  Pale Sand 70837.  The rocks are 70990 Light Grey then white over the whole base.

Trousers:   Dark Prussian Blue 70899, then Vallejo Panzer Aces Periscopes 309, Field Blue 70964

Redcoat:   Burnt Red 70814, Cavalry Brown 70982, Carmine Red 70908, Vermillion 70909

Browns / Leathers:   Ger. Camo. Black Brown 70822, Chocolate Brown 70872, Beige Brown 70875  
Gunstock:   Ger. Camo. Black Brown 70822, Chocolate Brown 70872, Mahogany 70846 or Flat Brown 70984

Black Boots:  Black, Black Grey 70862 or German Grey 70995, Neutral Grey or London Grey 70836

Webbing and straps:   Light grey 70990 then 70-820 Off-white

Other pouches (This model only has one, the rest have lots)  Khaki Grey 70880, Khaki 70988, then edge highlight Ivory 70918

Regimental Colours and Collars: (I chose the 24th)   70970 Deep Green (any dark green will do though) then 70942 Light Green highlights.

Pith helmets (not shown)  Light grey 70990, Sky Grey70989,  70-820 Off-white

Team Yankee Event @ Lords of War

SU-25s, T-72s and BMP-2.   Shockingly all three units survived in my game!

This past weekend, Rob and I drive down to Oakville @ Lords of War Hobbies to play in a Team Yankee event.   Big thanks to Drew from  http://covering-fire.blogspot.ca/ for letting us crash at his place to avoid a hotel cost.   We ended up with 8 players total, and we played the new Mission and Victory conditions, and it used fixed missions, but with bid-for-attack / defend, NOT Battle plans.   Also, 3 different pts levels were used, 100, then 75 then 50pts in the interests of letting us have a big game but not being there until 8pm.     I brought my BMP Motor Rifle Bn with 2 maxed units plus assorted support as filler.

Rob was using Cdn's-as-Germans.   Here are his M109s and Luch's

Denmark trip part 2

Lego knock-off Tiger 1E.  Nice sinister eye patch Tank Commander!

Part 2 of my trip to Denmark Tojhusmuseet and Kronborg and Kastellet, video at the bottom

Denmark Defence Museum (Tojhusmuseet) PART 1

When walking into the museum, you are greeted by a V-1.  None were launched by rails from Scandinavia, but some were air-dropped from He-111 H22 bombers over the North Sea.

So I went over to Denmark to visit some family.  Naturally I had to visit the Danish Defence Museum, or Tøjhusmuseet which is in Copenhagen and housed in a very old naval shipyard support area (where all the cannons were stored and fitted to ships) so I have a huge picture dump, be warned :)     I have split into two parts, the napoleonic stuff is near the bottom of this page.  Enjoy  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLEcDe19gEo

Team Yankee 50pts Dust-Up Cdns vs Russians

Objective:  Smoke break outside an M577 'Queen Mary'

With a Team Yankee tournament in 2 weeks' time, Rob and I decided to christen his new gameroom with a 50pt Dust-Up.  He is using West Germans with as much of it painted as Canadians as possible until the legit list comes out.    So for now he has Geppard and Luchs german allies for his Leopard 1 list and is using M113-TOWs repping Jaguars.  Enjoy the pics, and as always, video and battle report at the bottom and pics of Rob's WIP Cdn Leo II turret conversions.

Flames of War MW 75pt Rearguard with identical DAK tank lists

Matt had his airbags go off after hitting a lamp post in a parking lot after a tournament a few years ago in his green jeep.  I ofc made an objective for him!

So after a fun time at Canadian Nationals, one thing was clear: we did not have enough practice games with the new rules or our lists.  Matt and I decided to start fixing that now, only 51 weeks until next event, so why not get into it with 75 points of MW!   I drove up to his new place, we set up a table, and then decided to play identical lists:

75pts DAK Panzer Ko.

Pzr III HQ tank w/ 5cm short:  5pts
Pzr III platoon (4 tanks) w/ 5cm short:   20pts
Pzr IV platoon (4 tanks) w/ 7.5cm short:  24pts
Pzr II platoon (4 tanks):  8 pts
Marder platoon (4 tanks) w/ 7.62cm:   16 pts
8-Rads (2):  2 pts

I wanted to rock a basic mission, but I let myself get co-erced into playing Rearguard.   I rolled a 1 to see who would attack, so I got to defend.   Video as usual is at the end, enjoy!

After deployment, I am on the left, with Pzr IIIs in Ambush.

Flames of War Canadian Nationals Stats and Lists

Hey guys, here are the final standings for Canadian Nationals 2017.    

We played small, middle and large lists (1050, 1405 and 1865 pts) and here were the rounds/missions/list levels:

Small – Hasty Attack

Large - Fallback

Middle – Free For All

Large - Breakthru

Small - Counterattack

Middle – Dust Up

You will see some clever use of Artillery transports in Chuck's list (which will be nerfed shortly by needing to stay near the parent company)and surprisingly, only two of the lists below used more than 1 formation.   Enjoy.

#1  Chris Johnson did not submit to Dave (or Dave forgot to send it to me) but we have some intel, here is a pic of his army:   

Flames of War Cdn Nationals 2017 Picture Dump

Jack Daniels, Pepsi, and Flames of War, does it get any better, really?   

Hey gang, just a quick picture dump of Cdn Nationals 2017.  We played 3 different points levels, Late War V4, using the Gen-Con rules for determining Attacker-Defender, AND by unanimous vote to Dave Griffin, we also used the Proposed Win Conditions (designed to reduce draws) from the week-old More Missions from the front.  The points levels were 1050, 1405 and 1865, with 2 games at each points lvl over the course of 2 days.   I personally wasn't a huge fan of the points lvls, because with the small Warrior book, main V4 rulebook, More Missions, MLFTF, and whatever else you had going on, it was a lot of book keeping during games.    Anyways, picture dump for you guys, and I had tried to get as many army shots prior to game one as possible.   Enjoy!

My KG Peiper.  Can't have the SS without a church and some flames right?

Hobby: Dot-Ambush camo-pattern on my 15mm Panzers

"No goggles, zey would do nahthing!"

Hey gang, painting up some Pzr IVs that are OVERDUE to be finished, like 6 or 7 years overdue.   Step by Step for doing the Dot-Ambush pattern.. which in summary is extra green to hide most of the Dunkelgelb base, and then Dunkegelb on the green and brown.   Video at the end, as usual

Flames of War Battle Report 82nd Airborne vs KG Peiper 1865 Breakthrough

Gammon Bomb

Had another Cdn Nationals Test game, this time at the 1865 points value, and at the WIP Beachburg Bunker (or so Matt calls his basement)  He was running 82nd Airborne with guards tanks support and I was running KG Peiper again.  We also used the new Win-Conditions introduced this week by Battlefront in order to cut down on the number of Draws, which are here.   We go through the lists and all the discussions in the video which as always, is at the bottom.