'Stolen Valour' Mid War 71pts Free-for-All Rats vs Germans

"I say, old chap, why would the Jerries make this 8-wheeled claptrap run on Benzine and not Petrol?"

In a flurry of Mid-War games over the holidays, we have another:   Free-For-All, 71 points, featuring Chris Caron's Eastern Front germans (Using Afrika Korps list for now) vs Andrew Buchan's new British force (not painted, no worries)     Here are some pictures but as usual, the Video at the end of this article does a much better job of describing the action!

Chris ran a Pzr III formation (2HQ + platoon of 3) supported by 3 x Marder's and had a small Grenadier formation supported by quad AA halftracks.    

Andrew ran a Honey Sqdn (4 HQ + 2 units of 3 Honeys) and a Motor Company w/ Carriers, Mortars, Vickers and 6lbrs supported by 17/25lbr 'Pheasant' guns plus a bunch of cards, 'Scout' 'Pip Roberts' and 'Captured Tank'

Initial lay-out 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

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.

Catch a Tiger by the Toe (Final Version 4 Test Game)

My Tiger unit was about as useful as the one I'm sitting on.......

So, depending on the list and the cost of a unit, a game using the new Version 4 rules can go one of two ways. The first is that you flawlessly execute your plan and your opponent suffers as a result. That chance your plan doesn't quite go as you saw it from the beginning however, sometimes rears its ugly head and you get trounced. That's the second possibility.... It's a Thursday night, Tristan and I go for a game of Germans vs Germans in what was a a great back and forth game from the start and later just turned out to be downright brutal for me in the end.

Scroll to the bottom for video of the game!!

Hope you enjoy it and the discussion on the game we had afterwards!

List descriptions are in the video!

Catch a Tiger by the Camel Toe, more like!

Flames of War VERSION 4 Test game 4: Hasty Attack 80pts

Foreshadowing..

Our 4th game of Version 4 using the new lists.  80pts of Panzer Ko. vs my Desert Rats Motor Co.  Hasty Attack, on a desert board featuring 'Truck Park' Forest templates, because we were light on desert terrain, but had heaps of trucks, just laying around!
As ever, Video of the report and our thoughts is at the bottom past the pics.  Enjoy

Matt puts his Marders in the 'Truck Park Forest' in his DZ.  We moved the trucks around when he blitzed forward.   They need more Iraqi Sand to blend in with Monty's Party Bus !!

Flames of War Version 4 Test Game 2

"What's the best World of Warcraft Expansion?" "Burning Crusades!"

Right after our first game, where the Germans won 7-2, we swapped teams and played again, so Matt and I with the DAK and Tristan and Andrew playing British.   Same board, same lists.

Pzr II's 'Spearheaded' into this tree area, allowing the PaK-38s and PzrIVs to be that much closer to the British lines..

As ever, Video is at the end of the post.

VERSION 4 Flames Test Game 1 DAK vs Desert Rats

"What do you say, old boy, shall we go kick the Jerries out of Africa?" Monty

Using the WWPD rules compilation, and stats and such from the preview copy of the rulebook that stores have, plus some from the latest WGI, we apply our Team Yankee prowess to run a Test game of Version 4.  TO make equivalent lists, I used V3 points for both (1340pts) and the DAK force comes out at 82 pts using V4 points.  Video with our opinions at bottom of article.  

Lets see the lists:

Dice Devils Podcast 'The Lost Tapes'

In keeping up a busy schedule and spending the better part of last year working and not much down time, it was tough to get together and chat. Seems easier to grab the recorder and get some stuff onto 'tape' and posted for all of our loyal listeners without trying hard to schedule something. We appreciate the support and we hope to make this a regualr thing once again. Giving you something to listen to, when you're painting, on the road or relaxing.

Two new podcasts are posted, the first one is Episode 6 and is one that Dennis and recorded on the way back from a Flames of War tournament in Kingston. This is an older recording that went missing and may be a little louder as far as background. Taping it in my jeep is similar to sitting in a C-130. It's worth it!!

The second episode was done over the holidays, Andrew and myself sit down for a candid conversation about Flames of War, Team Yankee, some version 4 stuff and video game/movie topics. Episode 7, you can use the links or visit us directly on DICE DEVILS PODCAST PAGE to see all the older episodes and their links for your entertainment.

~Matty

2016, what did I paint?

How I feel after a hardcore painting session..

Not much pre-amble:  last year I kept a loose tally of what I painted.   This year I kept better track.   Taking inspiration from a bunch of folks from around the 'net, here is what I painted this year, first pics, then a video with more explanation

January was me rebasing my old Perry Miniatures 28mm French Napoleonics for the Black Powder ruleset.  This is a small brigade of 3 battalions of line infantry, their brigadier, and the three wound markers. The wound dice go in the green spaces on the markers..

Another Gaming Year Winding Down

It's been a busy 2016, with the release of a few new games such as Team Yankee, the re-vamp of Warmachine and a shift to plastic miniatures by Battlefront for Flames of War. It signifies it's a great time to be a nerd and enjoy all things dice related moving into a new year.

Make sure you have enough money and time going into 2017! You're going to need plenty of both to get your armies to where you will be comfortable getting them onto a table.

Battle Report: 82nd Airborne vs Panzer Lehr

I had the chance to play against Brad in Petawawa this past week, he has been busy with work and had missed the past few tournaments. I had my army on hand and dropped by Perkins Hobby House for a game. I've managed to snap some pictures and even had the opportunity to relax and record the game as well. Hope you enjoy the pictures and the brief video of what went down!

I left the 75mm Airborne artillery at home, going for the Glider 105mm instead.

We rolled up No Retreat and played on a fairly even board, made up of both buildings and a few pieces of area terrain, roads and a few plowed fields.

My list looks like this:

Compulsory Parachute Rifle Company HQ

CinC Carbine

2iC Carbine (30 pts)
3x Bazooka (60 pts)

Parachute Rifle Platoon

Command Rifle/MG

6x Rifle/MG

M2 60mm mortar

1x Bazooka (265 pts)

Parachute Rifle Platoon

Command Rifle/MG

6x Rifle/MG

M2 60mm mortar

1x Bazooka (265 pts)

Parachute MG Platoon

Command Carbine

4x M1919 LMG (100 pts)
 
British Armoured Platoon Guards Armoured Division

Command Sherman V

Sherman V

2x Firefly VC (435 pts)
1xSherman with .50cal AA MG (5 pts)
 
Airborne Anti-tank Platoon

Command Carbine

2x M1 57mm gun (70 pts)
2x Bazooka (40 pts)
1x Jeep per gun (5 pts)
 
Glider Field Artillery Battery

Command Carbine

Staff Team

Observer Carbine Team

3x M3 105mm light howitzer (85 pts)

1x Jeep per gun (5 pts)
 
Air Support

Limited P-47 Thunderbolt (150 pts)

1515 Points, 6 Platoons

I was trying to get a full six platoons and still have the flexibility to attach out my HQ bazookas and combat attach my LMG platoon if necessary. If you can make your main Infantry platoons a full size and then add some teams to beef up their numbers a bit, it really does make a difference if they have to stand their ground and hold an objective.

Kingston Flames of War Tournament

(Pictures provided by Dennis and the article was written by Matt)

Lots of tanks from far and wwide made their way to Nexus Games in Kingston Ontario for a Flames of War tournament. The idea behind getting a tournament together in Kingston was to increase awareness and grow the game locally in this area. It also gave Dennis and I a chance to talk about the event and other topics on the road down there, all of which are recorded and will be included in the podcast area in the coming days. 1420 Late War was the points and time period for this well run event on a chilly Sunday in October.

617th post: 91st After Action report: Reluctant Jagdpanthers from the 654th sJPzr Abteilung (Gesundheit)

 "Jagd-Panthers: 60% of the time, they hit Every-time!"

For my 91st After Action Report all-time, lets do a Late-War game, vs Matt 1420 point tune-up for an upcoming tournament in Kingston.  A bunch of them came up to Petawawa and to Cdn Nationals, so we may as well go down to their first tourney.  1420 points, Pincer attack.  Pics, then Video below.

CDN NATIONALS Early War: The Armies

Canadian Nationals, the armies. I took so many pics (for once, I usually forget) that I figured I'd put all the armies in one post, and post my games tomorrow.   We had a great first day, 46 players total this year.  Let's see how close I was to my over/under of 9 for number of Japanese armies from yesterdays post:   

Start off with Bob McBride's beach bum Japanese

Bob always has nice stuff.  here we see his excellent gun team camo netting.

Flags, Trenches, Italians and the French

So what have I been up to?   After multiple test games for Cdn Nationals, including one where I played 'As Japanese' to test their rules, I decided to finish off those trenches I was working on.   I did three sections, so that they fit nice and snug on my display board:

More Early War: Fighting Withdrawal, Schutzen Coy vs Italian Tanks 1500pts

'Was ist los?" German soldier trying to read Italian, near Tobruk

Alright, 2 weeks to go until Canadian Nationals. Early War, 1500 points.

Matt and I roll up Fighting Withdrawal.

Matt's Basement of Doom, table set-up, Italians will attack from foreground to back, objectives already deployed with all three on his side of the table.