Monday, November 5, 2012

FoW- WIP


Progress continues on my Hungarians forces, I've added a platoon of Jagdpanzer IV/ 70 (v) as a support option. front armoru =, AT 14 (the same gun as the panther) these panther cubs sure pack a punch, and are not to bad value at 150 prts per team. They do have limitations, side armour of 3, overloaded and slow means that are not tanks but rahter should be used as tank destroyers, not leading the charge, and need to take care with terrain. It a tough call between 3-4 of these and 2-3 panthers actually but they do offer another AT option to support the Hungarians. 


 I've also (re)started work on my LW Americans. I love the look of the new greatcoat sculpts (something BF has been lacking for a long, long time) so have ordered a company box set, so I need to come up with a force for them. 



            US Rifles (Vets)- Devil's Charge  
            HQ      15
11x      US Rifles, 2x bazookas      205
11x      US Rifles, 2x bazookas      205
3x        57mm AT Guns        100
4x        Hellcats          410
4x        Chaffees       335
6x        Priests            390
1x        Greyhound + 2x jeeps         90
                        1750

I haave got Bastogne yet so aren't sure what support the paras get but will probably run them as paras. One of my favourite books is All American, All the Way, a combat history of the 82n Airborne. Easy Company and the 101st may get all the attention due to Band of Brothers but the 82nd Airborne were jumping from perfectly good planes from the get go and were engaged in some very heavy fighting round Pont Trois in the Bulge so will look into that as inspiration- once I get my book back off Poochie that is!

Anyway, last night I got to work repainting the force required. My original American force was painted with Tamiya Olive drab but it is too dark so I have been slowly repainting them with Vallejo Brown Violet. Last night the Chaffees and Priests were done, although I need to highlight them tonight.
The Chaffee has got to be my favourite LW tank model- lightly armoured by fast and with a decent gun they are like Stuarts on steroids. I remember first putting together a Matchbox one many, many years ago.  I've had these BF ones for a long, long time. They are in fact white resin ones so will be interested to see how the compare to the new sculpts. I don't often run tank companies these days but can see me running a Chaffee light tank Company very, very soon (or even armoured recon with Chaffee support).

Old BF Chaffee's.

 Hellcats.
 6x Priests. Now these things are nasty in 3E. Cal used to be a terror using them as assault guns in 2E, getting up close and personal- 18x 50 cal dice midwar is not to be sneezed at, and now with Breakthrough gun they are even more potent. Not a unit I would use to sit back and fire smoke bombardments with, that's for sure. I drilled out the MG mounts last night and then drilled the underside of the 50 cals and added part of a paper clip. So now I can simply put them in and take them out without always breaking them in transit to a game.


Solo gaming. 
Over the past week or so I've had several solo games to test out ideas with the Hungarians- usually against my motostrelk company so far but tonight I'll try them out vs the Americans. I organise the forces I want to play, set up the table, and then roll of the mission. Sure you know what you are going to do next but even so there are always opportunities to try new things, and plans, so I find it quite an enjoyable way to get a gaming fix when there are no other players round to game against. Tonight I intend to test out the Hungarians attacking the Americans- a bit ahistorical but I am expecting lots of random stuff at the Masters. 


Craig

5 comments:

  1. Nice work Craig... advancing with the Priests!? Thats an idea I havent seen before... I wonder if it would be equally viable with Hummels though they only get an MG, not a 50cal...

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    1. Cal is probably the best Armour player in the South Island and once he figured out they usually did more damage with their 50 cals you invariably had 6x priests as a flanking attack whilst trying to deal with his main tank force, breakthrough guns makes them even more useful now. You need to time it but having them simply sitting back on the baseline all game is wasting their potential. I can see 6 advancing to support my US rifles and providing 18 dice of suppressing fire- not their intended role but a very useful one of FoW :)

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    2. Very interesting... I may have a few solo games with my hummels and see what mischief they can get up to ;-)

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    3. I think I'd got for grilles or wespes over hummels in that role but as an additional use for the they can work- sneaking up with hummels and going no save you are dead sounds like fun, and pretty goood for cleaning out bunkers too.

      Sextons are another unit that I've used successfully in the game as close support too- 8x RoF 2 25 prs after lifting GtG is not to be sneezed at.

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  2. They look great and I really should do some solo gaming when I have a break between painting projects.
    cheers

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