NATCON 2010

Natcon was held in Wellington last weekend and had 3x Flames of War periods: Early, Mid and late war. I much prefer mid to late war so entered that. There were 16 players and as a number of us were from the south Island the draw was arranged in two groups to ensure that everybody played players that they did not usually play- which I thought was a good way to do things, even if it meant the odd one sided game.



My Rota Razvedki did very well, coming out second equal but pipped Bede on a count back to our very close game in which I burgled an improbable victory after a very intense game (being fearless saved my butt in that one as I was down to 4 infantry stands, 1x SU 122, 4x BA 64s and 2x T70s! I just got the needed last patoon to force a break test before Bede hunted down the remnants of my force!) I, like everyone else, was steam rolled in a blue vs blue game vs a Soviet tankovy with 21x valentine IIs, 10x matildas and 2x sU 152s. I could simply not stop the juggernaut and the mission we got (free for all) made for my worst nightmare- I did however contest and objective in a last ditch effort to grab (a very unlikely) victory but alas his valentines refused to die and held me at bay while the rest of his army rolled over my other units- a tough game for my force to win but I gave it my best shot.


Steve Hill's grenadier list was voted the best painted (over all 3 comps) and well deserved. We played one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a long, long time and I just failed to grab a major victory (4-3 loss) in my only other loss of the comp as I could not quite finish off his last platoon to automatically break his company in the final turn of a Fighting Withdrawl- my last Armoured Transporter platoon failing to unpin ensured that my final assaults were not as effective as I intended and Steve sensibly retreated from the assault and was just above half strength. Great game though!



The Valentine/Matilda combo rolls over another army- it was played by a very, very competent player who maximised its effectiveness in all games and only dropped 2 points in the 8 games!



My own Rota Razvedki on the attack.

Craig

Fow NATCON Update

The past week or two I've been busy thinking about forces for NATCON which is in Wellington at Easter. Chris and I will be going to represent SMG (Southern Miniature Gamers, or is that maniac gamers?*)

* SMG is a little known wargaming group that won the National Intercub Challenge at Valleycon in Wellington last year. Cal was supposed to be joining us as we try to defend our title but it seems he won't be able to make it. Actually SMG is based on the principles that it has no members and is a loosely aligned group of non committed gamers that refuse to join more structured clubs- that's our story and we are sticking to it.


Anyway, I've far too many forces and narrowing things own has been a pain- I could take my old faithful Guards Strelkovy, or Fallschrimjager- both forces which can withstand a lot of punishment but still win games (and have won comps) but where would the challenge be in that? In the end I decided to run with the Razvedki. I was temtped to take cossacks but they require a bit more care to pack (the Cavalry bases require a lot more room and since I'll be flying space is an issue). I took a Razvedki list to Tempest in Christchurch last year and won, despite Razvedki being overcosted and suffering from hens and chicks. Now they are cheaper and have no hens and chicks on their combat platoons I'm likely to get run over!

I've almost settled on a list so have been repainting things or touching up damaged vehicles.

This is the list I am looking at although was also considering Valentines, SU 122s and heavy mortars as the support options. It's light and fragile but hopefully will do okay.

1 T70s + SU 85s
HQ + Kom 35
5x M3A1s 230
5x M3A1s 230
3x BA 64s (2x ATRs) 75

9x T 70s 325
4x Zis 3 (AT Guns) + Trucks 175
3x SU 85s 300
Limited Cobras 130
1500

The Army assembled.


The command stands and M3A1 Scout cars

2x Razvedki platoons- a mixture of the LW Razvedki and MW scout models.


AT defence- Zis 3s and SU 85s. Not sure on the latter I prefer SU 122s but thought I might need some long range AT support. The role of both will be to fight from range and target artilelry and AT guns first and foremost.


T70s- recently reduced to rate of fire 1 (about time) they are now not such good value for points but even so I alays find them sueful. THey have enough armour to be able to deal with light AT guns and their wide tracks means I don't mind crashing them into woods etc. Being guards means they should be able to survive a few turns, they just don't do much vs any armour!


Recon- BA 64s i find really sueful to lift Gone to ground. And with all my scout cars armed with 50 cals should make it easier to dig out infantry and gun teams. Air support is proovided by 144th scale Yaks that a friend picked up in Japan.


This is what we want to see T70s and Razwedki platoons swarming forward!


And the nearly made its- 16x Valentines (well, I was only going to take 9-10 of them). They were repainted last week as well.


Now all I need is to get a few more playtest games under my belt.

Craig