Staghounds

One of the forces I started but have not getting round to finishing is a kiwi div cav force for Italy using Staghound armoured cars.  I just love the look of these beasts and have had a few (5) lying round that were either going to be for the LW Household Cav for Arnhem games or as the start of a Kiwi force- I've decided to go for the latter.

Last night I painted these up and hope to have another 6 (once they arrive) done in time for next Wednesday's game. The NZ Masters Games are on this weekend so I'm off down to Dunedin to watch the one day cricket Friday then three days of soccer and beers (probably more beers than soccer) at the Masters. So not much chance of doing any painting in the next few days.

  The force has no subtlety (at  least at 1200 pts for DoD) but should be fun. It also fits nicely into my Mech/Recon theme for 2012.

	Kiwi Div Cav- Italy
2x	Staghounds	110
3x	Staghounds (1x CS)	175
3x	Staghounds (1x CS)	175
3x	Staghounds (1x CS)	175
3x	Damlier Dingos	105
3x	Kiwi Shermans	450
		1190

Painting was a base of Vallejo Khaki, black spots and a Ogryn Fesh wash (I didn't want it too dark). Then a highlight of Grey-Green. The camo nets are simply BF foam from a blisterpack, superglued and drybrushed- an idea borrowed from Lintman- in future I might combine it with the tea leaves foliage method to see how that works out.

 And the Dingo patrol.

Craig

PSC Panzer IVs

I won a box of PSC panzer IVs at Southcon last year. Nigel wants to run a panzer company at Day of Days with a mix of Panzer IIIs and IVs- which at 1200 pts doesn't make for many tanks! I decided it would be a good exccuse to finish off the PSC panzer IVs (well three of them anyway). What can I say? I really like the kits. In some ways it takes me back to childhood and gluing together Airfix and matchbox tanks- but a lot less parts and hassle. Each tank probably took 15 minutes to assemble. I've managed to put the running gear on one backwards though- doh! Gotta pay more attention.

And a Battlefront 233 Armoured car- the main reason I want to run my panzerspah! I ordered three at the new comic shop, they only ordered one in! So will be a couple of weeks before I finish the platoon.

  I also finished the hedges for the club- 18 sections done so I have made a good start on the terrain for them.

Craig

FoW Midwar- Fighting Withdrawal

We playtested Fighting Withdrawal for Day of Days tonight as a few changes are needed for a doubles version. Basically the followings modifiations applied:

• Objectives 6" further from the back edge (5ft x 6ft tables) 
• total platoon count for both companies for removal of platoons. 
• Only 1x ambush.
• Both companies must be broken to win the game by breaking the opponent.

Kent was busy so I ran a US sherman company, 6x shermans, 4x stuarts, recon + 105s) & a US para company (3 platoons, LMGs, mortars, 105s).

Nigel had a panzer company (6x mk IIIIs, 3x pk IVs, 3x nebs) and Dale had an aufklarung- 2 platoons, 231 ACs, hummels and HS 129s.

I attacked as the US and it started well, knocking out two mk IIIs with artillery in turn 1 and 2. I even got platoons into the central village but then the ambushing panzer IVs gutted the shermans and the nearby infantry failed to unpin for several turns (fearless? Yeah right!) stalling the attack. In the end I managed to assault and take a platoon off Dale in the last turn for a very one sided match. 

 

 The advance begins. 

 We assaulted two observers in the buildings- one managed to take out 3x infantry teams before dying!

 The ambush is sprung- panzer IVs. My infantry are pinned and will stay that way. The infantry remain GtG through most of the game.

 

 So close if only we could unpin and take that objective- three turns we are stuck in the open!

 At least the hedges look good!

 The final dash to take the objective.

 But a turn too late- and shermans fared badly vs the panzer IVs.

As bit one sided but the main aim was to test the mission, the tweaks seemed to work okay. I mae a few sesrious erros- such as not concentrating my forces. Next weekw e are going to tweak the forces a bit (asddsome air power for the apras) and try them vs an alternative lsit of Nigel's- with Kent's FJ in support.

The other main change for the comp is to the victory points-
 

Winner’s Units lost	Points	Loser: Enemy units destroyed	Victory Points
0	16	4	8
1	15	3	7
2	14	2	6
3	13	1	5
4	12	0	4

 The main reason for this is with 4 games I want a big spread as possible between players to try to get a a clear winnier for both the allied and axis sides.

Craig

Finished hedges

 And the finished product- I've another eight or so to do.
 

Panzers Ahoy!

Over the past few months I've slowly be repainting my Dunkelgelb German stuff using Vallejo  Midstone as the base. I've a game of FoW tomorrow night as we playtest missions for Day of Days so thought I'd take the opportunity to update my panzer IIL/M/N force- as well as the 250/1s & 250/9s that will make the core of my aufklarung force.
 
  The two panzers on the end were done last year for the Worlds and have a black wash, the ones I did last night had a  Devlen mud wash so are a bit browner looking.

 

 

I also made these 3x road sections for the club using the last piece of cork I had lying round. 


 Hedges for TAG- WIP
In the past hour I've done these- 18 lengths hedges (10x 20cm, 8x 15cm long).
The bases are made from 3mm MDF. I glued a 1cm x 7mm high strip of balsa along the middle  of the MDF then built up banks using some plaster. While the plaster was still wet I dipped it in my sand mix. Then a few minutes later the whole thing was covered in watered down pva and put outside to dry. In the next hour or so I'll undercoat them black.

 Craig

Terrain for the club

One thing that has annoyed me about TAG for some tim now is the fact that if we want to game there Kent and I have to bring our own terrain, and pay for the privelage of doping so. We both have reasonable collections of terrain but we would like to be able to go to the club, have decent terrain to use and so have one less hassle to take care of to get a game. To my mind a wargaming club should be about pooling resources to provide best looking terrain and tables possible- providing a gaming experience that people may not be able to get at home.

Although some of the28mm sci-fii terrain at TAG is suitable (and there is now some fantasic terrain that has been built by the local sci-fi gamers) there is little in 15mm or suitable for WWII gaming/  FoW. It is nearly a decade since I started the club and over time the original FoW terrain (much of it originally donated by Kent and me) has been damaged and destroyed. In the past few years little has been done to build up a collection of suitable (robust) terrain for 15mm/28mm hisorics. In the end we stopped supporting TAG and TAGCON (an event I started and ran for its first 5 years) as we felt that not enough was being done to support us and .

The aim of Day of Days this year is to rectify this. We are going to use any profits from the competition to start rebuilding the terrain collection for historics. So to start the ball rolling I've decided to make some terrain and donate to TAG.  I'd like us to be able to get enough terrain for Western European and and North African themed tables. We need a lot of stuff including the basics- rivers, woods/trees, roads, walls, hedges, table cloths etc.

On Friday I picked up a door mat ($12.50) and used some MDF and bark to start making some generic terrain.The door mat is suitable for 4x fields (each 20cm x 30cm) and I've made 4x woods/rough going bases using some MDF I had lying round.

 The trees are some of my woodland scenics ones. I am on the lookout for some robust trees suitable of  the club- they need to be able to take a few knocks.  I might end up making some out of wire yet, we will see.

This terrain took a couple of hours to make and will do for the club.  The MDF was covered in PVA and sprinkled in sand, then once dry a watered down layer of PVA was added to seal the sand and stop it wearing off. The base was undercoated black, then dry brshed dark brown with a final tan colour dry brush, then some static grass added.Simple but it will do the job.

 

Rough Terrain for the desert/African themed games- barkchip + plaster. The key, as I've mentioned before is to seal the barkchip with a watered down layer of PVA which dries into a tough, flexible cover- failure to seal the bark results in the barkchip flaking over time.

 

Craig

Impetus: Armenians vs Later Crusaders (300pts)

Kent and I finally got in another game of Impetus, his new 2nd Crusades force vs my Armenians, 300 pts per side.



I took 2 commands:
2x Knights
2x heavy foot
2x crossbows(T)

2x Knights
2x heavy foot
2x light foot
2x  bows (T)

Kent had a single command:
3x Feudal knights (VBU 7)
3x  Feudal knights (VBU 6)
3-4 dismounted knights
2x crossbows

We were joined by Leeanne, a visiting Canadian who had never played but took command of one of the two Armenian commands. I also got some LBM studio banners recently so added some to finish off the command stands- what can I say, they are lovely.

 The Armenians deploy.

 Kent lines up, has he heard of reserves?

 Kent get the first turn and advances his infantry, we do the same with ours.

 Turn 2: All the knights continue to be held on opportunity. Steady...steady....

 Perhaps this will be an infantry clash.

 On the far right my javelin armed light infantry advance into the open- never a good move!

 We both send forward our knights to bolster the line.

 Kent gets the all importnat first charge in.

 Meanwhile on the left flank, Leeanne decides to charge as well.

 Leeanne's knights destroy two of Kent's lesser knights (VBU 6) creating a big problem on his right flank- my right is also looking decidely shakey.

 Kent's only remaining knights on the right try to save the day- several skirmishes take place- impetuous troops never know when they are beat!

 Leeanne's general rides down some pesky crossbowmen.

 Yes, all those counters mean disordered units- things are looking grim in the centre of the table.

 Those knights on the right continue to battle back and forth.

 Leeanne's general (top left) having ridden down the crossbows turns to face the main battle.

And that is about it- we broke Kent's force in the centre and won the game.

We had some good luck go our way, even though Kent won most initiative rolls- in the end we rolled better when it came to rallying troops and avoiding permaenenty losses.

A close game, I lost all my light infantry, a bow unit and, on the last turn, my general- whoo died even as he slew Kent's general.

Impetus is still my favourite wargame, the ebb and flow of the games is outstanding and both players get to act throughout both turns so it really is engaging at all times.

Now for something a bit different. Kent has been going made painting stuff- take a look at this!

 

Craig