My Way

One of the most interesting stories from WWII is that of a group of Korean men who were forced to fight for the Japanese, were captured by the Russians in Manchuria where they were captured by the Russians. They were then sent to the Eastern Front and were in turn captured by the Germans and eventually found themselves facing the Allies at Normandy- not a typical wartime experience to be sure.

This story is finally being told  in a new Korean movie that looks pretty damn good actually and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy (it is unlikely to ever be released down here though)

Here is a sneak peek: My way.


Craig

FoW: MW Cossacks vs FJ

Kent and I managed a 1500 pt game on Wednesday using the new Cauldron mission- we rolled for which of the missions we would run. Unfortunately I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera so didn't get any pictures- others would argue the film was confiscated by the komissar so word of their poor performance ould not get back to STAVKA.

I ran:
HQ + sappers
5x mounted cossacks
13x dismoutned cossacks (attached to the dismounted company)
4x 45mm guns (2 attached to the big infantry)
3x scouts- infiltrate
5x shermans (FT)
4x SU 76
sporadic I 153s

Kent's FJ had:
HQ wth 2x stummelwerfers
2x Full FJ
3x pak 38s- attahed to the first paltoon
3x stugs
Limited Stukas

The game started well- except my infantry and scouts ended up in different quandrants so I couldn't use infiltrate- but I could start close enough to lift GTG). My infantry snuck though a wood to assault on turn 1 but my assault was woeful- I managed to kill 4 teams for the loss of 13 cossacks and so gutted my main platoon- rolling 7 then 8 dice in two turns of assualts I managed 1 kill per round and lost 3-4 stands vs the 4 FJ fighting for their lives and managed ot only kill the last 2 standsw with the remants of my company in the third orund of assaults!

So turn 2 the shermans were thrown into finish off the platoon- and paks. Again my dice deserted me and although the Shermans got the FJ below half strength they lost one tank and bailed two others, the two surivors pulled back and failed morale (that is 5 out of 6 failed morale tests for my tanks of late) and my battalion commander was just out of range for a re-roll- grr. Turn 4 the stugs arrived and the baalance of pwoer swung- time to sue my air support! I managed ot faila  firepower test with the I-153s and so only bailed a stug with their fire- and it promptly passed its motivation. On turn 5 Kent as just able to launch an assualt at my scouts and kill them for no losses- again my assualt dice didn't help) and consolidated close enough to contest the objective. From there it was all over as I was out of infantry and Kent broke my small platoon.

4-3 to Kent- I got the pak 38s (SU 76s finished them off) and the first FJ platoon (by killing every team!)

An interesting game where I should have done much, much better than I did. Kent hung in there and managed to come back at the end for the win but it could have gone either way.

For the next game I am tempted to drop the air and scouts and downgrade the Sukas to conscripts to squeeze in small (7 tank) company of Stuarts for more zippiness. I'm not sold on the conscript support idea (especially for the SU 76s) but we will see how it works out. The force would look like this:
 

MW Cossacks      

            HQ (incls Komissar)            35

4x        HQ Sappers  75

5x        Mounted Cossacks (SMGs)           115

13x      Dismounted Cossacks        250

4x        45mm AT Guns        120

5x        Shermans (FT)         485

4x        SU 76 (FC)    180

7x        Stuarts (FC)  240

                        1500

Craig

Borodino 200th Anniversary Refight- CHCH NZ

 We have been kicking round this idea for a while now and I've just spoken to John Hutton who is organising the OOB. Our aim is to spend the weekend of Sept 8/9 2012 refighting Borodino in 28mm on several large tables using Black Powder.  We are now looking for a venue in CHCH (aren't we Poochie)  as it is a central location for people coming from other parts of the country.

We will need an insane number of 28mm figures for it  including:

•  64 battalions of French and allies
• 44 cavalry regiments
• 63 battalions of Russian infantry
• 21 Cav battalions

+ assorted odds and sods- John assures me it is doable.

So anyone interested in joining us for this madness- and perhaps painting up a few units for it, please feel free to join us.

John's plan is to divide the game into sectors- left/right flanks and centre as well as reserve tables.

People will be welcome to join for the whole weekend, or simply for a few hours but the moer the merrier. It should be a lot of fun.


So how many people can provide green 6x4 GW cloths?  we will need about 10 :)


Craig

A few more Ancient Germans

This week I got a few blisters of Crusader Miniatures Ancient Germans to finish off my Impetvs Germans- archers and heavy cavalry. I've a couple more bases of archers to go.

This week Kent and I should be playing a game of flames of War as we lead up to next month's Southcon. I'll be running my Cossacks and Kent will be taking his Fallschrimjager. We'll play one of the new missions that we haven't tried yet.

Impetvs- Germans vs Romans 400pts

We got a game of Impetvs in tonight, Kent and Stephen using the Romans vs Barrry and me and the ancient Germans.

Simon had come up with a cunning plan to help the germans- more commands! Unfortunatley hee was not there to help us to run them.

We had 4 commands:

• 3x Cav
• 2x large (elite) warband, 2x macemen & 2x javelins (skirmishers)
•  2x large (elite) warband, 2x warband &1x javelins (skirmishers)
• 2x large warband, 1x 1x javelins (skirmishers)

Kent and Stephen had tow command with approximately:

• 1x light horse
• 6x legionnaires
• 4x auxillia
• 3x Gallic warband
• 2x bows
• 2x skirmishers (bow)
• 2x skirmishers (slingers)

Our plan was simple- hold everything we could on opportunity and see what happened- well not much of a plan.

The Romans deploy.

 Macemen and my large elite command, screen by cavalry, then Barry's elite warband and the small command on our right flank.

 Our only move on turn 1- the German cavalry advance.

 Stephen advances his auxillia and skirmishers on our far rigth whilst we hold back all our warband for another turn.

And on turn 2 pin the only light cav the Romans have against a wood- preventing them from evading. Alas we "stuck."

The next turn the medium cavalry destroys the Roman light cav. First blood to the Germans.

 Meanwhile on our right falnk Barry (the Batavian) unleashes his warband at the auxillia.

 The warband seem to have the upper hand, forcing back the auxillia, and bows.

Kent's troops continue their advance against our centre.In the distance my own Cav have just run over an auxillia and are about to be charged in the flank (and destroyed).

 On the right the warband get the better of Stephen's auxllia and legionnaires- not hard when you keep rolling like this! Barry had a great night of dice rolling and this helped him chew through Stephen's troops.

The warband appear to be unstoppable.

 The final turn- Barry's elite warband are about to crush the auxillia while my cav are lining up the legionnaires.

 The macemen are also thrown in and the combat sticks.

Final result:
A a marginal victory to the Germans due to lack of time- Kent's command was in serious trouble and nearly broken, Stephen's was a bit fresher but still things were not looking good for the Romans.

The four commands worked really well and gave us lots of flexibility when it came to moving- and fighting. Keeping the Germans in check as long as possible also worked in our favour and allowed us to throw troops at where the Roman line looked weaker or was not deployed properly.


A fun game and one which showed that there is some hope for the 'Erman's "Airy  'Ordes.

Craig

FoW- Cossacks

I last used these at Days of Days 2010 as part of our Firestorm Bagration weekend.

Last night I added static grass to the bases (they had been based with Woodlands Scenics grasses) and also Meadow Grass clumps- which lifts the bases quite nicely by adding a splash of colour.

The only downside with cossacks is the fact you need cavalry and infantry versions of each unit. I'm note sure whether to run a big and small company (13x mounted vs 5 x dismounted cossacks), or go for a more balanced 2x  9 teams i.e 2 platoons per company). My main concern is the base size and getting the mounted cossacks into action- last time I went for a larger dismounted company and used the mounted cossacks mainly for follow up assaults- I'll have to experiment with both versions.

Anyway the Battalion consists of:

•  Batajon Command: Commander, 2iC and komissar
• HQ sapper platoon: 4x mounted and dismounted cossacks
• 1st Company: 13x mounted cossacks and dismounted versions.
• 2nd Company: 13x dismounted cossacks
• 4x 45mm AT guns 
• 4x 120mm mortars (won't be used for Southcon)

I've also a few dismounted HMGs and Anti-tank rifle teams for other options.

For Southcon its a matter of working out the suppport combination I want:
8x Conscript Shermans + 4x SU 122s
7x Trained shermans + 4x Zis 2
8x Conscript Shermans and 8x Stuarts

Each could have their uses.

A few pictures:

 45mm AT guns and behind them the sappers.

 The sappers

The dismounted cossacks company. My cossacks are a combiantion of the regular cossacks and the Russian infantry in Great Coats (my favourite BF Soviet range) a number of which have cossacks hats instead of helmets- I had a few spares as a result of converting some cossacks to Hungarian Cavalry a few years ago.

 120mm Mortars.

 The Cropduster of Doom- a True North i-153 Polikarpov biplane.

 Craig

Southcon 2012

I like to build my competition forces round particular vehicle or troop type I want to try out- last weekend it was Valentines, Day of Days it was German 233 armoured cars (which would be very very interesting with their massive road movement in v3) for Southcon I want my "must include unit" to be lend lease Shermans. With that in mind it becomes a question of what to run them as:

Tankovy
Cossacks
Razvedki

All have plusses and minues. Cossacks are winning out at present (the are the only force in Eastern Front that gets Fearless Trained Shermans) but the new Razvedki rules make them another good choice. Of course a lend-lease themed tankovy of Shermans, Stuarts and razvedki in US M3A1 scout cars has a nice theme to it too.

My only problem, I have no Soviet Shermans- plenty of US & British ones though. So last night I made up a box of the PSC M4A2 Shermans. They have the extra armour on the sides and I probably should have filed that off but they should be okay. The five models took a bit over an hour to assemble and being less than half the price of BF models are good value for money- and very nicce models in their own right.

So with the Shermna chosen its what else to support them with. My an ideas are centring round 8 Stuarts or 4x SU 122 (always a handy choice) but I have quite a few lists I'm mullling over. A couple of initial ideas are as follows:

	Soviet Tanks- Conscript
1x	Stuart	40
9x	Stuarts	285
10x	Shermans	605
4x	SU 122	245
9x	Razvedki (FT)	230
	Sporadic I153s	90
		1495

	Cossacks
	HQ (incls Komissar)	35
4x	Mounted Sappers	90
5x	Mounted Cossacks	105
13x	Dismounted Cossacks	250
4x	45mm (obr 42) AT Guns	120
	Conscript Support
9x	Shermans (FC)	570
8x	Stuarts (FC)	240
	Sporadic I 153s	90
	TOTAL:	1500