Chain of Command again and Hospital again.

FJ in cover, waiting for the British

Monday night saw another go at Chain of Command.  Andy (Germans) played Zob (US Paras), with guidance from Gus.  The other battle saw Colin use the Falschirmjagers against Nathan's British platoon.

It was a bloody night, at least it was for Nathan.  A FJ platoon has 6 LMGs, plus Colin's support was a tripod MG.  The British had 3 sections, each with a Bren, and an M5 halftrack with another LMG.  The halftrack was blown up by a Panzerschreck, taking 3 of its supporting infantry with it.  Nathans infantry were then simply outgunned and were forced to fall back as they got whittled down.  The one saving grace was the smoke laid by the 2" mortar, which saved more than a few men.  Andy found much the same facing the US Paras, whose larger squads and Garand rifles minced his lead section and forced the rest back.

A good evenings gaming, with all players learning that you need to be careful with your troops. Looking forward to another game soon.

I have added a Chain of Command page to the blog, with some pictures of my 15mm (YES 15mm) platoons.  More will be added as I get them.

This afternoon has been spent in Torbay hospital, luckily the prognosis is good and the future for my chest looks rosey.  I wish they could say the same for my stomach, but all in all today is a good day.

Off now to annoy SWMBO.  It has to be done as she has been putting up with a grumpy Welshman for the last few weeks.  Keep rolling those dice folks.

Chain of Command game (Or the Paras get a stuffing)

Friday is becoming an almost regular game day now, which makes a nice start to the weekend.  Gus and I travelled over to Nathans to give Chain of Command another go.  Nathan took the Germans and Gus took US Paras.  This time we used support, with the US attackers having 9 support and the Germans getting 4.  Gus' Paras took an extra squad (to give them 3) and a Sherman, while the Germans took a tripod MMG and a minefield.

The table set up by Nathan

 The table was pretty closed, with very few open lines of fire.  Plenty of hedges, walls and buildings meant the fighting would be all at close range. 

The US started off in a poor position due to Gus' placement of his jump off points.  All 3 were close together and in the middle of the table.  This gave Nathan the confidence to leave his flanks unprotected as the US would have to set up in the middle of the table.

US Paras ready to advance

Initial US troops took up position on a stone wall, looking to advance towards the river.  A sniper covered them, but had little effect on the game.

Germans hold the river crossing.

The Germans brought all 3 squads on quickly, looking to seize the centre of the table and force the Americans to pull back.

Some sustained fire from the MG42s soon killed off the Paras bazooka team, a bad start to the game for the Allies.


More US troops came on, including the Sherman.  It advanced cautiously, very conscious of the danger of Panzerfausts.  As it pulled into position behind a hedge the Germans fired off 2 Panzerfausts, hitting with one and taking out the hull MG.  Shaken by this the Sherman fired its 75mm gun, hitting nothing.

The US split up.

Gus moved his 2nd squad off to the right and his 3rd came up to threaten the left and support the Sherman.  His 1st squad moved into the farm beside the Sherman, where it came under heavy and effective MG fire from 2 sections of German grenadiers and their supporting MMG.  Despite the cover the section sergeant went down with a nasty wound while the rest of the squad cowered in the building.

Its all gone wrong.

The LT did his best to rally the 1st squad, but the continuing hail of MG fire was too much and, as casualties and shock mounted, they broke and ran taking most of the force morale points with them.

Things we learnt from the game is not to put all your eggs (or jump off points) in one area, don't split your force up and never, ever get within fire arc of 3 belt fed machine guns.

We had another good game though, enough to make me base up my own US Paras, German Grenadiers and Falschirmjagers to use with this set of rules.

In other news, not much happened.  I have done some painting and lots of basing, I have done the necessary things that SWMBO has asked me to do and I have even managed to watch the Exeter Chiefs beat London Wasps on ESPN.

Keep rolling those dice and I'll be back after tomorrows games are done.

Chain of Command and 15mm Germans.

Monday nights gaming was visited by the playtest version of Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command game.  I really like the way these rules work, with rolling command dice determining what you can (or in my case cannot) do.  We had two games going on, side by side on 6'x4' tables.  I took some Germans to face Zob and Panjo's Americans, while Gus did the same against Colin and Andy's British.  I took a couple of pictures on my phone, so here they are while we wait for Zob to share the ones he took with his camera.

The Germans occupy the edge of the bombed hamlet, not knowing that an American 30cal MG was going to appear in the top of the red building. Tripod MGs are deadly, with lots of dice and lots of range.








Another German squad appears, holding the ruin on the hill to secure the left flank.

The game went to pot when my "heroic" flamenwerfer team ran out into the road and fired at the American squad in the bottom of the red building.  Six dice, hitting on 4+ and causing shock or kills on 3+ resulted in 1 hit. The surprise must have stunned the Americans as their fire at my heroes was as bad as mine had been, so the flamenwerfer spat its fiery fury again.  Twelve dice this time, hitting on the same scores as last time resulted in 2 shock!  That was it for them as the Americans got over their surprise and mowed the 2 men down.  Then it became a bit of a catastrophe for the Germans as man after man fell and the commanding officer decided discretion was the better part of valour and the 15 remaining Germans withdrew. It was a good game though and we are playing it again next week, but without Panjo as he has to babysit.

Painting has got off to a good start, with the two Paks being finished off yesterday and 40 German infantry being done today.  I am about to try out my new homemade quickshade, made using guidance from Fat Wally and Dr Faust.  Wish me luck and have fun rolling your dice (hopefully better than I did last night!)

Black Powder, Chain of Command and more painting.

Last week went pretty well and too damn quick.  We finished the Black Powder colonial game, which went totally wrong for the British.  Although Panjo was doing well pushing back the Sudanese cavalry and camelry, Zob's plan went completely to pot.  His firing line was charged and charged again by the hordes of screaming dervishes.  Although he won or drew all the fights, he was gradually worn down to the point where he had to test morale.  Morale is pretty simple, roll 2 dice at get more than 4.  So he rolled and got 4!  Oops.  So the first British unit broke and ran.  The bad news is any supporting unit has to test if the unit it can support breaks.  So the unit behind rolled and got.......yes, another 4.  So two units down, the morale rolls moved on tho the third British line unit.  They had drawn their fight so had to roll morale.  Another 4 and off they went.  They also had been supported and the morale roll for that unit was 4!  Four consecutive rolls of 4, which  was hard to do, meant the entire left flank of the British force had gone.  The game was called there as the remaining British units decided discretion was the best option and chose to retreat.  So another victory for the Sudanese and history was being rewritten.  It was a good evenings gaming, which is always a good way to start the week.


Tuesday to Thursday was spent either sorting out the house with SWMBO or painting.  More of the former than the latter sadly, but I did get a bit of painting done.   The vehicles from the Open Fire box have been painted and will be appearing on eBay later today.  I have almost finished the Paks as well, but they need another day to finish off.

So here are some of the Shermans.  Nice models, although they did require a bit of filling along the right side.

I also finished off the Stugs, which are very nice and compare very well with the resin/metal Stugs that I have already.

Friday brought another visit to casa del Stumpy.  Nathan has started his own blog now, finally moving into the 20th century. He has photos and a report of the game we played on there, so check it out for a better view of what we did.  We played a playtest game of the new Too Fat Lardies rules, Chain of Command.  These are platoon level rules and use a very nice system for command and control.  The end result was my Americans saw off Gus' Germans, but sustained heavy losses doing it.  We really had a good game though and will be playing it again tomorrow night.  Stupidly I recently sold off my painted 28mm WW2 figures because I never used them!  Doh.  Face-palm moment.  I still have some Bolt Action Americans here, but they are unpainted so will have to join the list.  Or do I wait and get some Perry's plastic desert figures?

Saturday was the monthly meet of the Devon Wargames Group, but sadly I was a sick as a dog yesterday and didn't attend.  Seems like they had a good day though, going from the post on the blog.  Memo to self, do not overdo it the day before the club meet.

Anyway, off now to sort out some pictures to put on the AWI page I have.  Keep rolling those dice and I will catch you later.

Army Painter problems, plastic putty and games to be played

Hello again and welcome to the mad house.

I have been using Armypainters quickshade for several years now, I like the effect it gives and it has sped up my productivity.  I still paint highlights and details, but the quickshade gives instant shading and a nice gloss coat.  That is, if it hasn't turned into a jelly.  The last two tins I have had have both turned from a liquid into a gelatinous blob before the tin is even half empty.   I have tried thinning it with turpentine as they suggest on the tin and I clean the lid and tin to ensure a good contact and a decent seal, but still the problem persists.  I emailed the company yesterday and received a reply that said "we have never had this issue, all we can suggest is thinning it with turps."  So, no more Quickshade for me, I have purchased a tin of own brand woodstain to see if that does a similar job.

To counter the problems with one product, I present to you Vallejo Plastic Putty.  This stuff is brilliant, it fills gaps in models and smooths uneven lines with ease and I wish I had found it years ago.  Now those troublesome seams on models disappear in seconds.  Buy it, try it.  I did and I thoroughly recommend it to anybody who has fit issues with any models, such as Battlefront's plastic Shermans from their new Open Fire box. I have made up a squadron today and will be painting them this week hopefully, so pictures may appear soon.  One thing to consider is that it can take a while to dry fully, so I leave it for at least 24 hours before sanding/cleaning or painting over it.

Last Monday we started to fight the battle of El-Teb using Black Powder.  The game seems to be going ok, but the British are certainly favourites to win. My Sudanese horse have just been thrashed by British cavalry, but they have had to fall back.  I can't see us holding, but we will do our best tonight when we finish it off.

Online gaming has changed again.  Team Fortress 2 wasn't for us, too many stupid abilities and jumping jacks for us.  We are now trying Alliance of Valiant Arms on Steam, which is free and so far has been a hit.  We die a lot and blaze away like Bruce Willis in just about any film he has made.  Its pretty good though, I am needing a new gun soon as my M4 carbine is wearing out.

Anyway, off to finish off seven French mounted generals, then its time to prepare for the slaughter at El-Teb.  Catch you all later