More painting, more gaming...........

Well its been another week and things are ticking along fairly well.  I have done a fair bit of painting and a bit of gaming too.  Painting has been a varied mix, with a couple of units of 15mm Napoleonic British getting done, as well as a 1944 British platoon with a pair of Cromwells as support, a T-35 and a pair of Katyushas.

Light Battalion

Not light Battalion

The two British battalions are for "Cornish" Keith, part of his ongoing plan to have every British unit at Waterloo apparently.

Peter Pig British Platoon

FoW Cromwells

The WW2 British are joining the ever expanding line of CoC platoons that I have.  I did plan to do the French 1940 platoon, but these figures were inherited from Gus and came already undercoated in black and stuck to pennies, so I thought I should do them first.  The two Cromwells have been in a "glued together but unpainted" state for over a year.  I felt a bit guilty as the other two were done long long ago.

Zvezda Katyushas and Peter Pig crew

Zvezda T-35 (because I could)

Why I have bought and painted the T-35 and Katyushas is beyond me, other than I wanted too.  I have no Russians and I had no plans to get any either, as Nathan has hundreds of them already.  However, a single platoon only costs about £30 including support, so it may well be that you see some Eastern front types appearing on the painting line soon.  The Katyushas will probably end up on ebay, they don't really fit into a CoC game.  I have modeled them as one loading with Peter Pig loading figures and the other firing, making use of some pipe cleaners that I have here.  It looks quite good with a ball of cotton wool behind it.

Gaming has been mostly Chain of Command.  I had a visit from an old friend who played a game against my son Michael last week.  He isn't really into WW2, being more of a horse and musket man but he had a good game and seemed to enjoy it.  I then put on a game at the Devon Wargames meet, with Michael (again) and Everett ganging up on, and managing to defeat, Andy.  Again, they all seemed to enjoy it.  Last Monday was gangster night, playing a homegrown game put together by Zob.  Don Taffleoni was doing alright when we finished, but the "Pink Fluffy" Don (aka Andy Noel) won.  Seems to work pretty well and most of us had a good time.

Off now to start painting something else.  Maybe some 25mm zombies, maybe some 15mm WW2 French, probably some more Napoleonic British.  Have fun and keep rolling those dice.

Quick update after late night painting.

Tomorrow is the January meet of the Devon Wargames Group in Exeter.  I am going, no matter how sick I feel, in fact Nathan and I are going to introduce several of the members to Chain of Command.  I am putting on a later war game of US infantry against Germans and had to paint up some shock bases (dead man with square for small dice) for the Americans.  So here they are, nothing fancy but they do the job.

Then, in a moment of late night madness, I suddenly decided to make some "Jump Off" point markers for the Germans.  No idea why as I don't have any for the Americans either, but the Germans have now become the proud owners of 3 little dioramas which will see their first use tomorrow.

Lost Again!

This one I am calling "Lost again", as a German squad in a Krupp Kfz.70 "Protze" truck wait while the officer tries to figure out where they are on his map.  The vehicle, driver, officer and NCO are from Battlefront, while the seated figures and signpost are by Peter Pig.

Supply dump

The next one is a supply dump, with an officer, radioman and spotter nearby.  I think the base is Kerr and King, while the figures are Battlefront and Peter Pig again.

Achtung!

The final one I am calling "Achtung", as one of the figures is shouting while his officer looks on with disinterest.  The truck is from Battlefronts "Ernst Barkman" box, while the officer is also Battlefront.  I don't know who makes the shouting figure, it was just in my bits box and got used.

So there they are.  Something a bit different from Napoleonics or normal WW2 troops.  I now need to figure out what I am going to do for the Americans.  Any ideas?

Keep rolling those dice, I will be tomorrow! 

First game and first painting of 2014

Following the events of last year, I have decided to make more of the opportunities I get and do more with my time than I did last year.

So, when Nathan invited me around for a game on Sunday, I went along ready to play another game of Chain of Command.  This time it was a 1940 game, with the dastardly Huns attacking the gallant (newly painted) British infantry.  Nathan had a German platoon of 4 squads, commanded by 2 senior leaders.  Supporting them he had a 50mm mortar, a medic and a Stug III.  I had a British platoon with 3 smaller squads, again lead by 2 senior leaders.  Support was a Boys AT rifle team, a 2" mortar, a Matilda II and a FOO with a 3" mortar battery on call.

 The table looks mostly open, but the fields all blocked line of sight and made for limited long range fire opportunities.  The German jump off points are marked in red, the British are in blue.  The terrain was made by our late friend Gus Murchie and it was nice to see it being put to use again.

 Turn 1 came and went in the initial German phase.  Nathan rolled four 6's and a 3 on his 5 dice, giving him the next phase, a Chain of Command Dice and a random event.  He brought on his first squad with the 3, then rolled for the event.  A random mortar stonk came down on his right flank, restricting his advance, but luckily missing his troops.

 His next roll was three 6's as well, ending turn 2 before the British even got on the table.  He slowly (5" on 3d6) advanced his squad, while also bringing on his sergeant.  His next move was more normal, allowing 2 more squads to come on while he pushed his initial squad forward to within 3" of one of the British jump off points.  Things were looking pretty bad for my British.

 I finally got a phase and managed to bring on 2 squads and the platoon sergeant.  I couldn't deploy on the threatened jump off point as Nathan had his men too close.  I did manage to get two 5's though, so my CoC dice was filling up.

 Nathan rolled again and declared a normal move to seize the jump off point.  2d6 were rolled, giving a move of 3" which looked like enough for him to get there, except he had run flat out the turn before and had a point of shock, which reduced his move to 2"!  Shame that..........    His other dice allowed him to push forward one squad and also move over towards his left flank with the 3rd, while also bringing on the Stug.  I was getting decidedly outnumbered.

 My phase again and I got two 6's, giving me the next phase.  I pushed both squads forward, with the 1st going 5" on 3d6 and the other going 16" on the same number of dice.  The Sergeant moved up and rallied the shock off his troops.

 This time I got several 5's, giving me a CoC dice.  This was used to move the threatened jump off point away from the Germans, saving me from a nasty force morale loss.  At the same time the 1st squad went on overwatch and the 2nd moved around to flank the Germans.

A couple of quick phases resulted in the Germans advancing 3 squads, taking fire from the British infantry as they came on and then the German left got threatened by the high speed (17" on 3d6) move of the Matilda II.

 Sustained and effective Bren Gun fire caused 5 shock to the German leftmost squad, while the rest of the British troops fired at the advancing Germans.  The FOO was also on, and made contact with his mortars.

 Some effective fire by the advancing Germans saw the British leftmost squad get pinned down.  Those damn MG34s lay down a lot of fire, while the small 8 man squads of the British make them very fragile.  On the other flank the Matilda revved its mighty engine and ground forward, crushing several Germans and breaking the squad.  Lovely!

 However, C squad was looking ropey and, if they broke then the British left was wide open.

 Luckily the FOO stepped up and saved the day.  Two 6's gave me the next phase and the mortars came in with a whoosh BANG.  Unfortunately for Nathan (hehehe), all his squads were within the blast area, along with his sergeant and his Stug.  All the infantry were pinned and the Stugs CO decided that he didn't like being shelled.  Losses were few from the mortars, with the noteable exception of one of the MG34 teams, which was wiped out to a man by a single, lucky mortar shell.

When the mortars fired again on the next phase, Nathan decided that the attack was over and pulled his men back.  Victory to the gallant defenders of the realm, who held out despite being outgunned and outnumbered.  A great game, with the result swinging from a German victory to a crushing defeat, thanks largely to the mortars.  Thanks for the game Nathan, it was a blast.

It also saw the blooding of my first painting for 2014, who won despite being used in their first game ever.

 The figures are a Forged in Battle Highland infantry platoon, supported by a FoB Vickers MG and a FoW 18/25pdr gun.  All the infantry were painted on January 2nd, with the gun and crew being done on the 3rd.

I also painted up these lovely little tanks on the 3rd.  A Zvezda Matilda II and a FoW A13 Cruiser tank.  The Zvezda costs less than 1/2 the price of the FoW tank and is just as nice to look at.  Bargain.

Anyway, thats it again.  Its 1.40am and I am going to bed.  Keep rolling those dice.

Last Game of 2013

Its taken me a few days to get this post up, but it's here now so prepare to be less than enthralled.

On the last Sunday of 2013, the Chuckadice gang got together at Zob's for our seasonal all-day gaming extravaganza. Chain of Command was the order of the day this year, followed by Zombicide for a light hearted evening game.

The CoC game was a bit different, with 3 players a side and based on a hypothetical history.  What if France fell, then Britain lost the Battle of Britain and the Germans invaded.  We had two camps, with the nasty Hun/Italian types commanded by Colin and Zob, ably supported by the Fascist British commanded by Panjo/Pingu.  The had an understrength German platoon (2 squads of regulars), a British Fascist Platoon (1 regular squad and 2 green squads) an independent squad of Italian regulars, a mighty L6 light tank, a captured 18pdr gun and a tripod MG.  They were also awaiting the arrival of reinforcements in the shape of another 2 squad German platoon with an armoured truck and a Panzer 38 in support.

Nasty Germans (Zob, Colin and Panjo)

The gallant defenders of British sovereignty  had 2 mixed platoons each with 2 regular and 1 green squads.  There support consisted of 3 ex-Polish tankettes and a HMG armed steam tank.  They were also awaiting reinforcement by a mixed platoon with 1 regular 1 green infantry squads, a mounted yeomanry squad, an armoured steam truck with an mg and a Rolls Royce armoured car.

Andy and Nathan, Defenders of the Realm

Another change was in the command dice used.  Each individual commander only had 2 command dice, but the CinC had an additional 4 to be split as he saw fit each turn.  No commander could have more than 5 dice though.  So ten dice between 3 commanders, which led to some mutterings about the division of spoils.

The game played well, with the British forcing their right flank in an attempt to circle around the town.  The fascist British seized the town, but were largely kept away from the main British attack by the attentions of a single squad of British Local Defence Volunteers behind a hedge, supported by the single cannon armed tankette.  This was exacerbated by the fact that the German reinforcements also came on on that side of the table.

Nathan finds Germans in the wood

That building is infested with Highlanders

Andy's flank guard of LDV types

This left Colin's 2 squads of Germans, supported by the Italians, the tank and the gun facing off against the remaining 5 British squads, supported by the steam tank.  A risky move by Colin left one of his German squads isolated and outflanked.  I am sure the German soldiers were inspired when their commander legged it and left them to the tender mercies of the advancing British.  The statement "They have too much shock, nothing I can do" was heard from Oberstleutnant Edgecombe as he left them.

The massed British advance, WW1 style

The fascist British look for the pub

The Germans "didn't like it up 'em!"

Armoured(ish) support for Andy's LDV

Italians leave the barracks, ready to be confused

As the game progressed, both reinforcement platoons began to arrive at the same time.  The Germans reinforced the out of position British fascists, while the British came on in position to prevent any easy reinforcement of the outnumbered Germans.

British reinforcements arrive

As do the Germans, under Unterofficer Zobski

Cavalry support the advance

After much ineffective fire the German CinC was last seen running towards Torquay harbour, while the Italian squad wondered what was going on and the British fascists celebrated holding the pub.  The British won the day, although Andy's platoon was close to breaking.  Everybody seemed to enjoy it and the special rules from the Spanish and Home Guard lists were a welcome innovation.

The evening game was Zombicide, continuing our games of Prison Outbreak.  Things did not go well, with almost everybody getting munched and being zombified and horrible.  Damn and blast.

Looks ok, lets get going folks.

Where the hell did all those zombies come from?

All in all it was a good days gaming, which was what was needed before the sad day of Gus' funeral on New Years Eve.