AAR - Somewhere near Carentan

The folks over at What Would Patton Do together with the fine chaps at Battlefront are running a global campaign set in Normandy, and of course the Irregulars are keen to participate. The first game that we have played was between myself and Michael - a scenario designed around the Paratroop actions near Carentan. I've chosen to be the 6th Fallshirmjager Regiment, mostly so I can get a handle on playing an infantry based force. Michael has chosen British Armour, but for the first battle slipped into being US airborne.

The armies were 1500 points each taken from Turning Tide and Earth and Steel. The mission was an encounter to represent the airborne forces concentrating and the Fallshirmjager responding to the situation.

US Airborne: 1500 points Michael  

HQ w/ 3 bazookas; 2 platoons airborne infantry w/ 2 squads each; MG platoon; Mortar platoon; AT platoon with 4 x 57mm; 4 x 75mm pack Howitzers; A platoon of 4 Shermans of 2nd Armoured Division.

6th Fallshirmjager Regiment: 1500 points Nathan

HQ w/ panzershrek; 2 x platoons - one at full strength and one with 3 squads; 2 x LG 40 light guns; Mortar platoon of 2 barrels; HMG paltoon w/4 guns; 3 x Panthers. All HQ were upgraded to Panzerfaust/panzerknacker.

The battle started with the bulk of the Fallshirmjager holding one objective behind a farm, while the light guns sat on the other objective waiting for reinforcements. The Allies got the first turn, and it didn't take long for the US armour to move forward to try to take control of the objective and win the game. The light guns put up a heroic resistance, killing two tanks, but in the end they were destroyed and the Shermans sat ready to claim an objective. In the German turn 3 a desperate charge by the HQ unit made sure that there was someone to contest it.

'Nothing to it lads. Just hold here and pray.'

'This is gonna be the easiest victory ever!'

 Meanwhile the bocage meant that the centre became a bit of a stalemate. It would stay that way for the rest of the game. The one airborne unit that poked its nose out promptly had it cut off!

'Quick, try to cross the open ground before we're seen!'

Aerial photograph. Shermans advancing at the top of the picture, one platoon of airborne heading for the farm.

The light guns sell their lives dearly, but by the end of turn 3 it looks all over for the Germans.

The Fallshirmjager occupy the farm and line the bocage. Result - well, you remember those airborne chaps in the open? They aren't there any more...

Doing a good job of support. I just wish we could see the enemy...

In turn four the Shermans killed two of the HQ teams (the Panzershrek and the 2iC) that were contesting the objective and with no other German troops within easy distance  it looked like the result was inevitable - until the Fallshirmjager rolled for their reserves and the Panthers turned up right behind the Shermans! Talk about the nick of time.

'Just hold the farm!'

'Nothing gonna stop us now!'

'Oh sh**'

 With the Shermans dealt with rather quickly the Panthers and the reserve Fallshirmjager platoon advanced on the US objective held by a newly arrived platoon of at guns.

'Vorwarts'

The decisive wing

'Take the guns boys!'

'Wait for us!'

 The US tried a desperate dash with their bazookas, but failed to hit the Panthers and then got mown down from the hedgerow behind.

'U can't touch this'

The last US AT guns were shot off the objective and it looked as though the Germans would hold it, as the machine guns smashed up the relieving force. However, by that time it was late and so the game was called - 5-2 victory to the Green Devils!

A good game and right out of my comfort zone, as I'm not used to playing with infantry heavy forces. Looking forward to the next encounter.

Nate

Looking at new projects

The clues in the last couple of posts were meant to be for a new project that I would start after the final repaints in my Arab-Israeli collection were complete. I've written lists, done background reading and prepared a shopping list. This month was supposed to be all systems go to start it up... and then I changed my mind.
I still want to do it sometime in the near future, but for now 15mm India-Pakistan 1965 for Flames of War is on hold. There are a number of reasons for this, the first being Black Tree Design's evil sales of recent weeks. I have purchased a 28mm British army for Bolt Action and a 28mm Anglo-Danish army for SAGA from them, and I now want to paint these figures. Painting John's paras has given me the 28mm itch, and it is demanding attention.

The next project

Another factor has been ennui with painting 15mm tanks. The AIW has soaked up my attention for the last couple of months, and I still have a few things that I want to buy and paint - T-34/85s for 1967 and some more T-62s for 1973 for instance. I also need to look into artillery for both sides. As such, I prefer to concentrate on building this collection up to the point where I am satisfied with it before starting on the next Cold War era FoW game.

Followed by this one

I watched a couple of games of Bolt Action at Cancon and liked what I saw. It takes me back to when I first started playing Warhammer 40K with just 40 odd figures a side and a couple of vehicles. I liked that skirmish feel, and despite the BA rules being slightly less complex the games I saw certainly had that same sort of feeling about them. I may even look at adapting them for Star Wars - not that FUBAR are a bad set of rules, just that the fewer rules systems I have to chop and change between the better. Next to the Brits that I have from Black Tree, I also have Fallshirmjager from Warlord Games. I am of course thinking of making the Brits into Kiwis and putting together some Cassino themed terrain.

As for SAGA, I have been contemplating this for a little while now. In fact, I was going to buy the Byzantine and Anglo-Danish factions (I hate that term, and will hereby never use it again) forces, but couldn't quite fit them into the budget a couple of months back when I bought all of the Bolt Action stuff. So I have advanced the purchase of this project, although I still need the rulebook and dice. I'm still planning on getting the Byzantines later in the year, because Byzantium is cool!

So the point of this post is to try to keep myself on track. Hopefully it will work, but I have a lot of trouble with 'oooh shiny...' complex.

By the way, I want to do a post on painting up the Israeli halftracks using the vallejo green-grey/US field drab mix - something that might be helpful to other gamers rather than a self-indulgent 'xmas newsletter' that this post represents -  so hopefully that will be the next thing to appear here in the upcoming week.

Nate

Repaints continue

Here are some Centurions from my repainted company. They don't have their individual markings yet and it isn't the greatest photo taken tonight in poor lighting, but it gives the general impression.

Ready for action

The Hannants paint is interesting. It has been providing quite a brown shade with most of my painting, but the other day it came out a much greener grey. For the life of me I haven't been able to figure out why. I've tried not shaking it, and I've tried shaking it lots. Neither seems to be able to replicate the colour. Go figure.

On the other hand I've finally cracked the Vallejo recipe for Sinai Grey - Use Green Grey and US Field Drab combined. It doesn't actually matter what the ratio is, because Sinai Grey itself isn't consistent. I'm going to paint my halftracks with this mixture and I'll post them once they are complete.

And here is another hint at the next project:

Is there something on my shoe?

Nate

Is it June already?

Several projects are at the 'nearly complete' stage, which makes me very happy, because it means that I can move on to something new! John's 28mm Paras for Bolt Action are nearly complete - I just need to weather them and varnish. All of my Israeli tanks have been repainted with the new Israeli tank grey colour and just need tracks and touch-ups to be completed. The BTR 152s are in the same state and the M3 halftracks, Mirage and MiG 19 are built and awaiting painting, which means that my AIW collection will be able to work for 1967-73. I'm now tossing up whether to get some more T-55s or to get T-34s or maybe even another 4 T-62s just to complete a unit of 10. In the end it will probably be all three...
In the meantime I'm looking at starting a new project soon:

What could it be?

I'll let you know a bit more next time.

Nate