First phase of commission complete

I'm pretty impressed with myself. I set this weekend as the due date to complete Craig's 15mm Flames of War Germans and I succeeded!

Support elements for the Heer forces that I completed a while back

Plenty of Panzerschreks in there.

The officers look suitably Teutonic

Those mortars are huge

And Germans aren't Germans without Hitler's buzzsaw.

Altogether 64 figures painted.
One of my students has a 3D printer, and he's been printing random things for my classroom this year. I asked him if he wanted to print me some triremes and I'd give him some money towards the plastic. The answer was yes and so far I've taken delivery of 12 triremes. Fantastic! I'm keen to get them painted up, so they are on the paint tray for tonight.
The other project that I'm working on right now is an upgraded cityscape for the Superheroes. I took advantage of Mighty Ape's Queen's Birthday Sale and now have a few TTCombat buildings to assemble. I also ordered an FLG City #1 mat to but it all on, but when it arrived I was really disappointed. The details were dark and blurry, not as crisp as they looked in the photo online. To their credit Mighty Ape have agreed to let me return it, so I can't complain at all about their customer service. As a result I cast around and discovered BattleKiwi's MDF urban boards. So I've ordered a 3' x 3' layout of them instead. Stay tuned, I aim to be playing a few Superhero games as soon as they are finished!

Nate

B Company strikes back

Lt Duggan had been pretty much left to his own devices as he retreated over the ranges. He was expecting to meet up with C Coy at Erida, and then be relieved, but the Japanese pursuit was getting a bit too hot. So, once he had a few more bodies attached to his command, he decided to ambush the Japanese advance in a hit and run attack.

Ambush location somewhere on the Eastern Korona track, just south of the Stan Owens ranges.

Duggan deployed one unit as snipers, with orders to withdraw as soon as the damage was done and lure the Japanese advance guard on.

The sniper section does it's job, stirring up the wasp's nest.

Not far behind the rest of 2nd Company is arriving on the track.

The snipers are pinned down, but the rest of B Coy opens up on the Japanese advance guard.

The snipers unpin and redeploy as a section (should have occurred when they decided to move backwards - unwritten rule)

Counterattack! The Japanese advance platoon is pinned and charged by the Aussies on the right.

First blood to the Aussies!

But they aren't finished! further charges. AT this point the other Japanese platoons are following doctrine and trying to flank the Aussie position.

Lt Duggan is too switched on for that. He pulls back and consolidates, prepared to leave the field to the Japanese after giving them a bloody nose.

But one pinned section is left behind to be charged by the Japanese flanking force! Looks like the Aussies will take casualties after all.

But these guys have been hungering for a chance to hit back after what happened at Korona. They win the assault!

With one third casualties and the attacks in disarray, Captain Kurosawa signals his men to fall back and regroup

All of the battle casualties are Japanese. 

Finally an Aussie victory, against the odds as well. I played the rules as they are meant to be played, and the game was a bit smoother, with shooting being much less deadly and much more about preventing assaults. The Japanese were defeated by their own doctrine in a lot of ways - they would have been better if the third platoon hadn't entered the jungle to try to get around the flanks, but then, it has worked for them in every other battle so far.

Nate

Last stand on Nokandu ridge

After a fortnight of hard slog retreating along the Korona track, Captain Bruce set A Company up in a highly defensible position on a ridge in Zone 3. Point 504, also known as the Nokandu Ridge was steep and the best place he had seen to make a stand. His orders had been that he should not give one more inch of ground - apparently it was making MacArthur look bad or something. But Bruce wasn't worried about Dug-out Doug's reputation. he knew that if Port Murray fell, invasion of Australia would be next. The stakes were high, and he was prepared to hold out as long as he could.

Week Two - the Australian retreat continues

Week Three - the Aussies are ordered to make a stand. C Coy is sent forward to help B Coy, only to run into the Japanese coming from the east (bottom of map).

From their perspective, the 1st Company of the Japanese battalion were confident of victory. They had been pursuing these Australians across the island, and although the terrain was tough, enough rice and ammunition was getting through to keep them in fighting fitness. As Captain Kubota eyed the bottom of Ikandu ridge he knew that the Australians were not far away. fresh footprints from their scouts were still visible in the mud. He knew that the typical encirclement tactics of the Japanese army were difficult for the Australians to counter, and so despite steep rough terrain on one side and thick mud on the other, he moved his forces so that they could carry out a pincer.

From behind the Australian lines.

Looking up the ridge from the Japanese perspective

The Japanese 1st platoon heads for the Australian left flank, making use of the cover as they struggle up the steep ridge.

2nd platoon head straight up the track - preparing to be the pinning force.

The battle is well underway now, and the Australian left flank is in trouble. The Japanese second company moves off the track to lend weight to the attack.

Captain Bruce s onto these tactics. He moves his centre to the left to support his flank, getting his MG to cover the track.

Too late though. Ferocious hand to hand fighting sees the left hand Australian platoon destroyed before it can be reinforced.

Bruce orders a counterattack

But the victorious Japanese are in a fighting frenzy!

On the right flank the Japanese 3rd platoon finally engages. The ineffective Australian defensive fire is the death knell for this platoon

The Japanese charge and wipe the section out.

Captain Bruce rallies his men on the left. Bayonet charges!

And another!

Personally getting involved, Bruce sees off one section, while the brave battlers of 2nd platoon take out the Captain Kubota!

The last section of the Aussie 3 platoon is destroyed in hand to hand.

Another victory for Colonel Bruce, but he has run out of time.

About to be cut off by the Japanese 3rd platoon, Bruce and his survivors withdraw. 

The casualties from the game. The Aussies have taken another hiding, but a the end were able to inflict a bit of damage themselves.

The game was played to a 2/3s casualty end, marking the orders to fight to the last man. To be fair, the Aussies had some pretty abysmal dice rolls. The HMG managed to pin one stand all game.

I also realised that I've been playing my own rules wrong. A kill is only inflicted if a single stand rolls 3 hits, or the same stand is suppressed twice. I've been adding up the hits of all stands firing in a turn - no wonder the dice have been having such an impact! I should really pay more attention to rules as I'm writing them... the firing system was borrowed from Crossfire, and I was reading the original rules as I rewrote them. Next game I'll play them as intended.

Two more games are due to be played in Week 3 of the campaign - Poor old B Company led by Lt Duggan, and C Coy who has been deployed to Erida and is about to face the Japanese 3 Coy.

Nate

Battle of Korona

The Australians had no idea that the Japanese had already arrived at Korona, and had encamped near the trail exits. They were in for a nasty shock...
The first battle took place on the Western track, as Captain Bruce's A Company encountered Captain Kubota's 1st Company.

The Aussies move along the track. Finally, open ground ahead!

Sniper!

Totally unprepared, the first section are taken down in a hail of fire!

The gunfire rouses the Japanese camp.

Stunned, the Australians lose the initiative

Sniper fire takes out the rest of the 1st platoon! The 2nd platoon arrives and moves off the track.

The Japanese move off, looking to infiltrate the flanks.

The sniper is dealt with - but the damage is already done.

The Australians deploy off the track as the Japanese advance to the jungle.

After pinning the enemy, a Japanese charge from the bushes!

Even pinned, the Aussies are able to fight off the attack.

On the right the Japanese remove another Aussie section

And the same on the left. Captain Bruce makes the decision to retreat.

Japanese casualties

Australian casualties

 The battle on the Western track was over almost before it began. I made one mistake, in that the sniper rolled 2 sixes and I allowed that to kill 2 sections, but snipers can't do this, only mortars and artillery. If you wonder how a single sniper can take out a whole section, the figure is representative of a section deployed in ambush. That is why the Japanese casualties show a section, and not a sniper.

With things going pear shaped on the Western track, were things going to go any better in the east? Here Captain O'Reilly's B Company faced Captain Kurosawa's 2nd Company.

The battlefield was similar. The Japanese camped where the track exited the jungle. 

Once again, the Aussies encounter a sniper on guard.

The lead section reacts quickly and assaults the sniper, who will automatically be destroyed 

As the Japanese advance from their camp, they come under fire from the edge of the jungle.

But the Japanese enter the jungle on their left.

The Japanese are able to rally, while on the left the flanking unit does huge damage to the Australians.

Further shooting and another casualty.

The final Japanese charge takes care of the rest.

Banzai!

 In the final turn the Ausralians one move first, which meant that they lost the game (2/3 casualties) in the firing phase, and then lost another platoon in hand to hand.

The uneven casualty list.

Captain O'Reilly himself became a casualty, leaving Lt Duggan to lead the survivors back up the track.

The Battle of Korona has turned into an Australian disaster. In headlong retreat up the track, what will the outcome of the next battle be?

Australians in retreat

Nate