Mission Critical (FOW); Norvo bridge

Norov;  Somewhere on the Eastern Front in 1944

Design note: this game was drafted to introduce a new player to the rules for recon units in FOW

Introduction;
Kampgruppe O'Donnell is once more into the fray, this time they have been ordered to secure the Norov bridge. Without any tank support the grenadiers must rely on armoured reconnaissance units to clear the path.

The Protagonists;
Kampgruppe O'Donnell
Reconnaissance force
Armoured car platoon (1 sd Kfz 223+2 sdKfz 222)
Armoured car platoon (2 sdKfz 231)

Main force
Company HQ (panzerfaust+jeep)
Aufklarang platoon (3 squads with HMG on motorbikes)
Aufklarang platoon (3 squads with HMG in trucks)
Motorised heavy platoon (2 HMG squads* and a mortar squad in trucks)
AA platoon (2 sdKfz10/5)
Pioneer platoon (3 sections in trucks)
*One of the HMG squads has been attached to the Aufklarang platoons

The Russians
Reconnaissance force
1st light armoured car platoon (4 BA-64 2 with anti rifles)
2nd  light armoured car platoon (4 BA-64 2 with anti rifles)

Main force
battalion HQ (in jeeps with attached DshK AA platoon)
1st Motostrekolky company (2 platoons+1 HMG in trucks)
2nd Motostrekolky company (2 platoons+1 HMG in trucks)
5th Mortar company (2 platoons in trucks)
2nd Sapper company (1 platoon in trucks)

Deployment;
See map.
Neither side starts the game with any forces in play.  Roll to decide who goes first.
The Reconnaissance forces start in reserve. The Russians enter from point A while the Germans enter from point B. The main forces are in delayed reserve.  Randomly determine which units arrive.

 

Special rules
There are no special rules for this mission

Victory conditions;
The first side to capture and hold the Norvo bridge with a combat platoon (Motostrekolky for the Russians and Aufklarang for the Germans is the winner). The game last for 6 turns starting from when the last combat platoon from both sides arrives after which it is declared a draw.

Below are some of the random, out of sequence but looking good, in game photos of the Norvo battle.

German advance on Norvo.

While to the east russian recon advances on the same objective.

Russian advanced viewed from Norvo bridge

Russian main body arrives

Russian recon clashes with German AA platoon while trying to cut the german road to Norvo

While the second platoon comes under fire from the German recon platoon.

1st Motostrekolky deploys to cpature the bridge

2nd armoured car platoon is destroyed by german fire.

1st armoured car platoon fianlly destroys the AA platoon protecting the german road into Norvo

And then goes after the motorbike Aufklarang platoon

Russian and German forces start to get serious around the village.

With the German recon platoon just holding on to the last building.

.

The corn feild beside the german road become a vechicle wreck yard with both sides vechicles burning in it

View from Norov bridge as the Russians try to take the village.

The last remaining russian armoured car finally works its way in to the German rear.

Under pressure the German recon platoons finally clear the village of russian forces. To bad neither side had any remaining scoring units :)

WIP/PIP; Guard reinforcements

At last, after year since wargames factory asked if I wanted alternative imperial guard models, they have finally arrived and are ready to go. For nearly the same price as the GW imperial guard squad I get eighteen dudes in three different poses with attachable arms and heads. The poses and heads are good if somewhat limited, the weapons are a bit crap (imo).

Assembly:

The bodies are clipped and cleaned.
GW guard arms and Pig iron heads were posed with blu tac to get some idea of what poses could be done.
Because there was a limited number of poses in some case the bodies were cut off at the waist and repositioned.
Once happy with the overall pose the arms and heads were glued in in some case green stuff was used to fill in gaps,
Micro art backs packs and GW and micro art belt accessorise were added to give the models a veteran look.

Painting

As painting challenge the plan was to paint the new recruits to match the existing guard army ie green and tan but in the style of certain renaissance painter (there is a small prize if someone actually figures out who).

The models were base coated AP bestial brown.
The great coats were painted V olive drab.
The belts and boots were painted G bestial brown.
The armour, guns were painted V russian green.
The Back pack was apinted V khaki.
The masks were painted GW snakebiteleather
The lens were painted V luffewaffe uniforms.
The models were given a coat of army medium tone then varnished.
The lens were then painted GW 'ard coat.

AP= army painter

GW= games workshop

V= Vallejo

FOW; mission critical-Blastov

Somewhere on the Eastern Front in 1944.
Design note; adapted to FOW from CS grants table top teasers in battle games issue 23

Introduction; 
After a long absence Kampgruppe O'Donnell has been sent into battle once more. Its orders are to advance down the Blastov road to stop any potential Russian advances. After a night of heavy rain the lead platoon reports sighting Russian tanks blocking the road.

Blastov Road

The Protagonists

Kampgruppe O'Donnell

1 Company HQ (2 PV)

1st platoon (5 PIV)

2nd platoon (3 PV)

Heavy tank platoon (3 PVI)

Tank hunter platoon (4 jagdpanzer)

Panzer IV's move into Blastov village

And spread out to engage the approaching Russians.

The Russians

Battalion HQ (1 T34/85)

1st Tankovy company (10 T34/85)

2nd Tankovy company (10 Shermans)

Panzer IV's claim the frist kill with a long range shot on a sherman.

Return fire destory a PIV.

3rd Light Tankovy company (10 Stuarts)

1st Guards heavy tankovy company (3 IS-2)

2nd Guards heavy tankovy company (3 IS-2)

1st Guards heavy assault gun platoon (5 ISU-122)

Panthers and Tigers rush to the rescue

Deployment;

See map.

The German 1st platoon starts at A

2nd platoon and the heavy tank platoon start a B

The German Tank hunter platoon starts the game in reserve

The Russian start deployed at point 1.

Special rules

Its been raining

During the night before the battle the area was affected by heavy rain the result is that several unmapped marsh areas have formed on the battlefield. Before deployment each player must secretly roll D6-2 to see how many marshes they have. During the game at the start of your opponents movement phase a player can reveal one or more of their marsh markers by placing them down on the table. Marshes cannot be placed in terrain or on the road but they can be placed under an opponent’s units.

While Russian units wait for re-supply.

And there is a lot of Russians.

Pushing hard

The Russian force has been pushing hard to get into position as a result several platoons are low on fuel and need re-supply. After deployment secretly roll a D6 for each Russian tank company and consult the chart below.

4-6 no effect the unit can fight as normal

3- The unit is in the process of being resupplied and cannot move or shoot for the frist turn

2- The unit is in the process of being resupplied and cannot move or shoot for the second turn.

1-The unit is in the process of being resupplied and cannot move or shoot for the third turn.

Resupplied the Russians push the right flank taking casualties in the process.

And the Left flank as well.

Victory conditions;

This is a plain and simple shoot-out the game last until one side breaks or is destroyed.

But take heavy losses in the process.

40K; Sitrep, corridor combat

“Do you want a 1000 point game next week?” And “can you bring your camera and the rules for 40K space hulk” seems too interesting a game to pass. It turns out Franco gone and built himself a 6’x4’ space hulk and wants to christen it in gaming. Below are some of the in game pics

Word Bearers breach the compound.

This is the view of the frist room they encounter.

Before moving into the next corridor.

Solar Wolves react as the alarm is raised.

Solar Wolf breaks cover to take a pot shot.

Dark Disciple leads from the front.

While the Solar Wolf captain stalks the corridors.

Word Bearer reinforcements pour in.

Only to be met with stiff opposition.

Solar Wolves and Word Bearers clash in close combat.

Wip (40K); Battle Buggies take 2

Jeez, when the Ork codex came out I thought the war buggies were one of the weaker units, now I cannot get enough of the gits. Below is my second war buggy squadron.

Materials

Deff koptas

Plastics rods

Wheels

Gubbins

Method.

• The skids, rotors were cut off the Deff koptas.

• Plastic rod was measured and then cut to fit in the front and back of the Deff koptas.
• Large wheels were attached to the rear axle while small wheels were attached to the front axle.
• To raise the front a length of plastic rod was measured and cut to raise the front wheels of the kopta
• The rear and front axles were then attached to the koptas.
• To tide up the back a jet turbine (alternative any gubbins could do) was added and the gap was filled in with green stuff.

PIP (40K); Boom, painting Ork big guns with hairspray

Painting the gunners

The gunners were prepped (flash removed, etc).

The gunners were undercoated AP desert yellow.

Their flesh was painted goblin green.

Their tunics and clothes were painted random selections of GW bestial brown, snakebite leather, codex grey and ultramarine blue.

Teeth, nails, toes etc were painted GW bleached bone.

Their metal tools were painted a random selection V gun metal and GW tin blitz.

Their bases were painted codex grey and based with urban scatter material.

Painting the guns

The guns were undercoated AP rat fur

Once dried, the guns were sprayed with hairspray and coarse sand was sprinkled on to the guns.

The guns were then given a fine spray of AP metal.

Once dried the sand was scrubbed off using an old stiff brush. The result is metal effect which is stippled with rusty red spot, which look cool.

The guns cabling was painted GW blood red or GW ultramarine blue.

Handles were painted GW bestial brown.

Some of the armour plates on the gun-shield were painted with watered down V red or GW ultramarine blue. The watered down painted allows the rusting metal to show through while at the same giving a different colour to the gun shield creating a ram shackled effect.

legend

V= Vallejo

GW= Games workshop

AP =army painter

Dig in (40k) vehicle explodes marker

Materials needed;

MDF

Vehicles accessories or left over parts

Textured paint

Method;

Cut the MDF into the desired shape for the vehicle explodes marker.

The marker does not have to be the exact same shape as the vehicle it is replacing imagine bits of it have been blown off or away from the wreck.

Bevel (slope) the edges of the MDF

Take the vehicle components and glue them to the MDF either with liquid nails or PVA glue.

Once the first layer of vehicle components has set glue a second layer down the more layers the richer the effect.

Once all the layers have glued paint textured paint on any exposed parts of MDF and in patches over the vehicle parts.

Once the textured paint has dried undercoat the marker GW chaos black and paint the rubble to what theme seems appropriate. I like painting mine salamander green because one of my regular opponents uses a salamander army and the wrecks seem appropriate.

To save time I made a mould of my first template and just cast several more explodes marker ( hmm I wonder do the boys in Battle Cry are interested in a joint venture).