Some more photos from the game

The first group of shots are from the table set up. The buildings are painted up for a French village but we thought they suited the scenario fine.

The view looking towards the German positions and entrenchments around the village.

A crashed fighter

The crossroads where the road block was set up.

 The king Tiger lays in ambush.

German artillery hits the American advance

 The advance continues passed the burning wrecks.

 The Americans also try and rush the opposite flank

An American artillery strike misses its intended target but manages to destroy the Artillery observers ride.

The pressure builds on the German right flank

 An MG team attempts to advance across a field to reinforce the town.

 As a Stuart manages to break through the right flank it gets ambushed by two squads wielding Panzerfaust.

 The Americans finally break through and seize the trenches.

 German reinforcements are in a race to plug the gap.

End of the Rat Race

The first wargame of the new year was a Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich game. I based the scenario on the "End of the Rat Race" scenario from the book. I choose both forces with the Americans having a higher points total. However the American force was loosely based upon a recce style force so plenty of light vehicles and armoured infantry and an air controller. Due to not having enough Stuart's assembled and painted ( we both thought there was a squadron done) an M10 took its place.

The German list was based around a scratch holding company backed up by a King Tiger and some NebelWerfer and mortar support. They also had trenches to deploy in, which would make them less obvious that the buildings and there was also a booby trapped building thrown in for a little mischief.

As I had designed both lists I allowed my opponent to pick which force that he used.

The game was a lot of fun with the Germans initially managing to stymie and hold the Americans at bay. American weight of numbers and plenty of vehicles began to tell and they were able to start clearing the forward German positions.

German reinforcements began to filter on to the table but orders were a bit of an issue. However the final nail in the coffin was a turn which saw the King Tiger crew bail out and surrender ( after having had an Out of Fuel, Breakdown and finally another Out of Fuel chit played on it over a number of turns) and the artillery and mortars failed to be called in.

With the German over their break limit the remaining Volksgrenadiers withdraw leaving the bloodied American recon group occupying the village.

I think the scenario worked well and the forces for both sides worked well as neither had the exact tools needed. While an additional anti tankgun for the Germans would have been welcome, I feel that it may have been very difficult for the Americans to make much headway. They had their work cut out for them trying to deal with the King Tiger as it was. They also had to be careful about getting too close to German infantry as every squad had a panzerfaust. The trenches for the Germans proved very useful but the booby trapped building felt like a let down. I expected a bit of fun with this but it seemed really lacklustre. That being said it was a interesting addition to the German force.

The American force

The German Force

A couple of quick shots of the board that we played on. This was a 6x4 table. All of the buildings are scratch built.

Hopefully will get more pictures up tomorrow but the uploader seems to be playing up

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

So what does 2015 hold in store for my hobby activities?

Well the first game in 2015 was a fairly large game of Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich. I took command of a German rearguard holding a roadblock against an American reconnaissance force. It was an interesting game as neither side had the right tools to deal with every situation (something I had planned when picking the forces). More on this tomorrow when I get a chance to post the pictures from the game up.

I have also got back into playing Epic Armageddon and have been fratically trying to find all of my old models and work out which forces that I still have. So far I have managed to get two games in in the few days between Christmas and New Year. My Orks faired as expected against my friends Space Marines. Again I hope to get some pictures up in the next few days and also from our planned game tomorrow evening.

On the painting bench currently are some 15mm Volksturm (by Peter Pig) for Battlegroup. I imagine they should be done within the week providing I get the painting time required. I am also planning on finally getting a Chaos force sorted for Epic in the next few weeks/month.

Moving beyond the next three months, then I am looking to get other Epic armies sorted (possibly a Necron force). Will also be painting up a British force for Battlegroup and doing some early war German Tanks.

I am also looking at writing a scenario book for Battlegroup with a friend (subject to approval). So all in all a busy few months ahead for me and for once Warhammer and 40K play very little part in my plans (other than selling stuff on forums or Ebay)