Update

Just a quick post to update what I've been up to lately.

I haven't been painting much - overall very slack in this area at the moment. I will be working on some scenery though tonight and tomorrow in preparation for Gladstone's 40k tournament that's on this weekend.

My girlfriend Sarah has shown an interest in playing Warhammer and has decided to play in the Gladstone tournament this weekend using my housemate's Tyranid army. I've spent the last two weeks teaching her how to play properly and she's getting the hang of things. Hopefully she can come away with a win or two from the tournament.

Whilst up in Cairns at the beginning of the month I picked up a copy of Blood Bowl quite cheaply so when time frees up again I'll pull it out for a few games and get my Dark Elf team (the West Coast Raiders) put together and hopefully painted.

I've also played a few games of Flames of War. I had meant to bring my camera along, but forgot and so wasn't able to record getting even with Wonna. I also played a game against one of the other club members who has US rifles. It was his first game but even so he did fairly well and it was very daunting to face all the artillery.

Lastly, Wonna and I played another game of Flames at my house and I have taken photos. I'm halfway through writing the batrep but probably won't have time to finish it until after the weekend as I'm going to see Ironman 2 tonight.

Eltnot.

Flames of War AAR - Fighting Withdrawal

Wonna and I played a game the other weekend, but I unfortunately forgot my camera. We got in another game though this weekend and decided to play something different. We ended up rolling up a fighting withdrawal with my Germans as the attackers since they're a mechanised company.

Wonna won the roll for choosing sides and so opted for the natural defences of the stream. He placed his objective in the middle whilst I placed the one near and in the picture and the other is covered under a mob of Russians. I deployed one unit on my right flank to hold the big mob in place whilst my other platoon deployed along with the Panzer III's. My 8 rads deployed near the centre to keep the platoon of ten T70's at bay.

My 8rad's moved forward using their recce move to get ahead to protect the rest of the force and push back the inevitable ambush.

My units moved forward to engage the soviet forces. The platoon on the left moved up and sprayed bullets ineffectually into the dug in Strelkovy. The 8Rads moved up behind a house to shield them from the anti tank guns on the other flank and get ready to remove gone to ground next turn. Meanwhile on my right flank, the half tracks took cover behind a hedge whilst the Panzers rolled forward and destroyed an anti tank gun.

Wonna shoots at me with little effect in his turn with hi large mob of Strelkovy and the anti tank gun fails to hurt a Panzer. In return I have the platoon on my right get out of their tracks to bring their fire power to bear. The tanks blow away the other anti tank gun clearing the way for the half tracks who shoot at the dug in platoon but are mostly ineffective with their machine guns.

Wonna springs his ambush but is pushed back by near the forest. His tanks move through the woods and stream and thanks to their wide tracks only a single tank bogs down. They shoot at my half tracks and manage to bail one out.

The infantry get out and move towards the river to engage the dug in platoon whilst the half tracks that can pull back out of sight of the T70's. The Panzers engage the T70's at range but to little effect. My forces on the right pepper the Soviets but fail to do much.


The tanks pop away at each other without much effect as my infantry try to cross the gap. They are whittled down until just below half strength and then promptly flee the field of battle!

The Panzers try to whittle down the T70's before they are withdrawn hoping to make them flee but they take the shots in their stride.

In a last ditch attempt I assault the large company hoping to push them back off the centre objective but it doesn't work out. The Germans are pushed back and the Soviets make good their getaway.

This was a great game and still came close to the wire. We picked up a few more rules (like the fact the the 2IC doesn't grant you a reroll on morale which was why my PzGrens fled) and learnt a new scenario. The river was a major factor in Wonna's defence so we're trying games without it as it really hinders my PzGrens.

This is long overdue as I've been both busy and lazy. I'll get pics of the Gladstone tournament shortly along with COWCON updates and a few other things.

Eltnot.

Flames of War AAR

I've been out of town so am getting this up later then I'd hoped to. Wonna and I played our first 1000 point game of FoW the other weekend. I'm writing this partially to learn from my mistakes but also so that others can pick up errors in what we did. Unfortunately, I'm writing this a week and a half after the event so the exact details are a little more fuzzy now. Wonna took:
Headquarters

Battalion HQ (95)
Battalion HQ
Anti-Tank Platoon (2 45mm obr 1942)

Combat Companies

Strelkovy Company (280)
2 Rifle Platoons
Komissar Team

Strelkovy Company (280)
2 Rifle Platoons
Komissar Team

Weapons Companies

Strelkovy Anti-Tank Company (120)
4 45mm obr 1942

Corps Support Companies

Light Tankovy Company (215)
5 T-70 obr 1943

Total: 990 points.

Our deployments.

The terrain is made up from my 40k collection with paper houses and card roads and stream added in until I have time to make something better. The houses are a bit on the small side (around 10mm scale or something similar), but I still have quite a few more to make so I should have a better sized village by our next game. Wonna placed a battalion on each objective in his zone with his AT guns on his left and his T70's on his right. I placed a single platoon on my left opposite his T70's with the 8rads and a platoon on my right and the Panzer III's central but slightly to the right.

Scout moves.

I moved the 8rads up my right flank hoping to scoot them around the corner next turn. Wonna then proceeded to win the roll for first turn.

Wonna's Soviets rush forward.

He moves both blobs of infantry forward using the trees for extra cover. The AT guns roll up behind a wood whilst the T70's move up to the outskirts of the village.

The Germans move up to intercept.

I move the 8rads around the corner whilst the platoon moves up to push through the gap in the hedge next turn. The Panzer III's advance slightly and take pot shots at Wonna's AT guns attached to the platoon in front of them. My platoon on the left digs in. My shooting is ineffective and then the 8rads fail to storm trooper meaning they are still within assault range of the Soviets.

The 8rads go up in flames as the Soviets assault them.

Wonna moved his battalion over and assaulted my 8rads destroying them whilst his other platoon pushed through the woods and the T70's crept into the village. The AT guns advanced into the wood in front of them to try and get to grips with the Panzer III's.

The Germans pull back.

I pulled my platoon on my right flank back to keep them out of assault and sniped some teams through the gap in the hedges. The Panzer III's knocked out two AT guns in the centre. My halftracks from my platoon on the left flank swung around the wood away from the T70's and opened up into the blob of infantry in front of them. They killed quite a few teams but not enough to run.

The Soviets prepare to assault.

Wonna's platoons and AT guns unpinned. The T70's and the infantry moved up. The T70's went in first and fought a long combat with the Panzergrenadiers. Finally with only one infantry base left my platoon broke off. they were then charged by the infantry blob. The halftracks killed several teams before I failed a morale check after losing two halftracks and broke off again. Wonna's remaining two T70's consolidated onto one of the objectives.

The conclusion.

In my turn I failed to unpin my platoon on the left flank and without having anything else in range of contesting, Wonna won.

I made several mistakes during our game. I didn't push forward on my right flank hard enough. I should have pushed up with the tanks and halftracks and kept the 8rads back to slip around onto the objective. The T70's could have intercepted them but that would have allowed my other platoon to chew through Wonna's infantry blob on the other flank. Previous experience have shown that the T70's are fragile but this is the first time I've allowed them to make combat before. I'll try no to let that happen again in the future.