Update in Chaos

This month have been disappointing in terms of progress for this blog.  Hopefully I can turn that around soon.  In the meantime here is the statuses of my blog projects.

Flames of War - After posting the last battle report I learned the global campaign had ended two days earlier.  *sigh* With the campaign over I will not be doing much with the game.  I still enjoy Flames of War but my funds are limited and I have a very long list to use them on.  Before I say goodbye to Flames of War for the near future I want to play one more game dealing with Operation Overlord. and post a video battle report.  Obvious it will not affect the campaign but it was the next Flames of War related thing on my to do list.  It will also give me practice doing video reports.

Showcase - I have miss posting a showcase for the last couple of weeks for a variety of reasons, none of them good.  Last week I left my home to do some painting and photo work but I never made it to the shop.  I did learn one thing from that trip.  I have a cockatrice that I have mostly basecoated at home and will be added to the painting log.  I say mostly because it is missing some spots which prove I do not have the proper lighting to paint at home.  I do not have anything to carry the cockatrice in so I've just been holding it by hand when I transport it.  On my failed trip to the shop last week I notice that I have somehow been striping the paint off the cockatrice with my fingers.  I guess I must be holding it too hard or something.  It is frustrating but not a big deal as I am still basecoating it.  However now I must find a carrying case for it and my chimera that I've recent put together before I can do any detail painting on it.  My current plans is to do a new showcase next week on Tuesday.

GM Campaign - Beside me being horribly late in updating, the campaign is proceeding reasonably well.  We are currently on Turn 6 and the last turn had a free for all Storm of Magic mega battle.  The game had some "interesting" events to say the least.  My current goal is to write and post my prologue story that have been hiding in my head for a few months now by this Saturday.  The first campaign recap I hope to post by next Monday.

FoW #2

Being late seem to be a common theme for me this week.  This battle took place 2 weeks ago and I'm just now writing up a report.  This will be a brief summary of what happen.  The next battle will be a video report which should allow me to post it faster.

There was a lot of proxying in this game on both side.  I will try to point this out but I am not that familiar with the American units and the entire German side was proxy with Americans.  With that out the way, on to the report.

SS-Panzerkompanie

Fearless/Veteran

Headquarters

SS-Panzerkompanie HQ

     2 StuG IV

Combat Platoons

SS-Panzer Platoon

     3 StuG IV

SS-Panzer Platoon

     3 StuG IV

Weapons Platoons

SS-Panzer Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon

     3 Sd Kfz 7/1 (Quad 2cm) (armoured)

Divisional Support

Fallschirmjager Platoon / Allied Platoon

     1 Cmd Rifle/MG team

     9 Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team

Motorised SS-Artillery Battery / Fearless/Trained

     1 Cmd SMG team

     1 Kfz 15 field car

     1 Staff team

     1 Kfz 68 radio truck

     6 10.5cm leFH18 howitzer

     6 3-ton truck

     2 Observer Rifle team

     2 Kubelwagen

Rocket Launcher Battery (Heer) / Confident/Veteran / Allied Platoon

     1 Cmd SMG team

     1 Kfz 15 field car

     1 Observer Rifle team

     1 Kubelwagen

     2 21cm NW42

     2 Sd Kfz 11

Rifle Company (1st I.D.)

Confident/Veteran

Headquarters

Rifle Company HQ (1st I.D.)

     2 Cmd Carbine team

     2 Bazooka team

Combat Platoon

Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Rifle team

     1 Bazooka team

     9 Rifle Team

Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Rifle team

     1 Bazooka team

     9 Rifle Team

Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Rifle team

     1 Bazooka team

     9 Rifle Team

Weapons Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     4 M1919 LMG team

     3 M2 60mm mortar

Weapons Platoon

Machine-gun Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     4 M1917 HMG team

Machine-gun Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     4 M1917 HMG team

Divisional Support

Field Artillery Battery (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     1 Staff team

     1 Observer Carbine team

     4 M2A1 105mm howitzer

     5 DUKW truck

Field Artillery Battery (155mm) (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     1 Staff team

     2 3/4 ton truck

     1 Observer Carbine team

     1 Jeep

     4 M1 155mm howitzer

     4 M5 high-speed tractor

Air Support

     7 Priority Air Support P-47 Thunderbolt

The Battlefield

 1st I.D

The Germans

Quick thing to notice is that we did not have enough howitzer models for both side.  The Priest were used as howitzers.  For the Germans the tanks that are group up with the Priest were also howitzers.

The mission was 1/1, free-for-all.  Both sides deployed as follows:

In the top right corner are the German's howitzers.

The red and white bases are two separate platoons for 1st I.D.  Next to them were the 155 howitzers.


Germans got first turn but could not use any bombardment.  The Germans moved up and only manage to kill a single team in the shooting phase.  The Americans first turn was far more deadly.  The airplane came in and attack the howitzers.  My AA guns had a shorter range than I thought and was unable to give cover fire for them.  The plane destroyed 2 howitzers.  On the other side, the 155mm  bombardment destroyed both rocket launcher batteries as I was looking up rules for them.  The near by platoon was pinned down because of the bombardment.

Turn 2 had the Germans failed to rally from pinned down and the howitzers failed to range in on the enemy 105mm howitzers.  The tanks manage to killed a few teams but there was so many troops for 1st I.D. that it felt like it barely made a dent.  On the Americans turn 2 they decide to assault the tanks left too close to them.

Unfornately for them that they only manage to bailed out a single tank, lost a few teams in return and was force to retreat.

The next 2 or 4 turns were similar to each other.  The Germans failed to rally from pinned and range in for the howitzers.  The tanks and later the AA guns killed a few more teams.  The Americans failed everything they attempted.  For 2 or 3 straight turns, this was the exact result.  It might have been 4 turns and the Americans might have gotten another plane in but it was shot down by the Germans AA guns.

Eventually the Fallschirmjager Platoon rally and was able to advance forward.  The howitzers on both side started to range in and stuff started dying.  The Germans manage to wiped out the 105 but most of their StuG in returned was destroyed.  The Americans assaulted the Fallschirmjager when the moved up close enough but their defensive fire force the Americans to retreat.  The Fallschirmjager launch their own assault with cover fire from the AA guns.  The Germans wiped out the American platoon in a very bloody battle.  However the second American platoon avenge their fallen brothers by assaulting and wiping out the remanding Fallschirmjager.

Moving toward the end of the game, Germans only hope was to get their remaining StuG to the objective that was being covered by the American machine gun platoons.  The 1st I.D. on the other hand was trying to get the surviving rifle platoon to the undefended German objective for the victory.  In responds, the German sent the AA guns to intercept.

The American machine gun platoons assaulted the StuGs, passed the tank terror test and destroyed the last remaining hope.  The 155mm bombard the AAs and took one out.  The rifle platoon move on to the objective, forcing the last AA to move up next to it to contest.  On the Americans next turn they assaulted the AA, blew it up and the game was over.  The Americans won 5 to 2.

*update*

My opponent has inform me that machine gun platoons can not assaulted and that it was another team that had moved across the board for a few turns to help support the machine gun platoon that actually did the assault on the StuGs.  I thought that sounded right when I heard it from him.  Still the end result of the game was the same.

Getting back on track

I finished the photography part of "this" weeks showcase Tuesday.  However when I sat down to write my mind went completely blank.  Since this showcase is so late I will post the next one this Friday.

One of the things I wanted to talk about was changes to the showcase.  The forsaken and the Valiant still needs a little/lot of work but I am taking them off my painting log schedule.  The Valiant is nearly done but I haven't touch it in weeks because I am unhappy with the color of the axe.  Until I can decide on a new color for it, there is no point to have it on the schedule.  The forsaken are a little different.  Their problem is what work they need is very tedious.  It feels every step I take on them I make a mistake that sets me back.

So what is on the schedule?  For starters the three Chaos Knight horses that I've work on before will be staying.  They are also the only thing I work on this week.  Joining will be a cockatrice as soon as I prime it.  Also joining are two Chaos Warriors I had on my shelf.  Prime and ready to be painted.

No Showcase this week

I did do my weekly painting Tuesday but I it was not as much as I hope.  I figure I would go back to the shop Thursday to do more painting.  I also wanted to get in two Flames of War battle this week since I did not play one last week.  I made the mistake of scheduling a game Thursday, a mistake in that it killed any chance of me getting any additional painting in.  Next Tuesday I should be able to make more than enough progress for worthwhile pictures.

The Showcase returns

Its late but here is this week's showcase.  I did very little work on the forsaken, not enough to be worth showing.  I could not get myself motivated to work on the small details that is left on them.  Instead I did work on the trio of Chaos Knight's horse.  In particular I mostly just work on one.  I still consider myself a new painter and I'm mostly learning from trial by error.  One thing I would like to know if it is easier to paint the knight and horse separately instead of after they are glue together.  To find out I need to finish at least one horse as fast as possible.  I am pleased this horse is almost done, but I do not look forward to working on the mouth.  These pictures were taken at my home.  I did the painting at my LCS but the pictures I took were way too shiny.

FoW: First Campaign Battle

FoW



Parachute Rifle Company (101st) Vs. SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie

We played our first game of the Operation Overlord campaign and it was interesting to say the least.  There were many mistakes on both side but overall it was a fun game.  The 101st was played by neaceul and I played the Germans.  As I still don't have any models yet all the German models were proxy with Allies with a little Soviet forces borrowed from a friend.  I believe the 101st had some slight proxying as well.  I will try to make things as clear as possible.

The list

Parachute Rifle Company (101st)
Parachute Rifle Company HQ (company command carbine team, 2iC command carbine team, 3 bazookas)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Machine-Gun Platoon (hq, 1 machine gun section, 2 bazookas)
Parachute Mortar Platoon (hq, 2 mortar sections, 2 bazookas)
Parachute Field Artillery Battery (hq, 2 gun sections)
Priority Air Support
 

   

Panzergrenadierkompanie

Headquarters HQ

SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie HQ

2 Cmd Panzeraust SMG team

1 Kfz 15 field car

1 Motorcycle & Sidecar

Combat Platoons

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon

1 Cmd MG team

6 MG team

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon

1 Cmd Panzerfaust SMG team

6 MG team

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon

1 Cmd MG team

6 MG team

3 3-ton truck

Weapons Platoons

SS-Mortar Platoon

1 Cmd SMG team

1 Kfz 15 field car

3 Observer Rifle team

3 Kubelwagen

6 8cm GW34 mortar

6 3-ton truck

Divisional Support

2. SS-Panzer Platoon (Fearless Veteran)

4 Panther A

SS-Tank-hunter Platoon

3 Marder III M

part of the proxy German army.

The Game

We played the Airborne Assaults Rules & Seize and Hold mission.  101st parachuted in on the unsuspecting Germans a little before dawn.  It was a long night.  The table looked as follows:

 

Both sides had to hold half of our forces in reserved.  The German side look like this:

The units with dice next to them were what I held in reserves.  Those were all three of the Panzergrenadier Platoons and Marder III Tank-hunter Platoon.

Because of the way the objectives were place, the game was split into 2 halves.  For easy I will call it the West and the East.  German had to deploy their 3 units first anywhere on the board.  My HQ was on the board but they essentially did nothing all game.  On the West I had my mortar platoon.  The East had my platoon of Panther As.  The Panthers were spread out to also defend a third objective that was removed by neaceul.

The mortar platoon in the West

The mortar team's observers resting in buildings

The dreaded Panther As

 The 101st also had 7 units so only 3 could come on at turn 1 plus reserves.  No reserve showed up.  Since the 101st platoons are parachuting in, they showed up on a random position on the board.  In short, on a 6 six sided die a roll of a 1, 2 or 3 the platoon would land somewhere on the East, 4, 5 or 6, the West.  It just happen that all three landed in different places on the East.

The 101st had first turn.  They move up but had nothing shoot because of night fighting rules.  My turn 1 saw a Panzergrenadier Platoon enter from reserves.  The panthers started the game bailed out but all four passed their skill test to get back in.  The Panzergrenadier Platoon and the Panthers moved up and shot a lot of machine gun fire at the red and blue teams of the 101st.  The results were lackluster.  Only a single blue team was killed. Neither were even pinned down.

The Panzergrenadier Platoon tried to move to a better position with the storm trooper move but the 101st was not having it.  On turn 2, still with no reserves the 101st moved up and shredded the Panzergrenadiers leaving only two alive.  They failed their motivation test and the last two were removed.

My turn 2 I was able to get the Tank-hunters from reserves.  The Marder and Panthers shot into the two Parachute Rifle Platoons and manage to inflict several casualties and even pinning them.

Here is where I think I made my first major mistake.  I had forgotten that no one could win the game until turn 6.  I did not move my Panthers because I did not want the 101st to control the objective.  I also had fault faith in my defensive fire.

So far my mortars have not done anything.  This was because all the action have been on the East and because of the night fighting rules they could not see far enough to shoot.  This change at turn 3.  The 101st received it first reserves and they landed on the West.

However the game was essentially decide when the red Parachute Rifle Platoon assaulted the Panthers.  They passed their tank terror test and the Panthers failed to get 5 hits on defensive fire to force them to retreat.  The assaulted was brutal and ended with ...

The game continue on until turn 6 but the Germans had little control in the East.  The 101st was able to neutralize any threats in the East relatively quickly and reserve showed up to help with the West.

The 101st wins 5 to 2.

Again no showcase this week

I had two major games today (Flames of War and Warhammer Fantasy) which took up all my time.  Battle reports of those games will be coming soon.  The Flames of War game will be post tonight or tomorrow.  Playing the Warhammer fantasy game reminds me I need to get back to work on painting and putting together models.  So much to do.

No Showcase this week

I did not get any painting done this week and I had to run some errands to today so I did not make it to the shop either.  I thought about doing some painting at home but I do not have enough proper light in my apartment.  Its the reason I've been going to the shop every Tuesday to paint.  I hope to be back at the shop next Tuesday.  In the meantime I will be working on my prologue fiction for the GM campaign as well as an update for the campaign.  Until next time.

Flames of War fantasy?

A couple of my friends wanted me to try out the Flames of War game.  I initially resisted because I thought it clash with my hobby goals.   Flames of War is a historic World War 2 game and I know many in its community take the historic aspect very serious.  And they have every right to.  It is a game that can help people explore events where real people fought and died.  It is a subject that deserves respect.  Truth be told I also enjoy studying history.  However when it comes to miniatures my interest lays in fantasy.  I want to create my own stories with my miniatures and use my own paint schemes to achieve those ends.

In May as I prepared for the GM campaign I also had an urge to try out other types of miniature games.  So I gave my friends a call and they were more than happy to show me the game.  I found the game to be fun, easy to learn and seems to be pretty balance.  Learning the game was help with the fact that Battlefront, the makers of the game, has a series of youtube videos explaining how to play.  After playing a few more games I have fell in love with Flames of War.  It also helps that it is on the cheaper side of miniature games.  My only mild complain is the scale of the game is different from Warhammer and most other miniatures I'm thinking of picking up.  This is only an issue because one of my long term goals is to do a miniature comic with my miniatures and having such a difference in scale (and setting for that matter) will make such a project much harder.  Nevertheless I have a few options make it work so I will be adding Flames of War to my collection list.  My Flames of War army will be on the fantastical side in a similar vein as the anime Pumpkin Scissors or the video game Valkyria Chronicles with my own twist.  Maybe at some point down the road I will do a more historic accurate Flames of War army but for now I am all fantasy.  For this blog I figure the change would be a few tanks in the painting log every so often.

And then I learn about WWPD's Flames of War: Operation Overlord campaign.  Its a world wide campaign where every Flames of War battle you play can affect the outcome of the event.  As cool and exciting the campaign sounded I was not planning on participating.  I currently do not own any Flames of War miniatures and for an event like this I prefer at least using some of my own figures.  But then I learn my friends really, REALLY wants to participate and at the time I was their only German player.  So I decide to signup for the campaign.  The icing on this cake however is that for players' battles to be counted in the event, a battle report of the game must be post somewhere online.  Neither of my friends have a website nor do they want to write the battle reports.  So I volunteered this space to have the Flames of War reports.  I had planned on expanding the number of games I would write battle report on and post them on Chaos Magic, just not this soon.  Oh well.  The global campaign will be starting at the end of this month.  Between the Flames of War campaign and the GM Warhammer fantasy campaign, this space will be getting busy real quick.  Watch this space.

Trio of horses

Sadly this will be a short update.  I put the finishing touches on the troll but since those were small changes I didn't take another picture of it.  I did more work on the Valiant but it literally fell apart when I was trying to picture it.  I have since glued it back together and will picture it next week.  The only thing left that I worked on are these trio of Chaos Knight horses.  Once the Valiant is done I will probably add these to the painting log.  Next week I will be going back to the forsaken but I'm thinking I will be working on only two or three so I can get a few models done.

My troll

I passed on working on the forsaken this week.  Instead I attempted to finish a single troll.  I figure since it only needed small touches I would finished the troll and do some work on the Valiant.  That was a mistake.  Every time I thought I was done with the troll I notice sometime else, usually really small, that needed to be done on it.  I did get to do some work on the Valiant, but not as much as I had hope.

I'm going to spent another hour sometime this week on the troll max and then call it done.  I just realize that it will be the first piece that I have ever finished.  The forsaken break will continue next week as I need something else to work on.  Update on the campaign will be forthcoming later this week.  Until then....

Beach Landing Megabattle

Backstory

Maritime scouts have learn the location of an unknown island.  With rumors of it possibly being the site of lost arcane treasures the scouts pass this information on to their lords, kings,  generals or whatnot.  Many of these rulers determine that the island could provide a valuable strategic advantage and the chance of gaining artifacts was too much to pass up.  The naval forces of these nations/war bands were launched with some of their rulers taking charge of the expedition personally.  The waters around the island soon became a battlefield as these forces arrive nearly all at once.  During the chaotic naval conflict three armies manage to get a small band onto the island shores.  The three armies were Ogre Kingdoms, High Elves and Warriors of Chaos.  All three bands had the same goal and that was to secure a foothold on the island.  However to all three surprise, the unknown island was not vacant.  A large force of Skaven were waiting on the shores to give the visitors the warm welcome the cowardly and cruel race is known for.

Overview

The battle was divide into two sides, the attackers and defender.  The attackers (Ogre Kingdoms, High Elves and Warriors of Chaos) each had a force worth 500 points and a free Battle Standard Banner.  The Skaven defender had a force roughly equal to the other three combined.  The objective for the attackers were to get their Battle Standard across the board the fastest.  If multiple Battle Standard die then the one whom made it the furthest will count as the winner.  The only objective for the defender was to make life miserable for the attackers.  The attackers shared the same turn.  They were not allies and count each other as enemies for determining viable targets.  The order in which the attacker's actions are resolved was decide at the beginning of each turn by a contested roll..  Each attacker had their own magic phase.

The Battle

The attackers deployed as close to each other as possible.  Chaos had their eye on the elves and the Ogre had theirs on Chaos.

The defenders waited patiently, some in a wildwood which claim a rat.

Turn 1

The attackers had first turn.  Chaos wanted to march forward but the forsaken had other ideas.  The lure of elven flesh so close to them prove to be too much for the warriors to resists.  The frenzy forsaken failed their leadership test to follow orders and charged the elven archers.

Everyone else march forward.  The magic phase was uneventful.  Not surprising with Chaos and Ogres only having a single level 1 wizard.  The Skaven only had 2 level 1 wizards themselves.  The only unit on either side that had any shooting abilities were the elven archers whom had a forsaken problem.  Moving on to the close combat phase, it was not a pretty sight for the elves.  Losing about a third of the unit and doing no wounds back the archers broke from combat and the forsaken were more than happy to run them down.  Unfortunately for them this essentially put them out of the battle as well.  At least Chaos earn first blood! (meaningless in this scenario)

The Skaven turn was pretty simple.  Giant rats charge the high elf cavalry and everyone else move forward.  Nothing significant happen during the magic phase and no unit was capable of firing in the shoot phase.  In close combat the high elves just edge out the giant rats.  The rats failed their leadership and flee.  The high elves was going to chase until it was reveal that a unit of clan rats were in the way.  So instead the high elves reform to narrow it front now it can ride pass the clan rats for victory.

The line of yellow dices shows the actually location of the clan rats behind the forest.  Being at an angle the clan rats' rear block the cavalry pursuit.

Turn 2

The high elf cavalry charged the fleeing giant rats.  The distance the rats flee was greater than the high elf charge.  Failing the charge only allowed the high elves to move forward a few inches.  This gave Ogres and Chaos a chance to catch up.  The Ogres issued a charge of their own on clan rats and made it.  Chaos had to make a decision.  They could move towards the high elves and try to slow them down with their one spell or to go for a long charge which would put them back into the running.  No guts, no glory Chaos went with the charge and needed a 9 on 2d6.  Rolled 9.

The magic phase this time was a game changer, though not in the way people initially thought.  Chaos single spell was Cacophonic Choir and it has a 12 inch range.  Both Ogres and High Elves were out of range for the spell.  So Chaos tried to cast it at the increase value of 24 so it would hit nearly every Skaven unit.  Chaos hit 24 on the nose with no miscast.  Skaven tried to dispel but rolled mostly 1s and 2s.  Every unit that was wounded by Cacophonic Choir gains the Always Strike Last and Random Movement special rule for a turn.  The caster also gets to roll one die for each wound cast by the spell which will increase his weapon skill, initiative and attacks due to the lore attribute.  Chaos only got 2 successes on 19 dices.  The close combat phase was extremely bloody for the Skavens.  The Slaanesh Chaos Warriors decimated the clan rats and ran them down, which place them into first place at the moment.  As bad as Chaos beating was, Ogres deliver an even bloodier result.

The pile of rats were the numbers the Ogre killed and only received 1 wound in return.  The only way the cowardly Skavens were going to hold their ground after that assault would be to get insane courage on their leadership.  Their leadership roll was ...

By the end of the attackers second turn it was an extremely close race.  Whoever manage to get move first between Chaos and High Elves on the next turn would be able to march off the board and earn the victory.  Ogres were still in it if they could break and overrun the clan rats on the Skaven's turn.  That was what the standing were ... that was until we remember most of the Skaven units now had the Random Movement special rule.  That rule allowed the Skaven to make charges that were impossible before.  Chaos got reared charged by plague monks and High Elves got flank charge by more clan rats.  Ogres got the side charge they knew was coming.  Still in close combat things went to the attackers favor, well mostly.  The High Elves beat back their opponents and didn't pursuit when the rats broke.  The Ogres erased the clan rats in their front which caused the flank unit to panic.  The Ogres also choose not to pursuit.  Chaos had a much harder fight but they also prevailed.  Unfortunately for them the plague monks did NOT break which pretty much sealed Chaos fate.  Chaos reformed to face the monks so they unleash their full hatred on them for being deny victory.

Turn 3

With nothing to hold them back now the High Elves marches off the board for the win.  Ogre still had a fair amount of ground to cover and was afraid that Chaos might annihilate the Skaven too fast.  So the opportunist Ogres charged Chaos in the flank.  The move also place Ogres' battle standard past the Chaos one.  The magic phase gave Chaos one last chance to change its fortune by casting an irresistible Cacophonic Choir on the Ogres.  While the miscast did nothing, the damage was not enough to make much difference.  Chaos was routed in the close combat phase.  Since the Ogres' battle standard was further than where the Chaos battle standard had fallen, Ogre Kingdoms claimed second place and the battle was over.

Valiant at last!

I finally got started on the Valiant.  It only has two colors at the moment but at least its a start.  I will be finishing the black and adding red this week.  I also made progress on the forsaken though its a little hard to tell in these pictures.  Everyone horns is painted bone white while the scythe blades is painted silver.  That and they are based now.  I will probably only dedicate another two weeks to the forsaken as I am getting close to the point where I am just working on small details/mistakes in which I make more mistakes that needs to be fix up.

I am still working on the mega battle report.  I hope to be done with it by tomorrow .