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.