Friday, September 28, 2012

Australian SAS in Vietnam


Inspired by Wednesdays game... another team of figures rolls off the workbench…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


The figures are Vietnam ANZACs from The Assault Group that I have attempted to paint up in US ERDL camouflage uniform for use as members of the Australian Special Air Service.

I have a few more ANZACs to paint up to complete two sections of regular infantry. Perhaps I should just pick up a couple more packs and make it a full platoon…?

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have some WW2 Soviets and PAVN on the workbench… a smattering of other modern items… hard to say which will get finished up next. 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

A Walk in the Sun – Force on Force - Ambush Valley


As I’d alluded to more than a few times over the last week or so I’ve picked up Force on Force and have been quite anxious to have a go at it. I wanted something simple to start with; not a lot of elements, a straight up infantry fight between regulars (a kinetic engagement). Unfortunately I don’t’ HAVE more than a squad or two of  28mm Moderns… or appropriate opponents or terrain. A lot of the published scenarios seem to have a whole lot of stuff that I don’t have… in 28mm… I do have an awful lot of 20mm modern-ish stuff and a massive re-basing operation is currently underway… but that’s a whole different story…

Then I got to thinking and realized I DO have a fair number of 28mm Vietnam War toys (most of the PAVN have been painted since that was posted)… and most of the Vietnam War was straight up infantry engagements… and I did happen to also pick up Ambush Valley (er… and Cold War Gone Hot… and… um… Bush Wars - what can I say I’m a bit of a completist...). But none of the scenarios in there looked like they were what I was looking for either… Then I remembered this Skirmish Campaigns book I had on the “Screaming Eagles at Hamburger Hill” and decided the scenarios in there might be a good place to start as I seemed to recall they were straight up infantry battles – US Army vs. PAVN.

The first scenario, “A Walk in the Sun”, I previously played using Savage Worlds four years ago this week…!?

I’d kind of figured one person might show up to play it with me (as usually happens when I have a wargame night)but in the end THREE showed up – Christian, Rick and Gary (who I played this same scenario with four years ago!)


A Walk in the Sun

600 metres east of the peak of Dong Ap Bia, 10 May 1969, 16:30

SITUATION

The lead elements of B Company, 3/187 Airborne has been tasked with securing the peak of Dong Ap Bia for the new battalion CP. 2nd Platoon is leading the way. They are not expecting any enemy forces in the area.

SCENARIO

US forces must control both cross roads by the end of the game – ie. Have friendly troops adjacent with no active enemy troops within 10” OR control one cross road and exit 3 troops off the east board edge.

North Vietnamese forces must prevent the US forces from completing their objectives.

This is what we went with for victory conditions. If I were to do it again I’d use something more in line with Force or Force victory conditions – points to the US for holding those and exiting guys off the table – plus points for killing capturing PAVN and the PAVN would get points for denying objectives and killing or capturing Americans….

The entire table was to be covered with triple canopy jungle so I called it all Dense Forest (which gives everyone solid cover +1 Defence die and should have reduced visibility to half optimum range – but I said it reduced it to optimum range – and reduced movement to only being able to use Tactical Movement).

I wasn’t sure whether to just give the US the initiative for the whole game or just the first turn and then dice for it after. To limit the new mechanics I’d have to remember I went with giving the US the initiative for the whole game which I think worked out just fine.

FORCES

US Forces
2nd squad, 2nd Platoon, B Company, 3/187 Airborne, 101st Airborne Division

Confidence Level: Confident
Supply Level: Abundant
Troop Quality/Morale: D10/D8

Squad Leaders Team
1x Squad Leader with M-16 and M1911
1x  Rifleman with radio with M-16
1x Medic with M1911

Point Team
2x riflemen with M-16s

Fireteam #1
1x Assistant squad leader with M-16
1x Rifleman with M-16
1x Grenadier with M-79 and M1911

Fireteams #2
1x Assistant squad leader with M-16
1x Rifleman with M-16
1x Grenadier with M-79 and M1911


North Vietnamese Forces
Trail watchers from the 29th PAVN Regiment

Confidence Level: Confident
Supply Level: Normal
Troop Quality/Morale: D8/D10


Fireteam
1x Team leader with AK-47
3x Riflemen with AK-47


Sniper with SKS

RPG teams #1
1x Grenadier with RPG
1x Loader with SKS

RPG teams #2
1x Grenadier with RPG
1x Loader with SKS


THE GAME

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

It was decided that that Christian and Gary would play the Americans and Rick would play the Vietnamese.

I had boonie hats for the Americans and rick got to wear the PAVN sun helmet… But then Christian spotted my new(-ish) Pickelhaube and decided it had to be worn. During the game he decided to start calling it the “Lucky Pickelhaube” and determined he would wear it always when we played games…. Gary did wear his boonie hat, but I didn’t manage to get a picture of him even remotely in focus…

We rolled for the variable attachments and the Americans got an M60 MG team and the Vietnamese got a two-man bunker.


I used the sandbags to mark the location of the bunker – though in actuality it would be a much smaller well-camouflaged two-man log bunker (I classified is as Fortified Cover +3 Defence Dice). All the other PAVN started hidden in spider-holes which (Which I classified as Improved Cover +2 Defence Dice). I wasn’t sure if this “stacked” with the cover from the woods… I guessed no, and didn’t’ allow it…

TURN ONE


The point team moves up the trail and the Americans enter on the trail. The point team was blissfully anware of the PAVN lurking so nearby in the woods. In the Skirmish Campaigns scenario is stated that the PAVN in the spider-holes could not be spotted until the fired or US troops were within 1 inch?! I just said they were “hidden” and said their position was camouflages (-1)  - I said the sniper was also “Elusive” (for a further -1).




The rest of the US squad moseying down the trail.


Oh this looks like it’s going to be bad…

TURN TWO

One thing I’m not entirely clear on is exactly HOW MANY actions an initiative team can do in one turn, and which can be combined? It says you can move, or fire, or move then fire, or fire then move… and then there’s a whole bunch of others listed – one of which is attempt to spot hidden units… another is spot hidden units and fire at them… but it doesn’t say Move, then attempt to spot hidden units and fire at them if spotted…? OR Attempt to spot hidden units and fire at them if spotted and if not them move?! Looking under “Spotting Hidden Units” I found making a rapid move modified spotting attempts so presumably the CAN move and spot.

Another question that came up was HOW MANY hidden units can a single unit attempt to spot in a turn? I can’t imagine a unit ever being in a position where there’d be THAT MANY with int their Optimum Distance that they could… but I let them spot any that were within LOS/Optimum Distance.

I’m sure a lot of the questions that came up are there in the rules… it’s been a week since I read them and I didn’t’ get a chance to re-read them before the game so there was a lot of time spent looking things up… reading… re-reading… I’ll have another read through them before the next game and hopefully everything will become much more clear…

Anyway, in turn two the Americans all moved up and attempted to spot the PAVN lurking nearby and all failed to do so! Not having to react to any shooting, Rick opened up on the Americans in the End Phase.


First of all the PAVN lit up the Fireteam #1 taking out the two riflemen. The remaining Grenadier failed morale and was pinned. Ruturning fire, however, he found a flechette round in his pouches and blasted away at the PAVN fire team , knocking them both out!?


Next, RPG team #2 fired on the Point Team… and totally missed!? The Point team returned fire taking out the loader! The PAVN fire team tehn lit up the Point Team, taking them both out.

TURN THREE

The US medic rushed forward to Fire Team #1 and got the two riflemen back on their feet with light wounds.

The PAVN RPG Gunner in the Bunker checked on his loader and discovered him to be seriously injured and spent the rest of the turn trying to staunch his wounds.

Fire Team #1 and the M60 MG Team rushed off to the left overrunning the RPG #1 Teams’ position.


Fire Team #2 and the Squad Leader and his Radio Operator Flanked off the right.

TURN  FOUR

As the US medic was in RPG Team #1’s position, he checked on them and found one to be lightly wounded and the other to be okay. They were taken prisoner. That’s one thing I LOVE about this game: Prisoners… people surrender, you have to take prisoners… It happens in real life, why does it happen in so few wargames…?


After taking their prisoners, the rest of Fire Team #1 lit up the Log Bunker and took out the RPG gunner. After that the M60 MG Team flanked around the side of the bunker – wanting to stay well out of view of the PAVN Fire Team across the trail on the other side of the bunker.


Fire Team #2 and the Squad Leader continued to maneuver on the other flank.

TURN FIVE

The PAVN Fire Team successfully hid.


Part of Fire Team #1 (Assistant Squad Leader, the Grenadier, and the Medic) split from the rest of the Fire Team (the Riflemen) and left him in charge of the two prisoners. They rushed the bunker hoping to check on and hopefully capture the PAVN casualties within. They were joined by the M60 MG Team.


Over on the other flank, Fire Team #2 moved up and attempted to spot the hidden PAVN Fire Team. Rick decided to interrupt, but failed to do so, so the US Fire team lit them up…


Wow… Those airborne dudes don’t mess around! That took out the whole PAVN Fire Team!?

It was at THIS point that Christian said he would wear the “Lucky Pickelhaube” for evey game he ever played at my place…


Shot up PAVN Fire Team.

This left only the PAVN Sniper and with three to five more turns to flush him out we called it there saying the sniper bugged out.

Checking on the rest of the casualties The medic found the RPG gunner to be lightly wounded. The PAVN Fireteam was pretty messed up; two seriously injured and two lightly injured. The Point Team was in a bad way as well; one was seriously wounded and the other lightly wounded.

Amazingly there were no KIAs.

I like the game.

I’d definitely like to try a game with some LOS greater than 8-10”

One question that came up was what if the Americans (with an LOS of 10”) marched up to within 10” – but beyond the 8” of the PAVN’s LOS – successfully spotted the PAVN, and shot at them, would the PAVN be able to shoot back…? Technically they US guys would be beyond their LOS in the woods…? But that doesn’t seem quite right… I guess perhaps to avoid this I could have made the US teams Unit Quality D8 as well. But I had wanted to try a Higher Unit Quality force against a Higher Morale force, so…

Not sure if I’m going to carry on with the next scenario in the Screaming Eagles book or just do something entirely different. I think I’ll just play another infantry engagement with regulars versus regulars before adding vehicles or irregulars.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I’ve got a schwack of other Moderns on the workbench and after this game I’m feeling pretty pumped to get at them.

Hopefully next week we’ll get some more Force on Force gaming in!

This weekend I’m running a Savage Worlds Weird War Two game at ToonCon 2012. I’ll probably post the AAR of that action over at Savage Timmy’s Playhouse

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Soviet Zombies


A few last items for the Savage Worlds game I a m running this Saturday at ToonCon 2012.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Soviet Zombies! MWA-HA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa…. (from West Wind Productions)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Stay tuned for an AAR of our first game of Force on Force.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Pulp, More Moderns, and an Evil-Looking Knight


A few more items I finished up last night... 

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


A Thrilling Tales preacher from Artizan Designs. I really like this figure – very dynamic! I can’t wait to see him in use in either a Pulp Cthulhu game or maybe spurring on some side or antoher in a 30s civil war…?


Some more modern figures. The women are from RAFM, the fellow is from Copplestone Castings.


An Evil Knight… this is a really old figure I got in a box of junk… If I had to guess I’d say Ral Partha…?

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hopefully a game report of my first Force on Force action (which, if the starts are right, will be Wednesday evening)

More TAG Moderns


A few more Modern figures from The Assault Group.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Armed civilians – mostly spare SAS figures. I suppose they could be special operatives in civilian clothes… or maybe they could be WOLVERINES!



A pair of SAS spotters

Another pair of SAS troopers.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Mostly moderns on the workbench at the moment… 

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Modern British Sniper and Armed Civilians


Okay... I am officially COMPLETELY distracted from the Great War and Greeks…

I hope to get back to both later this fall (or maybe winter...), but I recently picked up a copy of Force on Force and I’m pretty damn excited to try it out. I've been reading reports of games of Force on Force and Ambush Alley on a number of my favourite blogs for a while now and I finally broke down and picked up a copy. I’ve been giving it a read through this past week and it seems to have all the elements I’ve kind of felt have been missing from Savage Worlds: Modern Ops. Hopefully I’ll get to play it sometime this next week… stay tuned for AARs!

I’ve also been on a massive re-re-basing project – the 20mm modern stuff… I haven’t played Cold War Commander in ages (which they are ostensibly based for). While 28mm is my choice of scale for skirmishy games, I figured I have LOADS of stuff in 20mm I could use for Force on Force

If ever I get around to playing Cold War Commander again I’ll just have to use sabotted bases... or perhaps entirely rebuilt all those forces in 6mm! Micro stuff is cheap - and it'd probably work better for that game anyway! 

In the meantime, here’s some stuff I’ve finished up recently.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Some armed civilians. All are from The Assault Group’s assorted modern ranges.


A British sniper – also from The Assault Group.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably more modern stuff…

Although  Bolt Action also arrived this week… so… 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Jackals



“The Jackals” are the handpicked, elite personal guard of the president of Timbogo (the fictional African nation that has been the focus of some of my AK-47 Republic/Cold War Commander campaigns). The Jackals are ruthless and loyal and have been highly trained by foreign mercenaries that have boasted previous experience in various special operations forces throughout the world (SAS, US Special Forces, Spetznaz, etc.).

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


“The Jackals” are actually surplus British SAS figures I had from The Assault Group.

At some point I thought I might pick up some more 28mm Africans to play out some more clashes between the Federal Army of the Republic of Timbogo (F.A.R.T.) and their arch nemesis the Peoples Revolutionary Army of Timbogo (P.R.A.T.).

I already have an African Generalthat I though could Head up P.R.A.T.

The President for Life figure from Matakishi’s Tea House looks like a perfect leader for F.A.R.T.

The rest of the F.A.R.T. and P.R.A.T. forces I could fill out with a mix of The Assault Group African Militia and Congolese figures from Britannia Miniatures and/or Mongrel Miniatures

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More minis… sometime… Could be Belgian Carbiniers or mreo modern stuff.

The recent surge in modern stuff is due mostly to me breaking down and picking up Force on Force

Two More Belgians



Trying to stay focused on the Great War and get some stuff done and wanting to see what these new toys looked like painted up…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


A Belgian line infantry officer and sergeant from Great War Miniatures. The rest of this unit will be a long time in coming, however, as I only have a pack of officers and NCOs – picked them up at the recent Maelstrom Games warehouse moving/clearance sale and all they had for Belgians was Line Command and Carbiniers. Someday (not anytime soon – as they are certainly not a “priority item”) I will order some more Belgian line infantry and finish off a few units…


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

The rest of the Belgian Carbinier unit remains on the workbench, but they have been joined by a bunch of more modern items… More on that shortly. 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Belgian Carbinier and Some Damned-Fool-Intellectual-Type



Wow… The upside of being sick all summer and rarely leaving the house was I was very (VERY) productive… With Summer over and coughing (more or less) faded and regularly scheduled activities resumed it feels like I hit a brick wall and productivity has ground to a halt! Hopefully in a week or so the dust will settle and I’ll have the kids Education Plan submitted and I’ll have some time again to paint toys and maybe even PLAY some games!

For the moment, this is all I’ve got for you…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


A Great War Belgian Carbinier from Great War Miniatures.


Some damned-fool, intellectual-type from Artizan Designs.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Since I haven’t been painting much I cleared off the workbench and only left the remaining Belgian Carbiniers - so hopefully they’ll be next. Of course I may not get to them and end up putting them away and pull out something entirely different to paint…!?

I was actually eyeing up some Zulu War and VSF martian stuff the other night... so who knows!? I should get playing some games (to get motivated) or I'm going to end up all over the place!? 

Monday, September 3, 2012

MORE WW2/Pulp/Modern Odds and Sods



A few of the things rolling off the workbench in no particular order…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


A couple pulpy characters from Artizan Designs Thrilling Tales line.


A Great War Canadian (British) officer from Wargames Foundry. What is it with British officers and double-barreled shotguns? Were they all that common among the officer set? I have at least one other officer with a double-barreled shotgun that I can think of (like This One that I painted earlier this year from Great War Miniatures). I’m sure I’ve seen others as well…


A Soviet staff officer from West Wind Productions


A modern assassin also from Wargames Foundry


A couple of modern soldiers from The Assault Group. On the left is a British forward observer (same as This One but in Termperate DPM), and the chap on the right is yet another of the SAS armed with MP5s that I tried to do in CADPAT Arid thinking I could pass them off as JTF2…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More odds and sods or Great War Cavalry.

I should really do some planning for the final quarter of 2012… I seem to have veered wildly from my original plan of doing the Battle of Queenston Heights this fall… Perhaps I need to only plan 3-6 months in advance. I can’t seem to maintain momentum on projects for longer than that… well… I CAN, and HAVE… but that’s usually been on projects where I was actually getting games in along the way and having a lot of fun. I haven’t been playing games so much lately… so it’s hard to stick with stuff… 

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Canadian Light Horse



I decided to paint the Old Glory Great War cavalry I got from  Paul as Canadian Light Horse. Partly because of Will’s suggestion, partly because I realized they were part of the Canadian Corps, as Corps Cavalry, whereas the remaining Canadian cavalry (Lord Strathcona’s Horse, Royal Canadian Dragoons, and the Fort Gary Horse), which made up the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, were part of a British Cavalry Division. While the latter took part in some of the same battles as the Canadian Corps, I’m not entirely sure they ever fought with, or in direct support of the Canadian Corps…?

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Canadian Light Horse.


Figures are from Old Glory.

Of course this is the only real difference between the various units:


The Canadian Light Horse had a coloured patch on their shoulder straps light blue over dark blue with a red band between. Otherwise they could easily be passed off as any other Canadian (or British…) cavalry unit.


A sample of the Indian Cavalry from Brigade Games.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably the Indian Cavalry… Then maybe the German Dragoons….? WW2 soviets are also being plinked away at as well as a few other things crowding their way onto the painting table these days.