Soviet Sailors, Strelkovy and Special Guest Appearance

I've caught up with my painting and the other part of this great hobby (when not actually gaming with the figs) is creating dioramas for photo shoots. So whilst waiting for my other miniatures to arrive via snail mail I decided to pose a few shots using my newly completed rubble piles, building ruins and a smattering of some newly painted Sailors and Strelkovy.

Soviet Sailors and Officer

Strelkovy DP Machine Gun Team and Sniper

And, yes, even The Hulk, himself!

Band of Heroes *outta the box!* REVIEW

OK - I just got this in the mail and am I excited! I just love the games that come out of LnL Publishing. So I'll learn this and eventually convert them to miniatures using my Hotzmats and FoW figs. 

(click on the pic to enlarge)

The unboxing

But for now let's get down to it.
Here are the good quality contents as listed on the back of the box

Counters

Teaser close up (forgive the lack of focus)

Player Aid Card (this is actually a fold out w/ a few more tables)

Maps

Rules

Skill Cards

Scenarios

Fuzzy Dice

Back of Box

The Rules come with Examples of play for both Infantry and Armor engagements

Jury's still out, sequestered and gaming. To be continued...

New Kids on the Block, Part 3: Soviet Paras

A few years back I got into skirmishing after a much needed break from 15mm WW2 combat on the Flames of War (FoW) rules. I've been chomping at the bit at all the beautiful sculpts to be had in 25-28-30mm scales.

Bolshevik HMG officer by Copplestone Castings

Not to mention my aging eyes needing a break from the smaller scale. Of course, all this goes out the window since I've been immersed in micro if you've been following my recent posts. But then again, since I am a gamer, I tend to seesaw back in forth in terms of scale, genre and period. Which is another way to say that I'm ADD.

*SQUIRREL*

Boy, did I get my train of thought derailed in a hurry. Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah... back on track again regarding skirmishing in the larger scales. Guy at Montag's has a cool table layout of a generic middle eastern town complete with streets. This layout could be used for all sorts of large scale gaming and skirmishing. See my earlier post: http://thehistoricalminiaturist.blogspot.com/2010/04/al-qaeda-fedayeen.html that features this very table with my Al Qaeda. He's been adding more buildings, wrecks, concrete road blocks, the works.


They were doing all this to game with Dogs of War (DoW) who also has a line of figures by Devil Dog Design for Modern conflict in most settings but primarily urban: http://www.pacificskygames.com/products.html. Just scroll down to Devil Dog Design for their full line. 

I immediately gravitated towards the more colorful units: Soviet Paratroopers and Al Qaeda Fedayeen. My Fedayeen was featured in my earlier post: http://thehistoricalminiaturist.blogspot.com/2010/04/al-qaeda-fedayeen_16.html. So now it's the Paras turn.


Since DoW is played with four man fire teams or squads it seemed relatively simple to collect multiple nationalities and still be manageable with all my concurrent projects. Sound familiar? At any rate, here's my 'first' four man team.

Clam shell blister comes with torsos, assorted heads, arm and weapon sets for good variety.

One of my favorite and logical pick was the balaclava head reminiscent of ninjas.

My commander.

Support weapons: RPD and RPG

Black primered fire team.

The latest additions: 6 more figs! This time I added 3 more balaclavas.

The new pack of Paras came with only 1 type of head sporting an old style padded helmet from that WW2 tankers wore shown on the figure on the left. The other two figs were from a pack of generic forward observers. They are loaded for bear and outfitted really cool with Oakley sunglasses. I couldn't resist. 

To be continued...

World at War: Eisenbach Gap, Scenario 3: Rolling Hot

For a quick reference here's a scan (also b/c I'm lazy) of the scenario page from Eisenbach Gap. It's chock of full of information: the flavor story, units, their deployment, SSR (special scenario rules) and victory conditions.

The beauty of this system is evident in its game play and mechanics. Its simplicity allows you to concentrate all your mental energy on your tactical and strategic decisions. Not wasted on micro-management, umpteen million tables and charts or complex games systems.

Each scenario I've tried so far hasn't disappointed me. Whether solo or against an opponent the game's quality and superior design is demonstrated and fun is had by all. Or maybe this is just a testament to the well thought out simplicity. Not to mention that its loads of enjoyment. I usually play on the Soviet side. It's very challenging and I sometimes get bull headed about it in true Soviet fashion. So a word of caution for any player choosing the Soviets: be resigned to losing units. Quit whining about the superiority of NATO. Just deal with it and have a blast (pun intended). I know I do!!

Table map setup looking West.   

At Hugelsdorf the B-grade units of the 33rd Motor Rifle occupied the adjacent hilltop with their HQ supported with 2 platoons of T62s. 

GHQ CATALOG PIC

4 platoons of infantry with only a Sagger ATGM support weapon were dug-in inside the town. Directly east adjacent to the irrigated fields and ensconced safely (or so I thought) in the woods were two 2 platoons of the thin-skinned BMP1 APCs armed with the fearsome Sagger.

 

All were anticipating the expected US approach from either road on the west edge of the map.

Soviet set up looking west.

Directly northeast of the 33rd's position lies Eisenbach (NATO game objective). This town was occupied by the C-grade units of the 87th Rifle composed of obsolete T55s, 

GHQ CATALOG PIC

2 platoons of BTR60 APCs

GHQ CATALOG PIC

and infantry armed with only one Sagger.

The Soviets' only hope was the timely arrival on Turn 3 of their reinforcements: 5 platoons of A-grade T72s of 1st Tanks expected anywhere along the north edge of the map.

 

Opening barrages (2 x smoke represented by red blocks) by NATO was on target and effectively blinded the 33rd Mortor Rifles for two turns. Then Delta Company's Abrams immediately occupied the wooded hills and engaged Hugelsdorf. They took out one of the BMP1s in the woods in a lopsided gun fight. BMP1s were just too thin skinned and sensitive for this kind of engagement.  

North of this position protected in a valley were Alpha Troop's Bradleys and M106 (self propelled 81mm mortars mounted on an M113 APC). 

GHQ CATALOG PIC

This was the logical jump-off point to assault Eisenbach. However this needed to be done in stages because that direct and clear approach was covered by the 87th. In a classic textbook bounding overwatch maneuver the Bradleys made it to the woods, scouted out the route ahead to Bergengipfel and called in some mortar strikes to pound Eisenbach. 

The Abrams made it to Bergengipfel and commenced firing on Eisenbach adding their firepower to the Bradleys and the mortars.

The Soviets were holding their own but kept looking northward for their relief. "When is that damned Alexei Stephanovich and his T72s going to get here? They need to take these American from behind." thought the 87th's commander as he worriedly scans the west bound road to Bergengipfel from the cupola of his command T55 tank.

First blood was drawn as the incoming mortar barrage took out a T55 platoon. Thankfully the infantry were dug-in all around and were relatively safe.

The valiant defense of Eisenbach continued: infantry of the 87th launched a Sagger to flush out the Abrams hiding in Bergengipfel. Meanwhile, another T55 platoon positioned just outside the town in the irrigated fields suffered multiple hits causing disruption and reduction.

 

The action was getting thick and this was just Turn two! Suddenly before Turn 3 could start with the possibility for the reinforcements to arrive (activate) we heard something awful - what every gamer is loathe to hear. "Sorry, guys," says the store manager with an apologetic smile, "but you'll have to start picking up your stuff because I'll be closing the store in about 20 minutes." 

AAAARRRRGHH! Frustration!! 

Alas, the game couldn't be finished due to the store closing so this'll have to be a re-fight sometime in the near future.

Stay tuned...