Update - terrain and 6mm Pontic imitation legionaries

 Although my painting endeavors are limited by a current shoulder injury I do still try to get something done. At the moment terrain and bases are the easiest things for me to do.

First up are some 6mm Pontic imitation legionaries from Baccus. In January I painted some other Pontic troops and I had painted 6 out of 8 bases of the legionaries, except for doing finishing the bases which is something I usually do when I have painted all the figures. However, because of the shoulder I never got to paint the last 2 bases, but eventually I decided to at least finish the 6 bases I had painted. With these figures I tried to use mainly contrast paints over a metal spray and it worked out nicely.

Back in February I showed some 6mm latex fields/rough ground I had made. Now I have finished them all and here is a photo to prove it. These are very simply done with a brown spray, some shading and drybrushing, and few areas pained with contrast paints.

The fields/rough grounds are from TimeCast and with them I also purchased some fords and bridges which I have also finished. These are painted enturely with contrast paints.

Over time I have bought various 6mm buildings for different time periods. So I decided to make one base which could be used with the different buildings. Here is the base with first some ancients houses and then some ACW houses. The idea is to use them as a village/town and you can move the houses around to accommodate the figures.

Back in November when I was browsing a ton of webshops for Black Friday I came across a Polish shop, terrain4games.com that sold various terrain, including painted stuff. I was very curious about it, but didn't buy anything from at that time. But I kept coming back to the page, and a month ago I just decided to try it out. So I ordered a Rocksy terrain set with 16 pieces for 61 $ including shipment. It actually took a little longer for them to send it than expected (I had ordered a 'Ready to ship' item), but as a bonus they had added 3 more pieces to the set. I'm very happy with set and can recommend the webshop.Here is the set with a couple of 28mm fantasy figures for size comparison.

So although I don't get to paint as many figures as I would like (and need) to, at least I get something done. Unfortunately I also keep buying new stuff, but really comes as no surprise.

Game - Gondor/Fiefdoms vs. Isengard - Middle-Earth

 The other day Chris and I played a game of Middle-Earth. We played 750 pts. and had agreed on a Gandalf vs. Saruman fight. Chris took on the role of Gandalf while I was Saruman.

Gandalf's army:

Warband 1:

Gandalf on Shadowfaxe

13 warriors of Minas Tirith, 7 w. sword, 6 w. spears

2 Knights of Minas Tirith

Warband 2:

Prince Imrahil on horse

3 Knights of Dol Amroth

Warband 3:

Forlong on horse

3 Knights of Dol Amroth

Saruman's Army:

Warband 1:

Saruman

13 Uruk-hai, 7 with shields, 6 with pikes

Isengard Troll

Warband 2:

Lurtz

13 Uruk-hai scouts, 6 with shield, 7 w. bow

Warband 3:

Orc on warg

6 warg riders, 3 with throwing spears, 3 with bow

We selected the scenario randomly and ended up with Hold Ground which meant that we had to fight over an objective in the center of the board. The good side won the initiative and thus had to deploy their warbands first. Unfortunately for Gandalf the dice rolls meant that Saruman could decide where Gandalf's and Forlong's warbands should enter the field. Saruman chose that they should enter in opposite corners in hope of being able to deal with them separately. Prince Imrahil was more on point and thus entered close to Forlong to support him.

Almost as planned Saruman was able to enter where he wanted to and chose to deploy between Prince Imrahil's and Forlong's warbands, ready to take them out quickly before Gandalf was able to aid the knights. Lurtz entered next to Saruman in a good position to support his master. The warg riders were forced to enter on the opposite end.

Saruman immediately used a sorcerous blast to kill a Dol Amroth knight and unhorse Prince Imrahil.

The good side won the initiative again in turn 2, but Saruman called a heroic move. Forlong tried the same, but the dice gods favoured Saruman. The troll and uruk-hais quickly attacked the knights and killed a couple of them, while Forlong was unhorsed.

Prince Imrahil was surrounded by uruk-hais but the evil warriors were unable to kill the great warrior. At the same time Lurtz led his scouts towards the obejctive.

Meanwhile Gandalf and Shadowfaxe have reached the objective and gets ready to defend it at all cost.

We had a time limit on the game and it was approaching fast. The Gondor army was attacked by Lurtz' scout from one side and the warg riders from another. So although Gandalf stood right on the objective he had not enough troops with him to hold it, and Saruman won the battle.

Despite being completely surrounded by Uruk-hais all through the battle Prince Imrahil managed to survive and lives to fight another day.

Forlong, too, survived his fight with the troll and ended up escaping over the ruins.

And so ended another great battle in Middle-Earth. I was really lucky with the deployment which meant I could unhorse the good heroes and kill most of the Dol Amroth knights almost from the start. Unfortunately I couldn't quite those heroes but I ended up swarming the objective, and the good army was only one soldier away from breaking. I really need to get the army painted as I am rather pleased with how it plays.

Game - WW2 US vs. Germans - Big Chain of Command

Sunday Steffen and I had a full day to play and we decided to play a truly Big Chain of Command game with 4 platoons on each side. Steffen played the Americans and I played the Germans. Steffen had made a scenario based on the Normandy campaign. With the help of Google Maps he found a place which we recreated on the table.

Steffen's scenario:

Northern France, west of Saint Lo on the road towards Periers. The strategic focus point is a few scattered buildings around a crossroad. The scenario will be a mix between the Going with a Bang Scenario from the 1940 Blitzkrieg book and the Attack on an Objective scenario from the main rulebook.

Steffen had forces from the 30th infantry division and armoured support from 3rd armoured division. I had forces from the 352 infantry division and armoured support from the Panzer Lehr division.

Each player have 3 infantry platoons and one armoured platoon. 2 of the infantry platoons can enter play from the start, and one of the senior leaders from these platoons is a ranking leader, who can use all his command points to call for reinforcements. If he does so the remaining infantry platoon and armoured platoon can enter play from the next turn.

The table and jump-off points. The 2 starting infantry platoons have 2 jump-off points each. The Germans had to demolish 2 buildings and the crossroad. (The US used Russian jump-off markers)

One of the American platoons had to enter the battlefield from the jump-off points at the edge. One squad came under heavy fire as soon as it entered the field. The US forces responded fire with Bofors gun.

The other American platoon had jump-off points further up the field and began an attack in the tree-line, while the Germans tried to setup defensive positions.

A German squad had taken position in the house at the crossroads and fired on the Americans across the field. At the bottom of the picture a demolishing team is preparing to set charges on the other building.

The Americans take heavy fire and their advance is completely halted.

The Americans call in mortar fire on the crossroads.

The American ranking senior leader has managed to call in reinforcements and a Sherman 105 is the first tank unit to heed the call.

The Germans respond quickly with a Pak 38. Although hitting the US tanks repeatedly it was unable to knock out any tanks during the battle.

Heavy fighting in the tree-line. The German platoon tasked with holding the tree-line has taken heavy casualties and the Americans keep on coming.

The Germans setup another defensive line on their left flank but come under sustained fire from the Americans, who now has another Sherman 105 on the field (seen at the top of the table).

After some delay the German ranking senior leader finally gets some reinforcements to help their defense. A SdKfz 222 recons forward and realizes that more help is needed.

The American advance through the tree-line has been halted after heavy casualtis but more troops are advancing forward.

German panzer come forward in a desperate counterattack. The SdKfz 222 at the crossroads was destroyed by an 76mm AT gun.

Random event! Suddenly unknown mortar fire hits the area around the tree-line, preventing the Americans from pushing on their attack.

The German counterattack is stopped. One pzIV is destroyed at the crossroads and the remaining two panzers take heavy fire.

More US tanks and troops have arrived on the field and the Germans losses are mounting. Soon after morale breaks in the two of the infantry platoons and the armoured platoon, and the Germans flee. The Americans have won a great victory.

This was a truly big and epic game of Chain of Command. Although the end result never really seemed in doubt it was still a great game. The Germans just couldn't kill any of the tanks, despite several hits. I also made a great tactical error when I placed one of the jump-off points to far forward in the tree-line on the right flank. Steffen played a good game and just kept on pressing forward, despite some initial losses to his infantry. 

Steffen and I don't get to play as often as we would both like to, so it's great to play Big Chain of Command when we do. That way we get to put a lot more troops on the table. We actually had time to play a regular game as well, and once again the Germans were severely beaten. Thankfully there are no photographic evidence of this battle.