Armies on Parade at Nationals

Here are a few shots of some great looking armies at Kublacon.  Couldn't get any more as the room got crowded pretty quickly.

Eric Riha's US 2nd ID

Scott Bartel's 2. Panzer Division

Bruce Nemet's Hungarian Panzers

Byron Sinor's 4th Armored Rifles

Chris Langland's US 4th Armored

Brad Feliz' 2. Panzer Division

Matt McCarty's Romanian Vanatori Motorizata

West Coast Nationals at Kublacon

Last weekend was the Late War Nationals at Kublacon in San Francisco.  I brought my Cassino Fallschirmjäger and had a great time.  This was my first six-round event and it was tiring, especially due to the good times had late at night in and around the hotel bar.  All of my opponents were great, and I especially enjoyed my game with Bryan Koches, who came out from Texas.  Unfortunately I forgot to get any shots on day two, guess I got too excited watching the match ups.  Round Four was vs. Bryan Koches and his 4th Armored Rifles (4-3 in Breakthrough), Round Five was vs. Adam Carroll's Kampfgruppe Spindler (6-1 in Pincer), and Round Six was Free For All vs Chris Jackson's 82nd Airborne (1-6).  I still had a chance until that last round.  I didn't feel confident for a big win there as Chris is ranked 3rd in the US and is a super solid player.  He also had a nasty list.  I did feel like I could get a few points though, but the dice were not to allow it.  Nothing but bailed out tanks on his side, couldn't get a FP check to score a point.

Round One I had the pleasure of playing Sam Wallis.  He was playing US Dismounted Cavalry with Fortifications, So while everyone else played Dust Up, we had No Mans Land.  We were both very unprepared for this...

We both had some issues deploying, as we both only started with two infantry platoons.  What we thought were our maneuver platoons were actually going to be defending the objective.  Our mines and wire were also deployed in our own way!  My troops had to cross their own barbed wire to reach Sam's defenders and secure the objective.  With the entire game played at night Sam couldn't use his Air and reserves played no part.  I was able to get a 6-1 victory by taking the objective on Turn Three.

My big victory in Turn One led me to a Riha rematch!  Round Two was Surrounded vs. Eric's US 2 ID.  This was possibly the worst Defensive battle I could have ended up with vs. him.

Reic deplyed his Shermans and Mortars on one side, both Infantry, Recon, and Tank Destroyers on the other.

This was pretty much the game right here on Turn One.  Both Rifle platoons charge forward double through the fields and couldn't be hit before they could get into assault range.  I almost had a shot at a win, or at least another point, but the game ended after a 1 on a 2+ morale, hehe.  5-2 for Riha, well played sir.

Round Three was Counterattack against Andrew Haas and his Panzer Füsiliers.  Andrew had a bunch of dudes in halftracks and was able to get to the hot objective much earlier than I could.

This was as far forward as I was able to get before his halftracks were in kill range.  I almost handed him the game when I forgot to move to contest on Turn 5.  Luckily the only team in range for him to capture was an empty transport team.

The Stugs came in from reserve and thought they could kill a few 251s that were loaded up with guys.  Unfortunately for them, they only bagged one and there were now a bunch of angry PzF MG teams in assault range...  They were soon after very dead but I was able to hold the objective at the end of the round.  5-2 for me.

This for me was the most enduring memory of the event.  Our room's bathrobe now located on a ledge several stories down from our room.  The night after the first day's games was nothing but entertaining.  Reno, you are a mad man!

Last Practice with Reno.

Reno and I got one last practice game in before Kublacon last week.  Here are a few pics.

Cauldron with our usual armies.  Next game will be different, I promise!

Reno's aircraft were unstoppable.  They came in every turn!

His tanks were nearly as unstoppable.  My Panzershrecks were the only thing slowing him down.

Eventually his IS-2s rolled me in a hard way.  5-2 for Reno, I only killed one platoon of Su-122s.

StuG III G platoon

Hey, thought I'd post some pics of these Stugs I finished last week for the Nationals at Kublacon.  I think my second attempt at chipping came out much more natural than the first.  These are painted to represent the Stugs from Sturmgeschütz Abteilung 242 that supported the FJs in Cassino.  I wish this unit had a more interesting scheme, but decided to keep them historical.  The Stugs of this unit were painted in plain Dunkelgelb and used the old artillery battery lettering system for Stugs instead of numbering them.  Schurzen was rarely seen on these Stugs, as the close fighting in urban areas caused them to snag on things.

StuG "A".  I modeled this on the Stug that defended the Continental Hotel in Cassino.

StuG "B".  I really liked how the crew came out on this one.

StuG "C".  I rebuilt a bailed out tanker for the gunner.

StuG "D".  I think I'm going to add some tie down rope to this one.

Marder IIs

Fallschirmjäger Marder IIs.  First attempt at using an airbrush or using one for camo.  Green patches came out a bit larger than I wanted, but don't look too big either.  Also the first time I've tried chipping or using the AK streaking effects on a vehicle.  I'm still not entirely satisfied with the tracks, but I'm out of time.  Leaving for Kublacon tonight!

Platoon shot.  I used some FJ figures and did head swaps for the rest.  

Platoon CO.  Model had some nasty pits along the side and rather than filling and sanding, I just called it "damage".  

#2.  Hope I didn't over-chip these. 

#3.

#4.

Bunkers Finished!

Wow, these took way longer than I thought they would.  The Flak nest especially took forever as I had to fill the slots on the roof.  Tried some new weathering tools from AK Intereactive and loved how they turned out.  It just took some getting used to as these are totally new techniques I'm trying and will next apply to the Marder IIs.  Hopefully the practice I got on the small turret will help streamline the process on a whole armored platoon.

Group shot, might doctor up my BF trenches and Barbed Wire too to match.

Flak Nest painted up to match some Italian style buildings.

HMG nest.  Liked the AK Rust effects.

The AK streaking products were fantastic.  Rain marks and Rust streaks came out nice.

Tried to make the Panzer II turret look like it had been exposed to the elements for awhile.

FJ Heavy Machine Gun platoon

Finished up the HMG platoon too,  these will more than likely be fully attached out every time I play, but I painted up a command stand too.  Wall pieces came from various bits.

Heer 15cm Nebelwerfers

Man, these took forever.  I was going to originally just use regular bases and dress them up with a rubble theme to match my FJ, or maybe a fence line? I couldn't get anything to look right so I dug out my old resin bases from the 15cm howitzer box set and modified them to work.  I trimmed off all of the artillery rounds and other stuff that wouldn't work with the rocket launchers and used a few bits from my parts box to fill them out.  Pretty happy with how they turned out, but wish the smooth texture was a little better for pigment use.  Only thing that really bugged me was the molded on crud on the base edges, impossible to remove and looks like crap if you paint the edges like I do.

Walls painted up very nice.  Little bits of spackle left on the bricks.

Found some pics of NW smoke rounds with the white bands and thought they'd add some contrast.

Base edges were painted Panzer Grey to differentiate from the FJ and also to remind me they're Allied.

A respite from painting all-nighters

To break up the monotony of furious last minute painting sessions, Reno cae over last night for one more practice for KublaCon.  Yet again, we threw our respective lists at one another, this time we played Hasty Attack.  Totally not anyone's favorite mission, but we think there's a good chance it might make an appearance in San Francisco.  Long game, but 4-3 win for the FJ.

The board

Reno started with IS-2s, Su-122s, and Su-76s.  First turn he rolls forwards.

Marders Immediate Ambush right behind some trees...

Right side objective with bunkers and small FJ.

Left side with removed objective, large FJ now need to move!

Turn two, soviets keep on comin'  Sturmoviks come in and kill a Marder, but not before my Flak nest shoots one down!

First reserve platoon arrives for Reno.

Turn three they keep charging through, 

Sturmoviks show up and kill another Marder and a shrek team too.

Marders kill a couple Su-122s.

Reno's advance bogs down.  Literally...

Turn four my Stugs arrive on the opposite end from objectives and engage the Su-122s.

Marders sneak out to shoot some IS-2 booty, killing one.

Reno tries ro assault, but the single shrek team hits twice and forces them back.  The next turn they get hit by Marders again in the rear and are destroyed or run.

Stugs move up to fire on Reno's reserve Su-76s.

He still has a bunch of tanks slowly reducing my FJs.

He pushes across the river and through the woods, hitting on 6s, and decimates my platoon to a man.  Ouch.  Second FJ can still contest though.

The marauding Stugs have now killed the 76s and are free to make a run for his objective, but not before the Red Air Force bags another tank.

Stugs take his objective, but Reno was making Company Morale checks.  4-3 for the FJ.