Early War at Game Kastle

We had a small Early War event last week at Game Kastle here in Sacramento and decided on 1350 points.  I brought a Panzerschützen force from Hellfire and Back.

Game One I played against Hal and his Italian Fucilieri.  The Mission was Breakout.

I didn't have much to defend the objectives, and Hal had mostly terrible troops, but a whole bunch of them.  If he played aggressively I wouldn't last long.

Luckily for me, Hal did not send the bulk of his armor at my lightly defended objective.  An ambush by Panzerjäger Is  managed to knock-out one of his M14s and Bail Out the rest, but they stubbornly remained.  His L3 flamethrower tankettes skirted around my mines, but my PaK36s knocked a few out.  

Hal's Fucilieri made a push on the other side, but repeated strikes by my Stukas, and fire from the Schützen kept them back.  I finally assaulted them back far enough to secure the game.

If Hal had come forward early he would've won big, but he kept a unit of five tanks back to defend against my reserves, and never used his second infantry unit.  8-1 win for me.

In the second game I defended in Bridgehead against Russ and his British Infantry Tank Company of Matildas.

On turn one my Stukas came in and took out an 18/25 Pounder and a Matilda I.  They would come in every turn this game.

My Panzerjägers ambushed another group of Matildas, and knocked one out!

A unit of Matilda Is assaulted my position, driving off the infantry and reducing the PaKs to a single gun, but two of them were Bailed Out in the process.  This was my best chance, but it was no use.  They both got back in.  My Panzers could only park threateningly at them near the objective.

Once Russ' Matilda IIs arrived that was game.  2-7 loss for me!

It was nice to have an event in Sac again, even if it was the unsupported Early War.  Still was good to get together!

Small Game of Late War

Johnny and I got together at the new Game Kastle store here in Sacramento to try and re-establish a FoW presence in town.  We decided to go for 80 points and I wanted to try out the newish Fallschirmjäger list from the D-Day German book.

We played Dust Up and Johnny had a US Armored Company.

Shermans and recon come straight at my troops, but my PaK40s get a few hits in.

I managed to knock out both jeeps and the armored car failed morale.  The Shermans shifted and managed to eliminate the PaKs with some help from mortars and 105 Shermans.

On the other side of the board, some FJs and StuGs hit the US infantry hard after my Nebelwerfers softened them up a bit. I won the assault and pushed them back out of the trees and began to close in on the Objective.

Johnny's Shermans managed to push my infantry back though, even through a solid Panzerfaust hit.  

Johnny won this one, a 2-7 loss for me.  He lost the recon and a unit of Shermans, I lost the PaK40s.  I needed more AT shots against so many Shermans.

Pacificon 2019

We had a MidWar tournament way back in September at Pacificon and I totally forgot to do a write-up about it.  There were twelve players and we ran it at 109 points.  Here's what I brought.

In the first round I faced off against Sam and his Soviet Mixed Tankovy in Counterattack.

My reserves arrived on the first turn and mowed down Sam's leading infantry unit as they approached the Objective.

The Henschel 129s did some serious work against Sam's light armor, knocking many of them out and keeping them from being very effective.

The KV-1s, however, would charge forward and run down my Nebelwerfers!

With nothing of Sam's force able to contest the swampy Objective, I was able to win 7-2, losing the Nebelwerfers and Marders (who ran away rather early).

In the second round I would battle Emiliano and his US Armored Company in Hasty Attack.

Emiliano's Priest Battery arrived early, but the Henschels repeatedly harassed them.

The small nature of the US force and the piece-meal way in which they arrived on the board allowed me to engage them one unit at a time, leading to a pretty uphill battle for the Americans.

The open board didn't help them either and my Panzergrenadiers head for the US mortar position.

I would go on to win 8-1, breaking the US formation.  It was a really good match-up for me on a good table for long range shooting.

Round three would see me engaged with Chris and his British Crusader Squadron in Breakthrough.

Chris' Crusaders would make mad dash into the back corner of the board, perhaps to camp my Reserves, but it was a strange choice to me.  His Carrier patrols swung around the oasis but were met by Marders.

The Crusaders and Motor Platoons eventually turned towards the Objectives, but the Ferdinand was in position to engage them after knocking out the Grants.

My Panzergrenadiers arrived on Chris' flank and caught the attention of several of his units.  They would be destroyed eventually, but tied down a unit of tanks and both Motor Platoons.

The early delay that I still don't understand, and the large force committed to dislodge my reserve troops ended up costing Chris.  I was able to pick off any tanks with potent enough guns to threaten the Ferdinand and had enough close cover for it to prevent from being assaulted.  I eventually pushed his forces far enough away to claim victory, 8-1, with only the brave Panzergrenadiers lost.

Three victories and a nearly perfect score was enough to get me a big win, my first tournament win in a very long time.  I would win the new German D-Day book and card sets for my trouble.

Fortress Europe Free-For-All

Hal and I played a Late War game at Great Escape awhile back and I never got around to mentioning it.  I brought an Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier force and he had Tankovy.

My Panzergrenadiers advance into a small bit of cover.

My other unit holds the left flank supported by some StuGs.

The StuGs knock out several T-34s, but there are plenty more where they came from.

Some very accurate mortar fire and some MG shots reduce my center to a few stands.

With only a token force holding the right objective, Hal's tanks win decisively.

Not much to say except sometimes you lose really bad!

Legion League: Week Three

I had the bye on week two, so my second game of the league matched me up against someone I had previously played at Kublacon, Nick.  We both had Imperials, and he had a pair of tanks vs. my single.

My single tank helped this position for most of the game, destroying one tank and several Stormtrooper squads, but was ultimately taken out by the second tank.

Lord Vader and his escort squad of Stormtroopers did some damage, but I was outnumbered.

Fun game, and close until the last turn.  We only had a combined total of about five figures left on the board by the end of turn six!

Napoleonic Flags

I put some flags onto my friend Hal's 6mm Napoleonic teams for him, since his eyesight isn't what it used to be.

Hesse Darmstadt Infantry

French Line Infantry

More French Line Infantry

Wurttemburg Infantry

Baden Army

More Baden Army

Frankfurt and Wurzburg Infantry

Panavia Tornado Strike Aircraft

These are resin and metal models, the first I've painted from Battlefront.

Armed with JP233 Submunitions

Flight of two.  Decals went on way better on these.

MBB PAH-1 Anti-tank Helicopter

My first ever helicopter models, these are all plastic.  I had a difficult time with the gloss on the canopies, the acrylic cured funny and cracked.  I had to go back with an enamel and redo it.

Not only did the canopy give me a difficult time, but the deals also wouldn't settle.  Tricky for sure.

Full flight.

LARS 2 Raketenwerfer Batterie and M113

Who doesn't like rocket werfer trucks?  LARS are resin and metal, OP M113 is all plastic.

Rocket trucks are always cool looking.

Full battery, used gloss for the windows.

Last minute addition to the list, so had to modify a US M113 into a West German one.  Swapped the .50 M2 for a spare MG3 and used a WW2 British tanker for the commander since they looked similar.

Fliegerfaust Platoon

I'm not sure i like the large-based infantry units, but I guess these have taken the place of gun teams in Team Yankee.  Armed with Redeye missiles.

Matching yellow flower tufts, gives them some color and helps fill the large spaces on the big base.

The entire unit.

Gepard 1A2 Flakpanzer Batterie

A big battery of flak tanks, same all resin construction as the Leopard 1s.

Very nice models, I think they came out pretty good.

All of them together.

Luchs A1 Spähpanzer Patrols

The core of the second formation are the Luchs armored cars, four units of them.  Resin and metal minis.

You can really see the WW2 lineage in these.

One of the patrols.

The whole group!