Hermann Göring Panzerschrecks

Rushed to finish these for Shifting Sands, these will allow me to bump one platoon up to ten stands.  Not super happy with them, especially the basing, but I can go back and work on them some more later.  Did a few head-swaps for variety, but should have done more I think.

2014 Review

Time for the traditional year-in review post!  2014 was a slow year for me, mostly because of the move out to New Mexico.  For me, tournaments provide the motivation of a deadline to paint minis and without many smaller local events to plan for I get lazy.  Historicon did force me to finish an army that was partially done for a few years and Shifting Sands also prodded me into building some units I needed for other lists too.  Most of the units I painted in 2014 were given away at the D-Day event I ran for NorCal last November.

Grenadier Scout Platoon

Marder III H Platoon

StuG III E

StuH 42 Platoon

15cm Nebelwerfer 41 Battery

HG / Luftwaffe Feldplatoon

HG / Luftwaffe Feldplatoon

Luftwaffe Scout Platoon

HG / Luftwaffe HQ

24 Firestorm units plus awards!

I was also able to participate in four major tournaments and several smaller ones, ran one of my own, and won Best Painted at Kublacon and a second Iron Cross award for Best Flames of War entry at Historicon.

Shifting Sands

Kublacon

I-95 Doubles at Historicon

Nationals at Historicon

This year I hope to get to a few more large tournaments and paint up another army or two!

Hobby Day in the East Bay

Brad Feliz hosted a hobby day at his place in Napa so some of the NorCal guys could get some work done.  Several of us were trying to finish up our lists for Shifting Sands next week.  Five of us gathered and much progress was made.  Brad even provided snacks and lunch!

Work stations and guacamole!

Mike painted a whole company of SS.  I mostly ate chips and salsa.

Ziv brought about two armies to work on but saw some progress made.

Thanks for hosting this Brad, this is the kind of thing I miss now that I'm out here by myself in New Mexico.  See you in Mesa!

Hold the Line on Holiday

I was able to squeeze in a game at Great Escape Games in Sacramento while visiting family during the holidays.  Dave Ripperda met up and we played a Late War match at 1650 points.  We decided on Hold the Line and I rolled to defend.  Dave was running Canadian infantry and I brought HG Panzergrenadiers.

I deployed a platoon of Panzergrenadiers to cover both Objectives, a battery of Panzerwerfers to the rear and had a platoon of StuH 42s in Ambush.  Dave had two platoons of infantry, Universal Carriers, a battery of Sextons, some Shermans with a Firefly, and a platoon of Achilles.

Dave is very aggressive on Turn One and with his recon in the open I drop my Ambush.  They have to deploy behind the trees and drive in but fire from them plus the infantry finish them off.

Dave continues to push hard, using his Sextons as assault guns.  Fire from them and the Sherman platoon kill two of the StuH 42s.

Looking a bit grim for the panzergrens.

Sextons continue to lead the attack, backed up by a rifle platoon.

Luckily the Panther platoon and second Panzergrenadier platoon arrive together.  Panthers hae to be careful of 17 Pounder fire but slow down the Shermans.  Panzerwerfer fire breaks up the infantry attack.

8-rads arrive from reserve and move to harrass the Achilles platoon, keeping them from firing on the Panthers.  Panzergrenadiers are still contesting the forward objective, but just barely.

The Panthers finally kill a few Sextons and the Panzergrens can launch an assault, destroying the remainder and pushing the supporting rifle platoon back.  

The Panzergrenadiers continue to push the Canadians back, reaching the town and breaking the company.  5-2 win for Hermann Göring Division, lost the 8-rads but their sacrifice gave the Panthers enough time to work.

Thanks for the game Dave, had fun!