The Old Guard

In a startling display of efficiency, I 've finished almost all of the models that I bought at Vapnartak a couple of weeks ago. That just leaves a single second hand dreadnought to do.

This time it's eight Home Guard I purchased from Wargames Foundry to fill the ranks of my ad hoc VBCW/Operation Sea Lion Bolt Action force, turn my Dad's Army miniatures into a couple of useable units and fill out the extras needed for the Vlad's Army 7TV feature pack scenarios.

The models are metal, as would be expected from Wargames Foundry, and were all single piece castings except for the chap on the left of the above picture, whose hand holding the rifle was separate. This was a bit of a swine to position as the connection was not very clean or well lined up.

Sadly, this was a bit of a recurring theme, as there was an awful lot of flash to clean up and some of the models are a bit messy in places. The chap in the centre with the Molotov cocktail below has an ugly mould line running down the left side of his face. 

I'm not sure whether this is because this sculpts, and therefore their moulds are old, or I've just come to expect a higher standard from dealing with newer miniatures and different materials recently. However, based on these and the police, I will probably pause for thought before buying more from Wargames Foundry.

Having said that, the sculpts are characterful. The rifles are a bit stunted (and in one case slightly warped), but the faces are, for the most part, older men. Receding hairlines, glasses and overgrown moustaches abound to really make they miniatures fit the role they are meant to play.

A couple of the group are clearly meant to represent characters from Dad's Army, specifically Walker and Pike, and so I took care to make sure that they are recognisably different from the Warlord versions, giving the not-Walker grey hair, and ensuring that not-Pike's scarf is more generic.

Although I was a little bit critical of the casting of the Warlord models, based on a direct comparison I recommend them over Foundry if you are keen on picking up the Warmington-On-Sea militia.

In terms of painting, they were all done very simply in the same way as the Warlord models and they do go together really well. They now have a date with some supernatural agents of the Third Reich in the first episode of Vlad's Army, just as soon as I rebase a load of bats...again.

I'm pleased to be making such quick progress, as I was worried I'd undone my hard work at the start of the year. I've also started to sweat less about being exactly right with the Lead Mountain totals as I keep finding new miniatures or getting rid of things I won't use . the figure is roughly right and is going down, so it's all good.

Acquired: -4
Painted: 60
Lead Mountain: 521

The Old Bill

As mentioned in a previous post, after painting up the four police officers I already had, I took the opportunity to grab five more from Wargames Foundry to make a workable unit for my VBCW/Operation Sea Lion force in  Bolt Action.

As they paint up rather quickly, I've painted them up rather quickly.

The five models are quite simple sculpts and as they are also quite old, the did require a fair bit of flash cleaning off them. There were some notable mould lines to file down too, but broadly I've managed to clean them up fairly well. My only real gripe across the models I've painted is that many of them have buttons missing for some reason.

In terms of painting the uniforms are just Kantor Blue with a wash of Nuln Oil. I've done nothing special with the rest of the models an I've not even bothered with eyes. Partly this is because they are all wearing helmets low over their eyes, but partly this is also because I tend not to bother with eyes on models intended for larger scale games like Bolt Action. 

Technically these are Victorian policemen (hence the large amount of facial hair on display), but really, there's not much to distinguish them from police uniforms in the inter-war period. However, one model was notably holding an lamp and waving a rattle.

I've kept the lamp, as it appears to be somewhat akin to a signal lamps that were in use during the war and a signal lamp seems totally appropriate for a wartime police patrol.

The rattle, however, had to go and has been replaced with a truncheon. As he looks a little different to the rest, I'll make this model the unit leader and not giving him one of the prized firearms at least makes it possible that he won't be a sniper's first target.

And so that's the unit done. In game terms they will function as a Veteran Urban Militia patrol in the LDV. I'll probably pair them up with the civilian versions of Dad's Army to make a small platoon supporting the Coastal Defence Platoon which will feature the Navy and some Home Guard.

Keeping track of the Lead Mountain remains awkward with lots of coming and goings, but I think I'm just about staying on top of it. I've painted the 5 policemen, and given a piece of Mantic terrain to Craig as I had a duplicate, however, Matt has printed me some tentacles (actually ninetacles) to use for the Watcher in the Water and I miscounted my Home Guard models whilst they were still in the pack last week. Therefore, I've technically gone backwards again.

Acquired: -4

Painted: 52

Lead Mountain: 529

It Was A Coincidence Officer...Honest...

Well this is a bit awkward...

I've been in a bit of a slump for a week or so and, as long term readers of this blog may remember, to break out of this sort of thing I usually search through the lead mountain for some 'easy wins', models that won't take too much effort to get me feeling like I'm making progress.

This time I settled on two disparate groups of models that were already based and undercoated: some Iron Age hogs, and a group of Victorian Policemen.

The unfortunate connection between the two didn't actually occur to me until later.

The Victorian Police are from Wargames Foundry and I think were given to me with the intention that I might use one to convert a corrupt cop for my Pulp Gangsters. However, instead of that I've decided to paint them up as is.

Even though I don't play any games with a Victorian setting (yet), my thoughts are that they will serve perfectly well for 7TV Pulp games set in Blighty as Police uniforms didn't particularly change that much by the interwar period. 

On top of this they might actually be the start of another unit for my VBCW/Operation Sea Lion army for Bolt Action. With the addition of a second pack from Wargames Foundry, armed only with truncheons, they will make for a nicely themed Urban Militia unit.

Painting was predictably simple. Kantor Blue with a wash of Nuln Oil and all the usual face, hands, guns and trimmings. I've based them for Bolt Action rather than 7TV as I suspect they'll get more use in that form.

 I've had the Iron Age pigs for some time. I thing I was given them by my day when I made the small MDF pigsty. I've done absolutely nothing special with these. The adults are done with Wyldwood contrast paint, whilst the young were done with Skeleton Horde before having rough Mournfang Brown stripes added followed by a wash of Agrax Earthshade.

They'll work well enough as scenery in Saga, or even other games. The farm will simply by rearing rare breeds.

Cobwebs blow off, I'm now ready to get on with something a bit more interesting. Hopefully without upsetting any more of the emergency services.

Acquired: -22
Painted: 39
Lead Mountain: 522

Road to Berlin: The '34'

On the night of 30th June 1944, at the start of Operation: Bagration, a platoon of the 3rd Guards Tank Corps of the Red Army, led by Lieutenant Pavel Rak stormed across the bridges into the Wehrmacht-held town of Borisov. Despite throwing the German forces back in confusion, the Soviet tank commander found himself isolated as the rest of his platoon was destroyed and cut off when the bridges were blown behind him.

With only a small force of infantry to support him and facing overwhelming odds, Pavel Rak steeled himself to hold until relieved or to fight to the last man against the hated invaders.

This is the background of my final game of 2022, an asymmetric Bolt Action battle taken from the Road to Berlin campaign book. I would be taking on the role of the heroic Lieutenant Pavel Rak, and Matt would be commanding the nefarious faceless legions of the Third Reich.

The scenario dictated that Matt would have three times as many points as me (1800 vs 600), but I would be defending three bunkers (pictured below). The objectives were simple, Matt had 8-9 turns to capture the bunkers and I had to stop him or die trying.

You'll notice that two of the bunkers were actually coastal defences with hideous blind spots (this would be relevant) and for the third we created a strongpoint within the ruined factory. It made sense to us.

As stated earlier, the forces were somewhat uneven, but Matt and his Germans had a lot of ground to cover, whilst I had the benefit of sitting tight and letting him come to me. Given that I had to include a T-34 in my list to represent Lt Rak, I opted for quantity over quality for the rest of my force which was drawn from the Operation Bagration theatre selector:

Soviet Defenders (all Inexperienced unless noted)

2nd Lieutenant

Free Rifle Squad (12 men)

LMG Squad (10 men, 2 LMG)

LMG Squad (10 men, 2 LMG)

2 AT Rifle Teams (Regular)

Mortar Team & Spotter

T-34/85 (Regular)

Matt had more freedom but was required to use the Folorn Hope theatre selector which limited his choices to an extent. However, he knew that he would have to storm bunkers and deal with a T-34 and so could build his list accordingly...all 1800 points of it...

German 1st Platoon (1st wave, all Regular unless noted)

2nd Lieutenant

Forward Air Observer

Heer Grenadier Squad (10 men)

Heer Grenadier Squad (10 men)

Heer Grenadier Squad (9 men, Veteran)

Flammpanzer B2 (f)

German 2nd Platoon (2nd wave, all Regular)

2nd Lieutenant

Major

Heer Grenadier Squad (10 men)

Heer Grenadier Squad (10 men)

Panzerschreck Team

Panther Ausf D

Turn 1

I deployed my infantry squads in each of the bunkers, with the rifle squad occupying the factory strongpoint. The AT teams took up positions to allow them to try to put pins on advancing units and the T-34, Mortar team and officer were all hidden away out of danger.

Matt deployed most of his first wave on my right, around the stately home, with the air observer in an upper floor. We'd both overlooked the fact that the scenario began using the night fighting rules and so for now there was very little shooting possible.

On the other flank he deployed the somewhat terrifying form of the Flammpanzer. The fact that Matt has one of these is due to the fact that he has a rather large French army and there's only so many Char-1b tanks a single force can use.

I was very aware that if the Flammpanzer got in amongst my bunkers the game would be over very quickly and so the only shooting of the round came from and AT rilfe team and the mortar trying and failing to put pins on it.

Turn 2

The Flammpanzer continued to advance and the Panther failed to arrive from reserve, and so I brought Rak's tank out of hiding and, after successfully spotting the lumbering beast (it was still dark), opened fire.

BOOM!

First blood to the Russians.

I'd actually managed to put pins on the tank with the mortar and the AT rifle team in the same turn, but the T-34 shot was good and set the Flammpanzer on fire. Once the crew failed their morale test (which the pins helped with) we decided that the burning hulk should be a light source for the rest of the time that darkness lasted. It seemed to make sense.

Meanwhile, the German infantry scurried across open ground praying that it would get light before they found cover.

The veterans, however, revealed their superior experience of warfare by using the massive building to sneak up behind, aiming to turn the flank of the Russian defences.

Turn 3

With the sun failing to rise again, German infantry swarmed across open ground hoping that they wouldn't be spotted. Unfortunately, the LMGs in the bunker opened up on them.

The pressure was added to by the T-34 using is machine guns to spray the squad, inflicting significant casualties and causing them to break. My T-34 was living up to the legacy of Pavel Rak.

However, despite the successes in the centre of the battlefield, Matt had brought most of his second wave on to my left flank. Two squads of infantry advanced and the ominous form of a Panther rolled in to view. The defenders of the factory facing them were a single AT rifle and a squad of inexperienced infantry.

Turn 4

The advance towards the factory continued apace. A smattering of riffle fire issued out of the strongpoint, aiming more to pin and slow down the assault rather than with any hope of driving it off.

And even if they were successful in this, another squad were coming up in support. Things looked bleak for the defenders of the factory.

Things took a turn for the worse in the centre too, where the Panther and panzerschreck team moved into range of Pavel Rak. Both fired, but somehow both failed to cause any damage.

More infantry moved out into the open, keeping the attention of the soldiers in the bunker fixed to the front.

Turn 5

During all of this the veteran squad had successfully turned the flank of the Soviets, causing the mortar team to redeploy, and the officer to move to defend the bunker which, as a coastal defence, had a massive blind spot. Again, veteran experience had enabled the Germans to spot this.

The officer made a valiant attempt to pin and slow the veterans but his fate was sealed.

Over near the factory, the flood of German soldiers continued and the AT rifle team was brushed aside with ease.

Meanwhile, another squad had made it into assault range of the entrance to the strong point. If all went to plan, the Germans would be in position to take two objectives in the following turn and the Rusians would not have the means to dislodge them.

Turn 6

Daylight finally came and inevitably the air observer targetted my heroic T-34.

On my right the veterans were poised to strike and assaulted the bunker. Veteran soldiers bristling with assault weapons charged into inexperienced recruits armed only with rifles. The outcome was inevitable, but the scenario gave the Soviets the fanatics special rule which meant that the fight was more drawn out that it might have been. When the dust settled there were six veterans remaining anf the bunker was in German hands.

Meanwhile in the centre another assault was being prepared but things weren't going to plan. The panzerschreck team managed to hit but did little more than jam the tureet of the T-34 and the Panther failed to fire after taking a pin from the second AT rifle team. At least the infantry were able to use their cover and get forward, killing the AT rifle team in the process and sweeping towards the bunker.

Over on the left there was a surprise turn of events when the rifle squad rushed out of their bunker with a cry of "Ura!" and swept the German squad away in a storm of fixed bayonets.

Turn 7

The buzz of engines overhead signalled the arrival of the Luftwaffe who somehow managed to miss the tank in the open and instead annihilate their own infantry, removing any chance that Matt had of actually capturing the central bunker unless he could get a HQ unit to relieve the veterans on the left.

In order to prevent this and realising he was on borrowed time anyway, the foolhardy Lieutenant Rak turned his rear to massive gun firing on him and opened up with his hull machine gun on the lone officer heading toward the bunker. The veterans wouldn't be leaving and, barring a disaster, the centre was secure from piecemeal assaults by small squads and HQ units.

With the now customary failed shots from the Panther and panzerschreck, all eyes now turned to the factory. 

Turn 8

The final German squad geared up to assault the factory and went in, SMGs and assault rifles at the ready. The fanatical defenders fought back ferocously and two rounds of combat were fought, after which Soviets were still standing. The remaining German officer tried his luck, but also died. The bunker had held.

Soviets 1 - Germans 0

The heroic tale of Pavel Rak finally came to an end when the Panther eventually worked out which way was up and took out the T-34. 

Rak had prevented the veterans from leaving the right hand bunker, but this was still firmly in German hands.

Soviets 1 - Germans 1

A smattering of Germans lingered near the central bunker which was still grimly defended by the Russians. Technically the scenario states that units within 3" of an objective contest it, but this didn't really make a great deal of sense, given that standing outside a bunker doesn't really do anything unless you're armed with a flamethrower.

As Matt had gallantly assaulted the factory rather than loitering with intent but with the scenario rules being a touch weird we decided to call it a draw.

The Soviets still help two of the bunkers, but had no means of harming the Panther without leaving shelter and so would be pinned down until the veterans could be freed up to clear them out.

 Final Score: Soviets 1 - Germans 1

This was a really fun game to play with a very different feel to it. In retrospect I should probably have had slightly smaller squads and tried to have a few more mobile troops that I could use as a fire brigade. The AT rifles were a good choice, but the mortar was not the best decision against a mobile opponent and so I could easily have squeezed in one or two better quality squads designed for counter attacking.

Matt obviously wouldn't have brought the air observer and had terrible luck with his many failed attempts to destroy the T-34. Despite the points advantage, it's not easy to assault a fixed position and he had to keep moving throughout the game, whether he had cover or not or risk running out of time.

It's been enjoyable to get back to Bolt Action over the last few weeks and I'm hoping to get a few more games. I really enjoy the scenario gaming much more than straight fights and I'll be looking to ake good use of the campaign books over the coming year.

Deck The Haul

So this is Christmas, and what have we got? Another year older, and I got quite a lot (depending on your perspective).

Yes, it's one of those rather gauche posts in which social media 'influencers' show off what they've got for free in a celebration of consumerist consumption that would make Marx blush.

I should point out, however, that most of what follows has come from Mrs Cheaphammer, selected from a wider list (to ensure an element of surprise), so I've paid for half of it.

First up is the Carnevale intro box 'Escape From San Canciano'. Yes I already have the starter box, but this is probably the best (and probably cheapest) way to add to both my Rashaar and Guild forces as is contains four miniatures (roughly 50 Ducats) for each gang.

In addition, there is a 2x2 mat for quick games, a couple of small scenarios, a mini rulebook, three more cardboard buildings, extra dice and a bunch more bits and pieces, including some cardboard scenery for floating detritus, which allows me to add a bit more variation on to my existing terrain set up until I actually get round to making some.

I will admit that I've ended up with more Lord of the Rings miniatures than I was expecting, however, they will be pleasing additions. I'm not sure if any of these miniatures will show up in the Quest of the Ringbearer, and only a few will make an appearance in War in Rohan, meaning that I might need to start pestering Pete about cracking on with Gondor at War, as he has all the Minas Tirith stuff.

I haven't played that much Bolt Action recently, but I'm still pleased to finally get my hands on this book. Not only does it have several more Theatre Selectors and new units for my Fallschirmjaeger, it also has has a load of specific scenarios for them that I might be able to convince Wes to break out his Americans for.

This year, I was a late entrant to the 7TV Secret Santa that I've participated in for the last few years. Fortunately, Shaun, who organises it kindly took me into the fold and exchanged gifts with me. I sent him some Doctor Who miniatures (4 Daleks and 3 Ogrons) that keep slipping down my to do list and he's sent me a small SWAT team.

As these miniatures are on the smaller side, I'm probably going to add them to my Terminator: Genisys Resistance force as commanders. Admittedly, a shotgun and two SMGs are not going to stop the Machines by themselves, but more obvious command models will be helpful, and I might have to look if there are rules for the massive shield.

Finally, there's this. I suppose it might work as terrain in WW2 Germany or on a winter themed city board, were it not for the fact that the scale is somewhat off - even more so than the half-track, before certain people bring that up. This is the sort of thing that happens when Mrs Cheaphammer goes off-piste. The headlamps light up...so there's that.

So there we are. Christmas Day comes and goes with 18 in and 7 out. It looks like I'm going to end the year in the black (especially as Santa brought me no money or vouchers this year). I've still got at least one more post in me before the big fat review of the year at the weekend.

I hope you and yours had a lovely day.

Acquired: 132

Painted: 213