Defence Line Ost 1943

Dave popped over yesterday for our Eastern front WWII game using Battlegroup rules, the scenario was taken from the Kursk book.

The Soviet objectives apart from destroying the fascist invaders are the crossroads, the rise at the end of the village and the railway siding just out of shot on the far right. The German dice throw gave them just four units with which to form the initial defence, luckily only one of these became pinned by the preliminary Soviet bombardment, it was however my poor choice in these initial units that lead to my eventual downfall. Not however did it take away from Dave the finesse of his attack plan which always had me on the back foot throughout the game. As always i can remember what took place in the early moves but as things hot up and further units appear on table one gets caught up in the action and cannot remember the fine detail, therefore below is a little photo montage with narrative which will give a flavour of the action I hope.

Aerial view from the Soviet start line.

The initial German defence position.

One of the few German successes, a T34 burns

It could have been worse, the result of a Soviet 120mm mortar battery strike

Soviet infantry work around the German right flank

And Lo! things were worse, a hit from a Soviet T34 destroys a German PzIII

Anti-tank grenade attack! Ivan Upyaabhum scores a home run.

The Russians steam forward along the entire front

Another PzIII bites the dust, side swiped by the T34

A Soviet KV1E follows up in un-needed support

German grenadiers shelter behind a burning PzIII

By turn seven the Soviets had gained two objectives with the third about to be attained next turn, the Germans needed to unpin units for that turn if they were to stop that happening, the resultant battle rating counter took them over their total, so the remaining units quit the field. An impressive Soviet win, breaking Dave's current run of defeats.

Ps. ITS MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!

TTFN

The 3 R's - Romans, Russians and Rapid Fire

Quite a productive week, much inspired by a visit to the Derby Worlds on Sunday best year yet at the new venue IMHO. I finally finished my Legion Lanciarii unit and a KV1 tank I bought along with the T34/76 featured in the last post and also got in a visit to GHQ for a Rapid Fire NW Europe game, which I won! pop over to GHQ for all the details and some nice photo's.
Here are the pics

Next game will be here at OHQ, an Eastern Front game, maybe featuring the above using Battlegroup Kursk rules.

TTFN 

C'est la Vie

Family and medical issues meant that this week's game had to be postponed. As I was working on some WWII commission work I took the opportunity while I had the WWII colours out, to finish off some AB Germans and a SHQ T34/76, all of which had been primed ready for painting quite some time ago.

Painted using PSC tank spray and dry brushed using shades of VMC Russian Green, washed with GW Agrax Earthshade and MIG filter applied and a light drybrush with my lightened base colour.

Hope to have a game next week, and in the meantime its off to the Worlds on Sunday.

TTFN

Victory At The Robinski Collective Farm

Jon arranged a 600pt Battle Group Kursk game recently for Dave and myself at Stafford Games, unfortunately Dave could not make it due to a swollen foot so Jon took command of the German force while I took command of the Soviet force. I did not keep note of a blow by blow account so will let the pictures tell the story, except to note a couple of highlights or low lights depending which side you were on About midway through the encounter the Soviets had become a tad bogged down and really needed a good order dice score, what did I throw? Yes, two bloody ones, never mind I had a senior officer so I rerolled, yes another one! This however was the high water mark of my poor run on the dice and from then on had the Germans on the back foot in the main, taking the crossroads and converging on the second objective, the Robinski Collective Farm, however the Germans saw their chance to try and turn the tide, the Soviet right flank was in the air a little so they advanced their PzIV that had been skulking in cover, not knowing that the Soviets had pulled a mine strike chit, KABOOM! Although nearing their BR total the Germans had no choice to pull a chit to rally the vast number of pins they had, this saw them exceed their BR and concede the field to the victorious Soviets. A close and hard fought game none the less. Figures and vehicles are all from Jon's collection together with some of the terrain the rest provided by Roland.

Table Overview

The Germans Await

The Robinski Collective Farm

Soviets Mass For The Attack

They Roll Across The Steppe

First Blood To The Fascists

The Soviets Reply In Kind

Soviets Converge On The Collective

German A/T Gun Fires In Vain

The Victorious Soviets Takes The Field

URAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TTFN

Busy, Busy

No post last week as I was away on a short break up to Hadrian's Wall and the Lakes, not much painting of my own stuff at present, way to busy on commissions, took some up to paint on an evening while I was away in fact. Here are some I did earlier however, Romano-British skirmishers for Dux Britanniarum, which I hope to have enough figures painted to play a game at some point.

Hope to pop over to GHQ tomorrow evening for a Samurai skirmish using Dave's embryonic rules "Funsen"
next game planned at OHQ is a Rapid Fire Eastern Front game, perhaps using the degrading battle rating rule from Battlegroup Kursk.

TTFN