Soviets Victorious!

The West Tokyo Wargamers had another great game of BKC last Sunday, and certainly winning one helps to keep up the motivation to churn out more Russians!

We really are getting to grips with the rules, and a lot of things which seemed to be odd are beginning to make sense as we get experience with the rules (as we thought would be the case!).  In particular the suppression rules seem to be making much more sense.

Last game saw the closest we had seen to an infantry-vs-infantry combat, but the time it took to slog across the table meant that the game pretty well came to an end before close combat could commence.  

Next time we will start from further on the table, and/or have the armour come in later.  That, and start buying trucks and halftracks! another option would be to increase movement and firing ranges, maybe by 1.5 those specified in the rules.

We also decided that we need more terrain- a lot more!  Between us, that is going to be the big push for this month on the modelling front.

On to another topic, and when I started basing my 20mm figures on the FoW bases, I textured the bases using Tamiya acrylic putty.  For reasons I mentioned in my last post, this wasn't really satisfactory.  

But I've found that simply covering the stand with PVA and dipping it into a box of budgie sand is indeed the best way to go.  When it dries, it sets rock-hard and I can paint and drybrush it the same way I did when using putty.  And it blends in just about perfectly with the other stands I have painted as you can see here.

The machine gunners dragging their Maxim gun forward have had the base textured using sand, and I've now painted it to match the others such as the AT rifle stand on the left.  This was the last one I did using putty.

The 120mm mortar in the back, along with a prone MMG and flamethrower stand will be the next to get the treatment. 

I don't go for a lot of foliage on my WW2 stands.  I want a colour palette that matches the minis.  I find that simple is more effective, and as the army grows it really gives it a unique- and unified- look.

April Output...

...was not that great, as it is the busiest month of the year for me. 

While I was able to work on some Napoleonics at the beginning of the month, report writing and preparing for a presentation ate up both time and mental focus.

Still, there is a BKC game today, and Daniel and I will be fielding our Soviets against a Japanese-German unholy alliance!

I did manage to get a Soviet MMG team together, and have made progress on the artillery battery.  The 76.2mm guns are almost completely painted save the tires- you can see one of them here.  I also finished one crew member.  My first plastic minis since my Airfix days; years and years and years ago!  It took some getting used to the different "feel" of the brush on the figure, but it painted up extremely well and I am very pleased with it.

The MMG team (from Fantassin-now Warmodelling- plus one by FAA) has been based, but not yet painted.  I used to apply Tamiya putty to the base and texture it with a toothpick, but it was laborious, messy, and the fumes ate up by already all-too-quickly diminishing number of brain cells, so I needed to find an alternative.  

Once the sand has dried out thoroughly, I'll paint it the same colour as my other bases and see how it turns out.

Italeri Zis-3 and "Servants"!

After our last BKC game, I've decided to beef up the Soviet infantry, and spent the day working on another battalion of seven stands, some support in the form of a 45mm ATG, another 82mm mortar, and have started work on my artillery battery; what is a Soviet army without it!

I'm going "multi-media" with this army, and the guns are the soft plastic ones by Italeri.  I had a laugh at the name on the box, but I have to admit I'm really impressed with the contents.  Plastics have evidently come a long way since my Airfix days.
 

I have two boxes of these, and started on one of them.  These were a bargain at two to a box, and are extremely nicely detailed.  The soft plastic is of the harder variety, and I found that it takes drilling and even sanding quite well.  I drilled out the muzzle openings and the tow rings, and cleaned up the minimal flash quite easily.  

The only other thing I did was to add a plastic card "lid" to the ammo box of the "servant" dragging it up to the piece, which looked a lot better.  This is really a well-sculpted miniature, and is my favourite in the box.

I have a lot of metal miniatures from just about every manufacturer of 20mm WW2 Russians out there, so I mixed the crew for maximum variety.  I added gun crew figures from SHQ, Fantassin (now Warmodelling), Dixon,  the old Drew's Militia and even an ammo wagon from Lyzard's Grin with an FAA head attached to a German drivers body and given an epoxy putty rain cape.  

These figures range fronm 1/76 to 1/72nd scale.  I do find that the SHQ are on the small size, and try not to have them stand too close to their much taller Italeri and Warmodelling comrades, but other than that I find the various miniatures manage to co-exist quite comfortably.

I rummaged through my spares box and came across a load of Skytrex ammo boxes, and put them in the back of the wagon.  I also added a Platoon 20 figure standing in the back helping to unload them.

The figures go nicely to making a mini diorama; the guns are nearing the end of their ammunition supply and desperately await more.  Meanwhile the battery commander looks on while a junior officer implores the telephone operator to pressure HQ for more ammo!

Once I glue the guns together with Araldite, I'll give all the plastic components a vinegar bath, and then another soaking in detergent.  I'll then give them all a coat of watered-down PVA prior to priming.  I suspect these models will stand up to handling quite well, as there are no bendy-thin rifle barrels to worry about.

I need to get myself a 122mm howitzer which will give me three sections- a full battalion of artillery for the scale I'm using.   I'll probably order two, as with the other Italeri box I have, I can then build two battalions, the full complement for a non-Guards rifle division.

Hello Kitty joins Daniel and Friends- in Pomerania!

We had another game of Blitzkrieg Commander this past Sunday, and it went a lot smoother than the first. 

Since my last post, Giovanni received his copy of the new edition of the rules the week before our second game, and after looking through them I realized that they were different enough in detail so that it would be pointless commenting on what we learned from the first try as the new version would play out quite differently.  

For example, differences in troop quality are now accounted for, and there are separate factors when firing at armour and when firing at personnel.

In the event, Sunday's game was a combination of continuing on with the old set's mechanisms, but trying out some of the more obvious  changes we could glean from the second.  Once we have  all had a chance to digest the new rulebook we'll give BKC2 a go as written.

This time it was Germans (Daniel and Sam) pitted against the Russians (myself and Dai).  Until game day I had no idea what everyone had available in the way of terrain pieces, so just minutes before the game started I came up with a pretty much slap-dash, ersatz scenario that saw the Germans trying to escape from the Soviet armoured clutches over a bridge to safety.

This they managed to to with flair, despite fielding what was largely a force of conscripts.  It didn't help the cause of International Socialism that the Soviets couldn't pass more than one friggin' command roll in a row to save their worthless hides, which made mockery of their planned "hammer and anvil" tactics to squeeze the Germans between a holding force of infantry and a swift flanking movement of a battalion of T-34's.  

I tell you, the commissar's nerves were pretty well worn out by the morning after the battle- as was his pistol!

The only real Soviet achievement was when the tardy T-34/85's managed to sneak behind a Hun armoured car and send it to Valhalla with a concentrated 85mm-shell enema.  Big deal, as by this time the Germans were busy chopping up some Russkis who had managed to get themselves caught in  the open in a potato field.  

Otherwise the Germans seemed to be quite enjoying their scenic- and largely undisturbed -stroll to the river.  

To add insult to injury, the Russians had a considerable body of infantry safely ensconced behind a brick farmhouse, where they unhurriedly dined on sausage and vodka without feeling at all any need to get off their collective duffs and do something- anything!

Lesson learned; Soviets, with their lower command values than the Germans, need to concentrate forces and to attack quickly and en masse.   We shouldn't have split the command as we did.  Had  both command stands been available within command distance it would have increased our chances; if the HQ failed a vital order, then the C-in-C could have diced to see if he could get the job done.  As it turned out, splitting our forces was just inviting the Dice Gods to punish our hubris with dreadful dice rolling.  They duly obliged.

As far as forces were concerned, we used the BKG army builder online program for two opposing forces at around 1500 points each.  As far as models were concerned, in addition to Giovanni's collection  I added a 120mm mortar, another MMG stand and some A/T rifles to the Soviets (the second version actually covers these battlefield wonders!).  I was able to get my Tiger 1 at least base-coated to gaming standard as some extra muscle for Giovanni's collection of Germans.  

On the aesthetics front; although it did not prove the battle winner (it hardly had the opportunity!),  the Tiger always looks impressive.  One of the guys at the game was getting rid of some old paints, including Citadel ink washes.  Now I've never used Citadel paints before, so when I tried some on my Tiger after the game I liked the effect, so that before I knew it I found myself finishing the Tiger the next day!  

Here's what Kitty looks like now.  This model from Fujimi was a real joy to build. 

I undercoated it using a very good general-purpose acrylic flat black that is available here, and than took a can of Tamiya Dark Yellow and sprayed it on in several thin coats.  

After applying a few thin washes of the inks, I painted in the details such as the engine grill recesses with flat black.  Next, I wet-brushed the vehicle again with Ceramcoat Light Olive, which is bang on being the exact same shade as the Tamiya dark yellow.  This was followed by highlighting edges with Ceramcoat's Parchment.  The tracks were given a heavy coat of the Citadel brown ink, and then dry brushed in gunmetal. A bit of chipping and rust streaks here and their and it was done.

I'm quite proud of it, although for this one I decided to leave it in a plain dark yellow paint scheme.  Once I get my airbrush out I'll try my hand at some camouflage for the second tank in the pair.

Tales from the Front (Part 3)

Part 3 of the synopsis of our first BKC game. I said it would be the last, but I lied; there will be one more! This post will look at how the battle went, but I decided to hold off my commentary on the rules themselves as I think they deserve a post of their own.

Suffice to say for now that after re-reading the rulebook, and looking at  commentary out there on various Internet fora, I'm quite excited about their potential.

*****

As mentioned in the last post, the Soviets were making a frontal assault with their infantry and four T-34/85's against the lines held by the Japanese infantry with their dug-in Type 97 Shinhoto, another dug-in Ho-Ni SPG, and two piss-pot pathetic Ha-Go light tanks as a mobile lightning reserve.  Talk about bringing a dull knife to a gunfight.

We played with using measurements as given in the rules, although in subsequent games I think we will multiply them by 1.5 in order to better suit the 20mm miniatures and 1/76 scale models we use.

The game started with the Soviets making a tentative advance on the Japanese position. 

As soon as the Red Tide came in range, the Japanese commenced dishing out nastiness in the form of mortar barrages and the fire of the 75mm gun of the Ho-Ni. This disrupted the Soviets neat attack line somewhat, but evidently wasn't causing too much damage.  

General Danielov had some abysmal command rolls early in the game, but at this stage it did not seem to make any difference to game play other than giving the Japanese an extra turn to pop off some mildly annoying suppressive fire.  In fact, the first impression was that the rules were written by Bertrand Russell, as they certainly did not appear particularly lethal.

But then yours truly discovered that amazingly (ahem) I had gotten it wrong; not only were the infantry saving on anything but a six- it should have been a six only- but I had forgotten that suppressed units receiving subsequent hits have to fall back.  This requires a roll of one dice per hit, and the total being the distance a unit retreats.  If that distance is over 10cm, then it's down tools and call it a day for the unit(s) concerned.

Well, this changed things pretty dramatically, and now the Soviet infantry must have felt like the French infantry assaulting Les Chemins des Dames in 1917.   Andrew with the Japanese twigged on quickly that using your command opportunities to dump as much high-explosive hate as possible amongst the enemy was a pretty efficient way to take them out.  The mortar barrages were amazingly effective against troops in the open, and as the Soviet infantry were fairly compact formations, the barrages were soon merrily turning the Soviet assault into a khaki purée, especially once it got into range of the MMG's.   
 

Verdun on the Amur?
 

In short order the Soviets lost their mortar, one of their MMG stands, and their flamethrowers.  One could almost hear the Japanese shouting "No-mon-han!  No-mon-han!" in full-throated vengeance.

The two T-34's who were supporting the attack were clearly not in an agressive mood. Gen. Danielov sized up the situation and decided that they would best serve as mobile artillery.  Hence the infantry went to ground, and for the rest of the game the Soviet commander used the tanks to "soften up" the defenders, as they pumped round after round of 85mm high-explosive shell onto the Japanese positions.  

Hardly armoured spearhead tactics, but it worked; at one point he required a roll of two or less on two D6 to make his command roll.  The lucky stiffski ended up rolling snakes-eyes, meaning that not only did he pass, but he got an extra action as well.  This knocked out the mortar, followed a short time later by the Ho-Ni.  

Losses the Japanese could not afford, seeing as the next turn was to see the flanking force appear on the Japanese right flank.  (NB- We decided that the flank attack would come in on the pass of a command role; otherwise, it would be considered lost). 

 Peace through Superior Firepower...

At this point luck was beginning to desert the defenders, while the Soviets were beginning to flex their full firepower.  

First of all, the Japanese began to come under increasingly more intense tank gun fire from the T-34/85's. This resulted in many a unit finding itself suppressed, and then as more shells rained in these were steadily forced back.   

But when you are forced back in a trench, and there is no place to go, you end up being knocked out; so now that the Russkis were concentrating their fire from one enemy stand to another at a go, the Japanese found themselves inexorably losing unit after unit.

To make matters worse, the good fortune they had enjoyed in the earlier part of the game concerning the command rolls was beginning to desert them, so the Soviets were beginning to find themselves gaining the battlefield initiative- and more opportunities to pound the Japanese lines.
 

Gaping holes begin to appear in the flank of the Japanese position.

Meanwhile, the crews of the Ha-Go light tanks sit uselessly in their vehicles, 
knocking back sake and playing Mah-Jong...

And bear in mind that at this point the opposing infantry hadn't even fired a shot at each other, apart from the MMG's.

By this time it was clear that the battle was to end in a Soviet victory;  now that the enemy guns and mortars were dealt with the armour could just stand back and knock off stand after stand of enemy troops, and then with their (by now re-organized) troops, just assault the survivors and take the works.  The Japanese player wisely did not place a lot of faith on the ability of his two remaining Ha-Go light tanks to turn things around.

All the players had by now learned that the secret of success was to concentrate fire, achieve local superiority, and in doing so grind down the opposition until they crack.  

Now of course some mechanisms and tabletop events raised some eyebrows, but given our inexperience with the rules and the simplicity of the scenario, the overall feeling was that the rules made for an good game, with the issue being in doubt until towards late in the game.  Certainly it was not the "Walk in Gorky Park" that I expected it might be for the Russians given their armour superiority. 

*****

The next- and last- post in the report I will look at the rules in more detail- what worked, what we did wrong (quite a bit as it turned out after a re-read of the rule book), what we were not sure how to handle, and what we would do differently next time.  

Tales from the Front (Part 2)

As this was the first game that any of us had played using Blitzkrieg Commander, I expected that the going would be slow, and that we (mainly "I") could be expected to make many a mistake, misunderstanding, and just wallow in cheerful confusion as we got to grips with the rules.

The rules were a radical departure in concept from those that I was used to using for WW2.  So I knew it was going to be a bit of a slog, and that most likely it would end in tears of frustration.  I was pleasantly surprised that by the end of the game things were moving quite quickly, even if we had been making mistakes along the way.
 
There were four of us playing the game; Daniel took command of the Soviets (his first WW2 game in fact), while Andrew and Giovanni ran the Japanese.  (Giovanni was also playing in the Renaissance naval game at the same time, so was flitting like a drunken moth between the two tables!).  I decided to umpire the game, as while each player had a copy of the quick reference sheets, I was the only one with a copy of the rule book.  As multi-tasking and wading through instruction books are not amongst my strong points, I knew I would have enough on my plate just trying to look up relevant rule sections.

This was not a scenario designed to test the tactical skills of a budding Zhukov or a Yamashita, so the players weren't expecting  any opportunity to dazzle with a display of tactical brilliance.  

It was to be a simple advance by the Soviets against a Japanese force entrenched in a low hill.  Forces were dictated by what we had painted, and we didn't worry about points at this stage.  We just wanted to test out the rule mechanics rather than worry about how balanced a game it was.  

It certainly helped that all involved proved to be really understanding and patient, and all approached the game in the most gentlemanly and cooperative spirit.  I really appreciated everybody's attitude on this, and it made for a fun game.  As it turned out, it was a  pretty close one, too.

This would be based on "assault" scenario as specified by the rules.  But again, we were going more with what we had than by what was prescribed.  The Soviets being the attackers should have had a 2:1 points advantage, but that would have meant me making up the difference with tanks, and as I didn't want to "out-armour" the Japanese, I went with the lists below.  I really do need to paint more Soviet infantry!


The two sides were organized as follows:

Soviets 

• 7 infantry stands 
• 3 SMG stands (desantniki)
• 2 MMG stands
• 1 flamethrower stand
• 1  mortar
• 4 T-34/85's
• 1 CO
• 1 HQ

Japanese 

• 10 infantry stands
• 1 MMG stand
• 1 mortar
• 1 CO
• 2 Ha-Go light tanks
• 1 Hi-No SPG
• 1 Shinhota Type 97 tank
• 2 MMG's in fixed pillboxes

They were deployed on the table according to this map. Pretty much a WW1-style frontal assault against prepared positions.  (Ouch!)

Click on map to enlarge

Daniel had the option of a flank attack, and he opted to have a detached force of two T-34's and their tank riders, along with a HQ command, come in from his left on Turn 3.  These were to be directed against the right flank of the Japanese defences.  The Japanese team knew these were coming on, but not of course when and from what direction.

The Japanese decided to keep a reserve of two light tanks behind the earthworks, and opted to have their more powerful brethren- the Shinhoto Type 97 and the Ho-Ni SPG- "dug in" as part of the trench works themselves. 

This struck me as a little odd,  given that their mobility could have caused some tactical headaches for the Ivans.  But in the event, this was to prove largely an infantry and artillery duel as even the Russians weren't overly aggressive with their armour.

 The Japanese in their trenches.  

Eagerly awaiting the onslaught of the Red Horde!   

We opted not to go for off-table artillery bombardment, and it was probably just as well for a scenario like this.

The third instalment will see how this all played out, what we learned/ screwed up about the rules, as well as those things we liked and those we were not so sure about.  Stay tuned.

Tales from the Front (Part 1)

Weeks spent making  the terrain,  basing figures, and  working into the wee hours in an effort to assemble and paint the vehicles in time for the game.  In fact just generally making an unholy mess both of my sleep patterns and my hobby room.  And all this, just for the sake of one afternoon's worth of gaming.  Was it worth it? 

Absolutely!

Saturday marked the first time the West Tokyo Wargamers were able to hold a meeting at our new home in the local community centre; a great facility and conveniently located next to the train station and a major shopping area.  The room we used was big enough to set up two large tables, and we had two games going; a very pretty Renaissance naval game pitting Genoese and Spanish galleys against one another, and of course our WW2 Manchurian game using the first edition of Blitzkrieg Commander.

I was able to get almost everything done that I set out to do in preparation for the game.  This included:

1)  Finishing the trench works, although in the end I decided to make the pillboxes detachable until I decide if I really want to have them permanently fixed on the board.

2)  Finishing the Japanese armour.  I quite like the models- a lot in fact. But in the end I settled for just spraying on a couple of coats of Gunze-Sangyo Dark Armour Yellow without bothering to add any camouflage. 

This was in part due to time (and sanity!) constraints, but the biggest factor was that I am still unsure of the paint scheme used on late-war Japanese armour in the Manchurian campaign- and on how to apply it. 

Most schemes I've come across in my books and online seemed to cover only the Pacific theatre or Burma rather than the Manchurian front.   More research needed, and I might use my airbrush for these rather than go mad trying to paint camo on road wheels!

Here they are; the Ha-Go light tanks are rather cute- although basically "road kill" for the T-34's.  As it transpires, they didn't end up doing much in the game.

3) Basing up a mortar stand and SMG company for my Soviet tank brigade.  I didn't do much on these beyond just sticking them on bases.  They still need work, but they met the minimum requirements for the tabletop, i.e. they weren't unpainted!

If I don't say so myself, the terrain and figures looked really good on the table.  I had actually been harbouring some doubts concerning whether or not I had overdone the shading and the intensity of the colour palette on my Soviets, especially when seen close up or on top of my painting desk.  What with the bold brown shading in the uniforms and faces, and the contrasting colours for the equipment and webbing, were the figures looking too "fussy" for WW2 miniatures?

Come gaming day however, and when seen from a proper distance on the large "canvas" that was the gaming table, I realized they looked just fine.  If I had gone for  more subtle shading and kept everything khaki, they would not have been "swallowed up" visually by the terrain.  No doubt that is what the original uniform colours were meant to do, but wargaming is a visual hobby, so for me some artistic license is desirable to make the figures stand out.

And they just looked right, especially with the occasional red flag!

Giovanni provided the Japanese infantry; Plastic figures from Esci for the most part, with a few old Atlantic figures thrown in.  I just contributed the armour and a mortar team from SHQ.  He did a great job on the painting, and the basing he used really set them off well.  All in all, a very attractive game for WW2, although we could have used more terrain pieces as we shall see! 

In my next post I'll be talking about the game itself.  Hopefully someone (Daniel?) will send me some better pictures of the game than the ones I was able to take using my cellphone camera.