Fred’s 2024 Painting and Gaming log

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Looks awesome

[Steve J]

Not that is a brilliant game to behold !

[fred.]

thanks both

[Raider4]

Ahh, I do like a good looking game of Warmaster.

And that's a very good looking game of Warmaster.

/sighs nostalgically.

[fred.]

Cheers - Warmaster can give a good game - we have gone to a home brew variant, which simplifies combat and uses double sized units, which really removes a lot of the fiddly nonsense from the original rules. It also removes a lot of the super powered cavalry charges by standardising frontages. 

[fred.]

Eisenhower - Operation Epsom

I've recently played a couple of games of Sam Mustafa's new rules Eisenhower. These rules take the Rommel rules up a level, so each base is now a battalion, giving you around a couple of Corps / an Army on the table!

It shares a lot of mechanisms with Rommel (grids, ops, limited unit types) but simplifies a number of things, combat resolution is much simpler, and the complex Ops Board is replaced with a small number of cards per side. Overall we like it, it gives a good game. 

On to Operation Epsom



This is 1 activation into turn 1. The table is aligned so the camera is looking SE, with Caen off table to the left, the various hedges represent Bocage in game terms, and historically are a mix of small villages, bocage, copses etc. Basically good terrain for infantry. There are several rivers represented these are all fordable. 

British forces are nearest the camera, with 15th Scottish division (on the left) having being able to cross the first river line un-opposed. The rest of the British are crammed into their deployment zone (my troops just fitted in the space given to them). They are 43rd infantry Div, 11th Armoured and 49th Infantry, in reserve are 3rd Canadian Div, they are classed as Veteran in this scenario, and I have left them in reserve to exploit a break through). So lots of infantry for the British, with some Tank support, including some Infantry Support Tanks with 15th Div. 

Facing them are the remaining components of 8 Panzer Divisions!! For the scenario 3 are deployed as individual divisions (1st, 9th and 10th SS), with the remaining ones combined into 2 KampfGruppe (Bayerlin and Meyer) for activation purposes. 9th and 10th SS are off table in reserve and will arrive on the second night. The Germans have a lot of armour, about half of which is classified as Superior (the Tigers and Panthers), and quite a bit of their infantry is in half-tracks. 

A scenario setup rule is that at least 25% of each German formation must deploy in the back 3 rows of the table. This could really slow down their deployment, but they have a couple of factors that can help them, firstly when activated any unit that is at least 1 box away from the enemy can do a transit move that lets them move 4 boxes (rather than the normal 1 or 2) as long as they stay at least 1 box away from the enemy. In this scenario one of the cards the Germans hold is KampfGruppe which allows units from different formations to be activated together. So whilst there is a clump of Germans in the back field, they can deploy forward pretty quickly. 

The British cards give them 2 air strikes, and artillery barrage, and the ability to re-use their artillery dice once (all of these are once per turn). 

On the first turn the air force was grounded (I've not worked out the exact percentages but the air strikes have around 85% chance of turning up - 1d6 vs 1d6+2 with draws in the British favour). But if you roll a one and your opponent rolls a 6 it's never good news!

The initial German defence is spread quite thin, but all are Prepared - this means the defender gets to 'shoot' first in combat meaning they can damage the attackers before the attackers roll their dice, which will likely reduce the effectiveness of the attack. 

The objectives are the red tokens - the attacker places two of these, the defender one. In the night phase of each turn, any the attacker holds can be repositioned 1 square by the defender - reflecting the need for the attack to push on. 



End of day 1. 

Each side gets a number of Operations dice and 1-3 of these are assigned to formations at the start  of the day, allowing you to activate some formations multiple times. Both sides get 2 dice per active formation, the attacker discards any that are rolled as 1s, the defender any that roll 1s or 2s. Generally giving the attacker more mobility. 

15th Scottish have made limited progress into open ground - they probably should have had an extra activation.

43rd Div have assaulted across the river, causing some damage to the defenders, the hexagon tokens are hit markers, the brown side is 1 hit taking a unit to worn which reduces its too hit roll by 1. The coloured side is 2 hits, taking a unit to Exhausted, this only reduces their to hit chance when attacking, but if they take another hit the unit is Eliminated. 

11th AD in the centre where the focus of my attack, and have made decent progress, but suffered a lot of hits. Over on the right 49th Div cleared the bocage of defenders and captured the objective. 

The Germans have taken a lot of hits, but have got their on table reserves into the line. 

[fred.]

Operation Epsom Day 2 and 3

I was too involved in the game to take photos of day 2 (oops!)

Day 2 was very attritional with British attacks continuing, but struggling to make much head way against concentrated German defence. The Germans moved the two captured objectives back in the night phase of Day 1, and then defended them with Prepared Superior Armour - this gave them 3 attack dice per superior armour, vs 1 for attacking infantry or 2 for attacking Armour. And the Germans were rolling first - so the attackers were beaten back.

Each side gets a number of stockpile counters (4 for the attacker, 2 for the defender) one of the most useful things for these is you can reinforce your Exhausted units, moving them to worn. Which both sides did on both the first and second nights - but the Germans have now used up all their stockpiles.

This turn ended with the Germans holding 3 objectives, so leading 4 - 2 on VPs.

End of day 3 / start of day 4


On the left 15th Scottish supported by Infantry Support Tanks were successful in capturing the objective in the bocage, and driving forwards. But in the night phase the Germans had moved 10th SS out of reserve on this flank, and an initial attack just by 1 superior armour with artillery had done enough to drive their flanking troops back. The next turn 10th SS were reinforced, and that night phase the objective moved to where they are massed. The British have this unit with attackers on 2 sides, but I think it will still be tough to break them. As they are on the edge of the table, which is a German edge, I can't even cut them off to cause them loss by isolation. 

In the centre the Germans withdrew from the river to reinforce around the objective, 1st SS Panzer has suffered heavy casualties with having lost 4 units out of 6. But KG Bayerlin is still very strong in the centre. But many of its units are Exhausted (including the 2 Tiger battalions at the rear (their markers hiding from the camera). So the next turn will probably see a lot of losses to them - especially as the redeployment has meant they are no longer prepared. 

On the right 11th AD are struggling to make much headway - they have a thrust between the defenders, but I'm not sure if they have the remaining strength to exploit this. Behind them 3rd Canadian Div is traffic jammed, and is struggling to get into the action.

On the far right 49th Div is facing some strong opposition with KG Meyer reinforced by the newly arrived 9th SS. Given that the objectives have moved more to the centre, this may be a holding flank. 

At this stage it is 6-3 to the Germans on VPs, but they are behind 1-8 on units lost.

This is where we ran out of time. But one of the advantages of a gridded game, is that it is fairly easy to accurately record the game state, so it can be cleared away, but can then be reinstated next week!

One thing I'm not sure of is the number of turns, the scenario says 4-5 days, but within the rules, where this scenario is used as an example it says 5-7 days. I know as the attacker, who is behind on VPs but ahead on attrition, I'd like longer!

[fred.]

Overhead shot, to show the front line (red) and all the markers on the units

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Looks lots of fun Forbes.

[fred.]

Looks lots of fun Forbes.

Yep, these are good enjoyable rules. In the two games I've played you get very engaged in the game and what is happening. The rules are well presented and straight forward, so there is little need to keep checking things. 


In our first game, on reading the rules the day after, we found we only got two rules half-wrong - which is  pretty amazing for a first game! 

[fred.]

One advantage of a gridded game (and one with limited unit types) is that it is pretty easy to record the game state, return the gaming room to standard domestic use for the week, then set the game up again ready to go the next Friday. 

Operation Epsom part 2 is setup and ready to go!

[fred.]

Operation Epsom Day 4+

Despite having had to put away the game last week, to make the table available for general use, resetting up the game was surprisingly straight forward - perhaps helped by having left the figures and terrain on trays rather than putting them back in storage boxes.

Day 4


The morning sequence started with the roll for weather - a 1 indicating bad weather! Meaning the allied airforces were grounded. This was annoying as their attacks against the dug in German armour would have been useful.

As the Germans had momentum (from holding 3 objectives last turn) they also went first, which allowed reinforcement of positions.

The British attack started on the left flank with a series of wearing down attacks on the dug in 10th SS Panzer Division - these where very unsuccessful with the worn attackers being degraded to Exhausted in most cases. 

In the centre 11th AD attacked, causing some attrition to the defenders on the two objectives

Later day 4



In the centre 3rd Canadians, fresh troops and Veterans finally get through the log jam, and manage to capture the centre objective. Here numbers helped the British as they could now surround the German defenders, meaning any retreat caused elimination of their troops.

I also had 1 stockpile left, so at this stage was willing to move lots of units to Exhausted knowing they could be recovered overnight.

Day 5 / 6



The final few German infantry reinforcements arrive - but probably too little too late, as the weather has cleared. The allied air strikes damage the armour on the two objectives in German hands.

On the left the surrounded defenders finally capitulate. On the right 11th AD is battered, and I am struggling to get fresh troops into position.

The German forces at this stage are down to less than 10 units


The end - British have taken all the objectives - have destroyed huge amounts of German forces, so they can't effectively counter attack - even though the 10th SS infantry had a game attempt on the left.

The dead pile


1 destroyed Sherman vs many many dead Germans!

This was a good conclusion to the game - in the mid game the Germans were very strong having got their reinforcements into position. But as time went on they were steadily ground down by the superior British numbers, and then the game was only going one way.

The length of the game really matters in this scenario - 5 -6 days feels about right - the scenario suggests 4-5, but the conversion notes in the book suggests up to 7 days.

We've both enjoyed Eisenhower as a game - the rules are straight forward so you concentrate on what you want to do, the decision making feels that it matters.

As with any attack/defence scenario at times the defender is rather static - but always has the choice to jump into a counter attack - if they dare!

Looking at maps to make a Sedan 1940 scenario, and thinking about how the rules would work for WWI!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Looks amazing

[fred.]

WWI Russians

I've actually been painting some Pendraken figures!!

Some recently acquired sailors and some existing dismounted dragoons. 



I'm getting near to the end* of this project. One more bag of Cossacks to paint (and perhaps some more dismounted Cossacks to buy)

Will have to have a bit of a count up to check total numbers.



* end as in enough for now, until I spot something else I want to add. 

[fred.]

Eisenhower - Sedan 1940

Continuing the recent theme of Eisenhower games, we tried a Sedan 1940 scenario - this was a scenario I had created, largely based on the details in the Osprey France 1940 book - which has a handy map that is pretty much the size of an Eisenhower table!

The game starts on 14th May 1940, with the Germans having forced bridgeheads across the Meuse the previous day. Now their Panzers stand ready to exploit through.



The photos are orienteered looking north, with Stonne in the foreground and Sedan at the top of the table. The Meuse is the wider shiny river running across the top of the table, then angling to the right. Running north to south is the Ardennes canal.

1st Pz Div has forced its way across - supported by artillery from all 3 divisions. On the left 2nd Pz has struggled to shift the prepared defenders. And 10th Pz waits for some space to cross.

The French defenders on the Meuse are the 55th Infantry, rated as conscripts, further south is part of the 71st Division.
On the canal is part of the 14th Division and the 5th Light Cavalry Division both under General Touchon. These units have been in combat in the Ardennes in the preceding days - so on a roll of 1 or 2, they would start the game as worn.


The Germans exploit through with both 1st and 10th Pz advancing through the gap in the French lines.
At the bottom right the French 71st move across towards Stonne.


2nd Pz is now across both the Meuse and the canal - the French cavalry choosing to withdraw from combat. To the south the Panzers push on too - but by now the Germans are becoming very strung out, with reinforcements coming on to the table a long way from the spearheads.
The first French reinforcements have arrived near Stonne with the heavy armour of 3rd DCR lumbering into view - whilst the infantry of 71st Div take up blocking positions.


2nd Pz continue to push west, but have become quite strung out.

Whilst to the south 1st and 10th concentrate before attacking against some now quite strong French forces. On the Meuse a regiment of the 55th hold out in fortified positions - their main influence being to prevent German transit moves which slows down the flow of reinforcements


Counterattack! The French cavalry seize their moment and sweep in behind 2nd Pz - isolating them from their supply lines. The Germans fortunately had a single remaining stockpile they could spend to avoid losses from this event, but in doing this they could spend this stockpile to refresh their Exhausted units (yellow counters) - which limited their combat effectiveness.

Move French reserves continue to arrive to the West - just in time to hold the exit point objective.


The Germans clear the French cavalry, reinstating their supply lines - but the 2nd Pz now supported by elements of the 10th fail to remove the reinforcements from the 53rd Div. who are blocking their exit to the West.

In the South 1st Pz fails to get any traction in their attacks around Stonne. Although they do finally clear the 55th Div defenders off the Meuse.

At this point the Germans called the game as their attacks had petered out in the face of increasing French resistance.

Conclusions
An interesting scenario - felt the Germans were very close to breaking through mid-game, but then with increasing French reinforcements their attacks were not enough.

Scenario wise, I wonder if the Germans should have started with 1 infantry battalion  of each of 1st and 2nd Pz across the Meuse.
The French 71st seemed to be quite significant in blocking Stonne - and I wonder if they should have been fewer in number / more tied to their original defensive positions.

[pierre the shy]

Good stuff Fred, thanks for posting your Eisenhower based batreps.

Looks like a fairly tough nut for the panzers to crack in this game, especially once 3eme DCR arrives with their Char 1bis.

If you're writing scenarioes for these rules you clearly must be enjoying them. Do you find using a grid for WW2 games takes a bit of getting used to?

Having written quite a few scenarios for many different rule sets I still find that a scenario nearly always will need a bit of tweaking. On more than one occasion one of the players has made a really good suggestion that I would not have thought of myself that really makes the scenario better.

 

[fred.]

Thanks Pierre. 

Yes, I'm enjoying Eisenhower, in many ways it is a stripped down version of Rommel, and that has improved the game, but removing some of the fiddly bits, and putting the focus back on the models. 

We enjoyed Rommel, and when it came out even tried gridded games for Sci Fi - which kind of worked, but wasn't quite there. And we enjoy FKaP too. I think if we keep playing gridded games I might need to get a better grass matter with grid corners marked on it - this old GW one is quite plain and tatty these days. 

With the scenario it's quite hard to work out the balance - as the Germans are trying to push west, and any delays will cost them. So it is hard to know which are down to unlucky dice or poor decisions vs not quite having got the balance right. 

Also the French player is likely more aggressive and better informed than his historical counterparts. Though for most of the game, I was fairly passive as the French, as I didn't want to leave my prepared positions. 

[fred.]

WWI Russian Cossacks

Got the second half of the mounted Cossacks finished this weekend, 10 bases of cavalry, 2 horses holders, a few command figures and 2 artillery pieces. The 3rd artillery piece is manned by Frontier Guards who have natty uniforms!



Other than 25 dismounted Cossacks (who I am awaiting delivery for) this is my WWI Russian force done! (Apart from a mass spaying in matt version, but that might have to wait a few months until the weather is OK to spray outside again).

Well done, as in I have plenty of figures to play games with - but a unit of Frontier Guards and perhaps some winter troops, or Red Infantry for the civil war could all be extensions!


Warmonger Gendrames

Got these guys finished as well - I had started them months ago, but they had been put to one side, really only needed lances and plumes doing to finish them. The bases need flocking but I need to find the pike units I have done already to check the colour of grass I used!

[streetgang]

Great work Fred! Love those WW1 Russians look lovely. I am always tempted to paint up a WW1 Russian army, perhaps one day.

The Warmonger stuff looks great. I bought a heap of their miniatures (they were a bit pricey) and painted up a bunch of their reiters. They are nice little miniatures but the project floundered and I sold them off. Your brushwork on those gendarmes makes me regret abandoning them.

[fred.]

Thanks!

My WWI Russians largely come from the Russo Japanese war range - and they are great figures, my mate nearly has his Austro Hungarians painted, so we can some massive Eastern front battles with some mediocre troops!

Warmonger figures are nice - I have quite a few Pike and Zweihanders painted up - initially they were add-ons to my Empire army, but they can probably function as a stand-alone force now. They are sculpted in a way that makes painting easy, I find.