WW2: First Encounters

With the dust settling from the final confrontation in the Ill Tides campaign we've been kicking up dust in the north African desert instead with some learning games for V for Victory. We had played one game just after Christmas but this was a chance to play three in quick succession with Stu popping over on the Saturday between regular Friday games.

The pictures are from last nights game where I went lighter on the number of terrain pieces on the table and this led to more units being shot at without the benefit of cover, limiting heavy cover in particular  meant more casualties than we'd had in previous games. 

This game centred around capturing and holding two buildings with a lively recon skirmish also occurring on my right flank. The Commonwealth recon jeep comes with an extra LMG when compared to the DAK one so they had the firepower edge, fortunately my recon chaps had some cover and also some supporting fire from nearby units.

The main fight was over the buildings and both sides occupied one each early on but with the DAK forces getting a full section into theirs whilst the Sikh's only had a 1/2 section in residence. Both sides opted to prep the infantry assault with a couple of turns of mortar fire but the number of units in the building had a influence on how effective this was. When firing an indirect weapon at a building you roll to cause stress and then split this between the units in the building. So whilst my three units could spread the stress out the single unit in the other building had to take all the stress.

It also turns out that HE rounds fired at units close to your Commander model are also rather nasty as he's a single model he needs to save all the hits otherwise your Commander is dead, which is a big blow to your activation options.

We did notice something interesting around building assaults in that when a unit assaults a building then all the defending units get to fight (you can activate multiple attacking units to assault as well) and all the units are then marked as activated after the assault ends. So a good way to clear a building could be to sacrifice one unit to activate all the defenders and then combo-charge a couple more units in.

WW2 Airfield

Having had the last week off I've been able to crack on with the Sarissa Precision MDF kits I bought before I purchased the 3D printer. The kits go together easily enough apart from the two hangers which really require three or more hands to get properly into position. I had to make do with two hands and lots of glue and swearing. 

As I hope to get some 02 Hundred Hours games in as well I got a selection of buildings that wouldn't look out of place on an airfield and printed off a couple of Stuka's to act as targets. 

Along with some sandbag emplacements and random barrels and box's I should have enough for an interesting table setup.

I also printed up some parts to add onto the cardboard spool you get in the middle of every roll of printer filament. It was easy enough to knock together and certainly isn't a detailed or complicated build but does enough to give the impression of an oil or water tank.

Lastly I also painted up what is likely to be the last of the vehicles for the game with an armoured car being added to each sides roster. 

Being of a certain age I was of course a fan of 'Allo 'Allo! so it seems only natural to add a 'Little Tank' to the German forces, I hope Lt Gruber would be pleased with the paint job, at least he'd not been sent to the dreaded Eastern Front!

I've also added a Humber armoured car to the Commonwealth forces, apparently it was one of the most produced British armoured cars of the war so presumably would have been a reasonably common sight in many theatres. 

Both are now ready to zip about the battlefield and nip at the enemies exposed flanks.

 

Ill Tides: Ragnarök

Kings of War: 3000 points of Control
Armada: 300 point fleets

Arlantrix grimaced, this was it, she'd managed to entice the short-arses into a pitched battle and now all she had to do was emerge victorious. In months of skirmishing on land and at sea neither side had managed to gain the upper hand (or paw in the case of the Dwarves) but with their last victory on land her forces where on the ascendancy. Now she had complete victory within her grasp and was determined to take it. Triumph here would make her foremost among the Crones of the Conclave.

Her grand army was arrayed against the enemy who had been forced into deploying units of Human slaves only recently taken prisoner and off shore she could see her reinforcing fleet arriving with even more units. The short-arses also had a fleet but Arlantrix had ordered Zor'damos and her Heartseeker to make sure they did not interfere with the land battle. 

Over to her left Arlantrix could see the fleets getting closer, most of her fleet headed towards the stinking-smoking Dwarven ships on an intercept course whilst the troops transports headed straight for the beaches. The Dwarves seemed to have decided on a similar plan and a clash seemed inevitable. 

Looking back to her front Arlantrix could sense that Sycorax had hesitated at this most vital junction so giving the signal to advance she urged her forces onwards towards the enemy lines hoping to force them onto the back foot. 

At sea her ships had miss-timed their approach to the enemy and allowed them to concentrate fire on the end Butcher, Arlantrix could see smoke pouring from it's gun ports and starting to lick the ends of the sails. She'd been in enough naval battles by now to know that the ship had but moments to avert disaster. But with both fleets heavily engaged their respective transports made full sail towards the coast, only the Heartseeker looked to have the speed to try and stop a transport.

But Arlantrix did not have the time to watch the naval engagement unfold her attention was now focued entirely on the land battle as the first units started to engage. Her Phantoms floated forwards with deceptive speed and caught first one then another unit of foul Gargoyles at the halt, allowing her slower infantry to push onwards into striking range. The advance was not without it's casualties however as concentrated Dwarven fire evaporated a entire regiment of Corsairs holding the right flank.

Arlantrix heard and felt the explosion of the Butcher but did not have time to look and see it's fiery death (*I seem to have forgotten to take the Armada photos*) but she could well imagine the pieces of the former ship being thrown high into the air in a massive fireball.

She could make out the first of the reinforcements coming ashore just as the main battle lines started to clash. As she had hoped her army still had the initiative and all the fighting was taking place with the short-arses well and truly on the back foot. Even the earlier loss of the Corsairs had not stopped her armies advance as the mighty Gordrake had launched itself into the gap left by their deaths.

Looking to her left Arlantrix could see more and more units pouring ashore on both sides of the port, including Zor'damos who should have been onboard the Heartseeker but who instead had been on one of the transports. No wonder the fleet was performing so badly and hadn't even managed to stop one enemy ship. Arlantrix promised to make her pay if she emerged victorious. 

Thanks to her leadership the land battle was going much better than the one at sea, after the initial clash of lines her forces had slowly started to break down the Dwarven lines with gaps now appearing all along the battle front as the cowardly short-arses broke and ran or where totally annihilated. 

The gaps in the enemy lines started to grow larger and larger as her units doubled up on the enemy and totally broke their formations. At last Arlantrix could start to relax with victory seeming to be totally within her grasp. Most of the enemy units where by now broken with just a single winged halfbreed left to cause a serious threat, best not to be eaten at the very moment of her triumph.

From atop a hill Arlantrix paused to gaze out to sea and surveyed the remains of the fleet. The second butcher had gone the way of the first at some point and a smoking hull was all that was left of the fearsome fighting vessel. The Dwarves had certainly gained the upper hand at sea but not without a few losses and their flag-ship was beached in easy reach of her land forces.

On land the victory was complete with hardly any Dwarves left standing, Sycorax looked like he was about to be taken prisoner and the winged halfbreed still flitted about but otherwise victory was total. Nothing would now stop her from ravaging what was left of the human lands and then returning in total triumph to her home lands. The campaign had been a success and she would return back with many slaves and large quantities of valuable materials to continue the reconstruction of Ileureleith, one day it would rise again and all of Panithor would bow to the Twilight Kin, and hopefully Arlantrix.