DAK: My Little Tank

Everyone loves a little tank and despite not being Lt Gruber's famous 222 this is very much a little tank.

The kit comes from Perry and has only a few metal parts that need to be attached to the resin turret / body. I had completed the main paint job in time for our first game last week but was waiting on some decals to arrive before calling it complete. Now with the decals in place it's a proud member of the 15th Panzer Division.

Mr T has bought an M3 Honey so with the Panzer II only sporting a 20mm cannon as it's main gun it will need to out manoeuvre the 37mm armed Honey rather than take it head on.

I've also completed the third infantry squad bringing the platoon up to full strength. I do have some reinforcements to paint as well if we want to fill out the sections, but I'll be working on the heavy weapons before those.

One 'heavy' weapon I did complete is the A/T rifle team, they should be able to trouble the Indian Pattern Carrier but probably will struggle with anything heavier.

 

Ill Tides: Smoke & Mirrors

 KoW/ 1500 points/ Smoke & Mirrors/ Abyssal Dwarf Win

The Gods were now smiling on Sycorax.  The blundering Admiral had failed to secure the unfathomable treasure but had at least stopped it tumbling into the greedy claws of the Twilight Kin, something to be thankful for he grudgingly conceded.  But now another chance to grab stupefying wealth had arisen and Sycorax wasn’t going to entrust this to some snivelling underling.  This was his time!

Rumour of the vast riches had travelled and the hated Dark Elves were amassing to steal away Sycorax’s future.  So typical of the foul and traitorous race.

He surveyed the plain to his front - but where was the prize?  It wasn’t obvious to him even though he communed with Ariagful Herself.  The Elves though would have the same blindness he consoled himself.  His only chance therefore would be to vanquish the Piratical Scum from the field and then freely claim the gleaming horde.  It was ever thus he allowed himself to smirk.

He arrayed his force with his left flank anchored on a wood relying on Basu’su’s Children and the monstrous Abyssal Grotesques to blunt, or at least slow the Elven advance.  Meanwhile his centre would overwhelm the Corsairs - here he had Blacksouls, Decimators and Immortal Guard - a formidable foe if ever there was one.  They were supported by The Hex Caster and Infernox.  On the right were the beastly hounds of hell straining at their chains covering the monolithic bloc of the stone giants.  In between these and the Immortal Guard were placed the fearsome liquid fire of the Dragon Fire team.  Sycorax was only too well aware how the Elves despised fire power the Dwarves could bring to bear.

The Elves, on Sycorax’s left, had the Phantoms and one unit of flying chariots along with an apocalyptic Souldbane on his spectral beast.  The centre was crammed with an array of Pirates, so-called Fleetwardens, covering the much-vaunted Impalers cowering at the rear of the battle line.  At least their Void Captain knew what it was to stand up and be counted, placing themself in the front rank.  Also cowering was the wiccan, The Summoner Crone, with her cruel tricksy magick.  Finally on Sycorax’s right a second unit of flying chariots, Void-Skiffs he believed they were known as.  He wasn’t interested in their odious nomenclature.

The Dwarves commenced a measured advance, much was at stake for Sycorax, and he knew the foul Elves were masters of trickery and craven deception.  The Phantoms surged forward goading the Abyssal Grotesques to commit themselves.  Sycorax knew this was a ploy to allow the flying wains to counter and blunt his misfigured brutes.  Nevertheless he thought he’d be able to thwart this.  The brutes made short work of the Phantoms and the Gargoyles threatened the Void-Skiffs.  Sycorax had miscalculated though!  The Disfigured brutes tower above Basu’sus vile breed allowing the chariots and Soulbane to crash into his tortured yet beloved children.  Sycorax’s venture could be snuffed out before the first trembling finger of light had stretched towards the darkness……he momentarily dared not breathe!  The Abyssal Grotesques were battered mercilessly but held!

It was time to force the centre.  Now in range Sycorax unleashed hell against the cowering pirates who were showing no appetite for the struggle, reluctant to move forward.  The Blacksouls propelled their ravenous Mastiff at the Void Captain who was stalled and winded but remained resolute.  The Infernox and Decimators poured infernal rage into a block of the Corsairs.  Despite heavy losses they stayed their fraying nerves but like the Void Captain were temporarily paralysed and hesitated.  The Dragon Fire team sought to incinerate these pirates too but barely singed their foes.  The Elven line was buckling but stayed firm.

This shook the Twilight Kin from their watchful slumber.  A troop of Fleet Wardens crashed into the flank of the Abyssal Grotesques which those tortured beasts would not survive this time.  However the Gargoyles had nimbly manoeuvred to the rear of the Elvish Hammer, the flying wains, and imbued with Basu’sus Vile Brood managed to overcome and vanquish these elite warriors.

A second troop of Fleetwardens flattened the Dragon Fire team who were seeking shelter behind a wall but were in turn pummelled by the Stone Giants .

The Soulbane now threatened the Hex Caster who proved no match.  His spectral beast trampled the mangle corpse of the valiant caster and into the flank of the Decimators who were covering part of the uncovered treasure secreted within a marshy bog.

The second flying wains had decided now was the time to act and hurled themselves against the Molten Menace.  Like cooling lava he was rooted to the very earth and would not yield.  A regiment of Fleetwardens did their best to uproot this micro-volcano and targeted his flank yet this impertinence just made him more resolute.  The Immortal Guards removed the strain of the Void-Skiffs from the Molten Menace by charging their front and the Decimators had survived the initial surge of the Soulbane and now became embattled this Horseman of the Apocalypse.

Meanwhile the Stone Giants had continued their inexorable flow forwards.  The Summoner Crone had sought to blunt this with her withering Alchemist’s Curse but for once it fizzed and whizzed but barely a scratch was made.  Relief for Sycorax, she had the power to seriously trouble the pride of his battle line.

The Golems were now able to smash the flank of the Void-Skiff while the Immortal Guard gripped their front in a lethal vice nothing could survive and they were crushed to splinters and dust.  The Mastiffs now emerged from the wood on the Elves’ left and charged like the wild beasts they were into Fleet Wardens protecting the Impalers.  The Elves though, with pikes were able to withstand the beastial ferocity and the Mastiffs’ effort was for nought. 

The Souldbane overcame the Decimators and was able to claim the marshy treasure.  Towards the centre of the field was more of the glittering prize but what remained of the Twilight Kin were pushing forwards over this.

Sycorax could feel his very being twisting and shrinking inside him.  The treasure was literally slipping through his fingers.  His forces were exhausted and on the brink of collapse…..He joined the line and with the fury of Ariagful vanquished the wiccan with fire.  This act momentarily revived his troops.  The Golems overran the Fleet Wardens, so recently victors against the dogs, while the Infernox turned to face his craven attackers, yet more Fleet Wardens, who he put to the vengeful sword.

The scarring and fracturing of the landscape was now giving up the the secrets of the golden horde.  Unless Sycorax could exhort his battered force for one last push all would be utterly lost….

The Impalers now roused themselves from their own slumber and charged the exhausted Molten Menace.  He had stood firm against so many foes this day he knew, as did Sycorax, the Impalers, cream of the Pirate force, would overwhelm him.  And so they did!  And in doing so had uncovered a mountain of gold.

It had come to one last desperate gamble or Sycorax would lose and would be lost, supplanted by one of any number of wolfish Ironcasters too cowardly to stand with him this day.

He unleashed a rock and molten fury against the Soulbane who had been content to sit atop the half-submerged horde, the fool, and condemned him and his foul beast to nothing more that hissing steam rising from what had become a bubbling cauldron of a marsh, so intense was the heat of the fireball.

And now his Immortal Guard hurled themselves against the immense shields of the Impalers.  The Infernox, though vanquished, had done just enough to chink the armour of these seemingly impregnable beings and the Immortal Guard were able to first push, then prize and then burst open those armoured sentinels and fall upon them in such fury there was nothing to be hauled away as grizzly prizes…..

The rest of the Elvish host, that which remained, had no stomach to continue this slaughter and Sycorax had achieved a most stunning and profitable triumph.  He collapsed.

Next time: Armada/ 250 points/ Icy Waters

V for Victory: Midday at the Oasis

I was fortunate enough to have Stu over today to bring in the new year with a new game, our first try of V for Victory. I had just about enough figures for a command section, 2 infantry sections, a sniper and a MMG team for each side.

I set up the first scenario from the book that has three objectives spread across the table with VP's being scored for holding the objectives at the end of each turn and destroying enemy units. As we'd not played before I took a guess at how much terrain would be required and I think it was probably about right, perhaps a little high on the linear terrain and wooded areas. We will need to have a little play about with larger (and better armed) forces to see what is the sweet spot. 

The rules themselves flowed reasonably well for a first play through with the usual amount of flicking through the rule book to answer queries around specific scenarios and checking how modifiers stacked up. The spotting rules meant that you could manoeuvre into place without the enemy being able to spot you straight away but once you opened fire then that pretty much gave your position away.

The main clash of forces ended up being on my left flank around the oasis as we both only lightly opposed the opposing forces push on one of the other tokens. The Germans went for both the flanking objectives and I went for the oasis and the central tank.

The big decision around shooting is if you go for direct fire and try to remove models or suppressing fire and try and erode the enemies morale and pin them in place. The Germans in general went for the kills more often but with some poor dice on their side and decent saving on mine didn't really make much of an impact at the start of the game. My suppressive fire was more telling and I managed to keep the German sniper out of the game and keep the heads of the Germans around the oasis down as well.

The German firing did pick up during the end game and they managed to remove my team holding the oasis objective and kill my snipers mate. I also managed a couple of good shooting activations with my MMG to take out the German MMG (with help from some poor save rolls) to leave us tied on kills but we me having held one extra objective in the last round we played.

Neither side lost masses of troops and even though we had one more round to play when we stopped it didn't feel like either side would reach the break point of >50% models lost. So perhaps a little less terrain next time will give some more shooting and greater casualties. The card mechanic is a nice improvement on Muskets and Tomahawks in that you have all the cards to choose from so you need to assign them to the correct units to make best use of the available resources and does act as a natural dampening of the firepower of both sides with a limited number of fire activations being on the cards. 

With the ongoing Kings of War/Armada campaign and the Armada event we have booked in February we probably won't be playing again for a while but I should have some more toys painted up by then to increase the firepower available to each side. In particular I'd like to see how vehicles and HE weapons alter the game dynamics.

DAK: Commander

Having completed enough Commonwealth troops to field one side of a battle I'm now able to move onto the opposing force. As Mr T had already purchased some Italians I opted for a box of the Perry Deutsches Afrika Korps infantry with supporting weapons from the same range. The big box of plastic infantry gives more than enough for a platoon strength force and then a few packs of metal round out the force.

First up with have the command section made up of a Lieutenant, senior sergeant  and a couple of riflemen. This is almost exactly the same as the Indian army command group. For the DAK we have a couple of metal models and a couple of plastic ones, as they are from the same range the blend in well together.

With these commanders in place we can have a look at what you can command your men to do on the table during a battle. Each player starts with the same seven cards in their hand at the start of a turn. Each turn is divided into up to seven activation phases where players each reveal a card and then carry out some or all of the actions on the card. Once the cards are revealed the player with the higher score on their cards (draws are handled by an initiative counter) carries out their actions and then the other player does the same.

There are three types of action that a card could allow you to undertake and each unit is only allowed to take two actions each turn. Those actions don't have to be taken together and the game has a reactive fire mechanism that also uses up an action. So you could move a unit up and leave it covering an area so it can take a reactive shot later on in the turn.

The red aiming symbol allows a unit to take a shot or make an assault. This is your chance to lay down some fire without it needing to be a reaction to an enemy move. As you can see there are five Engage Order symbols available each turn for your forces so you want to use them wisely.

The blue arrow is the Movement Order symbol and this allows you to walk or sprint your infantry across the battlefield. Vehicles use the same order but as you would expect move much more quickly than the PBI. Sprinting allows your infantry to get around quickly but at the expense of making saves against shooting more difficult. You don't want to be caught sprinting in the open by an enemy squad.

The last (green) symbol is the Tactical Order symbol and this is used for a couple of different things. Firstly it allows a heavy weapon to unlimber and setup to fire, and possibly more importantly it allows you to rally troops whose morale is wavering. You only get three of these each turn so you probably want to get that heavy weapon out early in a good spot so you can concentrate on your troops morale later in the game.

In the game squads are split up into Teams each with their own leader model. I've been representing this with painting the team leaders of a squad with the same coloured base. The reason this matters is that if your squads team leaders are within 30cm of each other you can split the actions on a card between both teams. Otherwise only one team (or vehicle / heavy weapon) can benefit from all the actions (up to two activations) on a card and you are likely to waste some. You can also play a card (up to twice in a turn) on your commander and he can take a free action of any type for himself and spread the actions on the card out to any team leader within 30cm.

Working out how to get the best out of this action economy is going to be central to commanding your forces to victory. 

I've also completed the first infantry squad which come as a standard eight man squad with two SMG armed leaders, an LMG, and five riflemen.

More infantry and some terrain to hide behind are on the way.

Ill Tides: Prize Salvage

Armada/ 250 points/ Prize Salvage/ Draw

Rich!  This is it.  To cut free from the unyielding patronage of that bully Ironjawz at last.  

The rumours must be true mused the Admiral as he squinted into the distance.  The mist hung like a veil across the dawn’s mournful face however from the east arthritic tentacles of light battled to pierce this seeming wall of grey….and momentarily the Admiral caught sight of a hulking great edifice upon the black water.  True it is - a fortune awaits those with courage enough to reach out and grab it.  The order went up…onwards to Wealth & Fortune!

Unbeknownst at this time to the greedy little Admiral The Dark Elves were making haste for the same prize, their rapacity knowing no limit.

Too late the shout was heard from the Angkor on his far right and the Katsuchan on the left, the Pirates had been sighted and were going to steal the Admiral’s prize - and his future - from right beneath his crooked beak.  An impressive flotilla on this occasion, after he had dispatched the last pathetic fleet sent against him.  It was clear the Twilight Kin fancied making themselves kings one and all.

As they closed the Admiral could see the Corsairs, their sails billowing furiously, thrusting for the prize, HIS prize he smarted.  From the east, arrayed against him were an Impaler, Butcher, Heart Seeker, Soulbane and way out on the western flank an Assassin.

He knew speed was key and here his Hell-Forged fleet were no match for the Elves but perhaps their swiftness could be used against them.  

The Assassin thundered into the dwarven line to disrupt and slow the fighting Infernox.  Then the Soulbane hulked her way past the treasure ship to block his Hellfane from boarding and claiming the loot.  To make the situation dire the Heartseeker pulled alongside the treasure ship on the far side, shielded from any dwarven attack and the Butcher secured herself to the treasure ship at its prow.  They swarmed like overbloated flies gorging on a dismembered Goredrake - vile scum the Admiral raged, but he knew he’d been beaten to it.

The Infernox and Assassin traded shots as they passed.  His own Hellfane manoeuvred perfectly to rake the

hubristic Soulbane and the plucky Decimator glided between Soulbane and Impaler pouring forth Dragon Fire

into both at hellish close quarters.  These concerted blows crippled both vessels, soon to be surrendered or

sunk - had the voracious Dark Elves overplayed their deformed claw hands?  The treasure however was safely

aboard their leviathan of the Butcher which had taken minor prow damage from the Hellfane.

To the east the minnow Katsuchan had been crippled by the Impaler who, the Admiral thought, too far away now

to impose herself.  The Katsuchan had done well!

The Infernox, Angkor and Decimator now sought to round the treasure hulk and annihilate the Heart Seeker

which had now disengaged, while the Hellfane grappled the Butcher to wrest the Admiral’s rightful treasure. 

This would be an epic contest, Leviathan against Behemoth, a titanic struggle the Old Gods would savour with

blood-lusting glee.

The Infernox did for the Heart Seeker although her mighty efforts saw her crippled in the process while Butcher

and Hellfane were locked in a pitiless contest which ended in exhausted triumph for the Hellfane, the Butcher

dispatched and the treasure aboard the Admiral’s ship.  Disaster though was to come as the toil taken on his ship

and crew was so immense the Might of the fleet was stricken and unable to move.  

The Impaler, clearly disconcerted by the systematic destruction of her kin, crashed into the surrendered Soulbane. 

Crippled she was stranded until the Decimator breathed deadly Dragon Fire to send her blazing to the ocean

depths.

The Admiral had one last chance to salvage the Prize.  The Decimator and Angkor were still relatively unharmed

and nearby.  Expert seamanship would enable the Hellfane to unload her precious treasure to her kin and

the Admiral’s plans realised.  Try as they might though the debris of broken ships and increasing swell of the

capricious mocking ocean meant the treasure was all but lost…….. 

Next time: KoW/1500 points/ Smoke & Mirrors

Halo Flashpoint: Sangheili Elites

 Because it's good to have a least a couple of new games on the go I've also started painting up Mantic's latest game, Halo: Flashpoint. This is Mantic's entry into the growing field of low model count skirmish games using large models (40mm+) based on popular IP's. I'm thinking of Marvel Crisis Protocol and Star Wars: Shatterpoint as prime examples. These games are more aimed at people who love the IP but don't necessarily have a background in wargaming. My personal interest was piqued by the fact the rules are based on my favourite set, Mantic's Deadzone rules. I've never played Halo and don't really know much about it's setting as I was busy shooting people in Planetside on the PC when Halo was released on consoles. 

The games comes in a couple of versions and I went for the bigger box as you got a greater variety of models including some non-humans to play with. The human forces are made up of genetically modified warriors called Spartans. The aliens in the box are called Sangheili and I believe they are the main enemy in the games for the Spartans. Each fireteam is (currently) made up of 3 or 4 models with the biggest difference from Deadzone being that when they die the models can respawn into the battle. This is a mechanism straight from any PC/console game and means that you can only really gain a temporary numbers advantage rather than the snow-ball effect losing models can have in Deadzone. 

The Sangheili Mercenaries are a complete fireteam of four elites so I've started off the painting with them. This will allow me to field a complete team with only having to paint a few models.

In the box you get a nice stat card for each model, these have been produced to a high standard and give you all the information you need about each unit and it's various keywords and weapons. One thing I have noticed is that compared to Deadzone the weapon ranges tend to be shorter and the movement speeds quicker so I think you can expect to be in melee more often.

That won't be a bad thing for the Sangheili as you can see they have a Fight of 4+ so they are perfectly able to handle themselves in a brawl. Each of them is also armed with a one-use grenade (which comes back when you respawn) so you certainly want to make sure you use that every life. Like Deadzone, Flashpoint uses command dice but you only start with two in your initial pool. At present the Sangheili have no models that add to this pool so they will always be starved of dice and get no re-rolls. Command dice are very much part of the 'special sauce' that makes Deadzone so it will be interesting to see how this lack impacts the amount of fun you have playing the Elites.

The team itself looks to be reasonably well balanced between melee and shooting with the energy sword looking to be a top melee weapon and the ranged weapons having a decent spread of abilities. One thing Flashpoint does have is random weapon spawns so you can add a second weapon onto a model, having 4+ for melee and shooting will help the Sangheili make good use of any weapon that they pick up.

If like me you have no knowledge of the history of Halo then flipping the unit cards over gives you a nice little bit of information on the unit and the weapon it comes equipped with. I'm hopeful that Mantic plan to add Halo to the Companion so we get the appropriate keywords printed out with the list in the future. 

The models themselves are good quality pre-built plastic miniatures of the sort you'd get in a high end board game. You can see they are aimed more at the non-wargaming community and offer a quick to table experience. You also get some rather nice cardboard terrain in the box which slots together very easily to make up your board. Of course I also have plenty of Deadzone terrain to add onto the table but with the shorter weapon ranges I think you could go a bit lighter on the terrain in Flashpoint.

Well that's the first team done, I'll probably try to do another team over Christmas in between starting the DAK forces for WW2.