Eureka Miniatures - Mujahideen Fighters.

May is one of those catch up months a cluster of bank holidays a couple of free days, a real opportunity to catch up on those projects that needed 'topping up'...

The postman has dropped some reinforcements for Chechnya, these guys have not been on the table for a while, but Eureka Miniatures have recently released some additional Afghan Guerrilla's which with a slightly different paint job gives me a couple of extra Mujahideen units to take on the Russians in Chechnya.

Eureka is still one of those companies where you can purchase individual figures, so you can pick and choose the mini's you need. First up two fire teams, with RPO's.

Another 4 fire teams, the bricks denote squad leaders, based up for Xenos Rampant.

Finally a couple of extra's to bolster the detachment, a heavy machine gun team, sniper and two leaders/spotters.

So many planned games.... :-)

Chechnya - New Xenos Rampant Vehicle Damage rules.

Having painted up a number of in fills an excuse to give them a first outing.

The additional Russian and Chechen support units will come in handy and will give both sides that extra punch.

Now to break the freshly painted curse.

Looking back of previous scenario's I thought about giving the original scenario a run out a mere 8 when it first landed on the table, at the time with less figures using Chris Peers at close quarters rules. I was interested to see if Xenos Rampant gave a better feel.

It did not disappoint.

June 1995 somewhere between Benoi and Vedeno - Chechnya.

A Russian BM21 has broken down on a major supply route, a couple of sections of infantry and supports have been left behind to protect the rocket launcher whilst reinforcements arrive with a repair party. The area is known for insurgent activity who would like nothing more to get their hands on the extra fire power. The Federal forces must protect the vehicle and drive off the Chechen fighters.

The table looks a little better than 8 years ago with more rural looking buildings and repurposed woods. The BM21 can be seen in the centre of the table with the access road at the bottom of the picture. The Chechens will enter randomly on the table edges, with the reinforcements for the Russians appearing on 1d6 turns.

The centre point of the table, 2 squads a HMG and Sniper hardly seem enough to hold back the insurgents.

With the defenders awaiting the column, Chechen militia appear on the wood lined hill tops over looking the valley and the stranded rocket launcher. The Russian HMG and Sniper covering this flank to hold back the fighters.

On the opposite side of the table a Chechen sniper team appears the Russians unable to see him at over 12" push up the hill to drive him off.

A second sniper is spotted and again the Russians advance to close the gap.

The sniper having drawn out the infantry instead of firing calls down mortar fire on the infantry, in the first salvo 50% of the advancing troops are killed or wounded and the rest flee back down the hill.

At the far end of the table Chechen's creep into the settlement ready to slow the rescue party.

The Russian HMG chews up the militia in the tree line.

The Chechen mortar disproving the myth that freshly painted troops always lose, switches his focus to the sniper sending him running for cover.

Meanwhile the rescue column makes it's way on to the table.

Rpg rounds hit the column and the lead BTR70 is destroyed sending the infantry running for cover. 

Another whoosh of AT rounds and the BMP1 falls back behind the house.

Before the rescue party could regroup from out of the barn another RPG round smashes into the BMP forcing it to retire. 

The rescue mission had failed their would be no break through today.

That was fun, heavy weapons such as HMG's can really hurt infantry as can mortar rounds if you catch them in the open. 

The vehicle rules felt like they needed a little extra, if played correctly XR only allow for one vehicle but they can certainly handle multiple vehicles, the only potential downside is the attritional nature of the rules where strength points chip away at units. So I introduced a chart similar to that found within Bolt Action.

It worked well and resulted in the lead APC being destroyed in short order after being hit by a unit with the Anti-Tank capability. Hopefully this does not break the rules but makes the use of vehicles more challenging for larger games and could make for tank on tank encounters a little quicker.

Feedback welcome.

1st Chechen war 1994 - Bolt Action meets Ambush Alley - Part 1

Chechnya 1994.....

A two player game with lots of fog of war....

A Russian Federation Armoured column has orders to secure a Forward Operating Base (FOB) at the far end of the table neither player no the make up of each others forces or their orders. The Chechens have orders to damage the any Russian forces but to keep their own loses light.

The game Russians win once the target building is secure or they are forced to turn back due to losses.

The Russians can enter anywhere on the short edge in the forefront of the picture above. The Chechen's are already in place marked on a map including 2 IED's to slow the Russian advance.

Three sections of Infantry supported by a BRDM2 Scout Car and MBT to support the column.

The Russians opt for an initial advance down the railway line not as fast as the main road but the hope is it will be more lightly defended. As the BTR clears the wood yard the defenders fire off an RPG which narrowly misses the APC.

Russian Infantry debus and seek cover as the APC's HMG pours fire into the defenders who fall back. The Russians don't have it all there own way as snipers pick off a number of key figures in the squad.

The column resumes its progress armour backs up on the raised track heading north, the Chechen commander unware of what is the target or mission.

 

As the defenders rush to fresh positions they land a blow on the fast moving Russians another RPG round knocking out the BRDM2 as it rushes to find cover.

Victory was short lived as the T80 makes it's presence felt a HE shell smashes into one of the ruins killing a troublesome sniper and half a squad. 

The Russian objective is revealed and with Armour and infantry 50 yards from the large concrete two story building the Chechen out of position and with rising casualties are forced to fall back. The Russians have their FOB.

A short but bloody encounter, we used a mixture of Ambush Alley, Modern Bolt Action and Order Dice from Blucher to restrict the number of actions available each turn. A couple of rule errors which we will correct for the next game.... (It would help if the BA rules were better layout.....)

Next up the remaining Russians need to hold the FOB...

White Dragon Miniatures - Battlefield Clutter

Back in the Spring we were fortunate to win the Hammerhead prize draw for those clubs putting on games, it was late in the day but I had been eyeing up the defences and barricades from White Dragon Miniatures all day. The Combat Zone game from a few weeks ago gave me the nudge to get them painted up...

Cast in resin they come in several parts, I wanted mine to represent back yards and rear alleys and to block line of sight as troops creep around the inner city so based they closely together on single bases. Each piece comes with some nice touches, barrels, cables and rubble to add to the clutter.

The concrete walls are perfect to hold a fire or HMG team and fit in well with my Eureka modern Russians.

 

Meanwhile the metal fencing gives troops the opportunity to rush from dead ground to dead ground perfect for taking on the alien invaders when they are looking the other way.

You can't have a run down backyard part of town without someone taking a spray can to the walls, the occasional flash of red and blue on the fencing, gave the kind of feel I was looking for.

They should add a little more depth to the games and mix in well with the other modern terrain and burnt out cars, now for a suitable scenario to get them in play.

Cornered Wolf - Rule review and 1st outing.

Sunday night and with the smell of varnish hanging heavy in the air saw the first outing for the Cornered Wolf Rules. It's fair to say they are somewhat bloody. 

The table represents the outskirts of a Chechen town where farm land starts to give way to the industrial centre, plenty of cover and boy do you need it.

They have some quite neat rule ideas, you never quite know what you will have to play with or the scenario you are playing.
You will need a deck of cards as this decides the forces on offer and turn sequence.

Dane pulled a lot of Face cards - Kings, Queens and Jacks which gave him plenty of Russian Armour, whilst I pulled low number cards which gave me infantry with the occasional RPG apart from an Ace which gave me some armour support...
On face value the Chechen's looked hard pressed.

Deployment is an unstructured affair, you deploy your first unit near one table edge and then place units anywhere on the table but you have to be in minimum of 12" away from any other unit, which means you could quickly end up with isolated units as your opponent places units in the same fashion, which gives quite a unique challenge bearing in mind at this point you don't know what the scenario is.

Once deployed you pick an objective each, The Russian's picked clear each sector of the board, whilst I picked raid a Russian held building, any easy choice given they only had one infantry section in this game and they were some way away from the supporting armour.

With the forces and scenario picked the deck of cards becomes your activations, a face card gives you the option of armour and a number card mostly infantry, Black for one side, Red for another.

We soon realised that the chances of Russian armour rushing round the table blasting anything in sight was somewhat limited especially as the Chechen's can't be shot at if they get close enough to a tank.

The Russians with limited infantry cover were exposed to sneaky infantry running from building to building.

Pretty much everything hits on a 4+ on a D6 and RPG's get three shots so we soon had smoking wreaks all over the place.

The single Russian section could not stand up to the numerous infantry against them, which mean't the Chechen's could nip in and steal the supplies.

The tank hunting certainly gave the feel of the armour being vunerable to sneaky infantry which is what the rule read up suggested but it feels like a few tweaks are need to separate AFV's to Tanks and perhaps limit the number of rounds or AT hits (As I type I have received an update which looks like it does exactly this.)

I fun evenings gaming but I suspect people will add house rules to reflect their own view of the conflict.

15mm Russian Buildings - The Weekend Challenge.

Having set myself the challenge over the weekend of finishing the Ironclad buildings that have been languishing in the cupboard of shame for a number of years, I am please to confirm mission accomplished....
The pic's are a little iffy as I am trying out a new camera.

A couple of early starts and some warm dry weather have helped to get these complete before the 4.00pm deadline today.

Two rural houses, a storage shed and railway station, together with two oil storage tanks, they will expand the layout quite significantly.  

The railway station fits in nicely with the track which I own from Battlefield in a Box and can also be used for my Boxer Rebellion collection. I opted for an off white which makes it quite generic with any period or setting.

The storage shed and field still need a little work, I need to add the pump arm and am thinking about a couple of dead cows which I have from peter pig somewhere.

I added in a number of lighter tufts on this one compared to the other pieces in particular around the well to give that wet feel.

The farm house is a great casting with a detactable roof to allow you to place that well timed ambush. I decided to add the fencing to create the backyard rather than keep the pieces stand alone, besides I have the MDF bases sitting unused in the draw.

The figures are from Eureka's 15mm modern Russian range.

The second building comes with a decked roof rather than thatch, I add in the brick wall and water through to give it that rural feel, it also gives the defenders something to hide behind. Although not much help from a 125mm gun.

I am really pleased how they have turned out. I plan on adding a garage and forecourt to give me that link between the rural and the urban setting, its a shame fieldworks are no more (Does anyone know if the molds have been picked up by anyone?) as I quite fancied adding a few more bombed out shells to go with the other buildings already painted up.

Right time to go and put these to the test.