Dispatches from the front XXIX - Small scale actions.

I had every intention of ploughing through the remaining Commonwealth Infantry and Free French but having completed the prep, basing and undercoating the thought of 80 boots, 40 rifles and webbing etc put me off a little. Perhaps next week unless something shiny comes along.

Instead I opted for the assembly line of the last support weapons for the allies and axis forces. Some nice castings from Warlord in shape of AT guns, Mortars and Infantry Guns...

I did sneak in a small order to Northstar with an extra HMG above, but really for some of their Africa Korps casualties which will make up pin markers for future games - I have hunted high and low for allied casualties and have drawn a blank, which was a surprise as almost every other range of figures across history seems to have them in all scales....

On the subject of purchases, Fred over at Two Send Fred is working on a small wadi for me, I was after a connector for my larger purchase, this is the draft mock up. This will be great for future games, more on that in a separate post.

Plans are afoot to finally give the Pony Wars rules an actual run out at the club. I wanted to be clear on the rules, hosting several players in one go, nothing frustrates me more than agreeing to host a game and not know the rules or spending valuable game time reading them while everyone looks on.

Whilst most definitely of there time the reaction tables really do make for interesting command decisions and they Indians numbers can get out of hand really quickly....

Over at the Wyre Forest Club I gave Bolt Action Modern a run out with my North Koreans facing off against the South Koreans with support from a British/UN modern contingent. Much like the news from Ukraine it turns out that T55's don't last long against more modern dug in armour.

The village of Fooket with dug in Dragon Teams and LAW's lining the walls.

The NK armour rushes forward with closed up armour and infantry in support.

The Brits lie in wait on the tree line.

Kim's forces burn in the field as the M60's take there toll.

A fun encounter if you were western backed forces, not much fun for the Koreans from the north.

You till next time....

Leven Miniatures - Korean Structures - Red Phoenix

I must be honest these were a struggle to finish, what with events in Ukraine and doubt whether these will see the table in a while, just a little too near real life at the moment.

It turns out after weeks of painting 6mm getting your eye in back to 28mm was harder than expected so thought I would clear these off the paint table. I picked these Leven Miniatures pieces up before Christmas but got side tracked when the Baccus Pony Wars order landed.

These crates and barrels will act as objective markers or a supply dump in the rear lines, for the ROK forces to defend from the rampaging NK armour.

The next couple of pieces are part of an airfield setting to go with a couple of Attack Aircraft that are waiting on the paint table, the Air Traffic Control Complex is a lovely piece and will have multiple uses.

A reinforced bunker for a sortie across enemy lines.

As we have all seen,  control of the media is so important so the radio station will be great for a number of scenario's. The mast is detachable for storage and transport.

Not sure about the size of this piece, a small chemical plant but it will come in handy for tagging on to more industrial areas of any gaming table.

If the Chemical Plant is small the next piece is huge. The Shou Sugi Ban Style Dojo whilst Japanese in style should fit in nicely with the other oriental style pieces.

Lovely pieces but back in the draw for now and on to something a little less to near real events.

Dispatches from the front XIX - The Supply Train Arrives.

Real life seems to have gotten in the way of late, so with no gaming for a week or two and a couple of long train journeys what's a gamer to do but look for distractions too while away the hours.

Damn you google and amazon :-)

So after a quiet period on the purchasing front a glut of new toys and reading, quite a coincidence as I just finished the mule train from Baccus for the Pony Wars Project.

These will double up as low ammo markers for Sharp Practice, another base for the hard pressed cavalry to defend. The supply tail is getting that little bit longer 8 bases should be enough.

On the mule train the following items landed.

Custer's Final Campaign looks like it will be perfect to turn one off games into a full blown campaign. Whilst the title suggests it is focused on Custer and the 7th Cavalry the game is actually a two player game fighting the entire Great Sioux War Campaign, including the regiments and battalions of the three main columns including Forts and River Boats - Now there's a thought..... Anyone know who makes a 6mm Steamer?

The card bases system looks quite slick and could easily be turned to a table top encounter.

To add to that some great reading material in the shape Orders of Battle & Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux Wars - Both books detail the 28 deployments, skirmishes and Battles, some great scenario ideas outside of the obvious Battle at the Little Big Horn.

The first book details all officers and killed and wounded in each engagement, whilst the second provides first hand accounts of the main engagements. 

Another order from Baccus has dropped on the mat Boers masquerading as Cowboys and some of the specialists Pony Wars Packs of Indian Scouts and a characters together with a Wagon Train.

It turns out I really needed a Pony Express Rider and the The Lone Ranger. At least in 6mm they won't be to long on the paint table.

Whilst the Pony Wars rules lean towards Hollywood's view of the plains wars.

Many of the engagements and campaigns of the US were centered on destroying the villages and the Indians ability to raid and live off the land forcing them into reservations and trading posts, with that in mind I wanted to create some Indian Pony Herds to form objective markers. 

Surprisingly they were really hard to come by, step forward Perfect Six Miniatures, great service ordered and delivered in less than 48 hours. These coupled with their hay stacks will be great for a refight of the Hayfield Fight. during Red Clouds War in 1867.

Meanwhile the 6mm theme continues I picked up Dave Brown's scenario book designed for Battel Group Panzer Grenadier, but easily converted to other games,  I have been using the Eastern Front scenario book and converting them for some of the North Korean games. The scenario's are always well thought out and well balanced. Let's see how some of these convert for future encounters in the Korean Peninsula.

A couple of extras for the Red Phoenix Project from Leven Miniatures. The Radio Station and Airport Control Tower will be great objectives and the Ammo Dumps will be useful for rear echelons to be protected from the rampaging North Korean Armour.

Finally a sneak peek from Crooked Dice and more 'Not' V figures... Not sure when but they will be released but they are on the purchase list..... and a move back to 28mm before my eye sight packs up painting all this small stuff.

That's all folks......Now back to yet more tiny miniatures and dismounted Indians.

Project Red Phoenix - Reinforcements

Well they never made it to the table in time for the game.

However the recent breakout game did prompt me to finish these from the box of shame.

North and South Headquarter stands. I can't recall where the tent came from but it was a useful addition to the Northern HQ along with the spare BTR60 that was lying around in the box.

A mass of infantry bases for both North and South

K1 Heavy Tanks, finally something with a little punch to counter the mass of T55's and T62's.

Transports. The BTR's are new straight out of the blister pack, I have my suspicions that M113's have been drop casted, the detail is a little too soft and the metal has a different feel to what I know to be originals. I do wonder how many fakes are out there?

Then finally heavy artillery SP Guns the K9 Thunder perhaps a touch too modern only coming into service around 1998. These 155mm Guns should help bolster the Southern defences.

To counter that WW2 era North Korean Rocket Batteries, what they lack in accuracy they make up in the sheer volume of rounds that can be put into any fire mission. 

Not a bad effort and nice to have cleared the decks of all the left overs.

Project Red Pheonix - Break Out.

Despite holding up the initial North Korean assault 24 hours earlier. Further armoured columns have broken through across the entire frontier and were making deep thrusts towards the prize of Seoul. The pace of the advance surprised the South Korean and US high command and meant many of the allied units were cut off and bypassed, left to be dealt with by the lesser divisions following up.

One such trust found one NK division trapped between the still effect southern defences near Seoul and several retreating units falling back from the DMZ. The retreating south Korean divisions now engaged in a desperate action to break through the forward Kim units to link up with the defenders still holding Seoul.

The South Koreans must exit at least 50% of their units from the Eastern Table edge.

The North Koreans win a major victory if no imperialists exit the board, a minor victory if less than half escape.

Despite a road running through the centre of the table the Southern Armour rushes down the left flank of the table, the North Korean Units were hidden, so taking no chances the south plasters the forward most farm in thick smoke.

The NK high command calls in his limited air support looking to stall the advancing armour.

The southern armour reaches the earth mounds of the paddy fields, still unsure what they were facing they call forward the infantry to flush out the defenders.

Meanwhile in the centre the Fox Armoured cars rush forwards tempting the defenders to reveal themselves, AP rounds and HMG's blazed away but the little Foxes held their ground.

Kim's forces rushed back from the front to stem the advancing southern forces.

The infantry charge through the smoke only to unearth a recon unit, the southern amour skirts the farm needed to speed up, what an unnecessary delay for a bunch of scouts.

Southern infantry flank the defenders looking to flush them out of the farm, this was taking far to long. 

The southern armour reached the road when the shells started to land, 155mm shells burst amongst the medium tanks, the thin top armour was no protection and two of the lead section brewed up.

Time had run out and with the blocking force now heading into town the window to escape had closed.

Another loss for the south,

A fun encounter, cross country was not a good choice, whilst skirting the bulk of the NK blinds was a good move the lack of speed allowed the Kim's to redeploy and block the advance.

The revised artillery and air power rules worked well which gave a good balance between attack and defence. I might speed up future games by increasing the unit sizes for the infantry from a section to a company.