Salute 2014 - WW1 Battle of the Marne

Plenty has been said on various blogs about the annual trip to the mecca of Wargaming Salute 2014.

Attached is a short montage of our WW1 offering, the Battle of the Marne using Kallistra's excellent terrain and recent new range of WW1 12mm Miniatures.

3000 Miniatures on the table - Now that is a BIG battle

As a German commander I was unable to hold back the French and British attack.... But we did keep the Allies at bay until at least 4.30 pm.

Starship Troopers Campaign Round 2 - Create Perimeter

Last Sunday saw the second outing in the Wyvern Wargamers Starship Troopers Campaign.

3 Players stepped up for this outing, The Lucky Devils, Baldwins B*stards and Deacon's Destroyers.

The following briefing was provided.

Everything was going according to plan. Now the landings are complete, you can hear some other companies in serious combat but you have been ordered to create a perimeter that will relieve the pressure on them and allow this invasion to get under way!

Players must defend their deployment zone or risk losing 50 points each.

If they are able to clear the bugs from their deployment zone then each player will gain 100 points.

Turn 1 and the players deploy on mass in the central deployment zone, to their flanks and front mountains rise up masking whatever bugs might be out there. Deacon's Destroyers lead the advance and rush for highest point on the table, having concentrated all their points on 4 heavily armoured troopers.

Baldwins B*stards on the right and the Lucky Devils on the left break out from the deployment zone.

Deacon's Destroyers seize the high ground, awaiting the bug onslaught.

The Arachnids change their tactics and have amssed the bulk of their points in one large wave of Warrior bugs designed to sweep all before them. Panic starts to creep into the MI ranks as a number of troopers forget their fire control training and run out of ammo. Commanders start to cry out that the bugs are just to numerous and too tough....

Matters are not helped by a bug hole opening up in front of the Lucky Devils, the MI stand firm and pour fire into the advancing bugs blocking the hole with several bug bodies stopping the others from breaking ground. Deacon's Destroyers let fly with flame throwers and missiles to take chunks out of the warrior horde, the tide was turning in favour of humanity.

Too late in the day the Arachnid flanking force breaks cover and catches Baldwin's B*stards in the flank, the Tanker Bug roasting three of the MI before the rest fled over the crest seeking support from the other squads. But time had run out, the perimeter was secured.

A second victory to the MI.

With round 2 complete the Luck Devils contiue to lead the way, with Deacon's Destroyers making significant ground on second placed Baldwin's B*stards. 

Stay tuned for Round 3 - Rescue.

Can the MI make it three in a row???

Wyvern Wargamers - Salute 2014 - WW1 Dry run....

With Salute only a few days away, time to give the Wyvern Wargamers WW1 12mm project an outing before the big day. The table on the day will be three times as long and contain 10 times the number of figures as the run through at the club, but the shots below will give you a flavour of what you can expect to see at Salute.

 

The plan on the day will be to use Kallistra's fast play WW1 rules which are due to be released shortly and their excellent new range of WW1 miniatures, which is growing into quite a collection.

The full range can be found here https://www.kallistra.co.uk/?page=113

  

Tonight we used Mud & Blood which are tried and tested at the club, The French blinds take up poisitions across the centre of the table, the flag poles make a nice change from the usual blinds under Mud & Blood blinds.

The French commander considers his position, but we all know it will be the Church that will be the main consideration for both factions.

French Infantry line the crest awaiting the German assault.

Concentrated HMG fire and rifle fire from 3 German squads, force the French back from their position over looked the church.

The German forces rush the Church taking heavy casaulties in their initial assault, but are able to weaken the French defenders for the 2nd German wave to push them back from the Church and grounds.

German forces push up, the Church is captured but it has taken all of the German force to secure it.

A great little scenario and the perfect tonic before the 4.00am start on Saturday morning.

If you are attending Salute drop by and say hello you can find us near the Kallistra main stand if we are still awake.....

HOTT Narnian Army in 15mm

Another slow week on the gaming front, however encouraged by the release of the latest edition of the HOTT rules, I did manage to rebase and tidy up my Narnian army. This was one of those projects that was almost more fun tracking down suitable figures than the actual painting.

A typical HOTT engagement usually calls for 24 Army points but as usual I got a little carried way, but it does give me plenty of scope to vary the troop types and paint up the more unusual pieces.

The books were a must read for me as a child and it has to be said the movies did capture the flavour of the stories, the kids even took an interest on what was on the painting table which can't be bad.

Here's my efforts so far...

Edmund on an armoured Griffin.

From Games Workshop Warmaster Range (6mm well he is a child.)

Aerial Hero 6 Pts.

Giant Eagles.

Games Workshop Warmaster Range.

Flyers 2 Pts.

The General can be seen on the near left, at least until I find a suitable 15mm Knight for High King Peter.

Centaurs

I picked these up from Eureka Miniatures they seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

The fox is from a railway scenic company whose name escapes me, they must have thought it was the oddist of orders, 10 bags of Foxes, Badgers and Rabbits.

Knights or Riders 2 Pts.

Lucy & Faun Hero.

I decided that Lucy would be best represented as a Sneaker in the rules, a Hero seemed a little too tough for a mere child.

Sneaker 3 Pts & Hero 4 Pts.

Minotaurs.

Lovely castings from Splintered light Miniatures, the Minotaurs originally started out in the White Queens Army, but joined the Narnian Forces once the Telmarines seized Narnia.

So don't look amiss in both armies.

Behermoths 4 Pts.

Fauns

The main stay of my Narnian Army - Splintered Light Miniatures.

Spears 2 Pts.

Faun Slingers

More Splintered Light Miniatures.

Shooters 2 Pts.

 

 

Satyrs 

Woodland folk who are part human and part goat.

Blades & Shooters 2 Pts.

Faun Shaman.

It depends if you like your fantasy historical :-)

But I figured a Magician or Cleric might give me a few extra options for the Narnian Forces.

Magician 4 Pts.

Unicorns

To elegant to be Beast and two small to be Behemoths - The vote goes to Riders.

From Magister Militum's Fantasy Range.

Riders 2 Pts.

Hamadryads or Ents.

Not really referenced by C S Lewis but they feel like the type of woodland Creatures that might appear. I think they may have been from Games Workshop (?) but we cheap on e-bay.

Behermoths 4 Pts.

Red Dwarves.

Not to be confused with Black Dwaves who fight for the White White, I included Susan in their ranks as felt she is would not be strong enough to be a hero in her own right.

Shooters 2 Pts.

War Dogs.

With the Wolves fighting for the foces of evil, Man's best friend to the rescue.

Beasts 2 Pts.

The White Stag.

Not sure where this came from, but it is said he can grant wishes if you catch him....

Beast or Behemoth 2 Pts.

Aslan

He needs no introduction.

A 25mm Foundry Lion to give him some prescence on the table.

I opted for a Paladin as a "God" did not seem in keeping with the rest of the army.

Paladin 4 Pts.

The Hordes of the Things.

What Narnian Army would be complete without the Woodland Creatures.

Several packs of Rabbits, Foxes, Badgers and Hares from a Railway Scenic company, but they fit the bill perfectly for hordes.

Hordes 1 Pt each.

A great project and the sort of Army, where the occasional figure pack will be added if it takes my fancy or I have a spare hour to google 15mm Bears, Dyrad & Gryphons.... all still missing from the ranks....

Next up The Army of the White Witch.....

Back in the saddle... Welcoming back an old friend...

3 weeks without a posting, unfortunately real life has a nasty habit of getting in the way....

I have done loads of painting and making lately unfortunately it involved painting the kids bedrooms and making flat pack furniture... :-(

Looking over my handy work, I thought I deserved a reward and what should I find on amazon but finally the release of Hordes of The Things 2.1.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hordes-The-Things-Version-2-1/dp/B00INYFTC4

Hordes Of The Things Version 2.1 is one of those fast-play heroic fantasy wargame rule sets based on classical fantasy fiction, any figure sizes can be used from 6mm to 28mm.

They allow gamers to reproduce any fantasy army inspired by films, books or TV series, for me it was Narnia series, but more on that later.

The rules have lasted the test of time and I have spent many an evening fighting over a 4ft battlefield on a long running fantasy campaign, it's great to see them back and updated.

They are swift to play a game should be comfortably finished in 60 minutes.

Typically armies consist of only 12 elements with between 1-8 figures per base depending on the troops you select. The rules are simply in design, but many a time I have been undone due to lack of tactics and deployment.

So what’s new in version 2.1?

• Improved movements for Warbands and Shooters.
• It offers an option to try base width movements used in DBA 3.0
• A4 size and larger text with wider spacing, which makes it easier to read.

• The diagrams are now immediately after the main battle rules.
• Reordering of Pages 1-4
• New army lists including:
-Zombies (and opponents)
-Welsh mythology
-Australian aboriginal mythology
-Hawaiian mythology
-extended Discworld coverage
-C17 “British Civil Wars” )
-Louis XIV versus Marlborough
-Boxer rebellion

Nowwhere is that storage case......

Starship Troopers Campaign - Round 1 - Beachhead.

Each player represents a squad from the 24th Mobile Infantry "The Wyverns". You have been recruited following Sky Marshals Dienes request for volunteers to combat the Arachnid treat.

The campaign begins in orbit around Alpha Fennell one of the outer colonies, SICON has identified a concentration of Arachinds, Fleet Orbital bombardments has degraded the bug prescence and it's now time to put boots on the ground and wipe the bugs off the planet.

MI your orders are to kill anything that has more than 2 legs, push further forward clearing the landing zone to create a perimater and destroying bug central at the far end of the table.

5 Players step forward to clear the beachhead, The Wyvern Warriors and Deacon's Destroyers take the high ground over looking the battlefield as other elements push through the centre.

Sensors pick up movement to the front of the MI, the sneaky bugs are attempting to tunnel beneath the advancing squads, a couple of well placed rocket rounds are enough to collapse a number of the tunnels, so far so good and no bugs in sight.

The MI press on, Baldwin's Bastards - Fleet Landing party take the right flank whilst, Nico's Roughnecks the right and the Luck Devils push straight down the centre supported by Deacon's Destroyers, the first bugs appear on the table rushing towards the advancing MI.

BB's secure the high ground, which prompts an immediate bug response with a bug hole breaking to the right and fliers enter the table sweeping down on the Fleet landing party.

It becomes a shooting gallery as all players light up the bugs looking to amass points.....

The Lucky Devils poor fire into the recently discovered bug hole and send a Marauder  unit to support Baldwin's Bastards who between them make short work of several waves of bugs.

Things are really hotting up now, a second bug hole opens up, with the Arachnid ace card - A Tanker Bug !!!!! But a poor initiative throw gives the MI the drop, players rush forward eager to seek the prize of 250 points for downing the beast, Deacon's Destroyers inflect several hits on it's harden shell before the Lucky Devils inflict the final blow, the Marauder Unit sriking home with several rockets.

Meanwhile in the rear Cliff Mites rush out of the rock formations only to be beaten back by rifle fire and flame throwers, giving the Wyvern Warriors some valuable points as Deacon's Destroyers clen up the rest to add to their tally.

Meanwhile Nick's Roughnecks advance steadily down the table, destroying several waves of bugs and beating off several Hopper attacks. There Rep 5 Pathfinder status being the difference in a number of tight encounters.

 

As the mission draws to a close, Baldwin's Bastards have lost a number of troopers and are dragging their fallen comrades from the front line, Nick's Roughnecks creast the hill but are out of grenade range to destroy bug central, which gives an opportunity for the Lucky Devils to seal the hole and bring the game to a close.

A great first encounter with others players signing up to get in on the action.

The bug's suffered from a number of poor initiative rolls, which gave them MI the drop on them on several turns, two random holes appeared but when the location was tested for they were both off table.

Let's see how the MI get on when Mission 2 is rolled out - "Expand the Perimeter"

The problem with campaigns is.......

The problem with many campaigns is you end up waiting whilst one player becomes available to play a minor engagement, meanwhile the initial enthusiasm of others soon wains whilst waiting for a game that involves them. I must have started several over the years with very few reaching a conclusion unless all involved are fully committed.

So with that in mind I thought I would try something a little different for the latest Wyvern Wargamers - Starship Troopers Campaign allowing players to come and go as they see fit, but with the outcome of each scenario influencing the next type of mission, victory will reward players with an offensive mission, defeat and MI start to have to defend.

On the first game each player starts with a base of 200 points, but may add to that total from the troops I have painted to date, in the full knowledge that the more assets they purchase, the greater the number of bugs they will face, I created a web page so each player can see just what is available, which is found on this blog, which will also detail the scores and missions under taken so far.

After each mission each player is rewarded with additional points for kills inflicted, but penalised for any losses, the player starting with the most points is the CinC on the day and takes the lead in terms of mission strategy.

The player with the most points at the end of the campaign is crowned - Sky Marshall

If all goes to plan, players can join in or drop out in the full knowledge that they will always have the points they have amassed so far. In theory the games may involve on one or two players with a small number of points or several players where it becomes a serious encounter. 

Each player represents a squad from the 24th Mobile Infantry "The Wyverns". You have been recruited following Sky Marshals Dienes request for volunteers to combat the Arachnid treat.

Sunday night saw 5 squads take to the field with victory going to the "Lucky devils" who take an early lead with just under 600 points to show for their efforts.... Full AAR to follow.