Action on the Umbar Highway: Part Two.

Having given details of the setting, and both forces used, in the previous post, I shall begin detailing the action at Bar Izian. Both sides started movement at the tables edge, and all motorised, mounted, armour, and mobile units made quick progress.

The Nod Column, turn one.

Separatist Armoured Cars. Two Saladins (One by John Bull Models, the other a Playart Diecast), and a Cadillac Gage V-150 (Metal, Maker unknown).

Separatists quickly seize the town.

Nod Recon encounters a Separatist Infantry company. It gets hit and is forced back into the woods.

Enter the Camels, followed by the Technicals. Note the Armoured cars in the distance.

The Separatist view of the Nod Advance.

And safely securing the Separatist left flank is a T-72 Platoon.

Lagging behind on foot, Nod Militia advance up the highway.

The Nod advance seemed to go fairly well, until the shooting started. Things started to go down hill at that point. Turn one had the Separatists advance, whilst happily brushing aside Noddist Recon forces.

Nod Militia advance through the woods.

Separatist Armour advances toward the high ground.

Nod Recon gathers themselves in the safety of the woods.

The first technical to die.

A Noddist Camel patrol is eliminated.

Separatist Infantry advance and eliminate more camels.

Separatist Armour seize the high ground.

And wipe out the column below.

Two technicals are left. The T-72 destroyed the RCL Technical at left.

More Separatists flood the town.

Noddist 106mm RCL engage enemy armour on the hill. 1s to hit.

Meanwhile Noddist Militia advance through the woods.

Militia at front, followed by Engineers.

The Recoilless Rifles hit, and the Separatist armour is brewed!

Nod regulars seize the high ground on the other flank.

More Camel shooting....

A view from afar. End of Turn Three. This is the Noddist high water mark of success.

And the Camel is pinned.

And then gone.

The advance across the dead ground is thwarted by Separatist infantry in the town.

Engineers have their advance blunted by the remaining Armoured car.

Some damage is caused by Noddist Mortar fire. Frank uses plastic counters and blue tack to mark hits.

The survivors gather in the woods.

The T-72 clears the high ground, while counter battery mortar fire eliminates the Nod Militia Mortar.

Despite casualties, the Separatists still hold the town.

And then a Recoilless Rifle is knocked out.

More dead Nod Militia. At this point Nod starts to break off the attack.

A clear victory for the Separatists. 

It was a quick and fun game. Victory was still possible for Nod, until I moved too quickly by advancing the Infantry out of the woods without dealing with the last Armoured car first. The major Nod advantage was that I outnumbered Frank in infantry, and if I had dealt with that remaining Armoured car, I would have been able to bring that advantage to bear. Still, a very interesting game, and one that I enjoyed playing.

Bar Izian 1987: Action on the Umbar Highway

Last Saturday, Frank and I, had a small game set in the picturesque nation of Harad. The game was set in 1987, and had Khand backed separatists fighting a local Nod backed militia for the control of a minor settlement on the old Imperial highway to Umbar. The game was set up with a minimum of planning and was quite one sided in balance.

The small town of Bar Izian on the old Imperial Umbar Highway.

The Nod backed militia were a light force, consisting of a column of technicals, camel mounted patrol stands, and supported by a battalion sized group of infantry. Overall command of this force was in the hands of a Nod officer.

The Noddist Horde gathers prebattle. Limited Terrain and a light force.

 Nod Force. All elements Experienced, Morale 10.

Headquarters Company, with:
1 Command Stand
1 Landrover
1 Staff Radio Stand
2 Stinger Teams
1 Sniper Stand
1 Recon RPG Motorcycle Stand

Reinforced Nod Infantry Company, with:
1 Command Stand
4 Infantry Stands

Militia Company, with:
1 Command Stand
3 Infantry Stands

2x Militia Company, each with:
1 Command Infantry Stand
2 Infantry Stands

Combat Engineer Company, with:
1 Command Infantry Stand
2 Engineer Flamethrower Stands

Heavy Weapons Company, with:
1 Command Stand
1 82mm Mortar Stand
2 M-40 106mm Recoilless Rifles
2 Gun Crew Stands
1 Ammo Porter Stand (double size)

Mobile Group, with:
1 Command HMG Technical
5 HMG Technicals
1 106mm RR Technical

Militia Recon Camel Company, with:
4 Camel Patrol Stands

Frank uses flags rather than command chits. I used his for the game, and will probably steal the idea.

Pre battle sorting. a show and tell for both players.

The brave boys of the Militia Camel Corps. Figures are Airfix.

Mobile Group sounds much better than loads of Militia technicals.

Foreground, Combat Engineers, to the rear two Militia Infantry Companys.

Elements of the Heavy Weapons Company. Figures are Mars.

A  reinforced company of Noddist regular infantry. Figures are unknown.

The plan for the Noddists was simple: Surge up the highway to Bar Izian, then seize and hold the town. Due to a lack of trucks, the infantry (including the Heavy Company) would have to make their way by foot.  Frank's force had the same objective, except that they had somewhat more in the way of equipment to achieve this. The Separatist army was also all Experienced, morale 10. It consisted of around three companies of motorised infantry, with a light armoured car company, and a platoon of T-72s. Sometimes battles are rather unequal. This was going to be interesting....

Ex Nod Trucks, in separatist service.

A T-72 Platoon.

Look more separatist armour!

Seperatist 82mm Mortar Stand.

Medium trucks.

A wonderful mix of weapons and figures in the separatist army.

To be continued next post...

Some more Star Wars Decision units.

First up are my Rebel Hoth Base troopers. All the figures are Micro Machines figures, the basic Troopers were sold in sets of nine, while the character figures and Tauntauns were sold as part of various playsets. The Snow Speeders are also Micro Machine products, being sold as part of the Titanium diecast range. The Titanium range Snow Speeders are in my opinion a better match for scale than the Action Fleet ones.

Lots of Hoth Troopers, still waiting year in, year out, for their final basing.

Look Norwegian Hoth Troopers!

 Imperial Snowtroopers have proved somewhat harder to source. Micro machines did produce one figure which was sold as part of a playset. Naturally, this results in difficulties in raising a decent size force to take on the Hoth Troopers. Fortunately, my friend Frank was able to convert some Risk Clone Troopers into some quite nice Snow Troopers.

Original Micro Machines Snowtrooper on left, Frank's conversions on right.

And a crappy picture of a red Risk Clone Trooper..... And, no, I didn't loot a board game for figures.

 The next Star Wars army that I am working on is the Trade Federation Droid Army. I am still trying to source a few bits and pieces, but this is what I have acquired so far in my efforts to build a Neimoidian war machine...

 OMM series Battle Droids surround Newt Gunray, and a P series Destroyer Droid. All figures Micro Machines.

The whole gang. Including an AAT.

Micro Machines Titanium series Armoured Assault Tank or AAT. Unknown scale but seems about right.

 Right, now that I have posted these, I can see about a) posting pictures from Saturday's Harad Game. b) some other pics that I have been too lazy to post, and c) paint up some French for Volley and Bayonet to maintain the honour of my kitchen table!

Building a Better Bantha.

Painting wise, this weekend has been moderately successful. Photography wise, not so much. Fortunately, I have managed to take some reasonable photos of my Bantha making. The first step was to find some suitable donor models as a basis for construction.

Elephant is an eons old giveaway from a cereal packet. The Rhino was part of a set of jungle animals.

The rhino was selected as basis of the MK II Bantha, and thus had its head lopped off and was smothered in a suitable covering of Green Stuff. No photos exist of this stage, despite the original intention to take them. Opps!

A shaggy coat is roughly sculpted  on.

The lips are flatter and the eyes are sunk in, a more pleasing look than the MK I.

A side view that shows the yakish/bisonish look I was trying for.

The shaggy beaver tail.

Micro Machines Sandtroopers for scale comparison.

The painted beast before it's coat of wash. Micro Machines Sandtrooper Dewback for scale comparison.

The frontal view. The eyeholes look suitably small.

Again with Sandtroopers.

Rear comparison between MK I (left) and MK II (right). MK II has been washed and shagginess of tail stands out well.

Bantha Comparisons. The MK II lacks the full lips and beady eyes of the MK I.

The wash highlights the shaggy back of the MK II.

The MK I Bantha has already started to receive a slight make over by getting a coat of wash and having its eyes redone. The Toy elephant shown earlier will be processed into a Bantha as well, with the hopeful addition of some stowage.

Some technicals were also made this weekend.

I also made some stuff for Harad, but the photos I took were rubbish. The above photo was the best of around ten - the rest being quite blurry. Still, the more pictures I take, the better I get.