Summer Anti Nod Offensive Pt. 2.

 Continuing the AAR from last post, here is some more from last saturday's game with Frank. Both sides were Troop Quality: Experienced, Morale: 10. The HNG were made up of the following units:

Armoured Brigade 
Brigade Headquarters Company w/
1 Command stand
1 Staff radio stand
1 command car
1 landrover
2x ambulances

Khand M113s and 105mm artillery - Guns are Britannia, and M113s are Esci. Frank normally fields these as GDI. Noddist Hordes don't have TOEs.....

 The reinforced tank regiment was the main teeth element on the table, consisting of:
Reinforced Tank Regiment
Regt. HQ w/
1 Command M-48 tank
1 Recon M-48 tank

4x Tank Companies each w/
     1 Command M-48 tank
     2x M-48 tanks

1x Heavy Tank Company w/
     1 Command Chieftain tank
     4x Chieftain tanks.

HNG infantry ride M-48s into battle. tanks are Airfix attack Force, and infantry are Esci Vietnam War Americans.

 Screening the Brigades advance was an Armoured Recon Regiment, consisting of nine Saladin armoured cars, divided into three separate companies.  The infantry element consisted of a battalion made up of three rifle companies, a motorised heavy weapons company, and the headquarters company. Normally I would give more detail on the infantry, but this game was about the tanks.... As such, the TOE used was very unbalanced and poorly thought out, almost as though it was an attempt to field lots of tanks in a game.

The first turn saw both armies moving towards Dun Masud. Nod armour surged through the woods to meet the HNG advance, and HNG recon elements entered Dun Masud. On the other flank, Khand APCs raced towards Dun Masud, while a light company of Khand T-72s moved to counter a HNG armour group.

Nod T-72s and T-55s advance to firing positions at the edge of the woods.

Nod armour in the woods, while Khand armour advances on the other flank.

The first miscalculation of the day. These are Chieftains, not M-48s. This will become an important distinction.

HNG forces move along the highway and the woods towards Dun Masud.

HNG recon elements enter Dun Masud to the joy of the locals.

HNG M-48s advance towards the woods near Dun Masud. This model is an old Esci kit, that was acquired lacking most of its road wheels. These were replaced with Fimo and misc. plastic parts. The burnt out cars are plastic cereal box give aways from the 1970s.

The mosque on the summit at Dun Masud. This would be the scene of much heavy fighting.

Noddist Artillery. I didn't field any. I later regretted this. The support vehicles for my 155mm SPGs are under construction as I now have paperclips.

Khandist APCs on the advance. Advancing to what they think are M-48s that the light company of T-72s are going to deal with.

HNG Field Headquarters.

More HNG on the advance.

The weapons company dismounts its TOWs and the 105RR.

The advance starts to meet Noddist fire from the woods.

Knocked out M-48 and destroyed recon Saladins.

The exchange of fire between the two sides was not entirely one sided. Three platoons of Nod T-55s were knocked out.

 The Nod armour in the woods was only saved by the presence of a light company of T-72s. Due to a combination of errors, these T-72s were given an extremely high armour value of 52. This was to result in  the second miscalculation of the day. More to follow in next post.

Summer Anti Nod Offensive 1987 Pt. 1

I decided that I needed to play a nice heavy metal scenario with some of the armour that I had been painting up. To give the game some context, I decided that it would form part of the Harad National Guard's attempt to clear Nod forces out of the Gogol Pass, and gain control of the settlements of Dun Masud, and Turab. Success would mean that HNG forces controled an important sector of the Umbar Highway.

Settlements from left to right: Safaq, Dun Masud, and Turab. Dun Masud sits on the edge of the Gogol Pass.

 For rules and statistics, David Makin's conversion of 'Combined Arms' for CD3 Moderns were used. Frank supplied the Noddist forces, while I provided the HNG. This was the most armour heavy moderns game we had played, so it was going to be interesting. The victory condition for both sides was to either drive the other off the board, or failing that - seize and hold Dun Masud. This was not a detailed scenario - rather it was a "we haven't gamed for a while, and using lots of tanks would be cool" type of game.

HNG armour at Safaq. M-48s are mainly Airfix, with two Matchbox Battle Kings.

Dun Masud and the Gogol pass.

 Frank also supplied the urban templates, while I proved the palm trees! Terrain was placed in order to give some cover for, and from, the armoured units involved. The majority of these trees are the GW Jungle Trees that came as part of the 40K 3rd edition set. They were cast in a hideous green and a so-so brown, and were disliked by the majority of 40K players I knew at the time. I saw the potential for use as terrain in 20mm, and so acquired as many as I could. When they were later sold separately, I bought some more.

Trees, by Games Workshop.

More Trees, including a trunk shot of my 'Christmas' Palms.

More 'Christmas' Palms. These were made from the branches of an old artificial Christmas tree. Much mess was involved and the project will not be repeated. The green outcuts went everywhere....

Another view of the HNG build up at Safaq.

HNG Chieftains. Models are three HK knock offs, one Battle King, and one Airfix model.

Nod forces (Blue Grey) supported by Khand Separatists (Sand and Tan).

Nod Infantry. Figures are Orion Modern Russian Federals. The light trucks are repainted toy diecasts.

The Noddist Horde. Frank has modeled his Nod forces along the lines of a Soviet Motor Rifle Regiment, as outlined in Combined Arms. Frank can be seen in the background trying to fix his Hind for the game.

More Nod equipment. T-55 with additional spaced armour, ZU 23-2, and a 120mm mortar. 

Nod Motor Rifleman enjoy some prebattle refreshment.

HNG Ambulances wait near Safaq.

HNG headquarters near Safaq.

A HNG Armoured Car Recon Company.

 Blogger is being special with letting me upload pictures, but I have quite a few more of the game yet to post. I took 158 photos, and of that quite a few are actually in focus! Frank's Nod stuff is very pretty and I do have more pictures of his stuff to put up. Thanks again to those who are taking the time to look at this stuff. The big Harad campaign I have posted about earlier is slowly getting to the start point, and will begin after I have produced all the needed paperwork.

The Mighty Antar Pt.2

So  I've finally done some more work on the Airfix Antar tank transporter. I have given it the now customary coat of Vallejo Iraqi Sand, and painted the tyres with GW Chaos Black. I still have to do some finishing work on the headlights, put on some unit/tactical markings to improve its table candy value, but it is at a stage where I can put it on the table. I now have to make a support stand of mechanics to assist with vehicle recovery.

The Airfix Antar and a 1/72 Petrol Tanker and Trailer.

A nice view of the Antar's flatbed.

The Antar's cab. Headlights need painting...

Guess which one is the dodgy scratchbuilt replacement.

 The scratchbuilt ramp is functional, but I still need to make it look more like a dodgy field repair. My thinking is that since I can't make it look identical to the original part, I should try and make it a feature of the vehicle that adds character. I guess to put it in WH40K terms, I want it to look more orky...

The second of my Battle King 155mm SPGs has also been given a coating of Iraqi Sand, and had its stowage repainted. I'm still debating how to made the spades for both in an easy, but convincing manner. For the time being I will use them without, but I certainly will revisit putting spades on.

SPG on ramp.

SPG on Flatbed.

Stowage and Cammo netting.

 The cammo netting is mutton cloth that was painted black and dry brushed with various shades of green enamel paints many moons ago. For this repaint I simply dry bushed on various shades of brown acrylic paint.

Another view of the SPG on the Antar.

And a view from above.

Antar from above with empty flatbed.

And a closer view of the flatbed.

The view from the ramps.

 Since I have been gathering up lots of armoured units for my Harad game, I have also been trawling through the hoard for fuel tankers. So far I have found a few modern Shell tankers in 1/72 scale which I am debating leaving in their civilian colours and just weathering a little, or giving them a full repaint in Haradi Sand.

Tanker trailer combo. Maker unknown.

The trailer is quite a nice little unit.

Two more tankers in 1/72 scale. Maker unknown. Alas, no trailers..

 Fortunately, I still have plenty of teeth units to paint before I need to start repainted tanker trucks. I also need to make sure that my adaption of the fuel consumption rules from Twilight 2000 are both playable and realistic. After all, surely part of the fun of a campaign is running out of fuel.

Centurions and Pack Howitzers

I have two Airfix Attack Force Centurions that I painted in an experimential generic paint scheme. I painted them both an olive drabish green, and then sponged on some dark yellow, and some red. When I painted these two tanks it was well before I started work on the whole Harad campaign background. I just wanted to have fun painting up a couple of tanks, and see what a particular paint scheme might look like.

Splotchy Centurions.

Another view of the same.

 
 At this stage I am planning to leave them in this paint scheme, as I need to finish the paint jobs on other tanks before I start to repaint vehicles.

 Something that is going to be repainted are these Corgi Junior Field Guns. I picked these up as part of a bulk lot of toy field guns - the rest were Matchbox Field guns - in 2007. Originally the Corgi guns were released as either part of a twin pack, with tow jeep and plastic soldiers, or just as the gun with some crew. More information is available here. The gun itself is quite a nice rendition of the Otto Melara Mod 56, but in a scale larger than 1/76.

Corgi 105mm Pack Howitzers.

 My personal view is that it is close enough to bodge it, as they are a little too big, but hopefully not overwhelmingly so. I am probably going to proceed with painting and basing them up as when I look at various photos it seems that it is the wheels on the Corgi Field Gun that are slightly too large. 

Spilt trails in towing configuration.

TOW stand added for scale.

Of course at the end of the day, the point is to have items on the table that look good, and aren't too obviously wrong.