Monday 20 February 2017

1/56 German 5cm Granatwerfer 36 Scratchbuild

Okay so I've almost finished assembling and painting all my Italeri WW II Germans but what to do with dso many prone figures?

Well I've made some snipers...

I've also got an Artillery FOO

I of course went with the standard MG34 duo, not super useful in gaming but...

And I've still got two left grrrrr...

Alright how about using them with a Granatwerfer 36 on a base and have a kneeling figure on a separate base that can be a number two or when no mortar is required can be a regular Soldat...

I got my 1/6 Dragon 5cm Granatwerfer 36 and scaled it down to make this with some styrene, pins and brass tube..


It's not perfect but will suffice for gaming!


I'll now build a second one and a few plain ammo boxes.

Saved buying a specialised figure and used up the last of my prone figures I find them very limiting for gaming!

Cheers (lieterally!)

Wednesday 8 February 2017

Return To Song of Drums & Shakos AAR #2 Austrians vs Russians!

Our last Monday night game theme was Napoleonic's and we trotted out some 28mm figures and the Song of Drums and Shakos rules. For something different we had Austrians up against Russians.

The Situation:

Russia October 1812

The Franco-Austrian forces of the 7th French and the Austrian Corps clash with the Russians of Lieutenant Generals Essen's Corps around Voskrinitza. Near the battles end Russians of the Staroinguermanlandski (!) Infantry covered the forces withdrawal, there were many skirmishes as the Austrians pressured the Russians!

The Troops:

Russia
Line Officer 60pts
Line NCO 56pts
4 Line Grenadiers 128pts
5 Line Musketeers 150pts
Point Total 394

Austria
Line Officer 60pts
Grenzer NCO 70pts
4 Grenzers 180pts
4 line Infantry 96pts
Point Total 406
The Game:

Since this was a skirmish both sides entered the table top randomly and we both came on at the opposite ends of the same side of the battlefield separated by a forested 'hill'.

The first few turns saw a lot of jockeying for position. The Austrian Jaegers using their light troop abilities got into the woods on the hill and got off the  first volley, this was followed by a volley from the Austrian line troops the first Russian casualties occurred.

The Russian return fire was not very accurate and as they started to suffer from lethal Austrian volleys they decided to close on the Austrians as their Grenadiers would be at an advantage in melee!
At this point welcome Sergeant Snake-Eyes! A crucial volley was required to cover the advance of the grenadiers, it was decided to throw two D6 to get a couple of actions, there was a cry of 'Anything but a double one will work'...up came double one! The Austrian got in another effective volley as a result!

Undeterred the very next turn the Russians pressed forward again, this time Sergeant Snake_Eyes tried to gain three actions so rolled three D6s again with anything but a one resulting in success. up went the call "anything but a triple one and we're good" up came three ones! I've never seen dice rolling like it and I doubt I'll ever see it again! Despite the Russian Sergeant and his infantry failing to activate the Russian Grenadiers got to grips with the Austrian infantry and they were up in the melee when their morale cracked...the game was over!
Thankfully for Imperial Russia Sergeant Snake-Eyes survived so he will be able to grace our table top again at some point!

Pictures:

Unfortunately I took the nights pictures on my partner's camera and she's lost the download cable so there's not much in the way of pictures at the moment. Once she finds the cable I'll update the post! I took these end of game pictures as I packed everything up.

Overall view, losses were 6 Ruskies to 1 Austrian. you can see most of the surviving Russians in flight...

The Austrian view of the end of the battle...

The Russian view at the end of the game, Sergeant Snake-Eyes is on the far right!

Next gaming night will be ACW themed using Longstreet rules!