While bogged down in Thunderbolt/Apache Leader, I took a break to finish off the Pulp elements for my BoB campaign. These are Bob Murch’s castings. Speaking of bogged down, I’m currently dealing with a bad case of painter’s block with my Copplestone White Russians. Anyway…….here’s a photo of a couple of stands of the Zeps and Mercs.
Turn 1: German machine gun engaged the lead Machine Gun (MG) Truck. The MG Truck failed the ambush morale check, causing it to rout. Machine gun fire resulted in a terror result. The Partisans moved out of the woods, one group to attack the convoy, the other to act as security to engage the escort and/or any reaction force. The second vehicle in line failed the ambush morale check. It routed and took a terror hit from the German Infantry’s rifle fire. The Warlord Escort carried in the trail vehicle dismounted. The MG truck Rallied. However, the routed cargo truck did not.
Turn 2: Germans again engaged the MG Truck, but failed to inflict any damage. Likewise with the advancing Ambush Group’s fire on the stalled cargo truck. The Security Group reached the crest of its objective. The Warlord Escort advanced down both sides of the road towards the front of the column. The stalled cargo truck again failed its morale check, but the MG Truck maneuvered to engage the advancing Partisans. The MG Truck’s fire was ineffective.
Turn 3: The Partisans advanced, masking the Germans’ field of fire. Once again, Partisan fire at the stalled cargo truck was ineffective. The security group attacked the nearest Warlord Escort, inflicting a terror hit. The MG Truck could not hit the Partisan ambush group. The Warlord escort maneuvered towards and ineffectively engaged the security group. The other Warlord Escort continued to advance to the head of the column.
Turn 4: Poor die rolling continued, as the Partisans once again could not damage any of their targets. However, both the Partisan Security Group and Warlord Escort recoiled in the fight for the hill.
Turn 5: The Partisans again attacked both the stalled convoy and the escort. Again, their fire was ineffective. While the MG Truck and Escort both inflicted terror hits on the ambush and security group.
Turn 6: According to plan, the Partisans disengaged, falling back to the woods, and prepared to move to the rally point. The Chinese did not pursue.
Comments: Fun little scenario, horrific die rolling for both sides. I thought the Partisans would make short work of the convoy, but their low firepower (4 factors for each stand) was consistently ineffective. The Germans should have been able to do more damage to the convoy, but again, the marksmanship (die rolling) was bad. The Warlord unit engaging the Security Group did its job, and the resilient MG Truck forced the Partisan Ambush Group to retire. A decisive victory for the Warlord’s forces.
After much procrastination, started playing this scenario. I posted up some preliminary thoughts and photos of a couple of turns back in December.
The scenario involves a Chinese Warlord convoy carrying all classes of supply. The mission of the ambush force is to destroy the convoy and, if possible, remove weapons, ammunition and medical supplies.
Since the best ambush point was near a Warlord controlled town, there is the chance that a reaction force will appear.
The first step was to construct a simple situation generator, which hinged on the awareness level of the convoy. The levels were clueless, cautious, and, know something will happen. This status was settled by a die roll.
If clueless, the convoy had little discipline, moving at maximum speed and bumper-to-bumper. If cautious, distance was greater, speed lower, with armed vehicles at head and front. If an ambush was suspected, there was a reaction team attached, in addition to an escort.
In each case, there was the chance of a reaction force coming to the aid of the convoy, but again, a die roll settled that with modifiers to decrease the size of the force the less “aware” the convoy was. The number of turns it took the reaction force to arrive on table was again a function of the Warlord force’s awareness level and die roll.
The required wristage created the following:
A clueless convoy, moving at maximum speed, with little dispersion and an escort of only two stands of troops. Feeling sorry for these poor bastards, I threw in a light truck armed with a machine gun.
The ambush force consists of two stands of Germans, one machine gun, along with five stands of White Russian partisans.
It is a classic “L” shaped ambush. The Germans are to engage the convoy, bringing it to a halt, and if possible, continue to support the Partisan attack. The Partisans are to attack the convoy from the wooded flank alongside the road. Two partisan stands will move to the rear of the convoy occupying a small hill taking up a position to engage either the convoy escort, or a reaction force. The remaining Partisans will, using fire and maneuver, destroy the convoy and, if possible, retrieve needed supplies.
The Partisans are low on ammunition and cannot engage in a lengthy firefight with the convoy. If this occurs, they are to withdraw back into the woods, covered by the Germans. All units will then proceed to a rally point.
I’ll post up the results tomorrow.
A couple of months ago, I posted up about using Matchbox vehicles for RedActions!
Need to fabricate destroyed vehicles, so I decided to experiment on a Matchbox truck that was too large for 25-28mm. Here’s a picture.
Here’s what it looks like now, in the process of, shall we say, “modification”?
After I experiment with painting the destroyed vehicle, I’ll scour E-Bay for a couple of low cost trucks for similar treatment. Now I just have to work out the explosion/flame/smoke effects.
Found this little guy while looking for balsa wood at Hobby Lobby. The cost was a whopping $7.99. It looked like the right scale for RedActions, although the headrest is a tip-off that this piece of decor is really based on a Boeing F4-B fighter of the 1930’s.
The scale might be a 1/48, and therefore a little large for 25-28mm. Using a figure as a type of measuring stick, I was able to estimate the little guy’s dimensions and check it against some info on planes of the late 1920s and 1930s. It’s definately in the ballpark. So, there’s a little era problem.
I do need to cut off the spats and replace the front tires as they are way too big. The rear skid needs to be cut down, and the cockpit is too big, but I’m not going to sweat that. On second thought, maybe remove the headrest and make room for an observer/gunner. This might mitigate the size problem.
It will have to be painted. My table isn’t ready for a Yellow Peril.
Everything finished except the (problematic) minaret. Here’s a few pictures utilizing the atmospheric lighting that is the kitchen.
Have spent a lot of time over the past week working on the Middle/Near East/Central Asia Village project. Lots of blood, sweat and spackle.
Finally have them primed and spot painted, ready for brush and dry brush work. I “spot painted” most of the buildings with random swatches of desert sand, medium green, and light brown spray to break up the under shading once I start dry brushing. Dunno, worth a try.
There is a mosque, two large houses, two small houses, and a market building. I think the scale is about right, and am anxious to get them on the table. The minaret is problematic right now. Have to figure out where/how to attach it. So, it looks a little wonky in the photos.
Decided to focus on putting together the ubiquitous Middle Eastern and/or Central Asian town and/or village for Back of Beyond and/or battles with Renaissance Turks and/or Persians. OK, I will not and/or again.
This is a project well suited for my (lack of) modeling capabilities. My architectural models make the town in Cabinet of Dr. Caligari look like the work of Mies Van Der Rohe. No square corners, even walls, or precision cuts required for this one. Just get a sharp skill knife, plenty of foamcore and balsa, lather on the Elmers, cover up most defects with spackle and voila!
Plan to have two large homes, one smaller house, market building and a mosque. Should spruce things up on the table. Won’t terrify you with work in progress photos. However, here’s a couple of shots of things after the carnage of basic construction. Will add domes, awnings and other domestic touches over the next few days.
Since I’m suffering from a bad case of painter’s block, decided to work on a simple Red Actions! scenario.
This will involve a mixed force of Germans, Partisans and Cavalry attacking a Chinese armed convoy, including a reaction force.
To add some randomness and re-playability, I put together three scenarios for the convoy. The convoy is either clueless, cautious, or know something will happen. These readiness states dictate vehicle dispersion, speed and use of the reaction force.
For the attackers, I’ve assigned numbers to each terrain feature for some variability in setup. Some combinations could be tactically ill-advised. We’ll see.
Here’s some photos of the set-up and first time messing around with the action.
Played Red Actions! with artillery and machine guns earlier this week.
With the exception of the direct hit capability of the artillery, both weapons have the relative firepower of a platoon. My small playing surface (5×5) limits their range and therefore effectiveness.
I’ll probably abstract indirect fire artillery in the future. Any on-table artillery will have a direct fire role.
Machine guns can be killed relatively quickly (my arty wiped out the machine gun section with a direct hit on the very first roll of the game….reset/reboot), so I will allow them three (3) terror markers – treating them like a two (2) platoon company. This makes them a little more resilient
Next game will include an armored car and cavalry.
