Soviet Guards Strelkovy vs German Grenadiers

After Luke and his wife came over to very generously help us paint our nursery (AFTER buying us the paint as their gift to Isabelle!) Luke and I decided to get in a test game for the upcoming Guns of August tournament. The lists were 1200 points, and the mission was Domination.

LUKE'S SOVIET GUARD STRELKOVY HQ 1st Company with 2 platoons. All Rifles. 1st Company with 2 platoons. All Rifles. Scout Platoon w/ 3 stands Tank Killer Company w/ 4 SU-85s 2 Flame Throwers

STEVEN'S GERMAN GRENADIERS HQ + Panzerknackers + 2 Mortars Full Grenadier Platoon Full Grenadier Platoon HMG Platoon Pioneers w/ 7 Stands and supply wagon Looted Panzer Platoon: 1 T-70 3x Panzer IV E

TURN ONE AND DEPLOYMENT

In the upper left: Strelkovy with attached Flame Throwers in front of SU-85s. In the upper center the 2nd Strelkovy. Scouts are spread out in the buildings in the upper right.
Germans from left to right: Panzer IVs, Grenadiers & Pioneers, HMGs, Grenadiers & T-70. The domination points are poker chips. White: 1, Red: 2, Blue: 3.

Soviets have the first turn.


Luke's soviets he got at Historicon backed up by my SU-85s by Game Models.

>>>CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE AAR!

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Polish push towards Łowicz, 2000points per side

GUEST AAR BY ANATOLI FROM ANATOLI'S GAME ROOM

Polish push towards Łowicz, 2000points per side.
Page 38 in the "September campaign" book.

This battle is the second scenario in the ”Arm wrestling the giant” operation which itself is about the battle of Bzura. The largest battle of the entire September campaign. What started a well placed Polish counterattack ended up with 2 encircled and destroyed Polish armies, remnants would later make their way to Warsaw and the Modlin fortress to join up with the defenders there.

Since we played this scenario as a”standalone” battle we rolled a die to determine the outcome of the previous battle so that we could apply the special scenario conditions. In this case the player who won the previous battle had 50% of his army in reserve, while the player who lost the previous battle had 50% of his army as Delayed and Scattered reserves. The roll resulted in the Polish ending up with the bad reinforcement deal.

>>>CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE AAR!

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After Hours Episode 6: The BARGUMENT.

After Hours 06- After recording episode 22, Steve and Luke duke it out regarding the British Armored Regiment, with Judge Dirty presiding. The fellows keep it jovial and above the belt, and round out the episode with usual silliness, movie chat, and general life lessons for the downtrodden. Or something like that.

Editor's note- I do not want the BARgument to color the future of EW FoW around here. I was hesitant to even discuss it at all. Moving forward, I plan to avoid it as a topic on the podcast. There's enough of it on the forums!

LIMITED TIME OFFER!!
GET AFTER HOURS EPISODES 1-5 FOR HALF PRICE!

New to after hours? Been waiting to take the plunge? Wait no longer! Get caught up quickly, and be cooler than your friends! For just $2.50, you too can enjoy nearly 4 hours of extra WWPD goodness. Why wouldn't you want that? Billy Mays (RIP) would approve.

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Soviet Guards Tankovy vs German (Finns in Disguise) Stugs

STEVEN'S GUARDS TANKOVY HQ T-34/85 + Tankos + Cupola 10x Guards T-34/85 + 10x Tankos + Cupolas 5x Guards T-34/85s + Cupolas 5x Red Army SU-85s* Decoy Tanks: 2 Panther Ds

SEAN'S FINN STUGS (MASQUERADING AS SS STUG BATTERIE) HQ 1x Stug G Sturmi Platoon: 3x Stug G Sturmi Platoon: 3x Stug G Sturmi Platoon: 3x Stug G Finnish Pioneers at Full Strength + Panzerfaust pak 40s w/ 2 guns 105s w/ 2 guns Limited Air Support Stuka Ds

*Note: I misread the blurb at the beginning of the support section and didn't realize I couldn't buy Red Army- sorry Sean!

We were anxious for our first LW east front battle! Sean plans to buy Finn stugs, but wanted to try them out first and so ran my German stugs. We decided they were an SS division, but represented by the Finn rules! We rolled for the mission and came up with Hasty Assault. I was an auto-attack force, and so would be attacking but because I did not get the first turn I could not make an infiltration move!

TURN ONE AND DEPLOYMENT

Two objectives on Sean's side: in the small woods in the upper middle, and in front of the hill in the top right. Sean is defending with Stugs in the top right behind the hill, and in the center in the town. Pak 40s are in immediate ambush. Steven has an objective in the bottom left to the left of the swamp. Steven begins with Panthers in upper center (post recon move), and the huge T-34/85 company.

>>>CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST!

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Easy flag /aerial recognition tutorial

A few people have asked me to show a brief tutorial on how I make flags. It's really very simple! And here is the process:



STEP ONE: Cut out your flag shape. I use scrap printer paper- or even spam mail! The flags aren't always perfectly rectangular, which rarely matters since they don't fit on the equipment perfectly anyways.


STEP TWO: cover one side in tacky glue. It can be helpful to use your hobby knife to hold the paper in place.


STEP THREE: Once the tacky glue is in place, let it dry. I usually leave it overnight.


STEP FOUR: Rough it up! Ball it, crumple it, stretch it a bit. I do this to break up the paper fiber. It makes it look a bit more like fabric, and potentially hold the paint better. Either way, the glue will hold it all together! Now your flags are ready to paint!


Now paint your flags appropriately! You can see here that I need a second coat of red, but the flags are ready for their new homes.


The flag on the left's new home.


Flag on the right.

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Poland: First to Fight

If you haven't seen Anatoli's EXCELLENT campaign book he made (which is a true labor of love), you are totally missing out! Click here to check it out

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WWPD News From the Front Episode 22

"Camouflage Shmamouflage"

Steven, Luke, and Dirty Jon talk about Historicon, upcoming events, Hellfire and Back (Early War desert Flames of War book) spoilers, Rotating teams to face, and plenty more! Jon reviews a book, after the fellows sit down with Tim O'Neill- a world renowned expert on camoflauge!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• 0:00 - Intro- Plugs, AARs, etc
• 0:29 - Hellfire and Back early spoilers
• 1:16 - Interview with Tim O'Neill
• 1:24 - BOOK REVIEW: The Somme
• 1:37 - Cassino Map Case Review
• 1:41 - List Discussion for Guns of August
• 1:49 - Battlefront Dialogue new question and Fortification discussion

Download this week's episode directly: http://www.archive.org/download/WwpdNewsFromTheFrontEpisode22/WwpdEpisode22.mp3
Subscribe via iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wwpd-news-from-the-front/id398903039
Subscribe with other: http://feeds.feedburner.com/WWPDPodCast

Links discussed in this episode:
Historicon
Muster
Easy Army
Hitpoint Hobbies Tournament
National WWII Museum
Triangle Simulation Society's Southern Front
Heroes of Armageddon
WWPD on Facebook
Wounded Warrior Project
Gamecraft Miniatures
Sergeant Major Miniatures
Fall In


EDITOR'S NOTES:
Tim was a great guy to interview, I hope you all enjoyed that as much as we did! This After Hours is gonna be great- Luke and I duke it out over the Armored Regiment!

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First Soviet Infantry Completed

This is an excellent picture Joe took of my guys- see it on his battle report at Lead, Paint, and the General

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A Boatload of Panzer Is!

Just got these guys done! Continuing on the path of Blitzkrieg.

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Morris CS9s by Game Models- a gift from Ron!

These are some Morris CS 9s by Game Models my good buddy Ron Bingham gave me. Ron has been a longtime supporter of Early War, and puts on the best themed tournaments and scenarios around!

The crew are spare BF guys I had laying around.

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Jon's Grenadiers on BF's new excellent plastic bases!

Jon sent these pics my way- check em out!

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The first fully completed T-34 Company + Tankos!

By now these have featured in a batrep or two, but here's all 10. First up are 4 pics of them as T-34/8s. The last 4 I've swapped the turrets and added tankriders. Swapping turrets is the main selling point of the Plastic Soldier Company T-34s, but really they look quite good! These tank riders were generously donated by my buddy Tom. I also received 10 more tank riders from Chris Miller, which will feature in future pics!














Ick, that tanko on the left was hit with some fuzzy primer in the Virginia humidity.  I decided to power through it though.  Laziness is a powerful force :)

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450 pt Soviet Infantry vs Finn Infantry

COMRADE MESSERLE'S GUARDS RIFLES HQ 1st Company w/ 1 platoon upgraded to Rifle/MG. Add HMG & Komissar. Battalion HQ. 2nd Company lead by Comrade MacLauchlanov. 1 platoon upgraded to SMG. Add Komissar. Battalion 2iC and Komissar.

SEANI TORNI'S FINN INFANTRY HQ Jalkavaaki Platoon (Rifle/MG) Jakaari Platoon (Rifle)

This was the first battle of our ad hoc Infantry Aces Campaign in the Eastern Front. It will become more organized moving forward, and no one has yet achieved ace status to get their first abilities. The board was 4'x4', 450 points/side. In true communist fashion, Joe and I shared duties of soviet command, while Sean lead the Finns. The mission was No Retreat with the soviets on the attack.

Check out Joe's soviet progress here: http://mezzwargames.blogspot.com/

DEPLOYMENT AND TURN ONE

Finns in the North. Soviets in the south. Joe's company is West, mine is East. Sean's only platoon on the board is in ambush.


My recently completed soviets along with some attachments from Joe's Battalion command.

 >>>CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE REPORT

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Czech Panzers vs French Reserve Infantry!

STEVEN'S RESERVE FRENCH HQ + Mortars + AT Guns Rifle Platoon 1 w/ attached AT Guns Rifle Platoon 2 Rifle Platoon 3 Divisional AT HMG Platoon 155 Battery 75mm Battery British Guards Rifle Platoon 4x HMG Bunkers + 8 Barbed Wire + 1 AT Trap

BRIAN'S CZECH PANZERKOMPANIE HQ 4x Czech Panzers 4x Czech Panzers 5x Panzer II C Early Leichte Panzers: 1 PzIIC Early, 4x PzI Panzerschutzen 2 tube 105 Battery

The Blitzkrieg is in full effect! Losses from the previous battle in the town of Petite Exterieurs still burn in the streets. Reluctant French infantry have been told to hold for as long as they can, as the sounds of diesel engines approach!

The Mission is Fighting Withdrawal. Like our previous game, I am not going to write a turn by turn. Let me say this- this game had some sentimental value as it may be me and Brian's last game! He is moving to California at the end of the month. He shall be missed!

GAME SUMMARY

DEPLOYMENT: Steven deploys the majority of his force in the huge wheat field where all 3 objectives reside. Brian actually placed both of his objectives side by side! Steven boxed himself in under the watchful eye o the 155s, 75s, HMGs, 2 HMG bunkers, infantry with attached AT, and the HQ mortars. Two infantry platoons were deployed in the Western part of the board. The Divisional AT guns are in ambush. Brian kept all of his czech panzers and Panzer IIs focused on the wheat field, while he sent his leichte panzers and Panzerschutzen wide, in an effort to sweep into the French defenses. Early on, there is a shootout between tanks and 75s. Eventually the 75s wipe out the Panzer IIs, but are lost in return. The 155s never do anything of import, and are eventually picked apart by 38(t)s. The leichte panzers chew up a platoon in the West outside "the wire". French infantry further west is pulled back in withdrawal. The British Guards hold out vs 3 assaults, but are eventually vanquished as objectives begin being removed. In the end, both attacker's objectives are removed with only the "primary" objective remaining. The reluctant french are completely surrounded, and out of their fox-holes eating bullets. In the end, however, Brian is one turn too late to nab the objective, and his only hope is breaking the french company. Fortunately, the company commander lives! And the result of the motivation check is? A 5. The French hold on with only 1 AT gun, and the HMGs remaining. Such an incredibly tense and close game- it's why I love Fighting Withdrawal so much! Brian was a true ace- Rommel would've been proud. However, just one turn behind the withdrawal, after spending too long trading fire with 75s.

Special Note!!!: Those GORGEOUS flame/smoke markers on the burning wrecks from the previous battle were very generously given to us by Shawn Morris of The Terrainguy fame. Make sure to check out his amazing videos here: http://theterrainguy.blogspot.com/



>>>>CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST!

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DAK Panzer Is

After a peak at Hellfire and Back at Historicon, I saw that the Afrika Korps now has leichte panzers options. I didn't realize any Panzer Is made it to the desert, but was pleasantly surprised! I was just about to paint a slew of them for Blitzkrieg, but had 2 extras so I did them up for the desert.

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