Blood Red Skies: Battle over the Bartburgh.

Another game with Blood Red Skies rules. This time Michael wanted to use his Focke-Wulfs Fw190. We quickly created two opposite sides with RAF mainly equipped with Supermarine Spitfires and some Poles on Hawlkler Hurricanes. To make forces equal Michael added one unit of Messerschmitt Me-109. In that way, we had enough planes for 8 players. We fought over the town created from the buildings I found in our shed. You have to admit, they look fantastic.

SCENARIO: Tim Chant
UMPIRING: Tim Chant

SCENERY: Michael Schneider, SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Tim Chant, Michael Schneider, Bartek Żynda

1. Forces.

LUFTWAFFE

(Alasdair, John, Michael, Peter)

Rotte 1.

3 x Messerschmitt Me-109 (1x4, 2x3)

Rotte 2.

2 x Focke-Wulff Fw-190 (1x4, 1x3)

Rotte 3.

3 x Focke-Wulff Fw-190 (1x5, 1x4, 1x3)

RAF

(Bartek, Campbell, Fred, Tim)

Force Leader

1 x Supermarine Spitfire (1x5)

1st Key

3 x Supermarine Spitfires (2x4, 1x3)

2nd Key

3 x Supermarine Spitfires (2x4, 1x3)

3rd Key (Polish)

3 x Hawkler Hurricane (2x5, 1x4)

2. The game.

It started with both sides moving quickly towards the town. Soon the forces split. Alasdair, Michael and Peter attacked Tim and Campbell. Fred and I were little to the down of the table with John moving towards us. I outmanoeuvred John and split his forces, so I fought against a single plane and forced them together with Fred to withdraw from the fight. Then Campbell and Tim managed to force Peter to withdraw his Me-109s. Alasdair together with Michael forced Campbell to withdraw. Then my planes joined the fight, forcing the last German unit to withdraw. RAF victory, however, no planed gets shot down.

3. Links.

SESWC:

to be updated soon

FLICKR:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720314499314

Blood Red Skies: the 303rd Polish Fighter Squadron.

Something I should have shown you a long time ago, but the models haven't been finished yet. Although the planes already had a few games in which they shot down one enemy plane and forced to withdraw 3 German squadrons, they have never been presented. Today is the day. Here you have Witold Urbanowicz leading two keys of Hawker Hurricanes Mk. II of the 303rd Polish Fighter Squadron. The models are from Warlord Games for the Blood Red Skies rules.

All planes taking part in Forum Strategie Painting Competition (XXV edition):

https://strategie.net.pl/viewtopic.php?f=231&t=21556

Duchy of Warsaw: New commanders.

Duchy of Warsaw in 28mm, the next chapter. This time some new officers. 

CAVALRY DIVISION GENERAL

The figure of the general is from Morawski Miniatures. Next to him is the figure of Chasseur from the 1st Regiment and this is Front Rank. The Chasseur was painted ages ago, I just somehow left with one extra figure. I only bought an extra horse. The base is from Warbases.

CAVALRY BRIGADE GENERAL

The figure is from Murawski Miniatures. The base is from Warbases.

5th INFANTRY REGIMENT COLONEL

The figure is from Polkowski Miniatures and this is a 3D print. It has been printed for me by Tomek Rejf. As you guessed, I'm working on the 5th Infantry Regiment now. It should be ready very soon. The base is from Renedra.

INFANTRY BRIGADE GENERAL

The general figure is for Marchal Ney, which was added to the second version of Black Powder rules. I painted it as Brigade General. The figure is from Warlord Games. He is standing together with a fusilier of the 4th Infantry Regiment (the figure is from Front Rank). I made him in colours in which the future regiment (yes, it is next in the queue) will not be painted. I made him for 1808 and in winter uniform. My regiment will be painted for 1812, so completely different uniform. The base is from Warbases.

ADCs

The first two ADCs are from Murawski Miniatures. The first is painted as Guides Colonel and the second as General of the Division ADC. The base under the Guide is from Warbases and the ADS is from Warlord Games.

The next three ADCs are from Front Rank and the bases are from Warlord Games. One is painted as ADC to the Divisional General and two for Brigade Generals. They can be recognized by the colours of the armbands. The first one is white-red and the second one is white-blue. This is something I did not plan. When I bought one of the Chasseurs regiment packs, three horses were wrong. After an inspection of their website, I discovered, that they are special horses for ADCs (they don't fit anything else). Instead of making a complaint and then possibly returning and resending the correct horses I did something else. I bought the correct horses for Chasseurs alongside 3 figures of ADCs. Two are from the Duchy of Warsaw range and the third is from the French range. Sorted!

The Duchy of Warsaw in 28mm site has been updated with new models:

https://asienieboje.blogspot.com/p/duchy-of-warsaw-28mm.html

The Bridge. Battlegroup Kursk.

Alan asked me to play another game with the Battlegroup rules. This time for 250 points. It's always good to give figures and models some air, especially if some of them have never seen action. This gave us a quick game set in 1943 somewhere in Russia.

SCENARIO: Bartek Żynda
UMPIRING: Bartek Żynda

SCENERY: Bartek Żynda, SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Alan Hynd, Bartek Żynda

1. Forces.

SOVIETS

(Alasdair, Bartek, Gordon)

From Rifle Division Battlegroup

Forward Headquarters

Rifle Platoon

Maxim Machine Gun

Light Mortar Team

Infantry Gun

2 x T-34

Sniper

Cavalry Squadron

GERMANS

(Alan, David)

From Infantry Division Battlegroup

Forward Headquarters

with Heavy Car

Grenadier Platoon

all on medium trucks, with AT grenades.

75mm PaK40 with medium truck tow and 3 men loader team

Infantry Gun with medium truck tow and 3 men loader team

Timed 105mm barrage

Timed Ju87 attack

2. The game.

We fought the battle with only one objective, the bridge. Germans did not have any recce unit, which caused the Soviets outmanoeuvred them. Red cavalry (by the way first time on the table) quickly moved through the table and took the bridge. When Germans fired at them from artillery, they took cover in the nearest building. The rest of the Red Army moved slowly on the table. The attack was led by two T-34 tanks. Germans were unable to respond to that. The PaK shot a few times, but missed, unlike the Soviet tankers, who were exceptionally good this time. They managed to pin down the German guns and in that way eliminated them from the rest of the game. Then came some surprises for the Soviets. First came the 105mm gun barrage, but hit nothing then their infantry was bombed by a Stuka bomber. That caused some pin markers, but no casualties and their morale flew high! With more Soviets being able to join the fight, the German situation became very critical. Soon they reached their breaking morale point. The game was won by the Soviets, very decisively. As we still had a lot of time, we decided to continue the game. Gordon has left and I took his place. We continued the Soviet attack and soon Germans reached their breaking point again!

3. Links.

SESWC:

to be updated soon

FLICKR:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720314314972

Valour & Fortitude: French Indian War.

My first game of the year. It was Valour and Fortitude with French Indian War in 15mm. I think that the lists have been made by users, rather than authors. Let me know if I'm wrong in the comments section below.

SCENARIO: Mike Evans
UMPIRING: Mike Evans

SCENERY: Mike Evans, SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Mike Evans

1. Forces.

FRENCH

(Bartek, Michael, Peter)

1st Brigade (left)

2 x Line Infantry

1 x Canadian Militia

1 x Marine Detachment

2 x Native Detachment

2nd Brigade (center)

4 x Line Infantry

1 x Militia Detachment

2 x Guns

3rd Bridage (right)

2 x Native Detachment

2 x Coureur des Bois

2 x Native Detachment

2 x Militia Detachment

1 x Marine Detachment

BRITISH

(John, Mike)

1st Brigade (right)

1 x Large Line Regiment

3 x Regular Line Regiment

1 x Rangers Detachment

2 x Gun

2nd Brigade (centre)

1 x Regular Line Infantry

2 x Militia

3rd Brigade (left)

1 x Regular Line Infantry

1 x Rangers Detachment

2 x Militia Detachment

1 x Native Detachment

4th Brigade (on boats)

4 x Regular Line Infantry

2. The game.

We were free to split our forces into the brigades as we wished. The outcome is presented in the first chapter of the report. There were few objectives: the hill and the farm in the woods were worth 2 victory points each and 3 buildings in town were worth 1 point each. That plus failed Fortitude tests would determine the winner of the game. It started with a British march with 3 land brigades. The French were able to deploy their troops in the woods with some dummy marks. On my side, I created the safe circle and awaited the British. Soon British (led by Mike) were spotted and attacked by my Natives. I lost 2 units, but they shook some Brits and forced them to withdraw, so they could be rallied later. That was crucial to my defence, as eliminated the British numerical advantage. The final charge was repulsed and my objective was saved.

In our centre, John tried to take the hill at any cost. He carried a large number of charges on well-prepared Peter's position. Peter's flank was covered by Michael's light troops. Despite the enormous losses John did not manage to take the hill and lost almost all of his men.

In the first turns, Michael moved all his regular troops into the town and awaited the enemy landing forces (Mike). British slowly floated down the river and during that, they got shot by my Coureur des Bois. That appeared to be crucial as I managed to shake two of his units. That spread his forces into two separate convoys. The lead one finally managed to make land but the other was left behind. It was too late to change the outcome of the game. That finished the game with a decisive French victory!

3. Links.

SESWC:

https://www.facebook.com/Seswc.co.uk/posts/772127654944568

FLICKR:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/asienieboje/albums/72177720314168268