Sunday, March 29, 2015

Weapon Assembly & More

I´ve been fiddling around (literally) and started work on some new weapon prototypes that are supposed to replace and improve my current designs.

With some new material using plasticard and finer tools, I was able to improve on my previous attempts to create weapons in 1/72 scale. Again, training and exercise make themself felt and I´m actually pretty pleased with the results. Finally the frustration I felt earlier when building weapons is giving way to some satisfaction. 




Furthermore, I´ve been working on some more Portugese - the pseudo-kickstarter project for the Colonial Portugese is almost funded so I decided I might as well start sculpting, the chances of someone throwing in another 20 bucks throughout the next month are pretty good I think.


If you want to throw in the remaining funds, check out the project thread on the Guild and the preorder-scheme on Enfilade Figures


And here we have some more Islamic Insurgents / Taliban for a leadership pack, already packed up by now and waiting to be shipped to the production facilities..


That´s it for today!
As always, more stuff is on the way...  

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Mountain Warriors

I had a very productive streak today and painted away some of the things on my workbench and on top of that even finishing some more sculpts. I think I could go on deep into the night today, very high energy level today, can´t believe it´s that late already.

I´ve been longing to do some snow bases for a while now, trying out a new technique I discovered while browsing through the interwebz. Today I decided that I have enough insurgents to employ as foreign fighters so I could "sacrifice" a few of those to try out snowy bases.

I also finished a few more rock formations that had been lying around for ages - feels good to finally have them done.

So below, Insurgents with snoy bases + rocky outcrops as cover. I´m pondering with the thought of doing some dedicated snowy mountain warfare terrain and figures, but I know myself well enough that I´ll drop the idea soon...  unless I find some convention that makes building up such a force worth the effort. There is a local one in June, but I´m not sure if that´s enough time to get a high quality set done. And I don´t have a concept how to fill a table with such terrain.
We´ll see.

Anyway, Insurgents:




Close Quarters Carnage - Code Red Playtest Report

Yesterday at the club I had another opportunity to playtest Code Red again. I brought to lists, US Army vs. Insurgents and after a brief explanation of the very basic rules, we went straight into a fight. My opponent was new to the game but quick to pick up the rules and proceeded very tactical without major errors, so it was a fun and balanced game.

The table we deployed had a large compound in the centre dominating the battlefield and breaking much of the line of sight, with fields and rock formations doing the rest to basically cut the table in half. The Taliban chose to deploy on the edges and designated one of the compound buildings as the US objective.

The first turn resulted in a miserable command roll for the Americans, the Insurgents were able to seize the initiative and deploy their forward formations along the treeline and close to the compound. The subsequent turns weren´t much better, the initiative only once went to the Americans before being lost again.,

The US troops used one of their Stryker ICVs to deploy their mounted infantry close to the compounds. In hindsight, it would have been better to deploy both squads with the vehicles to secure the objective and the firing lines required to defend it quickly.


After securing the first two buildings, the US struggled to bring their second squad forward without losing cohesion with their leadership. The Strykers deployed in forward positions to provide flank security.  The Stryker on the left was targeted by an RPG, yet the rocket missed and the shooter got riddled with HMG bullets.

The Insurgents brought another RPG team into position, but the cell outright resisted any commands ordering them to shoot the dreaded Stryker again, fearing for their lives after whitnessing the devastating fate of their companion earlier.


Finally, the US Army secured the objective, now they had to hold onto it for several turns to secure victory. The second Stryker was redeployed to provide flank and rear security on the exposed left flank.

Small firefights erupted at the compounds, with no losses on either side, but a bit of suppression that had to be rallied.


The Insurgents moved one of their teams up slightly to contest the objective. Without Line of Sight outside of the building, there was not much the US fireteam could do to prevent that.


Strykers providing flank security while a Taliban cell maneuvers along the far side of the rock formation.


Then, the Taliban decided to launch a close assault on my separated team to drive them off the objective. Wanting to demonstrate (and test!) the bloody effects of close combat to my opponent (it was his first game and a demo) and with time running short for me anyway, I decided to hold and see what happened. I also miscalculated my odds and rolled badly...

Defensive fire felled two Insurgents, including a leader, but did not deter their assault. They went straight into a roughly equal close combat, 4 vs. 4, the US soldiers with better training, the Insurgents with better morale.
Again rolling badly, I failed to kill even a single Insurgents, while the Taliban struck down two US soldiers, forcing another morale check (again a miserable roll) and causing the unit to surrender.




Outcome:  US objective no longer under control, 4 US soldiers eliminated, putting the Insurgents in a position to decide the game with a comfortable victory points margin.

They contacted their HQ, determined they had done enough damage and started to peel off, leaving the remaining Americans to clean up the mess.


Overall a very good and enjoyable game.
I´ll have to tweak the surrender mechanics a little, right now close assaults are too lopsided in favour of the attacker if they can surprise their target.
The Insurgents appeared very strong in this game, mostly due to very good command rolls and lucky dice. They did not use their reinforcements, which would have added a lot of pressure on my troops, but I didn´t call in the Mortars either and one of the strykers never saw combat...

The biggest mistake on my side as US player was to have the second squad deployed in their vehicle - you can´t beat their 20" movement to quickly seize key positions. Instead, I had one squad foot-slogging towards their positions combined with above-average initiative rolls from my opponent.

You never stop learning!

Until next time,
BG



Monday, March 16, 2015

I Hate DPM - SAS Painted

Painted up the first set of SAS from my latest releases at Enfilade figures:

1.) Photo with "Cold" Light Settings


2.)  Photo with "Warm" Light Settings



Still working on the other set with M16s, should be painted up soonish, the hardest part is done. (Yes I´m talking about you, dreaded camouflage pattern!)

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Working on Starter-Sets

Hey folks,

after a bit of a break I took last week, I´m trying to continue my work on the next release package.
I´ve been going through the range of available figures on my website, which feels like it has exploded throughout the last few months and decided what to do next.

My plan for 2015 was to flesh out the major powers, USA, China, Russia, UK, France and Germany. We´ll see how far I can push this before 2016 arrives.
As I´ve also been working on my modern ruleset, Code Red (progressing at a steady pace) I thought about putting together a few starter packages allowing new people to get into the period without tedious research on troop formations, equipment combinations, etc.  and allowing them to pick up the rules together with a starter set when it´s ready.

With these thoughts in mind, I restructured my release plans slightly. The next two molds will be focussed on supplementing the existing ranges with enough figures to bundle them into a few starter sets.

I´ll be starting with Russians (who just need 3 more figure to create a good starter-pack for a small skirmish force), following on with Islamist Insurgents (Taliban) and add US Army after that.

Of course I might be working on and presenting other things as well, but these will not go into the next few moulds but saved for later. Unless I get flooded with orders and have the money to produce them all at once.

So after much blah-blah, the next few Insurgenst for another Support Weapon Kit:


Next on the assembly line: Russian Platoon Command!


Saturday, March 14, 2015

Code Red - Mountain Village - Part 2



While patrolling through the Mountains of Arghandab, a US army platoon spots suspicious movement along the edges of the village. The platoon commander decides to detach two squads to clear the village by seizing a compound overlooking the centre of the village to observe the potential insurgent movement, while the rest of the platoon remains behind to guard the approaches to the village.

The local insurgents, alarmed by the US troop movement in their safe area, gather for a fight. One of their senior leaders, Al Hameed ibn Sayeed, is about to be trapped in the village and must be evacuated before the US troops can make serious inroads into the village and cut of their retreat.


US troops approach through the rock formations nearby, placing a fireteam on Overwatch and quickly advancing their second team (lower right part of the picture) to secoure the first compound.
Their objective is the blue marker in the central compound by the field.


The Islamists try to make contact with their leader quickly, before the US troops can take positions dominating the open field in the centre or outmaneuver them.
Unfortunately, they are too late, the Americans are already in position.


US Troops maneuver through the woods on their right flank. The Insurgents are sending a blocking detachment to deny the Americans control of their objective.


Under the cover of their Humvee and another fireteam, the Americans conduct fire and maneuver, bringing down their fireteam from the rock formation to seize the objective compound.
However, they have to clear it of any enemy presence in the surrounding area, which will be hard given the Insurgent mob gathering in the backyard.
So far, it has been relatively silent, but the battle is about to ensue...


Suddenly, the firefight erupts as the US troops are shot at by Insurgents in the bushes ahead. Being in good cover, the Americans are only suffering morale effects while they are able to inflict minor casualties. The Islamists try to use the opportunity and make contact with their warlord.


But despite being pinned, the US troops still mean business and evaporate most of the Insurgent unit trying to make contact with their objective.
Within two turns, the rescue party is eliminated, including an Insurgent leader, which will weaken the chain of command. Fortunately for the Insurgents, they were able to call in reinforcements with a new leader prior to this disaster, so they can replace their losses.


With the threat on the left flank eliminated, the Americans send a Fireteam into the woods near the Insurgent objective, trying to block off any further advances into this direction.
Dislodging the US fireteam from this position will be hard and require some concentration of force.


Meanwhile the battle rages on on the centre, with another US fireteam arriving at the objective compound. Awful die rolling by the Islamists save the day as the Americans are again only pinned. This was a key moment, as the close range firefight could have gone the other way around....
The return fire throughout the following two turns severele reduces the Islamists strength, including another leader, who is yet again replaced by reinforcements.


On the right flank, a US fireteam is caught by surprise as a large unit of Islamists enter the compound and head into a vicious close quarters battle. Despite massive defensive fire, the Insurgents only lose two men and through a streak of luck, are able to overwhelm the US Fireteam.
Three out of for are casualties, the remaining man surrenders.  The entire fireteam is lost!
Close combat is bloody!


Even with this major setback, the US forces are able to drive off the Islamists after several turns of severe firefights and another close assault on a weakened Insurgent unit. Desparate attempts to throw all available reinforcements at the US objective to prevent the capture and prolong the game can only delay the inevitable.
The Americans on the left flank have tight control over the Istlamist objective and the Insurgents find themselves unable to put enough pressure on either flank.
The large mob threatening the Fireteam in the field is finally driven off by flanking fire, breaking their morale and forcing a retreat. The objective is secured.


A US victory!


My notes on how to further improve the game:
-Casualty selection requires a clever mechanic, rolling which special figure is hit is too tedious and time consuming
-Close assaults are very bloody, un-pinned troops should have the opportunity to retreat from an assault to avoid getting ripped apart.
-a few minor things that need to be defined more clearly.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Code Red - Mountain Village - Part 1

(v.04 Playtest version)

We played an in-house test game last weekend so after months of only moderating demo-games, I finally had a chance to roll some dice myself and take the player perspective again.



We played two small forces (600pt lists) of US Army against Insurgent forces.

As US Army player, I put together a very straightforward list, selecting two Army Squads with good morale, a platoon commander with medic and a Humvee as an armored, mobile Machinegun-platform (GPMG).
As Objective for my opponent I chose "Exfiltration", which would require him to get a High Value Target out of the area to win.
The US Forces were subject to Western Medevac rules, i.e. serious casualties bleeding out if not tended to or evacuated to safe back areas.

The Humvee is missing on the picture

The Islamist Insurgents selected a well-led force of local militia with a few sparse support weapons.
All in all, they had 21 men (4 leaders though) but only one RPK-LMG and one RPG.

In addition, the Islamists decided to put in Rules of Engegement, forcing my troops to take PID checks to engage unidentified enemy units. And they added reinforcements to their list, so they could call in new recruits to keep up the pressure.

The US Objective would be a "raid and secure"-objective, requiring the US troops to capture a strategic location on the map and clear it of any enemy presence to win the game.

The Insurgents were subject to rudimentary first aid, making their chances for survival very slim once they´re hit.

The table was then deployed. 


Rolling for the starting zones, we ended up with the Insurgents rolling the faaaar edge of the table. As this table edge was very hard to reach (in the edge of the room, you can see the two walls...), we decided to roll again and ended up with the Islamists deploying left an the US taking the right table edge.

The edge would have been a better starting place for the Insurgents with more covered approaches and hard protection against fire. This way, the Insurgents started in a slightly more exposed location...


That´s it for now as I have to leave - I´ll be back with the rest of the report later (or tomorrow if time doesn´t permit finishing it today) - stay tuned!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

New Stuff

Reinforcements have arrived! New sets are available through my website:

Modern Russian Support Pack: 
-SVD Dragunov,  PKM, RPG-29  and RPO-Shmel-M



Modern German Riflemen: 
-3x G36  (some might be missing the handle, like the guys on the pic)



New SAS with M16:
-4x SAS Operators with M16

Preview, reference pic still to be painted but already available


New SAS with SLR:
-4x SAS Operators with Self Loading Rifle



Taliban Sniper Team:
Sniper + Spotter



Taliban Militia:
-3x Militia with SKS Rifles:



Available at:

http://enfilade-figures.com


Click the Banner to get to teleported to the webshop ;)

Monday, March 2, 2015

China - The Rebirth - Part 2

More Chinese for the oncoming squad:


Need to fix the helmet of the orange guy, it´s too flat. :)