Belated update from France. Better late than never.

You may have guessed it - I started a new job in September, and was literally swept away with work. Completely forgot to update my last campaign game in our France 1940 FOW campaign.

It was a brilliant battle against Mark's BEF. I was really cocky at the start of the battle and actually charged his lead platoon with my PzIIs. And I learnt the hard way how effective those little 2pdr guns can be. Needless to say my PzII platoon was torn to shreds, and the 2 surviving tanks bottled out.

After the initial setback, my troops dug in and waited for reinforcements. The pioneer platoon dug in to cover my right flank while the center and left flanks were covered by the Luftwaffe 88 battery and supported by the CO and the 2iC platoon. In the meantime, the 88s got invoved in long-range counter-battery fire against the Britsh artillery, with Stukas joining in the action as appropriate. The combined and consistent shooting eventually wore down the British batteries, and they were never a real threat in the battle.

The British reinforcements in the form of infantry and mortar platoons, supported by Matilda I's came in from my right flank. The dug-in pioneers were more than enough to discourage the advance of those tanks. Fortunately for me, the British infantry advanced cautiously, deciding to go from wood to wood.

Why this was fortunate for me was because it allowed precious time for my reinforcements to reposition from my far left flank and into battle on the right flank. One light platoon, one PzIII platoon, and the 2iC platoon combined to make a complete mess of the flanking British infantry. And to make sure the British didn't have any ideas about moving his 2pdrs to support those infantry, one of my light platoons hung around behind a hill on the left flank, within charging distance of the British lines should he decide to move his ATGs.

The combined tank platoons and Stuka strikes eventually decimated the British flank attack, and my tanks were now sweeping into assault positions behind a wood. Then it was time to for the final assault, and as one, the 3 tank platoons of the main assault on the right flank struck forwards, while the platoon lurking on the left flank charged the British positions in front of them, thus drawing the deadly 2pdr battery fire away from the main attack. The platoon carrying out the diversionary attack was decimated, losing 4 out of 5 tanks, and the survivors hastily fled the battlefield. But it was not in vain, for the main attack swept up the British right flank and garnered victory for the Germans.

Only one infantry platoon survived on the British side. I lost 2 tank platoons, and while the 88 battery was technically still there, I had lost both guns.

A superb end to an amazing campaign! Thanks Mark for such a brilliant game. Seeing 2 nicely painted armies on a nicely built table in a campaign game with a strong narrative is always too much fun!

And after that game, it was back to 40k! I had resumed work on the AirCav, with all remaining squads now primed, and 3rd squad currently being painted. Vendetta #3 is being assembled. Should be good. Also, the Dark Vengeance box is a great distraction, and combined with the Dark Angels models from another DV box, plus a whole bunch of marines I've had assembled for a long time now, I think I have most of 1st and 3rd Companies to go along with my Ravenwing. Then there's the Chaos codex, and I've got the Hellbrute all primed and ready to go ...

so much hobby, so little time ...

5PD encounters minor setback in France

Having missed the first week of the campaign, light companies from 5th Panzer swarmed into France, making tremendous progress before being blocked by French forces under Le Nicque (bolstered by a truly unflappable platoon of British Guards, who no doubted caused the Frenchies to perform uncharacteristically well).

This was my first EW FOW game, and I must say I love it!!!! It's truly awesome. Playing the Germans, I learnt (a bit late) that manouver is key to victory. Static units like my 88s need to be carefully deployed as the rest of the force is highly mobile.

As it turned out, I could have deployed those deadly guns better. They didn't get much chance to shoot, but when they did, they easily disposed of their targets. But overall, my light tank company accounted for themselves really well, fighting the Anglo-French force to a standstill before being forced to fallback to regroup (how about that for well-crafted propoganda?).

I was slightly disappointed by my Stukas. French air cover was more effective than expected, driving away my Stukas about 5 times, but the couple of times the Stukas did come in they were pretty deadly.

It was also loads of fun to use the Pz I and early Pz IIC tanks. Being Armour 1 all-round, I really didn't worry at all about enemy firing into the flanks of those formations. The Pz III platoon were playing the role of heavy tank support for the company, and they were pretty effective as less mobile fire platforms.

Pz IIs are awesome! I might just see how I can form 2 platoons of those, as they are really effective tanks. The first kill of the battle (and the first kill by this brand-new army) was by a Pz II sneaking up the flank of a French Somua platoon.

There were a couple of short and sharp point-blank range tank melees. I think it's a valid tactic, but I need to plan and manouver those better next time.

My pioneers played their role really well. They were dug-in in forward positions on the left flank, and advanced with Pz IIIs and Pz IIs after the panzers and Stukas had softened up the enemy. Then they assaulted the enemy tanks, capturing the objective and promptly digging in to hold the objective.

Anyways, it was a blast! Had tons of fun, and learnt a lot from Le Nicque. Now I need to go find more Pz IICs!

Leichte Pionier and Luftwaffe 88 support ready to roll

I'll need to get more pics of this Leichte Pionier platoon up. Really had fun painting these guys, although it's only a small platoon, and I have yet to paint their trucks. The pioneers will lend some much needed engineering support for my advancing panzers, and will also come in handy to hold objectives.

The real fun part about painting this unit is that it's exactly the same as other infantry units, but being early war, I was able to do some different stuff (as opposed to late war). Like having their trousers painted in grey to contrast against the field grey of the tunics. Also, some tiny white markings on the left side of their helmets to suggest the eagle decal which was on Heer helmets in the 1940 campaign. And being pioneers, these guys have black lines on their shoulder tabs instead of the white for the regular infantry.

These Luftwaffe 88s will be sorely needed in the upcoming campaign, what with the expected stiff defence from French and British heavy tanks (and the fact that being a Leichte Panzerkompanie, the guns on my PzII and PzI tanks will probably need some help). These guys and the Stuka support will be most welcome (though don't expect my boys to start cheering Goering too loudly).

I thought I was being clever by repainting my late-war 88s for this unit - until I discovered that the crew are wearing late-war style boots!!! By that time it was too late to change course, and I finished painting the battery in early-war colors anyways, hoping that people won't catch the offending boots (and won't be reading this blog either). The fun bit about painting these guys are the red details on collars and shoulders denoting Luftwaffe gunners, and the little lines on the left side of the helmet to suggest the Luftwaffe eagle.

Anyways, my 5PD detachment is just about ready for the invasion of France. Only the Stuka needs to be finished, and that's almost done. Totally looking forward to the campaign!

More Progress for 5PD!

The tanks are nearly done! 2nd platoon got done last night, and that's the last combat platoon in the company. I must say the decals are the most fiddly part of the whole process. I just realized that the pic above shows the left side of the tank. The tank numbers on the right side of the tanks got peeled off when I got a bit too rough with the weathering. I'll leave it as that for now, but will go back and add extra stowage or something to hide the missing numbers.

The pic below are the tanks from Company command, with the 2iC getting the super-cool Panzer IIC, while the boss rides aroun in his little command tank. This platoon's almost done - weathering and final spray tonight.

Also, tonight I should be able to finish priming the Leichte Pionier platoon (7 stands of rifles) and the Stuka. And then we're just about ready to drive south through Belgium and into France!

Leichte Panzerkompanie: Progress!

The mark of a great campaign like the recent Legio Firestorm Bagration campaign is that it inspires you. And true enough, after a long hiatus, I revisited my FoW Blitzkrieg project - a Leichte Panzerkompanie.

When I left the project, I had finished a platoon of Pz II C and was midway through a Pz III E platoon. I painted the tanks with 9PD insignia, as this was one of the light panzer divisions operating in France. But my late-war 5PD force in the recent Bagration campaign did so well that I switched to 5PD instead. The other good reason for me to switch to 5PD was it was one of only 2 panzer divisions which used 2-digit vehicle numbers instead of the usual 3.

So for the past week, this is what I did:

1. Re-did the list based on my increased experience as a FoW commander
2. Painted German Grey over the 9PD insignia on my Pz II (3rd) platoon, and painted on the 5PD insignia
3. Finished painting the Pz III (4th) platoon
4. Went back and redid the tracks and weathering on the Pz II platoon
5. Basecoated all my remaining tanks in German Grey spray
6. Finished painting 1st platoon, a mix of Pz I and Pz II
7. Started prepping the Leichte pionier platoon

This hobby night, I'll start painting 2nd platoon, made up of a Panzerbefehlswagen, 2 Pz I and 2 Pz II. The army at 1750 points will be made up of the following:

Company HQ - 1 Panzerbefehlswagen, 1 Pz II, 1 Pz I
1st platoon - 2 Pz I, 3 Pz II
2nd platoon - 1 Panzerbefehlswagen, 2 Pz I and 2 Pz II
3rd platoon - 5 Pz II
4th platoon - 3 Pz III
Leichte Pionier platoon - 7 stands pioneers
Luftwaffe 8.8cm FlaK 36 - 2 guns with additional crew
Priority air support - Ju-87 Stuka, schwerpunkt

Out to 2000pts, and as an alternative to the 88s is a Panzerschutzen platoon of 7 stands and 4 halftracks. And you know what, I probably need some mortars too. And a Pz IV platoon would look good too, come to think of it.

Anyways, I'll focus on 1750 first, and we'll see what happens when the Blitzkrieg campaign opens up.