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Our game at Crisis 2015: Battle of Berlin

So, after keeping you all excited for days now, here are the game shots from our Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich game at Crisis this year.

To be honest, it is hard to make a coherent game report out of the game, due to all the chatting with people, explaining the mechanics, answering where the vehicles and models came from and so on. But I will at least try for a very short synopsis:

The Germans were a mixed Battlegroup formed around a nucleus of a Volkssturm platoon, beefed up, by a squad of Hitlerjugend tank hunters, a squad of SS Panzergrenadiere in a halftrack, some Wehrmacht Pioniere, a SS sniper team, a Pantherturm, 8.8cm Pak “Scheunentor”, a Borgward Wanze, a Panther and a Tiger II (Commander).

The Russians had a Platoon of rifles, with Maxim, Ratsch-Boom AT-gun and AT-gun team, an artillery spotter team for their onboard mortars and heavy artillery, a squad of Assault Pioneers, one of Scouts, three T34/85, two JS-II tanks and a lone T-34/76 (Commander).

Julian and I started the game in quite classic fashion. The Germans waiting for the Russians to run into the traps they had laid and the Russian tanks trading were shots with the Tiger and Pantherturm at long-range, while waiting for the infantry to catch up and protect them from the pesky Panzerfäuste.

During this time not much happened. Much like the Demo last year, both of us managed to alternate at rolling bad so we did not take out much with our long-range shots. (The funniest exchange was between the Pantherturm and JS-II who had problems spotting each other and one of the JS finally did and hit, he got a snake eyes for the penetration roll [he would have needed a three on two D6] only to roll a twelve the next round.) The most impressive exchange was the Russian sniper and one of the SS snipers killing each other, which left the lone German sniper to kill one the artillery spotters, pinning the other. When the Russina infantry command was also pinned, this effectively rendered the Russian mortars and Artillery useless (especially since the the participation gamers would continuously forget to unpin them). We also found out that a fanatic squad of Hitlerjugend can well take out a squad of Soviet elite scouts at short-range with their SMGs and a little help from the Panzergrenadiere. And that even with our gods eye view of the battlefield, it is easy to drive a T34 around a corner only to find the road blocked with Czech Hedgehogs and becoming a prime target for a PaK as a result.

Obviously things really picked up once the first participants came and played along, driving their tanks and infantry on without regard for losses. At that time tanks started blowing up all around the table and infantry perished left and right. This was also the first time I saw man-pack flamethrowers in use in the game and boy are they deadly assaulting buildings, especially on a squad sporting a fair amount of SMGs! All in all we had a cracking day and I hope the players had one, too. I will leave you with the pictures!

Der Russe kommt!

Hitlerjugend tankhunter squad besides destroyed Tiger I

Pantherturm and Volkssturm MG-08 team in the front, Tiger II in the rear

AT-gun position with the Volkssturm command looking on

SS sniper in one of the tall buildings

The Panterturm again

LMG position

JS-II advancing

T-34s advancing

Hiding behind the rubble

Hitlerjugend about to take out the Soviet scouts

Russian Pioniere about to assault

Enemy at the doors

Volkssturm advancing

The 8.8cm PaK

T34-85 taken out by the PaK

The end of the Pantherturm

Tiger II waiting behind the barricades

21 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on November 13, 2015 in Battlegroup, Bolt Action Miniatures [BAM], Fall of the Reich, Manufacturers, Rules, SS, Victory Force Miniatures [VFM], Warlord Games [WG], Wehrmacht, WWII, WWII: Germans, WWII: Russians

Battle of Berlin… small terrain items

12 Nov

So as the last post before the game shots from Crisis… here are the extra items, to add some life to the table.

Before we start… I also painted a whole lot of Tamiya 1:48th scale lampposts, but to be honest, those are pretty boring to photograph as single items, so you will have to wait till tomorrow to see them.

Up first is some rubble heaps. Now these are simple pieces of pink foam cut to shape, covered with sand, plaster bricks, some wooden sticks and painted to match the other terrain. These are just there to represent the bigger heaps of rubble. I think in the long run, I will have to do a few more of these, but for now… these will have to suffice.

Rubble

But another important feature in the battle of Berlin were anti-tank barricades. These took various forms. Some were just boxes made from squared timber, filled with rubble. Others were ramparts made from rubble with railway sleepers driven into them. I wanted some of either version. Again these were just done like the rubble heaps above.

Barricades

In some places barricades were simply created by taking tram cars and rolling them into the street. At times these were filled with rubble to make them harder to cost or move away. Now tram cars are virtually impossible to get in 28mm. Well over a decade ago I found a 1:45th scale Tokyo tram model on eBay and bought it. The previous owner had already converted the kit, so it could pass as a German tram. So all that was left for me to do last week, was to actually assemble it and paint it. I am really happy I bought this all those years ago, since I never saw any again and it makes one really nice piece on the table.

The Tram

Tram from the front

Tram drivers position

But what would any good defense of Berlin be, without a decent Pantherturm? This model actually came up as a left over piece. A couple of years ago I converted a Tamiya 1:48th scale Panther into a Bergepanther, using a conversion kit for a Solido model. This left me with the unused turret and upper hull. So a cut the hull out around the turret ring and build a bunker under it using plasticard. This was the based, and rubble added and I had the Pantherturm.

Pantherturm

And last but not least… some objective markers for Battlegroup: FotR. One is simply an ammo cart from a Kettenkrad. Nothing special about this… just a place a soldier would seek out to get some more ammo.

The next is an eagle and Swastika ornament that has fallen off one of the buildings and scattered on the ground. I think this makes a good objective marker to show the final days of the Third Reich have come and it now lies scattered on the ground.

The last is a piano someone carried into the street from one of the houses. Whenever I see the opening scenes from Band of Brothers (or the scene in the episode,) or any photo from a warzone of a soldier standing besides a piano, I feel it is a stark reminder of how war changes the reality. In peacetime music and such fine instruments have a role our lives. It is about beauty and what humans can create with their imagination, their compassion and their soul. In war all that changes and no longer is life about things like beauty and creation. It is only about survival and destruction. So I felt a piano would be a reminder of that. I am still thinking about adding some weapon to the top of the piano, to underline this and enhance the conflict between the two. What do you think?

Objective markers
[Image was edited to comply with German law]

7 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on November 12, 2015 in Battlegroup, Fall of the Reich, Rules, Terrain building, WWII

A big batch of WWII Berlin buildings and ruins

11 Nov

So here is the pan-ultimate of my “catching up with the work done ahead of Crisis” posts… the buildings.

For the Berlin buildings, I used MDF buildings from Commission Figurines. As some might remember, I had done two test pieces last year to see what could be done with them and a complete block this summer to see how the process could be speeded up. Last months it was time to do it for good and these are the results. In the end I was happy with the results and especially the time it took me. From the moment I put the first basic coat of paint onto these, to the moment I proclaimed them done, it took me about 4 weeks (obviously not nine to five work, but a few hours an even and on the weekends), which I think was a good time. And I was more than pleased with the overall results when put on the table. Before anyone asks, the cobblestone playmat underneath is from Deep Cut Studio.

Before I start with the pictures, please note, that some of them have been edited (blurred out) to be in line with German law. It is illegal to publicly use (and posting photos of your miniatures and terrain would fall under that) Nazi symbols like the Swastika, SS Runes and so on here in Germany. It is a criminal offense and even in the best case, being found guilty would mean that I would no longer be allowed to work in the job I learned.

But here we go:

Up first is one of the intact city blocks. They actually come with slots for the ruined floors, but I felt the building was too intact for damaged floors. So the slots were filled with match sticks cut to length (exactly the right size) and I build an intact roof with chimney from MDF, some pink foam and plaster bricks. So far the building has no internal floors, but I think I might eventually add some to it. Although, this would mean that I could no longer store some of the 6 part building blocks inside. Lets see what I will do.

The building itself is meant to represent some party building so I outfitted it with some resin ornaments I bought off eBay more than a decade ago. Which quite surprised me, since their sale would have been forbidden under eBay rules, but somehow it must have passed them by.

Berlin building

Berlin building (rear)

This is one of the damaged storefront buildings. The signs on the left are a small homage to Walt from Commission Figurines, who used some advertising for the Schultheiss Pilsner brewing company on the buildings he showed off as samples for the Kickstarter campaign. The other is just the name of a local butcher in my hometown.

Since this building shows a lot of battle damage, I added a fair amount of rubble (but still little enough to keep the building playable) and furniture to the building. The furniture here and in the other buildings is just cheap 1:48th scale plastic doll house furniture.

Berlin building

Berlin building (rear)

Berlin building (inside)

And a residential block. Now this one is huge (almost 30cm tall IIRC) and provides an impressive central building to any game table.

Berlin building

Berlin building (rear)

Berlin building (inside)

And this is another ruined block. While the ones above and below have a one-piece-base, this one is actually 6 pieces, which allows for a little more flexibility when placed on the edges of the table or going for a diagonal layout. Two of the corner pieces (left in the first picture, right in the second) are actually the test pieces done last year. While taking these photos it dawned on me, that I did not put any rubble on the pavements back then… something which will be remedied soon.

Berlin building

Berlin building (rear)

And another ruined residential block… not as tall as the previous one, but still quite impressive. and the extra top floors I added, provide for a nice sniper nest.

Berlin building

Berlin building (rear)

And here is the second intact building block. I actually intended this as a normal residential building, but when choosing a scenario for Crisis we found that one of the Battlegroup: Fall of the Reich scenarios actually provides rules for a hospital, which may not be fired at. I like that idea, so I might fashion some red cross flags for the building that might be added in the future.

Berlin building

Berlin building (rear)

And the second store front building. Now I allowed myself a few puns on this one. The store on the left is a plumber and his name is Nothdurft which in a slightly different spelling but with the same pronunciation means “to relief oneself” in German. This plumber actually exists somewhere in the north of Germany and I decided to pick it up. The one on the right is an undertaker from my hometown. He is actually called Hellfeier which is actually pronounced like the English Hellfire.

Berlin building

Berlin building (rear)

And this is it. There are still two more 6 part blocks that I did not need for Crisis and that will be done in coming weeks, but otherwise, this is it.

I have to say, I was really happy to see Walt the owner of Commission Figurines at Crisis and seeing that he liked them! This was the first time he had actually seen his buildings used as a whole set-up in 28mm and he was pretty happy with their looks. Which really warmed my heart!

So, tomorrow I will show you the last few pieces done for the game (barricades, Pantherturm and objective markers) and on Friday it should be the game pictures from Crisis. So stay tuned!

6 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on November 11, 2015 in Terrain building, WWII

Battle of Berlin infantry… scraping the barrel

10 Nov

So in the effort to catch up with all the stuff done in recent weeks for the battle of Berlin game, here is the first step… the last additions to the German infantry.

After having played WWII for well over a decade now, I have been in the comfortable position not to need too many new miniatures for this years game. Having nearly 300 Russians and more again when it comes to Germans (regular Wehrmacht and SS), there was not much to do there. Except for some of the more uncommon troops that were sadly thrown into the meat grinder during the last weeks of the war.

I know many people have reservations about using these units in their games and for some time I contemplated this as well. But as sad as the use of children and the elderly in fighting units may have been, it is still a part of history. And at the same time, very few of us (as long as we play ancients) have reservations playing Spartans, who were taken for training as soldiers at a far younger age, or Romans, who would eventually sell their vanquished foes as slaves. So I made the decision to use units of Volkssturm and Hitlerjugend in the game as well.

Before I start with the pictures, please note, that some of them have been edited (blue dots) to be in line with German law. Here it is a criminal offense to show certain symbols in public on models and such.

Up first are a few Volkssturm I did about a decade ago, which formed the nucleus for the force (and which I wanted to show for completeness sake). These are all Victory Force miniatures. The NCO wears the uniform of an Allgemeine SS NCO. Probably someone who managed to evade being send to the front all war long and now finds himself leading a squad of Volkssturm during the final days. And who will probably disappear to “get some orders at HQ” when the bullets start to fly. This model is a Wehrmacht mortar operator with his uniform repainted. All the rest of this squad are from the French Resistance line. Some had their headgear converted to make them look less French and more German and all have had the Volkssturm armbands sculpted on.

Volkssturm

Up next are a bunch of vintage Bolt Action Volkssturm miniatures. Always loved the guy with the old WWI Bavarian helmet and was very pleased to finally paint them up, after they collected dust for ages. The guy with the Greatcoat came unarmed, but I felt he did not look like a medic, so he got a Panzerfaust from Victory Force.

It was actually pretty funny when Paul hicks passed by the table at Crisis and actually spotted some of his old Volkssturm and Russian minis.

Volkssturm

Now I needed some numbers to field them as a complete Volkssturm platoon under the Battlegroup rules, so more minis were needed. These days this is easy, with the set from Warlord, although I still needed a Wehrmacht LMG team. So all the minis in the following pictures are by Warlord. Some of these are regular SS or Wehrmacht soldiers, but those either served as NCOs for the platoon or as part of the Panzergrenadier squad also used in the game.

And these later minis are up first. I had some bad luck with the fat SA officer, since the mini was slightly miscast, but Warlord send me a replacement in time. The battle never got close to him on Saturday, but if it had, I bet he would have joined the Allgemeine SS NCO from above to get some new orders at HQ. The NCO in the middle and the soldier with the Luftfaust to his right feature heads from West Wind productions. At one point I had used up all the not-so-cartoonish heads from the Warlord set and had to find something proper. The gas mask on the Luftfaust seemed proper. I know some soldiers operating the Panzerschreck without the blast-shield would wear gas masks to protect against the backblast, so it seemed sensible for this mini as well.

Volkssturm (leaders and NCO)

SS Grenadier with curved barrel attachment on his StG-44

And now the regular Volkssturm.

Volkssturm

The guys on the left and right got field cap heads from Victory Force. Again, I had only the cartoonish faces left for the set, so this seemed sensible. Plus if you look at the guy on the right, he is sculpted in a way, not a single helmeted head would have fit him. Even with this one, he still looks a bit like Quasimodo. Anyway, between these three, the one in the greatcoat for the vintage Bolt Action set and the one from Great Escape games (see below), there is almost a whole squad in greatcoats, which is nice, too.

Volkssturm

The platoon also needed a HMG and I loved the option to give them a MG-08. Rummaging through my boxes of minis, I found a WWI HMG team from Renegade Miniatures. The size of the minis was right and since they were lying on their bellies, no huge difference in their uniforms could be seen. So I just took their heads off and replaced them with ones from Victory Force. At first I had decided to just paint them in the brownish Feldgrau uniform, to represent the cheap uniforms made with cheap dyes late in the war and given to the Volkssturm. But with their regular headgear and a lack of rank insignia (the lowest Volkssturmmann would not get any) I felt they could still be mistaken for regulars, so the armbands were a late addition.

Vollkssturm MG-08 team

And last, some Hilterjugend (and Flakhelferinnnen). 6 of the boys and girls would form a tank hunter squad, with the rest of them (and the Volkssturmmann) beefing up the numbers of the Volkssturm.

Up first is the set from Great Escape Games, which was easily my favorite from all these minis, for all the character put into the youngsters.

Hitlerjugend and Flakhelferin

And the remaining minis come from the Warlord set once more.

Hitlerjugend and Flakhelferinen

12 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on November 10, 2015 in Battlegroup, Bolt Action Miniatures [BAM], Fall of the Reich, Manufacturers, Rules, SS, Victory Force Miniatures [VFM], Warlord Games [WG], Wehrmacht, WWII, WWII: Germans

Crisis 2015 Antwerp picture report

08 Nov

As some may have noticed, this blog went to complete silence the past 6 weeks or so. The reason is simple… I wanted to make sure I finished all the terrain and minis for our game at Crisis in Antwerp yesterday. At that point I decided, that even the time needed to write a blogpost might have been too much. But it paid off since everything was ready in due time. But before I start catching up (once more this year), here is the annual picture report from Crisis showing the games hosted there! Hope you enjoy it! (I will try to comment where I know what it was.)

Up first the mandatory aerial reconnaissance of the first hall. The view is a big more restricted this year, so it does not give you the whole vista… sorry!
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28mm Quatre Bras Crisis 2015_0067_bearbeitet-1

28mm Fantasy Crisis 2015_0066_bearbeitet-1

15mm American Civil War

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Flames of War North Africa Crisis 2015_0062_bearbeitet-1

15mm World War II Crisis 2015_0061_bearbeitet-1

15mm World War One

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28mm Waterloo

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Again 28mm Quatre Bras Crisis 2015_0055_bearbeitet-1 Crisis 2015_0054_bearbeitet-1

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25mm Ancients (I think Carthage vs. Rome)

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Flames of War Eastern Front Crisis 2015_0046_bearbeitet-1

Monte Casino in 28mm

Which worked out fine with the forced perspective of the Casino ridge. Crisis 2015_0045_bearbeitet-1

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Bastogne in 28mm (IIRC hosted by the Bastonge Museeum)

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28mm World War II (Chain of Command) Crisis 2015_0041_bearbeitet-1

Grand tactical Waterloo (with a very friendly Napoleon)

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Boxer Rebellion in 28mm Crisis 2015_0037_bearbeitet-1

Lützen 1632 in 28mm

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Wacht am Rhein preview demo for Battlegroup in 20mm Crisis 2015_0032_bearbeitet-1

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D-Day

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Bolt Action Crisis 2015_0027_bearbeitet-1

Great Northern War Crisis 2015_0026_bearbeitet-1

Kings of War Crisis 2015_0025_bearbeitet-1

Frostgrave Demo Crisis 2015_0024_bearbeitet-1

Freebooters Fate demo Crisis 2015_0023_bearbeitet-1

Nine Years War (Alde Garde) Crisis 2015_0022_bearbeitet-1

54mm Plancenoit (Durham Wargames Group) Crisis 2015_0020_bearbeitet-1

Ancients Naval Crisis 2015_0018_bearbeitet-1

Invasion of Russia Crisis 2015_0017_bearbeitet-1 Crisis 2015_0016_bearbeitet-1

Mexico (Crush the Kaiser)

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German invasion of the Netherlands 1940 Crisis 2015_0013_bearbeitet-1 Crisis 2015_0012_bearbeitet-1

Plancenoit 1815 in 28mm (THS) Crisis 2015_0010_bearbeitet-1 Crisis 2015_0008_bearbeitet-1 Crisis 2015_0009_bearbeitet-1 Crisis 2015_0007_bearbeitet-1

I think this was another Lützen in 25mm Crisis 2015_0006_bearbeitet-1

Dust demo (Tactica Hamburg) Crisis 2015_0004_bearbeitet-1 Crisis 2015_0003_bearbeitet-1

Operation Longcloth, Birma 1943

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And last but not least, a first picture of our Battlegroup “Fall of the Reich” demo game. Fear not… there will be many more pictures to show in the coming days!

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16 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on November 8, 2015 in Uncategorized

SAGA German Grand Melee AAR

22 Sep

So after a day of catching up, here is a short recap of the German SAGA Grand Melee that took place this weekend.

I have to say it was a great weekend. For one I cannot thank the organizers (Mirco and Jens) more. The event was run very smooth and in the most friendly manner. Nothing more than could be hoped for. Also Mirco really made a stalwart effort in the past weeks, creating 16 very nice SAGA tables with superb terrain for us to play on. Thanks a lot for all that!!! [BTW: You might very well take a look at his website Stronghold Terrain for some of the very nice terrain we played upon.]

And I could not have hoped for better companions on this tournament. Each and every single game was great fun and I could not have hoped for better people to play ~~against~~ with! Thank you all!!!

Now on to the event itself. As some readers might have realized, I played Byzantines. I have to admit that they were not my first choice, but I felt that most of the scenarios were best suited for cavalry and since Byzantines were my only cavalry army (which needs and will be remedied soon), this was what I had to play with:

1 mounted Strategos (Warlord)

1 unit of 8 Kavallaroi (mounted Heathguards)

[I had contemplating splitting the unit for some scenarios, but decided against it in the end)

1 unit of 4 Kavallaroi (mounted Heathguards with bows)

1 unit of 8 Kontaratoi (foot Warriors with shields and spears)

2 units of 8 Toxotai each (foot Warriors with bows)

So lets see what they were up against:

1st Game (Clash of the Warlords) vs. Milites Christi:

Milites Christi came as a nasty surprise to me. For the first round, only Dark Age armies were supposed to be paired against one another. Unfortunately the Byzantines were put in the Crusades category on historical grounds and I had to find out very quickly, that a Crusader Army was much better suited to this scenario than a Dark Age one. :-(

My opponent used a Warband led by Raymond du Puy, which featured 12 mounted Heathguards (split into two units of 6), 12 Warriors with crossbows and 4 mounted Warriors.

Right up at the beginning of the game I had to pay dearly for my ignorance. I knew that there was an Errata / FAQ for SAGA. I could not find it online on Thursday night and thought “how much can be in there that is not just cosmetic?”. Well turned out, a lot and I had to learn it all the hard way.
But all that being said… it all started going badly from the start. I lost the initiative roll and before I could do anything, this crossbows shot 6 of my Heathguards out of their saddles. The rest of the game did not go much better. My opponent managed to push his Piety high from the start and this meant he could always draw a lot of extra dice from his combat pool. Combined with a SAGA ability that allowed him to turn his own Fatigue into attack dice, this turned into a meat grinder. Neither of us managed to kill the enemy Warlord so the close combat kills decided the winner. I almost managed to get to a draw none the less, but to be honest… my opponent never even used one of his Heathguard units and the mounted Warriors (they protected his Warlord the whole game), while I had to go on an all out offensive in the end.

So in the end it was quite a clear loss for me. Not a good start to the Grand Melee.

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015
(1st game vs. Milites Christi)

2nd Game (Holy Ground) vs. Milites Christi:

I had learned to hate the Milites Christi in my first game and was quite sad to draw them again for the second game.

So what did my new opponent field this time?

The Warband was led by a normal mounted Warlord and featured 3 units of 4 mounted Heathguards each, 12 Warriors on foot with close combat weapons and 12 warriors on foot with crossbows.

From the very start I had a bad feeling. He deployed all his Warriors infront of one of the target woods and his Warlord and Heathguards spread over the middle and on the other flank. I felt my archers would be useless in the woods so I deployed them in the centre with only my spearmen to oppose the enemy Warriors. My mounted archers were deployed on the right flank and the other Heathguards centre. Since my opponent had the initiative, I had expected him to take the hills fast with his cavalry, where I would have had real problems dislodging them, but this did not happen (for fear of my archers, as he told me later) and he only advanced this crossbows into the woods. My spearmen marched into the same woods and even got into close combat with his crossbows. Now over the next few rounds I rolled exceptionally good on all combat inside the woods and both his Warrior units were unable to dislodge them and were only able to reduce them to 3 men (units of 3 men or less were unable to score victory points for holding an objective) on the 4th round.

On the other flank I had all my cavalry and archers on the two hills by the second round. Now he had real problems dislodging my troops. Even when he won a close combat, I was unable to withdraw due to my troops being deployed in lines behind the other and so he had to withdraw. At the same time I was quick to reduce his Heathguard units to 3 or less men. At the end of the 4th round, only my archer units were large enough to still score victory points, but the same was true for his heavily depleted Warriors. Since I was already about 30 victory points in the lead and he only had a chance to gain a maximum of 5 points a round (and only if he was able to reduce my archers further and I did not kill any more of his Warriors), we called the game off with a decisive victory for me.

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015
(2nd game vs. Milites Christi)

3rd Game (Battle Twilight [10 points for a Victory]) vs. Normans:

[Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of this game!]

For the third game a finally got to play against a Dark Age army… namely the Normans. They were led by a mounted Warlord and consisted of 4 mounted Heathguards, 8 Warriors with Crossbows, 8 Warriors on foot, two units of 8 Warriors on horseback and 12 peasants with bows.

I had deployed my huge block of Warriors right on the border between two table quarters, which meant I could choose which of the two quarters they were supposed to score for. This proved great throughout the game, since they could remain quite stationary, score the victory points where needed most and shoot it out with the enemy archers and crossbows. All in all my opponent and I were on an even footing and for the first 3 rounds we both scored 2 points each (giving each of us 6 points in total). Only then did the scales tip, when I managed to kill his Warlord and reduce his Heathguards below 3 men while my Heathguards managed to stay virtually intact almost for the whole game. So in the end I won with 12 victory points vs. 8.

Something that I need to mention about this game is how much fun it was. As I said before, every opponent I played was great, but I honestly think, I never had so much fun and laughed so much during a game.

So I ended the first day on the 9th place.

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015*
(Inside the Longhouse)

4th Game (Last Stand) vs. Norse Gail:

The Norse Gail were a bit of a wild card for. I had never played them and from a quick look at their battle board, I had no idea how most of their abilities worked. The Warband consisted of one Warlord with a Dane Axe, 40 Warriors with Dane Axes (which would be spread over 8 units of 5) and 12 Levies with Javelins (which would be spread over 3 units of 4).

In this scenario, we each had to say, how many rounds it would take us to annihilate the enemy. The player who bid lower would be the attacker and would have to annihilate his enemy during that time, while the other was the defender and had to survive. I had a feeling that even with my cavalry I would not be able to evade so many troops forever, so I did not want my opponent to be the attacker with a high turn count. At the same time I felt that if I really pushed hard, I should be able to kill all his troops in 7 rounds. Especially since he would also lose the game, if his force no longer created SAGA dice, so I could ignore his Levies. So my bid was 7 rounds, his was 8 and I ended being the attacker. And it proofed a hard nut to crack. About half his Warriors deployed within the woods where I would have a hard time dislodging them with my cavalry or archers. And I had to find out, that his battle board could actually deny me entering combat with his troops. Things were only made worse by the fact, that my opponent would always put as many dice on the defense as possible and that he would not use my fatigue to boost his stats or lower mine, but rather let them accumulate to get my troops exhausted.

My first solution was to try to kill the Warlord as fast as possible and take out those Warriors in the open to reduce his SAGA dice, thereby denying him the better abilities on his board. This was easier said than done, since three of his units were reduced to 1 man by the end of the 3rd or 4th turn, but that one man always proofed hard to kill. In the end it was all or nothing, with the Heathguard archers attacking in close combat, my cavalry continuously charging into the woods and the Warlord attacking on his own. In the end it was a very tight race, with my mounted archers killing the last enemy Warrior on the penultimate activation of the 7th round, nailing me the victory. Not that I would have had another chance… by this time all my mounted units (including the Warlord) were inside the woods and had 4-5 Fatigue counters, the Warriors were exhausted, too and my archers close to exhaustion. If I ever played one intense game, this was! And if there ever was a battle worth a song in my Warlords Saga, this was it.

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015
(final positions vs. Norse Gael)
[This is a shot taken after the game,
so the Fatigue counters have already been removed from some of the units]

5th Game (God will recognise his) vs. Irish:

[Sorry, I for got to take a photo of this game!]

For this last game, I faced one of the organisers, who stood in with his Irish since there was an odd number of players. That being said… the stand in player already had quite a track record with three wins and one loss and he did not give me an easy game either. Which was great, since nothing is worse than a victory one did not earn!

The Warband consisted of a Warlord on foot, two heroes on foot, 6 Heathguards on foot, two 12 men units of Warriors and 8 Warhounds.

The battle went in a real see-saw fashion with most the of fighting going on in the centre. Units that were to return using the “Endless Warbands” rule would quickly reenter the fight from the flanks and always make their impact felt. The one thing that was a bit sad was the dice rolling. For the first two rounds we would alternate at rolling bad on the attack and good on the safe in one combat and bad on the attack and good on the safe in the next. From the third round on, this started to change, with my dice failing me completely. :-(

In the end we were half a kill point apart, which meant a draw.

The result

So in the end, I won 3 victories (one of them decisive), had one draw and lost one game. This gave me a shared 5th place out of a field of 27 players.

And I have to say, I was really happy with this. As I said before, I felt the Byzantines were not my first choice for this tournament, but the only mounted one I had painted. And the use of the SAGA abilities vindicated that. While I used the Massed Archery ability quite often, there were few situations where the others were of use. I used Kontos three or four times, but otherwise it was Support Archers (2x) and Strategikon (1x) and Withdrawal (1x) during the whole tournament. So not much mileage was gained from the battle board.

Another factor was that I had only played two games of SAGa in 2 ½ years (and both over the last month) and did not know the rules changes from the Errata / FAQ. Combined with the fact that out of all the Warbands I faced I had only ever played Normans it felt like an uphill struggle virtually all the time. So again, I was more than happy with the result!!!

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015 (group shot of the players)*
[yours truly 5th from right, with the mandatory facial hair and virtually bald head :-) ]

Final impressions

First of all, I cannot mention often enough, what a great event this has been and I am really looking forward to the next installment, hopefully at the same great location!

The only drawback was the poor lighting in the longhouse, but the organizers have promised that this will be improved the next time. What really amazed me, was how much such an event makes you want to get new armies done. I already have Normans and Anglo Saxons lying around at home (actually I have had them for over two years) and now the time has come to slap some paint on them. But I also fell in love with most of the other armies I played against. So I definitely want a Milites Christi and an Irish Warband now. ;-)

Anyway, I am going to leave you with some photos of the other armies in the tournament (at least those photos the came out OK in the light without a trip-pod) and some impressions from the open air museum park.

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015 (Viking Warband)

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015 (Norman Warband)

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015 (Jomsviking Warband)

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015
(Impressions from the park / Saxon Longhouse)

SAGA German Grand Melee 2015
(Impressions from the park)

15 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on September 22, 2015 in Byzantines, Medival, Normans, Rules, SAGA, Vikings

New Byzantine Strategos and the German Grand Melee

18 Sep

Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on September 18, 2015 in Byzantines, Medival, Rules, SAGA

Borgward Wanze

30 Aug

As I said in yesterday’s post… Virtually all the vehicles for the Battle of Berlin game were done ages ago. But one I defiantly wanted was a Borgward Wanze. The Wanze was a typical late war stop gap solution of the Third Reich. The vehicle itself is based on the Borgward B IV Ladungsträger (SdKfz. 301).

Germany had some stocks of these vehicles left. It was the heaviest of the Ladungsträger in use, but it had some drawbacks. The biggest was that the driver had to drive it close to the target and get of. From that point on it was radio controlled to the target. Due to its larger size, it provided a better target than lets say the Goliath. In 1942/43 it’s armour no longer was sufficient to protect it. The vehicle had already proven to be useless in its intended role as an ammo carrier and mine clearer, so they were pulled out of service.

When the Allies got ever closer to Germany, a tank was needed that was small and agile (to operate in the ruins of German cities), yet pack a lot of punch vs. enemy tanks. So the drivers compartment and gunners position got some extra armour and it was fitted with 6 Panzerschreck 88mm AT rocket launchers that were linked to fire a single volley. It would then have to withdraw quickly to reload. Hardly any reports exist on its effectiveness, but I felt it was a must have vehicle.

Borgward Wanze (front)

Borgward Wanze (left)

The model itself is from Warlord Games. It is actually a very nice kit (only the bolts on the rear deck seem somewhat sloppy) with virtually perfect casting and nice detail. The only real problem I had with the kit is the arrangement of the drivers and gunners position. On the model the gunner is to the right and the driver left. On all photos I found online, the arrangement was the other way round, but I can live with that.

Borgward Wanze (rear)

Borgward Wanze (right)

For the paintjob I wanted a look that represented the history of the vehicle. So the body was done in a Sandgelb with green camo like one would find in 1942/43 in Russia. The new plates were done in a anti-rust paint colour. I also added some welders markings to the plates. I guess any welder worth his money would rather cut on the markings than besides them (= they would disappear while cutting), but I wanted them anyway. Weathering wise I just went with some panel highlighting with my airbrush and heavy use of filters. After some tests with filters on my Sci-Fi vehicles this winter, I felt comfortable enough to use them in my historical models so this was the first go.

Borgward Wanze (top view)

17 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on August 30, 2015 in Wehrmacht, WWII, WWII: Germans

Preparations for the Battle of Berlin

29 Aug

The time has come to prepare everything for this years game at Crisis in Antwerp. The obviously theme for this years Crisis is Waterloo, in line with this years bicentennial. Am I going down the same road? No. The Battle of Nations game two years ago was largely ignored (even though it was the bicentennial as well) and I would have been hard pressed to get all the minis painted in time. So what was my choice? The Battle of Berlin, after all that one has its 70th anniversary this year.

1st complete Berlin ruins city block

So where to start? Since most minis and vehicles for that were done years ago hardly anything remains to be done except for the scenery. Last year I already did few test pieces and the lessons learned from that were put to use this time.

1st complete Berlin ruins city block

Again all the buildings are by Commission Figurines, with some added rubble (homemade from foamcore, sand, matchsticks, wooden strips and bricks cast from plaster), wallpaper and doll house furniture. As I did last time, I also added an extra floor to some of them using coffee stirrers and matchsticks.

1st complete Berlin ruins city block

What I changed were some of my techniques. Last time I applied virtually all the paint by hand. This time I only did that for the outside walls, windows / doors and stonework applications. All the rest was airbrushed. I deliberately over-sprayed the bricks a little bit to create an impression of brick-dust in the spots where the plaster had come off the buildings. I also over-sprayed the rubble to create the impression of a heavier layer of dust around the rubble heaps. All the buildings also got a slight dusting with the colors I used for the rubble, to create a general dirty look.

Ruins (inside)

But there are also a few more lessons I learned. First I glued some tile and wooden floor imitations to the base, just like I did with the pieces last year. The more I do that, the less I like it. A lot of that gets covered up by rubble anyway and there is always a chance of warping. So in the future I will probably just cover up the whole ground floor with rubble.

1st complete Berlin ruins city block

The other thing is, that I must pay better attention to the floors that come with the buildings. For some reason I picked floors, that were all oriented the same direction. Obviously, that meant, that they did not fit for two of the corner pieces and I had to clip them down to prevent them from touching. I can not be helped anymore (and it eventually means that I will get the same problem on a mother two corner pieces later on), but I will have to make sure I do not botch up once more.

1st complete Berlin ruins city block

Up next will be some minis (actually tomorrow I will post some pictures of a Borgward Wanze), but then it is back to more ruins.

6 Comments

Posted by Burkhard on August 29, 2015 in Battlegroup, Fall of the Reich, Terrain building, WWII, WWII: Germans

Warzone Resurrection: Imperial Special Forces “Black Berets”

13 Aug

So these minis have actually been sitting on my desk done and dusted for nearly two weeks now. So it is time to show them:

These are some Imperial Special Forces (ISF) for Warzone. Or to be more precise on the sub-unit… Black Berets. The Black Berets have always been my favorites in any incarnation of Warzone, mostly because I liked their Black and Grey uniforms. So there was no way for me not to paint them one more time.

Their main mission is and always has been spacecraft boarding operations. And I think in this incarnation of the rules they are best suited for this. In this edition the rules the ISF got backpack teleportation devices. I think they are over the top on the average battlefield (and for that matter I could have done without them). But fluff wise they are great when it comes to boarding operations. No more docking to an airlock or cutting through the hull, giving the defenders time to mass their security troops there. You simply fly your shuttles close the the enemy ship and teleport into the next corridor. Sealed bulkheads or fortified corridors… no problem you simply teleport past those.

As you may have seen when I posted another unit, The Sterlings, earlier on, these minis are wearing gas masks, berets and diesel powered teleportation devices and those simply will not do in space. The backpacks were easy enough to change… simply remove the exhaust pipes and pistons and call it the nuclear version. While one can always assume their suits to be insulated and airtight (like any modern spacesuit), gas masks simply would not help. So I removed their heads and replaced them with full face helmets from Anvil Industries. Just like I did with the Sterlings, I removed they bayonets from their rifles (stat wise the models do not have them anyway) to give their rifles more of a carbine feel. I also fitted their carbines with a lot of halo sights and forwards grips to give them more of a commando look. The last two soldier got the Gehenna Puker Flamethrower… nothing clears a corridor faster!

So off to the painting table they were. I started off with the black armour and decided to paint their suits in a dark blue, to keep enhance their sinister looks. At this point I was slightly undecided which way to go. Black Berets usually have grey camo on their armour, but I already liked their looks as they were. The biggest problem was, that usually Imperial camo take large amoeba shapes edged in a light colour. But to be honest… every version I tried on these looked extremely poor and turned me off the idea. So in the end, I decided to break with the Imperial norm and go for a pattern of thin branch or lighting shapes. And it worked fine. Up next were the helmets and I always wanted something that enhanced their sinister looks. So a skull pattern was painted on the lower parts of the helmets. I have to say, the first one was OK, after another three I thought “why did I decide to do this” but after the 6th one (when I had found my mojo) they became fun. The visors were painted red as usual. Taking another break from the Imperial norm, I did not want their national insignia to stand out as much in blue, white and red. So I painted them in a subdued pattern of dark grey first, but that made them virtually disappear against the armour. In real life that would be the intention and fine, but here i wanted more contrast. I went for a de-saturated version in lighter bluish grey, which offered a nice contrast. The rest was just the standard fare, except that I did not paint their straps and holsters in green but black.

The last matter to decided upon was their bases. When I started, I had wanted to do the same trench and mud theme, that I have used with the other model for Imperial. Painting them, I realized, that mud would look strange on these and space ship corridors would be much better. Luck would have it, that just the week I finished the minis, my pads from the Basius 2 Kickstarter would arrive. One of the two pads was one I want to use for deck plates when my Alien vs. Predator minis arrive, so I decided to put them to the test. They worked out fine, after a few tests. I have to say though, that they are removed best using pliers to pull them up straight. The thin MDF bases I am using can cause some problems doing that, especially with the water you use as a mould release for the Green Stuff). So some of the bases, it did not work perfectly and the details look a bit soft, but I am still happy with them.

OK… enough talking on to the minis: