Eerde 1944

We played a Chain of Command scenario (Attack & Defend) my friend based on the fighting around Hell's Highway near Veghel (more information here).

The Germans are trying to stop reinforcements from reaching Arnhem by trying to cut the road north. The Americans (101st airborne) intend to stop the attempt with agressive counterattacks.

My Germans are defending the dunes near Eerde against my friend's paratroopers, supported by two British Shermans.

I read about the German Panthers taking out lots of Shermans during the historical battle. This led to the  assumption that I would be able to take out my friend's Shermans with my Panther. I was wrong.

A preliminary barrage prevented me from deploying anything, while the paratroopers were already moving towards my jump-off points. Fortunately the Panther did get through, but failed to hit the Sherman during the entire game!

The Sherman on the other hand, kept hitting the Panther. Not hard enough to destroy it, but enough to force the commander to spend his actions preventing the shock from reaching bail out level.

I was finally able to deploy some troops and slow the US onslaught. This included the German forward observer. My plan was to pin the paratroopers under a mortar barrage.

After the first volley, my friend used his full chain of command dice to end the mortar barrage by ending the turn. Trying to start a new barrage failed because I failed the battery available roll required after the first request for a barrage.

By this time I had my own full Chain of Command dice and used it to ambush the other Sherman with my Panzerschreck team.

But they missed (a double 1)!!!

The paratroopers and Shermans were now chewing up my Germans and things went from bad to worse for the Germans.

Luckily I was able to repeat the Panzerschreck ambush. This time with success. The Sherman which had been relentlessly shelling my troops was out of the fight.

This wasn't enough to turn the tide however. I had to withdraw the remnants of a squad behind a dune in order to prevent them breaking. The paratroopers quickly moved to the other side of the dune. With their superior numbers they threathened to close assault and wipe out the reduced German squad. So I decided to flee.

This sealed the fate of the German squad. The paratroopers marched and fired over the dune, wiping out the German squad, which couldn't get away fast enough.

The German force morale was reduced to zero. Victory for the Allies!

Escape from Aniron Part 5

The final showdown

Master Vhing and friends have escaped from the clutches of evil crime lord Zenyatta Mondatta in the shuttle Synchronicity II (read all about it here). They have landed at Lahini spaceport (one of Aniron's smaller spaceports) to stock up on fuel for the lightspeed engines. Master Vhing has just sent his friends to find fuel, when he feels a disturbance in The Force.

He is relieved at first when Master Yoda arrives at the spaceport with two Jedi Knights he saved from order 66. But then the Dark Side makes its presence known...

Darth Vader has recovered from the wounds inflicted by Master Vhing (see Part 1) and has brought four inquisitors with him. Bent on revenge Darth Vader heads towards the Jedi for a final showdown.

The bad guys/gals

The good guys/gals

It's business as usual at Lahini spaceport.

Customers and mechanics arguing about repairs

Lifter droid is loading do-it-yourself furniture

Darth Vader and the inquisitors enter the scene, startling the locals.

The Jedi enter from the opposite side, warning the locals of the danger.

The intergalactic furniture transporter has seen enough and decides to lift off and get away (random event).

Both sides approach each other while the lifter droid is desperately trying to get out of the way.

Darth Vader tries a Force Choke on Mezir Arpo, in an attempt to reduce the opposition, but Mezir shrugs it off.

Master Yoda attacks, striking down Vader.

Mezir joins in and together they take Vader out of action!

Enraged by the sight of their lord going down, both Sister and Second brother join the fray.

Mezir and Second brother simultaneously strike each other down!

Nearby, Master Vhing takes on First brother and Brother.

 Kovash rushes to aid Master Vhing, but is immediately struck down by Brother.

Master Vhing hits First brother where it hurts and he goes down with a wound.

Master Yoda dispatches Sister and scans the area while bystanders are either trying to find shelter or watching the fight.

Let me back in!!

Another ship takes off just as Master Vhing and Brother (again simultaneously) cut each other deep enough to take them out of action.

First brother and Kovash recover and get back on their feet, just in time to see Master Yoda swinging his light saber to strike First brother.

However..... First brother parries the blow and strikes Master Yoda. Master Yoda is out of action!

Now only Kovash and First brother are left in the fight. Both are wounded. They circle each other, looking for an opening or a momentary loss of focus.

Then Kovash uses The Force to execute the perfect strike. First brother goes down and doesn't get up.

With the help of Master Vhing's friends, Kovash brings Master Vhing, Master Yoda and Mezir on board the fully fueled Synchronicity II. While the severely wounded Jedi recover in the on board Bacta tank, Synchronicity II leaves Aniron's atmosphere and escapes from Aniron.

Imperial security forces recover Darth Vader and he is transported to an Imperial medical center.

A fitting conclusion to our Escape from Aniron campaign. My son really enjoyed the games and is looking forward to a new Fistful of Lead campaign. I had to bend the rules a bit in this last game to allow more than one leader for the Jedi and a large number of specialists, but the line up seemed fitting for a final showdown.

Project Star Wars part 17: Rebel Commandos

I came across a bunch of very reasonably priced Wargames Atlantic Raumjäger sprues on an internet marketplace and thought: these could be Star Wars Rebel Commandos.

After removing the very German WW2 looking gas mask canister from the figures, I also removed the magazines from the assault rifle type Raumjäger firearms. Star Wars Rebel rifles never seem to have magazines attached to firearms. At least not in front of the trigger.

The heads were another item which had to be swapped. One of the Raumjäger heads (with cap) looked OK for Rebel Commandos, but I wanted some variety so I went with helmeted heads and heads with caps from the Wargames Atlantic cannon fodder sprue. This also was a good source for backpacks and other bits. For the non-human members I used a GW space marine head and several spare heads from Legion kits.

More bits came from Bolt Action US paratroopers, GW Catachans and Mantic GCPS.

This gave me a Rebel Commando platoon consisting of three 8-man squads. Each squad is led by a sergeant and has an AT rifle, the Star Wars equivalent of an LMG and a long range radio. The platoon is commanded by a lieutenant. They are supported by a 4-man combat engineer team (demolitions, flamer, heavy blaster).

Coming soon to a forest moon near you!

Combat engineers

My kids bought me the Legion Yoda for my birthday. The box contains enough parts for 2 Yodas. I finished the first one.

Paradise city

More power armour gaming at the club last weekend.

The scenario:

A labour dispute has escalated into a full scale uprising. After first bombing the insurgents and defoliating the vegetation in their main city, the alien corporate overseers have sent a negotiator.

The negiotiator is however immediately taken hostage and a small alien task force is sent to extract him.

The whole area is littered with sentry guns/drones which can be activiated by insurgent drone operators.

All is quiet while the dust is settling

The negotiator has slipped away from his captors

Sniper team deploys

Insurgents take up positions and recapture the negotiator

Firepower still in their parking bays

The big guys deploy, but immediately come under heavy machine gun fire and several guided missiles.

An insurgent flamer squad and a squad of "power armour knackers" are closing in on one of the alien power armour troopers.

Reasoning that attack is the best type of defense, the power armour trooper engages in close combat. Unfortunately the power armour knackers inflict an enourmous amount of damage on the suit and the pilot has to eject to save his blue gray skin.

When another power armour trooper accumulates too much shock from concentrated machine gun fire and breaks, the other members of the alien task force leave their negotiator behind and retreat to safety.