What a Walker, Martians vs Space Marines

Time for a holiday game with son #3. He wanted to play a game ever since I finished the giant Martian robot/walker model from Mantic. I dug up my 40K cityfight buildings (because the walker is so big it is going to need lots of cover) and 2 Space Marine Dreadnoughts. Two additional tripod walkers (which started their life as McDonalds toys) for the Martians gave them some extra punch.

We used the What a Tanker rules from the Lardies with some modifications (look here).

Martian Bipod: Armour 8, Strike 10, Large

Martian Tripod: Armour 5, Strike 8, Large 

Space Marine Dreadnought "Raptor": Armour 4, Strike 7, Small 

Space Marine Dreadnought "Bloodwing": Armour 4, Strike 9, Small

My son played the Martians (of course), while I played the Space Marines.

We rolled for the scenario: Longball!

Deployment of the Martians barely visible on a picture taken by an imperial spy drone

My son moves his Martians forward down Main street while I'm trying to position my Dreadnoughts.

Imperial citizens searching the rubble freeze in fear as the Martian monstrosity approaches

I plan to catch the Martians on the square in a crossfire and keep moving my Dreadnoughts towards the corners of the upper right and lower middle building.

But the sequence dice roll lets my son fire his Tripod Martian Death Ray first.

"Bloodwing" has taken some temporary damage, but nothing serious.

"Raptor" and the second Martian tripod exchange shots but these fail to cause damage.

But now it is the giant Martian bipod walker's turn. It fires it's Super Martian Death Ray.

And "Bloodwing" explodes!

The second Martian tripod clears the corner and "Raptor", having lost the benefit of cover, decides to retreat behind the building.

The nearest Martian tripod moves in to crush the Dreadnought but "Raptor" melts its legs with his Meltacannon and it crashes down.

For the Emperor!

 Through the billowing smoke from their destroyed comrades, the Giant Martian and "Raptor" now face each other across Main street.

This town ain't big enough for both of us

The Giant Martian fires first but only scorches the road with its Super Death Ray.

Unfortunately for "Raptor", the remaining Martian tripod emerges behind the building and blasts the Dreadnought with its Death Ray.

 Game over for me...

The road to Majorksi

The fourth scenario in our Chain of Command Winter storm campaign. Previously, the Soviets were stopped from taking Pohklebin (read all about it here). Some Soviet elements pushed past Pohklebin however, and attacked towards Majorski. 

 The table setup for this scenario required level (slightly undulating) ground with a pronounced depression on the Soviet side. I thought of several ways on how to achieve this. In the end I chose to build a slope out of high density polystyrene and elevate two boards (I mostly use a table divided in 3 boards for easy storage) with some books.

side view of the boards

View from the Soviet side

This time I didn't forget to take a picture of the Patrol Phase and jump off point set-up.

The Soviets activated first and deployed a Maxim MMG and a squad in overwatch. Immediately a Panzer 4 appeared on the road and a German squad deployed in the scrub, just outside the firing angle of the Maxim, but within view of the Soviet squad.

At that point events started unfolding rapidly. The Germans must have been on Pervetin because they had several runs of sequential phases (double 6's), giving the Soviets not much chances to react.

The Panzer 4 showered the Maxim with HE, while the full German platoon deployed rapidly and unleashed volleys of fire towards the Soviets, using their MG's to full effect.

Feuer frei!

The Soviet AT gun failed to make a dent in the Panzer 4. Unrelenting fire from the Germans caused  shock and casualties among the Soviet Maxim and AT crews, breaking their will to continue the fight.

The Soviet Leytenant deployed and rallied the Maxim crew.

Forward comrades, for the motherland!

At the same time the last Soviet squad deployed to protect the Soviet jump off point abondoned by the Maxim crew. They managed to wound the German junior leader.

The situation was not looking good for the Soviets with the remainder of the AT gun crew about to rout and the German force morale still high.

Then disaster strikes for the Soviets. The Leytenant is wounded and driven off table together with the Maxim crew, where he will undoubtedly be subjected to some harsh punishment by a Commissar for leaving his post. With Soviet force morale at 1 and German force moral at a comfortable 10(!) the game was effectively over.

For the Soviets it felt like being hit with a sledgehammer. Their Maxim and T34/76 never fired a shot. The Soviet AT gun fired a single shot before its crew was scattered. The Germans suffered only light casualties.

So far the campaign is going well for the Germans. The Soviets have been unable to stop their advance, but it is still a long way to Stalingrad and it is by no means certain that they can break through.

The defense of Pokhlebin

 After they failed to hold on to Kotelnikovo (read the report here) the Soviets are about to attack the German lines again at Pokhlebin in the third scenario of the Winter Storm campaign.

The German firepower (2 LMGs per squad) made life difficult for the Soviets in the first 2 games, and this time it was no different. To make matters worse they would have to cross a significant stretch of open ground to get to the German held village.

Leading the Soviet attack is a lone T34/76.

The Germans deploy their PAK 40 and open fire, but the T34 proves to be a tough nut to crack.

Achtung panzer!

Suddenly there is movement in the wooded area. The Soviets deploy a platoon that immediately lays down fire on the PAK crew.

The T34 starts firing HE at the PAK crew. Together with the fire from the Soviet platoon in de woods, this inflicts a lot of shock. 

The Germans now deploy a squad in one of the buildings to counter the Soviet threat in the woods. Also the unterfeldwebel arrives to remove shock from the PAK crew.  A bit of a risk because this means the yet to be deployed 2 German squads may not arrive when required.

The unterfeldwebel keeps the PAK firing and finally the T34 is destroyed.

The second Soviet platoon now deploys in the area of scrub and sends a hail of fire through the wooden building containing the German squad. Casualties are mounting on the German side. An attempt to deploy a German squad in the building that overlooks the scrub area where the Soviets are fails because the unterfeldwebel was already deployed......

The PAK now switches to HE and blasts the Soviets in the scrub area. The 16 shots fired each activation by the German squad in the building begins to take its toll on the Soviets in the woods.

They have however one squad still in good shape. It moves towards a blind spot in the German line unopposed and without incurring any shock (two sixes for movement!).

At this point the Germans use their full Chain of Command dice to ambush the Soviet squad. Although the Soviets take some damage, their (wounded!) senior leader leads them in a charge and they wipe out the German ambushers.

Uraaah!

The Germans are now taking fire from their front and right flank and their left flank is open to the Soviets.

However, their deployment roll luck changes and the last German squad is deployed in the building overlooking the Soviet held scrub area. This is bad news for the Soviets: they are getting hit hard and their force morale is dropping.

On the left flank, the last German team deploys in time to block the Soviet squad from overrunning the PAK. Both sides open fire at point blank range.

 

Joined by the unterfeldwebel the team repels the Soviets, reducing their force morale to 1 and effectively ending the game.

Again a tough game for the Soviets, although the outcome could have been entirely different if the Germans had been unable to stop the flanking manouver. As it turned out, having a full Chain of Command dice available and especially a not unlucky deployment dice roll combined with a not unlucky arrival dice roll saved the day for the Germans.

The bridge at Qassad Uhm

 Finally a game again, after weeks of lockdown monotony. This time a game of Black Ops. 

The story so far:

Special forces have snatched the insurgent leader Barfani and delivered him to nearby coalition forces. It is imperative that Barfani is moved to a more secure location. Unfortunately he has to be moved by road because helicopter assets are unavailable.

Syldavian coalition forces are transporting Barfani in a convoy. The insurgents have been tipped off and have prepared an ambush near the bridge at Qassad Uhm.

Drone's eye view

The Syldavian convoy enters the board while the insurgents stay hidden on the other side of the bridge.

Syldavians survey the area but are unable to spot the insurgents peeking over the stone wall. A car is blocking the road up ahead but it is not considered a problem by the LAV commander.

More insurgents are revealing themselves while the lead vehicle traverses the bridge.

The Syldavians have still not spotted the insurgents and drive on until....

Boom! The insurgents detonate an IED, setting the LAV engine on fire.

Incredibly, the explosion does not end the stealth phase (in Black Ops, the defending troops only become under control of the player after the stealth phase ends). The Syldavians are looking around but don't see anything suspicious!

Finally, after several RPG's have been fired and the second vehicle has sustained damage to the tyres, the stealth phase ends and Syldavians (still in their jungle camo uniforms from their previous deployment in Africa) become aware that they are under attack!

Troops exit the second vehicle and exchange fire with the insurgents. The crew of the LAV have managed to extinguish the engine fire and start looking for someone to shoot at.

The insurgents lose one of their RPG men and decide to rush the LAV with hand grenades while it is firing at their buddies.

The Syldavians wipe out the insurgent team with the other RPG, but the insurgents take out the crew of the LAV with hand grenades.

Meanwhile, the vehicle carrying Barfani has reversed and 2 Syldavians have deployed in the building, firing at the insurgents behind the stone wall. The APC has taken up position on the other side of the road and is firing its GPMG at the insurgents behind the tank.

At this point we decided to call it a day. 

The insurgents had lost all their weapons able to penetrate vehicle armour (in the Black Ops rules). The road was still blocked for the Syldavians, but we reasoned they could reverse the damaged Hummer and use the APC to push the LAV and the car blocking the road out of the way, driving past the insurgents and out of the ambush.

It had been quite a while since we played Black Ops so we had to look up stuff in the rulebook lots of times. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the game, especially because it was an opportunity to use a number of toys in a game for the first time (the bridge, the vehicles, the Syldavians, the gaming mat, the stone walls and the building) which is always a joy.

Box girder bridge

 A bridge is pretty much an essential piece of scenery for wargames. Although I built an arched stone bridge in the past, I wanted a box girder bridge for WW2 and modern games.

When I came across some second hand H0 railway bridges, I got the idea to convert them for 28mm games.

The larger bridge was cut lengthwise and glued to pieces of thick cardboard. Bamboo skewers were added for stability.

Some grey paint to finish it.

I'm going to make a footbridge out of the other bridge with the help of a few popsicle sticks.