Painting Canadian Army (Team Yankee) Part 2

I have continued to paint for some Canadians for Francis. I completed LEOPARD 1, PAH helicopters, M109s and some ADATS.

Here are some pictures of the LEOPARD 1s.

and some pictures of PAH German helicopters

Some M109s

And an ADATS detachment

Painted: 23
Total for 2019: 123

Working on: Canadian Vehicles (Team Yankee)
Backlog: German Panzer IIs and IIIs for FOW, and German T55 and BTR 60 for Team Yankee

Total for 2018: 375
Total for 2017: 392

Painting Soviet BA-10 (Flames of War)

I had to paint some recon vehicles for my Soviet force. This was a rush job as we were playing a campaign game the next day.

Painted: 3

Total for 2019: 100

Working on: Canadian Vehicles (Team Yankee)
Backlog: German Panzer IIs and IIIs for FOW, and German T55 and BTR 60 for Team Yankee

Total for 2018: 375
Total for 2017: 392

Painting Soviet Heavy Mortar Company (Flames of War)

I have not been  good at posting my painting updates. I actually did these before my Canadian M113s.

Painted: 4

Total for 2019: 97

Working on: Canadian Vehicles (Team Yankee)
Backlog: German Panzer IIs and IIIs for FOW, and German T55 and BTR 60 for Team Yankee

Total for 2018: 375
Total for 2017: 392

Painting Canadian Army (Team Yankee) Part 1

Francis has decided to get into Team Yankee, which is a Front Game system for set during the cold war. More specifically 1985. As I was serving in the Canadian Forces and actually in Germany from 1986 to 1990, I was very interested in helping him paint his force.

Francis asked me to paint the M109s, Leopard 1s, Helicoptes, and M113s.

The first project I started was the first batch of M113s. (45 of them)

Here are the results

Company commander (B Company)

As you can see Francis went all out and provided me with flags numbers, tac signs and licence plates.

I made a close up without the flash to see the licence plate and tac sign

First platoon B Coy is next

Second platoon B Coy

First Motar platoon

Second Mortar platoon

TOW platoon

and Blowpipe teams

This is the complete force so far.

Painted: 45

Total for 2019: 93

Working on: Soviet Heavy Mortar Coy (Flames of War)
Backlog: Canadian Vehicles (Team Yankee)

Total for 2018: 375
Total for 2017: 392

Battle Report Stalingrad turn Four

This past Sunday we played turn 4 of the Stalingrad campaign. There were only four people present, so I decided to play Martin and Nick played Duncan.

This was city battle, so there were options to play on a 6 X 4, 4 X 4, or 2 X 3 table. Martin and I decided for the 4 X 4 table.

Martin rolled for the mission and he got Contact.

Martin choose a Panzer III Tank Company and Grenadier Company.

My force was a Hero Rifle Battalion.

Martin started with 60 % of his force and immediate reserves.

I started with 60% of my force but had delayed reserves. So they would come in turn three.

Martin put all tanks in reserves. I put my planes, tanks, and scout platoon in reserve.

The initial set up is as follows.

I am using map symbols for the Mortar, Howitzer and Anti-tank. The red are the soviets and the blue are the Germans.

So the Soviets are in red. I have a Storm group on the left flank, a Hero Rifle Company on the right flank and a Maksim MG Company holding the large building in the Centre. These have 9 heavy MG stands. I also have a Mortar Company in the rear and a 76mm Anti-tank company in ambush.

The Germans have two Grenadier Platoon in small buildings a 88 anti-tank platoon on the top left, a Marder tank hunter platoon far left, a 10.5 cm howitzer troop at their back and a 8 cm mortar platoon far right.

The Germans had were attacking, but we both had two objectives in each of our zones. So really we both had the option of going for objectives.

The German first turn did not succeed in bringing reserves. Martin decided to advance with his Marder tank hunter platoon and did not manage to hit anything. The Arty was also ineffective as I made all my saves. During my first turn I return fire with my anti tank platoon and took out 2 Marders and one 88.

The second turn, Martin was still unable to bring reserves. He decided to assault the anti-tank position, but the defensive fire took care of the remaining Marder. His arty continued to be ineffective. During my turn, I would change rooms in the building to avoid having the arty do a repeat bombardment. One of my snipers took out the remaining 88.

The third turn Martin decided to attack with both infantry platoons and he got one reserve. He did not roll for it, but you get one on turn 3 regardless. His attack went very poorly as the Russian force did were not pined and had a lot of MGs. The defensive fire hit more than 5 in each attack, so the Germans were forced to pull back and were now in the open. On my turn I rolled for my delay reserve and was lucky and my KV 8s decided to join the fights. At this point the Germans had nothing that could take out the KVs as both the Marders and the 88s were out of the game. Not good. I started moving my forces forward using the buildings as cover.

Turn 4 saw the Germans bring in more reserves but now they were on the defensive. On my turn I rolled two dice for reserves and got them both. The tide has completely turned so I decided to to an all out attack. Both three infantry platoons were advancing. The left flank was already on the objective. My antitank company took out 2 panzer III and my KVs advance in flame thrower position. My plane finally arrived, but Martin made all the saves.

The fifth turn saw Martin move some forces to contest the left flank objective and retreat with his panzer 4s. My infantry was attacking on both flanks. Martins Arty had some luck killing some of my teams, but it was too late.

The objective fell on Turn 6 when both German formations were no longer in good standing.

It was a 8-1 victory as the Soviets did not loose any platoon.

Battle Report Stalingrad turn one

We played the first turn of Firestorm Stalingrad last Sunday (3 Feb 2019). I was matched up with Francis.

I brought a Mixed battalion list.

Francis had a Panzer IV tank company

This was the start state. I circled his force in blue. Francis was defending and we rolled for a couter attack. So he had to leave 40% of his force off. So Francis chose four stands of 10.5 cm Arty in the background, and two 88s.

I was the attacker, so I placed my T34s, BA10s, and AA Trucks on the road to go for the plane objective. My KV1s and 15 stands of SMGs were going to attack the objective in the defender zone. My Arty and Mortar company were going to try to take out some arty and 88s.

I had the first turn so my T34s made a road dash of 20 inches, followed by the Scout and AA trucks. My KV 1 moved towards the 88s and the SMG Company went for the Arty. Infantry in FOW fourth edition move a lot more than in third edition. My Motar unit ranged in on the first roll. It needed a 5 and took out one 88. The Arty also opened up on the Enemy arty and also ranged in on first roll and took out one Arty stand.

In counter attack mission you do not win till turn 6, so no real reason to rush the objectives, but since the enemy will be coming in bottom left on the picture, I wanted to make it to the objectives before they came on the board.

Francis did not roll a 5 for reserves, so no reinforcement. He also forgot to bring in his ambush. I think that I misunderstood his question. His loan 88 opened up and missed the KV1s. His Arty had better luck and actually killed 2 T34s and bailed one. Not bad.

Next turn I continue to move towards the Plane objective and move my KV1s closer to the 88s. I forgot all about the ambush. The SMG company attacks the enemy Arty and finally assualts them killing 2 more stands. Francis makes his last stand rolls again.

He springs his ambush and takes out 1 KV with his 88 and bails out one and kills one with his Panzer IVs. His anti-tank is 10 and the front armour of the KV is 9. So they need to hit the KVs on the side. He was able to attack with two Panzer IVs from the side. His Arty manages to kill another T34. Francis rolled a 5 for his reserves out of 2 rolls so decided to bring in his Panzer IIs. He decided to go around the forest to the left, but did not realize that my arty could also shoot direct.

The next turn was Turn 3, and I already controlled both objectives. The KVs turned to face the Panzer IVs, so basically imposible to kill. My scouts and Arty took out most of the Panzer IIs.

This is a close up of the Panzer IIs. (Francis used Stuarts as proxy)

This is a close up of my SMG company and KV1s protecting an objective.

Next turn Francis was able to bring in 2 reserve units and brought in Marders and his Formation commander. On my turn I was able to kill the 2 Marders with my T34s.

I was also able to finish of the Panzer IIs.

The last turn saw the Panzer IVs come out of the forest to put pressure on the objective.

The picture is a little blury, but on my turn I was able to kill all Panzer IVs with my KVs and the Formation commander with my T34s.

So it was game over. An 8-1 victory as Francis did not kill one of my platoons.

Francis is still learning the game and I was very lucky with my rolls.

Battle Report Flames of War game with Francis

We decided to play a game to understand the new lists for Stalingrad. I was playing using the enemy at the gates and Francis was playing with Iron Cross. We used the mid-war edition 4 rules of flames of war.

I tried the mixed tank battalion list. Strange thing with this list is that there is no Formation commander. With only 100 points I took a KV-1 Company, a T-34 Company. In the support I took KV-8s, BA-10 armoured car platoon, 76mm Artillery Battery, and DShK AA MG Platoon.

Francis took 2 Panzer IV platoons, one Heavy scout platoon, one Panzer Grenadier Platoon, and one platoon of 88s.

Now the issue with this list is that you only have 2 Formation units. So if you lose one you are broken and lose the game.

We rolled for the mission and got Dust Up. This is a meeting engagement with both players only taking 60 % of their list. This left me with only the KV-1 and DShK AA MG platoon.

This is the start state. The picture is taken from the German perspective. My four KV 1s are hiding behind a hill. The Germans are protecting one objective with a panzer grenadier platoon and the other with two 88s. A panzer IV platoon is kind of between both objectives.

The next picture is a view of the German position.

My plan is to charge the 88s and put pressure on the objective.

Now this can go terribly wrong. When the KVs move they get a 1+ to their roll as they are overworked. The old Flames of War rules where hens and chick. Same outcome. The 88s are gone to ground and in concealment so impossible to hit.

The Soviets got the first turn and charged the guns. The Germans fired the 88s and only killed one KV 1. Now it only takes a 2 to hit a KV 1 which goes to 3 because they where more than 16 inches away. The KVs have a front armour of 9 which goes to 10 because they are being hit over 16 inches. They 88s have an anti-tank of 14, so you need to roll a 4 or higher to not die. I was able to save 2 out of the 3 shots. The 88 made its firepower roll, so the end result was one kill. Again this could have been much worst.

My return fire managed to Kill one 88. I needed a 6 to hit with 6 shots. I got one hit out of 6 dies. Then I needed Francis to miss his save. A roll of 4+. Then I needed to make my firepower roll of 3+. So this was a lucky set of rolls. The next turn Francis failed to roll the last stand, so both 88s were lost.

The only good thing for the Germans is that the KVs are not very fast. As you can see in the previous picture the Germans have decided to put pressure on the Soviet objectives. They left their Formation commander behind to protect the other objective. The Formation commander had a long barrel gun. With a front armour of 9 and a side armour of 8, this was the only tank that could penetrate the armour.

The following picture is the German force starting to put pressure on the objectives in the Soviet zone. You can notice KV-8s rushing back to protect the objectives. The KV 8s have flame throwers and a smaller main gun.

The following picture is a little blurry, but shows my reserves coming in. The T-34s have better armour and guns then the Panzer IVs, so the Panzers were not able to kill one tank.

This was pretty much game over for the Germans.

The KVs are moving on the objective.

So this was a Soviet win, but could have been a German win if the 88s were a little luckier.

Still was a fun game in preparation for our Campaign.