Action on Kalahari V

As part of our ongoing ‘Antares 2401’ campaign, a battle was fought last week between several squads of StarMarines and the pirate gang of Krypton Venk.

This SF campaign uses houserules for skirmish SF gaming, and the setting is definitely not doom-and-gloom WH40K, but more a mix between the StarTrek-MosEisleyStarWars-2000ADComic styles. Figures are mainly old Citadel figures from the 80s and early 90s.

Anyway, below are some pictures … not of too high quality, I’m afraid.

Overview of the pirate compound.

StarMarines of Gamma squad (aka Von RattKopf's Jammers) storm the compound.

Beta squad (aka The Shadows) prepares to attack.

Delta squad (aka The Reds) has breached the defences and engages Krypton Venk in close combat.

As part of the campaign (this is the 2nd game), each player has to write up a mission report, from the point-of-view of his squad.

Beta squad report (written be player Bastiaan Proot)

Our continuing mission to restore order to the Galaxy has led us to Kalahari V, where space pirate Krypton Venk established a base and was pillaging the planet's valuable artifacts.
Long range scans showed the base to be a small group of primitive buildings, next to a narrow river, surrounded by rough terrain. We had few options to choose from for our approach. Landing the shuttles safely was precision work.
Immediately after disembarking we came under long range Q-Cannon fire originating from the base. Luckily the shots weren't very accurate and the terrain provided ample cover to give us the opportunity to organise our attack on the compound. They were obviously expecting us. Fighters were dug in deep and had every approach angle covered. Starfleet Counter Intelligence needs to look into this: information about our imminent arrival got leaked or these outlaws have access to more advanced detection technology than we think.
Long range rocket fire proved virtually useless against the defences so a direct assault was ordered. My squad had the right flank. Our attack would concentrate on the building where the Q-cannon was deployed. We started to move in closer, first from cover to cover and eventually crossing the open ground towards the buildings. Enemy fire was punishing. Several marines got heavily wounded right away while our return fire didn't have any obvious effect. Specialist Leiffson got shot in the face and died on the spot.
By that time the assumption that all enemy fighters were inside the compound turned out to be wrong. An unknown number of the enemy fighters were trying to get around us and attack us from the back. My squad had to be ordered to back out from the assault to counter this maneuver. It turned into an ugly brawl really fast. Enemy fighters jumped out of the bushes left and right. (And no, these were not them wimpy "Salad people" the Jammers reported about.) We threw everything we had at them at close range. Eventually running low on ammo, we had to take 'em down in hand to hand combat.
When the dust cleared, Grakl the Razide, wanted in numerous star systems, lay dead on the ground. His companions had retreated. Nelson and McGraw got severely wounded in that engagement. Then word came in from the other squads that they had overrun the base and that Venk had surrendered.
Together we then secured a large amount of stolen artifacts and proceeded to dismantle the base. Several other high profile outlaws were taken prisoner. We then returned to the fleet with our dead and wounded.

Gamma Squad report, written by player Bart Vetters

Report by Star Marine Pilot Brand, acting commander of Gamma Squad, Rattkopf's Jammers

In the operation to apprehend pirate Krypton Venk on the planet of Kalahari V, Gamma Squad carried out a successful insertion in shuttle Werenfried. Gamma's mission in the plan was to advance up the left flank and attack the central compound suspected of housing the target from that flank.
Immediately upon landing, the shuttle came under ineffective fire from a Q-cannon situated on the roof of one of the compound buildings. As the shuttle had landed in an area devoid of cover, pilot Brand remained in the shuttle and piloted it to a safer position using the microhover mode. The rest of the squad exited the shuttle and commenced the flanking maneuver.
The flanking maneuver went unopposed until Gamma squad members entered a patch of native vegetation. Several members came under fire from the compound, while inside the vegetation, a native lifeform made threatening advances towards the squad. Star Marine Waldheim dispatched the native lifeform with accurate boltgun fire and proceeded to take samples for later investigation. Meanwhile, the rest of the squad was suffering from accurate fire from what appeared to be a small golden apparition in one of the compound buildings.
While the remaining two squads in the operation were still advancing towards the compound, Star Marines Waldheim and Packard were incapacitated by this fire. The remaining active members of the squad, Sergeant Schiffer and StarMarine Kretz, nevertheless bravely participated in the storming of the compound and left the protective cover of the vegetation in a charge befitting the long and rich tradition of Specops StarMarine operations.
Unfortunately, mere steps outside of the cover, Sergeant Schiffer was cut down by a hail of accurate fire and moments later, StarMarine Kretz fell under the claws of K'z'r'x the Termagant, still meters from the compound walls.
While this storming of the compound was ongoing, I, pilot Brand, moved the shuttle up to pick up the incapacitated members of Gamma Squad. I was just in the process of positioning the shuttle for eventual exfiltration when the signal came over battalion frequency that the pirates had surrendered and the mission was completed.

Gamma Squad roster after operation Venk:

• Sgt Schiffer - killed by fire storming the compound. Unfortunately, his wounds were too severe to revive him.

• Private Packard - incapacitated by fire

• Private Waldheim - incapacitated by fire
• Private Kretz - killed in close combat by K'z'r'x the Termagant. Medical technology however sufficed to heal him and bring him back to operational status by next mission
• Star Marine Pilot Brand - piloted shuttle Werenfried in a succesful insertion, intramission maneuvring and post mission exfiltration. No wounds received.
  

Recommendations for Specops HQ

• Cross train squad members in the use of heavy weaponry.
• Invest in unarmed recon drones.
• Investigate the samples of native lifeform.
  

No report received yet from Delta Squad ... (should be written by Koen Devroey)

Comrade
sgt. Moss reporting the actions of The Reds on Kalahari V, where the
mission involved the arrest of space pirate Krypton Venk.

In
the pre-mission briefing we were instructed to take up reserve
positions, guarding the rear, including the shuttle we landed in.

After
a succesfull dust-off, Beta squad took to the right flank and Gamma
squad took the left in a classical pincer approach to the suspected
hideout.

Gamma
squad came under heavy fire very soon by something - or someone -
rather shiny. It must have been polished hard armour, for the shots
fired by Gamma squad couldn’t even distract it.

When
we saw that Gamma squad was under heavy fire and was taking casualties
and that also Beta squad was getting bogged down, we knew there was no
time for subtleties. I gave the order to private Le Clerc, a veteran
from the ill-fated Alpha squad, to lay down heavy covering fire with
some missiles while we charged in. Le Clerc was able to incapacitate the
gunner of a Q-Cannon. That couln’t prevent however that our pilot
Vranitsky, boldly leading the way in, took three bullets from a
western-movie-looking-guy and went down, buying enough time for me and
private Cohen to jump over the defence works, inside the compound and in
to hand-to-hand combat with the western guy and Venk himself. Private
Ilnitch and private Le Clerc followed suite, covering our rear. While I
was in combat with Venk, Cohen took care of the western guy. Venk,
seeing that the number of minions around hem getting slim, tried to
escape the combat. However, I was able to persuade him to surrender with
some convincing boltgun bursts through his legs. He soon ordered his
minions to stand down. Just in time, as it turned out, for privates
Ilnitch and Le Clerc, who were both incapacitated by a hellhound.

I
was wounded twice during this action, private Cohen once. Private
Vranitsky somehow managed to survive the action, some say because of the
attentions of a skillfull female medic in medical bay.

We strongly recommend basic medical training for all squad members or the inclusion of a medic for future actions.

Comrade Sgt Moss signing off.

Wargaming Battle Notebook

Over the years, I've played many many wargames. Of some of these games, pictures were taken. Others are only remembered. Probably many are just forgotten by all players involved.

When I moved to a new house about 4 years ago, I decided I wanted to keep a journal, making an entry for every wargame played in the wargaming facilities. As I already was a fan of Moleskine  notebooks, I bought myself a new one, and started to make battle reports.

The reports are interspersed with photographs, briefing sheets, some memorabilia from times long gone. In essence, it is becoming a bit of a wargaming scrapbook. Just the way I like it.

Cossacks

Continuing my tradition of only showing newly painted figures after they have been used in anger at least once (in this case in the first game or our version of the Raid on St. Michel mini-campaign):



These are Cossacks from The Assault Group and were painted to fulfill the role of light cavalry for either side in my Great Northern War armies. More are to follow. This particular lot I named the Siniĭ Cossacks. If you know Russian and Google Translate was correct, you'll see why :).

The basing might seem a bit funny - they're on 60x20mm bases which look a bit too long and narrow. But that's intentional, as the unit of 6 figures will have the same footprint as a regular cavalry unit (which I base on two 60x60 stands) when closed up.

Engineers / pontooneers / bargemen

Here are some more figures I painted quite a while ago (they have featured in more than one game since) but only got round to photographing now: a number of pontooneers / bargemen / pioneers for a vagueish horse'n'musket era:



They are all Redoubt ACW engineers, but with a number of the heads replaced by Victrix French Napoleonic heads. They were painted up as 9 generic pontooneers or engineers and three barge- / boatmen. Useful figures!

Some more Swedish Great Northern War fellows

We played a game with my Great Northern War collection yesterday and I've gotten into the habit of painting up something new for each game. In this case, it was a squadron of Swedish cavalry and a 6Pdr gun, also Swedish.

Nyland Horse:





Figures are from Reiver, with the squadron leader's horse (the falling one) from Front Rank.

And the 6 pounder battery:



The gun and bucket man figures are from Foundry, the other two figures are Reiver.

Bavarian 1st Chevaulegers, 2 more squadrons

These have been painted a while ago, but I only got round to basing and photographing them just now. Here are the final two squadrons (the first two are here):



The flag is of course totally ahistorical (I don't think the cavalry units tended to take their standards along on campaign and this flag is obviously seriously over dimensioned), but that's a bit of wargamer's license I'm totally comfortable with :).

Figures are Wargames Foundry, painted in two layers.

Horses, carts etc: update

The great equipment drive is continuing apace -- here's the current status:



Since last post, I've constructed two extra powder carts and an extra one horse cart. Some have been primed (I'm using black gesso these days -- I've given up on finding a good matt black spray paint at the local DIY shop), and painting is underway on two of them. I've decided to use a full two-layer paint job on them (which is as high as I go these days, painting quality wise) instead of a quick dry brush job which I usually do for equipment and scenery. So all this will take me a bit longer to paint up :)

Horses, carts and wheels

So I've been steadily working on some horse and musket armies, notably Great Northern War Swedes and Russians and Napoleonic Bavarians. The past few days, I've turned my attention to what might be termed their _support infrastructure_:



That's only just the start. So far, there's a Hovels Dutch wagon with two possible loads (I'll make a third out of coffee stirrers), a Foundry cart and powder cart and two Old Glory _wurstwagen_. The latter have either Foundry crew (for the one without horses) or Old Glory crew with Foundry Bavarian heads transplanted (ouch). Still to come are another cart and powder cart, some caissons (they'll be French crewed) and limbers and horse teams. Obviously, some of these will be more suitable for the Napoleonic than the GNW collection, but there will be a fair bit of overlap.

These bases can be used as baggage train, to generally doll up the battlefield or to provide some 'meat' behind a deployed artillery battery.

Engagement at Arnhofen: scenario

You've seen the models, you've read the battle report, now you can read and play the game. Here's the scenario for the Engagement at Arnhofen game:

Engagement at Arnhofen (1Mb)

Enjoy responsibly!

_Update 20/11/2011_: changed wording of Bavarian orders (thanks Phil) and increased picture resolution.

The defense of Bricqueville: a photo report

Last Tuesday, we had a full house to play another WWII battle using my 20mm collection (recently augmented by Crisis purchases). The scenario involved a follow up to the fictional battle of Saint Clair radar station: the British paratroopers, having destroyed the radar station and retreated across the Dives now have to defend against the inevitable counterattack:




Any hopes of the British that their blowing up of the bridges would slow the Germans down were quickly dashed when the first thing to crest the bridge ramp was this bridging unit:



British artillery strikes notwithstanding, the bridge was quickly repaired and the German players busied themselves pushing their armor across:



This seemed to cause some disquiet among the British players:



The following three pictures show the German advance, as yet strangely unopposed by British troops:





Until finally the first British paratroopers are spotted defending a detached villa:



Much to the delight of the British players, it seems:



While a certain _gravitas_ seemed to descend upon the German players:



Especially when a British 6Pdr AT gun revealed itself behind a hedge:



However, the AT gun only managed to lightly damage a Wirbelwind which promptly retaliated and wiped out the gun crew. The way was now open for the Germans to steamroller on into Bricqueville:



However, as seen on this picture, nighttime was quickly approaching, and as the Germans were still fighting for Bricqueville, a hard fought draw was declared:



It was judged that the British paras would extricate themselves and evacuate during the night, moving further west towards the British beachheads. Will be continued!