Plastic Soldier Company & Forged In Battle

Hey guys just wanted to post a few pics of the PSC 15mm Russian Infantry and T-34's that my dad painted real quick to see how they look.  He also painted a Soviet HMG team from FIB.  I really think they all turned out great and I am very pleased with the detail of them both.  The pictures don't do them justice but it gives a good idea for those of you interested in these 2 companies.  I had to use my flash on the first few pictures so the color may seem off.  The true color can be seen with the pics from the gaming table.

PSC Russian Infantry

Rear shot

Forged In Battle Russian HMG team

PSC T-34

PSC Russians and Battlefront Finns for comparison

Battlefront Finn HMG team on left---FIB Soviet HMG team on right

Frontal comparison of Battlefront T-34 to PSC

A view from above

Thanks for viewing!

WIP Americans

Just wanted to post a few pictures of my recent American project I've been working on.  These are almost done, just need to finish up the crew and throw some decals on em.  I'll have some in action shots of my American army this weekend with a few AAR's.  I apologize for the somewhat bad pictures, took them with my iphone while the digital camera was charging.

FOW Late War Tourney

This past Saturday I was able to slip out of work long enough to get into a late war escalation tournament at Legions Games in Pittsburgh.  The tournament had 14 players and was superbly ran by my good friend Mike over at MG-42 Painting.  The format was 3 rounds (1250, 1500, 1750) and you couldn't downgrade any HQ or combat platoons throughout.

I debated on what army list to take for quite some time but finally decided to try my hand at American 3rd armor.  I had just finished painting up all my models for the force and was eager to get them on the table for some action.  It was quite a change of pace playing trained forces when I normally run fearless vets.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I was unable to get many pictures.  I do have some taken by Mike that I will post after the write-up.

Match 1 vs. Dana (2nd Household Cav)
Fighting Withdrawl

My first match-up was a slugfest right out of the gate.  I got matched up with Dana who is one of the best players at the club and rarely makes any tactical errors.  The game started out looking great until he popped his ambush and wrecked my 76mm Shermans.  I made a solid push on the right with my stuarts and and actually had the objective but those damn british guards got to reroll their forced to disengage and was just close enough to ruin my day.  After the 4th turn the game turned into an all out survival match on both sides and Dana was able to hold on for a 4-3 victory although it very easily could have been a 6-1 or 5-2 for either side.

Match 2 vs. Bill (T&T Brit Rifles)
Hasty Assault

Second match faced me off against a familiar opponent Bill.  He was able to defend and took some naval bombardment which was quite scary with the 1+ firepower.  I deployed my armored mortars, stuarts, and 76mm shermans while he deployed 1 rifle platoon, mortar platoon, and in immeadiate ambush had 4 six pounders.  I was able to get within assaulting range of his rifles first turn with my stuarts and made my assault knowing he only had 1 piat.  I pinned him down and was able to assault only to get 1 hit in combat and lost 1 tank to defensive fire from the piat then 1 more from the counter assault.  I failed my motivation to counter attack and was forced to fall back .  His next turn he ranged in with the naval guns and my stuarts were vaporized.  The next 3 turns just saw my 76's and his 6 pounders exchange fire with no damage done.  I finally get reserves and bring up my AR platoon and started to mow down his infantry with half-track fire while the infantry advanced.  I was able to hold him off long enough that my 76's pushed up to the objective and held it after knocking out the mortar platoon and 6 pounders.  It came down to the final reserve roll and he got on his wasp carriers and was able to get just close enough to contest the objective and hold on for a 4-3 win.

Match 3 vs Tyson (3rd SS armored)
Encounter

Tyson was my final opponent and is a hell of a guy and a player.  Not much to mention about this game other than missing no fewer than 20 side shots on the 3 panthers that decided to shred my entire army.  I made a great play to get the side-shots but the few that did hit got great saving rolls.  I wasn't completely familiar with this scenario and screwed up my objective placement and also my deployment and suffered greatly because of it.  He was able to decimate all 20 tanks in my force in record time and took it 6-1.

Overall I came in 7th out of 14 which is very acceptable for my first attempt at the army.  3rd Armor is a blast to play but 1 mistake can cost you dearly.  The best part about the tourney was getting alot of compliments on my army's paint job which really made my day knowing the hard work got noticed.  I should have some pics of my army in its glory in the next few days but until then have a look at some of the tourney pics.

Cold Wars 1812 games

Well guys its been a crazy week since I've gotten home from Cold Wars so the blog updates have suffered a bit but I have a ton of updates on the way.  We ran a fictional game Thursday night and a game based on the battle of North Point using the ATKM rules.  Each game went rather well and all participants had a great time.  I was also lucky to participate in the invite only 1812 game Saturday night graciously hosted by Ken Cliffe, Dave Hoyt, and my father Bob Lehman.  The game was amazing and the Americans had a decisive victory just a few cards into the second turn.  Over all I couldn't ask for a better weekend of gaming and hanging out with great friends. 

Heres a few pictures from the games:

Cold Wars 2011

Well guys I just got back from Cold Wars a few hours ago and let me say it was an amazing time.  My wallet is empty and I think the car gained an extra 300 pounds of lead for the drive.  My father and I put on a few ATKM 1812 games and they went over big with all the players involved.  Nothing in the world feels better than knowing people enjoyed playing a game that you have put so much effort into.  We ended up meeting a few great friends as well.  I only played in 1 game all convention but it was the invite only ATKM game Saturday night and man was it bloody.  I also got to sit in for the entire 3 hour WWPD podcast and had an amazing time.  The guys over there really went all out and did a fantastic job.  I was able to talk to most of the staff and they are great guys for the hobby and we need more like em.  I'll be updating over the next few days with some pictures of games and maybe even review a few new products I picked up.  Finally if anyone is looking to get any FOW stuff painted I highly recommend checking out my good friend Mike from MG42Painting.  He does phenomenal work at a great price.

Cheers,
Matt

British Irish Guards vs. Finnish Jalkaväkikomppania

Here's my first attempt at a FOW AAR.  My father and I played a great game this past friday at our LGS in Pittsburgh called Legions Games.  Although it's about a 75 minute drive you couldn't ask for a better place to get in some games.  The store is massive with a great selection of tables dedicated to FOW only games.  I decided to try and run an experimental 1500 point Irish Guards list vs my fathers 1500 point Finns.  The mission we rolled for was fighting withdrawl much to my dismay.  Nothing quite like attacking a dug in Finn infantry coy with a small but elite force.

Irish Guards
HQ - 2x Shermans
3x Shermans, 1x Firefly
3x Shermans, 1x Firefly
4x Stuarts
3x Universal Carriers
2x M10 tank destroyers

Finnish Jalkaväkikomppania (Confident Veteran)
HQ - w/2x shreck
Jalk Platoon (4x squads w/pf)
Jalk Platoon (4x squads w/pf)
Jalk Platoon (4x squads w/pf)
81mm Mortar Platoon (3x squads)
120mm Mortar Platoon (3x squads)
Pioneeri Platoon (3x squads w/pf)
Armored Car Platoon (2x BA-10)
Sturmi Platoon (3x Sturmi)

Straight from the start I knew this would be a very difficult matchup to win based off the sheer numbers disadvantage alone.  8 platoons in a 1500 point game is a tough nut to crack but I'll let the AAR tell the rest of the story.

Deployment
After choosing his side of the board my father choose to keep his sturmi's in ambush and deploy the rest of his infantry on the board to benefit from the prepared positions and the ability to have mobile ambush he could take from one side of the battlefield to the other.  After his deployment I saw an opportunity on the right flank objective so I deployed planning to assaut the right flank but keep enough mg's in the middle of the board to stop him from cheating over with help from his other platoons.

British Side after Recon Moves

 

Finnish right flank and main focus point of my attack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view from down the center of the map from the advancing stuarts

  Brits Turn 1
Turn 1 was rather uneventful from the British side.  I moved my carriers up to the hilltop to get into position to remove gone to ground and decided to take a few potshots while I was at it and actually took a stand from the Finns holdng the right objective.  The stuarts moved up closer to center platoon and opened fire with no effect.  Both sherman platoons moved forward into position getting ready to strike.
  Finn Turn 1
The Finns sneaky deployment caught me off guard as I wasn't observant enough to see the 2 panzershreck teams holding down the center right of his position.  I soon found out the error in my ways when a Panzershreck team along with a 120mm mortar bombardment did a number on my stuarts taking out 2 of them and forcing me to disengage stalling my attack for several turns.

The smoking stuarts after a well placed panzershreck shot and combined bombardment

 

 

 

     Brit Turn 2
After being forced to disengange I had to make a few changes to my initial plan to assault the right flank with both sherman platoons.  I decided to hold a platoon in the middle to cover my advance.  I used the carriers on the hilltop to remove gone to ground and open up with my main guns on the jalk platoon covering the right flank.  After a few saves and no casualties the Finns were hardly worried.
     Finn Turn 2
The Finns decided to pop their Sturmi ambush on turn 2 just behind their infantry on the right flank.  They were just outside of 16 inches and decided to take 6 shots at long range as opposed to 3 short.  They hit with 2 and was able to gun tank the Firefly and knock it out of commission.

The flaming Firefly.  Just out of the picture to the right are the 3 Sturmi's

   Brit Turn 3
I decided to take advantage of my semi-indirect fire on the right to knock out the Sturmi's and after 10 shots I managed to destroy 1.  My M10's held down the left flank with .50 cals blazing on his dug in position.  The stuarts lifted gone to ground on the panzershreck teams in the center and the 2nd sherman platoon opened fire with their main guns scoring a few hits but the shrecks shrugged them off saving each.
  Finn Turn 3
Since he had to remove a team Bob chose to remove his armored car platoon as they were hiding from my firepower all game anyways and would only be easy victory points if engaged.  His Sturmis returned fire on my shermans and also ranged in his 120mm mortars on the same platoon managing to bail out 2 shermans.  His infantry still waited patiently in their foxholes for the british advance.

   Brit Turn 4
I opened fired once more on the sturmis knocking out one more and forcing a motivation test.  Even the fearless Finns knew it was time to get out of there as they failed their motivation and broke.  I moved the M10's through the woods to help support the middle as I prepared for my push on the right flank.
  Finn Turn 4
Bob had to remove a 2nd platoon this turn so he choose the 81mm mortars.  Since I moved my M10's he decided to pull his pioneers from the far left flank to try and support the middle in case the right flank gets out of hand.  He ranged in yet again with his 120mm mortars and bailed 2 more shermans on the right flank.

A view from the right British flank.  You can see the 2 Sturmi's smoking in the background.

    Brit Turn 5
This turn was my make it or break it turn knowing that if I didnt push him off the objective he would remove it next turn and with the map layout it would be near impossible to capture either of the others.  I bailed in both my shermans and moved them up for the assault on right flank objective.  I used eyes and ears with the carriers and unloaded 16 mg shots hoping to pin his anti-tank teams and came up 1 hit short.  I was able to pin down the panzershrek teams with my stuarts and 2nd sherman platoon though.  I made my assault but 1 sherman got bailed in defensive fire leaving me with just 3 tanks.  I killed 2 stands and he wisely backed off but was still able to contest the objective. 1 more hit and it would have been a morale check and possibly the game.
   Finn Turn 5
Bob decided to remove his pioneer platoon considering the game was virtually all but over since his fins held off the right flank assault.  His 120mm mortars again opened fire bailing out 2 more shermans.

The Brits made the push they were looking for but just 1 turn too late

Since the game was virtually over we still decided to play it out and on turn 6 I was able to break the infantry platoon holding the right objective but it was simply removed at the beginning of Bobs turn so I had no chance to contest either objective and the game ended up as a 4-3 minor victory for the Finns.  Hands down the 2 MVP teams in this match were Bobs panzershrecks and his 120mm mortars.  Although they didnt kill much the mortars played hell with their constant bailing of my tanks slowing my advance.  All in all it was a great battle and the Finns did exactly what they needed to do.  Here are some pictures from the final few turns. 

Hope you all enjoyed my first AAR!

Cheers,
Johnny Utah