6mm Goodness…..

In between coughing and spluttering for the past month or so (and indeed for a few weeks before) I have been pootling away at some 6mm stuff. The majority of it has been for the good comrade Noakes, it took me ages to do a Soviet force for him as I was trying to ‘get’ drybrushing and wanted to make sure that I didn’t ruin them. I’ve been quite pleased with the results and here are some pics (models are all GHQ).

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Unfortunately having painted these up my own collection now looks a bit shite so the next month or so will be spent re-doing them. This will just mean a wash and drybrush for most models but some are being stripped down to start again – I bought some 99% Rubbing Alcohol to do this with, trying it out now and will report how it goes – but all of them will be re-based as I want to start using the Baccus basing grit/sand to add some texture.

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Club Night 06/03/17: FFT3 bash.

As Dan and I found ourselves sans game last week, we decided to have another of our 6mm FFT3 ‘get some tanks on the table and have fun’ games. So My trusty Alt-history Poles and Austrians once more were about to engage in another round of battle. As usual we just whacked some terrain down, diced for what table edge we’d start on and got to it, simple meeting engagement with nominal objective of finding enemy and securing road network.

We each had a roughly same sized force with roughly equal number of tank bases, Dan had a slight advantage in infantry but I had the advantage of having a AT Heli which he didn’t, we both had aircraft support too.

We were using my house rules for activation, initiative and suppression with a slight twist, this time as an experiment we would be saving any unused pips from the initiative rolls and we only used a single d6 for testing for activation.

 

… Austrian recce jeeps move out…

Initial moves, from my perspective…

.. more Austrians

Dan won the first initiative with a whopping 5 pips and wisely allowed me to move first and straight away the saving of the pips came into the game with Dan banking those pips for his next go. This has been an idea for a while as it seems a shame that you lose pips sometime, you might not have a chance to use them (first move being a good example) so why not save them up for later. I duly barrelled my Armoured car company down the road towards the far town and splitting my force into two halves advanced towards the stream on the left and to the ridge on the right. Dan’s first move was similar and things looked good for a nice even fight on both halves of the board.

First blood went to Dan as his Jeep/RCL recce chaps took out one of my AML’s then a couple of more were lost to deadly fire from M-60’s on the hill to the left. There wasn’t much other action during the first part of the game as the rolling hills made LOS hard to get shots off so we both jockeyed for position. Over on the right we had both halted on ridgelines overlooking the farmland and we tried to take the other under fire with me having the best of it as Dan’s Kurassier’s were just out of range and couldn’t reach my ridge, so my Vickers mk3’s and Striker attempted to pick them off – although my gunner’s sights were off a bit (Dan kept making the saving throws). Keeping one tank company on the ridge along with my Striker platoon to take on the SK’s I moved the other Vickers company and the infantry company behind the ridge towards the wood on the extreme right flank with an idea of using it to launch an attack from later, although I did suffer the loss of an infantry platoon by stupidly driving along the edge of the wood and straying into long range of the covering tank destroyers.

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Dan was initially having the best of it rolling for initiative and was using his pips to activate his artillery battalion each turn, which was doing a good job of supressing the tanks on the right hand ridge and the infantry by the stream on the left. My artillery support was woeful all night, with me only managing to call some in once or twice, the Austrian Electronic warfare chaps must have been playing a blinder, jamming my comms. My rolling was not any better when I finally secured the initiative and blew all my pips in attempting to call in an airstrike on the SK105’s, failing miserably and having the mission aborted.

Over on the left I managed to hit the stream without losing any vehicles from Dan’s good position on the ridge across the valley and de-bussed the infantry whilst one tank company started to probe along the streamline towards the village hoping to utilise the cover from the stream. Dan countered this threat by advancing an infantry and tank force towards the village which was very successful, my tank company was reduced to one surviving platoon hiding behind the village. Along the stream the action developed into a bit of a stand off as Dan didn’t want to move off of his ridge and I didn’t want to leave the cover of the stream so we both started trading shots but our respective terrain advantages prevented any knock outs taking place.

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I did keep the initiative from then on but usually only with a draw on the dice, using the odd point I did get for another activation which helped my advance off the right hand ridge, after I had finally seen off the covering SK105 company. This company moved forwards along with the company from the wood and engaged Dan’s units that had advanced against my probe along the stream, destroying or seeing off the tank company. My infantry positioned along the stream had used their APC’s 20mm to take revenge on the recce Jeeps, although they and their tank support had started to be whittled down by accurate Austrian artillery and direct tank fire and pretty soon there was nowt left after the surviving platoons bugged out due to formation tests although they did manage to take out one of the Austrian tank companies. This is where we had to stop due to time getting on, and the battle had begun to pivot around the central village, I had the upper hand on the right slightly whilst Dan had easily won the battle on the left so I conceded to a losing draw as I think I’d have pulled back if possible, Dan’s stronger infantry and their deadly BILL atgm might have tipped the balance.

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All in all it was a nice little fight, just about right for a quickly organised Monday night game. Dan was a cracking opponent as usual, not only sporting but a good laugh too. He liked the house rules, which was nice, as he said it added enough to the standard game without slowing it down and we both agreed that being able to save the pips was a positive change – Dan didn’t hold the initiative that much but his first two rolls were so good he managed to eke out his pips over many moves which helped in keeping his artillery going. I do really need to start painting some of my other 6mm kit to get another force together, will go Soviet next I think…

 

FFT3 AAR: Battle of Klinkerhoff Gap pt. 2

So we left it last week with the situation thus: Terry had unsuccessfully assaulted Klinkerhoff and losing just over a company’s worth of infantry and APC’s and Jamie had secured the crossroads with his armoured cars for a couple of losses whilst taking out a complete Austrian PanzerGrenadier company.

Polish starting positions

I actually won the initiative on this weeks first go but allowed the Poles to go first as I didn’t need to move owt and wanted them to trigger my overwatch fire where necessary. Over on the right Terry started to manoeuvre the remainder of his Mechanised Infantry Regiment to the right of the town whilst Jamie seemed to have thrown off his caution of last week and pushed his force forward with the armd cars pushing along the road and to the left of it – he also moved his remaining two tanks from the hedge line to the right of the crossroads up to the hedge line at the top of the square enclosure. This proved a costly decision as they ran smack into 2 platoons of Landwehr on the other side of the hedge and in the following close assault they suffered 1 ko and 1 QC failure – ouch! (those Miniman LAW’s again, they are a beast!). Jamie did get some payback as an AML took out one of the Landwehr during their fire phase, but still not a great return. Over on the right an AT gun opened fire and destroyed a Polish Fox platoon that Terry had sent scouting ahead.

Remains of Polish Tank Coy at end of turn 1.

Austrian ATG goes Fox hunting!

The second turn saw some more Anti-Tank Guns pop into action as the Poles ground forward (I had won the initiative again but still allowed them 1st move). The left hand gun platoon scored a ko against another AML whilst the Bill ATGM armed platoon on the hill to the left took out another. Terry was still moving round the flank of the town whilst avoiding getting within MAW range. The brave hedge defenders took some 90mm fire from the AML’s and failed their QC which caused a morale check on the remaining platoon – they weren’t made of the same stuff as their kameraden however and promptly legged it, all that was between the Poles and the end of the valley now was a company of Anti-Tank guns, I really needed to roll up my Panzer Btln now.

More Fox hunting from the AT gunners, whilst an AML brews too.

The grand sneak!

I managed to hang onto the initiative (but didn’t manage to get enough pips to activate my reserves) and elected to go first, I needed to get some fire onto the Poles before they could call artillery on my ATG’s to supress them. I only managed to get rid of another AML with my left hand gun due to a QC, whilst my ATGM on the hill missed completely. Bugger! The Polish gunners then started to lay barrages on me – they got nearly all the artillery they could this go – supressing my guns and causing the PzrGren platoon on the hill to bug out (a 6 for a QC needed and they got it, then I failed – damned bad luck I say!).

Jamie did seem to become very wary of the hill over on the left as well as the thinness of the armour of his Armd Cars and moved them back up towards the crossroads and away from the ATG too. Over on the right Terry launched an Infantry company towards the ridge of the right hand hills and I let rip with my waiting Kurassier company – result, 2 destroyed Grizzly’s and 1 infantry platoon ko’d, however I suffered 1 platoon lost due to return fire from his Vickers tanks.

Jamie’s cavalry scuttling off back to the crossroads.

The remains of the Terry’s infantry company after being hit by the SK-105’s

I won initiative again by 2 pips –  so now I had a decision to make, release the Panzer Btln waiting in Reserve or use it for a guaranteed Btlns worth of Artillery – I chose the latter. Why? Well to be brutally honest it would have ruined the game, 16 stands of M60a3’s turning up would’ve been game over for the Poles as they had failed to release their own Armoured reserve and it’d be like shooting fish in a barrel. So I laid smoke to prevent the Vickers from having another go at me and bugged out the remaining Kurassiers on the right flank. In the centre my left hand ATG had succumbed to AML fire (failed a QC) whilst my other 2 were kept supressed by Artillery. Jamie laid down smoke to mask the left hand hill and edged forward down the centre, whilst Terry made a move on the right hand ridge line just vacated by my tank destroyers with some infantry and his mighty Ferret/Swingfire whilst positioning himself for another assault on Klinkerhoff.

The mighty Ferret/Swingfire moves up towards ‘Kurassier Ridge’

Kurassier ridge with Polish infantry moving up.

Poles get ready for 2nd assault on Klinkerhoff.

The next move didn’t have much going on, I won the initiative again and let the Poles go first as there wasn’t much I needed to do and I felt sort of ‘safe’ doing so – more artillery fell on my ATG’s one being surpressed with the other being knocked out, whilst Jamie edged forwards. However his smoke had only partially obscured the view of the Kurassier company on the left hill and they opened up in overwatch fire, knocking out another AML. Terry started to systematically target the infantry trapped in Klinkerhoff with both Artillery and direct fire from the Tanks, which caused suppression. I decided then that I’d call the game informing my opponents that I had already withdrawn the infantry from the left hand hill, and was willing to sacrifice the plucky defenders of Klinkerhoff – their CO was under instructions to either sell themselves dearly or chuck it in and ‘hande hoch’ if they wanted to!

Although my Kurassiers would’ve made minced meat of their Armd Cars they would have been very vulnerable once Terry had his Swingfire ready on the hill he’d just taken (plus he still had 3 tank stands left), also if they had gotten to activate their reserve it’d be no contest so I reckoned I’d given them a bloody enough nose why not pull back with what I had remaining and maybe come back in a counter attack……….?

The guys said that they enjoyed the game, as Terry said it made a nice change to not have tons of tanks either side (although we do love those sorts of bashes!) and that it was a good tactical challenge which is what I was aiming for so that pleased me no end. I learned a lot about putting on a game and know how I would change a few things if I was to do it again, also I was quietly chuffed when a few guys at the club commented on how much they liked the KO markers I made, and wanted to know how I did them – which was nice!

I hope you enjoyed the write up too, please leave a comment if you have any suggestions to improve them or hit the like button! Lastly a few photo’s of the table at the end.

Austrian ATG on the receiving end!

Polish armoured cars light the way.

Polish Mechanised Division

I have moved this post to https://tracksandthreads.wordpress.com/about/poland/mechanised-division/ .

I wanted to keep all of these type posts in one place and I’ve also re-done the Orbat too due to having a bit of a brainstorm after finding out some new information. All the pictures will be updated too. very soon.

FFT3 AAR: Battle of Klinkerhoff Gap, part 1.

This is a battle from my Alt-History set-up.

A Polish force is tasked with moving along a broad valley to initiate a breakthrough of the Austrian lines. Intelligence on the Austrian forces is, however, very sketchy as the situation has been fluid for a few days but it is believed that there are around 2 Btlns of infantry in the vicinity with maybe some armoured support. To facilitate this the Polish commander has the following forces: a Divisional Armoured Cavarly Regt, a Mechanised Infantry Regt (Wheeled) and an Armoured Btln from the Independent Armd Bgde supported by quite a fair bit of Artillery.

Here’s the terrain looking up the valley from the Austrian lines:

The Klinkerhoff Gap. Low wooded hills on the left and right overlooking farmland. Town of Klinkerhoff to the right.

The Polish end of the valley. Klinkerhoff is on the right.

Austrian end of the valley.

I took the Austrians with Jamie taking the Cavalry Regt and Terry the Mech Infantry. We are trying out my house rules for initiative and to activate units for a bit of friction, (I’ll put them in another post).

Jamie’s Cavalry Regt was first on the table and started off (unusually for him) cautiously moving along the road towards the crossroads with his lead company with the rest of the Regt spread out behind it. He did roll up a preliminary barrage from their Corp 203mm art btln which he chose to split into 3 battery strikes; he guessed correctly where my first line of defence was (along the hedges to the left of the crossroads), suppressing one of my one of my defending platoons but also his Fox scout pltn (he rolled a SNAFU for one of them).

The Cavalry moves up.

Move 2 saw Terry start to bring on the Mech Infantry Regt through the hilly area to the right with the intention of developing an attack on Klinkerhoff. Over on the left Jamie had pushed the Cavalry forward after putting down smoke from their MRLS on the crossroads but was still moving cautiously. They didn’t have much luck with the rest of their Artillery though, failing to get any available batteries.

Move 3 saw the Poles gain another unit activation during the initiative phase which they gave to Terry’s infantry. They laid smoke across the front of the town and as Terry passed his activations, and so had a double move, he rushed up a couple of Companies towards Klinkerhoff under its cover. Over on the left my ‘forlorn hope’ defenders at the crossroads opened up on the cavalry with the platoon containing the Bill atgm firing on a AML-90 and missing.

Polish infantry rush towards Klinkerhoff under cover of smoke.

Close up of the brave Mech Infantry charge.

Although the Poles won the initiative for the next move they had a nightmare with the dice, both failing to activate their units and failing miserably with their artillery requests too. Unfortunately I again failed to hit anything with my Bill atgm and I had equally rubbish artillery rolls but I did manage to let loose with my ATG that was located in the town once the smoke lifted, causing a quality check on one platoon before it was taken out by Terry’s supporting tanks.

Terry’s tankers about to silence Austrian ATG.

The next move everything got a lot more interesting with Jamie’s Fox Pltn laying down the hurt on my infantry and his AML-90’s taking out an APC, however the Austrian Bill chaps finally got their act together and brewed up an AML-90 in return whilst Terry started his initial assault on Klinkerhoff with an artillery barrage on the defended part of the town which only managed a suppression on one platoon. He debussed the infantry and came across the road and into a Close Assault on the right hand part of the town, unfortunately (and much to my surprise if I’m honest) the Landwehr company defending it managed to see them off without any loss to themselves at all. either destroying or QC’ing nearly a whole company of Poles and their APC’s – Miniman LAW’s are the way to go!

The Austrian ATGM finally get a hit on the Polish Cavalry!

With the Poles still retaining initiative they ground forward, Jamie pushing his Cavalry up with more confidence but still not closing up too far, seeing the Cavalry’s Vickers mk.3 tanks come into view at last the Austrian Bill platoon fired and brewed one up before they and the remainder of the company decided to bug out (I did try to do this the previous move but failed my activation) embarking in their APC’s and legging it down the valley. Over at Klinkerhoff Terry prepared to assault the left hand part of town whilst pulling out the remainder of his first assault.

One of these Vickers is about to have a bad day!

The next move was the last we had time for and was the bloodiest turn all night. Jamie finally got his mojo back (I think I had upset him by taking out a tank) and he pushed forward to take the crossroads whilst destroying all of my escaping APC’s – I had failed to scare up any artillery for a smoke barrage to cover this move. Bugger. Over at Klinkerhoff the plucky Poles piled forwards again and were bloodily repulsed once more – Terry having as much luck as me with his artillery.

Polish Cavalry in possession of the Crossroads

The Polish Infantry Regt’s reserve

The situation at Klinkerhoff with the Poles in possession of one part.

We have agreed to carry on the fight next week, we really didn’t get through as many turns as we expected as it has been a good few weeks since we had all played the rules so took a few turns to get into the groove again.

I was quietly pleased with how the scenario is going as it is the first time that I had put a game on at the club and the chaps seem to be enjoying it and they liked my Initiative and activation rules so looking forward to next week now to finish it off.