And for your next Army please? Well that had to be a biblical themed army for Brixham 2025. At least 12 months away from when I started printing and painting the Army!
A grand Army to paint with lots of Chariots and Medium foot figures to paint.
9 Units of Medium Spearmen who could also be Medium Swords men. The figures are all Wargames Atlantic Hittite Unarmored Infantry figures, and there is more than sufficient variety to make every single figure different.
My next army to create from print and paint was to be a Mongol Horse Army for ADLG in 28mm. One that could cover a range of periods to represent most of the armies from the Mongol Empire through to the terror of Tamerlane. Where I describe them I will describe them in terms of their descriptions within ADLG.
Here are the serried ranks of Horsemen.
These are 2Heavy Bow-armed Elite Impact Cavalry. The figures are Turco-Mongol Heavy Cavalry from Ludus Bellum.
Next up are the 6 Elite Bow-armed Medium or Heavy Cavalry. I chose Ludus Bellum's Turco-Mongol Medium Horse Archers as they are so well armed and protected they could be either mediums or heavies.
This is the main body of Mongol Horse Archers who can be heavy, medium or elite depending on the army! All the figures are from Productions Diratia's Mongol Army pack which I bought in the sale for $30. Incredible value with more variations than one would ever need. Indeed the heads without the typical Mongol hat makes exceptionally good Turcoman horse archers.
And here are the Turcoman on the right, while the Light Bow-armed Cavalry on their left are Ludus Bellum's Light Horse Archers. As with the Medium Horse archers I decided these would be a little finer to represent any Elite Light Cavalry I decided to deploy.
Finally the last fighting troops are the Light Infantry and Bowmen. Again all courtesy of the same Mongol Army Pack - a pack that is still giving even today!
There are a wealth of really good files for printing for Mongol personalities for ones commanders. I decided to use Kyoushuneko Miniatures Mongol Command Group Light Cavalry for my Mongol CinC.
While Finch and Dragon - Mongol Battalion provided one of the sub-commanders.
And Gadgetworks Mongolian Horde Value Pack- Scourge of the Steppes provide the other commander.
With the reopening of Entoyment in its new location Kevin and I decided to use that as an excuse to grab a gaming table and with our new found knowledge of the Chain of Command 2 rules to refight "Delaying Action". I think the two most significant issues we learnt from the previous game, re-reading the rules, and corresponding with other players on the forum was that phases do not always alternate, and secondly the rule of 4" proximity for targeting and close assault. We laid out a broadly similar table to the previous game, and were much more precise in defining the terrain types.
The Soviet Baltic Offensive in the Autumn of 1944 has seen the German army fighting to hold onto East Prussia. However, at every opportunity the expanding torrents of our Soviet forces are finding ways to break through the German lines. Despite this the Germans are throwing every available reserve into blocking positions to allow them to develop a more coherent defence line. General Hovhannes Bagramyan Commander 1st Baltic Front has directed that every effort must be made to break through and hound the enemy mercilessly. Commander 43rd Army has ordered the 116th Separate Infantry Battalion to pursue the Army and to break through their pitiful defences. Lt Kruskov has been given the honour of leading the Battalion’s advance.
Elements of the 61st Volksgrenadier have been detected. The enemy are heavily armed with automatic weapons and light support weapons.
Lt Kruskov’s Rifle Platoon has been provided a maxim MMG and 50mm Mortar by the Company Commander. Commander 43rd Army has also allocated a Scout Section for deep penetration and recon tasks, and they will be under command during the initial phases of the operation. The Company Commissar Captain Melinkov will accompany the attack and he will ensure that the Army Commander’s orders are followed to the letter.
Lt Kruskov is to attack and destroy the enemy within bounds as soon as possible.
The Soviet patrols identified suitable jump off points for the attack where the platoon could form up out of sight of any enemy. Lt Kruskov’s plan was to use the hill and hedge line forward of it as base of fire to support a right flanking attack which he would lead with the two rifle sections.
The LMG section, MMG and sniper team were deployed successfully to provide covering fire for the advance.
The first rifle section started its advance from the woods. Already it was obvious that the Germans had occupied the buildings and fence line for defence. The covering fire would be essential to negotiate the open ground.
Captain Melinkov deployed to the fire base to coordinate the supporting fire. He also gave orders to the Scout team to start moving up to advance into the depth of the enemy position.
Both rifle sections were deployed and started to advance to the first hedge line.
The combined firepower of the MMG and LMG section was sufficient to start to suppress the enemy. The weight of fire was sufficient to force the enemy away from the fence line. There were reports of first aid parties moving forward to the German line so we had strong evidence that we had inflicted significant casualties on the German leaders.
The Scout section advanced carefully to the wood line. On the right the first section is closing up to the fence line.
The advance to the fence line is being supported by the fire from the rifle section.
As the Scout section approached the woodline a German infantry section deployed and engaged them in close quarter battle. The Scout section despite losing 4 men prevailed and forced the German grenadiers to withdraw.
The lead section was able to provide covering fire to allow the second section to cross the hedge line. The covering fire was essential as the German grenadiers were determined to defend to the last and advanced out from behind the building to fire at the lead section.
In the subsequent fire fight the lead section commander was killed, and Lt Kruskov came forward to take command of the section and the attack on the objective. The second rifle section has maned to get its LMG team over the fence.
The lead section has been sent by Lt Kruskov to provide covering fire to allow the second rifle section to advance and seize the objective.
On the other flank the German Grenadiers rallied and overran the Scout Section. The Section Commander’s body was never recovered, and it is believed that he was captured and interrogated by the Germans. The remaining Germans providing covering fire have broken and were seen withdrawing to the rear.
The Soviet’s failed to secure the objective, when the Germans rolled two sixes in their command roll when we were under "Sudden Death". The Soviets suffered the following casualties:
A much better game and an exciting game. The play balance was good for both sides with each having opportunities to inflict pain on the other; if only the dice gods were favourable! Despite this the rules give a very interesting game and certainly sufficiently intriguing to cause both Kevin and I to download scenario books!
With the release of Chain of Command 2 (CoC) we all felt that we needed to explore what it offered over Bolt Action (BA) for WW2 gaming. It wasn’t that we were not in favour of BA, far from it, but we certainly wanted to explore something different. Kevin and I kicked of the exploration with the patrol scenario using 15mm figures on a sized down table, to get to grips with the mechanics and an awful lot of page turning though the rules. Because of the amount of page turning and learning the mechanics we didn’t take any photos. So, we agreed we need to upscale and try it again in 28mm.
In the scenario I commanded the Soviets with a Rifle Platoon supported by a Commissar, MMG and 50mm Teams with a Scout Section. I was attacking and after the patrol phase I had some very useful jump-off points located behind cover. Our first mistake was to class all the obstacles as “medium” which both hindered observation, fire and movement significantly. Lesson 1 was to be careful about how one defines the terrain.
A Russian Rifle Section advances covered by an MMG team, and a Rifle Section and sniper. One of the challenges for the Soviets is that the two teams of the section must always be less than 4” from each other. Lesson 2 was therefore for the Russians to consider moving the Section forward in small bounds, which would have been useful across the medium obstacles. Lesson 3 was that we forgot the 4” rule for “bunched targets”, such as the three teams in the angle of the two hedges in this picture.
The Germans occupied the building and despite the cover suffered some significant shock and casualties, what you cannot see is the MG team that decided to advance to the fence line to the left but were all cut down before they reach it. Supporting them was a Sniper Team which eventually re positioned itself to the rear after failing to inflict any casualties. Lesson 4 was that you cannot see Snipers until they fire and that snipers are best placed in overwatch to be capable of reacting to what your opponent does.
The Scout Section has deployed, hidden in the woods. Here they would stay for a couple of moves as the Soviets lacked the leadership and leaders to move them. Lesson 5 was the importance of making sure you had the leaders in the right place at the right time.
The rifle section safely reached the first fence line only to be slowed down as we had classed it as a medium obstacle!
Eventually the rifle section crossed the fence line to advance to the next tactical bound – the second fence line – only to be pinned down by some accurate sniper fire. Eventually the sniper started to roll some hits. The prospect of trying to advance around the building to secure the objective seemed too much for the single rifle section!
Finally, the LMG section arrived and advanced to support the Scout Section which was able to start moving thanks to the Commissar who moved up to give directions to them.
While the LMG section were able to navigate around the gap in the hedge, the Scout section were severely impeded crossing the hedge. Fortunately, there were no Germans able to fire on either of the sections!
The MMG team continue to provide fire support to allow the last infantry section to start moving forward. At this stage we were onto the “Ticking Clock” stage of the mission. Time was running out for the Soviets to achieve their objective.
The infantry section has closed up to the fence line despite the fire coming from the building to their left.
And we were into “Sudden Death” which saw the Scout Section position themselves outside the building ready to assault it. Lesson 6 was that the Scout Section could have assaulted the building as they were within 4” f the building. Also their chances of winning were high given that there was only one man on the ground floor! On the other side of the building the LMG section have manoeuvred to outflank the building.
The Hittite Empire And for your next Army please? Well that had to be a biblical themed army for Brixham 2025. At least 12 months away from...
