Monday 31 March 2014

A nice shiny new Bolt Action podcast

I, like may of you, listen to podcasts whilst painting and modelling as they are often an excellent accompaniment to the solo element of our hobby. I do enjoy the occasional D6Generation episode although find them to be very commercial and board game focussed. I listen to the WWPD News From the Front shenanigans as it usually involves “stooped” stuff that makes me laugh and they sound like good mates. However there’s a bit of a void when it comes to Bolt Action, I’ve never really enjoyed the Bolt Action.net podcast or the LRDG one, they’re not quite what I’m looking for when it comes to BA.

So I was pleased to discover Down Order on the Warlord Games Forum. In terms of tone its pitched in a BBC discussion style rather than rowdy WWPD format, which is good as us Brits are quite reserved (still upper lip, What!). The first episode, interestingly titled Episode 0, was somewhat of a test with the following episode (Episode 1) being a discussion of the Winter War Finns, Romanians, a bit of tournament waffle and whats coming up next for BA.

It’s hosted by Sam, David and Barry (Sam and David being Sambarino and Uber Gruber on the Warlord Forum) and can be downloaded from the website or streamed from iTunes.

They currently after content ideas so feel free to send them stuff via the links below:



Twitter: @downorder


http://www.warlordgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=14638

Sunday 30 March 2014

Paint Table Saturday

I thought that for a change I mighty actually post my entry for paint table Saturday on a Saturday! I've managed to shift a fair old chunk of lead and plastic over the last few weeks, mainly Saxons & Afrika Korps along with some terrain building projects that have been hanging about.

Anyway I'd promised myself that I'd finally get round to starting my Lord of the Rings project once I'd finished off these, and so here you can see the start - a bunch of Rohan warriors and riders and just at the back there you can spot Aragorn and Sam.

This will be my focus for a couple of months. I've got a couple of terrain projects started as well - Viking/Grub huts from Warbases which will act as a Rohan village and various rocks and hills. Below you can see a little scratch building using plasticard and some left over laser cut mdf.

To help get me in the mood I've even started reading The Lord of the Rings again (Frodo has just made it to Crickhollow!)

On top of this I've talked a few of my fellow club mates into starting a LoTR Battle Companies campaign, the first game is on Wednesday this coming week. I hope to document the games, and as the whole idea of Battle Companies is to theme your force and name your troops (essentially roleplaying) I'll be trying out a little storytelling as well.

Laters !

Friday 28 March 2014

Bolt Action Batrep - DAK vs US

US Medic "Whats with all this smoke?"
It was club night last night and I’d arranged a game with long time Bolt Action opponent Geraint and his US regulars. Both Geraint and I jumped in to Bolt Action at the very beginning and are still enjoying the game primarily because we maintain the historical approach rather than the points squeeze that others seem to doing.

Anyway we set our game after the Torch landings whilst the US were still finding their fee. The scenario was envelopment from the rule book with the setting being a Motorised DAK platoon trying to return to their company through a US defensive line after a successful raid.

Me - 1000pts DAK
Leutnant with adjutant (veteran, Kubelwagen with MMG)
Air observer with radio op (veteran, Kubelwagen with MMG)
10 x Veterans (LMG, SMG, rifles)
9 x Veterans (LMG, SMG, rifles, Truck)
9 x Veterans (LMG, SMG, rifles)
Light Mortar (Veteran)
AT Rifle (Veteran)
PAK 36 AT Gun (regular, Truck)
SdKfz 222 (regular)

Note: My DAK force is in a state of flux at the moment. We agreed 1000pts and at that size I need to take veterans to meet the total. However I am adding to the platoon (I have another Perry box to paint up) and will be downgrading the Veterans to Regular as I complete them. That’s why there are a mix of ratings (I’m not being beardy, honest!).

Geraint - 1000pts US
1st Lieutenant (regular)
Medic (regular)
Artillery Observer (regular)
10 x Regulars (SMG, BAR)
10 x Regulars (SMG, BAR)
10 x Regulars (SMG, BAR, M3A1)
Light Mortar (regular)
Bazooka Team (regular)
MMG team (Regular)
M10 Tank destroyer (regular)

Deployment
We diced off for board edge with Geraint choosing the more open table edge thus providing him very clear fields of fire (no sneaking for me). As the scenario is scored through victory points (defender = 2 VP’s for each enemy unit destroyed, Attacker = 1 VP per unit destroyed, 2 VP’s for each unit in the defenders deployment zone and 3 VP’s for each unit that leaves the defenders board edge) Geraint clearly saw the benefit of a nice killing field in the area I would gain the most VP’s (his deployment zone). He then promptly plonked half his force down (2 Infantry squads, HQ, Medic, Mortar and MMG) in a nice neat group around his HQ and waited for my preliminary bombardment.

“Anything but a one” I cry, and promptly roll a one.

So my bombardment doesn’t arrive, none of his units receive pins and I then place my force. I opt to put everything down at once, figuring that I can try and quickly punch though and get Geraint reacting to my movement rather than the other way round. So I place some infantry and mortart in the centre behind a hill, my truck, HQ Kubel and 222 on the right flank and the Pak36 Truck, Observer Kubel and AT Rifle on the left flank.

Turn 1
I get a load of dice and throw smoke at the village in the centre and advance everything 12”, except for the force on the left which runs 24” as it is currently unopposed. Geraint meanwhile moves almost all his stuff into the village, his MMG and both Infantry units into buildings. No shooting this round!


The US occupy the village

Looks like I'm making a move for the US left flank doesn't it?

Turn 2
Things get nasty with all Geraint’s reserves turning up (so much for me punching through). I lob more smoke, Geraint puts his infantry in the buildings into Ambush, causes pins on the truck mounted infantry with the MMG and fails to hit with the M10 main gun. However his pintle HMG caused pins on my truck. On my left the previously unopposed Pak 36, Observer and AT Rifle were now opposed. By a darned M3A1 mounted infantry squad and bazooka team. Bang! Kubelwagen is toast with my observer taking cover and my Truck takes pins and I fail my orders test and go down.


Turn 3
Geraint gets dice first, arghhhhh. Fires at the truck mounted infantry and fails to hit with his M10. Ha! I then fail to pass the order on my Truck with the driver huddling in the footwell. My Leutnant, incensed by this cowardice leaps from his Kubelwagen and runs over to remonstrate with the driver (and provide the much needed +1 morale to the infantry on board). I then pass my order test and jump my infantry out who sprint for Geraints deployment zone (as the truck took pins the passengers also take them, thus reducing their morale!).
Pins and failed orders a-go-go
I also fail my orders test for the 222, the crew deciding that they need to have some kind of team building exercise rather than shoot the big tank!. Geraint then moves one of his infantry squads out of a building to intercept my rush for the board edge.

Meanwhile my infantry in the centre decide to slide left in the cover of the hill and move round the village. On the right flank I drag my Pak 36 onto the hill, make a loud pinging noise on the side of the M3A1 with my AT rifle and advance my observer away from the now advancing GI’s onto the hill to then call in an air strike on the M10 (which arrives in subsequent turns after calling it in).
"Stay in the cover boys"
Turn 4
Geraint artillery barrage is delayed so he moves it forward to keep up with my advance on the right. I manage to mount up my other infantry unit in the truck, remount my HQ in the Kubel and lob more smoke. Geraint then assaults my AT Rifle, cruelly gunning down the two man team with his infantry squad that had recently dismounted from the M3A1. However this gets my Observer and assistant very angry and with surprising dice rolls they assault and destroy an 8 man squad. 
"Get that bloody AT gun out of the way, we're trying to shoot the half track"
Once again the M10 fails to achieve anything this turn, Geraints infantry also fail, however in fairness my shooting achieves very little too.
I dash my 222 forward to fire at the M10 but all it does is make a nice pinging noise on the armour.

Turn 5
Darned artillery comes in and piles a bunch of pins on my right flank advance, however Geraint ends up with a few too (M10, Infantry and Observer). Oh and it obliterates my 222. Then my bloody plane comes in, putting pins on everyone around the M10 but failing to damage the tank itself. Geraint gets dice first and moves his HQ to within range of his tank, passes the orders test and shoots at my truck but misses again (bad tank!!). This turn I manage to advance my truck into his deployment zone along with my HQ although I lose the HQ Kubel.


In the centre I lob more smoke and make a dash round the village with my other infantry unit, taking a couple of casualties from Geraints fire.

On the left the Pak 36 makes loud pinging noises on the M10, the M3A1 takes revenge on my observer who falls to the combined fire of .30 and .50 calibre guns.

Turn 6
Its getting quite close now, I get some early dice and fail my orders test to drive my truck off the board. However the rules don’t seem to stop me dismounting my infantry if the vehicle fails an order so I jump out and leg it off the board. Meanwhile my other infantry unit on the right is pinned to hell and back and stays put however my HQ’s sees an opportunity to strike a blow against the cursed Yankees and guns down the US artillery observer in their dash for the board edge, however they can’t quite leave the table. 
More pins a-go-go from the artillery and plane
On the left my remaining infantry unit take fire however not enough to stop them running into Geraint’s deployment zone. And we called the game there as we had run out of time although in the scenario rules you have to roll a 4+ to get a another turn anyway.

So what was the result. Well at the start of turn 6 it was 12/9 in Geraint’s favour however at the end of turn 6 I had managed to scrape together a further 4 points, ending up with a 12/13 win for me. I have since owned up to the fact that after reviewing my list I was actually 4pts over what we agreed and as such didn’t win after all (my Pak 36 was regular and not veteran as I had been playing it!).

So another good game, it swung back and forth with both of us using the full width of the board. Desert games are tough as you have to brave quite a lot of fire whilst trying to achieve your objectives. Geraint cleverly occupied the buildings the centre thereby creating a defensive stronghold that dictated my movement to some degree. He was terribly unlucky with his M10 however my order tests were appalling, both of us agreeing that the pin mechanic in Bolt Action replicates the problems of command and control extremely well. So we’ve another game lined up in a couple of weeks where I’ll hopefully be the defender without any transports (if I get my other Perry DAK sorted in time).


Wednesday 26 March 2014

DAK Reinforcements

Well a single reinforcement to be precise. After my outing at Gaz and Tim’s North Africa themed campaign day something became apparent with my force - a distinct lack of anti tank. So to remedy that I decided to splash out on the nice Perry Pak 36 AT gun. Now in Bolt Action this is classed as a light anti tank gun and rightly so as it is effectively like bringing a pea shooter to the gun fight at the OK Corral.  

However as my DAK force is modelled on a motorised patrol I'm hoping to be able to drag this into a flanking position rather than leave it as a static AT asset. Once firing into side armour it becomes a lot more effective. When setting a game in a later period (i.e 1943) I then have access to the Stielgranate which greatly improves the penetration however only at short range.


Bearing in mind my aversion to big tanks dominating the table top I think I’ll keep to a relatively realistic ToE for my North Africa platoon level games and see how I get on. If the current trend in Bolt Action continues of gamers aiming for the uber lists (as per 40k) I may have to look for a new ruleset (CoC seems to be trying to drag me in !!!!). After all it is a product designed to sell (i.e make money) and therefore the company would be foolish not to respond to the majority will of the market which does appear to be 40k, competitive gamer based!

Monday 24 March 2014

Buildings - Warbases Modular kits

I’ve had these on my to do list for some time and just haven’t found the time to finish them off, what with armies to paint for deadlines and personal life stuff getting in the way. However now that I’ve managed to complete all my projects with deadlines I’ve started crunching through my backlog.

This is the single story modular kit from Warbases http://war-bases.co.uk/BUILDINGS/MODULAR-28MM/SINGLE-STOREY-MOD and at £2.50 represents pretty good value for money (I think). It went together really easily, a bit of PVA glue and you’re good to go.




I’ve painted it up for my IHMN village of Little Minching however I’ve tried to keep the colour scheme neutral so I can also use it in WW2 skirmish games and other post-Victorian settings.


Now I just need to finish off the other three that are lying around.

Friday 21 March 2014

The Silmarillion - A solution for those that found it hard to read

I read The Lord of the Rings when I was 11 years old, devouring the lot (including appendices) in 5 days. I’m probably not out of line by saying that he first book (The Fellowship) can be a little arduous at times however without that grounding in the lifestyles and personalities of the Hobbits the rest of the story would not be the amazing tale of courage and friendship that it is!

Scroll forward 22 years and I finally decided to read The Silmarillion whilst travelling the world with my wife in 2007. Although a compilation of history and creation myths from Tolkien’s world it did feel a little like The Lord of the Rings, rather difficult to get into a bit of trial at first. However I persevered and in the end it has become one of my all time favourite books.

So why the title of the post, is it advice on how to read the book; upside down, whilst in the bath, drunk……..

Nope.

It’s a link to The Internet Archive, a non-profit organisation that was founded to build an Internet library and is based in the US. I occasionally use the database to find podcasts that I can listen to whilst painting and out of interest I did a search for “Tolkien” hoping to find some interesting discussions. I did indeed find many podcasts however was excited to also find the entire audio file of Martin Shaw’s reading of The Silmarillion (google him). This was originally released by Random House in 1998 and has been made available under a creative commons licence (details below).

I find it quite unusual that the Tolkien estate would allow this however I’m not going to grumble. So if you struggled to read the book here’s an alternative solution.


The legal bit for those of you that are interested:

CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
Public Domain Dedication

The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. See Other Information below.

Thursday 20 March 2014

Buildings - My Church has a graveyard!

After finishing off my Warbases church some time ago I thought that it looked a bit lonely and decided to throw together a graveyard out of some spare bits I had lying around.

So I enthusiastically cut some hard board (far too big), stuck some grave stones down (too many), used some textured plastic for the walls (far too fiddly), laid some paving (more fiddly plastic), textured the whole thing (too messy) and painted and flocked it.

As you can tell it was a bit of a pain and like most little projects ended up being a bit more time consuming than I thought. Add in the fact that my workspace is the kitchen table (brand new so I got many evil looks from my beloved) and my small writing desk and you realise that I was a little over ambitious.



Any how it’s turned out ok, I quite like the Renedra gravestones, very varied and not over the top. I did plan on adding some trees however I may leave that as it will end up a little cluttered for gaming.


Next up is the small industrial district of Little Minching (Warbases Warehouse and Modular buildings).

Dark Age Saxons

After the release of the appalling Warhammer Fantasy Battles 8th edition I, like many gamers, began exploring the wonderful world of Historical gaming. It was with joy and enthusiasm that I dived into the world of WAB, FoW, VSF and other interesting and challenging systems. Whilst exploring WAB in particular I discovered the excellent WAB supplement; Age of Arthur which on the surface looks very sparse however once you start delving deeper you find it is a balanced and varied book with many possibilities.

Anyway fast forward a couple of years and I had still to complete my Age of Arthur Saxon army, and therefore I foolishly agreed to take part in Scrivs http://scrivsland.blogspot.co.uk/ Age of Arthur Campaign day on the 16th March.

Three weeks before the event I suddenly remembered that I’d agreed to attend and frantically started painting up my army (can you see a pattern here?).

Anyway the end result is pictured below. I did take my camera to the day however got completely caught up in the enjoyment and forgot to take pics, therefore I’ll refrain from inflicting a write up on you good folks. Suffice it to say I had great fun, managed to win a few games (mainly through lucky dice!) and got to play with toy soldiers.
Geoguth

Cyning & Thegn with Gedricht

More Geoguth

Atheling & Duguth

Cyning

Atheling

Friday 14 March 2014

Paint table Saturday (on Thursday again!)

Well it's that time folks for me to be out of sync (and a week late) with my paint table update. However I have a pretty good excuse as I have been working to a deadline trying to finish off my Saxons for Scrivs WAB Age of Arthur event on Sunday.

Anyway here's how she's looking at the moment, you can probably make out the 19 Geoguth in two skirmish units at the back and the ranked up 22 Duguth at the front. The Geoguth are the very tasty Musketeer Miniatures Goths which I have to say we're a dream to paint, I shall definitely be investing in some more. The Duguth on the other hand are the Gripping Beast plastic Thegns and whilst they are good value they do lack detail and as such were a chore. Also you can probably see that they're a little shiny, Army Painter dip before dull coat.

Anyway I'll be popping up some proper pics of the painted army and a write up of the day later, where I expect to report that I have maintained my excellent track record of failing to achieve anything even remotely resembling success.

Sunday 9 March 2014

New Brushes

After all the work I’ve put in to tidying and organising my painting table I thought it was about time that looked at my tools and in particular my brushes. Like many people in our wonderfully weird hobby my induction to it was via Games Workshop and as such I purchase a wide range of their hobby materials. Now I’ve been in the hobby quite a while and do remember the heady days of flip top paints that had a GW logo but were actually Coat d’Arms however I have for years stayed loyal to GW, mainly due to me being too lazy to explore other other options. However since abandoning them around ten years ago following a rather enlightening (and short) period where I worked for them I have explored other manufacturers with great success.

I’m a keen user of Vallejo paints, purchase my tools from DIY stores and modelling supplies from the usual Rail Modeller companies. However I have yet to find a satisfactory brush alternative.

Until now (ooohhhh!)

Following advice from a number of blogs I ordered a 2/0 and a 0 from Rosemary and Co, a family run brush manufacturer that’s been in existence for a relatively short 30 years (Winsor & Newton have been around for 175 years!). So throwing caution to the wind I splashed out £8.25 on their website and held my breath, metaphorically speaking of course.

http://www.rosemaryandco.com/

Now I placed my order on the morning of Friday the 28th and fully expected my delivery to arrive on the following Monday, the order confirmation stating that it would be despatched 1st class.

But no what actually happened is that my order arrived on the morning of the 1st, less than 24 hours after placing the order!

Not only that but I received a free catalogue along with a note inside thanking me for choosing Rosemary & Co for my art needs.

So feeling very happy about my nice new purchase I glanced at the envelope and noticed that the postage had never been stamped by Royal Mail (there’s usually a date stamp on postage saying when it was received by them and sorted!). Flipping the envelope over I noticed the address of Rosemary & Co on the back - 5.9 miles from where I live.

I can only assume that they hand delivered my order! This was reinforced when the Postie arrived with our post later that same day!.

The brushes themselves are pure Kolinsky Sable, have a very nice point, and slightly shorter handles to what I am used to however they hold paint well and clean up nicely.

I think I’ll order from them again.



Friday 7 March 2014

Oh dear, he’s at it again - Cheapo Terrain Board

Well my fine hobby colleagues, much like the proverbial red admiral (the butterfly!) I find myself flitting from project to project. Not content with reviving my LoTR SBG gaming, modelling a village and board for IHMN, finishing my Age of Arthur Saxons for a campaign day and expanding my Afrika Korps I have decided to make a terrain board.

Now this isn't any old terrain board, oh no, this is one on the “cheap” much like some of my previous projects.

So to make sure I don’t deviate from track record here is the spend so far:

4 x Preframed artists canvasses 50cm x 60cm - £7.96
Sand from a kids playground - £0.00
3 x Paint tester pots - £1.50 (£0.50p each)
PVA - already had it but I used maybe a third so - £0.63p
Decorators filler - as above so - £0.34p
Bag of Woodland scenics blended turf - £7.99


So far that’s £18.42. As I was aiming for under £20 I'm quite happy although I may have to splash out on some wing nuts to make sure it all stays together under the rigours of play. As you can probably see from a couple of the photos part of the frame of one of the tiles is warped and as such has a rather significant gap (a Hobbit could probably fall through it), although this does close up when clamped.Also I’ll have to give it a good old with sealant to make sure it doesn’t drop to bits, however the FD managed to sneak that from the bin at her work so that’s free!
My LoTR SBG rule book to give a sense of scale
As I made it from artists canvasses its very light and quite thin and so it stacks away quite comfortably on top of the cupboards in the laundry room.
A smattering a terrain
Gandalf see's off one of those nasty Nazgul!


Till next time folks when hopefully you'll see it in action as I should be able to start the Fellowship Journeybook with a couple of the guys at the club!
 


Wednesday 5 March 2014

A Slight Diversion - Cakes

As briefly featured earlier my wife makes cakes, well to be more precise she is a hobby cake decorator having made cakes for friends birthdays, weddings, valentines and other cheery celebrations.

As a consequence she trawls the website and joins in discussions, follows other decorators on Facebook etc and is generally a cake geek/nerd (it seems we’re quite suited!).

Anyway below is a pic of cake that we both thought was awesome, capturing our twinned passions of cake and The Lord of the Rings. It’s the creation of Tracey at http://www.blackcherrycakecompany.com/ who is a self confessed cake/horror/gamer geek.



So why not head on over and drool over the scrumptious and slightly disturbing confectionary creations.

Monday 3 March 2014

Bolt Action AAR - DAK vs Tommies!

It’s the beginning of March 1943 and the Axis forces in Tunisia are perilously close to being surrounded, the US expanding the Torch landings to the west and the Eighth Army advancing along the coast in the east.

The scene is set as the 90th Light Africa Division conduct a series of raids to try and disrupt British supply and capture vital intelligence that may shed some light onto their inexplicable ability to pre-empt Axis plans.

This AAR pits my small DAK infantry platoon against an equally small British platoon. The mission was demolition, both sides need to destroy an objective in either deployment zone. This time I was up against Ian as the Allied player as Andy apparently had the Plague (although he did turn up later to heckle!).

Me
Veteran Leutnant (Kubelwagen with MMG)
6 x Veteran Rifles with LMG
6 x Veteran Rifles with LMG
8 x Veteran Pioneers with 6 SMG’s & 2 rifles (Truck)
10 x Regular Rifles with LMG
Anti tank Rifle

Ian
1st Lieutentant with 2x regulars (SMG’s)
Free Artillery Spotter
10 x Regular Rifles (SMG and LMG)
10 x Regular Rifles (SMG and LMG)
MMG
Medium Mortar with Spotter
PIAT team
Humber Armoured Car

Deployment
We both placed our objectives behind hills in our deployment zone. A road bisected the board diagonally with a T junction half way along that then created a triangle on my half of the board. This road would become the linchpin to the entire game (wait and see!)
Ian deployed half his force with his mortar near his objective, behind a hill, spotter on the hill with his artillery observer, MMG to the right of the hill covering my right flank and a rifle section on my left behind the woods waiting to advance.
I then placed my two small veteran sections (my fire teams!), one in the centre behind my hill and one on my right, my AT rifle team also in the centre and my large regular rifle section on the left of my objective in a hay field. These would form my base of fire against the rifle section that I expected down my left flank. Everything else would be in reserve for both of us.

Turn 1
Ian advanced his infantry on my left up to the woods, fired on my regular squad in the hay field with his mortar, causing a pin and killing 3. He also placed his artillery marker on the same unit, so I really needed to move them next turn as both his mortar and artillery would be ranging in. Meanwhile I moved my centre squad to my right towards the small wood and my other team on my right over the hill towards the hay field, hopefully to get them into cover to provide some enfilading fire. My AT rifle decided to have a pot shot at the mortar spotter as they moved towards the cover of the trees on the right but missed brilliantly, possibly obliterating a pigeon in the process. Ian then shot back with his MMG, no casualties but they now had a pin.
Unit on the right move up

Regulars on the left take a pasting

Unit in the centre redeploy to get into the woods
Turn 2
Ian’s artillery barrage turned up however failed to cause any damage other than another pin on the already pinned unit on my left. Then to add insult to injury he got the first dice, his mortar fired and hit causing another pin on the same unit. Looks like they’re stuck in the field then as they now have three pins and subsequently failed their order test and therefore hit the dirt. Not much to oppose Ian’s advance on the left now as his Tommies moved through the small wood and fired at the pinned unit causing another pin (that’s 4 now and them effectively out of the game as on Morale 9 they now need a 5 to pass an order).

So what did I do? Moved my infantry on the right into the hay field and fired on the MMG, missing completely. The other squad moved into the trees adjacent whilst the AT rifle failed his orders test and hit the dirt in the open!

Ian then brought his HQ, Humber and remaining infantry on, both Humber and infantry coming on the board on the far right and opening up on the squad in the hay field, killing 2 and causing two pins. His HQ meanwhile guarding the objective with the mortar team and his artillery observer advanced bravely (foolishly) down the centre to threaten my objective. I meanwhile failed to bring any reserves on.
Advance through the woods to get into firing position
The Humber and PIAT deal some pain out!
Its not looking good for me at the end of turn 2

Turn 3
Bad to worse, Ian fires on my pinned unit on the right with his tommies, killing 2 more leaving the brave NCO to load the LMG gunner. His Tommies on the left fire on the pinned unit but fail spectacularly, ooh things are looking up I think, but no, I fail to pass an order and they hit the dirt again.

However my AT rifle passes his order and moves into cover in the woods, firing on the Humber which promptly recce’s away, I hit but can’t manage to roll the 6 damage. Meanwhile my other intact infantry team move up to the edge of the woods, getting into position to fire on the MMG next turn.
Once more the artillery observer demonstrated his bravery by sprinting up and over the hill to within spitting distance of my objective. The end of turn three looks bad.

Turn 4
I manage to get some dice early and bring on my HQ in his Kubelwagen who, assessing the situation rushes into action and guns down the impertinent British Artillery Officer threatening to capture the top secret plans stashed in the damaged truck! (my objective) On the left flank not much happens as the mortar misses, the Tommies miss and my pinned infantry hug the dirt and think of home. However my squad in the woods open fire on the MMG and with some rather nice marksmanship destroy the weapon itself. Things are looking up!

Oh no they’re not as the Humber and infantry gun down the NCO loading the LMG. However the lone LMG gunner passes his morale check and soldiers on. My AT rifle misses again. Arghhh

So the last two dice are mine and my devious and most clever plan alluded to at the start of this report comes into play, I pass the reserve roll for my truck and my Veteran Pioneers zoom onto the board, 40” up the road (vehicles get double move on roads!) to position them in a threatening position for Ian’s objective that lately was defended by his MMG!

So it all hinges on the next two turns.
The Humber devastates my poor rifle section
Pinned to oblivion and yet the Tommies hold back!
Turn 5
Woohoo, I get the first dice and promptly manoeuvre my truck off road to within striking distance of the objective. Can I get the next dice or will Ian gun down the truck with all his available fire thereby pinning my passengers and dooming me to defeat.

Pioneers arrive. Yayyyyy
Blam, I get the next dice and dismount my Veterans and move into contact with the objective. If they can end the turn in contact and Ian doesn’t manage to get into contact with my objective then I win. Seeing as Ian’s nearest infantry are at least 3 run moves away it’s all on this turn now and accordingly Ian piles both his HQ and Mortar crew into assault. However German Veteran Pioneers bristling with SMG’s are tough little devils and although taking 2 casualties they wipe out both units in assault. Ian tries to get his Humber into range but can’t quite make the shot.
The end is nigh!
Game to me!

Review
That’s my first win with my DAK and was primarily down to using dismounted troops to tie up the enemy whilst controlling the approach route to the objective. Ian’s main forces were on either flank but didn’t make much headway towards the objective whilst, although taking heavy casualties I managed to extend my area of control closer and closer to my objective. Now if I hadn’t gotten the first dice in turn 5 things may have gone a little wrong however as I reduced the amount of dice that Ian had in the bag the odds were more favourable that I’d get that all important first die.

All in all a good game, I shall persevere with transports, however I think I’ll add in some solid footslogging bases of fire and see how well I can time the delivery of my mounted troops.