Salute 2019 Blitzkrieg Commander IV game photos

Well, what a great day at Salute yesterday.  Blitzkrieg Commander IV was a great success, very playable for anyone used to BKC II, but readily understood by players new to the game.  We spent a very enjoyable 20 minutes running through an American activation and German response to a group of Belgian players who had bought the new rules as an impulse buy but were impressed enough to go back to Pendraken and buy a variety of starter armies!! 

 

 

The roads arrived to finish off the table early on Saturday morning, so we set them up and were ready for the off.

First official move with the new rules, an M8 Greyhound from Andy T's battlegroup races forward to scout out where the German stop line is.

Second activation saw Mark F's Greyhound do a similar recce move.

First shooting saw me suppress Andy T's Greyhound with a mortar team - nice use of a special rule saw the "exposed" crew of the Greyhound especially vulnerable to the plunging fire from the mortars, which gained an extra shot and hit as normal in the open against the vulnerable vehicle.

First blunder of the game saw Andy T's infantry retreat a half move.

BKC emphasises combined arms techniques, so when Marks Shermans, supported by an M10 advanced too far, ambush fire from a PAK 38 and a pair of Panthers saw the lead Shermans suppressed and falling back in the following German activation.  Successful command roles then meant the Panthers could concentrate on the M10, which brewed up.

Another of the specials is "unreliable" which applied to the Panthers - they role a d6 each turn and are immobilised on a 1 (red marker) - they then get three turns to roll a 4+ or have to be abandoned (counted as lost).

Andy T's AT guns on a driving tour of France.

German company level battlegroup holding a wood.

View from ground level.

US infantry being whittled down by German fire from the tree line.  Two stands have already been KO'd.

On the other flank, US infantry, a 57mm gun and a Sherman managed to get enough hits on a Panther to KO it, causing much satisfaction amongst the US players.

Another German company sized battlegroup deployed in the village astride the road leading off table to the right that was the US objective for the game.

The German CO occupying a farm more or less half way between the two infantry battlegroups.

The game ended more or less even by the time the show closed, but the main objectives of the day were to explore the new rules, demo the game to interested visitors and have as much fun as possible - oh and buy some kit in between.  All in all a great day out - I enjoyed the show immensely, although definitely not a fan of London prices, but worth putting up with them for a grand day out.  Thanks to Pendraken for organising the table and providing the forces and to Richard P, Mark J and Andy T for such a fun days gaming.  Thanks to Richard P for driving me down - sadly, no thanks to Cheshire West road repairs or Google Maps for closing the A51-A49 junction overnight with no updates on the mobile phone, which provided me with a 20+ mile detour at 10pm last night.  It was, despite that, great to see so many people and catch up - now where to start with all the new figures and reading material.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Salute 2019 Blitzkrieg Commander IV game

Come and see us by the Pendraken stand, where we're laying on a US vs German game set in southern France in 1944 using Blitzkrieg Commander IV.  Stand GG018.

Hope to see you tomorrow at Salute.

Thanks for looking.

10mm Early/Mid-Imperial Romans

I recently dug out a Warmaster Imperial Roman army that I bought from Pendraken at a show, along with an Ancient British army, about 10 years ago.  In a rush of enthusiasm, I painted up the entire army, but ran out of steam when it came to the Ancient British, so never got a game in.  At Deeside Defenders, Black Powder  and the various related rules Pike and Shotte and Hail Ceasar are all enthusiastically played.  So, after discussing with Ian whether he had a suitable opposing army (which he did having Sassanids in 10mm), we scheduled a game for this coming Thursday using Hail Ceasar.

The entire force, at the back two stands of Scorpion bolt throwers, five legionnary cohorts (a veteran legion in the centre representing the Praetorian Guard), three cohorts of auxilia, one ala of cavalry, one unit of archers and three German javelin-armed skirmisher units, plus a tribune and a legate.

 The Germanic tribes skirmisher units

 The unit of Archers

 The three cohorts of auxilia.

 Two cohorts of legionaries

 One veteran legionary cohort - the Praetorian Guard

 Two more legionary cohorts

 The small unit of Scorpion bolt throwers

 The whole army on parade.

 
The shields could do with some detail either painted on or as decals - not sure which way I'll go yet.  In any case, they should be able to put up a decent show on Thursday night.  All depends how quickly I can pick up the rules as I've not played HC before and my rules haven't yet turned up from Amazon.

Thanks for looking

English Civil War in 10mm

This last couple of weeks I have been mostly painting part of a Pendraken 10mm ECW Parliamentarian starter pack that I picked up at WMMS back in February.  I needed a change from all the browns, greens and black of the cold war gear.  I've decided to set them up for Pike and Shotte, as I really like Black Powder.  Initially I based them 8 infantry to a 40x20mm base, with two bases of shotte and one base of pike.  On reflection and after discussions at the club with Ian and Rick, I'm going to add another stand of pike to each unit to give the impression of bulk that the pike deserve.  The horse are based three to a 40x20mm base and initially I thought two stands per unit, but I'm leaning towards three stands per unit.

The whole group painted so far, three units of infantry (2 stands each of shotte and one of pike) and 2 units of horse(each 2 stands).

 Detail of the three units of infantry.

 Old Pendraken "Ironsides" horse, orange sashes.

 As above, blue sashes.

 Detail of command pike stand with commander and drummer plus standard bearer and pikeman.

 The "redcoats".

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 The "greencoats"

 The "bluecoats".

 The units of horse.

In the starter pack, for £25 (as of April 2013), you get enough infantry for seven units of two shotte and one pike stand, plus some spares, and seven units of two stands of two horse, plus a single piece of artillery.  Good value in my opinion.  For an additional £8, I should be able to add enough pikemen to base up the extra 7 stands of pike.  With some commanders, that should be enough to field a couple of "brigades" of 3 or 4 battalia of infantry, plus a couple of battalia of horse and an artillery piece.  Enough for a medium sized engagement!

Thanks for looking!