M3 Grant- A Bit of an Orphan Tank

 

I recently resin printed a M3 Grant AFV, I got the STL from a Canadian Vehicles kickstarter. I have to say that these were the best vehicle STLs I have received with supported and unsupported versions but also a hollowed version. I find hollowing vehicles a little challenging, so I was quite happy that this was already done.

Most of the vehicles in the kickstarter were trucks and it was an interesting collection but after some research not really a collection that was useful for wargaming. This was especially relevant to the M3 Grant which was primarily used for training purposes by Commonwealth armies except in North Africa where both the British and Australian armies used it for operational purposes.

I have to admit that I had not done this research before I painted the tank. So I will have to make it a training vehicle for the 2nd Canadian Armoured Division. 

But who knows it may end up being transferred to the Soviet Union where the M3 Grant did have operational history with a new livery.

Chain of Command Version 2

Two weeks ago, we had our June Gamesday on or about the second anniversary of the founding of our club. We initially put up 5 games but only 3 were subscribed fully. I put on a game of Chain of Command to illustrate the changes in version 2. We also had a game of Muskets and Tomahawks as well as a Pirate game of Port Royale. 

I actually ended up playing the Chain of Command game twice, first with my friend Pierre-Yves. We are both experienced CoC players and seemed to have little problem with the rules changes. The planned game had PY, Iannick, Julien and Jen-Philippe. Everyone had played before except JP who I believe was a novice to the game. He has played a lot of Battle Group but was quite interested in giving CoC a go.

I went with a terrain dense table using the Delaying Action scenario. This wa quite different than the same scenario in version 1. Here we have an objective to capture with a possibly a limited amount of time to capture it. Interestingly enough the defender can take no engineering works. I decided to replicate an action that the Canadian forces were involved in the follow up to D-Day.

Saint-Lambert-sur-Dive, August 18, 1944. During Operation Tractable, to close the Falaise Gap, elements of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division were ordered to attack and hold St Lambert to prevent elements of the German 7.Armee breaking out of the area in their retreat east. Our scenario will recreate the initial attack of a Canadian Rifle platoon on an entrenched German Grenadier platoon.

I used the forces from the CoC v2 rulebook with the said supports, the Attacking Canadians had 10 supports and the defending German 6. I will not bother to go into the specific action as I have forgotten it now but here are some photos.

I certainly enjoyed playing a game and games mastering the second game. This is a terrific re-vamping of a great set of rules. I personally found the mechanics basically the same and I cannot say the rules were more granular but there was a lot of chrome added. I am really looking forward to getting in my next game.

Saga Night-English vs the Flemish

 

Ten days ago we had our monthly night, this was well attended as usual with 6 tables set up, half being Age of Vikings and half being Age of Chivalry. I again brought my English and this time my opponent was Eric's Flemish. I had yet to play against Eric or the Flemish so it was going to be a novel experience for me.

English

3 Warrior Bowmen

1.5 Hearthguard Knights

1.5 Warriors

Flemish

2 Warrior Crossbowmen

4 Levy Pikes

We used the chaos method to set up the game.

Starting Position

Eric has beautifully painted figures

Bowmen to the centre

The final position, I won the game by killing the Flemish Warlord with my bowmen.

It was an interesting game, I am not sure if the Flemish have an inherent disadvantage  against the English. The Pikes are quite slow moving and the English can cause a lot of damage with their Bowmen at a distance.

Pulp Alley-The Tomb of Dagon

A couple of week ago myself and Luis got together to playa game of Pulp Alley. It had been awhile since I had played and I wanted to get in a game. Luis plays a lot and is a great teacher.

I was interested in playing something set in Innsmouth, I am surprised there are so few Lovecraft inspired scenarios for Pulp Alley. I have played Innsmouth Gold several times and there are some Cthulhu characters in the China Station campaign. After consultation on line, I got a couple of suggestions from this campaign booklet and decided to go with Tomb of Dagon, I had already played The Fog.

What I missed initially was that The Tomb was a Solo scenario! I had initially set up the below table trying to mirror the scenario but setting it on a street in Innsmouth.

Entry area in the left upper map with only Plot Point in right upper

I quickly realised though that this had only one Entry Point which was not going to work in a 2 player game. The table was changed around as illustrated below. 

We now have 2 Entry Points in the northeast and northwest areas on the table with the Plot Point (cemetary) in the centre. Essentially each league has to work there way through 3 areas with challenges, until they enter the centre at the bottom of the table and then fight their way back up the central street. 

Well it seemed to work, although 9 turns was not really enough. I would play the scenario again with some minor changes in respect to the challenger areas. The Deep Ones made several appearances and were quite a challenge especially the Elder! A couple of more photos.

Elder Deep One in action against Luis's league

My league also took quite a beating.

Thank you Luis for being a willing participant in this modified scenario.

Medieval Warriors

 

Here are the last 3 units I have painted for Saga, Age of Chivalry. there are 2 units of warriors with bills and one of a unit with spears. They are mostly painted in English livery but they are varied enough so they can be used in any warband.

That will be it for a while. I think I did pretty well for about 10 weeks of painting with the following units:

• Crossbowmen Levy (1 unit of 12)
• Bowmen Warriors (3 units of 8)
• Pikemen Warriors (3 units of 8)
• Foot Knights Hearthguard (3 units of 4)
• Mounted Knights Haerthguard (1 unit of 4)
• Mounted Warlord
• Foot Warlord
• Mercenary Knight

79 figuresin all !

Limes Game 2

Myself and Robbie had our second game in our Limes campaign a couple of weeks ago, it was quite a different game as you will see as the Romans have built up their defences.

The Saxon force was lead by a Warlord with 2 Missile Levy units, 2 Warriors units and 2 Heartguard Units.

The Romans as below with a Warlord and 2 Companions 

Reports

Limes Summing Up Raid 2

Saxons

4 Victory points

Resolve drops to 6

Romans

13 Victory Points

Morale stays at 8

4 Hearthguard and 2 Warriors lost.

This was tough game for the Saxons and they will have to be a little more cunning in our next game!

Game Photos

Initial Set up

The Romans have a new Armoury

The Roman cavalry are a challenge but we were able kill quite a few of them.

Quite a few melees in the game

I misinterpreted one of the advanced BB abilities thinking I could get off the board in a single move, in the raid scenario the Saxons score points by getting off the opposite edge.

I only was able to save my Warlord and a Hearthguard by hiding in the woods.

Ending up being a very solid Roman Victory. I have to remember that the Saxons do not get any points for killing Romans! 

Swiss Pikemen

 

Next up, and I am almost there in describing my Age of Chivalry units, is some Warrior Pikemen. They are for my Swiss warband but certainly can act as foreign mercenaries for other countries. The Swiss Warband is unusual in that they do not have a Warlord. 

I have painted 3 units of 8 but will probably play them as units of 12. Banners represent the cantons of Berne and Uri. There are 4 metal figures mixed withe the Perry Plastics.

Just one more unit type to photograph and that will be it!

Levy Crossbowmen

 

This is the first unit I painted for Age of Chivalry. I still had not really learned how to assemble plastic figures and you can see this with some of the unnatural poses. I decided on a blue and white scheme but I also struggled with that as you can see. But once they came together, I believe they look ok. They were primarily painted for my Swiss Warband, and they are the only warband that are classed as Levy, in most cases they are classed as Warriors. I painted 13 figures as I wanted to add a banner man, and of course from the blue-white scheme they will be recognised as being from Zurich.