Hey remember being tired of this recursive crap already?

So as I've been reading more of Ungvary's The Siege of Budapest it's becoming clearer and clearer to me that I should have made a Hungarian Assault Artillery list, as they are all over his account of the fighting in Budapest. Still, I'm happy with my tanker list, as the Turan II from Battlefront is a great looking little model (and as I don't think I could actually fit an assault gun list in under the restrictions of the first stages of the Escalation League)!

But I did feel like I wanted to change my Hetzers in the 1750 iteration of the list for the native-grown Zrinyi II assault guns. It was a hard call, because the Hetzers are one of the things I was liking the most about the old list. But I'm sure I can find them a home someplace else, and the Zrinyi really deserves some table time. This swap saves me 30 points, which neatly buys me a Supply Truck for my engineers, so hopefully this is the final iteration of my Hungarians:

1750pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company) (1750)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #3 - Harckocsizo Platoon - 3x Panzer IV H (285)

Weapons Platoon #1 - Motorized Pioneer Platoon - HQ Section w/ 2 Pioneer squads (180)
-add Command 'panzerknacker' SMG team (5)
-add 3-ton trucks (5)
-add Pioneer Supply Truck (25)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add Botond trucks (5)
-replace Command Rifle/MG squad with Command 'panzerfaust' SMG team (10)

Divisional Support Platoon #2 - Motorized Artillery Battery - HQ w/ 4x 105mm 37M howitzers (210)
-trucks (5)

Divisional Support Platoon #3 - Rohamagyus Platoon - 3x Zrinyi II assault guns (225)

I'll also be pulling the recovery vehicle that I added at the 1500pt step in favor of the Command team upgrade for the Pioneers, as I've read plenty of stuff about brave antitank work in Ungvary's book and none about recovery vehicles.

Another BattleTech Quick Strike starter game

My old friend Steve is going to be in our mini-campaign this summer (next month!) and last night at the FLGS we set up a little lance-on-lance demo game for him. He took to it like a duck to water, but more importantly it showcased a few more rules issues that I need to go through the absurdly large Strategic Ops PDF and either print out or collate into a new set of tables, or something. I'm waiting on my plastic hex bases to arrive from Chessex, so we had another 'shirts vs skins' game with red rubber bands acting as shirts. No real commentary, as with us just activating our whole lances at a time there wasn't too much you could do tactically. If anything I think that you really need to have at least two units, even if it means breaking a lance up into two demi-lances, otherwise the person who 'wins' initiative gets the big prize of never getting any kind of reaction to the other player's movement. Pix follow:






The electrical gang or workboxes for terrain is an idea I'd seen done before, but forgotten about until Dale (who is the driving force behind the Heavy Gear gaming at The Game Connection) brought some of his to the last HG night I was able to attend. For under $20 I have got a tableful of buildings, including several small bunker-ish looking buildings, two round power plants, a large industrial building and one (if I can cut the sides out neatly enough) mech assembly bay. Good times, hopefully the Krylon Fusion spray paint I bought will indeed do the job and stick to this material...

No more excuses

Hey, remember rememblahblah more FoW Hungarian lists

Ok, I needed arty more than I needed 4 light tanks:

1200pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Weapons Platoon #1 - Motorized Pioneer Platoon - HQ Section w/ 2 Pioneer squads (180)
-add 3-ton trucks (5)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add Botond trucks (5)

Divisional Support Platoon #2 - Motorized Artillery Battery - HQ w/ 4x 105mm 37M howitzers (210)
-trucks (5)

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1500pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company) (1495)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)
-SdKfz 9(18t) (Famo) recovery vehicle (5)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #3 - Harckocsizo Platoon - 3x Panzer IV H (285)

Weapons Platoon #1 - Motorized Pioneer Platoon - HQ Section w/ 2 Pioneer squads (180)
-add 3-ton trucks (5)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add Botond trucks (5)
-replace Command Rifle/MG squad with Command 'panzerknacker' SMG team (5)

Divisional Support Platoon #2 - Motorized Artillery Battery - HQ w/ 4x 105mm 37M howitzers (210)
-trucks (5)

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1750pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company) (1750)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)
-SdKfz 9(18t) (Famo) recovery vehicle (5)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #3 - Harckocsizo Platoon - 3x Panzer IV H (285)

Weapons Platoon #1 - Motorized Pioneer Platoon - HQ Section w/ 2 Pioneer squads (180)
-add 3-ton trucks (5)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add Botond trucks (5)
-replace Command Rifle/MG squad with Command 'panzerknacker' SMG team (5)

Divisional Support Platoon #2 - Motorized Artillery Battery - HQ w/ 4x 105mm 37M howitzers (210)
-trucks (5)

Divisional Support Platoon #3 - Rohamagyus Platoon - 3x Hetzer assault guns (255)

Hey, remember remembering Flames of War like two days ago?

So do I, because it was just two days ago! In the comments on that blog post, my friend and primary wargaming buddy (and possibly only current blog reader) Britt pointed out that there's an escalation league starting up at a game store in Cary that I've heard of but never been to, called Gamer's Armory.

I love the whole 'escalation' league format, whatever it's called and whatever the actual wargame. They're a great way to bring new players in to a game, or let old players start a new list they're interested in. I'm in a Warhammer Fantasy escalation league right now (and supposedly in a 40k one, but I've stalled out on that one a bit), and I think they're just great. This one in particular, for Late War-era Flames of War, has me interested because I'm just picking up a really fascinating book called The Siege of Budapest by Krisztian Ungvary (and apologies for the lack of correct diacritical markings).

Here's my first 'checkpoint' list, for 600pts, with some interesting Hungarian tanks that fit neatly under the league restrictions for these games (front armor no higher than 7, Anti-tank rating no higher than 11), the Turan II medium tanks.

600pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 2 Rifle squads (95)

For the next step, 800pts, I can just add 2 more rifle squads and trucks to the Motorized Rifle Platoon (net gain of 85) and a platoon of Nimrod Self-propelled AA guns (115), or a Light Harckoscsizo Platoon of five Toldi II light tanks (195), or add a 2-squad Motorized Pioneer Platoon with trucks and Command SMG team (195) and the aforementioned trucks for the Rifle Platoon (5). Just all sorts of fun stuff you can do in this little format!

EDIT TO ADD: on looking further, the next several steps are all 200-point chunks, so based on the above it looks like I'm set for 800, 1000, and 1200! Now just to figure out a 300pt chunk for the jump to 1500 and a final 250 for the 1750 endpoint! First thoughts: a platoon of three Panzer IV H's (285) and then topping it off with an Assault Gun platoon of three Hetzers (255) to come in at 10 points under budget. Still thinking on that one though.

EDIT mk II: let's go ahead and do this thing at all points levels:


800pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add trucks (5)

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1000pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company) (total 995)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Weapons Platoon #1 - Motorized Pioneer Platoon - HQ Section w/ 2 Pioneer squads (180)
-replace Command Rifle/MG team with Command Panzerfaust SMG team (10)
-add 3-ton trucks (5)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add Botond trucks (5)

---

1200pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Weapons Platoon #1 - Motorized Pioneer Platoon - HQ Section w/ 2 Pioneer squads (180)
-replace Command Rifle/MG team with Command Panzerfaust SMG team (10)
-add 3-ton trucks (5)

Weapons Platoon #2 - Light Harckocsizo Platoon - 4x Toldi IIa tanks (195)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add Botond trucks (5)
-replace Command Rifle/MG team with Command Panzerfaust SMG team (10)

---

1500pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company) (1490)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)
-SdKfz 9(18t) (Famo) recovery vehicle (5)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #3 - Harckocsizo Platoon - 3x Panzer IV H (285)

Weapons Platoon #1 - Motorized Pioneer Platoon - HQ Section w/ 2 Pioneer squads (180)
-replace Command Rifle/MG team with Command Panzerfaust SMG team (10)
-add 3-ton trucks (5)

Weapons Platoon #2 - Light Harckocsizo Platoon - 4x Toldi IIa tanks (195)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add Botond trucks (5)
-replace Command Rifle/MG team with Command Panzerfaust SMG team (10)

---

1750pts Hungarian Harckoscsizo Szazad (Tank Company) (1745)
Company HQ - 2 Turan II tanks (125)
-SdKfz 9(18t) (Famo) recovery vehicle (5)

Combat Platoon #1 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #2 - Harckocsizo Platoon: 3x Turan II tanks (190)

Combat Platoon #3 - Harckocsizo Platoon - 3x Panzer IV H (285)

Weapons Platoon #1 - Motorized Pioneer Platoon - HQ Section w/ 2 Pioneer squads (180)
-replace Command Rifle/MG team with Command Panzerfaust SMG team (10)
-add 3-ton trucks (5)

Weapons Platoon #2 - Light Harckocsizo Platoon - 4x Toldi IIa tanks (195)

Regimental Support Platoon #1 - Self-propelled AA Platoon - 2x Nimrod AA guns (115)

Divisonal Support Platoon #1 - Motorized Rifle Platoon - HQ section w/ 4 Rifle squads (175)
-add Botond trucks (5)
-replace Command Rifle/MG team with Command Panzerfaust SMG team (10)

Divisional Support Platoon #2 - Rohamagyus Platoon - 3x Hetzer assault guns (255)

Hey, remember Flames of War?

I do! I also remember that there's lots of people playing it at The Game Connection in Knightdale, and that I've got an Eastern Front SS list about one-quarter built, and also that last spring my good friend Norton said he'd be interested in playing if I ever got around to showing him how. So, for my benefit as much as anything else, I dug out the two 600pt 'starter' lists I'd come up with and actually ordered last year. Last night a few of the German armored cars got assembled! This is a thing that his happening this year!

600pt Panzerspahkompanie (Tunisia) 600pts
HQ: SdKfz 223 (30)

CP#1: Light Panzerspah Platoon: 1 Patrol: 3x SdKfz 223 (110)

CP#2: Light Panzerspah Platoon: 1 Patrol: 3x SdKfz 223 (110)

DSP#1: Assault Gun Platoon: 2x StuG G (340)
-Schurzen for both StuG Gs (10)


600pt US Rifle Company (Tunisia) 600

HQ: Company HQ (20)

CP#1: Rifle Platoon: HQ Section w/ 3 Rifle Squads (90)
-Bazooka Team (20)

CP#1: Rifle Platoon: HQ Section w/ 3 Rifle Squads (90)
-Bazooka Team (20)

DSP#1: Tank Platoon: 3x M4 Shermans (345)

DSP#2: Truck Section: 2x Truck Squads (15)

The only bad part is I don't have any German infantry for Nortonwood to learn the infantry-on-infantry assault rules on. I might need to see if I can quickly snag the stuff to drop the StuG Gs (which I want so we can demo the tank-on-tank stuff) and run this list:

Panzerspahkompanie (Tunisia)
HQ: SdKfz 223 (30)

CP#1: Light Panzerspah Platoon: 1 Patrol: 3x SdKfz 222/223 (110)

CP#2: Light Panzerspah Platoon: 1 Patrol: 3x SdKfz 222/223 (110)

CP#3: Half-Tracked Panzerspah Platoon: 1 Patrol: Command SdKfz 250, 2x SdKfz 250/9 (120)

WP#1: Gepanzerte Aufklarungs Platoon: HQ section with 3 Aufklarungs Squads (225)
-replace Command HMG team w/ Command SMG Panzerknacker team (5)

This would require me to buy 2 bags of SdKfz250s and 1 bag of the SdKfz250/9 with 2cm gun, along with a bag of Afrika Korps infantry (all by Old Glory). This would be fairly cheap, and also go a long way towards fielding a full-sized 1500pts worth of Afrika Korps in the future, so I am in fact going to do this.

Say, lets take a look at a putative 1500 Panzerspah list based on these purchases! Fun!

1500 Panzerspahkompanie (Tunisia) 1495

HQ: SdKfz 250 (35)

CP#1: Light Panzerspah Platoon: 2 Patrols: 6x SdKfz 222/223 (220)

CP#2: Light Panzerspah Platoon: 1 Patrol: 3x SdKfz 222/223 (110)

CP#3: Half-Tracked Panzerspah Platoon: 1 Patrol: Command SdKfz 250, 2x SdKfz 250/9 (120)

WP#1: Gepanzerte Aufklarungs Platoon: HQ section with 3 Aufklarungs Squads (225)
-replace Command HMG team w/ Command SMG Panzerknacker team (5)

WP#2: 7.5cm Armoured Car Platoon: 3x SdKfz 233(7.5cm) (170)

DSP#1: Assault Gun Platoon: 2x StuG G (340)
-Schurzen for both StuG Gs (10)

DSP#2: Heavy AA Gun Platoon: HQ section w/ 2x 8.8cm FlaK36 (235)
-add Kfz 15 field car, SdKfz7(8t) Halftracks (5), eight crew per gun for RoF 3 (20)

OR pull the 7.5 AC platoon and take Priority Air Support for a flight of Stukas - 175pts, 1500 on the nose.

First games of Warhammer Fantasy

So I finally got some of my WFB Slaaneshi Chaos guys assembled, and headed up to All Fun and Games in Apex to play my first two games. I guess technically they weren't my first two games, since my old friend Steve got me to play a game or two before, but that was several years and nearly as many editions of the rules ago, so practically these were two newbie games.

My opponent was a tremendously nice (and patient) guy named Andrew, who went out of his way both to be helpful with my numerous rules questions, but who also lent me five of the Brettonian knights he was using to proxy for his Dark Elf Cold One Knights so that I could proxy my Chaos Knights, who I'd wisely left in a separate box on the countertop when I left.

I didn't really take any notes, or even more than this one picture, but I have to say that I think I'm going to like WFB a lot, and I'm fairly certain I like it (rules-wise at least) more than 40k. Mechanically it seems less fussy, and yet there are more interesting options and things to consider. I also think the mission selection portion of the WFB system is way better than 40k's is. Don't get me wrong, I still like 40k and want to give it a shot again in the near future as well, but WFB really knocked one out of the park in my opinion. I really need to buckle down and get these Chaos guys assembled and painted so I can start on my Dwarfs for the mini-campaign Steve, Britt, and I discussed last fall!

Family Photo: 800+TV of Heavy Gear MILICIA

Everyone for a planned 1000TV list except for two convict GP cadres (or maybe one convict GP cadre and two platoons of convict infantry, I'm still trying to decide). They're not primed yet obviously, so I'm putting these pics up for one main reason: to force myself to locate my little point&shoot digital camera which I have misplaced somewhere in the house after my last vacation. The iPhone pics are just brutal. Having to look at them will (hopefully) make me get off my butt and find the little digicam, or maybe even invest in a decent camera and a book on how to do less sucky minis photos. My theme for this army is lots of the crappy old gears the MILICIA gets stuck with, and a hard core of half-tame war criminals and disposable convicts barely held in check by the MP cadre. Typical Southern dirty tricks/deniable ops/'kick murder' group. I love 'em.

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My Fire Support Cadre - the firepower of the list. A Command Jager with Medium Rifle upgrade, a Silverscale spotter/FO gear, two Spitting Cobras (normal and Support variants), and a Python. The Support Cobra might be my favorite single mini in the HG universe, toting that "Junglemower" Very Heavy Autocannon. If you didn't love "Ol' Painless" in Predator you'll never understand.

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The MP Cadre - the first box of HG minis I ever bought. If the Spit is my fave single, these guys are my favorite album. Giant shotguns and riot shields? Yes please. I'm trying to decide if there's any way I can cleanly paint "OBEY" on their shields instead of the more traditional "MP" label. The Black Mamba MP is the army commander, and two of the Iguana MPs have light autocannon and grenades instead of the traditional street howitzer. The one thing I found out at the recent refresher game was that this unit is emphatically NOT good at tankhunting.

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And my war-crimey GP squad. My concept was that while the MILICIA had a place for convict cannon fodder, there was also a place for more motivated offenders in a unit like this. A Silverscale for a second FO gear, two Flammjagers for burning stuff, and a brace of Dartjagers, one with a light bazooka and the other with a 'paratroop gun' (a light autocannon with an underslung light grenade launcher). When you need people to do the kind of stuff you can't get the admittedly fairly amoral regular MILICIA to do, these are the guys you call. Kind of a 'Dirty Dozen' thing, except these guys are all like the Telly Savalas character....

EDIT TO ADD: the smaller of the two convict GP cadres is built now. Just waiting to get in 4 Stripped-Down Jagers for the last one. Pix to follow.