Making Active Smoke

Good morning,

I had a quick look around the 'net to see how best to make a destroyed tank marker to sit atop the hull of, well, a destroyed tank, and I came across this...


How cool is that?!

Dunno how practical it'll be for 20mm tanks (the lights look like they'll be too big), or indeed if I can source these lights at all, but...how cool is that?!

Nick

Crossfire Game...

...attack and defense.

Good evening,

Just finished a game with my mate Mark, a Crossfire newbie. So, thought I, lets have an attack/defense scenario. Bit like this, but without the minefields and infantry gun. 'Cause I'm not sure how they work...

The set up. Town to the East, Kiwis coming in from the west.


Kiwis

One Infantry Company with...

• 1 - CC (+2)


• 1 - 3" Mortar


• 1 - 2" Mortar


• 2 - HMG


• 3 - Rifle Platoons, each with
  
  
  • 1 - PC
  
  
  • 3 - Rifle Squads

With the support of two Shermans.

Which, now looking at the Army Organisation Lists seems a little generous...

Germans

One understrength Infantry Company with...

• 1 - CC (+2)


• 1 - 81mm Mortar


• 2 - HMGs


• 2 - Rifle Platoons, each with
  
  
  • 1 - PC
  
  
  • 3 - Rifle Squads

With the support of one Panzer IV-G

Umm, I'm pretty sure you can guess the outcome just by crunching the numbers...

Anyway, as I was trying out hidden deployment, Mark advanced the Kiwis, up until I decided to pop up and try my luck.

Three no fires, first dice of the game! Oh bother.


So Mark continues his advance, 'till, somehow, the initiative passed to me. (No fire result for a group fire, I think it was). Right, time for some action. I pop the Pz IV around from behind the rise to try to take a shot at one of the Shermans, but...


...the Sherman reacted first. Into the flank armour of the Pz. Stink! (Gotta make me some sort of smoking, flaming, busted tank marker to go atop where the turret gets pulled off...)

Mark continues to advance, pinning and suppressing two of the three squads of the platoon on the flank.



Initiative finally passes back to me, so I bring out one of my HMGs. It survives reactive fire...only go to no fire the first time it throws dice!


In the meantime, I manage to pick off a squad that had been suppressed in the open during the advance, managed to be rallied, carried on advancing only to get cut down during the same initiative through German reactive fire from the hill!


I advance my remaining squad up to the crest of the rise in front of the town. Again, only to suffer no fires, and at best a pin, while the Shermans come rolling forward. (With my Panzerfaust squads either suppressed or out of LOS...)


From the centre, Mark sends forward a squad, with PC, to assault the completely ineffective and [by now] suppressed HMG. The results were a forgone conclusion.




To the north, Mark finally suppressed the exposed German FO. Finally. Like, he'd been shooting at it with all he had for most of the game so far!


On the other flank, my remaining HMG, which was actually in the building (but wouldn't sit on the roof), gets gunned down by their Kiwi counterparts on the hill across from them.



With the inevitable demise of my FO, I decided to bring my mortar crew into LOS - only to have it suppressed by reactive fire from the rise!


To the north, Mark assaults the suppressed squad in the building, while the pinned squad behind it manages to at least pin one of the Kiwi squads as it pops around the edge of the building (that't what those little black dice are - one denotes the squad is pinned, two that they are suppressed).



One assault won, they carry on to assault the second German squad. With more success!


More success!


And so, they carry on into the isolated PC. Who manages to fight them to a stand still!


As that was an example of a squad not managing to do what they set out to, we decided that the initiative passed back to me, so I opened fire in the centre, with some success. Down goes one Kiwi squad, at the cost of a no fire...


...so I try again. Again, another no fire, but this time for no payback.


At this point, I conceded the game.


Still, Mark enjoyed it, which was the whole point of the game. Now to find out how minefields and infantry guns work...

Nick

The Sarge's Naps

Good afternoon,

Here, in all their rebased-for-DBA-HX-and-possibly-Volley-and-Bayonet glory are the Naps that were gifted me by JackSarge.

First up, a shot of the whole shebang...


Next, the lights. I especially like the dead Frenchie!




Then the line infantry. Note the detail on the Scots.









And last, but by no means least, the cav and command elements.



He's also given me a heap of unpainted French to oppose them. As Stan has some French already based up for DBA-HX, they will slot in the painting cue somewhere...low...

Thanks again mate,

Nick

For the Sarge...

Good evening,

A while back JackSarge asked me how I base my elements. Well, this is how I do it. Please keep in mind I did not paint these! These were given me by the Sarge hisself...

First up, I glue down the figures with PVA and paint the element (and figures) base(s) with an earthy brown.



This is actually a mix of two browns - one that was too dark, one that was too red.

Then I PVA some coarse sand in a semi-randomish way...so long as the sand goes up to the edge of the figures' bases.




Next, paint the sand in a lighter brown (Beasty Brown, to be precise. Not the most economical use of model paint...cheap poster paint would be more cost effective...)



Highlight with an off white...



...then apply more PVA, this time mostly between the mounts of sand (spread thusly with an old brush)...





...before dunking the base in a container of flock...




...and PVAing on the artillery piece.













Cool.

Thanks again Sarge for the minis, they are fantastic.

More tomorrow - the whole army, no less.

Nick