Bavarians

It's Oktoberfest right now and what better way to celebrate here at SOUND OFFICERS CALL than to post some progress on the status of my Bavarian "force" as humble as that may be.

So still to complete is this medium field-piece in the pictures below, as well as Wrede and some officers before I delve into more units.  I still have about 6 infantry "Regiments" or Battalions to finish as well as 5 Cavalry regiments before the Bavarian project is over.  (are any of these projects ever really over?)

Introducing my Warrior Miniatures 15mm Bavarians.  I love the looks of these troops.  They're mostly generic poses but nice detail and nicer price.

 You may have noticed I stuck 6 of them on a stand.  That's intentional - I swear that it wasn't Oktoberfest or Hofbrau that did it...

I've decided all my Napoleonics, Seven Years War, and American War for Independence troops will now be based 6 to a base, in units of only 4 bases.  There's a reason for this rebasing (again!)

Old Glory Bavarians.  I still have a bag of them to complete.

 I like the look of the massed formations much better.  When Ken places his 3/4 wide stands on Volley and Bayonet sabots, the massed look is achieved rather nicely.  4 infantrymen look like a "corporal's guard" so I opted for mass.  Plus, many of the more tactical games I play (or will play) such as Black Powder, LaSalle, Neil Thomas Napoleonics and the like have 4 stand units.  If I need a 5th stand, I can cannibalize other units if necessary.

Also, when playing more "Grand Tactical" games like Blucher, Volley and Bayonet, or Command & Colors Napoleonics, I can only fit 4 stands to a base.  I'm telling you 24 troops crammed into 4 square inches looks more convincing than 16.

AB Bavarians.  So big they hardly qualify as 15mm but they're gorgeous and easy to paint.

the advance

The entire Bavarian force, which hardly qualifies as a small brigade right now. 

 By the way, I bought these Bavarians to play in an 1809 campaign with Ken but also discovered the joys of the 1813 campaigns so get this - my Bavarians can now actually FIGHT against my French.  Well, they always could, but I recently just discovered they may do so historically :)

 And no onto the French.  I think the French truly and richly deserved the massed-base look to them...

Bicorne wearing troops.  

lastly, and don't laugh, but I'm actually going to try out "Grand Battery" as a rules set as it looks simple and interesting enough.  I've only ever read 1 review of these rules and they weren't pretty.  Still though, something keeps bringing me back.

Team Yankee WW3 "Free For All"

Ken and I played a 75 point Team Yankee game this afternoon on my "small" 6 x 4 table.  I set the terrain up to slightly mimic the "first battle" chapter from the Team Yankee book, although admittedly this battle had a few more "toys" and some crazy "firsts."  I'll explain.

 Even though we've played quite a few games of TY, this game was kind of like a refresher for both Ken and I as we haven't played for awhile.

Hind Flight!

Mean looking T-72s pour across the Inner German Border, churning their way towards the Rhine!

town of "Amburg" in the middle.  Still setting up.

M1s in their Battle Positions

 In case you were wondering, the US fielded an Armor Combat Team with 2 M1 platoons and 1 M113 platoon (all 3 vehicles each) along with a FIST track, 3 M109 howitzers and of course the M901 ITVs.  I think around 76 points.

Ivan had a 10 tank T-72 company, with a 6 BMP-2 company, 3 2S1 SP Howitzers, a flight of 2 MI24 Hind gunships, and 2 SU-25 Frogfoots!  Incredible value for the points!

And of course the ZSUs...Cannot forget those

BMPs move through a German field on their way towards the objective

First blood!  An American M1 scores a hit on a BMP.  Actually MOST of my BMPs had hits on them.  I got lucky though as Ken didn't pass the FP tests for the others!  Whew!  Bailed.

 My plan is to race ahead to the objectives.  I was originally thinking a nice, slow meandering Warsaw Pact infantry advance with the BMPs on my left would be fun, occasionally stopping to take shots at the Yankees.  Ken showed me that my plan needed some adjustments...the BMP has nice mobility and crappy armored protection (duh) so they needed to cross the killing field quickly!

T-72s taking fire!

deploy online!

meanwhile the dismounted crew from the destroyed BMP moves into cover!

Another is pinned!

Frogfoots inbound!  This turn they would kill 2 M1s!

Hinds also inbound.

Meanwhile the FIST moves up to the treeline

 We had a HIND gunship shot down by ADA but the more extraordinary is yet to come!

A Frogfoot on a "routine pass" trying to kill some juicy M901s gets SHOT DOWN BY THE M60 LMG on the ITOW!

His comrade would be joining him soon.  Most of the air kills were by on-board AA machine guns.

The Soviets race like hell to get to the objective and the Americans pour the fire on to contest it!  Ken counter attacked the objective but the defensive fire stops them cold.  The M113s and Dragon teams (as Ken discovered) bug out after losing their morale test.

Ken bogs the Company Commander's M1 in the woods attempting another counter attack and he decided the single M1 contesting the objective would probably have been killed the following turn.

GIs assaulting the objective!  Nice MERDC!

T-72 in the woods

ITVs with nice MERDC!

Soviet artillery gun tubes went cold.  The crews are brewing tea.  

carnage!

US Artillery gun tubes also silent.  The guys are swapping snacks out of their MREs...

bogged company commander tank!

Ivan on the objective

A near run thing

 So this game was fast and brutal.  A 6x4 table and the speeds of the vehicles coupled with their engagement ranges pretty much guarantees you're shooting from turn 1.  I am starting to understand the logic of the reserves now.  With 50% less units on the table, there is more maneuver room.  This was a straight up brawl that might have used a little more terrain.

Ken and I both needed a refresher on the rules and I think this game was it.  I think I need to read up a little on the rules especially now that the "Leopard" and "Iron Maiden" supplements and minis are out!  sign me up for the German collection!!!

This was a great game and never once lacked for any excitement or variety.  Say what you want about Team Yankee but in a single 4 hour game, we played with all of the combined arms toys in the arsenal ranging from M-16s and SAWs to tank cannon, machine guns (yes you actually USE your on board MGs!), Air to Ground missiles, ATGM, and auto cannon.  So I think the game definitely serves its purpose.

I still really, really like the Battlegroup series best, but I do not think they can deliver this fast of a game (a Soviet battalion and a NATO company match fought to conclusion in 4 hours) with crashing aircraft, careening missiles, choppers, tanks, troops, and APC/IFVs all tear-assing around the battlefield.  Mission accomplished.