Basing Victory at Sea with Realistic Waves

A short while ago, a friend of mine and I decided to start painting up Pacific fleets for the then-digital-only game Victory at Sea (now Warlord Games has released a ruleset. I haven't tried that ruleset so I can't judge it comparatively!)

We grabbed a bunch of miniatures from GHQ, with him taking the Japanese fleet, and I exploring the US fleet. I ordered a selection of destroyers and cruisers that would fit any engagement to start, but of course, being a magpie and rivet counter, that has since expanded to a wide selection including three battleships, three carriers, and a variety of cruisers, destroyers, PT boats, and subs!

Tackling bases was the interesting challenge I wanted to share with everyone today.

I wanted to ensure that I got the translucency effect of water on my bases, had ones that would allow me to grab and move the minis without grabbing the delicate 1:2400 ships, and look good in any photos. I was lucky some time back to pick up a product that offers acrylic paints with texture, and the two specific to this are an ultramarine blue and a pale teal (not photographed):

It goes on a creepy opaque, but dries a shiny translucent blue, and while it was theoretically purchased for pirate models I'll hopefully eventually get to, it worked handily for this!

Step 1 was basing them on clear 1.5mm acrylic I laser cut. I stippled some white on the underside of the base, in a scattered shape that would hopefully look like the churn of a bunch of high-powered screws of a war vessel!

In Step 2 I airbrushed a cone of teal from the aft section of each ship, spreading out and hazing as it went, covering the areas with white painted before.

Step 3 saw the beginning of application of the Blue Deep. The first application was to add a bow wave, and the borders of the aft chop. This was in the darker blue. I used a medium thickness brush that had started to go, so I didn't mind if anything gunked up on it. The consistency is similar to liquid greenstuff, so a rolling shape allowed me to goop it on, and then tease it into shape later with a wet brush.

Step 4 saw the addition of normal wave patterns. I avoided anything too large and distinctive, because I didn't want it to look like the ships were going through intense storm-waves!

Step 5: You can see here the look of the chop when it dries. At this stage, I added the teal liquid in the aft chop. In thinner coats, it doesn't hold a lot of colour, but does add some refraction to light passing through, helping add depth to the chop underneath.

Step 6: To fade the colours, I applied a very watered down layer of the darker blue to the edges of chop, and add more depth to the under-teal paint so it would look like water disturbed and filled with billions of bubbles.

Step 7 (not shown) is to add stipples and trailings of white acrylic to the top of select waves, and to the bow wake, to represent the chop and foam.

As you can see, the liquid paint wasn't applied so as to be opaque. We'll be playing on water mats anyway, and I'd rather have some of that visible through, so it really makes the ships look like they're cutting through the ocean that's already there!

And finally, a teaser pic of the finished fleet! More pics to come shortly, but as you can see, even on black it really feels like water and waves with ships cutting through!

Panther Company; Second Platoon

At long last, my computer behaves for enough consecutive minutes to let me finish up my photo editing! I am having quite a task making it behave, but sadly getting a new one requires funds I don't have at the moment...

Enough about that, let's talk about pretty models!

The 2nd Platoon is made up of late-model G panthers. They have the flame hoods, red oxide primer showing through, ambush camo, and lots of fun stowage. Here's the platoon leader:

As you may be able to recognize, the commander is the DAK radioman, with his webbing shaved off, and lower half delicately removed. Painted in black gear, the uniform is similar enough (at least the visible parts are), and it's certainly a 2iC worthy pose. I admit, once I saw him in the turret, I was very tempted to make him the CO, but I quite like the idea in my forces that while the CO gestures and orders, it's the 2iC doing the work to make sure it gets done right.

This tank has quite a bit of unique stowage. the bedroll-on-tracks on the turret is from a photograph, and the ladder off the side is as well. I am not certain they rode into battle with said ladders in place, since it seems they could be used by daring enemies, but it makes for a more interesting model. This tank also has the universal bucket, and a spooled up towcable on the hoods, and, for the fun of it, a wash basin attached to the turret side. This too is from a photograph and I knew I had to carve one for my company!

Tank 422 also has a ladder on its rear, again based on a photo I saw. I like the idea that this one ends on the flame hood: Any soldier trying to use this ladder while the tank is running is going to get a face-full of exhaust, and possibly some 2nd degree burns to boot! Another boom-box arrangement of wheels, and a full turret's worth of spare tracks makes this tank well defended in the crew's mind. I have also added more of the rear deck stowage bins on this one.

Tank 423 has an interesting conversion I had to try. The minor details are, of course, numbers crudely painted over the tracks on the right side, and a towcable slung oddly down the right flank of the tank. Most notably (and fully visible in the rightmost inset image) is another relatively rare crew conversion.

As the allied airforce became more dangerous, strafing and bombing, the Panther crews (allegedly) found their engine decks exposed to a possible telling hit from the planes' .50cal MGs and bomb shrapnel falling among the cooling fans, messing up the engine. To combat this, they cut up sections of Schurtzen, and welded them in place as a kind of covering, hinged in the case of the main fans, to help keep them clear.

They also would cut up and weld together plates to go on the top of the turret, to add extra protection from these attacks for the crew. It's not really something that would have provided much benefit, but it is a thing that looks fun to convert. (And, with all its difficulties, was quite fun!) I'm sure you can see now why so few of my tanks have Schurtzen anymore! The metal plates were far thinner than any material it was worth using on these, so rather than trying to suffer the degradation of paper or tinfoil, I just carefully beveled the edges of the thinnest plasticard I have, so that when painted, the light and highlight methods would help reinforce just how thin these plates were.

As with most of the rarer field conversions, there is but one tank in my entire company thus converted, as a way of saying "this did happen, at least once". Stowage-wise, I also have wooden beams for assistance unbogging the tanks in muddy going.

The final tank of the force, so far, is what I like to call the Cook's Vehicle. I know each tank crew was responsible for cooking their meals for the tank, but I like the idea of a panzer brigade's fast movement and tight knit group style having the entire company eating together where possible. To this end, the crew has attached a cooking pot and pan to the side of the turret. This tank also has a camo net (tinfoil) strung over a large oil drum (plasticard with liquid greenstuff ridges), some jerry cans, a spare wheel, and more wooden beams for unbogging. The left side of the turret is as much as I can manage a recreation of a specific tank, with the combination of stowage and beat up spare tracks.

And that's the company! I still have a bergepanther and a nachtjager panther that just today got spraypainted, and once I've amassed enough models to make an airbrushing worth it, they too shall join the ranks of the company, allowing me to relegate Barkmann to his proper hero status. In the meantime, I am eagerly painting a Viktorias crew for Malifaux as I finish up final kimono details on Misaki, Ototo, and Yamaziko. I am so eager to try that game!

Panther Company; First Platoon

I return with more edited photos!

First platoon is equipped with early-model Panther G tanks. As such, they don't have the chin armour, have zimmerit paste, and have their back ends modified with the Panther D nozzles, with armour plating.

Panther Tank 411 is the platoon leader. His tank has a traditional style of camo patterning, and has been renumbered from a previous assignment. (As was often done, it was painted over with dunkelgelb, and new numbers applied, leaving the old numbers barely visible through.)

Custom gear on this tank includes the looped up tow cable, a rifle over the tools, extra stowage again cast from other PSC or BF parts, and another custom ammo crate. The oft-converted stowage for extra jerry cans (on either sides of the exhaust) is visible here too.

If you click on the image to get a bigger view, you can see how the zimmerit paste technique has worked, and with careful drybrushing it actually looks quite convincing. You can see again on this one how the mud mix applied to the lower quarter of the tank makes it looks like it's seen some things, and I personally love how the tow hooks look painted. It's such a minor detail, but sells the scale.

Tank 412 is a fairly standard build. Ubiquitous bucket added to the back, towcable strung across from the front towhook to the back of the tank, ammo crate and spare wheel/gear.. As you can see on this one, the tracks mounted to the tank side were applied after the hull got its camo (in fluff; obviously it was glued to the model pre-paint).

Also clear on this one: Using the PSC D-mantlet unmodified is slightly wrong, because they have the binoc gun sight, as opposed to the monoc later one. I had covered the hole with liquid greenstuff before adding the zimmerit paste, and am happy to say the hole isn't visible at all.

Tank 413 is sadly missing a side: The photo was blurry and to be honest the image is pretty standard. This is what I jokingly refer to as my "boombox" or "Mickey Mouse" tank, because of the twin roadwheels. Every photo I saw with two on the turret thus made me think of either massive speakers or the aforementioned mouse. This tank also has the rear deck stowage bins, which were cobbled together out of spare bits of schurtzen. Tank 413 also has its side-turret numbers painted on the tracks, which was a relatively common practice once the tracks themselves became ubiquitous.

The final tank for this platoon is, obviously, 414. Another relatively straightforward build, but one of the spare cut-off tank jacks was thrown on the back as extra stowage. I have also puttied a camouflage tarp such that it's attached to the gun cleaning rod case, which I've seen once or twice. Sadly, whichever crewman owns the helmet on the back-left of the tank will be unhappy when he next looks at it: It's taken a shell hit at some point (a resin bubble I decided not to fill) and won't be much use!

With that, First Platoon is done. I do have Schurtzen painted up for them, and may put them on, if I prefer the way they look with. I also am debating adding foliage, but I do kind of like the look of them pure. I'll dry run a few, and dig back through my photosets to see what was most common. Any thoughts from you folks as to with or without foliage?

2nd Platoon will be up when I can get their photos edited, which will hopefully be by Thursday. enjoy!

Panther Company Done at Last!

It is finished! I finally have the tanks at a state where I am not frustrated with their look! (As always, there's something to tinker with forever...)

There's enough photos, and they're taking long enough to edit, that rather than doing one post I'll split it up roughly by company. To start with, a group photo!

Astute eyes may notice a plethora of different paint schemes. I decided that, since these are likely the only 10-or-so Panthers I'll paint, I would have fun and try all sorts of different ones, minus the few truly bizarre, single-battle schemes. I did roughly split the scheme by platoon, however, helping to identify which tanks belong to which platoon.

I am a huge fan of the late-war ambush camo scheme, so the late-model Panther G platoon got that as their mock-up. The slightly-older Panther G variant gets a more standard brown/green/gelb, but one has the more snake-line pattern, while the others have a more blob-like appearance.

And now, for the by-model breakdown. First up for your viewing pleasure, the 2iC, Barkmann!

I left Barkmann's model mostly alone, conversion-wise. The schürtzen, being the easily-warped pewter version, got a bit of worrying, as well as the two mudguards at the front. Other than that, I added an extra wheel on the turret rear, a custom ammo crate, and bedroll. The most frustrating part of this tank is that rear hatch crewman. He's not especially difficult to paint, but God is he easy to overlook!

Even though he breaks the standard number scheme of my company, I kept Barkmann to his historical tank's number of 424. Eventually I will replace him with my nachtjager panther, and would then want to be able to play him as his special character self.

Following swiftly on the treads of Barkmann, my company CO:

My tank commander is meant to double as a possible panzer ace, and as such I gave his tank a bit of extra loving. He's got a modified location for the barrel cleaning rods (a rare, in-the-field upgrade), a bucket in the 'standard' position hanging off the back middle, extra fuel cans, flame hoods, an mg34 on the turret for his personal use, and, on the hopefully rare occasion he is forced to disembark, a 'borrowed' panzerschreck to claim vengeance!

Now with it painted, you can see my liquid greenstuff zimmerit works fairly well. I try for a realistic paintscheme, so I haven't really accentuated the folds, but they are deep enough to catch washes, and sharp enough that drybrush highlights work quite well.

I have painted the tracks hung on the sides in two different ways. Often tanks would be hung as extra armour from the turrets, and then overpainted with the rest of the tank. For this purpose, the camo patterns and tank number (401) are on the tracks, but they've been hit with a 'rust wash' as well to show the lack of priming done for them.

The command figure in the turret is from the Kfz. 251 crew kit purchased from Battlefront. I carefully removed the legs, shaved him to fit, and knew at once I had a good strong commanding figure. Other stowage is either custom-made (the crates), or is from the PSC 251 kit, cast and used. Helmets are painted in late-war Heer splinter camo net style, or left as their standard panzer grey. Here you can also see how the mud mix was applied to the tracks to hide mould lines, and on the lower rear of the panzer itself, from splatter.

If you have any questions regarding particular elements of the conversion (or painting) don't hesitate to ask! I'll hopefully have the rest of the company up, as soon as I can edit and upload the photos.

It's finally done! It feels so good to have them off my desk.

Panther Tracks

As I scour my tanks for details that need to be cleaned up, I figured I'd show how I solved tracks. Many folks have methods to paint tracks, and I am not entirely settled on one yet, but here's where I'm at so far.

First, I put a layer of paint down that is a mix of leather brown and bronze. This gave what I felt was an accurate rust colour. Panthers had all-metal tracks, and while many folks like to paint the base colour oxide red (for the tank primer colour), any pictures I've found don't seem to. The mix of bronze and brown means the tracks have a slight metallic sheen, thinly mixed with the brown enough that it's not a consistent metal appearance.

Next I drybrush with gunmetal. Even though the tracks would rust quickly, they would also be worn to a shine by friction on the edges, and if you want to go super-detailed (which I did on one or two tanks) wherever the wheels would rub against the inside of the track. If you are a fan of cleaner tracks, this is a fine place to stop, with a was that's 50/50 Vallejo matte black and GW's black ink.

If you're like me though, having clean-looking tracks is anathema. Any tank that isn't in the factory is going to have mud everywhere. To achieve a good effect for this I mixed the paler brown (Light Ochre, I believe is the colour name, but to be honest, I've had it so long and the label is so degraded...) mixed with Burnt Umber roughly 50/50.

Next I threw in sand. I tried to make sure it was the finest sand I could manage, but there are some slightly larger bits among. You want there to be just enough sand that when pulled with a brush it goes all non-newtonian solid, without being distinctly "brown painted sand clumps"

This is then dabbed along the base of the tracks inside first, since this would pick up a lot of grit. Since the PSC tracks have an odd casting mark on the inside of these tracks, it's a good place to hit with the dirt first, to cover or disguise those.

Adding more, try to make the entire track bottom mucked up at least a little bit. Next, the back part of the track on the outside needs to be liberally splattered, as well as the lower half of the tank's rear hull plate. (Sadly, I don't have photos of those just yet.) Next, put small dabs along the upper track section, and a few at the front, which I've been using to hide the join of the tracks there.

Here you can see a tank that has had its upper track pull quite a few clumps of mud from the ground. I will say one nuisance I have with the PSC Panther tanks is the wheel design. Unlike their newer Tiger tank, the Panther does not come with options for the solid steel wheels and the rubberized tires. What they do have is a version of the rubberized tires with incredibly thick edges, not quite accurate to the historical tank. As you can see above, I've been having a hard time debating whether to do the rubber in black, which looks odd, or standard tank colour, since it's not quite accurate anyway.

The final stage will be to wash the mud with a dark brown, accentuating it.

Otherwise, the tank company edges ever closer to entirely finished. I feel like I need to refine the way the balkenkreuzes are painted, and I have to scour each tank for details I've forgotten or don't quite like how they're finished. For the most part, the Panzer leaders are finished, and with a few more details they will be ready to command my forces!

I am so eager to get these things off the painting desk and on to the battlefield!

I Know Nothing! No-Thing!

Hey folks! Finally managed to get this objective finished.

As you may be able to tell from the title, if not the figures contained within, this is an objective marker attempting to imitate the good old Hogan's Heroes show. I had a Morris CS8 that wasn't needed laying around, and since on the show they often had this truck take part in various schemes and antics (not to mention, ruses) I figured it'd be fun to combine it with two or three random figures I had laying around, and remake a possible scene from the show.

Here, we see Hogan himself, 'caught' in the middle of one of the plans, being confronted by Col. Klink, as Schultz in the background finds Newkirk in the back of a truck that was supposed to be empty! (Or at least, not filled with a Newkirk.) Also making an appearance is the ever-useful tunnel exit from the camp through a hollow stump.

Modifying the various models was fairly straightforward, and luckily easier than I feared. Schult's model is a Winter Grenadier figure that has epoxy putty to expand his waistline. Klink is another figure from the same blister, with more greenstuff to make a monocle. Newkirk is actually all German as well: A Panzer IV turret commander, plus the cap from a German Dismounted Tank Crewman. Luckily with a different paintjob, and the fact that it's just chest-up, Newkirk's famous Corporal's outfit, (and dashing sideburns) are enough to sell him.

Hogan was the one that scared me the most as a conversion. The base model is Jock Campbell, which my friend and I noticed was a good head shorter than most other British desert figures. This was harder on my friend, as the real Campbell, (between 6ft and 6'1") can't be based with other British figs or he looks like a child.

For my part, I had bought the blister to use his truck for my Sonderkommand Dora group, and had the gentleman himself sitting around waiting for this. Wondering how I was going to bring him up to proper height, I discovered the original cast is, for some reason, just too short on the torso/waist region. I delicately sliced him in half, cutting in such a way as to not sever the arms, and then used putty (and pins) to properly expand his height, sculpting a new butt, and properly-high waistline. he now stands as tall as Klink as he did in the show.

Hogan is also, of course, smirking. I don't think there was really ever an episode where Hogan didn't get to enjoy a smirk of satisfaction, so in this narrative it suggests perhaps this 'capture' was on purpose as well!

Also slightly painful to my rivet-counting ways, I had to intentionally paint these guys 'wrong' in a sense. The truck doesn't have standard British-In-German-Use markings, but a painted-on German army flag. The gear used by some of them is painted as best I could to the show, not history per se, and the snow is intentionally very fake looking, as befits a show mostly filmed in locations where none falls.

Why this objective? Other than now having two funky "Hollywood Objectives", it also is a generic enough one that it could be used for any allied force, or even any German ones! (Who knows how wild their antics would have gotten!)

A Somber Day, A Somber Post

It's 11.00 here, and somber reflection has made me decide to craft a slightly different post here.

I am blessed to have never felt war's grasp myself. I have utmost and everlasting respect for those who take up such a duty.

One of these people was my Grandpa. He served in the war in the Canadian Navy, and was a signalman. As a kid he would show me the photos, his old signalman's book, and even a book of bawdry soldier songs from the time. His stories of his service usually were linked to the photos: Ice covering the ship after a cold night in the Atlantic, for example.

A story he never told, and in fact I only found out about after he'd passed away, and only then from other members of the family, was that his ship was one of the many covering the landings at Normandy in June of 1944. Even though he was not one of those who had to sprint ashore amidst terrible gunfire, it is clear the time deeply affected him.

The story he did tell, and I am happy to remember it and now share it, was the end of the war. On the ship, patrolling the Atlantic, assuming the war was still on. The crew was put into a state of high alert when a U-Boat - one they weren't aware was even there - surfaced beside them. Before any had a chance to open fire, the hatch of the sub opened, and its crew surrendered. The German Navy had received the message to stand down before the allied troops got word the war was over!

Grandpa has photos of the moment, and even carved a likeness of the U-Boat that surrendered.

Not that it should ever be far from our minds, but especially today, and this week, as we engage in the pastime of wargaming, may we remember what it implies. Especially those who play Flames of War, or Bolt Action. Real people once fought and died using the tools of war we now model and play with. Their sacrifice is what gives us the freedom to play.

I Remember.

Operation Overlord Finale

Our final mission was a free-for-all, and true to usual form, my opponent ended up the defender, despite having a tank company against infantry. (Any time we have to roll, no matter how bad my dice pop up, his are lower!)

Deployment was fairly standard, and again true to usual, despite my rolling a measly 3 and him having a +1 for being finished deploying first, he whiffed a 1 for first-turn.

Canadian deployment, roughly evenly spread out. The two middle infantry platoons are within 4" of obj. A

German deployment was similarly fanned out, with a lonely observer to the North.

Recon moves saw the UCs zip out of view of the StuGs across from them, and out of sight of the artillery, while the 8-rads tore along the road, attempting to shift to the South.

My first turn saw an incredible failure to dig in, with only the infantry platoon at the far North managing. To the South, the 6pdrs and infantry squared up on the hedges, hoping to get clear views of anyone moving. The UCs continued to advance into a corn field, hoping to go unnoticed while threatening the Nebs.

The Germans started by advancing StuGs 1st against the hedges, attempting to spot the South UCs. The StuGs in the middle ran up to hedges as well, carefully avoiding being able to see the Firefly. The North StuGs advance into the cornfield across from my Pioneers and Achilles. The accursed Nebs range in on the corner of hedges containing my 6pdrs and 3rd platoon, taking one 6pdr out. The StuGs lined up on the Shermans open fire and fail to successfully hit.

Shermans roll up to the hedge, while StuGs threaten the UCs.

6pdrs start to weather fire from rockets.

On my next turn, the Shermans roll up to the edge of a wheatfield, foolishly, as it would come to pass, and utterly fail to hurt any StuGs. The infantry apparently forgot they had shovels, as no one else managed to dig in this turn. The observer, apparently thinking about crepes, fails to send artillery fire accurately on StuGs, and I end my turn frustrated.

The Germans, by contrast, continue advancing, with StuGs pushing into wheatfields, Pioniers advancing through hedges, and the rocket artillery again slamming the 6pdrs (Basically a repeat of the above picture.) A second 6pdr falls to it, while the StuGs open fire on the Shermans, blowing them up and forcing the Firefly to run. The UCs dodge back out of the wheatfield, having found a bit too much to play with, and surprisingly, the StuGs peering down the road at the Achilles manage to miss with every shot!

Gee, what could possibly go wrong here?

Ahyes, that could happen...

UCs tangle with a few too many enemy things...

...and decide to pull back out of sight.

My Turn 3 finally sees most of the rest of my force digging in! The 6pdrs are now the only things that have failed to dig in (must be them rockets distracting them). A UC patrol sees an opening to the North objective, and double-times along the open ground near marshes, hoping the StuGs will be paying too much attention to the Achilles to notice. (Said Achilles relocate to find cover from their new friends.) Once again, my Sextons decide to hold a contest on who can fire blind the best...

All StuGs again push forward, with two at the north noticing the UCs ploy and turning to face them. To the south, StuGs and 8-rads push through the now-vacated field, peeking in at my Sextons. The StuGs in the middle roll just into view of the Achilles, and open fire, destroying one. Somehow, with incredible luck, the UCs that have double-timed are only hit twice, and my opponent fails both firepowers! On the other end, the StuGs cause only superficial damage to the 6pdrs and Sextons.

An Achilles suffers long-range fire from StuGs.

A bold sweeping move by the North UC patrol is almost sure to get them killed unless they can remain hidden!

Well, there goes that plan... Pioniers advance as StuGs turn to face.

Okay, maybe not so much killed, as a bit spooked... Not even the lurking German die in the bog could hurt them!

As the Germans push through the South, UCs pull North, and the anti-tank assets are thinning...

This turn saw my UCs at the north continue to push towards the objective. One remains bailed out, but the other two sweep up. If that luck continues, they could possibly even take the objective! (Yeah, and they'll take out all the StuGs single-handedly...) Sextons see the StuGs advancing, but seemingly are thrown off by the illusory effect of the wheatfield (or so they claimed), sending their shots long. At long last, the 6pdrs dig in, having already lost two to rocket fire.

StuGs again seem to hate on the UCs. In the middle of the board, the StuG CO kills one, while at the North, the entire patrol is wiped by mass fire from 5. Showing the Sextons how it's done, the StuGs fire back, blowing one up, and bailing a second.

After failing every previous roll he's had to make, the StuG CO succeeds! ...At killing a lowly UC.

I wish I could trade spotters with the Nebs!

Alas, poor UCs. I knew them well, Achilles.

The rest of this game was a further deterioration. The StuGs at the south rolled up the Sextons, before turning on the 6pdrs and attempting to eliminate them. The Pioniers continued their march, finally charging my Pioneers, trading 2 kills for 1 casualty, and pushing them out of the field. The StuGs at the North followed up their UC hunt by killing off the Achilles, and readying to charge at the infantry. We technically tied as a result of running out of time, but it's likely I would have lost had we continued to the bitter end...

I know my dice, on average, likely obeyed the rules of chance, but By God did it feel like when I really need them, they failed. I should have played more conservatively with the Shermans, and tried to lure him closer, but a combination of utter failure from my Sextons, 6pdrs, and Shermans' shooting, plus unerring accuracy (it felt like) on his part meant it felt more like a fighting withdrawal than the actual fighting withdrawal mission! I really need to get me some ground-based 17pdrs that can duke it out at range, and apparently need to court-martial my artillery spotters.

With that, our Overlord gaming comes to a close. Time to call up my desert Germans again, see if I can get better results on the open sands!

Some final pictures to enjoy of the battle:

No it's fine guys; I didn't need you to hit or anything...

The StuGs approach my infantry, while true to form, a StuG crashes on the bocage. FAMO to the rescue again!

This is why I suggest I may soon have lost...

Though my friend doesn't like drawing attention to himself, I will do it for him; His StuGs are carefully painted to imitate the 17th SS camouflage scheme: A combination of airbrushing, and using a tiny round stamp to do the dot camo!

Safe Extraction

[This time the battle report we rolled was Fighting Withdrawal, which my force would be defending, being infantry. Since that isn't especially fitting the diary form, I'll just blow-by-blow it.]

Here's the Canadian deployment: 6pdrs with 1st platoon to the South, 2nd Platoon in the middle covering B objective, a screening force of Engies out front, with 3rd, the Achilles, and artillery covering the North. the UCs were spread to give clear views down roads, and hopefully lift gone-to-ground.

Across from me were the Germans: Thanks to the density of bocage, he was somewhat cramped. The North side had one platoon of StuGs, as well as the rockets. The middle was loaded with a huge number of tanks, some armoured cars, and the infantry, with the South seeing the last StuG platoon facing the bushes across from 1st platoon.

As Recon Movement, the 8-rads rounded the corner and rolled along the road, staying carefully out of range of the 6pdrs peeking through the hedges. the entire German force advanced and spread out, with the infantry crossing the wheatfield, StuGs 3rd and 1st advancing fairly straight, and StuGs (2nd) and Co going along the road. The command team of the rockets sighted down the road and dropped their payload on my Achilles, UCs, and part of III platoon. I lost a single Achilles. To the North, StuGs opened fire at the UC patrol, which pulled out of view without casualty.

Lots of fury, and one of my few 17pdrs disappears.

In response, the Shermans appear from ambush in the middle, opening fire at StuG (3rd) platoon, and killing two. The UCs make a move to go silence the rocket command team, and the remaining Achilles moves to cover the hedgerow between it and the church. My Sextons fail to kill any infantry stands, but do pin them temporarily. Foolishly, I attempted to have my pioneers charge the last StuG from 3rd, but I forget they need to be in concealing terrain to get the sneak attack. An 8-rad and the hull-mg kills two stands and fends the platoon off.

Achilles relocates, and Shermans pop in.

StuGs pile around the church, as the 8-rads face off against the engineers.

Infantry advances to the bocage, and the last StuG platoon spreads out to cover.

The newly arrived tank platoon lays into the StuGs, brewing up two. I love my Firefly!

On the far side, the UCs leave the field to charge along the road in search of rockets.

On the 2nd turn, the 8-rads bypass the remaining pioneers and line up on the bocage overlooking the crossroad. The StuGs all essentially pile forward, either facing off against the pioneers, pushing through bocage, or trying to use wrecks and the church as cover while drawing a bead on the Shermans. Rockets again slam into my lines, this time over by 1st platoon and the 6pdrs, killing an infantry team. The pioneers suffer fire from the 8-rads and remaining StuG again, and decide that (presumably) hiding in the church is better than staying visible, and quit the field.

The Canadian Left suffers rocket fire, but endures.

In response, my Achilles pokes through the bocage, and opens fire but to no avail. My Southernmost UCs round on the StuGs facing away, but fail to do any damage with their PIAT. Again my Sextons fail to do any lasting damage, and all 6pdr shooting at the weak 8-rads and a StuG on the road fails to penetrate. Proving they were well worth the points, again my Shermans open fire, killing one, and bailing another StuG of 2nd Platoon. Finally, the UCs at the North took a slight detour from command-team hunting and opened fire at the German Pioneers attempting to run across open
ground, killing a team.

More StuGs suffer at the hands of Shermans, and the centre's getting quite messy!

On the German 3rd turn, apparently the StuG CO decided he hated UCs. To the North, the remaining tank of 2nd StuGs round on the UCs that had been harassing infantry (you can kind of see them in the last image), and to the South the brazen UCs that dared tempt the wrath of StuGs found themselves staring down the 7.5mm barrels. Fire from the StuGs knock out one UC at the north, and kill one and bail one at the South. Sadly, the run of luck from the Shermans came to an end as two light up from concentrated fire by StuGs. Rockets, for once, fail to kill anything, despite ranging in. The Pioniers spend this entire turn attempting to get closer to the 8-rads at the crossroads, hoping to jump on an objective.

Shermans suffer the attention of the StuG's long-barrels

Starting this turn I had to decide which platoon to remove. The North UCs, despite having not completed their original objective, did lay some hurt on, and were the easiest to safely extract. The Shermans relocate, seeing only burning wrecks but having caught glimpses of infantry running through fields, and draw around the farmhouse to target his pioniers. 2nd Platoon of infantry joined their fire, and take out a few teams. The remaining Achilles picks up the slack of tank killing from the Firefly, and somehow fires a shell that burns through two StuGs in a row, blowing them both apart, and eliminating a platoon. The 6pdrs find their mark finally, and destroy one 8-rad, bailing the second. The Sextons utterly whiff, and out of spite, the remaining fully-mobile UC runs up to the bocage and blows apart the FAMO. (This loss, while minor, was probably the most contentious of the game: His FAMO has incredible luck: whatever it needs to do, gets done. Motivation check? Passed. Skill check? No trouble.)

UCs suffer at the hands of the StuGs, while the FAMO lurks, hoping to remain unseen.

the StuGs have had enough of the Universal Carrier shenanigans, and threateningly advance on them. Rockets again fall amongst the 6pdrs, and two lucky shots break two of the guns. The StuG CO sights the Achilles, ending its threat. The Pioniers have had enough incoming fire and dig in where they are, 'safely' in the middle of a field.

With the 2nd Achilles gone, Sextons and an infantry platoon are all that hold the North objective.

 This turn my last UC manages to safely extract, carrying the injured crew from the other two, thanks to Stormtrooper moves that pulled his platoon out of the 8-inch threat radius. The remaining 6pdr that can draw a bead lines up and blows up the last 8-rad.

Burning FAMO, burning UCs, burning 8-rads, and 5 burning StuGs, and only 2 teams left of the Pioniers!

The remaining StuG platoon pushes up through the cornfield, lacking any UC threats, and attempts to threaten the left-most objective, aided by the CO. The Nebs again steadily range in on 1st platoon and the 6pdrs, and kill the remaining gun that can see down the main road. Somehow, the Firefly weathers a storm of fire from the StuG platoon, and comes out unscathed.

StuGs in the cornfields

On my turn, the left-most objective was removed, along with the 6pdrs, presumably on their T16s. The Sherman rolls up square to the hedge, and while many things fired at them, nothing managed to stick to the StuGs: Not the firefly, not the sherman, and not the Sextons...

In the final two turns, the StuG CO manages to brew up the Firefly, and the Sextons suffer the attention of the Nebs, but only one bails. To the south, 1st platoon pulls off, followed closely by objective B and the Sextons, with the last objective and remaining Canadians pulling back having left a field of destroyed vehicles.

Sextons taking hits.

The game ended a 5-2 for the Allies!