Bench Update for 6mm US and Diabolical Terrain

 Most of the US armor was bought painted from I-94 Industries. The infantry has yet to be purchased but the support units are completed.

Really nice 3D prints from Diabolical Terrain 

Bench Update 6mm WW2 Germans

 So far the German army is almost complete. I am not flocking the bases as they will be used for the Battle of the Bulge and possibly Normandy. This is my first attempt in 6mm. 

Work Bench September 2023 part 2 - 6mm

 The GHQ armor is for a 2024 game for Fistful of Tows or Rapid Fire. They are placed on 20mm square and 20mmx30mm bases. I was able to finish the Panthers, King Tigers, Mark IV, Sdkfz 251, Opel Blitz trucks, mortar teams and MG teams. 

Work Bench Update September 2023

 Now that the American figures are completed I am starting on the German Panzer Grenadiers. I picked up these figures at Historicon. They were primed white with a base coat and several washes of Agrax Earthshade and Nuln oil between paint layers to get a proper Cammo look. 

I tried pea dot on a few fisures and other cammo patterns displayed on the box. The panzerfaust figure was fun to paint. 

I also notice that these are larger than the Caesar and Pegasus figures and won't look too good on the same table with the Italeri figures. These painted quicklyand are the better of all available kits.  

Work Bench Update August 2023

 I am working on 1/72 US infantry from Italeri. I love the figures but there is a problem. They are larger than the Pegasus or Caesar figures and I can't combine them in the same unit. So I will have to use these figures specifically for the game. 

This will give me enough figures for a full platoon including a mortar, radio and MG team. Enough for a skirmish game with the tanks. These figures are painting up much better the the Pegasus and Caesar kits. I am very happy so far. I hope to get a box of  US in Winter gear from Italeri but was unable to find any available kits from my local source. I thought I could use these and can always get more later. 

The other project is the Terminator game. My son and I looked and found some very good troopers from Copplestone. These are works in progress, they paint up very quickly. We looked at pictures from the movies during the future war dream sequences. There are a lot of gray drab color schemes. These will finish quickly and the bases will have rubble and gray stones. We still need to build terrain. 

Terrain Board for Rocherath-Krinkelt and 5150 Terminator playtest

 My first attempt at a proper terrain board continues. I framed out the first board, used a Mod Podge/Chocolate brown/Coffe grounds mixture to cover the roads. Apparantly the roads were in very bad shape as they were unpaved and heavily travelled. One account from my reading is that tanks were sinking up to their deck as they moved through the village. 

I used a lot of coffee grounds to heavily texture the roads. When I complete the snow I will use less texture to reflect less travelled areas of the countryside outside of town. 

I didn't use as much paint or Mod Podge as I thought I would so I was able to complete the roads on all 3 boards. I also used some flock for weeds and brush that are sticking up through the snowfall. This should break up some of the white with dead vegetation. 

I was also able to get in a playtest game of 5150 for a Terminator game, a favorite set of rules. The terminators are not killed off immediate but lose repuation with each KIA (-2 Rep) or Out Of Fight result (-1 Rep). They start as a Rep 5 so they slow down and become less accrate, when they lose the last Rep point they send off a recovery beacon which draws more Terminators. The goal of the game is for the human players to cross the battlefield and down load information from a Hunter/Killer that had been shut down. 

Terminators randomly appear and took out a team from behind. 

The Hunter Killer lies in the center. 

Over watch with a minigun 

We got in 2 games and are still working out details for a game at Fall in. W need to work on the terrain. 

Rocherath - Krinkelt Skirmish Game - US forces in the area

 US forces consolidated around the Twin Villages on 12/17/44. Since the US forces were low on Anti tank guns and armor infantry platoons were given 2 bazookas each to aid in the defense against the German Armor. 

Col. John Stokes was in charge of the defense of Rocherath.  In supprt he had access to Artillery stationed on Elsenborn Ridge. 

3rd Battalion of the 38th Infantry was defending the southern edge of the villages with a company of infantry from support services (cooks and Admin) and a few 57mm anti tanks guns. 

3rd Battalion of the of the 393rd Infantry regiment was north east of the villages and was reinforced later in the day from K company of 1st Battalion 9th Regiment 2nd infantry Division, when the 3rd Battalion of the 393 was fragmanted and became disorganized. 

Lt. Col William D. McKinley arrived to the villages and deployed as follows: 

1^st Battalion 9^th Infantry deployed Company K and 3 AT guns from 644^th AT battalion north of road into Krinkelt from the woods.  Company C next to K,  Company B dug in on road, Company A to the South.  15 Bazookas handed out to McKinley’s men.

1^st Battalion 38^th Inf (Lt. Col Frank T. Mildren) left Wahlerscheid for Krinkelt in the afternoon. 

1^st Battalion 38^th Inf, aided by smoke and cover fire of 81mm and 4.2 inch mortars moved to Rocherath to reinforce the town left of 3^rd battalion 38^th east/NE of Krinkelt. Company A was OK, but Company B took some casualties from German Artillery and C company became disorganized as it entered a cross roads 1,000 yards north of Rocherath. They entered Krinkelt at 2130 as German Armor and Infantry attacked from the Northeast and had no time to dig in. 

Within Krinkelt was the Recon Company of the 644th Anti Tank Battalion consisting of M10 tank destroyers and Self Propelled Artillery (Priests) . 

Company A of the 741st Tank Battalion arrived and suffered 11 Shermans lost but took out 27 German tanks including 5 King Tiger tanks. 

The 801st Tank Destroyer battalion (towed guns) lost 17 guns and 16 half tracks but took out 4 MKIV tanks. 

At 1530 hours the the defense of the villages was in doubt so a reserve rifle company and the HQ company was deployed to block the road into Rocherath from the woods. 

German armor with riding infantry penetrated the defenses at 2130 hours, in the darkness the American defense did not realize the tanks were German, they were thought to be reinforcements. 

Bazooka teams hunted tanks from hedges and walls in the streets. Tank Destroyers hiding between houses ambushed German armor and were able to get flank and rear shots as close as 25 yards which took out Panthers, King Tigers and Mark IV tanks. 

Scenario ideas range from perimeter defense to hand-to-hand fighting and ambushing armor. Fog and night actions played a key part in the confusion allowing enemy units to pass close to each other without a shot being fired allowing for some interesting fog of war moments. This scenario could also fit a battalion level game or be part of a micro armor game.