Second bridge and 17 Pdr AT Gun gets painted

As I start to plan a mini WW2 campaign I have been chipping away at some much needed 20mm scenery which will be used in the campaign, and which now includes a second bridge. As with my first bridge its made from balsa wood and with detail painted on. (A previous post goes into more detail on painting.)

A Bren Gun Carrier crossed the balsa bridge.

My 17 Pounder AT Gun, a kit bash of a 25 Pounder and 5.5 Inch Gun, has come together. I used the 5.5 Inch Gun carriage with wheels from the 25 Pounder kit. The gun is the 25 Pounder Gun with an extended barrel from my box of leftover bits and plastic rod. The shield was extended by sticking plastic card to the back and then cutting to shape. It is by no means an accurate model, its construction is more aligned to the approach of conversions described in Operation Warboard by Gavin Lyall - simple and strong. By the time it has some figures clustered around it and scenic material added to the base it will look the part.

Plans to kit bash a 17 Pdr AT gun

Not much wargaming or modelling happening this week with a long weekend visit to Wellington, NZ, for my daughters graduation. We were very happy and very proud parents. While in Wellington I did pop into the local model store which I used to frequent when I lived there before returning to Melbourne, and purchased a Bren Gun Carrier and 6 Pdr AT Gun, 25 Pdr Gun and Quad, and Matador and 5.5 Inch Gun.

My NZ purchases

I will be using the 25 Pdr Gun and 5.5 Inch Guns to kit bash a 17 Pdr AT Gun. The Bren Gun Carrier was more of an impulse purchase as another one will always be a useful addition.

Wargaming scenery a cheap girder bridge

As I plan the setup of a WW2 mini-campaign I will definitely require a couple of bridges, which I do not have for 20mm models. So while I workout my campaign approach I have started to make a very cheap and simple girder bridge from balsa wood and a lick of paint. There are no fiddly girders with this model. Here are the steps and pictures...

Step 1 - Cut out the base and glue to some cardboard. Once set, cut out the sides, I stuck two bits of balsa wood together to provide some additional thickness. I also stuck two strips of balsa wood on the base where you would expect vehicle wheels to travel.

Step 2 - Paint all over with PVA glue. You may need to bend back into shape when dry as the balsa can warp.

Step 3 - Paint a base grey all over.

Step 4 - Paint the girder area a dark grey (not black as its too stark).

Step 5 - Paint in the girders

Step 6 - Using watered down dark grey painting in details, but not all details, just enough to give the impression of detail.

Step 7 - Seal or varnish.

The final product in use (well staged for use). Price $2 AUD for the balsa wood and there is enough left over for another bridge.

German Reconnaissance crossing the bridge over the dark blue vinyl river

Just another photo with British this time showing a model does fit on the bridge

SciFi games and rule additions

Having settled on an activation approach it got me thinking about other aspects of the rules which would help define the different W40K armies I game with. I haven introduces what I call force traits which apply certain armies. But first a recap of the activation approach upon which I have settled on with an additional optional rule.

Activation Approach

• The game is played in a series of turns with control passed between players as they roll for the initiative & activate units. This continues until both player’s units on the table (not those in reserve) have had an opportunity to perform an action, or a score of 1 on the turn D6 ends the turn. The use of the turn D6 after each players actions means a turn’s duration is unpredictable.
• To start the game roll a dice (D6) & the highest score begins in control.
• When in control a player can command a unit the following actions: a) move, b) attack or c) move/attack. Units perform one action per turn.
• A player does not need to activate all their units. They may wish to leave some unactivated so they may react to attacks. When this situation occurs no more units may be activated.
• After a unit has taken an action mark the unit as being activated & roll the turn D6. If a 1 is rolled the turn ends immediately. If the turn does not end, players roll again for control. 
• When a new turn starts remove all activation markers.
• Units which have not performed an action are able to counterattack. They cannot perform other actions after counterattacking.
• Optional Rule - if a 6 is rolled on the Turn D6 the player winning control is allowed to remove an activation marker from any activated unit as their action. This allows some units to perform more than one action per turn. If one player has activated all their units, they still roll for control to see if they can unactivated a unit.

The yellow turn D6 is a 1 so the turn is over and all activation markers are removed.

Force Traits

The force traits are still a work in progress. So far I have used Tactical Doctrine and Reanimation, and they have both added to the couple of games I have played without changing the game's flow unduly. I have put in brackets the W40K armies I think the traits align to.

Tactical Doctrine - Win all drawn D6 scores when player’s roll for control. (Space Marines)
Hordes and Critters - Can activate 2 units when winning for player control with an odd number (Tyranids)
Disciplined Training - Add 2D6 to shooting attacks when winning with a 6 for player’s control (Imperial Guard)
Reanimation - When winning with a 6 for player’s control select a unit and roll 4xD6, and for each D6 that would cause a hit against the defensive armour of the select unit return a model up to the unit original size. (Necrons)
Blood Lust - Add 2D6 to assault attacks when winning with a 6 for player’s control. (Orcs)
Drone Technology - Place activation on an enemy unit when winning with a 6 for player’s control. Indicate this with placement of drones. (Tau)

I have updated the rules (click here) if you are interested in glancing over the 4 or so pages of rules, which also include some unit lists.

In the recent test games I have been using my Necron models. Here are some of the units and how they are used within the rules. A fuller list is available at the end of the updated rules. Its also an opportunity to show some pictures of my Necron models painted many years ago and updated with the odd newer model.

Nightbringer C’tan
Troop, Character (5 pts), Psychic weapons, Warlord ability

C'tan with scarab protectors used to track hits

Necron Lord
Troop, Character (4 pts), Assault Power weapons, Phase Shift ability

Necron Lord and bodyguard

Warriors
Troop (10 robots), Armoured, Tactical weapons, Phase Shift ability

Necron Warriors - quite hard to dispatch at range due to phase shift ability which means they are treated as being in cover.

Monolith
Non-Troop, 5 Armour Points, support weapons, Mechanic ability

Monolith (with mechanic) I allow them to transport as many units as they like, but this can be disastrous if they get eliminated.

Next Project

I have now completed painting pretty much all the WW2 models I need. There are more than enough for a 6' x 4' table and I find I increasingly enjoy wargaming smaller games on a 4' x 4' table setup. Any more models I add will be for specific games or because I find a model I really like.

German AA unit

British Mortar Unit

Now that the house rules I am using are reasonably settled (another way to put it - I have stopped messing around with the rules) I think a little mini campaign would be fun to try out over the coming weeks.

So what is next on the painting table? Possibly some scenery and I have a few W40K Chaos kits I recently purchased to bring up my Chaos Marine army up to a reasonable size and variety of units.  This will most likely take me a few weeks, after which I will be repainting my old 25mm Minifig 100 years war figures and start using them with Lion Rampant rules. They were originally painted by myself when I was 15 years old and will need to have the paint stripped back and be repainted.

Testing out activation mechanism for SciFi rules

I am continuing to mess around with my activation mechanism for the SciFi rules. Having opted for option 2 (as described in my previous post) where I roll an extra "Turn" dice when rolling for control, and ending the turn if a 1 is rolled. I have now played a couple of games and the "Turn" dice is working for me. Additionally, when a 6 is rolled the player winning control can either remove an activation from a unit, potentially allowing a unit two actions in a turn, or add 2 extra dice when attacking (an increased weapon strength suggested by Kaptain Kobold). These help add some little surprises when playing solo games.

A couple of pictures from one of the games.

A test game in progress - Space Marines vs. Necrons

A final show down between commanders

WW2 Rules and SciFi Rule Modifications

This week my focus has been mainly on a couple of rules changes and playing some quick games to test them. The first change was to my WW2 one-hour war-game house rules and involved the role of (light) reconnaissance units. I want them to represent the presence of Forward Observation Officers which improve the chance of artillery barrages hitting when they are the observers. To help balance this advantage I reduced the Reconnaissance units fire power, but allowed them to always be treated as in cover, as they are a small and fast unit (many thanks Norm for the suggestion). I will have to update the rules later this week.

On the topic of Reconnaissance units, I have been able this week to complete a German Reconnaissance unit using two motorcycle kits by Zvezda.  They are very nice models and pretty straight forward to put together.

Newly added German Reconnaissance unit

My activation rules for units in my house SciFi rules (based on one-hour war-game format again) has both players rolling and the player with the highest score activates a unit. Both sides can activate up to 6 units and this does not include are counterattacks when units are attacked. I was asked "why 6?" By Captain Kobold who has tried out the rules with his W40K Epic models. I generally game with between 8 to 12 units, and I didn't want all units activating every turn so a limit of 6 seemed about right. However, the Kaptain's question got me thinking, as the rules disadvantage larger armies.

A test game in progress

Revisiting the activation mechanism I came up with two options to try out.

Option 1 - Half Units Activate

The game is played in a series of turns with control passed between players as they roll for the initiative & command units. This continues until half a player’s units (rounded up) have had an opportunity to perform an action.

To start the game roll a dice (D6) & the highest score begins in control.

When in control a player can command a unit the following actions: a) move, b) attack or c) move/attack. Units perform one action per turn.

After a unit has taken an action players roll again for control. This continues until half the units on both sides have had the opportunity to perform an action.

Even when one player has used all their actions, they continue to roll for control, because if they win with an odd number a player can command a unit to action even if half their units have performed commanded actions.

Units which have not performed an action are able to counterattack. They cannot perform other command actions after counterattacking & counterattacks do not count as part a player’s activations.

Option 2 - Variable Activations Per Turn

The game is played in a series of turns with control passed between players as they roll for the initiative & activate units. This continues until both player’s units on the table (not those in reserve) have had an opportunity to perform an action, or a score of 1 on the Turn dice (D6) ends the turn earlier.

A Turn D6 is rolled when players roll their D6 for gaining control of the next action.  This means a turn’s duration is unpredictable.

To start the game roll a dice (D6) & the highest score begins in control.

When in control a player can command a unit the following actions: a) move, b) attack or c) move/attack. Units perform one action per turn.

After a unit has taken an action mark the unit as being activated. When the Turn D6 scores a 1 and the turn ends remove all activation markers.

Units which have not performed an action are able to counterattack. They cannot perform any actions if they have counterattacked.

Reserves Deep-Strike into the game

And the preferred option is...

Having played both options I have gone with option 2 for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is quick and no stopping to count units. Secondly, the Turn D6 presents an interesting opportunity to add special events when a 6 is scored. For example, the winning player who has a Turn D6 score of 6 can be allowed to place an activation on an enemy unit rather than performing an action themselves.