1918 - Two peaks and Lotti on fire

Two men down to the plague ... which meant that the British just had to defend with one platoon. And a tank (Mark V) and a HMG, oh good Lord! We will never win, lets give them two FTs (Renaults) additionally... Ach, those pre-battle moaners ...

Yes, you guessed correctly, it was time again for a WW1, 28mm, Through the Mud and the Blood/ Chain of Command (or short Muddy CoC). Me and Mike set up two platoons of Germans with a 77 Gun, a HMG and a A7V, named Lotti. I thought Mike was a Chain of Command veteran so I gave him the stormtrooper platoon ... hmm tactical error  ... 

Bart took his two french tanks and the Mark V and was the tank platoon, while Peter hid his infantry platoon of Tommies in the trenches trembling in fear for the huns to come.

First we just got a bit of a gun fight literally, but then Mikes stormtrooper and the HMG (?) advanced forward in the only connection trench we had to the second line of defense of the British positions.

But Bart and Peter stopped that quite early with withering machine gun fire. Peter chose the Hermaphrodite version (yes, I got the Trenchworx resin version with magnets so they could choose which armament they liked best), which turned out to be a wise decision. Two of Mikes stormtrooper teams werenæt even on the field! And then he settled his HMG in front of the British HMG and got shot down. minutes later A7V/Lotti got a hit on the main gun, trondled a bit further got more hits and the crew left for Karlsruhe, never to be seen again.

Meanwhile I was advancing, hopping from trench crater to crater ... got a little hit but not too much. My 77 took out the Mark V and one FT ... but at the end of the night we never reached the trenches. The Stormtrooper platoon was on the brink of desertion anyhow ... so a glorious British victory! Huzzah, they stopped the Michael offensive!

Next time, as a special scenario, we will give the Germans the 18 extra troopers in the A7V as extra platoon, that can exit and can move as a small half-platoon on its own - if its not getting nuked/burned or crushed beforehand ...

The field of carnage at the beginning

The Beutepanzer, just a broken down lump of metal in the landscape

My gun crew on overwatch

The Stormtrooper trench

Lotti, the A7V in action

My men, just regulars, - out of the trench and forward!

Waiting for the right timing

The grand attack

The big push stuttered, Lotti skittered off ...

I hit the Mark V - boom!

But Lotti got hit as well...

casualties and shock are mounting

... a little nearer to the second trench

My LMG crew is nearly flanking Peters Brits!

but the rest is stuck in the mud

The tommies fire back ... ouch!

Two men over the half line!!!

Something is stirring in the shire ... again ...

large and small ...

... more 1918 ...

... minis from renegade miniatures ...

... more with masks and alien sabbots..

 ... and more from Great War Miniatures ...

... and from Irregular Miniatures - Early War Germans ...

... very small 6mm!

Beutepanzer Markus fünf

Hello, last week I did a test game of "La Petit Guerre" with Paul (the Greek) and I brought some of my figures to show and tell (huzzah!).

I have finished my first platoon (Zug) of Sturmtruppen as well as "Lotti", the notorious Av7, and a small team of flame throwers. I also premiered to show off an unfinished Mark V – which was directly and happily incorporated into an ongoing game of CoC 1918 some of the club were enjoying (see Barts blog: http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/western-front-1918-front-zachodni-1918.html)
I was able to finish the Mark V in the meantime – here some fluff:

1918 again

Hello, just wanted to show off some progress of my metal toys lately.  I‘m mostly painting Great War Miniatures for our little 1918 "campaign". I've ordered also some Renegade Miniatures for a gas mask platoon, which got lost royally in the mail, but due to the excellent customer service of Renegade Miniatures they sent me another batch, which I think is worth mentioning.

Another reinforcements are already called for at North-Star Miniatures, including some additional bombers and rifles (you alway realise you miss one of this little buggers AFTER you ordered), and some command and some casualties as barrage or other markers and low and behold another tank. Yes – because I can.

Also I‘m painfully aware that this will delay my AWI campaign, where still 2 Hessian regiments are missing and a 49th Foot (and few 17th Dragoons). And I apologize for that, but I think the same victims are profiteering from my 1918 paint progress.

On the Renaissance front I have to let the Early Reiters (Redoubt) and a magnificent pike block from Pro Gloria (now Warlords) as well as some Perry plastic/ metal mix Landsknechte waiting for paint another half a year.

There‘s too much lead out there, but just let me know, if you would sent me subsidies to finance my life style, I would immediately set up a charity to my benefit.

The "Feuertaufe", Lotti and the dove

Last Thursday Donald and mainly myself were introduced to the Chain of Command rules (WW1 way) by Jack. My 08/15 Fritz platoon (wonderfully painted by Jack) had to break through some abandoned trenches (an ancient piece of table top embellishment left by Angus and Dougie), while a somewhat stormtrooper version of a British platoon did a counter charge.

Well, it went all well apart from the end (a German stereotype, one might think), when I learned the strength of the firepower in CoC and the illusive security of the trench. Maybe also something worth revising, but that might just my first impression, I have to get the rules into my head first.
More about this encounter you might find on (http://pioneerpainting.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/cocking-up-and-28mm-barbed-wire-fences.html).

Another thing we need to revise (in the future) or should aim at is to get more troops on the table!

The next things are some Junior and Senior Leader (miniatures from Great War Miniatures) I finished and introducing "Lotti" the German Tank A7V in front of an Pre-war model of the (Etrich-) Rumpler Taube, who was also the 1st bomber in history, 1910 over Ain Zara in Libya.

Gefreiter Egon and Leutnant Wilhelm

Egon and Wilhelm chasing a female ...

the malteser cross enlarged out of convenience

Lotti's best side

Lotti‘s epilog

The balsa model of the "Etrich" taube

My men trying and dying to reach the safety of the trench

the shellshocked remnants cowering in the dirt