Tunisian Tussle Game period 1

The battle for Tunisian is on. Both sides have made some interesting decisions on where to focus their efforts.

The Germans have decided that enough is enough Malta has been a thorn in there side for too long. Tasked to take Malta are the Elite of the Italian armed forces the Paratroopers of Folgore and Nembo will take part in this operation supported by the Regio Aeronautica.

The other Axis forces have moved around to reinforce Tunisia from Allied invasion. Leaving the Brandenburgers to attack supply lines throughout Libya.

The Allies have to embark on a conservative invasion of Tunisia hitting Sfax first with British and US Airborne troops to secure the landings for the armour of 8^th Army to land and reinforce. They are met by Italian infantry formations

1^st army and US troops have decided to land at Bougie and have met little resistance from the local French Garrison forces but have to contend with fresh German troops using the northern coastal roads to reinforce the Western approach to Tunis.

The Italian Armoured and Recce troops around Medenine have noticed the 8^th Army have reduced their presence on the front lines and have taken this opportunity to exploit the perceived weakness.

Listed below are the missions for this two week period. Ideal matchups are just the recommended forces feel free to play with forces that you have available. Please email me the results from your games. You can play and submit multiple games over the period, I will average the results to work out the conclusion.

Main Battle 1:

Medenine Line:

Mission: FFA

Points: 1100pts +bonus platoons

Ideal forces: Italian Carri vs British Africa Infantry

Bonus platoons: Axis = Carri Platoon of 4 M14 tanks, Allied = British Rifle platoon (Full strength +Sticky bombs)

Main Battle 2:

Sfax

Mission: Surrounded (tanks must be in separate deployment areas to infantry)

Points: 1100pts +bonus platoons

Ideal forces: British Airborne/US Airborne vs Italian  Infantry

Bonus platoons: Axis =1x  Italian 90mm Heavy AA gun (rof 3), Allied = Platoon of Valentine III tanks

Main Battle 3:

Bougie

Mission: Pincer

Points: 1100pts +bonus platoon

Ideal forces: US/Tunisian British vs March company Germans

Bonus platoons: Due to the Large amount of Naval support both sides may call in gunfire. Treat this as a CT 105mm 4 gun battery without a staff team called in by the command command team (no +1 to range in).

Secondary Battle 1:

Malta

Mission: Death from above (use V2 mission briefing)

Points: 1100pts

Ideal forces: FJ vs CT British

Secondary Battle 2:

Supply lines

Mission: The Raid (Burning empires)

Points: 800pts

Ideal forces: Brandenburgers vs Sudan Rifle company

Tunisian Tussle

We have decided to begin the year with a narrative campaign for Flames of War. This is a new thing which I hope works well.

Basic premise is to have two sides, Axis and Allied. Using emails they make Strategic decisions regarding issues surrounding supply, allocation of limited troops like Heavy tanks, when to conduct raids, troop training and what their attacks will focus on turn.

Once they have decided on their strategy I then create 3-4 scenarios for the players to play over the next two weeks. They must play 1 game in this period but can play more if they want. I then collect the results on how the players did and then use those results to base an update on how the overall campaign is doing. Then they decide on what their strategy is for the next turn. And we repeat the process till a get a conclusion to the campaign.

We have decided on Tunisia as our theme. It has a few interesting limitations on the forces involved. It saw the Torch landings by the Americans, Use of Churchill Infantry tanks and the inclusion of the British 1^st army. It also saw the first use of Allied airborne troops although they were used more for elite infantry than airborne invasions of D-day and Market Garden.

The Germans also are in an interesting situation. They have been on the retreat out of Egypt but have stronger defensive lines. Shipping of fresh equipment and men played an important part of the campaign and the allies first saw how dangerous a Tiger tank could be.

General overall strategic situation 1942:

The Germans and Italians have been in retreat since their defeat at El Alamein. They have fallen back along their lines of supply and have resisted all attempts by the British and Commonwealth forces. They have been ordered to stay and fight as high command have not given up on North Africa.

The British and Commonwealth forces have been fighting in North Africa since 1940 and have had a huge surge in confidence since their victory at El Alamein. However victory has eluded them as the Axis refuse to commit to a battle. The Veterans of the 8^th army are tiring but with fresh troops from 1^st Army and the American forces eager to fight but their strategic use is unknown.

Map:

Freedom rounds! Part 2

Finished painting the Priests for Day of Days. Just need to paint up the staff team, OP teams and the command teams. Oh and paint the unit markings on the Priests. Other than that i am finished for Day or Days, well except for the carriers I need to convert up and paint.

Well almost done.

Freedom rounds!

Now that Valleycon 2012 is over and done with I now need to get my Day of Days army finished. The models arrived two weeks ago so tonight I decided to assemble them.

This unit will be based on 98 Artillery Regiment in Italy. They were equipped with Priests self propelled guns till 1945 when they were issued Sextons.

Knowing myself and Poochie I predict it might be a race between my Fearless Vet Priests vs his Confident Vet Shermans to see who can take the objective first.

I did a few tweaks to the models mostly just sticking on bits of stowage and adjusting the angle of the .50cals to make them look unique.

Fennblades, with an added side order of rant

Finished painting my Fennblades. The story behind my acquiring of these figures typifies what is wrong with my local game store. Months ago I walked in and they actually had some figures I wanted. Normally they have nothing of interest or I have to order it in (takes 5 months to get stock from BF, which I ordered elsewhere and received it in 3 days),

This time they actually had something I wanted. However something seemed wrong. I looked up on my phone what the maker of the miniatures had as their RRP. With my banks website I converted it to NZ dollars. These figures should cost $65-$70 off the shelf. My local store had these for $110. When I queried the person at the store they said that there was not error in price and thats the price for them.

So not wanting to be ripped off I searched online. No store had them. I emailed a few stores in NZ to see what they had in stock and I got lucky. Comics in Chch and a box off the shelf for $78. A few emails later and I had bought them. Poochie even was kind enough to pick them up send them to me (in exchange for a Panzer III sent to him).

That is just one example of how bad my local store is. They just don't understand simple concepts like pricing their product so they sell. Its not the cost price of the item. Its the margin they have assigned to it. Comics and my local store must go through the same supplier, one store simply has chosen not to rip off its customers.

Well enough ranting here are the painted Fennblades:

Need sleep, must rout the French!

Last night we all gathered together for a game a big game of Lasalle. British defending some ladies of virtue from the marauding Frenchmen. My figures weren't needed this game as there was amble French units opposing the British.

I commanded the right flank with the Kings German legion. In Lasalle this is represented by the Brunswick support from the book. We had the light Division in the centre and on the left flank some more British. In reserve were our Heavy Dragoons.

My plan was to attack forward forcing them to commit their Cav reserve. I didn't this too well. The Heavy Cav came on my flank and hammered my troops. I killed two Battalions of French foot for the loss of 1st and 2nd KGL and the KGL Hussars. A timely arrival by a squadron of Heavy Dragoons smashed the French Heavy cav to hold the flank.

Here are the pics, check out our awesome Generals.