GAME: Operation Preying Mantis

 Sunday we played our modern naval game, Operation Preying Mantis, at Savannah Lion Games. The rules we used were Naval Command. The US had a huge advantage in number of ships, planes, and technology. However, what the Iranians lacked in numbers and weaponry, they made up in freedom of action. Where as the Iranians could do whatever they want the US had to follow strict rules of engagement.

A view of the Straights of Hurmuz. At the very top SAG Delta, consisting of the destroyers O'Brien, Joseph Strauss, and the Frigate Jack Williams can be seen passing through the straight. The US Surface CAP can also be seen loitering at the CAP point off the coast of UAE. At Bottom the Revolutionary guard can be seen harassing the passenger ferry African Queen.  

SAG Bravo, consisting of the Destroyers Merrill, McCormick, and the LPD Trenton, approach the Sassan oil terminal.

SAG Charlie, consisting of the Frigates Simpson, Bailey, and the missile cruiser Wainwright, park next to the Sirri platform and prepare for their bombardment.

The heaviest fighting happened at the straight when the Iranian navy sortied out. Here the frigate Sabalan burns after being hit by a Harpoon and guided bomb from SuCAP's A-6. It would later sink from flooding.

After the Sabalan was sunk the Iranians launch a number of air strikes using every F-4 available. While the F-14s were engaged with one strike, another group managed to get close to SAG Delta. The destroyer O,Brien ended up being hit with a Maverick missile. Also hit by Iranian gunfire, the destroyer suffered a fire and severe flooding that damaged systems. However, the ship was able get flooding and fire under control and went on to nearly sink the frigate Sa'am. Of the five flights of phantoms sent out, only one flight manage to return to base.

Nearby trawlers watch as the Sassan platform burns after being demolished by Marine placed charges. At this point we called the game with both sides able to declare marginal victory. The US managed to destroy all their primary targets, but O'Brien was damaged. While the Iranian navy failed to stop the US from destroying their platforms, the Revolutionary Guard, not shown in the pictures, ran wild on the commercial shipping. They damaged several merchants and tankers.

Basing my Naval Minis Part 2

I rebasing my naval miniatures...AGAIN. See, my friend Christian decided to give me his Naval minis as he wasn't using them anymore. Of course these where based different from my miniatures as he has a dark blue game mat. I myself, now have several different mats, all different colors. I had been deciding to go to translucent bases for aircraft some time ago. This was so that when they were over land they would look like they were over land, not a square shaped lake. Thus, when I order the translucent bases from Litko for my aircraft, I also got some translucent light blue bases for my ships. Hopefully they should look good on any of my mats. Next I'm going to be working on some Iranian ships.

Megablitz Bastogne Game II

 For the 80 anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge I decided to play my Megablitz Bastogne scenario. The game was played between me and Mike Baker at Savannah Lions Games. I tried some new things with the scenario. I reduced the strength of the Germans and allowed them to start on the table. However after day two the two panzer divisions would pullout to continue operations elsewhere. 

The perimeter around Bastogne from the North you can see Panzer Lehr moving in from the South, while 2nd Panzer moves in from the North. In the center is 26th Volksgrenadier

A close up showing more of the German forces.

Battles breakout on the Western roads between the panzer troops and paratroopers. Meanwhile on the left, the German pioneers repair the bridge at Wiltz.

The paratroopers desperately holding one as fresh German battalions move up with panzer and artillery support.

In the end we only manage to get through 1 and half days of fighting.  Mike's Germans had punched a hole in the perimeter, but my CCB fire brigade managed to plug it up. The situation was in doubt as the weather had cleared for the day allowing for American air support and there were only a few turns left before the panzer divisions pulled out to continue their advance. The problem with playing at the club is that the meetings only last 3 hours. Not enough time to fight a battle this size, especially as I was both playing and teaching Mike the game. Still we had fun and that's what matters. 

Megablitz: Israeli Units

Did some more painting this weekend. This time a finished out the 143rd "Sheron" Division and Southern command for the Israelis. Here are some of the pictures

The Sheron Division as a whole. The bulk of the division's miniatures are from Pico.

The Division headquarters, the 87th Recon battalion, and 229th Engineer Battalion

The division's origenal tank brigades, the 421st and 600th. These are all Pico miniatures.

The 214th Artillery Brigade and the Division Combat Service Support. These units have the most 3-D prints including; the whole hospital, and all the heavy SP weapons, except the M107. 

During the battle the Sheron Division had two additional brigades attached to it. In the front is the 14th Armored brigade (which had a battalion of paratroops and airborne recon battalion, attached to it).
The unit in the back is the 247th Paratroop Brigade.

Finally I finished the Southern Command units that will be present. In the front row is the Command Headquarters, and 424th Special recon battalion. In the second row are some supply units as well as the 626th Engineer Brigade. In the third row are some ADA units.  The 626th Engineer Brigade includes the 605th Bridge battalion (represented by my rather dodgy roller bridge), 630th Bridge battalion (represented by my equally dodgy Unifloats), and 634th Bridge Battalion (with DUKWs representing Gilowa amphibians).

This week I plan to paint some modern farm buildings for the Chinese Farm. After that I have to complete the Egyptian 21st Armor division and 2nd Army. As well as the Israeli Aden division.

New Megablitz Unit: The Egyptian 16th Infantry Division

 Been a while since I posted anything. I've started work on an Megablitz Arab/Israeli war game. I haven't had time to label them yet, but here's my first Arab unit, the 16th Infantry Division. It is also the first unit I've made with a lot of 3-D printed items. 

The Division as a whole. 

The 16th Division Headquarters and a couple of AA companies

The Recon battalion with a PT-76, BTR-40, and T-54. The BTR-40 and T-54 are 3-D prints.

The 16th and 112th Infantry Brigades. Each have 3 infantry battalions, a T-34 battalion, and artillery battalion with 122mm M30 howitzers. The T-34s are 3-D prints

The 3rd Mechanized Brigade. Organized the same as the infantry brigades but mounted on BTR-152s, and BMP-1s. The tank battalion is also equipped with T-54s. The T-54s and BTRs are 3-D prints.

The 41st Artillery Brigade with a D-30 Battalion, D-74 Gun Battalion, and a battalion of 160mm Mortars. The 122mm D-74 is actually a 3-D print of a 130mm M-46, the look rather similar. The 160mm mortar is also 3-D printed. 

Here we have the combat support battalions. These include ( from Right to Left, Front Row) the anti-aircraft battalion, ATGW battalion, antitank battalion, engineer battalion (Back Row) assault gun battalion, another ATGW battalion and the independent tank battalion. The assault gun and extra ATGW battalion were attached to the division from other units. The BRDM-AT, SU-100, and T-54s where also 3-D prints.

I hope to have every thing ready by the Fall. In Megablitz news I'm planning to take another shot at the first Megablitz game I did, Gembloux Gap. I'm debating if I should go 3mm on my WWII units to, but I already got a lot in 6mm, not that I cant convert it to other uses, I.E. FFT. 

Megablitz Bastogne

 I know I promised to post about this game a while ago but I had some computer problems. I played this game a while back. We had 4 players, 3 German and 1 American. Unfortunately, I was so busy both playing and teaching the game, all the players were new, that I didn't take any pictures of the game itself. Luckily, my friend Mike Baker had me covered. 

The German Forces. From left to right, we have the Panzer Lehr division, 26th Volksgrenadier division, and the my 12th panzer division standing in for the 2nd panzer division. 

The American forces. In the center is the 101st airborne. Just below them is some of the attached units. At the bottom left is CCR of the 10th armored division. 

The battlefield with Bastogne in the center 

The US units deployed around Bastogne. 

Me commanding the Veteran 2nd Panzer and Mark playing the commander of Panzer Lehr. While Mark's forces got bottled up at Wiltz due to the heavy woods and nearby river; I was starting to bypass the defenses at the North. You can also see the 26th VG moving up the road to Wiltz. This was just before they made a right turn and moved through the woods towards Bastogne. 

The fighting near Wiltz. The US player had aggressively pushed out CCR 10th to attack the German Panzers. This would defiantly cost him later. 

Game day 2, Bastogne finds itself surrounded on almost all side. We ended up calling it for the Germans. There was only a single regiment and some support units in Bastogne. CCR had pretty much been destroyed, meaning no mobile reserves to come to Bastogne's aid. The US had managed to inflect some causalities on Panzer Lehr and wiped out a regiment of the 26th when it decided to attack.

Over all it was a fun and successful game. While my new player made a few errors as they were still in a bit of a tactical mindset. Mark had put his recon stands at the back of his column and it took him a while to take advantage of his mobility. The American player for his part was a bit too lop sided with his defense, allowing me to get around it. Still they all did very well. 

Making a Megablitz Battlefield

 Hello all. Last week I took part in Tanksgiving, my friend's, Mike, Thanksgiving game day event. I decided to run a Megablitz game of Bastogne. Since I'm planning to run this game at a convention later. I decided to make a specialized game board for it. This was the first time I've tried such a thing. 

A Map of the battlefield based on John Tiller's "Bulge 44" game. 

I started by gluing foam core elevations to a 2" thick piece of insolation foam. BTW each square is 6". I play Megablitz with 6mm or 3mm minis so I usually don't need a large table top.

Next I used some spackle to smooth out the hills and started carving in some rivers. 

Next I painted the whole thing white and painted in the road network as well as some gray squares for the urban areas. I added sand and rocks to the river beds and painted them gray. I then added water effects and green foliage clusters. I patted down the clusters with white paint on a sponge. Below is the final result

The battle field on game day, with Bastogne in the middle. The whole thing fits in the back seat of my car. 

A closeup of Bastogne. The buildings are Pico 2mm.

A closeup of the village of Wiltz. This was the location of a large German bottleneck.

The map is still a work in progress. I want to paint the sides so they're not pink, as well as add more water effects to the rivers. Next post I'll go over the game itself.