A Bridge Too Far

One of the things I like about Chain of Command is that because the rules are oriented around dice roles it will always throw up different games.  For our latest  game I was the aggressor controlling a platoon of Germans, a Panzer II and a Panzer 38(t). The object of my desires was the bridge  at the far end of the board. Dave was defending the bridge with his reinforced platoon from the British Expeditionary Force. 

The story of my game was compounding poor decision making on bad tactics. The first of which was to advance a infantry squad too soon without appropriate support in an effort to sneak an early victory. A section of entrenched British infantry and a well positioned Vickers MG put pay to them in short order.  At that point I don't want to say I panicked, but I panicked.  I stopped thinking about what I needed to do. My focus was concerned with achieving the objective. Hence I rushed down the road with my tanks. In essence, this is what Dave wanted me to do and there by made it easy for him to defend against. 

 It was not long before there was a burning hunk blocking the road.  During this forlorn charge for the bridge I worked a squad of infantry up on to the the third floor of the building in the centre. Sadly they had too much to do to make an impact. Before long  they found themselves being suppressed by the Vickers deployed in the house on the other side of the river. 

The final option open to me was to push down the right flank with my infantry and remaining tank. However, when breaking cover even with the support of their machine gun team they were clipped by the British squad on the other side of the river. This meant they would be at a disadvantage assaulting the defending  infantry. 

With my reserve and commander relaxing in the rear and time was slipping away it was becoming clear that  I would be unable to take the objective in the available time.  All credit to Dave who played a splendid defensive game. Wherever I popped my head up I had at least two units  hammer me making difficult to get any momentum into the attack. Mind you I was guilty of coming on in a piecemeal fashion which helped him countering my probes. 

Can't wait for the next game now. 

Welcome to the Jungle

One of the real joys of moving up to 28mm gaming is the opportunity to dress the table top with some rich and detailed scenery. One of the draw backs about gaming in 28mm is you need to a fair bit of expensive terrain in order to play. 

Whichever it is, I've spent the last few weekends building some jungle terrain for my Japanese to hide in. I wanted to do this on the semi-cheap so I utilised some left over hex bases which I had lying about. This allows me to use them individually or bring a handful together to make a larger terrain feature.

These bases were then covered with a mix of waterproof grout, PVA, gravel all mixed with some power-paint.  The bases and foam board, used to recreate rocky outcrops was then coated with this mixture. Once dry all the pieces were set, they all received a liberal wash with Games Workshop Earthshade followed by a dry brush with both light and dark sand to bring out a bit of detail. 

 The next stage was to add some patches of varying lengths of static grass to give a less arid look. Then the glue gun came out and I started adding a variety of plastic plants, acquired from a number of sources, including, aquarium shops, home and bargain stores. I was mid-way through pulling apart one of the ornamental plants when my long suffering partner asked me if that was the plant from our bedroom, I confirmed it was, adding that quickly it was broken and we needed to replace it. (Not sure I got away with that one.)

 Most of the plastic plants have female connectors on them so I mounted stubs of cocktail sticks in the bases to add stability. I mounted the plants in grouping of three this seems to work for the laws of aesthetics. I am not sure why but it make for a more natural look. 

 I have a fives more hilly pieces which I want to make less dense grassy scrub land to provide a bit of variety. But I should crack on with the figures and prioritise getting them finished!!