Monty's Gamble; Review/Playthrough

I am normally not a fan of area move games, but I was intrigued by this game from the start.  Lets see how a solo replay goes;

Day 1

Turn 1 - 

 Impulse 0

• German attempts to blow St Oedenrode bridges and fail.
• British activate Renkum, move one battalion into Oosterbeck and seize bridge to Driel, move two battalions into Arnhem and successfully seize the bridge.
• Assault forces Germans out of Zone F.

Impulse 1

• German attempts to blow St Oedenrode bridges and fail.
• British activate Ginkelse Heide and assault Wolheze with two battalions and artillery support.  Assault fails miserably even with a +4 advantage.
• Assault forces Germans out of Zone F into Valkenswaard.  Combat results not enough for an overrun.  Two units eliminated; three units retreat to Geldrop D2.

Impulse 2

• German attempt to blow Eindhoven bridges succeed in blowing the bridge to Valkenswaard.
• British activate Ginkelse Heide and assault Wolheze with two battalions and artillery support.  Assault fails miserably even with a +4 advantage.
• British Guards assault from Zone F into Valkenswaard.  Combat results not enough for an overrun.  Two units eliminated; three units retreat to Tongelre D2.

Impulse 3

• German attempt to blow St Oedenrode bridges succeed in blowing the bridge to Woensel.
• 82nd activates Mook and assaults Malden with a single regiment and is repulsed by the spent FT.  Move a single regiment to Groesbeck Heights.

Impulse 4 

•  German attempt to blow Overasselt bridges succeed in blowing the bridge to H.atert
• British activate Vaalkensward and attempt bridge repair; failing but gaining +1 for next attempt.

Impulse 5

•  German blow Overasselt - Malden bridge
• British activate Ginkelse Heide and assault Wolheze with two battalions and artillery support.  Assault succeeds by 1.  GP regiment moves to Driel to secure a supply zone.

Impulse 6

•  German pass
• British activate Vaalkensward and attempt bridge repair;failing again

.Impulse 7

•  German pass
• British activate Vaalkensward and attempt bridge repair; finally passing.
• Weather change!  This could be bad.

.Impulse 8

•  German activate Zutphen and attempt infiltration into Arnhem.  Succeeding with 9SS armored infantry.
• 101st assault from St Oedenrode to Best. Result in a tie contesting the region and ending the turn.
• Free activation of Zone F will have guards recon assult Eindoven. Overwhelming success including over run and continue on to Woensoel.

 Key Events

• Germans blew 5 bridges and got units into Arnhem
• Allies seized Eindhoven, but Son bridge is blown so XXX advance will be limited. 1AB seized Driel across the Rhine.

Map at the end of turn 1;

Well its time to resurrect this blog.  I just finished two rifle sections for FOW Vietnam and will post pictures shortly.

WWII Russians

While gaming the other day a friend of mine asked me if I had WWII Russians.  I knew i had enough to run an understrength Strekovy, but since I hadn't played with them in a while I pulled them out for inventory;

And a perspective view;

Basically it's a full strelk battalion with flamthrower and sapper support.  Of course this is only the infantry.  I have supporting tanks, artillery and AT guns.

Back at the painting table

Been recouperating from back surgery, so I have been away from the painting table.  Still have too many projects to complete;

• 25mm Early Romans
• FoW need to start my EWBritish and fill out my Russians
• FoW Vietnam
• Host of others

Below are a couple of Pz IVs i finished off the other day;

Update on FOW Vietnam.  I have purchased 2 Huey slicks, 2 Huey Hogs, Col Moore and 4 M113s.  The helicopters are done;

The figures are sweet and easy to assemble except the rotors.  Crisp details, not too much clean up and a full range of decals provided.  However I do have issues with the main rotor assembly;

The good;

• Magnets provided so rotors are removeable
• Crisp detail
• Rotors are plastic so they bend and snap back.

The not so good;

• Shaft is very thin and will break if not handled with care during assembly
• Out of four helicopters I broke two

Huey Hogs were similar;

FoW Vietnam

So, the newest thing from Battlefront is the Vietnam era.  I am not sure how the game will playout, but I thought the miniatures were cool so I decided to dive in.  Browsing through the army lists I decided to paint an American air mobile list.  Motivation for this list is two fold;

• Helicopters are cool
• I can use my American WWII infantry miniatures to test the system.  If I like it I can buy the Vietnam infantry.

My list will look something like this;

• HQ + Col. Moore 80pts
• Full Rifle Platoon - 180pts
• Full Rifle Platoon - 180pts
• Full Rifle Platoon - 180pts
• Mortar Platoon - 125pts
• Aviation Platoon - 4 UH-1D - 150pts
• Aeroweapons platoon - 2UH-1B Hogs - 200pts
• Rifle Platoon Mech - 290

Total 1385 points.  I can round out the list later.  So all I have to buy are 6 helicopters, Col Moore and the M113 for the mechanized infantry.

It will be interesting to see how long this takes me.

Test Post WWII Winter Camo

    Camo created using multiple coats 50/50 white paint/water mix with a brown wash between each coat.

 

After the white I dry brushed with the duklegrab to show places where the whitewash would have worn away during normal use.