The fan overhead beat rhythmically, echoing the antigrav pulse of the ubiquitous Silverbug engines. Alone in his bunk, Lt. Grant found it hypnotic. He’d been on this new assignment a week now – getting softer, getting weaker.. while out there, the Russians and Chinese only got stronger. He understood now why McAuliffe took solace in whisky – what else was there to do, when peace was just a dream.
The next thing he knew, he was being held under a freezing shower by two MPs. Clean shaven and with his most presentable fatigues on, he struggled not to sway as the Colonel briefed him.
Reading through his notes, Grant couldn’t believe they’d given him the right file. The officer they’d named had been a paragon of anti-Soviet resistance, even volunteering for and passing out through Foreign Legion training at age 38. Grant buried his resentment at the mission as best he could – but his platoon sergeant had no such reserve.
“We’re short and they want to take us upriver to kill a friendly? God F*CKING damn it! I thought you were going up to blow up a bridge, or some railroad lines? Ruskies and Chinese are piling in across the borders every day and we’re supposed to go kill our own goddamn allies?” Grant gritted his teeth. “This is my task force. We put this thing down where we need to and do what it takes to get the job done.”
Mac looked hard into his Lieutenant’s eyes. “Sir. Yes sir.”
Out on the landing fields, Grant watched the surf crashing against the beach, squinting against the low morning sun. Behind him the familiar pulse of antigravity boosters boomed out as the Silverbugs roared to life, the smell of ozone and cordite wafting across. In spite of himself, Grant couldn’t help but smile, he loved that smell first thing in the morning. It smelled like… victory.
Off we go again with anotherApocalypse: EarthSummerSmackdown! Hard on the heels of seeing what Dan can do with a soap dish and a biro, it’s time to put our newly reinforced League of European Nations forces to the test.. and a certain LoEN colonel, deep in the Southeast Asian jungles of an unnamed European protectorate has gone certifiably off his rocker, creating a new wonder weapon with the fruits of espionage on the secret Atlantic Alliance antigrav programs… and the Alliance need to get the situation under control! So who else but Buffalo 2-7, reconstituted after their encounters with a zombie horde and a couple of time warping, reality-bending scraps not to mention their heroic defence of Faslane naval base, to do the job?
Buffalo 2-7 deploy, armour to the fore, skimmer units and Rocketeers set up a flank manoeuvreBeen a while, hasn’t it lads?Ze Churmans, caught under Kurtz’s spell, rush to meet them!The Atlantic Alliance win the initiative, first shot from the lead Centurion demolishing the 88Gw laser as the rest of the LoEN force holds out in cover trying to weather the storm..Alliance forces push forwards at top speed across the exposed open ground, infantry taking cover wherever they canHaunebau makes its’ debit! And although the plasma cannons are laughably ineffective against the target M60 Centurion, those twin linked machine guns take a terrible toll on the Allied infantryThe state of play after Turn 1- note the burned out M60, a casualty of combined Ocelot laser cannon fire.. on the opposing side, one Ocelot destroyed and another one with a laser cannon blown off.It had to happen – boosted by a few Command Points spent on her, Silverbug shreds the Haunebau powerfields with her Avenger cannons and demolishes it with Stinger/TOW ADATS missiles! Still, at least it lasted a turn…Surviving Ocelots attempt to light up another M60…Kurtz’s HQ section manage to target the underside of the lead Silverbug and manages to penetrate it’s armour, causing a catastrophic explosion! Wingman arrives and scythes through the Jager squadron..With their armoured assets mostly stripped away by murderous Allied fire, von Hulkenburg gathers his platoon in cover preparing to counterattack the Allied infantry assaultThe surviving Ocelot prepares to go down swinging..Struggling to target von Hulkenburg’s regulars, the Allied APCs absolutely ventilate the territorials up on the hill guarding the objectiveThe jaws of the Allied trap begin to shut..Rocketeers vault up onto the clifftop and massacre the Territorials at close range, suppressing them However Territorial HQ wreaks a terrible vengeance!Despite the panzerfaust operator being unable to hit the side of a barn door, concentrated rifle and machinegun fire manages to cripple the two Humvees trying to flank von Hulkenburg’s regularsAs the Allied noose draws tighter, von Hulkenburg’s regulars knuckle up on the objective with the remains of the Territorial platoonBut they’re not quick enough as the minigun armed Humvee (bolstered by ALL my Command Points this turn) catches them out in the open, massacring a rifle squad and all Kurtz’ staff!A last ditch effort by surviving LoEN assault troopers land in by jump pack and massacre Bravo squadAn M113 draws a bead on Kurtz with a grenade launcher and two LMGs..Surviving Silverbug massacres the Territorial HQIt’s been a hell of a scrap!Surrounded by the Atlantic Alliance Command Element, and wounded by the M113, Col. Kurtz is helpless as Grant icily draws a bead and pumps three rounds at close range into his head…
The first round hit home. “For my men” The second round hit home. “For von Hulkenburg” The third round hit home. “For me”
Looking down at his foe, Grant saw him mouthing something. leaning closer, he could just faintly hear.. “The horror…. the horror..”
And we return with a thud from the 41st millenium to an alternate 1950s.. Up til now something of a sideshow on the blog compared to the Atlantic Alliance and Holy Soviet Empire, the League Of European Nations is nevertheless on of the main combatants in the fluff for Apocalypse: Earth, representing a proto-EU formed in the wake of the cataclysmic Six Months War of 1914-15 which ended (SPOILER ALERT) in an effective stalemate after a military coup in Germany overthrew and executed the Kaiser..
The upshot is that by 1954 and the Soviet invasion, the Germans are “first among equals” in a mostly-united Europe – quite how happy the French are about that remains to be seen- and are doing their own share of Weird Science Wunderwaffen experimentation..
Oh, and Hitler? Shot in a trench in 1914. Yeah, no Nazis in this game, one lunatic genocidal baddie is enough for us.
Of course, the UK not joining the Six Months War meant no bankruptcy and an alliance with the US on a much more equal footing… plus never being invited to join the League meant no Brexit either, which means that the population have nothing to argue about in the pub and are therefore far more economically productive..
BUT back to the plot! The LoEN might not have had the help of mysterious outside forces (cough *ROSWELL* cough) to help boost their technology levels, but they do have Einstein, and they do have motivation in the face of the Holy Soviet Army amassed on their border.. so without further ado, let me introduce the highly experimental Messerschmitt Me-434 “Haunebau” Repulsor Attack Vehicle (“Antigravitations-Angriffsfahrzeug”)!
It begins! Base shape is an old soap dish discovered during a recent clearout.. Lines drawn are for reference when adding further detail later on.Rivets added – dots of quick dry-PVA added with a cocktail stick.. I didn’t quite measure these but paid attention to eyeballing them at the same levels… this is a German vehicle, after all!The force field projector on the top is from a defunct pen, the plasma cannons are cocktail sticks with the spring from the same pen cut into two and wrapped around to represent energy coils… machine gun emplacements are greenstuff blobs with (you guessed it) granny grating embedded in them.
After white priming and a prewash of Vallejo Smokey Ink, I applied two thin coats of Crafter’s Choice tan, a bit of a dry(ish) brush with bone, and then stippled on first Russian Green…
…and then a brain fart happened and I didn’t take any more pictures until the whole thing was done… so next up was a stipple of craft brown, a pin wash of Smokey Ink and a thinned wash of brown in the “creases” of the model.. base was a mini CD (remember them) with a tactical rock affixed and about an inch of clear styrene rod to give the impression of flight. I tried magnetising but the damn things just wouldn’t stick to anything else but each other.. so blue tack to the rescue!
After that it was white on the energy coil and then washed with thinned craft blue, heavy sponge chipping with black around the edges, flocking on the base and out for varnish.. so fanfare please:
On patrol with elements of Kampfgruppe Hulkenberg…Right now in the shed, seeing action…SAUCER ATTACK!!!
So there we are, a new “Super” unit to give the LoEN something on a par with with the Atlantic Alliance Silverbug gunships or the Holy Soviet Colossus – and oh yes, right now there is quite the scuffle going on in the shed, based around a certain classic Vietnam movie.. and we’ll be bringing that to you as a battle report before long!
It’s good to get back to your roots. With all the 40k and granny grating shenanigans that have been going on of late, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’d forgotten about our first love – our own game, “Apocalypse: Earth” set in an alternate WW2 in the 1950s between the West and the Holy Soviet Empire that is not at all inspired by a popular computer game from the late 90s.
I’ve had custody of the “goodies”, the Atlantic Alliance – UK, US & Commonwealth – while Dan has been commanding the Holy Soviet Empire forever, but in the last couple of years I’ve been investigating the League Of European Nations… short version, Germany (sort of) wins WWI, sets up a proto-EU, the UK doesn’t bankrupt itself in WWI and as a result the Commonwealth and US go into partnership more or less as equals.
In the original rulebook (from 2014!!) I made reference to a League unit called a Panzerjager, which is basically a walking light tank/ power armour suit, but at that time I had no idea how I might go about making one…
Fast (fast?) forward seven years, and I am SO much older and wiser. So, allow me to walk you through the construction process… you’ll need foamboard, cardboard, a straw, a coffee strawer and a kebab skewer… and yeah, a bit of granny grating, and some sprue.
Here’s where we start – 5mm thick foamcore, 20 x 25mm wide – we’re going to glue these on top of each other to create 3 lots of 2 foamcore bodies. These form the core of the models.Now we taper the upper layer – 5mm off either edge.Next we encase the main torso in thin cardboard – this is just cheap stuff from The Works, but cereal box or even printer paper should do the job just as wellCardstock covering the foamboard torso, next a 4.5cm chunk of coffee stirrer to provide the “shoulders” (the black marks on the centre are there to ensure accurate alignment)
Now, full disclosure, I built these while watching the England – Denmark game, which meant that my attention did wander at times… as a result, the next few steps didn’t get documented…..
Legs from kebab skewers, broken in the middle and sealed with superglue… laser cannon cut from drinking straw, machinegun from (you guessed it) granny grating, and exhaust pipes on the back clipped from sprue and superglued on. Rivets are blobs of PVA dabbed on with a cocktail stick.Out to the shed for priming…Based with two coats of Crafter’s Choice tan…Camo patterns added with Vallejo Russian GreenAnd Americana Light Cinammon craft paintWashed with (very) thin Vallejo Brown InkPin wash of neat Vallejo Smokey InkDrybrushed with bone craft paint (Americana Buttermilk)…And done! Bases were painted chocolate brown then added sand and flock… I superglued a piece of gravel to each base partly for scenic reasons and partly to impart some weight to these models, as being simply cardboard, foamboard and straw for the most part they had a tendency to fall over when someone nearby coughed (although you could make the case for that being a COVID early warning system)Taking the field (in this case Bose Cliff) with somefriends….
Why have I built these? Well, as COVID restrictions are lifting and the Great Plague of 2020-21 goes into remission… probably…. we’re planning our Great Summer Smackdown once again! Now Dan & I are both double jabbed and so are our other halves, we can start to plan some big games again… and believe me, we are!
If you’re interested in the rules for these Panzerjagers, they’re in the Apocalypse: Earth rulebook, but because we love you all (Pete, John, Subedai, IRO, Roger, Whittlesey and all of you) here they are again, updated to represent these models:
Panzerjager Squadron – 250pts
Independent unit
Leader – Panzerjager suit equipped with Laser Designator, SS-10 “Cobra” ATGM, Heavy Machine Gun
2 Troopers – Panzerjager suit equipped with SS-10 “Cobra” ATGM & Heavy Machine Gun
Special Rule – the Panzerjager suits each allow the wearer to mount heavy weapons without suffering any movement penalties. It protects it’s wearer with an armour value of 12.
Heavy Machine Gun – range 100cm, ROF 8, Penetration 6+2D6
SS-10 “Cobra” ATGM – range 100cm, ROF 1, Penetration 15+2D6, +1 to hit on designated target
Laser Designator – the player chooses a target to be designated, all other unit members get +1 to hit with their Cobra ATGM launchers.
And if you fancy having a crack yourself, here’s the rulebook and fluff on Wargames Vault: Apocalypse: Earth
Stay safe and thrifty out there, and a BIG fight coming soon!
With the Soviet offensive of summer 1956 successful in capturing a number of Allied plasma generation facilities, UNIVAC, Majestic 12 and Supreme Allied Command Europe were all agreed to focus their immediate strategy on recapturing these vital installations before Emperor Djugashvilli could build on the momentum the Holy Soviet Army had lmanaged to create (at great cost).
It therefore came as something of a surprise when Stalin’s next move did not come across the front lines in Europe, but a massed amphibious assault on northern Scotland coming from an armada of massive transport submarines. In one of the opening moves, Lt Polikarpov would lead the infantry component of the assault task force assigned to knock out the plasma generator station powering Faslane naval base.
The Scottish campaign was notable for the complete and total inebriation of both sides – commissars would ladle out vodka liberally to the assault troops while the Scottish defended their homeland fuelled on a mix of Iron Bru and McEwan’s. Fighting was close and brutal, fuelled by borscht on the one side and deep fried Mars bars on the other. In the end, however, there could be only one victor.
Welcome to another Apocalypse: Earth megagame! We’ve been planning this for a while to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings and figured doing our own weird war retro sci-fi take on things would be our little (if slightly strange) contribution to commemorating the immense bravery shown that day.
So, without further ado, on to the battle report!
Scenario:
The Soviet force would be landing on the beach from the gigantic transport submarines they had created in secret and infiltrated up to the Scottish coast (which meant no need to scratch build landing craft), and would be landing with the intent to capture the (suspiciously familiar looking) plasma generator station that powered Faslane Naval Base – knocking that out would take down the base forcefields, allowing the next stage of the Soviet invasion.
Task Force Polikarpov, therefore brought EVERYTHING to the battle, including some new recruits to bolster the rifle squads to a full 14 men each. We were also trying something new – grouping the Soviet tanks into platoons, each consisting of two regular gun T-48s and either the Inferna or Elektra assault variant. This meant less flexibility (alternating unit activations favours multiple small units, a fact that the Atlantic Alliance is built around) but also the ability to bring down a LOT of firepower in one go. In short, playing like the slow moving iron clad firestorm the Holy Soviet Army should be!
“Contact – no, wait, multiple contacts!” called out the sonarman monitoring the sonobuoy pickets out in the bay. “Bearing 060 through 065, closing up on the beaches fast.. where the HELL did they come from?”
“One of their damned sorcerers” snarled Lt. Grant. He quickly swallowed the last bite of his bacon sandwich and thumbed the ARPANET transceiver on to the platoon network.
“Buffalo 2-7, this is Sunray. All units stand to. I say again, stand to. Prepare for amphibious assault.”
Around him the troops were already scrambling. Men checked weapons, drivers gunned engines. Grant thumbed the channel.
“Kampfgruppe Hulkenberg, this is Buffalo 2-7 Sunray, we have multiple- “
“We have them too, Lieutenant”. The clipped, precise tones of his European League counterpart cut through the static. “All units moving to prepared positions as rehearsed.”
Grant smiled grimly. “See you on the beach, Nico.”
“It’s a date. Von Hulkenberg out.”
The Allied forces rush to defend Mel Bay! Silverbug gunships anchor the flanks while the Kugelpanzers prepare a point blank defence with their (potentially) devastating laser cannons..
Grant and the Atlantic Alliance infantry cluster on the Allied right
Lt. von Hulkenberg’s platoon take the left, bolstered by Atlantic Alliance vehicles
An wall of steel welcomes the Holy Soviet Army!
Turn 1
The game opened with a salvo of 152mm shells from supporting Soviet naval firepower, smashing an Allied jeep and causing damage to the Kugelpanzer squadron, but no sooner had the ground stopped shaking from the explosions than appeared the gigantic, terrifying form of the Soviet Colossus – Stompy Uncle Joe leading his children to war!
The Holy Soviet Army storms ashore – the Colossus leads the way, incinerating one Kugelpanzer, frying another one with his lightning launcher and lobbing the third one onto an Alliance APC, destroying both! AND THEN finishes off by blowing both missile launchers off a Silverbug with his anti air machineguns – THAT’s how Stompy Uncle Joe rolls..
The Holy Soviet Army barges on to the beach, the brutal firepower of the Rampager’s twin 130mm cannons demolishing a Centurion
Siberian assault troops storm into the fray…
…before being gunned down by Rocketeers!
Soviet infantry push onto the beach, taking fearful losses
Chaos on the Allied left flank!
And just about everywhere else!
Lt. Polikarpov leads his platoon forward
Heavy weapons squad unleash hell on the defenders
Attack Drones bring down a Silverbug
Into the breach, Comrades!
The state of play at the end of turn 1 – the Soviets are ashore but heavy losses on both sides
Turn 2
Once more, the Holy Soviet Army advances into the maelstrom – after the near total demolition of the Soviet infantry in turn 1, we house ruled that any units destroyed in turn 1 could respawn as a second wave in turn 2. Very sportingly, Dan declined to apply this to his left flank tank platoon and limited just to infantry. In fairness, we hadn’t really balanced the armies too closely, it was largely gun and guesswork!
Despite being immobilised, Stompy Uncle Joe manages to grab an Allied APC that ventures too near..
Which he promptly lobs at the sole surviving Centurion, falling short but causing a very spectacular explosion…
Second wave of Soviet infantry charge forward…
A second squad of Siberian assault troops overwhelm the German infantry on the Allied left
The remaining German rifle squad gun down the exposed mutant assault troops
As the second turn ended, the Soviets were ashore with heavy losses – but at the cost of gutting the Allied formations!
Turn 3
Soviet Holy Mystic summons primordial waves of psychic energy to telekinetically lift the last functioning Allied M60A3 and drop it on the second Silverbug, destroying them both in spectacular fashion!
Soviet naval guns blast through the few remaining Atlantic Alliance infantrymen
Surviving Tesla troopers demolish another APC
Stompy Uncle Joe falls to Stinger/ TOW fire
By this time both sides were on the ropes and tottering, but the Soviets had managed to push the Allied forces off the beach, with catastrophic casualties on each side!
Turn 4
Stompy Uncle Joe may have fallen, but he’s still in the fight! Soviet Holy Mystic summons the psychic strength to lift eighty tons of steel and drop it on the sole surviving Allied vehicle..
The subsequent explosion wounds Lt. Grant and kills yet another Alliance rifleman
Allied sniper team knocks out a Tesla trooper’s generator – in response, the surviving trooper fries the sniper team!
Mac and Lt. Grant make a last gasp attack on the Soviet HQ..
But they fail to inflict any damage, and Lt. Polikarpov and his HQ gun them down without mercy!
And with that, the last gasp of Allied resistance falls… the way is open to the plasma generator station!
The pain flared across his temple. Lt. Grant struggled to consciousness to find himself looking into the darkness of a Kalashnikov assault rifle barrel. As he struggled to clear his vision, a second figure in a peaked cap wielding a pistol swam into view.
“Lt. Grant, I presume”, said a Russian voice, “I have been waiting a long time for this..”
So, a Soviet victory! At great cost – HQ, a couple of riflemen, the Mystic and his bodyguard, a Tesla trooper and sniper were literally all that were left. On the Allied side, however, we were down to a German medic armed with a pistol. So, now what for our story? Lt. Grant trying to effect a breakout from a Soviet POW camp? Some more fluff and battle reports on the Scottish Front? Let us know!
On a more serious note, no one reading this will have been unaware of the 75th anniversary of D-Day a few days ago, and certainly that was in our thoughts as we finished this quite epic game.
Dan – “That was a laugh and everything, but f**k me, can you imagine having to do it for real?”
No. No I can’t. We both agreed that neither of us could have done it. But mercifully, we haven’t had to.
So thank you Grandpa. Thank you Grandad. Thank you to all of you who summoned up the courage to do the impossible – not just on D-Day, but the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that, for eleven more months.
Stay thrifty out there and we’ll see you again soon.
So first out of the blocks, an idea I’ve been kicking around for a while – the infamous Kugelpanzer, or ball tank. These things seem to be staple of retro sci-fi, without really having a defined role, so I figured they could work as an armoured recon troop- with a bit of a twist! These things would be packing laser cannons- three each. These will be capable of rapid fire against infantry and light vehicles, but by combining their fire together they will be able to fire a single high intensity laser blast capable of obliterating even a Soviet Colossus or IS-6 Rampager!
It’s actually a bit of a challenge “feeling out” the character of this army – sandwiched between the lumbering juggernaut of the Holy Soviet Army and the elite, hi tech but short on numbers feel of the Atlantic Alliance, it’s a bit of a challenge to find where the European League should sit. So we’ve gone for a slightly ragtag, heterogenous feel – bizarre clunky specialised units that are very good at one thing, but suck at everything else. Kind of like a 1950’s Eldar to the AA’s Space Marines or HSE Guard, if you’ll allow the metaphor.
Anyway, enough waffle – on to the build!
We begin with (drumroll please)…. ping pong balls! A bag of 20 off eBay for a couple of quid. I googled “ping pong ball diameter” – seriously – and discovered that international regulations – seriously – specify 40mm. Thus reassured, I cut out 40mm x 15mm strips of thin card which I aligned as centrally as possible. These would serve as mounts for the tracks, which I cut as 5mm wide strips from IDE cables (a trick learned from master scratchbuilder Zrunelord)
You might notice the crosses sketched on the balls – this was my attempt to measure out a centre point and give myself a line to place rivets along (done with tacky glue, a fast-acting mix of PVA and isopropyl alcohol, applied with a cocktail stick)
Tracks and rivets added
After that, all that remained were the guns! 3 laser cannons per tank, one per side and a centrally mounted top one. I made these by chopping up a 1cm length of cocktail straw and then supergluing a 5mm length of drinking straw to each end, like so:
Laser cannons ready!
Hole punched thick card superglued to the hull as spacers/ weapon mount points
All done and ready for priming!
A coat of white primer and a base coat of Crafter’s Choice Fawn later, I added lines of brown and Vallejo Russian Green (irony!) to create the WW2 “Dunkelgelb” style camouflage pattern. The whole thing then gt a thinned wash of brown ink, an unthinned in wash of Vallejo Smokey Ink in the crevices, before a final drybrush with bine craft paint to catch the rivets. I applied sponge weathering using both black and gun metal, and then knocked up a texture paste from sand, PVA and dark brown paint – this got smeared around the tracks before being drybrushed with a lighter brown and blended around the tracks (in truth I think I got a bit carried away here, but oh well – northern Europe can get pretty muddy..)
Anyhow – pics!
The Kugelpanzer troop lead League infantry through a ruined urban landscape
Looking forward to getting these on the table soon – can they beat the fate of all painted models, or will they cover themselves with glory taking down Stompy Uncle Joe? Stay tuned, stay thrifty, see you soon!
Welcome to our 2018 Summer Slam Megagame! It’s becoming a bit of a tradition during the summer months when I’m on glorious paid summer vacation and Dan is less busy at the warehouse, to congregate in my garage with a couple of boxes of Carling and whatever models we’ve managed to acquire or concoct to throw down for a BIG FIGHT.
This year we’re revisiting a concept we used last spring, with a gallant few Allied defenders holding off a endless horde of Holy Soviet Army attackers, but we’ve added a few twists..
The scenario began with our new League of European Nations platoon with 88Gw support laser deployed ahead of the Skalk Point plasma generator complex, performing regular rear area security duties – when out of the mist comes Dan’s entire Holy Soviet Army force! We deployed along the two narrow edges, the League forces up to the halfway mark, the Soviets up to 24cm forward.
Starting at the end of the first turn, the League commander could nominate 6 Alliance units (representing the local sector Quick Reaction Force) – if they passed a reaction roll, they would appear on his table edge at the end of the turn. Soviet casualties would be respawned within their deployment zone, and the forward edge of said deployment zone would move forward 10cm every turn, representing units rushing forward to find their officer (or anyone else to take responsibility for their decisions…). Once the last Alliance unit had taken to the field, the Soviets wouldn’t get any more reinforcements.
We – well, alright, me – decided to flex the literary muscles and try and write this in a narrative style.. so grab yourself a libation, this is quite a long post…
Skalk Point Power Substation, Location CLASSIFIED Northern Germany, 0600 July 21st 1956
The low cloud made him uneasy. Despite the early hour of the morning, it was already uncomfortably hot, and sweat patches were beginning to form in his underarms and under his peaked officers’ cap. Leutnant von Hulkenburg shifted his weight as he trained his field glasses on the horizon.
Rear area security was not a glamorous assignment, but the Leutnant and his command had spent enough time on the front lines to realise there was no glory to be found anywhere in this war. He was merely glad to have survived this long and the men under him shared his views. This posting allowed him and his men some rest, guarding a crucial power generation substation deep behind Allied lines – but it was essential work. Skalk Point was the nexus of the power grid for the entire sector – if it went down, it would cripple the logistics for the European and Atlantic Alliance armies operating in a hundred mile radius.
Behind him klaxons blared as the network of immense plasma rectors vented their exhaust gases. The Leutnant turned to watch despite himself, awed as always by the spectacle – clouds of vividly coloured gas moving through the vast plexiglass storage tanks, arcs superheated of lightning leaping between them as staff took cover in the specially designed bunkers. It never failed to impress him.
As he turned back to scanning the horizon, however – he saw something that took his breath away and turned his bowels to ice.
A monstrous mechanical walker, towering over the surrounding trees, cutting through the forest with the help of a massive flamethrower, leading a horde of Soviet tanks. Hulkenburg recognised T-48s in various configurations and a mammoth IS-6, leading a horde of infantry.
“Mein Gott” he gasped – how had they got so close without detection? With a jolt, he realised there must be one of those damned sorcerers in the force, using and manipulating the low cloud to shield them from observation. He could’t believe how deep into the lines they had penetrated.
“Achtung!” he cried to his men, “Take cover! Russ! Russ kommen!”
Around him, his men dived for cover, taking up firing positions, fixing bayonets, removing safeties. His gunners quickly moved the support laser into position, initialising its systems. Hulkenburg grabbed his radio operator – “Get me reinforcements! Now! Everything you can!”
He prayed they could hold out long enough.
Task Group BUFFALO Staging Area, Anglo-American XXV Corps, Location CLASSIFIED Northern Germany, 0603 July 21st 1956
“Say again, Skalk Point, say again”
The static was ferocious, but there was no disguising the panic in the man’s voice.
“Russians! We have a heavy task group of Soviets inbound in our position, armour and infantry and superheavies – we need reinforcements now, we have no chance against them!”
“Stay calm, Skalk Point, we’re on it, the cavalry is coming” – the communications officer hit the Alert button and klaxons blared throughout the compound. In the distance, he could see soldiers running for vehicles, Silverbugs initialising their engines, tanks and Humvees gunning their engines – he turned back to the microphone.
“Skalk Point, this is Buffalo Six, we have QRF inbound to your position. Sit tight now, don’t do anything stupid, we’ll get you out of there”
Lieutenant Grant swore softly under his breath. BUFFALO 2-7 had 36 hours left on their rotation as sector Quick Reaction Force. Mostly spent doing maintenance, the Lieutenant and just grabbed a coffee and a bacon sandwich from the mess after a morning spent checking engines and supervising range practice.
He slid into the command Humvee as the ARPANET downloaded coordinates and planned a route.
From the other side slid Platoon Sergeant McAuliffe, cigar ever present and smelling suspiciously of bourbon. Grant didn’t mention it – after everything they’d been through together he couldn’t blame the sergeant for wanting to take the edge off. War did that to you after a while. He reached forward, unclipped the microphone from the Humvee’s dashboard and opened up the platoon ARPANet.
“All call signs, report in”
The receiver chimed as vehicles, tanks, gunships and infantry fireteams checked in with a “ready” status. Grant cleared his throat.
“Gentlemen, I’m sorry there isn’t time to brief you all properly. We are responding to an Priority One emergency call from the reactor installation at Skalk Point. There’s a German rear area platoon there fighting for their lives against what looks like a Soviet armoured battalion – they’re outnumbered, outgunned, and in deep shit. We all know what that’s like.”
He paused.
“You also need to know what happens if Skalk Point goes down. That’s power, communications and logistics across the whole sector. 100 miles – that’s all of us, XXV Corps and the whole European 7th Army, without comms, ammo, mail, food. That happens – well, we’re fucked. We’re not going to let that happen. Understood?”
“SIR, YES, SIR”
Skalk Point Power Substation, Location CLASSIFIED Northern Germany, 0605 July 21st 1956
“They’re coming, Herr Leutnant, Atlantic Alliance QRF inbound on bearing 275 – down the service road to our rear, sir.” The RTO looked up at the Leutnant, who was peering through field glasses at the oncoming crowd of Soviet tanks. The HQ section had dived into the cover of a ruined farmhouse while the 88 crew had manoeuvred themselves into a covered defile. Meanwhile the two rifle and two assault sections had spread out along the line, taking whatever cover they could.
“Thank you, Dieter – everyone, don’t do anything stupid, ok? Just stay alive, till the Americans get here”
“Americans” snorted his platoon sergeant, “Don’t know who’s worse, them or the Russians”
The Leutnant stared at him. “Yes you fucking do”
The sergeant looked away.
“Targets, sir” called one of the 88 gunners.
“Fire at will – but for Christ’s good sake, everybody keep your heads down”
The mighty laser cannon thrummed to life, unleashing, a flash of light appeared on the side armour of the Soviet SU-152 assault gun nestling a few hundred yards behind the lead elements and almost too quickly to register, forty tons of steel became a fireball. Battle was joined.
The Soviet horde appears on the table edge, whilst von Hulkenburg’s security platoon hunker down in what cover they can find
88Gw gunners score their first kill, immobilising the Soviet assault gun – lacking a turret, this had the effect of neutralising the vehicle for the entire battle!
Recognising their impotence in the face of the Soviet armoured horde, No. 1 Assault section begin to infiltrate forward through cover, preparing to ambush the follow on infantry squads
Led by a wave of T-48s, the Soviet horde barrels forward – with the League security platoon sheltering in cover, their only target is a solitary rifleman… two 140mm shells from the Rampager takes care of him! Overkill? Nah… it’s how the Holy Soviet Army rolls!
While the main Soviet infantry force follows close behind the tanks, the Lightning Storm attack squad detaches to work through the buildings and clear out any resistance
League assault troops shelter in the ruins of a department store. “Go easy boys, let them get closer – there’ll be plenty for everyone..”
Holy Soviet infantry dash forward under cover of armour as the superheavy Rampager and Colossus lead the way. “Forward for the Motherland, comrades!” bawled Lt. Polikarpov, being careful to ensure Commissar Kuryakin was close enough to hear and take note.
“Skalk Point, this is Buffalo 2-7, be advised friendly forces are in back of you – say again, friendlies to your rear” – Silverbugs and a hard driven M60A3 Centurion arrive to reinforce the hard pressed position.
By the end of turn 1, things were looking bleak for the Germans – they’d managed to immobilise an assault gun with an inspired laser cannon shot, but with precious little in the way of anti-tank capability (1 panzerschreck per rifle squad, both operated by the squad’s token half blind members…) and the Soviet infantry using cover to conceal themselves, there was precious little they could do other than to pull into cover and save themselves for a counter offensive when Alliance support arrived. Meanwhile, Assault section No. 1 was infiltrating up the buildings on the Allied left to spring an ambush, while No. 2 assault section hung back waiting to strike when the Soviets hit the main League force sheltering around the ruined farmhouse.
Resolving to sell their lives dearly, the 88Gw laser gunners score a direct hit and brew up the lead T-48
“Good shot boys! Now – can you do it again?”
Picking it’s way carefully up the treacherously steep slopes of Fellowes’ Peak, the Soviet BTR APC disgorges No. Heavy Weapons Squad onto it’s heights, with a commanding view of the battlefield
More Alliance support arrives – from left to right, elite power armoured Dreadnaught infantry, Stinger/TOW and laser cannon equipped Humvees and an M113 sporting an automatic grenade launcher
As turn 2 drew to an end, the Soviets were very much on a roll but with the newly arrived Alliance firepower starting to bite, things were hanging very much in the balance.. the Soviet deployment zone was creeping forward steadily however, and the main infantry force had yet to close with the enemy.. too many factors to call!
Stinger/ TOW missiles and laser cannon fire streaks out to brew up another T-48
Allied fire lights up the Soviets as they push toward the objective
Soviet Shock Drones leap forward, eviscerating the 88Gw laser and crew in a flurry of razor sharp limbs and tentacles
Assault section leap forward and gun down the Holy Soviet Mystic and bodyguard at point blank range
Alliance HQ arrives at the bottom of the picture, accompanied by another APC and the Rocketeers of Warhawk 4-9
Turn 3 saw more Allied firepower rolling onto the table, but at the same time losing the 88Gw laser, a crucial part of the League firepower, and the gradual erosion of Allied infantry was taking it’s toll. The Soviet steamroller as gaining momentum, with losses respawning further and further up the board, but with as yet all to play for..
Alliance Silverbug gunship gets in close amongst the Holy Soviet infantry, providing close air support with deadly Avenger cannon
Meanwhile, his wingman wreaks havoc amongst the lead T-48 elements
Meanwhile, a T-48 from the follow on echelon catches the League Assault section out in the open, mowing them down at point blank range
Rumbling forward, an Alliance Centurion draws a bead on the Shock Drones and with grim efficiency, annihilates them with missiles, .50 cal and 120mm cannon fire
The Soviet lead elements reach the gulley, tantalisingly close to the objective..
A new wave of armour threatens the hard pressed defenders!
Finally with some targets to shoot at, League rifle troops break cover to return fire
While on the Soviet right flank, the plodding Lightning Storm squadron fry an APC with their Lightning Launchers
Soviet artillery brackets the ruined farmhouse as Lt. Hulkenburg screams for his men to disperse
Gutter fighting around the gulley as a Stinger/TOW takes down yet another T-48
The Soviets are breaking through..
An M60A3 gets in a successful sniping shot on a T-48 trying to infiltrate through the ruined buildings
Lt. Hulkenburg can only watch in horror as his riflemen are torn limb from limb by the nightmarish Siberian assault mutants!
Soviet troops overwhelm and capture the other rifle squad
More desperately needed antitank firepower is lost to barrages from massed Soviet armour
“There’s too many!”
By this point (in true SKG style) we’d got too pissed and too involved in the game to take proper notes, but suffice it to say that both sides were all in, no more reinforcements, and it was desperately close, the Soviets could almost touch the objective… but there was still enough fight left in the Allies to make it tough!
M85 ‘bots enter the fray..
One falls to a Shock Drone, the other to a Siberian
Elektra leads the final wave of Soviet armour – the objective is so very close now..
It’s the last few men standing..
Lt. Hulkenburg falls!
The final M60 Centurion surveys the scene..
Lt. Grant guns down a Shock Drone, but will it make a difference?
As the last few elements of the Allied defence fell, one by one, it was left to the lone M60 crew to hold the line at the entrance to the generator complex – this she did to great effect before being rammed by two T-48s who’s cannons had been destroyed after fending off the remaining Siberian assault troops.. but it couldn’t last, and the tank went down in flames – taking with it the last chance for Allied victory. The newly arrived sniper team, Ghost 7, could only flee the scene and bring word to Sector command…
So the Soviets were victorios, but by the end they only had one fully functioning runner, which the Centurion (heretofor to be named “Leonidas” after his brave and heroic stand at the gates of the generator complex) took out before being mobbed by rams, Siberian mutants and Molotov cocktails.. what an end to a game!
Afterwards, we played a small Black Ops game (a WIP skirmish take on Apocalypse: Earth) where an SAS team managed to infiltrate the command centre and at great cost hack the central computer to stymie Soviet attempts to redirect the power – next up, the League of European Nations gathers an armoured fist to strike back and retake the complex!
That was a biggie, so thanks for staying with us – stay thrifty out there and we’ll see you soon!
I’m going to be entirely honest here – the concept for this build was 100% nicked from this post by the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts, so let’s just get that out of the way first.
But it was a fun little build. And I used magnets. So…
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my League Of European Nations infantry platoon – these guys would have been the first to meet the fury of the Holy Soviet Army assault on the Ostwall on that fateful day in 1954..
Of course, I couldn’t just send these chaps out on their own. They needed something to deal with enemy armour- I suppose a panzerschreck or faust could have done the job, or maybe a mortar, but I liked the concept of a giant laser just that little bit more.
We began with a rectangle of corrugated cardboard, and six defunct Hexbug (little motorised insect things powered by watch batteries – seriously, these things are awesome fun!) batteries provided the carriage wheels, three a side. Strips of IDE cable cut at a 5mm thickness (thank you Zrunelord from TMP) and glued on with gel superglue made excellent caterpillar tracks, and another defunct Hexbug battery made for the gun mount. I dressed the chassis with some thin card and kebab skewer cuts for cabling and duct work.
For the weapon itself, it began life as a superglue nozzle, behind which I fashioned a gun shield from cardboard and bulked the assembly out with kebab skewer offcuts and a little bit of foam – and then it was time to break out the magnets!
I’d bought a small pack on eBay and was anxious to try them out, so superglued one to the underside of the weapon assembly and one to the gun mount – and the result was actually pretty successful!
Next up – painting!
White undercoat, wash of Vallejo black ink, then tan basecoat followed by green and brown camo striping as per the German infantry platoon a few weeks back ted together with a brown wash, a pin wash of Vallejo Smokey Ink and a light drybrush of Americana Buttermilk. Metallics were a boltgun metal washed with thin black ink, and I applied a rough DIY texture paste of brown paint, sand and PVA. This in turn got a wash and a highlight drybrush!
So, so far the casual observer of our Apocalypse: Earth battle reports might have thought that it was all just about the Atlantic Alliance vs the evil Holy Soviet Empire.. but that’s a long way from the truth. As anyone (both of you) who has read our fluff will know, the fateful Soviet invasion of February 1954 crashed across the German border with devastating force, catching the League Of European Nations not quite with their pant down, but certainly at half mast!
With Germany winning a Pyrrhic victory in the Great War at the Battle Of Paris in November 1914, and the League of European Nations being set up in the wake up the military coup that toppled the Kaiser two months later, it was German patterned equipment, doctrine and armaments that formed the backbone of LoEN armed forces in the early years of the war..
So with this in mind, it was high time to get the Europeans in the fight. This particular group are WW2 Germans, 30 bought for £1.50 off eBay.
Yes, you heard me right. £1.50. This is why we do 1/72.
So, I started with basing each little guy with a 20mm circular base hole punched from thick card, glued on with tacky glue (basically fast acting PVA, mixed with isopropyl alcohol), and then sprayed them white with cheap £1 car spray primer from my local Bargains 365 – The next step was to wash the whole force with Vallejo Smokey Ink, thinned down with water:
The dark brown wash gives a neat outline for harnesses, grenades and other details and blends nicely with the tan I used for the jackets
I had a rough idea of how I wanted them to look, mixing the classic field grey that we a;; associate with WW2 Wehrmacht with the three colour “Dunkelgelb” camo pattern that appeared on late war armour – this way, these guys could be fight in either Operation Barbarossa 1954 or Operaton Bagration 1944 (always thinking, y’see, always thinking)- so I went with camo jacket and field grey trousers. NCOs got camo helmets, regular grunts got stuck with feldgrau ones.
So, first stage was the combat jacket – my trusty Crafter’s Choice tan craft paint was the basecoat, thinned down quite heavily for a nice smooth finish. Translucency was mitigated by the white undercoat and Smokey Ink prewash. Next step was to add the camo stripes – Vallejo Russian Green and Americana Light Cinammon provided the green and “rotbrun” respectively.
I washed the jackets with a thinned down Vallejo Brown Ink wash and once that had dried, gave them a very light drybrush of Americana Buttermilk – this a very light cream clour, analoguous to GW’s Zandri Dust.
Once this had all dried, I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t happy with the results – something was missing. I wound up applying a very thin wash, more like a glaze really, of mixed Vallejo Brown Ink and Skin Wash.
For the trousers and grunt helmets (and the Luftwaffe liason officers’ entire uniform) I used Vallejo German Grey, thinned a little with water, which then got a very thin black wash. Highlighting would come later.
Next up, I applied some cheapflesh tone craft paint (as always, thinned), and a dab of thinned Vallejo Skin Wash to the exposed skin areas, and black to the jackboots and metal areas of of weaponry – submachine guns, rifle barrels etc. Metallic areas got Boltgun Metal (well, the craft paint equivalent) and a thin black wash.
Leather loadbearing harnesses and wooden areas like rifle butts were treated with very thin coats of Americana Asphaltum, and given a very precise (well, as precise as I could be after half a bottle of wine) Vallejo Brown Ink wash.
Finally, each model got a very light drybrush of Americana Buttermilk to tie the whole model together – I was really impressed with how well this blended with all the colours.
Basing was a cinch – painted the whole thing brown, slapped some PVA on them and dunked them in my pot of Garage Floor Grit (TM), before adding some flock and touching up the edges. And with that- DONE!
Right, so after all that – pictures!
First fireteam complete
Platoon Sergeant Dietz
Luftwaffe Liason Officer Wolff
Lt. Hulkenberg
One of these three guys will be an RTO, just need to scratch build a radio! The other two will be manning a platoon support weapon, for which I have a cunning plan…
I’ve organised these chaps one HQ section (6 strong), two rifle squads (7 strong) and two assault squads (5 strong – submachineguns and flamethrowers).
The idea with the League of European Nations forces is for them to be a middle ground of sorts between the highly mobile and flexible Atlantic Alliance and the slow rolling firestorm that is the Holy Soviet Army – these guys are overly specialised with pieces of equipment that are better than anyone at what they do, but equally quite fragile!
Overall, quite pleased with these guys, they’ve turned out well – and a word to the less skinflint amongst you – if you can paint 30 little guys like this at a cost of £1.50, how good is the next Astra Militarum squad you paint going to look? Something to consider…
Anyway, stay tuned for some more LoEN weirdness, stay thrifty out there and see you soon!
Skinflint Games 