Chinese heavy weapons.... 2nd Sino-Japanese War.

Last batch of Chinese for a while..... as the itch to paint something different takes hold....

Again a mix of uniforms for the AT Teams to support the completed infantry sections.

Also something a little stronger to put a stop to the Japanese advance. A Pak 36 supplied by the German Army to the Chinese before supplies were switched off.

A nice kit from Kyoushuneko Miniatures 3D print. Now to get some game time....

Next up.... something a little different....

Chinese 88th Division - 1937

You can't beat an Easter weekend an opportunity to bag a day or two of painting.

With the Chinese Army made up of a number of Warlord factions, some troops are better than others. One of the most famous was the Chinese 88th Division deployed at the battle of Shanghai.

One of Chiang Kai‑shek’s German-trained divisions, they make for an interesting addition to the Chinese forces.

During the 1930s, China cooperated closely with Nazi Germany for military modernisation. The 88th Division was reorganized, trained, and partially equipped following German Army (Wehrmacht) doctrine, including, Modern infantry tactics & Improved discipline and drill.

Perhaps they should be heavy Infantry in the Xenos Rampant tweaks.

They will need some heavy weapons to help keep the Japanese at bay.

Yet more Chinese.....

The Chinese steamroller continues, with the first taster batch completed in January the pace is really picking up, first game in April if I can crack a couple more sections over Easter.

Coming off the paint table 2 additional sections of Chinese.

I have been playing quite a bit of Xenos Rampant of late for WW2, just need to now think about how I present the Chinese in the unit stats.

This are Kyoushuneko Miniature 3D prints a number of head swaps amongst this bunch to give me more variety within each section. 

Looking forward to getting this into a game.

XR - Allied Assault - Tactics II Campaign.

The allied offensive continues and with a concentration of amour and infantry they continue to push the defenders at all the weak spots. This engagement is no exception as the Vichy defenders dig in and await the allied push.

The random terrain generator fell well for the Vichy with a village flanked by a dry river bed, the only challenge was the objective of the allies was to secure the wadi crossing.

Doing what they could, the French had put an emplacement covering the wadi hoping to stem the allied advance. But facing down the slow but heavily protected Matilda's would be a challenge.

The French threw what they could at the advancing armour, who countered with HE fire into the village.

The centre edged forward but progress was slow as artillery rained down on the advancing Brits.

However sweeping in from the left was a flying column of light tanks and bren carriers that looked to take out the artillery that had been plaguing the frontal assault.

The bren carriers and their supporting infantry pushed forwards sending the French defenders backwards and over running the artillery.

With the loss of the artillery support the main battle tanks pushed forwards, but are countered by a brave H35 which lasted for a few moments before it was brewed by a well placed AP round.

Time was running out for the defenders.... Vickers light tanks pursued the retreating infantry as Indian infantry charged the dug out.

Victory was complete for the allies.

Yet another win for the allies but the losses are mounting,

Allied Armour losses -200 Points, Infantry -325 Points - Vichy Losses -875 Points.

The war continues....

2nd Sino-Japanese War - Chinese Infantry Part 2

After last weeks support weapons time to get to grips with more infantry, as mentioned in previous posts I wanted to break up the Chinese formations with different uniform colours and styles.

These section is issued with British helmets and comes in a khaki tunic.  

Lovely designs from Kyoushuneko Miniatures on my of the close ups on the web they look a little cartoon like but painted up they compare really nicely with Warlord, Perry's and Battlehonours.

I need to think about what their national characteristics look like, the misconception is that the Chinese were very poor quality, but the more I read on them they are perhaps more stoic than first thought, outside of the German equipped divisions they lacked support weapons, armour and artillery.

Next up more boys in blue.

Who wore it best - Chinese Infantry - Sino Japanese War 1937.

With the last of the Arab cavalry complete now for something that little more modern.

With the testers completed in January in the bluish grey, I thought I would mix it up a little with some Khaki for those troops in the south of the country, I have some lighter tunics planned for the third phase to really given that unstructured feel for the uniform types for the Chinese troops.

Nice designs from Kyoushuneko Miniatures, with plenty of characters in the faces on the Chinese troops.

Heavy Machine Gun Teams, will they be enough to stop the Japanese onslaught?

Spotters and mortars to help keep the enemy at bay... Next up more Infantry.

Battle in the valley - The allied push continues...

Continuing with the Tactics II campaign.

All out war across the entire front with the Allied forces pushing hard against the Axis & Vichy defenders. 

After a slow push through the mountains, like Hannibal in ancient times. The British Armoured regiment burst out of what thought to be impassable terrain. Another though ask of the German defenders.

Another outing flipping the rule system to Xenos Rampant whilst ironing out some of the kinks to in unit stats to better reflect the troops in theatre.

Allied - 1425 BA - 57 Points plus free spotter - XR

Axis - 1000 BA - 40 Points XR

The Germans hold the pass with an Infantry company and single light AT Gun facing off against a mobile column of Armour Infantry and Tanks.

Nestled amongst the rocks and dunes the Germans await the allied assault. 

The terrain was not the best for tanks, so as the AFV's pushed through the main road, the Infantry swept left by the oasis looking to assault the high ground. The Bren carriers moved quickly as Infantry filled the compound.

In the centre the armour pushed forwards, their advance slowed by off table artillery from the German rear area. The allies returned fire looking to supress the AT gun and AT Team.

Finding it tough going to the front the allies continued to probe the left flank, a Vickers light tank pouring fire into the Germans on the ridge line.

The Bren carriers assaulted the ridge line. The Germans (heavy Infantry with the Heavy weapon trait) pushed back the first assault but were picking up wounds.

In the centre the second Vickers Light Tank was a wreak having taken a number of hits from the defenders. This only served to drive on the British advance they can neutralised the AT team and were pushing into the pass supported by off table artillery.

The damn bursts. The Cruiser Mk III crashed into the AT gun driving the crew off, the allied Infantry seized the high ground as the surviving defenders were beaten back, who were then attacked by the flanking light tank.

An allied victory but at quite the costs.

Xenos Rampant makes for a fun game, the difference between the Allied Light Infantry & the German Heavy Infantry was telling, trying to wheedle the Germans out of heavy cover was hard work, next time they really need some additional heavy weapons to break them the Axis line.

A couple of additional tweaks to consider, company/squadron commands/activations given the games are larger than 24 points as stated in the book. - An armour deduction for flanks?

Overall pretty slick and fast moving for an evenings game.

Tactics II Campaign - Xenos Rampant - Go big or go home.

Campaigns.... I can't be the only one to run into the continuous problem, people lose interest or the games gravitate to huge battles beyond the scope of single evenings.

The Tactics II campaign has resulted in some great games mostly one formation a side, In the centre of the map the battlefield has been in deadlock as multiple units formed up to block one another...

Until now, with the Allies launching a push across the river.

Over the months we have tried Chain of Command, great for smaller games, Bolt Action for the scale up Company games, we have been playing a lot of 'rampant' games recently and a conversation turned to see if they would be suitable for fast play WW2... Let's see.

Taking the point values of a Bolt Action platoon V2 and comparing to Xenos Rampant gives a point value of 25 BA to 1 point in XR.

On with the game.

A combined Allied Armour and Veteran Infantry force attempt to breakthrough the German defences. Using the Platoon Forward for the terrain layout and scenario the already battle ravaged Germans need to defend the listening post.

The Germans had a platoon of Infantry and an 88mm AT gun against a range of Allied armour.

The Germans classed as heavy infantry opened up on the advancing British forces, inflicting casualties on the advancing infantry who were pinned and damage to the Matilda.

Looking to swamp the German lines a squadron of Vickers rushed forwards providing them with multiple targets.

The Allies cleared the wadi advancing on the entrenchments slowly chipping away at the defenders who put up a solid defence with the heavy weapon bonus representing the increased rate of fire for the MG34.

To the front of the village a section of Bren Carriers broke cover and headed for the village only to be countered by off table artillery that pinned the infantry rushing forwards in the open.

On the left flank the Axis AT rifle that had been chipping away at the slow moving armour finally ran out of luck showered with HE and then assaulted by charging infantry.

The Infantry screen was broken, a Bren fell victim to the 88.

However multiple MMG's from the Vickers and remaining Bren's caused the crew to abandon the gun. The German's remaining forces fall back.

A cracking game, Xenos Rampant played really well in WW2 setting, a couple of tweaks are needed to some units to make them better reflect their natural style of play on the tabletop. Game play was slick and we had a proper result in 3 hours... 

On the campaign map the Germans are pushed back from the river line with the shattered defenders down to 345 BA points or 14 XR points.

The allies lost a similar number of points but they had out numbered the Germans by around 3:1

A hole had started to open up in the German lines which would be need to be plugged but where from as they where under pressure across the line.

Looking forward to the next game and more rampant.