AK47 Summer Safari (1)

After the recent AK47 games that I've run at the club, I really what to crack on with another army so that I can set up a campaign later in the year. Although I have tinkered with other things in the last few months, I keep coming back to AK47, which is why I've set out to paint up a Religious Movement army by the end of next month.

I could tackle the Superpower Backed force that I prepared last year but the mix of unusual units and vehicle kit bashing that the Religious Movement army involves is a definite vote winner. Anyway, as a case in point here's the first unit, a small arms and RPG equipped militia force. The army lists specify at least three miltia units, so it's probably the best place to start.

I thought it would be distictive to use only naked figures, although this meant I had to be imaginative when it came to basing, as I only had three figure poses plus the kneeling RPG chap to use. In the end I did some conversions on the RPG figure to create a standing bloke and drafted in a few native trackers from my PITS box for variety.

All together, the basic unit of eight S/A and two RPG's is only worth a feeble seventy points but it's enough to field a militia unit as one of the two compulsory vehicle free units in the army. They will be easy to paint up as well, using a black undercoat and layered skin shades, together with some detailing for the guns, webbing and so on. I may even add some tribal war paint, if I can work out how to make it look like the real thing?

Crocodiles!

 

In AK47 game the other day, the attackers got the upper hand early on thanks to some repeated five and six rolls in the deployment phase, so had four of their five units on table at the start of the game. The defenders rolled a series of ones and twos, so only had one unit on the table making it very difficult to avoid being over-run by the time reinforcements could arrive.

 

To avoid a walkover by the attackers, I decided to throw a spanner in their works, if only to slow them down a bit. The defenders had wisely set the attacking table edge on the other side of a river, with the only way across for vehicles being the bridge in the centre. I had already ruled that the river could be waded by infantry, which isn't actually allowed in the rules but seemed reasonable to me.
 

 

Anyway, to stop the defenders being wiped out by Turn 4, I decided to deploy the crocodiles. When the attackers tried to cross the river with their infantry, I made them roll a D6 for each group, with 6 resulting in an instant kill. This meant that they lost a group then got caught in the crossfire from the defender's HMG's, making it possible for the outnumbered MDF to hold their position in the nearby jungle.

 

It worked well, so I'm adding some wildlife to the AK47 collection and may even make up some additional 'enter a template' random events for future games. There was an article by Chris Peers in an old issue of Wargames Illustrated along similar lines, so I'll have to see if I can dig it out and make up some house rules of my own. In the meantime, there are some crocodiles in the post!

NEWSFLASH - FART claims decisive victory in battle for Watumbi (Reuters)

From our correspondent in Watumbi

In a decisive retaliatory cross border strike, units of the Nbuto Force Action Rapide Territoriale, supported by helicopter gunships and air-mobile infantry of the Patrole Action Rapide Parachutiste, have smashed through the Nbuto-Mbote de-militarized zone along the Bagombo River.

Initial reports indicate that a spearhead of armoured vehicles and jeep commando units penetrated deep into the border zone adjecent to the Watumbi Bridge. A combination of overwhelming firepower and co-ordinated support by helicopter gunships, threw the local Mbote Defence Force border guards into panic, driving them into the thick jungle undergrowth on the banks of the river.

This tactical success enabled a fast moving FART jeep commando unit to advance across the river and sieze their key objective, before a counter attack by Mbote Defence Force armour, anti tank artillery and militia units caused a localised tactical withdrawal. With daylight fading, elite paratroops of the PARP held the bridgehead enabling the FART mainforce to successfully disengage.

Having achieved their objective, FART troops are now digging in and fortifying the border zone adjacent to the Watumbi Bridge. This pre-emptive strike by the FART is clearly a defensive strategy aimed at consoldation of the disputed border with Mbote. Thus far, there has been no information from the Mbote Government about the skirmish but a press release is expected soon.

  

However, it is highly unlikely that further raids such as this one will be made in the near future, as sources close to the Nbuto Government have indicated that severe losses in troops and equipment were suffered by the FART. In the meantime, the border town of Watumbi has seen jubilant crowds welcoming units of the FART as they return from the frontline.

AK47 Battle of Watumbi

The AK47 game this evening threw up a load of surprises along the way but ended in a hard fought yet decisive victory for the attackers. The rules had to be bent a bit along the way but it worked out fine in the end, thanks to some massaging of the reinforcement rolls and some hungry crocodiles. Anyway, the players seemed to enjoy themselves and I had a good time umpiring from the sidelines, so a result all round. It looks like there's some interest in a club AK47 campaign too, so I better paint up the armies that I have in waiting.

Newsflash - Nbuto spearhead strikes Mbote border (Reuters)

From our correspondent in Watumbi

Reports are coming in of a punitive strike by units of the FART on Mbotean positions in the disputed border zone along the Bagombo River. The situation is very confused but initial indications are that a mobile column of Force Action Rapide Territoriale armoured vehicles, supported by helicopter gunships and airborne paratroopers, has crossed the border and has engaged localised units of the Mbote Defence Force.

                                       

The UN Combined Regional African Peacekeeping mission has withdrawn it's units from the combat zone but has yet to confirm the situation on the ground. In a statement from CRAP HQ, Major Short-Cummins, military spokesman for the peacekeeping organisation, acknowledged the inability of the peacekeeping force to actually keep the peace but suggested that a nice cup of tea might calm things down a bit.

(in other words, it's another AK47 game tomorrow, this time with the colonial settlers as the attackers!)

Dead Man's Hand First Impressions

The Chimichanga bothers - Pedro, Jesus, Mongo, Juan and Loco

My copy of Dead Man's Hand arrived yesterday along with the cards and a pack of cowboy figures. The set of markers that were supposed to be included in the parcel failed to materialise but a quick email to Great Escape Games resolved the problem and they'll be in the post on Tuesday. I'd definately purchase stuff from GEG again, despite this minor slip up.

The rulebook itself is very well presented and printed on glossy paper. It explains the turn mechanism and card play well, which should make it easy to pick up after a few turns. The emphasis is definately on gunfighting rather than more convoluted scenarios but the campaign system looks really good and provides for a linked, narrative style series of games which I think would be great for a club evening.

The gangs themselve are similar in composition to the posses in Legends of the West, although there is less flexibility in the armaments department, which means that my lawmen are a little inadequate in their current line up. This is nothing that a couple of figures wouldn't resolve, so they may well get to see some action once I've sorted out the extras.

The banditos are, on the other hand, pretty much ready to deploy as an eight figure strong, twenty one point gang of Desperadoes down Mexico way. I have a couple of figures that are half painted up as well, so could easily expand the Chimichanga brothers to a full on family reunion. The standard contingent is set at twenty one points, based on the Reputation total of the gang, so roughly eight to ten figures seems the norm.

On the whole, I think these rules will be a lot of fun and will re-vitalise the Old West gaming genre at my local club at least. A bit pricey for £20 but, as this includes the all important cards, I suppose it's not too bad and certainly in line with similar rules on the market. I'm thinking of putting together a new gang to add to the two that I already have, either cowboys or outlaws,  so this could end up as a half term mini-project.

Good stuff!

Wanayani Bridge

 

In the AK47 games that I've played at the club, there is one bit of geography that has featured on more than one occasion. The Batufu corridor has been a battleground that we've fought over back and forth on several occasions, with control of the strategically vital Wanayani Bridge as a the principal objective.

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/ak47-battle-of-wanayani-bridgehead.html

Until now, this has been notable by it's absence, but no longer...

I found a very, very old Airfix kit in the shed today, stashed away in a box of model railway stuff that I was given by my Grandad in his will. He was an avid, if unproductive, railway modelller so had a stack of unfinished kits in his workshop which I inherited when he passed away in 1989. I'm sure he would approve of my efforts to make use of this one, even if it's not for a model railway.

The Kindle Effect

I've not been reading much of late, which is pretty unusual for me but easily explained by the mountain of work that I've been climbing for the last few weeks. I have, however, been making the most of the various deals and special offers on Amazon, resulting in a serious backlog of books that are now clogging up the Kindle. I have indulged in a couple of relatively expensive ones but, on the whole, the rest have been at the bottom end of the price range. It's not the same as having a 'real' book in your sweaty palms but I will have plenty of reading material for the summer.

AK47 Objective Marker Update

I finished off the destroyed APC objective marker this evening, although I think it needs a few tweaks to be completely sorted. I may well add a few bits of random debris to the base, just to give that 'hit by an RPG and brewed up' nuance to the whole thing. I'm planning to finish of the other objective marker this weekend and possibly build some shanty town templates for the game on Tuesday.

AK47 Colonial Settlers APC's

In recent games of AK47 my colonial settlers have come off worse, mainly due to the small size of the army and it's limited options. I painted the army up a good ten years ago, so it's a bit long in the tooth and not exactly up to my usual standards, especially as it was done in a rush. They've served me well over the years but are definately outnumbered by the opposition.

To add some extra mobility and firepower for the game next week, I've finished painting up three old Peter Pig M113 APC's, all armed to the teeth with .50c cals and capable of transporting six bases of infantry between them. These were crudely painted second hand models which I over-painted to match the other vehicles in the army but never got round to finishing off.

They're a bit basic but I'm sure will come in handy as the basis of a regular armoured infantry unit for the game on Tuesday.