Fighting in the Home Counties! London Threatened! (Pic heavy)

[answer_is_42]

Still reeling from the recent Martian invasion, Great Britain has found herself yet again under attack, this time from the forces of the German Empire. Heavy fighting has been reported within the Home Counties, as the fiendish Hun battles his way towards London.

Orders of Battle:

Forces of the German Empire:
"SMLS Dassen Foot-Boot" - 'Wotan' Class Ironclad - Flagship
Articulated Armored Gun Crawler "SMLS Funf" - Custom Land Ironclad (Type 2)
Land-Crutzer #1 - Custom Land Ironclad (Type 4)
Land-Crutzer #2 - Custom Land Ironclad (Type 4)
Land-Crutzer #3 - Custom Land Ironclad (Type 4)
Land-Crutzer #4 - Custom Land Ironclad (Type 4)
Vickers Duel Maxim Armored Combat Machine - x3 Contraption bases
Chemical Attack Teams - x3 Chemical Infantry Bases
Krupp & Heinenbacker Semi-Automatic Fighting Dress Battalion - x8 Armored Infantry Bases
X3 Supply Bases

Forces of the Crown:

"HMLS Implausible" - 'Sovereign' Class Ironclad - Flagship
"HMLS Nelson" - 'Britannic' Class Ironclad
"HMLS Kelso" - 'Britannic' Class Ironclad
Cheddar Class Land Ram "HMLS Klompton" - Custom Land Ironclad (Type 3)
"A" "B" "C" "D" & "E" Batteries, 5th RA Regiment - x5 Ten Pounder Gun Bases
2nd Bttn Royal East Kent Regiment 'Buffs' - x5 Infantry Bases
1st Bttn, RN Regiment - x5 Infantry Bases
X2 Supply Bases

The two forces laid out:



The battle commences. The British are lined upon and behind the ridge to the right, with the "Kelso", "Nelson" and RA upon the hills, and the "Klompton" and "Implausible” in the top right, supported by the RN:


The "Klompton" and "Implausible" move out, with RN in tow. This force did most of the damage caused to the Germans during the battle:


The action starts with the Buffs ascending the hill to their front, to be met by the enemies chemists and wiped out to a man. So much for that then...


The Germans maneuver. From left to right: Land-Crutzer #1, "Dassen Foot-Boot" Land-Crutzer #2, "Funf" and the Armored Infantry:


Battle at mid point. The "Kelso" and "Nelson" lie destroyed on the ridge. To the right, the "Klompton" and "Implausible" begin a heroic yet doomed charge into the German lines, followed by the Naval Brigade:


The "Implausible" rams the "Funf". Or rather, rolls over it. She the follows this up by ramming and destroying a Land-Crutzer, destroying 2 supply bases, and damaging the "Foot-Boot", only to be destroyed by everything opening up on her, four times:


Climax of the battle. The Royal Navy goes down valiantly, fighting to the last, "Hearts of Oak" at their throats. I think they even damaged a fighting suit too...:


In all, an awesome fight. Though a loss for the British, they damaged or destroyed most of the foe's Ironclads, and much of their supply bases. The assault on London will have to wait...

Rules used were 'Land Ironclads' by Wessex Games. Terrain is by Games Workshop and Irreguler Miniatures. Infantry is also IM. The Ironclads are all scratch built by my opponent 'Mr. Marx'.

[twrchtrwyth]

Cool looking game. Played this down the club recently and enjoyed it a lot. Are there 2 different scales of infantry in your pics?

[answer_is_42]

Cool looking game. Played this down the club recently and enjoyed it a lot. Are there 2 different scales of infantry in your pics?

Yes, the British Infantry are 2mm, whereas the German Semi-Automatic Fighting Dress units are 3mm. They're chaps in really big iron suits, you see...

[twrchtrwyth]

Cool looking game. Played this down the club recently and enjoyed it a lot. Are there 2 different scales of infantry in your pics?

Yes, the British Infantry are 2mm, whereas the German Semi-Automatic Fighting Dress units are 3mm. They're chaps in really big iron suits, you see...

Who makes the German Semi-Automatic Fighting Dress? You say Irregular for the infantry so just checking you mean these to really.

[keeper]

Brilliant - looks like a lot of fun!

[answer_is_42]

Cool looking game. Played this down the club recently and enjoyed it a lot. Are there 2 different scales of infantry in your pics?

Yes, the British Infantry are 2mm, whereas the German Semi-Automatic Fighting Dress units are 3mm. They're chaps in really big iron suits, you see...

Who makes the German Semi-Automatic Fighting Dress?

They're just 3mm infantry painted metallic, although I don't know the company that sells them, any 3mm will do. We used them 'cause we don't have enough 2mm infantry. At that scale, it doesn't really matter.

Brilliant - looks like a lot of fun!

It was indeed.

[Thunderchicken]

Great stuff! I'm more and more tempted to start playing Land Ironclads but with an ever decreasing budget it might have to wait a while.

[answer_is_42]

Great stuff! I'm more and more tempted to start playing Land Ironclads but with an ever decreasing budget it might have to wait a while.

Budget? Aside from buying the rulebook, and about £5 on the Infantry, we spent very little on the game. All of the Ironclads are scratch built, most out of old toys and off-cuts from other models.
I advise you do give it a go, it's awesome, and if you've got the imagination for building, you don't really need to spend more than £20 for the book and two reasonable size armies.

[thejammedgatling]

I'll have to try out the Land Ironclads rules. Looks like a fun game. Be great to build a 1/1200 ruined London to fight on..

More please!

[Mr.Marx]

Hey, Thanks for posting up the game 42. It was a corker.
Just so everyone knows, it was such a good game that we had to go to the study to drink some cordial after in order to re-cooperate. Really, we did.

This game really is worth playing you know, and it costs nothing if you can try to scratch build.

Just out of interest, would anyone like me to post up pics of all of my LI stuff?  I haven’t yet, and I could.

Regards
Marx

Ps. I am shocked that no one has said anything about the foot-boot. it’s a ship with legs for Victoria’s sake!

[answer_is_42]

Be great to build a 1/1200 ruined London to fight on..

 
If you manage that, why, I'll buy some sort of headgear and eat it, so I will!*




*Not a promise.

[Gluteus Maximus]

Great stuff! I'm more and more tempted to start playing Land Ironclads but with an ever decreasing budget it might have to wait a while.

Budget? Aside from buying the rulebook, and about £5 on the Infantry, we spent very little on the game. All of the Ironclads are scratch built, most out of old toys and off-cuts from other models.
I advise you do give it a go, it's awesome, and if you've got the imagination for building, you don't really need to spend more than £20 for the book and two reasonable size armies.

That's a very tempting thought, not to mention the small amount of time needed to get 2mm forces and scenery ready!

 

[answer_is_42]

That's a very tempting thought, not to mention the small amount of time needed to get 2mm forces and scenery ready!

Indeed, although we bought our scenery from IM, as we can't be bothered to make 2mm houses when we could be making Land Ironclads...

[Gluteus Maximus]

Indeed, although we bought our scenery from IM, as we can't be bothered to make 2mm houses when we could be making Land Ironclads...

Of course!

I've just remembered I have a load of IM villages and figures I painted for the ACW about 10 years ago. I never actually got around to playing any games with them. Shouldn't take too long to re-paint as British and Prussians!

All I need are the Land Ironclads themselves and some woodland etc and Bob's your uncle!

Sadly I've just bought the PDF of the rules. That was before I realised it was dearer to get it as a PDF from the USA, than buying the hard copy direct from Wessex Games 

Bloody credit crunch 

[answer_is_42]

Indeed, although we bought our scenery from IM, as we can't be bothered to make 2mm houses when we could be making Land Ironclads...

Of course!

I've just remembered I have a load of IM villages and figures I painted for the ACW about 10 years ago. I never actually got around to playing any games with them. Shouldn't take too long to re-paint as British and Prussians!

You could always play ACW with Ironclads, many people do.
 
In respect to building Ironclads, cheap toy tanks are often a good base for them. I recently found a small box of 'Micro Machine' tanks which I bought zonks ago, that I'm planning to turn into Ironclads. WW1 tanks are especially useful for this.

Our contraptions mostly consist of WW2 2mm (or is it 3mm?) tanks. French and Russian armour seem to be the best to use. However, due to their size, just about anything can be used for them.
Good luck with your games!

On a slightly different note, we're about to begin to use air units in our games (that is, when we get our hands on a copy of aeronef), and I have a fleet of 1/1200 (I think...) Russian nuclear subs that are soon to be transformed into dirigibles... anyone got a 2mm scale gondola?