IABSM AAR: Prokhorovka

Off to Dave’s for my first face to face game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum since before lockdown!

The scenario was set on the Eastern Front in 1943, and based on an historical encounter. Elements of the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army (played by me) had to advance onto the table and take a village, Prokhorovka, defended by German armour. Yes, unusually for IABSM, this was to be an armour versus armour game with no infantry present.

I had what looked like an overwhelming force: a first wave of an HQ element, two platoons of three t-34s each, and a third platoon of three BT-17s. Following that, I had six more platoons of armour split into two more waves for a total of six more T-34s, three venerable KV-1s, three SU-76s, two SU-76is and, the piece de resistance, two SU-152 big beast tank killers.

If that’s what I had, I was a little nervous about what I was going to face. I’d been told to watch out for the new German Tiger tank: presumably I’d be facing about 20 of them!

Click on the picture below to see what happened:

IABSM AAR: Barbarossa 1941 Solo

Here’s another excellent I Ain’t Been Shot Mum AAR and video AAR from Alex Sotheran, this time set in 1941 as Operation Barbarossa gets under way. The game is taken from Alex’s very readable Storm of Steel blog.

Unusually, it’s not the Germans that are facing off against the Soviets, but the Roumanians: some nice-looking infantry supported by R-2 tanks.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Kursk 1943 Solo

Here’s a great After Action Report from Alex Sotheran, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group and Alex’s equally excellent Storm of Steel blog.

It’s Kursk 1943, and Alex plays through a solo game with the Germans attacking a Soviet-held village. There are plenty of “big cats” out to play, and there’s even a link to the YouTube video of the game.

Click on the picture below to see all. Highly recommended.

IABSM AAR: Poland 1944

Over the last couple of weeks, Des Darkin has been playing out an excellent looking game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum on the IABSM Facebook Group.

I say IABSM, but Des has actually been playing using his variant I Ain’t Been CoC’d Mum Yet, which uses dice rather than card activation. That variant is available in the Lard 2019 Magazine.

Click on the picture below to a full AAR, combining the four posts that Des made as he played through the game…

IABSM AAR: Hill 227.9 NW of Ponyri

Here’s another great 6mm I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum battle report from Mark Luther, fought remotely due to the C19 lockdown.

The encounter is based on the lopsided engagement in the area between Step' and Hill 227.9 on the morning of July 6, 1943 involving the 107th Tank Brigade and the StuG IIIs of StuG Abt. 245 and off-table Tigers of s.Pz. Abt .505.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Defence of Wulcow, Part 2

Here’s the second part of the action from Mark Luther’s recent 6mm lockdown game of I Ain’’t Been Shot, Mum.

The action resumes as the Soviets resume their attack. Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Ost Front 1944

Another great little game from Julian Whippy and friends, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group.

Its the Eastern Front in 1944. The Bagramyans drive to the coast of Lithuania with 5th Guards Tank Army, colliding with Gross Deutschland and 551 Volksgrenadiers. The Russians had to clear the railway station and blow up the railway line with engineers before a train arrived in Turn 10.

Click on the pic below to see all.

IABSM AAR: The Defence of Wulkow

Another brilliant 6mm I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum battle report from Mark Luther, this time featuring action in 1945.

On the 16th of April 1945 the Soviet army unleashed its last offensive against the German Reich. The bridgeheads over the Oder River split asunder and spewed forth red infantry and armor which forged forward to take Berlin. Although by this late stage in the war the German army was on its knees, it had a strong defensive position on the Seelow heights and gave a good account of itself, selling each meter of the Reich dearly.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Slaughter at Izdeshkovo!

Back to sanity after all this pike and shot malarkey with a quick game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum.

I’d decided to play through the Vyazma or Bust! early war eastern front campaign with K., Daughter #1’s boyfriend: trapped with us for the duration, but now an avid wargamer. I was looking forward to this game, especially as K. had been happy to let me have the Soviets.

Unfortunately, it was to be one of those games where the dice gods had utterly deserted me: even K., nascent gamer that he is, commented on the fact that I couldn’t roll a five or six to save my life: he even mentioned it later when I rolled double six whilst playing Monopoly (I won that one at least, bankrupting K. in the process!).

Click on the picture below to see my humiliation!

IABSM AAR: Counter-Attack

Here’s a great little after action report from James Mantos’ excellent blog Rabbits in my Basement.

Here he’s playing the Counter-Attack scenario from the random game generator at the back of the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum rulebook.

Click on the picture below to see what happened:

IABSM AAR: War of the Rats

Over a few days earlier this month, fellow-Lardy Alex Sotheran played a solo game of IABSM set in Stalingrad, where the 6th Army are attempting to batter their way to the Volga but the Soviet defence line is proving tenacious.

Alex has posted both a YouTube video of the game and some absolutely cracking pictures.

To watch on YouTube, click the video link below. It’s 2.5 hours long, but well worth a watch.

To see the pictorial report, click on the picture below:

IABSM AAR: Fallschirmjaegers on the Neva

Mark Luther set himself a real challenge when he decided to run a COVID-19 lockdown game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum remotely.

This game was played over two days using photographs of the table and texts: a great effort from all concerned. It’s a cracking battle report as well, so click on the picture below to see all…

Ed.’s Note: I expect you all to read this as it took me absolutely ages to load and caption all the pictures in the right order. Amazing set up, but the terrain does make everything blur into one when viewed in thumbnail size!

Three Tankers

Regular visitors will know that I picked up a handful of 3D printed 15mm vehicles when I went to the Overlord show in Abingdon the other day. Time to get a bit of paint on the models to see how they turn out:

View fullsize

Front to back they are the US GMC CCKW 353 tanker, the British/Commonwealth CMP tanker, and the Soviet Zis 5 tanker.

As you can see, the 3D printing is pretty obvious at this close range, but is actually far less noticeable at usual wargames table 3ft distance. I also think the effect is magnified by seeing the three vehicles together.

On the whole I’m pretty happy: each vehicle was only £4 or £5, and as these are the only tankers I’ve come across in the marketplace…

www.syborg3dprinting.co.uk

IABSM AAR: September War #60: Szack

Time to break out the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum again with a scenario taken from the second September War scenario book: #60 Szack.

Szack was a small village in what was south-eastern Poland (it’s now just inside Ukraine) that was the site of a backwards-and-forwards series of actions between the Poles and the Soviets in very late September 1939. The scenario covers the first Soviet attack:

Soviet troops consisting of the 112th Infantry Regiment, some 13,000 soldiers supported by fifteen T-26 tanks and fifteen guns, arrived at the village of Szack on September 28th.

The Polish force near the village numbered 4,000 men of the Border Protection Corp, including General Wilhelm Orlik-Rückermann, and sixteen anti-tank guns.

Having taken the village, the Soviets then charged the Polish positions with infantry supported by the T-26 tanks. The Poles waited until the Soviets were right on top of them before opening fire with their anti-tank guns, destroying eight tanks.

Click on the picture below to see the action:

IABSM AAR: West of Verba

Here’s another of Mark Luther’s superb 6mm games of IABSM: West of Verba.

Set on the Eastern Front in June 1941 (i.e. as part of Barbarossa) it involves a German Panzer attack on a Soviet position in rolling countryside.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Bashnya or Bust! #01: Near Osen

Here’s an After Action Report from a game from this weekend that I was due to play in but eventually could not make because of scheduling issues!

Friends Bevan, Mark and Dave have started to play through the Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack for I Ain’t Been Shot Mum, and here’s the battle report from the first game: #01: Near Osen.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: SS Wiking on the Danube

Here’s another of |Mark Luther’s great 6mm IABSM battle reports.

Click on the picture to see all:

IABSM AAR: On the Northern Shoulder of Kursk, Fight 6: German Assault on the 1st May Collective Farm

Here’s the final episode from Just Jack’s incredible “On the Northern Shoulder of Kursk” series of battle reports.

Here the Germans launch a last-ditch attempt to take the 1st May Collective Farm is the face of the usual determined Soviet defence.

This is another truly epic report (146 photographs plus plenty of text) so well worth a look. Click on the picture below to see all:

Check out Just Jack’s blog by clicking here.

IABSM AAR: The Gap

Here’s a battle report from a game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum played last weekend against John and Dave.

Unusually for us, the scenario was late war, eastern front: with the Soviets rushing forwards to secure a gap in a ridge that the Germans were also seeking to block.

It was a very close run thing, with a fair degree of carnage on both sides. Click on the picture below to see all…

IABSM AAR: German Counterattack on Shirokoye Bulotev

Another quite frankly amazing After Action Report from Just Jack, taken from his excellent BlackHawkHet blog.

Here, Jack is playing the fifth of his series of battles set on the northern shoulder of the battle of Kursk.

Click on the picture below to see all: highly recommended.