And the Winner is...

Sorry for the long delay, but I am still trying to get in touch with the winner!

The random number generator has spoken and

Jacob Shober

won the draw!

If you read this, Jacob, please get in touch with us!
And if you happen to know him, please tell him that he won!

Rien ne va plus!

That's it, the raffle is closed. I will determine the winner in about 4 hours, but will take a bit longer until I am back home at the computer to post it.

But what I can tell you is the total of the funds raised through this project.
387 sold tickets mean we raised an astonishing

774 NZ-$ (515 US-$)!!!

Many thanks to everybody who contributed, and it was great to see so many familiar names on that list. It is an awesome feeling to see this kind of solidarity in a community. Thank you!

And good luck to everybody for the draw!

I will contact the winner via email as soon as possible after the draw, and will announce the name after that. 

Unit Reveal - M8 Scott

And another vehicle ready for action - the 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 Scott from Butlers' Printed Models:

The M8 was a pretty crowded work environment - during march, the commander and gunner would sit in the turret, and the loader would sit next to the driver in the hull. When going tinto action, the commander would switch onto the anti-aircraft machine gun position, and the loader moved up to the turret.

The 75mm howitzer could fire either high explosive or white phosphorus shells at a range of 8.8 km (5.5 miles). The rate of fire was around 6 shots per minute, and the vehicle carried 46 rounds of ammunition.

After the war, it stayed in service with the French army and some others, and was still used in the Algerian War in the early 1960s.

Our M8 is painted in the same scheme as the rest of the vehicles, and was nicknamed "The Bomb" by its crew.

Unit Reveal - Group Picture!

It's D-Day, and here is a picture of the full force in all its glory!

I thought it would be nice to get a picture of everything, including the WIP parts, to give you an impression of what's at stake!

We have the US Army on the bottom left, the finished Airborne on the bottom right, then the vehicles, including the unfinished Deuce and a half and armored cars, then a WIP platoon of Rangers on the top right and the unfinished Airborne on the top right.

So, with us being a bit behind the painting schedule, we thought it would only be fair to extend your deadline, too!

Raffle tickets are available until

Saturday, June 8^th, 8 PM CST (Beijing), 1 PM BST (London), 8 AM EDT (East Coast USA), 5 AM PDT (West Coast USA).

And just as a reminder: You can get raffle tickets by contributing through PayPal (there is a button on the top right of this website, if you can’t see it, switch from mobile to web view at the bottom of the page!). PayPal also allows you to use a credit card if you don’t have an account.

One ticket for the raffle is 2 NZ-$, which I about 1.35 US-$ or 1.20 Euros. Multiples of that give you multiple tickets, e.g. 20 NZ-$ give you 10 tickets.

So, when will we have the army finished? I can't guarantee anything, but I would say we will ship it to our lucky winner on the 17th of June, fully painted and ready to go.

What's next? I hope that we will have pictures of the finished M8 Scott, Deuce and a half and at least a squad of Rangers before the deadline for contributions on Saturday.
Everything else will get its unit reveal, too, but likely after the raffle is done.

Unit Reveal - Airborne Support Weapons I

Here we go again, this time with some heavy fire power for the Airborne troops:

Two men with Bazookas to stalk Panzers in the Bocage, and two men with flamethrowers to take care of those pesky German pillboxes!

Later today, we will have a nice group picture of the whole force (albeit with some WIP models), and then there are only a couple of odds and ends to finish.

Unit Reveal - Airborne Characters

Today we have a real treat for you - Stoessi's Heroes' Airborne characters are ready to fight!

US Airborne Technician Fourth Grade Eugene Gilbert Roe, Sr. and US Airborne Captain Richard „Dick“ Winters.

US Airborne Lieutenant Colonel Robert George Cole and US Airborne Staff Sergeant “Wild Bill” Guarnere

US Airborne Lieutenant Ronald C. Speirs and US Airborne First Lieutenant Lynn “Buck” Compton

Tomorrow the Paratroopers will get some more firepower - and then it will be time for a group picture!

Rules Review - What A Tanker!

What a Tanker! is one of the newest releases by Too Fat Lardies, and they were so kind to donate one of the books (and a matching token set) to our project!

What a Tanker! is designed as a multi-player tank duel game. It is recommended that each player fields a single vehicle, but you want at least 2 vehicles per team, and in my experience, each player can easily control up to 3 vehicles. There is a point system that gives you an idea which vehicles are roughly equals, and it works very nicely. Of course there are some very powerful vehicles like the Jagdtiger, which will give your opponent some head ache if he invested in a more balanced force, but these kind of matches should be very rare.

The game also features rules for campaign play, in which your crews earn experience, get promoted to more expensive vehicles and gain special abilities. Five kills give you ace status, and you’ll gain a special ability or upgrade to the next tier of tanks.

Each tanks has two main attributes, Strike and Armor. Strike is the strength of your gun, and armor is, well, the strength of your armor. Besides that, there are some special rules like Fast (more opportunities to move), Rapid Fire (only needs to reload once per turn) or Iron Fist (better chance to deal permanent damage).

Each player uses a dashboard for each vehicle to keep track of its status. 

The activation is kind of similar to Chain of Command. Each tank has 5 command dice whih are rolled at the start of each activation. Different results allow different actions: 1 is movement, 2 is target acquisition, 3 is aim, 4 is shoot, 5 is reload and 6 is a wild card that can be used as any other dice, to give you an advantage for initiative next round or to modify to hit numbers. Yes, you need to go through a lot of steps to shoot at your enemy. And yes, you may be all set up and ready but can’t get the “4” that will actually allow you to deal out some pain. But in reality, these moments are rare, and they are what gives this game spice. You will be very often have those “stand up”-roll, when this one drive or shoot dice will make or break your gamble.

Once you are unleashing on an opponent’s tank, you roll 2D6 modified by movement and terrain to hit. After that, you roll your Strike dice and your opponent rolls his Armor dice. Depending on positions, you’ll need different results to score kits. For example, if you hit the front armor, you’ll need 5s for hits and 6s for critical hits, on the rear armor you’ll get hits for every die showing a 3 and criticals for every result of 4 or more. The target needs 5s or 6s for saves. Compare the results: More saves than hits means the shot didn’t do anything. An equal number of hits and saves means minor damage and the target falls back. If you score more hits than saves, you’ll do damage: temporary damage if you rolled more ordinary hits than criticals, and permanent damage when you rolled more critical than ordinary hits. If you have 3 more hits than the target has saves, the target is outright destroyed by your shot. Temporary and permanent damage costs you command dice, and permanent damage also affects your hull or turret.

If your tank is reduced to zero command dice, the crew will bail out and the vehicle is destroyed. Matches often develop into a game of cat and mouse when each side hopes for the right combination of dice to come up to support their fiendish plans, but it never gets dull.

This is What a Tanker! in a nutshell. It is a fast, fun game with a lot of randomness, but it rarely feels frustrating. Definitely on the “beer & pretzels” side of gaming, but still pleasantly sophisticated, and a great way to have some fun with a unique way to play.

And the winner of our raffle will not only get a copy of the rule book, but also a set of tokens for their dashboards!

Unit Reveal - Airborne Pathfinders

This time, we have a small, but important, unit of Pathfinders:

Pathfinders were volunteers who received special training to set up and operate navigational helps. Their units also contained bodyguards, whose job it was to defend the pathfinders (and the designated drop zone) during set up.
The night of D-Day marked the first combat jump for the Pathfinder units. Just after midnight on June 6th, 1944, around 200 of them became the first Allied soldiers on the ground. But bad weather and heavy air defense scattered their planes and even when they found their targets, those were often heavily defended and in some cases flooded.
The pathfinders redeemed their value during Operation Market Garden, when they guided the Allied paratroopers to their targets in the Netherlands. After that, two sticks of Pathfinders would parachute into Bastogne during Battle of the Bulge to set up beacons for supply drops.

Unit Reveal - Willys MBs

Two more transports today - the venerable Willys MB Jeep from Butlers' Printed Models:

Everybody knows the Jeep. Almost 650.000 of them were used during World War 2, and wherever   US troops went, the Jeep accompanied them.

Nobody really knows why the Jeep is called "Jeep". One plausible and popular theory is that it derives from Ford's designation for the vehicle, "GP". There might be a connection to a character from the contemporary Popeye comic books!

General George Marshall, Chief of Staff during the war, called the Jeep "America's greatest contribution to modern warfare." Right from the start, the vehicle had a major impact and it was not unusual to have fleets of fifty to sixty jeeps roaming the Western desert hunting Rommel's forces.

The Jeeps served in any role imaginable, including as weapon carriers for machine guns and even as  portee with 37mm guns, there was a British Jeep Wasp armed with a flamethrower and the US used Bazooka-Jeeps with improvised armor in the Ardennes. As one war journalist put it: "It does everything. It goes everywhere. It's as faithful as a dog, as strong as a mule and as agile as a goat. It constantly carries twice what it was designed for, and still keeps on going."

Our Jeeps are painted in the same colors as all the other vehicles, and loaded up with some extra supplies. They will serve your officers well on the battlefield!

Tomorrow, we will have more Airborne soldiers ready for you.

Unit Reveal - Chevrolet 1 1⁄2-ton Truck

Today we show you the finished Chevrolet 1 1/2 ton truck from Minairons Miniatures:

This is the 1937 model of the truck, and it would have had quite a career to end up in Europe after D-Day. Nevertheless, the look of US trucks changed only in details during that time, and this model would evolve into the famous Chevrolet G-506 ​1 1⁄2-ton 4x4.

Over 160.000  Chevrolet 1 1⁄2-ton 4x4 trucks were built in 15 variants between 1940 and 1945. That sounds impressive, but in fact, it only scores the Chevy only fourth place behind the GMC CCKW (over 560.000), Dodge WC (over 255.000 ) and Studebaker US6 (over 219.000).

The most famous use for these truck is in the Red Ball Express, when 6000 trucks were used to move 12.500 tons of material per day from the Normandy beaches to the front. It ran for 83 days before the opening of Antwerp harbor significantly decreased the distance over which supplies had to be moved.

Although a venerable veteran in our army, the Chevrolet truck sports the same colors as the rest of our vehicles, and will be a welcome transport for some tired GIs or Airborne soldiers!

Rules Review - Chain of Command

As promised, here is a review of the second set of rules that come with the Operation Good Cause army: Chain of Command by Too Fat Lardies (who also generously donated the book to our project!).

Chain of Command has been around for a while, it has been released in 2013. It is played at the same platoon level size as Bolt Action, and also uses D6 for its tests. But apart for this, it is a very different kind of game.

There are three types of units: infantry, support weapons, and vehicles. Each side usually fields a platoon of infantry and a choice of support options. The book contains eleven force lists for the US, Soviet Union, Germany and Great Britain, each with their own national characteristics. The Western Allies and each have lists for infantry, armored infantry and paratroopers, while the Soviets only have infantry and tank rider lists. Availability of support options is random, usually the attacker rolls 2D6 and takes options up to that value, and the defender takes options up to half that value. The costs range from 1 to 12. For example, a sniper team costs 3 points, and a Panzer IV H costs 7 points. There are six scenarios in the book, and those limit the choices in some cases.

The morale of each unit is tracked through “shock”. Shock is mainly gained through receiving fire, and it will have massive effects very fast. Each point of shock on a unit reduces it movement by 1”, and for every 2 points of shock one of the soldiers won’t fire his weapon. If the unit has as much shock points on it as it has soldiers left, it is pinned. If it has more than double as many shock points as members, it breaks. A pinned unit cannot move, but still shoot a little bit (but not much). A broken unit runs away and cannot be activated as long as it is broken. Shock can be removed by leaders during their activation, but that is a slow process.

At the start of the game, you have a patrol phase. Both player are moving around a number of markers determined by the scenario. If two markers end up within 12” of each other, they are now locked and cannot move again. This goes on until all markers of one side are locked, and the patrol phase ends.

Next, the jump-off points for both sides are determined. These are the points from which reinforcements enter the battle. Jump-off points can be anywhere in cover and outside of 6” from an enemy unit. There are some more rules about their placement, but these deal with special cases. During the game, you can capture and remove your opponent’s jump-off points, and you can move your own around to a certain degree to adjust to the tactical situation.

Activation of units during a turn depends on your command dice. This is a number of dice given by the scenario, usually 5. At the start of each phase you roll them, and the results determine what you can do. “1” to “4” let you deploy or activate different kinds of units. “5” and “6” are special results. A “5” increases your command points, if you accumulate 6 points, you can play a special action. For example, you can play an ambush, which allows you to immediately deploy an infantry team and shoot with it. So yes, a Panzerschreck team can just pop up behind your Sherman and ruin your day! If you roll a “6”, the next phase is your opponent’s. But if you roll two “6”s, it is yours again! Three “6”s indicate the last phase of the turn, and if you get four of them, it is the last phase of the turn, and you get the first phase of the next turn, you automatically gain another special action from command points and you roll for a random event – which includes the possibility of a morale boost because your troops found a stash of booze!

There is a mechanic that let you combine low results, for example you can use two “2” as a “4”. But the highest result you can add up to like that is “4”. Still a good way to not be completely thrown off track by a bad roll of the dice.

So you can see, the game is very unpredictable and everything can change with one thro of the dice. But somehow this feels way more realistic than the god-like control one has in other games.

Unit activation allows you to move, shoot, do both at a reduced effect, give covering fire, go into overwatch or rally. The order of activation form your dice is up to you, but every unit can only activate once per phase.

Movement in Chain of Command is a bit random, you use dice and modifiers to figure out how far a unit will move. But since the action is usually in a more compact space than in other games, this doesn’t really have a huge impact on your tactics. You can move “at the double”, but that causes a point of shock because your soldiers are more focused on themselves while running.

Combat is straight forward. The range of rifles is pretty much “if you can see it, you can touch it”, and only SMGs and pistols are limited in effective range. To hit, you roll dice according to the weapon (for example, each rifle is 1 die, a machine gun is 8 dice). You roll to hit depending on the quality of your target and for effect depending on cover and other modifiers. If the shot hits, it causes either shock or a wound.

There are also rules for throwing grenades (and for rifle grenades!), including the possibility to fumble it, something I sorely miss in a certain other game.

Vehicles and anti-tank weapons are very complex – for example, a vehicle commander has a certain number of orders he can give with his activation, like advance, aim, fire etc. If a vehicle is shot at, you use a different procedure that can involve a lot of modifiers. There armor values and armor piercing values, and much more that can make it look quite intimidating. Nevertheless, all of these factors make sense and one gets used to them quickly.

Of course, this is only a rough overview of the rules. In summary, Chain of Command is a funny beast. On the one hand, the rules are very detailed, and there a few situations that lead to discussions. On the other hand, it has a huge emphasis on randomness. But this is what makes it so entertaining. You don’t have to be aware of a huge amount of special rules and exceptions from them, and instead you can focus on what is going on on the table, and how to get an advantage over your opponent.

If you are less interested in the late war armies covered in the main book, there are plenty of supplements including the Blitzkrieg 1940 and Operation Citadel.

All in all, Chain of Command is an easy to learn, but challenging WW2 game, that may put you between a rock and a hard place in a heartbeat.

Available at Too Fat Lardies!

Next time, we will have a look at more finished transport vehicles.

Unit Reveal - M3 Half-Tracks

Today we have two M3 half-tracks for our force!

Over 53.000 units of this vehicle were produced by different companies, including Diamond T  and White Motor Car Company. It had no crew beyond the driver and could transport 12 soldiers and their gear.

A little known fact:  the rack just above the track was actually designed to hold land mines!

The first of our M3s is bristling with guns, sporting not just the pintle-mounted  .50 cal machine gun in a ring mount, but alos 3 .30 cal guns in the back, covering every arc.

The first prototype of an American half-track was a modified M3 Scout Car built well before the war. In 1938, the M2 was built and tested, which then developed into the M3 that was adopted for service. It first saw combat during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and was used until the end of the war and beyond.

Our second half-track is armed just with the ubiquitous .50 cal machine gun and has no storage to make it as different as possible from the first. Both vehicles are painted and weathered in the same way as the tanks.

Next time we will take a break from miniatures and have instead a review of another rule set you'll get with the army!

With less than 10 days to get your raffle tickets, please make sure that you make your contribution in time!