Megablitz and more

Mons, 1914 - part 2

2012-01-30T09:07:00.000Z

Carrying on from part one of this report, we rejoin the action as the two mighty armies come to grips.

The Germans close on the Mons salient. The approach across open country meant they sustained quite a few casualties to British artillery fire.

"Right, so all we've got to do is cross the canal and assault the British regulars dug in. In a town. No problem!"

Despite the German bravery, the Brits threw some outrageously lucky dice...

...here they had 3D6 needing '2s' or less..... Gott in himmel!

Meanwhile the German right wing had thrown the Brits back across the canal.

An overview of the action. The German cavalry division can be seen heading for the right flank - just in case!

Shot in by quite a bit of artillery, German troops finally take Mons. And overrun a British HQ. Sherry anyone?

The Germans prepare to follow up on the right. To the green fields beyond?

The British defences near Mons have by this time become untenable.

Aerial recce photo confirming the German victory.

The game produced a broadly historical result and took around two hours to play.

1/1200 WW2 ship model availability

2012-01-29T12:58:00.000Z

Some time ago I promised an expectant world a post on the availability of 1/1200 ship models - as used in my recent Fletcher Pratt naval games. This then is it.

I will start off with the most useful, easiest to get hold of and indeed cheapest ships on the market - the Airfix 'Sink the Bismarck' set. This set was (re-) released in 2011 and contains seven ship models - not bad for less than £20. As well as building the ships as they are, this set offers numerous conversion possibilities. Here are just few I've thought of:

Hood - I have already used this to make ships vaguely resembling Repulse and the original build of Glorious. Bob Cordery tells me that he once used the Hood to make some Japanese battlecruisers (Kongo I think).

Suffolk - The 'County' class amounted to a total of 13 units which I'm sure could be produced with a little knocking about of this kit.

Ark Royal - I expect that this could be adapted to produce several other carriers.

Tribal - 27 destroyers of this class were commissioned, so that alone gives us a fair bit of scope! No doubt other destroyer types could be produced. The Tribal is a big destroyer, so could be cut down to make, for example, a K-class.

Bismarck - er, Tirpitz I suppose.

Prinz Eugen - three 'Hipper' class cruisers were completed (although five were planned). Being quite a big ship, I'm thinking it could be cut down to build various other WW2 heavy cruisers.

The ships in this set were originally available in the 1970s as individual kits.

Other plastic kits in this scale are available from Revell. The range currently includes the battleships Yamato, King George V, Iowa, the carrier Enterprise and the battlecruiser Gneisenau. These currently retail for between £5 and £6 and can be adapted to other uses in the manner of the Airfix kits above.

The current packaging for the Revell kits. They were previously sold in slimmer boxes as 'Miniships'.

A variety of metal models can be picked up - these vary in price from reasonable to very steep and in quality from adequate to rather nice. At the upper end of both scales are models from companies such as Superior.

My Superior model of USS Flint, an Atlanta class light cruiser. I picked this up a few years ago and am in the process of refurbishing it. In fact, as I type this it is in the garage clad in a recently applied coat of spray matt black.

Another maker of metal (and mixed metal and resin) kits is Mountford. These are quite reasonably priced - destroyers are about £10 for a kit and £14 for a built and painted model.

A Mountford 'K-class' destroyer, bought (cheaply!) as a completed model. The pennant number is fictional and serves to provide easy identification during a game rather than historical accuracy.

I am unsure of the maker of this Japanese Yubari light cruiser. It is a very crisp casting with separate turrets so may be an older Mountford model.

A large range of metal models is available from Mick Yarrow. This range has been around for a while and I think was previously sold under the 'Trafalgar' name. These are fairly basic castings - destroyers are one-piece castings without masts but are temptingly priced at £3 for a destroyer and around £7 for a light cruiser.

MY castings of Japanese Akitsuka and Fubuki destroyers. I have added wire masts.

Coming at things from a slightly different angle, it is worth keeping an eye open for small vessels in larger scales which will fit in with 1200 scale models. An example is the 1/700 Tamiya 'Tugger Set' which contains a number of small vessels including tugs and landing craft

Some models from the Tamiya 'Tugger Set'. When assembling these I missed off a lot of the more delicate parts - partly for 'scale' but mostly out of laziness!

More metal destroyers from Ebay. No idea of the maker(s) but these are very elegant models. USS Fletcher (rear),Gearing and Benson (front) classes.

Triang Minic ships often crop up on Ebay - the older ships can be prohibitively pricey (for me anyway) but may be worth looking out for at boot sales. Some of the 'modern' ships may be of use. These are metal (die cast) and plastic models.

A pair of Triang Minic 'Hunt' class minesweepers with (for size comparison) an Airfix 'Tribal'.

Finally, an honourable mention must be made of Lou Coatney's astonishing card models. I'm sure that assembling them is well beyond my own modest skills (and patience!) but they are deeply impressive.

I appreciate that this hasn't been a very exhaustive or scientific listing but I hope it provides some guidance and encouragement for prospective admirals!

Mons, 1914 - part 1

2012-01-26T18:34:00.000Z

Martin ran this game on 11 January using his15mm toys and Richard Brooks's Op14 rules. John led the BEF while I donned the field grey spiky helmet.

The initial setup. The Germans (three corps of 'em) are poised to march on to the playing area.

The British salient at Mons. The train (between the buildings) just about depart is full of Belgian tourists en route to the seaside!

From the German side this looked a very impressive defensive position.

A rather atmospheric shot of the German cavalry screen.

German air recce gives the Brits a looking at. (The 'plane was my sole material contribution to the game!)

The British artillery soon opened up on the advancing field grey hordes.

An overview of the centre/left as the Germans advance.

The German advance on the right. The Germans have deployed some brigades to see off the British cavalry screen. The train can be seen in the distance.

Overview - the Brits in Mons are digging in.

The impressive-looking German artillery arrives.

The German right pushed back the cavalry and reaches the canal.

Coming next - the battle intensifies!

Spares Box - part 2

2012-01-26T08:07:00.000Z

As previously mentioned, here are more spares boxes. These are filled with various bits of (mostly) 1/72, 1/76 and 1/87 scale vehicle kit bits. While a a load of random bits line the bottom of the box, I tend to leave some stuff on the sprue - such as the Panzer II turret in the bottom right of the first box. The spares cull I carried out a couple of years ago yielded the parts for a number of complete models, so assembling them created a bit of space.

More spares boxes soon!

This box started off as mostly Airfix bits but such order never lasts long! A look in the boxes always yields some surprises - like the Austin K-6 chassis. I wonder how that came to be 'spare'.

The surprise in this box was a pretty well complete Airfix DUKW. I recently liberated a pair of KV-1 turrets from this box. More about them later.

An almost-forgotten annexe. his seems to mostly contain trailers and WW1-type artillery. And more of the inevitable Airfix T-34 turrets.

Spares Box - part 1

2012-01-25T16:15:00.000Z

A recent exchange of comments with Paul and Al sparked an 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' challenge on spares boxes. I carried out a savage purge of my spares boxes last year - yes 'boxes' - it's a long time since there was just one!

1/144 scale aircraft spares. As well as unused kit bits this has been filled by leftovers from a number of bodge conversions.

The still-embryonic 1/1200 ship bits box. These bits are the off-cuts from my recent HMS Hood conversions.

Muji 'Port' set

2012-01-24T17:35:00.000Z

When I was in London last week I noticed on Oxford Street a branch of the Muji shop. So I went in. For those of you wondering why, it was from their Leeds shop that I picked up a number of useful wooden buildings (as seen here in Greece and Germany ). These are sold under such names as 'Village in a bag' and 'London in a bag'.
This time my eye was drawn to the new (to me) 'Port in a bag', the contents of which are shown above. With thoughts of ever bigger Fletcher Pratt convoy actions in mind I was encouraged to see it contained a pair of container ships which will pass as 1/1200 coasters (no, not the sort you rest your coffee cup on...), three tugs and a liner (which will do as a ferry). The modern cruise liner is less useful - although I was encouraged to see that during the photo session it remained the right way up.... The set also contains three yachts and two each of warehouse frontages, lighthouses and cranes. At a marked price of £5 each, I lost no time in scooping up all four bags on the shelf and making my way to the cash desk. Delight turned to elation when I was charged only £3 each for them! Sadly there were no more in stock... I gave one of the bags to Bob Cordery that evening and he agreed that the ships looked pretty useful. If anyone has a use for the white modern liners I have 3 of them going spare...

The two 'coasters' and a liner with a 1/1200 'K' Class Destroyer for scale.

Portable Wargame - the photos

2012-01-22T22:15:00.000Z

I mentioned in my previous post that I had a few photos of the games I played with Bob Cordery on Thursday. These were taken on my BlackBerry but are, as Bob commented, 'good enough for government work'.

My brave lads prepare to repel the hairy hordes in the first (colonial period) game.

A few of the aforementioned hairy hordes. There were lots of 'em. Thousands.

Inspired leadership, pluck and firepower won the day. Though not necessarily in that order...

The second game was hastily improvised and also used 15mm toys. This was set in the 1930s and saw my chaps in field defences subject to an assault from a numerically superior (well, a bit) force.

The defenders of the outpost come under pressure. An infantry stand could take four 'hits' before being eliminated.

Bob's flanking move caused me a few worries but his forces were sufficiently weakened by my defenders that the final assault never took place.

A quick update

2012-01-21T11:38:00.001Z

No posts for the past few days as I've been busy (and out of town) with work stuff. In fact as I type this I'm on the train at Kings Cross waiting for it to set off to Newark. The main purpose of my trip to London has been to attend the annual meeting of the company with which I work in partnership, but I did manage some Wargames-related activities:

1. A visit to the Tradition shop. Regular readers will recall that this splendid emporium was the source of King Boris of Forbodia and his (considerably cheaper!) staff officers. This time I emerged with five new figures - three from the discounted rummage box - who will no doubt grace these pages in the fullness of time.

2. Lunch with David Crook, which included a certain amount of 'military aid' flowing in both directions. At least I think that's what is in the bag he gave me.... Although we have corresponded electronically for a while this was our first meeting. Given that I have buggered up his wargaming plans for the year by giving him a gentle shove down the slippery slope that is Funny Little Wars, he may not want to do it again....

3. A visit to Chateau Cordery where I benefitted from not only a jolly chat with Bob and his other - no, make that 'better' half, Sue but also a pleasant dinner and two quick games! These used the Colonial and Interwar versions of Bob's Portable Wargame Rules. As my forces were victorious both times it's clearly an excellent game! I have a few photos of the games which I'll post soon.

Website of the week - Replica tanks

2012-01-17T11:44:00.000Z

I arrived at the Filmpanzer site by following a link from Steve Weston's site link .

There is much to see - my first port of call was this splendid replica A7V
The site index is here
Another clip which manages to be both entertaining and rather disturbing features some East German children practising to defend socialism against the capitalist imperialist onslaught: link

Assassin strikes in Vulgaria!

2012-01-16T08:24:00.002Z

News just in from Vulgaria (Martin's new name for his comedy-Prussian country) where a staff officer has been assassinated by 'Big Willi', a suspected member of the 'Black Bowler Gang'. This shadowy organisation is widely believed to have links to Forbodia, and it is perhaps no surprise that the deceased officer, Colonel von Knickerbocker, had recently led calls for the persecution of Vulgaria's small Forbodian expat community. It is understood that the late Colonel's anti-Forbidian sentiments stemmed from his embarrassing loss of an entire artillery battery in a recent border clash with Forbodian defence forces.

In this reconstruction of events, von Knickerbocker is gunned down in broad daylight.

von K is a plastic Italeri figure, the assassin a metal western gunfighter I picked up at the London Toy Soldier Show in December.

Exit pursued by the Vulgarian Army (Armies in Plastic Prussians). Big Willi makes good his escape.

My thanks again to Martin for being sporting enough to bring along figures to be photographed.

Ligny, 1815

2012-01-12T16:49:00.000Z

This game was put together and run by John Armatys as a test for his recently written Brown Bess rules. John also provided all the 15mm toys. Martin was the homme in the grand chapeau, while I played the portly Prussian. I have played Blucher in several games over the years and become rather adept at shouting 'attack' while pretending to fall off a horse.

The initial setup as seen from the Prussian lines. Ligny is in the centre of the table.

That's me on the hill next to one of John's many windmills.

The brave defenders of Ligny prepare to sell their lives dearly. As it turned out they were having a January sale...

Rather a lot of Frenchies close in on the Prussian right.

Ligny is on the left. There really were lots of Frenchies.

Prussian reserves are sent forward as Blucher calmly directs operations.

The defenders of Ligny are a bit outnumbered.

The French columns get stuck in. The pile of counters indicates that all is not going well for the garrison.

The Prussian left makes ready.

The Prussian right is heavily engaged by the garlic munching hordes.

Blucher prepares a second line of defence as the French overrun Ligny.

A long distance shot of the Frenchies on their hill south of Ligny.

One of my sneakier moves - a Prussian brigade recaptures the village on the right from under the noses of the French.

Blucher continues to oversee events.

The French advance continues - but their nice formations have broken up.

Another hour and Blucher would have been in the front line!

Endgame. The overall result was broadly historical, with bitter urban fighting and villages changing hands more than once. Overnight the Prussians would be able to disengage - just in case there's another battle in a couple of days!

The Forbodian Army

2012-01-11T16:38:00.000Z

Now that is basically complete, I have obtained a complete order of battle for the Forbodian Army which, according to my source deep within the Forbodian Defence Ministry is made up as follows:

HQ (King Boris III, 3 staff officers, 4 guards, 2 Rolls Royce motor cars)

Palace Guard Regiment (12 figures)

1st Brigade (CO, 2 staff officers, 1 Darraq motor car)

Forester Regiment (20 figures)

Jager Regiment (20 figures)

Militia Regiment (20 figures)

2nd Brigade (CO, 2 staff officers - all mounted)

Light Cavalry Regiment (12 figures)

2x Field Artillery Battery (field gun, 4 crew, limber)

1x Mountain Artillery Battery (mountain gun, 3 crew, limber)

Medical Detachment (Medic, 2 orderlies)

Supply Train (2 light wagons)

LVT-4 'Buffalo'

2012-01-09T12:55:00.001Z

While I was building a 'new' LVT for a recent blog post Link I took the opportunity to repair and paint three others which I've had since JR presented them to me about 15 years ago! As I've had cause to remark before, it doesn't do to rush these things. The new addition was completed as a British vehicle and will in the fullness of time be joined by two more. The three older models I finished in US colours.

My trio of US LVTs - the .50 gunners are metal figures (Raventhorpe?) which I've also had for quite a while.

The markings are pretty minimal - this accords with most of the photographic evidence I've seen.

Another view of my British Buffalo. Two of the LVTs were completed with ramps up and two down.

The British LVT again.

Funny Little Wars game report - part 2

2012-01-06T22:17:00.000Z

We rejoin the action as King Boris orders the mountain gun battery to open up on the calamitous kraut cannon.

Brave King B directs operations from his rather splendid Rolls Royce motor car. The more minimalist Prussian general had to walk as Martin is still wrestling with the Mercedes kit he acquired from a dubious source.

In the greatest moment of the game, the Forbodian gunners scored a direct hit on one of Martin's limbers which spectacularly blew up...

...and was sufficiently close to the other limber that it went up too, killing all but one of the gunners! Hurrah!

Meanwhile the Forbodian cavalry were about to read the rules about charging formed infantry.

The Prussian guns again. And yes, I am still gloating.

The Brigadier surveys the damage. Photo and arrangement of dead horse by Steve.

The cavalry takes fire as they charge in - and inflict depressingly little damage on the pointy-hats.

Meanwhile the Prussian left advances...

...still in a nice neat line...

...from whichever side you view it.

Members of the Forbodian staff anxiously view the field of battle....from another Rolls Royce.

The Jagers close ranks and prepare to finish what the cavalry started.

Bodies of plastic but hearts of steel!

On the Forbodian right, the enemy continues to advance...

...while the Foresters lay down rifle fire from the woods.

Another view of the dead gunners. Sorry - couldn't resist!

The Forbodian cavalry reform. By now the Jagers had charged the pointy-hats and been pretty well wiped out in doing so.

As King Boris watches from a hilltop, his cavalry repulse their opposite numbers who had been getting dangerously close to the gun battery. At this point, with a weak right, a stalemated left and no guns or cavalry, the pointy helmets decided it was time to head home, leaving the victorious Forbodians in possession of the field. A great first 'proper' FLW game, this took about two hours from setting up to being packed away.

Funny Little Wars game report - part 1

2012-01-05T14:44:00.000Z

The pointy-helmeted hordes deploy.

Following on from the Fletcher Pratt game on the 28th, Martin and I set up an played our first Funny Little Wars game. This was the first public airing for Martin's pointy-helmeted pantomime Prussians. We wanted to start off with a smallish game and so used a 13x7 foot table. Each 'army' fielded two infantry battalions (20 figures each), a cavalry regiment (12 figures) and two artillery batteries (2 4.7s for the spiky hats, a 4.7 and a mountain gun for the Forbodians) and a few staff officers.

The Forbodian Army in travel mode!

Armies in Plastic German infantry and A Call to Arms (French) Dragoons.

The limbers were only delivered 10 minutes before the game began - hence the ungentlemanly lack of paintwork!

King Boris III of Forbodia (in the red motor car) and chums take the field.

The Forbodian Army. The figures and motor cars have been dealt with in previous posts. The rather splendid limbers are from CTS.

This represents about two thirds of the Forbodian Army - the full order of battle will be covered in a forthcoming post.

The Forbodians advance heroically.

King Boris moves up to oversee operations.

The Foresters head for...a forest. Well a small wood.

The comedy Prussians advance in a typically unimaginative line.

The AIP figures have turned out rather nicely.

Forbodian cavalry making a fine sight.

The cavalry gallop forth.

The Jagers swarm over the hill while the mountain artillery battery deploys in the background.

The mountain gunners soon dropped a shell (matchstick) in the middle of the Dragoons, despatching three of them.

Good chaps, these gunners! Sadly a lucky shot from a Prussian gun had done for the Forbodian 4.7 battery before it could deploy.

The Forbodian cavalry then made an ill-judged attack on an infantry battalion.

Sadly the Prussians stood firm...

...egged on by the Brigadier. What will happen next? Stay tuned!

HMS Prince of Wales - part 2

2012-01-04T22:37:00.000Z

PoW is now complete and ready for the games table (or floor!). My usual painwork consisted of drybrushing over black and the finished ship received a squirt of spray varnish.

A history of Airfix HO/OO AFV kits - part 7 - 1965

2012-01-03T15:17:00.000Z

I believe this style of box dates from the early 1970s.

The three kit releases in 1965 all related to the theme of amphibious warfare. The LVT-4 'Buffalo' kit, as well as being a useful item in it's own right for many years provided the only means of acquiring a Jeep in this scale. One of the reasons this post has been so long was my intention to build an LVT for the purpose. I finally finished it off on 2nd January, along with three old examples I had repaired and returned to service. More on these in a future post. The series 2 Buffalo kit was accompanied in this year by the DUKW (Series 1) and the LCM landing craft and Sherman.

My 'new' LVT and Jeep during the build process. Fiddly wheels apart, it's not a bad kit - especially considering it's age.

The finished Buffalo with Oerlikon gunner from Britannia. Much more menacing then the weapons included with the kit!

The Jeep appears in my collection in a variety of guises. This fairly standard example currently serves as the HQ of 49 (West Riding) Division.

A lightly modified Jeep serving with 1 Armoured Division in North Africa. The driver is the original kit part, gunner and tea drinker are by Dixon.

The useful DUKW kit was also released in this year. Both of these examples were revived from amidst a box of well-used models. They currently serve as part of the logistics component of XXX Corps.

The 'LCM III and Sherman' kit was a pricey Series 3 item - so I didn't get my hands on one until 1977. The Sherman included in this kit was the same one originally released in 1961 - see my earlier post for more on that model.

The spares box yielded this old-style kit box.

Not being in possession of an LCM, I am indebted to Paul at Plastic Warriors for sending me a selection of photos of his considerable fleet of LCMs. This pic shows a later style kit box and it's contents.

A brace of Paul's LCMs disgorging their Shermans.

Incidentally, in further good news for Airfix's future profits, 1965 also saw my appearance....

Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame - part 3

2012-01-02T15:24:00.001Z

Z31 jinking furiously to avoid British shells. The firing arrow in the centre marks one of Z31's torpedoes.

The Germans emerged from the mouth of the fjord with Z31 making smoke. The superior range of the Scharnhorst's 11 inch main battery was soon finding targets among the RN force while British salvos were heading the other way.

RN DDs were also laying smoke - but some of those German shells have found the range.

One of the RN DDs expires in a fiery blast!

British DDs launch torpedoes while Z31, still making smoke takes hits. Lots of them.

By now, Scharnhorst was well within range of RN shellfire.

An overview of the action. Scharnhorst has slowed down as the RN force draws nearer.

Another overview photo.

Meanwhile, Gneisenau and Z32 had been heading north. The preoccupied Royal navy players didn't notice them until Gneisenau opened fire!

Kev Tingle, the commander of Z31 places his final firing arrow before taking to the boats

Endgame. Scharnhorst pictured just before she sank gracefully beneath the waves.

After about two and a half hours the game drew to a close at the point where Scharnhorst sank. In conclusion, while the initial German force had been sunk, the RN force was very battered and in no position to limit the freedom of action of the Gneisenau. A tactical draw then, but a strategic victory for the Brits who can better afford to make good their losses.
According to the ship cards I retrieved (all but one of the British DDs), the final score was as follows:
Scharnhorst - sunk
Z31 - sunk
Gneisenau - untouched
Z32 - untouched
Glory-less - sinking
Suffolk - minor damage (c20%)
Kent - untouched
Leander - sunk
Ajax - sunk
Afridi - one third damage
Cossack - two thirds damage
Bedouin - sunk
Ashanti - minor damage (c15%)

A bloody business all in all, but player enthusiasm remained high and many asked me to run further such games. I plan to get in another F-P game during January.

Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame - part 2

2012-01-01T16:54:00.000Z

The RN ships as seen from the air. The lead destroyer is just turning to the north.

The game commenced with the appearance of the Royal Navy as Scharnhorst and Z31 weighed anchor. As the Germans reached the mouth of the fjord Z31 began to lay smoke.

The playing area was about 40 feet across - plenty of 'sea room'.

Initial salvos from the Scharnhorst fell somewhat short...

...but soon Kapitan von Powell got the hang of it!

The bespoke hand crafted shell splash markers may look to the uninitiated a bit like golf tees but I know readers of this blog are much better informed! Blue indicates misses and red hits - generally from 2 or 3 guns. White markers were used for torpedo hits.

The RN destroyers were also making smoke (some of it voluntarily) while frantically manoeuvring to avoid German shells. Here the centre DD has placed a firing arrow setting the initial range at 34 inches. More action in the final post coming soon!

New Year Message

2011-12-31T22:41:00.000Z

This photo has no great relevance but I get complaints if there is no toy porn in a post...

As 2011 draws to a close this seems a good opportunity to look back...and forward. Later in this post I will sum up my wargaming activities and plans.

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my readers and fellow bloggers - especially those of you who leave comments. Comments are the life blood of the blog and provide my only way of knowing that someone out there actually reads this drivel! Megablitz and More enters it's fourth year as an integral part of my wargaming life - a fact reflected in the improved regularity of posts in 2011 - more than 5 per week on average. It is pleasing to feel that as well as a means of keeping in touch with old friends, this blogging lark has led also to new friends. As always, I hope to see at least some of you during 2012.

Megablitz - While I had to pull the planned 2011 'big game' but hopefully I'll sort something out for 2012. I did manage to finish more toys and played a few small games. The 'new' toys include Japanese tanks and a few Russians, as well as newly acquired Germans (3 divisions!) and Russians. I also added quite a few 1/144 scale aircraft to the collection. More toys are on the modelling table as I type this and will be the subject of posts soon.

NATO Brigade Commander - this remains on the back burner of late, but I did finish more Soviets and Greeks, and the latter have been used in a game. I have a small Cold War-era scenario ready to go and a box of undercoated toys waiting to be completed. WW3 here we come!

Funny Little Wars - I began the year with the intention of completing the Forbidian Army. Not only did I manage this (although no doubt more bits will be added), but it has actually seen action! As with everything else, however, a single army is never enough so expect 2012 to see progress on either a 'French' Army or a 'British' Naval Brigade. Probably.

Op14 - I don't think we played an Op14 game during 2011 - although we came close last Wednesday. I did complete more 6mm toys - French and Russians. Hopefully we will get a few games in during 2012.

Command & Colours Napoleonics - This has been a good addition to the games lineup and led to the 15mm toys getting a fair bit of use. Minor additions to the forces have (thankfully!) come ready-painted. We're about halfway through the scenario book and at least one supplement is due out in 2012.

Classical Warfare (Command & Colours and Strategos) - The 6mm toys have had an easy year, not least because of the surprise return to my shelves of 25mm as a scale. Initiated in August by the posthumous gift of a load of figures from my old friend John G Robertson, and boosted by plastics and some online auction 'incidents', these little blighters now fill 10 boxes! Following some fast talking by Phil Steele I even rejoined the Society of Ancients.

Naval Wargames - 2011 saw a gentle buildup of my 1/1200 fleet and the first outing at the Sheffield Club of the Fletcher Pratt game. This was successful to the point where I have been asked to run more F-P games. Well,we do meet in a big room with a parquet floor and there appears to be no shortage of members prepared to crawl around on it pushing toy boats...

Wargames events - I will be attending the following during 2012 presenting the year's new Wargame Developments participation game 'Rollbahn Ost' - Triples, Partizan, CoW, The Other Partizan. I attended these (less first Partizan) in 2011, along with Derby and I was also pleased to get to the London Toy Soldier Shows in May and December with Len Cooksey. I may also appear at a couple of other shows but there's nothing else in the diary as yet. I usually mention upcoming show appearances on the blog, so if you're at a show I attend do come and say hello.

No doubt more distractions will present themselves during the year...

Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame - part 1

2011-12-30T22:33:00.000Z

The recently published book on the F-P game which includes full rules and instructions on how to play the game. Link

The Sheffield Wargames Society post-Christmas games day this year provided the setting for a run through of the Fletcher Pratt Naval Wargame. I had mentioned this to everyone at the club a couple of weeks previously and Mark Hides had been kind enough to mention it on the SWS website

In the event I had 12 players and an umpire team of three - myself, Martin R and Wg Cdr Luddite.

I opened proceedings with a brief history of the Fletcher-Pratt game and mentioned that like many others, I had first encountered it in Don Featherstone's Naval War Games book - in my case sometime in the mid 1970s.

The cherished but battered copy I have owned since 1985. An expanded reprint is now available.

I had prepared a scenario and managed to finish off the additional ship models required. The WW2 scenario I dreamt up was capable of being downsized depending on the number of players and basically saw Scharnhorst and a destroyer (Z31) setting off from a fjord in northern Norway for the open sea. The Royal Navy had been alerted to this be air recce and had dispatched a task force to prevent this.

An example ship card produced with the aid of The History of Wargaming website

The RN task force was made up as follows:
Battlecruiser: Glory-less (flagship) - this was my Hood-based recreation of the Glorious as originally built.
Heavy Cruisers: Kent, Suffolk
Light Cruisers: Ajax, Leander
Destroyers: Afridi, Ashanti, Bedouin, Cossack, Eskimo

Unknown to the British, the Kriegsmarine had sent Gneisenau and destroyer Z32 north to replace Scharnhorst in the fjord.

What could possibly go wrong?

Next time - battle is joined - including photos of toy ships, golf tees and large feet!

'County' Class Cruisers - part 2

2011-12-29T22:43:00.000Z

A pre-Christmas spurt of modelling activity included the completion of this pair of cruisers - not least because I needed them for a game on the 28th! They were built straight from the box, although as they are to be wargame toys I missed off a few delicate fiddly bits. The paintwork was a drybrush over black and (not that it's clear in the photos) a rudimentary camo scheme was added.

Pre-Christmas bargains

2011-12-29T08:24:00.000Z

This lot was a wee present for myself which conveniently arrived on Christmas Eve. Not a bad result at well under £3 a kit including postage. I have owned some of these gems before - mostly decades ago! These include the Airfix He 111, Hs 129 and Mossie, and the MB Fw190. The StuG III and Minicraft P-38 currently infest my box files in some quantity.

Funny Little Wars Storage Solutions - the Forbodian Army

2011-12-27T13:15:00.000Z

Now that I've settled on what may well be a 'permanent' solution, I added my usual labels.

As the Forbodian Army lurched towards what may be regarded as completion, I decided it was time to sort out proper storage and transport arrangements for the toys. I had initially used an assortment of cardboard boxes but these were never really satisfactory - not least because they were all different sizes, creating issues when it came to shelving and transport.

Regular readers will know that I maintain a large fleet of box files which accommodates most of my toys including 20mm, 15mm, some 6mm and 1/144 aircraft. The recent growth of my collection of 'proper' 25mm toys had led me to investigate the more 'Really Useful Boxes' range. I felt that these stackable lidded plastic boxes were more suitable then box files for heavy metal figures - and I identified two sizes from the extensive range which would suit my purposes. They are a 4-litre box which closely replicates the internal dimensions of a 'traditional' foolscap box file, and a 9-litre box which is simply a taller version of the 4-litre.

For 54mm FLW toys, the 4-litre boxes will accommodate most foot figures - although standard bearers and the like will need to lay down. The taller mounted cavalry figures easily fit in the 9-litre box. I fitted dividers in the boxes to limit wandering. Those in the 'foot' boxes are simply old kit boxes I had spare. Unlike my smaller scale figures, I've not bothered to magnetise the FLW chaps.

This is what the boxes look like. The photo shows the taller 9-litre 'cavalry' box.

This box contains the Jager Regt (left) and the Foresters (right) with the Palace Guard nicely filling the gap in the middle. 52 figures in all.

As well as the Militia Regt (right), this box houses gunners (centre) as well as the Medical Detachment, First Brigade HQ and of course King Boris (seen reclining bottom left) and his staff. The only metal figures are the King and his staff officers - the latter in the bottom layer of the red box.

The cavalry box - Light Regt on the left. The 2nd Brigade HQ shares the space of the 'Heavy' Regt.

Christmas books

2011-12-26T12:27:00.000Z

While the Campaign series can be of rather variable quality Zaloga is always a good read. These campaigns include lots of burned out German units, a fair chunk of the 'new' French Army, emplaced Panther turrets and ineffectual bombing raids by Me262s. What fun!

No toys for Christmas - nor indeed was I expecting any - although I did pick up a few interesting kits recently. More on that soon. Happily Mrs Santa responded to some none too subtle hints and presented me with these fine tomes. Ho ho ho.

The 'original' Gulf War has always interested me but books on the subject are very thin on the ground.

HMS Prince of Wales

2011-12-26T00:01:00.000Z

Well done to those of you who managed to identify this ship in my earlier posting on County class cruisers. It is HMS Prince of Wales, a battleship of the King George V class. What was more of a struggle was naming the maker. As can be seen in the photos, this is an Esci kit, although I believe the same moulds appeared more recently in Revell boxes.
The kit went together nice and easily - something else which makes me think this is essentially the Revell model.
PoW has now been undercoated and will be painted soon.

Panhard 178

2011-12-25T18:03:00.000Z

This is another 15mm lash-up for my Fictional African wars. The Panhard 178 (a metal model with the German AT gun conversion - no idea of the manufacturer) arrived in a batch of other stuff some time back. Clearly such a dodgy looking vehicle would fit in well with my other 15mm toys.

The bag of random spare figures yielded a few suitable to serve as the Panhard's crew. All are from Peter Pig, including the M113 ACAV style M60 gunner who adds considerably to the vehicle's already imposing height! I think the chap facing to the rear is another 'Nam era US type while the 'commander' is from the WW2 Italian range.

Forbodian Militia Regiment

2011-12-24T21:27:00.000Z

The Militia Regiment deployed for action.

This regiment pretty well completes the Forbodian Army - a further post will include a full army list. (Defence Ministry permitting).

The 20-figure Militia Regiment has been populated largely from an old box of Timpo ACW infantry I picked up cheaply on a certain interwebnet auction site. Two were converted to make the bugler and standard bearer and the numbers were made up by four figures from an Italeri set. The fairly simple paint scheme utilised the 'traditional' Forbodian colours of green and purple with shiny black boots and tan webbing. The 'new' colour in the mix give these chaps the nickname by which they are known by other Forbodian units - 'The Brown Trousers'. Well they are reservists...

The command group - bugler (badly converted), officer (his private income clearly allows more flamboyant nether garments), NCO and standard bearer.

March column. The four Italeri figures form the third rank.

Forbodian Brigade HQ

2011-12-24T15:12:00.000Z

As part of my plan to complete the Forbodian Army I needed a second Brigade HQ. The First Brigade HQ is intended primarily to command the infantry and has been provided with a motor car. Bearing in mind that there are now two cavalry regiments to control, it seemed sensible to have the additional HQ on horseback too. Happily I had some of the rather imposing Italeri Mameluke figures left over from building 1st Cavalry Regt so I selected three of them for elevation to the brigade staff.
The three figures are the Brigadier (centre), staff officer/galloper (left) and standard bearer. Learning from experience I fixed them to 4cm wide MDF bases for added stability. The chaps were treated to a fairly random and garish paint scheme which includes liberal doses of the traditional Forbodian colours of blue, green and purple.

Seasons Greetings from Forbodia

2011-12-23T18:31:00.000Z

But whatever is King Boris up to?

"No - the one to the left..."

Shopping for a Christmas tree of course!

"...yes, I'll take that one. It'll fit nicely in the corner of the command post"

Best wishes to one and all - plenty more posts to come over the festive holiday!

Spares box Sultan - or is it?

2011-12-23T11:46:00.000Z

A few years ago I picked up a small batch of mangled bits of various metal models from a certain internet auction site. These included several bits of 20mm GAZ66 trucks which after a certain amount of work did a bit of time travelling and now serve in my WW2 Red Army. The other parts all belong to various members of the Brirish Alvis CVR(T) family and seem to be about 1/87 scale. There are parts enough to knock together a Spartan APC and a Sultan ACV (which I still haven't done!) and a spare Sultan hull. This was too nice a casting to waste, so clearly a rummage in the spares box was required!

It's a regular Sultan - right?

Well no actually.

The tracks I found came from a Roco SP gun and fit quite well but are far from correct! Still, as the vehicle is to be used in games set in fictional African countries I think I'll get away with it. Various bits of stowage were added, together with a couple of crewmen from Peter Pig. I think the chap in the commander's hatch is an Israeli.

More Hexon bits

2011-12-22T15:38:00.000Z

The completed hex tiles.

I recently needed a few single 'desert' hexes to add to my existing Hexon collection. As I had 'flocked' my own desert set (the original pre-flocked desert Hexon was a bit too orange to my eyes...) I used a few of the blank (bare brown plastic) hexes I bought at a show earlier this year. It occured to me while engaged in this process that it might make a useful post for others considering a similar course of action.

First I washed the plain hexes in soapy water and rinsed them thoroughly before leaving them to dry overnight. Next I 'painted' one hex at a time with a liberal coating of PVA and doused them with fine sand - as per the photo below.

When dry, I dabbed on further blobs of PVA and piled on clumps of 'grass' flock. This is a good way of covering up any 'bald' patches in the sand. Finally the tiles were treated to a blast of spray varnish.

The completed hex tiles playing host to some 6mm South Africans.

'County' Class Cruisers - and a game announcement!

2011-12-21T14:20:00.001Z

The 'Counties' on the slipway.

Having secured a fair bit of interest in a game I'll be running on the 28th using the Fletcher Pratt rules, I decided it was time to review the fleet and perhaps do a spot of shipbuilding. The glaring shortage was of cruisers, so it was out with the Airfix 'Sink the Bismarck' sets from which I dug out the sprues for a pair of the HMS Suffolk models. Despite the age of the moulds, there wasn't too much flash to remove and both kits were easy enough to assemble. They have now been undercoated ready for further daubing.

The game on the 28th can accommodate pretty well any number of players, so if you can make it check out the Sheffield Wargames Society website for location details.

After undercoating. A further post will deal with the larger vessel in the foreground - 10 points for naming the ship and a further 10 for identifying the kit manufacturer.

3 RTR at Calais

2011-12-20T13:10:00.000Z

Light tanks of 3RTR go train spotting.

This game was run by Martin a couple of weeks ago and used his (and some of John's) 15mm toys. Leaving aside the fact that this is a scale which will clearly never catch on for WW2 it was a very enjoyable game. The rules used were John's home-grown 'Battlegroup' and individual toys generally represented platoon-sized units. John commanded 3RTR and Steve led the German recce forces while our man in the sinister black panzer overalls was none other than your humble correspondent...

Martin very kindly sent me the briefings used - here are the essential points:

After crossing the Meuse on 13^th May, three entire Panzer Corps drove westwards 100 miles towards the coast at Boulogne and Calais, threatening to encircle all the Allied armies in Belgium and Holland. Whatever slender Allied reserves were available were rushed to defend the Channel Ports, as the Panzer Divisions came ever closer.

Allied Briefing

3RTR arrived in France on the 22^nd May equipped with a mix of familiar Vickers light tanks and brand new A13 cruisers, expecting to work up to combat readiness at a nearby French tank training ground. On arrival the Germans were discovered to be closer than expected and the regiment was hastily formed up and dispatched with conflicting orders heading first south west from Calais then south responding to reports of German forces on the St. Omer Road.

Aim

Engage and destroy the enemy forces on the St Omer Road. If substantial German armoured forces are encountered, assume a delay/defensive posture and prevent German forces from advancing on Calais from the south and south west

Forces

3^rd RTR (around 50 runners available)

Regimental HQ – one Vickers Light platoon, liaison troop in Dingos.

2 x Light squadrons with 2 x Vickers each (one troop with 15mm BESA)

2 x Cruiser squadrons with 2 x A13 each.

Axis Briefing

1^st Panzer Div is approaching the coast, enemy forces are reported to occupy Calais to the north. Corps command is reluctant to assault the town with panzer formations although it seems likely that the town will at least be invested. Earlier in the day before the mist descended there were reports of an enemy tank column manoeuvring to the south of the town directly across your axis of advance.

Aim

Continue to advance northwards. In the event of encountering enemy armour, destroy as many tanks as possible.

Forces:

KG Kruger (1^st Panzer Div),

1^st Recce Abt

2 x Amd Car companies each: 2 x AC (one with auto cannon)

1 x M/cycle inf company: 3 x platoons plus CHQ

1 x Hvy Co: 1 x mot engineer platoon, 1 x mot 37mm AT gun

Deploy on the high ground to the south, one company must be in column on the road a maximum of 2 feet in.

Available reinforcements

2 x Light Tank C: 1 x Pz IIIe, 1 x Pz II, 1 x Pz I ea

1 x Med Tank Co: 2 x Pz IVd, 1 x Pz II

3 x Mot rifle Co: 3 x Inf, 1 x HQ, 1 x lorry each

3 x 105mm arty bty: 1 x 105mm howitzer plus tow ea

One coy/bty per turn may arrive on the southern road edge, roll 3+ for it to enter.

The Brits also had 'proper' tanks!

The first Panzer Kp arrives to beef up the recce troops.

Panzers (heavy ones by 1940 standards!) trundle forwards.

The two armoured car squadrons probe the right. The dodgy looking things which clearly aren't Sdkfz222s are in fact Spanish Civil War toys standing in for '221s.

Panzers pass the recce troops on the road.

Panzers swarm forward in true Blitzkrieg style! The DPM-clad British commander can be seen lurking at the far end of the table.

Bugger (in German). More British tanks.

Not to worry - we've got more of them - and all in a rather fetching shade of grey.

The second cruiser squadron as viewed from the Brit commander's very own windmill.

Lots of panzers - as viewed from the same vantage point!

Some British tanks try the devious ploy of sneaking round the flank. What could go wrong?

By now most of the German artillery battalion has arrived and is being offered plenty of work.

The panzers continue to swarm forward. They like swarming.

The cards represent the possible locations of yet more Brits.

The British flanking move (on the German right) is spotted!

Soon the German gunners join in!

It seems that the big tanks burn just as nicely as the little ones.

Meanwhile the panzers push on.

The sneaky British flanking force in in real bother now.

Overview - the panzers can be seen swarming forward while on the right the recce and the flanking squadron trade long range fire.

I seem to have taken several shots of the tommy cookers...

The panzers all nicely lined up for an assault on the British positions.

More swarming.

The nasty Brits blow up a Panzer III troop....

...but are soon made to suffer. More.

The Brits withdraw towards the illusory safety of Calais.

Martin says of the game: I was rather pleased with how it went. As I mentioned, historically the engagement lasted around two hours (1500 to 1700), 3RTR inflicted heavy casualties on the leading elements of KG Kruger but as more Germans rolled up it became a general firefight and eventually the British withdrew when Brigadier Nicolson recalled them to Calais Which is pretty much what happened on the night!

The Battle of Motya - 409 BC

2011-12-18T20:06:00.001Z

The warrior unit which formed the centre of the Carthaginian force. I've no idea who these chaps are, other than them being old Minifigs originally painted by JR. Their wild hair and mad staring eyes indicated that they'd be tough lads - and so it proved in the game! Stop press: John Bassett tells me that these are Minifigs Dunlendings with axes from the Mythical Earth range, released in 1974.

This was another of the 'unofficial' CCA scenarios written by Jim Duncan, and followed on from the game reported a couple of weeks ago. Once again a Greek force - mostly composed of mercenaries and malcontents - under one Hermocrates faced a Carthaginian army defending the approaches to the city of Motya.

The initial setup, with the Carthaginians to the top. The three sections of ramparts mark the causeway leading to Motya - the rest of the top row is coastline.

The starting positions, seen from the Greek side.

Another view of the setup - taken from my vantage point on the Greek left.

The Greeks repel an attack by Carthaginian light troops.

The Greek right advances - casualties on both sides are numerous. The Carthaginians had the worst of this engagement but they took quite a few hoplites with them.

All agreed that this unit of Carthaginian Auxiliaries deserved a (posthumous) photo given the casualties they had inflicted on the Greeks.

The Carthaginian left flank has collapsed and battered but angry hoplites bear down on the increasingly nervous Carthaginians.

Closeup of the victorious hoplite unit - old (and definitely veteran!) Garrison figures.

The Greeks realise that the Carthaginian general is still in their midst - he narrowly escaped death when the warriors he had accompanied perished.

The Greek light cavalry make threatening moves.

Light infantry join in the Greek attack.

The Greek cavalry infantry rolled some lucky dice!

The Greek centre finally joins in, while light troops sweep round the flanks, securing victory!

The Greek light infantry unit captures the entrance to the causeway. More veterans from JR's attic - Hinchliffe this time.

Pig Power!

2011-12-18T14:18:00.000Z

Some years ago, Peter Pig released this figure into his 15mm range. I rediscoverd my casting a few weeks ago and added it to the painting pile. Now to sneak him into a game...

More Forbodian Cavalry

2011-12-16T10:32:00.000Z

News that Martin is making progress with his comedy Prussians has sparked a recruitment drive on the plains of Forbodia. This second cavalry regiment has been raised from Italeri ACW figures, with their appearance subtly altered by a change of colour scheme.

The command group with (from L to R) standard bearer, officer and NCO.

I bought these figures ages ago and undercoated them during the summer. before becoming distracted by other projects. I returned to them a couple of weeks ago.

After the rudimentary paint job - the troopers await a coat of varnish.

Military Aid Package

2011-12-15T17:11:00.000Z

I recently sent Bob Cordery a surplus Corgi Panzer IV to add to his already impressive collection of such things. To my surprise he retaliated with the goodies shown above - four Armourfast T-34s, two Britannia T-34s, two Armourfast Panzer IIIs, two old Frontline T-26s and a trio of Reviresco I-16s! As is now customary with such things, Bob asked me to use what I could and pass on any surplus items.
As I already have quite a few 20mm Russian tanks - but not too many (does such a quantity even exist?) I decided to hang on to only the Britannia T-34s (below) - not least because I remember them being used in a game some years ago. I have also hung onto the I-16s but not yet decided what markings they will finally wear.
The Panzer IIIs have now been passed on to Martin R, and the other Russian tanks to John A. Thanks Bob!

MIG-15

2011-12-15T09:23:00.000Z

You may have spotted this 1/144 MIG-15 lurking in the background in my recent MIG-21 posts. This is the second of a pair of such MIGs (which go by the entertaining NATO codename of FAGOT....) I have built. Sadly I built them sufficiently long ago that I can no longer recall the name of the maker of these plastic kits.

Like it's twin, I have finished this model in North Korean markings as part of a project I have on the back burner. So far back that the gas may have gone out.

Parthian horse archers

2011-12-13T14:07:00.000Z

Fresh off the production line are these Parthian Horse Archers. These are plastic figures by Hat and the 15 chaps represent the bulk of the box contents (there are also 3 foot figures but I've not yet bothered with them). I have treated them to my usual basic paint job with a tinted varnish finish. They look rather better in the photos than in the 'flesh'. Light cavalry archers are useful to have as they feature in many different armies. I expect these fine fellows to be offered quite a bit of employment over the coming years.

Dyle 'M' for Megablitz - part 4

2011-12-12T22:20:00.000Z

7 Panzer Division trundles across Belgium - what a target for the RAF!

The final part of the Dyle saga now - and the German advance continues apace.

2 PD surges into Belgium.

The French 5 Corps takes up position. The Northern end of the Maginot Line can be seen on the left.

No sooner are the French dug in than the Germans - 3 PD in this case - arrive, together with some chums from the Luftwaffe.

Part of 3 ID(mot) photographed from the Korps commander's Fiesler Storch. The Horch Kfz70s are old resin kits. Protz, Sd11 and PAK38 (a cut down PAK40) by Matchbox. StuG III bt Fujimi.

7 North African ID marches (and gallops) to the front. The genuine French lorry on the road may look like an old Airfix Matador but that's just a trick of the light. Really.

Troops of French 4 Corps advance.

The font line moves ever westwards! The black item which a lazy umpire has left in the middle of the table is a Megablitz Dice Shaker.

Confused fighting ensues - and the Luftwaffe are back!

The Moroccan and Algerian troops of 7 NAID are treated to the full force of the Blitzkrieg.

3 PD heavily engaged with 5 DIM (French motorised infantry division)

2 DLM joins the party. Resin D-2 and light tanks, Heller S-35 and Skytrex AMR.

2 PD sweeps round the flank of 4 Corps and into the rear echelon on the Cavalry Corps.

Troops of 30 ID defend Conde against 7 PD.

3 PD finally overruns the positions of 5 DIM

The commander of XVI Panzer Korps views the advance of his troops from the air.

That concludes the photo-report. By this point the Germans had largely broken organised resistance and were pressing on, in a broadly historical manner 'to the green fields beyond.' On the German side the game had seen four Panzer Divisions and a motorised division in action, while the Allies had committed several (sorry, I lost count!) French and one British infantry divisions and two armoured (the DLMs).

YAK-15 'Feather'

2011-12-12T07:49:00.000Z

The YAK-15 is now complete and has begun it's glittering career as a dust gatherer on a shelf. It was a kit I build for the sake of doing so as I think it is an interesting aeroplane. One of the earlier postwar (1946) jet aircraft, it is basically a YAK-3 airframe with the piston engine replaced with a copy of a Junkers Jumo 004 jet engine. Although this sounds (and looks) like a bit of a lash-up, given that the YAK-3 was a pretty good aircraft and that the 004 was the engine used in the Me-262 it could all have been a lot worse.

I used one of the two sets of numbers which came with the kit, but binned the red stars (the printing was somewhat vague...) and replaced them with some I had in stock.

280 YAK-15 were built and it's main use was to facilitate pilot conversion training - a task no doubt eased by the familiar layout and landing gear.

Dyle 'M' for Megablitz - part 3

2011-12-11T10:55:00.000Z

The (really quite good) tanks of 3 DLM ready to see off the Boche. The 'S' marker indicates that the brigade has 'Static' orders - no fancy fire and movement here! Models by RAFM and Skytrex. The few buildings actually represent a decent sized town about 3-4km across.

More uncensored reports from the front now. For the benefit of those of you who weren't there, the game ran from around 1000 to 1600 the same day and covered about 3-4 days of 'game' time.

At last - the RAF! John C's beautiful Fairey Battle alarms the Germans - in this case the rear echelons of 2PD.

Another gratuitous photo of the Battle. Lovely!

The entire game paused at this point while players crowded round for a look!

Elements of 44 Div having their passports checked at the Belgian border.

French anti-aircraft unit, another of Ian R-L's remarkable models.

The Battle squadron gets its (entirely predictable) comeuppance at the hands of an F-Toys Bf-109.

7 North African ID moves up - clearly worried about air attacks! These are mostly Spanish Civil War figures from the old Hotspur range.

Artillery and AT units of an unidentified French ID. The splendid little Hotchkiss halftrack is another of Ian's creations.

3 DLM and 2 PD come to blows. Goody - a proper tank battle at last!

French (3 DLM) and Prussians (2 PD) clash at Waterloo. Again.

Artillery from 3 DLM with Corps support.

Artillery of 2 PD and XVI Panzer Korps

The second Battle of Waterloo continues - with some British spectators.

German tourists take in the sights at Waterloo

The RAF returns to safeguard tea supplies

44 Div counterattacks 2 PD. What a rotten trick!

The French continue to hold up 2 PD - but not for much longer!

The Sapper Btl of 3 DLM (yes it's that Somua again!) launches a spirited counterattack on the rear of 3 ID(mot)

A messenger from the Royal Navy (none other than Wg Cdr Luddite - right) arrives to tell the CO of 44 Div (Chris Ager) to pull back to the channel ready for evacuation - but - and this in a very loud voice - "Don't tell the French!" This produced genuine dismay in a number of the French players who, like their historical counterparts, felt let down and betrayed by their allies.

By now the action is concentrated on the western pair of tables.

7 PD arrives.

YAK-15 - work in progress

2011-12-09T11:33:00.000Z

Built and painted. Not too bad.

This is one of the PM kits I picked up recently at Telford. A small box contained a modest number of parts - rather in the manner of an old Airfix series 1 kit. Given that the YAK retails for £1.99 I was prepared to forgive a few faults!

I did use some filler, but the only significant problem was the fit (it didn't!) of the canopy. The technique I adopted involved much trimming, sanding, cursing and finally - filling.

No pilot figure was supplied, and as there were no suitable candidates in the spares box I decided to build the model 'wheels down'. If anyone has a load of spare 1/72 pilots I'd be pleased to hear about it!

The box and it's contents.

The PM kits seem to have a variety of origins. I think this one might be what we used to call East European.

The parts fit was OK, but not perfect - again think old Airfix.

There were a few bits of flash to remove - but not much - and the pilot's chair resembles those fitted in the 1970s Hillman Avenger.

Dyle 'M' for Megablitz - part 2

2011-12-07T22:43:00.000Z

More news from Belgium now, and a few words about the toys. Martin provided his own panzer division (which appeared as 3PD), Wg Cdr Luddite brought along a rather nice 1/144 scale Hurricane and John Chaplin brought his lovely scratchbuilt Fairey Battle. Everything else was scoured from my own shelves.

Recce (a company-sized stand) from 3 Inf Div (mot) waves to locals. A venerable Matchbox kit.

An infantry btl of 3ID(mot) advances. Unknown resin Horch kfz70.

3PD deploys for action

3PD heads for the frontier

The rear area of 3DLM

Some pretty French aeroplanes - 'ne pas pour la guerre'

Hawk 75 and Bloch 131 of the strangely inactive Armee de l'Air on their airfield at Mons.

Not even running up the engines!

Still no movement! Metal kit by Reviresco.

The celebrated Somua armoured bridgelayer of 3DLM

French corps artillery. Hinchliffe 155mm, FAA crew and scratchbodged tractor

RAF Hurricanes co-habiting with a squadron of Amiot 354. The Hurri is a Sweet Kits plastic model.

The plucky lads of the RAF take to the air...

...to provide support (moral at least) to 44 Home Counties Division

Dyle 'M' for Megablitz - part 1

2011-12-05T09:46:00.001Z

This large Megablitz game took place in Sheffield in October 2006 and while looking again at the photos recently it occured to me to post them here by way of a game report. Given the number of pictures (seventy!) I will run them over several posts.

Most toys in Megablitz represent battalion-sized units. In this case a panzer abetilung of 2 Panzer Division. This is an old and lightly modified Esci kit.

First of all, sorry about the title! The scenario was based on the Allied Dyle Plan, which was to sweep through Belgium with the cream of the French and BEF forces to defeat the main German thrust coming the other way. The rationale for this plan was as follows:

The Germans had come this way in 1914 and would surely do so again.
It was the only viable route for a German attack, the alternatives being the impregnable Maginot Line, and the ‘impassable’ Ardennes region.
It would keep the main fighting (and thus, the devastation) out of a France still deeply scarred, both emotionally and physically by the 1914-18 conflict.

This scenario was designed to fit a number of requirements:

I expected around 12 players. Some of them were travelling some distance and thus might be late, and at least one had to leave early. There was a need therefore, to be able to feed players in and out of roles throughout the day.
Many of the players were new or recent converts to Megablitz, so I needed several roles where such inexperience would not unhinge the game.
The last few Megablitz games had involved mid and late WW2 actions (notably Kursk in 2004 and Market Garden in 2005), so I felt that an early-war outing would make a pleasant change.
I have long been deeply interested in the 1940 campaign in the Low Countries and France.
My 20mm toy collection includes shedloads of 1940 French stuff. Much of it obtained from Ian Russell-Lowell and featuring several of his ambitious and intricate scratch-built vehicles.
And finally – John Chaplin’s splendid 1/144 scale scratch-built Fairey Battle. It really is such a nice model that an excuse to use it in a game just had to be found!

Opposing Forces

The French order of battle was fairly historical (note that unit titles and numbers reflect what I had to hand and may not be entirely historical) and included a Cavalry Corps which was to scout ahead of the main body of the Army and in the event of a German advance, hold off the enemy long enough for the 3, 4 and 5 Corps (totalling 7 infantry divisions) to occupy a defensive line covering the Warvre to Namur area. This was an area known as the Gembloux Gap, and the French were told that Belgian Army engineers had prepared defensive positions for them.

The Armee de l’Air (French Air Force) had a number of units based in the area equipped with Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters together with (hastily scratch-bodged and still smelling strongly of Humbrol varnish) Bloch 131 and Amiot 354 bombers.

The French were also blessed with the ‘help’ of part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), comprising the 44^th (Home Counties) Division and an attached Cavalry (armoured car recce) regiment in the shape of the Fife & Forfar Yeomanry (well I had to get some proper soldiers in somewhere!) A small RAF detachment was potentially available, and great things were expected from the new Fairey Battle light bombers. However, one of their Hurricanes had already been lost when it had force-landed in Belgium prior to the German invasion and was promptly impounded by the Belgians. Rumours abound that it was subsequently used by the Belgian Air Force….

The Germans, meanwhile, were to emerge from the directions of Maastricht and Liege with an initial force of 2 Panzer Divisions (2 PD & 3 PD) and a motorised infantry division (3 Mot). Heavy Luftwaffe support could be expected, with 3 squadrons of Ju 87 ‘Stuka’ dive-bombers in evidence, together with enough Bf 109 fighters to make the skies very dangerous for Allied aircraft.

The Course of the Battle

The progress of the action can perhaps be best appreciated by looking at the ‘photos.

The French Cavalry swiftly arrived at the Gembloux Gap and immediately demanded their money back from the Belgian engineers – the ‘fortified positions’ were few and poorly constructed. Worse still, as the Germans were soon to prove, they could be easily bypassed.

Soon the Germans appeared, with 3 PD on the road from Liege heading for Namur, and the rest of XVI Panzerkorps on the Maastricht – Tienen road.

The relative inexperience of the German players showed in their reluctance to bypass areas of resistance, preferring instead kill the enemy rather than encircle it. They were further hampered by the skilful mobile defence conducted by the French cavalry, who had correctly anticipated the German routes of advance.

The playing area, seen from the west. Using a scale of 4cm=1km, each table was 30km wide by 90km long, giving a total area of 10,800 square km!

Passports please! The Fife & Forfar Yeomanry arrive at the Belgian border.

Meanwhile to the south, recce from 3 DLM (French light mechanised division) seeks the enemy.

2 DLM takes up position

The French cavalry corps HQ - with appropriately flash car for the General!

Units of 2 Panzer Division advance.

British tourists at Waterloo

Rear echelon units of 2PD

Units of 2PD encounter the British recce screen.

Prussians at Wavre - just like 1815!

Armoured power! The tank brigade of 3DLM

3 DLM's artillery regiment deploys for action. Hinchliffe '75, FAA crew and Raventhorpe halftrack.

Cavalry from 3 DLM in Tienen

Steve's Walmington-on-Sea church - interior

2011-12-04T12:40:00.000Z

BTR-152

2011-12-02T10:34:00.000Z

The small batch of 15mm toys which I recently completed included this BTR-152 - I believe it is the Peter Pig model. I have always rather liked the '152 because is manages to combine looking quite cool and being rather crap. Irresistible!

This model arrived in my hands still unassembled but 'pre-owned' and missing one of it's wheels. Can you spot what I used as a replacement? (it's the middle one in the pic below)

The crew are actually WW2 German tank commanders from the PP range - possibly present in Africa as East German 'advisers'...

President Fred

2011-12-01T15:51:00.000Z

Although there has been little previous mention of them on these pages, I maintain a modest collection of 15mm toys for games set in fictional African countries in the 1960s/80s. Most of the figures are from the splendid Peter Pig ranges and, while the PP's own AK-47 Republic rules have been used occasionally, more recent games have used Matrix Game mechanisms such as those mentioned here.

My 'own' fictional country of Phtang is ruled over by President Fred, notorious leader of the Phtangi Organisation for National Glorification. Anyway, why (you ask) am I drivelling on about this now? In a shock development I have painted a few of the 'spare' 15mm figures I had lying around. More photos will follow over the coming weeks.

President Fred views the body of one of his political opponents during a typically free and open Phtangi election...

Roman cavalry

2011-11-29T18:34:00.000Z

Fresh from the painting table are these veterans (they're at least 30 years old). The troopers are 1970s Minifigs with separate shields and spears but I cant confirm the maker of the nags. I simply found what would fit the riders and then rummaged through my boxes until I had eight of the same model. I remember having some similar figures back in the WRG 5th edition days, so painting these chaps was a bit of a nostalgia trip.

As usual (for me), a basic paint job with a stained varnish to finish off. The base is my standard 8cm frontage.

P-51 Mustang

2011-11-28T17:19:00.000Z

There haven't been any photos of 1/144 scale aircraft here for a while, so now seems as good a time as any to address this. While painting my three MIG-21s silver. And more silver. And yet more silver (well you get the idea...), I also turned my attention to a couple of 144 scale kits which I'd built some time (over a year) ago. Indeed you may have noticed them skulking under the MIGs in my earlier post.

The first candidate for the treatment was this P-51 Mustang built, as far as I can remember, from the old Revell kit.

Mustang in 'flight'. I may go over the blue areas with some gloss varnish.

Simple paint scheme and decals from the spares box.

The Battle of Mazaros River, 410 BC

2011-11-27T20:36:00.000Z

I really must write up games much sooner after the event. I ran this game on the 16th of November and can barely remember what happened! As usual though, I'll do my best to caption the photos and let them tell the story.

This is one of the 'unofficial' Command & Colours scenarios (written by Jim Duncan) which has been posted on their website, and I chose it as I knew I had the required toys. Basically a scrap between two city states on Sicily Selinus and Segesta, the former (Greeks) usually got the best of such encounters. Unknown to them, however, the Elymians of Segesta have enlisted Carthaginian help - in the shape of a 6,000-strong army! Steve and Harvey led the Segestians while John donned his hoplite outfit.

Historically a Cathaginian victory, this time the Greeks won the day. John will tell you it was pure skill, but there were some damn lucky dice involved!

The initial setup as viewed from the Greek side of the table.

Hoplites in the Greek centre/right. This was the first game I had run entirely with my 'new' 25mm toys - made up of figures received from JR's collection (see many previous posts) and some Ebay finds. All are on 8cm frontage bases.

The Carthaginian centre/right.

Carthaginian centre/left. The chaps with the red shields are the only 'heavy' troops on the table.

The Greek left wing. The initial attack was carried out by these lads - especially the medium cavalry.

The Carthaginian centre/left stands by to repel boarders.

The Greek cavalry gets stuck in but soon runs off.

Despite casualties (the white crosses - infantry take 4 hits before the unit is removed, cavalry 3) the Carthaginian line holds.

The Greek deputy commander gently suggests that the cavalry might like to advance again.

In a very close-run scrap, and not least because of some fantastic dice, the cavalry prevails.

The mid-game situation, seen from the Greek left.

The very battered Greek cavalry intimidate the Segestan General.

The Carthaginian left at last begins to move forward. Steve's General poses for the camera.

The situation of the Greek right - infantry advance on the enemy skirmish screen.

Seen from the Greek right, a good old infantry clash seems imminent.

The Carthaginians lumber forward, while the General has another photo call.

The Greek line is formed - and very intimidating it looks too! The hoplites are all Hinchliffe and Garrison figures, late of JR's attic.

The final Carthaginian assault - but it comes too late to save the day.

Steve's 'Walmington-on-Sea' church - windows

2011-11-25T14:39:00.001Z

Steve has now complete his church - including guttering and glazing - and had sent me more photos.

As well as a close up of the drainpipe, this shot offers a tantalising glimpse of the interior. More coming soon!

Steve's 'Walmington-on-Sea' church - exterior

2011-11-24T15:44:00.000Z

Inspired by the use of his Dad's Army figures for a few games recently, Steve is currently hard at work building a church in 28mm scale. Here are some photos of the work in progress - interior pics will follow soon.

The Verger (left) and Vicar look pleased with their new workplace.

New book!

2011-11-23T10:34:00.000Z

I spotted this newly-published book at the Telford IPMS show and spent much of the day agonising over it, before bowing to the inevitable and ordering a copy! The book offers a complete and well illustrated history of Sov Tactical air power during the Cold War - from early jets and Il-10 to hi-tech stuff (which is still in service) like MIG-29 and Su-25. If that doesn't get me churning through my backlog of 1/300 aircraft (to say nothing of more recently acquired larger scale kits) I don't know what will.

Interestingly, the same authors have also written a volume on Soviet strategic air power which is already on my 'wish list'. We can but hope that they next turn their attention to the Soviet air defence system during the Cold War period.

IPMS Model World Show

2011-11-22T12:29:00.001Z

On Sunday 13th I made the trek to the IPMS Model World show at Telford. This is a show I'd been meaning to get to for some years, and the journey was trouble free and took less time (about 90 minutes) than I'd expected.

The show filled three hangar-sized halls. The first was occupied largely by the competition tables and a 1:1 scale Spitfire, the other two had trade stands all round the walls and IPMS branch displays in the centre. I managed to make a complete initial circut of both trade halls without any money changing hands - no mean feat considering the vast array of kits and books on display! There was also a 'Kitswap' - effectively a Bring & Buy - in the first hall which I was of course unable to resist!

The initial swag. I've enjoyed the larger (than 1/144 scale) aircraft kits I've built this year and who could resist a Hunter for £2? The Tamiya kits (£11 for the pair) will be useful for my Funny Little Wars forces.

The 'Kitswap' also yielded a couple of unboxed 1/72 aircraft kits - MIG-17 and Jaguar - and this curiosity. I knew that ROCO made a couple of helicopter kits but I'd never seen this Phantom in the very unusual scale (for an aircraft kit) of 1/87. For £2 it seemed an attractive purchase.

The only stuff I bought from a trader was this batch of 'PM' 1/72 kits. These are apparently made in Turkey and look to be quite high quality kits, but are very cheap! The five kits in the photo retail for a total of less than £15.00 (before haggling...) No idea what they'll be used for but no doubt I'll think of something.

Ancient Palisade

2011-11-21T17:39:00.000Z

Looking through some of the Command & Colours scenarios recently it became clear that I needed several lengths of palisade. A rummage in the terrain boxes yielded two resin cast items of considerable vintage - I think I've had them since the '80s. As I appeared to need about 6 pieces it was out with that trusty standby - balsa wood!
I marked out some 10cm widths and with a ballpoint pen and a ruler marked out individual 'stakes' before cutting to size and basing. For such a quick job they've not turned out badly.

Two of my home-made palisade sections being defended by assyrian archers.

For comparison - these are the 'original' resin items which have been pressed back into service.

Garrison Miniatures

2011-11-20T11:57:00.000Z

Following an email exchange about the splendid Rose Miniatures Roman slave market, Rob of Garrison Miniatures who now also owns the Rose moulds very kindly sent me some samples of his ranges. As yet I've not had time to paint any of the figures, so for the time being here are photos of some of the 'raw' castings. My first ever metal wargames figures (Spartan Hoplites) were Garrison products, so I've always had something of a soft spot for them.
Back in the 1970s when the other main manufacturers were Hinchliffe and Minifigs I remember that according to warped wargamer logic - because they were significantly cheaper (14p each as against 17p for the others) that Garrison were seen as slightly inferior - crazy. Whatever your own recollections are, I can assure you that if these samples are anything to go by Garrison ought to be taken very seriously indeed. I believe that Rob has recut the moulds and he is clearly using a high quality metal which makes these very crisp figures indeed.

Scythian bowman from the Rose Prestige range. Spot on at 25mm tall.

Romans from the Garrison 20mm range. At 23mm tall these are highly compatible with many of the modern plastic figures.

25mm Gladiator - again these chaps are bang on 25mm.

Another Gladiator.

Norman archer (complete with accurate haircut!) and Saxon Fyrd. 25mm again.

Prussian 25mm from the Seven Years War range. Probably somewhat beyond my painting ability!

Rose 20mm French Napoleonic cannon.

MIG-21 - part 3

2011-11-19T17:50:00.000Z

The three MIG-21s are now finished, following the expenditure of no blood, little sweat and only a few tears. But a lot of silver paint. I'm rather pleased with the results though. All have been finished in Soviet markings as I need Russian aircraft for the planned game.
These kits have been a pleasure to build, so expect to see further models from the rest of the small range of Tamiya 1/100 aircraft on this blog in future. Especially as some of my other favourites are included - such as the EE Lightning and Dassault Mirage III. Oh yes.

'Red 26'. This is actually the 'spare' Fishbed which I chose to model with its wheels down and centreline fuel tank in place.

'Red 66', with R-3S 'Atoll' AA missiles on the wing pylons.

'Green 61' - otherwise identical to Red 66.

61 & 66 in 'flight'.

Fishbeds and friends, with some very confused Roman cavalry in the background.

MIG-21 - part 2

2011-11-18T18:00:00.000Z

More MIG-21 'Fishbed' progress to report. The kits went together as well as I'd hoped, with only a tiny amount of filler being required to meet my (pretty low) standards. I need two MIGs 'in flight', so decided to build the third with it's wheels down.

Following a previous disaster with trying to paint a 'bare metal' finish, Rich - he of westmodelsandfigures suggested I try the Revell (acrylic) silver. A pot was duly sourced and I gave it a try on the MIG-21s. Despite a decent undercoat of matt white (applied by spray can), the models each required three and a half coats of silver to produce an acceptable finish. Is this normal?

Never a fan of trying to paint on framing and the like on transparent parts, I decided to paint over the canopies as I do on 1/144 and smaller aircraft models. This has the added benefit of saving me having to paint pilots or internal detail. These are wargames toys after all.

Coming soon - the finished models.

The three 1/100 scale 'Fishbeds' and some smaller chums.

MIG-21 - part 1

2011-11-18T09:20:00.001Z

As part of the preparation for a game Martin and I are planning at next year's Conference of Wargamers I need a couple of MIG-21s. As I recall owning a rather battered example of the Airfix version many years ago, I began looking around at 1/72 scale kits. However, they all seemed a bit pricey - even on Ebay. Widening the search a bit, I discovered a Tamiya kit in 1/100 scale - one of a small range of kits in this scale which have been around since the '70s, but I hadn't come across them before. The fact that they are readily available for less than £3.00 each made the decision for me and as I needed two, I obviously ordered three of them!

The kits come in a rather nice box - overlooked by some manufacturers, but I think it makes a difference.

The parts all look very crisp. And thankfully there aren't too many of them! Three sets of markings are included - Soviet, Polish and North Vietnamese.

I actually bought these a few months ago and have now built them all - more photos coming soon.

The dangers of smoking... part 2

2011-11-17T16:01:00.000Z

Steve has sent me some photos he took of the recent game. Unlike mine, these were taken with a proper camera...

A fine view of the crashed He111

Mainwairing, Wilson and Godfrey.

The German crew making good their escape - note the guy at the back with a dismounted MG.

I haven't measured them, but I've no doubt that the bullet holes in the Heinkel scale to .303....

British Legion raffle

2011-11-14T17:26:00.000Z

Just a quick post to mention the splendid fund raising efforts in support of the British Legion as mentioned on Richard's blog. A recent raffle raised £354, mostly from local wargamers and with support from an impressive range of wargames manufacturers and publishers. And I'm not just saying that because I won stuff!

Photo from the British Legion website.

For those of you unfamiliar with it's work, the Legion provides support for serving and former members of Britain's armed services and their families. If you missed out on the raffle you can still donate via Richard's blog - please do so.

Bijou bunkers

2011-11-12T16:03:00.000Z

A logical follow-on from my previous post, featuring slightly bigger lumps of small-scale (6mm)concrete (resin actually). I bought these at Triples in May so to have already painted them is quite astonishing - by my standards!

They appear to be based on German WW2 patterns, and can be used individually...

...or more impressively as a set. Photographed on my Hexon terrain, which they are also flocked to match.

The hexes are 10cm across if that helps to grasp the size of the bunkers.

Pillboxes

2011-11-11T18:21:00.000Z

I picked up a few of these 6mm scale pillboxes at a show a few years ago. Consequently I've no idea who the maker is! I finally got round to painting them recently . To give you an idea of size I have photographed them on my Hexon terrain - each hex is 10cm across.

No words and only one picture

2011-11-11T17:33:00.000Z

The dangers of smoking...

2011-11-08T17:11:00.000Z

A few weeks ago we treated Steve's 'Dad's Army' figures to another outing, again using Jim Wallman's 'Dialogue Game' framework.
The scenario this time was that a Luftwaffe bomber had crashed and the Platoon had been sent to search for the crew. The platoon was split into 3 sections and wile Capt. Mainwairing oversaw the inspection of the aircraft, Jones searched the village and Sponge the local farms.

Steve's rather impressive 'crashed' 1/48th scale He111, with Mainwairing, Wilson and Pike in attendance. The photos aren't great as I forgot my camera and had to resort to the Blackberry.

Walker tries to steal one of the geese - and has his cigarette stolen by the goose instead!

Sponge's section arrested an Italian POW working as a farm labourer. He was clearly up to no good...

Mainwairing is surrounded by angry geese while Sgt. Wilson tries to find a way into the 'plane and Pike offers to 'fill it full of lead'. Stupid boy.

A mystery ambulance arrives - under the control of a nasty Nazi! But he is soon overpowered.

Two of the Luftwaffe's finest on the run - just before they surrendered.

The finale came just after the last Germans surrendered when the goose which had stolen Walker's (lit!) cigarette strayed a little too close to a pool of petrol under the Heinkel...

Yet more adventures of 6 Panzer in Russia, 1941 - part 2

2011-11-06T15:30:00.000Z

We rejoin the action as the Germans in the town are coming under severe pressure.

The east town hex (right) is full of scrapping Germans and Russians. Meanwhile the Panzer btl (left) is driving back another Russian btl.

The Russians who crossed the river earlier have now come under fire, not only from the engineers but also some of the divisional artillery and AA.

Some of the German artillery (right ) redeploys to fire on the aforementioned Russian river crossers.

The Panzers have largely cleared the western approaches to town.

The situation east of the town is still serious, but the southern Russian btl has been shot up by the engineers and IG bty in the woods.

Can the brave defenders hang on?

Panzers stream over the bridge while the southern Russians are kept under fire.

The Russians in the north are also brought under fire in order to break up their imminent attack.

Made it! The Panzers have driven off the Russians in the east and have swung north to get stuck into another btl.

The Russians don't like it up 'em!

The river crossing Russians finally take significant casualties and their morale breaks.

The Panzers drive back more Russians in the north - the Russian attack has been broken.

The Russians in the wood (top) quake at the approach of the mighty Panzers.