Sheffield Games Day -3- Mokra, 1939

The second game of the day was a re-run of the Mokra scenario reported a few weeks ago at http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.com/2010/11/battle-of-mokra-1939-part-1.html, http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.com/2010/11/battle-of-mokra-1939-part-2.html and http://megablitzandmore.blogspot.com/2010/12/battle-of-mokra-1939-part-3.html . 

This time round, Martin climbed aboard his Panzerbefhelswagen while I had to make do with a command horse.  Once again 2 PD formed the core of the German force, with some chums from 3 PD helping to form the second Panzer Regiment.  Having used (correctly) the Wolynska Cavalry Brigade for the earlier game, we decided to give my other brigade, Mazowska, an outing. 

The game progressed much as per my previous reports, so I'll let the photos do most of the talking.  Here the Aufkl Abt fans out to look for the Poles - finding cavalry north of the road, infantry in the south and an AT company astride the road.

 

Turn 2 - more cavalry is discovered in Mokra and the woods in the north.

The panzers approach the increasingly worried AT gunners.

Turn 3 - the second Pz Regt concentrates (in a very unsporting manner) on the dug in cavalry regt in the woods.  Meanwhile Armoured Train No.53 has arrived in support....

...but so have the Stukas.  The battle didn't go well for the Poles.

Another view of the flying artillery.

In the south, the Polish recce, in the shape of a Wz.29 armoured car company engages in a bit of fancy footwork with their German opposite numbers.

The Polish reserve cav regt arrives near the front...

...and is promptly set upon by an entire panzer regt.  The AT roadblock meanwhile is getting a battering from more panzers and Stukas.

View from a plunging Stuka.

The cavalry are overrun and the Polish recce scarpers.

The AT roadblock managed to survive...

...despite the panzer menace.

The Polish armoured counterattack trundles round Mokra as the German recce flees.  That's my story anyway.  Speaking of fleeing, that's what the train was about to do.

The game concluded with the Poles bugging out at around 1800hrs as 2 PD consolidated it's position on the east side of the railway.  Playing time for this game was under two hours.

Nakajima B5N 'Kate' - part 1

While supposedly sorting out some kits yesterday I found myself (inevitably) sidetracked by building a couple.  That's not quite as bad as it sounds as the kits in question were of the pre-painted Japanese variety.

To balance out the recent completion of Nates and Sonias for the Army, I decided to build some early WW2 Naval aircraft.  Perhaps January is 'Naval Aircraft Month'....

First up were a pair of F-Toys 'Kates' - the component parts of a single kit look like this:

The build was a painless process and the models were left to dry overnight.  I'll post photos of the completed models soon.

Coming soon - Aichi D3A 'Val'.

49 (West Riding) Division - part 2 - work in progress

A little more progress to report - I used a spare hour or two to paint the divisional and arm of service markings.  Here is the motor pool taking shape.  I will offer a complete run-down of the toys when the unit is complete.

The division HQ.

Painting the divisional insignia (a polar bear) was a daunting prospect, so I decided to go for a vague representation.  According to the sources I have used, the badge has appeared in various forms, and the bear may be facing in either direction. 

From 3 feet away and without my glasses, this could well be a polar bear on the Divisional RASC column.

Gun from one artillery regt and towing vehicle from another - a classic photographic cock-up!

Sheffield Games Day -2- other games

After we had packed away the Op14 game, there followed a break while food was procured and our next game (of which more in a forthcoming post) set up.  During this time I also had a wander round the hall chatting to other members and looking at their games.  These included a 15mm Fire & Fury ACW game which appeared to be keeping around 8 players off the streets.  The table was 4 feet across by 8 long.

A close-up of the ACW game, taken from behind enemy lines...

A 15mm DBMM game.  I forget which armies were on the field but there are lots of pointy sticks in evidence.

John Armatys joined us in the evening and brought along a game he had designed that very day!  This was a Malburian period affair using his old 5mm blocks on a gridded battlefield of 8x8 squares.

Each infantry and cavalry brigade had two to five 'Strength Points' (SPs hereafter) - the figure being established by rolling an Average Dice they first time a brigade tried to fight or so something clever.  The SPs were marked with small dice (all marked as 6 before dicing)-

The perfidious French occupy a large town (BUAs are from the Irregular 2mm range).

I will gloss over the debacle that was the British right flank....  Here on the left the British cavalry prepares to get stuck into a lone French brigade accompanied by artillery.

Next turn - the French infantry have had a pasting and the gunners have legged it.

As first playtests go, the game went well and appears to have scope for development.  John was doing much note-taking, so expect to see a Mk2 version before long.