Blowpipe teams

I painted these months ago but for some reason the photos weren't posted.  These are 1980s BAOR AAGW teams armed with 'Blowpipe'.  An expensive* combination of drainpipe and firework, Blowpipe seems not to have been a great operational success

The figures are GHQ, painted last year.  The Series Three Landrovers are Heroics & Ros models, painted c1983, making them real Cold War veterans!

(* in 1994 the unit cost per missile was USD55k, the firing unit USD94k)

BAOR Mechanised Battalion

I churned out this Mech Btl - or most of one - a while back.  CinC FV432 and GHQ infantry.  I can steal the support elements from my Warrior mounted btl as I'm unlikely to be fielding them both at once.

Soviet Independent Tank Brigade, 1980s

A bit of a change of scale now - and the first 6mm toys I’ve completed for about 8 years!
Having taken new interest in my NATO Brigade Commander (NBC hereafter) game of late, I’ve been revisiting some drawers full of bits and pieces to see if I could assemble any complete units. There was actually more than I thought so I’m currently focussed on the Cold War units. This means that we have French and West German (remember them?) units coming soon, but for now here is a ‘quick win’ in the shape of an Independent Tank Brigade. These models have actually been painted and part based for some years so I only had to finish off the basing and do some touching in of the paint.
In NBC, most stands represent NATO-style companies so Warpact tank battalions usually merit only two stands. The three tank battalions of the ITB, however, each have five 10-tank companies so I’ve represented them by three stands each. Other Brigade assets are companies of AA, engineers, recce and HQ.  The tanks are T-80U by GHQ, with other models by Heroics & Ros, Scotia, and ISM. The stands are 30x40mm cut from artists mounting board. The little squares  in the rear of the bases are bits of magnetic strip to allow the attachment of strength point markers if the toys are used in my Megablitz game.

Operation Hannibal. Yet again

Following on from the matrix games we played in the early weeks of lockdown, we have now also tried a few more 'conventional’ toy soldier games.  One such was a lightly re-treaded version of the Operation Hannibal game I ran 10(!) years ago.  The original posts are here and here.
I emailed players the relevant briefings a couple of days in advance, as I needed some deployment information from them.  The Brits had flexibility about where they deployed the AA troops, the Germans on their drop and landing zones.
Speaking of players, they were:
British Brigade HQ & NZ battalion - John
Greeks - Tim C
ANZACs - Richard
German Regt HQ & engineers - Martin
I/FJR 2 - Simon
II/FJR 2 - Jerry
This would be at least the fourth time I’d used the scenario and it’s been different every time!

The British AA gunners were rudely awakened by gliders landing in their positions. Both batteries were swiftly overrun by the FJR assault pioneers.  

North of the canal more FJR parachuted into drop zone ‘Freda’ (top of photo) while an ANZAC battalion came marching along the road. 

At drop zone ‘Karin’ the other FJR battalion began landing.  A bunch of carriers come to investigate while the brigadier woke up the Greek troops in Corinth. The engineers on the bridge began removing the demolition charges. 

Turn 2. The rest of the FJR btl arrived on DZ Karin, repelled the Greeks and shot up the carriers. (photo by Martin)

In the north the rocky ground at DZ Freda caused a few broken ankles while one of my 35 year old Stukas tried to discourage the ANZACs. 

Their morale clearly boosted by the arrival of a troop of light tanks and in went the assault! (Photo by Martin)

A bloody battle ensued, resulting eventually in the ANZACs being thrown back. (photo by Martin)

At this point the brigadier announced that a trip to the southern tip of Greece was a good idea and drove off leaving the canal bridge firmly in German hands. 

It was at this point that I mentioned to a surprised Martin that each turn there was a chance of the bridge blowing up anyway (it did historically)....

My thanks again to the players. 

Delaying Action

 This was a NATO Brigade Commander game run by Martin using his 2mm toys.  John and Tim C (above) led the wicked capitalists....

...while the forces of progressive socialism were commanded by Jerry and your Humble Correspondent.  A clear victory to us in the battle of the silly hats.

  The field of battle.  Each 10cm hex is 1km across in the game.  

Out objective was to head west and not stop!

The Sov forces were a Tank Regiment 3 Btls of T-64, a  Motor Rifle Btl in BMP, a SP artillery Btl and a Co each of AA, Recce, Engineers and HQ.  We also had 2 flights each of Mi-24 Hinds and Su-17 Fitters on call.

 We also had the Divisional Recce Btl, augmented by engineers and SP artillery.

Our cunning plan was to send the Recce Btl on the right to act as a distraction while the main force moved along the axis of the autobahn.

The opening moves saw out programmed artillery landing on four crossroads, while the Brits blew up bridges.

 The wicked Brits flew in some TA reinforcements by helicopter.

 As usual, activation was card driven.

The British defence line was pretty much where we'd expected to find it.  This squadron of Chieftains was an unwelcome discovery.

 We soon called in the Hinds to deal with the Chiefies.  We upset them but didn't kill any.

 An overview of the devastated landscape.

 Those Chieftains were quite a problem - both heli flights were soon engaged.

 

 Once our barrage lifted we were able to move through the villages - but then the British gunners opened up...

 The Chieftains soon ran off to the next position while a T-64 Btl stormed along the autobahn.

 Barrage over, it was time to move up the Btl of Sp 122s.

 The Brits in the centre soon came under enough pressure to drive them away.

Endgame.  We had one Btl off the western end and another poised to follow. At this point the Brits decided to pull out.

We agreed that honours were pretty even.  The Brits had successfully carried out that more difficult of operations, a delaying action and withdrawal under fire.  The Sovs has successfully pressed forward covering 12km in an hour and a half with a very acceptable casualty rate.

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

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.