Assal Uttar - part 2 - a spirited defence

We rejoin the action as the Pakistani advance continues - there are shedloads of Pattons just off camera to the right.  In a fit of blind optimism the Indian Centurions opened up at extreme range - each needing a '1' (or less...) on a D8.  Readers familiar with my appalling dice rolling may be as surprised as was I by the result:

The fateful dice which started a few Pattons smouldering!

Even better was Will failing both saving rolls. 

While that bought me a bit of time, the Pak battalion in the north was still working round my flank....

...but the Brigadier calmly contunued to direct operations.  Now then, what is the Hindi for 'get that old pile of junk off the road'?

As the game progressed it was clear that the Pakistanis weren't going to press home their attack.  Or so I thought.

Soon the M48s surged forward again and even the Centurion crews' morale went a bit wobbly after they took a casualty.

Worse still, the enemy soon lined up the M47 battalion alongside the M48s.  By this time the Shermans had been moved out and replaced with the infantry battalion.  The scene was set for the Pakistani onslaught...

I have been to.....Budapest

 I have recently returned from an interesing few days in Budapest.  More photos will follow, but here are a couple of the city's more iconic structures.  Above is the parliament building and below the chain bridge.

Assal Uttar - part 1 - a plethora of Pattons

On Saturday 30 June I was joined by Will of Will's Wargames Blog.  After some chat and a quick run through of Megablitz mechanisms, we set up and played the battle of Assal Uttar - from the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War - using my NATO Brigade Commander system.  I gave Will the choice of sides and having opted to dice for it he ended up commanding the Pakistani forces.  This left me as the Indian Brigadier - seen above making tea next to his command truck.  All the toys used were from my own 6mm collection.  Models by GHQ and C in C. 

The scenario was adapted from the one on Bob Mackenzie's website.  I have played this scenario previously - the last time was over four year ago (I'll try to find the photos).  When double-checking the link to Bob M's site I was interested to see that he too had played the scenario quite recently.  The photo above shows the table early in the game. Assal Uttar is the village top right-ish.

Both sides fielded an eclectic mix of kit.  Here a battalion of Indian WW2 surplu Shermans is comforted by the presence of two squadrons of shiny new Centurions.

A Pakistani battalion sets off across the fields to flank the main Indian position.  The mechanised infantry in M113s are supported by their heavy weapons company in trucks and a company of recently delivered M48 tanks.

As well as (from an Indian point of view) far too many M48s, the Pakistanis also fielded a battalion of M47.

The Pak M48 btl, accompanied by an infantry company trundles up the road.

The Indian cetral position was defended by the tanks seen earlier and this infantry battalion.

An overview showing the game well underway.  Pakistani forces are converging on the Indian defenders.

The Pakistani advance in the north was slightly hampered by the poor mobility of the trucks.

The M47s bring the defenders of Assal Uttar under long range fire while the advance down the highway continues.

An initial Pakistani assault on Assal Uttar (by a battalion with two infantry compainies and a some elderly M24 tanks) was repulsed after an embarassing morale failure.  Here the Brigade CO has had to intervene to rally  his chaps.

More on this game coming soon.

midget Mystere

My recently completed batch of 1/300 aircraft includes this Dassault Mystere IV (model of unknown make).  I decided to finish it in Israeli markings as I have a 1956 project on the back burner.  Actually the decals are a bit on the large side but it beats hell out of trying to hand paint them!