Madrid 1936 - part 4 - hearts and minds

 As the battle intensified the drone of aero engines could clearly be heard.  Three of them....

Soon this Junkers hove into view.  Fans of this period will surely agree that the tri-motor aircraft is the weapon of the future.  Photo by Martin

The Junkers swooped low over the area but while the Republicans dived into whatever cover was available the mighty machine released a cloud not of bombs but....

...propaganda!  This was a new rule we were testing.  I had found a load of Nationalist posters in the internet and printed them onto 100gsm card.  I dropped the 'posters' from a height of approx 5 feet.  Photo by Russell

Any bases which were 'hit' by a poster were deemed to be out of action for a turn - as the posters were read/angrily torn up/burned/used for personal hygiene purposes...

Entertainingly, one of the groups affected was the Republican HQ - but Orlov is watching!

And who was the intrepid pilot of the tri-motor treasure?

None other than Simon.  A grown man and former officer in HM forces, now happily playing with a toy aeroplane!

Jaded Jagdpanzer - Part 2

My battered Kanone has now had some paint and if I say it myself - it doesn't look half bad.

As I already have a West-German Kanone I decided to go with a more Belgian look for this one, with a fairly light drybrush to bring out the raised details.

And in case you're wondering why I bought such a wreck in the first place, the truth is I was really after the other 1/48 scale model in the same lot.  It is much rarer than the Kanone kit.  More news on that soon....
 

Jaded Jagdpanzer - part 1

This very battered Jagdpanzer Kanone arrived from a well-known online auction site a few weeks ago.  It is the old Tamiya 1/48-ish scale motorised model and came to me lacking tracks, gun and one of it's roadwheels.

By sheer fluke I happened to have a gun/mantlet from another Kanone model in my spares box - left over, you may recall, from this conversion.

Tracks were fashioned from packing straps - cut to length and stapled  - secured in place with dollops of PVA.  The missing wheel (fourth from left in the photo above) was replaced by what I believe to be a T-34 wheel.  It's round and of a similar size - job done!

The result ain't pretty but I'm sure paintwork will make it much, much....worse.

Madrid 1936 - part 3 - a tale of two columns...

 ...or should that be five columns?  For the first few turns both sides focussed on getting troops forward.  I'll let the photos do most of the talking.

A Nationalist column advances - led by the mighty tankettes!

Foreign Legion with 'heavy tanks' courtesy of Condor Legion.  Photo by Simon Wilson.

Moroccan Regulares advance.  Photo by Russell King

Republican backs to the wall - from left (obviously) - Russell, Lloyd, Jerry.

The kneeling photographer is none other then your humble correspondent.

Photo by Simon

The Paris Commune Battalion of the International Brigade advances accompanied by Russian tanks.

Another view of the International Bde.  Photo by Russell

POUM militia and Internationals advance. 

Another view of the Nationalist motor column - note the Guardia Civil company in the background.

Despite inter-factional squabbles, the Republicans had assembled the appearance of a battle line...

...but so had the Nationalists

The Legion advances!

Tankettes to the front!

But where, I hear you ask, were the NKVD?  Astonishingly, Comrade Orlov rolled a succession of ones, thus failing to activate even his own entourage for several turns.