Bunkers get a make over.....

 A short break before diving back into the final batch of Africa Korps.

These have been languishing in the draw for a number of years, made by the sadly out of production Snapdragon Productions. They originally had a Northern Europe paint job but never really had any table time, hopefully the spike in desert games and a middle eastern make over will give them a new lease of life.

Perhaps useful for the likes of Tobruk or the defences for Operation Torch.

That's all for now.

Rising Sun, Tumbling Bear #4 - Turn 3 The attack on Pyongyang.

After a 6 month hiatus we are back to the Russo-Japanese War....

With the successful defence of Cinampo the Japanese consolidate their position and set about fortifying the town Spending 3 of their 8 action points.

In the south Admiral Uryu heads to the home land to collect a further division for the campaign, I figured with land forces now in country and good progress being made in Korea a further landing in Manchuria would help the campaign.

General Oku marches north and captures Seoul without a fight, the city is filled with locals waving makeshift flags for the liberators.

Satisfied that Cinampo is well defended General Kuroki strikes north and heads for the strategically important city of Pyongyang, which is defended by Gen Glasko and 150 points of defenders.

Can the Japanese breach the defences???

General Oku 200 Points 

General Kuroki 210 Points 

Admrial Uryu 22 Fleet Points

Admiral Nabu 24 Fleet Points

Bolt Action - War of the Worlds

Some enjoyable Bolt Action games of late and with a number of long train journey's got me thinking about how I might adapt them to cover my War of the Worlds Invasion Earth forces.

I much prefer knowing one or two rule sets really well, which keeps games flowing rather than the constant picking over rule sets, so I thought I would have a crack at tweaking Bolt Action and adding in elements from the original Martian Empire Rules.

Where possible I have looked to keep to the main rules for Bolt Action.

A few more play tests are required but feed back was pretty positive given it's first out with a couple of regular Bolt Action players.

On with the game - Crown Forces are looking to hold the line on the approaches to Winchester.

The British line, the cream of the British army, heavy cavalry, lancers and guns in emplacements. Surely this would be enough against the invader. 

Red weed had already started to creep into the eco-system, before the war machines were seen on the horizon, Fighting Machines, Handling Machines and smaller scout machines marched forward.

A fighting machine towered over a column of refugees as the guard rushed words to distract the tripod.

As the Martian raised its heat ray the heavy batteries let fly from behind the wooded ridge supressing the machine long enough for the column to stumble on.

As the local yeomanry advanced the fast moving scout walkers scuttled forwards wading into the valiant militia as they attempted to form up. The handling machine turned to face the tide of humanity trudging down the road. 

In a rare victory on the day the life guards caught a unit of Martians outside of their protective hoods, cutting them down before they in turn were wiped out by the fighting machines heat ray.

The invaders pressed on as the Royal Artillery fell backwards having been stripped of their infantry cover.... England was not yet defeated but the invaders would take some stopping.

A good first run out. Some things to ponder before the next game.

• The Heat Ray needs perhaps a slightly shorter range and when firing at infantry perhaps need the penetration score dropping to stop them all being completely wiped out in a turn.
• 
  
• The massed infantry ranks adding additional +1 for each stand beyond 2 felt right, but might need a limit to the number and arc of fire.
• 
  
• Artillery worked well at pinning the main tripods several times the main fighting machine was pinned and had to rally/repair themselves to stay in play.
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• Hand to Hand combat needs a slight rework allowing units to fall back rather than simply wiped out, I am thinking the difference between kills, becomes pins and units fall back 12" to keep them on the table.

All in all nice to get these guys back on the table.

WW2 Western Desert - Yet more Africa Korps.

3 more sections roll off the production line.

I did think about swapping back to French or Brits but have my eye in on the uniform detail and mix of tunics so the German reinforcements continue.

24 in one can can feel a little bit of a stretch, but it does have the advantage that once washed and varnished you have a workable table top force.

With over 60 in production it's hard not to repeat poses and uniform mixes, but these look good with a mix of sun helmets and steel helmets.

A few more caps, I do wish not all of the MG34 Guns had to be lying down.

The final batch from this sitting....

Until next time....

Operation Caravan - Raid on Barce.

Sometimes you look at other peoples collections and think wow....

Thanks to John F for putting on this great game at the Wyre Forest Club a pleasure to play.

LRDG Orders.

The destruction of aircraft, infrastructure and material in the Barce sector would severely hamper axis offensive capabilities. 

Primary target is the Italian Airfield at Barce. Destroy as many aircraft as possible, causing the maximum amount of damage and disturbance to the enemy. 

Secondary objectives should also be destroyed, but only if this will not prejudice the success of your primary task. Fuel Storage facility and Supply dumps within the Airfield,  Administrative infrastructure in Barce. Headquarters of local Italian Command, the vehicle park and camp.

The LRDG massed off table to launch there raid, 10 jeeps each armed with multiple HMG's and Twin Vickers, it was dark and the Italians were not expecting any visitors.

Racing on to the table, the LRDG gunned down the main gun emplacement before the crew even knew what hit them.

Racing down the road they shot up the Italian HQ, but things were getting hot on the main street as the defenders threw grenades from the roof top.

In out and away... mission accomplished the LRDG left the airfield and it's burning wreckage.

They had lost two thirds of their jeeps, but the Nazi war machine would not be using this airfield for quite a while.

A job well done.

A fantastic looking game, following historical events the raids were able to hit the main Italian camp, HQ and airfield before the Italians were able to muster a proper defence. The loss of two vehicles to lucky grenades on the main road was a blow, but the fast moving column was able to dodge any formed defence.

A great game, with some great collection. Now back to my own stuff I have a lot of catching up to do.

28mm DAK Warlord Games - Western Desert.

 A mid week update.

Having received two command/support packs, I thought this one would make a senior leader base with a commander and Radio Operator, together with another casualty pin marker base.... 

Considering the number of ranges of Western Desert figures there does seem to be a real scarcity of injured dead and wounded for pin markers across German and Allied forces, suggestions welcome.

Also coming off the paint table an Anti-Rifle, useful as soon as any vehicles arrive on the table.

Finally a bunch of officer types, to keep the the DAK in order.

That's all folks.....

Warlord 28mm Africa Korps

After the testers from a couple of weeks back the first Africa Korps squads roll off the paint table.

A mix of tunics and head gear to give them that campaign feel. These are all from Warlord games and look better proportioned than the commonwealth foe to my eye. 

I opted for 8 figure sections, smaller than the French and Commonwealth squads, but my thinking is using Bolt Action the Germans will get more dice and therefore more flex on the table. Each section armed with an MG34, loader, two MP40's.

A couple of extra's to bolster their number, a forward observer and a medic or pin marker depending on points or scenario.

These were really fun to paint and cleared the paint table relatively once I got my eye in. 

Looking across the mass of undercoated models there are at least 3 more batches. Standby for lots of German pics over the next month or so.

Wragaming the Battle for Suxy - France 11th May 1940 - Bolt Action.

Club day and a trip to France in 1940 as elements of the 10th Panzer Division and Motorised Infantry Regiment Gross Deutschland head towards the small town of Suxy which brought them into contact with the French 1st Cavalry Brigade, the French were taken by surprise, but tenaciously defended the town.

The view from the German approaches.

The view from French side, to add to their lack of preparedness the French selected a unit and then had to dice for the entry road. The 1st Cavalry had to halt the advance of the German invader.

Using the 'Blucher' order dice the Germans roll high for the French, but the French roll low for the Germans, French advance units fill both roads.

The slow moving Char B had barely entered the town when the German 222 with seen racing towards the cross roads.

High Noon - The Panhard Armoured Car poked round the corned which sent the little 222 reversing backwards out of line of sight.

Members of Gross Deutschland filter through the orchards and hedge rows on the approach to the church 

In true Blitzkrieg fashion the Panzer III crashes through the gardens but is stopped dead by the French Armour. Suxy will be a tough nut to crack. 

Stripped of their armour cover the Germans Infantry scattered as the French Armour came into view, the SDKFZ 222 blasted away but the Panhard was firmly focused on the foot sloggers.

With French Infantry pouring into the Church the German's retired to away the Stuka's.....

A bad day at the office for the Germans, the activation dice fell fortunately for the French allowing them to move quickly and in greater numbers into the Suxy before the Germans can bring more forces into play. An aggressive opening moving did put the French under pressure with the Armour hitting the cross roads early, but the loss of armour and the Infantry AT capabilities made it a tough ask for the Germans.

Good fun all round despite the result.....

Dispatches from the front XXVII - Care Packages & Testers.

The first dispatch of 2023.

The desert campaign is progressing at pace, but a distraction arrives in the post. Fighting over the same land a mere 832 years earlier. An excellent kickstarter campaign from Footsore Miniatures with their latest release for the Baron's War rules.

I may have gone a little OTT with my backing, sooooo much lead and a resin fort, enough to keep me going well into the summer of 2023....

I am looking to strike a balance between the Baron's War campaigning option but also recreating Standard Games Outremer from the 1980's. 

With a couple of projects now in the pipe I need to focus but the urge to get these on the paint table is strong despite a growing pile of WW2 Western Desert forces for the Exporter Campaign.

On the subject of Exporter reinforcements arrive from the Perry Twins in the shape of more Vichy French and the crew for an 88, as if the Allies did not have enough to worry about.

On the painting front the first of the German's clear the paint table, these are from the Gentleman's War set from Warlord Games and bolstered by several freebies donated by club members, plenty more to do which will eventually bring the number of German squads to 8 plus supports.

I was a little uncertain as to the right palette so tried a couple out, I am really pleased with the results, I wanted a mix of the Olive Green Tunic for some and the locally bleached tunics to blend in with the desert terrain for others.

Both were dulled down with with an Army Painter flesh wash, the mix of tunics should look great on the table top and give that lived in campaign feel.

For those interested this is the paint guide.

Tunics, Caps - Vallejo Iraqi sand or Vallejo Yellow Green.

Helmets Gasmask Container - Vallejo Green Ochre.

MG Strap, Rifle Pouches - Foundry African Flesh

Boots, Water Bottle - Vallejo Flat Earth

Gaiters, Water Bottle Top, Entrenching Tool Cover - Vallejo English Uniform

Webbing, Bread Bag and Shirt - Vallejo Stone Grey

Rifle - Foundry Tan 13B

Flesh - Foundry  125C Med Light Flesh

Bayonet, MG - Black