Dispatches from the front XXIX - Small scale actions.

I had every intention of ploughing through the remaining Commonwealth Infantry and Free French but having completed the prep, basing and undercoating the thought of 80 boots, 40 rifles and webbing etc put me off a little. Perhaps next week unless something shiny comes along.

Instead I opted for the assembly line of the last support weapons for the allies and axis forces. Some nice castings from Warlord in shape of AT guns, Mortars and Infantry Guns...

I did sneak in a small order to Northstar with an extra HMG above, but really for some of their Africa Korps casualties which will make up pin markers for future games - I have hunted high and low for allied casualties and have drawn a blank, which was a surprise as almost every other range of figures across history seems to have them in all scales....

On the subject of purchases, Fred over at Two Send Fred is working on a small wadi for me, I was after a connector for my larger purchase, this is the draft mock up. This will be great for future games, more on that in a separate post.

Plans are afoot to finally give the Pony Wars rules an actual run out at the club. I wanted to be clear on the rules, hosting several players in one go, nothing frustrates me more than agreeing to host a game and not know the rules or spending valuable game time reading them while everyone looks on.

Whilst most definitely of there time the reaction tables really do make for interesting command decisions and they Indians numbers can get out of hand really quickly....

Over at the Wyre Forest Club I gave Bolt Action Modern a run out with my North Koreans facing off against the South Koreans with support from a British/UN modern contingent. Much like the news from Ukraine it turns out that T55's don't last long against more modern dug in armour.

The village of Fooket with dug in Dragon Teams and LAW's lining the walls.

The NK armour rushes forward with closed up armour and infantry in support.

The Brits lie in wait on the tree line.

Kim's forces burn in the field as the M60's take there toll.

A fun encounter if you were western backed forces, not much fun for the Koreans from the north.

You till next time....

Vichy French Armour - Bolt Action

Operation Exporter rolls on - Great pieces of kit from Badger 3D - See the link here.

Really good value for money - no build lines and half the cost of 'kits' - you have to wait a couple of weeks but they come with extra turrets options to make them into H35 or H39's - will definitely be buying again.

The H35 will give an extra punch to the Vichy French forces and can always be flipped to Free French to take on the Africa Korps.

To counter the Allied Tank threat a Laffly W15 TCC Tank Destroyer.... who needs a Stug when you can have one of these, instead of towiing the 47mm why not mount it on the back of the lorry. 

It comes a single kit you only have to glue the gun in position and add the crew.

That's all folks...

German Africa Korps - Infantry Support Options

A few more Germans to bolster the Axis forces, having had a few days away and reading up on the pressure the Vichy Government were putting the German's under for support in defence of their Middle Eastern territories it got me thinking about a wider 'What if' and a role of German ground troops...  but that's for another day...

First up a 81mm Mortar to add some weight to the German Infantry, I based them on a single base with a pin sabot to record casualties...  another one of those topic's which promoted some discussion on some Bolt Action Groups about the merits of single figures and spreading out the likely hits on figures.... I have never been one for micro measurement, if you are having to rely on 1/8th of an inch to catch the edge of a figure... we probably won't play very often :-)

A MMG/HMG depending on requirements.... 

The crew are in a mix of uniforms to give them that lived in campaign feel.

A must for any German force to give additional fire support.

Next up.... I suspect some vehicles as I prep a whole bunch of Australians who need sticking together.

Duel in the Desert - German Hardware

After the British Light Armour time to balance the books with some German reinforcements.

A great piece of kit from Warlord Games, this was originally from their Eastern Front range, but a change in crew from Perry Miniatures and the German defences are bolstered.

A large crew to service a big gun.... I did post the image on the Bolt Action FB Page, which promoted a string of posts about the ability of the gun to be able to move and shoot on an advance dice....

I won't be using that rule..... I am not sure you will be man handling 16,000 lbs around the table in sand whilst then loading and firing.

Now an excuse to put this lot on the table.....

Next up more French...... maybe....

Club night - Zulu Wars - Sharp Practice

A little but behind on posts but a great Sharp Practice variant at the Wyre Forest Club, with a British patrol holed up behind their barricades awaiting a relief column of cavalry to make an appearance. Way out front is our brave chaps hammering out range markers......

The Veldt may be wide but the Brits had hunkered down behind the suppliers and wagon boxes whist they awaited reinforcements.

At the far end of the table the column of cavalry appears but Zulu's were seen massing on their flank.

Lingering longer in the donga the Zulus sprang their trap heading for the Infantry before the cavalry could arrive.

The wagon train rolled on the Natal Mounted Police dismount to improve their firepower leaving the Sikali horse to hold the flank against the Zulu slipping from the donga heading for the camp, with others looking over to the wagon.

The horn of the Buffalo turns towards the column and straight for the wagon. 

Sweeping over the wagon and into the Police....

No further pictures were available at this time as the Colonial Commander was in no fit state to continue to record the tragic events..... 

Nice to get the Zulu's back on the table after quite a while, we used John Savages 19th Century tweaks along with the fervour element from Infamy to give the Zulu's a little more resilience. 

Great fun even if the British column had a terrible day in the field.