IABSM: German Panzerspah Zug

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Having painted up an SdKfz 250-based Aufklarung platoon for my late war infantry, it was only appropriate to sort the panzers out as well with an Sdkfz 250-based platoon from the Panzerspahkompanie.

Slightly different configuration from the Aufklarung platoon: with two command SdKfz 250/5 vehicles backed up by four 20mm cannon armed SdKfz 250/9 vehicles.

As with the Aufklarung platoon, the Plastic Soldier Company could provide the 250/9s, but no-one seemed to do a specific 250/5 i.e. the half-track with the extra radio equipment in it.

This is one version of the SdKfz 250/5

So I decided to go a bit off-the-books here and make the two cars SdKfz 250/3s (i.e. the ones with the aerial cage on top) instead of 5s. This meant that they would be clearly distinguishable from a run-of-the-mill 250, and maybe there were some 5s that had the cage. Google certainly suggested a whole lot of different types of "extra radio equipment", from hoops to tall cactus-like aerials etc.

The problem, of course, is that just as no-one did a 250/5, no-one did a 250/3 either!

Searching the web, however, led me to the 15mm figure manufacturer Heer46. They produce a separate aerial cage for the SdKfz 251/3, and although the cages weren't identical, I thought this was a close enough match and ordered a couple. 

Delivery was prompt, and with a bit of bending and squeezing, the cages fitted the smaller half-tracks just fine. Okay, so they have a cross-brace in the middle, and the 250/3 cage doesn't, but maybe these particular crews fitted extra struts because of high winds in the area in which they were operating!

I painted them in the same way as with the Aufklarung (see previous post) i.e. a base of dunkelgelb then sponged on camouflage, and they turned out equally as well. The only problem was that, again, and with a new can, I've had a frosting issue with GW Purity Seal.

Don't understand it. I switched away from Purity seal as my varnish of choice about ten years ago when I encountered a really bad batch that even GW (reluctantly) admitted was crap. Then, after a few years, I switched back...mainly because of the convenience of being able to pop into a GW store to pick up a replacement. I've had no problems, none at all, since then, until now.

Now I have had not one but two cans, bought from different stores, give my figures a nasty case of dusty frosting. Don't know why, and will have to buy a can of something else to see if an overspray works to clear it. Hope so, as I really don't fancy building and painting another fourteen SdKfz 250s!

Polish Big Man

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I mentioned in the post below about the 15mm WW2 figure manufacturer, Heer46, that they produced a range of unique command figures. When I bought the aerial cages for the command vehicles of the Panzerspah company (cf) I also bought one of these "Big Men".

He has painted up very nicely (although I've still got to deal with a bit of varnish frosting) and will form the first of my Poles as the overall command figure. Now all I have to do is buy and paint up the rest of the army!

IABSM AAR: Carroceto

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Here's another great battle report from Joe Patchen, this time covering a game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum using scenario #2 of the Anzio: Wildcat to Whale scenario pack.

It's 25th January 1944 and the Allies have surprised the Germans by landing troops behind their lines at Anzio. Now the British Guards thrust towards Carroceto and the Factory hoping to break out of their beachhead.

Click on the pic below to see all...

IABSM: Poland 1939: Cavalry Squadron

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Here's another IABSM v3 list for the 1939 Poles: a cavalry squadron.

I've almost finished the lists now: all I need to do over the weekend is the Armoury i.e. all the stats that support the units and vehicles shown in the lists.

Once that is done, I'll gather all the lists into one enormous pdf (it will be about 50 pages I think) and repost in a download-friendly fashion.

Then it's on to the Germans and Soviets...and maybe the Slovaks for completeness.

Click the picture or here for the pdf of the Cavalry Squadron list; or go to the Poland 1939 page with all the current lists by clicking here.

IABSM: Poland 1939: Polish 12th & 121st Light Tank Companies

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Another OB for the early war Poles: this time its for a force based on a company of Vickers E tanks from either the 12th or the 121st Light Tank Companies.

These were the armoured companies attached to Poland's only two motorised brigades: the 10th motorised cavalry brigade and the Warsaw armoured motorised brigade. 

Both companies also used the Vickers E tank: some with a single turret mounting a French 47mm gun, others with twin turrets each with a Polish machine gun.

There will eventually be OBs for the two brigades as well (the 10th is already up, Warsaw to follow probably later this week) but looking at the armoured element so specifically gives you the background to the brigade force even if it's one based on infantry with only a platoon or so of tank in support.

You can find the OB, along with the others, on the Poland 1939 page, which you can also reach by clicking here.

IABSM: Poland 1939: Polish Rifle Infantry Company

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As promised yesterday, here's what I expect will be the mainstay of any Polish force: the basic rifle infantry company.

This was a very interesting list to put together, mainly because of the unusually large paper strength of Polish infantry squads and the way in which they were armed:  how do you deal with a 19-man infantry platoon armed with bolt-action rifles and BAR on the table-top?

I suppose the place to start is with the lists in the v2 theatre supplement, Blitzkrieg! Here, Richard Clarke’s Polish infantry squads have ten men, and are split into squads with BAR and squads without. He has, however, given the company HQ an extra squad.

I have chosen to do things a little differently.

Firstly, I have the on-table strength of an infantry rifle squad as twelve. This is a decrease of the same proportion as used for German infantry squads.

Secondly, I have chosen not to differentiate between those squads with or without a BAR (assuming that BARs would be spread as evenly as possible throughout a force) but to penalise the firepower of the larger infantry squads by capping their Actions (and therefore firing dice) at ‘3’ right the way through from eight to twelve men. This represents a combination of dealing with an unwieldy number of men, the reduced ROF of the BAR versus a true LMG (without semi-automatic rifles to compensate as in later war US squads), and an allowance for the fact that a certain number of squads might be missing BARs entirely.

This seems to me to be a good compromise: especially as the large squads capped at three Actions represent units that showed no particular extra training to their contemporaries, but will effectively be braver than most as they will stick around for longer.

Those who disagree with my interpretations, above, are at liberty to field “understrength” squads of ten, subtracting one dice to any fire from a squad without a BAR.

To see the Polish rifle infantry company list, click on the picture. Or to see all currently available lists on the Poland 1939 page, click here.

IABSM: Poland 1939: 21st Light Tank Battalion

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Yes, you guessed it: it's another list for the Poland 1939 project!

This time we have an order of battle for the 21st Light Tank Battalion, equipped with French R-35 tanks.

The 21st saw action against both the Germans, at Kamionka Strumilowa, and the Soviets, at Krasne. It contained forty-five R-35s.

You can see the list by clicking on the pic to the right, or click here to go to the main Poland 1939 page.

Now that I've warmed up on the lists for the armour, tomorrow should be the big one:  the standard Polish infantry rifle company. 

IABSM: Poland 1939: 2nd Armoured Battalion

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Another list for the plucky Poles: this time covering forces based on one of the three light tank companies from the 2nd Armoured Division.

FT-17 Tank photographed at the Musee d'Armee, Paris

These units were equipped with somewhat obsolete French FT-17 tanks, some of which were still only armed with machine guns. To give you an idea of how bad they were thought, the platoon and company commanders didn't actually ride in the tanks, but drove around in field cars or on motorcycles!

To see the list, click on the pic; or click here to go to the Poland 1939 home page to see all available lists.

IABSM: Poland 1939: 10th (Motorised) Cavalry Brigade

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A third list for the Poland 1939 project, and this time it's the turn of the 10th Motorised) Cavalry Brigade.

The brigade consisted of cavalry units converted to the role of motorised infantry, and was the only fully operational Polish motorised infantry unit of the campaign. The infantry element of the brigade consisted of the 10th Mounted Rifle Regiment and the 24th Uhlan Regiment, each consisting of four company-sized motorised rifle squadrons; an HMG squadron; and an AT platoon.

This was the formation christened the "Black Brigade" by the Germans because of the black jackets worn by the Polish motorised troops.

Click on the pic to see the list.

Or click here to go to the Poland 1939 page with all the lists.

IABSM: German Aufklarung unit

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A bit of a break from Polish army lists today: some painting instead.

I've been wanting to add a reconnaissance element to my late war Germans for some time, but have been distracted by all the Arab/Israeli kit sitting on my painting table. Now that that's gone, it was recon all the way!

First up was the infantry recon element: a platoon from the Aufklarungkompanie described in both Battle for Liberation and Vpered Na Berlin. This consisted of eight half-tracks: one SdKfz 250/1 as command, one 250/10 with PaK 36, and then six more 250/1 carrying the three squads of infantry.

Command Element

With eight half-tracks to buy and paint, I decided to go the Plastic Soldier Company way: half the cost (at least) of buying them in metal, and the extra two half-tracks could go towards my next unit: recon for the panzers.

Building them was pretty easy. The only tricky bit was fitting the two crewmen into the cockpit. One stands, firing the MG, the other sits on the bench, presumably complaining that its his turn with the gun now! The problem is that it's a very tight fit to get both stander and sitter in place and, if you're not careful, you end up with Herr Stander's bottom firmly pressed into Herr Sitter's face!

The half-tracks paint up nicely. I undercoated in a dark yellow, then used one of the sponge things you get in a Battlefront blister to create a camouflage pattern with a light green and then a dark brown. In order to keep things consistent (und orderly, ja!), I made sure the camouflage blobs for each colour were in the same places on each half-track.

1½ squads-worth of half-tracks!

The crew were painted in German uniform rather than camouflage. I could have gone splinter pattern, but I felt that the contrast between the half-tracks and their crew worked better than if I'd camouflaged both. BTW, I only painted the bits of the crew that can be seen...and had to go back and paint the drivers' helmets as I forgot to do them as I did the others.

A wash with Agrax Earthshade (what did we do before Agrax Earthshade) and a bit of highlighting and the paint jobs were done.

Decals were then applied...and I've just realised that the numbering that I've used doesn't make any sense in that I have treated the main body of the unit as two squads of three half-tracks rather than three squads of two half-tracks. Doh! I have also had a problem with the backing film showing, despite using a decal softener as I applied them. It's a pain, but I shall have to learn to live with it.

The other 1½ squads-worth!

Anyhoo, a coat of matt varnish softened the colours so they looked less clown-like, and we're now all ready for some recon action. 

Nice figures: PSC = highly recommended.

IABSM Poland 1939: New List Added

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I have now completed and posted the second of the IABSM v3 OBs for the Polish army of 1939: that of the 3rd Light Tank Battalion.

The 3rd Light Tank Battalion was a make-shift unit consisting of only two companies of tanks: the 2nd Company, equipped with double-turreted 7TPs; and the 5th Company, equipped with single-turreted, improved 7TPs.

Originally intended for the 10th Motorised Cavalry brigade, the 3rd remained in Warsaw for the city's defence, and was attached to the central city defence HQ.

As ever, the core content of the list comes from Alexander's work on the Anatoli's Game Room blog, and is gratefully used with his permission.

Click on the pic to see the list, or click here to visit the Poland 1939 page containing all the IABSM v3 lists published so far.

IABSM: New Project: OBs for Poland 1939

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Today marks the start of my latest project for I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!: the creation of a set of v3 compatible army lists for re-fighting the September 1939 invasion of Poland.

I have been looking to model a 1939 Polish force for some time but, being someone who likes to have things handed to them on a plate, have been waiting for the v3 Blitzkrieg! theatre supplement to arrive before starting to buy figures. Until now, that is, when I have decided to produce IABSM v3-specific lists myself.

The impetus behind this project are the superb September 1939 campaign army lists for Flames of War that appear on the Anatoli's Game Room blog. Their author, Alexander, has given me permission to use his work as the basis for a set of IABSM lists which, combined with my own (much more limited) research, will appear on this website over the next few months.

The lists will follow Alexander's format of, where possible, concentrating on specific formations, especially for the armoured and specialist units. I'm afraid I don't think I'll be posting the Armoury until all the lists are up...but only because I want to put together all the stats for the various troops, weapons and vehicles on offer all in one go.

Today's launch includes the posting of the first of the lists: the 1st & 2nd Light Tank Battalions i.e. a force built around a company of 7TP jw (i.e. single turret) tanks. The OB also provides the detail needed for those elements of the the two battalions that appear as support options for other lists.

You can follow the progress of the project and download the various lists from the Poland 1939 page, available by clicking here or from the IABSM dropdown in the page header, above.

IABSM AAR: Operation Compass #05: Tummar West

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Another quick battle report from our friends at the Stipsicz Hussars.

They are currently playing through the Operation Compass scenario pack, and have hit scenario #05: Tummar West.

The "three day raid" is now fully underway. Next on the British list is the Italian camp at Tummar West. Click on the pic below to see how they do.

IABSM: Japanese Type 89 Chi Ro Tanks

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Next part of my catching up with the Japanese Battlefront pre-Pacific releases: the Type 89 Chi Ro (aka I-Go) medium tanks.

These come in boxes of five tanks, which is a bit weird really, as they fought in platoons of three tanks with a two-tank HQ. Must be Battlefront economics to always sell this sized tank in boxes of five.

Anyhoo, as you'd expect from Battlefront, these are lovely models: nicely detailed, and with relief deep enough to really bring out that detail when washed. Quality control was very good as well:  no missing parts, no horribly contorted parts, and everything went together very easily. You see, Battlefront, you can do it right!

The five tanks above were painted using the guide on the FOW website: spray undercoated in a deep yellow; camouflage added; then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. All I would suggest is that you think about where you want the thin yellow line to go before you paint the main brown and then green camouflage stripes i.e. plan your paint job rather than just starting willy-nilly.

The command figures are also well detailed. I love the pointing-chap, but I'm not sure about the bloke with the sword. Leaving aside his grip (that's the martial arts geek emerging from his lair!) I'm not sure that it's very practical to carry a katana, even a WW2 cut-down one, in a smallish tank such as a Chi Ro. Surely that's what a wakisashi is for!

Nice models, recommended for re-fighting Khalkhin Gol.

IABSM AAR: Operation Compass #04: Nibeiwa

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A quick battle report from the Stipsicz Hussars, whose excellent blog can be reached by clicking here.

The Hussars return to the sands of the Western Desert to play out the fourth scenario of the Operation Compass scenario pack: the British/Indian attack on the camp of Nibeiwa.

Click on the picture below to see all:

Those of you who read the report will note that the Hussars comment that all the scenarios in the Compass pack so far seem very biased towards the British.

Well, that's because they are designed that way for two reasons: firstly, they are historically accurate; and secondly, the idea is to give the British players the sense of superiority (and the Italian players the sense of inferiority) that were such characteristics of the campaign as a whole. It gets more difficult for the British as the pack goes on!

IABSM AAR: BoB #3D: Zhena

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The first battle report from the games of IABSM that I ran at this year's Operation Market Larden games day in Evesham.

For those not familiar with the event, some thirty Lardies gather deep in the heart of tractor country for a day of superb gaming followed by a curry and the usual mild drinking session! My thanks, as always, to Ade for organising the event so well.

Back to the action.

My morning game featured scenario 3D from the Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack: a small German force holds the village of Zhena during Operation Bagration. The Soviets are attacking in large numbers, but reinforcements are on the way. Will the vital road junction be held?

Find out by clicking on the picture, below: