Old Hickory Released for Chain of Command

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Old Hickory, released today, is the third of the Pint-Sized campaigns for Chain of Command, designed to be played using the campaign handbook At the Sharp End.

 Thirty pages long, Old Hickory contains an overview of US operations in Normandy and beyond from Operation Cobra to the German counter attack at Mortain, Operation Luttich.  It goes on to present a mini-campaign covering the defence of L'Abbaye Blanche, a key position to the North of Mortain where the US 30th Division stood firm against 2nd SS Das Reich, and Der Fuhrer regiment in particular.   

The campaign is a total of six game tables with the duration running between three and eight games.  Briefings are provided for both sides, along with measurable objectives, period maps, force and support option listings and everything you need to play this campaign through to its conclusion. 

Now available at only £3.60 (the price of a pint!) at www.toofatlardies.co.uk.

Hopefully the next special will contain a conversion for IABSM as the Christmas Special 2014 did for the first Pint-Sized Campaign for Chain of Command, 29! Let's go!
 

IABSM AAR: West of Pierrecourt

Here's the third and, for the moment, final AAR from The Wargaming Addict played on a wargaming engine as opposed to the tabletop.

This time the Addict picks a scenario from the Blenneville or Bust! scenario pack, set in Normandy: the opening game involving the clash of two recon forces just west of Pierrecourt.

Click here or on the picture below to see the whole report

IABSM AAR: The Road From Fort Capuzzo

As those who follow this blog will know, I have recently painted a squadron of plastic British A13 cruiser tanks from Zvezda in desert colours. I was naturally keen to get them onto the tabletop, so invited my regular opponent, Neil, round for a battle.

I'd determined to use one of the two 'all tank' scenarios from the Operation Compass scenario pack (written by me and available to purchase from all good retailers: well, here and the TFL main site!) so carefully printed off the pages we'd need for Scenario 10: The Road From Fort Capuzzo.

It wasn't until I'd laid out the terrain and turned to getting the figures out that I realised that Scenario 10 doesn't feature any A13s: just A9s and A10s!

No bother: the newly painted tanks will have to wait their turn as my BEF tanks demonstrate what they can do re-tasked to the desert.

So click here or on the picture below to see what happens when Rae Leakey and his tank squadron drive towards the road from Fort Capuzzo in December 1940: an interesting game that takes place up in the blue in the dead of the night...

Rae Leaky up in the blue in the dead of the night

IABSM AAR: North of Caen/02

Here's the second of the three promised IABSM AARs from The Wargaming Addict.

Keen to make up for his previous performance, the Addict plays the same scenario again, but this time with very different results.

Click here or on the picture below to see another great battle played out not on the tabletop, but on the Battleground Engine.

All this posting of AARs has made me quite jealous for a game: lucky I have one tomorrow night!

Oh, and I'll update the painting challenge this weekend too.

IABSM AAR: North of Caen

Although I have occasionally played computer wargames or wargames moderated by a computer, I have primarily always been a wargames who games on the tabletop with figures, dice and a rulebook.

There's something immensely satisfying about pushing lead around a tabletop loaded with brilliant terrain, and nothing beats the feeling of dice in the hand ready to roll just what you need!

Tabletop gaming, however, does require an awful lot of room.

I, for example, have only recently reclaimed my wargaming room from its sabbatical as a 'kids playroom', and so am very familiar with the effort involved in having to clear the living room, set everything up, and then put it all away before the house can resume normal function.

The Wargaming Addict has apparently solved that problem with the use of the Battleground Gaming Engine. You can visit his site by clicking here, or more simply read the AAR describing his first foray into non-figure gaming using IABSM from December 2013 by clicking on the picture, below.

Interesting stuff...with two more AARs to follow over the next week or so.

IABSM AAR: The Ponte Grande Bridge

Martin981463 posted some great photographs of a recent IABSM game onto the TFL Yahoo group, but Yahoo being Yahoo, the pictures came out in all the wrong order and without the captions.

Here are the pictures again, carefully organised into a gallery, and with captions included.

Click here or on the picture, below, to see the storyboard unfold: enjoy!

25mm SA-34 Portee

I've now almost finished all the models I bought in the Battlefront early war sale. Here are a couple more: two 25mm SA-34 Portees for a French Escadron de Fusiliers Portees. 

These are fine models that paint up beautifully. Although the picture is not a particularly good one, there's some nice layering on the crew's uniforms and helmets, and you can see that the brown patches that form part of the vehicles' camouflage has come out quite well too.

Right, back to the sci-fi figures now... 

IABSM AAR: Normandy Game

Another great battle report from Mike Whitaker: a game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum set in Normandy.

Mike has a great and regularly updated blog that you can reach by clicking here.

To read the report click here or on the picture below.

IABSM AAR: Skirmanevo

Another amazing AAR gallery from Mark Luther. This one dates from 2008, and features the battle of Skirmanevo on the eastern front in November 1941.

There are over 85 photos in the gallery (I know, I've just spent three days captioning them all!) and although 6mm might not be my thing, you've got to say they look fantastic.

Click on the photo, below, to see them all.

Skirmanevo Before The Storm

IABSM AAR: Overloon

Here's another blast from the past: a 6mm IABSM game played by Mark Luther dating back to 2007.

I'm gradually loading up all Mark's 6mm AAR:  they do look jolly good!

Click on the pic to see the whole gallery.

IABSM AAR: Refresher Game/02

A quick IABSM AAR from Mike Whitaker from his excellent blog "Trouble at T'Mill" as an understrength company of Germans tries to hold out against an amis attack.

Mike's blog also contains a great article on passwords and the need for online security: well worth reading...and I'm just off to change all mine!

Click on the picture below for the AAR, or on the link above for Mike blog as a whole.

A13 MkIV Cruisers from Zvezda

I've wanted some A13s for use with the Operation Compass scenario book for some time, but have never wanted to spend the money on metal or resin models. I've got A13s for France 1940, and they ably substituted during the booklet's playtesting.

Late last year, however, Russian manufacturer Zvezda released plastic A13s that were available at just £1.95 a model...and I couldn't resist and immediately bought a squadron from PSC.

Let's start with the downside:

• the model released is the A13 used in France (no extra trackguard etc).
• they are rather erroneously called Crusaders on the box, but then even I keep a special spreadsheet detailing all the different early war British tanks, so I'm quite forgiving of their mistake 
• the models are pretty basic. A six-part snap together kit (for God's sake remember to put the tracks on the bottom of the hull before you put the top on!) with minimal detail and a very thin, snap-py looking gun.

However, the upside easily outweighs the above: ten tanks for under £20 that paint up very adequately for use on the tabletop. An absolute bargain, and I don't think they look too bad. Let me know what you think...

A bit blurred, but here's the Squadron HQ tank

And here's No 1 Troop

You can see them all in the British Desert War gallery (click here or use the navbar, above).

Here's an actual picture from the western desert. You can see that there's no divisional ID number on the front mudguard, and that there's an the 'added on' track guard along the sides...but otherwise it looks about the same. Camo scheme seems right, although I'm intrigued by the track guard colouring. Also love the tattoos on the bloke on the turret's forearms, and the pith helmets on the front deck!

Morris CS9 Armoured Cars

Keen to clear the painting table ready for my next major project (WW2 US Paras modelled on Band of Brothers' Easy Company), I've just finished a couple of British Morris CS9 armoured cars for the desert.

Nice little models these, from Battlefront, and with some nice detailing on the hull and crew figure. They will represent vehicles from 11th Hussars for Operation Compass.

Just Published: Kampfgruppe von Luck for Chain of Command

Just a quick note: the TooFatLardies have just published the second of their pint-sized campaigns for the WW2 platoon-level game Chain of Command.

Here's what they say about them:

"Kampfgruppe von Luck is the second of our Pint-Sized campaigns for Chain of Command, designed to be played using the campaign handbook At the Sharp End.  

"Thirty pages long, Kampfgruppe von Luck contains an overview of the British airbrorne landings and the response of 21 Panzer Division on D-Day before then going on to present a mini-campaign covering the first counter-attack by Kampfgruppe von Luck, striking for the bridges on the Orne.   

"The campaign is a total of five game tables with the duration running between five and eight games.  Briefings are provided for both sides, along with measurable objectives, period maps, force and support option listings and everything you need to play this campaign through to its conclusion.  

"Like all of our Pint-Sized campaigns, this is available for the price of a pint in our local pub.  We're sure that you'll agree, that is great wargaming value!"

Hopefully the next Special will contain a conversion guide for IABSM!

You can order KvL by clicking here.

IABSM AAR: Turnipograd

A quick battle report dating from December last year. 

The Mad Padre and James Mantos get together for what looks like a cracking game of IABSM. Click here or on the picture, below, to read the AAR.

The Mad Padre's blog can be reached by clicking here.

James "Rabbitman" Mantos' blog can be reached by clicking here.

IABSM AAR: The Dunkirk Perimeter

A cracking battle on the Dunkirk perimeter last Saturday, with the plucky Brits trying to hold the Germans off from a vital railhead until the beaches were clear.

Find out how one unnamed antitank crew member held off the panzers almost on his own by clicking here or on the picture below.

IABSM AAR: Intro to IABSM

I like to trawl the web looking for IABSM battle reports. Here's one I've found from Feb 2014 from the Painted Thumb blog with some lovely figures and terrain!

Click on the photo, below, to see the report here, or click here to go straight to the blog.

Peter Pig Soviet "Dancing Group"

One of my purchases at Warfare this year was Peter Pig's new 'Soviet Dancing Group': eight figures, two with accordions, two with balalaikas, and four doing the stereotypical Russian male dancing thing.

Now those of you who have read my previous post about the Gebirgsjaeger heavy mortars, and the unlikelihood that I will ever get them on the table (minimum range 76"!), must now be concluding that I have finally flipped my lid and decided not to paint anything that I will actually use ever again. I mean, when will I ever need to field musicians and dancing soldiers?

Well I'll tell you when: every time I field any Soviet MMGs.

You see, under IABSMv2, MMG teams were almost always crewed by three men; but under IABSMv3, they are almost always crewed by five men. It's a better fit with the durability of MMG teams, but does cause pain for those of us who have all their MMG teams crewed by three figures not five.

Well not any more!

Now my Soviet MMG teams will appear with their existing three crew members, but each will be accompanied by a couple of music-playing/dancing soldiers. Representation of correct crew numbers problem solved!

Here they are: both as a group and so you can see the (nicely sculpted) figures:

IABSM AAR: Arnhem Game

Not really a full battle report, but more displaying the pictures of a recent IABSM game that tiger1arnhem posted in the Photos section of the TFL Yahoo Group.

Apparently he had written a full AAR, but lost it all due to technology issues. I feel his pain, and can only repeat the mantra "CTRL+S, CTRL+S"!

Click on the picture to see more:

Those of you who do wish to submit full AARs, whatever size or quality, for IABSM, CDS or Q13, can do so by e-mailing me at the same address as for the painting challenge: adminATvislardicaDOTcom.

Gebirgsjaeger Heavy Mortars

I think I'm going to need a bigger table.

With a minimum range of 76", I shall need to put my new unit of German Gebirgsjaeger (mountain troops) Heavy Mortars somewhere out in the garden in order to be able to actually use them in a game!

So why did I bother to buy and paint them up?

Don't know: except for the fact that they are some of the really good Gebirgsjaeger figures from Battlefront - those of you who have read my review of the range (click here) will know that for some reason the Battlefront 15mm Gebirgsjaeger range is neatly divided into two halves: one half being some of the nicest 15mm figures I have ever seen, the other half being one of the worst!

Well, of course I do know why I bothered: it's because they're on the list.

Yes, of course the main reason I have got them is because the IABSM army lists for late war Gebirgsjaeger say that they have heavy mortars as support at Battalion and Regimental level...I've just chosen to ignore the comment that follows stating that they should always be considered as off-table and be actually represented by an FOO unit!

Maybe one day I will get a chance to field them...once the extension is finished!

Here they are: