Another of Mark Luther's beautiful 6mm games of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum.
This time it's a late war game based on one of Bob Mackenzie's scenarios set near Vienna in April 1945.
Click on the pic to see all!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here's a quick battle report from Mark Luther for a game taken from Chris Stoesen's Campaign for Greece scenario pack.
Here, two largely tank-based forces, one German, one British, fight for possession of a small town in Greece.
Click on the pic below to see all:
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!
With Battlefront bringing out their new range of Pacific Theatre miniatures, I thought it might be about time to catch up on the models I missed from their pre-war Manchurian Theatre range. I do always seem to be one range behind!
First off the production line are the Type 4 Ho Ro self-propelled guns:
So, wanting to put a bit of background in for this post, I've done a bit of research. Apparently only twenty-five Ho Ros were ever produced, which means that I have about a sixth of the entire production run!
They were also not very useful, as the crew had no protection, and you had to turn the whole vehicle in order to acquire your targets. Excellent!
They also fought only in the Philippines and on Okinawa: so no good for Manchuria either.
All in all, an excellent example of a model that I am going to struggle to field on the tabletop. I wonder how many other wargamers have collections full of the same!
The second report from the 2016 Operation Market Larden games day. Same village, Zhena, but this time it's the Soviets who start the game on table, with the Germans attacking.
This was a real meat-grinder of a game!
Click on the pic below to see all:
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:
A great battle report from Joe Patchen featuring tank-on-tank action at Kursk.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Another great AAR from Mark Luther: it's back to the eastern front for action around the Nikopol Bridgehead.
Here, the Soviet attack meets with initial success, but then the Germans counter-attack with Ferdinandes and Sturmpanzers.
Click on the pic below to see all:
Another great AAR from Mark Luther, this time using one of the scenarios from Chris Stoesen's Campaign for Greece scenario pack as the basis for the game.
As Royal Engineers rig a vital bridge for demolition, a German motorcycle recce force hoves into view. Will the charges be laid and the bridge blown in time? And even if they are, what about the next bridge?
Click on the pic below to see all:
Great battle report from Dr. the Viking of a game set in the Western Desert: defending Brits versus attacking Italians.
This report appeared both on Dr. the V's blog, which you can visit by clicking here; and on the Lead Adventure Forum, another good source of wargaming chat.
Click on the picture below to see the report in full:
Another superb battle report from the Devon Wargames Group.
This time they place the A Canadian VC scenario from the IABSM v3 rulebook. Click on the picture below to see all:
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
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