The next battle report slurped from Topi's blog contains a bit more information about the background to his East Africa 1940 campaign. That's in addition to an amusing tale of a ragtag bunch of militia taking on the might of the Italian army. Proves you don't need tons of troops and Tigers on the table to have fun with IABSM!
Clockwork Goblin have released the next in their excellent range of US Weird World War II figures: the Hyena Light Jump Walkers based on the Coyote Light Walker with added flamethrower and jump pack; and the heavy infantry heavy weapons (looks like a bazooka to me).
Now all we need is the Jump Infantry to go with the Hyenas...and I'm sure there were supposed to be some medium Jump Walkers as well...Mudskippers IIRC. Anyway, when I met the Goblin at Colours recently, he said the Jump Infantry were on the way soon. He didn't mention the Mudskippers though!
I knew I wasn't imagining things!
Odd one here, as Micropanzer seems to have decided that the Gitungi will no longer enjoy the Recovery, Assault and Destroyer Drones as support weapons: these are now part of Dark Star Games' Spec-Sec range! And there was I thinking the transfer window was over!
Anyhow, I've deleted the Destroyer Drones from the list (I didn't like them anyway!) but have kept the other two (the figures are already painted!) and added some superheavy tanks from Khurasan. These are currently weighing down one end of my painting table (they are enormous!) but will be joining the Gitungi forces soon.
I'm also hoping Micropanzer will soon release the next wave of Gitungi infantry. Some different poses and some Specialists. Must remember to buy them as soon as they are out...before they too disappear somewhere else!
Gitungi Assault Drones: now you see them...now you don't!
I've found a new source of After Action Reports! A gentleman named Topi, from Finland, has an excellent blog with five IABSM AARs. It will take me a few days to catch up, but catch up I will!
Here's the first: his first game of IABSM. It's East Africa, British versus Italians, and Topi's English is a lot better than my Finnish!
Now that I've re-catalogued all my late war Soviets, I can clearly see where the gaps in my collection are. One such gap was transport for the Scouts. Looking at the lists, I saw that lend-lease White scout cars were an option, and as I happened to have three of them lying around in the lead mountain...
Here's the cleaned up Battle for Liberation gallery for the British Air Landing Company. Landed by glider or transport aircraft, these are better equipped than the parachutists, with anti-tanks guns, pack artillery, and even tanks.
A change from I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! as the next set of the Gitungi support weapons roll off the production line. These are Assault Drones, armed with a powerful gatling-like weapon under their 'chins'. Nice looking models from Micropanzer.
One thing I do like to do is to make sure my troops have enough transport: I'm a real fan of "tail". No surprise then that the latest addition to my collection are the Soviet engineer trucks from Battlefront i.e. their usual trucks with some cargo added in!
A change from I Ain't Ben Shot, Mum! as the first of the Gitungi support weapons roll off the production line. These are Recovery Drones which will feature in my Q13 Gitungi army list as engineers: not so good for fighting, but useful for engineering tasks such as mine an obstacle clearing and, more importantly, armed with the Gitungi equivalent of smoke generators.
Chris Stoesen has released another scenario book for IABSM, In The Name of Roma!, containing a selection of platoon and company level scenarios for the Italians on the Eastern Front.
I've already got the book, and it looks excellent. Here's the blurb from Chris' website:
In July of 1941, the 80° Roma Regiment of the Pasubio Division boarded a train bound for Romania. Along with the rest of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano), they would advance through the Ukraine alongside their German allies. In the coming months, the 80° would be engaged in brutal fighting across 1400 miles of the Eastern Front – covering most of that on foot.
IN THE NAME OF ROMA is a wargame supplement that contains 30 company and platoon level scenarios covering the actions of the 80a Roma Regiment from August to December of 1941. You’ll follow the 80th from the open steppe to the Donetz industrial basin, including the amphibious attacks across the Dnieper, and the fateful decision of Column Chiarimonti to attempt to seize Nikitovka.
IN THE NAME OF ROMA includes:
Though primarily written for the Too Fat Lardies rules systems (I Ain’t Been Shot Mum; Troops, Weapons, and Tactics; and the newly released Chain of Command), the scenarios in IN THE NAME OF ROMA work equally well with Arc of Fire, Bolt Action, Flames of War or your favorite rules system.
IN THE NAME OF ROMA is available for $11 US. Send the money via PayPal to cstoesen@corecard.com and I will e-mail the PDF to you as soon as possible.
I have finally finished my squadron of Cromwell tanks for the later British force. These models, all fifteen of them, are all from Plastic Soldier Company, bought for a grand total of £51!
The models are very nice, and with plenty of options. You can have the normal gun or the 95mm howitzer support weapon; you can add the allegedly-fictious, boccage-clearing prongs; and you can add the cover that sits over the exhaust grill and stops the enemy spotting a tank starting its engine from the gout of black exhaust fired straight up in the air!
Mine are organised into a Squadron HQ of three tanks (CinC with exhaust hood, 2inC with prongs, support tank), then four troops of three tanks each (two with exhaust hoods, two without).
Here are some shots of one individual tank and the whole squadron:
Brian Cantwell continues the Blenneville or Bust! campaign with action around the small village of Avaux. Will the British armour manage to smash though the German lines? Read on to find out!
Sorry there hasn't been much from me lately: all my time has been spent painting up my 15mm squadron of Cromwell tanks, courtesy of Plastic Soldier Company. I'm just finishing the basing now, so pictures etc soon.
Meanwhile, here are three battle reports. Hedgerow Hell is one from last weekend, the other two are from last year.
Hedgerow Hell
First Run at IABSM
Second Run at IABSM
Here's something we don't see very often: two AARs about the same game. The Mad Padres and James Mantos each provide words and pictures about the Slugfest at the Crossroads: a squadron of Shermans encounter German tanks and supports in France, 1944.
I've added Ion Age Miniatures and Clear Horizon Miniatures to the list of 15mm figure manufacturers.
Here are my favourite from the Ion Age range so far: the Maligs
And here's the latest release from Clear Horizon: an excellent drop pod
The Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society (WFHGS) produce a lovely little pdf wargaming magazine three to four times a year called Warning Order.
Warning Order is packed full of reviews, AARs and, best of all, recent issues have contained a series of nostalgia pieces looking back at the recent history of wargaming. I experienced several flashbacks to my school days when reading them! Highly recommended.
Warning Order issue #33 contains a very positive review of IABSM v3 and an AAR; Warning Orderissue #35 another IABSM v3 AAR. Both are reprinted here with kind permission of the WFHGS.
On The Road To Moscow
German Armoured Assault
An excellent AAR from Charles Eckart re-visiting the first scenario from the Charlie Don't surf scenario pack: Surf's Up!
I finally got around to ordering and painting the newish BA-10 Soviet armoured cars from Zvezda, but ordered through Plastic Soldier Company.
They are the usual plastic, snap-together affair, with each one taking only a few minutes to put together. Although the picture, below, is not very good, they are nice looking models that, on the tabletop, look no different from resin or metal models. At less than £2 a pop, as well, they are very good value.
Just a few hints for those of you who have yet to put any together:
1) Before you do anything else, drill out the headlight holes on the main hull piece A4. You will find it nigh on impossible to mount the headlights otherwise. Just use a pin drill (or even just a pin!) to widen the hole so that when you come to step [3] in your build, the horizontal headlight strut will slide right into the hole, giving you the fulcrum you need to place the vertical strut successfully.
2) When going through step [1], don't push the main hull pieces A4 right onto the knob on which they go. If they are jammed in hard, they are actually too close together to properly fit the base and the roof. Push them on firmly, but not ultimately, and then adjust as you put the base step and roof on during steps [1] and [2].
3) Before starting step [2], I glued pieces A1 and A2 together.
4) The headlights are a right pain in the bum to seat during step [3]. If you've remembered to drill the hole I suggest in (1) above, then life is a lot easier. Pop a tiny blob of glue in the hole in the hull and on the tiny notch on the mudguard that seats the vertical headlight strut. Put the horizontal headlight strut in the hole and position so the vertical headlight strut is vertical and sitting on the mudguard. Now gently push the vertical headlight strut sideways until it catches on the notch in the mudguard.
5) The back wheels are challenging in step [4], but just take things slow and you shouldn't have any problems...but be careful when pushing the wheels onto their knobs. I brace the disc on the end of the knob against the nails of my thumb and forefinger, and then push the wheel slowly but firmly on with the other hand. Oh, and the gap between the two back axles is exactly that: a gap. They come with a bit of sprue between them that needs removing!
6) Seating the front axle, however, is even worse than the headlights! I tried it with the wheels on the axle, and then with the axle on its own: I think 'wheels-on' is the way to go, but it is still tricky to seat the axle in the holes on the hull. The only way I could do it (and even then I almost broke the damn thing each time) is to very lightly place the axle where it is supposed to go on the hull. Then I held it lightly in place (too much pressure and it moves) whilst I used a pin drill (I know, I know!) to push really, really hard against the square bit on top of the axle that holds the two knobs that go into the hull. It then should (should!) grindingly pop into the holes in the hull.
Hope that helps!
I've added Minairons to the list of 15mm figure manufacturers. Although their main focus is the Spanish Civil War, that's close enough for me!
A lovely looking battle report created in the style of those action comics we all loved so much when we were young. Thanks to Paul from the movealongnownothingtoseehere blog for permission to reproduce it here.
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)
Welcome to Vis Lardica, a not-for-profit website mostly dedicated to the company-sized wargaming rules produced by the TooFatLardies, but encompassing my other gaming interests as well.
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