Fate of a Nation: The Cold Shower

Regular readers will remember that I had sorted what armour I needed to buy in order to take advantage of the Battlefront Six Day War 40% off sale. It was therefore now time to look at the infantry contingent.

My intention was not to go too crazy here: probably only looking at a single company of Arab troops and a single company of Israeli troops. So I thought I'd start with the Egyptians.

The Egyptian Infantry Contingent

The immediate problem here is matching the Battlefront boxes with the standard TOE for a UAR infantry platoon.

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Battlefront’s breakdown, if you follow the way the box sets are put together is as follows:

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Lovely figures, but where are all the LMGs? (Both pics from the Battlefront website)

• a company headquarters (CHQ) that includes a command element of three, two three-man LMG teams and two three-man recoilless rifle (RCL) teams
• plus three platoons each of three squads of eight and a bazooka team of two

That’s 93 men in all.

However, as far as I can tell from my reading, the UAR were organised on Soviet lines i.e. squads of ten, each with an LMG. That makes three platoons of thirty-one strong plus the CHQ of eight or 101 in all.

Looking at the TOE for a 1973 Yom Kippur war platoon, for example, they had squads of ten comprising NCO, eight men with AK-47s, one with an RPG and one with an LMG. The CHQ would also add an HQ/Weapons squad of eight men.

Now, if we follow the logic, and assume a Soviet breakdown, that means the Battlefront TOE assumes the heavier weapons have been moved to the CHQ (very reasonable) but is still very, very short on LMGs. Weird!

What I would like to model is:

• a CHQ of Big Man and two four-man RCL teams
• three platoons, each of a Big Man, three squads of six AK-47-ers (some models might feature RPG-2s, but I understand they weren’t used in this campaign) and a two-man LMG team, and a two-man bazooka team.

That gives me a company of four Big Men, nine 8-man LMG squads in three platoons, three 2-man bazooka teams, and two 4-man RCL teams: a total of 90 men.

The problem is, of course, that although the numbers are just about the same, the distribution and weapons doesn’t match the BF offering: I’m short loads of LMGs.

Loads.

It must be something to do with modelling game mechanics, in the same way that IABSM doesn't necessarily represent every man in a squad.

missing!

Well this has sort of put a kibosh on the whole affair. If I want to model the company effectively, then I'd have to buy so many sets of the Company HQ that the 40% off is negated.

Unless anyone can come up with a solution, it's going to be an armour only purchase, leaving the infantry to another time...particularly as I've now started to look at Khurasan's Yom Kippur range!  Maybe  it's time to turn the clock forward a few years...

IABSM AAR: West of Caen

Carole is a regular contributor to the painting challenge, most recently amassing huge numbers of points with her latest late war figures. See her gallery here. 

Now we get a chance to see some of her collection in action with her first AAR for the Vis Lardica site.

It's 1944 and somewhere west of Caen. he British need to clear a village, the Germans need to hold it. Find out what happens by clicking either here or on the picture below.

The Siren Call of "Fate of a Nation"

My regular opponent, Neil, pointed out that Battlefront were having a 40%-off sale on their Six Day War Arab & Israeli range, asking "so what we doing, then?"

Jon Snow and I know nothing about the Six Day War

Well "nothing" was my immediate answer, as my lead mountain has scaled new heights and I have lots of other things to be getting on with.

But my eyes kept getting drawn to his e-mail, until at last I could avoid the truth no longer. No matter that it was a new period for me, no matter that I know nothing about said period, no matter what, in fact: it was a 40%-off sale and I was going to spend lots of money!

That decided, the problem became one of what to buy. As I said, I know less than Jon Snow when it comes to the Six Day War, so a bit of rapid reading was called for. First up, what happened. As far as I can tell, the chronology is something like:

• Israel launches surprise air attack on Egypt (known as the United Arab Republic) and destroys the UAR's airforce
• Israeli ground attack to the north towards El Arish succeeds after hard fighting
• A UAR counter-attack is ambushed at Bir Lahfan
• Israeli ground attack to the south towards Abu Ageila succeeds after hard fighting
• UAR troops withdraw for the Suez Canal, allowing the Israelis to capture Sinai
• Jordanians are tricked by the Egyptians and prepare to join the attack on Israel. Israeli's pre-empt and launch an attack of their own. Israelis take Jerusalem and attackl towards Nablus. Hard fighting, then the Jordanians retreat behind the Jordan river, leaving Israel to capture the West Bank.
• Israelis then attack the Syrians on the Golan Heights, which they capture after hard fighting.
• The Israelis also fight the Palestinians and capture the Gaza Strip

Excellent: all I need to know for the moment!

Now to look at what troops I need to buy. Today I'll look at tanks, as I'm too tired after work to get into the minutiae of infantry!

The Israeli Forces

I'm looking at using the IABSM variant for the 6DW, so company level. According to the lists kindly sent to me by Lardy Nick Overland, a tank company consisted of an HQ of two tanks, and then three platoons of three tanks each.

As its the Israelis, I'll be fielding small numbers of good quality tanks, so I reckon I need four tanks of each of the main types. Looking at the FoW website, and consulting my lists, these seem to be as follows:

• Sherman-types. Either the M50 or the M51 Isherman: so we'll go for four Ishermans as they'll do for both but look nicer than the simple M50.
• Centurion-types. Either the Mk5 or the Sho't ('whip/scourge'): so, again, we'll go for four Sho't's as they'll do for both but were used in greater numbers.
• M48-types. Lots to choose from here, but we'll go for four of the Magach ('battering ram') as they'll do for all but have a cool name
• French AMX thingies. Also used with reserve forces, so although I was going to get just two, will get four just in case.

An israeli sho't (picture from the Battlefront website)

That's the Israelis sorted. Now for the Arabs.

The Arab Forces

I'm going to need lots of these, as I want a company-sized force to fight a platoon of Israeli tanks to make it a fair fight.

An Egyptian or Syrian tank company seems to have been an HQ of a single tank, then three platoons of three tanks each. A Jordanian tank company has two HQ tanks then four platoons of three vehicles each. That's 10 or 14 tanks. 

Now which tanks to get?

• T-34 types. The Egyptians fielded T-34/85 as infantry support. The Syrians also used them.
• I'm going to ignore the Syrian Panzer IVs: I have enough of them with balkenkreuses on them!
• Sherman types. The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fielded an upgunned version called the M4/FL-10.
• SU-100 types. The Egyptians seemed to have fielded lots of these as infantry support.
• IS-3 types. The old Joe Stalin itself. Again seems to have been a back-up tank for the Egyptians.
• T-54 or T-55 types. An absolute must: fielded by the Egyptians and the Syrians. We'll go for the T-55.
• M48 types. The mainstay of the Jordanian armoured force.
• Centurians. Also used by the Jordanians.

It's a tricky one, as getting more than  one tank company is going to be expensive.

UAR T-55 (picture from the Battlefront website)

Okay, let's go for the iconic Soviet tank: the T-55. I'm going to need ten of them, but Battlefront are selling them in three's, so I'll get twelve. I'll also get a single platoon of IS-3s. 

Decided, particularly as any T-34/85s I might want can come from PSC.

So, the tank shopping list is as follows:

• 4 boxes of T-55s
• 1 box of IS-3s
• 2 boxes of Ishermans
• 2 boxes of Sho't
• 2 boxes of Magrach
• 2 boxes of AMX

Gulp! Better start working out which of the children to sell first!

IABSM AAR: Matildas Around Arras

Another great battle report from Mark Luther: this time covering my favourite, early war period.

Here you can see Matilda Is and IIs in action against German infantry and gunners against a backdrop of Mark's excellent 6mm terrain.

Click on the pic to see the gallery:

TFL Painting Challenge: Monday Night Update

Just a small update tonight, probably as I did one on Thursday night as well. Some nice kit though.

• Carole goes back to the simple life: nice, plain Allied tanks!
• Mr Douglas sends in some Roman Auxiliary Cavalry
• Mr Duffell completes four very nice 28mm vehicles
• Derek Hodge, lately of Deep Fried Lard, pops in some sabot bases
• Thomas, dear Thomas, builds and paints a house for his Paras to rest in
• Paul Baldwin builds and paints some rocky outcrops

Today's picture is from Andy Duffell: a very nice Daimler Dingo...and there's more on show in his gallery.

Do feel free to comment on the achievements you see displayed both here and in the galleries. Obviously I'll remove any out and out nasty ones, but otherwise I'm sure feedback of any sort would be much appreciated!

Vis Imperica Galleries: The French

My French figures have fought throughout the nineteenth century from the Crimea through the Franco-Austrian War, the Maximillian Adventure in Mexico, the Franco-Prussian War right up to the Boxer Rebellion in China. Obviously some of the units are specific to specific campaigns (the sombrero-wearing Marines for Mexico, for example) but I've never worried too much about getting exact representations.

The figures are almost from Freikorps: a manufacturer that I used a lot for my 19th century European armies. Must confess that I don't even know if they still exist now (if only we had an easily accessible source of the world's knowledge!) but I used to pour over the catalogue for hours on end.

These are still painted in simple block colours style, but are an improvement on some of my earlier work. I will eventually get around to highlighting them and flocking the bases which, I think, will improve them no end.

Click on the picture to go to the gallery.

IABSM AAR: Western Desert

Just a quick six-pic AAR today as the Mad Padre heads into the Western Desert.

Click on the pic to see the report...

TFL Painting Challenge: Mid Week Round Up

Thought I'd better get a quick round-up in now before the weekend rush.

Today we have:

• Thomas with some French Paras
• Vidal makes a welcome return with a sizeable entry but no pics
• Doug's Samurai finally get onto his scorecard
• Carole finally finishes her German zug: no more camouflaged zeltbahn for a bit
• Mr Naylor submits some more 20mm US Marines
• The Mad Padre sends in a whole vilage of 6mm buildings plus a few choice 28s to tempt us

Today's pictures are from Doug (as his samurai have been waiting for so long) and a 6mm church from, of course, the Padre.

When is a Walker not a Walker...

Fascinating discussion recently on the TFL Yahoo Group that I thought I'd share here: what would the word or words be in Russian for what we would call a Walker or a Mech i.e. the giant, often anthropomorphic fighting machines like the one in the picture below.

Paint It Pink's Ashley Pollard posed the question, saying that Google translate had given her Progulki Boyevaya Platforma as a starting point.

A friend of her's had suggested that Progulki Voyevaya Platforma might be a better representation of how the Russian root word бой, meaning 'to do with struggle or combat', would appear, and she had herself used another translation site to generate Gulyayushchaya Platforma Boya.

Now I have a friend who is Russian (graphic artist Sibirian Blue who does all the illustrations for my IABSM scenario packs and for Q13) and she told me that gulyayushchaya means walking in the sense of a stroll, and that the expression Gulyayushchaya Platforma Boya therefore meant something more like "taking the combat platform for walkies" which, whilst rather sweet, is probably not what Ashley had in mind!

Her suggestion was Мобильная Боевая Платформа, or Mobilnaya Boyevaya Platforma, which translates as Mobile Combat Platform. She also checked out some Russian toy shops and sci-fi sites, to see how they described things like Transformers, but discovered that most just cyrillicise (if that's a word) the English.

The problem with 'mobile combat platform', of course, is that it could apply to anything that fights and moves: a tank, a warship etc. There's no specific suggestion of the walker bit. Back to the drawing board!

Ashley then produced another Russian-speaking friend, one who is quite into military stuff, who suggested Shagayushaya Boevaya Platforma (Шагающая Боевая Платформа), which apparently literally means walking fighting platform.

According to my friend, however, shagayushchaya  literally means "takes step by step", so that although Ashley's friend was right in trying to get a sense of walking into the Russian, the actual wording wasn't quite right.

Now keen to solve this puzzle, Sibirian suggested that what was needed was to get the Russian sound 'hod' into the first word, as that is the root for all things walking or stepping.

one of ashley's own walkers

She therefore suggested Pohodnaya Boevaya Platforma (Походная Боевая Платформа) which literally means something like "Hiking Fighting Platform". It also neatly works as PBP as an acronym, or 'Hod' as a sound-alike as it's pronounced po-hod-nya, with the emphasis on the 'hod'. 

I quite liked this, as I could see people saying things like "We have two Hods incoming on vector six"!

James Sterrett, on the Yahoo group, agreed, pointing out that Pokhodnaya was a good choice, as pokhod also means "march", in both the sense of military marching and 'things used while on the march'. So you get Russian words like pokhodnaya forma meaning "field uniform", and pokhodnaya kukhnya meaning a "field kitchen" etc. His view was that you could get away with translating it as Marching or Field Fighting Platform.

He did, however, suggest changing the platforma bit to ustanovka i.e. making the phrase Pohodnaya Boevaya Ustanovka: his rationale being that this was very much in line with the self-propelled artillery designation SU, or Samokhodnaya Ustanovka, as in the WW2 vehicle the SU-85. He used the more modern SAU or Samokhodnaya Artilleriskaya Ustanovka, but its the same difference. Here ustanovka translates oddly:  apparently the literal best fit is something like "installation" or "piece" but here it is used to indicate a platform or (gun) carriage.

Ashley has, I believe, decided to stick with Pohodnaya Boevaya Platforma for the moment.

A fascinating discussion indeed!

IABSM AAR: Bashnya or Bust! #4E: Holm (Again)

As per my post, below, I ran the morning game of IABSM at the recent Market Larden event.

I couldn't, however, do the afternoon game, as I was down to play Fighting Season: the new ultramodern variant for Chain of Command.

Step forward Geoff Bond, who kindly agreed to step into the breech and run the afternoon IABSM session using my figures and scenario. This was especially brave of Geoff as, by his own admission, he was a bit rusty re the rules, only having played once this year. Lucky the scenario was a small one, eh? 

Click here, or on the photo below, to see a quick report on the action.

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PS  Probably best to draw a veil over my performance playing the British in Fighting Season...but the Taliban really shouldn't have shot my medic!

Apparently, when told that I had off-table support in the form of a 50mm sniper; a 50mm HMG and Javelin missiles, I said: "Haven't you got anything bigger?".

As Rich said afterwards: "Two dead, including a female medic; one platoon scarred for life; an ordnance bill topping half a million quid...all in exchange for sixteen dead Taliban and about fifty civilian casualties. I'm not sure Robert made a smooth transition from playing eastern front WW2 to modern day peace keeping in Afghanistan!"

IABSM AAR: Bashnya or Bust! #4E: Holm

June 2015 saw the annual Market Larden event in Evesham. Around fifty Lardies travelled deep into the heart of tractor country to play a variety of TooFatLardies' games. I was originally due to attend just as a player but, when one GM dropped out, stepped in to run the morning game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!

As I didn't have time to prepare something new, I delved into my library of scenario packs and decided to play one of the games from the Bashnya or Bust! book i.e. late war, eastern front.

Click here or on the picture below to see the battle report from the game. My thanks to Ralph, Noddy and Jamie for being excellent players, and to Ade for organising the day.

TFL Painting Challenge: Humongous Update

Sunday morning after the Market Larden gaming day, so I'm feeling a little jaded even tho' I wasn't drinking! A great day's wargaming, and good banter (as my daughter would say) with many friends. 

More on that later, once I've had a chance to sort all the pictures etc. For the moment, here's the latest installment in the painting challenge: as the title says, a truly humongous update!

Lots of 6mm figures this time. What is it with 6mm? Nothing for ages and then almost 2,000 come along at once!

• Mr Hodge adds some more to his forces for Dux, along with some 15mm houses...
• ...but also earns himself a whole extra line for huge amounts of re-basing of 6mm Napoleonics
• Fred Bloggs posts his usual eclectic collection of 28s, but adds some WSS 18mm figures as well
• Carole has had enough of camouflaged smocks, so paints some camouflaged tank-killers instead
• Leif Eriksson submits lots of 28mm Afrika Korps, including two lovely vehicles
• Mr Luther is back to the 'planes: 14 of them to be exact
• Matt Slade goes Greek, with Jason and the Argonauts and friends in 28mm
• Paul Blankenship drops in with over 800 6mm figures from WW2 and later
• Stumpy goes colonial
• Mr Treadhead paints some Romans in 6mm
• Dick Bax adds some more Dux
• And finally Mr Helliwell goes all AWI

As I said, a truly humongous update...but what to do about pictures. Here are some that caught my eye, but I cannot but recommend the full galleries: loads of inspiring work!

A DAK kubelwagon from Leif

Argonauts from Matt Slade

Romans from Treadhead

Vornid/Horrid Artillery Toads

Last bit of painting from my latest delivery from Ravenstar: some rather fun figures that I have christened "artillery toads".

The Vornid already have some stolen artillery manned by Fungoid mushroom men, but these are like giant, well, toads, with a hinged armour plate on their back under which is a rather useful looking howitzer. Fits in very nicely with the whole Horrid bio-weapon look.

Here they are:

IABSM AAR: Sicilian Weekend #8: East of Butera

Another superb IABSM battle report from Brooklyn Wargaming, this time scenario #08 from the Sicilian Weekend scenario pack: Americans and Italians run into each other "East of Butera".

Click here or on the picture below to see the AAR.

Gitungi and Nova Respublik Lists Updated

A couple of updates to the Q13 Army Lists.

First up, I've rationalised the Gitungi list: making their support drones into mini-vehicles instead of crewed support weapons. It fits the figures better. Click on the pic to see the list.

A squad of gitungi veteran infantry from Micropanzer

Secondly, I've almost totally revamped the Nova Respublik list. This involves allowing a split into half-squads of seven instead of the original, very inflexible squads of fourteen; adding stats for Militia/Penal and Guards units; and adding the new NR releases from Khurasan: the Drakon tanks and Grifon APCs. It's a rather nice, rounded army...one I rather fancy getting for myself. Click on the pic to see the list.

Nova Respublik Command Set from Khurasan

Vornid/Horrid Minelayers

Another unit of Horrid APCs finished at the weekend.

These rather turd-like tanks from Ravenstar's Horrid range are actually minelayers: the flaps just behind their 'heads' can disgorge patches of larvae that, with Chrome, I have defined as being the equivalent of mines i.e. they attack any enemy men or machines that enter their ambit.

I haven't painted up the 'mines' themselves yet, but you do get a rather pleasing number of them with your tanks. I've also defined the horn thing on the front as a sort of natural mortar that can also lay down the equivalent of smoke.

All in all a very useful squad of vehicles, despite their appearance!

TFL Painting Challenge: Sunday Update

Another very big update today, with two people submitting their first entries for the year.

In no particular order, we have:

• Chris Stoesen, with his first entry of the year, pops in some US Cold War infantry
• Carole submits another PSC German Panzergrenadier platoon. Obviously enjoying those camouflaged smocks!
• Mr Hodge sends in more figures for Dux Raiders
• Jason Ralls sends in another ginormous entry: two 28mm infantry platoon and enough 15mm houses to solve the nation's current crisis. This takes Jason past the 3,000 point mark (well past it) so congrats for that!
• Mr Hat, I mean Bowler, enters some more WOTR figures
• Geoff "Bond, Geoff Bond" Bond also appears for the first time this year, with a mamoth entry. Not prehistoric elephant-types, but sixty-seven 28mm chaps for Chain of Command. Has already beaten his score for last year by an impressive margin.
• Richard Naylor submits some more modern-day USMC
• And finally Mr Plowman has two orcs and two elves to add to his collection

Pictures? I don't need to ponder here: as is traditional, we'll feature the two returnees with their first entries for the year.

First up, Mr Stoesen's Cold War figures:

And here are Mr Bond's sixty-seven CoC-ists:

Is that a towel they're guarding? Must be for a 1940 scenario!

And finally I'm going to sneak in a quick pick of Mr Ralls' street. Lovely!

Vis Imperica Galleries: The Later British

I've had a chance to add another gallery to the Vis Imperica, 19th Century section of the site: my Later British collection.

These were the first 15mm figures that I ever painted...and it shows! They are simple block paint jobs, no shading, no washing...and those eyes!

I look at these now and almost cringe...but then I remember that no-one starts out a genius painter: it's something that has to be learnt, like any other skill. I might be able to paint a lot better nowadays (as I said, to the point where these make me cringe) but everyone has to start somewhere. These serve as a good reminder of that. And, anyway, a quick wash and then a couple of highlights, and these would fit right in with my later efforts.

The army is split into two parts: those in mainly red jackets and based on 'grass' for southern Africa; and those mainly in khaki and based on 'sand' for the Sudan and North-West Frontier. Almost all the figures are from Essex Miniatures.

Click here or on the picture below to see the full gallery.

Vornid/Horrid "Grandmother" Command Tank

Ravenstar have expanded their range of sci-fi monstrosities, the Horrid. As I'm using the range to provide AFVs for my Vornid army, this was a perfect opportunity to buy the new stuff and to fill in the gaps of what I hadn't got already.

First off the painting table is the "Grandmother" Command Tank: a solid lump of resin that takes the paint very nicely indeed.

The gun stalks are removable i.e can be replaced by hatch covers. The wing bits on the side can also be glued in place ajar as Granny can lay eggs - and plenty are provided with the model - but more on that at a later date when I reveal my Horrid minelayers!

Granny was painted using my new GW brushes: they've revamped the whole range and although I expect them to gradually get as rubbish as the old range, I thought I'd get a new dry brush and base brush and see how they went. Quite well, is the answer: I certainly found the base brush covered the model in paint very easily (it is assymetric in that it has a pointy bit to get into the cracks) and the dry brush is big and shaped just right. Good texture as well. Anyway, we'll see how long the quality is sustained...

So, new additions to the Ravenstar range, new additions to the Horrid Army List. Either go through to the Q13 Army List page, or click here to see the updated list.

IABSM AAR: Semois 1940

Another short but sweet battle report from the Stipsicz Hussars: this time an early war encounter between the Ardennes Chasseurs supported by French tanks and a German invasion force.

As always, forgive my poor translation...click here or on the picture, below, to see the report.