Considering the work I'm currently doing on the Panzerspah list for the German army in 1939, it's a somewhat marvellous coincidence that the next battle report from the archive of Mark Luther is set in Poland in 1939 and features a German reconnaissance force attempting a river crossing in the face of Polish resistance.
Click on the image below to see all:
what an incredible table!
I've now started work on the German army lists to accompany the "First to Fight" pdf containing all the Polish lists.
The first two, the Light Tank Company and Light Tank Company A, are now available either by clicking on the images, below, or by visiting the Poland 1939 page of the website.
Note that I will post new lists as they are complete but, after they are all done, compile them into one booklet in the same way As I have done with "First to Fight".
Any comments or critiques welcome!
Huge update today: loads of entries from people who haven't been active for a bit.
So, in no particular order, we have:
So many entries to choose between for the pics. Let's see now...
The reason for Egg's insanity
Sapper's Napoleonics
Zouaves from Lloyd Bowler
The Last of the Egyptians!
Scoreboard will be updated tonight.
A bit of spare time this weekend gave me the opportunity to finish the Ironclad Miniatures factories I've been working on.
First up were the second and third sections of the large factory:
These two bits then combined with the first section, finished last week, to give a very nice looking and impressively large ruined factory. Here is the whole thing with a motorcycle combo to give you an idea of size:
Then I discovered that those nice people at Ironclad had also sent me a bag full of true ruins: cornerpieces and wall sections etc. These ended up painted in the same way as the main factories:
Finally I realised that I hadn't painted all of the small factory: it has a loading bay that comes separately. So here's another view of the small factory (see previous post) but with the loading bay tacked on:
All in all, some excellent terrain from Ironclad.
Now to start the Poles...
Great news: the TFL Summer Special 2016 has landed and is now available.
Contents and blurb from Rich:
Packed with the usual mix of Lard related articles, scenarios and campaigns. This is a bumper edition weighing in at a collosal 136 pages
Introduction
The usual waffle from the less-than-dynamic duo.
Death Road to Corunna
Alfredo Vitaller & chums from Club Dragon in Madrid present a chilly Napoleonic campaign for Sharp Practice
A Fast & Dirty Guide to Tactics
Playing Sharp Practice and looking for top tactical tips? Look no further.
Let’s All Get Equally Confused
Two Operation Torch scenarios for I Ain’t Been Shot Mum from Charles Eckart in the USA
Team Desobry
Men of the midlands, Ade and Al, head for the Ardennes as Team Desobry defend Noville in December 1944 with Chain of Command
109 Beat It
Jim Jackaman takes on the Hun over northern France with Bag the Hun
George Washington’s Indian War
Simon Walker applied his war-paint and looks at this little known but rather spiffing war for Sharp Practice.
On the Trail of Fort Jefferson
A scenario for the above conflict.
Our Moccasins Trickled Blood.
Another Indian War scenario. You know that they say, red moccasins…
At the Sharp End…of the Runway
Some campaign ideas for Bag the Hun from James Crate in the US of A.
Binky Faversham’s Guide to Banter
Tally Ho chaps, Caribou nibbling on the croquet hoops, Scramble! Binky makes sense of banter from his high security psychiatric institution
The Company Commander in Big Chain of Command
Len Tracey suggests uses for the main man in large games of CoC.
Matching Scale and Wargames
La Roundwood introduces us to fine art and even finer figures for the Thirty Years War
The Japanese Army 1936-42
A guide to Japanese tactics from Len Tracey in Australia.
George of the Jungle
An IABSM scenario set in Burma in 1945 and starring George Macdonald Fraser.
A Fighting Withdrawal
A Dunkirk perimeter campaign for Chain of Command. Can you save the BEF?
Itching to Mix It
The Hun are raiding Swanage. It was the last time anyone went there out of choice.
America’s First D-Day
Charles Eckart presents a US-Mexican War amphibious landing.
Kernow’s Corner
A last-ditch fight for the DCLI as they stand up to the German Spring Offensive of 1918. A Muddy CoC scenario.
Tanks in the Wire
The NVA attack a US Special Forces camp in 1968A scenario for Charlie Don’t Surf from Ross Bowrage.
It was just my Imagi-Nation…
An introduction to Big Rich’s Seven Years War project.
The Khazi is Revolting
An Indian Mutiny Scenario from the Deep Fried Lard Games Day. Can you get the Major Piles Relief Column through in time?
Saving the Honourable “Tootles” Ash
A cinematic adventure into WWII with arescue mission for Chain of Command.
The Roundwood Report
Sidney discusses firing mechanisms and much else with Big Rich.
Creating Facts on the Ground
Fighting the Six Day War Lardy Style with Robert Avery
Here's the finished small ruined factory from Ironclad Miniatures.
Very easy to paint. After washing the resin model in soapy water, prime in a brick red colour. I used a can from my local art shop.
Then, once fully dry, paint all the non-brick wreckage in the main building. I used a bright green for bits of corrugated iron roof; bright orange for thick pipework; steel for smaller pipes; and a wood brown for bits of plank.
I then painted the tile floor and stairs in the ante-room in a pale grey. Finally, where the brick of the inner walls are covered by plaster, I used a bleached bone colour to convey the sense of institution.
Again once fully dry (make sure it really is fully dry before this bit) wash the entire model in a slightly watered down black ink. Really splash it on to make sure you get good coverage.
Leave the model for a day so all the excess fluid evaporates away, and then lightly dry brush the brick wreckage in a pale brick colour. Finally, a light dry brush of the bleached bone colour again to really bring out the detail and, after a light coat of matt varnish, finished.
Each stage should only take about fifteen minutes: it's the drying that takes the time! I painted the factory by doing one stage a night after work.
Although you can't see it properly below, the bit of the factory with the tile floor had a removable roof made up of a smashed in second floor.
Here's another pic showing the factory from the other angle.
Highly recommended.
Another great looking AAR from Mark Luther featuring his impressive 6mm collection.
The game features action on the eastern front, centred around the village of Iakovlevo. Click on the pic below to see all...
You may remember my posts about the Ironclad Miniatures 15mm windmill and eastern front church: nice looking buildings, paint up well, not too pricey etc.
Well I was at a wargames show the other day and noticed the Ironclad stall, wandered over and ended up buying their collection of ruined factories. These come in two sizes: a small ruined factory and a large ruined factory. As they didn't have stock in, I paid and gave them my address.
I then promptly forgot all about having done the above, so had a very pleasant surprise a couple of days ago when a large box dropped through the door. In it were several pieces of terrain: five in fact. Oh goody, I thought: five ruined factory bases. What I had also forgotten was that the five bits also fit together to make...yes, you guessed it, one small ruined factory and one large ruined factory.
Fortunately I have realised this after having decided and started to paint them all the same way anyway, so now have well underway either five separate ruined factory bases, or the little 'n' large sets they are supposed to comprise.
Here's the first off the production line: a very nice ruined factory base aka the left hand segment of the large ruined factory set.
Cost for the whole set was £30, so this is £10 of stand alone factory. As you can see, very nice.
I'll post the other bits as I finish them, and talk about how they were painted.
Ironclad Miniatures:
I am very pleased to announce that the Polish Army Lists for IABSM for the 1939 September War are now finished and available as a free download on this site.
The lists are gathered into a single, 54-page pdf booklet that follows the same format as the two late war theatre supplements Vpered na Berlin and Battle for Liberation.
The booklet contains lists for the following forces:
In addition, there are rules for rating your Polish force, the Polish Armoury, and details of/rules for armoured trains.
Click on the picture of the front cover to download the list; or visit the Poland 1939 page on the IABSM drop-down, above.
Enjoy...and if you find any errors, or just want to let me know what you think, either comment on this post or drop me a line at the usual address.
It's still pretty quiet out there on the painting challenge front, but I thought it was worth a catch-up on what I do have.
So, in no particular order, we have:
Today's pictures are from Kev, his musketeers; Mr McCarthy's King Tiger; and Derek's French light infantry.
Hopefully the above will inspire the rest of you to pick up your brushes once again. The painting challenge is half way through the year and there are definite signs of slacking! Mind you, it's not as if we had anything else to think about...
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!
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!
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...
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.
Well, not a brand new manufacturer, as Heer46 have been around for some time, but a new manufacturer added to the list!
Most of what Heer46 does in 15mm scale is, as the name suggests, Weird World War 2 stuff (Jagdpanthers with gigantic flamethrowers, collosal US tanks etc) but they do produce a few useful bits and bobs for the more traditional WW2 gamer.
Very useful, for example, are aerial racks for SdKfz 251 half-tracks: something that allows you to convert a standard 251 into a proper command vehicle. Here's a pic of a recent unboxing, clearly showing two of the racks in question:
I've actually used the racks for SdKfz 250s. They don't really fit, and have the cross-bracing used in 251s but not 250s, but they will most definitely do and look quite good. More on that in a future post i.e. when I've finished the squadron.
You can also just about see a Big Man in there too. One of the other useful things Heer46 do is a selection of individual, non-standard command figures. They are very detailed and paint up well: giving you a set of unique figures to use instead of one of the mass-produced Battlefront or Peter Pig officers.
Check out Heer46 either through the WW2 manufacturers page on this website, or by clicking here to go straight to their site.
Along with the Stinger that featured in a post on Monday, I also took advantage of Ravenstar Studio's recent sale to pick up a larger model: the Horizon Transport.
This rather retro-looking ship will do nicely as transport for the Ikwen Logisitics Technicians attached to my Chuhuac troops. It looks like something a bunch of newt-like techies would travel round in!
The model was really easy to put together. The main body comes as one chunk, with the landing skids, engine nacelles, and rear fins as separate bits. They glue in place without much difficulty, leaving you with a model that sits very nicely on the tabletop, looking just like a transport should look.
My paint job is really no more than a spray and touch-up that doesn't really do the model justice, so I'm also posting the picture from the Ravenstar site.
Yes: perhaps a little bit better looking than mine...although I've just fully comprehended that actually the 'professional' job is also very much a spray and touch up job: just a better touch up job than mine!
Anyway, it's a great model that will do the Ikwen proud. Cost from Ravenstar is $25 which, as I said before, used to be good value!
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.
Back in May, Ravenstar Studios had a 30% off sale and, as I'm trying to build up the aerial side of my sci-fi armies, I decided to indulge and pick up a couple of models.
First up was a small flyer for my Protolene Khanate force. This is the Stinger Flyer from Ravenstar's Land Core range (the same range as the Horrid).
Lovely model that glues together really easily. I undercoated in grey, then got out my roll of masking tape and carefully cut a number of squiggly strips out of it and stuck them in place. I then sprayed again in green, peeled off the masking tape, and achieved not a bad camouflage pattern.
A quick wash, a few bits of red paint, some decals left over from the WW2 Italians, and the little craft was done.
Unfortunately, as you can probably see, I did have a little bit of a problem with the finish. For some reason everything came out quite dark and dusty.
Still, not a bad little model and now the Protolenes have some air support. Cost of the Stinger is only $14...which used to be quite cheap!
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!
My comments under the "Strange Days" post, below, seem to have broken the lull in entries to the painting challenge.
So, after a week and a bit, we have:
Today's pics? So many to choose from. Let's go with Mark's deployment points (four of them), some of Andy's Bretons, and some of Jonathan's Hamburgers:
Four of Mark Luther's Deployment Points
Breton Mounted Sergeants from Andy Duffell
Look at the detail of JD's Hamburger shields!
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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