Month: May 2017

Always something new to do.

While my main project is to keep my somewhat slow-running campaign of Operation Sealion running, I also have many personal wargaming projects on the go.

The latest to appear in my in-tray is Market Garden, which awaits the first contact between the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron and reconnaissance elements of 10th SS Panzer Division in this area.

17 Sep first contact

I have two possibilities to work on:

  1. To use the orders of battle from the “Rapid Fire” campaign book
  2. To use my own adaptation of troops, based largely on units from the SPI game “Arnhem” with a simplistic conversion to the wargame table. (Note that 1 A/B Recce Sqn is not included in the SPI version)

Option 1 gives me the following order of battle:

1st Airborne

Recce Jeep squadron
CO + 12 men
4 Jeeps with MG
1 Motorcycle
1 20mm Polsten Cannon (towed)

10th SS

Recce Armoured Car battalion
CO + 19
2 Panzerfaust
1 SdKfz250 half-track
1 Opel Blitz
2 SdKfz232 Armoured car (30mm)
2 SdKfz 250/9 half track (20mm)
1 SdKfz 251/9 half track (75mm)

Option 2 gives me:

1st Airborne

4 x 4 rifles + 4 jeeps
1 x MG + 3 crew  + 1 jeep

10th SS

2 armoured cars, SdKfz 232, 6 wheel version.

If I opt for the first version it will probably be a more interesting battle, but on the other hand, future engagements should follow the same principle on a larger scale, and I try to aim for simplicity in my gaming.

I am tempted to play the second, simpler version.

Comments?

Always something else to prepare…

I want to know why it is that, with a former “walk-in” wardrobe and half a loft full of wargaming impedimenta, every time I want to play a game I have to prepare some new models?

For my next game I have already painted up some GHQ A13 and Mark VIb tanks for the British, not to mention several Adler Vickers MG teams marching and firing and about a dozen new trucks and lorries.  The Germans needed cyclists and new MG34 teams, as well as more infantry and a captured truck with hastily applied white crosses.

As for the terrain (I use Kallistra hexagons, pre-flocked and then customised) I have to make some more embanked railway lines and three level crossings which must involve ramped roadways.  Alternatively I may make road bridges across the railway, but that will be even more work!

To help this game along I have just received the first consignment of double curved railway track from Leven Miniatures, designed to my specifications so that four pieces  – two inner curve and two outer curve – will exactly fit a 10cm hexagon with a 60 degree curve.  I urge all gamers of late C19th onwards to buy some of these if only to repay Mick for his development time!

In addition, and very oddly, I needed to model an ancient British hill fort that would meet the requirements of the ground scale (10cm hexagon = 250 metres side-to-side) and also accommodate bases of at least 15mm x 20mm.   Pictures will no doubt be forthcoming in the battle report when I finally get around to playing the game.

Wargame updates

What have I been up to since my last blog posting?

1. The Battle of Brighton in my “Operation Sealion” PBEM game is coming together.  I have painted and based most of the British force.  Today some more  6mm cyclists arrived in the post which must be painted and based.

2.  I have been working on preparing game counters for a medieval campaign based on the TV series “Game of Thrones”.  I am using army lists from DBA, with 13mm square  game counters bought from “Plastics for Games” covered with printed 1/2 scale top-down soldiers copied from the “Junior General” website.  The game will be played on Avalon Hill “Squad Leader” boards using a scale of one hexagon = 20 yards (half the scale of their WW2 game).  Here are the counters for the yellow household.

Yellow

3. I have been reading about the D-Day landings from the German perspective.  I downloaded a book to my Kindle which consists of five interviews with German soldiers who were there on the day, one from each of the allied landing areas (Gold, Juno, Sword, Omaha, Utah) – although these areas were not known from the German perspective.  The interviews were conducted in the 1950s, and where possible with the same soldiers who had been interviewed in 1944 for “Signal” magazine.  These stories are the best reference work I have ever read with detail about actual combat.  My wargames of the period will be tailored accordingly.

A bit of a mish-mash

I am aware that I have not been bloggishly active recently.

So, what have I been doing?  Sadly, because this is all work in progress, no pictures are available as yet.

Firstly, I have been preparing troops and equipment for the forthcoming Battle of Brighton on 18th September 1940 in my “Sealion” PBEM campaign.  This has involved some painting of new GHQ model tanks and Adler infantry and support weapons.  I have several terrain hexagons to create for this battle, and have just received the British reinforcement schedule which may well involve more buying, painting and basing.  Incidentally. I have decided to sell off lots of my old 6mm stuff.  Watch e-bay for this.

Secondly, I have reached the 4th day, and the 4th battle, of my “The whole war WW2” game (after only 18 months from starting!).  It is a slow process, and hampered by the above “Sealion” project.  I have the troops and the terrain.  I need the time.

Thirdly. I am assembling six counter-based top-down representations of armies from the early medieval era for a campaign based on the TV series “Game of Thrones”. Yesterday I had a revelation about how to make the game tokens, of which more in a future post.