Plans for 2021

With the new year looming it is time to plan the year ahead. As in previous years this will be broken down into Battles, Campaigns and Painting/modelling. 

There is one new project, the Battle of Trebia from the 2nd Punic Wars. An old favourite period of mine and given added impetus from the LittleWars TV episode.

BATTLES

There will almost certainly be more from the various projects (see "My Collections and Projects" tab above which will be regularly updated) and those listed below will be priorities.

ANCIENTS:

Early Imperial Roman 16th Legion v Ancient British Trinovantes tribe in East Anglia.

2nd Punic War - Battle of Trebia (Both sides need painting so 50:50 if achieved this year).

ECW:

Battle of Chewton Mendip.

Looking further out I hope to play some of the more well known battles, the first being Edgehill. It is unlikely to be in the coming year but is a possibility depending on how fast I can paint the additional figures required!

NAPOLEONIC:

Battle of Talavera - Peninsular War project. Over the past month I have made good progress painting the Spanish force required. I have several allied units to paint for the French but this battle is now a probability for this coming year.

Battle of Tourane - Campaign Dutch v French. This, in all probability, will be the first game of the year.

ACW:

Cavalry skirmish at Rorketon - from the new campaign.

Scenarios - I have yet to decide if any will be played with concentration being placed on the campaign.

Gettysburg is still up there but unlikely given all other projects planned.

COLONIAL:

Rorkes Drift - Almost half the Zulus painted with most of the British needed to be done including the buildings.

WW2:

Air action and battle south of Nibeiwa - Operation Compass campaign

Battles from the "Reconnaissance in Strength" mini-campaign (Soviets v Germans) - I intend to play this as a continual rolling battle to completion of the campaign.

Groesbeek Heights - Op Market Garden

Continued -

Review of 2020

With the wargame table packed away for the Xmas festivities it is time to review how the past year progressed.

As with previous yearly reviews I will revisit my plans for the year to see how they panned out and will add any unplanned events!

Text in italics are taken directly from my years' plans.

Before I start I should mention there are 2 events which will impact on my wargaming this coming year. From mid February I will be away for 5 weeks. The second, and rather more impactive, is a house move. Assuming we manage to sell our house ok we intend to move before the end of the year. This will severely restrict the gaming side of the hobby although I hope to maintain at least a degree of figure painting. One of the criteria for our new home will be it possesses, or has the potential to possess, a wargames room. So, all being well, normal service should be resumed in due course. It may of course give me the opportunity to experiment with skirmishing in 6mm. Chain of Command on a coffee table looks promising!

We managed to get away for 5 weeks returning to the mayhem that was Covid-19! This also clashed with our house move which fortunately, was completed in April. My worst fears about not having wargame space were not realised, and even better still I had slightly more room than previously! So normal service resumed.

WARS OF THE ROSES:

Battle of Shrewsbury - From the Kingmaker campaign. 400 - 500 figures need to be painted, the first of which has now been primed and on my painting table.

Completed with AAR on the blog.

Continued -

Market Garden: XXX Corps Breakout

This scenario is taken from the Rapid Fire! supplement 'Market Garden'. Converting Rapid Fire orders of battle to Blitzkrieg Commander IV is relatively simple. Artillery is translated 1:1 as are support weapons. Infantry have 3 bases to a company (1 base = 1 platoon). Mine are based in multiples of 4 figures and given that RF companies average around 8 figures it is a simple matter of increasing numbers by 50% to calculate how many are needed for the reduced German battalions.

Where there is transport that needs to be increased slightly to ensure all units have a vehicle assigned. Tanks are a little different. In RF the tank ratio is 1:5 compared to 1:3 or 4 in BKC. A squadron of 3 tanks therefore becomes 5 and so on.

This will mean rather more tanks and vehicles travelling along the road from Joe's Bridge and the increased possibility of a traffic jam! Should be interesting.

The scenario book recommends a table size of 8' x 5' for 20mm (although allows for flexibility). I calculated that 4'6" x 3' should be sufficient for 6mm.

Game details:

Table Size - 4'6" x 3'

 Figures - Heroics & Ros 1/300 (Brit carriers GHQ 1/285)

Rules - Blitzkrieg Commander IV

ORDERS OF BATTLE:

Continued -

Market Garden: XXX Corps Breakout Preview

Still on a WW2 theme I bring a preview of my next game, "XXX Corps Breakout", the first game of my Operation Market Garden project. This is to play through the scenarios in the Rapid Fire 'Market Garden' supplement and possibly turning it into a campaign.

Details of the game will be provided on the AAR which should be completed fairly soon. In the meantime I am posting photos of the German position through which XXX Corps will have to fight. All the figures and vehicles are by Heroics & Ros.

XXX Corps will arrive along the road in the foreground and all armour must remain on it until they reach Valkenswaard in the distance.

Continued -

WW2 Operation Compass: Map Moves Turn 2 - 11th December 1940

Selby Force had a great start to the campaign having completely destroyed the 1st Libyan Infantry Division. Attention now switches to the south:

Having taken its first objective, Selby Force now slows up to allow for the 'left hook' to take place. 

To the far south the 4th Armoured Brigade with the 11th Indian Brigade attack the 63rd Italian Division who occupy a hastily prepared defensive position in the open desert.

To the north of that action, the 7th Armoured Brigade with the 5th Indian and 16th British Brigades assault the Nibeiwa camp occupied by the Maletti Division.

Firstly though the air phase must be completed. On this occasion 3 Italian fighter squadrons have intercepted 2 Blenheim bomber squadrons escorted by a squadron of Hurricanes.

WW2 Operation Compass: Turn 1 - Matkila Camp Part 2

Moving on to part 2 of Matkila Camp, the surviving British troops of Selby Force now have to deal with Italian reinforcements travelling along the coast road from the west.

Table size is the same 6' x 3'9".

The forces involved are as follows:

British - Selby Force

Brigade CO - Brig Selby (CV9)
FAO (CV7)
AT Rifle Platoon - 1 stand

3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards (Veteran - fully motorised)
Bn HQ (CV8)
A - D Companies - 8 rifle stands including 4 company HQ's (CV7).
Support Coy - 1 x 3" Mortar

W Coy, Northumberland Fusiliers (Veteran - motorised)
Coy HQ (CV7)
3 x Vickers MMG stands

A Coy, 1st Bn, South Staffordshire Regt (Veteran - Motorised)
2 x Rifle stands including Coy HQ (CV7)

A Coy, 1st Bn 22nd Cheshire Regt (Veteran - Motorised)
Coy HQ (CV7)
2 x Vickers MMG stands

Detachment Durham Light Infantry (Veteran)
1 x Rifle Stand with truck

7th Hussars
2 x Vickers MkVI Light tanks

Light AA Battery
2 x Bofors 40mm AA guns

1 Section 107th South Notts Hussars RHA
1 x 25pdr Field Gun

Italian - 2nd Libyan Infantry Group

FAO (CV6)
Inf Gun Battery 1 x 65L17 Infantry gun

XI Derna Bn (Green)
Bn HQ (CV7)
3 x Rifle companies each 3 x rifle stands
Weapons company 1 x Breda MMG

XII Barce Bn (Green)
Bn HQ (CV7)
3 x Rifle companies each 3 x rifle stands
Weapons company 1 x Breda MMG

XIII Zemzem Bn (Green)
Bn HQ (CV7)
3 x Rifle companies each 3 x rifle stands
Weapons company 1 x Breda MMG

Continued -

WW2 Operation Compass: Turn 1 - Matkila Camp Part 1

The first action of the campaign involves Selby Force attacking the Italians within their camp at Matkila. Selby Force have been tasked with driving along the coast road towards the Libyan frontier.

Table size 6' x 3'9

Figures and Vehicles - Mix of GHQ and H&R

Orders of Battle:

British - Selby Force

Brigade CO - Brig Selby (CV9)
FAO (CV7)
AT Rifle Platoon - 1 stand

3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards (Veteran - fully motorised)
Bn HQ (CV8)
A - D Companies - 12 rifle stands including 4 company HQ's (CV7).
Support Coy - 1 x Vickers MMG, 1 x 3" Mortar

W Coy, Northumberland Fusiliers (Veteran - motorised)
Coy HQ (CV7)
3 x Vickers MMG stands

A Coy, 1st Bn, South Staffordshire Regt (Veteran - Motorised)
3 x Rifle stands including Coy HQ (CV7)

A Coy, 1st Bn 22nd Cheshire Regt (Veteran - Motorised)
Coy HQ (CV7)
3 x Vickers MMG stands

Detachment Durham Light Infantry (Veteran)
1 x Rifle Stand with truck

7th Hussars
2 x Vickers MkVI Light tanks

Light AA Battery
3 x Bofors 40mm AA guns

1 Section 8th Field Regt RA
1 x 18pdr Field Gun

1 Section 107th South Notts Hussars RHA
1 x 25pdr Field Gun

Air Support
Scheduled ground attack by Blenheim bombers.

Continued -

Britannia Campaign: Map Moves Turn 2

 

An overview of the map at end of turn 2

With the Atrebates tribe now pacified the 2nd Legion prepares to advance on the south west. It leaves one cohort of auxiliaries as a garrison.

The 16th Legion move out towards the east. The powerful Trinovantes tribe have no intention of allowing the Romans to advance any further which sets the scene of the next clash in the Britannia campaign.

Britannia Campaign: Vespasian v The Atrebates

As Vespasian moves inland with the 2nd Legion with the expectation that allies would be quickly formed with the Atrebates, scouts hurriedly return informing him of an approaching large force of Celts. Clearly the Romans were going to have to stamp their authority on these barbarians from the start. An example would have to be made.

Crossing the South Downs Vespasian deployed in a defensive position and awaited the approach of the Atrebates warbands.

Table Size: 4'6" x 3'

Figures: 6mm Baccus and Rapier

Rules: My own (based on General de Brigade)

ORDERS OF BATTLE

Roman

1 x CinC + 2 sub-commanders

2nd Legion: 1st Cohort 60 figures. 9 x cohorts of 36 figures each
4 x Scorpios

Auxiliaries -

1 x Medium Cavalry cohort 30 figures
1 x Light Cavalry cohort 30 figures
1 x Equitata cohort - 1 x 12 light cavalry + 1 x 24 Aux infantry
2 x Batavian cohorts each 1 x 12 medium cavalry + 1 x 24 Aux infantry)
3 x Auxiliary infantry cohorts each 36 figures
1 x Auxiliary archers cohort of 36 figures

Total 668 figures

Atrebates

1 x CinC + 2 sub-commanders

1 unit of 8 light chariots
1 unit of 24 medium cavalry
2 units of 16 light cavalry
2 units of 12 light cavalry
1 x warband 72 figs
1 x warband 60 figs
5 x warbands of 40 figs
2 x warbands of 30 figs
1 unit of 16 Slingers
2 units of 16 Javelinmen

Total 536 figures

River is impassable - Vespasian located a ford on his approach to his position and used it to cross his Scorpios and escorting cohorts. He was not aware of another ford off table behind the Atrebates position although guessed this may be a possibility.

Continued -

WW2 Operation Compass: Turn 1 Air Phase

10th December 1940

The first real action of the campaign involved British and Australian fighters intercepting an escorted Italian bomber formation.

2 squadrons of SM79 Sparviero bombers are escorted by fighters (left to right) 1 squadron each of Fiat Cr32 Chirri, Fiat Cr42 Falco and Breda Ba65.

They spot the British formations ahead of them at a higher altitude: 

Australian Gladiators on the left with Hurricane I's have yet to spot the Italians.

Continued -

WW2 Campaign: Operation Compass

The 3rd and final new campaign is set in WW2 and based around Operation Compass in December 1940. My original project involving this operation was to play various historical scenarios and although enjoyable enough, as with the other periods felt it would benefit from a campaign setting.

Blitzkrieg Commander IV rules will be used. The 'Operation Compass' book by Osprey Publishing helpfully provide an air force orders of battle for both sides. This was a good excuse to include an air warfare element to the campaign using Bag The Hun rules. 

The map I used was taken from the old Avalon Hill game 'Afrika Korps'. 

I added detail to this including more settlements, roads, tracks and the site of several Italian camps:

Campaign movement rates are pretty much as per the AH rules. The British are heavily outnumbered which would make it supremely difficult in wargame terms to have any chance of victory over the Italians. 

To make it more balanced I had to look at how I could recreate the deficiencies of the Italian army at this stage of the war. Poor leadership, communication and morale with a propensity to surrender en-masse needed to be handled but in such a way that it would not be a pushover for the British.

Within BKCIV rules I made most of the Italians 'green' troops with some decent units among them. I gave them a 'rigid' tactical doctrine (a smaller command radius) rather than the 'normal' as recommended in the army lists. Each battalion would only have one HQ - the battalion HQ. For the British, battalions would be assigned company HQ's in addition to battalion and an overall higher command rating. And finally, any Italian green troops would automatically surrender if defeated with higher quality troops rolling a dice to determine if they followed suit.

There will be one air combat phase per turn with participants decided on the roll of a dice. The Italians have 18 squadrons split evenly between fighters and bombers to the British 6 squadrons also evenly split. The British have higher quality pilots and planes but will nevertheless be up against it. The consequences of air actions, particularly if either side gains air supremacy, will determine what is available for ground support. Each model will represent 3 aircraft to avoid the need to collect too many more.

Continued -

ACW Warplan Campaign: Introduction

The second new campaign I am going to introduce you to is for the ACW period. I have played a good number of historical actions and although I enjoyed them, there was something missing. In just about all of them I thought 'if only this were part of a campaign'. So having bitten the bullet I have settled on the trusty old Warplan 5/5 system as used in my Napoleonic campaign.

This though will be a more modest affair. It will be set around a Confederate army holed up in a Peninsular. It is not aimed at any particular year although 1863 will be the closest. Nor is it set around any particular event. It is purely fictional, closer to a parallel universe.

The Warplan system details towns with railway stations but does not have railways marked on the map cards. Clearly being ACW, railways (or railroads!) should be added. Upon settling on the overall map I identified all those towns with railway stations and then added what I felt would be a believable rail network.

The added dotted line is the rail network. 

Continued -

Britannia Campaign: Introduction to Rome's Invasion of Britain

Over the past few months 3 new campaigns have been started. I now introduce you to my new ancients campaign which for me is a first for this period.

It is based on the Hail Caesar supplement "Britannia: Rome's Invasion of Britain". This is the invasion of 43AD and not Julius Caesar's of 54BC. 

The book features various historical scenarios and a campaign system. That system is designed for a fast moving game allowing opponents to conclude it in a relatively short amount of time. As readers of the blog know that is not really for me. I like my campaigns to be pretty deep and involving for the most part.

That said, this campaign does look interesting with plenty of potential. I have therefore taken its core components such as map, routes of movement and orders of battle adding my own detail to make it more involved.

Starting with the orders of battle. In the book you select a force of around 12 units from the Roman list whereas I have included every unit listed. To balance this out I have increased the size of the Ancient British tribes by approximately 50%. 

Each one of my Roman legions will consist of 1 cohort of 60 figures and 9 of 36 giving a figure ratio of around 1:13. Auxiliary cohorts are of similar strength. I have given the Ancient British tribes units of varying sizes with the overall tribal structure as listed in the book.

Also taken from the book is the method of calculating whether a tribe revolts or becomes allied. Each tribe is allocated a D6 number to be rolled and if equalled or exceeded it will rebel. They test as soon as they come into contact with a Roman force and in addition, any one other tribe may test each turn. This can include tribes that have allied themselves to Rome. If a tribe is defeated in battle it is classed as pacified and cannot rebel.

To win the Romans must capture Mona and have pacified or allied all tribes. Unlike the book I have not set any time limit for this. Again, unlike the book this will mean that potentially the Romans could be ejected from Britain. 

The rules I shall be using will be my own using the General de Brigade engine. This has been a work in progress over the past couple of years and I am now approaching the point in which I am reasonably happy with them. 

Continued -

ACW: The Battle of 1st Winchester

1st Winchester

15th May 1862

Rules: Guns at Gettysburg

Table Size: 6' x 4'

Figures: 6mm Baccus

Orders of Battle:

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 30th March 1808

 The situation by nightfall on 30th March 1808:

Now for a closer look at each sector:

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Ambush in Rock Valley

Three Swiss battalions have been making their way across France to join the French 6th Corps. They are destined to join Lafitte's brigade providing a much needed addition to the 2 French battalions.

They have crossed the border into Spain expecting no opposition having been lead to believe that much of the country had been subdued. As a result only a handful of scouts had been sent ahead of the main column.

The order of march consisted of 1/2nd Swiss, 2/2nd Swiss and 1/3rd Swiss. All are inexperienced 2nd Line troops and have no overall commander. The Colonel in command of the 1/2nd battalion, being the most senior, was ostensibly in command but with no plans in the event of any action, all 3 battalion commanders would be acting under their own initiative is such circumstances. They fully expected a stroll in the countryside before arrival at 6th Corps.

Continued -

Blog Update Part 2

Enough dust has settled on the blog -  time for an update.

I have now cleared out almost all the larger scales leaving me with just 6mm figures and a small collection of 2mm. Its bad enough wanting to play out every conflict throughout history but in different scales as well!

In my previous update I had decided to call it a day on my terrain tiles and switch to gaming mats. The primary reason being to save space and I also liked the idea of creating naturally looking undulating ground. Several mats were purchased from Tiny Wargames and another from Geek Villain. The sea mat from TW included hexes for Bag The Hun rules.

So far I have tried out the sea mat and a TW rocky grass mat (you will see these in future postings). So having got the mats and photographed my terrain tiles prior to selling it was all good to go. And then! There is no doubting the quality of the mats but to put it bluntly, in my opinion they are not as good as my tiles. The urge to sell them quickly drained away and I have now decided to keep them.

The mats will not be wasted. The sea mat and the mat from Geek Villain which is destined for the Peninsular War or games set in southern Europe will certainly be used again. I also anticipate using the grass and especially the desert mat. My only complaint regarding the TW mats are that they are slippery making it difficult to place figures on hill slopes. The GV mat is fleece and hopefully will create a little more friction. 

Since my last posting I have played a couple of ACW games, the introduction to my N.Africa campaign being an RAF v Italian air action and a Napoleonic skirmish in the Napoleonic campaign.

Current projects have been reviewed and new ones added. A central theme has been to introduce campaigns to as many of my periods as possible.

In chronological order:

1. Ancients.

I have finally started my first Ancients campaign ever! Focussing on my existing collection this is centred around the Roman invasion of Britain in 43AD. 'Hail Caesar' produced a scenario and campaign book which I have used to formulate my own system. 

2. Wars of the Roses.

Kingmaker campaign to continue with my son.

3. ECW.

I shall continue playing the occasional historical scenario but it is my intention to introduce a campaign for this period as soon as I have time.

4. Napoleonic.

Playing battles from the Peninsular War and my long-standing campaign will continue.

5. ACW.

I hope to play Gettysburg within the next 12 months and other historical scenarios will occasionally be played. I have now commenced a campaign using the Warplan 5/5 system (as used in my Napoleonic campaign but rather more modest in size). 

6. Colonial - Zulu Wars.

Rorkes Drift followed by Isandlwana to be played. In time I will seek out a suitable campaign.

7. WW2 N.Africa.

I have now cancelled playing any further one-off battles from Operation Compass and replaced them with a campaign of the same operation. 

8. WW2 Eastern Front.

Work continues towards the 'Reconnaissance in Strength' mini campaign.

9. WW2 North Western Europe.

I should be ready soon to start playing Op Market Garden games with the possibility of turning this into a campaign. Other historical scenarios are in the pipeline and a possible larger campaign associated with D Day/Normandy.

WW2 - Op Nostalgia Campaign discontinued.

I covered many of the reasons for this in my last blog. It has been replaced with the Op Compass campaign.


For the future, I intend now to reboot the blog but postings will be a little less than before. I intend to concentrate on AAR's and hopefully showcase 6mm figures as well as the benefits of solo wargaming. I also need to review how I complete the AAR's. They will be shorter and thus not such of a slog to read through. All being well they will be entertaining and contain enough information for the reader to be able to follow the action.

Quite simply I need to balance the amount of time I spend on each facet of the hobby. The blog was becoming all-consuming previously and rather than give up on it entirely, this should enable me to continue what is still an enjoyable exercise.

I will post AAR's on the games already played over next few days and weeks.

Blog Update.

Unfortunately I have had to take a very difficult decision regarding the blog. For a variety of reasons, but principally one of time, I have decided to suspend it for now. 

With regard to 'Operation Nostalgia' and the landings on Rhodes, it was this last game that triggered the re-appraisal of my hobby. As I am getting older I am finding it harder to stand at the table for any length of time. Photographing and recording the tabletop events doubles the game time, which given my limitations, occasionally slows the process down to the occasional crawl. With this particular game I simply ran out of time before needing the space for visitors for a few days and at this point it became obvious that a reappraisal was needed.

I have agonised over this during the past couple of days and arrived at this very difficult decision. I am loathe to say that the blog is finished as who knows what the future will hold! I am hoping it will not be permanent and after a breather will reconsider if or how I am going to continue. An option I am considering is purely AAR's (which was my original intention) but not as detailed as now. As any wargames blogger will testify, it is a time consuming exercise but has its own rewards. I am also happy to have showcased the hobby and in particular 6mm scale gaming which I feel has a great future.

I am particularly grateful for all the support of other gamers and bloggers which is really appreciated.

And finally, as part of that reappraisal, I have decided to sell my 10mm AWI collection to focus purely on 6mm. I have also taken the extremely difficult decision to sell all my terrain boards which will be replaced with terrain mats. I need the space! The 10mm collection will be up on ebay this evening and I will update this posting with a link should anybody be interested. I will need time to sort out the terrain over the next few weeks but will post and update on the blog when up for sale (this will be for collection only - far too bulky to send).

The AWI collection will be in 3 lots (US, Anglo-Hessian and unpainted) as below (link here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303630690923) :

Operation Nostalgia: Allied Invasion of Rhodes Part 3 - Landings at Faliraki

Troops of the 2nd Infantry battalion loaded their landing craft from the troop transport 'Glenearn' and will form the first wave.

I have given the landing craft BKC stats and will move 10cm each turn. Each invasion wave will begin 20cm out from the beach with 2 turns between them. If a landing craft becomes suppressed it will continue to move as normal but will be unable to fire any armaments (mainly MG's). If a landing craft is destroyed/sunk all troops and vehicles are lost. If within 5cm of beach infantry units land but are suppressed with half their maximum hits, rounded up, recorded against them.

When troops disembark I have referred back to the BKC rules for deployment.  

Turn 1

The battle opens with a bombardment from the cruiser HMS Dido. Several positions became suppressed but all survived.

 The Germans open fire on the approaching landing craft who survive unscathed.

Continued -

Operation Nostalgia: Allied Invasion of Rhodes Part 2 - Landings at Faliraki Introduction

Focus now switches to Table 1:

This will involve the British landings at Faliraki where they hope to begin their conquest of the liberation of Rhodes.

The game will be played on a 6' x 3'9" board using Blitzkrieg Commander IV rules. Throughout this campaign you will see some uniforms and paint schemes not ideally suited to this theatre of the war. Most of my WW2 collection is set in early war North Africa or late war eastern and western fronts. I have therefore, shoehorned in figures and models from my existing collection but hopefully will not detract too much from the overall presentation.

Orders of Battle will be listed at the conclusion.

This posting will set the scene prior to the game proper.

Continued - 

Operation Nostalgia: Allied Invasion of Rhodes Part 1

I did not realise it has been so long since I last posted on this campaign (Oct 2018!). Time to press on with this project.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been completing terrain for the invasion of Rhodes and is now ready to go.

The original magazine articles described Rhodes as made up of four 8' x 5' boards. Bearing in mind this was primarily designed for 20mm figures I have simply translated this to 8 x 5 of my own 9" terrain boards, or 6' x 3'9". 

When overlaying a grid on the original stylised plan of Rhodes I found that tables 2 to 4 were slightly squashed. Hence oblongs rather than squares. However, for the tabletop I will revert to squares which will slightly elongate the island.

Continued -

On the Workbench: Hood and Prince of Wales

Completed in the past week are 1/3000 scale HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales. Both are Navwar and as with Bismark and Prince Eugen, they have undergone a renovation.

This will be the last naval vessels for a time while I concentrate on other WW2 figures and terrain.

Sea Bases

In response to a request on how I model my sea bases, I repeat here details originally on the Bismark and Prince Eugen post.

My bases are usually artist card cut to the size of the ship rather than any generic size. For the larger ships such as these, I have used 1mm thick plasticard which reduces the chances of warping.

Filler is added shaping a bow wave together with other smaller random waves. I firstly paint black around the filler where it meets the hull. The blue base coat is Vallejo 965 Prussian Blue.

Next a heavy drybrushing of Vallejo 962 Flat Blue is applied leaving the darker blue in the troughs of waves. A lighter drybrush of Coat 'd Arms 206 Light Blue is added enhancing the shading effect. A heavy drybrushing of white is applied to the sea along the ship sides and liberally around the stern. Finally a very light drybrushing of white is applied to the bow and random waves.

The whole model is given 2 coats of matt varnish and when dry, I paint the sea a gloss varnish (I use a bottle of Humbrol).

This is obviously purely my take and hope it will provide for some ideas for those who are struggling with sea bases.

On the Workbench: Airfield Buildings

My fictional WW2 campaign in the Aegean, Op Nostalgia, that I was to start with one of my sons has stalled due to his availability. I have therefore decided to continue my solo version. In my campaign the British are about to land on Rhodes. 

All the figures and vehicles are ready but more terrain is needed - specifically airfields.

I have therefore pressed on preparing for the next campaign action. Aside from airfield buildings, I have completed several jetties, a few carts, and the large 2 storey building at the back is destined for the main port. 

Most are Leven Miniatures apart from the two wooden road blocks (2D6 Wargaming) and the 3 carts (Perfect 6). 

Kingmaker Campaign - Battle of Shrewsbury

I must apologise in advance for a rather brief AAR and the quality of photos. This game was played with an opponent - my son Jack. We did not have time for pauses to take notes or ensure lighting was about right for photos. 

For this game I had a Yorkist force against Jack's Lancastrians. As he was the defender he selected which side of the table he would deploy.

Table Size - 4'6" x 3'

Figures - 6mm Baccus

Rules - Ancient & Medieval Wargaming by Neil Thomas (Medieval Module)

ORBATS

Continued -

On the Workbench: Panthers, Jagdpanthers & T34's

A batch of WW2 armour has now been added to the inventory. All 1/285th scale models by 2D6 Wargaming:

5 x Panther D's, 1 x Panther A and 1 x Panther G. 

Continued -

On the Workbench: Bismark and Prinz Eugen

Bismark and Prinz Eugen in 1/3000 scale:

Painting the occasional ship provides a welcome break from hordes of figures. These 2 ships are from the collection my son found in his loft. With the old paint stripped off they were duly refurbished and looked quite presentable when finished. Especially bearing in mind they must be over 25 years old now.

The Prinz Eugen is a Navwar model and I believe the Bismark may be Davco. With HMS Hood and Prince of Wales next they will set the scene for some naval action.

Sea Bases:

In response to Peter Little's request in the comments below, I am adding details of how I complete my sea bases.

First, a note regarding the blue colour. Many would argue that the North Atlantic, which is the primary setting for these ships, is normally a dull grey. This is not always the case though -

This is a photo I took last year off the Lofoten Islands. Looks a bit blue to me! The deciding factor for me though being that it better compliments the ship models especially in this small scale. So with that in mind this is the process I used for my sea bases:

My bases are usually artist card cut to the size of the ship rather than any generic size. For the larger ships such as these, I have used 1mm thick plasticard which reduces the chances of warping.

Filler is added shaping a bow wave together with other smaller random waves. I firstly paint black around the filler where it meets the hull. The blue base coat is Vallejo 965 Prussian Blue.

Next a heavy drybrushing of Vallejo 962 Flat Blue is applied leaving the darker blue in the troughs of waves. A lighter drybrush of Coat 'd Arms 206 Light Blue is added enhancing the shading effect. A heavy drybrushing of white is applied to the sea along the ship sides and liberally around the stern. Finally a very light drybrushing of white is applied to the bow and random waves.

The whole model is given 2 coats of matt varnish and when dry, I paint the sea a gloss varnish (I use a bottle of Humbrol). 

This is obviously purely my take and hope it will provide for some ideas for those who are struggling with sea bases.

On the Workbench: WW2 Soviet Infantry Battalions & Bersaglieri Motor Cyclists

WW2 Soviet Infantry battalions have been completed for the Recce in Strength project. 

There are 3 infantry battalions, 1 naval infantry battalion and a recce infantry battalion plus several other bases such as Div and Brig command, anti-tank rifle platoons, LMG platoons, a flamethrower platoon and a couple of female sniper teams. All by 2D6 miniatures.

I say 'complete' but they are waiting on Maxim machine gun teams to be released by 2D6.

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Ancient and Medieval Wargaming Rules Test Game

Having recently acquired Neil Thomas' Ancient and Medieval Wargaming rules, primarily for the Wars of the Roses campaign, I had the itch to give them a test game. It also gave me an opportunity to get out my Early Imperial Roman and Ancient British figures. This game was played on a 2'3" x 2'3" table.

As can be seen, I planned this being the most basic of games just to get the feel for the rules. I am not a fan of generic sized units but for this test outing I have stuck with the 4 bases per unit as recommended with an orbat drawn from the army lists included in the book (1 for artillery). 

I have used the 'Classical Warfare' module and the only change I have made was to add a command and control system (there are none in the rules). I settled on a slight variation of the 'Hail Caesar' system but limiting the number of moves a unit can make to 2 rather than the designed 3. As this is a relatively small battle there will be just one commander for each side. 

The Ancient British consist of 5 units of warband, 2 x slingers, 3 x light chariots and 2 x light cavalry. 

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Nap Campaign: Map Moves 29th March 1808

Overview

To the north west Grouchy continues to pursue the retreating allies. The Dutch (orange 1) fail to rally and only do so on reaching their capital which they have now done. The Brunswickers and Hanoverians are aiming to link up with the British who are still in the process of assembling in port.

Another Brunswick brigade (black 1) has been transported from their main island base and are ready to join the fight.

The result of the most recent action (battle of the Tourane Peninsular) at the bottom left. Best (yellow 4) intends to link up with the rest of the Hanoverians. Chasse's Dutch/Belgians (Orange 2) are routing pursued by D'Erlon (blue 6). 

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Nap Campaign: Battle of the Tourane Peninsular (Holland)

The situation at nightfall on 28th March 1808:

The Dutch commander, Chasse, decided to make a stand holding a narrow peninsular. In so doing he hoped to draw off some of the French from their main army to relieve some of the pressure on the allied forces defending Holland. It was a high risk gamble that could lead to his annihilation but he hoped that channelling the French into a narrow strip of land would enable him to destroy their columns in the manner of the British lines.

D'Erlon with 2 infantry and 1 cavalry division seeks to eliminate this long standing flanking threat once and for all including that infernal Col Best!

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On the Workbench: WW2 Soviet Infantry

Almost ready for basing are a bunch of 6mm WW2 Soviet infantry by 2D6 Wargaming:

These are all for the project "Reconnaissance in Strength" and will make up the bulk of the infantry.

During rebasing my N.Africa figures, it reminds me how far 6mm or 1/300 or 1/285 (whichever you prefer) have come. Some of my figures are old H&R and have very little detail. 

On the Workbench: Terrain Tile Road Upgrades.

As readers of my blog will be aware, my terrain tiles are commercially built products that I acquired in the 1990's from the now defunct 'Purbeck Terrain'. The road system was designed ideally for 15mm and is something I have been planning to change since switching entirely to 6mm. 

Although the original can look striking when laid out I was never entirely happy with it. The designers sank the road into the board a few millimetres which was not very practical for wargaming purposes. Even less so for 6mm!

I was recently scanning the 'Rapid Fire' Normandy scenario book and the battle maps had the look of something familiar about them. The road networks depicted were the same as my terrain boards! The scenario maps were in square feet for 15mm/20mm figures so would be a simple matter of transferring to my 9" square boards for 6mm. This would provide for more realistic distances as an added bonus.

With the Cristot scenario beckoning it gave me the impetus to finally do something with my road boards. 

 The above is the original with H&R Shermans. I would need to narrow the road and raise its level.

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Nap Campaign: Map Moves 28th March 1808

The overall situation at the end of the day's map moves for 28th March 1808:

I will now zoom in on the 3 sectors:

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On the Workbench: Waffen SS

Completed and ready for basing are almost 2 battalions of late war SS for use in my Market Garden and Reconnaissance in Strength projects.

These are all excellent new sculpts from Heroics & Ros range. I have confined the camo to the Oak leaf spring and autumn varieties with a few in field grey.

Looking forward to getting these on the table and using BKCIV in settings other than desert!. 

On the Workbench: HMS Ramillies

HMS Ramillies is now complete:

I am unclear on the progression of Navwar Sculpts so not sure how their latest HMS Ramillies compares. Certainly some of the recent models I have purchased have crisper detail. This lacked some of the deck detail you see on other ships, and the ships boats amidships were almost impossible to identify. Some detail I had to paint on but in the end it is a serviceable model. 

When painting 1/3000 ships I have found that exaggerating detail by applying bright highlights and dark recesses makes them 'pop' a little more. 

Developments on my other projects includes the Kingmaker campaign and a rebooting of my WW2 in the Aegean 'Op Nostalgia' campaign.

For Kingmaker I will be trying out Neil Thomas' Ancients & Medieval Warfare rules. More specifically the Medieval module. Steve J of the Wargaming Addict blog (link on the right) highlighted these rules and there is an example of a game on his blog. The game is ready to go as soon as the lockdown is lifted and my son can visit me! I will give more detail on the rules and my additions when I complete the AAR.

'Op Nostalgia' will be undergoing a reboot. That does not mean that I have canned the solo campaign that features on the blog. It will merely be put on ice to make way for a non-solo campaign. Another of my sons, who is now living with us, has specifically requested to play this campaign. We had started it many years ago but barely got off the ground before he joined the Navy. So the intention is to start on this soon. I have paired back the naval and air elements to reflect more of the original orbats by the scenario writers. This should speed up those elements of the campaign enabling us to crack on with the island hopping battles.

More on both of these campaigns soon.

Nap Campaign: 2nd Battle of Brandenlea - Part 2 The Battle

Before I start with the AAR, a word about Skirmishers. Followers of my blog will be aware I have been experimenting with skirmisher rules for this scale. I have found it not practical to deploy skirmisher bases - they are simply too fiddly. Therefore skirmishers will be treated in the abstract similar to the Grande Armee rules. Units are given an SK factor and when within range of the enemy, will fire as per the GdB rules.

Another house rule to deal with the rocky terrain in this game, was to introduce a new terrain type of 'broken'. Basically the same as 'difficult' but infantry are unable to form up. In the rules unformed infantry are unable to charge. In this terrain I have allowed them to 'advance to contact' testing as if charging but gaining no charging benefits. Not quite so easy for the French!

On to the game:

A reminder of the initial French deployment.

Peace is broken by the thunderous roar of the opening salvo from the massed French artillery signalling the start of the action. The Spanish Walloon Guards sheltering among the rocks suffered the first casualty as cannon balls rained down on them.

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Nap Campaign: 2nd Battle of Brandenlea (Spain) - Introduction

As it has been a while since I posted on my Napoleonic campaign, I thought I would start on the latest battle by giving a brief recap of the events leading up to it.

The above map indicates the situation on 27th March 1808. This battle takes place in the south western sector.

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