6mm 21st Panzer Division D-day afternoon

So, at Joy of 6 this year, we (Richard P, Ian S, Richard C, me and occasional helpers) played out a brigade level game of BKCIV, based on the 3rd British Infantry Division attempt to seize Caen on the afternoon of D-day.  The terrain stretched from Sword Beach to the outskirts of Caen and involved 185th British Infantry Brigade (3 battalions) with attached tank regiment from 27th Armoured Brigade, supported by a RM Commando with attached 13th/18th Hussar squadron and RM Centaur tank support.  The 185th was tasked with liberating Caen by advancing across Perriers Ridge (in the centre of the table below) and pushing into Caen.  The RM Commando was to cross the Orne Bridges and relieve the paratroopers holding Ranville and surroundings.

The long approach roads into Caen.  Lebissey Woods on the right.

Arrayed against the British was 21st Panzer Division.  This had been subdivided into three Kampfegruppes.  KG von Luck, mainly panzergrenadiers with a company of Pz IVs in support, was to advance on the far bank of the Orne, through Columbelles and take Ranville.  KG Oppeln and KG Rausch were to push along the near bank of the Orne, across Perriers Ridge and nip out the British lodgement at Sword beach.  The scene was set for both forces to clash head on.

Three Pz IV companies from Abt 1 of Pz Regt 22 with panzergrenadiers in the background heading for Lebissey Woods.

Panzergrenadiers from KG Rausch advancing on the flank of KG Oppeln.

The panzergrenadiers showing more appetite to get into the fight than the panzers!

The British deploy around the forward slopes of Perriers Ridge.

RM Commandos heading for Ranville on the far edge of the British advance.

The Jo6 setting - lots of people buying things and peering at very small figures.

A willing victim - sorry, games participant.  He enjoyed rolling some dice.

KG Rausch securing Mathieu and Epron.

Some troublesome Shermans at the base of Perriers Ridge.

KG Oppeln resting just out of Sherman range before Perriers Ridge.

Most of 21st Panzer stalled around Lebissey Woods.  On the far bank of the Orne, KG von Luck trading fire with the paratroopers around Ranville.

Where the game ended.  Short of a major clash, neither side was able to get to grips with the other before we had to call it a day.  However, the outcome was pretty historical in that the British drive for Caen was over for the day, while 21st Pz had come up against a serious hold up for it's drive on Sword.  On the day, 21st Panzer swung progressively further and further to the northwest, bypassing the British armour, eventually exploiting the gap between the Canadians from Juno and the British from Sword and reaching the sea in the vicinity of Lion-sur-Mer, before heading all the way back to the Epron area after being flown over by massed gliders landing 6th Airborne's reserves late on D-day.  I think I might use the image below as the starting point for another, smaller game, where the combatants can get to grips with each other sooner.

The models are all from Heroics and Ros, except the infantry, which is mainly Adler.  A lot of 21st Pz vehicles were from Ian Armstrong, although these are now available from Herocis and Ros - and lovely models they are too.

As ever, thanks for looking.

6mm modern US aircraft

Continuing from the previous post on Russian aircraft, here is a flight of four A-10 Thunderbolt IIs (Warthogs).  Again, these were in the bring and buy box from Gauntlet.  I painted these up using the three colour scheme from the Team Yankee rule book, although I used Russian uniform, Gunship green and mig-grey.  The front two aircraft are from Heroics and Ros, the two behind are from another manufacturer and while OK are not great.  Whereas the H&R versions are modelled with hardpoints for weapons load outs, the other two aren't, so will probably be retired when I get around to buying the weapons loads.  I'll probably add decals when I do the load outs.

The Heroics and Ros models.

Another view.

Unknown manufacturer.

Another view.

As ever, thanks for looking.

6mm modern Soviet airforce additions

I've been trying to get my miniatures collection stored in a more efficient and less space consuming way, so have been delving through the lead mountain.  This has had the side effect of putting a smile on my wife's face as parts of her conservatory come back into view.  For me, it's put me face to face with various unstarted and partially completed projects.  So, I've started to go through them to decide whether they are going to be sold on or completed.  One timely find was a large box of unpainted modern aircraft in 6mm, which had lain neglected since I picked them up on the bring and buy at Gauntlet in 2015.

Without further ado, here are three Mig-21 Fishbeds ("Balalaikas").  I'll use these in the ground attack role in Cold War Commander, so have painted them in a tricolour camo scheme based on some images I found on Google.  I went with a sky blue underside colour, not sure how correct tht is, but you don't really see underneath as a player when you're trying to blast a NATO tank company out of a wood.

Another view.

Then here are three more Mig-21s in a uniform aluminium finish.  I thought these better represent an earlier scheme (1960s-70s) or in a fighter role.

Another view.

And finally, for this post, a Yak-28 Brewer, which I will use either as a tactical bomber or an ECM aircraft.  I again went with a three colour camo scheme of sand, green and earth as random splodges, again based on a 1980s/90s image on Google.

Another view.

A better perspective of the camo scheme.  There is something about this aircraft that really appeals to me, it looks like it was meant to move quickly, which of course it was.

So, that more than doubles my Soviet airforce and trebles my Soviet fixed wing aircraft.  There were many more in the box, which I'm sorting and, in some cases, trying to identify both aircraft type and manufacturer.  I think all of these are from Heroics and Ros.

As ever, thanks for looking.

6mm 1980's West Germans

Team Yankee seems to have captured the imagination of the Flames of War players at the club.  While most have built up 15mm forces for Russians and Americans, there has been a lot of interest in 6mm, based on cost, the ability to build larger and more varied forces and a better look to the game on the tabletop.  For me this is perfect, as I already have 6mm forces for US, Russian, British and French.  With the publication of the Team Yankee supplement Leopard, I decided to order enough vehicles from Heroics and Ros to build up a force - I can always add more later if I like them for use with CWC.  Infantry are from Mainforce.

I decided to paint these in olivegelb (yellow olive) rather than the later NATO three colour scheme.  Vallejo yellow olive wasn't grey enough for me, so I used it as a base coat, but dry brushed it mixed with mid-grey and then added a little white for a lighter dry brush.  Tracks are flat brown, tools are beige brown and flat aluminium, crosses are hand painted in black and white.  Vision blocks are azure blue.

So, without further ado, a Leopard 2 Panzer Zug.

A Leopard 2 Panzer Kompanie.  I suspect these could ruin a Russian regimental attack on a good day.

The panzergrenadier zug from the panzer kompanie, transported in three Marders, comprising two sections of infantry, each with Milan firing posts, and the command section.

A Roland air defence battery.

A Gepard air defence battery.

A Jaguar 1 jagdpanzer battery, HOT ATGM armed.

A Jaguar 2 jagdpanzer battery, TOW ATGM armed.

Not really represented in Leopard, a Leopard 1 ARV.

A Leopard 1 zug, from a panzeraufklarungs kompanie.  These are rather more brittle than the Leopard 2s, but cost significantly less point-wise, so you can have a lot more, and they pack a punch.

A LARS raketenwerfer battery, with OP in M113.

A fliegerfaust gruppe, armed with Redeye hand held SAM missiles.  The rules allow one stand for each weapon in a Gepard or Roland air defence battery.  Apparently these troops represent the two spare crews available for each battery to allow 3 8 hour shifts to cover 24 hour air defence.

M109G panzerartillerie battery.

A Luchs spah truppe.

A Fuchs panzeraufklarungs zug, three infantry sections and a Milan firing post, with three Fuchs transports.

So, I now have enough vehicles and infantry to field a panzer kompanie, panzergrenadier kompanie and panzer aufklarungskompanie, plus supports.  I still need to add flights of West German Tornados and Bo-105P PAH helicopters to complete all the functionality of the Leopard forces.  I'm hoping to get some or all on the table top some time in the next few weeks.

As ever, thanks for looking.