6mm CWC post-lockdown game

 Some of the Cold War Commanders managed a get together to play a socially distanced wargame in a well ventilated room between players who had all had both jabs.  A nice scenario pitting three NATO brigades carrying out an opportunistic spoiling attack on a degraded Soviet and Czech troops.  In the photo below, Canadian (far left), German (middle left) and French (near left) were advancing left to right on hastily dug in Soviet (far right) and Czech (near right) defenders. 

After an initial couple of turns of programmed artillery fire and scouts moving and spotting, the first hidden pact troops were spotted and NATO advances their initial forces (two battalions up and one in reserve, awaiting the identification and degrading of key pact strongpoints).  Initial French advances (nearest the camera) were great, especially on the right flank where a mechanised battalion seemed particularly full of elan.

However, they were advancing on an apparently empty terrain (the hills in the foreground had just been swept by a particularly effective French artillery strike by a regiment of 155mm SPGs, wiping out a Czech AT company.

The French attempts to sweep around the hill to their front was a slow affair, not helped by programmed artillery hitting the crossroads in the village on the left, which pinned one of the cuirassier battlegroups.

The French mechanised battlegroup exhibiting wreckless elan - the fields to the right of the minefield were a programmed artillery point.

Czech defenders rush into the town to defend the crossing point, just in time to make the weak French mechanised battlegroup pause for thought.

Another cluster of Czechs attempting to pour flanking fire into the Germans to their right front, but doing so in the face of two squadrons of cuirassiers.

The final positions around 4pm on the day.  The French trying to get a move on, but failing command roles or blundering.  The cuirassiers beyond the road did get some telling fire into the Czech tanks and ATGMs supporting the infantry battlegroup in the woods in the distance.  The mechanised battlegroup nearest the camera were trading shots with tanks on the edge of the built up area around the river crossing.

Sadly, too few turns, but mainly due to us having a great laugh and enjoying the company of like-minded wargamers, something we've sorely missed in the last 18 months or so.

Nice to get the toys out on the table and a great venue for weekend gaming - one we hope to use again very soon.

Thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 German artillery tows

I wanted some artillery tows, able to tow light weapons like the PAK 36, 20mm AA gun and 75mm infantry gun, so the SdKfz 10 fits the bill.  I also wanted to provide tows for a pair of 105mm howitzers, that would also be able to tow heavier PAK AT guns such as the PAK 38 and PAK 40 and a heavy tow for the 88mm FLAK gun, so SdKfz 11s seemed appropriate.  Finally, I wanted a tow for the 88mm FLAK gun, so an SdKfz 7 seemed called for.  All are available in resin from Britannia Miniatures from Grubby Tanks.

A pair of Britannia Miniatures SdKfz 11 medium artillery rows, suitable for towing weapons like the 105mm howitzer.  Britannia SS drivers and a couple of the SS vehicle crew.  These can tow a pair of 105mm howitzers or Pak 38 or 40 AT guns.

Painted in middlestone with a little Iraqi sand and stripes of WW2 German field grey with a little refractive green.  Black grey for tires, black brown for tracks.

A Britannia Miniatures SdKfz 7 tow for heavy artillery, best known as the tow for the 88mm FLAK.  Driver is from the Britannia SS driver set and the three passengers are from the Britannia SS passengers set.  Paint scheme as the SdKfz 11s with the addition of some armour brown, diluted with WW2 German camo mid-brown.

The casting on this model wasn't particularly crisp and took a lot of filling with modelling paste.  I'm very happy with the final result though.

A Britannia Miniatures SdKfz 10 light artillery tow, suitable for the 20mm AA gun, infantry guns, etc.  Paint scheme similar to the SdKfz 7 above.

Nicely detailed models, a few bubbles to fill and some make good work around the headlights and grills mainly, but overall quite pleased with these.  They fill a gap in my late war German forces to get towed artillery mobile, so do the job.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 Marder IIIM

A Ready to roll version of the Marder III M, the last variant to be produced, effectively a PAK 40 on a Pz 38t chassis, with the fighting deck lowered compared to other variants due to the forward positioning of the engine.

I've painted this using Vallejo Middlestone lightened with Iraqi sand, with stripes of WW2 German field grey mixed with refractive green and Armor brown lightened with light brown.  The brown swatches are overpainted on the green grey, leaving the green grey as margins of variable width.  Tires, gun muzzle, bore and spade blades are black grey, tracks are German camo black brown.  Exhaust is rust, wooden tool handles are new wood.  Vehicle is washed in Agrax Earthshade and dry-brushed with Vallejo Iraqi sand.  Galleria gloss varnish was added as a protective layer before the decals went on, followed by Galleria matt varnish to seal the decals and provide a matt finish.

Decals are from Skytrex.

Crew are from Grubby (Britannia Miniatures range) from different crew sets.  They are painted in a spring oak leaf camo pattern using the Farnsworth guide for paint palate suggestions.

I'll add a second of these next time I order, to give me a Rapid-Fire AT unit.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm SdKfz 221

A First to fight SdKfz 221 painted in late war colours.  The commander is a Britannia DAK tank commander and he is painted in the Telo mimetico Italian scheme used by the German army after the Italian armistice.

This is a nice little kit of what was, by 1944, a pretty much obsolete vehicle, still pressed into service in some units for anti-partisan, battlegroup recce and liaison duties.  An SdKfz 223 with bed frame aerial is listed in the R-F Normandy Battlegroup book attached to the Battlegroup HQ of a panzergrenadier division.

I've given the commander an Iron Cross ribbon on the front of his tunic.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 German Horch staff car

A Readytoroll Horch staff car for a late war battlegroup HQ.  What is now my usual mix of Vallejo Middlestone and Iraqi sand (2:1 to 3:1) with irregular discontinuous stripes of WW2 German field grey mixed with refractive green.  Wheels black grey, windows and screen are indigo, overpainted sky blue with white squiggles for reflections.  Tilt is dark sand.  Whole thing is washed in Agrax Earthshade and dry brushed Iraqi sand to make edges pop.

Decals - number plates only - are from Skytrex.

A one piece resin casting with no obvious bubbles or missing detail.  Hard to beat for the price.  I'm working on some assorted German vehicles, so hope to have more to show soon, this chap, along with some motor-cycle recce and a Pak 38 and tow, should be appearing as a battlegroup HQ for a Rapid-Fire force soon - just the tow vehicle to wrap up.

Thanks for looking.

Post-lockdown wargames resume

Last night I managed to roll some dice in a game for the first time since the WMMS show in Wolverhampton in March 2020.  Sadly, the old venue for the Deeside Defenders club is being demolished and, despite assurances from the Wings Club that we were still wanted they offered another group Thursday evenings, leaving us less than half the space previously available and only on a Wednesday.  We decided to explore alternative venues, one group heading off to Mold on a Thursday and the other heading to Elton the same day.  The group in Mold have kept the Deeside Defenders title, while the group in Elton are now Beacon Games Club, meeting at the Elton Community Centre (bar open 6-11pm, gaming from 7pm at the moment).

Will, Richard and I played a game of Rapid-Fire 2nd edition using the scenario of Steve Shann published in the latest Wargames Soldiers and Strategy.  This pits a brigade of Will's Soviet infantry with supports and 6 SU-76s against an initial force of two reduced strength battalions of German infantry, with a reserve force including 2 Tiger IIs and a battalion of infantry arriving on an average dice plus 6 (we rolled for 9) turns into the game.  Russians came on from the right table edge in the photo below, one battalion of Germans deployed along the hard cover of the railway embankment, the other in or within 6 inches of the village.  Russians from Will's collection, Germans from mine - all recent additions during lockdown so suffering the curse of new units in spectacular style.

I think Richard and I should have used some movement to get our troops out of the pre-planned artillery bombardment zone.  It's tempting to hunker down in the hard cover of the railway and buildings, but Will's heavy artillery support was quite devastating when it hit.  I'm tempted to think the troops in the village should have deployed as close to the rail lines as possible to start shooting before the Russian artillery whittled them down, especially using the PAK 40 to take out some of the SU-76's.  Alternatively, the German forces could have pulled back from the rail line and village into woods and another village at the rear of the table to wait out the bombardment and arrival of the German reinforcements.  Another play through might help test the alternatives.

However, in the end, both German battalions took heavy casualties and were routed, leaving the Russians two turns in which to deploy along the rail embankment and push their SU-76's into the village or hull down behind the railway.  The Tiger IIs came on into a line of sight slugging match.

In the first round of fire, the SU-76's managed a solid hit and a lucky conversion of that into a Tiger kill, stopping the lead Tiger dead.  The following Tiger rolled a 1 to hit in reply, no effect.

The village firmly in Soviet hands - the menacing hulk of the Tiger just adding a minor road block.

The Soviet horde making good use of the railway line for cover.

Anyway, it was great to meet up with loads of old friends and get some gaming in.  The new venue seems to be all we could have asked for and perhaps a bit more, so I hope it continues to grow.  Looking forward to next week already.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Early War German vehicles

Will and I shared postage on a shipment of First to Fight vehicles, quite a while ago now.  Unlike Will's, most of mine sat in a box until I found myself looking for kits to build over the Christmas holidays.  Since then, I've been trying to work my way through them.

Here is a Zvezda Pak 36, Krupp Protz 69 tow vehicle, SdKfz 247 command/recce vehicle and an SdKfz 222 armoured car.

The SdKfz 222 - as with all vehicles, painted in Vallejo grey violet, with a Mig panzer grey filter and washed in Agrax Earthshade, with a very light dry brush in Iraqi sand. 

The SdKfz 247 with standing commander in early panzerwaffe uniform.

The Krupp Protze 69 artillery tow vehicle.

And with the Pak 36.

The finish is a little darker than I wanted, but overall looks suitably menacing.

Thanks for looking.