A brand new post...finally!

Right, two and a half years down the line I thought it would be a good time to update the blog on what’s been happening.

 I’ve become a granddad -or Grampy as I’m known- for the second time. Our daughter gave birth to a right little bundle in November before last. We get to WhattsApp them nearly every day.

   In no particular order I managed to get to some local shows –remember them?- and a mate got tickets for the Man City v Watford FA Cup Final, what a day out that was, never been to Wembley before. Got some pics of the day as well.

   Wargaming wise, a lot has happened on the painting front but not toooooo much on the gaming side –even before this Covid thing. In fact, the Covid situation hasn’t changed my life in any way apart from wearing the bl**dy mask. Hate them, a throwback to my experiences with Army dentists; not quite a panic attack, but shortness of breath can become an issue. I know, probably psychosomatic but there you go.

   You may remember the 6mm Early War and the Renaissance Italian/Imaginations projects I had talked about in earlier posts. Well, they are all pretty much complete…I say complete but of course you know that will never happen. I have just received some more German vehicles so they are to be done and I am currently painting some army standards for the Italian Wars, unit flags and the chaps can be seen in the pictures.

   Latest army to be done is my Rapier Mongols. Absolutely beautiful looking little chaps and a joy to paint – all 225 of them! Also in the pipeline are the Macedonians, a mix of H&R and Rapier. Not only that I found more 6mm FPW so they have been undercoated and are next in line to be done.

  Now, you may be thinking that it’s taken a hell of a long time just for those armies but in the summer months I have sat in the garden and made a lot of buildings for the Early War project. All of them are made from my staple of cereal box card. Again pics below.

  So there you have it, a quick update and I hope to be more diligent with my blogging in the future; lets face it, it couldn’t really be any worse.

Rapier Mongols

EW Germans

EW British

EW French

Renaissance Infantry, artillery and commanders

Renaissance infantry standards which can slide over pikes, poles etc. 

Renaissance cavalry, trayne etc

Macedonians (top) and Sassanids/ Achaemenids (bottom)

Football stadium, cathedral and industrial building

Four different churches including an Italian one (rear)

4 more industrial buildings and some stand alone rubble bits

Two more industrial buildings, a windmill, oil/gas tank, ruined house and castle tower, a town statue and two pillboxes. 

About time for another post.

I suppose it's about time for another post.
The French-Italian wars project has not leaped forward at the speed I had hoped but I still have 5x48 figure pike blocks, 2x15 gendarmes, 1x15 generic Italian knights, 1x30 foot arquebusiers and the same of sword & buckler chaps and 1x9 stradiots. Nearly finished are 2x9 mounted crossbows and 4 artillery pieces. So that is ongoing...still and the holiday deadline is very rapidly approaching.

Now if you recall I said that I would not paint any of my Early WWII stuff until the above project is as complete as I have figures for and that is still the case...almost. It's true I haven't painted anything but sittinig in the garden during the gorgeous sunshine of our April summer I managed to clean up, sand and base everything and black spray undercoat the Germans. Took about a minute to do all 60 odd vehicles and 17 artillery and infantry bases. Then I used a grey primer spray on all the vehicles as a base coat. I know it's a bit light so I'm going to give them a couple of black washes to darken the grey, then do the dark brown element of the camo before another black wash to soften and do a bit of merging of the colours.

Reading a blog the other day, this one in fact:

http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads%2Fthe-battle-and-massacre-of-wormhout-28th-may-1940.20061%2F

I recognised a number of places pictured from our holiday, so they will be revisited that's for sure. Also, we have since found out that May 8th is a national victroy celebration day with parades and stuff all over the place. I hope there's one in our area.

So, still all fired up for Early War while painting the F-I Wars chaps. There's dedication and discipline for you.

A bientot.

Sorry about the wait.

For starters, I just want to say that I have been extremely lapse in my postings of late and that is due to a number of factors, not least of which was being diagnosed with the dreaded ‘D’ –Depression. Not only did this take a long before it was recognised for what it was by myself but also time for the prescribed medication to take hold. So it was late December before I more or less had the damn thing under control but it wasn’t until I had to change my medication –with a two week lay off period to shift the old lot out of my system- that I concluded that some of it may have been psychosomatic in as far as I was on medication for Depression therefore I must be Depressed. As soon as I came off the first lot I started feeling better so the new lot are still in the bag, unopened, unused and happily to say unloved.
Because of all of that I have painted next to nothing in the last 6 months or so but I have been doing other stuff, albeit extremely slowly. The writing has been coming along in fits and starts, I am now on my third draft/re-write/proof read of the manuscript and am on the last couple of chapters now.
Also in the intervening period I made a couple of visits to mainland Europe, both in the guise of a holiday. My friend found a little place in Flanders which is absolutely perfect for chilling and forgetting the world in general. It’s near Wormhoult in Flanders and the first time the four of us went (my friend and his missus, Ma Subs and myself) we travelled to Ypres and we had a look around the WWI museum there (photos duly taken) before finding our place.
Now call me daft or militarily ignorant if you will but I didn’t realise that Wormhoult and the nearby town of Bergues (a Vauban fortress by the way) were on the retreat route of the BEF on its way to Dunkirk and the only reason I found out was because there is a local church in the village where not only are locals buried but there is also an area which is protected by the War Graves Commission and there are the graves of 61 British servicemen. The regiments are known as is shown by the carving on the headstones with the Welsh Guards being predominant but the individuals are not. Very sad place so I thought I would take a picture of the sun going down behind the gravestones as my mark of respect.

The small but very poignant graveyard in the village of West Capell, nr. Wormhoult in Flanders

On our second visit we had more time so we went to Bergues, which is a lovely place. As I said, it is a Vauban fortress with all the wall trimmings but what interested me the most was the Abbey in the centre. Now consisting of only two impressive towers and a marble gate, the place was destroyed during the French Revolution, damaged by fire in 1940, destroyed by dynamite in 1944 and rebuilt again in 1961 and is now a World Heritage Site as of 2005!

The Abbey Tower in the front, a dovecote in the centre and the belfry in the middle of town at the back.

I decided not long into our five day break that I would quite like to do the Early War period, specifically, the war in the Flanders region so I took photos of nearly everything that looked old enough to have been there in 1940 for future reference. Mind you, apart from farms, hedges and trees, other terrain will be a doddle –the place is as flat as a pancake, so the hills can stay in the draw! The only tricky bit could well be the drainage ditches that are along most of the rural roads but I might just wing it with them. Dunkirk and Bray Dunes were also given a visit and more pictures of the local architecture were duly taken. We arrived back in the UK yesterday evening after a great rest with very warm weather and after a lengthy wine-necking period. After all, at €1.59 a bottle (about £1.25 at the time of going to press) it would have been churlish not to, now wouldn’t it?
   So now to the wargaming side of things. Early last week I had an FPW itch that I felt needed scratching and before the holiday I had painted and based 8 blocks of Confederation troops with another 24 half way through. Then it’s the remainder of the commanders, artillery and cavalry and I reckon I won’t be far off done with them…for the time being anyway. And now I’m to do a little research on the BEF and Wehrmacht in 1940.

Battle of Garston.

Battle of Garston

The past few weeks Ma Subs and I have been involved in a project, completely unrelated to wargaming but necessary, and that was fixing the conservatory. This involved taking off all the roofing pieces of wriggly plastic bits –broken and otherwise- and replacing them with nice new see-through sheets, painting all of the supporting woodwork etc., etc. even with my mate and his missus helping it still took several days to get the lid back on so as all the little fiddly jobs could then get done. Luckily the weather held. So, while Ma Subs went back to Brum on a family visit, I was able to have a solo game set up in Narnia. It was still on-going when the roof was being done so I managed a couple of moves every so often.

This time, I thought I would play a 6mm WW II using my new scenery and try out the old WRG Armour and Infantry 1925-1950 Rules from June 1973 that we used to use. Now I have fond memories of these rules from playing with Airfix models and figures in a mate’s front room so there was quite a high nostalgia factor here.

So, onto the game. The wind was blowing from the south-east, so that's why all the smoke is angled across the board. Advanced apologies for the slight blurriness of some of the pictures but I don't have the space for a full tripod set up.

The Wargame Map

 Garston Aerodrome on the bottom left of the table. (The tower building is based on the one at West Malling in Kent and the two hangers are 'J' Type from all over the place).

 The town of Garston. (Buildings based loosely on some in Maidstone)

A uniquely British institution

Orbats

German

            Aufklarungs Bataillon, Major Kroos

     Gruppe Kroos

1 x SdKfz 234 A/C (Puma) (d), 1 x SdKfz 222 A/C (d), 1 x SdKfz 251 Command ½ track, 3 x lorry borne infantry

                 Gruppe Muhler

1 x SdKfz 234 A/C (Puma) (d), 2 x SdKfz 222 A/C (both d), 1 x SdKfz 251, 3 x of armoured infantry

Panzer Bataillon, Major Mertesacker

               HQ Kompanie, Major Mertesacker

3 x PzKpfw IV (1), 1 x Ostwind AA

1. Kompanie, Hauptmann Schweinstiger

                       6 x PzKpfw IV (5)

                        2. Kompanie, Hauptmann Lamm

                                             6 x PzKpfw IV (3)

3. Kompanie, Hauptmann Zeigler

                        4 x PzKpfw IV (1)

British

Officer Commanding, Lieutenant-Colonel Moore

            A/T Battalion, Major Noble

                        6 x 6pdr A/T guns (3), 2 x 17pdr A/T guns

            Armoured Battalion, Major Hurst

                        ‘A’ Company, Captain Peters

                                    3 x M4 Shermans (1), 1 x Firefly

‘B’ Company, Captain Bond

            3 x M4 Shermans, 1 x Firefly

Infantry Battalion, Major McAvenney

HQ Company, major McAvenney

            1 x command, 1 x mg, 1 x 81mm mortar

            ‘A’ Company, Captain Cresswell

                        3 x infantry (1)

            ‘B’ Company, Captain Jarvis

                        3 x infantry (1)

‘C’ Company, Captain Brooking

            3 x infantry (1)

The German Right flank

The Centre

The German left flank

On the first move Kroos -on the right- and Muhler -on the left- advanced onto the board by the SE and SW roads respectively. Kroos immediately came under fire from a 6pdr AT next to the Queens Head pub which took out his lead 222. His advance halted, his infantry dismounted and began a stealthy advance along the tall roadside hedges towards the pub. The Puma used the destroyed 222 as cover while it's gun sought out the enemy.

On the other flank, Muhler also came under fire, a 6pdr AT hidden amongst the buildings of Theakstons Farm knocked out his lead 222  and his infantry in the lorries came under small arms fire from the nearest group of rocks. The infantry immediately dismounted and dove for cover along the hedge line.  

This went on for several moves. While Kroos managed to make some headway, Muhler was not so fortunate; eventually losing all his AFV's for very little gain. His only real success was to force the infantry out of the rocks and make them fall back the Pine Tree Wood. This happened just in time for the British as on Moves 7 and 8, Mertesacker's panzers began to advance towards the British positions. 

By Move 10 the panzers of Hauptmann Schweinstiger's Nr. 1. Kompanie had crossed the hill but immediately came under fire from 'A' Company's tanks concealed by the high hedges just outside Garston. Eventually Schweinstiger lost all but one of his Mk IV's and had to make an ignominious retreat.

In the centre, Hauptmann Lamm and his company of Mk IV's initially made some ground but the Shermans and Firefly of 'B' Company knocked out half his command.

Major Mertesacker with the HQ Kompanie and Zeigler's Nr. 3. Kompanie fared little better in the face of the 6 pdr AT guns hidden in the rocks and a 17pdr AT gun even further back on the bend of the road by the wood.

Eventually Mertesacker, with almost half his battalion lost, had no option but to order a retreat and request an artillery barrage before the next assault.

On the Orbat, losses are the numbers or the letter 'd' in brackets after each formation.

The protagonists.

In July, one of the comedians on the LAW forum (http://thelaofwargamers.prophpbb.com/) asked if anyone wanted to take part in a painting challenge over the month of  August; no prizes, just the opportunity to promise (?) to get some paint on something. I said that I would paint a 15mm Viking DBA sized army that had been lurking in my unpainted pile for a while. Then, just before the beginning of August I got stuck into the British which had been bought from a very nice from Yorkshire for my 6mm campaign. So of course, after undercoating the Vikings the rest of the painting them went out of the window.
   But I have not been idle, oh no. The fruits of my August painting and constructing are shown below in glorious technicolour, apart from nearly all of the Germans which had been painted about twenty years ago. All the rest has been done this month. Additionally, I have 3 blocks of buildings constructed but not painted, a set of Irregular vines painted but not based and 3 new lengths of lolly stick hedge with small trees on made but not based or painted.

Above is a picture of nearly all the terrain I have made. The only completed items missing are the two orchards that I have only just remembered making. The road is made as per my last post, just drybrused with a couple of shades of grey to take the shine off the wet and dry paper. The green hedges behind the road are clump foliage and static grass on lolly sticks (sold as gardening labels from Poundland) and two of these fit nicely alongside each piece of road.  

The picture above is my simplified version of three aircraft hangers, British 'J' Type to be exact and in front is a small civilian car I made from a piece of basswood.

 As noted above, the Germans haven't been part of this months paintathon apart from the five DFS 230 gliders at the rear of the shot. I bought these because I might have a para drop on one of the airfields -hence the aircraft hangers. From l-r: on the far left are three AA 88's plus prime movers, next to them are the two tank battalions, the first of Panthers, the second -and slightly larger- of Mk IVs. To the right of the Mk IVs is the attached Schwere Panzer Abteilung (heavy tank battalion) consisting of 5 Tigers, 2 Jagdtigers,  3 King Tigers and various others. Behind the Panthers and Mk IVs is the SP Artillery with the regular mix of Hummels and Wespes and to the right is the pioneer battalion with all kinds of wonderful pieces of equipment including 2 flammpanzer and a bergetiger recovery vehicle. At the front on the left is the divisional Aufklarungs (Reconnaissance) unit with its mix of Pumas, 222s and a couple of 251s for the infantry contingent. On the right at the front is the single motorised infantry battalion I have. I decided to only paint the one because in 6mm they tend to get lost in amongst all the action and any more would slow the game down too much. So, wherever infantry are involved, if it's less than a battalion I'm okay, more and I'm bu**ered. Finally, in column on the far right is the werfer batallion of five nebelwerfer and prime movers. From memory, everything is either Heroics & Ros or Irregular. 

 Above are two views of the British, all -bar 7 Shermans- painted this month. Again from l-r: 3 regiments of Shermans with attached Fireflys, then a regiment of Cromwells and Challengers. In the front is the Armoured Reconnaissance regiment with its mix of Staghounds, Dingos, Stuarts and half-tracks. There are four battalions of  artillery -three towed and one of Sexton SPs. The 6pdr AT with the Universal Carriers are on the left behind the Sextons, next to them are the 25pdrs plus Quads and the right hand unit is of 17pdr AT. Again, all the models are either Heroics & Ros or Irregular.

So now it's just all of the buildings to make and I can start my campaign!

 

Day trip out.

I know that this is going to look like a non-wargaming, touristy type of post but bear with me, there is an ulterior motive.
  Back in August last year I mentioned that I was thinking about a WW II Solo alternate history campaign in which D-Day went pear shaped and the Germans invaded Kent later in the year. This thought has been bubbling away ever since then. Yesterday, Ma Subs, our friends and myself went out for the day to Canterbury, Whitstable, Herne Bay and Reculver -a round trip of nearly 85 miles. All over Canterbury there are loads of old buildings nestling comfortably alongside architecture of a more modern nature. Wattle and daub next to cladding, brickwork and concrete. All grist to building making mill for the above-mentioned campaign. So, during the whole trip I took about 150 pictures of various building types for inspiration.
Still got to get the Brits for the campaign though. Had a really good day and the weather remained quite pleasant with the old current bun showing its tardy face later in the day..