Is 20mm the unloved ginger child of WW2 Wargaming?

This is for Mark really, but I think it may be interesting to see what others think.

I started wargaming in 20mm. I think that is true for most of us who grew up in the 70s and early 80s in the UK. It is almost impossible to explain just how limited your options were as a wargamer in those days. Initially it was just one word. Airfix

I know there were other manufacturers out there making metal models, but if you were like me a young lad the chance of ever discovering them was slim, and even if you were aware you still needed to write and send a self addressed envelope (and possibly a postal order) to get a typed and un-illustrated catalogue. Luckily we had Airfix, and it was available in just about every newsagent and toy shop in the country.

Airfix were the main supporter of my wargaming from the start. That meant for most "periods" their soft plastic 20mm (1:76) figures or polystyrene kits, supported by their rule books initially loaned from the library and illicitly photocopied.

WW2 was the big interest for me. After all the war ended only 30 years before and we all had family members who had taken part. It was possible to play other periods of course, and the idea of fighting Agincourt using just the figures available in the two "Robin Hood" boxes must have occurred,  but the main arena was WW2. Choice was, well, limited. Airfix had a vast breadth of range, but it did lack depth. Germans could happily fill their order of battle with Panzer IVs, Panthers and Tigers, and the ubiquitous German Recce set provided a Kubel and 222, but that was about it. Similarly the Brits could get their hands on a Churchill, Sherman, Crusader and Matilda. This made for exciting times if you were so inclined, trying to convert a passable Cromwell out of plasticard and the wheels from a Crusader etc. Later, Matchbox joined the fray, adding such much needed kits as a Panzer II and III, and a Sherman Firefly. All of this was in what we now call 20mm, and as a WW2 wargamer there was nothing to compete.

But today 20mm is rapidly shrinking into the shadows. Initially 15mm, then more recently 28mm have dominated WW2 gaming. 20mm still survives, but it is no longer the first choice for me and many others, so why is that?

Firstly I should say in many ways it IS the logical scale of choice for some games. Availability of cheap plastic kits in an amazing variety, some, such as those by Dragon are available painted to a standard most of us could only dream of. Figures have also come a long way, and figures by companies such as AB are frankly streets ahead of most of their 28mm rivals in terms of detail and animation. Range is also very comprehensive. In 28mm I only know of one manufacturer makes Belgian infantry, not so in 20mm. Try finding a Sdkfz 132 Marder II in 28mm, no problem in 20mm. Price is also VERY alluring - 20mm kits being equivalently priced to 15mm ones, and usually a fraction of a 28mm one.

The problem is the tyranny of the masses. 15mm has blossomed with popular rules like Flames of War rapidly dominating the market at the "Company" level of gaming. 28mm has followed suit at "Platoon" level even if Bolt Action has a very suspect concept of what a Platoon actually was. What that means is that if you want to play a WW2 game, those scales are where you will have the best chance of finding an opponent. And that, sadly, is a fairly huge factor. OK if your club or group want to either stick with 20mm or start afresh, but once you are in, you are committing to a very fixed group, and if, as often happens, you fall out or move on, then you may end up trying to play solo.

I would also add I like 28mm as a scale to paint. As I grow older I can no longer conceive of painting some of the smaller scales to a standard I would be happy with. That may not include 20mm yet, but it is getting there. And then there is the spectacle. a Tiger in 28mm is quite a lump of eye candy in a way 20mm cant quite manage.

And of course, once you commit to 28mm, it makes little sense to play other scales for similar projects. I'm excited at the soon to be released Chain of Command Fall of France expansion. If I were starting from scratch I may conciser 20mm, (edit - I originally typed 28mm instead of 20mm) but I'm not. I already have quite a bit of 28mm kit that will port over, and a group who prefer to play in 28mm (and another local group who would look puzzled at the thought of playing in 20mm).

So that is why, with some sadness, I wont be starting 20mm again. Sorry Mark, it just does not make sense to me, but I understand why you make the suggestion.

Comments please - let's try and discuss

Size Matters - Scale Creep and Pasta

OK I have to say from the outset this is a bit ranty. I also have to say there is no suggestion I could do better as a putty pusher, but this has got under my skin and I need to vent.

Why are figures getting bigger?

As a side project I've been working on some Boxer Rebellion Great Powers units. The plan is to have a go at 55 Days at Peking in 28mm as a club game using a varient on The Men Who Would Be Kings rules (TMWWBK). I already had some Old Glory Austrian Sailors. These represent the landing party from the Cruiser Zenta. Old Glory's range is several years old and a nominal 25mm, but in reality they are on the large side which means they pass easily with most "modern" 28mm .

At this point I should add OG were a bit "cute" with their Boxer range - as far as I can tell the Italian and Austrian Sailors they do are the same bodies but with a head- swap. Worse things happen at sea. The other issue is the posing - OG have gone for some very dynamic running poses, even to the point of one guy running with his rifle to his shoulder in a firing pose - very strange. And while I'm on the subject the packaging from OG is very inflexible - you get 30 in a bag, usually an Officer pose and 5 "normal" guy poses. One last minor problem is OG don't make a Skoda M93 machinegun, which the Austrians had at the Legation, but this isn't a problem as Redoubt do, and their crew, although bigger than OG, are still close enough. Anyway I have had them a while and I rather like them. I also had the mixed Naval Arty crew OG do - again mostly headswaps.

So at Vapnartak in a moment of weakness I found myself buying a bag of Pom Pom guns from OG too. The twisted logic being use the arty crew plus some suitable Matelot gunners to make a 1Prd QF which the Italians had at Peking. This has so far went smoothly, so my next thought was "if you have the gun, why not get the Italian sailors to go with it??" Here I ran into a problem. OG only sell their figures in bags of 30 (as I mentioned earlier). In TMWWBK units are generally 12 strong, and in fact the whole Italian contingent at the Legation was only 29 men meant that buying a bag of Italian Sailors was going to be wasteful, so I thought I would shop around.

I discovered 2 other manufacturers of 28mm (note that) Boxer Rebellion era Italian Sailors - A fairly old Redoubt Miniatures range, and EMP miniatures, who had recently created a range using Kickstarter and these looked quite nice, so only needing a dozen, I decided to order them from EMPs "28mm Historical" range over the weekend. EMP were damned fast and the figures arrived today. I opened the package to discover 2 had broken rifles (in transit I assume) so I got on to EMP and they happily volunteered to replace them with no quibble. All good. Then I took a look at the figures, and another problem loomed - literally. They're HUGE. Not just in relation to the admittedly "25mm" OG figures, but also in relation to just about every other figure I have.  One of them stands 37mm tall! the rest a few mm less, but all so far past 28mm foot to eye as to be useless alongside other figures. Either pasta in the late 19th Century had powers to build the physique only dreamed about by modern bodybuilders, or there is a scale creep problem.  Here's a pic to explain far more than words can.

 L-R EMP, Old Glory, Redoubt (EMP stood behind) and EMP again.

As you can see the EMP figures are literally head and shoulders taller than Redoubt and OG, and yet are nominally the same "28mm" scale. And that's before you put them on a base.

I'm at a loss as to what to do. Actually I'm not - I'm going to go to OG and buy a bag of Italians from them, even if that means spending more and getting "spares". At least they will fit with the rest of the collection. This is a shame because the EMP figures are interesting if you ignore the size problems - there are some nice poses in there (but importantly no officer - another problem with them).

Anyway - Caveat Emptor and all that, but it does wind me up that figures are getting bigger and bigger for no apparent reason. Ah Well

Fantasy side project Part 5 - Back to the Hydra (and kids, and other supporting cast)

So having got sidetracked by the Minotaurs I needed to get back on with the main protagonists, which are clearly The Hydra, and the associated Children of the Hydra that Aeetes summons in the film.

Bullets needed to be bit as I was in definite danger of either blowing a large amount of ££££ on a big model or stalling the project, so I decided to go with the Foundry Hydra. In reality it ticks a lot of boxes, being nicely detailed, no legs, and reasonably priced. What it lacks is size, but size isn't everything. I ordered it at the same time as the "Medea" pack so didn't incur any additional postage and it cost a tenner.

It's a nice model, but a bit of a bitch to assemble - main body, tail, two neck groups and seven separate heads. There was some rather big gaps after assembly and lots of filling needed, but the end result is "not bad at all"

Next up, The Children. In the film Aeertes uses the now dead Hydra's teeth to summon some animated Skeletons to attack Jason and his select team. It is my favourite bit of the film and quite an iconic sequence - these guys go through the Argonauts in short order and Jason only escapes by jumping off a cliff into the sea. Ideally the best models for these guys would be the Wargames Factory plastic skeletons, which were pretty much modelled on the ones in the film (if a bitch to put together I'm told). Sadly since Warlord Games took over distribution these have been removed from the catalogue and are rather hard to find. What I did find however on Ebay were some of the original Citadel plastic skeletons dating from the 1980s. I replaced the shields with some Hoplite ones, and a careful rebase and a quick paint session later I had enough for 2 bases worth - and yes I know I really should only have one base of seven but I got carried away and ended up with 2 bases each with six.

Lastly there are the Harpies. I was told the old GW ones were close enough and that was wrong - they're an EXACT copy of the ones in the film - E-Bay again provided six. I've given them a very quick paint job. The guy who I bought them off had clearly been trying to model them flying, having cut the "slotta" off the base and frilled a few holes. I completed this. I know they will fall off at the most inopportune moment but so far they look quite good!

Building an Impetus Army Part 2 - Which Army?

So picking your army.

I'm not going to say which you should pick - for reasons that will become quickly obvious, but rather give you some things to think about that may help you in your choice.

First - Period or Free?

Are you planning to play in a narrow historical period or take on all comers? Impetus will happily allow you to play armies from the Biblical Era to the end of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, and it will  allow you to use New Kingdom Egyptians against Medieval Burgundians if you so wish. That doesn't mean they are equal however, as armies from different periods will have wildly different fighting styles and capabilities, and unlike Fantasy or Sci Fi armies, they have those styles and capabilities for real world reasons which are mostly to do with their "regular" opponents. As a general rule the later armies are smaller and harder hitting, so if you are looking for "killer" armies Late Medieval ones may well fit the bill (pun), however the earlier periods are often far more interesting AND more fun to play. Again this is very much a question of your gaming group. If there are already a core of period armies it would be best to choose something that fits in, DO NOT PICK HUSSITES*.  There is a good core of "Classical" Period armies in my area, Greeks and Romans etc, so they are a great place to start.

Second - Competitive or Friendly?
Yes we are all friendly around here, but there is a little bit more to it than that. (If you are not a competition player please don't get put off competitions by what follows, just be aware.) The problem with competition formats is you need to play three games in a day, plus time for lunch, fags, cuppa's, a bit of shopping etc. It follows that you have usually about an hour and a half to three quarters to play each game, from opening the box to packing up. Also to "do well" in competitions you need to score well in all three rounds - narrow wins or draws do not help. That means winning competition armies must be direct and to the point - you can't spend too much time softening an opponent up, messing with ambushes, flanks etc or trying a lot of finesse, you just need an army to smash the opponent in the face and shock and awe him into oblivion. The ultimate competition army is of course Swiss Confederates, who are so single minded and aggressive it is hard to believe the same people gave us Cuckoo clocks and Toblerone. Getting hit by a Swiss army is something like getting hit by a truck. The other side of the coin is if you are playing friendlies or not that interested in being a top scoring competition player you can pick armies with more finesse or that take time to wear an opponent down. A good example of this phenomenon in action are my beloved Persians. They lack any real punch so usually do average to poor in competitions, in fact I've only ever came top once using then and that was a fluke. On the other hand they're a great army for club \ shop games where you can take a bit more time and enjoy the game more.

Lastly, and most importantly, do you feel a connection?
Eh? Ok what I mean here is that you need to feel some kind of connection to your army, know a bit about them, or at least find out a bit about them, learn why they fought in the way they did. Impetus armies are a major investment in time and effort, not to mention money, and if you are going to get to the end of that building stage and get the return in enjoyment it helps if you can identify with "The Lads". I'm not suggesting you dress up as Hannibal (you can if you want) but you will get more from the whole experience of building and playing with your army if you have an affinity, no matter how daft or indirect. All my armies are chosen because I feel something about them interests me. I like the  religious pigheadedness and modernity the Hussites represent, I like defending Richard III as the brave and savvy King not the panto villain Shakespeare turned him into, etc etc

* unless of course you are playing with armies from Late Medieval Europe in which case wheel them on, OR if you just take pleasure at watching 99% of opponents stare across the table at you in perplexed puzzlement. Hussites are almost unbeatable in competitions. They are also totally useless in competitions because they rely on your opponent smashing his army to pieces on the front of your wagons. As soon as they realise this you may as well call it a draw and pack up.

Next - a couple of examples of what armies to do, and possible what not to do

Building an Impetus Army - Just in case Santa got the note!

I've been asked a couple of times by the guys in the shop about playing Impetus and choosing your armies, so I thought this would make an interesting post topic (I hope you agree!). What follows is a list of things I think you should think about before you start.

1. Scale
OK I know this seems stupid but "some" people (looking at you Mark) seem to forget that you really need an opponent. Make sure whatever you are buying is in the same scale as the local gaming group, unless you are ploughing a lonely solo furrow, it really helps if your toys are the same scale as your likely opponent. In my area this means 28mm for preference. There are several advantages here. 28mm is easily available, and although the individual figure cost is higher than 15mm and 20mm, you will use fewer figures per unit, so 28mm also tends to be cheaper. Lastly , if you are of "a certain age" they're still big enough to see :-)

2. Cost
The next thing you need to have in your mind is budget. Historical wargaming is not expensive compared to the Fantasy \ Sci Fi stuff around at the moment, and if you are used to paying GW'esque prices this is probably not such a problem. That said do a little bit of a costing per figure to give you a rough idea, and if its looking too rich, maybe think again as if you cant hit the playing points level, you probably wont get to play.... As a general rule historical infantry are about £1-£1.50 each in metal, cavalry between £3-£5. Plastics are cheaper

3. Time
One thing non historical gamers sometimes are surprised by is the size of historical armies. There are a few that can be built at low figure counts, but most are going to be 100+ infantry and at least a couple of dozen cavalry. That can be a significant painting time commitment.  Impetus isn't a "boutique" game with a few figures and simple rules. Building an Impetus army is a much bigger and challenging project. Of course it is worth the effort, but it is a lot of effort and will take you months not weeks to complete.

So that's part 1. If you are still interested I will look at what you should think about when choosing an actual army.

Cheers!

Valiant Miniatures 1:72 scale IF8 Infantry Cart

Sometimes you come across a model that just makes you say "wow". The Valiant Miniatures IF8 Infantry Cart is one of those.

Firstly, you have to wonder why no one did one before, as it is such an iconic piece of German military equipment. Shortly after you have to wonder about why Valiant did it at all, and did it in injection moulded plastic, when there are so many other things they could have done.

Bit of history. The Infantriekarren IF8 to give it its proper name was a simple cart issued to just about every infantry unit in the German Army. Anyone who has seen pics of the Germans on the move will probably have seen one, even if your mind fails to register what is in fact a simple two wheeled cart. They were designed to be hand pulled, horse drawn or even by motorcycle or Kettenkrad. I've even seen pics of one being pulled by dogs! You could pull two together in tandem. They were used for carrying, well anything, but mainly ammunition and other infantry supplies.

However, I can hear you thinking - as I did, why? Wargamers are notorious for wanting big tanks and guns and on this measure I admit the IF8 is a bit lacking, as it doesn't do anything "kewl" and you would be hard pushed to think of a special rule to apply to it. On the other hand this is a fantastic piece of military equipment that will enhance the look of your game just by being there. I plan to use mine as jump off markers for my German Infantry in Chain of Command.

Back to the kit. Its a nice and well detailed kit, you actually get 2 identical sprues in the box, each will make one cart, plus a horse and a soldier to lead it. It goes together well and quickly, and you can build a number different load-outs including a Panzershrek frame and an MG42 AA mount.

You can't mention Valiant without mentioning scale. It says 1/72 on the box. Received wisdom in wargaming circles is 1/72 equates to 20mm. The problem is that the soldier provided is rather taller than that, much closer to 25mm, but still small when compared to other "28mm" ranges. In short (pun intended) these really only fit with other Valiant models.

I'm still totally conflicted about Valiant. They're superb models, but they just don't fit with anything else.

Chain of Command Challenge (3) Sometimes it just goes wrong......

We were back at Asgard Games in Middlesbrough for the British second attempt to probe the German defences around Gheel.

Here is the map we are using - a 1:50000 of the area from 1944 with the bottom circle showing the area of the probe action, and the second circle the Green Howards main objective for the day the Gheel Road

and this is the actual area of our encounter

Time wise the clock has moved on to noon on Sept 8th 1944 and Andy Parkes playing Lt Cake of the Green Howards has spent a little time running over this mornings action in his head. Now coming back over the same ground, he has decided to push on as much as he can.

Here is the battlefield with the last houses of the hamlet of Meulenberg and the Doornboom road running diagonally across the table.

Andy's job is rather simple, he just has to get one team off the table on the right hand side at which point the German (Paul) forward defence line will be compromised and he will have to fall back - Simple!

Sometimes it is. Paul was quite happy with his last game, he had beaten Andy back without breaking into a sweat, so his Senior Leader must have been enjoying a bit of a nap when he was rudely woken by the news that the Tommies were back, and that they were already outflanking his position. Andy had rolled well in the Patrol Phase and had pushed forward quickly. Paul had not realised just how far ahead he had allowed Andy to get, in fact his patrol markers were a long way over the table before they were frozen in place. Things were looking bad for the Germans, but at least they had the first move.

Paul realised he was in trouble and tried to race a pair of squads across the open ground to bring the British Jump Off markers under observation and fire.

Andy deployed his lead squads almost on top of the table edge (his objective) but came under heavy fire from Pauls deployed squads and their dreaded MG42s

Three Tommies fell, but it was not enough to stop Andy using the next activation to rally his men and push a team across the line to victory!

Paul scowled a bit but had known that after his failure in the Patrol Phase it was going to be a tall order, and anyway it was better to fall back to the main line of defence than take casualties trying to correct his earlier mistake, so withdrew.

Back at HQ Lt Cake is a little more popular with his CO, but less so with the lads on the Platoon who have now twice taken losses significantly higher than the opposition. On the German side Paul got a severe lecture from his frustrated CO but he went up in the men's esteem due to his getting them out of there before things got too dangerous.

Andy was then given the choice of waiting for the Engineers to get the Bailey Bridge in place before the next attack, which would allow him armoured support but could risk a German counter attack or digging in, or pushing on to the main German positions around the Gheel Road. He decided not to risk the delay, so the next game will be an immediate attack on the German defences. He has plenty of support available (9 points) but he cant choose anything that cant be ferried across the canal in assault boats.

Next game will (probably) be after Derby so watch this space............

Taking the CoC Challenge (2) - a different perspective

I asked Andy what he thought of his first game of CoC - here's what he said....

Chain of Command … A lesson learnt the hard way!

Having been asked to try out these rules I popped across to Asgard games in Middlesbrough with Ken and Paul for a quick game.

It was based around the successful crossing of the Albert Canal and the subsequent battles for Gheel. As the allied player I took command of 16 platoon of the 7TH Green Howards my local Infantry Regiment and one I had the pleasure of serving with.

As the is based in the North East I took my recruits from the local area.

After rolling on the Character generation I took the guise of a fresh faced 2nd Lt.

2nd Lt Thomas "T" Cake,  Strapping six footer, Queen Elizabeths Grammer school, from Darlington, Capt of school cricket team. Head Boy.

Sgt "Smudger" Smith, "Colonial" Average build. From the Dales.

No.1 Section Cpl "Dusty" Miller, Factory Worker, Average build. From Middlesbrough

No.2 Section Cpl David "Poncey" Williams, Bohemian, Intellectual looking, Average Height. From York

No.3 Section Cpl "Chalkie" White, Grease Monkey, Average Build, Unremarkable. From Sheffield

So first off was the patrol phase which I have to be honest I didn’t understand the concept or what I was really trying to accomplish, which is where it started to go wrong. The idea seems to be to pin the enemy in an un advantageous position so as to make placement of squads difficult., which I didn’t….

(After wards I read up more on this section, on the two fat lardie’s tactics section and believe I’m now more prepared).

So using my skills as a section commander I placed my first section under cover of a hedge, with my Bren group set up in over watch at a 45 degree arc at the corner.

The German’s advanced and my Bren group opened up, which just seemed to annoy the Germans and allow them to spot me. This is when I realised how much the British are out gunned.

(Those MG42’s don’t half throw out the dice.)

My one redeeming feature of the British platoon is the lifesaving 2” mortar which just kept pouring smoke onto the German MG teams. Another problem I had was the inability to roll 6’s which adds to your COC dice and the ability to end a turn (more later).

SO my second section comes into play and I strip off the second Bren team and form a fire base of two Bren teams which came under control of my Platoon Sergeant. My second section under cover of smoke ran for the cover of a building opposite the field. (not a problem I’m covered by lots of smoke….OR so I thought.

The COC dice comes into play and the Paul the German player ends the turn…SO.?

Well off goes the smoke and to the Germans delight there is a British rifle section in the open. Trying to get rid of the mounting markers and the casualties I have just taken my Platoon sergeant takes over two section.

Meanwhile the first section is taking more casualties and I deploy my third section just forward and plaster the German section in front with the help of the two other Bren teams.

Great I thought next turn grenades and a bit of Bayonet drill will soon sort those damn jerries’ out!

This is again where the dice let me down, two sixes by Paul, leaves me losing the next turn and allowing two turns for the Germans to rid themselves of markers and pour on two turns worth of fire, which left the third section in a very poor state.

In the end finding the road to be too heavily defended my platoon retired back to its own lines.

Rolling on the after game table and the opinion of my commander and troops gave me.

CO's opinion "5"

Men’s Opinion "6", 2"

Support I roll a “1”

“So Lt Cake has fallen back. Four "dedders" I'm afraid, with three more sent to the RAP so seven men down (only six as one of the dead is from the spare 2" Mortar. CO is less than impressed and the men are a bit concerned - both need their opinions checking.”

"OK Cake, looks like you have taken a bit of a pasting, but we need to get to the main road, so get your lads a brew, ammo up and try again, I'm sure Jerry is also taking a beating and is ready to collapse if we can push hard and fast. Just remember your Battle Drill"

And with a not so outstanding performance under my belt I ammo up and prepare for  another bash..

Taking the CoC Challenge

Richard Clarke of Two Fat Lardie fame has issued a challenge to non CoC players to try out CoC. Clearly this rules me out as I already play, but my mate Andy doesn't, so I casually asked if he fancied trying them out - Gotcha :-)

Of course now I need something to generate a scenario. The game was to be played at Asgard Games in Middlesbrough using their terrain, but the toys will be down to me and my Minion Paul, so Brits vs Germans is a good idea.

So now for a scenario. The game was going to play Wednesday evening, 9th September, so on a whim I thought I would look at what was happening in 1944, and struck it lucky. Not only is there a viable scenario, it involves Andy's old Regiment, Alexandra, Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment, or as they are more commonly known, The Green Howards.

In September 44 6&7 Bttn were part of 69 Brigade 50th Infantry Division, along with their neighbours 6 DLI, On the night of the 7/8th September 1944 they paddled across the Albert Canal and started towards the town of Gheel next morning - so a perfect opportunity for a scenario if I could get a bit more details. Not a problem as someone else has done the donkey work - in this case a Gent by the name of Ulf Norman who posted some details on a project he had been working on for the computer game Combat Mission which he posted up here . A little bit of Google Earth plus some searching for on line maps and I was all set...

to be continued

When the Stars are Right.................

Your Cthulhu Wars Kickstarter arrives!

Yup this massive box arrived this week after much expectation. Cthulhu Wars was launched as a Kickstarter in June  with an estimated delivery date of December the same year. Yup that means it has landed only 14 months behind schedule - Yay Kickstarter!

The designers were looking for $40,000 and instead they got $1.4 million. I suspect this is where the delays started to pile up as the designers had probably not expected that level of demand (no shit Sherlock! I hear you exclaim) and they had to rework all their production schedules. Anyway back then, this Kickstarter announcement coincided with a rare bit of good fortune so I was not only tempted but just about able to take part, and between us me and my regular gaming partner Paul managed to scrape together the ££ or $$ to get one of the "bigger" pledges. Our main reason was the figures, which were promised to be 28mm and therefore usable in other games, Call of Cthulhu RPGs and just nice to have around, and there are a lot of them, even in just the basic box. The actual game was of secondary importance - board games had only a passing interest at that point.

In the year and a bit that followed we sort of got resigned to the fact it would be here sooner or later - and by the constant delivery date push backs, probably later. Strangely however in that time we did start playing some board games which is a happy coincidence. The game has finally arrived - all six kilos worth, and we broke it out and tried it Monday night. I have to say we really enjoyed it. Very interesting to play, with the four different factions having totally different options as to how to meet the same victory conditions. The models are pretty damned good too - although original plans to paint them may have to go on hold - there are just so damned many.

Was it worth the costs and delay? Not sure. I am certain that I would not be in a position to pay the RRP on the bundle we are getting \ have got, which is "silly" at £120 for the starter set alone, so maybe. If I had known about the delay, probably not. On the whole I'm happy we took the chance.

So if there are delays reporting on stuff happening on the blog, at least some of those may be down to the arrival of some Great Old Ones.

CentreParcs it's not - FIW Buildings

Still tooling up for Muskets & Tomahawks.

In addition to the normal troops the game requires a number of buildings to defend or burn down, and sometimes some civilians to get in the way.

We have been checking out the buildings options. As usual nowadays there is a plethora of laser cut mdf buildings. I don't like laser cut mdf. With a few exceptions you seem to get buildings that look like square boxes, and no end of dressing them up helps. If you want to get a really good result you have to do what Richard Clarke of Lardie fame does, and use the mdf as a shell to be detailed. I appreciate they are fairly quick and easy to build, but they seem to me to be disproportionally expensive for what you eventually get - unless you do a TFL special on them, in which case you would probably be better off starting from scratch. Compare the Perrys plastic buildings with similarly priced mdf options and you would have to be a very big fan of the omnipresent smell of scorched mdf to choose anything other than the Perrys.

Then we stumbles across a rather nice, if a bit esoteric choice for early American Colonial architecture - 1:72 Russian log houses from Pegasus Hobbies.

Ok I had to admit being a bit sceptical when I first read on line about their suitability, however we have bought some and they're really good. Although supposedly 1:72 they fit well enough with 28mm figures. The detail is good and the plastic is a nice and sturdy, no nonsense thickness. Here's the contents laid out for inspection.

This is the largest of the Pegasus options - a 2 storey "Ibza". The kit went together very smoothly and without incident - I've left the roof unattached so you can place figures at the windows. I'm considering adding an internal floor to the upstairs. The walls are well detailed outside, with some rendering on the inside too rather than your usual blanks.

Here's the kit complete, with a Wargames Factory Militiaman for scale.

Cost including p&p through ebay was less than £13. Hopefully I will get this painted up soon. The only issue I have is the little flourish on the roof ridge beam, but I think that will not be noticed or will be easy to fix.

So I'm looking at the other two sets in the range, plus the Perrys buildings, and they should see us through.

American Lard

I just picked up the latest release from The Two Fat Lardies, 29 Lets Go! Link

They call this a "Pint Sized" campaign for Chain of Command, but in the words of the old Trophy Bitter TV Ad, this is a pint that thinks its a quart!

It costs £3.50 as a pdf download, and for that you get 32 pages, not one of them a filler.

29 Let's Go covers the sometimes halting and nervous advance of the US 29th Infantry Division in the immediate days after D-Day, and the dogged defence of the German opponents the 352nd Infantry Division.

You get a 15 page introduction to the historical events and background, including some excellent maps, plus a campaign setting based on the "ladder" system The Lardies published in their supplement to Chain Of Command "The Sharp End".

The campaign itself involves 5 balanced scenarios, linked directly or indirectly to each other, with a fair likelihood of some of them being needed to be run more than once to get to the campaign outcome - I wont say more as it could spoil the campaign for the players, but there is a lot more than 5 games there. Both sides have background showing their organisation, plus the two unique platoon profiles used in the campaign.

Unlike the previous campaign in "The Sharp End" which involved the British attack on Maltot (which if you are interested I played through and reported on in earlier posts) this campaign has a lot more options to include some tanks.

All in all this is a great buy, and while it is part of the CoC system it is easily adaptable to other WW2 infantry rules such as Bolt Action or Rules of Engagement.

Anyone interested in the actions this campaign set represents could do a lot worse than look out for a copy of "Beyond the Beachhead" by Joseph Balkoski, a great and balanced read.

ps - I'm told this is called a "Pint Sized" campaign because it is the price of a pint in Richards local. I can safely say if he is ever in Hartlepool I will buy him a pint in The Rat Race as a reward. Hopefully this is the first of many using this format - stunningly good value,  

   

Chain of Command - Last day in Maltot (2)

Deployment followed what was now fairly predictable lines, with the British massing most of their manpower on their right, with one squad on the left to provide fire support. 

The Germans were so thin on the ground they had few options, one depleted squad held the rear of the woods in the hope of preventing a flanking move, while the remaining two squads – in reality just teams, occupied the Church itself and dug in behind the stone wall of the yard.

The British started as they meant to go on, laying down a withering hail of Bren fire on the church tower, rapidly causing the occupiers to start collecting shock, while the first section began to work forward on the right through the ruins. Meanwhile, the Battalion Forward Observation Officer started to range his mortars on the church.

German return fire was sporadic, then a burst of MG42 fire smashed into the crowded building where the British were preparing to advance. There was laughter from the infantry on the ground floor as “Chalky” White showed the rest of the squad the graze in his helmet where the bullet had deflected. Upstairs however there was silence, broken only by a voice calling over the radio for fire control instructions that would go unanswered, as the unlucky FOO was lying dead in his OP, the victim of Chalky’s  “lucky” ricochet.

Pringle was a little shaken. He had clearly hoped he could use the 3” mortars to blast the Krauts out of the church, or to kingdom come. Instead he would have to do this the hard way. He ordered all three of his Brens to hammer the MG42 firing from the church tower, but no matter how often he seemed to see hits, the damned gun kept firing!

In the tower it was like a charnel house as bodies piled up around the gun. As each man fell another bravely stepped up to keep the weapon firing – everyone knew the MG42 was their only hope. A cry from the tower told Platzer his Sergeant was injured, so he ran up the stairs and grabbed the gun himself, having to step over several bodies to get to it. 

Meanwhile in the churchyard, the remaining MG team were fighting a losing battle, as casualties continued to build up. Desperately the remaining members of the team tried to withdraw to the church itself, but were caught in a hail of Bren fire. The last man staggered against the wall, pinned down and bleeding from his wounds but still clutching the precious MG42. He had no chance. 

Then……

Platzer played his Chain of Command dice to interrupt the British fusillade. He sprinted from the door and grabbed the wounded man, then oblivious to the danger dragged him into the church for safety. At that point his men would have followed him into the gates of Hell itself.

It was a momentary reprieve. Pringle pushed his assault force forward in the lull caused by Platzer’s heroic rescue. However the Germans were far from finished, and as his lead section advanced cautiously along the edge of the orchard, a vicious burst of MG42 fire from the church ripped through them. Three fell dead, and the remainder became pinned. 

Possibly encouraged by his opposite numbers brave example, Pringle ran forward to rally the men and pulled them back into cover, being lightly wounded in the process. 

He also ordered his last assault squad through the woods to flank the church.

This was the moment the German squad had been waiting for, and they leapt up, intending to catch the British as they advanced. For once however their firing let them down, and the British assaulted forward covered by a burst of Bren fire, killing or overrunning all the Germans holding the flank.

From that point it was clear to Platzer his position was untenable. He could see Tommies moving through the woods towards his rear, and also approaching the front of the church. He had very few men left, mostly wounded. He decided the only option was to abandon the position and withdraw. As he lowered himself out of the rear of the blasted ruin of the church where many of his men gave their lives, he heard the sounds of grenades exploding at the door as the Tommies assaulted.

So the campaign ended with an expensive British victory. It had been a close run thing.

As the smoke clears ................

As a result of his bravery and dash in leading his Platoon in a difficult and dangerous assault on an enemy strongpoint Lt Pringle was recommended for Mention in Despatches (rolled a 5), however on review the CO decided an MM may be a good idea as it would help cheer the lads up (reroll was a 6). Sadly the paper-pushers at Whitehall didn’t agree, so Pringle was Mentioned in Dispatches (award roll was a three). On the plus side he now is sporting a rather dashing moustache and has decided to move into the snack food industry when the war ends. He spent quite a lot of time staring at an empty cardboard tube used to carry 2” mortar ammo, and he thinks he has an idea!

Platzer's outstanding bravery in holding his position against overwhelming odds, and his rescue of his wounded NCO were also noticed. He was recommended for an Iron Cross (2nd Class - both rolls were a 3) but his CO thought 1st Class would better reflect on the unit (rolled a 6). OKW were in need of heroes so decided to make an example, so he was finally awarded a German Cross (rolled a 6 followed by a 5) and had an interview with Signal. Maybe we will see him again in the next campaign?

Thanks to both players for taking part, and for the readers patience. Great fun seems to have been  had, and the appetite for more Chain of Command is clearly there, so more CoC will follow in due course.

Chain of Command - Last Day in Maltot (1)

Once more?

Pringle was stunned. His platoon was in no state to continue, but the CO demanded he try and take the Church at Maltot again. This time at least he would have some supporting fire from the Battalion 3” mortars.

Nothing for it he thought, just have to get it done. He decided to use the “book”, establish a base of fire to pin the enemy, then a flank assault – after all, it had worked before...........

Force Strength & Support

Both players were noticing losses. Mark was concerned with his casualties, but at least he had 5 support points – enough for a Churchill! On reflection this seemed too obvious and so he chose a 3” mortar battery off table with an adjutant to help him deploy.

Platzer and his understrength "Platoon"

On the German side Paul was scraping through the bottom of the barrel, he had only 14 men available. Given the low strength he went for a simple squad organisation with three understrength squads each having an MG42.His support choice was a Panzershrek team – just in case the Brits brought a tank. 

The Patrol Phase went quickly - Mark decided to try to speed up his advance  by only using 3 Patrol Markers, however Paul managed to deny him direct access to the closer houses.

End of the Patrol Phase from the British POV

Mark using the "magic sticks" to decide on where his Jump Off points should go

German view of the Patrol Phase

So everything is set for the start of the attack.

Chain of Command Campaign - Maltot Church, the Crucible of Fire (1)

Due to my camera failing I didn't get many pics of the first assault on Maltot Church, so it is perhaps best to rely on that stalwart "Geordie" and his blog to tell the story from his perspective. Read his well penned version of events here...

Geordie's Big Battles

Chain of Command Supports (2) Ready to Roll \ Rapid Fire

Not the Dinky Diecast Daimler Dingo's (DDDD or 4D?) I should add.

These are a pair of Bren Carriers and a Humber MkIV from Rapid Fire \ Ready to Roll range, pic also shows the "de-crewed" Valiant 6Pdr. They were bought because they are supposed to be closest to Valiant Miniatures in size \ scale. The static grass is still loose btw and needs work, and there is a fair amount of decalling and detailing to be done if I can be arsed. I think the Carriers are OK but the Humber is still too small for my liking. I'll still use them though.

I would add the Ready to Roll stuff is OK. Less work required than to build a plastic kit, but at the expense of detail and the fact they have a solid resin base. I think they are a stepping stone between the old metal wargaming products (Hinchcliffe \ Skytrex etc) and the new plastic stuff (PSC). They come ready with stowage so all you need do is paint them.

The whole scale \ size thing drives me to distraction. While I appreciate that the height of a man may vary from person to person, the length of a Lee Enfield, or a Bren Carrier on the whole does not. You would therefore assume that getting a suitable scale model would not be too much of a challenge. The problem is we have become used to accepting "20mm" and "25mm" as a scale, which they are not. Valiant are the worse culprits, being too big for "20mm", too small for "25mm" and certainly not 1:72 scale, which is what they say on the box. I should follow that up with some more on Valiant as I have a love\hate relationship with them that is probably worth a few lines and even if not helpful or enlightening to the reader it will probably be cathartic for me :-)

Ongoing Projects

I have a series of ongoing projects which I will detail here, mainly to provide comfort to similar souls who have too much unpainted toy soldiers and not enough time, so here in no particular order..............

Battlefront WW2 (Fire & Fury) in 15mm
Still the best Battalion level WW2 game out there, and much beloved here in the Kommisar House. I have a number of 15mm projects either stalled or making slow progress. I'm building up a couple of Manoeuvre Elements (ME's in BFSpeak, or Companies in English) using the rather nice Zvezda 1:100 Art of Tactic plastic models for the Blitzkrieg period, with the aim of doing a Panzer Battalion for France 1940 that can also double up with some replacements to be used in Russia in 1941. Then there is the much delayed Cromwell Squadron, and the other "Funnies" to finish the Breaching Team, and the Recce Squadron.....

.....and the Katyusha Battery (more Zvezda, with some Peter Pig crew). This one is pretty much 95% done, but has been for over a year.

Moving away from the figures and stuff, I have two outstanding scenarios to finish, Operation Clipper, which is a full on Regimental attack scenario, and The White House, a follow up to a scenario I wrote re the assault on the Administrative Building at Stalingrad

Phew this is cathartic :-)

Then I have some stuff to paint for Chain of Command. I have to finish up some British support options - mainly a 6Pdr and crew from Valiant Miniatures and some Rapid Fire \ Ready to Roll Universal Carriers. Then I have a platoon or so of German infantry, and then a US Platoon, and finally a platoon of Finns from the Baker Company Winter War Kickstarter. I'm sure more of that will come later.

Dropzone Commander
My current priority is to get some more games of DZC played and finish painting my Scourge Army. My UCM Army is about done, at least until the next new toys arrive...

I really like DZC. The pace and urban setting are so unlike other games, and the models are very nice

Impetus - 28mm Ancients
Not a lot to do here ;0) Finish my Hussites - these need another 4 war wagons painting, and some crew (memo to self get some female Hussites from Kingmaker Miniatures). Then the Thracians. These started out well just after Christmas and I got 31 of the target 100 painted, but then distraction has set in. We have a tournament in November that these guys are entering so I may have to revive that particular production line. Then finish my War of the Roses "Uncle Dicky" army - basically add another 100 points or so

7TV
We like the lunacy that 7TV creates. My cast is based around the bad guys from Big Trouble in Little China. Currently got enough basic Wing Kong thugs painted, plus a version of David LoPan as my villain. I have another Avatar of LoPan to paint, plus some serious Martial Arts guys. Then I need to build the warehouse that acts as a cover for their underground secret lair.............

So as you can see I'm pretty busy, or rather I have a lot of plans. Just about all the lead needed for everything mentioned is bought and currently resting gently. If I can complete a couple of these projects by the year end I think I will be content.

Unless of course something else grabs the attention of my butterfly like mind..............

Cheers