Still Alive - But Got Killed the Other Day

 Is 31st January too late to wish everyone a Happy New Year? I hope 2025 has started well for you all, anyway.  As may be obvious from my lack of updates, this month has been  a slightly  'Dry January' in hobby terms  ( and as a wise hobby friend said, don't try to write blog posts when you've got nothing to report ) -  but I am determined not to reach the end of a month with no updates whatsoever, especially in the run-up to what I believe may be called  the 'fiftth blogoversary' of this stream of inconsequential nonsense ( I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence, and I don’t think he did, either... ). And so, in the dying hours of this bleak midwinter month, a quick summary of recent hobby-related happenings, and a few thoughts and ideas for the future seem in order. 

I may not have run any actual games myself, but I have been lucky to have been involved in a few: many thanks to Jon Freitag, as ever, for inviting me to join in with two of his remote gaming extravaganzas. First up was his fourth iteration of the Italian Wars period battle of  Agnadello 1509; something of a nail-biting game in which Tony (MS Foy) and I as the Venetians came quite close to holding off  Mark (Jolly Broom Man) ,  Chris ( Nundanket ) and Dave ( LiverpoolDave )'s  French, partly by going against what seemed to have become the accepted wisdom of the previous three outings. A learning point from this - I think I had assumed we would lose, but if I had kept a closer eye on the scores we might have seen a chance to actually win!  Never assume.. Click on the link here for Jon's excellent report.    I did smile at Jon's writing at one point : By now, Alviano's attacks have run out of momentum - what in fact had happened was that my Heavy Cavalry  Men-At-Arms had pursued a badly-damaged French light horse unit, striking the routers from behind and rolling eleven dice against the French one - and then  I had rolled no hits with my eleven dice, and seen my brave knights slink away in disgrace! A moment to remember.  As you can see , the game was a really colourful affair, with some mighty struggles as the big pike blocks collided across the Venetians' defended ditch. 

                        

 

The second offering from Jon was earlier this week - a complete change of theme, The Gunfight at Adobe Wells Station ... yesirree, a rootin' tootin' Wild West Gunfight!   Tremendous fun was had as (by coincidence ) the former Venetians Tony and I became Pinkerton Agents, defending a stash of weapons against a gang of lairy-looking desperadoes who strongly resembled the French nobiltiy of 1509.  My character 'The Accountant' managed an initial coup by fatally drilling Chris's  'ZZ Hood' right between the eyes,  but then fell to a rain of bullets and clubbed pistols from Mark's  villainous 'Wild Bill' Briscoe.  Meanwhile Tony's  'Careful' McMinn had been anything but careful, and took a whole lotta lead from 'Daring Dave' McGinty, and the Pinkertons were unceremoniously rubbed out.  A great game, with Jon reviving his version of 'The Rules With No Name' and figures after 25 years disuse - you did a good job of remembering them, Jon!  I liked the simple card-driven activation which sometimes gave a player two or even three actions on their turn, hence allowing a deadly 'reload - aim - fire' sequence, and the use of a 'joker' card to end the turn randomly - which quite often saved characters who had got into a very tight spot, by denying their opponent the chance to finish them off! Alas, The Accountant ran out of luck in the end,  and his books are now closed.  I borrowed the following pic from Jon's blog - the moment my man went down, in a close-quarters rooftop fight..

                               

  

Chris aka 'Nundanket' has featured quite a lot in my hobby January - as well as the above we met in real life a couple of times. First was at the National Army Museum for one of their excellent Friday lunchtime talks, this time on the  Saratoga campaign of 1777.   Chris has posted a report of the talk here - note that if you can't make it in person to the talks, you can book in to watch them on-line, and well worth it they usually are.   Secondly, Chris and I were involved with  an evening of board wargaming in a London pub, playing my venerable (1983!)  Soldier King  game. Very much a 'learning the game' exercise for all concerned, but interesting, and we are arranging another try with the same group - in which we will hopefully move a bit quicker and get stuck in to some proper battles! Here is a picture (thanks again Chris!)  to give you an idea of the look of the thing 

 

So that's a summary of most of what I've been doing hobby-wise - you may have noticed that this does not ( shock, horror! ) include any painting.. Well, I have managed a few painting sessions on my 1859 Risorgimento  Piedmontese and Austrian 6mm armies, and they are 'getting there' but by no means complete, though I have been enjoying the process.  Here is a 'work in progress' sort of picture - Austrians mainly in white, Piedmontese in blue. I like the simple, semi-flat format of the Commission Figurines models, which are a mix of their Napoleonic and ACW ranges. 

on the workbench - just not often enough!

 

For the future, I have a couple of ideas  knocking around,  plus an invitation , as follows: 

D-Day Dodgers as a Mini-Campaign?

I was intrigued and inspired by a couple of posts from the always excellent Norm Smith on his Commanders website and/or  Battlefields and Warriors blog  ( and by the way, if you haven't already,  do yourself a favour and download his brilliant  2024 Christmas Newsletter ).  In these he highlighted a  piece in Matt OIrsik's 'Warning Order' free downloadable  wargaming magazine, issue no. 58, which in turn is inpsired by a very old series on 'One-Day-Campaigns' which appeared in early issues of Wargames Illustrated  back in 1987!  I remember those 1980s articles, too - quite inspiring. Norm is using the concept to set up a WW2 campaign for his 'Old School Tactical' boardgame collection, which you can read about on his site - he calls the campaign  Krosnogord 1944, and excellent it is too. I have been thinking that something similar might be a pretty good way to use my D-Day Dodgers  1943-45 Italian Campaign collection, having now painted a few units for Rapid Fire Reloaded, I need a framework for putting together game scenarios, and the 'linked maps/tables' format of the mini-campaigns suggested by Norm and Matt look like a pretty good idea. I am giving this some thought..I hope Matt won't mind too much if I show a screenshot of  part of his Warning Order article :

And of course, if you have not previously seen Warning Order, do have a look, it is an amazing piece of work and well worth supporting! 

Thirty Years War with Portable Pike and Shot ? 

I have got a bit tied up with painting figures for projects in the past few months, and it occurs I should change things up a bit and vary my routine by remembering the armies that are already painted, and could be used for actual games with very little effort.. in particular I've been thinking of my 15mm Thirty Years' War forces. I chanced upon some blog entries by Archduke Piccolo, who has tried re-fighting battles of the Thirty Years' War using Bob Cordery's  The Portable Pike and Shot Wargame - an example being his Portable White Mountain  from June 2024.  It made me think - I wonder if I could do that?  At around the same time, I noticed that Helion  have published a book about the battle of Fribourg 1644 :

 

Being a bit of a fan of Marshall Turenne ( slightly morbidly, I think I once saw the cannonball that killed him, in the Invalides museum  in Paris ), this could be a good one to try gaming, and my armies are supposed to be French and Imperialists ( OK, maybe it was Bavarians at Fribourg, but we'll overlook that! )  . The book will I assume have decent orders of battle, and they can hopefully be scaled down to the limited table and forces at my disposal - a sort of 'bathtub Fribourg', perhaps?  Actually I don't think the armies involved were all that large, at this late stage of the war, which may make it easier. So that's another book for for the wish-list - but it should be well-worth reading, Monsieur Thion being the expert on French armies of the period. 

A PBEM Seven Years War Campaign? 

Chris 'Nundanket' strikes again - he has kindly invited me to join a 'Play by Email' campaign he is planning, based on Frederick the Great's invasion of Bohemia in 1757. We talked about the idea when we met at the NAM (see above), and the discussion and some ideas batted around gave him the impetus to get started on it, I think. He has a bunch of willing generals lined up and an interesting co-operative/competitive format in mind, whereby we may be all playing Prussian commanders versus the umpire-driven or automated Austrians - it looks like it should be quite in interesting excercise. Thanks yet again, Chris, I look forward to it..  

What with getting the 1859 armies completed and hopefully a game on the table soon,  I think I have given myself plenty to be getting on with!  I've also rambled on quite long enough here, so I will call it a month and hope to come back with some actual progress in February ( which is tomorrow, of course- maybe not quite  that quickly, then!).  Meawhile I hope everyone out there is enjoying their hobby time, and until the next time keep well, everyone.   

Monte Lucedelsole - West Suffolks attack

Having set up my first Rapid Fire Reloaded game last time, this post is to report how it turned out.

The 1st Battalion West Suffolks had been  tasked with capturing the small hill-top hamlet of Monte Lucedelsole, which was being held by the German 1 Battalion, 960th Grenadiers. We saw last time that  on turn 1 the British had entered the table, pushing their  Carrier Platoon and Battalion HQ Bren Carriers close to the Wastern and Eastern woods - and promptly ran into a fusillade of Panzerfaust and small arms fire. Contact!

Enter the West Suffolks..

 

On Turn 2,  the Carrier platoon dismounted its PIAT team in the shelter of hedges close to West Wood, while 'A' Company's footsloggers moved up to join them.  In the centre, B Company took shelter behind the stone-walled enclosure which also sheltered the Support Company's 3-inch mortar team.  On the right,  Battalion HQ bailed out of its battered carriers into the cover of a hedge, where they were joined by their PIAT team and 2-inch mortar, while C Company advanced on foot to their right.

Now the British could start shooting  - not least because Rapid Fire Reloaded (doubtless correctly) allows PIATs to be used as 'HE' weapons against infantry targets, and they can be quite nasty (if a hit is scored,  roll 4D6 for effect, so you might kill 4 figures if you get lucky!).  German 3rd Kompanie in the West Wood, and 1st Kompanie in East Wood, started to take casualties. In the centre,  the Suffolks 3-inch mortar started a sort of duel with their  German  81mm counterpart on the hill, but missed with their first attempt. The fire of the British off-board 25-pounder battery could be called in by its Forward Observation Officer, also  targeted the German mortat team - and also missed!   Not great shooting by the Suffolks' mortars and artillery, and I'm afraid it didn't get very much better.. 

Carrier Platoon PIAT helps out 'A' Coy.

 

In response the Germans mostly  sat tight and returned fire - though 3rd Kompanie in the West Wood pulled back into the cover of the interior after that nasty PIAT experience. In East Wood, 1st Kompanie took a different approach, moving some men forward to join the firing line - though the mechanism of reducing their movement in woods according to a die roll meant that they moved very slowly this turn! Their comrades at the treeline inflicted one casualty on the Sufolks advancing 'C' company. 

The heaviest German eweapons in play  were by their 81mm mortar and 75mm Infantry Gun, plastering the British 3-inch mortar team in the walled enclosure. The 75mm gun scored one casualty, the 81mm mortar's first shot got another, but the mortar's 2nd shot missed! That  gave 2 casualties  on the British mortar,  but to destroy a support weapon with a 3-figure crew, you need to score 3 in the same turn, so the British mortar team survived - just!   That's quite fun rule, it certainly adds a bit of tension as you keep firing various weapons at the same target. 

Turn 3 saw the West Suffolks' rifle companies trying to push forward to the woods on their left and right, moving out to the flanks in doing so - the carrier platoon re-mounted its PIAT team, aiming to ferry them to West Wood as they realised the Germans had pulled back there.  More dramatically, on the right 'C' Company made a dash across the open, trying to rush the Germans in East Wood. British firing hotted up - the mortar and artillery  duel continuing, of course. The Suffolks' 3-inch mortar scored one hit on their German 81mm opponents - but the 25-pounder battery missed again, with both guns! Better shooting at the East Wood, where the Battalion HQ 2-inch mortar and 'C' Company's small arms fire got 3 kills on German 1st Kompanie - which was now down to half strength. the East Wood looked vulnerable, 

Turn 3: 'C' Coy. 'rush' East Wood

In response, German 1st Kompanie managed to get its remaining men up to the perimeter of East Wood to form a firing line, just in time!  At West Wood,  3rd Kompanie started to bring forward reinforcements in a similar fashion, and sent its men in the wood forward again to fire. Hopefully the situation could be stabilised on both flanks..  German fire was indeed quite effective - 1st Kompanie scored 2 kills on 'C' Company, and 3rd Kompanie killed 1 of  'A' Coy. The 75mm infantry gun shifted fire to British  'B' Company in the stone enclosure, and started to inflict losses on them too.  The mortar duel continued -  but the 81mm missed with both shots. . Things suddenly looked more tricky for the Suffolks - losing 5 figures from 3 Companies ( total initial strength 24 figures )  in one turn was clearly not going to be sustainable. 

End of Turn 3 - fighting for the woods

 

Now to Turn 4 : something of a climax, as  'A' Company West Suffolks' charged into West Wood and close assaulted its defenders.    In the centre, 'B' company decided against sitting in the enlosure getting shelled, and moved forward, hoping to reach the next hedge - quite risky!  Close Assaults are decided before firing - so 'A' Coy. and 3 Komp. rolled their dice. Attackers roll 1D6, adding the number of figures in contact to give their total score, while defenders score number of figures plus D6 roll, plus 2, Highest total wins, and the loser takes casualties according to the score difference - simple. 'A' company had 5 figures but rolled a '2' - score 7.  3rd Kompanie only 2 figures, but rolled a '4', plus bonus 2 gave a total of 8 -the Germans came out winners. 'A' Company retired, taking one casualty.  If only they'd rolled higher! 

The ongoing mortar duel just kept going, with the British 3-inc mortar getting 2 hits and 2 kills agianst the German 81mm. It was now down to the 25-pounder battery, but their FOO rolled a '1' - which means his request for a 'stonk' failed to get through to the guns, so no firing! The German mortar crew breathed again. 

Turn 4 : 'C' Coy, Close Assault - was repulsed

 

On the right, 'C' Company, the battalion HQ mortar and PIAT all fired on German 1st Kompanie - and  inflicted  no casualties!  'C' Company then took a big gamble, and charged in to Close Assault, but fortune was not with them, rolling a 2 against the Germans' 4. 'C' Company was repulsed with 3 more casualties - pretty much a disaster.   The West Suffolks' Battalion commander had little choice but to bring on his reserve.  'D' Company coming up to replace the remnants of 'C' Company.  That was a dreadful turn for the British, with  close assualts on both woods  stopped in their tracks at some cost, while artillery and mortar fire achieved precisely nothing.

 The Germans in their turn moved reinforcements into West Wood and kept firing, though with mixed results. Their 81mm mortar scored 2 hits on the British 3-inch mortar -but the 75mm infantry gun missed, and the British mortar survived yet again.  3rd Kompanie fire on 'A' Company had no effect, likewise 1st Kompanie against the Suffolks Battalion HQ,  but in the centre, 'B' Company had exposed itself to fire from a german MMG on the hill - and took another 2 losses. 

With that, at the end of Turn 4 the British were in a terrible position - 50% losses on 'A' and 'B' Companies,  75% on 'C' Company, and no real progress made. With 'D' company coming up they might take East Wood, but had insufficient strength to progress anywhere else. Their artillery and mortars had done nothing to help, getting embroiled in a counter-battery duel that had no result - though perhaps at least keeping the German mortar and infantry gun occupied, which will have saved even more losses from the rifle companies.  

 

End of Turn 4 - and of the game 

So, I called it a day at that point; far from a successful game for the British, with  Monte Lucedelsole remaining firmly in German hands.   And perhaps not terribly exciting, I'll admit, but the main point was to try out the Rapid Fire Reloaded rules.  In that respect, I was pretty happy - the rules were very simple to understand and to use.  Having started in WW2 gaming all those decades ago with Chrles Grant's Battle, these seemed to have a similar spirit - I like the simplicity of rolling a few dice needing 5 or 6 to kill, or whatever - and individaul figure removal is a balst from the past, in a good way - seems entirely appropriate for this kind of game. Spotting rules equally simple and effective, and artillery and mortar fire a matter of a few die rolls.  Mortars having two shots makes them potentially deadly, as in reality, and off-table artillery have easy rules for 'calling in' fire, and 'bracketing' - basically the second shot is more likely to hit than the first. Not that my 25-pounders managed that!  Close Assaults are pretty risky and can be costly, as 'C' Company found out, after their covering fire failed to deplete  the defenders.   In the excitement the British failed to lay down any smoke, which might have reduced casualties, but their artillery and mortars were too busy, fruitlessly trying to kill their opposite numbers.

Fairly obviously, the West Suffolks were always likely to have a hard time, but I'm afraid the dice gods took a hand, especially with the off-board artillery, and crucially in the two close assaults! But that is just how things go sometimes. It's pretty clear that a two-battalion force would have been more likely to succeed, and some armoured support could have been useful, but I wanted to keep things simple for a first game, and limit numbers of units so as not to get bogged-down. I'm afraid the West Suffolks did get bogged-down, as a result! 

I seem to have written quite a lot, considering I have described only three moves of quite a small game! But I hope it's been fun, and interesting for anyone who might be thinking about trying these rules. I am pretty well pleased with them so far, and I can imagine they would do very well for larger games - the simplicity should make it easy to handle larger formations.   I will certainly persist with these rules, as the West Suffolks and the 960th Grenadiers and their comrades begin what may be a long-running struggle up and down the land of Italy.   

Meanwhile I have also been lucky enough to take part in another of Jon Freitag's remote games, as we had a second go at the ECW Battle of Cheriton - this time with me as a Royalist, I won't give any spoilers, but it was a great game, as Jon's games usually are, and I look forward to his report of the evening! Not sure where my next post will take us, to be frank - but  until then, keep well everyone. 

D-Day Dodgers : Rapid Fire at Monte Lucedelsole

Having been 'getting round to it' for ages, I thought I'd better finally have a go at putting on a game using some of my 'D-Day Dodgers' WW2 Italian campaign troops, and try out the basic  Rapid Fire Reloaded rules.  Previously I had staged a British  assault on the (entirely fictional) hamlet of  Monte Lucedelsole, somewhere in 'Sunny Italy' - hard to believe that was in June 2020!  On that occasion Colonel Badger's force had failed to capture the position, so it seemed logical for the Tommies to have another go. 

This time the perhaps dubious honour of attacking will be given to the 1st Battalion West Suffolk Regiment, and the defence provided by the 1st Battalion, 960th Grenadier regiment of the Wehrmacht - the glorious exploits of both outfits being again mysteriously absent from any official records of the conflict. 

First, a view of the position, perhaps as seen by a British airborne observer ( North is at the top ): 

Monte Lucedelsole defences  from a British view

First of all, I should admit that it doesn't look too much like Italy! My next move in this project must be to acquire or make some more appropriate scenery - Cypress trees, olive groves, vineyards, perhaps? And maybe a less green and lush table covering too - a little more Mediterranean style. But for now, let's imagine it is rainy autumn in Italy, and try to ignore those rather Northern-looking trees.    

The German battalion has three infantry companies and have deployed No. 3 Kompanie divided between  the Western wood and hedge behind it,  No.2 Kompanie holding  the central hedgeline and the scrub-covered  hill, and No.1 Kompanie in  the Eastern wood ( on right of picture). Meanwhile  the Battalion HQ, and the 4th (Heavy) Kompanie with its MMGs and 81mm mortar are entrenched on the hill along with their Infantry Gun Kompanie with its 75mm gun - a useful piece of kit. Finally the A/T Kompanie with its PAK 40 gun is secreted behind the Western wood, in case British armour advances up the road. The latter is unlikely to see much use, however as the West Suffolks have no tank support today - I am keeping it simple in my first game, this is pretty much a straight infantry fight. With the Heavy Kompanie and the Infantry gun, the German commander must be confident of giving good account to any attacking formation - and all his troops are initially concealed from the view of any intruders advancing from the South ( I have made some of them visible in the picture of course,just for convenience ), 

Without further ado, here come the West Suffolks on Turn 1: 

Enter the West Suffolks..

The British know that the position will be defended, so are not simply charging up the road, and approach fairly cautiously, rifle companies deployed and ready for combat.  On their left (West) is 'A' Company, with the battalion's Carrier Platoon advancing boldly to the hedge-line, from where they can automatically 'spot' German 3 Kompanie in the West wood (spotting is automatic at 6 inches distance, even in cover such as a wood). In the centre, 'B'  Company footslog forward, while the Support Company's 3-inch mortar crew have dismounted from their carrier in the stone-walled enclosure.  On the right, 'C' Company moves up on foot, along with the  Battalion HQ's PIAT Team and 2-inch mortar. The Battalion Commander and his aides are also quite adventurous (rash, as it turned out), moving up to the hedgeline in their carrier and thus also able to 'spot' German 1st Kompanie in the Eastern wood.  The West Suffolks' 'D' Company is held in reserve off the board at the start.  

It looks quite a challenge for the West Suffolks, essentially assaulting a postion held by a force at least equal to theirs, but I think this does reflect the reality in Italy 1943-45, where the Allies often did not  have overwhelming numbers to throw at the Germans.  What they did have was good artillery support, so accordingly I have allocated a Battery of 'off-board'  25-pounders, with a Forward Observer unit mounted in a Bren Carrier.  I seem to have forgotten to place the FO in this picture(!) - they arrived just behind 'C' Company. Many of the  British will have been seen immediately by the defenders, but are as yet out of range of their infantry weapons and/or using some of the  hedges etc  to block line-of-sight. 

With British Bren Carriers approaching pretty close to both woods - in fact within 6 inches, which meant that the rules allowed the British to automatically 'spot' any troops there -  could the German infantry lurking at the treeline let rip at them? The rules have a useful mechanism which provides for just that - as long as they have not already moved/fired in their turn, the defenders may interrupt their opponents turn with Ambush Firing .    Therefore, the first shots were fired as both 3 Kompanie and 1 Kompanie let rip at close range - using both normal infantry weapons and Panzerfaust ( a 'one shot' weapon, but this was as good  a time as any ).  At the West wood, 3 Kompanie's Panzerfaust managed to miss, but their rifle and LMG fire scored a hit which (rather crucially) disabled the Carrier Platoon's vehicle-mounted machine gun (VMG)   - so it could not return fire. At the East wood, 1 Kompanie's Panzerfaust operators aimed better, scored a hit and damaged the Battalion HQ Bren, but did not destroy it - I imagine the Panzerfaust round must have glanced off the armour somehow! The riflemen and LMGs did better, inflicting one hit and thus also disabling the Bren's VMG.  All good fun,  and a learning process with the rules - the British carriers got close to the woods to  spot the German troops within, and got into the cover of hedges, but in the process were rather shot up, and lost their VMGs, and therefore their ability to return fire!  Perhaps it would have been better to have advanced a little more slowly - at up to 12 inches they could have taken a test, rolling 1D6 (needing a 5 or 6 to succeed ) to spot the Germans in the woods.  Probably the latter would have opened fire anyway. but would not have been able to use Panzerfausts - the British carriers would most likely have got off more lightly, and may have been able to return fire, the Germans having revealed themselves by firing. A nice lesson on tactics, and a bit of 'learning the ropes' of Rapid Fire Reloaded.

Next, the British could fire - but those carriers were no longer able to! Only a couple of figures of  'A' Compamy were able to 'draw a bead' on 3rd Kompanie in West Wood, but their shooting was good: they rolled a 6, inflicting the first figure loss on the defenders ( old school figure removal - I rather like it!), and that completed the Britsh turn.  Over to the Germans, who moved no units but were able to let rip with a small storm of fire.  3rd Kompanie shifted their attention to the West Suffolks'  A Company and did well (rolled 5 and 6 on 2D6) , removing 2 figures.  From the hill the Heavy Kompanie's 81mm joined in, zeroing-in on their British 3-in mortar counterparts. With HE 'direct fire' you roll 1D6 to hit, then for an 81mm mortar it's 3D6 for effect against hard cover, 5 or 6 to 'kill' - they inflicted 2 kills. BUT a crewed weapon with 3 crew has to lose all 3 in one turn to be eliminated, so Gerry needed another hit - at which point, I realised later, I didn't notice that mortars fire twice per turn... oops! The German infantry gun joined in, but rather crucially missed, and the British mortar crew lived to fight another turn - to make things fair, I allowed them only one shot in their next turn. At  the East wood, German 1st Kompanie kept up their fire on the damaged Battalion HQ Bren carrier, but could score only 1 hit, not enough to knock it out  - an open-topped AFV requires 3 hits from infantry weapons to be eliminated.  

So battle is joined, with those rather hasty Bren Carriers having taken a bit of a pasting, but at least establishing that the two woods were defended! To be continued - I'll leave you with a picture from Turn 2, the West Suffolks  continuing  forward, with the Carrier Platoon and Battalion HQ unsurprisingly dismounting from their battered carriers:

 I have probably given far too much information here, having covered only the opening turn(!), but I am treaiing this as a sort of revision aid/discussion document  for the RFR rules : which so far, I find I like well enough.  Everything is very simple and seems pretty logical: you are rolling one or more D6 to hit, and with artillery/mortars you then roll variable numbers of dice for 'kills'. Mortars with 2 shots per turn should be pretty deadly, as was indeed the case - I  just need to remember that rule!  The spotting rules made sense too- and I  think  this is crucual in a WW2 game. You aren't allowed to speculatively fire at say, a wood, but if you get close enough to see any occupants, or if they fire first, you can let them have it - that simple rule works for me.  

That's where things stand at the moment - 'real life' has intruded rather, but I hope to get the game finished tomorrow. Will the West Suffolks be able to prevail, given their artillery support? Or will the   960th Grenadiers stand firm? I hope to  report the outcome in the next few days. Until then I hope this has been of interest to those who haven't tried these rules - and in the meantime keep well, everyone.   

Punjabis Painted (almost) and an Italian miscellany

I have, at last (almost) completed painting my Indian battaltion for the 'D-Day Dodgers' Italian Campaign 1943-45 project.  So here, on parade for the camera on what looks suspiciously like a stopover in rural England before deployment, are the gallant men of the entirely imaginary  11/8th Punjab battalion:

 

They comprise (from the front )  the HQ company with Battalion commander, PIAT team, 2-inch mortar team and truck;  three  rifle companies each of 8 figures with a truck;  a fourth company with 8 figures and 2 Bren carriers;  and the Support Company with 6-pounder A/T gun,  3-inch mortar, Lloyd carrier and Bren carrier. 

Keen readers may remember that I was unsure how to recruit the fourth company, having limited numbers of figures with Punjabi Muslim style turbans or British steel helmets - I am grateful to Neil from the excellent aufklarungsabteilung blog who suggested that I could consider a Sikh company in a Punjabi battalion.  I had enough Sikh-turbaned figures to do that, and it seemed a nice idea, giving a bit more interesting variation in the battalion. So we now have 'A', 'B' and 'C' Companies of Punjabis, and 'D' Company of Sikhs. I'm quite pleased with them

 As I said, they are 'almost' complete - if you look very closely at the back, you'll see that the 6-pounder crew are in need of a change of uniform colour and skin tone. So indeed not quite finished yet, but almost! Also the transport is 'from the pool' so to speak (specifically the vehicles bought recently from the collection of the late Eric Knowles),  hence their carrier crews also look distinctly White British. So the next step is to provide some more appropriate crewmen - which should be simple enough. 

If you'll excuse my 'impressionistic' painting style (as ever, button-counters should look away now), I'll risk a close-up :

 hmmm... those HQ company bases may need a little work. You may notice that the only White British figure is the  battalion commander - as far as I know, this is pretty much true to reality (note that this is a battalion for Rapid Fire Reloaded, in which one figure represents about 15 men). Anyway I am quite pleased with them overall, and hope they acquit themselves well when they finally get to the gaming table! 

When  painting them, I decided to be a little more adventurous than a very simple 'block-painting' style, and found  some useful tips in Andy Singleton's book Painting Wargaming Figures: WW2 in the Desert

 

I liked this book, as it starts from the very basics and really assumes no prior knowledge of various painting techniques, hence great for beginners.  He also has step-by-step instructions (with plenty of good photos)  for painting figures at each of three levels of skill, which he calls 'Conscript' ( block colours and a little dry-brushing )  'Regular' ( some dry-brush highlights, and shading to finish ) and 'Elite' ( using layering and spot-highlights ).  My chaps are somewhere between Conscript and Regular, I think, and that will do nicely for me. We'll have to see what level they fight at..

This week has coincidentally provided some more Italian-related interest and events, as follows: 

(1) a trip to the BFI ( National Film Theatre, as was ) in London for a showing of  Roberto Rossellini's  Rome, Open City , which I had shamefully never seen before (and I call myself a film fan?). Absolutely  relevant to the 'D-Day Dodgers'  period, this neo-realist classic depicts life in Rome under the Nazi occupation of 1943-1944, and the hazards of involvement in the political/violent resistance movements. It's famous for being filmed very close to the time it depicts, and as the program notes say it was 'made on the streets of the war-ravaged capital with stolen electricity and scraps of 35mm stock supposedly sourced on the black market'.  It was first shown in September 1945,  less than a year after the Allies liberated Rome, and only months after the German forces in Italy had surrendered. It struck me that the people of the areas where filming took place (and the allied troops in Rome) may have been pretty shocked if chancing across the filming, as tenement blocks were surrounded and 'residents'; rounded up by parties of SS troops in full uniform, distinctive helmets and fully armed! There must have been some delicate negotiations between the film-makers and the authorities, and the locals. It's a great film, well worth catching. 

 

 

(2) Picked up at a neighbourhood 'give a book, take a book' box,  A Walk In the Sun  by Harry Brown, a slim novel recounting the experiences of a fictional US Army platoon landing on an un-named  beachhead in Italy in 1943 or 1944,  Harry Brown was a US Soldier, but not on the front-line - he was a writer for Yank magazine ('the army weekly')  from 1942. He went on to be a film screenwriter, with Sands of Iwo Jima among his credits.   I was pretty suprised to learn that this novel was published as early as 1944, as it is not in the least 'gung-ho' and does not paint a romantic picture of war, quite the opposite indeed. The platoon finds their commanding officer incapacitated before even reaching the beach, and then try to follow what little they know of their orders, given  no  contact with their parent unit. The writer  must surely have interviewed real-front-line troops, and the story 'rings true' in its depiction of ordinary men in the  extraordinary situations of war.  I haven't finished it yet, so no plot spoilers, please!  

 

 (3) Last but not least,  a different period but also Italy-based, I was lucky to take part in another of Jon Freitag's remote games, this time recreating  the battle of Bassignana, 1745.   

I'll give nothing away except Jon's picture of the initial deployments, trusting him to provide his usual excellent report of what was one of his usual excellent games, which came to quite a dramatic last-gasp  conclusion!

 I was privileged to play the 'Gallispans' C-in-C Mallebois, with a small brigade command too, while Chris 'Nundanket' and Dave 'St Cyr' took the Spanish and French wings, against Piedmontese and Austrians led by Mark 'Jolly Broom Man' and Tony 'MS Foy'.  Many thanks to Jon and all concerned, as usual, for a great game! 

Next, it must surely be time to actually try a game of Rapid Fire Reloaded : and next weekend there is the 'Broadside' show at Gillingham which I hope to attend. Plenty of material for future blogging, then. Until then, keep well, everyone.

Here are the Heer - and Punjab Preparations

I'm pleased to say that my D-Day Dodgers WW2 Italian Campaign has taken another baby step forward, as I have now  completed my first German infantry battalion in  Rapid Fire Reloaded format. Without further ado, here they are: 

 

Counting from the front (left to right) we have 1st, 2nd and 3rd Rifle Companies and Battalion HQ with commander's Steyr car;  on the middle row the 4th (Heavy) Company with MGs and Mortar, Steyr and Opel Blitz, and at the back the Support Company with AT Gun, Infantry Gun and two more Opel Blitz trucks.  All in all a handy little unit, I hope, and ready to take on the 'West Suffolks'  in the battle for Italy.  As previously discussed, the only missing element is a decent name for them, preferably 'fictional but credible', though borrowing a real unit name might also be an option. Still thinking about that one! 

Next recruits for this project will be an Indian battalion - indeed I think I am aiming for an Indian Brigade, where the attached British battalion is the West Suffolks.  This will be largely built from the Strelets plastic 1/72 Indian WW2 sets (below).

An interesting challenge that has emerged relates to the varied headwear of different troops in the Indian army, and how to depict them. The Strelets boxes have a variety of different headgear, including the standard British 'tin hat' but also what looks to be 2 or 3 different styles of turban - Sikh, Punjabi  (Muslim)  and possibly also Baluchi.  Identification of these was aided (of course) by a little light web-browsing, coming up with the splendidly-named MilitarySunHelmets.com, with a page on Turbans of the Indian Army .   

As I understand it the Indian army generally had regiments recruited from specific ethnic groups, so there were Sikh regiments, Punjabi regiments etc,  so I need to reflect that. The variety of heads on the figures should help with that, but in fact it's become clear that we have an embarrasment of riches here. For illustration, here is the range of headwear on the Strelets figures: 

'Punjabi' style turban and British 'tin hat' 

 

..Sikh turban

... 'Baluchi' style

 A crucial line from the above website (and other sources I've seen ) is as follows: By the start of World War II typically only Sikhs continued the tradition of wearing turbans into combat, although turbans of various styles are used in both India and Pakistan today.   Which means that for absolute accuracy all I need are the 'tin hat' troops, and maybe some with Sikh turbans if I want a Sikh battalion. Hmmm.. 

Well to be honest that seems a bit dull!  I'm afraid I am going to romanticise things a bit, and do a bit of an 'imagi-nation' here..  I liked the Punjabi/Muslim style turban and there were a good number of them in the Strelets set, and along with the steel helmet-wearing  figures I can put together a decent selection - albeit the turbans probably wouldn't have actually been worn in combat!  But after all this is a slightly fictionalised view of Italy 1943-45, and the turbans add a lot of character, so I am quite  relaxed about using them - and they make a visual distinction for the unit, after all. I will simply assume that my Indian soldiers are brave lads, many of whom disdain the effete steel helmet..       

a mix of Punjab and Steel Helmets

 

The above selection came from one box of Strelets Indian infantry - so to make a battalion of about 50 figures, I am probably going to need another box, unless I start chopping heads off Sikhs and replacing them with steeel helmets from other unused plastic figures ( the rather disappointing Airfix 1970s British might be useful ),  or perhaps remodelling Sikh turbans to Muslim versions. Hopefully none of this gives any offence to any ethnic or cultural group!     

So, still plenty to do and think about, but this is a decent beginning to the recruitment  of what will become the  11/8th Punjab battalion - a fine body of  (entirely fictional) men. Now to start painting, and looking at how to get the correct number of troops - plus heavy weapons etc ( the 'support weapons' Strelets set seems to be heavily biased towards Sikhs, which is another challenge! ) to make a full battalion. 

In the meantime, maybe it's time the completed British and German battalions faced off in a beginner  game of Rapid Fire Reloaded - which I will report on in a future post,  if I can get it up and running. Until then keep well, everyone.

 

Here Come the Heer : Recruiting a German Battalion

Yet again progress has been slow, with Real Life getting in the way of hobby time, but at least a few steps have been advanced:  I have an organised and almost-completed battalion of German infantry for my 'D-Day Dodgers'  WW2 Italian Campaign project. They have been recruited to fill an Order of Battle based on those specified in Rapid Fire and Rapid Fire Reloaded rules, and they currently look something  like this: 

 

Most of the figures are painted and based, but the transport is only primed and needs proper painting, so I will be getting busy with the sand/green/brown paints, probably over the upcoming holiday weekend.  We have, looking from front to back :

- Battalion HQ with Panzerschrek team and Steyr Heavy Car

- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Rifle Companies

- 4th ( Heavy ) company with 2 x MMG, 1 x 81mm mortar  with Steyr Heavy Car and Opel Blitz truck

-  A/T Company with  PAK40 75mm A/T Gun and Opel Blitz truck

- Infantry Gun Company with  iFH18 105mm Infantry Gun and Opel Blitz truck 

As you can probably see, most of the figures are my good old vintage Airfix WW2 German Infantry (1960s designs!). The heavier weapons are crewed by mainly Britannia Miniatures/Grubby Tanks, and a scattering of later Airfix and others. The Opel Blitz trucks (actually one is built as a Mercedes variant)  come from Plastic Soldier Company,  and the Steyr cars from Rapid Fire's own 'Ready to Roll Vehicles' range.  The infantry gun is  Zvezda ( bought before February 2022 - I'm not buying any more from Russian makers, I'm afraid ), and  the PAK 40 is by Revell.   These will be strong opposition for my West Suffolks ( see my previous post ), especially with the 105mm infantry gun and that 'Heavy Company' with the MMGs - the British battalion doesn't have an equivalent. So the British may require some support from 'Brigade' when it comes to a fight. 

With the potential British and Indian units in the same project I have been having fun coming up with 'fictional but plausible'  units names like the 'West Suffolks' - but the Germans give me a bigger challenge.  I would like to come up with a  fictional regiment name for these Germans, but I admit I am at a bit of a loss as to how to work something out - initial on-line searches give several pages showing lists of German WW2 Divisions ( of which there were well over 300! ) , but I haven't so far found a list of Regiments (of which there must have been many more!) - and am unsure of the naming/numbering convention used, though it looks like a simple regiment number was common. I suspect they will become 1st Battalion,  n+1th Grenadier Regiment,  and if anyone has advice on finding this sort of information, I'd be interested!          

A couple of the vintage Airfix figures brought back very nostaglic memories: as ever, 'Button-counters' should look away now ( You may cringe at  my rather basic painting style, but I'm happy it suits the nature of the figures - not much point trying 3-level highlights on these chaps,  and I couldn't do much better anyway!).   

The Panzerschreck** team strongly evokes what else but the 'Action at Twin Farms' game in Charles Grant's wonderful little book  Battle: Practical Wargaming, which is where 'My Wargaming Habit' (to quote the excellent blog by Richard!)  began, all of 50 years ago. My first wargaming book, and it's still with me:

My rather battered copy - c.1974

hmmm... Panzerschreck, surely?

 It really did all start here - this book may represent the best £1.50  I ever spent, in hobby terms at least!   Come to think of it. I was casting around for a scenario idea for my first Rapid Fire Reloaded game..

Now that is sadly about all the news I have to impart, but at least the holiday weekend may allow a little more hobby time,  and then next week I am lucky enough to be invited to another of Jon Freitag's remote games  - more Italian Wars action is in prospect.  I won't be a spoiler to what Jon will no doubt write about pretty soon, suffice it to say this looks quite an intriguing prospect. I hope to be able to say more next time; until then keep well, everyone.

 

** Update: it's been interesting that the close-up picture has made a lot of veteran gamers realise that the guy apparently holding a Panzerschreck missile is probably in truth carrying a Panzerfaust.   I hadn't really thought about it, to be honest - and interestingly I wonder if the source of the original confusion is the above picture from Charles Grant's book - note that he labels them a Panzerfaust team, even though the weapon being aimed is clearly meant to be a Panzerschreck.  I am keeping them as they are - they've been together for 50 years, after all! 

'West Suffolks' on Parade

It took longer than expected, but I have pretty much completed my first 'D-Day Dodgers' battalion, the (entirely imaginary) West Suffolks, in an OOB taken from the Rapid Fire Reloaded rules. The recent acquistion of vintage transport models a la Eric Knowles helped a lot, no need to paint those!  So here they are, on parade back in Blighty and ready  to ship out to Sunny Italy and go into action:

 

On the front row  Battalion HQ with Bren Carrier, PIAT and 2-inch Mortar team, and Carrier Platoon with PIAT team;  middle row A, B, C and D Rifle Companies; back row Support Company with 6-pounder AT Gun and Lloyd Carrier,  3-inch Mortar team with Bren Carrier.   All under the perhaps slightly eccentric but always well-meaning command of equally fictional Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew ('The Legal Eagle')  Phillips*..

Now the plan is that these will be part of the Nth  Indian Infantry Brigade, in turn part of the Nth Indian Division - all of which will of course be equally imaginary, but loosely based on the real OOBs of British Indian units in Italy.  In effect there would be 3 battalions in a brigade, one British and two Indian, and other elements such as MGs, Recconaissance, Artillery and Engineers would be a mixture of British and Indian. This should allow me to mix the vintage British figures I have with the Indians I have more recently acquired  ( perhaps unsurprisingly given the Imperial nature of the force, the senior commanders would have been  be pretty much entirely British ).  Now I can have a bit of fun dreaming up suitably Indian and British imaginary unit names..  This is starting to look like a sensible project - and of course they will need some German opposition!   There looks to be a chance to pick up some more ready-painted troops for both sides, courtesy of David Crook and the collection of the late Eric Knowles, Negotiations are in progress.. 

I would like to have more to report, but I will admit that since my last posting,  'real life' has reduced hobby opportunities - easily summed up in the following  picture..

..fortunately all has gone OK, and things look a lot nicer now.

But there has been some actual gaming, thanks once again to the excellent  Jon Freitag : I was lucky enough to be invited to command the Orsini faction against the Papal ( Borgia ) army at the Italian Wars period  Battle of Sanguetta (1497).  Jon has yet to report our game ( his third iteration of the scenario ), so I won't give any spoilers,  except to show this picture which he passed on after the event: 

 

My mercenary pikemen are on the right, at push of pike with the enemy Landsknechts - you can certainly see how colourful Jon's figures (28mm scale) are. It was great fun, though I confess my dice-rolling was considerably better than my deployment and tactical decisions!  I look forward to seeing Jon's report. 

I am hoping to get some more hobby time in the near future, and I had better try to keep up the momentum on the D-Day Dodgers project, so I will hope to have more to report quite soon. 

Until then keep well, everyone. 

* My imaginary battalion commander is a nod to the biggest character of recent years around my adopted home town -which I also imagine to be the home town of my 'West Suffolks' battalion - the late Lord Andrew Philips . I can't claim to have known him well, but did hear him speak many times, and exchanged pleasantries once or twice.   Whether he would have been a good soldier, or would have  even wanted to be one, I can't say!

Cavalier 2024 and Transports of Delight

On Sunday just gone, I visited my first hobby show of the year - Cavalier 2024 at Tonbridge, staged by the Tunbridge Wells Wargames Society. It proved to be a good day out, from all the important points of view - seeing games, meeting people and acquiring 'goodies'.  I'll describe them in roughly that order.  

There were 17 games advertised, in  a good variety of periods, scales and universes - I admit I tend to stick to the 'historical', with apologies to Sci-Fi and Fantasy fans. Having said that, first up was a really  interesting sort of  'crossover' game,  Death on the Savannah (Survival of the Thickest) from Deal Wargames Society - not a toy solider in sight, but kind of 'historical' .  As the show program stated, 'Can the Wildebeest cross the Savannah, hunted by lions and crossing a crocodile-infested river?; 1/32nd using vintage Britains figures'  

 

I don't know how it played and whether the wildebeest made it (that looked quite challenging!), but I like the way the Deal guys always come up with something a bit different, and always make it look good.  

Another group that can be relied upon for a really good-looking table are Retired Wargamers Reloaded - their Hold Until Relieved game of Pegasus Bridge, June 1944 is well up to their usual standard. I have featured this before ( at SELWG 2023 ),  but can't resist showing a few pics again - apart from the fine terrain and scenery, I like the details such as  columns of vehicles moving up, aircraft overhead etc.  

Also in the  WW2 period,  Tonbridge Wargames Club presented LRDG - The First Rogue Heroes ('LRDG Raids in the Western Desert 1942; DAK Mini-campaign; 28mm' ) as a participation game. I am very bad at trying participation games - just for once I probably had time to give one a go, but ended  up spending quite a lot of time talking to various people - so participation will have to wait for another time!

Looks like LRDG did a good job,,

Another one I really should have tried was Maidstone Wargames Society The Summer of '77 - no, not punk rockers vs. disco divas, but a Battle of Britain game, based on a game that had been published in Warlord comic in, presumably, the summer of 1977.  I liked the way they had taken the simple printed square-gridded map from the original and made a really nice scenic table, with the 1/300 aircraft 'flying' on stands above.  The game ran several times and always looked busy.

 

And just one more  WW2 feature:  Friday Night Firefight Club's Fall of the Reich, depicting battle around the Reichstag, Berlin in 1945 using 28mm scale and Bolt Action rules. 

that Reichstag model  looks suitably grim and imposing

Other periods are available, of course: starting with the oldest, The Society of Ancients   put on a game of the Battle of Ilipa 208BC  in 28mm using Impetus rules: 

Ilipa : view from Carthaginian line

..and the Roman force

This was interesting, as I had taken part in one of Jon Freitag's games of this battle, using his version of Basic Impetus.  Watching the play, I recognised the mechanisms in use for combat die rolls etc, though I think the 'proper' version of Impetus has a bit more chrome than the basic version.  The action seemed to move along at a decent pace with  experienced players.

battle in full swing, later

 

Several Napoleonic games were in progress: first up Battle of Villamuriel   from  Konfederacy of Eastbourne Gamers using 10mm figures 

I really liked the Vineyard terrain pieces, cleverly made to allow units to fight amongst them! 

Central London Wargames Club brought their Tally Ho Vera (!)  in 15mm,  showcasing the Emperor of the Battlefield rules written by one of their members, I think. I had previously encountered them at SELWG - I'm sure if I was thinking of a move into Napoleonics (get thee behind me, tempation!) they would be worth a look.

Meanwhile Warlord Games had a nice-looking demo game of their Epic Napoleonics system in 13.5mm.  They look pretty good en masse! 

Rainham Wargames Club showed a game of Hammerin' Iron : Riverboat Action in the ACW 

Nice layout and 'buckets of dice' !

..and Real Time Wargames had their Russian Civil War  rules and campaign system The Glittering River on show, attracting quite a few players to a participation game. These guys often seem to create games in 'interesting and different' periods and settings. The ships and aircraft were 1/600th and the terrain was 2mm scale.

South East Essex ( SEEMS ) showed their Nach Paris!  ( previously seen also at SELWG )   28mm Franco-Prussian War game, using The Men That Would be Kings rules but pitting two European forces against each other - an interesting idea.

 Last but certainly not least Milton Hundred Wargame Club with, their  1/100th Modern (Soviets vs. NATO )  game featuring 'an armoured bridge assault including a paradrop' , Eine Bruecke zu Weit  (geddit?). 

 

 

That's all the tables I managed to photograph, as I think you can see it was a good selection of games. The second aspect of any show is the social side - I was very pleased with that side of things. I met up with old gaming friend Tony Toms ( from  Retired Wargames Reloaded ) who I had met at the Broadside show  last year after a very long time out of touch. Tony had come along with his son Oliver  also a gamer, and friend Reg, another of my former Rainham Wargames club-mates from the 1980s(!) - Reg and I think we had not met for at least 40 years!  We all had a good long chat over a coffee in the cafeteria, and there may even be some gaming to follow, as it turns out Reg and I don't live so very far apart. It was really great to meet these guys!   I also bumped into various members of Posties Rejects, and had another  good  chat with  Ray Rousell ( looking surprisingly well after his recent illness - thank goodness!)  and Big Lee - including a bit of tactical talk ahead of their second playing of Jon Freitag's Battle of Lake Trasimene game ( they didn't win in the end, so not sure how much help I was! ). I would strongly recomment both Ray's and Lee's blog/Youtube  posts on this show -  loads more and better pictures than me, and a pic of me on Ray's blog - fame at last! 

I also had an important appointment to meet  up with the excellent David Crook of A Wargaming Odyssey  blog,  as we had arranged for me to buy some WW2 British vehicles from the collection of the late Eric Knowles. These turned out to be a really splendid purchase, as you can see :

 

Four Jeeps, six Bren Carriers, four Lloyd Carriers, eight trucks and a 'Dorchester' command vehicle - a pretty useful collection!   And David threw in a lovely 'Brucie Bonus'  -  a box full of command figures and AFV crews. Star of the show is this command group map table :  

This is fantastic stuff, it will provide transport for at least two British battalions in my 'D-Day Dodgers' Italian Campaign project, plus a rather well-appointed Brigade HQ with the Dorchester! Many thanks indeed to David, I am very pleased indeed with these! 

A little light shopping with the tradestands was also done - 1-72nd Models are always of interest, and I picked up a couple of items from them. All those games of the Punic Wars with Jon F must have had an influence, and I have dipped a toe in the water of that period with these HaT Carthaginian Veterans:

Sadly I 'ummed and ahhed' too long over a nice unit of Garrison Roman Republican infantry on the Bring and Buy stall, which would have been a good match with these - learned my lesson there, if you like them,  buy things when you see them!  So the Carthaginians are a bit of an impulse buy, but could be the start of a DBA army - maybe even using some of my vintage  Airfix Ancient Britains for Celtic warbands.. From the same stall, I also picked up some cheap MDF road sections, which should come in handy for the more urbanised setups which are bound to feature in WW2 games As you can see they come with neat jointing included, and also some 'end caps' ( not shown ), so they will lay out nicely and should remain straight when placed on the table! Just need a bit of suitable paint and texture. 

 

So there we have it - overall, a pretty good day and a pretty decent 'mid-size' show, with good games and  traders  and best of all, meetings with friends old and new! Many thanks to the organisers, and all the  clubs, traders  and players, and to everyone I was fortunate enough to chat to.  I was glad I attended, a nice relaxed  start to the 'season'. More to follow I suspect, as  I note that  April, May and June will offer Salute, Partizan and Broadside, all very tempting..  Now I'd better take inspiration from all this and get some painting and/or gaming done... Until then, keep well everyone.