Winterised Soviet T26s

A quick bit of light grey then white drybrushing on my old Frontline T26s and they are ready for a new lease of life, chasing Italians and Hungarians across the frozen steppe.

Hungarian Heavy Weapons

Now finished my Hungarian winter infantry battalion by completing all the heavy weapons. The 20mm Solothurn is from Early War Miniatures, all the other bits are "conversions" e.g the 37mm is a Zvezda base/wheels/trail with a Plastic Soldier gun and shield.

Soviet Petlyakov Pe-2

A twin engined dive bomber to add some diversity to my Russian air support. It's been ages since I last built an Airfix aircraft kit and this one was well moulded and was easy to assemble.

Mounted on its flight stand


A Marder is in trouble

British M10

As I already had an Achilles I converted the Ready to Roll model I picked up at Salute into an M10 by cutting off the muzzle break. As Rapid Fire has AT companies of one M10 and one Achilles I now have another company completed, my older one consists of thre overlarge Armourfast version.

Last of the Marders

The third Marder from the Plastic Soldier set, made up as a Marder III sdkfz 138 with the Pak40 AT gun. Crew and camouflaged for use in Europe.

More Italians in Russia

Completed the heavy weapons for my Italian battalion. These are made up of some conversions and some bits from Early War Miniatures. (20mm ATR, 47mm AT gun and brixia mortar)

Ehrhardt Armoured Car

At last something for my WW1 Germans. An Ehrhardt Armoured Car from Shellhole Scenics, a nice resin/metal kit that went together easily. I went for a plain coloured version as none of the original pictures showed any trace of camouflage.

As far as I can tell it's the 1917 version that was used on the Eastern front

Attack at Devizes

As I was down south again I had the opportunity to visit the Attack show in Devizes on Saturday. So some games that caught my eye.

My favourite - Stalingrad in 20mm






Second favourite - Skirmish Wargames having fun south of the Rio Grande in 54mm






Lutzen 1632




War of the Worlds


Pappenheim arrives


Athenian/Spartan scrap using War and Conquest




Ramilles refought in 6mm


And there has to be Waterloo being played!



Back of Beyond game


One of my very few purchases was this dormer windowed building, should fit my village template exactly.

A selection of armour

Just off the painting table

Firstly a Sdkfz 253 Artillery Observation post for my DAK artillery a very nice model from S-Models


A gaggle of T26s using the Miniairons models, I was not impressed with these as the detail is not as good as on their Panzer I. I need a command vehicle with antenna to round of the unit, so I'll see how the S-Model version compares. My old Frontline versions will now be winterised


Finally a Panzer II Aust D a lovely model from "First to Fight". Only really used in Poland 1939, but It'll add a bit of variety to my early war Germans.

On the Workbench - July 2015

Now that Gauntlet is over, here's what's hangging around my workbench, I'm hoping to get most of this finished off before I start anything new.

From top left going clockwise by box

• Soviet Pe-2 light bomber,
• 28mm Saxon thegns and archers,
• T26s a DAK sdkfz253, another marder III and a Panzer II ausf D
• The bits to complete my winter Italians and Hungarians
• A real mess of half started bits
• On the side a M10 and an Erhardt armoured car.

Ligny 1815 - umpires notes

Drawing on several sources of inspiration for the game here's what I used.

Surprise events 18 cards (one drawn per move at the beginning of the French phase)
First set
six cards all blank
Second set
shuffle the following
three blank cards - no effect
Three test army morale cards
First card = French test morale - We are betrayed - unknown enemy on their flank (any unit within 48" of the western table edge make an additional morale test on the start of their turn)
Second card = Prussian test morale - Wellington has deserted us (any unit within 48" of the western table edge make an additional morale test on the start of their turn)
Third Card = Unknown units arrive at the table edge roll D6 for what happens
1 = one unit of British Hussars (self order on 7, fail will result in one move back towards table edge)
2-4 two units of French Infantry (self order on 7, fail will result in one move back towards table edge)
5/6 Division (brigade) of French Infantry (commander = 7, fail will result in one move back towards table edge)
Final set
shuffle the following
four blank cards - no effect
Rainstorm – effects this and next move – no musketry and only short range artillery fire
Lobau arrives card - Old Guard infantry can be committed from the reserve (otherwise the Old Guard can only be committed on a D6 roll of 6, plus an order)

Command values
All commanders have value 8 unless specified otherwise
The Presence of Napoleon within 24" boost French command value up to 9
Blucher/Gneisenau = combined value of 8, however Blucher is aggressive and automatically applies a command value of 9 to any unit attempting to charge within 8". Blucher will accompany the charge. Until he returns Gneisenau acts as CinC with a value of 7.

Divisional (brigade) commanders act normally as per the rules, but must act within the constraints of their orders

As well as giving orders to individual units, senior commanders at Army/Corps level have to give orders to their Divisions and take a test to change their orders. If they blunder then their opponent can decide what the Divisional order will be!

Division orders
Hold/Defend - no more then half the command may move and only one unit can charge
March/Manoeuvre - No charges allowed, at least half the units in the command must move, +1 on command rolls. Movement must be towards the nearest enemy or in the direction defined by their commander,
Reserve - no movement allowed, but +1 on command roll to change orders.
Attack - At least half the units must move towards the enemy and at least one unit must charge if in reach of the enemy

Limits on Artillery firing
If a firing battery rolls two or more 6s then it is low on ammunition and uses one less dice when firing a second roll means it is out of ammunition. To recover the battery must retire to a ammunition caisson in the rear areas (out of artillery range).

Objectives

Prussian
Overall objective is to resist the French along the line of the Ligny brook until Wellington comes to your aid.
Per French brigade broken +2
Ligny held (no Prussians with 6") +5
St Armand held +4
Per charge made by Blucher +1
Blucher killed/captured -4

French
Overall objective is the overall destruction of the Prussian army, the Prussian reserves are to be drawn into combat around the villages so that D'Erlon's Corps can attack their rear and trap the lot.
per Prussian brigade broken +2
Ligny taken (no Prussians with 6") +5
St Armand taken +3
Napoleon killed /captured -5

Gauntlet - part 3 - other games

Plenty of other games on the go, here's a few pictures I took during quiet moments on the Ligny game

A very big Dystopian wars game


Another Napoleonic game in 6mm


A big flames of war game set on the eastern front


6mm MDF Austrian Napoleonics painted by Gary H


A close up of the cavalry, they are almost flats


A big Pike and Shotte game, Swedes against a mixed force of Royalists, Parlimentarians


plus a few Poles




Nice vignette of Gustavus Adolphus


Aidan's and Rick's reports on the game.

10mm ancients by Baggage Train


One of the WRG 6th edition competition games


Cold war gone hot in 6mm

but I seem to have missed the 10mm Quatre Bras game

Gauntlet - Ligny part 2

We reconvened on Sunday to continue the battle. here are the positions taken just before we got started with the Prussians still holding both Ligny and St Armand.



Ligny still holding out


The Prussian threat to the the French left has been contained by the arrival of Walthier's cuirassiers.


While the French continue to batter against St Armand a Prussian brigade moves against La Haye


In the centre the French Young and Middle Guard are negotiating the Ligny brook.


The action resumed

Walthier's cuirassiers clear away a Prussian cavalry brigade after one of it's unit was panicked by rumours of enemy to their rear, however the Prussian infantry have partly pushed their way into La Haye


In the centre Prussian reserves move to close the gap in the centre and confront the Guard. In Ligny the Prussian Landwehr succumbed to artillery bombardment by the Guard artillery allowing Gerard to get a toehold in the village.


More bad news for the Prussians, part of D'Erlons Corps arrives.


The young and middle guard move forward from the line of the brook against fresh Prussians


The cuirassiers were pushed back on the French left, but the Old Guard cavalry had arrived!


That wasn't expected!, a drawn combat between the Gendarmes d'Elite and the landwehr cavalry results in a draw with both sides shaken. In the mutual morale test both unit rolled low and were broken!


Another shock for the French two battalions of the Young Guard are broken.


But by now the French have nearly captured the whole of Ligny, but one sector holds out.


The position at close of play, the centre is stalemated for now, the Old Guard infantry never came forward to support the rest of the Guard, and in St Armand some fresh Prussians slipped back in after the exhausted French left them an opening!
Overall everyone had a great couple of days and when the scores were tallied up it was a marginal Prussian victory.