tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34692844207706066792024-03-05T20:22:58.249+02:00Small Wars in Southern AfricaA South African Wargaming BlogGolf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18034202811853147724noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-36948764671597520622018-10-14T14:52:00.000+02:002018-10-14T14:52:32.615+02:0028mm Cape Mounted Rifles, Frontier Wars
Over the course of a few months, some members of the Peninsula Wargames Group have been exploring the possibilities of gaming skirmish scenarios set during the Cape Frontier Wars.
Between 1779 and 1879, a series of conflicts was fought between the Xhosa, Boers, Khoikhoi, San and British on the eastern frontier of the then Cape Colony. It was the longest running military engagement in African Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-78483704961565382012018-07-08T18:49:00.001+02:002018-07-08T18:49:57.574+02:00Morris C9/B self propelled Bofors 40mm, Italy 1944
Just off the painting table, this miniature represents one of the Bofors SP AA guns operated by the 1/12 Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, of the South African 6th Armoured Division.
The majority of the regiment was equipped with towed 40mm Bofors AA guns, but each battery was assigned a small number of these gun trucks. All the images I have seen appear to show them in the early-1944 "Italian Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-85189586839305094562018-05-18T10:29:00.000+02:002018-05-18T10:29:31.849+02:00HQ elements, South African 6th Armoured Division, Italy 1944
Somewhere along the line, my South African 6th Armoured Division project stopped being just about wargaming, and started to become more about building miniatures. I am no longer concentrating on vehicles and figures that are needed in a wargames army, and the chance of some of the miniatures ever seeing time on a wargames table is remote. Does that bother me? Not so much. I am really Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-32078126296285662432018-03-30T15:57:00.002+02:002018-03-30T15:57:18.728+02:00Muskets and Assegaais
Peninsular Wargames Group recently playtested the use of Studio Tomahawk's excellent Muskets and Tomahawks rules for a Eastern Cape Frontier clash set in the mid-nineteenth century.
A small force of British regulars, reinforced by some local allies (Boers, amaFengu) attempted to raid on the homestead of a troublesome amaHleka neighbour.
On a table representing a settlement in the dense Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-16511103421270784272017-12-22T14:43:00.002+02:002017-12-24T13:50:28.222+02:00Moors vs SaracensJust to wrap up the year, a few more images of some reinforcements for my Saga Crescent and Cross warbands. Some of these can be used in a Moorish force (as mercenaries) or to repurpose my moors as Saracens. Also, to represent the early invasion of the Iberian peninsula, the crossbows in the Moorish list can be replaced by bow-equipped archers.
Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-57485571745144167052017-09-03T17:52:00.000+02:002017-09-03T17:53:51.958+02:00A few more Moors
Another two points of Moors for my Saga Crescent and Cross war band. This brings the core force up to 6 points worth, but used with both the Ben Youssef and Black Guard options, the force can stretch out to 9 points.
I think the force is still sub-optimal. After a few games I have realized I would prefer another point of spear-equipped warriors, and there are not many arguments to takeGolf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-27952273897572276272017-07-12T13:09:00.001+02:002017-09-03T17:59:16.289+02:00Moorish warband for SagaJust off the painting table, the first few points of Moors for Saga Crescent and Cross. In keeping with Saga's somewhat tenuous relationship with historical accuracy, I made a deliberate decision to keep the palette very narrow, muted, and, dare I say it, anachronistic. If anyone asks, I will tell them its a fantasy army...
In keeping with my other Saga figures, I used a fairly quick and simple Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-58940861641844264352017-07-09T20:47:00.000+02:002017-07-10T09:48:37.598+02:00Rorkes Drift: 28mm Black Powder GameHere be a few images from a 28mm Black Powder game of Rorkes Drift, recently hosted by PWG.
Based on the scenario presented in the BP Zulu! campaign supplement, the game was played on a 6 x 8 table, with 48 figures representing the British, and 280 figures representing the izimbutho of the Zulu.
The British command was split between 5 players and the Zulus between 4 players. One club member Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-46213235226153948882017-05-01T20:43:00.001+02:002017-05-01T20:43:18.359+02:00M10 Tank Destroyer, 1/11 Anti Tank Regiment, Italy 1944
Following on from the Achilles M10 I completed earlier this year, here is the second of the M10 variants I have been working on: a 3-inch equipped tank destroyer as operated by the South African 6th Armoured Division in Italy from the second quarter of 1944.
It depicts a vehicle in the second battery of the 1/11 Anti-Tank Regiment in the camouflage pattern common to many of the vehicles Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-44431389350992865402017-04-20T12:13:00.006+02:002017-04-20T16:37:59.885+02:0028mm Partisans: Heavy Supports
My small partisan force (take a look at the basic infantry and their light supports) is great fun to play using rules like Bolt Action - they are a classic horde force that tends to gain victories by sheer force of numbers. Well-equipped they are not, but they can generate a surprising amount of small-arms firepower. This is great for infantry-only conflicts, but as soon as my opponent Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-8792281755498735802017-03-06T21:51:00.000+02:002017-03-06T21:51:54.433+02:00The White Scout Car (and another overlooked vehicle)
Of all the vehicles used by the South African 6th Armoured Division, the White scout car is probably the most anonymous. Very few photos of this vehicle appear in the various histories of the Division. In two volumes of William Marshall's Camouflage and Markings of the the 6th South African Division there are just three photographs of Whites, one of which is incorrectly captioned as a Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-40397543172353013732017-01-30T15:09:00.000+02:002017-01-30T15:16:26.018+02:00T17 Staghound, Natal Mounted Rifles, Italy 1944
At the end of World War 2, the South African 6th Armoured Division listed 15 Staghound T17E armoured cars amongst their equipment. It was not recorded how these were allocated within the Division, and according to Marshall's Camouflage and Markings of the 6th SA Armoured Division, there is only one (poor) photograph known to depict a South African Staghound, and unhelpfully, the AoS Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-42963834772684662712017-01-16T09:36:00.001+02:002017-05-01T19:54:01.749+02:00M10 Achilles, 1/11 Anti Tank Regiment, Italy 1945
Here is the first of the M10 variants I have been working on: a 17-pdr equipped Achilles operated by the South African 6th Armoured Division in Italy during the last months of the Second World War.
It depicts a vehicle in the second battery of the 1/11 Anti-Tank Regiment (an amalgamation of the 1st and 11th regiments, due to manpower shortages). The conversions from the 3-inch equipped Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-75724668481164378782016-11-07T11:28:00.000+02:002016-11-08T12:34:40.435+02:00Pretoria Regiment Shermans, Italy 1944-5
A pair of Shermans to add some teeth to my 28mm South Africa 6th Armoured Division force. They are my first attempts at SCC 15 - the British and Commonwealth interpretation of Olive Drab. By all accounts, this paint color faded towards light green, as opposed to the US paint mix, which faded towards a brown ochre hue.
I have been putting off adding olive drab vehicles to my South African forceGolf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-39085798596780922232016-10-16T18:42:00.004+02:002016-10-16T18:43:17.621+02:00Konflikt '47
Just off the painting table, a kit for the weird WW2 game by Warlord and Osprey - Konflikt '47.
This is the "Spinne" light mech from Warlord and Clockwork Goblin. This kit was lightly modified - I added steps and grab handles, an antenna mount, baggage, and some mesh turret hatch covers. I wanted the commander figure to be a bit more dynamic than the kit offering, but all the panzer crew I Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-41988722909666470072016-09-11T19:43:00.000+02:002016-09-11T19:43:59.936+02:00PWG: somewhere in Afghanistan, sometime in the 1980s...
These are some pix of a recent Peninsula Wargames Group game - using the fanmade Bolt Action "Modern Wars" rules (available here). The rules, as we used them, worked well, and the scenario - the Russian objective was to get a convoy of soft skin vehicles through the valley - was a lot of fun.
All appears peaceful...
But the Russians are taking no chances, and send in some infantry and Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-62610582980217907112016-08-24T19:28:00.001+02:002016-08-24T19:35:50.274+02:00Paint your wagon...
Nothing is easy for a landser. Just when they get a nice new wagon to carry their kit, the military police throw red tape across their every path...
Just off the painting table, the HF2 field wagon is from Warlord games, and the MPs from Black Tree and Warlord. Apologies for the grim little vignette of the firing squad - I debated whether I should paint these figures. In the endGolf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-57220185148388782652016-07-18T20:58:00.000+02:002016-07-28T10:25:54.323+02:00A couple of CrusadersThis is my attempt at the 1/56th scale Rubicon Crusader Mk II/III- a kit I reviewed earlier in the year.
The kit was a pleasure to paint - plenty of crisp details to pick up with washes and dry brushing. Also, the way the kit goes together allows sub-assemblies (running gear, turret, hull) to be painted separately and then assembled.
As I mentioned in the previous post on this kit, I was set onGolf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-21316266388562465992016-06-15T16:45:00.000+02:002016-06-15T16:46:31.107+02:00Peninsula Wargames Group: Bolt Action @ Tarawa
Photograph courtesy and copyright of Lindsay Hall
The Cape Town-based Peninsula Wargames Group recently played a large Bolt Action game based on the landings on Tarawa. The event was organised and umpired by David Davidson, who compiled the following After Action Report:
Historical background
Following the final US victory at
Guadalcanal, both sides targeted Tarawa in the Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-62533082950999406152016-05-16T21:23:00.000+02:002016-05-17T08:53:19.384+02:00Operation Cobra: 28mm Bolt Action
First line of defence: Heer veterans make the Allies pay for every yard of their advance.
Here are some images from a recent large Bolt Action game played by members of the Peninsula Wargames Group. Based on broadly on Operation Cobra - the American breakout from St Lo in 1944 - the game involved two tables of 12ft x 4ft, and six distinct commands. Each command had a separate Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-48727891115237044062016-04-29T18:08:00.001+02:002016-07-18T14:06:23.144+02:00Rubicon Models Crusader: Unboxing and build review
I have always struggled with ensuring separation between the hobbies of scale modelling and wargaming. I treat most wargame miniatures that I build as scale models, and decisions about what detail to add in or leave out relate more to durability than anything else: as long as a detail is not going to get knocked off during gaming and transport, I try to add it in. So my hobby, as I undertake itGolf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-62566186173624870702016-04-17T17:33:00.000+02:002016-04-17T17:33:19.016+02:00Better than walking
Here are a few softskin vehicles recently off the painting table.
First up, a Ford/Gaz AA utility truck for my partisans. This was a kit I bought a while back from Force of Arms. (I believe Warlord games have since bought the range). The kit was supplied with a double axle and a office/radio truck body, but I decided I wanted to rather depict a vehicle that could plausibly be a civilian Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-20552507200548043722016-03-15T17:12:00.002+02:002016-03-15T17:12:28.311+02:0028mm Partisans: Supports and SpecialistsHere are the command, supports, and specialists for my small partisan force. (You can find the infantry squads here.) While there is a fair selection of basic partisan infantry available in 28mm, finding suitable figures to represent a complete force needs a fair bit of searching the catalogues of figure manufacturers, and indeed a willingness to convert and kit bash. From a hobby point of Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-31481164165101981352016-03-04T10:50:00.000+02:002016-03-15T17:45:41.506+02:0028mm Partisans: The gathering storm...
Almost three years ago, I first posted images of the start of my 28mm partisan force. At that time, they were seeing action in skirmish-scale games - Operation Squad and the like. Since then I have been adding bits and pieces as the mood took me, and they have done good service as "inexperienced" troops in my Bolt Action Red Army force. But its only recently that I felt that I have enough of Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3469284420770606679.post-55670978306688660912016-02-08T07:53:00.000+02:002016-02-08T07:55:59.083+02:00Natal Mounted Rifles in Italy: Personal accounts by Douglas Baker
"Our troop of four tanks was creeping down a road along a very steep mountainside and we knew that somewhere ahead a German 88mm would be hiding waiting for us to reach a position, which the enemy would, in retreat, have noted down accurately in terms of its range. To make our survival more likely, I had volunteered to accompany the troop officer, Lieutenant Bunny Evans walking ahead of the Golf Alpha Zuluhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17277051581241930016noreply@blogger.com0