South African Reinforcements

Towards the end of 2013 I completed a few more troops and vehicles for my South African 6th Armoured Division in Italy 1944.

First was an additional squad of First City/Cape Town Highlanders infantry, bring the totals up to enough to allow my Bolt Action force organisation to have two platoons. These are Warlord Games plastic British Infantry, built out of the box, with the exception of a few headswaps, and a few alterations of pose - including a prone Bren gunner (the Warlord plastic British sprues dont include a prone figure).

I used thin foil (from a scalpel blade wrapper) for the rifle sling.

I then experimented with mixing Perry and Warlord parts to try to create troops in summer kit in Italy. The difference in scale between the Perry and the Warlord plastics is significant, and is most noticable in the size of the heads and helmets, and the scale of the weapons. These figures are Perry with Warlord heads and/or helmets, and parts of the Warlord rifles.

The PIAT team was another Perry/Warlord mashup. I like the diversity of poses found in the Perry set, which I think lend themselves to some more "natural" and less dramatic poses than the Warlord figures. (Its such a pity the Perry figures are so small. Alongside my Artisan 8th army they look like a different scale.)

Lastly, I added an artillery liaison team. I think these are all Warlord figures -  I had to swap out one of the Warlord FOO team figures as it was depicted with a Sten gun - a weapon that (to my knowledge) was not used by the South Africans.

The vehicles had been on my painting desk for the longest time, and I simply had to complete them to free up space and energy for new projects. Both depict vehicles used by the Natal Mounted Rifles - the dedicated reconnaissance regiment of 6th Armoured Division.

I had completed another Stuart Recce previously, so here is a NMR family portrait:

A(nother) bridge too far...

16th SS Panzergrenadiers force the Royal Marine Commandos from their positions on the east bank of the railway bridge. Pic copyright of and courtesy of David Davidson.

The first meeting of 2014 for the Peninsula Wargames Group saw thirteen players gather for a large Bolt Action game - a hypothetical scenario based (very loosely) on events in the Italian campaign.

German forces comprised just over 5000pts of 16th SS Panzergrenadiers, 362 Infantry Division (known throughout the game as "the Armenians") and a mixed 4th Fallschirmjager/RSI Nembo company. Facing them were 3 platoons of American Infantry, including a platoon of Nisei, 2 platoons of the 24th Guards Brigade, and a RM Commando platoon - also totalling over 5000 points. Each force generated just on 60 order dice. We played it on a 6 x 12 ft table, with 6 players per side and 1 umpire.

Skirmish Campaigns

Over the last few months the time I have to dedicate to hobby projects has been severely limited - our family moved into a house that needed (and still needs) a fair amount of renovation. So almost all my recent building and painting has been of 1:1 scale terrain.*

But I have managed to keep playing weekly games at the local club. Between September and November I was in involved in their Fall of Berlin campaign. Using the Bolt Action ruleset, and based directly on the Iron Ivan "Battle for the Reichstag" publication, the campaign comprised 16 games played out in the rubble of Berlin.

Written for the "Disposable Heroes" ruleset, each scenario comprises a brief introduction; a synopsis of objectives, game length, and special rules in play;a map and deployment rules, TOEs; and a "Campaign Events Chart" that slightly modifies deployment or TOEs based on ongoing campaign results. For interest, each scenario lists the historical outcome.

Bolt Action @ 6000pts+ per side

Pic courtesy of Richard Trevor

Recently I suggested (here) that it was only a matter of time before the lads at the Peninsular Wargames Group were going to test Bolt Action at 6000pts a side. It happened sooner than I thought - in the form of a demo game at the annual University of Cape Town Dragonfire gaming convention last month.

I wasnt involved in the game, but I can report that 6000pts gets you over 70 dice if you have a Soviet Army horde, and over 50 if you are German Heer regulars and SS veterans, and each turn took about an hour to 90 minutes to play. I have put a selection of pix in a gallery and more (as well as a brief synopsis of the action) can be viewed at the Cape Town Wargamer blog.

German reinforcements

Here be the some additions to my 28mm Axis forces: a Flakvierling 38 and PaK 40 from Warlord Games, and a Horch 1a from Company B.

Flakvierling 38

As far as I can recall (it was a project that was spread out over months due to numerous interruptions) this kit was built "out of the box" without any extra detailing aside from the ammo crate on the base. I decided against taking the time to add details as I found the original kit, although quite fussy and intricate, lacked some definition and detail in places. The magazines, and magazine racks, for example, were devoid of detail. And each pair of autocannons suffered from casting defects or poor mastering.

I think the result is passable. However, when I compare this kit to plastic models of the same weapon in 1/72th and 1/48th scale, I cant help but think that Warlord could have produced a better kit without putting too much more time into the master.

I debated magnetising the bases, the weapon and the trailer, so that it could be depicted towed and emplaced, but decided against that once I realised that there was no easy way of magnetising the crew without compromising the strength, or the detail of the seating. In most rule sets and games this weapon will be deployed emplaced, if not from the start of the game, very soon into the game, so the usefulness of have it depicted towed would be limited. However, I was sure to model the trailer to ensure that opponents cant claim that the weapon is a fixed and cant be manhandled...

Horch 1a

Loved this kit from Company B. Very clean castings and crisp detail. I havent had a chance to compare it with the Warlord offering of the same vehicle, but on the face of it the difference is that this kit has plenty of little details that are cast separately, while the Warlord kit has fewer parts and lots of the detail cast on. Whether that is a good thing or not is up to the individual  - more to knock off the Company B kit during a game (in fact, the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice the later pix of the Horch show one of its side mirrors knocked off) but a more detailed representation.

I added a bit of stowage in the cargo area, but apart from that, the kit is built as sold. A really neat staff officer which was included in the kit was left off, given that this vehicle would be in most cases be use a little colser to the front than the staff would car to get - most likely as as a tow for various light AT and AA guns.

As with most of my German vehicles, I have deliberately left off any unit insignia, as the vehicle will be used to represent various units in various campaigns.

 

Pak 40 (7.5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40)

This was bult a while back, but didnt make it onto the blog pages for some reason. Its the Warlord kit, and if I recall correctly, was built with a few tiny detail changes - head swaps and the like. It a neat kit - seems to me to make a good of job of representing the substantial size of the Pak 40.

Panzer IV

Here are some images of my latest addition to my German armour - a PzKpfw IV Aufs. H with schurzen. I tried to depict a vehicle of the Herman Goering division in Italy 1944, which explains the commander's choice of headgear. The fallschirmjager helmet might not be particularly plausible for a tank commander, but I like to think it imparts a touch of the unit's flavour to an otherwise "vanilla" vehicle.

I have to admit it was a rather unsatisfying project. Maybe because the Panzer IV isnt a vehicle that appeals much to me - but which I chose to build only because its practically an obligatory addition if you hope to represent a German army in WW2. And maybe because I wasnt very happy with the job Warlord did with the kit - the overly-thick schurzen and their clunky rail assemblies, the crude detail and lack of depth in the running gear, and the poor fit of the parts. I keep looking at it and seeing things I would do differently if I could start again.

That said, I am happy to have built it. It has already proved its worth in my collection, being used a number of times in scenario-driven games which call for a German medium tank.

Its very much an out-of-the-box build - the only modifications were the replacement of most of the schurzen brackets, and the only addition was the aerial. Decals by Company B. The commander has a Westwind SHS fallschirmjager on a Warlord tank crewman torso.

Walking tour: Battle of Blaauwberg

Battlefield Walk & Talk - Battle of Blaauwberg 1806

The Friends of Blaauwberg Conservation Area invites you to join us on a guided Battlefield Walk and Talk on Saturday 27th July.

After months of painstaking research and analysis Ian and Roy will be conducting for the first time in 207 years a walking tour of the Battle of Blaauwberg 1806.

The 4km hike is an easy walk on a sand track. On the hike you will see:

• Where the English manhandled their artillery into position under the blistering sun
• Walk in the footsteps of the Scottish Brigade as they charged the Batavian line. Visit the place of Pelegrini’s stand where 19 gunners stood firm long enough to allow the retreating Batavian forces time to escape.
• Walk the Batavian line where the crash of thunder was mixed with the flash of bayonets, where the casualties fell.
• Walk across to the high dune where the Batavian artillery tried to stem the red tide.

The hike will start at 9h00 on Saturday 27 July 2013 and finish by 13h00.
Meet at Zonnekus Resort, Morningstar at 8h30

Bring a sun hat, sun cream, a bite to eat and something to drink, wear comfortable clothes and shoes. The event is free for Friends of BCA members. Cost is R20 for non-members. New Family Members may join on the day R60 per family per annum. For more information call FoBCA Chairman Roy on 071 671 9552 or Ian on 076 315 7713 and to book e-mail Ian at built2scale@iburst.co.za

Reblogged from http://gosouthonline.co.za/59046/whats-up-down-south/