German transport

I have recently gotten around to completing a couple of Heer transports that have been lurking on my workbench for the longest time, and have managed to photograph a third that was completed a while ago.

First up is my interpretation of the plastic Sd.Kfz 251/1 C from Warlord Games. Despite their plastic range being released for years now, this is the first Bolt Action plastic vehicle that I  have built. Measured against recent scale model kits from manufacturers like Tamiya and Dragon, it seemed flat and uninspiring to me. But it went together well enough, and parts of the kit are streets ahead of similar resin offerings from Warlord. I liked the tyre and track detail. I really don't like the gunner figure, and I think in time I am going to replace him with a metal vehicle gunner from the Company B Kubelwagen crew.

I added a few baggage items from various sources - some from Die Waffenkamer and Company B. The large tarpaulin is from the plastic Bolt Action Universal Carrier (which is a much better kit, I think, despite not matching their resin Universal Carriers in scale) with a bit of greenstuff work to adapt it to the Hanomag.

Then there is an early Steyr RSO by Die Waffenkamer. It is such a simple, blocky vehicle, and the kit does a good job of trying to create interest in that simplicity. The track castings especially are very fussy and demand careful cleanup, and the cab part needs a fair bit of work to fit accurately over the chassis, but the resulting depth is worth the effort, I think. I ran out of enthusiasm while trying to paint up a full load for the Steyr, and given that it will be used primarily as a tow for anti-tank or anti-aircraft guns, I took the short-cut and painted up the canvas tilt.

Lastly, there is another kit from Die Waffenkamer - their Sd.Kfz 11. Not sure why this project was never photographed and published, but it has been a while. This vehicle has seen plenty of table time already, and has acquitted itself well - towing either a Pak 40 or a Flakvierling. What a great kit. I really enjoyed building this little beauty. The finicky little details that Jeff Trnka manages to cast surpass any other resin kits I have seen. This does come at a cost - you usually have to wait a while for your orders to arrive from Jeff, and I suspect it is because his casting standards are so exacting. And cleaning such delicate castings does require extra time and care. Crew are from Die Waffenkamer and Warlord Games, and baggage from a range of suppliers.

And just for fun, a recent "family portrait" of my Heer transport pool as it currently stands.

Small Wars on Facebook

With not much of a plan beyond a vague hope to extend the reach of my blog posts, I have created a Facebook page to mirror the content on the blog. Sure, part of the motivation was a somewhat gratuitous desire for growth of the traffic to the blog, but think it will free me up to use the Facebook page for more ephemeral posts - links to new products, events and such like, and project snapshots and WIP images. It will also allow for posts concerning a broader sweep of gaming - board gaming, and fantasy and sci-fi tabletop gaming, for example - which don't fit the core content of Small Wars in Southern Africa ...

Resources and References

From the Digital Collection of the United States National WWII Museum

A fair few months ago now, I was sent a collection of resource files compiled by some Johannesburg-based Flames of War gamers: J.C von Winterbach, Scott Sutherland, Mike Bersiks, Rex Barret, Andre Wessels and Wayne Turner, together with contributions by the local military historian, Lt. Col. William Marshall. They very kindly gave me permission to publish their resources here. Apologies for the delay in getting these up onto the blog, gents, and thanks for the generous contribution to this blog. Much appreciated. 

These are the resources relevant to the South African 6th Armoured Division:

South African 6th Armoured Division Paint Guide

J.C von Winterbach, Lt. Col. William Marshall & Wayne Turner

South African 6th Armoured Division History

J.C von Winterbach, Scott Sutherland, Mike Bersiks, Rex Barret

South African 6th Armoured Division OOB

J.C von Winterbach, Lt. Col. William Marshall, Scott Sutherland & Rex Barret

They have also begun work on similar documents covering the history of the 1st & 2nd South African Infantry Division (1940-43), so we can look forward to more of these invaluable resources.

Additionally, they have prepared this document concerning the war against Japan from a South African perspective:

South Africa at War with Japan 1941-1945

J.C von Winterbach & Andre Wessels

Resuscitation

You would be forgiven for thinking I am no longer gaming. But I am: my gaming – mostly with the Peninsular Wargaming Group – has continued at regular club meetings, and the lack of posts, if anything, reflects my focus on getting as many games played as possible, rather than writing about games, or indeed, painting miniatures for games.

So what games have I been playing?

Wings of Glory

Sometime in 2014 I purchased an assorted box of old Wings of War miniatures, and got hold of the latest incarnation of the rules - Wings of Glory by Ares Games. It quickly became a club favourite for quick, multiplayer games with minimal setup time. In their most basic form the rulesets (plural, as the WW2 version is distinct from the WW1 set) are very quick to learn, and are very intuitive, but they also have layers of advanced or optional rules that increase the complexity of the game and give it a great deal of credibility when used for gaming more historical scenarios.

Saga

I have lost count of how many games of Saga I have played. While the rules have a fairly steep learning curve - both in terms of the core mechanics, and in terms of the particular strengths and weaknesses of each faction - they make up for that in providing an immersive, engaging game that demands attention to detail and careful tactics. Each game seems to develop in its own way, and you seldom get the sense that you have all the nuances mastered. A game with real depth of options. It combines a boardgame-style dice economy element, with a historical miniatures game. The latest iteration of the game - Saga Crescent and Cross - covers the period of the Crusades and the Reconquista, and has successfully managed to adapt the game from its original Dark Ages setting, and in my opinion has captured the essence and tactics of the Crusades era.

Bolt Action

While Rapid Fire still holds it place in the club as the "go to" game for recreating large, historically accurate WW2 battles, Bolt Action has entrenched itself as the "large skirmish" ruleset of choice. It is just so immersive - the dice activation system means all players are involved at all times, and it provides enough "friction" or "fog of war" that players are constantly needing to re-evaluate their next option.

We have successfully used it to fight historical skirmish campaigns, with fairly representative historical outcomes, as well as plenty of light-hearted "beer and pretzel" games. We have cracked the code of using it to fight larger games - splitting bigger tables into sectors which are effectively independent games, but allowing forces to fire from one sector to the next, and allowing forces to be "handed off" from one table to the other. The more recent additions to the BA rules range - Tank War and Battlefield Europe (and Ostront still on its way) seem to have re-invigorated interest in the game at the club, with a huge range of very diverse forces being tabled. 

Short term plans

I plan to index and organise the reference pages of this blog - not the least because I have been sent some great resources to add to the blog, and the pages have outgrown their original ad hoc nature. I also have some interesting AAR's to publish, as well as pix of some recent hobby projects...

Wrecked Sd.Kfz 251

This is my first attempt at modelling a knocked out vehicle, so please be gentle with the criticism! And no, it isnt kit-bashed from an intact vehicle, its the resin "Wrecked Hanomag" kit from Warlord built straight out of the box.

I used a combination of airbrushed rust base colours around the damaged areas, and then a series of pigments over that to deepen the effect. It wasnt a project where I ever felt fully in control of the final result... I just had to keep experimenting until I got to a point where I felt it "good enough".

German Garrison Troops (and some local ladies)

Here is what has been on my painting desk for the last little while...

I figured I needed some targets, err, opponents for my partisan forces, and these fellows looked the part. I can imagine them seeing time on the table in a range of scenarios involving partisans - not only as part of a garrison force, but also as deployment zone and objective markers.

Caption Competition: Answers on a postcard please (or in the comments section below...)

While working on the Kubelwagen, I decided Oberst Landbrot and his 'acquaintance', Consolata Gramsci, needed a third figure to really tell a story...

Enter Violetta Gramsci, leader of the local communist partisans, and sister to Herr Landbrot's friend. Its an open secret in the village that the Gramsci sisters took very different paths following the death of their parents. Many locals wonder how Violetta can tolerate her sister's dalliance with the enemy, and marvel at how Consolata has managed to keep the truth about her sister's activities from the Germans.

However, those who know the two sisters better, will point out that despite many, many partisan attacks on German supply columns in the area, not one has ever struck the Oberst's convoy, and the Hitler's notorious "10 for 1" anti-partisan order has never been actively implemented in these parts. "There is no black and white in these matters", they say, "only many shades of grey..."

Then there is Leutnant Sturmflut, another figure destined to be an objective marker...

The sentries are from Foundry, with their officer from the Artizan Late War German range. The Kubelwagen and driver are from Warlord, with the passengers from Company B. The downed Luftwaffe pilot is part of a Foundry pack. Violetta Gramsci is the limited edition  figure sold with Warlord's Bolt Action Armies of France and the Allies title.

Gaming Gallery Update: Battle of Nicaea, 1097

I have updated the Gaming Gallery with a selection of images by Peninsula Wargames Group member Lindsay Hall, of a game played this weekend in Johannesburg. A very impressive table's worth of First Crusade-era figures...