Fighting for Uncle Joe

 Despite the nay sayers and the unbelievers I think I have just finished my last WWII vehicles, at least for most of this year. Although you do not get a lot of transports on a WWII skirmish table I really want to use them, even if just for scatter terrain or behind the lines as HQ, this is why I added the little Sdkfz 250/1 to my Early War forces, that and the fact I cannot resist German halftracks. Although I have quite a few German early tanks or tank hunters I just had to have the iconic StuG III, only Warlord do an early version so I got it, it is resin and although I have seen better fitting tracks it is a nice piece. Last up is a late war Soviet tank destroyer, many moons ago I thought Rubicon were offering a 3 for 2 deal or some such but I cocked up and was disappointed to find one of the kits was an upgrade to make either an SU-85 or an SU-100 so you needed the original model, the kit went on the shelf. In a mad moment I decided to use the upgrade and built the SU-100, only then did I learn that it did not turn up until around December 1944, perhaps I should just have went for the SU-85. No matter, all three are now done. Now I just need to get them all on the table.

 I have just finished Book 6 of the sci-fi Expanse collection, a blip for me in reading material, I enjoyed the conclusion and won't give it away just in case, but have now decided to get back to some 'real' books before tackling 7 and 8. So in keeping with my new interest in the Eastern Front I got three books by David Stahel which basically cover 1941 up until the Soviet winter offensive around Moscow. While surfing this morning I notice Max Hastings has a new book coming out in May dealing with 'Operation Pedestal' the convoy which basically saved Malta for us, as I really enjoy Hastings (only his spy book let me down) I have pre-ordered it. With what I have on standby I now have enough books to last me until 2022.

 I have had some serious issues with maps over the last couple of days, my portable hard drive which I use to move between the PC in the Post Office and the one in my study corrupted and did some crazy things to a couple of my projects, putting a map of the Ottoman Empire where a map of the Battle of Vitoria should have been for instance. I had to draw one project three times as I stupidly saved the new maps to the drive again, yes I know. I have now got a new SSD drive coming and working on the PC drives instead of relying on portables, thank god I have about four back ups of the Atlas.

So, wargaming, Phil again set up a Battlegroup game with his gorgeous forces last night, a scenario from Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy, where some desperate German defenders during the last months of the war attempt to stop a Soviet attack. Phil took command of the Hitlerites and he had an uphill job with only one platoon and a Pak 40 to halt the Russian steamroller, I on the other hand had two platoons, three T-34's and an IS-2. Normally I would just have run these forces straight at the enemy hoping to simply overwhelm him with my Zhukov hat on, but as I was attacking over open ground and I was unsure what reserves the Jerries had I wanted my tanks to take out the Pak 40 before throwing caution to the wind.

 

I had an air attack and a barrage to help me but these turned out to be more or less ineffective. I pushed my first infantry platoon forward at a rush while the tanks held back and shot up the anti-tank gun, I say shot up but in fact they shot up everything round about the gun for several turns doing no damage at all. Thankfully the Pak crew were also not up to scratch and merely pinned one tank throughout the battle. Phil's defenders opened up and went for kills rather than pinning which is a bit unusual in Battlegroup, but it was working as quite a few of my foot sloggers hit the dirt. 

 A Nebelwerfer barrage came roaring down but as Phil had expected me to be half way to Berlin by then it hit fresh air. My infantry were now up and I too went for kills and the butcher's bill climbed for both sides. Some Jerry squads turned up but no tanks or heavy guns, it was time for Ivan to rush forward. Within a few turns the Germans had been whittled down and a terrible orders roll at the wrong time allowed the Soviets to recover and close in on the objective. Phil raised a white flag as the writing was on the wall as my second platoon was now up and adding their firepower to the attackers.

 So another entertaining evening ended. An interesting battle, the Pak was pretty much useless this time but it could quite easily have shot up most of the Russian armour, however with two Soviet platoons closing in it may have fallen to an assault, who knows, even with luck I think the Germans would have to work hard to win this one. A big thanks once again to Phil for organising.