Volksgrenadiers Again And Some Entertainment News.

 Every now and again I get a run of decent TV and I seem to be hitting the mark at the moment. Still engrossed in Korean drama for my staple but recently came back to 'Fargo' (Prime) having caught up with Season 4 and started Season 5. Superb stuff, not a dud amongst them, I like to think of Fargo as TV for grown ups, rightly or wrongly.  'The Gentlemen' has kicked off on Netflix and the first episode was thoroughly enjoyable and is set to be a typical Guy Richie 'Allo Geezer' wheeze full of colourful, larger than life characters. I am still following 'Masters of the Air' (Apple) although it seems to have morphed into more of a POW drama and just by luck it would seem I will get all of it before I am cut off, with only a day or two to spare. Now, 'Shogun', (Disney+), I was determined not to like this from the trailers showing the woman slaying Ronin in droves but I was stuck one evening and gave in, so far so good, the whole Samurai vibe is hard to resist and it has been very well done. So there you go, for once the televisual famine has receded but the movie famine continues, but really with all the above, where would I have the time to watch one for more than the usual ten minutes before searching for the remote.

Rob offered a game and we decided to go for the Ardenne 1944, I again brought my Volksgrenadiers, four squads, sniper, MMG, mortar, Sdkfz 222 and a Flakpanzer (38t), oh, and a panzerschrek, the full Monty for 1,000 points while Rob took three squads of American Paratroopers with two mortars, MMG, bazooka and an M5 Stuart, a total of 700 points. The Yanks were Green and in a quiet area and dug in when the Battle of the Bulge took place, they had to defend a small hamlet and stop the Germans taking it to facilitate their planned armoured breakthrough.

I sneaked through the wooded terrain keeping away from the edge and also brought on my armour taking care to keep it away from the M5 which although not a great tank it was better than mine with their 20mm cannon and paper armour. I had planned to hit both flanks but in the end attacked the centre and right of the American position, my armour managed despite the entrenchments to weaken a squad defending a hill and the road. While this was happening I lost my mortar spotter so the thing had to be run to the front so it could actually see something to shoot at (it's Bolt Action), my sniper who had been rushed to the front without doing the sniper course hit nothing all game and I was too frightened to move my MMG into the open.

Dug in Yanks.

Brave defenders of the Reich.

Lt. Gruber's little tank.

Nevertheless it was time to close the deal, my squads marched into assault rifle range of the American positions and casualties began to climb among the Ami's. Some of my squads took hits and although one stayed Green the other two turned into regulars, as I said, it's Bolt Action. The sheer volume of fire now hitting the Yanks brought down several squads and teams, enough for Rob to raise a white flag as the grenadiers got ever closer.

Rob's little tank.

Flakpanzer in action at last, lovely 3D print.

The end as the Volksgrenadiers move in.

The entrenchments were a real pain and I was having to throw a six then a second one to score a hit, thankfully my dodgy German themed dice for once did not let me down, and I slowly whittled down the opposition until I got closer. Rob may have been able to counter with his third squad and the M5 but his men were vulnerable to fire once they had left their defences, the M5 actually hit the Flakpanzer but only stunned the crew, a very lucky escape for me. So another agreeable game with Mr M.

Much like the richness of TV programmes above map work is now heading my way at a steady pace, I am finishing off a mini atlas type project and have some maps for French Armies of the Thirty Years War up next along with additions to Bloody Streets: The Battle for Berlin, concentrating this time on armour, artillery and assault groups and the flak towers, with a new series on the Eastern Front later in the year from the same author.

I almost forgot, a journalist is up in arms (of course he is) and asking why there are no black people in the TV series Shogun, set in Japan in 1600AD, one wag answered with "Because they were in Africa", it tickled me. 

I have given in and ordered up some new figures, time to get the paints out again, nothing earth shattering, just some looters and villagers suitable for the Italian Wars to use as interesting vignettes and scatter.