Intrusions

 This week was earmarked for another shot at the Operation Pegasus scenario with mate Rob taking the part of the British Operations Officer however it was not to be. The first intrusion into what I like to think of is my normal life, a bit of work, a lot of mapping, painting soldiers and playing wargames and being waited on hand and foot, sorry, got carried away there, was the bedroom. The new walls and ceiling were done along with the new electrics so it was now up to me to paint the place, I took my anxiety pills to get over several visits to DIY and paint stores. I was asked which colours I liked, this was promptly ignored and her indoors chose which she wanted, also how is it we can stop a rocket being burned to a crisp on re-entry but no one can come up with a paint which only requires one coat?

The second intrusion came from our (in my experience) less than worthy NHS, the diabetic nurse who until now has completely ignored me decided to give me a call and frighten the life out of me, I do wonder why she is bothering now. Anyway I have to try and change my diet for the next three months, not an easy thing for me to do as eating what I like is now about the only pleasure left to me and being Scottish I am partial to all the food which is bad for me.

Covid of course still intrudes and makes life miserable, or the handling of it does. Thankfully we manage a club Zoom meeting now and again and this is a real treat and as much as I enjoy it I would prefer, like everyone else, to meet in a proper club atmosphere. The dour Scot in me cannot see much of a change coming in 2021 either, I don't want the 'new' normal, I just want normal.

Now let's be a bit more upbeat, I have managed to get the odd hour of painting in despite my home life being in turmoil. I decided I needed more defenders for Berlin and went for Offensive Miniatures' Hitler Youth Squad, I do not think they are as nice as some of their other troops the poses being uninspiring, some are nice but I don't get the impression of fanatical youths. The figures are also fairly bare of military paraphernalia considering by this time they were front line troops. The uniform is typical of the HJ and is intended to be painted black, I decided to do half of my boys in Wehrmacht grey, photographs of them receiving medals in the garden of the Reichs Chancellery show boys in grey as well as black hence my guys are a mixture. I also decided to add a grizzled veteran as the commander and fished one out of my small lead molehill, the squad also comes with an HMG but I didn't want this so I will be sending it to bolster Rob's Last Levy.

 My birthday is coming up so along with Christmas I asked my boys to simply give me money, not something I would do normally but this year I wanted to possibly take advantage of Black day/week/month and add Rubi Points to my Rubicon account so it was easiest to get cash. For the former I took advantage of Warlord's buy 2 get 3 tank offer and ended up with a Char B1 (to be built as a German flammpanzer), a KV1/2 for early and mid Russian forces and a little favourite of mine, a Panzer II Luchs, I got in quick with the Luchs as they are now out of stock. I am awaiting several kits to be released from Rubicon, a British truck and Valentine tank, the latter will be heading to Russia for Lend Lease but for now I settled on two transports a Krupp Protze for the Jerries and a US Studebaker for the Russians, I also got double Rubi Points so a nice discount for the future. On a different note I am tempted to get a Panzer IV and a 3.7 cm AA gun and scratch build a Mobelwagen after seeing one built on Facebook, I could do that, right?

  I chose the Luchs for my Birthday and went ahead and built and painted it early. A resin and metal kit from Warlord, and it is very nice, there were no decals with it but I have a shed load from all my Rubicon kits so no big problem. I painted it the usual Dark Sand with green squiggles and added a cross and number from the Rubicon transfers. I also decided to put wire aerials on the little tank, one because I could drill decent holes and two because these tanks were for recce and thus had good comms. I can now field a very decent and powerful German Panzer Aufklarungsabteilung (armoured reconnaissance battalion) and need to look at getting it on the table.

On the tray is my second present which is a British Airborne 6pdr anti-tank gun from Artizan. I was hoping to get the crew done today but too many intrusions.

 Before I go I recommend 'Mosul' on Netflix, a war movie, which I found different, interesting and probably realistic despite me never having been in Mosul.

Operation Pegasus

Berlin has fallen to the Soviets, obviously just a lull actually as I will be back there again at some point having spent the GDP of a small country on the terrain. I finished James Holland's book on Sicily a few months ago and was taken aback by the disasters which befell the airborne part of the invasion, having also completed my own airborne platoon I wanted to try an air landing of my own.

The target of my scenario was to be a factory producing something important for the Axis war machine, I could not come up with exactly what but as it was top secret all the Paras needed to know was what to blow up. I also wanted it to be a challenge just like a real airborne attack, so first up I gave the British player an order of battle with five squads to plan his attack, not knowing of course that only four would turn up, he also got a map and some recon photos. The landing zones for each squad were marked on a map and a roll determined where exactly they turned up and to add injury to insult a further roll determined how many casualties or missing men each squad had suffered in the drop. The factory itself was guarded by a pillbox at the main gate manned 24 hours, a squad of soldiers were also on duty but resided in the nearby Cafe Normandie during the night, a larger garrison was in a town off to the northwest, two roads led to this. The first turns were to be nightime, when the sun came up was dependant on a die roll as per the Bolt Action rules.

Just before dawn the Paras arrived, without 3 Section which had been given explosives and whose job was to attack the pillbox and breach the main gate. Two of the four squads landed on target,the others did not. Luckiest among the Paras were 2 Section who landed right next to the Cafe Normandie, although the Jerries were no doubt sleeping off several of those expensive European beers there was a slight chance someone would have been moving around, but no, Alles in Ordnung as the Germans say. With no 3 Section and radio communications established and dawn approaching 5 section decided to rush the pillbox in the half light, 2 Section quietly made the factory fence and began to cut a way through. A PIAT round flew past the surprised pillbox crew while the gate sentries went down in a hail of lead, return fire had no effect on the Paras, the noise of course alerted the Germans in the Cafe Normandie but it took time for them to dress and form up, they did however manage to get a message off to the local garrison. A second shot by the PIAT hit the pillbox and although no real damage was caused the green machine gun crew inside decided to run and abandoned their post, 5 section went back to their original position. The Germans from the Cafe headed for the sound of the shooting, not realising two Para squads were lining the road ahead.

2 Section had now made it into the first building and 1 Section were now through the southern edge of the wire and making for another of the objectives. The German reinforcements had decided to enter on the road nearest the paratroops set up in ambush waiting for them, the first truck came to a halt and burst into flames while the infantry quickly dismounted and jumped over a nearby hedge. The following vehicles made a quick turn into the Cafe road and debussed while the first squad took casualties from 5 Section in the walled field, the original German squad from the Cafe now took 5 Section under fire and the Paras took their first shooting casualty. Meanwhile in building 3 2 Section entered and got their explosives ready, 1 Section arrived at their objective and prepared to enter. 4 Section now advanced on the factory leaving 5 to hold up any reinforcements, the Germans were now beginning to build up forces near the factory road junction and in order to stall this danger 4 Section decided to make an assault on the nearest enemy, this was a great success and the survivors of the vicious attack fled, the Paras had gained some time. As more enemy trucks could now be seen arriving the British began to pull back in preparation for a full retiral, things were going well in the factory and explosives had been rigged on two of the objectives and the one German squad inside the factory grounds was easily being held back. Outside however more Germans were turning up and at last numbers and firepower began to tell on 4 Section holding the road junction, although 5 had decided to retire with the arrival of an enemy armoured car the brave PIAT team stayed behind to try and take it out, one shot stunned the crew but the second missed completely.

With 4 section now out of the fight and the Germans beginning to advance 2 Section decided to blow their objective to give them some cover, the trigger was fired and ..... nothing, something was wrong and the building still stood, the British CO now ordered an evacuation, 2 Section gave covering fire and eventually fled through the southern breach, now that his men were clear the British commander triggered the bombs in building 1, again nothing happened and there was no time to return and check. The Paras retreated as fast as they could.

What a game, it just goes to prove nothing is certain in wargaming, as the first German reinforcements were shot up and there seemed to be no opposition to the Paras I thought despite the rough landings I had got it wrong and the game leaned heavily in favour of the British. I continued to think this when 4 Section wiped out some Germans in close combat and seemed to stabilise the situation in the centre, but then as more Germans turned up they began to take a toll on the paratroop squads, the armoured car helping in this. A few times both sides failed morale but this hurt the Jerries more than the Paras, but of course the real bad luck was me throwing a one for both explosive charges, who would have bet on that. So what looked like an easy victory for the British had turned into a disaster of major proportions, the British had lost about 50% of their men and there is still a PIAT team somewhere in the countryside eluding the Jerries, the game took eleven turns to play and kept me occupied for a few days. I will probably try it again to see what happens, if anyone has any ideas on how to improve it feel free to drop in a comment.

Duncan popped in this morning and he showed me an armoured car he is trying to buy, a German Sdkfz 222, he showed me photographs and it really looked nice. I asked how film company's handled such well loved and restored vehicles when they are shot up or blown up, not very well was the answer, they don't really care. He is really not pleased with Brad Pitt who in a scene shot up some German troops in a halftrack, Duncan's halftrack, and insisted on tons of gore, they hired people with missing limbs and then set off a 'blood bomb' in the back of the halftrack before Brad was satisfied leaving Duncan with a large clean up job. He has several projects lined up for next year, one in Morocco which deals with the LRDG and for which he would like the 222 along with two Kubelwagens and two trucks, although he is loathe to rent them the Opel Blitz.

I have taken the opportunity with my birthday and Christmas coming up to avail myself of some kits which I would have left on my wishlist for much longer. A KV1 with a view to moving my Eastern Front time period to take in 1943, a Panzer II Luchs simply because it is there and the Char B1 flamethrower as these were at Arnhem and I believe Normandy and the Eastern Front but I have no real info on the latter two. I also have a small rocket launcher tank ordered which I had no idea existed until I got my "Panzers in Berlin" book, a crazy piece of machinery but a must for Berlin battles. And finally I have got a full Hitler Youth squad coming from Offensive Miniatures, these are shown in the black uniform on the site but I notice in those last pictures of Hitler and the young boys in the Reich Chancellory garden some of the lads are wearing field grey but with HJ shoulder tabs so I may go for a mix.

What after that lot, I have no idea, I still have SYW troops to paint but the latest Covid shenanigans have left me a tad disgruntled to say the least. If things go true to form I am just waiting for the Vaccine roll out to join the myriad other expensive government cock ups of 2020.

Does anyone know how to put a comment on photographs with this Blogger?

The Net Closes

This game was a work in progress on a couple of levels, one was learning more about the rules and urban fighting and the other was adding more buildings to the empty spaces as I finished my new arrivals. The game was based on a scenario in the "Road to Berlin" book and was entitled Tank Hunting using the 'enhanced tank hunter' rules which I have yet to set eyes on despite being told a page number. I decided on a large game and friend Matt chose 1500 points of Germans while I had just slightly over that of Russians.

The Germans had a typical force which would have been fighting in Berlin, Army, Kriegsmarine, Volksturm and Hitler Youth with a Tiger, Pak 40, some halftracks and other supports. The Russians hat two T34's an SU122 and mostly veteran infantry squads including Guards, Engineers and Scouts, these were backed by several support units including an air observer. The aim of the scenario was for the Russians to break through the German defences and exit troops from that end of the table, the Germans had to knock out Soviet tanks.

Matt deployed along Behren Strasse, Hitler Youth in the Angleterre Hotel, Volksturm in the Police Station along with the MMG, next door in the Krone Cafe was the Pak 40 covering Bauhofstrasse. St. Hedwig's was poorly defended by a panzerschreck team and a Forward Observer for the mortar, nearby a sniper took up a position in the Koenig Cinema. A tram turned into a roadblock cut off this end of the street. German reserves included the Tiger an army squad and the sailors along with a 251/10 with a light anti-tank gun. The Russian plan was to have the SU122, Guards and Engineers advance through the park for an attack on the Angleterre, an LMG squad would make a move on the Police Station and watch the flank of the main attack. On the right flank a T34/76 along with the Scouts would move on the Cinema while another squad would move toward St. Hedwig's. A second T34/85 would remain in reserve.

The Soviet pre-bombardment was a minor inconvience to the Germans but they did lose their Forward Observer so the mortar would have to move to shoot, the sniper also lost his buddy but he stayed in position. As the Russians advanced a Stuka-zu-fuss opened up (this was supposed to be a Howling Cow but I don't have one, I also cocked up the rule pertaining to this weapon) and hit the main advance making for the Angleterre, the Engineers bore the brunt of this terror weapon and the pins meant they were slowed down for several moves. Once the Russians got close enough to identify the German positions bullets and shells flew among the buildings and rubble. The Hitler Youth squad began to take casualties as the SU122 found them and began shelling the hotel while the Russian infantry closed up, minus the Engineers of course. On the right I had forgotten that the tram blocked the Breite Strasse and although it could not advance past that section the T34/76 could fire into the Koenig Cinema and support the Scouts moving against the German sniper who still held his post. To help him the Kreigsmarine squad entered the battle to shore up the German left flank, the Russians also brought on the T34/85 on Bauhofstrasse and aimed at the rocket launcher.

With the pressure mounting on the Hitler Youth the German commander called for armoured back up, however something was wrong with the radio and the Tiger failed to turn up, the SU122 and the Guards now forced the Hitler Youth to leave the battlefield, having suffered horrendous casualties the survivors fled. The assault gun now turned it's attention to the Volksturm on the upper levels of the Police Station as did the LMG squad. A hail of death flew across Behren Strasse and both sides suffered, the LMG squad and then the Volksturm were destroyed. By now the remaining German reserve was deployed to hold the Angleterre Hotel corner but soon hunkered down and traded shots with the Guards who had arrived at Behren Strasse. Now the Tiger turned up and began duelling with the SU122 who had now added the MMG team to its list of victims, it took two shots but the Russian gun went up in flames. Just before this the brave but foolish panzerschreck team had tried to ambush the T34/76 and failed miserably paying a heavy price.

A look around the battlefield showed the Kriegsmarine moving to St. Hedwig's having chased the Scouts from the field, while the remaining few Germans in the Police Station/Krone Cafe pulled back as the T34/85 and a veteran infantry squad began an assault. On the left the Engineers had at last moved forward and along with the Guards were about to take the Angleterre stranding the Tiger in Rochstrasse, leaving it no choice but to retire. The fight in this particular area of Berlin was over.

Again a very good battle, I still managed to get some of the rules wrong but I also picked up on quite a few others which I had forgotten, once again the game played well, I have not covered all the city fighting mechanics but most of them. No wonder the Russians used so many tanks, assault guns and artillery pieces to bludgeon their way through Berlin, another reason was their lack of infantry, the troops which had been fighting since the Seelow Heights were mere shadows of the formations which fought on the Oder, an epic struggle indeed.

In between building 'Berlin' I managed to finish two SYW limbers for the artillery, one British and one French, next up are some more Prussians for Rob and the big diorama with a cast of thousands. I do still have those two SYW battalions in the ready use locker but they are going to have to wait as I expect some kits to finish (and I use the term loosely) my WWII stuff for birthday/Christmas and yes I am having one.

I have been enjoying Queens Gambit on Netflix and will finish it tonight, I also caught The Good Lord Bird which is a tongue in cheek series about John Brown, the one moldering in his grave and captured by none other than Robert E. Lee. I watched two actual movies with five star ratings which just went to show how political these awards now are as both were average at best, Motherless Brooklyn and Just Mercy (I think). With the next season of The Expanse on the way I decided to try one of the books, I got a second hand copy as I was unsure whether it would be any good and there are half a dozen or so out now with the latest coming next year. I cannot put it down it is excellent, I am now the proud owner of books 2 and 3 as well. It has been a while since I started watching the TV series and the books are very different from what my memory banks show, but I welcome the return of Detective Miller.

Next up for wargaming although I am unsure when I will actually manage it, is a commando style raid by paratroopers which I have buzzing in the back of my mind.

Fight for Martin Luther Kirche

This latest Lockdown has given me a kick in the teeth re enthusiasm, at least in the last one I could sit outside in the sunshine and soak up some rays, it is bleedin' miserable here at the moment and of course no real respite now until May next year. My winter project has also gone for a burton as I finished it in a week, I might get two weeks out of it as I have another set of buildings coming but it's a stretch. I have also decided to call a halt to buying more stuff for now, the suits over at the LMF are not happy with the outgoings this year, and with the new buildings and the boxes to house them all have finally pulled the purse strings.

On the bright side I started my 'training' game of urban combat in Berlin to see how Bolt Action dealt with such heavy terrain. I cannot fill all the spaces so the empty ones I decided were rubble or park, I also decided that anyone moving on the bottom floor of a building would also be in rubble, if on one of the floors this was normal movement but counted as heavy cover if the shots were going across the walls (windows) as opposed to from the open spaces inside.

The Germans had three squads, Kriegsmarine and Volksturm, both inexperienced and veteran Waffen SS (Danmark), also as back up they had a Hitler Jugend tank killer team. I decided to give them two tanks, a King Tiger and an Elephant, other supports included a mortar team, medic and sniper. The Russians had four squads, one of combat engineers backed up by an IS-2, T34/85 and an ISU-152, other supports were a mortar team, flamethrower and sniper. Both sides would have access to one tank for the initial deployment, I then put a blue and red die in the bag, when these where picked out they were trhown again and on a 5 or 6 another tank turned up, at the start the Germans got the Elephant and the Russians the IS-2. For the HJ team I decided I would use the Sewer rules so that they could pop up anywhere to take a shot at the Soviet armour, I might change this and use the dice system next time. Panzerfaust teams should be a real pain for the Soviet armour in Berlin.

I decided the Martin Luther church would be the Soviet objective so with this in mind it was occupied by the Kriegsmarine infantry, a building close by was defended by the Volksturm, the Danmark squad and the HJ were to be held in reserve. I used hidden movement so it was just about impossible for the Russians to register a hit on the Germans at the beginning so they advanced rapidly on their left but more slowly due to the rubble on their right. The Germans quickly managed to get the King Tiger to turn up and it started a duel with the IS-2, neither tank managing a penetrating hit until, bang, up went the big cat. This had the effect of stiffening Russian resolve and all their infantry now made a beeline for the objective. As the engineers moved to get an advantageous position to rush the Volksturm the old men opened up on the flamethrower team trying to flank them, reducing them to one man, two more Soviet squads moved forward towards the church, the German sniper took the opportunity to open up but only exposed himself to the Russian sniper and he bit the dust, the female sniper then took to powdering her nose as she hit nothing again for the whole game.

The Soviet engineers along with the flamethrower were not ready to attack the Volksturm so the German commander brought on the Danmark squad who began a firefight with the engineers stopping their advance, this didn't help the Volksturm Gruppenfuhrer as he became a casualty due to fire from a nearby Soviet squad, however his men held doggedly on also defying incoming mortar fire. On the Russian right their spare squad continued across the rubble and began to close on the church, sadly the remaining Russian armour seemed to have gotten lost, which was a cruel stroke as the crew of the IS-2 couldn't hit the proverbial church door. The Elephant now moved forward and opened up on some Russians in a building opposite the church, the heavy shells began to take effect and for a moment it looked like the Russians would have to pull back, the Waffen SS had cut the Engineers to ribbons and they only just held on behind their barricade. The Hitler Youth squad who had been traversing the sewers now made an appearance and three panzerfausts streaked towards the JS-2, only to fizzle out or fly over the tank, the lads scarpered back underground.

The flanking Soviet squad now rushed the church, the ensuing melee was horrific but as the dust settled only a few Russians were still standing, now the Russian armour decided to turn up, late but just in time to force the Germans to retire.

A very different game to normal, small arms shooting was almost poitless unless at very close quarters, high explosive was king and close support from tanks or maybe even guns is a must. Russian morale was not helped by the loss of most of their NCO's. I had to make some rule decisions as to what or where troops actually were in a building, for instance although the sailors were spread around one side of the walls I allowed them all to join in the melee as no doubt they would have, not sure how someone else would feel about that but I was happy. I also decided that once the tank hunters appeared if they were still there the following turn they could disappear back into the sewers unscathed. I did use the Rubble rules for movement when the tanks were off road but I might have to look at this as I think I got it wrong, both the King Tiger and the JS-2 suffered slightly from this. Anyway, something different and it accounted for several hours of building and playing.

A couple of new map projects being worked on along with the Atlas.

I have painted up the two SYW limbers from the ready use locker but am leaving the battalions for now as I expect the second lot of ruins to arrive next week and won't be able to rest until they are done. Oh, I also got a new car for my scatter terrain, it is the Refugee car from 1st Corps, a really nice piece and although it is 1/48 scale it looks fine on the table amongst everything else. I am tempted to get their Refugee figures as well and have put them on my wishlist.

I have got around at last to reading some of David Glantz's books, well book actually, on the Eastern Front from the Russian perspective and what an eye opener and change from all the 'Hitler lost us the East' rubbish from German generals. I am enjoying 'When Titans Clashed' so much I have now got 'Kharkov 1942' and 'Zhukov's Greatest Defeat' and am very tempted when things settle down to expand my Eastern Front time line to maybe cover Barbarossa to Kursk, but I have to get more games in to use the stuff I already have.

Berlin or Bust

As you know I took a mad decision to build a set of ruins to fight battles in Berlin along with possibly Budapest, Vienna and Stalingrad. I thought with being imprisoned for most of the rest of the year whether in a 'Circuit Breaker' a Lockdown or simply Tier 47 or whatever they dream up next, this project would take me through the cold dark nights. Not a chance, within a week of getting my buildings I am 85% done.

I first sourced a mat, several manufacturers do nice urban ruins mats but I didn't want one with roads already on or one which expected Space Marines and Tyranids to turn up which many do. I settled on PWorks in Italy, they offered a sandstone or grey mat which would suit me, although I was tempted by the sandstone I wasn't sure where I could get spray paint to match, so went with grey, easily picked up in one of the few real shops left in Carnforth. I cocked up the order and went for PVC, the PWork people were very helpful and changed it to rubber. I was a bit unsure when it turned up but now I am very pleased I got this one.

Next up was choice of buildings, there are quite a few to choose from, some are very basic and others like 4Ground and TTCombat are very detailed if a bit pricey should you want a lot, which if you want to fill a 6x4 table properly you will need. TTCombat tend to do bundles so if you wanted one thing from the bundle hard luck, which is a pity as their stuff does look good. In the end I went for a nice bundle from Terrain4Games from Poland to which I also added a Gothic church, a tad 40Kish perhaps but it works. The kits are basic and you can get them with or without pavements, I got pavements. To enhance the buildings I got balsa wood to decorate the walls and coffee stirrers for wooden floors, I overdone it with them and got 1,000, most are still in the box. I now find I need some more buildings not as many as before but a few to give a better look to the table.

Next up was rubble, I already had a bag of bits and pieces from all the other MDF buildings I have built, windows, doors etc. and mate Rob sent me some roof tiles and again some doors and windows. That was great but I also needed bricks, these are very easy to get and I bought a couple of packs of the excellent Juweela products, red bricks and red bricks with cement on them, also a pack of grey bricks, why red when everything was going to be sprayed grey, because they are perfect reproductions. I also got some grey gravel to mix in with the bricks and lastly I would use some sand. Yes, you guessed it, I got too much of both, a small amount of these bricks go a long way.

Scatter was next, I got lamposts, oil barrels and boxes for barricades, I was going to get some mattress' and chairs from Debris of War and may still do at some stage but the postage for two packs was way over the odds, bordering on robbery to be honest. I also got a tram, these were filled with rubble or/and cement and became very effective barriers, I got this from Sarissa, had a bit of a problem with making the sides fit so I botched them and left the roof off, after adding rubble I think it looks good. Also on the cards was a wrecked Opel Blitz, this was a resin piece and not the best but it paints up fine and will do, besides ruining a perfectly good plastic kit to get a wreck is a step too far. I still want to add shell holes etc. which I intend to make myself, I think I need more wrecked vehicles so will look out for cheap stuff to tear apart.

Once the kits were built I first added bullet holes, then I put in wooden floors and the balsa wood ledges, next up I glued bits and pieces of rubble on the floors, I kept this to the edges so as not to interfere with figures standing at the windows etc. For rubble piles at the edges of the buildings I dipped some kitchen tissues into a mix of PVA and water then spread them out on the pavements, once dry I glued bricks, gravel and sand to them and they turned out really good. I finished off with patches of sand on the walls and floor for dust, along with the odd brick on the pavements. The whole building was then sprayed matt black, this was followed by grey primer, a lighter spray than the black, I actually then tried a light drybrush with the first building but it really wasn't necessary so I left the rest as is.

Having no patience I set everything up on the table yesterday and intend to hopefully try a game out this weekend, what else will I be doing.

So there you are, my winter project finished in a week, I also managed to upgrade my Goth warbands with some extra figures, so what next? I have those scatter bits to do and the new buildings to choose and order, also in the ready use locker are two SYW battalions, one French and one Hanovarian, I will really have to take them a bit slower.

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