15mm WWII German 12cm Mortars, PaK 43/41 AT Guns and Command Stand

A small 15mm WWII German painting commission of four 8.8cm PaK 43/41 AT guns (GE530), four 12cm mortars (GE799) and a command stand. All Battlefront miniatures and painted over 10 days.

While the PaKs and command stand were metal and what most of my Flames of War collection is produced in, the mortar stands are in Battlefront’s bendy ABS plastic (introduced after I stopped playing the game seriously), and it's the first time I’ve worked with it. In short it's terrible, mainly as it was hard to clean up and some of the detail was rough.

All and all I’m happy how this turned out - it’s been a while since I painted 15mm WWII and I tried splinter camo on the mortar teams (one smock and every helmet cover on each base), which I think came out pretty well (using Battlefront's painting guide in the back on one of the Late War army books). This was because that particular mortar pack is for SS, but I wanted them to be Heer. An easy soltution as nearly everyone in the German army in World War Two used splinter camo:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splittertarnmuster

The unicorn, dolphin and rainbow flag is (obviously) not historical and was requested by the client (Andrew O). Apparently Flames of War version 4 doesn’t have command teams (as version 3 did), but you still need a marker or similar to indicate which gun team, etc is the platoon commander. Makes no sense to me either.

Australia Day Flames of War Game - Battle of Hannut

With group games becoming a thing again, I put my hand up to take part in Django and Nigel's 'A Thousand Tank' participation game recreating the Battle of Hannut. I played the first day of the game in October 2014 and it was a lot of fun seeing that many 15mm tanks on a table.

The game would use Battlefront's Flames of War (version 3) Total War rules, breaking the wargaming day up into two sessions, representing the first and second days of the battle. Each day will comprise six turns and would be played on a 6x8 foot table with the same terrain layout.

While you may never have heard of it, it was one of the largest tank battles in history, involving about a thousand tanks (and hence the title of the game).

Briefing
13 May 1940 - Following successful attacks on Denmark and Norway, Germany launched its forces against the combined armies of the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom.

Eastern France is secure behind the Maginot Line, a series of powerful forts from the Swiss border as far north as Sedan. Here the Meuse River turns north, marking the western boundary of the Ardennes, a hilly, forested area with narrow roads, presumed impenetrable by tanks. Further north there is a gap between the forest and the Belgian fortifications around Liege, notably Fort Eben-Emael (10-11 May 1940), which fell to the Germans (with heavy casualties) after Fallschirmjäger landed on top of the fortress with gliders and using explosives and flamethrowers to disable the outer defences of the fortress.

Implementing their pre-war plan, the Allies moved into Belgium to defend the river Dyle, east of Brussels. The French and British need at least three days to complete the move and dig in. To cover this, the French High Command ordered General René Prioux’s Corps de Cavalerie to hold the area around Hannut and Gembloux for this time.

German General Erich Hoepner was given the task of the matador, demonstrating with sufficient enthusiasm in the Gembloux Gap to hold the French light mechanised divisions (Division Légère Mécanique (DLM)) in place, far from the breaching of the Meuse at Sedan and elsewhere along the wide river.

The forces were drawn from Prioux’s corps with the elite 2nd DLM and the recently formed and under-trained 3rd DLM for the French and for the Germans the XVI Armee Korps consisting of the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions.

The challenge for Andreas and I (as the Germans) to pin the best French armoured troops in Belgium (under Phil and Wal) and prevent them interfering with the crucial crossing of the Meuse, while at the some time ensure we weren't delayed to allow the First Army to dig in.

Andreas and I split our forces roughly in half, with Andreas taking the right flank and myself spearheading the centre left side of the field. The German side is on the right in the first photo. As actual Germans, Andreas communicated in German with each other. And just like the Germans with the Enigma machine we thought it was a secure form of communication...

Day 1

Day 2

Debrief
It's a long day, and coordinating that may platoons (even amongst two players) is exhausting. Andreas and I failed to push hard enough (if not towards the town in the centre then the villages on the right flank) on the first day which made the launching off points on day two that much further back than would be optimal. On the second day I failed to hold the left flank (instead making a piecemeal attack and leaving the Pakfront exposed to Wal's French tank assaults). When Andreas left early I took over his forces, and was able to break Phil's division... but he held on by his fingernails as Wal had granted him control of Somua tanks (all that was left on the right flank). We failed to create a clear line along the roads from our base edge to the opposite table edge. What didn't help was some open terrain for our truck born infantry to traverse and being terrible (extremely terrible) at being unable to unpin a lot of our units. The six-turn time limit for each day doesn't leave much room for early setbacks.

Well done to Phil and Wal (who also understood a lot of what we were saying - which was the biggest mistake we made!) on blunting this attack, obtaining a major strategic and tactical victory.

Thanks too to Django and Nigel for organising, umpiring, and letting us use your miniatures (and apologies to the ones that got a knock).

Playing on a 6’ x 8’ table really gives a good game as armour has a chance to manoeuvre and artillery needs to be deployed with care.

Roadblock on Highway 120 in the Mukha Valley

Jakalistan, 29 November 2000: There have been reports of an escalation in violence in the east of the country when an United Nations-led checkpoint was ambushed by militia from an unknown faction.

The UN peacekeepers were accompanied by police from Serbia, who are working in collaboration with the UN-stabilising mission as part of JFOR. The international forces were overseeing the recent elections , the first since the country was plunged into war following the breakup of the Soviet states, in the Mukha Valley.

The attacking force included armour, most likely T-55 tanks, along with infantry armed with RPGs and mortars. The official death toll has not be confirmed, but unofficial reports are stating around 20 men were killed or seriously wounded.

Serbian Prime Minister Minić, also facing turmoil back home since the Bulldozer Revolution, denounced the attacks and vowed to send more troops to support the humanitarian response in the tiny republic nestled in the Caucasus mountains.

Jack, Liam and I met up to play an introduction game of Crossfire, using the 'Roadblock on Highway 120' scenario from the 'Hit the Dirt' scenario supplement. With Jack umpiring (of sorts) Liam took on the role of attacker, with myself defending the roadblock. But as we were all so excited to wargame for the first time in months (as Melbourne had been in lockdown due to COVID-19), we forgot the minefields and barbed wire I was supposed to have to help me defend. That didn't bother me.

Some photos of the game (Liam attacking from the top of the screen towards me):

I defended in depth, which worked to a degree, but my fields of fire weren't as good as they could of been. The mortar and HMG on my left flank held up Liam's attack there all game. I also found it challenging (in a good way) to really think about the sequencing of orders (like in Blood Bowl), there was many frustrating moments the initiative passed between us.

Dinner was a chicken wrap from Knafeh Nabulseyeh, a Palestinian place up the road. Perfect modern conflict-themed interior and great food. Will definitely go back.

Eventually the weight of Liam's attack broke me, as his T-55s pushed their way down the road, weathering the completely ineffectual RPGs (they needed 6s to hit - we proxied them as Panzerschrecks - this worked well). Worked out to be a slight victory to Liam, I needed to have a little more reserve to counter this punch.

A note on the name of the valley the battle took place in our imagi-nation - Mukha is "Oak" in Georgian to match the location of the game (Oakleigh/Hugesdale) and I substituted "Valley" instead of "-dale".

A Small 15mm Moderns Batch (T-72, BTR-80A, BTR-80 and Modern Soviets)

The last couple of painting sessions was for a small mixed batch of moderns, consisting of:

• A Battlefront T-72 painted in Indian United Nations colours (Somalia, Congo and Sri Lanka),
• Two Zvezda BTR-80s converted to BTR-80As in generic camo (but based on what the Hungarian army used in the Balkans in the 90s),
• A Zvezda BTR-80 in generic Soviet green, and
• Some Eureka Miniatures modern Russians as Serbian police in Kosovo in 1999 that needed touching up after I dropped them about a year ago.

The BTR-80As were easy to convert, using some spare 2cm WWII German AA guns, some plastic sprue cut to size and greenstuff.

A slow burn project is Haiti in 2004 when the UN (mainly Brazilians) went hard into a shanty town to get a drug lord, but the reporting on the event has conflicting accounts - shooting innocent bystanders, etc. I find it interesting in that respect. That and white vehicles and blue helmets. So I’m just adding random stuff to that now.

For the Balkan theme I just started collecting for the conflict, but realised no one really is interested in it so my modern Americans will be an OpFor the Serbs. There’s a great Hollywood film with Owen Wilson, 'Behind Enemy Lines', that shows off some nice kit and has a great antagonist (Sasha the sniper) - he's the guy in front.

I sort of imagine these for an infantry-heavy company level game (originally Flames of War, but I guess Team Yankee with minimal tanks/AFVs, etc). Or a skirmish game like Ambush Alley on a grander scale.

Ancient Hebrew Rocking Horse Chariots and The Judean People's Front

A few years ago (back in November 2015) the League of Ancients' Field of Glory competition was Biblical-themed. Army lists could be anything fielded from 'Swifter than Eagles' and the four biblical army lists from 'Lost Scrolls'.

While I had a few Numidian light foot, I really didn't have anything suitable. Sure, I could've painted a new army, or borrowed one. Instead I quickly assembled 16 Ancient Hebrew rocking horse chariots and four Judean People's Front command stands. As you do. They would be added to some Ancient Spanish and the Numidians miniatures I had to make up a Philistine army (because I was being a Philistine).

The wooden pieces for the conversions were bought cheaply on eBay and cost less than AU$5 from memory. The rest of the wooden body for the chariots was made from balsa wood offcuts and matchsticks. The tops were painted thick card with Battlefront WWII Soviet cupolas and tank crewmen.

The command stands were assembled from spare miniatures I had in the lead pile - mainly Eureka Miniatures samurai painted to look like Judean People's Front (or the People's Front of Judea) from 'Monty Python's Life of Brian'. If you haven't seen the film then I suggest you do. The flags were sourced from online and resized/recoloured in Photoshop. They're a little pixilated, and if I did them again I would spend more time designing / cleaning up the flags in Photoshop than I did.

The point of the exercise? Wargaming doesn't always have to be serious, and you can easily theme an army if you have to. Being a mishmash of troop types it didn't go too well (I finished deep in the bottom half of the draw). I did have fun though.

Edit: Here's some photos of the camp I built for the army. It's made to look like a film set and represents the walls of Jerusalem covered in "Romani ite domum" ("Romans go home") as per 'The Life of Brian'.

Little Wars Melbourne 2018

Little Wars was on at Kingston Town Hall again this year, but this time on a Saturday. The event is billed as "Games for Gamers By Gamers", and features participation and demonstration games along with manufacturers and second hand stalls. Always a good day to play games, catch up with people and pick up a bargain or two.

More infomation here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/951046525052308/

I only played two games this year, a homebrew set of skirmish rules set in mythological Greece, but based on Games Workshop's Warhammer Quest. Wal and I managed to slay the Talos in game one, but struggled a little with the 'Children of the Hydra's Teeth' skeletons in games two. An interesting twist on the original, and a lot of fun.

Did a lot of catching up with fellow gamers, particularly some I hadn't seen in a while.

And finally did a bit of shopping, which I was pretty happy with:

• Some 15mm Battlefront Team Yankee T-72s and Leopards 2s
• A 15mm Peter Pig WWII German checkpoint and modern day TV crews
• The Right Bloody Mess (ARBM) book
• 6mm Baccus SYW camp elements and artillery

The ARBM was a surprise, such good quality and beautifully presented (plenty of colour!). Definitely worth picking up if the interwar period even vaguely interests you. A pretty good review here:
http://arbm1933.blogspot.com/2018/02/a-generous-review-on-lead-adventure.html

ARBM is a self published source book for gaming in an alternate 1930s Australia. It covers the lead up to the Australian (civil) War which starts in April 1933, and the major factions involved. It is a similar concept to A Very British Civil War.

The book is 282 pages, full colour, cloth-bound hardcover with dust jacket. You can get a copy ofrom Eureka Miniatures or directly from the author by emailing ARBM1933@iinet.net.au.

Anyway, looking forward to Little Wars next year already.

Flags of Jakalistan

I'm tinkering in taking part in a small Flames of War campaign with some wargaming friends using version 3 of the rules fielding a mix of platoons from the Arab-Israeli and Vietnam Wars source books. The slow-burn project stalled in the second half of last year (each of us painting a little bit between other projects), but one of the guys thought the Infantry Aces campaign might be an easy way for us to start actually gaming with these miniatures.

The rules for the campaign can be found on Battlefront's website here:
https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=2666

Instead of being set during World War Two, the Arab-Israeli or Vietnam wars, we wanted something in an imagi-nation that would allow a greater element of fun. Something in a Central Asian former Soviet Socialist Republic would give us a good mix of terrain, forces and equipment. I came up with suitably-sounding "Jakalistan" (using the first two letters of each of our names).

Jakalistan lies somewhere between the Caspian Sea and the Pamir Mountains. It's a micronation that has a semi-arid desert plain in the west, where the Jara River meanders into the Caspian Sea. There's snow-capped mountains in the centre of the country and jungles in the south east. This pretty much copies the campaign map in the link above.

If you have a country you should really have a flag. So the first thing I did was look at Soviet Republic flags (along with googling some other Soviet and communist flags people had designed online):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Soviet_Republics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Soviet_states

The Jakal Soviet Socialist Republic was created sometime in the 1950s - no one is exactly sure why this was, some say it was to give greater control to Moscow of the genetically modified pink quinoa crops that had been designed by Soviet scientists.

Flag of the Jakal Soviet Socialist Republic (~1952 - 1991)



The flag was the winning design after a competition was held, as it was in all the other Soviet Socialist Republics at this time. The blue in this design represents the Jara River, while the white represents Jakalistan's snow-capped mountains.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the First Secretary of the Presidium adopted a new flag to represent the peasants and workers of the country, who are said to be as tough as its mountains. The red was retained, representing the fields of quinoa.

Flag of the Republic of Jakalistan (1991 - present)



Things have unfortunately gone downhill in recent times. For a number of reasons the workers and peasants have split into two broad factions that are in open conflict with each other: the first supported by the democratic west, the other by eastern communist countries like China and Vietnam.

Workers faction flag/symbol



Peasant faction flag/symbol



Probably a bit simplistic, but I wanted to keep them useable as general symbols used during the current civil war.

Sources of inspiration of what I imagine life to be like in Jakalistan include Mitchell and Webb's 'Ambassadors':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassadors_(TV_series)

Pretty funny in my opinion, but an aquired taste.

Wargaming wise I have already glued together some unused prepainted Il-2 that will proxy as Skyraiders from 'Brown Water Navy'. I'll probably repaint them with the worker's faction symbol.

Edit: and here's a campaign map using the Infantry Aces one from Battlefront:
https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=2666

Place names inspired by locations in Melbourne, Australia.

Last Game I Played - Tanks!

On Monday one of the wargaming clubs I game with held their annual Christmas breakup party. There's usually a simple beer and pretzels game that's played as a tournament (Star Wars Miniatures, Heroclix, single X-Wing spaceship per player, etc). This year it was Battlefront's / Gale Force 9's Tanks with everybody getting a random 20 point tank with upgrades (provided by the TO). After last year's chaos IS-2 and Tiger tanks weren't included (if you play the game you'll understand).

Most of the games were works of art, the way tanks danced around each other like that scene in 'Fury':

Not having the IS-2s and Tigers didn't stop the chaos though. At the end of the day the game really can't be taken seriously - it's beer and pretzels and doesn't try to be anything else.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2018.