Peninsular War: Two Fields

Here are a couple of bits of scenery I have been making for my Peninsular War campaign... 

First up- an orange orchard (An orangery perhaps? or what ever the correct term for it is). This time I thought I would really go overboard on the terrain and really go for that dry dusty Iberian Peninsular feel. The walls are 1/72 scale Italieri plastic ones. The rest is scratch built. It is A4 size so it will easily fit in the IKEA Pappis storage box, and the orange trees will lift out for ease of storage and to allow figures to be placed during play. the oranges are a combination of tiny balls of green stuff, and coriander seeds (when I got board of making tiny balls of GS). The cabbages are made from paper roses from the craft shop painted green and dry-brushed. 

The Ploughed Field is made the same way. the fence is made by Redendra and the rest is scratch built. The Field is a piece of door mat sold in ALDI stuck down and given a light dry brush. The flowers were from Atenociti's Workshop.  

I hope you like them- Next up a farm house and a barn. 

AtDE: Wrecked Cars for Across The Dead Earth

Here are a couple of diecast repaints I have done for Across the Dead Earth, a post apocalypse game set in Britain forty or so years after a devastating war/disaster. I wanted to do a few wrecked and really rusted vehicals. I was going for a 'The Last of Us' vibe as that seems to fit with my idea of a post-apoc Britain. 

These cars are diecast from the Disney Cars film. They are about 1/50 scale and that works just great for 28mm. A few of the vehicles have funny faces on the front but these are usually easy to cover with Green Stuff, Liquid Green Stuff or textured paint, then apply rust effect liberally to cover up the area and conceal the filler. 
It's also worth remembering that a few of the vehicals have odd scales, exaggerated for comics effect, so it is worth checking out the car before you buy it if you can. 
The bases for these models are made form a rubbery floor tile I bought form B+Q. it is soft and easy to cut with scissors or a craft knife. 
The figures in the back ground will be featured soon- they are my stand in gang while I wait for my AtDE minis to be delivered from my Kick Starter. 

Home Front 1941: Home Guard Big Guns

Well, it's not that big a gun really, but it's better that a Boys anti-tank rifle. This is  is a 2pdr AT gun. It packs enough force to scare a German tank crew, but it's unlikely to do to much damage to the front of a Panzer, and is best deployed in ambush. With the Home Guard crew is a Forward Observer Officer from the Royal Artillery and his radio operator. British armies in Bolt Action get a FOO officer free, to represent the British tenancy to prefer heavy artillery over infantry and armour. This FOO can call down off field artillery to punish the enemy and drive them out of cover onto the waiting guns of the Home Guard!

This ATG is now sold by Warlord Games, although I have had this one in my cupboard for years and back then I think it was sold by a company called BEF.  The FOO and his aide are also from Warlord. 

Russian Civil War Battle Report

This weekend I journeyed to Herefordshire to join in with a Russian Civil War battle hosted by Giles. It was the same gamers who play the  VBCW Big Games, and we were trying out the modifications for Mort's own rules 'Went the Day Well?'- imaginatively entitled 'Went the Revolution Well'.

I haven't got any RCW figures, so Giles leant me a Kuban Cossack army. I was fighting against the Turks and their treacherous Cossack allies. The Russians had an armoured train due to arrive at any moment and the Turks and their allies were trying to knock it out or destroy the track in order to stop it. Basically my side had to stop them. 

In the battle I was lined up on the flank facing the treacherous Cossack army- they had an armoured car and a field gun- both of which I lacked. I concluded that the best plan was to race towards the enemy as quickly as possible and engage in melee- if I could beat his cavalry my infantry would be able to close and finish him off before he could attack the train. 

The plan might have worked too, except a badly aimed shot from the field gun landed in the mist of the swirling melee, and by shear chance killed more a lot more of my cavalry than the enemy, effectively turning the tide. My cavalry fought on bravely, but it looked grim for them....then the train arrived!

It turns out the armoured train was the one thing on the table that didn't need protecting- given that it was heavily armoured and bristling with cannons and machine guns!

We had been successful in keeping the Turks and their allies away from the railway, and they had been forced to keep their field guns back to protect them, but now they were too far away to use their AT shells...so their was little they could do as the armoured brute thundered past, guns blazing, leaving both sides in a cloud of dust and smoke.

Mission accomplished...just about

Some Treacherous Cossacks!

My good brave Loyal Cossacks charging towards the enemy

Turkish Infantry

As both Cossack forces close, they prepare to charge

My Flag Bearer signals the Charge

 

The Cossacks clash in a swirl of melee

Russian Filed guns pound the Turks (well try to)

The train arrives. 

Elsewhere their was another battle raging as the Red Russians tried to dislodge a French force from a village. Ultimately their were successful,as the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys and their heroic Senegalese troops decided enough was enough.  

The French employed their technological superiority- A spotter plain and a radio!

Red Russians advance on the French held village

Their is little the French and Senegalese can do to stop the wave of Reds

Not sure what this is, but it had a lot of firepower!

All in all a great game- thank you to Giles and the lads for a great day. 

Home Front 1941: A Rolls Royce Armoured Car

"Now listen here Walker! You can't park that monstrosity there. "

"'Ere, that is Private Walker to you. This 'monstrosity' is Walmington-on-Sea's new Rolls Royce armoured car; And it's staying right where it is."

"But it is blocking the way to the church fete!"

"Now Maurice, I would love to help you, but I can't move the Roller, even if I wanted to. Not for you, and not even for the vicar."

"Why an earth not?"

"It's run out of petrol." 

This Rolls Royce armoured car and the men accompanying it are the latest additions to my Home Front army. The Rolls Royce was a work horse of the army from WW1 to Early WW2, and was found all over the Empire. Shortages of armoured vehicals (well any vehicals really) After the Dunkirk evacuation meant that many of these aged beasts were given to the Home Guard. Captain Mainwaring never got a Roller in the TV series, but that wasn't about to stop me issuing my Home Guard unit one. 
This armoured car is by Copplestone Castings. The figures are by Wargames Foundry. 

Home Front 1941- A Home Guard Section

I painted these for Lead Painters League- they are from Wargames Foundry- and they are the extras from "Dad's Army". The picture's not great- the light was quite poor...I hope you like them. 

Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Weststone Bridge

My Son and I managed to get another game in, this time Lord of the Rings. We used Charlies figures and some scenery we made for his dwarfs and goblins. Charlie played the Moria Goblins, while I played King Durin and his kin. 

"They've brought a cave troll!"

The goblin's shaman tried to soften up the dwarfs with a wave of huge spiders and giant bat swarms, all enhanced with his found magic.  

The next attack was a wave of goblins driven on by the iron fist of the Goblin King Durbaz

The Vault Wardens, lead by the hero Mardin, prepare to defend their king.

As the ancient foes clash no one gives any quarter.  Many goblins and dwarfs loose their lives this day.

When King Durin finally slays the cave troll King Durbaz' courage is broken and he flees into the dark, taking most of the remains of his army with him. The victory is bitter for Durin- he might hold the Weststone Bridge, but his people paid a high price for it...many of his kinsmen lie dead, including one of his captains. a bitter victory indeed. 

Home Front 1941: Oh Matron...More Home Guard!

Just a few more of my Home Guard, along with a QAIMNS(R) nursing officer. In the game she will act as a medic. I already have Godfery, so I don't really need another medic, but she is such a lovely mini I couldn't resist. I picked her up on ebay (I think it was a freebie mini at a gaming show)- I beleive it is menat to be HRH Princess Elizabeth in her ATS uniform, but the QAIMNS (Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service) used the same uniform as the ATS. 

Captain Beth Windsor, QAIMNS(R)

Private Frank Pike 

Private Charles Godfrey

Home Front 1941: Home Guard Officers

I have always been a fan of Dad's Army, and also a fan of these lovely Perry Twins miniatures from Wargames Foundry. When I saw that the Bolt Action British and the Commonwealth army list included Home Guard I knew their was nothing that could stop me getting some. I got these as a present off my wife last year, and have just got round to painting them for the Lead  Painters league. There will be more on their way soon. My plan is to use them for Bolt Action to stage an Operation Sealion campaigns (Which I am going to call Home Front 1941). I am also hoping they might see some action against Brummie's new Germans (see Brummie's Blog)

Captain George Mainwaring

Sargent Arthur Wilson

Lance Corporal Jack Jones

Burma 1943: Bolt Action Battle Report

My son Charlie and I managed to get a game of Bolt Action in during the holidays. We kept things simple, about 500 pts each. I took the Japanese Imperial Army- with a couple of regular infantry section and a section of veteran jungle fighters backed up with a sniper and a MMG. Charlie took the British Chindits, with two infantry sections, a MMG and a mortar (all veterans).

The plot was a Chindit patrol had located a Japanese supply dump in a small village in the depths of the Burmese jungle, well behind the Japanese lines. The supply dump seemed lightly guarded, and so the lieutenant in charge of the patrol ordered a surprise attack. Unfortunately for the Chindits, at the time of the attack there was a squad of jungle fighters and an experienced sniper team making their way through the jungle back to the village to resupply. 

The attack got off well for the chindits, as their Vickers MMG opened up on the Japanese MMG in a sandbag redoubt, catching them napping and killing one of the crew. The Japanese scrambled for cover, and the jungle fighters took up positions along the tree-line to cover the approaches to the village. 

Meanwhile the Chindits advanced towards the village, using their fire and manoeuvre training to effectively suppress the Japanese as they advanced. The Chindit 3" mortar zeroed in on the squad taking cover in the village house- it seems that bamboo and woven palm leaves don't provide much cover against mortar shells.

The Japanese Jungle Fighters tried to slow the Chindits down, but they were outnumbered, and soon they began to fall to the relentless and accurate fire of the Chindits. 

The Japanese sniper took out a Chindit NCO as his squad advanced into the clearing around the village, but his squad pressed on relentlessly, spraying fire from their tommy guns and rifles to suppress the Japanese soldiers in the village. 
The Chindit lieutenant spotted the sniper and made his way around the flank, using what cover he could, until he was close enough to charge the sniper. 

The Japanese, seeing their position desperate, fixed bayonets and with a cry of "Banzai" they bravely charged the Chindits. The Chindits opened fire, scything down three of them as they ran across the open ground, then met the Japanese bayonets with their own Kurkri and machetes. Two of the Chindits died, but in the end they wiped the Japanese out. 

The Japanese officer was cut down in a hail of bullets as he prepared to follow his fellow soldiers into the charge, earning himself a honourable warriors death.

The Japanese sniper team and the remnants of the Japanese MMG team melted back into the jungle, abandoning the supply dump. They Chindits took what they needed and could carry, and burned the rest, before carrying out a force march through the dense jungle to be well clear of any counter attacks the Japanese Imperial Army might mount. It had been a text book raid for the British: using surprise, overwhelming fire power and manoeuvrability to overcome a numerically superior enemy. The Chindits had just seven men killed or wounded, and the Japanese had lost a whole platoon.

If this battle report  lacks drama or seemed like a white wash for the Brits then you can blames Charlie's fantastic dice rolling, which saw him gunning down my soldiers with ease, while my own inept rolling was barely more than a minor irritation to his Chindits. Chindits, being all veterans, are a solid and reliable force, and their ability for fire and manoeuvre is very effective. 

All in all, a great battle...thanks Charlie.