Warrior Miniatures British Infantry Belgic Shakos

These chaps have been in my 'to do' pile for many months and over the last few days I finally got around to finishing them off.  They will be added to my Peninsular force as late arrivals from the depot in 1812!

Perry's Travel Battle

Last year I bought a couple of sets of Travel Battle, with the aim of having a quick wargame available that I can set up on the dining room table.  Over the last couple of weeks I have been reading the rules and thinking about the types of battles I can fight.

Straight away I knew I would have to paint the board and the figures - but they are very small.  The uniforms are generic and would work for European armies, but are not right for British, in my view. After some thought, I decided to paint an Austrian and a French army.  Here are the Austrians on the painted scenic boards:

Ros Figures - Prussian Command

Working my way through the 25mm

Ros Figures lead pile. This time it is the turn of Prussian infantry command to be painted.  I have not seen these painted before and I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

These will replace my Warrior command figures currently in use with my Ros prussian units:

Britains Deetail French Imperial Guard

On occasions I get the urge to paint something different and I find painting larger scale figures quite satisfying.  I have good number of Britains 'Deetail' figures, that even in good condition look quite ropey and, although I should imagine serious collectors shudder at the thought, I like to paint mine so that they are more presentable.

I have enough French guards (with a few repairs) to form a wargames unit; so last weekend I decided to paint them.  This is the result:

The standard bearer is a converted line infantry officer:

This scrap line infantry figure has had a new pack added, a pom pom (from a map pin) and a new arm with musket and he has been painted as a line voltigeur:

Mind the Gap - Cold War - Part 1

This action in a fictional location represents the type of operation conducted by the BAOR covering force elements in the early 1970s.  To the west of Hannover lies a series of steep wooded ridges with narrow gaps where roads and tracks run through. These ridges form good defensive positions.

The defence of one such gap has been allocated to Combat Team Charlie, centred upon C Company minus of the 1st Blankshires (BL). The combat team consists of two platoons, company HQ and a troop of Chieftain Tanks from the Loamshire Hussars (LH). In support is an anti-tank section (Wombats) and an 81mm mortar section from battalion support company. An FOO from W Bty 9 RHA is also attached to the combat team. Here is the deployment:

The road can be seen running through the gap in the wooded ridge. The tanks are deployed on the ridge, with the two infantry platoons astride the road amongst the farmland below the ridge.

On each flank is a Wombat armed APC:

The mortar section is deployed behind the ridge:

The FOO is located on the ridge near the tanks:

And the tanks themselves are in firing positions along the tree line:

The infantry are deployed forward to cover the crossroads east of the position:

 And are dug-in and have hand held anti-tank weapons:

The combat team commander is positioned behind the ridge in the grounds of a small chapel; although he will move forward once the enemy show them selves:

Just after noon signs of enemy activity are spotted in the shape of elements of soviet 302 Motor-Rifle Division recce vehicles:

PT-76 light tanks:

BRDM 1 scout cars:

BRDM, Swatter anti-tank vehicles:

And waiting further back a motor-rifle platoon in BTR-60 APCs:

The soviets begin to probe forward.........................

Part 2 to follow.

Action in the Denmark Straits 1941 - Battle Report

A few months back I purchased a copy of Bob Cordery's Gridded Naval Wargames:

Not really being a naval wargame buff, I was, however, enthused by the simplicity of these rules; so I decided to give it a go.  The rules are really written to play out late 19th and early 20th Century sea battles, but there is enough information for a good WW2 game.

I dug out my old 1/3000 scale ships that have never been used and decided to fight a limited action based upon the engagement between the Bismark and Prinz Eugen against Hood and Prince of Wales.

The German ships are sailing on a south westerly course off the coast of Greenland, Prinz Eugen leading:

On the other side of the board, heading Northwest is Hood and Prince of Wales:

The two forces sight each other and Bismark opens fire upon Hood with her main armament at extreme range:

Bismark's 15" shells slam into Hood causing significant damage.

Both sides continue to close the range and the two British warships are able to engage with all of their main armament scoring a number of direct hits on Bismark. In the same round Bismark returns fire further damaging Hood.

In the next round the Germans turn to the east. This brings the guns of Prinz Eugen into range; her salvo causing some damage to Prince of Wales. 

However, both British ships fire at Bismark again. Having found the range the impact of around 20 shells has a catastrophic effect on Bismark and she is forced to break off the action.

Covered by Prinz Eugen, Bismarck turns away to the North. Prinz Eugen fires again and scores a few hits on Hood. But, the concentrated fire of the two British battleships pounds Prinz Eugen to pieces. The German ship explodes and sinks:

Bismark is now out of range and with Hood severely damaged the British break off the action. Prince of Wales shadows Bismark, while Hood turns for home.  The action ends as Bismark slips away:

What fun. fast moving and easy to play. I initially thought Hood would sink and the outcome would reflect real events, but it was not to be.

Ros Figures - Prussian Gunners

Some may know from my other blog that I collect and paint Ros 25mm figures, which were made in the mid-seventies for a short period. Over the years I have hunted down most of the Napoleonic range, although there are still a few gaps in my collection.

A fairly recent find was a group of Prussian artillerymen. Along with a number of other originals I asked Old John to recast them.  Just before Christmas a batch arrived, which included the Prussian artillery.

This is what they look like when painted: