Red Army, Russian Civil War 1918

 I have just finished a lovely batch of 20mm figures, which I think are from Frontline Wargames, although I believe that the command figures could be by Tumbling Dice.  Painted in khaki and mounted on movement trays, they were a joy to paint:

I have a load of Siberian figures to do as well, thanks to a donation from Bob Black.

Memoir '44 - US Paratroops

 My final batch of soldiers consists of a load of US paratroopers.  The figures are by ESCI, which I think look OK when painted.  That's me done as far as painting figures for this little project is concerned.  I will now focus on some of the terrain pieces to see if they could be improved.

US Airborne:

Memoir '44 - British Infantry.

 To represent the British tommy in the game it is a difficult choice.  The game manufacturers do produce some British infantry, but they are dressed for the desert campaigns.  Fortunately I had a couple of boxes of the latest Airfix production, which was their rather odd WW2 British Infantry set.  I had no other use for these figures and so decided to paint some of them for use in some of the scenarios.  Strangely some of the figures are wearing their gas mask container on their chests, B.E.F. style, yet they have PIATs, which are late war items.

Anyway, splashed some paint on them, based them and here they are:

The last group to be painted will be some US airborne troops.  I have a number of choices but in the end settled on ESCI figures, largely because I have plenty in my spares box!

British infantry advancing in Normandy:

Memoir '44, some British Paratroopers

 A couple of scenarios in Memoir '44 involve british Airborne forces and I just couldn't bring myself to use US infantry to represent Howard's and Frost's, so I decided to make up some airborne troops.  I used some spare Revell paratroopers, mounted on similar size bases to those used for the game miniatures.  

I enjoyed painting these and will equally enjoy deploying them on the game board:

"Hold until relieved, hold until relieved".

Memoir '44 Refresh, the Allies

 Here are the Allies, or in my case the US forces.  I plan to have British infantry, as well as US and British paratroopers.

Again the figures are hard plastic and the detail is nicely defined:

I have painted my models in a similar way to the Germans, the Sherman tanks:

US Infantry:

And some much improved US artillery, 105mm howitzers:

I am now working on some British airborne troops.

Memoir 44 Refresh

 Over the last week or so, I have been working through the playing pieces that come with the updated version of Memoir '44.  I had this game but passed it on a couple of years ago, but as circumstances have changed (I am now virtually a full time carer) and my visits to the upstairs war room are reduced, I have been looking for games that can be played on the dining room table.  Memoir '44 fits the bill.

The new version has some better looking models, which are just begging to be painted, German tanks and artillery:

I have finished painting the Germans and they create quite a force.  The tanks are Panzer IVs:

The guns, I think, are 10.5cm Field Howitzer 18s:

And the infantry are all brandishing what looks like the MP40:

I have almost finished the Allies (Americans) and will post some pictures of them soon.

Blitzkrieg Commander

 Bob Black and I have been dabbling in Blitzkrieg Commander, spurred on by the release of Victrix 12mm WW2 figures.  We both bought a box of the company's starter sets, which has a handful of tanks and some infantry.  To get the ball rolling I bought some Normandy style houses:

I had a lot of fun painting and basing these, using a variety of paint sample pots from my local DIY store.  Some cardboard bases, cardboard walls and flock hedges and the results are quite nice:

I then set about painting the tiny tanks and figures, again a lot of fun.  Now, I am embarrassed to say that in the process I found some metal figures from Minifigs that I bought years ago and never got around to using, so I painted these first.  I put 10 figures on a base representing either a platoon or company, depending upon the scenario.  The tanks are all on single bases.  Here are some sample shots:

Panzer IVs

British Infantry and Cromwell tanks:

British Shermans

I still have some support weapons to paint and plenty of spare infantry.  I am looking forward to Bob coming over when we can give the rules a go.

Norman's WW1 Collection

 Norman Paterson has shared some more images of his extensive and beautiful collection of military figures.  This time it is the First World War, with a mix of french, German and British figures set up in the most dramatic and striking poses.  

The figures are a mix of Britains and King and Country castings. Although not historically accurate given the mix of figures, the display is quite stunning.

The Great Plastics Revival - More British

 Some touching up and rebasing sees some Italeri Highlanders (always thought that these figures looked a bit odd) and another ESCI Royal Horse Artillery gun and crew. These will now join the growing British plastic army:

The Great Plastics Revival - Airfix Prussian Landwehr

Another couple of battalions roll off the production line.  On this occasion it is a pair of Airfix Prussian infantry.  The figures, painted as East Prussians, were painted from scratch after they had spent a couple of weeks bathing in Dettol to remove the old paint.

I am quite pleased with the results and tempted to paint another two units:

The Great Plastic Revival - Prussian Cavalry

 This is the third batch of Prussians to be completed, in this case the cavalry.  When I went through the boxes there were lots of cavalry in odd colours, mainly white and gree.  I think they were supposed to be part of the Austrian army, however, they did not look quite right.

On closer inspection I worked out that, apart from some Revell black hussars and early war Revell Cuirassiers, the bulk were in fact ESCI/Italeri British Scots Greys wearing oilskin shako covers. I thought that with a dab of paint they could be passed off as Prussian dragoons.  Here is the result:

From a couple of feet away they don't look to out of place.

Next, I might tackle some of the Airfix Prussian Landwehr, but these are completely unpainted and will take a little longer.

Operation Barbarossa - Crossing the River Bug 1941

 Over the last couple of days, Phil visited and we decided to have a go at a WW2 scenario.

This battle is based upon the Rapid Fire scenario (which adapts the historical action to make it more challenging) and reflects the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.  The game sees the German 18th Panzer Division mount an amphibious assault over the River Bug on the Polish border.  The Germans have three objectives. Launching from their harbour area around Patulin, they must cross the river Bug and construct a pontoon bridge, break through the first defence line and take the town of Matykaly, and finally capture the bridge over the river Ljasnaja;

Map copyright Rapid Fire

The Germans start in a surprise move with the assault boats in the water and the first troops landing. An initial view showing the bulk of 18th Panzer Division, with the assault just beginning:

The Germans have a significant advantage in artillery with a complete regiment in support:

The initial objective, once across the river, will be to break through the soviet first line of defence, which consists of a pill box, a T-26 turret and quite thinly spread infantry.  There are wire and minefield obstacles too:

Beyond that is a soviet Rifle battalion holding the village of Matykaly with several anti-tank guns:

Further on, after crossing a railway line, is the river Ljasnaja and the key bridge.  A further soviet battalion is defending here, along with artillery and air defence weapons:

The Germans have two battalions in the initial assault, with a third following on.  There is also a Panzer regiment, as well as the full regiment of field artillery.  Here is the initial assault going in:

With more troops waiting in nearby woods:

The engineer field park is in the village of Patulin and nearby the tanks of 18th Panzer wait for the bridge to be built:

During the previous night German recce teams sneak across the river and take up positions in the trees on the enemy bank:

Soon the Germans have several companies across the river but they are exposed to fire from the pill box, the T-26 turret and a machine gun in the wheat field. Casualties are heavy as the German infantry attempt to advance over open ground:

Air support is called in but is not very effective.  German casualties continue to mount and now they begin to receive soviet artillery fire, directed from a nearby hill:

Even more worrying, the first tanks from the soviet reserve begin to arrive on the field.  Seen here is a T-26 trundling over the railway beyond Matykaly.

As soon as possible the Germans begin the construction of the pontoon bridge, having first laid a smoke screen.  Meanwhile the boats continue ferry troops across.

After suffering heavy casualties from machine gun fire from the bunkers, the pill box is pounded into submission.  Meanwhile, under cover of another smoke screen German engineers take out the T-26 turret with a flame thrower.

The first T-26 advances around the village but is hit by an airstrike and burns:

German Panzer IIIs line the bank to provide cover as engineers are close to completing the bridge. They receive a setback though when a soviet shell damages the roadway. The engineers work frantically to finish the bridge.

Now that the bunkers have been dealt with the German infantry can make some progress.

At last the bridge is completed and German tanks begin to cross.  The minefields have yet to be cleared and this creates an obstruction that will need to be bypassed:

The tanks fan out and begin to deal with the remaining soviet forward defences:

They flank the hill that caused the infantry so much trouble and approach the village.  To the rear of the village is an anti-tank screen, which will have to be dealt with before the tanks can break through.

An overview of the scene at this point in the battle. Soviet tanks sent forward piecemeal are quickly dealt with as two burn in the foreground as clearing the village begins.

Back at the bridge more tanks cross the river:

The Soviets bring forward another tank and their 3rd rifle battalion, but their anti-tank capability is all but destroyed.

The final German infantry units cross the Bug.

Using a spotter aircraft, artillery is rained down onto the German advance with little effect, however the one remaining anti-tank gun scores a hit on a Panzer III.

At this point, the remaining Soviet units begin to withdraw.  Their ability to stop the tanks is now very limited and their infantry are being cut down by heavy German artillery strikes. At the same time, the Germans have been severely bruised and decide to lick their wounds until more infantry support can be brought up, before attempting to capture the Ljanaja bridge.

The German chefs cook up a well earned gulash for the tired troops!

This was an immensely enjoyable game.  I played the Germans and Phil the Soviets. Fortune swung from side to side. During the early stages it looked like the Germanswould be stalled by the first line of defences. Fortunately attempts to disrupt the bridge building were limited and the late arrival of Soviet tanks in any number helped tip the balance.  Once the German tanks had crossed the river the end became inevitable, but it could have gone the other way.  This was a costly victory for the Germans.

We used home grown rules for the game.  The German figures are mostly from the collection of Eric Knowles and the Russians are from my own collection, consisting of a mix of Hinchliffe and Zvezda figures. The bridge, engineers and boats are all originally from Eric Knowles. The tanks and vehicles, mostly plastic come from a variety of sources.  The river came from the ABC wargamers collection and may have been made by Jack Alexander.  It was great to get all of these wonderful modles onto the table.