Hill 60- Outskirts of the Ypres Salient 1917

The Crater at Hill 60

As part of the opening moves of the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 miners detonated a massive explosion under the German position on Hill 60 ( as depicted in the recent movie). Now this hole has to be seen to be believed!

The Crater

Pointe du Hoc....not in scale but for real!

Now I know that I have dedicated this Blog to the Brothers and our gaming but I thought many of you might be interested in a place I recently visited- and it's why I haven't blogged for a while. I was lucky enough to get to Europe recently and visit the Normandy beaches...and my first stop was Pointe du Hoc. So I hope you'll all forgive my departure from the regular stuff!

This is Point Du Hoc, just near Omaha Beach in Normandy...captured on the 6th of June 1944 by the 2nd Ranger Battalion under Colonel James Earl Rudder. Of the 225 men, 90 were still on their feet when they were finally relieved 2 days later.

The remains of an Ack Ack mounting

 

Force on Force: Modern Skirmish- Bundeswehr vs the Taliban

My son ( Nick Junior) and I decided to put his new 28mm Eureka Miniatures Bundeswehr through their paces recently. The task was simple for the Germans- a routine patrol through 'pacified' territory with the usual 'hearts and minds' visits- knocking on doors and being nice. Well in this scenario, each building that the Germans went to a D6 was rolled. On anything but a '1' all was okay. But eventually the dreaded single digit put in an appearance ( it wouldn't have been much of a game if it didn't) and this indicated a weapons cache.

 German Patrol No1 approach the house where the stashed weapons were found. Tail End Charlie watches the patrol's rear.

Marlburians Again!!

The usual collection of rogues and scoundrels assembled amongst the flotsam and jetsum of my gaming room (read: garage) for a nice little stoush with the 28mm Marlburians. This particular action saw a French force holding a central village awaiting the arrival of their Bavarian allies. The French were being attacked by a combined Dutch and British force, with a flanking Danish/Austrian force attempting to cross a river and turn the French position. If it sounds messy- it certainly was with enough twists and turns to keep us at the table until very late!

The Deployment

Spanish Civil War

Many years ago I bought some Spanish Foreign Legion figures from FAA  ( now produced by someone else but I cannot remember who!) and painted them up. I added a few militia units and then put them in a cupboard for 12 years! Well about 3 years ago we played a game using Flames of War. I wasn’t quite happy with the game and they went back in the box. Phil encouraged me to give them another try as he had some figures too (in fact lots!) and late last year we gave the Spanish Civil War another try using a set of rules called Triumph and Tragedy (T&T). Surprisingly the game went well and Phil decided to expand his collection.  Last week both our piles of metal were put on the table and we used T&T for a game!

The Table- Nationalists to the right (naturally)- Republicans to the left.

 

Another trial of Napoleon at War.

Four of the Brothers assembled amongst the flotsam and jetsam of my games room ( read : garage)  to continue with our trial of the new Napoleon at War (NaW)rules. Now I must confess I have begun to really like these new rules even though a year ago I rebased my large Ottoman army for Lasalles only to find that the Brothers recently switched to NaW . They are fast, bloody, not too complicated and produce an enjoyable game. My main complaint is that they are appallingly written with bits and pieces everywhere that require a bit of cross referencing  and looking back and forth through the rules. But no matter, when the game starts it flows easily and there are some really interesting little nuances in the rules.



The Initial Deployment

The Marine Commandos are here!

No not the ROYAL Marines Commando....I put the Bootnecks in a past blog. This time it's the Compania de Commando Anfibios (Ca Cdo Anf)- the Argentine Marine Commandos. - and I intend to make them double up as Marines that fought at places like Mt Tumbledown as well.



Armed with the FN FAL and Sterling SMGs

Bundeswehr and French Foreign Legion

My son and I have obviously gotten into Force on Force from Osprey and Ambush Alley games in a big way. We recently ordered more troops from Eureka Miniatures to add to our Taliban and US Marines. Nick (junior) ordered the German Bundeswehr and I couldn't resist the Foreign Legionnaires with their FAMAS rifles. I ordered them with  berets (painted green for the Legion- red is for the other French paras) rather than helmets because I prefer the figures with the berets rather than the helmets.

The Bundeswehr

Pachyderm Pandemonium on the Po

Or Romanorum adepto suum anus vulnero
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A report from one of the Brothers: Paulus on the Po!

 It was a cold winter’s dawn but what the Carthaginians thought would be a token Roman force turned out to be a “table bending” tonnage of lethal metal.  Carthage called up all the Allies and all the Barbarians they could lay their hands on.

The Roman Van was certainly impressive.  Cohorts in depth always mean business and they ranged across the central battle field of the Po River Valley as far as the eye could see.  Hannibal and Hasdrubal both vied for command but in the end controlled the wings as Lachlanabal took command while they quibbled.

Napoleon at War (NaW): New rules trial!

Some of the Brothers have been playing the new rules 'Napoleon at War' ( NaW)and I was invited over to Ross' place for a run. It was a quiet one with Ross, Nick (senior) and myself. As a trial, the forces were kept to a minimum ( 1 Brigade of Infantry, 1 battery of guns , and a Brigade of cavalry). Ross devised a simple scenario- clear the opposition away -and the game was on! We were using Ross' very nicely painted 15mm Poles for both sides..

 

The deployment- Ross on the left, Nick and I on the right.

Oversized Force on Force: A full day's game

A friend of mine, Spyros, came over during the school holidays with his son Evan for a game. Spyros is a very serious gamer and his collection of World War II and modern stuff is enormous. His Force on Force terrain is actually pretty spectacular and so we combined all of mine with his for a game that involved my son Nick, and two of Nick’s friends- Jack and Connor and Spyros and Evan.

The Mission:  A combined US Marine and Bundeswehr ( German Army) operation was designed to flush out  a high value target (HVT) - the local insurgent leader. Evan and Jack played the Bundeswehr . Nick was the US Marines and Spyros, Connor and I were the Taliban. The Bundeswehr's job was to move from one end of the table to the other, take out the target and then arrive safely at the US Marine compound.



Overview- impressive stuff!

Empress Miniatures: SAS Sniper Team

My son ( junior Nick), was very keen on the Empress Miniatures SAS sniper team, so a small order for the said team and the SAS squad was entered via email, and a couple of weeks later duly arrived and he set to work to get them ready for the table! I think he did a great job - for a 13 year old!

The finished product

Force on Force: Modern Skirmish- A Coalition setback

The Brothers assembled recently on a cold winter's night. We were down on numbers, only Paul, Ross, Phil, Nick (junior), Richard and myself gathered to pit some US Marine fire teams and a covert SAS team against a small pocket of Taliban insurgents.

The Location: a Village called Wadifakawi located on the Afghan/Pakistani border.
The Brief: The area had been cleared of enemy insurgents over a year ago but intelligence reports have determined that there has been unsual activity of late. An SAS team was inserted into the Pakistan side of the border to observe the town. They regularly sent reports that weapons were being stockpiled by small numbers of enemy insurgents. Due to the politically sensitive nature of the border region, no air support could be used or heavy vehicles. ( this made it easy for the umpire, yours truly,  to introduce the Force and Force rules to the Brothers!)

The Center of town: the DSHK 12.7 mm behind sandbags - the building was where the weapons cache had been hidden

Royal Marine Commandos: Falklands 1982

I recently bought a magazine celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War and found myself wondering about gaming possibilities. Now if you are like me and follow Rusty's 'Hurry up and Wait' Blog ( see the list on the right hand side) in which he is recreating the whole war in miniature you would be aware that there are some great gaming possibilities. So, inspired by some magazines, Rusty's Blog- and some great miniatures from Gripping Beast's MO-FO range-  I painted up 20 Royal Marine Commandos. They turned out better than I expected...my camera wasn't up to the task of photographing the detail in the camouflage.....then again maybe there was no detail to pick up! Next, Argentine Marines!

Glenshiel: The Fourth Battle of the Rebellion of the '15

The heralds have proclaimed it across the British Isles...the Rebellion is over. But it was very nearly a different story. Both armies had assembled near Glenshiel in the western Highlands and it was do or die for the Scots. But the high drama continued amongst the commands of both sides and there were some VERY surprising developments that left the Hanoverians angered and the Jacobites stunned and feeling betrayed.....

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The Aftermath: The Battle of Edinburgh

Well all of Europe was stunned to hear of the victory by  the Duke of Argyll over the Jacobite forces. Stunned because the Jacobite Juggernaut had been gaining a fearsome momentum that threatened to not only toss the Hanoverians out of Scotland but looked like an advance into England could also be on the cards. The French were involved, the Hanoverians were on the back foot and there was some serious factionalism in the High Command of his Britannic Majesty's forces! Now, that said, the combined Dutch/British force pulled off a remarkable victory and King George I's  government managed to produce a diplomatic coup by having the French Government sign an alliance...while French troops were on British soil!!

Force on Force: Modern Skirmish game.

My son, Nick, has always been a big fan of computer games like Battlefield and Call of Duty Special ops and those sorts of games- principally those with more modern settings. So my journey was on to find something like that for the table top. Last year we went to MOAB, a convention here in Sydney and there was a display game (I can't remember by whom) of the game  Force on Force by Ambush Alley games and published by Osprey. Well he and I played the Vietnam War scenario and we were hooked. We bought a copy of the rules from the War and Peace Games stand and then a whole stack of modern US Marines and Taliban from Nick Robson of Eureka Miniatures. Within a few days we had them painted and ready to go. Since then we've played quite a few games.

US Sniper team on Over watch

Latest addition to my Marlburians- The Garde Suisse (Swiss Guard)

As most of the Brothers know, my obsession over the last 6 years has been my War of the Spanish Succession Collection. It has become pretty extensive over that time and we've had some great games- as well as our recent Jacobite Rebellion of the '15 campaign.

Richard's Late Imperial Romans

One of the Brothers, Richard, has begun assembling a Late Imperial Roman Army for Impetus- much to the dismay of the Armatans (see previous blog- Battle of Asculum March 2012!). Anyway, he has photographed a couple of the units and I put them on the blog for the rest of the Brothers to admire! The figures are Armorum and Aquila Minaitures. Check the link under "Essential Supplies". Enjoy! Richard probably spends more time painting a single figure than anyone else that I know....and the results are always impressive! - he has a real gift for blending shades and a real feel for the paints and colours that he used. Nice one mate!

Our Rebellion of the '15: The Heralds Proclaim a Hanoverian Victory!!

T’were a sad and sorry day for the Jacobite cause at the last Gathering of the Clans….er sorry…I mean : the Brothers . We assembled, once again, amidst the wargame detritus and debris and the understated elegance of my garage (read : Man Cave) to determine the fate of the Rebellion of the ’15, Scotland, The British Isles and the course of European and possibly WORLD  History. Well I may be overstating the case – it may have just been to push little toy soldiers around a table top and hurl abuse at one another- of which more later on. Anyway enough small talk and poor displays of alleged wit- but suffice to say that the Duke of Argyll has redeemed the Honour of his Family Name, and his Clan, in the eyes of his nation, his king, Western Europe, God and…….ooops sorry I’m waxing lyrical again. Well he won.

The Battlefield: Hanoverians on the left, Jacobites on the right.