Great battle report from Mike Whitaker from a game he played recently: British infantry and armour assaulting German positions in Italy.
Mike's blog Trouble At T'Mill is also recommended reading.
Click on the picture below to see all.
Rather than immediately clear away the rather nice set up for the For the Honour of France game played a couple of weeks ago (click here to read the AAR, opens in a new window), I decided to use the same scenario for a game that I was umpiring between John and Dave that took place last weekend.
A very different game from last time. Click on he pic below to see all:
Here they are at last: the second Polish infantry platoon. These are a mix of Forged in Battle and Battlefront figures, but mostly FiB.
Love the Poles as an early war army, but thirty-six man platoons are a killer to paint, especially as they're all in khaki! Only one more platoon to go now.
It will soon be time to start on the armour. I'm just waiting for PSC or Zvezda to produce Vickers and/or 7TP tanks, as I need about three squadrons worth, which could get rather expensive if I go the Battlefront route.
Another quick battle report from James Tree, first posted on the IABSM Facebook page.
Here, the German panzers steam forward only to be met by a storm of fire from Soviet tankers in reply. Click on the pic below to see all...
One of the things I love about being a scenario writer is seeing how different people interpret the scenarios that I write: how do they translate my maps to their tabletops, how do their players handle the tactical challenges set for them.
I enjoy all this not just with my scenarios but with all scenarios, so it's nice to see the eleventh battle report for a game using the A Canadian VC scenario from the IABSM v3 rulebook: this one posted onto the IABSM Facebook group by James Tree.
I hope he doesn't mind, but I've also reproduced the whole AAR here as well. Click on the pic below to see all...then perhaps go back to the main AAR page to compare and contrast how the other ten games looked and played out.
Here's a great IABSM after action report from the somewhat surprisingly named Miniature Bastards* Russian-language blog by Valderech.
I haven't been able to make contact with Valderech, so I hope he doesn't mind me reproducing his entry here, but his game looks absolutely superb and deserves a wide audience.
As for the accompanying words, I have tried to convert the gobbledegook that Google Translate came up with into something resembling good English, so for any clumsy phrases etc, blame me.
Click on the picture below to see all:
*Now whilst my little men do sometimes let me down (my orders are always clear, my tactics always sound!) I'm not sure bad language is called for!
Regular readers might remember that the chaps at Gaming Models in the US sent me some of their 15mm Polish models to have a look at. A previous post dealt with the Polski FIAT truck, now let's look at the Ursus wz.29 armoured car.
The wz.29 was supposedly obsolete at the start of the German invasion, having been largely replaced by the wz.34. All remaining wz.29's were attached to Polish units in the Modlin area, and fought against the reconnaissance elements of Panzerdivision Kempf and infantry from the SS Deutschland regiment. Despite their apparent obsolescence, the wz.29's fared better than their more modern counterpart: mainly because in addition to the standard MMG, they had a 37mm gun in what must have been a very crowded turret.
So what of the model? Very nice really, and good value at $5 (£3.80) a time. The detailing on the gun is quite difficult to bring out but, as I said, it is a very small turret, and I'm even considering gluing it in place so it doesn't get lost.
That said, the detailing on the wheels makes the tyres really easy to paint, and you can see how the various doors and hatches come out with a bit of dry-brushing.
The model above was sprayed green, then had the bone and brown camouflaged patches brushed on. A brown wash followed, then a very light bone drybrush focusing on the edges.
Recommended.
As mentioned in a previous post, there's now a thriving I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! group on Facebook, which you can visit by clicking here.
One relatively recent post was from James Tree, with a brief pictorial report of his game using the first scenario from the Defence of Calais scenario pack: Les Attaques. I'm sure he won't mind me reproducing it here, so click on the pic below to see what happens as the Panzers first arrive at the outskirts of Calais...
Another quick battle report from Burt Minorrot's excellent Spanish-language blog Burt's Stuff.
Here, a small force of Americans advances into Holland in 1944. Click on the picture below to see all.
June 1941. A most unlikely conflict has broken out between two former Allies. Vichy French airfields in the Levant have been used by the Lufwaffe to support an uprising in Iraq, and Britain has decided that enough is enough. A task force has been assembled to move north into the Lebanon and Syria to take control of the area for the Free French and safeguard British oil supplies. Unexpectedly Vichy forces resist strongly, fighting for the honour of France.
That’s the introduction to the game of IABSM that Bevan and I played on Sunday evening. An unusual game featuring Australians versus French in the desert.
Click on the (big) picture, below, to see all:
We haven't had a battle report from Mr Luther for a couple of weeks now, so here's a slice of Eastern Front action as the Soviets push forward against determined German panzerjaeger opposition.
Click on the pic to see all:
Here's an after action report from the game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! that I played this weekend just gone.
It's the Pacific Theatre, 1945, with a company of US Marines, along with supporting Amtracks, tasked with assaulting a Japanese-held beach on a small island in the middle of nowhere.
Click on the pic to see all...
Regular readers will know that I recently painted up a company of Landing Vehicle, Tanks (or Amtracks) as part of an attempt to satisfy a friend's craving for a bit of War in the Pacific action. Planning the game, I realised that I only had three Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) to accompany the Amtracks into action, but had a box of another three buried somewhere in the lead mountain.
I still had a whole week to go before the game (it was today: cracking game, AAR on here tomorrow or Monday) so thought I could just about get them done in time. I'd already painted three, so another three should be relatively simple.
Well, yes, in theory, but I had, of course, forgotten that Battlefront aren't interested in the Pacific War any more, so have let the molds go to wrack and ruin whilst they concentrate on Team Yankee. Never have I seen do much flash on so few models in a box set...and whilst I can clean them up in an hour or so, it was still an hour of painting time wasted.
Worse, one of the strips of infantry was missing: a real pain as there was no way I could get a replacement in time.
I know Battlefront are great and all that, and a huge part of my collection comes from them, but it's things like the above that make you just go "grrrrrr" and do everything you can to support their competition.
Anyhow, I cleaned up the figures, substituted spare truck-passenger figures for the missing strip (see if you can spot them!) and got the little craft done in time.
Lovely models but, please Battlefront, if you're going to go all "the Hobby" on us, get your basic quality control right first!
Here's a quick battle report from first time player Konstantinos, running a solo game to work through the rules.
It's Greeks versus Italians in 10mm in 1940.
I'm liking the way the terrain has been put together: some good ideas for a quick way to make up a table.
Click on the pic on the right to see all...
Joe Patchen and his friends play out the third sample scenario given in the IABSM v3 rulebook: Action at Galmanche.
It's Normandy, 1944. Click on the pic below to see if the Brits can force their way through the German defence.
Last time I asked one of my regular gaming group what he fancied playing next time we got together, he said that he'd very much like to do an amphibious assault in the Pacific. That, at the time, was a bit of a "no can do, amigo", so we ended up getting as close to it as I could with the Gela game that you can read about here.
The request, however, stuck with me. I had Americans, I had Japanese...all I needed was an island and some of the specialist landing equipment that the Marines used.
As is so often the case, that great supermarket that is Salute provided all. I picked up a beachfront gaming mat and, at incredibly cheap prices, the Gator's Amtracks boxset and a box of another three American landing craft. With the promised game looming (next week) it was time to build and paint up the Amtracks.
When I first opened the box set, I was, to put it blankly, deeply impressed. The box contains seven hulls, and fourteen top decks, allowing you to build either the LVT A(1) version with the Stuart turret (37mm gun) or the LVT A(4) version with the HWC M8 turret (75mm gun)...with the two top decks being interchangeable meaning that you could field one to seven of each vehicle in any particular game. Now that, I thought, is a well thought out, good value offering: jolly well done Battlefront.
I still think that, but unfortunately have to give Battlefront full marks for the intention but a much, much lower score for the execution :(
Now I'm not a brilliant modeler, but I can build most 15mm kits, and can even drill and pin large walkers together so that they stand up unassisted. I have built a thousand tanks, quite a few buildings, a handful of aircraft, loads of sci-fi stuff...you name it...and I've built kits based on resin, metal, plastic, wood...you get the picture.
Could I get the top decks of these Amtracks to fit into the hulls? Could I bollocks, if you'll excuse the expression.
They just don't bloody fit.
As I don't have some kind of rotary grinder thing (how careless of me!) I had to file and carve, and carve and file, and eventually just goddamn-well hammer the decks into place, with resultant cracked hulls, damaged tracks etc.
They just don't bloody fit, I say again!
I ended up abandoning my happy thoughts of having fourteen decks interchangeable on seven hulls, and knock together a platoon of three A(1)s, a platoon of three A(4)s and a command A(1). No interchanging: all firmly hammered/glued/green-stuffed into place.
Okay, so they look good, and I still have seven cracking vehicles, but I haven't got what I was offered, and I'm miffed. Anyway, buy at your own peril, and here's my finished tanks:
Oh, and the box doesn't come with any decals either: I had to find them all from spares...but I'm just being narky now!
Here's a quick photographic battle report from Burt Minorrot's excellent, Spanish-language "Burt's Stuff" blog.
As the title suggests, there's a ruined factory to be fought over. Click on the pic below to see all.
Another great I Ain't Been Shot, Mum battle report from Mark Luther: more 6mm action on the eastern front.
Click on the pic below to see all...
For those of you who haven't spotted it yet, there's now a Facebook group devoted to I Ain't Been Shot, Mum.
The group already has 200 members, so promises to be a good place to swap info, ask rules questions etc.
As an example of the sort of content that's on there, Paul Beccas has posted a short video report of his first game of IABSM, which you can also watch below...
It's also quite a good site on which to place mini-AAR, such as Sigur Skwarl's four pictures from his first game of IABSM, using the first scenario from the rulebook:
Great little battle report from Mike Whitaker, who is trying out his concept of IABSM Lite.
You can read about it on his blog Trouble at T'Mill by clicking on its name, or here on Vis Lardica by clicking on the picture, below.
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
Welcome to Vis Lardica, a not-for-profit website mostly dedicated to the company-sized wargaming rules produced by the TooFatLardies, but encompassing my other gaming interests as well.
If you need to contact me, you can do so at:
vislardica@gmail.com
If you have enjoyed visiting this site, please add a link to it on your own wargaming blog: www.vislardica.com.
