SdKfz 7 Half-Tracks

Finally managed to get some units off the painting table and into the finished pile!

Here are four SdKfz 7 half-tracks from Battlefront:

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These are intended as tows for my early war German artillery: I painted up four 10.5cm le FH18 howitzers last year that are in need of transport.

Those of you who know these sorts of things will know that that sort of howitzer was actually pulled by the smaller SdKfz 6 half-track but, as far as I know, Battlefront don’t do those, and I got these in one of their 40% off sales…which shows how long they’ve been waiting for a coat of paint!

What’s the difference between the two, you ask?

Well, the SdKfz 7 is bigger: 50cms longer, 15cms wider and 14cms taller, and weighs a third more. There were also a lot more of them: about 12,000 built versus about 3,500.

Hopefully no-one will notice when they’re on the tabletop!

IABSM AAR: Near Dunkirk

Great little pictorial battle report lifted from the I Ain’t Been Shot Mum Facebook Group.

Phil Turner’s game featured the British trying to hold off the Germans somewhere near Dunkirk. Click on the image below to see all.

IABSM AAR: IABSM via Zoom!

With no sign of any real-life games on the horizon, I decided to bite the bullet and ask to join a virtual game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum run by my friend Bevan.

My previous reluctance to try anything virtual was mainly down to the fact that I spend a lot of the day working via Zoom now, and although it is truly a marvelous communication tool, it’s also quite draining to use. Nevertheless, with the Beardless King (daughter #2) busy with schoolwork and Kavan (daughter #1’s boyfriend) back at Uni, it was Zoom or nowt!

The scenario was a simple one set in France 1940. I would play the Germans, and would start the game in situ defending a bridge against an anticipated attack by a French armoured column. At my disposal I had three Big Men, a platoon of infantry, a platoon of anti-tank guns, and a support platoon consisting of a couple of MMG teams.

Click on the picture below to see what happened:

IABSM AAR: Barbarossa 1941 Solo

Here’s another excellent I Ain’t Been Shot Mum AAR and video AAR from Alex Sotheran, this time set in 1941 as Operation Barbarossa gets under way. The game is taken from Alex’s very readable Storm of Steel blog.

Unusually, it’s not the Germans that are facing off against the Soviets, but the Roumanians: some nice-looking infantry supported by R-2 tanks.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Kursk 1943 Solo

Here’s a great After Action Report from Alex Sotheran, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group and Alex’s equally excellent Storm of Steel blog.

It’s Kursk 1943, and Alex plays through a solo game with the Germans attacking a Soviet-held village. There are plenty of “big cats” out to play, and there’s even a link to the YouTube video of the game.

Click on the picture below to see all. Highly recommended.

IABSM AAR: Belgium 1944

Here a set of pcitures taken from the IABSM Facebook Group showing moments from Rod Redden’s latest game. It’s Belgium 1944, and 11th Armoured Division with 1st Airborne support takes on 2nd SS Division.

IABSM AAR: Poland 1944

Over the last couple of weeks, Des Darkin has been playing out an excellent looking game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum on the IABSM Facebook Group.

I say IABSM, but Des has actually been playing using his variant I Ain’t Been CoC’d Mum Yet, which uses dice rather than card activation. That variant is available in the Lard 2019 Magazine.

Click on the picture below to a full AAR, combining the four posts that Des made as he played through the game…

IABSM AAR: Battle for Mount Ormel

Here’s a great battle report from Dan Albrecht and friends, first published on the IABSM Facebook Group.

The game is taken from the Falaise Firestorm scenanario book from Skirmish Campaigns, and involves action around Mount Ormel in the Falaise Gap.

Click on the pic below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Operation Compass #13: Bardia III

Here’s another I Ain’t Been Shot Mum battle report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog. It’s another adaptation of one of the scenarios from the Operation Compass scenario pack: a third scenario from the Australian assault on the Italian fortress of Bardia.

16th Australian Infantry Brigade are within the Italian perimeter and have made some progress against a fairly irresolute defence.  The Aussies have followed a wadi and discovered a second line of Italian defences ready for them.  Click on the picture below to see what happens next:

IABSM AAR: Anzio 'Wildcat to Whale' #02: Carroceto

Here’s a great I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum AAR from Tim Whitworth and his friends at The War Room featuring the second scenario from the Anzio ‘Wildcat to Whale’ scenario pack.

At dawn on 25th January 1944, the Guards Brigade, headed by Number 1 Company of the Grenadiers and with Shermans from one squadron of 46th Royal Tank Regiment (crewed mainly by Welshmen from Liverpool) in support headed back towards Aprilia. Using the embankment of the disused railway line (the “Bowling Alley”) as their start point, they first had to take Carroceto.

Click on the picture below to see how they did…

IABSM AAR: Operation Goodwood Day 2

Here’s a great little battle report from Julian Whippy and friends, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group, featuring a game they managed to put on despite the current COVID restrictions.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Operation Compass: Bardia/One

Here’s another After Action Report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog. It’s a Western Desert scenario taken from the Operation Compass scenario pack and is actually the second time that AWIC has played through the game.

Click on the picture below to see all:

Pictures from Virtual Lard 3

What with COVID-19 putting paid to wargaming shows across the country, it’s good to see some remote events still taking place. One such that happened last weekend was Virtual Lard 3, and one game run there was an I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum scenario by Mike Whitaker.

The game was set in the Italian theatre. Here are some photos:

That didn't half startle the players when I showed them this camera view.

Lumbering Battlefront SturmPanzer IV approaching between Battlefront (left) and Tom Grenfell resin (right) walls.

Windmill: Najewitz 3D model, printed by Tom Grenfell.
Ruin/medical post to left of Battlefront church, and church walls: tabletop-arts.de resin

Town hall: unknown ebay resin.
Building with balcony: Empires at War
Building with creeper (centre left): CR Ninive resin
Kubelwagen and staff car: 3D prints from https://www.thingiverse.com/m_bergman designs

Orange shuttered building in rear is Najewitz 3D design printed by Tom Grenfell.

Church: Battlefront
Churchyard walls, ruined building just to right of spire, building to right of town hall: tabletop-art.de resin
Single story barn just N of that: Najewitz 3D print courtesy of Tom Grenfell (as is the building hidden by the spire)

Buildings, left to right/top to bottom:
Farm: Empires at War MDF, heavily fillered
Odd square building: unknown eBay resin
Twin roofed house by bridge: C R Ninive resin
Single story with courtyard: 3d print, own design
Town hall: unknown eBay
Two story with lots of windows: unknown eBay
Another own design 3d print
Another C R Nivive resin
Pair of Empires at War MDF
Small house at corner of walls: own design 3d print
Large house at bottom: unknown eBay

IABSM AAR: The Dunes West of Buc Buc

Here’s another After Action Report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog. It’s a Western Desert scenario, but not one taken from the Operation Compass scenario book..

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Hill 227.9 NW of Ponyri

Here’s another great 6mm I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum battle report from Mark Luther, fought remotely due to the C19 lockdown.

The encounter is based on the lopsided engagement in the area between Step' and Hill 227.9 on the morning of July 6, 1943 involving the 107th Tank Brigade and the StuG IIIs of StuG Abt. 245 and off-table Tigers of s.Pz. Abt .505.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Operation Compass: The Invasion of Egypt

Here’s another great battle report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus website featuring a game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum taken from the Operation Compass scenario pack.

It’s 14th September 1940, and the Italians have finally begun their invasion of Egypt. A huge column of Italians - motorcyclists in front, followed by infantry in trucks, followed by tanks - has streamed across the border in almost a parade ground formation. Five divisions-worth heading into Egypt.

In front of them is a mixed force of British troops - infantry, artillery and tanks - with orders to slow them down. Click on the picture below to see what happened:

IABSM AAR: Operation Compass: Fort Capuzzo

Blogger “A Wargamer in Cyprus” has been playing through the Operation Compass scenario pack. I haven’t been able to get hold of him to ask permission, so I hope he doesn’t mind, but here’s a quick report of his game using a slightly amended version of Scenario #01: The Road to Fort Capuzzo.

Hostilities have just been declared, and the 11th Hussars are on the rampage. Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Probing Attack

Here’s another great little battle report from Chris Lane, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group, and featuring more action in Malaya.

Here a British probing attack gets tangled with Japanese pickets. Click on the picture below to see what happens…

IABSM AAR: Where's Wailley

Two of my regular wargaming opponents, Bevan and Dave, turned their guns on each other: playing a game based on the famous British counter-attack near Arras on 21st May 1940.

The British attack had already broken through the main road west from Arras – the N25 - and this was an attempt to close the other viable road west that Rommel would have to use to supply his over stretched tanks.  This road (the D3) runs through the village of Wailley just west of Arras, so the British mission was to take the village and block the road. The German brief was to keep the road open at all costs.

Unfortunately, Dave’s photographs of the game disappeared into the technological ether, so here’s a shot from one of Michael Curtis’ excellent Arras games. Click on it to read Dave’s report on his battle…

IABSM AAR: Take the Hills

Another great I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum battle report from the keyboard of Chris Lane, and taken from the IABSM Facebook Group.

Their game this time saw part two of what has now become their fall of Singapore campaign. In this battle, a full strength British company was tasked of taking two strategic hills while the Japanese (briefly) rested. The Japanese commander was tasked with holding the hills but with the option of taking a junction for a major victory.

Click on the picture below to see all…