IABSM AAR: Operation Compass #05: Tummar West

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Another quick battle report from our friends at the Stipsicz Hussars.

They are currently playing through the Operation Compass scenario pack, and have hit scenario #05: Tummar West.

The "three day raid" is now fully underway. Next on the British list is the Italian camp at Tummar West. Click on the pic below to see how they do.

IABSM AAR: Operation Compass #04: Nibeiwa

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A quick battle report from the Stipsicz Hussars, whose excellent blog can be reached by clicking here.

The Hussars return to the sands of the Western Desert to play out the fourth scenario of the Operation Compass scenario pack: the British/Indian attack on the camp of Nibeiwa.

Click on the picture below to see all:

Those of you who read the report will note that the Hussars comment that all the scenarios in the Compass pack so far seem very biased towards the British.

Well, that's because they are designed that way for two reasons: firstly, they are historically accurate; and secondly, the idea is to give the British players the sense of superiority (and the Italian players the sense of inferiority) that were such characteristics of the campaign as a whole. It gets more difficult for the British as the pack goes on!

IABSM AAR: Avanti Spumanti!

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Great battle report from Dr. the Viking of a game set in the Western Desert: defending Brits versus attacking Italians.

This report appeared both on Dr. the V's blog, which you can visit by clicking here; and on the Lead Adventure Forum, another good source of wargaming chat.

Click on the picture below to see the report in full:

IABSM AAR: The Road to Fort Capuzzo

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The Stipsicz Hussars play another of the scenarios from the Operation Compass scenaripo pack for I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!

This time they play the first scenario in the pack: the Road to Fort Capuzzo, featuring a British attack on a position manned by Italian/Libyan colonial troops. Click on the pic to see all:

IABSM AAR: The Road From Fort Capuzzo

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As those who follow this blog will know, I have recently painted a squadron of plastic British A13 cruiser tanks from Zvezda in desert colours. I was naturally keen to get them onto the tabletop, so invited my regular opponent, Neil, round for a battle.

I'd determined to use one of the two 'all tank' scenarios from the Operation Compass scenario pack (written by me and available to purchase from all good retailers: well, here and the TFL main site!) so carefully printed off the pages we'd need for Scenario 10: The Road From Fort Capuzzo.

It wasn't until I'd laid out the terrain and turned to getting the figures out that I realised that Scenario 10 doesn't feature any A13s: just A9s and A10s!

No bother: the newly painted tanks will have to wait their turn as my BEF tanks demonstrate what they can do re-tasked to the desert.

So click here or on the picture below to see what happens when Rae Leakey and his tank squadron drive towards the road from Fort Capuzzo in December 1940: an interesting game that takes place up in the blue in the dead of the night...

Rae Leaky up in the blue in the dead of the night

Rae Leaky up in the blue in the dead of the night

Libyans for North Africa

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Originally posted 11th April 2014

I have had a packet of Battlefront's Libyan/Italian colonial infantry hanging around in the lead mountain forever, but waiting for various orders to arrive from far, far away moved them slowly to the front of the queue until I really had no choice but to paint them.

These are nice models: the officers and NCOs in particular. I don't think I've quite got the skin colour right, but I do think they will look good on the tabletop. Time to dust off the Operation Compass scenario pack again!

TFL Gamesday: Tobruk

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Originally posted 16th June 2011

The TFL Games Day 2011 took place on Sunday 12th June, with the action being a re-fight of the Commonwealth break-in to Tobruk in January 1941.  Seven games were fought during the day. In the morning, the Commonwealth troops broke through the Italian perimeter. A lunchtime interlude saw the Matildas of 7TRT attempting to suppress the main Italian gun line. Finally, the Commonwealth troops fanned out, with three games charting their progress inside the perimeter.

Full reports of the day's play, plus tons of photos!

Italian Fusilieri

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Originally posted 29th April 2011

So I put the bank holiday weekend to good use by finishing another platoon of Italian Fusilieri for the forthcoming TFL Western Desert Games Day. I have now painted literally scores of Battlefront Italians now, and am always pleased how they turn out. 

For those interested, although I have used a variety of dark and light yellows on my Italians, this platoon is painted using GW Tausept Ochre washed with GW Devlan Mud and then highlighted with GW Desert Yellow. All equipment is also base coated, washed and highlighted; as is flesh. Means you paint each soldier twice, but I like the effect.

Lancia Armoured Trucks

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Originally posted 22nd April 2011

I've been looking for some Lancia armoured trucks for some time and have finally decided to plump for the QRF WW1 models that are available. 

This model fairly accurately reflects an early Lancia armoured truck, but I really wanted the later 1ZM version which featured a wire cutter stretched from bonnet to top of cab and dispensed (for weight's sake) with the armoured rear wheel covering. Twelve of these were sent to Libya in the early 1930's, so could conceivably still have been going in 1940/41.

As for the paint scheme...well, it's not very accurate. Most Italian equipment was still painted dark green in 1940/41 rather than the desert yellow shown below. Amusingly, the white wall front tyre and nifty turret decoration are probably correct: the black and white photo I have seen from Benghazi shows a dark (presumably) green truck with white wall tyres and a turret that is definitely made up of two colours in the pattern shown below separated by a white line. It's not too much of a stretch to think that they might have been green and red to make the Italian flag!