IABSM AAR: For the Honour of France

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:

 

IABSM AAR: Moiste Cabbage & a Quick Cognac by Robert Avery

Here a battle report from a game played a couple of weeks ago featuring a scenario originally written for the TFL 2005 Xmas Special.

It's France 1940. A German probe has discovered an unguarded crossing over the river Moiste. They dig in and call for reinforcements, but the French have spotted them and send in Captain Cognac and his men to re-take the crossing.

Click on the picture, below, to see all:

French Lorraine L38 Carriers

Part of my loot from Salute: a couple of Lorraine L38 carriers.

These are (badly photographed!) Battlefront models in resin i.e. come as one complete piece each and mounted on a base. Nice figures: paint up easily, and the integral base saves a lot of time.

God knows if I'll ever use them, mind you, but they were half-price in a bargain box, so an absolute must buy anyway!

25mm SA-34 Portee

I've now almost finished all the models I bought in the Battlefront early war sale. Here are a couple more: two 25mm SA-34 Portees for a French Escadron de Fusiliers Portees. 

These are fine models that paint up beautifully. Although the picture is not a particularly good one, there's some nice layering on the crew's uniforms and helmets, and you can see that the brown patches that form part of the vehicles' camouflage has come out quite well too.

Right, back to the sci-fi figures now... 

Panhard-Schneider PT-16

Over the weekend I managed to finish the first of the models bought in the recent Battlefront 'early war 3-for-2' sale: four Panhard-Schneider PT-16 armoured cars for my 1940 French army.

Nice models that go together and paint up well, and should be ideal for a game I'm planning involving two reconnaissance forces bumping up against each other.

Some MMModels' Vehicles

Originally posted 26th July 2014

Anyone who knows me knows that I love the 'tail' part of an army as well as its 'teeth'. Well, a couple of months ago I updated the manufacturers' directory with MMModels, a group of wargamers who make their own models where none are available and offer them to the public on an on-demand basis, whose catalogue includes lots of lovely 'tail'. Here's a quick review of the first models off the production line:

First up were some British vehicles all based on the Austin Tilley chassis. They are a staff car, a utility vehicle and a truck. All three are lovely little vehicles with plenty of detail that paint up nicely. Recommended. You can see all three in my entry in the painting challenge (as well as everything else mentioned below) but here's the Austin Tilley truck, with a Soviet infantryman (what I had handy!) for scale:

Next were some more British vehicles, this time based on the Scammell heavy tractor chassis. They are the Scammell Artillery Tractor and the Scammell Heavy Recovery vehicle. These were not quite so pleasing. Maybe it is me, but I couldn't get the back wheels to sit properly, and I think the front wheels look a bit Heath-Robinson and weedy too. There were also quite a few bubbles in the resin. Still, it's good to have some proper heavy artillery tractors, and the recovery vehicle looks okay too. Here's Ivan, again, with each:

Now onto the Germans. Only thing I've painted so far are some Opel Blitz buses. Very nice models that, again, paint up nicely. I really liked these, and will use them for very late war eastern front games, either as scenery or asersatz troop carriers. The picture below is a little misleading: the buses are actually quite a nice size.

Finally there are some Peugeot trucks. I'm afraid I didn't like these very much at all. There were also quite a lot of bubbles in the resin. Anyway, they paint up okay, but aren't a patch on the trucks available from other manufacturers. On the other hand, they are quite cheap: £4 each unpainted.

So a mixed review so far for MMModels. Lots of unique models not available anywhere else, good pricing, but variable quality (all would look fine on the tabletop though).


Autocannon de 75mm

Originally posted 19th November 2011

Some Battlefront French. With the launch of the Blitzkrieg book, they brought out all these weird and wonderful units...and these are a prime example. These are Autocannon de 75mm mounted on De Dion trucks. I'm not sure how long they'll last on the battlefield, but I do love the look!

French 47mm Anti-Tank Guns

Originally posted 1st May 2011

As those of you who have seen my collection know, most of my WW2 figures are Battlefront. I like their slightly cartoon-y style, and find they take the paint very easily. As I also very much enjoy playing the early war period of WW2, I was therefore chuffed to bits when Battlefront re-visited the period: I looked forward to filling all the gaps in my German, French and BEF armies, and to adding Poles.

My first purchase were some French 47mm anti-tank guns...and this is where the horror starts. Quelle disappointment! Although the guns are lovely (and build easily) the crews are horrible, simply horrible! I was so moved I even posted on TMP about how bad they were, and was relieved to find that many other people feel the same way. Most advised me to keep the guns and crew them with Old Glory or Peter Pig.

Well, I was going to do that, then couldn't be bothered to go through all the hassle of ordering etc when I wanted to paint them now! So I kept the BF block-monster crews and did the best I could. Here they are:

Gallery: WW2 French

Originally posted 11th January 2009

I have now added the French from 1940 to the gallery, and begun adding the Soviets.

I've also increased the size of the thumbnails for the other armies.

Still to come:  the German Wehrmacht units (a big job) ; the rest of the Soviets (that might also take some time) ; British Airborne forces; and the Americans (another huge job) . Keep checking back for regular updates!  

Panhard armoured cars

AAR: Four added

Originally posted 19th April 2008

After a work- and baby-enforced absence, a whole raft of battle reports added:

  • French vs Yanks in Tunisia courtesy of Max Maxwell and fort Perdu Encore.
  • Zutpeyne with the Gloucesters again, from Jan Spoor.
  • The Vyazma or Bust scenario pack features with action at Izdeshkovo from Steve Burt and from near Belyj from Huscarle.
  • A battle from Cymru Am Byth: the Welsh Guards in action near the Albert Canal, courtesy of Oddball.