tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65917432443468952592024-03-13T03:05:47.184-07:00New ByzantiumOf what is past, or passing, or to come...freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-376756274784954042024-01-07T04:29:00.000-08:002024-03-12T15:56:32.317-07:00The Trans-Syldavian War of 1938 starts......<p>One of the things the Tintin books oddly do not cover is Trans-Syldavia, that region north of the Syldavian Alps whose history which has been covered in this blog over the years. Now as you all know, in 1867 Trans-Syldavia was awarded to Borduria as part of hth Austro-Hungarian compromise and in WW1 Borduria supported the Austro Hungarian empire (when it looked like they would win) , whereas Syldavia had (belatedly) supported the Allies and was thus rewarded with Trans-Syldavia at the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. </p><p>Of course, ever since then, Bordurian foreign policy as been to get Trans-Syldavia back, as it had given that most coveted of things, a route to the sea. When the attempt of Anschluss failed (covered in the Tintin book "King Ottokar's Sceptre" and <span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" dir="auto" lang="de-DE">Kûrvi-Tasch</span> putsched Musstler out of power Borduria's aims were reduced to getting Trans-Syldavia back. Borduria has been "testing" the Syldavians by execrcsing" on teh borders and occasionally "accidently" going across it. <br /></p><p>News hitting the wires today, it looks like phony war may be over.......our correspondent in Klow travelling to Szohod yesterday, had just breakfasted at the Hotel XXXX in the Syldavian border town of Kustomzs and was travelling the to the nearby border post when Bordurian cavalry clattered past racing the other way. On nearing border the post he realised it was now a Bordurian operational HQ and started to take some photographs when Bordurian troops raced up and ut him in the cell at the border post, along with a the Syldavian borders staff and a few hapless civilians caught up in the day. <br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQgufGVJP4AXt_veaIwrbNj0wTxhlquixkZX_zacee6ssKnaS5IRHkKoqdMoZSvPMQteS3NLj6V-t6UTaCPcQQcJAay2YmEuNaGoFEo19ceuL493rCtqPFb-fCI8hohz6-V0-JvZGcRdZ85mNdxuc4gQCE1ipZz0eWeKeijOvhZrNUCPRr-yaRX2SMDA/s640/Taschists.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="583" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQgufGVJP4AXt_veaIwrbNj0wTxhlquixkZX_zacee6ssKnaS5IRHkKoqdMoZSvPMQteS3NLj6V-t6UTaCPcQQcJAay2YmEuNaGoFEo19ceuL493rCtqPFb-fCI8hohz6-V0-JvZGcRdZ85mNdxuc4gQCE1ipZz0eWeKeijOvhZrNUCPRr-yaRX2SMDA/w437-h583/Taschists.jpg" width="437" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Senior Bordurian Army staff at the border post near Kustomsz, as Bordurian armoured cars roll over into Syldavia</i><br /></p><p>Fortunately the Bordurians were too busy with invading to pay them much notice, and in all the chaos no one had checked if the Syldavian border guards had keys to the cell (they did) and - no one is quite sure how - teh guards and he made their escape while the Bordurian officers were at lunch, making their way back carefully across country and he saw some of the action unfold. <br /></p><p>Arriving long after dark (and nearly getting shot by jumpy Syldavian pickets near Kustomsz and wired this report.</p><p>"We escaped from the border post by crawling along a ditch for several hundred meters and them making a run for some woods .From there we saw Bordurian armouerd cars and horse artillery racing into Syldavia along the road to Kustomz. Soon affter that Bordurian infantry started marching through. We were nearly discovered when Bordurian infantry started moving close to the woods on the other side. They were Mountain troops, the Syldavian customs officials said. <br /></p><p> <br /></p><p> </p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-79699021720529750092023-05-07T23:08:00.006-07:002023-05-08T12:44:52.010-07:00Interbellum Imagi-Nations in the Balkans - O Group Rules<p>Yesterday saw the clash between a number of our Interwar Imagi-Nations
being built - Syldavia and Burgundy faced up to Borduria and the
Austro-Bavarians somewhere in the Balkans, using O Group rules.<br /> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOdsklZ-hnJPgxSaCMs779--i1QUAXHxxeeFJgvzvFC7w9oto-Y7eP-2S_W3tZSlQcG_2DgMQdj5_cWDtH-DsBzg2jxNj4yaF_uMsTDwo_ofIlGBj0qPdR0eNok6t-1XfZWTqv7EzjnCajbamk6bTcgj4NK7JUttKZe3-txALleeZTWv2rNAH9VXuF1Q/s815/Burgundians.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="769" height="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOdsklZ-hnJPgxSaCMs779--i1QUAXHxxeeFJgvzvFC7w9oto-Y7eP-2S_W3tZSlQcG_2DgMQdj5_cWDtH-DsBzg2jxNj4yaF_uMsTDwo_ofIlGBj0qPdR0eNok6t-1XfZWTqv7EzjnCajbamk6bTcgj4NK7JUttKZe3-txALleeZTWv2rNAH9VXuF1Q/w573-h606/Burgundians.jpg" width="573" /></a></div><p></p><p><i>Burgundian Independent tanks and Rolls Royce armoured cars support Syldavian infantry. In the far disance, Bordurian AH-1V tankettes advance along the main road to Sprodj </i><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p>This Imagi-Nation project is mainly concocted to allow troops dressed in unlikely uniforms from countries that never existed to use weapons that never fought. The background assumes a somewhat different Treaty of Versailles, plus some regions of Europe unilaterally declaring indpendence in the chaos after WW1, yet another Civil War in the US, plus Red Russian attempts to retake their territories on the North American West Coast. So far Syldavia, Borduria, Byzantium, Burgundy, Austro-Bavaria and both sides the US 2nd Civil war have taken the field. </p><p>In the spirit of Imagi-nations, it's locate your country, design your flag and uniform, pick your tanks and guns, and assert your right to rule! <br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiim51tbC6lGRXAqYZ0Kvyv1o83rbl-6dnWjZwTLCBFrbOSba8MSCK2Stx762qzQc71jQxMpH5FpW4wjrqyQTcsOviWdhqlt2NzV9eR2DaL5ZN9clMVEpzvSVacbdkgDJ8EQr-77hlnGl9PXScZRYNYZ_TiBiUcRRSGUDzSXm0cpRIuJcnjL9EBTyAqnw/s767/Burgundians%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="767" height="431" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiim51tbC6lGRXAqYZ0Kvyv1o83rbl-6dnWjZwTLCBFrbOSba8MSCK2Stx762qzQc71jQxMpH5FpW4wjrqyQTcsOviWdhqlt2NzV9eR2DaL5ZN9clMVEpzvSVacbdkgDJ8EQr-77hlnGl9PXScZRYNYZ_TiBiUcRRSGUDzSXm0cpRIuJcnjL9EBTyAqnw/w625-h431/Burgundians%202.jpg" width="625" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><i>Burgundians with tankette support moving through the cornfield to attack Bordurians in the woods</i><br /></p><p> For the cognoscenti, the battle pitted Burgundian Char D's, Independent Tanks, Rolls Royce armoured cars and Polish TKS tankettes and 2 pounder guns against the Indiana Jones tanks of Austro-Bavaria (ever cautious, they have gone for upgrading trusted technology) and the Czech-equipped Bordurians with AH-1V tankettes, Vz 30 six wheel armoured cars and Lt 35 tanks, with French 25mm and 47mm AT guns</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlo9mhIA52hBLsH8u-vzFLPeI7XMRpyS_rNIA2FrYypKUD8nQfY5kcE4o6T2aFZ7Pzof3v8Wnucshk6llryresdyVsMUFZYiNza1Pb_k-IwFJXeJgMTj5J6miwj-Z0eBujtbbdTt4qN6BliWtzvuX9QY1MKu42Kz4DJR8y_sYAwR-wQPWN7_Tq1Q36jQ/s640/O%20group%20Imagi%20Nation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlo9mhIA52hBLsH8u-vzFLPeI7XMRpyS_rNIA2FrYypKUD8nQfY5kcE4o6T2aFZ7Pzof3v8Wnucshk6llryresdyVsMUFZYiNza1Pb_k-IwFJXeJgMTj5J6miwj-Z0eBujtbbdTt4qN6BliWtzvuX9QY1MKu42Kz4DJR8y_sYAwR-wQPWN7_Tq1Q36jQ/w544-h408/O%20group%20Imagi%20Nation.jpg" width="544" /></a></div><br /><i> Czech vz 30 armoured cars of the Bordurian Splozh Huszars attempt to outflank the Burgundian left</i><br /><p></p><p> And by the whiskers of Kurvi Tasch, it was a glorious Bordurian victory!</p><p>We had to build a fairly comprehensive set of data on all the 1920's/30's equipment used (getting data on the Indiana Jones Tank was tricky) but O Grou is vfairly good for thi as ts a "category" based ruleset - you just have to decicde whether the tanks had thin armour, negligently thin armour, or ludicrously thin armour<br /></p><p>Next time - inventing our own army org structures...<br /></p><p><br /></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-53903617490437371502023-04-16T03:57:00.007-07:002023-05-08T12:53:06.562-07:00Borodinette - Valour & Fortitude, 1812<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpBVGz5fEPtjNciqT1AIUAO7WkuXBuaaytdGPUgBebd9XaflOKXyYrpwc5HQeIFflVBhZiX5oHLQi8jNvaycl153ltdekXNrRXQhb2nwN0N1YLMCz8ienXTOahcHvDFmEwogFO914pNEv2BM0eUCt6_m0EH6OIjsqNlbgBDjHhqsaxXprK8xMAh0gXQ/s2016/Borodino%2025mm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpBVGz5fEPtjNciqT1AIUAO7WkuXBuaaytdGPUgBebd9XaflOKXyYrpwc5HQeIFflVBhZiX5oHLQi8jNvaycl153ltdekXNrRXQhb2nwN0N1YLMCz8ienXTOahcHvDFmEwogFO914pNEv2BM0eUCt6_m0EH6OIjsqNlbgBDjHhqsaxXprK8xMAh0gXQ/w596-h794/Borodino%2025mm.jpg" width="596" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i> Played in glorious 25mm on a 12 x 6 table. </i><i>Russians on the left, French on the right.</i></p><p>Borodino refought using Valour & Fortitude rules, with about 1/3rd of the battalions / cavalry regiments actually used. Biggest game we have tried so far with V&F, c 20 Brigades on table for each side. Scenario plan & layout was adapted from a Command & Colours one.</p><p>It was maginifcent, and it was (model) war! <br /></p><div dir="auto"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1swvt13 x1l90r2v" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":rs8:"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x xudqn12 x3x7a5m x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto"><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Rules flowed very well. At this scale it becomes all about retiring units and entire brigades before they collapse so you can <span><a tabindex="-1"></a></span>reform them in the rear, and anticipating where pressure will come in advance. You also really undrstand the value of heavy cavalry, as you can move them around the field quickly to solve problems.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">In the game, the Russian error of over-egging their their well-protected right flank (bottom left in picture) was really noticeable. This was pounced upon by the French, who did not copy Napoleon's error of charging up the centre in the face of 2 hilltop fortifications but instead mounted a huge assault on the Russan left flank (top left of picture) and a big feinting attack on the right flank. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">With the home fronts calling we had to stop after c 6 hours of hard pounding. But it was already clear that the main Russian objective in reality, of killing enough French to seriously damage their campaign, was being achieved and in fact at this point in reality the Russian army started to retire to achieve their 2nd objectve of keeping an army in the field.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span data-offset-key="3dbmo-0-0"><span data-text="true">Historically Napoleon refused to commit his Imperial Guard and (maybe) destroy the Russians at the end of the day, which some of his generals and many armchair generals and historians see as a big error. If our game was anything to go by, with parts of the Guard already committed and the Russians still a viable force, Boney may well have also wanted to make sure he also kept an army in being!</span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span data-offset-key="3dbmo-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span data-offset-key="7bduq-2-0"><span data-text="true">Fortitude before Valour, and all that....</span></span><span data-offset-key="3dbmo-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> <br /></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><p></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-37543903173164554002023-04-10T12:26:00.009-07:002023-05-08T12:52:30.105-07:00Valour & Fortitude in the Peninsula<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9drlufyTiUgTb5J3Jo1NgqACQ4YgnBRh5RaHO22OimBkHYYAhx4oL09mH3wPxuRWbox-pCEemvDyGxtAGwGgJynKD5WqJhsVf43luikvoLbkkI-VHxdxQRswf5s7WYx5x8E6vWpg_xJceASooQA9nEEvvq13vpvHyPYQaF2vpnIjPTt-nm1KoSl1FNw/s770/Mike%20%20V&F%20Day%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="753" height="635" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9drlufyTiUgTb5J3Jo1NgqACQ4YgnBRh5RaHO22OimBkHYYAhx4oL09mH3wPxuRWbox-pCEemvDyGxtAGwGgJynKD5WqJhsVf43luikvoLbkkI-VHxdxQRswf5s7WYx5x8E6vWpg_xJceASooQA9nEEvvq13vpvHyPYQaF2vpnIjPTt-nm1KoSl1FNw/w622-h635/Mike%20%20V&F%20Day%201.jpg" width="622" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Valour & Fortitude game, 25mm Anglo-Portuguese vs Franco-Spanish on 12' x 5' table<br /></i></p><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">2 Corps of a Franco-Spanish-Italian-Wurttemburg-German army attacked 1 1/2 Corps of an Anglo Portuguese army (complete with Brunswickers). And when we say Corps, we mean each battalion on the table is 16 - 24 figures. None of this 1 stand = 1 battalion stuff....<br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The British were on the Heights, but they had to take the town - only problem was a French army had arrived, and - worse luck - its Spanish allies arrived in bound 1. <br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Though outnumbered the plucky British were doing quite well - until a Spanish priest saw a vison and incited a bunch of peasants to attack a Portuguese gun battery, which they destroyed and they then proceeded to sweep down the line helping destroy a Portuguese infantry battalion and a British Hussar regiment, which set off a domino like collapse of the Portuguese Division, and then the British right flank. (Lesson - do not ignore Spanish Guerillas that dice 6 on their "Unpredictable" score….)</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">By day's end, (literally - took us c 11am - 6 pm to play) with Spanish cavalry pouring into the British rear and nearly all the Britsh brigades wavering or worse, it was all over and the Britsh ran for the hills.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">This game let us try out the British and Spanish army lists which we havent used before, as well as the new <a href="https://www.perry-miniatures.com/valour-fortitude/vf-army-sheets/">French & British Allies </a>list with Portuguese, Brunswickers, Italians, Wurttemburgers / Germans and Guerillas - and a Congreve rocket! </div><p style="text-align: left;">Very happy with the V&F rules, they handle these big battles well, though I think they may need to expand the 4 pages of the rulebook with another page to add a bunch finesses<i> <br /></i></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-45714445771617552342023-03-30T06:10:00.004-07:002023-03-30T06:20:19.482-07:00Triumph!<p> </p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCQWbby7Xg3MFc5dTd6wfDch1A8PC5mdNoI7YnI1vrdx--2wqVRUhLaMuZE5by1bRVWgJ3LANRGK8kBvMlrKXaYT8M4t3SFP-9qifjo0rDNX_PfWokTc5fIj3ns0Rm-7SI_wHO_2HMacrx7IqT6Kp_A1Ao4jYkdh00pqm9K2pcwYaqthV8IY8g2ZRnKg/s1334/Carthage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="1334" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCQWbby7Xg3MFc5dTd6wfDch1A8PC5mdNoI7YnI1vrdx--2wqVRUhLaMuZE5by1bRVWgJ3LANRGK8kBvMlrKXaYT8M4t3SFP-9qifjo0rDNX_PfWokTc5fIj3ns0Rm-7SI_wHO_2HMacrx7IqT6Kp_A1Ao4jYkdh00pqm9K2pcwYaqthV8IY8g2ZRnKg/w632-h152/Carthage.jpg" width="632" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Above - glorious Atlantic & Airfix plastic figures, source of many ancient starter armies in the 70's</i> <br /></p><p> </p><p>Went to the <a href="http://www.rafwa.co.uk/index.html">RAF Wargames Association</a> annual day to play 2 days of Big Triumph, the Triumph ancients rules expanded for larger armies. This was played in 20mm which meant I could get out my old skool <a href="http://plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=95">Atlantic plastic army,</a> consisting of their Greek, Roman and Trojan sets plus Airfix & Revell Gauls - all modelled as that great "anything goes in it" of Ancient armies, the Carthaginians,.</p><p>The scenario was "Africa v Rome" - what would have happened if the African nations united against the Roman boot. This pitted Carthaginian, Numidian and Ptolemaic Egyptian Triumph armies against Roman legions, who also recruited a bunch of Galatian mercenaries for that phalanx cracking task.</p><p>Anyway, in an enjoyable series of 3 big games it was Rome 1, Africa 1, Inconclusive draw 1. For the Galatian v Phalanx action, it was 1 - 1. Whoever got the
advantage early on won the fight, and getting the advantage early on was
also a function of messing up the other sides' advance to contact. </p><p>So, for the Carthaginian general the fiery furnace was avoided for this campaign, and Roman strategy shifted to seducing the Queen of Egypt, which would turn out to be a winner one day. </p><p>The rules are fast play and on the surface very simple, but once the armies are large like the ones we used, the "simple" game becomes more about anticipation, moving reserves and - as always - throwing better dice when it counts ;) Net net, a good set of rules for playing the big games we like, we have found time and again that simple fast play rules are the best way of playing large games, the devil moves from the details to the deployment and decisions on the day. </p><p><br /><br /></p><p> </p><p> <br /></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-47302261358692016762023-02-16T12:22:00.005-08:002023-05-08T12:53:23.800-07:00Valour & Fortitude Napoleonic Rules<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOpo_QACABgy3ndPeEOa9I_CO8aj3G0WsGu13otRy4weFMsSCKACsV41Sm5m9ZpgVqMl4NQfWI475OWng5DqBLTglhVF9G_EY0gdkblQNcg2tdxp_hz1vhCIS5c80w7AI4vWhLT1bGgRIm_O1O2kQ8irT-dzJzWsP63wlGWyETek4qCQTPJpfNzafjA/s2048/BGS%20V&F%201812.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="655" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZOpo_QACABgy3ndPeEOa9I_CO8aj3G0WsGu13otRy4weFMsSCKACsV41Sm5m9ZpgVqMl4NQfWI475OWng5DqBLTglhVF9G_EY0gdkblQNcg2tdxp_hz1vhCIS5c80w7AI4vWhLT1bGgRIm_O1O2kQ8irT-dzJzWsP63wlGWyETek4qCQTPJpfNzafjA/w491-h655/BGS%20V&F%201812.jpg" width="491" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Action somewhere on the endless Russian steppes!</i> <br /></div><p></p><p></p><p>We've been trying out the Perry Valour & Fortitude rules for our big battle obession, and they work pretty well. They are a 6 page free ruleset and each army also has a 2 page ruleset (<a href="https://www.perry-miniatures.com/valour-fortitude/">see page here</a>). </p><p>This is the entire Austrian Corps in Russia, 1812 fighting equal points of Russians, c 600 points.The armies are built up from battalions / cavalry regiments / gun batteries, which are then organised into brigades, each brigade has a commander and these brigades are the main operating elements of the game.<br /></p><p>We used ground scale at 2/3 the Perry rules scale, it worked well even on the 10 x 6 table we were using.</p><p>Because shooting happens before you move, and often you can't move after you shoot, we used cotton wool to represent unts that had shot, which gives the table a realistic-ish look (see pic above). You also need also need battalion casualties, shaken and wavering markers.<br /></p><p>Shooting and combat are handled very elegantly, but the game really runs off the morale rules ("Valour" is the degradation of a battalion in action as it moves from fresh to shaken, and "Fortitude" is what the Brigade commander needs as more of his battalions become shaken. Bad things happen when already shaken battalions are hit again, and wavering brigades have to deal with these new shocks. Units then disappear quite fast, and ditto brigades break and run quickly too. </p><p>The main role of artillery and skirmishers is to degrade units, if you can put a first casualty on a unit
it is no longer fresh which impacts its ability to take more shooting, and its melee capability. Small skirmish foot detachments and cavalry vedettes using carbines are also quite useful for this reason, and they are hard to hit but need to be dealt with, wasting time and resource. <br /></p><p>This is great as a big battle ruleset, as individual unit actions are quick to resolve and disappear quite quickly, so it plays well to armies with lots of units on the table. You have to start thinking about reinforcements, about retiring units etc - the battle starts to resemble the books that talk about how senior commanders saw the battles.</p><p>Also, little touch - you have to have gun limbers to represent moving/stationary and direction of travel. Just makes the battlefield look more complete. </p><p>The game at present only has one general, and he has an influence range of 4' (at 2/3 ground scale) so on a 10 x 6' table we used a simple CiC + Sub Generals structure, each sub General counting as a V&F General, so we could command brigades over the whole table, and we played you just handed over reseve brigades from one general to another as they moved (mainly the cavalry brgades). It worked well, we may make something a bit more structured (maybe handovers need a messenger test) but this level of simplicity sort of fits the high level view of the rules. <br /></p><p><br /> </p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-62458771264738649042022-10-25T08:18:00.003-07:002023-05-08T12:45:14.854-07:00Interbellum Wars - Borduria<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">с</span>лава бордурія ! (Glory to Borduria)</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1iUsDWNamVTV3Qee-p_0npIp4Wh7Va6Dqz9tW1dmpDtvDrhnm3X_XMMzvndFiKTAkQAvpftTT8zpjJlhc46G9VggcKQVwondATrI0we-zFdXfkwy93PG89QvaZKG3tjjgaWWbf1RhepHFCzYf8iowdY5Vcnup-aPh5bQzrLmHW8WEIEYNhaR_1P0RFg/s1296/Borduria.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1296" height="411" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1iUsDWNamVTV3Qee-p_0npIp4Wh7Va6Dqz9tW1dmpDtvDrhnm3X_XMMzvndFiKTAkQAvpftTT8zpjJlhc46G9VggcKQVwondATrI0we-zFdXfkwy93PG89QvaZKG3tjjgaWWbf1RhepHFCzYf8iowdY5Vcnup-aPh5bQzrLmHW8WEIEYNhaR_1P0RFg/w550-h411/Borduria.JPG" width="550" /></a></div><i><br /></i><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Bordurian Interbellum equipment - armour and heavy weapons (still thinking about other camouflage)</i><br /></p><p>The previous post introduced Byzantium in the 1920's and 30's. I realised I needed some imaginary opponents, and the first state that came to mind was Borduria, from the Tintin books.</p><p></p><p>To those unfamiliar with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin">The Adventures of Tintin</a>, the Balkan state of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borduria">Borduria</a> is mentioned in the 1939 book <i>King Ottokar's Sceptre, </i>ruled by the Fascistic dictator Musstler (I'm sure you can see where that came from). In the <i>The Calculus Affair</i> (1956), Borduria is depicted as a stereotypical Stalinist regime, ruled by Marshal Kûrvi-Tasch - and the symbol of the Kûrvi-Tasch regime is a large moustache. Here is the Bordurian flag of the Tasch Regime:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguFinX8TkDm5paJHTbFc0LMn0amZ5QeTBrsgf7LOFvP3dLjtG_s56yelNotpI8PZZrJLkcXFLQp4XGcbnIzIPVhNfx-eowcBLjJuw5Cib4JD5FrXuFGKHIXWxP2M35IccqPKWInIHqv5j3BnOAixskF5qXftB5yLj8S3h83wRjl8e6TDA11dWncB5jXg/s960/Kurvi%20Tasch.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="960" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguFinX8TkDm5paJHTbFc0LMn0amZ5QeTBrsgf7LOFvP3dLjtG_s56yelNotpI8PZZrJLkcXFLQp4XGcbnIzIPVhNfx-eowcBLjJuw5Cib4JD5FrXuFGKHIXWxP2M35IccqPKWInIHqv5j3BnOAixskF5qXftB5yLj8S3h83wRjl8e6TDA11dWncB5jXg/w366-h220/Kurvi%20Tasch.webp" width="366" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I wanted my Bordurian imaginary nation to be the Kûrvi-Tasch regime and not the Musstler one as (i) the moustache symbol is a must-have and (ii) because 1930's Russian gear looks far cooler than German. So, obviously at some time in the late 1930's the Musstler regime was overthrown via a Soviet sponsored takeover, and Kûrvi-Tasch was set up in its place. One last thing - Tintin's Borduria seems to wrote in Latin lettering but I want Cyrillic - clearly one of Marshal Kûrvi-Tasch's crash programs was to go Cyrillic like his masters! So, with that:</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p></p><p>To bring Borduria into being in the Balkans required a bit of rejigging
of history. Since Byzantium's existence depended on it being formed as a
class C mandate in 1919 at the partiale xpense of Yugoslavia, it seemed that one may as well throw the whole
Balkan settlement up in the air and delete Yugoslavia before it
occurred, and allow Borduria and other imaginary Balkan nations to emerge instead. </p><p>As mentioned in the preceding Byzantium post, one of the issues in the
later 1930's was the smaller states getting equipment from major
nations, they tended to produce for themselves and their client states.
The Soviet Union was no different, but as a Stalinist client state
Borduria has no problems getting (fairly) up to date equipment. <br /></p><p>Incidentally, for no other reason than one of the other players has a 15mm WW1 Austro Hungarian army to use in this project, it was clear that Austria and Hungary must still be kept together. But Czechoslovakia had to be hived off in order to keep all their arms exports flowing through to Byzantium and other Balkan imagi-nations, ditto all Austria-Hungary's other Balkan possessions had to be confiscated so various other imaginary Balkan nations could emerge. (More on this later, readers of this blog may recall the 1848 independence struggles of Trans Syldavia......) </p><p>At any rate, for the purposes of Interbellum gaming, Borduria is equipped with all the Russian 1930's stuff I have collected, with the German equipment inherited from the earlier Musstler era (mainly aircraft, infantry weapons and artillery). So in short, Borduria fields:</p><p>- Scout / Light Armoured car - Sd Kfz 221</p><p>- Heavy armoured car - BA-6 (later 10)</p><p>- Light/Cavalry tank - BT-5 (later 7)<br /></p><p>- Medium / Infantry tank - T-28</p><p>- They also use the German 37mm Pak 30, and the Russian 45mm infantry field gun.<br /></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-36009380004325702682022-03-30T08:35:00.013-07:002023-05-08T12:45:35.154-07:001930's Interbellum Byzantia <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCl_mW4A9KA6t0aqyfl8AdF1EoB_ukojCFAUkkbTvNq71TPYWHP8VLSXCJb1R9e1jwgvpA0ooD91cDViTnECdnLYOBc_4JnEtFb76rin4shRSiDqCqOhvjo3w8Hjg9Wab_E_QLj2R4wbz43tiPCabpuTi_Y5uW78LGMdFshRhW8e4Ds88beMnYV980GQ/s1296/Interbellum%20Armour.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1296" height="415" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCl_mW4A9KA6t0aqyfl8AdF1EoB_ukojCFAUkkbTvNq71TPYWHP8VLSXCJb1R9e1jwgvpA0ooD91cDViTnECdnLYOBc_4JnEtFb76rin4shRSiDqCqOhvjo3w8Hjg9Wab_E_QLj2R4wbz43tiPCabpuTi_Y5uW78LGMdFshRhW8e4Ds88beMnYV980GQ/w555-h415/Interbellum%20Armour.JPG" width="555" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Above - the emergence of an Imagi-Nation - see text for forces</i> <i>used and why</i><br /></p><p>Some years ago I sketched out Byzantium re-emerging, as a Mandate state after WW1 (<a href="https://novobyzantium.blogspot.com/p/geography.html">see here</a> for the back story). I started building a force for project this in 28mm using Greek Evzone models from Eureka miniatures (and Disney Atlantic tanks of course) but it never really went that far. (Interestingly these Evzones, used as Real Greeks, turned into one of my most played armies because the Evzones look much the same in Balkan Wars, WW1, Russian Civil War and WW2 - and so I have gamed with them across all these periods.)</p><p>But now....post Lockdown.one of my clubmates and his son have built 1930's Imagi-Nations in 15mm, so it is time to restart my own project, albeit in 15mm scale. The benefit I am finding is that its cheaper, armies are bigger, and less detail = less work = faster gaming.<br /></p><p>In the 1920's there was little appetite for war and most armies had huge
stocks of WW1 equipment to work through before there was any
justification for bringing in new weaponry. But by the early 1930's the
delayed technical advances were coming quickly, and <a href="https://novobyzantium.blogspot.com/2011/01/byzantias-1920s1930s-military-doctrine.html">drove a lot of debate</a> and change (and also rate of change meant systems that were a
few years old were almost obsolescent and constantly forced new thinking). </p><p>However despite the changes there were some standard trends, vehicle types etc that
emerged in this period, and general principles in how they are to be used:</p><p><b>The Armoured Fighting Vehicles </b><br /></p><p></p><p><b> </b></p><p>Amoured cars - there were "Light" and "Heavy" cars, usually grouped together in Reconnaisance Units<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- Light were mainly for scouting and typically caried a machine gun or (later) a heavy machine gun or anti-tank rifle level main gun. One sub-type of light armoured car is the Scout car, which can also carry a few troops.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- Heavy tended to be better armoured ans carried heavier weapons <br /></p><p>Tanks - in this era theer were quite a few tank types. As well as Light, Medium and Heavy tanaks there were also Infantry and Cavalry tanks. </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- Light were "scouting" tanks and were typically lightly armed and armoured</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- "Cavalry" or cruiser tanks - were fast light tanks, used to outmanouvre eemies and and pursue after the breakthrough, so they should have longer range and carry more fuel and so were bigger than most light tanks <br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- Medium were the "battle" tank, they were to destroy any enemy formations. Oddly in the early days they often have general purpose medium calibre howitzers guns but over time they inceasingly have anti ank main guns.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- Heavy tanks are attached to the infantry and help with breaking through enemy formations. They start with carrying large (typically 75mm) howitzers. In WW2 they also start to sport larger anti tanks guns (often repurposed anti aircraft guns)<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- "Infantry" tanks' role is to support infanry. Speed is not an issue, so these are typically slow. They are mobile pillboxes. As infantry anti tank capability increases the need for better armour becomes clear. </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">One interestng feature of the 1930's is the multi turret tank. There is an idea that tanks (especially infanty tanks) are "landships" and must carry weapons in different turrets. The French Char 2c, British Independet Tank and Russian T-28 and T-35 are the most over the top examples <br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"></p><p>Two other AFV systems emerged in this period - tankettes and tank destroyers. <br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- Tankettes were very popular in the early part of this period, they were seen as either tracked scouting vehicles or infantry supporting mobile MG nests (or both) - is smaller, faster (and cheaper) lower versions of an Infantry tank. They died out as they were typically too lightly armoured when infantry anti tank improved, but the Britsh "Bren carrier" became very succesful in WW2 as it also had a transport capability.(Many tankettes were re-used as trailer or artillery tows)<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">- Tank Destroyers were lightly armoured tanks, armoured cars and even trucks with larger anti tank guns.<br /></p><p>Also, from WW1 days Anti Aircraft trucks were built, and in the 1930's anti aircraft AFVs emerge. built These were mainly based on existing armoured car or tank hulls. The armoured ones could be used in combat.<b> </b></p><p><b> Transport</b><br /></p><p>Trucks are increasingly being used to transport troops and supplies over this period, and some unts have dedicated truck transport. Various fully tracked vehicles are used as artillery tows. </p><p>The Kegresse and "Halftrack" emerge in this period, and are quite popular for a while. The aim is to get tracked vehicle cross country performamce and wheeled vehicle ease/speed of travel. It turns out they also had the maintenance problems of tanks. Some halftracks are also used as armoured cars.</p><p>Horses are still fairly common in rear echelon transport and artillery tows.</p><p><b>The Infantry</b><br /></p><p>WW1 saw a number of weapons appear (machine guns, mortars, rifle grenades, light machine guns, submacine guns) that had to be worked into infantry formations. Over time the increasing use of tanks forced the emergence of anti tank infantry weapons (initially large calibre rifles) and anti tank (higher muzzle velocity) guns. </p><p>Structure wise, there was also debate about the traditional "Square" unit (4 platoons, companies etc) vs the triangular (3 platoons, companies etc). Cavalry was still a thing in this period, they had proven very useful in
the Russian Civil War, and a horse was still a very effcetive way of
moving men or materiel fast in this era. A major problem was how to structure units to integrate tanks
(of all sorts), with infantry, cavalry, motor and horse transport. Many counries at this time had structures where the tank units were only integrated with infantry units at a high (typically divisional) level. Some countries <a href="https://novobyzantium.blogspot.com/2018/01/translating-1938-czechoslvakian-to-into.html">just dumped them all</a> in the same Division.<br /></p><p>Those that fought in the Spanish Civil War start to understand that integration needs to happen at a lower level, and the Germans had the radical concept of infantry in hafltracks working with the tanks - but this was still not common in 1939<br /></p><p></p><p></p><p>Special forces didn't really exist yet, Mountain Infantry, Marines and the new fangled
Parachute troops are the main major specialist formations with their own
(typically lighter) equipment. <br /></p><p>Bicycles are used to move infantry and don't require huge logistics effort (fuel/repair), reserve infantry battalions in foot formations were often bicycle troops so they could move fast to where they were needed. Downside is troops are tired after cycling long distances.<br /></p><p>Cavalry arguably fight more like mounted infantry so is in effect a type of mobile infantry. <br /></p><p>Recconnaisance troops were a specialism, they were usually kept at brigade and divisional level. Non armoured cars, lightly armoured Scout cars and motorcycles are often used by these troops and they are often combined with armoured cars and/or light tanks/tankettes. <br /></p><p><b>Building a Force</b></p><p>We are using O Group battalion level rules for this project, so for my Battalion structure I went for the compromise "3+1" battalion
- 3 Infantry Companies and a Heavy Weapons Company with mortar, machine
gun and anti tank gun platoons<b>. </b>The rules also are designed for "Reinforced battalions" with a few vehicles etc. </p><p>(Note also these levels of forces can easily step up a level to the Brigade level action using Fistful of ToWs rules for example) <br /></p><p>There are 3 cases where a Reinforced Battalion occurs as far as I can see:</p><p>(i) "Recce in strength - Infantry company plus some of the Divisional Recce units</p><p>(ii) Armour and Infantry working together (oddly enough, in a lot of the 1930's TO&E structures armour and infantry were separated, the German integrated approach was relatively radical.)</p><p>(iii) "Reinforced" means having divisional infantry heavy weapons (artillery, anti-tank, machine guns etc added) </p><p>So all that remains is to choose the equipment that you fancy modelling. Rule 1 is they have to have been available pre 1939. Rule 2 is the nation making them had to want to sell them. Rule 3 is they had to be weird /cool looking/weird/interesting:</p><p><i>Update - I have changed the equipment allocation from when I started the project, as I have bought more tanls :D The Russian gear initially cited is now used by Byzantium's hostile Balkan neighbour Borduria (see this post) - this is the New History;</i></p><p>Byzantium is assumed to have mainly bought what was available on the export market. By the late 1930's the major powers are using everything new they build for themselves. </p><p>So I scoured the equipment of other similar smaller nations, and this list below is what Byzantium could arguably have obtained (apart from WW1 and 1920's kit) - whether bought, built (I assume they have some level of technical ability like say Hungary or Rumania) or otherwise attained: <br /></p><p>Light Scout car - The Citroen Kegresse halftrack line was around cince c 1934 and the US White M2A1 scout car came out in 1935 and either could arguably have been copied by a country that wanted something like it. The Czech OA vz. 30 6-wheel light armoured car found its way to a few countries.</p><p>Armoured car - The French tried to export the Citroen P-16 halftrack armoured car, and the Swedes exported the Landswerk L-180. A Byzantine own design - based on designs by the Hungarian designer Nicholas Straussner for Hungary (39m Csaba), or maybe designing something like South Africa's Marmon Herrington would be very possible. <br /></p><p>Tankettes ; Everyone bought or modified the British Carden Lloyd, and the Czech AH-1V and Italian L3/33 were exported.<br /></p><p>Light tank - Swedish Landsverk L-60 tank (also modified into a Tank Destroyer), Czech LT 35 and Lt 38 (both used by Germans as Pz 35t and Pz 38t<b> </b>respectively) and Soviet T-26 were exported. The UK 6-ton tank was exported widely, Mk VI is a maybe (exported but only to Commonwealth).<br /></p><p>Medium Tank - The"light medium" Hotchkiss H-35 or a "true medium" from Czech designs (e.g. Hungarian Turan ) </p><p>Infantry Tank - Some countries obtained Renault R-35s. I assume Byzantium like many countries could buy WW1 Renault FT tanks that it could upgrade, these were still used as mobile infantry support into WW2. <br /></p><p>Heavy Tank- No really heavy infantry tank was exported in this era. Arguably Byzantium could have modified WW1 tanks like the <a href="https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/fictional-tanks-hatay-heavy-tank/">State of Hatay</a> did, or maybe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOG1">The Old Gang</a> would have been amenable....<br /></p><p>A few countries used tankettes or developed them (eg Renault UE Chenillette tractor-tankette) to pull battalion heavy weapons (AT guns etc). </p><p style="text-align: left;">Also some poweful anti tank guns were available to uparmour tanks or use as towed guns (or in tank destroyers) for example the French 25mm, Czech 37mm and 47mm guns were all exported.</p><p></p><p><br /></p><br />freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-67086174267216247992022-02-23T13:13:00.004-08:002022-02-23T14:09:17.855-08:00Baroque!<p>The last few months have been enjoyably spent learning Baroque! It's the Renaissance / Pike & Shotte versio of Impetus but is a bit simpler (so faster to play) and makes for a very enjoyable large game. I was introduced to it by a fellow SLW club member who - as a lockdown project - had built 6mm 1600s era Ottomans and Poles (see pics below), and that set the ball rolling.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Turks v Poles 6mm big battle</i> <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZBZaZRzL7uzqRkxYqjj9V0dTF32SffyImmjsQoWldqYdgR2t7F_4eBAarzzv7zKo739uAL_1gUeAEswhEKW2QNwPC6w6dDvbZhHkEpnFcoeVBMi_WjRbHw27a9sYbwVgx1dHUmVoY-WxlPITYkS6nM_P894Se4fgtRLOsTv1sehgB87uiFjLZc3ZFwg=s640" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZBZaZRzL7uzqRkxYqjj9V0dTF32SffyImmjsQoWldqYdgR2t7F_4eBAarzzv7zKo739uAL_1gUeAEswhEKW2QNwPC6w6dDvbZhHkEpnFcoeVBMi_WjRbHw27a9sYbwVgx1dHUmVoY-WxlPITYkS6nM_P894Se4fgtRLOsTv1sehgB87uiFjLZc3ZFwg=w402-h536" width="402" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Close up - Impetus & Baroque rules use large stands so its easy to construct a complete 6mm battalion on a 15mm scale stand</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDjoKWQl_OLNHwgvaiC_anuh85KL_gSeFbtF4W3yMHO_TGhp-iMiVxQGhs3ziBNJAoTwB2pO6uuyKC0IS9AnkK9F94qKsSwpofph28GaLg0yHrCHyOvqj2KTJZqsZj7PV9zSXOymOJ1cRjfUghrWkE_Hn5Way9Jw4ChS3oay18x9m3MKCxDFw15JQ5kg=s600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="600" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDjoKWQl_OLNHwgvaiC_anuh85KL_gSeFbtF4W3yMHO_TGhp-iMiVxQGhs3ziBNJAoTwB2pO6uuyKC0IS9AnkK9F94qKsSwpofph28GaLg0yHrCHyOvqj2KTJZqsZj7PV9zSXOymOJ1cRjfUghrWkE_Hn5Way9Jw4ChS3oay18x9m3MKCxDFw15JQ5kg=w458-h342" width="458" /> </a></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> </i></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Now, as any fule knoes, a 1500's era Renaissance army is just a late Medieval army with some extra (even more gaudily) dressed pikemen and arquebusiers, plus some Reiters with boar-spears and Millers (fully armoured cavalry replacing lances with pistols). I had already converted my Medieval Venetian army to the high Renaissance using this evil trick (plus in 15mm you can't see whether the old school Stradiotti, Elmeti, Leggiera et al are packing pistols between their thighs, so they transform from Medieval to Renaissance without a hitch).</p><p style="text-align: left;">I also have a Medieval Ottoman army, so for an opponent to Venice I painted up some Janissaries and Balkan bandits with arquebusses. Painting loads more later cavalry also was not necessary - I read that (i) Turkish cavalry were reluctant to let go of their lances till well into the 1600s, and (ii) all those pictures of Spahis in Turbans are largely artists' pictures - when the going got tough, the Spahis put on their helmets. Instantly all my medieval muslim heavy cavalry became Renaissance cavalry (its rude to look between a Turk's thighs to see if those bulges are pistols or not...). </p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Below - The Renaissance Turk module being built to attach to my Medieval Muslim Menagerie - Janissaries and Balkan bandits, plus I painted a unit of turban wearing troopers to be easily identified as the Sultan's own Qapukulu guard. Baroque also likes generals to be easily identifiable so the subgenerrls have impressively large flags and the magnificent Sultan has a magnificent flag, base and kettle drummer </i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnhcSQNR7tnFREenlE9M02ztj6VF66RQl_sjbUNP9lZQ-I3PPxyuCj5niwsIaqw2edvn67CrOUCT0_cBJkGL4Q_rE2vzEo6oCKGWKK9wzUPnw_kcdFpG3Cyyo-Oost6RarTyxzLeZVM5D7QPZg9X-ksuEKOj81OiiFDx57rm-F2UUJCvDOlDRTx-KyGA=s720" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="720" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnhcSQNR7tnFREenlE9M02ztj6VF66RQl_sjbUNP9lZQ-I3PPxyuCj5niwsIaqw2edvn67CrOUCT0_cBJkGL4Q_rE2vzEo6oCKGWKK9wzUPnw_kcdFpG3Cyyo-Oost6RarTyxzLeZVM5D7QPZg9X-ksuEKOj81OiiFDx57rm-F2UUJCvDOlDRTx-KyGA=w454-h339" width="454" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p style="text-align: left;">These "Very Late Medieval" armies are timed to be around mid 1500's AD (i.e. when crossbows are still around, the knights are still in all their plate and finery etc, and billmen still had a job) as we all wanted to field all our Medieval toys. The Baroque rules start at c 1550 AD, and Impetus stops at c 1520 AD, so it was a question of which rules to use for c 1550 Renaissance games. The only solution was to field the same armies in Impetus and Baroque to see which we liked most. First up were my Venetians vs my johnny-built- lately Ottomans.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>The Serene Republic and the Sublime Porte scrapping over some Greek island. Turks on the left. Big cavalry battle (bottom of pic, close), Venetian pike moving against the Janissaries cowering in the woods (centre) and out of pic (top) the Stradiots and Akinjis fought with dash and elan to outflank each other. </i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXuPFcFN7fLlSakoJsHdrA_Mp5rYOKvMfrKW5zE2soBiErXpA45GPHp2FJqMi9U3aLd7-Rfzul27U0ktOTpbJj-wYLgVlPCXq-xX5vPyLxmtRAKLq8Sg0SzBUtgdxJ8KHWz0hQUSQtp-BUXGcE2Jw3b73bi2CTqGHy3q_z_6keZuElsORCw4mWCiQLfQ=s710" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="526" height="615" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXuPFcFN7fLlSakoJsHdrA_Mp5rYOKvMfrKW5zE2soBiErXpA45GPHp2FJqMi9U3aLd7-Rfzul27U0ktOTpbJj-wYLgVlPCXq-xX5vPyLxmtRAKLq8Sg0SzBUtgdxJ8KHWz0hQUSQtp-BUXGcE2Jw3b73bi2CTqGHy3q_z_6keZuElsORCw4mWCiQLfQ=w455-h615" width="455" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i> </i></p><p style="text-align: left;">Comparing the two rulesets for this "between the wargames rules" period: Impetus handles the earlier weapons much better - if you want to use all the bows, crossbows, infantry pole-arms etc and want all teh detailed differences then use Impetus, as Baroque largely downgrades and abstracts these older weapons. But if you want a faster, less detailed game and use those arquebusses (usually unloved) like a boss, use Baroque.<i> </i> </p><p style="text-align: left;">A note about bases - Impetus and Baroque use big bases whereas many other rulesets use smaller stands. In 15mm scale the Impetus base is 8 cm frontage, but the Baroque one is 12 cm. That 12 cm is (I think) so players who had existing Pike and Shot armes (typically based in 4cm frontage stands) could easily play Baroque without rebasing. Stands of shot each side of their pike stands is teh standard way of and fielding a pike and shot battalion. </p><p style="text-align: left;">But in 1550 AD the Pike units still mainly have shot directly in front of the pike, so you can field shot at 8 cm frontage and then pile the pike ranks behind to get that deeep depth. Besides, the bulk of all our 1500's Renaissance armies' troops are drawn from our later Medieval ones, built for 8cm Impetus frontage - and no one was going to to rebase them all!<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">For what its worth, in both test games the Turks came out the winners, in pretty hard fought encounters - mainly because the Italian plated and plumed knights and "light" cavalry (aka more knights in full plate and plumery, just on unarmoured horses) - the best mercenaries money could buy - performed appallingly badly. The Serene Republic was somewhat fretted!<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The best moment, across both games was (I think it was the Baroque game version) when the Turkish Zamburak unit (light guns on camels - who needs a fantasy army!), which had been hopeless in all the games so far, was charged by fierce, rapacious, moustachioed Venetian Stradiots wielding lances, sabres and pistols (you get the picture - dashing film star heroes vs nerdy popgun peddlars) . Clearly the gunners' route to paradise happening in real time. But the gunners finally found their mettle and discharged canisters full of dice pips, blowing the Stradiots off the table - they were probably more surprised than anyone! <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">But you could see how Turkey loses its "edge" in the Baroque era, as (cheap) infantry with shot starts to fear non-shock bow armed cavalry far less. Also, pike + shot fromations, even this early era version with arquebus, is a step up from the medieval equivalent (you can see why the Turks started to use a lot of battlefield obstructions and artillery in their centres) <i><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Close up - the real business end of a Renaissance Venetian army - mercenary Pike and Shot in ludicrous clothes and codpieces. Plated & plumed knights are still noble but more marginal. The times they are a changing....</i><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOg0Ll2hngT6xHeOcXyHWdUdMOkszOYS_W7AQRmcpm5itCYH2YQLt7tC8WM2-5XSvPZQULxnSlUPwpKrKcBZRH6XwZjOdG61LP3iSovgAsVx--KINGqQWiPR8WmB7tgSE3PogPZ8FfWrDGNRo6hB81UBAYC6RjYOVKQQ1IQchnE4KKjBTaHMMn5_a__w=s1296" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1296" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOg0Ll2hngT6xHeOcXyHWdUdMOkszOYS_W7AQRmcpm5itCYH2YQLt7tC8WM2-5XSvPZQULxnSlUPwpKrKcBZRH6XwZjOdG61LP3iSovgAsVx--KINGqQWiPR8WmB7tgSE3PogPZ8FfWrDGNRo6hB81UBAYC6RjYOVKQQ1IQchnE4KKjBTaHMMn5_a__w=w524-h391" width="524" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;">Next up, another of our club members had readied his Hungarians for some Baroque action. Post Mohacs, Hungary had sort of stagnated in this era so doesn't have the amount of firepower of other countries (aka less new stuff to paint to get their Renaissance army going) but they still have a lot of good cavalry. They and the Ottomans squared up.....</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Below: Ottomans to the left,(Janissaries on the hill, left centre). Those Hungarians may be old fashoned but they have a lot of big, nasty blades in the centre - and their shooting also proved to be annoyingly good - and did I mention a lot of good cavalry. This time, the Hungarian noble knights (a cut above the Venetian mercenary ones ) turned the game by crashing through the Turkish Spahis (see top left corner of pic - those are Hungarian knights in hot pursuit of fleeing Turks).</i><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgt1bMw3gNUbU7kLpBRMUJlwlRHhrdGmTEJd4DB_TERfUPz_-ujuKlUNO7WVZWtXMk9H3ccDUYQJ-RMgJMZcRERG24tklVlHPFlSvpKTLmq1X3RSW94nwXE8p_5jar2qmy7m9VErpnb9mbvhz-90515YLYdkf1XYZI482daxXmX8XTuCrBkmpEhGmKwBw=s1296" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="968" height="595" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgt1bMw3gNUbU7kLpBRMUJlwlRHhrdGmTEJd4DB_TERfUPz_-ujuKlUNO7WVZWtXMk9H3ccDUYQJ-RMgJMZcRERG24tklVlHPFlSvpKTLmq1X3RSW94nwXE8p_5jar2qmy7m9VErpnb9mbvhz-90515YLYdkf1XYZI482daxXmX8XTuCrBkmpEhGmKwBw=w444-h595" width="444" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p style="text-align: left;">In conclusion, Baroque is a great fun as a ruleset, good for doing quite
big games, but it's more aimed at the post bow-and-bill Renaissance
armies <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Other players are readying their French and Spanish armies for more 1500's Renaissance battles. My next project is to build a few bitz to push my Ottomans to c 1650 (hanging onto those lances and helmets...) to take on my French.... <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /><i> </i><br /></p><p><br /></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-31618963828493303422021-11-27T05:18:00.003-08:002023-05-08T12:49:28.759-07:00Modern Chinese Marines<p>Another Lockdown project, but yet to see the table....Modern Chinese Naval Infantry / Marines. When I saw the blue camouflage the Chinese were using I decided I didn't care if it was for show, I neeeeded an army painted like that as all my other Cold War/Modern armies are somewhere on the dirty green / muddy brown (or both) spectrum. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://preview.redd.it/gig6q3h75kd21.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d7163fb2ee173f586f77052724ece96496e4aea6" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="800" height="435" src="https://preview.redd.it/gig6q3h75kd21.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d7163fb2ee173f586f77052724ece96496e4aea6" width="693" /></a></div><br />When I saw Heroics & Ros did their amphibious landing craft/troop carrier the deal was sealed. All I had to do was work out how to render it. I wound up using medium and thin nib paint-pens (from China, natch) and it worked out quite nicely. (Based for FFOT, still deciding on whether to base for beach or more inland, I think the beach sand colour sets them off very well though.)<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkxol9K2z1zgj0EYKecF47XaBvhjTJ04yL_flFJgrgUjNAsC_fsH_RR4I_KuKxdPY2rcpsAXWQehmIpmmL7nK5ae_em-wJDwNf-fo90Y2qQPO8TS9Wu05hywood83D70GmMqoIJ6csTKD/s1296/chinese+naval+force.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1296" height="447" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkxol9K2z1zgj0EYKecF47XaBvhjTJ04yL_flFJgrgUjNAsC_fsH_RR4I_KuKxdPY2rcpsAXWQehmIpmmL7nK5ae_em-wJDwNf-fo90Y2qQPO8TS9Wu05hywood83D70GmMqoIJ6csTKD/w599-h447/chinese+naval+force.JPG" width="599" /></a></div><br /><p>Another bonus - the colours and model size/shape in 6mm works for 40K Epic, I'm working on the Dreadnoughts, attack bikes and Terminators next...<br /></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-27138744586763776262021-11-24T14:48:00.012-08:002021-11-24T15:51:46.070-08:00The Cthall of Cthulhu<p>During the various Lockdowns, like most gamers I did quite a lot of projects I otherwise wouldn't have had time to do, and this past summer some of these outfits were fielded in real games with actual opponents! <br /></p><p></p><p>One I built from <a href="https://petersengames.com/cthulhu-wars/">Cthulhu Wars</a> figures, its a boardgame using models. I loved the models when I saw them and Lockdown was the opportunity to build an outfit with them. They were built to play<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_War"> Kings of War</a> ( KoW), a Fantasy wargame ruleset that's more "beers and pretzel" than Warhammer (but being simpler and faster to play means larger armies!) as well as other games that could do with Bad Monsters. </p><p>Anyway, there is no "Cthulhu" army list in KoW but the "Forces of the Abyss" list is a relatively easy convert. My Abyss is just a lot wetter....instead of fiery Balrogs think fishy Behemoths and lots of tentacles <br /></p><p> Here is Ole Cthulhu himself getting painted. The models are single colour plastic, I mainly used inks/washes on the base colour though I had to paint the bases (eg Cthulhu's rock here) and some other parts. I hope I have done a reasonable job with them. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCGMTBL4jwZEGtGUQyob0PJm1t3XUjqTs-j-x4weaS61MRm_LWtHkCx4p0Pm0GP-ah1O117aFooFNnZVgbyweJuOw7AXTUyFwPSVnd2CCPkUbrejeuNJOecb2LxnP5DZVEtZPTb40S5AH2/s1296/Cthulhu.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="968" height="579" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCGMTBL4jwZEGtGUQyob0PJm1t3XUjqTs-j-x4weaS61MRm_LWtHkCx4p0Pm0GP-ah1O117aFooFNnZVgbyweJuOw7AXTUyFwPSVnd2CCPkUbrejeuNJOecb2LxnP5DZVEtZPTb40S5AH2/w432-h579/Cthulhu.JPG" width="432" /></a></div><p><br />And there are many various minor monsters in the<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos"> Cthulhu Mythos</a>, and a big battle game like KoW lets you go to town - here are Mi-Go (red, holding human brains in their pincers), a Hunting Horror (purple), and some dark grey Shoggoths. </p><p> <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLK6BsEFqVyXzDR6LgDBH2KbzaawcBw4XRYb7ZuLj9MgFan4rhYrYxSW3yRTUL379cK9JndSLOjuhMriM-9QcsWJ3aqAFNTr0mSFHBy4st22yRSlSbupzsBT31Wsj-g7uYvpcs_klXaGLZ/s1296/Mi-Go.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1296" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLK6BsEFqVyXzDR6LgDBH2KbzaawcBw4XRYb7ZuLj9MgFan4rhYrYxSW3yRTUL379cK9JndSLOjuhMriM-9QcsWJ3aqAFNTr0mSFHBy4st22yRSlSbupzsBT31Wsj-g7uYvpcs_klXaGLZ/w535-h399/Mi-Go.JPG" width="535" /></a></div><br /> And here are some Cthool Ctholourful Cthultists in production.....<br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbOeTvax59VrTqNj3qiCiFIcZ4aScrlA5u-CHhf_sFILxXSXauZtzqbqn2EPFjy1ma4j7UY2NlP9TlhTzMTUHk92X-grvJSjdoK-rmeS9jJrzfXtpeUkaEP3GF6l6ju8Pp8opNTvf43Cs/s1296/Cthultists.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1296" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbOeTvax59VrTqNj3qiCiFIcZ4aScrlA5u-CHhf_sFILxXSXauZtzqbqn2EPFjy1ma4j7UY2NlP9TlhTzMTUHk92X-grvJSjdoK-rmeS9jJrzfXtpeUkaEP3GF6l6ju8Pp8opNTvf43Cs/w430-h321/Cthultists.JPG" width="430" /></a></div> <p></p><p>There are Star-spawn, floating in the sky, they'd like to come and meet you, they want to eat your mind..... <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIw2gosfjeCzvc0MILt0RCwzrHFBGugY6jKCaoKRUtW3rY7MRTEUkm-qSs28-c7vh7fCsqCBl0RSiUHvv554RrCa8yaaog3buj5TOuMnGaOq-sQJuAtiHBol32JHjEqWRKT-xqiU6FzTZs/s1296/Starspawn.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1296" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIw2gosfjeCzvc0MILt0RCwzrHFBGugY6jKCaoKRUtW3rY7MRTEUkm-qSs28-c7vh7fCsqCBl0RSiUHvv554RrCa8yaaog3buj5TOuMnGaOq-sQJuAtiHBol32JHjEqWRKT-xqiU6FzTZs/s320/Starspawn.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>And finally, First Game against my friend's Wood Elves (likewise a Lockdown project). I added Mantic Fishmen and Games Workshop Skinks as Deep Ones (aka low grade warriors/fish dinners in the Cthulhuverse). Still thinking about how best to base the figures when they have to play as mass units but you also want individual models for other games.<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYLq-FliRtFjCyLf94vu5LeEQZxjmyNQDPV8dShl1wypp4ZuzJ6cOyoJT8Do8jeXh1RzFUJh9TW9S8A0Dyq5M73BCFkp_X5fygfEfNXZocklYzx7Jz13qk6oLHzmUfrAMVLOm7aNmRXLt/s1296/Cthulhu+battle.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="968" height="648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYLq-FliRtFjCyLf94vu5LeEQZxjmyNQDPV8dShl1wypp4ZuzJ6cOyoJT8Do8jeXh1RzFUJh9TW9S8A0Dyq5M73BCFkp_X5fygfEfNXZocklYzx7Jz13qk6oLHzmUfrAMVLOm7aNmRXLt/w483-h648/Cthulhu+battle.JPG" width="483" /></a></div><p></p><p>....and I mentioned Big Games - Here is Cthulhu + Ogres vs. Undead + Wood Elves - played outside. Al Fresco Gaming is so Covid.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-dtqAdPUXPkNYYviyAVEKNtPSgLEEoKRSNsnvp31MUNsTaQAWdVsHIvaDrZcQjnrlo9-NKmEJB2UWEEnl0k8-xbobjALE-hYwV65aWO8Rpd6b0HhWIFgahZKglXA-0rjmGWNeHBSVEZd0/s1296/Cthulhu+1st+Big+Game.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="968" height="591" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-dtqAdPUXPkNYYviyAVEKNtPSgLEEoKRSNsnvp31MUNsTaQAWdVsHIvaDrZcQjnrlo9-NKmEJB2UWEEnl0k8-xbobjALE-hYwV65aWO8Rpd6b0HhWIFgahZKglXA-0rjmGWNeHBSVEZd0/w441-h591/Cthulhu+1st+Big+Game.JPG" width="441" /></a></div><br /><p>Its good to be gaming vs real people again...<br /></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-86035164268656062792021-02-19T07:06:00.002-08:002023-05-08T12:47:10.841-07:00 Trabazond - New Byzantium's Enclave on the Eastern Black Sea<p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR9u3gwGkAbBTzu0OMSnkeItHwfUq5muD_wQSRKckv2fpmh4w1xB8nuMITzFJ3nPGWp67EMRaoCvPAOQbiAr90stTQI0wZcJv7EF-nT8GFULJWhuF41-rTVyX44hoxHrsk9iJdjs_3fLbl/s1811/Trebisonde_%2528Relation_d_un_voyage_du_Levant%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1171" data-original-width="1811" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR9u3gwGkAbBTzu0OMSnkeItHwfUq5muD_wQSRKckv2fpmh4w1xB8nuMITzFJ3nPGWp67EMRaoCvPAOQbiAr90stTQI0wZcJv7EF-nT8GFULJWhuF41-rTVyX44hoxHrsk9iJdjs_3fLbl/w534-h345/Trebisonde_%2528Relation_d_un_voyage_du_Levant%2529.jpg" width="534" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Old Trabazonde - pearl of the Eastern Black Sea</i><br /></p><p>One of my gaming friends has started an Imagi-Nation somehere in Mesopotamia, and I thought it may in some way come into contact with the New Byzantine city of Trabazond, on the Turkish coast so it may be worth thinking about its forces as it is a "special case". </p><p>The Turkish province of Trabazond was taken from them by Rssian in WW1 (This is true). To reward Russia for going all Bolshevik, and Turkey for being on the wrong side, it was given to Byzantium after WW1. The real reason was mainly to give the French and British navies a permanent base in the Eastern Black Sea. (This is Imagi-Nation)<br /></p><p>The presence of these great powers kept it safe from acquitive hands in the Interwar years, but oddly being taken over by Germany when they overran Byzantium at the beginning of WW2, and then by the Soviets at the end, probably kept it "safe" for Byzantium during the war. It resumed its role as a Great Power naval base after WW2, with the US and USSR now also having access. It was to be returned to Byzantium in 1955, at the same time as German occuption stopped. This probably kept it out of acquisitive hands in that period as well, as Byzantium was in no state to defend it.</p><p>After the Suez Crisis in 1956 it was clear to Byzantium that the Great Powers were now the US and USSR and the latter were far closer to home, so it was time to cosy up to the Soviets a bit more. As part of this, a large part the naval facilities at Trabazond were offered to the Soviets for 20 years, the rest would remain "multi national". This probably kept Trabazond in Byzantine hands, and made it an "interesting" city in the peak Cold War years, (but that is the subject of a series of spy novels ;) </p><p>At any rate, New Byantium managed to extricate the Soviets in the mid 1970's but then had the very real problem of keeping it from various acquisitive hands in the region. This mainly meant stopping attacks from over the mountains, along the shore, or from the sea.</p><p>Population was in the high hundreds of thousands, about half that of the European Themes, so the Thematic forces are about half that of the other Themes. Because of this (did I mention the acquisitive neighbours) there is always a part of the full time Tagmata stationed here, and it is a major Naval base and Air Force base.</p><p>Each Theme is supposed to have a full size full time Thematic Brigade and a divional size force of reservists. </p><p>However, Trabazond hasn't that level of population, and a lot of hidden strong points in the mountains need are manning. so a lot of the military population is required for that. </p><p>The area is essentially full of separate mountain valleys and passes, and each needs a fully capable force to defend it. So the resrvists of all stripes are organised in independent
Demi-Brigades per valley area, and deach Demi Brigade has a force with most of the support
functions elements of a Brigade.</p><p>Ditto, the standing Regulars may need to be split among a number of valleys so they too are organised into 3 self supporting Demi Brigades rather than a full Brigade. There is also a higher use of helicopters here to move forces quickly.<br /></p><p>The structure of a Demi Brigade is essentially an allocation of Brigade level support assets into companies (eg of Armour, Artillery, AA, AT, Comms Recconnaisance etc) attached to a Battalion level of troops (and this Battalion may not have the standard 3+1 companies of infantry ). <br /></p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-88406210157949391702021-02-07T10:02:00.006-08:002021-11-24T02:47:26.319-08:00More Czechoslovakia<div><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNHRkRcJyPTk3-Cb-CcLHHPgpY_zZ7WY3Ibn7DSAxGTwo7wVgmC6svIXVzsrXc-S5NssRrmwg2DbAxbT0zoA76RaYby_HwuZXVvTIKuV0WMUVa9kegQuMYosnBDRVF0630NkWEZ_k7C3J8/s1296/Alt+Cz+15mm.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1296" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNHRkRcJyPTk3-Cb-CcLHHPgpY_zZ7WY3Ibn7DSAxGTwo7wVgmC6svIXVzsrXc-S5NssRrmwg2DbAxbT0zoA76RaYby_HwuZXVvTIKuV0WMUVa9kegQuMYosnBDRVF0630NkWEZ_k7C3J8/w490-h366/Alt+Cz+15mm.JPG" width="490" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><i>(Alt-Czechoslovakia in 15mm begins - OT 66, OT 65 and OT-810s in front OT-64s and an OT-62 in reserve) <br /></i></p><p> Well,it's been a while since I wote something here - gaming hasn't stopped but its been the more pedestrian "use a set of rules/build some models/play" nature, not really the Imagi-Nation terrain of this blog. (OK, I built a British pith-helmeted Praetorian Guard outfit for 40K Epic - you can guess how the Leman Russes were done, <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/British_Mark_I_male_tank_Somme_25_September_1916.jpg/300px-British_Mark_I_male_tank_Somme_25_September_1916.jpg">Mother</a>...)</p><p>But, with the increase in popularity of Cold War gaming, modern Imagi-Nationing in 15mm is now an option. The 15mm game is at a lower level than the Brigade+ level ganes we play in 6mm, so you're really looking at snapshots of TO&Es of c reinforced platoon size. So where to start with a 15mm outfit? <br /></p><p>The obvious answer (to me) was to start with the Recce Brigade of the Alt-History Czechoslovakian TO&E (based on the 1938 Fast Division structure - <a href="http://novobyzantium.blogspot.com/2018/03/czechoslovakian-1938-fast-division-in.html">see here</a>) as no doubt they would be in the vanguard of finding trouble.. In 1938 it comprised an:</p><p>
</p><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<ul><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Infantry Company on motorcycles</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Armoured Car Company – using the <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Obrn%C4%9Bn%C3%A9_automobily_OA_vz.gif/300px-Obrn%C4%9Bn%C3%A9_automobily_OA_vz.gif">big 6 wheel armoured car</a>, not the light 4 wheeler<br /></span></li><li>L<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">ight Tank Company – using older light tanks, while they waited for re-equipping with the new one (what became the Pz38t in WW2)</span></li></ul><p></p><p>In the original discussion 2 years back on translating these into Cold-War speak, the plan was essentially as follows:</p><ul><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Infantry Company using the smaller OT-66s as the APC - the original idea 2 years ago was to also have an ATGW platoon in jeeps with ATGWs but gaming experience in 6mm showed these are a bit vulnerable so an OT-65 with AT missiles replaved it.. </span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> <br /></span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Armoured Car Company – modifying the big 8 wheeler OT-64 SKOT to carry something with more unch than a heavy machine gun</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Tank Company - using the older "Letak" tank design (much like a Soviet PT-76 but with a more poweful anti-armour gun)</span></li></ul></div><p><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">For 15mm </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">I got t</span>he OT-66's and OT-65 from QRF, and Team Yankee do the big SKOTs in resin. Sadly QRF stopped doing moderns in January so the PT-76s aren't coming (you can get them 3D printed but I don't like the surface finish at this sort of scale, so the replacement light tank has become more urgent :)</span></p><p><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">(Another reason for selecting the Recce force first is the gear is more "existing gear with a few mods" rather than the huge amount of modelling / bodging all the <a href="http://novobyzantium.blogspot.com/2017/07/cold-war-czechoslovakias-own-armour.html">heavy armour</a> and special weapons will need) <br /></span></p><p><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">But anyway, the force is assembling (see pic at top), the existing elements are shown, basecoated in the best approximation I have of the Czech Grey-Green drab. I also couldn't resist converting some SdKfz251s into older OT-810s (aka <a href="http://ftr-wot.blogspot.com/2013/05/how-not-to-make-apc-cz-ot-810-and-ot-90.html">"Hitler.s Revenge"</a>) for pre-OT-55/Reserve unit gaming plus getting an OT-62 for some odd-jobbing (yes it's plug ugly, but you name it, they've tried stcking it on the old waggon. Ditto the OT-810s sported all sorts of add-ons, so ideal for an Alt-Army.) <br /></span></p><p><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Another decision in 15mm is infantry uniforms - in 6mm I just have green-brown and brown-green blobs on bases, but in 15mm it is necessary to paint the little buggers. Given they didn't copy the Russian uniform in reality, I assumed Alt-Czechoclovakia would have come up with much the same uniform as they did in reality. (Conveniently, given of course the common stuff will be used for a Real-Cz army!) <br /></span></p>freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-50886459301116342752018-03-02T15:30:00.000-08:002021-11-24T02:48:29.997-08:00Czechoslovakian 1938 Fast Division in 1988 - the Reconnaisance battalion<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
To recap - in 1938, the Fast Division was structured with 2
Tank Battalions and 2 Motorised Infantry Battalions, plus a Recconnaissance
battalions and various Artillery units covering field artillery, anti-tank and
anti-aircraft functions. There were also plans to expand the 2 motorised
Infantry battalions to a full Regiment (3 battalions) each.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having structured the Cavalry Brigade in the 1938 Fast
Division for an “Alternative History 1988” scenario (see <a href="http://novobyzantium.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/translating-1938-czechoslvakian-to-into.html">this page for a fuller explanation</a>), there remains the various Tank, Motorised Infantry, Reconnaisance
and Artillery battalions to be done.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My “rules” for concerting 1938 to 1980’s
forces are to use the 1938 structure as much as practicable and adjust as
little as possible, to use actual Czech designed & built vehicles wherever
possible, and if not available then to convert models to be future derivations
of Czech equipment that was on the drawing board in the early 1950s (see my
<a href="https://novobyzantium.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/cold-war-czechoslovakias-own-armour.html">article on all this over here)</a> before the Soviets closed it all down. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I decided to build the Reconnaissance battalion next, as it
is fairly quick to build and a nice self-contained little force, good for some
smaller games. In 1938 it consisted of a Motorcycle Infantry company, an
Armoured Car company, and a Light Tank Company. So, how would it translate into
the 1980’s? Here’s how I think it turns out:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Motorcycle Infantry<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Motorcyle infantry largely died out in WW2, especially after
the arrival of small 4x4 machines like the Jeep. The rise of air-power and
fragmentation artillery meant a move towards light armoured transports in most
European armies. Motorcycles never died out completely, but by the 1980s they
are usually used in small numbers, in conjunction with more heavily armoured
vehicles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Therefore it’s likely the Czechs would have moved from
motorcycles to using Jeeps and then APCs with maybe a few motorcycles and Jeeps
still around. The Real World army used the OT-65 armoured car and OT-66 APC
(the joint Czech-Hungarian FuG APC derivative) in these roles <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so I have assumed they will replace most of
the motorcycle troops with this. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In “Real” Czech service reconnaissance units used an 82mm RRL
as an AT device, mounted on the armoured car turrets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assume that by the mid 1980’s the “Alt”
Czechs have moved to a lighter ATGW<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have thus structured this unit as follows: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">3 platoons of infantry plus Jeeps or (by 1980s) light APCs, </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">1 unit carries an ATGW</span></li>
<li>-<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">1 Motorcycle reconnaissance platoon with light ATGW</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Armoured Car Company<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 1938 Armoured Car company used the big 6 wheeled OA vz.
30 Armoured Car, rather than the smaller Czechoslovakian scout cars of the time.
Clearly this was intentional, so in the 1980’s I assumed the small OT-65 series
of armoured cars were not what they would have intended in 1938. There was however
no Czechoslovakian<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>heavy armoured car on
the design boards from the 1950’s to adapt. So, what to replace the big 6x6
with? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, they did have plans to put more armour and more
powerful guns than the 14.5mm on the big 8x8 OT-64 APC, but the Russian stopped
those developments. The OT-64, for its time, was very powerful. It had a
maximum speed of 110 km/h - that was very fast in those days. It had a big
frame and could easily handle bigger turrets and more armour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Plans for heavier weapons included the T21 Recoilless Rifle,
mounting a single barrel version of the 30mm vz.53/59 autocannon (used on the
Ještěrka AA vehicle), and some were actually built with the 23mm
Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 automatic cannon (normally used on early Soviet fighter
jets such as the Mig-15) in the 1970s. It also could easily have handled a low pressure 90mm gun like those on the AML90 and Ratel 90, and ATGW missiles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://aw.my.com/sites/aw.my.com/files/styles/news_body_image_1/public/u183517/uganda_ot_cssr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="607" height="362" src="https://aw.my.com/sites/aw.my.com/files/styles/news_body_image_1/public/u183517/uganda_ot_cssr.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span id="goog_243080712"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_243080713"></span><br /></div>
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<i>Ugandan SKOT with 23mm cannon</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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I rather liked the idea of a big-gunned OT-64 unit as well, so
that was my solution, and the 30mm Czech autocannon was my shoo-in for this big
Recce vehicle. Thus was the OT-64 SKOT30
born.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Armoured Car Company had 12 Cars, I don’t know if it was
in 4 troops of 3 cars or 3 of 4, but in Fistful of TOWS scale it’s 3 models.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Light Tank <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Company<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Also in 1938 there was a light tank company of 4 platoons,
each of 4 tanks (so 4 models in FFOT scale). I noted that these were older, lighter tanks than those equipping the Tank regiments in 1938, so I passed that structure
through to 1988 – a light tank, and an older tank that the Cavalry and Tank
regiments used. As discussed in my article on post war “Real world” Czechoslovakian equipment (see link above) they had designed both replacements to the Lt(Pz)38 family and an
amphibious light tank, the Letak, not unlike the Soviet PT-76 in appearance and
function (thought it would more likely have carried similar guns to the AMX13).
These both would be old by 1988, so either would pass muster. So which to use?<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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In theory both the replacement Lt.38 and the Letak were to have
an APC variant. The Czechoslovakians did in fact have an APC – the OT-62 – that was
their main APC until the BMP. It was based on the Soviet BTR 50 which used a
lot of components from the PT-76. I did think the Alt-Czechoslovakians could go the same route,
i.e. the Letak light tank would spawn a Letak APC (the OT-63 of course) and they
would use both in a Fast Division Armoured force for commonality of parts. (For
what happens to the successors of the Lt38 read the article on the Fast Division linked above)<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So after all that, in Fistful of TOW (FFOT3) terms the
Czechoslovakian 1980’s Recce Battalion consists of:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
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<ul>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Infantry Company</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->3 Infantry Platoons, each 1 figure stand and 1
OT-66 model, 1 platoon has a Milan or similar ATGW<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->1 Motorcycle Platoon figure stand, with Milan or
similar ATGW<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Armoured Car Company – 3 OT-64 SKOT30 armoured
car w/30mm cannon</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Light Tank Company – 4 Letak tank models w/90mm gun</span></li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
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Quite a useful battalion, though <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect it would typically have been split
into detachments to give the Armoured battalions some scouting capability in
the field. It's interesting to <a href="https://tracksandthreads.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/polish-mechanised-division/">compare this with the Polish Armoured Cavalry Regiment</a> my club mate has done a similar exercise for.</div>
freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-79755658281201143882018-01-05T06:06:00.000-08:002021-11-24T02:48:45.161-08:00Translating a 1938 Czechoslovakian Fast Division TO&E into the 1980's - Cavalry DivisionRegulat readers of this blog may know that we have quite an active 6mm "Cold War Alt-History" contingent - ie "What If" WW2 hadn't happened? Especially in Eastern Europe.<br />
<br />
Partly this is to allow us to create a non-Soviet Eastern Europe and thus avoid the relative
sameness of all the various Eastern European WarPac armies for our
various Western nations to play against, partly it's to allow us to build What-If armies and fit in kit and organisations we like, within a context. The chap who <a href="https://tracksandthreads.wordpress.com/about/">kicked this off</a> started with Poland, and other have take up the reins.<br />
<br />
My WarPac Cold War armies is Czechoslovakia, and I wondered what Alt-Czechoslovakia may look
like in this scenario. In the previous blog post I <a href="http://novobyzantium.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/cold-war-czechoslovakias-own-armour.html">looked at what machinery they may heve built</a> if the USSR hadn't taken them over (and stifled their own work) as pre (and during WW2) Czechoslovakia had first rate weapons design and manufacturing. The answer proved to be very interesting, they had a number of vehicles and guns in plans and prototype in the early 1950s, from light armoured "platforms" based on a successor to the Ps38/Hetzer/Marder II family, through amphibious AFVs to a first rate MBT, so one part of teh riddle was answered - tey won't use other people's kit, I have to "bodge" theirs.<br />
<br />
This second article looks at how they may have organsed themselves in the 1980's. In the 1930's they were transitioning from a WW1 foot army to a
Mechanised army. The majority of the army were still Infantry Divisions
that were starting to motorise, but for the 1980's the most interesting
structure was the Fast (aka Armoured) Division - 4 were planned, 2 were
being built in 1938. So that's what I'm going to build.<br />
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<i>Alt-Czechoslovakian army TO&E c 1988</i> </div>
<br />
<br />
The TO&E for all Czech units is on the <a href="http://www.niehorster.org/037_czechoslovakia/__czechoslovakia.html">Niehorster website</a>, below is the Fast Division TO&E for 1938</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnqLC1uwGiumu-c-Wcckne_DrZFrH42AP6iFhNFDRL5R-5dNnykE_FlH3mUXvCcVF1mkaA1EW0jgld_RJnjBdmZCXGQAk6c1dO7HQHkTQI1u5bf2DXN0Q9LokNQYoJhHfdb4I6uq8L5R_/s1600/Czech+1938+TO%2526E.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="846" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnqLC1uwGiumu-c-Wcckne_DrZFrH42AP6iFhNFDRL5R-5dNnykE_FlH3mUXvCcVF1mkaA1EW0jgld_RJnjBdmZCXGQAk6c1dO7HQHkTQI1u5bf2DXN0Q9LokNQYoJhHfdb4I6uq8L5R_/s640/Czech+1938+TO%2526E.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Fast Division TO&E from Niehorster</i></div>
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Looking at the top horizontal line, there are 4 main force components (ignoring the 2 HQ and Logistics functions on the far right) - left to right they are:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Cavalry Brigade, consisting of (again left to right, ignoring HQ):</li>
</ul>
</div>
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</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- 2 Cavalry (Dragoon) regiments (battalions)<br />
- 1 Bicycle Infantry battalion with 3 infantry companies, an MG Co (6 MMGs) and a Heavy Weapons Company with 3 x 81mm Mortars and 6 37mm AT guns<br />
- Horse Artilley Battalion, this had 3 Batteries of 76.5mm guns</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<ul>
<li>Armoured Brigade consisting of (again left to right):</li>
</ul>
</div>
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</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
- 2 Tank Battalions - at the time they had LTV 35 and 38 Light tanks but they were supposed to be Medium tanks</div>
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- 2 Motorised Infantry Battalions - eventually the aim was to have 2 complete Motorised Regiments</div>
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- Artillery Battalion - this had 3 Batteries of 100mm Howitzers </div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Reconnaissance Battalion (going down the line, ignoring HQ)</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- Motorcycle infantry company<br />
- Armoured Car company (12 armoured cars in 3 Troops)<br />
- Light Tank Companty (16 tanks in 4 troops)</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Divisional Artillery assets, again going down the line</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- 3 x 20mm AA batteries (in FFOT scale)<br />
- 3 x 37mm (other sources have 47mm) Anti Tank batteries</blockquote>
<br />
The first thing you notice comparing this division with an Infantry Division is the tanks and cavalry, obviously. The next thing is the lack of Divisional artillery (an Infantry Division has 3 more artillery batteries, including 2 heavy artillery batteries). I suppose the problem in 1938 was moving the big guns quickly enough. Other versions of this TO&E place the Tank brigade's Artillery Battalion at a Divisional level, which makes more sense as otherwise there are no Divisional artillery assets, but it would be still nice to have a complete medium artullery regiment of 3 battalions in the Division.<br />
<br />
To be honest though there is
surprisingly little change in Infantry formation structure between
1938 and 1988 even though equipment changes hugely. But direct
translation falls apart with the Cavalry Brigade! Obviuosly therefore, the thing to start with is the Cavalry Brigade! <br />
<br />
"What to do with cavalry" is a fascinating rabbit hole to go down, but I
resolved to solve it by just trying to directly translate what they had in 1938
into 1980 terms, and see what I wound up with and then "evolve" through the 80's based on gaming experience on the table.<br />
<br />
<i>Translating a 1938 Cavalry Brigade to 1980 </i><br />
<br />
To recap, in 1938 the Czechoslovakian Cavalry Brigade had 3 main components: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
- 2 Cavalry (Dragoon) regiments (battalions)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-
1 Bicycle Infantry battalion with 3 infantry companies, an MG Co (6
MMGs) and a Heavy Weapons Company with 3 x 81mm Mortars and 6 37mm AT
guns</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
- Horse Artilley Battalion, this had 3
Batteries of 76.5mm guns and 100m Howizers </div>
</blockquote>
First step was to translate the easier-to-translate stuff, namely the Bicycle Infantry and Horse Artillery.<br />
<br />
Step one - Bicycle Infantry Battalion<br />
<br />
In 1938 these were an attempt to mobilise infantry cheaply and without a need for a lot of maintenance overhead. I thought the simplest transition would have been to jeeps and then by 1980 to simple, small and fast APCs. Going to motorcycles I rejected as no one in the 1980's has serious motorcycle forces, and besides they already had a motorcycle Recce unit in 1938!. So the structure became:<br />
<br />
The 3 Companies of Infantry each have 4 Platoons of which:<br />
- 3 platoons stay as Infantry, now in APCs (older, well established APC required)<br />
- 1 platoon is a "Special Weapons" platoon - over time this increasingly meant anti-tank. By the 1980's AT increasingly meant medium ATGW, so a platoon equiped with something like the Milan<br />
<br />
The 1938 Heavy Weapons Company is well defined - Mortars, Machine Guns and Anti Tank weapons, so I directly tranlated them as follows: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- The 81m mortars are still around<br />
- The 37mm AT was the biggest vaguely mobile infantry AT weapon and, being mobile infantry "Heavy" weapons I replaced it with a specialist Tank Destroyer vehicle with a weapon that could take out MBTs of the day. Initially gun based (a good opportunity to field a "3rd Gen" Hetzer ) they move to heavy ATGW over time.<br />
- The MG platoon can go a number of ways, in many countries the MMG function was absorbed by moving to APCs (that had MMGs on them) and I assumed that would be the case here in the earlier post-war years, But it was noticeable that by the late 1970's, armies started to sprout AA capability at a more local level again. The "standard" 1980 weapon would be some form of HMG/Autocannon AA, and maybe starting to transition to small Surface to Air missiles in the later 1980's.</blockquote>
<br />
Step Two - Horse Artlllery Battalion<br />
<br />
Apparently there were 3 batteries per battalion, of 76.5mm field guns In most WW2 armies these lighter guns went one of 2 ways - either replaced by similar sized but more portable mortars, got bigger, or evolved into Anti Tank support. I assumed that the Cavalry would deal with the AT role and that this force's job would be local artillery support so switched them to 81mm mortars, to match the infantry. I also cheated a bit in that I assumed over the years one Mortar battery would be dropped for an AA battery as tank-hunting aircraft became a more prevalent threat.<br />
<br />
And finally - the Cavalry <br />
<br />
So, What To Do With Cavalry? In Czechoslovakia's case I thought there was a hint in that these cavalry were Dragoons, and had already been converting into mounted infantry, so they were Dragoons going "back to their roots" and there needed to be a strong "mounted infantry" component. What they needed was a good IFV, and the Czechs had an Lt38 based APC on their drawing boards in the late 1940's, so they were going to get (some derivative of) these.. <br />
<br />
But dammit, they were still cavalry, and had to have speed and elan and impact, and if there ever was a country with a proud tradition of making hard hitting light AFVs it was Czechoslovakia - and they had some designs on the drawing board in the 1950's that just had to see the light of day, albeit in 6mm. So that was it - a combination of mounted infantry in tough, fast, hard hitting APCs and tough, fast, hard hitting light tanks.<br />
<br />
I can't find the number of squadrons in a cavalry regiment anywhere, but there were 3 squadrons in a tank Regiment so I assumed that held true in a Cavalry regiment. As the Brigade already has an infantry battalion, I weighted the Cavalty Battalions as 2 light tank squadrons and 1 mounted infantry squadron each. All 1938 squadron/company formations seem to be of "3+1" structure so I asumed 3 of the predominant type (light tanks or APCs) and the +1 was a support weapon type - which in 1980's Europe usually means AT capability. <br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Putting it together - the 1980's Czechoslovakian Cavalry Brigade</i><br />
<br />
We use the Fistful ot Tows ruleset, it's scale is roughly 1 model = 1 infantry platoon, tank troop or artillery battery. In the 1980's therefore the above logic yields the following TO&E (numbers refer to models used. The structure below is how the above changes come out for the beginning of the 80's. Pplaying experience will quickly inform me as to what evolution over the 80's needs to look like :) <br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<b>Czechoslovakian Cavalry Brigade, early 1980s</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Brigade HQ</li>
<ul>
<li>1 Command IFV</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Brigade Artillery Battallion</li>
<ul>
<li>2 81 mm Mortars + APC</li>
<li>1 30mm AA SPG</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>2 Cavalry Regiments (battalions), each comprising</li>
<ul>
<li>2 Light Tank Squadrons, each of 3 Light Tanks, 1 ATGW (Milan Equivalent) Jeep/AFV</li>
<li>Mechanised Infantry Company - 3 IFVs + 1 AT Jeep/APC</li>
<li>3 Infantry stands + 1 ATGW (Milan type) stand </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> Motorised Infantry Battalion</li>
<ul>
<li>Heavy Weapons Company</li>
<ul>
<li>1 81mm Mortar + APC</li>
<li>1 Mass-HMG AA + APC (May convert to small AAM over time)</li>
<li>2 "Heavy" ATGW APCs or Tank Destroyers</li>
</ul>
<li>3 Infantry Companies, each of 3 APC + 1 AT Jeep/APC/IFV</li>
<li>3 Infantry stands + 1 ATGW stand </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
I imagine that over time Jeeps will be replaced by more protected APCs. <br />
<br />
As to what vehicles these are, that will be the next blog post, but in short I assume the following:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Any own-design or non-Soviet vehicle the Czechoslovakians had will exist in Alt-History - so OT-64, OT-65, DANA, Praga etc (ie models I have already should be usable....)</li>
<li>A number of improvements/evolutions they wanted to make to these can now occur - bigger guns on SKOTs and OT-65s etc </li>
<li>Any vehicles they had on their own drawing boards (see previous blog post) in the 1950's will be used and evolved into a 1970's/80's successor. This includes:</li>
<ul>
<li> Replacements for the Lt38 family of fast, light AFVs (Pz38, Marder III, Hetzer) including an armoured APC they had in the works. </li>
<li>The Letak amphbious AFV, similar to the Russian PT-76 - I assume the OT-62 APC equivalent will be less influenced by the Soviet BTR-50 and have a more "Letak" look and thsi will also be reflected in their BMP-era 80's APC/IFV.</li>
<li>The TVP 51 MBT (and upgrades/a next gen successor) </li>
</ul>
<li>Artillery, tank guns wtc of the requisitre calibres will be available</li>
<li>They are capable of buying or building comparable ATGW and AAMs to anything the West or Soviets have (or the French will sell it to them - did I mention I also have a French army....</li>
</ul>
As far as air support goes, in the 1930's Czechoslovakia had an aircraft industry building fighters/light ground attack and trainers but for bombers and fighter bombers they used Soviet and French equipment, In the 1970's/80's they still built their own trainer/light strike aircraft, so why change anything- still using Soviet & French heavier equipment seemed a perfectly reasonable path to continue (I mentioned I already have Cold War Czechs didn't I....)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-59561209158671519952017-07-27T16:03:00.000-07:002021-11-24T02:49:16.747-08:00Cold War Czechoslovakia's own armour designs<img alt="Image result for TVP 51 Czech world of tanks" class="irc_mi" height="426" src="https://static-ptl-us.gcdn.co/dcont/fb/image/tvp_1920x1280wall.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /><br />
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Rendering of the Czech TVP T51 design courtesy World of Tanks</i> </div>
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Readers of this blog will know we quite enjoy playing with Imagi-Nations, from the 1700's to the Cold War. </div>
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One of my fellow gamers has conceived of an interesting <a href="https://tracksandthreads.wordpress.com/about/">Alternative History scenario</a>, where WW2 never happened. The idea is to build alternative 1980’s
Eastern European armies based on what the real countries may have done in that
scenario, and thus avoid the relative sameness of all the various Eastern European WarPac armies. </div>
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<br /></div>
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He started with
Poland, looked at who manufactured their equipment and then replaced it with
1980’s functional equivalents from the same countries. Now, one of my Cold War armies is Czechoslovakia, and I wondered what they may look like in this scenario - the answer has proven to be very interesting.</div>
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The first thing you realise with the Czechs
is that in the 1930’s and 40's they built all their own equipment, they didn't buy it from others as the Poles did. They also were designing and building their own equipment until the mid 50's, when the Soviets effectively put a stop to it. And even then they almost
automatically re-engineered all the post-war Russian equipment they were given, used a higher proportion of own designs than any other WarPac member <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(their own wheeled APC<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the OT-64<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and various gun carriages plus<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>co-operation with Hungary to build a scout car, the OT-65) besides their own trucks, guns and aircraft designs. </div>
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So, it’s highly
likely that with no WW2 and no WarPac, they would still have designed
and built their own weapons systems. Thus with the Alt-History scenario Czechoslovakia it wasn’t so much
about which other countries’ 1980’s equipment I would use, but more what
would they have built and what may it have looked like (and then how to
model and represent it).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Usefully, it’s possible
to get an idea of what was on their mind as their efforts were only finally stopped in the mid 1950’s. From the point of view of the noticeably different weapons systems (in 6mm scale armies) they had:</div>
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</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Planned how to update the Pz 38 series – the
chassis had proven very reliable in WW2, the gun carriages and Hetzer tank
destroyer had had a very good war (the Swiss carried on using a modified Hetzer
into the 70’s). This new "Lehký
podvozek" (Light tank) light tank was to use the Pz 38 running gear, the much better
engines now available, and take lessons from angled armour in its design. The Skoda T-17 design was given a Czech high velocity 75mm gun. Given the success of the WW2 Hetzer & Marder, Tank Destroyers and Gun Carriages were likely variants. An APC
was also in prototype stage, and given the planned armour it would have been a proper IFV.</li>
</ul>
<img alt="Posted Image" class="bbc_img" data-cke-saved-src="http://i.imgur.com/2nbM3.jpg" src="http://i.imgur.com/2nbM3.jpg" height="556" width="640" /><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>T-17 Light Tank</i> </div>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Designed an amphibious tank, the U-9376 <span style="font-size: small;">Leták</span>, in 1954 - several years earlier than the not dissimilar Soviet PT-76 in shape and concept but with a high velocity 75mm gun, not the low power
76mm. There was already a previous floating tank project (VOŽ), and a suspension and
floating system were already available. Given the Czechoslovakians used the OT-62 based on the PT-76 chassis it's not hard to imagine and an APC would have followed. </li>
</ul>
<img alt="Posted Image" class="bbc_img" data-cke-saved-src="http://i.imgur.com/ZDa7U.jpg" src="http://i.imgur.com/ZDa7U.jpg" height="322" width="640" /><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;">Leták</span> Amphibious tank</i> </div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Studied the later war tanks, especially the T-34
running gear and angled armour, and were designing a new MBT based on a number of lessons. There were a number of evolutions of the “Tank for general use” - Tank všeobecného použití (TVP) - project. Below is the final form, c 1950/51. There are also drawings of a Tank Destroyer based on this hull with a German 128mm gun.</li>
</ul>
<img alt="Image result for czech tanks cold war TVP 50/51" class="irc_mi" height="359" src="https://static-ptl-us.gcdn.co/dcont/fb/image/indev-151122-tvp_t50-51_3.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /> <br />
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<i>Rendering of the Czech TVP T51 design by World of Tanks</i><br />
<br /></div>
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<img src="http://ftr.wot-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SYRMF.jpg" height="640" style="max-width: 100%;" width="590" /><br />
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<i>Tank destroyer based on TVP 51 hull - initially designed with a c 100 - 105mm gun in mind, allegedly it could carry a Czech version of the 128mm German gun </i></div>
</div>
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<br />
The<a href="http://ftr-wot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/czechoslovak-tree-part-5-premiumssummary.html"> For the Record blog</a> has a more detailed discussion of various projects <br />
<br />
Thus, in an Alt-History world the Czechoslovakians would very probably
have built an entire family of light armoured vehicles in the 1950’s, plus an
amphibious tank (and given their conversion of the BTR-50 into the OT-62 they
would very possibly have built an APC option too), and a post war MBT and (less possibly) a derived Tank Destroyer with their version of the German 128mm gun.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The Czechoslovakian designs seem in general lighter or average weight with more powerful engines, and guns at the heavier end of the scale. All these tanks apparently would have had autoloaded guns. </div>
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<br />
There is no record of similar Czechoslovakian post war armoured car or wheeled APC designs, but if one assumes they would have built the OT-64 and OT-65/66 wheeled vehicles and their various artillery systems anyway, that gives a good basis. In addition they experimented with using heavier weapons on the OT-64 and OT-65 (up to 30mm cannons, ATGW missiles and 82mm RRLs, and the SKOT is easily big enough to take larger guns - so that certainly gives a good set of wheeled weapons systems to go with in an Alt-Czechoslovakian force. </div>
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<br /></div>
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All of these
would have been both for home use and export. So, for my Cold War Alt-History army, all (all....) that is required is to work out how these designs would have evolved from entering service in the 1950's until the next generation vehicles used in the 1980's, and then what non-Soviet army TO&E they may have used, and finally how to represent them on the table - but that is for the next blog post...</div>
freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-32865043346728705222017-05-08T05:00:00.000-07:002017-05-08T07:38:51.959-07:00The Battleship Hoche getting SteampunkedI have 2 other gaming interests not written about before - Victorian Sci Fi/Steampunk and Pre Dreadnought warfare, and the Dystopian Wars (DW) game and models satisfy this well enough (though the rules are a bit fussy for big actions, I hope the new Fleet Action rules help there). Anyway, I wanted to build a flagship for my fleet, and I just don't like the DW model for their biggest Dreadnought. I have also always had a yen to own a model of the Hoche, or "Grand Hotel", the most absurd battleship ever built. (I do have French in DW of course, but in my view the French "real life" pre-dreadnoughts are stranger than anything DW imagined).<br />
<br />
This is her below, enjoy...<br />
<br />
<img alt="" src="http://www.broadstuff.com/uploads/Hoche.jpg" height="339" width="640" /><br />
<br />
<i>Over-low freeboard, over high superstructure, lighthouse-like observation tower - and a ram to boot! The glorious Hoche (aka Le Grande Hotel) under way.... </i><br />
<br />
I saw that Spartan Games, who make DW, sell some of the key bitz for their models like the guns, funnels, bridges and heat lances etc that give their "look" to their models in game so I resolved to dust off rusty balsa-bashing skills and do a scratchbuild of a Steampunk'd Hoche. The deal was sealed when one of my fellow club members said he'd 3D print me the hull.(I later found I could have bought the model in 1/700 from a Russian company, <a href="http://combrig-models.com/index.php/coming-soon/22-coming-soon-700/366-virginia1906">ComBrig</a>, as I found a plan on t'Internet from them - but I'd already started)<br />
<br />
Anyway, started a bit of cutting and sanding, and here she emerges, basic superstructure blocks done and test fitted.Not an exact replica, but should give that ludicrous proportions feel!<br />
<br />
<img alt="" class="spotlight" src="https://scontent.flhr2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s261x260/18424049_10154393116477343_5709355615089885907_n.jpg?oh=37307e5d41007708265dbbd4aa36c185&oe=59759580" style="height: 478px; width: 640px;" /> <br />
<br />
<i>DW Hoche - the white plasticard thingy going from front to rear superstructure at the top is her skywalk. And the main centre guns really did hang over the hull like that. Oh yes, Hoche had it all...(Fore is to the right by the way, there is an overhang over the front gun still to go on) </i><br />
<br />
Next - the plasticard rivet sheets over the wood blocks, more detailing superstructure....<br />
<br />freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-53272632266948634402017-04-25T02:20:00.000-07:002017-04-25T03:29:57.357-07:00Action at El Forte - Somewhere in Sudan, 1941First time in action for my newly built early war South African / Kings African Rifles force<br />
<br />
A demi-brigade sized force of South African & Kings African Rifles (KAR), typical of the ad-hoc forces used in the East Africa campaign, attempted to raid a major Italian resupply column to El Forte, an Italian fort. The strategy was simple - the KAR battalion, with a Marmon Herrington armoured car company and a motorcycle Recce company attached, would speed off and "cross the T" on the road between the column and El Forte, and attack it head on while keeping the El Forte garrison's heads down. <br />
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The South Africans would attack the tail of the column and roll it up, and with scouting Shifta irregular cavalry screening, the SA battalion moved off towards where the column (or at least a dust cloud) could be seen in the distance.<br />
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The Italians had other ideas Firstly, a company of Askaris ambushed the KAR trucks as they rode past a village en route. The KAR accellerated on past as they had a long way to go and a South African company dropped off to deal with the Askaris, which it did, but delayed the SA advance.<br />
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This was possibly a good thing, as first a column of Italian motorcycle troops came out the dust, and though the Shiftas dealt with them well enough with some help from the SA Artillery reserve mortars, they were then attacked by a squadron of Tankettes and 2 of light tanks sporting 20mm autocannonst. The Shiftas took losses from the Tankettes and did what every Irregular unit has done since time immemorial when in trouble - they fled.<br />
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<img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/WWII%20Abyssinia/DSC00246_zpsmhivyza4.jpg" height="480" style="max-width: 100%;" width="640" /> <br />
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<i>Above - Italian convoy screened by motorcycle recce bottom right, SA/KAR forces top right, El Forte top left</i><br />
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The arrival of the Italian armour stopped the SA advance in its tracks (or more accurately, wheels) and there was an undignified scramble as infantry jumped out their trucks and hunkered down, while the Boys AT squad was deploying as rapidly as it could. In the rear, the SA Artillery 2 pounder AT battery also started to unlimber the minute it could make its way forward enough to a spot where the Italian tanks were visible, but this took time. The South African commander could only growl in frustration as the convoy chugged off into the far distance. The KAR would have to deal with it, the Saffers had more immediate problems - in 1941 a tankette is near invulnerable to anything except the 2 pdrs and the Boys, and can play havoc on infantry and soft vehicles with its machine guns and autocannons.<br />
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<a href="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/WWII%20Abyssinia/DSC00250_zpsbv5hrhde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/WWII%20Abyssinia/DSC00250_zpsbv5hrhde.jpg" height="480" style="max-width: 100%;" width="640" /></a><br />
<i>Italian motorcycles (bottom left) contactt Shifta irregulars
(bottom right) while Italian askaris in the village (top right) ambush
KAR trucks as they race past. </i><br />
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Meanwhile the KAR force had problems of their own - en route to the Fort the Motorcycles in the vanguard were ambushed by a company of very motivated Blackshirts and more Italian motorcycle troops, and these proceeded to do a lot of damage to the SA motorcycle company, routing it. The KAR was helped by the Marmon Herringtons arriving and these shot the Blackshirts up, and the remnant Italian motorcycle troops remounted and rode for the fort pursued by two of the armoured car platoons.<br />
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The other armoured car platoon fell into the range of the advancing Italian tanks and with some very good shooting were knocked out. The Italian tanks and tankettes were then fired on by the 2 pounders which had now been set up, and the tankettes and one tank platoon were knocked over, the other tank platoon retired at full speed and hid behind a large hill, where the 2 Pdrs couldn't see it.<br />
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<img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/WWII%20Abyssinia/DSC00265_zpslwtjsu3u.jpg" style="max-width: 100%;" /> <br />
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<i>SAA 2 pdrs open up and the Italian tanks and tankettes (blobs with orange flame top of picture) start to disappear</i><br />
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The SA troops, having no threat from the armour or motorcycles anymore, re-boarded their trucks - when they saw a SAAF Hawker Hartebeest ground attack aircraft fly overheads towards El Forte. <br />
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<img alt="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/936" height="478" src="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/936" width="640" /> <br />
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<i>SAAF Hartebeest ground attack 'plane on way to El Forte overflying KAR forces moving towards the fort. Ford trucks and Marmon Herringtons in sight. East Africa was "the last biplane war" as both sides primarily used biplanes in this conflict. </i><br />
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In the meantime the KAR and remaining Marmon Herringtons had reached the road just as the head of the truck column passed by, and started to shoot it up. Then they got a major shock - what was supposed to be a supply colums turned out to have an entire battalion of infantry at its head (clearly a replacement garrison for El Forte) and they debouched from the leading trucks and formed a battle line while the transport trucks circled around the rear of the firefight and raced for the El Forte.<br />
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<img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/WWII%20Abyssinia/DSC00254_zpshdcjqa8r.jpg" height="480" style="max-width: 100%;" width="640" /> <br />
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<i>Italian column moves towards El Forte road, on top right the KAR in their trucks are also racing to "cross the T" ahead of them </i><br />
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Worse was to follow - for some reason the trip across the veld in the fine dust had jammed the KAR's rifles (my fellow player threw 4 "1"s for 4 different companies shooting) and they were then badly mauled by the Italian askaris reply fire. The shock was made worse when it was clear that a second battalion of Askaris was moving up from some halted trucks further behind in the convoy, and the troops in El Forte were satrting to get active . It was time for a sharp exit and the KAR re-bussed and<strike> scarper</strike>... strategically advanced to the rear.<br />
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The SA battalion saw them retreating and being appraised of the situation also decided that a regrouping and re-appraisal may be required!<br />
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<img src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/WWII%20Abyssinia/DSC00267_zps5ux1v3kk.jpg" height="480" style="max-width: 100%;" width="640" /> <br />
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<i>Duel of Eagles in the skies while on the ground (top left) a vicious firefight is starting between the KAR and Italian askaris </i><br />
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And the Hartebeest? Well, turned out the Italians had had a similar idea and no sooner had it seen El Forte than an Italian Fiat CR-42 appeared on the scene and both 'planes spent 5 bounds "duelling like eagles" and then going home as fuel ran low.<br />
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(Rapid Fire rules, 4 player game, and in the kingdon of the Boys rifle the Tankette is like a Sherman and a 2 pdr is an 88)<br />
freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-25084806512642986402017-04-08T04:54:00.001-07:002017-04-08T05:09:13.655-07:00East Africa 1940 - FinishedAs mentioned in the previous post, I hadn't come to the blog for some time, life etc gets in the way sometimes and truth to tell I haven't built much new, just added to existing forces for various games.<br />
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But I thought it was worth noting that the South African/Kings African Rifles force I <a href="http://novobyzantium.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/east-africa-1940.html">blogged about earlier</a> in ts buildout is now done, and here are some pix to prove it.<br />
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Here is the whole force, in Rapid Fire scale - 2 battalions of South African infantry, one of Kings African Rifles (right hand battalion), loads of Ford 3 and (converted) 1 1/2 ton trucks plus a few Morris 1/2 tonners. In the rear also the 2 pdr AT and 18 pdr artillery batteries and (centre rear) a command group with command truck and Ford staff car. Also in support is an Armoured Car detachment (left foreground) the Motorcycle company and an Armoured Car company with their trusty Harley-Davidsons and Marmon Herringtons respectively.<br />
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<img alt="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/907" height="380" src="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/907" width="640" /><br />
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WW2 nerds may be interested to know that the South African army in the 1930's opted for a force built mainly around a close copy of the German Motor-Rifle brigade structure, as the distances involved and the relatively dry terrain favours a forec based around wheeled vehicles. That is also why SA took a leading role in Armoured Car development in the 1930's, arguably a skill it has kept going intol modern times. What this means is that its a 3 company battalion wiith more heavy weapons (in theory - not everything was available when WW2 broke out) compared to British and other Commonwealth forces' 4 companies and less generous heavy weapon allocations. <br />
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Also, what SA army of the era could be without a Hawker Hartebeest ground attack aircraft, a South African modification of the Hawker Fury/Audax family . Obsolete maybe, but it was there when needed and the opposition was of the same era - East Africa was the last great biplane war and the first test of the SAAF.<br />
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<img alt="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/910" height="478" src="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/910" width="640" /><br />
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Of course no force is truly finished, there are new 1/72nd Marmon Herringtons now out, so I will just have to buy a company of those to join my new (came out last year, SHQ) lead ones. And my opponents has bought two Fiat fighters for his Italians, so I can see a Gladiator in the future.<br />
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<br />freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-68693364266598470442017-04-06T06:04:00.001-07:002017-04-06T07:29:40.167-07:00New Byzantine cavalryBlogging has been a bit sporadic of late, mainly because I've not much new to say - mainly been playing with stuff I've already done (SA 1940 done, but not used yet). But, this being a New Byzantium blog, I thought I'd talk about the latest (later) Byzantine cavalry I've built and a picture of the whole Komnenan Byzantine army in action in a recent Sword & Spear game, it was 600 pts a side so a Big Game - stand by for serious gaming porn!<br />
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Latest units are the Vardariots (I used Old Gory Bulgars), re-done Turkopoloi (Perry plastic Arab light cavalry) and (for earlier Later Byzantine armies) a unit of Klibanophoroi (Gripping Beast). The old Old Glory Turcopoloi have been re-modelled as a border thematic unit, with Cilician flavour.<br />
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Below is the Byzantine army formed up....pesky Pechenegs and Cumans in the foreground.... <br />
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<img alt="Image" src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/Sword%20and%20Spear/Int%20Byzantium/DSC06750_zpsalilzypd.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
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...to take on the dreaded Seljuqs, who are over here<br />
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<img alt="Image" src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/Sword%20and%20Spear/Int%20Byzantium/DSC06748_zpsfgwmnn01.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
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And here we are as battle is joined, Byzantines on the left, more Pechenegs in LH foreground <br />
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<img alt="Image" src="http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn208/1815philip/Sword%20and%20Spear/Int%20Byzantium/DSC06754_zpstwihekky.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><br />
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Sadly the Latinikon was routed, the Turkopoloi put up a dismal performance, my elite Archontopoloi ran - if it wasn't for the infantry centre standing firm and crunching all to fore and the Varangians protecting Our Glorious Emperor it would have been a disaster, another Terrible Day.<br />
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Good news was the Vardariots put in a good performance, a rare case for one's latest newly painted units. <br />
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As it was it was just a big loss, more like Myriokephalon than Manzikert.....but getting all those toys on table was great fun. It is nice to have 400+ 25mm figs, mainly cavalry on a 12 x 5 table<br />
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Sword & Spear is a brutal game at 25mm with cavalry armies as they are on top of each other very fast and the rules really bias for decisive combat - so you can get a big game like this done in an evening. But if you get on the wrong end of a few dice throws it's curtains, curses and collapsefreecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-48189261236339615492016-08-08T03:12:00.001-07:002016-08-12T01:22:36.458-07:00East Africa, 1940The next project - 20mm East Africa, 1940 - 41 is under way.<br />
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When Strelets brought out South African Union Defence Force infantry, this was a signal to start building something I've had in mind awhile -a South African / Kings African Riflles (KAR) force for East Africa. A friend of mine at the club has already built a colonial Italian army, so there is a ready opponent. If anyone is interested in raeding more about this Early War campaign, there is a very good web book by Neil Orpen <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/SouthAfrica/EAfrica/index.html#contents">over here. </a><br />
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Also, the S Africans fought with their solar hats a bit in early North Africa and Madagascar so can be used there, also they look quite a lot like early war British in the Far East, and African troops actually fought in the Far East from 43 to 45 (in some pretty major actions from Imphal on) so they are a decent force to give my Japanese a game - the African troops and Japanese had some major battles, including use of tanks (both sides).<br />
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The saga of provisioning the trucks is <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6591743244346895259#editor/target=post;postID=4584832735600201563;onPublishedMenu=overview;onClosedMenu=overview;postNum=1;src=postname">in this earlier post </a><br />
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Anyway, pix of progress to date <br />
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I've used the Strelets figures for the South Africans and Airfix Gurkhas and Australians for the KAR , backed up with a few SHQ heavy weapons figures for mortars, Vickers, HMG and also for Marmon Herrington armoured cars (still to be done).<br />
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(Below)- The Army as it stands so far. Two SA Battalions and a KAR one. Whole force is built to Rapid Fire Brigade size, the 2 trucks rear left are the
HQ and Pioneer's trucks, still have to make the infantry models for them
and get the small Tilly cars for the various Liaision vehicles and
artillery spotting jobs that Jeeps took over. Also missing are a
squadron of Marmon Herrington armoured cars which are on order, and a
Motorcycle Recce Co for which I have no idea where to get models from.<br />
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<a href="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/839"><img alt="SA Force.JPG" height="297" src="https://ss.prbrds.com/s/24952/1614952/t/DUP8N5whR3vGf8dONM8T.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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(Below) SA
Infantry Battalion - In the 30's SA had based its army on the German
motorised battalion model so used that at beginning of WW2. Most HW are done, 2" Mortars
still on order. I'm quite proud of my Ford "15cwt" (ahem, prob looks more like a 20cwt SWB) conversion truck (left hand
truck)<br />
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<a href="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/840"><img alt="SA Bn.JPG" height="297" src="https://ss.prbrds.com/s/24952/1614952/t/mfWLFrLsxFJGR5Tnf_gi.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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(Below) Kings
African Rifle (KAR) Bn used the Britih organisation. Need to get a 2"
mortar and a Boyes AT rifle for them, now that SHQ make them fo Gurhas and Australians.<br />
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<a href="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/841"><img alt="KAR Bn.JPG" height="297" src="https://ss.prbrds.com/s/24952/1614952/t/TTVfS4rBRwvyIhOc5RmQ.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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(Below) Close
up SA Infantry with solar hats, they used these in early desert as well
(and at 20mm scale, 2 feet away v difficult to tell difference with a
Tin Hat <img alt=";)" class="smile" src="https://images.forums.net/f/smiley/wink.png" /> )<br />
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<a href="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/842"><img alt="SA Infantry.JPG" height="297" src="https://ss.prbrds.com/s/24952/1614952/t/OvI7fgD7pW6WADLkqcV_.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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(Below) Close
up - KAR with bush hats, used Gurkhas and Australians for them - not
quite right but good enough in 20mm. Will build a 2nd battalion in time. Major question for both is what flocking to use so they can also be used in other campaigns (SA in North Africa, KAR in India/Burma).<br />
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<a href="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/843" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="KAR Infantry.JPG" height="297" src="https://ss.prbrds.com/s/24952/1614952/t/I0QI9UyzH9PPeyG4U60L.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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(Below) The
Guns - SA Artillery 18 pdrs with my converted Ford SWB "15cwt" 4x4 Marmon
Herringon truck tows- still not sure of the gun colour, I think they
were dark green but may have been dark Khaki. Shields were apparently stripped off
for weight reasons. Crew are WW1 Brits with Wolsely Helmets, bought some
time ago before all the Early WW2 minor Commonwealth countries' stuff was available - now you can buy SA gunners I suppose I will have
to replace them with those sometime....<br />
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<a href="https://slwarlords.forums.net/attachment/download/844"><img alt="SA Guns.JPG" height="297" src="https://ss.prbrds.com/s/24952/1614952/t/0uiNJoVQugmhsA39CXS3.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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I'm
tempted to get a battery of 3.7" Mountain Guns too as I understand it both were used in direct
fire mode so can be on table.freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-45848327356002015632016-03-13T09:32:00.002-07:002023-05-08T12:48:20.090-07:00A Truck for all (WW2) seasons When Strelets released their <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwie8PDii77LAhWFdpoKHUulALYQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michtoy.com%2Fitem-STL-M103-Strelets_Mini_Union_of_South_Africa.html&psig=AFQjCNHplpgfbSx1-8nVO5WzwIsoOG3-AQ&ust=1457973253293817">box set of South African WW2 Union Defence Force (UDF) 20mm plastic figures</a>, this was the sign to set out on a project I have long wanted to do - the SA and KAR (Kings African Rifles) forces that fought against the Italians in East Africa in 1940/41 (a friend of mine at my club has just such an Italian army....) and they are also good for the early desert war (so long as you add in a decent no. of Men in Tin Hats) and the little known <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Madagascar">invasion of Madagascar</a>.<br />
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The next problem was to source the trucks. I needed many, the pre WW2 re-arming UDF had based itself on the German motorised divisions as the best solution to move forces fast over large expanses of usually fairly dry terrain, and so had a LOT of trucks. The main infantry transport trucks were Ford 4x2 30 cwt (1.5 ton) trucks, the UDF commandeered nearly the entire production of trucks in 1940/41. Chevy and Dodge produced most of the 15 cwt trucks for the UDF.<br />
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<b>The Great WW2 Truck Conundrum</b> <br />
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But while rooting
around for a model to use, I noticed something else. Every other country
with Ford (and Chevy, Dodge et al) plants in country, started to turn
these trucks to military use. This included Germany, who also had Ford
plants. Not only that, they were supplied to the Soviets in large
numbers. <br />
<br />
But here is the Great WW2 Truck Conundrum.
This truck was used by nearly everyone in WW2, yet apart from a few
(pretty expensive) resin models and a (very) few LRDG models with cut
off cabs, you just cannot get these models in 20mm scale. You'd have
thought something that you can use for every darn army in WW2 in every tear and sector would be a
popular kit, but no.<br />
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<img alt="http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/SouthAfrica/EAfrica/img/SAF-East-Africa-36.jpg" src="http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/SouthAfrica/EAfrica/img/SAF-East-Africa-36.jpg" height="366" width="640" /> <br />
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<i>The Ubiquitous Truck - The UDF Entering Abyssinia 1941 (above) and (below) in Italy 1944/5 (below)</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/all_images/Historical/Italiancampaign/6SAAD-History-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="South African 3-ton truck" border="0" src="http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/all_images/Historical/Italiancampaign/6SAAD-History-13.jpg" height="394" title="South African 3-ton truck" width="450" /></a></div>
<i> </i><br />
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<i>(Below) Australian Artillery tractor with 4x4 Marmon Herrington transmission , then Ford in German service, then Russian. The Russian one sports teh 1942 -onwards grill shape, and (to quote) "</i><i>Together with his civilian ancestor, the <i>2G8T</i>, from which he
differed in the engine type and some minor modifications, the total
amount of delivery sums up to 61,000, making the »Ford-6« the second
most delivered truck."
</i><br />
<a href="http://forums.justoldtrucks.com/Uploads/Images/b3acedfe-a1c5-44b2-a6d2-0fd5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="irc_mi" src="http://forums.justoldtrucks.com/Uploads/Images/b3acedfe-a1c5-44b2-a6d2-0fd5.jpg" height="365" style="margin-top: 68px;" width="640" /></a> <br />
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<br />
<img align="left" border="4" src="http://www.sbg1.mistral.co.uk/frd14.jpg" height="448" hspace="4" width="640" /> <br />
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<img src="http://www.o5m6.de/Ford%20G8T_1.jpg" height="413" width="640" /> <br />
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Anyway, I happened to notice that a Russian kit manufacturer, <a href="http://img02.1001modelkits.com/162450-large_product/pst-72051-ford-6-mod-1943-cargo-truck.jpg">PST, makes the Long Wheelbase Ford in Soviet service</a> with exactly the right shape but has the the 1942-onwards grill, and for a reasonable price. I decided that (given the entire lack of these very common trucks in any wargames army, and thus the total lack of demand) that only the most rivet-counter wargamers would notice the difference between the '41 and '42 grills, or tell the difference between a '42 Ford or <a href="http://olive-drab.com/images/id_chevy_early_700_02.jpg">early war Chevy</a>, and brought PST trucks on board in big numbers for my UDF army.<br />
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<b>Converting from 30cwt to 15-20 cwt truck</b><br />
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Its just a matter of changing wheelbase length and back of truck, and the PST kit lends itself to an easy conversion - bringing the back wheelset forward, chopping the flatbed off at the 3rd stanchion, and ditto the side boards and tarp cover is a very simple operation <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtCx_VXi7eml7tHVI5eegoLqYXAL9SPRDJepXMO0xvFue7z00I0R_i7-VmuD8jNgTb3zCo3pfYS6iGIqXLoJP3s2BSZ_GPSdvZf4foXP5kYOVPyD_t1Xm7HIc_ewPqEqM_iTwLwZCcjAwl/s1600/Trucks+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtCx_VXi7eml7tHVI5eegoLqYXAL9SPRDJepXMO0xvFue7z00I0R_i7-VmuD8jNgTb3zCo3pfYS6iGIqXLoJP3s2BSZ_GPSdvZf4foXP5kYOVPyD_t1Xm7HIc_ewPqEqM_iTwLwZCcjAwl/s640/Trucks+2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>Conversion from 30cwt LWB (left) to SWB (right), the SWB model can also be used for 1 tonner (20 cwt) that can (ahem) proxy for 15 cwt trucks without looking too out of place. More of the UDF truck park being built is in rear of photo...)</i> <br />
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<b>The Truck for all seasons </b><br />
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Having now built a bunch of these trucks, and looking at the meagre collection of trucks in my collection of US, later Commonwealth and Soviet 20mm armies it also became clear that, if painted with a suitable brown-green-dusty paint scheme all of them could use it as well. (Germans a bit harder as Ford Germany was cut off and never upped to the '43 grill, but hey who cares - could be captured ones right?)<br />
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As to colouring, this a picture of a South African truck in Italy 1944/5 (Dodge, as it happens - Chevies & Dodge's had a similar experience to Fords) - generic green-brown + dust s probably OK for all Allied armies at any rate, Jerry will just have to have captured ones when I play them :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSk_we_bgcp44GPC56W4sIf6H47ckwyAbpY5dZLwwFz6k5j1Sf5lGQhw7K_N9VUHAsC6PdomjLxER8vjk0HudSmj9LSJl6GagdowHYVqN4trJl-36-P9Mg88tSJkAM33ogo0OKswfe2ki7/s1600/SA+Trucks+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSk_we_bgcp44GPC56W4sIf6H47ckwyAbpY5dZLwwFz6k5j1Sf5lGQhw7K_N9VUHAsC6PdomjLxER8vjk0HudSmj9LSJl6GagdowHYVqN4trJl-36-P9Mg88tSJkAM33ogo0OKswfe2ki7/s640/SA+Trucks+3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Thus I now have the Truck for All Seasons, for all my armies, (albeit with a little bit of licence....) <br />
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<br />freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-678506842423008342016-02-17T08:06:00.001-08:002016-02-17T08:16:28.468-08:00Saxe-Märchen's forces take Honours of WarWe were trying out the new Osprey Honours of War 7YW rules, using one of the scenarios in the book, and using my armies - so Saxe-Märchen's forces were one side and my French the other, and one of the other club members took some pics of the game - so here are some pix of my Imagi-nation in action:<br />
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<i>Regiments Wahlheim and Driebrucken advancing</i></div>
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<i>Sarkozy Hussars (still being re-based but sent into action anyway) backed up by the Malthus Dragoons </i></div>
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<i> Here comes trouble - French Horse en avance!</i></div>
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<i>The French hold the high ground - on the right is a French "Imagi-Regiment", the Swiss Regiment Valaise (all my French army units come from wine producing regions, so I made up a Swiss one from the Valais as the French seemed not to have one from that area) </i></div>
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<i>The assault on the heights - The Duchess' Own Fusiliers (magnificent in their pink mitres) supported by a light brigade formed of the Grimmwald jagers and Feeland Freikorps, the English regiment in the rear is proxying the Regiment Schonberg, I just haven't finished painting it yet....) advance into the firestorm of the French regiments Champagne, Medoc and Beaujolais. Ouch! See the losses (pennies) dropping!</i></div>
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It was an extremely balanced scenario, the Saxe-Märchen<i> </i>troops were attacking and took the crossroad objective but were unable to shift the French from the heights controlling the main road so a stalemate occurred, both sides exhausted (both would break on another loss or 2).<i><br /></i></div>
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As to the rules - they play fairly fast, it's not a complex ruleset, be interesting now to push it to
the size of forces we play in Black Powder, typically c 6-8 brigades a side, double the size
of the forces on table. This ruleset gets very bloody at close range, clearly aim is to
get to a decision fast which bodes well for bigger games. Also cavalry combat is brutish and short, and the side with the last reserves won. <br />
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We
thought the artillery and skirmishers were a bit overpowered, but everything
else seemed more or less accurate. Will check with the rules forum on
those.<i> </i></div>
freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-44592300754248075062016-01-03T06:02:00.001-08:002016-01-04T02:45:05.968-08:00A side project - WW2 SA 6th Armoured Division<br />
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Got diverted by another hobby horse of mine - the 6th (South African) Armoured Division that fought in Italy 1944/5. I had wanted to do a small Bolt Action 28mm force and decided to get it done over the Xmas break (One can only paint so much 7YW lace before simple khaki is required for a break... )<br />
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Why the 6th SA? Well, I had built it as my "main" Allied WW2 force in 20mm quite a few years ago for Rapid Fire gaming, to fight my son's Germans. There were a bunch of reasons for that:<br />
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(i) I'm South African....<br />
(ii) The Allies and especially the Axis powers in Italy used a huge range of equipment (ie whatever they could get their hands on), so we (especially my son) could use a wide range of toys in our games if we played Italy<br />
(iii) The 6th is a fascinating unit in its own right for gaming with, as it is quite a mix of interesting things - consider that:<br />
- It fought under both the British 8th and US 5th Armies, no other Commonwealth force did that.<br />
- It used an interesting mix of Commonwealth, US and SA equipment,
for e.g. combining 76mm and 17pdr Shermans, Dodge 3/4 tonners ("Beeps")
not British gun-tows, and their<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marmon-Herrington_MkIV_Armoured_Car_%287527969448%29.jpg"> own armoured cars </a>and trucks<br />
- At various times British, Indian and US troops fought under its command, so you can "legally" mix Commonwealth and US forces on a tabletop.<br />
- "Uniform" was at best a style guide, they mixed British battledress, SA summer gear, US gear (and anything they could find on campaign) so mixing British 8th army and later figures with a few bush hats, US helmets etc is de rigeur <br />
- It had a fairly unique camo scheme well into its time in Italy, blue/black splodges on a light mud brown hull. <br />
- Finally, its final battle in the campaign was the battle of Finale!<br />
(BTW the Flames of War website has<a href="http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=4400"> a decent writeup</a> on the 6th) <br />
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Anyway, I decided to do it in 28mm as well for Bolt Action et al , so built a platoon of the Imperial Light Horse/Kimberly Regiment, the Motorised Battalion that was part of 11th Armoured Brigade. This unit had halftracks, not trucks (The 6th used SA made trucks that you can't get models of in 28mm/1:48 in its Motorised Brigades, so a halftrack unit it had to be ) .<br />
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Of course, the infantry was often operating in conjunction with its tanks so a Sherman was an essential addition. I also read they used their M10s (called the "Grouse" ) in close support too for bunker busting and battlefield artillery as well as TD duties so I added one of those too.<br />
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The project so far has completed:<br />
- two infantry sections, (last one on the way)<br />
- halftracks for all 3 sections<br />
- the armour<br />
- 2 jeeps, to be allocated to various ancillaries as required<br />
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Still to be built are a 2" Mortar section, 3" Mortar section, PIAT team, Sniper Team and the impedimenta of the platoon HQ.freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591743244346895259.post-6075473726601390202015-12-26T11:06:00.002-08:002016-01-21T05:56:22.245-08:00Difficult Tidings for Saxe-Märchen<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>"The French want us to send more troops" </i></div>
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We left the Saxe-Märchen contingent (2 foot battalions, a Dragoon Regiment, and a converged Grenadier battalion) in the field as part of Soubise's French army some 2 years ago, watching the Hesse-Hatlands, with not much happening.<br />
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The French had decided, after a few battles, that the Reichsarmee overall was mostly pretty poor, and the Saxe-Märchen contingent, despite giving <a href="http://novobyzantium.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/saxe-marchens-first-action.html">a fairly good </a>account of themselves in action, were lumped into this definition and thus best kept far out of any risk of contact with the enemy.<br />
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So apart from some action in 1757, the years 1758 and 1759 had passed
quietly for the Saxe-Märchen in the field, watching the borders of
Hesse-some-hat-or-other. <br />
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This arrangement had so far suited everybody just fine. "In the field" meant French money for time and billetage, no action meant no extra expenditure and no grieving widows for the Old Duke to worry about, and the soldier-boys in the field were quite happy to be billeted on the Hessian farmers. Yes, they got the same ploughing, mowing, sowing, hoeing and reaping fatigues they got back home, but over here a nice uniform meant the farmer's daughters <strike>and wives</strike> were far more likely to allow a bit of extra furrow-ploughing after hours. <br />
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By and large the opposing French and Hanoverians had ended the campaign season each year roughly where they had started. The threatened English Invasion of Saxe-Märchen and environs hadn't happened, as it was mainly the French who were being offensive. The <a href="http://novobyzantium.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/how-grimmwald-jagers-won-their-bagpipes.html">small amount of Petit Guerre</a> that had occurred near Saxe-Märchen itself had been competently sorted out by the Grimmwald Jaegers. The young bloods posturing in the <a href="http://novobyzantium.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/freikorps-and-fusiliers.html">Duchess' Own Fusiliers</a> and the Duke's Leib Garde du Corp cavalry gave some semblance of a force for Defence of their (miniature) Realm<br />
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In fact it had all been working so well that the Duke had sent the Schönburg Regiment out as well when the French had moved the Swiss battalion originally brigaded with them to more active service. More cash, less cost, and getting rid of the irritating Colonel Waltz who had been making too many eyes at the Duchess.<br />
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But all that was now changing - the disastrous defeat at Minden had impacted the French and their Allied forces' front line strength. So, a List had been made of Reichsarmee units that could be moved to the 1st line, and the Saxe-Märchen contingent had now been "promoted" to first line service. Worse than that, the Mosel battalion originally brigaded with them had not been moved to 1 st line service, and the French had "suggested" that the Duchess' Own Fusiliers be moved into the field to bring the contingent up to full brigade strength for next year's Great Offensive.<br />
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"But it's made up of all the minor nobility and bourgeoisie and burgher's kids" said the Duchess. "They volunteered to serve in the Fusiliers there precisely so you wouldn't send them off to war" <br />
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"But mein liebe knödling (my little dumpling)" said the Duke pleadingly, "they are now soldiers, and the French say they want more soldiers"<br />
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"There will be a riot if you send them to war, you will have all the good Matrons of Saxe-Märchen on your case. And then the husbands. Do you really want that much trouble?"<br />
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"We can send a Militia battalion"<br />
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"Oh come on, the Militiamen can barely find their pants on a good day. "<br />
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"Maybe take the best men from each battalion"<br />
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"Yes, but that would be about 2 companies worth, we need at least four more"<br />
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"Well what other options do we have?"<br />
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"The French want troops, if we don't send them they will take them"<br />
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Just then, there was a knock at the door......<br />
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(Got the new Osprey 7YW rules for Xmas, some good Imagi-Nation sized scenarios in the back I'm planning on playing out) <br />
<br />freecloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733549306046954628noreply@blogger.com0