Saturday, 31 May 2025

Festung Europa

With less than a week to go before the planned D-Day game with my fictional Canadian Brigade, I thought I'd post a few photos of progress I've made with regard to the German defences. 

Widerstandsnest 33a. The view of the seaborne side. I went with the 'rule of cool' and added some foliage and earth etc to the roof, which was probably there, before being blown off during the pre-invasion bombardment. I could have added some camo patterns, but like the plain weathered concrete look.

The landward view, which would cover both Juno and Gold beaches. I could easily use this as an artillery emplacement, facing the sea or in other defensive positions. 

The Pak 38 in position, by the entrance to the casement.

An MG 42 Tobruk. 

The concrete 'ring' was from a bike brake block assembly and makes for a perfect Tobruk type position.

A Panzerturm, using a Matidla II turret, one that was spare form an order years ago and I happened to have lying around.

In games terms this will be a Panzer IV short or French FT-17 turret with appropriate stats.


What's Next?
I have to decide whether to paint some more British infantry to bulk out the invasion force, or some German ATG teams. The latter are favourite at present, as they will be needed for the 2nd scenario and for wider games in general.

At least I have all the core mechanisms sorted, so I just need to finalise some Regimental names for the Canadians, as write up my notes into a cohsive whole, rather than being spread over several books and pieces of paper.

I hope you enjoyed this little update and as always, any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.


26 comments:

  1. Looking good Steve. Fictional Canadian regimental names? Look at a map of Canada and select some interesting place names, then add a suffix (Fusileers, Light Infantry, Dragoons etc).
    Cheers,
    Geoff

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    1. Thanks Geoff:). I have found a very useful site that has a whole list of Canadian Militia units circa 1900 that will form the basis of my units. I have a few good names already, but want to scroll through the very long list in case something jumps out at me...

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  2. Very nice defensive items Steve...the first position is particularly impressive...we too are hoping to have something vaguely D Day related in 20mm at Julians place next Friday 😀

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    1. Thanks Keith and I'm very happy with how the Wiederstandneste came out, especially the concrete part. Fingers crossed you get some D-Day related gaming in on Friday.

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  3. Fine defensive additions to your upcoming game. Bike brake block assembly as defensive works? Now you are just being creative!

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    1. Thanks Jon:)! I blame my past career where we would always be on the lookout for useful items that we squirrelled away, just in case...

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  4. Excellent, Steve, thanks for sharing! They look great, and the anticipation is becoming palpable, can’t wait to see your Canadians in action.

    V/R,
    Jack

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    1. Glad you liked them Jack:)! The pressure is beginning to build for me, so plenty to try and crack on with today, if I can find the time.

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  5. Hard to believe that the emplacement started from simple foam core ….. superb!

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    1. Thanks Norm:)! I suppose with my past career that I'm so used to making things from a whole host of materials, that disapper under a coat of paint, that it doesn't even register now. Foamboard is so versatile and for this, a mix of pva glue and fine surface Polyfilla (Spackle in the US?) hides a multitude of sins;)!

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  6. Really good looking defences Steve.

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    1. Thanks Richard:). I'm not sure how long they will last given the sheer weight of firepower coming their way. Some tweaks to the core BKCII rules might be required...

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  7. Lovely bit of modelling, really well done and will look great on the table.

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    1. Glad you liked them Donnie:). I need to start setting up on Wednesday I think, so maybe some sneak preview pics might be available before the main action...

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  8. Nifty work there Steve. Bring in the Canucks!
    Chris/Nundanket

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    1. Thanks Chris:). Let's hope the Dice Gods favour the landings in terms of getting the Canucks on to the right part of the beach and on time too!

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  9. A splendid job on that emplacement! Hope the game goes well.

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    1. Thanks David and fingers crossed the Canadians can get off the beach pretty quickly:)!

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  10. excellent job with the fortifications. 😁

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  11. Great work Steve the defences look very effective

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    1. Thanks Matt and the Dice Gods will decide how effective they are, even if they look ok;)!

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  12. They look superb Steve. All the best for the game tomorrow.
    Best wishes, James

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    1. Thanks James:)! Sadly real life has really put a spanner (well at least three!) in the works this week, so I'm not sure I'll be able to get everything ready by tomorrow:(.

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