The Summer of '76

As I'm having real issues with a couple of posts, these are being re-published to see if that helps...

As we've just broken the June temperature record that was set in the legendary 'Summer of '76' (and will probably do so again today), my addled brain due to the heat couldn't come up with a better post title, so just went with this! The last time I felt this hot was when I lived in Nigeria, but I was in my late 20's then, was lean and fit and would play cricket, football etc in hotter temperatures than this, but barely notice it, due to being acclimatised to the conditions. So unable to do anything other than survive the heat at present, I thought I'd do a bit of a catch up post to try and keep my mind off the heat. 

The AVBCW

The recent small game I played featuring 'Brenda From Bristol' rekindled some painting enthusiasm for the 'conflict', as I really fancy do another mini-Campaign set in and around Bristol. To this end I selected my pseudo-Home Guard Company to paint, as well as a sort of Naval Company that was intended to operate alongside my Armoured Canal Boat. As with so many of my projects, they've sat there in their box for years, only to see the light of day and then the current heatwave heat, which has stopped play as it were. I did try some painting yesterday, but aside from the paint drying on the brush, it was too hard to summon up the energy to concentrate, so gave up after some block colours. Hopefully with the weather due to break in the next day or so to more bearable temperatures, I can get back to these and finish them next week.

I also dug out some SCW figures in foul weather gear, after having the idea to clad them in bright orange Kagoules (shades of the '70's again) or a sort of Sou'wester cape, to make them stand out on the table top, for something a bit different. They will be in a mainly Mounted Infantry role, or that's the current thinking. I'm also tempted by some Indian Lancers, again for something a bit different and exotic. As always plenty of ideas!

It's All Greek To Me

In the past I've really enjoyed dabbling in some Greece 1940/41 games, but having seen Matt's Greek Game , I really fancy cobbling together a small Greek Battalion. Now whilst Pendraken don't do WWII Greeks, in 10mm their WWII Italians and WWI British could easily pass as Greek troops once at arms length. The former will be used for the elite Evzones and the latter for standard troops that were equipped with British helmets and uniforms.

A bit of background reading to refresh my memory is required, hence my taking this out from the bookcase yesterday. Previous games have focused on the Littoral part of the Italian invasion, so I imagine this will continue forward. However for later games of course they can be used in more mountainous terrain, alongside the British and ANZAC troops. 

1945

My knowledge of the Far East campaign is limited compared to that of NWE or the Eastern Front, especially when it comes to the end of the War. So when I saw this book last year, I ear marked it to get once it came out in paperback, which I was able to do as a Father's Day present. A cracking read so far and highly recommended to anyone with an interest in WWII and the Far East.

Zulu

With the heat stopping play across the board, I settled down to wallow in pure cinematic entertainment watching this film, which I never tire of seeing. An absolute classic!

What Next?

Once the heat breaks, I do hope to get the units mentioned above painted if at all possible, as I have a rather busy week coming up. Once done then I might sit down an flesh out ideas I have for a narrative AVBCW campaign, featuring either 'Brenda' or the 'Bristol Bocage', if I can get that painted in time.

A possible wargame at the MoD Defence Academy, Shrivenham is on the cards, which should be fun, with a tour of the site included. Dates and diaries are still being checked, but i'm hopeful we can meet up in the next few weeks.

As always, thanks for reading and any comments greatly appreciated! Right off to have a choc ice...

TTFN.

Brenda From Bristol! - An AVBCW AAR

With Blogger really, really playing Silly Buggers at present, this post which had appeared, seems to have disappeared into the depths of the Internet, or wherever none 28mm Warlord Games, Bolt Action, Chain of Command et al posts go to wither on the vine. I know mine is not the only Blog to be affected, but it is a tad annoying (massive British understatement) to say the least. So nothing has changed in terms of content, but this 'update' might allow it to see the light of day once again. 

Well, this is the second go at trying to get this to appear...

With the distinctly Autumnal weather still prevalent here, it was yet another day when going outside to do stuff wasn't very appealing to say the least. Instead I decided to set up a simple BKCII game, as it's been ages since I played anything with these, one of my favourite rulesets. I've been mulling over an AVBCW campaign since last year at least, so took the opportunity to get some of these neglected forces onto the table.

The 'Fluff'

Local gossip has reported a broken down lorry at the hamlet of Bramley End, which is carrying the well known siege gun, 'Brenda'. Not sure on its exact location, the BUF and the Auxiliary Police Force have sent out some scouting forces to try and locate 'Brenda'.

So nothing fancy, but nice and simple background story for a quick game to get back into the swing of BKCII. Likewise, the forces chosen and the table set up was really just what I fancied having a play with and going for a visual look that I enjoyed.

The Table

You can see the set up below, all laid out on my 2' x 2' table, which gave me loads of room to move around whilst playing the game.

An overview of the table, with the BUF coming on from the left, the Police from the right.

'Brenda' on the broken down truck. I do have something more meaty in terms of engine and carriage to move her about the table during games, but not painted yet.

Bramley End and Frank the Farmer about to get a bit of a surprise.

The bridge leading to the hamlet.

The local stream that counts as fordable for infantry only.

The telephone box for those emergencies which might occur...

A view from another road into Bramley End.

The geese about to raise the alarm on the local allotment.

The Forces

Both sides had mirror forces, purely for ease of set up for me.

The Auxiliary Police Force.

The British Union of Fascists.

The Game

Captioned photos should give an idea of how the game played out.

The end of Turn 1. The BUF got the jump on the Police, but moved carefully towards Bramley End, not knowing what they might face. The Police did likewise but as they spotted the BUF, they failed to get any shots off.

The BUF armoured car takes post on the bridge.

The 'Beast of Bodmin' trundles forward towards the churchyard.

The Police's Char St-Chamond tank takes up position covering the junction at Bramley End.

More Police units moved into the outskirts of Bramley End.

The end of Turn 2. Both sides engage each other, with the Char St-Chamond and the BUF Armoured Car as both suppressed, as are some Infantry units, but the BUF lose an Infantry and MG unit to combined fire.

The BUF move up to the stream edge.

The Police come under sustained and effective fire from the BUF.

The BUF armoured car tried to retreat but was suppressed leaving it rather exposed on the bridge.

The BUF Infantry move towards the churchyard to support the 'Beast of Bodmin'.

The end of Turn 3. The BUF get an early advantage, KO'ing a Police Infantry and MG unit, but the tables soon turn, with the BUF losing the 'Beat of Bodmin' and their Armoured Car.

Having made it safely off the bridge, the BUF armoured car is soon brewed up by the Char St-Chamond.

The BUF advance into the churchyard...

... but see the 'Beast of Bodmin' brew up next to them.

The Char St-Chamond is not in too healthy a state though.

The end of Turn 4. The BUF are somewhat on the back foot, as they are unable to KO the Char St-Chamond with their ATR fire, but they do force the Police Armoured Car back, but are taking more losses in their Infantry, which they can ill afford.

All that remains of one BUF Infantry Company.

The BUF ATR armed Platoon are close to being KO'd, but are still a threat to the Police AFV's.

Both sides are in the environs of Bramley End.

The Police try to flank the BUF.

End of the Game

At the start of Turn 5, a Blunder leads to the BUF ATR armed Platoon in the churchyard taking hits that lead to it being KO'd. This takes the BUF over the breakpoint, and they pass the test, but discretion is the better part of valour and decide to sede the field of Mars to the Police.

The Police consolidate the positions as the BUF withdraw.

The Police standard bearers indulge in some Rythmic Gymnastics flag routines;)!

BT 'phone home. The Police report their success to their HQ.

Frank the Farmer heads off to find his traction engine so that he can shift 'Brenda' to a place of safety.

The Butcher's Bill

In the end it looked more one-sided than it was, as several of the Police units were close to being KO'd.

The Police on the right, the BUF on the left.

Post Game Thoughts

Well that was fun and great to get the AVBCW toys out for a game and to be playing BKCII again after so long. Some random musings:

• Yet again the 2' x 2' table produced a great game that still gave plenty of action and decisions to be made. It certainly didn't feel like I was playing on such a 'small' board.
• The KISS approach to force selection made things easy for me, having not played the rules for many a month. Again not over complicating things still made for a nice and challenging game.
• The 12-15 units per side showed that no matter the period, this somehow hits a sweet spot for a game, especially a solo one.
• I reckon the actual game itself took just over an hour to play, but with the note taking and photos, more like just over two hours.
• I do need to make a generic ABVCW roster, so I'm not constantly chopping and changing during a game. Afterall most of the stats are the same for each side, with just the AFV's and Aircraft being different.
• This has moved up the desire to play a narrative AVBCW campaign, but more on that in another post. Some painting needs to be completed first...

What Next?

Well tomorrow I'm off to my good friend Keith Flint's place for another game using his Startline rules, so expect a sort of AAR or photo dump in due course. After that I'm not sure as I've got a busy week and then it's Father's Day weekend in just over a week. As always plenty of ideas but will wait and see how the days pan out, so nothing planned.

As always many thanks for reading and any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.

A Very British Civil War-cum- Spanish Civil War Additions

Lately I have been busy painting up some extra command bases, standard bearers and vehicles for an ongoing SCW campaign that I am running. Alongside these I have also been working on my ImagiNations 19thC European troops, but more on those in another post. The results of my efforts can be seen below and some will be making their debut on the table today.

An Armoured truck. I was toying with some fancy camo schemes but in the end went with plain grey as you can see, as it works perfectly for the SCW and is generic enough for any side during the AVBCW.

Another armoured truck, but one I converted by covering the back and adding an MG turret to it.

A French Schneider WWI tank. The Spanish had around 3 working ones at the start of the war.

A French WWI armoured car that will be used as a Bilbao armoured car in SCW games.

A little red tractor! A 'N' guage railway model that I added a driver to and repainted it. It will be used as an artillery tow or simple table decoration.

Local Police force or Guardia d'Asalto. The model 'T' Ford was converted by giving it some new wheels and armoured windows.

British Union of Fascists or Falange.

People's Fifth Flying Column or International Brigade.

Prince Albert's Somerset Light Infantry or British International Brigade.

Italian Corpo Troppo Voluntare.

Italian CTV Blackshirts. The centre of the flag is actually gold but just looks yellow in the photo.

I enjoyed painting these and the painted flags look better than the ones I can print at home, as they don't look so washed out. If I had a laser printer then this would be less of an issue as the one I used to use at work produced wonderful flags. One of the downsides of retirement! The only other issue with these is that I can't do any text on them as they are too small (about 8mm high) for my eyes and shaky hands. A minor problem though to be honest.

Time to go and get ready for the game! until next time, stay safe and keep healthy.

Scratch Built Aircraft Hangar - Part 1

After my recent AVBCW battle set in the Bristol 'bocage', one of the Pendraken forum members made the comment that the 'Bristol Bocage' sounded like a great name for one of those slightly whacky British Inter-War designs. This got the old grey cells working and so I have plans afoot, subject to the delivery of a plane kit, to make a 'Bristol Bocage' for use in a forthcoming AVBCW campaign. The ideas for both the plane and the campaign are broadly fleshed out, but I thought it would be good to model an aerodrome or aircraft hangar for the final scenario.

I wanted something easy to make but fun also, and whilst doing the washing up (I hate dish washers!) I thought half of a tinned can would make a perfect basic shape for the hangar. So a few days later off into the garage I went to saw the tin in half with a hacksaw and knock up a base. the results can be seen below:

 

The mdf base is 8" x 4", with the tin can 3" in diameter. I used tinned tomato can as this had the simplest shape without any added curves at the base or top. The can when cut loses its shape a bit, so I added strips along the sides and back to help keep it in shape, whilst I glued it in position with Araldite. The hangar door is made from 1.0mm ABS sheet, with a strip along the top to represent the rail to allow the doors to open. I have also scored in lines to represent the door panels. The plane in the foreground is a Pendraken FE2B to give an idea of scale.

A view from the rear.

I added fine surface Polyfilla along the sides and back to hide the support strips. I'm not sure whether to add some windows half way up or not and will mull this over tonight. Again I'm not sure whether to have just grass in front of the doors of some concrete slabs, but I'm favouring the latter at present.

I hope this small post has been of some interest to you and I'm certainly enjoying the whole scratch building process. Much more enjoyable than making models for clients to ridiculous deadlines, as I only have myself to please! More updates to follow in due course over the next few days, all being well. So until next time stay safe!