Quite sometime ago I wrote a simple resource document for a Spearhead mini-campaign set in the Florina Valley in April 1941. Mackay force was a weak-division sized force (of British, Australian & New Zealand troops) sent to cover the Monastir Gap; and prevent a German thrust down central Greece that would split the main Greek Army on the Albanian Front in the west from the British & ANZAC “W” Force (and remaining weak elements of the Greek Army) on the Bulgarian (eastern) front. It was necessitated by the sudden and very unexpected ‘rapid’ collapse of the Royal Yugoslavian Army, which, although not overly modern was still expected to have put up sufficient resistance to have at least held up the Germans for a few weeks and been able to at least hold a final defensive line in Southern Yugoslavia in co-ordination with the Greek Army on the Albania frontier.
Continue reading “Mackay Force in the Florina Valley 1941”Category: Rulesets
ADLG Mycenaeans vs. Persians
This week I finally got in my second game of L’Art De La Guerre (following on from my introductory game June last year), this time 300 points and hosted by Andre at the Christchurch Wargaming Club. I decided to trot out my Mycenaeans who have not seen action in a long time, and opposing me Andre fielded Achaemenid Persians – so an anachronistic match-up but a not too far off semi-historical mix of opposing troop types – well at least if you ignore the wheels on the chariots (and think of them as cavalry)!
Continue reading “ADLG Mycenaeans vs. Persians”Raid On Villa Winter
“Captain Hendry de Cromault paddled steadily and quietly through the uneasy surf, his sergeant and some of his men behind him doing likewise. To either side more boats of British Commandos were also paddling through the surf. As their boats ran up on the volcanic beach with the crashing breakers covering their approach, the first rays of the sun were providing a faint glow off to the east well beyond the mountains, and even further, as the sun rose over Africa and headed towards the Atlantic Ocean. Quickly drawing their boats ashore, they were startled by the sudden winking of a bright lamp inshore, sending jumbled encrypted Morse code signals; ‘a U-Boat must be about’ Cromault thought to himself, ‘why else would the Villa Winter be activating it’s powerful beacon lamp, hopefully it doesn’t stumble across their transport home, a Royal Navy Destroyer lurking to the north’. Even as he thought about it his raiding force was assembling around him at their rallying points, and beyond expectations the entire force had safely made it ashore. Assembled on one of the remotest parts of the Canary Islands, they set off to accomplish their mission of destroying the secret mid-Atlantic U-Boat base built and run by by Gustav Winter, a reclusive German engineer, disguised beneath his Villa ‘Casa Winter’ on the island…“
Continue reading “Raid On Villa Winter”Discovering L’Art De La Guerre
Over the long weekend just gone (Queen’s Birthday here in NZ) I was back in my home town of Christchurch and my old local wargaming club there had some members hosting an introduction and training day for Art De La Guerre (ADLG) to coincide with the recent release of Version 4 of the rules. This looked an interesting opportunity to finally try these out and also catch up with several old wargaming comrades from the 1980’s and early 1990’s (most of whom I have not crossed paths with for many years).
Games would be 200 points in size (essentially the smallest size game normally played, and vaguely similar to big battle DBA in army size – more commonly games are 300 points or occasionally 400 points), and the focus would be on basic mechanics, and for those already familiar with ADLG, the rule changes in version 4. The game was played in 15mm and the Early Imperial Romans’ were loaned by Andre (one of the event organisers & host) and my opponent was Gordon with quasi-historical Gallic opposition.
Continue reading “Discovering L’Art De La Guerre”US Marines in Crossfire 1942-43
Quite some time ago I developed a US Marine force for Pacific Theatre operations, especially for my favourite campaign (Guadalcanal & the Solomon Islands) but also designed to cover the subsequent campaigns through 1943 to early 1944 (e.g. Gilbert and Marshal Islands). This covers the period of the “D” and “E” organisations of the US Marine Divisions & Regiments, primarily the first three Marine Divisions. The next restructure “F” occurred in May 1944 prior to the Marianna & Palau, and Philippine, Campaigns which all kicked off around June-July 1944. So this is my take on US Marines for Crossfire for the first 18 months these divisions existed and the initial campaigns to ‘retake the pacific’…
Continue reading “US Marines in Crossfire 1942-43”Nice DBMM Intro Video
Nice introductory video to DBMM (De Bellis Magistrorum Militum) and the key aspects of the rules; note this does not go into mechanics, just the overall concepts. Great for those not previously familiar with the DBx series of rules from WRG. Expect there to be more in this series from WRG…
Chain of Command First Action
Down at the AWC Kieran and a few others have been playing Chain of Command. I finally had a chance to get down to the club so played an introductory game with Kieran… Using the basic ‘Patrol’ scenario (essentially the traditional ‘encounter’ game – although probably never the best scenario type for an impromptu wargame, especially first taste of a rule set) we set up a village crossroads ‘somewhere in Normandy, 1944’. Continue reading “Chain of Command First Action”
Jagdpanther with Hilary Doyle
Fantastic Video of the Weald Foundation operational Jagdpanther, presented by Hilary Doyle (renown German Armour Expert) with some absolutely fascinating and obscure facts included. A must watch if you are a WW2 Tank fan. Continue reading “Jagdpanther with Hilary Doyle”
Latest Ready Made Diecast 1/72 Models
The wealth of ready made diecast style models now is simply amazing. Especially in the 1/72 scale range (and I’m including 1/76 and 1/87 in that statement). I’ve not paid much attention to the scene in recent years, but just recently have been looking at it again, especially with a view to getting back into playing some Crossfire again. One of the semi-recent arrivals is PMA (Precision Model Art) and they are producing some highly detailed models that feature interior detail (such as engines and such). They do a range of very nice historical WW2 German models that include a V-2 Rocket (in 4 variants), 8.8cm FlaK, and several Sd.Kfz 8 Half-Track variants; including one of which is my favourite the 8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz. 8) on the DB9 chassis. They also have some nice vehicle crew sets, German Kubelwagens & Motorcycles, and a nice LRDG Chevrolet Truck. Continue reading “Latest Ready Made Diecast 1/72 Models”
Kings of War Day At The AWC
Kings of War has been getting a reasonable following in Auckland over the last 12-18 months with the Second Edition (pub. 2015) and the Auckland Wargaming Club is looking at hosting a 1-day KoW Game Day in December featuring 2 ‘teams’ (Good vs. Evil) in a 2 round (game) format (full details at the link). I’ve been a bit missing in action with gaming of late, so hoping this might be a small incentive to get back into things. Recently got hold of the new second edition rule book and first look suggest the mechanics are largely as claimed and fairly simple and straight forward… Continue reading “Kings of War Day At The AWC”
Rorke’s Drift Ready To Go
It’s been a long process, working on my Anglo-Zulu War Armies, and although the figures are all painted (and have been for nearly 10 years) they still await their basing completed. Luckily the terrain is a happier story, thanks to my good friend Kieran (6mm Wargaming), who has now completed my Warlord Games Rorke’s Drift. As mentioned previously (Rorke’s Drift Update) I pre-ordered this on initial release and it arrived in 2013 – and now, no more than 4 years later, it’s ready for action! While there’s still some minor detailing to finish it off I couldn’t resist putting up some pictures to hopefully inspire myself (and anyone else out there) to get the project onto the table for a game! I hope Kieran’s terrain modelling kills inspire a few other Anglo-Zulu Wargamers as well as me. Continue reading “Rorke’s Drift Ready To Go”
Rorke’s Drift Update
Well it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything directly to do with my own wargaming, and an even longer time since I posted about my 28mm Anglo-Zulu War project! Way back in 2011 Warlord Game’s brought out their fantastic Rorke’s Drift building kitset and fantastic box sets featuring this and lots of accessories and figures from their Anglo-Zulu War figure range, and I quickly snapped up one of their initial special limited edition box sets (Rorke’s Drift Arrives), which I duly passed on to my good mate Kieran (6mm Wargaming) to build up and terrain sculpt for me – as described in Work Begins On Rorke’s Drift back in 2013! Well work has finally progressed and now in 2017 it’s nearing completion…