Following on from my post a few days ago about some photos I had found of a colonial Anglo-Zulu War game in the mid-1980’s, my friend who provided the armies then still has them! And as it turns out recently he had had them out of their storage containers for the first time in a long while to check their condition and do a bit of a review. He even took photos, so with his generosity, here’s some photos of the full 1/72 plastic colonial wargaming army collection we used for games in the mid-1980’s through to the very early-90’s.
Continue reading “Eighties Colonial War Game Armies”Tag: British
False Memory: What We ‘Know’ About WW1
There are many myths around the British Army in World War I, the old “Lions led by Donkeys” being the first of them, such as Alan Clark claiming to quote it from a German general’s remark. But in fact he just made that up (and in truth it was actually first used by the French about the British in the Crimean War). Furthermore things such as portrayed in Black Adder Goes Forth where British Generals are completely incompetent public school boy types who live it up in comfort in chateaus miles behind the lines, while sending their men off to their deaths, are just nonsensical and don’t align with historical evidence. While there may well have been one or two real generals like this, the actual majority, and the truth, is likely far from that (you can just look at the casualty rate of senior British Officers commanding Divisions and above for example).
Continue reading “False Memory: What We ‘Know’ About WW1”Anglo-Zulu War Eighties Wargame
Recently I dug out some very old photos – some of my very first records of wargaming and they included these Anglo-Zulu War game photos played with my good friend Wayne in the mid-1980’s (probably 1985 or possibly 1986). We used 1/72 ESCI figures primarily (as their 1879 British & Zulu Figures, along with the Crimean War Russian Infantry & Artillery, had just been released). We started out with the Anglo-Zulu war (including a multi-player campaign at one point) and then expanded to the Sudan and the North-West Frontier. However this is possibly one of our very first games, and is from the Anglo-Zulu war.
Continue reading “Anglo-Zulu War Eighties Wargame”The Confusion of British 2pdr & 6pdr HE in WW2
Over the years there has been a lot of confusion around British HE for 2pdr and 6pdr guns – especially in the early part of the war. e.g. The 2pdr didn’t have HE, yes it did originally in 1940 but they stopped making it, no it didn’t, yes it did and they even had 11,000 rounds of it siting in storage at the outbreak of World War II – they just never issued it to the troops! Anyway I thought it might be useful (for my sanity and anybody else’s) to collate the facts as known (at least as I now know them), given a lot more information has come to light in the last 10-15 years on the subject. This was partly sparked by a recent YouTube video I watched (on the Matilda) that quoted quite inaccurately the claim that the British had 2pdr HE (in storage in 1939-1941) and never issued it, either through incompetence or criminal negligence!
Continue reading “The Confusion of British 2pdr & 6pdr HE in WW2”Mackay Force in the Florina Valley 1941
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”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”Pacific Theatre Reading List
Back in late March 2020 New Zealand went into it’s initial (ultimately 5-week) lockdown to stop the spread of the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of that lockdown I took the opportunity to try and catch up on some reading on the pacific theatre (as I have accumulated a reasonable collection of books and had read only a few) – this is the reading list I put together for April 2020…
Continue reading “Pacific Theatre Reading List”Tales Of Cromwell Tanks
If like me you love Cromwell tanks, then you will enjoy this video of annecdotes and facts about the British Cromwell Tank in WW2. The Cromwell first saw action in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944, equipping the armoured reconnaissance regiments of the 7th and 11th Armoured Divisions and the Guards Armoured Division. The armoured regiments of the 7th Armoured Division were also equipped with Cromwells at this time (in lieu of M4 Sherman tanks). Centaurs (the Cromwell without the Rolls Royce engine) were used in combat fitted with a 95 mm howitzer, as part of the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group during the initial ‘amphibious invasion’ days of the Normandy campaign. Continue reading “Tales Of Cromwell Tanks”
Christchurch Wargaming Club Refights D-Day Battles
The Christchurch Wargaming Club are remembering the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in Normandy (6 June 1944) by refighting key battles and actions from the campaign. Read more at Stuff’s Displays and refights will mark D-Day anniversary.
Continue reading “Christchurch Wargaming Club Refights D-Day Battles”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…
Operation Crossfire: World Event Aftermath
As mentioned in my “Operation Crossfire: A World Wargaming Event” post, following on from the hugely successful “World Crossfire Day” event in 2009, Nikolas Lloyd organised Operation Crossfire in 2014; another global Crossfire event. You can read the details of some of the individual battles in my Operation Crossfire: The Battle Reports post. These previous posts feature the introductory briefing video and after action reports of some of the battle sectors, so now find out exactly what happened in the grand operation directly from the organiser himself… Continue reading “Operation Crossfire: World Event Aftermath”