Look Back at my CoW 2024: List of Games

Long overdue, but here it is! CoW 2024 at Missenden Hall,

There were so many games in parallel sessions that you could have attended CoW 2024 (and apart from the all inclusive plenary game) you could have had at least five separate parallel strand CoW experiences. Mine was fun and informative as detailed below: 

• The Plenary: Papal Conclave of 1559, an interesting game of papal political intrigue, back stabbing, rioting, opportunism and deceit. As a Spanish Cardinal I feigned disappointment as a French Pope (with audacity to take the name of Innocent[?]) sat enthroned as God's vicar in Rome. French gold clinked in my pocket and a position of "favour" awaited me.

• The Cactus Air Force (Guadalcanal 1942) - Blood Red Skies (BRS) fighting the IJN from Henderson Field:

Naturally I find myself surrounding by enemy Zeros, but I am distracting them from the USN bombers hunting a damaged IJN heavy cruiser!

Some how they all missed me and ACE made it back home, although the bombers missed the heavy cruiser in this game (a repeat game saw the cruiser heading to the bottom)!

• The Great War in the Pacific in the 1920's (what if the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 failed to take place and the USA and Japan ended up fighting a huge naval war in the 1920's? What sort of fleet would you build as the US to fulfil "War Plan Orange" and what in fact would be your war plan? [Ticket to Manilla, Home Island Hawaii Defence, Island Hopping, Japanese Homeland Assault]):

The game's bits and pieces (AH's Victory in the Pacific used as a map, 1/3000 Navwar ships, Jenga Blocks and plenty of sticky labels):

The USN Admirals Plan - note serious faces of austere concentration .. [obviously a posed photograph]

And they keep on planning. Note, then there is this guy in a Hawaiian shirt on the end, getting very chummy with the US Marine Corp chap MacArther ! Yes he got promoted to C-in-C, obvious with hindsight!

The Admirals of the class of 1926 all successfully "pass" the Ship Identification "end of term test", all proudly spotting the expensive, six funnelled USS Ranger aircraft carrier - a very advanced ship, laid on the stocks with no chance of being finished in time to participate in the war.

The Great Pacific War of the 1920's starts with the Manilla Squadron in dire trouble as an elite IJN fast battlecruiser squadron tries to Copenhagen them, but thanks to the foresight of the American Admirals the modernisation of the Manilla Squadron pays off and the IJN are sent packing, though vowing to come back with reinforcements.

With "The Ticket to Manilla" as War Plan Orange the USN charges across the Pacific, sadly loosing the CV they managed to build (the USS Langley) and the seven funnelled USS Lexington to IJN air and torpedo attacks. Nevertheless they arrive in time to face the IJN Combined Fleet (without Kaga and Akagi superdreadnoughts due to slow production and lack of steel thanks to US sanctions). Both sides engage in a battleline fight and loose all their battlecruisers. The USN have an advantage in battleships and the IJN in light forces (cruisers and destroyers).

A stroke of USN tactical genius and bravery sees the damaged USN Manilla Squadron sortie and catch the IJN in a pincer move. The Japanese battleline is Trafalgar'ed and remnants escape back to the Home Islands. The Japanese sue for peace. Well played the USN!

• Air Strike Nigeria - Planning a Jet Air Ground Attack (simple plan, rather than attacking the heavily defended by AA assets enemy HQ, we chose the high value AA asset [radar] for a points win [some would say long game] to take out - as the Rookie ordnance man I loaded up with range zero "big bombs" and some A-2-A self defence missiles which caused some consternation with the " married family men" of the flight): 

Death before dishonour, through evasive action that really jangled the pilots nerves [lose too much cool and you are a poor flyer which is not a good thing] we survive the close AA barrage [if I had swapped that for long range ordnance we might have suppressed the AA - lesson learned, a mixed array of weapons works best]. The big bombs clobber the important Soviet Era AA radar [4pts] and almost getting a win-win with the fuel dump too [just one hit point off] and try and "leg-it" but there are bandits on our tails.

We lose a boomer to enemy A-2-A combat but thanks to the plentiful availability of A-2-A in the attack flight we down "two" fighters which make the mission an outstanding success .. I am skimping over the pilot who ejected over "No Man's Land" due to "uncool flying technique" and had to hitch a lift home in a Yellow Taxi wearing civilian clothes.  

• Poland 1939 - One Hour WW2 (watched a game of Martin Rapier's excellent WW2 Brigade Level rules play an interesting Poland 1939 scenario [Stukas, Pz I's, Armoured Cars, Pak 35s, polish Cavalry and bridges that must be held at all costs]): 

The broad landscape with a good bit of Polish strategic pointing at the key terrain feature - the bridge across the river!

Massed German armour and stout hearted Poles in defence of the strategically important bridge that had been "pointed out" earlier!

The Luftwaffe's Stukas ensure "War is Hell". The Poles fought well, but the Germans were too "combined arms" for them in the end.

• A Simple Dice COIN Game (developed as part of his PhD wargaming research at Bath Spa University Pete Sizer has come up with this interesting solitaire COIN game, using a lot of dice):

Pete guiding six players simultaneously playing his solitaire COIN Dice Game, with dice acting as handy game tokens [representing things in various states] as well as "things to roll" - the amount of dice rolling was deafening! I stood on the side lines and watched this one as I was still mentally exhausted from putting on The Great Pacific War just prior to this, but need to play it. Perhaps in a quiet moment in CoW 2025 Pete can take me aside with a pint in hand to show me it again! 

• War of the Roses: Princes in the Tower - Cluedo(ish). There is Cluedo, then there is almost Cluedo with the Princes in the Tower historical authors battling it out with their egos over-filling rooms to define teh best "pet absurd theory" that will get them a lucrative "book deal"! I don't think I got all the in jokes, but enough to make it very amusing! 

• Lynchville is Burning (Again) - Role Playing and Committee Game. Naturally no photos as decreed by the 1950's emergency laws pressed into service. In an extreme state of anti communist paranoia where security and sensible lifestyle choices are paramount for the survival of the United States of America I can now fully understand the attraction of the Fallout Vault option. Sadly we did not have a vault, but we did have several cunning plans to infiltrate the seemingly harmless Trade Union to discover Soviet sleeper agents and undesirables. Each cunning plan failing in quick succession, the team turned to ever more desperate and darker tactics to give results, any results - no matter how fanciful to the powers that be that "ran" the organisation. The result was naturally chaos; it followed in an inevitable tragic sense. The fire at the gas mask factory was teh last straw, the bewildered workers mixed with agent provocateurs bused in for the occasion and unfortunate, unwanted newspaper coverage of agents no longer with the service, retired early before their prime. Are we still safe, that all depends on Department 12. 

• Ukrainian National Guard - A small squad tactics game, with maps and counters. A team planning and execution of a simple task that can always be made harder by doing something silly. Thankfully we watched, got lucky and flushed out the Russian observers but enemy drones blew up our BMP lift home.   

• GMT's - Last Hundred Yards Play Through. Using the serendipity of two people having the same game and wanting to know if they are playing it right this was a sit down session of a basic scenario. The good news was that we seemed to be playing it correctly, the game made sense and was a nice alternative to Advanced Squad Leader (ASL).   

• Bring and Buy Sale Bonanza (loot and swag collected at the bring and buy stall): 

Plenty of helicopters, Norman Knights and Hoplites, so what is not to like? Supplementing existing collections and periods.

 Plenty of "New Rules" courtesy of the stable of senor Trebian, for periods I want to get into!

 Old rules, but still the period is interesting and ideas are great to explore.

My personal weakness - other people's lead, end of collections and odds and sods, that could fit in somewhere (possibly) to my old collections. Pennies well spent I think, as the alternative is much more expensive late night Internet purchases, that you probably regret the next day! Well that is my excuse ;)   

Finally - the things that you never thought you would see again and missed getting first time round. A personal soft spot for me 2000AD, Judge Dredd RPG. A classic despite what Enzo the dog thinks about it!

And take a deep breath, sir all the above, mixed with great food, alcoholic drinks and good company. Fantastic event, I can recommend it to one and all.

More details of Wargames Developments can be found at: https://wargamedevelopments.org/

I know bookings for CoW 2025 are now open to the General Wargaming Public, come on in the water is lovely https://wargamedevelopments.org/event/cow-2025/ if you have read this far you will probably enjoy it!

Panzer II Ausf A 1/72 Scale

They do not come more collectable than this, an original Panzer II Ausf A. The training vehicle the Germans went to war with and ended up in combat service until 1942; still being used on rear area policing duties in 1943 (see below): 

A beautiful fast build model, I would happily get another. Next stop the painting tray ;)

Panzer III Aust A 1/72 Scale

The IBG Stug III model had impressed me so much that I ordered the previous two "magazine issues with attached models" from teh internet! In a strict historical sense only good for Poland 1939 as they were removed from combat service before France 1940. The first model/make of Panzer III but with five main large road wheels and only two rollers which makes it look "odd". All-in-all the Panzer III was a little beast and caused the Germans lots of teething problems of a mechanical and design nature. They finally got it sorted for Barbarossa in 1941 but then they met the Russian T-34 (see below):
top

Note: A beautiful quick build model of a strange (almost unknown) variant of the Panzer III. I can recommend it unreservedly. All I need do now is paint it in Panzer Grey!

Others do it better (see link below):
https://minstralmodel.blogspot.com/2018/02/panzer-iii-ausfa-norway-1940r.html

An Old Esci Friend: Pz 35(t) .. Old School Modelling!

By way of comparison and in start contrast to the new "First To Fight" I have pulled out an old friend from circa 1994 and a rare (even in those days) model of the Pz 35(t). I wince now remembering the pain I had putting the running track/wheels together. The track plastic itself was simply awful and broke several times. It needs redoing to say least. Yet still somehow it is an old favourite of mine and I would not part with it (see below):

I promise or rather pledge to redo the track this year!

Early War Pz 35(t) Bef .. First to fight

In for a penny, in for a pound. While I was in that York model shop I acquired a second First to Fight model. The particularly 'clanky' Pz 35(t) that the German Army acquired via Czechoslovakia in 1938. The 'other' Czech tank is the Pz 38(t) and I have a hoard of them (6) from Fujimi, but the rarer Pz 35(t) is represented by only one old Esci kit. Again the quality is superb, especially since the complicated bogie wheels were a single piece. The Esci kit had literally hundreds of parts by comparison (see below):

I could not resist putting on the Command Variant aerial antenna on the back! My only regret is that I did not buy the second one that was sat next to it on the shelf ;)

Early War Pz IIIE from "First to Fight"

I saw these (Firts to Fight) advertised on the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) website and thought they looked good but resisted. However the first model shop I visited and picked one up I succumbed By heavens they are good! More pricey (£8 for one model) than ArmourCast but retaining their simplicity with added extra detail worthy of Fujimi and eclipsing Esci. Methinks they would give many a metal manufacturer a good run for their money being plastic injection and a lot cleaner on the "flash" side of things (see below a beautiful Pz IIIE):

The only thing that puzzled me was a minor piece of detail on the left side if the hull. Something ever so small but a curious details. The instructions on the back didn't quite show it in the detail my old eyes needed. However the link below (of one done in Blue Peter fashion by another) showed me where it should go (and Murphy's Law meant that I had done it wrong, not that anyone would notice, bar a rivet counter).

See you in its "full glory" here:
http://modelwork.pl/viewtopic.php?p=686365

A welcome addition to my early war panzer collection!

SmoggyCom 2012 Haul (Part I) : 20mm WWI Pz IB Bef x 2 (FrontLine)

The Early War Panzer Battalion Project: 

At last years SmoggyCon (2012) I picked up two Pz III E's (37mm Guns) from FrontLine Miniatures to "legitimise"my France 1940 Panzer Battalion (previous to that I would have had to sneak in some Barbarossa HaT Pz III F/G's with their short 50mm - pedantic and sad I know, but it's also nice to get a collection to that "all correct to Order of Battle" stage). This year I decided to get a proper "pipsqueak" command tank for my early-war Light Tank company commanders,instead of just using Pz1 and Pz II models. (Note: The Battalion Commander already had his plush Esci Pz IB Bef).

For the price of "two in resin" from FrontLine (totaling just under £8.00) , it was the same or cheaper as picking up one old Esci or new Italeri Pz IB Bef plastic kit and much less of a hassle "number of pieces wise" of putting then together for pretty much the same effect (see below for my first tank off the production line):  

I also discovered what I consider a 'neat trick' in assembly of the tracks to the chassis. The weakness of resin kits (FrontLine in particular) is getting a good connection between the superglue and the tracks/chassis (I am not a big fan of using Milliput in a "gluing mode"). I used some old cardboard (mine literally came from a greeting card I had to hand when inspiration struck me) glued it to the chassis, it dried in less than a minute, then I glued the tracks to the card which was bond to the chassis. When it dries completely it dries rock solid, but when you are placing the tracks on, there is just that little bit of gentle 'give' in the cardstock to get a good connection between the resin parts.

Well I now have my pair assembled and undercoated (see below): 

Confession: It has been years since I have done a WWII game in 20mm (as an afterthought I do have the 1/200 kit that could be used for CD III as well). So here I am claiming to be Command Decision proficient, however methinks my "player's license" has probably long since lapsed ;)

Therefore I am determined to put on at least a solo game over Xmas .. watch this space (that should raise a cheer from Al and Paul in NZ)!

38t Panzer "Marsch"

The perils of trying to update a blog on a mobile device mean that I am typing this post again. Perhaps it was my chubby fingers or a "interface error" but here for the second time of telling is the "38t Panzer Marsch" (see below): 

These are all examples of the Fuji 38t 1/76 kit, copiously available in the 1990's where most if not all of the above were collected. Like their namesake Skoda 38t the kits were relatively cheap and easy to put together. Many a pitched wargame battle was fought against the Matchbox French Char 1 bis (one notable game occurred in a London pub's wargames room where "Rommel" as per history took a part.French DCR in France 1940).

They have a lightened "hard campaigning" look about them and so need the balkan black German cross and those 'red and white' large side numbers. One day that will come ;)

The 38t is a nice little model that serves well for the Germans in Poland 1939 (as part of their "Light" Divisions), in France 1940 famously with Rommel in the 7th Panzer Division and also 8th Panzer and even into Russian in 1941. Axis satellite allies also used them post-1942 but there the camo schemes started to go three toned and away from the grey. You could even find them as mobile "train" defenses, carried on flat-beds in "Partisan country" to deter partisan attention.   

35t Solo Panzer "Anton the Great"

This one is a rare Esci original Skoda 35t tank, with the fabled 'dustbin lid' cupola. Serving in Poland, France and early Barbarossa Russia in 1941. They did not survive the winter of 41 in German service, but variants lived on in the satellite Romanian and Hungarian forces (much to the distress of their crews when they faced a T-34 or KV-1).

This one is in the usual "decal free" state and is more an "individual" modelling project than a "company force" wargaming OoB. It is destined to be the last serviceable Panzer 35t in the 6th Panzer Division driving to enigrad in late 1941. Due to mechanical breakdown it was eventually pushed into a ditch. The Panzer crews now fighting on as infantry.

Panzer II "Marsch"

The early war panzer photograph collection was never quite finished. The Panzer II 'posse' pose together (see below) in France or Poland.

Four Matchbox/Revell and two Fujimi, the chap with the commander is the really early war variant (see below). They are crying out for decals (black crosses in particular) and I want to give all the early war crew tank commanders a little individual attention.

I do have one other Panzer II still in DAK colours and I am debating what to do with him, whether to turn him grey or camo him up for the recon vehicle.

Polish 7TP painting (continued III) ... Clanky Tank Finale

Partly for the sanity of NZ Paul (recoiling in horror at the multitude of recent Renaissance postings bringing flash backs of history lessons from his school days, learning lists of kings and queens etc.) and partly for my own pictorial confirmation of "painting progress" in 2012, I conclude my early war WWII Polish Tank painting spree (later war I guess it  would be Allied Cromwell's or T34/85's depending on whether it was Western or Eastern front). My "independent" 7TP tank company (see below):

The three tome highlighted camouflage is completed and the tank tracks are now painted with Anita's Acrylic Metallic Black and then highlighted by mixing in a tad of my diminishing stock of Games Workshop Mithril Silver. A close-up of the said painted tracks is shown below:

They now go into the "early war" draw, next to a I will return to these at a later date to do a matte varnish coat to protect the paint from shedding/scratching/wearing after handling as the SHQ metal casting has sharp edges on its boxy superstructure

The other thing I intend to do is put a plasti-card floor on the bottom of these models as it is very disconcerting when your fingers disappear inside its hollowed out carcass and tends to make me drop the blooming things!

The twin turret 7TP, the one I nominated as a "command tank" (see above), is a funny looking beast and must have been a nightmare to try and use in combat. SHQ Polish 'heavy armour' complete.

A Final New Years Modelling Treat for ME!

Given that the annual New Year Exodus took me up to Edinburgh again, I managed to 'orchestrate' a trip to the Wonderland model shop on Lothian Road, Santa's Grotto to me, using the feeble excuse of a faulty Scalectrix car needing an urgent repair. While there I spotted the following "must buys":

HaT's German Mounted WWII Infantry, something which can complement the German Cyclist WWII Infantry (seeing is believing) and also something I can classify as an "20mm WWII early war". I was originally keeping an eye out for HaT's plastic Polish WW2 Infantry box (to complement my Polish Tank forces) but settled for these instead. Also no sign for HaT's WWII Italian Cavalry, maybe next time.

Next were these fine German Paratrooper figures from Italeri, out for a while now, but like all their new mouldings simply too good to pass up on, I had wanted them for a while. Discretion being the better part of valour meant that I stopped myself going infantry crazy over the Italeri 'Tank Hunter Teams' and an intriguing Italeri Italian WW2 large (10.5cm?) Artillery piece.     

Finally I did make sure I got one of these kits from Zvezda, essential for an early war, self respecting Motorised Rifle Battalion of the Soviet Union. This also meant I neglected to buy the Airfix WWII 1/76 Cromwell and the WW2 1/76 Airfix Churchill Bridgelayer kits (again), but I had a lack of funds and space. Their time will come I am sure ;)

More Polish 7TP painting (continued II) ...

The 'base colours' are put onto the second "gun tank":

The shading starts, mid-tone and final highlight. The shades of brown was harder to do Anita Acrylic's Earth Brown, Anita Acrylic's Dark Red, Games Workshop Sunburst Yellow and Anita's Acrylic Cream. The challenge was not to turn the brown pink: 

The final yellow colour gets a white shade highlight:

Camouflage pattern complete, tracks and exhausts to do next:  

Still think I will plastic-card the bottom to make the model feel more solid. The kits do need to be varnished however as the SHQ castings have sharp lines which mean that the Anita Arylic's paints have a tendancy to 'rub' off the metal. Handle with care until the varnish goes on ;)

7TP's another thirty minutes painting on ...

Prototype camouflage pattern done on the "command tank", time for the other two "gun tanks" to catch up (see below):

Meanwhile while technically not a deviation (see "Just a Minute" Radio 4 game show rules) it is a distraction (but in my defence it is at least on the list):

The Airfix 1/1200 KM Prince Eugen from the "Sink the Bismarck" set. Will my concentration hold or will I be a kitten chasing a butterfly? Tune in next time to find out ... 

Polish "Clanky Tanks" 7TP's (cont)

Still working on the Polish 7TP's and trying to nail their camouflage scheme. These SHQ kits started life on a trades-stand at the SELWIG London Games Wargame Show in 1997, purchased when I was "young and single" in London and could afford buckets of metal. This lavish investment has finally matured (see below):

The three tone scheme was lightened up in two shade highlights: Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow added with Anita's Acrylic's Cream, Tamiya  XF-62 Olive Drab added with Games Workshop Sunburst Yellow and Anita's Acrylics Earth Brown added with Anita's Acrylics Dark Red and then Games Workshop Sunburst Yellow (see below).

The "magic formula" seems to be working (see below):

Not too sure how to tackle the exhausts: Anita's Acrylics Metallic Black and Games Workshop Mithril Silver for starters? (See below):

A close up of the "Command" 7TP Twin MG's. Full Frontal (see below), this camouflague scheme was jigsawed from various sources and taken from other "modellers" examples so probably it is not as blockish as per historical (see below):

Side-on and taken from "Blitzkrieg: Armour Camouflague and Markings, 1939-1940. Steven J. Zaloga", see pages 33, 36 and 37.

Rear (more educated guesswork):

"Prototype" done time to do the other two 7TP gun tanks. Photo-shoot over, the real "clanky tank" painting continues in the background.

Note: Hidden in a tray somewhere are some mounted and dismounted SHQ Polish Lancers and standard FAA Polish Infantry.