Hide that Railway gun ...

 The railway gun needs to be stored way when not being fired, rather than concrete bunker I decided on a simple structure covered in camouflage netting

A basic structure for the netting built from scrap cardboard, with workshop building

A quick spray with some acrylic dark grey paint..

check for fit over the railway gun...

mesh from a laundry bag used for the netting ...

a coat of green paint for the netting with some dabbed on other shades of green; base painted and some dull grass scatter added. Railway gun inside ...

The last scenic item completed, so ready to play the game ...

Railway Gun ... turntable, ammo store etc

 For the game scenario the German railway gun setup is using a turntable for aiming, rather than firing 'off the curve'; the turn table itself is best shown in this box art from 5STAR models.

I've had to approximate to the above using a cheap plastic kit, so my model is a quick knock-up to make up the scenic item for the game. I've added some extra robustness to the deck and put a simulate end-stop with motor using card and bits.

plus a suitable ramp piece added....

After studying the layout of the railway gun sites, I've changed the way the game table is setup and started to get the scenery sorted out.... have put on an ammo store building....

Looking through boxes of WW2 scenics, have a suitable barrack building and air raid shelter...

plus some netting to cover small dumps of supplies....

The turntable and ramp painted and finished off with a simple look to fit into the scenic 'greens'.

Camouflage netting to cover the gun in its 'storage siding' to be done then I'll be ready to play the game. 

Railway gun .... working towards a game...

 Trying out a table setup for the railway tracks before adding anything else

Diesel shunter (Dapol plastic kit) and ammo wagon (old Hornby van wagon) have been painted....

The firing turntable for the gun - initial version; will have to add some more detail then paint etc..(I used the Dapol plastic kit as a basis for the turntable).

Something to push a railway gun....

 Trying to work out a scenario for Resistance to attack a German railway gun.  The railway guns were usually positioned by a diesel loco, so I opted for the old Dapol/Kitmaster 0-6-0 BR Diesel kit.  Its sort of about right - and will do as a game piece.

The railway gun and diesel loco (actually OO/HO), more suitable for 1/72 - but as backdrop items they don't look to out of scale with a German sentry 28mm figure.

Stuka - TLC repairs...

 Found in a box of distressed 1/72 die-cast model planes in a local charity shop - a Stuka, missing one of its dive flaps and propeller blades. I thought it would be a nice item to add to an airfield game, it can also take to the air on a suitable stand.

dive flap replaced with pice of thin cardboard..

propeller blades replaced using some metal 28mm swords, not quite the right shape but Ok for a game piece...

Painting done and a coat of satin varnish .... ready for an outing on the game table ....

Making a vineyard ....

Can't be somewhere in France without a vineyard, so decided to make one. The plan was to use only stuff I had to hand (and buy nothing new !) I'd looked at some examples online of others who made vineyard bases for inspiration.

I decided on 12 bases, each about 8.5 inches long.

First up was the base, thin card with a top part made from coffee stirrers. The holes for the posts and vines were marked out and drilled. Then first job was to put in the posts.

After that I added two training wires using some thin scale ship rigging rope (cotton thread would have done)

Next step add the woody parts of the vines. For this I cut up some old plastic trees into suitable pieces ...

I had just enough to do all 12 bases... 

All the pieces got a wash of brown on the posts and the vine wood painted brown too..

Adding the foliage, I decided on using the pieces off old plastic trees ...

Having added all the plastic tree pieces, one problem a gap along the top ...

the gaps were filled in with loads of little bits of left over foliage clump

to blend together the plastic pieces and foliage clumps, painted over with leaf green

Finally an earth mix for the central part of the bases of the vineyard sections and some static grass round the outside... all done...

French Buildings ....

The 1/72 Valiant and Amourfast buildings finished ....

The church (3d Print), painted up ....

a row of four 3d printed buildings....

A barracks or single storey wooden industrial building .... (made from card and printed sides/roof from a free file downloaded in 2016 from the Ebob website, took me a while to get round to using it ! )

Chateau HQ for the germans, trying out a small setup ...

Some French Buildings (4) .. Shop ..

 I used the left over shop front bits from the Valiant 1/72 house and combined them with an ArmourFast 1/72 Farm House to make up a shop...

Some French Buildings (3) .. Church

Had to have a suitable church, rather than faff about and scratch build one to suit I found a nice 3d printed one. I went for the iconic one from St Mere Eglise - printed for 15mm.

Why 15mm ? Any bigger for 1/72 or 28mm and it would dominate the table too much. It is about a foot long and nice inches tall (no bigger in footprint than the church I use for Somewhere in England).

I had to tweak the main door to make it larger, by filling in with cardboard - works ok for 20mm figs - a bit small for 28mm figs, but will work well in game as a backdrop item ...

Some French Style buildings ....

 Needed to add a bit of French style housing stock, I've had a  look at the Amourfast farmhouse

I bought two, easy to assemble (reasonably priced). The plastic is a bit thin, but when built it holds together well - extra internal bracing for robustness could be added, but otherwise fine.  They also have possibilities for kit-bashing.

Although 1/72, it is a good size and looks OK with a 25/28mm figure; since they be used with 1/72 (20mm) figs as well then they'll do. 

I have a couple of Valiant 1/72 houses on order to see how they'll size up. I have been ogling some 3D printed items too.

Commandos in Kayaks -- Operation Hancock - Port Dimette - Normandy

The harbour at Port Dimette in Normandy .... the german harbour patrol prepare for nights work...

Approaching under the cover of darkness are four commando kayaks under the command of Major Jeremy Fellowes - objectives to mine as many ships and key parts of facilities as possible. 

---oXo---

! the game runs under cover of darkness with suitable spotting rules etc 

- have left photos in normal lighting for simplicity

just imagine it is dark !

Two of the kayaks move up one side of the harbour....

as the other two head towards the main dock area... the patrol boat is on the move towards an alarm lamp waved and shot fired over by the fuel terminal.

The patrol boat moves onwards while a second patrol boat (a tug) moves out following an alarm lamp waved and shot fired in the vicinity of the ship moored in the centre of the harbour

The patrol boat spots a kayak by one of the ships with it search light and opens fire with its LMGs, 

both commandos are killed and the kayak sinks low in the water...

The patrol boat then moves on towards the fuel terminal, but notices another kayak by a large fishing boat...in the light of the searchlight the LMGs fire ...

again both commandos are killed ... the other patrol boat had found nothing and has reached the fuel terminal

Meanwhile the other two kayaks have reached the dockside un-detected and start fixing mines ...

The other patrol boat moves to search the corner of the dock - sees something shots are fired (one hits one of the commandos), as this patrol boat manouvres it loses sight of the kayak ...

The two remaining kayaks move slowly out of the harbour, the harbour patrol boat sees a kayak and opens fire (one commando is wounded) ...

and then loses sight of the kayak in the darkness going past it ....

the patrol boats sweep around towards the fuel terminal as the kayaks make their way slowly to safety...

---oXo---

Before the germans could organise a check for mines on the ships .... they go off ! Boom !...  damage:

The oil terminal jetty (with two mines attached, 8 damage points) is severely damaged,  a nearby worker rushes quickly to isolate and secure the system.

The three smaller freight ships 

• the two by the dock - no damage (1 mine, 0 damage points), minor damage slight leak, fixable (2 mines, 6 damage points), 
• the ship moored in the middle of the harbour (2mines, 8 damage points) severely damaged and taking water, will probably sink

The large freight ship docked by the warehouses , kerboom !! blows up and sinks (4 mines attached, 20 damage points) - the explosion causing some blast damage to the warehouses. 

Rules used

a copy of the quickly written flimsy rules here

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wTmd7_oZrilxEu_X7Qk8aqowyH0Fr8-x/view?usp=sharing

ethos of rules is simple mechanisms and minimal dice use.