AHPC7: 1st Painting Challenge Entry

Hi folks,

So this year, as I mentioned previously, I decided to enter the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I've gotten off to a slow start, what with moving the week of the Challenge starting. I didn't really pick up a brush again until the start of the New Year. My first aim was to get an entry into the 1st 'challenge' Bonus round. As this was 'Armour' I was able to fit it in with my 'Gunuary' focus. You can find my entry here.

My first entry was therefore four Sexton Mk. II Self Propelled Guns. These vehicles belong to 2 Pulk Artylerii Motorowej (2nd Polish Motorised Artillery Regiment) of the 1st Polish Armoured Division. They are to join my 24th Polish Lancers (and other planned Polish lists, including the Cromwells). 

The Sexton was a development brought about by the inability to fit a 25 Pdr gun into a M7 Priest. Using the Priests 105mm gun was causing supply problems, as the British and Commonwealth forces did not use this type of ammunition in any other weapon system - whereas the 25 Pdr was used in all of the 'Field' Artillery Regiments. 

With the M7 Priest unable to be converted, work was undertaken in Canada by the Canadian Army Engineering Design Branch, to create a vehicle similar to the M7. This was done by converting the hull of the Ram tank (which had been developed but was not used in a active combat role itself). This design proved to be successful, with two versions being produced - the Mk1 (based on a Ram hull) and the Mk II (based on a Canadian built Sherman hull - the Grizzly). A total of 2,150 of these vehicles were produced for the British and other Commonwealth armies. The name Sexton was chosen to continue the religious theme of the Priests these vehicles were based on (and previous SPG's such as the Deacon). The Sexton continued in operational use until 1956!

As usual, these vehicles have the relevant unit markings on them - with the exception of the gun battery specific markings (normally blue boxes with one quarter red, the quarter changing depending on the guns number within the battery, along with a letter and number combo). Bridge Classification on these SPGs are 27, and the AoS decal is a red over blue box with a white 76. On the front right is the Polish 1st Armoured 'winged hussar' symbol, while on the rear is the AoS box, the winged hussar symbol and the white oblong with 'PL' in black lettering. All decals came from Doms Decals. I also applied a small allied circle to the lover front hull, as there was no decent flat surface to put them on to be visible from above. 

On the sides of the hull are a medium sized white star, along with the WD numbers (starting with the letter S for a self propelled gun). 

The crew were painted separately and glued into place once the vehicle was completed. The FoW website actually has images with 4 crew in the vehicle, one of which is sitting on the gunners chair. However the article mentions that there were added by the painter and are not part of the kit - which is a shame!

Stowage was added as normal, being a mix of Battlefront, Peter Pig and Skytrex. 

I've already completed the OP tank for this unit, so just the (soon to be made obsolete in V4) command and staff teams to do. 

I also have some small fixes to do - adding some darker static grass to the rear of the base to show the tracks passage, and adding some spent shell casings as well. These will come later once I'm on track with the rest of Gunuary and the AHPC. 

Next up, the limbered 17 Pdrs and then the 5.5" guns - which are more or less done but need crew painting.

Gunuary Update - Week 3 (or - 'what the hell happened to Week 2'!)

Hi Folks,

As the title suggests a blog entry for week 2 fell by the wayside a little bit. By the time I thought about getting round to doing one it was almost week 3. So I've combined the two weeks into one awesome update (ha!).

Work has been continuing on the Gunuary theme, with the guns assembled and blocked in last week. This week has been dedicated to washing and highlighting (and the New Homeworld: Desert of Kharak game, which may have been a mistake to buy while I still have painting to do). As usual the various Paint and Chat video conferences have helped me greatly in keeping focus and giving me fellow gamers to talk to while I bashed on with painting.

All guns are now up to the point that they need a varnish and then the crew added and basing completed. With one week to go, still no sign of the November order from Battlefront so I can only finish what I have. The Auster AOP has a base coat of Russian Uniform - but I am missing a colour for it which I will hopefully pick up tomorrow.

So the Auster and 4 more ammo limbers to finish, varnish and basing for all the guns, crews added and then updating the basing on some of my older units.

Hopefully the outstanding stuff arrives soon and I can get these units all finished off (although this means more infantry to paint with the adding of another artillery HQ unit).

Thanks again to all the guys on the Paint and Chat for keeping me amused and focused. There has been some great laughs and interesting chats. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't tried to join one and see what it's all about.

Gunuary - Week 1 AND Team Yankee thoughts

Hi folks,

With me having this week off work, I made a focused effort on finishing the various crew and infantry figures I have to paint for my gun crews.

Thankfully, after several days of feeling like I was getting nowhere, these guys are now ready for a coat of matt varnish. I had some issues which really slowed me down and were mainly due to my shortage of lollipop sticks when I was prepping the models. This meant I had crowded the figures on, and as a result I was touching the models while handling the sticks during painting. This meant that I was rubbing the paint away as I painted, meaning I was spending as much time repainting as actually painting!

I had picked up some new sticks last weekend, so I grabbed some (easier buying new than finding my old ones that are packed away!) and made some room by moving models over onto the new sticks. Being able to hold and handle the sticks made a big difference and let me actually make forward process.

A fairly simple issue, and one I should have seen coming!

Still, today I managed to get the final highlights done and revisited the faces - an area I really need to work on. Just a coat of varnish to go and they are ready to be based.

Speaking of bases, I got enough done for the models I currently have. Thinking about it now I mucked up a little and should have done at least 2 large ones more. But that's no big issue. I think I will follow technique I used last time I had vehicles to paint, which was to base them before painting. 4 of the guns will be on the resin Battlefront artillery bases I think, which will give me 8 on standard bases and 4 others on the artillery bases.

And as for the artillery, I took a break from painting one night and started assembling guns. So far, 4 x 25 Pounders, 1 x 5.5" and 2 x Limbers assembled.

I've some poor quality pics of the infantry up to this point - better pictures will follow once they are based.

As for Team Yankee... I've been thinking a lot about this over the weeks since release. It is a game I would like to play, but the experience of painting lots of 15mm infantry figures again has been one of the things that has caused me to seriously look at my plans. I've been thinking about the following issues - if anyone has any input themselves, I would be happy to hear it!

1.  I can't be sure of finding a player here collecting 15mm Team Yankee. This would probably mean I would need to collect both sides in order to get a game.

2.  A box set to get started with is £60+. With the plan to collect a Russian force that means a lot of T-72's and BMP's. Plus the above thought of having to get both sides (while I am starting to think about making a start on my WW2 Germans) makes this new period an expensive proposition.

3.  The ground scale looks far better for this period in 6mm than 15mm. It really is a time period where artillery should not be on the table, or if it is it's because it's a big table (centimetre ranges rather than inches).

4.  I can buy the whole of Team Yankee (Command, 2 x Abrams platoons (10 tanks total), 1 x mech inf platoon + support aircraft, artillery, helicopters, anti tank, anti air) plus a Soviet force (command + 2 x companies of T-72's (15 T-72's), Motor Rifle Company, Air support, helicopters, anti air (guns and missiles), artillery, rocket artillery, recce) from Heroics and Ros at 6mm for the price of one starter set at 15mm. Or for 3 x more could get the same (ish) force from GHQ.

5.  I don't really enjoy painting 15mm infantry. 6mm should (?) be much easier to do.

6.  6mm would give me both sides, would allow me to use the mini's for other systems, would be much more efficient cost wise and for expanding my forces and fits better with the scale of the conflict.

7.  I would need to look at different terrain for 6mm, when I still have nowhere near enough terrain for 15mm. However there would be some crossover, and the cost wouldn't majorly offset the saving for the reduced scale.

8.  6mm may be the way to go, for now*.


* Until later, when the the British range is released or I find a group playing at 15mm...

Gunuary Progress - Happy New Year

Hi folks,

A bit of a delay since the last blog entry. I hope everyone had a great time over the festive period and wish you all a fantastic 2016. As a friend text me, may your paint never chip!

I wanted to share a sculpture I saw, while out this weekend celebrating mine and Amy's engagement anniversary. This is called Eleven 'O' One, and is in Seaham. The locals call it 'Tommy' and he sits beside the town war memorial (facing the memorial). It's a large sculpture (about 9 feet tall) and is very detailed. I believe he is made from segments of steel plate.

A rather chilly day, so a well wrapped up me next to the sculpture - for scale purposes!

A link to more info on this sculpture can be found here.

Over the last few weeks I have been working towards my goal of getting all my outstanding 15mm Flames of War British artillery painted (not including transport, but that may change).

So far I have made some progress. All the crew figures were added to my 4.2" Mortar Loyd Carriers, as well as my Universal Carriers. These crew figures were the ones that came with the Forged in Battle vehicles. The main issue was that what should have been a 2 minute job took hours, as none of the drivers fitted into the driving compartments on the Universal Carriers. In the end I had to cut off the front webbing pouches and trim some metal from the drivers backs, as well as trim out the seat backs from inside the vehicles. Even doing that still had some of the drivers to tight in their seats that no glue was required. This also meant repair work was required where the paint on the models had been damaged by all the work...

I also managed to finish off all the outstanding infantry and gun crews I had left over from the 6MMRPC challenge.

I also worked on the supply truck for Battlegroup, as you can see above. It looks pretty smart with the bars on and painted and I just need to finish off some figures for the base before I get the basing done. I also finished off the last few details on my AA Batteries command team jeep. It just requires basing as well.

As part of Gunuary, I opened up all the blisters for the guns I have (still no sign of my models from the BF November Sale, purchased for my Christmas). I cleaned up the metal, trimmed everything that needed trimming, discovered one tiny part missing from my 40mm Bofors guns, which I have emailed BF about. I also washed all the metal and bought some new and some bigger sticks to painting the guns on.

The next part was to get all the crew from these blisters painted, which I have made a good start on this week.

I think there are around 68 figures in all from this lot - and I am remembering how much I hate painting flesh on these guys. Hopefully I will get these guys finished this week while I am off. This includes all the infantry and crew figures from the 2nd pack of 4.2" Mortars. I'm still not sure whether to fully build and base these up, or just to use the crew figures I like for the unit I have finished. My army can only field one unit of 4.2" mortars, so the second unit would be pointless. I could always build it and sell it... but I am unsure just now what I will do.

I've been really strongly aided in all this work by a new group I have joined. Tabletop Commanders are a Wargaming Community group across various formats. They have a Blog, Facebook Group and produce Youtube Videos.

The thing that has really helped my have been the regular paint and chats - normally held on Google Hangouts (a video conference service). It's really good to be able to talk toy soldiers and military history while working on your own stuff, and has really helped to keep my motivation up and keep me painting. It's amazing how much I have managed to get done. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a couple of people talking about the 6MMRPC and wanting to participate in the next challenge - conversation unprompted by me!

Well worth checking out!

Anyway, on with my painting for the day. If anyone chooses to join in with Gunuary, even just to paint up one unit of artillery, please let me know - I would be happy to share a link to your post or video!

Merry Christmas! And introducing Gunuary!

Hi folks,

Having had my blog roll fill up with bloggers all over the world wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, I thought I should do the same. So a Merry Christmas from me and mine to you and yours!

And with the New Year approaching, I'll take this opportunity to express an old Scottish sentiment to everyone out there: Lang may yer lum reek!*

This won't be my first Christmas spent in England, but it will be my first Christmas and New Year living here. The next year is going to bring a lot of change (again) with hopefully a house move at some point and our wedding in October. Hopefully, on the Hobby Front, I will also be able to find somewhere to play and keep going with my painting.

I'm planning to start the new year off with a theme, in order to give me some focus for my painting. So I've decided that January will now be Gunuary - A time for me to focus on getting my artillery units up to scratch. This will include:

- Getting the bases of all artillery and mortar units up to date (flowers, tufts, etc)
- Building, painting and basing all 8 outstanding 25 pdrs
- Finishing all outstanding 25 pdr crew figures
- Sorting out the replacement figures for my 4.2" mortar platoon
- Building, painting and basing my 2 Battlefront 40mm Bofors (and finishing the whole unit off)
- Building, painting and basing my 5.5" guns (on the assumption the whole unit arrives in January - a tearful Amy informed me last night that despite the order being placed with Battlefront in November during the sale, none of the models ordered for my Christmas have arrived)
- Paint my Auster AOP model

And if I have time (doubtful) then looking to build, paint and base my PSC 6 pdrs for my 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry list.

Phew! I think I will be lucky if I finish one item from that list, but I will push myself and try to get as much done as I can.

Anyway, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! I hope Santa is good to you and the heartburn medication works out fine!



*Long may your chimney smoke/May your always have fuel for your fire/Live long and prosper ;)

FoW Artillery basing

It seems like basing of Flames of War mini's is a recurring topic for me! I'm still pondering on how to deal with the Churchill Crocodiles and their trailer, but this week I have also been working on my 4.2" Heavy Mortars.

I've seen some really, really great setups for these guys in the past. Including Cameron's excellent work here and here. Seeing those models came at a time when I was struggling to get enthused about working on stuff and helped me get back into what I was doing at the time.

Aside from looking great, Cameron's models have something that are seen quite often on artillery models, and that is a base showing the artillery to be dug in. For my birthday last July I got a box of 25-pdr's from A. These will allow me to have a full 8 gun battery. One small issue for me are these:

'Scenic' bases that come with the guns. Now, they are really really nice - and look great. But my other 4 guns are on standard flat bases, so the 8 guns are going to look different. So, the next thing then is not to use these bases. However, as the turning plate for the guns is sculpted on the bases, they are not included in the box. Sooooo.... I have to use the sculpted bases of find some of the circular plate things from somewhere. (Anyone want to swap?)

The other reason I have an issue with these sculpted bases is that in my mind, these guns are dug in.

OK, so I know that they are not dug in as in 'in a gun pit' dug in. But there is an element of protection on the base - which is something represented totally differently in FoW. Don't get me wrong - I don't think enough is modelled dug in. Troops in Normandy learned that if you were not sleeping, advancing or being shot at, you were digging (and I'm pretty sure the first three were happening while digging was going in). I've seen some really really nice sets of 20mm WW2 models that basically had squads in foxholes - but for my FoW force I made the decision to have everything on fairly plain bases. This was as much to represent the troops on the advance around Totalise as anything else.

If and when I do a opposition force, they will be the opposite - as much dug in as possible.

I do try to make the bases look interesting where there is need for them to be. For example, my 4.2" Mortars are currently looking like this:

Unusually for me, I decided to paint these bits on the bases. Mainly because of the bother of trying to keep the Mortar parts together while painting them. When I did the 3" Mortars I had to assemble them several times - mainly due to my son deciding he liked them being in bits. He knows not to touch daddies models, but mortars are not toy soldiers... It's now been a year since I have seen him and 1 year and a half since he has been in my house :(

Anyway, that's where I'm at. Stuck between feeling that I should try and keep the artillery bases simple, because being 'dug in' is a particular thing in FoW and I don't feel right having dug in models that are not dug in for rules purposes... and having to use the scenic bases because I am missing the parts I need to base the guns the same as the others I have done! First world problems, eh?

Battlegroup Overlord game 22/11/14

I had a chance to get along to the Carluke and Law Wargames Club this Saturday as A was working. Having organised with YD to play BG:O we had planned on a 300 point game. However we decided to ask through the week if anyone else wanted to play.

The answer was everyone.

It turns out that these rules have become the favorite WW2 system in the club, replacing the previous champion Rapid Fire. In reply to my text to YD about what points to play, the reply was 'bring everything'!

We set up a long table with the aim of playing up rather than across. The club has adopted the game with a couple of small modifications. Currently, they ignore the force BR and just play to a set BR level for each side. This worked pretty well for a pick up game, but talking to YD afterwards I felt that the method of BR tracking disadvantaged the Allies. But for pickup games it works fine. The other major modification is that instead of randomly drawing counters Big Stu had re-arranged the counters sheet into a random format, and you roll 1d8 for row and 1d12 for line. Pretty simple... but I think the rules have drawn counters removed from the pot so that there are a limited number of '1's and '5's.

Still, great game. Highlights were our (the allied) cunning plan that had us attacking in waves with each wave having a objective. Our infantry secured the start line and then the mobile forces came on...  Our Shermans coming on and bravely engaging the front armour of the Jagdpather - one shot pinging off into orbit causing the Jagdpather crew to roll a 1 for morale and be pinned!

Our 25-pounders had the crossroads pre-registered and we called down all 4 guns onto the crossroads behind the Jagdpanther - and the first ranging round scattered to within an inch of the big cat. I can imagine the FOO calling fire for effect before the dust had cleared! The result was one dead Big Cat.

Nebelwerfer fire raining down to pin and destroy, Pak40's lurking behind every hedge and nice models on the table. All good fun.

The high tide of the allied advance was the large dark forest on the right, beside YD's model box. 

The Typhoon is acting as a BF109-G - running into ambush fire from our Bofors 40mm gun placed on Ambush fire on turn 1!

Smokes fallen off the big cat!

AAR - Late war Highlanders vs Fusilier Company 16/8/14

A rare Saturday to myself (due to A having a day out in Edinburgh), so Davey and YD picked me up for a day out at the Carluke and Law wargames club.

Myself and YD had agreed to play a 1000pt game of Flames of War, using our respective late war lists. As usual I decided to go with my Highland Division list from the Overlord book. YD went for a Fusilier list from one of his books (I think from Atlantik Wall).

His list consisted of (roughly):

Füsilierkompanie HQ (352.)  p.33	2 1	Cmd SMG team Panzerschreck team	70
Combat Platoons
352. Füsilier Platoon  p.34	1 6	Cmd Panzerknacker SMG team MG team	185
352. Füsilier Platoon  p.34	1 4	Cmd MG team MG team	130
352. Füsilier Platoon  p.34	1 4	Cmd MG team MG team	130
Weapons Platoons
Füsilier Machine-gun Platoon (352.)  p.35	1 2	Cmd SMG team MG42 HMG	70
Regimental Support
Füsilier Regimental Anti-tank Gun Platoon (352.)  p.37	1 2 2	Cmd SMG team 7.5cm PaK40 gun 3-ton truck	110
Support Platoons
StuG Platoon (352.)  p.39	3	StuG G	285
Luftwaffe Anti-aircraft Assault Platoon  Reluctant  Trained Allied Platoon  p.229	1 2	Cmd SMG team Luftwaffe 8.8cm FlaK36 gun	95
Company Points:			1075

We decided to play a defensive mission (No Retreat) as my army included a Breaching Group - meaning I had 'Always Attacks'. On the picture above (I forgot to take a 1st turn picture, so this one is 2nd or 3rd turn) YD is deployed on the right with his 2 Fusilier platoons and the MG platoon dug in and defending the road line and his 88's on the hill.

My army consisted of:

Rifle Company HQ (51st)  p.143	1 1 1	Cmd Rifle team Cmd Rifle Bagpiper team Troop Carrier	40
Combat Platoons
Rifle Platoon (51st)  p.144	1 1 1 6 2	Cmd Rifle/MG team PIAT team Light Mortar team Rifle/MG team Defrocked Priest APC	160
Rifle Platoon (51st)  p.144	1 1 1 6 2	Cmd Rifle/MG team PIAT team Light Mortar team Rifle/MG team Defrocked Priest APC	160
Support Platoons
Breaching Group  Confident  Trained   p.70	1 2 2	Sherman V Sherman Crab AVRE	155
Infantry Anti-tank Platoon, Royal Artillery (51st)  p.154	1 2	Cmd Rifle team OQF 17 pdr gun	115
Recce Platoon (51st)  p.152	3 2	Humber IV Humber LRC III	170
Infantry Field Battery, Royal Artillery (51st)  p.156	2 1 1 1 4	Cmd Rifle team Staff team Observer Rifle team OP Carrier OQF 25 pdr gun	165
Infantry Light Anti-aircraft Platoon, RA (51st)  p.155	1 2	Cmd Rifle team 40mm Bofors gun	55
Company Points:			1020

This was a bit of a strange army for me - it was mainly designed to include things I had just painted, had still to paint or just had not used. Built around the backbone of the 2 infantry platoons in Kangeroos and the breaching group. I figured YD might include some big cats, so took the 17 pounders. The Artillery I took for a change over the mortars, Bofors because they have just been painted and never used. Recce because I had the Humbers to paint (now started) and breaching group because I like my flail models and wanted to encourage myself to start the Churchills (now started). I also added M5 Halftracks on a whim, taking me up to 1025 points - but YD was fine with this as he had re-jigged his infantry platoons to give himself 3 platoons rather than 2 he had on his original list.

My army on the day - I'm afraid I didn't get a picture of all of YD's stuff - mainly because he already had it deployed on the table!

I decided to make use of the Night Attack special rule the Bits have - mainly because those 88's terrify me. Plus we always forget about the national rules and the Night Attack rule fits with my Totalise Highlanders theme.

Given the layout of the table I deployed my AA platoon in the centre (where it did nothing the whole game - facing off against dug in, concealed and gone to ground Veteran troops...), with my breaching group on the left flank. My infantry, the recce and the A/T guns on the right planning to use the forest for cover to get into assault range of the 88's hill. Behind them sat the 25 pounders. The Churchill AVsRE went up the centre.

 

My main attack was going to be with the infantry in their Kangeroos supported by the Recce to help remove Gone to Ground and provide pinning fire. The 17 pounders were to follow up and deploy where they could cover the infantry from the StuG's I suspected would be wandering about.

You'll note the two Kangeroos at the edge of the forest. I had debated sending them via the forest, but decided to send them left around it. A conversation with YD made me doubt my choice, so I decided 'bugger it, they can cut through those trees!'. The Kangeroos spent the whole game bogging their way slowly through this tiny forest, only contributing by one of them laying down 50 cal fire that supported a later assault. I could have deployed the infantry from them, but kept them buttoned up as a ready reserve.

In the center my Churchills moved slowly closer.

The aim was to use the Petard Mortar on those dug in infantry - but I only used the MG's as moving and shooting at dug in, GtG, Concealed Vets with a RoF 1 gun made moving and shooting impossible!

By my turn 3 I had moved up my assault troops close enough to be ready to disembark, so out they popped.

In YD's turn 3 the sun failed to rise, but in the improving light his 88's managed to get enough of a bead on my Recce platoon (perhaps drawn by the tracer from their MG's shooting up the infantry to their front) and take out the two Humber LRC's. His infantry also managed to take a couple of squads of my Highlanders out as they moved up to the start line for their assault.

YD also managed to bring on his StuG's at this point, choosing to place them on the table edge where they were facing my infantry and recce.

The StuG's opening volley (again, a good roll on the vision distance chart made my troops visible) took out one of my Humber A/C's - however, the platoon passed it's motivation check to remain on the table. 

The darkness proved to be a hindrance for both of us, as it seemed to take until daylight (at the start of my turn 4) for my FOO to realise he was looking at a brick wall rather than out a window, and call down fire on those nasty 88's - killing one and pinning the platoon.

The other notable thing that happened on my turn 4 was the 17 pounders disembarked and swung into action. Only one gun had LoS to the StuG's, and managed to knock one of the predatory little Jerry blighters out.

Lots of shooting at the German Infantry at the base of the 88's hill (including from the Churchills, which I brought over from the center) preceded an assault, which failed to connect due to the only close enough highlander team falling to defensive fire. YD decided to counter attack, but his troops were put off by the skirl of pipes and failed to cause any damage. The Highlanders counter attack was not so gentle, wiping out the majority of the Fusilier platoon and causing it to fail motivation and vanish from the table. The HMG platoon also broke off, leaving the highlanders on the base of the hill.

In YD's turn he got his Pak 40's on, and had them deploy facing my Sherman Flails. His 88's unpinned and destroyed one Churchill and bailed the other - Petard Mortars unfired!

His StuG's moved up and killed one infantry team but missed the 17 pounders.  His remaining Fusilier platoon and the company HQ arrived from reserve alongside the PaK 40's, but were concealed by a wood and moved forward to protect the hill objective (and counter my marauding Highlanders).

Fire this turn from the Pak 40's destroyed one flail tank and bailed the troop command tank. These Shermans had so far spent the game shooting with no effect at the dug in, GtG, Concealed Veteran infantry... YD's HMG platoon had unpinned and killed one of my infantry teams.

However, in my turn revenge was swift. While the FOO called down arty on the remaining 88, finishing it off, the 17 pounders put three shots into the two remaining StuG's, knocking out the platoon. My bailed Sherman crew sorted themselves out and the two tanks left in the troop knocked out both the PaK 40's. My highlanders at the base of the hill moved forward and took out the remaining HMG platoon, causing the HQ unit to fail motivation and run.

My Humbers moved forward to a position behind the dug in Fusiliers - to try and remove GtG on them in a later turn and dash for the cornfield objective.

In YD's turn his newly arrived infantry assaulted my Highlanders on the hill top, pushing them back. (Damn reluctant rating). However, time was getting on, so we decided to end with a draw. As a little experiment YD's SMG Panzerknacker team tried an assault on my Shermans - mainly as we had never really used tank assault teams before. The final layout of the battle (lacking some smoke puffs):

And some of YD's lovely infantry:

My most useful unit award probably would be a close run thing between the one infantry platoon I had in action, the 17-pounders or - to my surprise - the 25-pounders. Although the Night Fight rules meant the 25-pounders were silent for most of the game.

my 17 pounders following the assault troops

my 25 pounders waiting patiently for a fire mission!

My most useless unit was....

The Bofors AA guns, which didn't fire a shot the whole game!

As games go it was quite quick, although we did bog down a few times (mainly on the assaults). It was also as good natured and fun as ever. It also seems to have given me the kick up the bum I needed to start working on the unpainted units I had taken along for the day, so hopefully I can post some progress updates on them soon.