15mm WW2 British

As promised I’m going to try and get back to work on Taking Stock. This evening I thought I’d tackle the 15mm Desert British. I can’t call them “Desert Rat”s because… well… they aren’t. The formation is essentially an infantry formation and the Desert Rats, technically, refers to the 7th Armoured Division. I can’t really even call them 8th Army (though I often do) as the force is nominally a 1940/early 1941 force which I think predates the formation of the 8th Army, does it not? These should really be called “Western Desert Force” troops…

Originally I used these for WRGs WW2 rules… Then Crossfire… They’ve probably seen the most action fielded as a company in Flames of War, but I’ve pretty much all but abandoned that. I think we used them for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum, once or twice. Currently I’m using them for much larger scale actions with Blitzkreig Commander.

These and the DAK and Early War Germans are the only 15mm figures I’m keeping. I'm pretty sick of painting 15mm figures and have no great desire to ever paint any ever again.... That being said, I put a LOT of work into these, I know a lot of guys with opposing forces (heck, for North Africa I have my OWN opposing forces), and they’re done enough that I have a fair number of options for playing and designing scenarios. I do own a few more things I COULD paint if I wanted a bit more, but it will be a long time before I get to doing them as I have zero desire to paint anything in 15mm these days… I also don't happen to have much North African stuff in 20mm, so hanging on to these would mean I could play bigger battles in this theatre...

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


22 stands of rifles. This could be three and a half platoons for Flames of War or two slightly under-strength battalions for Blitzkrieg Commander. These are mostly Old Glory


Seven command Stands. These were Platoon Commanders or observer teams in FoW. I did have a larger CHQ and 2IC but they seem to have disappeared… They will be HQs and FAO/FACs for BKC. The one in the back with the officer dressed in battledress and an SD Cap acts as CO for the time being until I can make a new one… That may be a while. A mix of Old Glory, Battle Honors, and Battlefront.


Four Boyes ATR teams and three (unpainted) 2” mortar teams (platoon support weapons for FoW). If those 2” mortars ever get painted it will truly be a wonder. Don’t get me started on how hard it was to get some bloody 2” mortars…. I have them now though, should I ever decide to play at a scale that I need them…. The Boyes teams are from Peter Pig, the 2” mortars from Battlefront.


Vickers Machine-guns. One still hasn’t been re-based. A Platoon in FoW, a Company in Bkc, both from the Divisional MG/Support Battalion. All from Battle Honors.


3” Mortars. A full battalion’s Mortar Platoon for FOW, or enough Mortar Platoons for six battalions in BKC…. Think that last one will ever get re-based…? These are a mix of Battle Honors and Battlefront.


AT support; four six-pounders (and jeeps to tow them), two two-pounders. Again, a battalion’s AT Platoon for FOW, or enough AT Platoons for four battalions in BKC…. Or perhaps the 2-pdrs could be issued to the infantry battalions and the 6 pdrs could be from the Royal Artillery….? Guns and crew are Battlefront, jeeps and drivers are Old Glory.


Five universal carriers. Battlefront.


Pioneers – for an FOW pioneer platoon or enough pioneers platoons for a brigades worth of battalions – which is all I ever imagine I would ever field. Battlefront.


Three 5 CWT CMP trucks. I’m sure I have a few more of these elsewhere… needing to be painted… Battlefront.


A Dingo (I think) and a Rolls-Royce Armoured Car – Recce platoons for BKC. The Dingo is from Battlefront the Rolls is from Minifigs.


Matilda IIs. Two platoons or two squadrons, depending on the rules, from a supporting Army Tank Brigade. The tanks are Old Glory – I think the crews were from Peter Pig…?


A battlefront unpainted busted tank objective marker that was given to me recently and the beginnings of an HQ for the above Armoured Squadrons. These are all Battlefront. As the Battlefront Matilda is slightly bulkier than the Old Glory ones, and tends to stand out a bit, I thought I’d make it an HQ. For the HQ stand I will (someday, maybe) paint up the Dingo and add it to the stand, and perhaps add a few more figures, to make a bit of a mini diorama.


Casualty, Pin or Suppression markers and some extra officer types. They Officers were used as platoon commanders in Crossfire for a bit and may have been fielded as “big men” in IABSM…


To add some versatility to the force I thought I’d pick up a couple of Shermans and paint them with Canadian markings for the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade so the force could also be fielded as Canadians in Sicily or Italy (in the summer at least!). The bases aren’t finished yet – at some point they will look like the Matildas above. These are mostly Battlefront. The un-based one off to the right of the picture is from Battle Honors.


Objective markers. I think these came from JR Miniatures…?


A Commando Troop for FoW, or nearly a whole commando for BKC. I’d need two more stands (assuming each stand represented a Section and two stands made a troop….) for a fifth troop plus a Heavy Weapons Troop – of course for BKC I HAVE extra Vickers and Mortar stands… These are mostly Battlefront, but there is a few Peter Pig commandos thrown in there for fun.


An Airborne (or ‘Air Landing”) Platoon from Battlefront. I have them in 20mm and 28mm so I might as well be a completist and have some in 15mm, right? I’d probably need a second pack to make a Para battalion for BKC. Considering I haven’t yet finished painting this one I doubt I’ll be picking one up anytime soon to do so…


“Bailed out” markers for FoW (Battlefront).


A Special Air Service Raiding Squadron. Not quite sure how these could really be used in BKC. The Raid scenarios in FoW are bunk! These are Battlefront – though there may be one or two Peter Pig drivers in the mix…


The beginnings of an LRDG Patrol from Battlefront. See previous comments on FoW raid scenarios…. Not sure how I’d ever use these…


The rest of the patrol….


Not for the desert, but I wasn’t about to do a separate post just for these. These are Canucks for Northwest Europe ’44-’45. They’re still based for The WRG rules we started with. The rifle men are all Old Glory and the platoon command, support and bren-gunners are from QRF.


Air Support. The finished spitfire is a 1:144 plastic model. I think it was Hobbycraft…? The others are Minifigs (another Spitfire and a Typhoon). Would have been nice to have a couple Hurricanes but there was no way I was going to pay $50 for a fight of them and by the time Battlefront came out with them I was pretty much through with FoW anyway…


The rest of the “To Paint” pile. Not a lot there – so close, yet so far…. Though I have enough for another 27 stands of Rifles I could only imagine ever painting up another 14 stands worth – for a total of 36 stands. That would make for 6 full-strength platoons (2 companies) in Flames of War (or any other 1:1 figure scale game where stands are half-sections), or three full-strength battalions (a brigade) in Blitzkrieg Commander (or any other game where stands are platoons).

THE PLAN

British (or Canadian - in Sicily or Italy...) Infantry Brigade (for Blitzkrieg Commander)

CO – Need to paint a new one…

3x Infantry Battalions each with:
-1x HQ (3 total) – DONE!
-12x Rifle Platoons/Stands (36 total – Have: 22 Painted, 14 to Paint)
-1x Pioneer Platoon/Stand (3 total) – DONE!
-1x AT Platoon/Stand (2 Pdr or 6 Pdr - 3 total) – DONE!
-1x Platoon/Mortar Stand (3” - 3 total) – DONE!
-1x Platoon/Carrier Stand (3 total) – DONE!

Divisional Support
MG Company (3x Vickers Stands) – DONE!
4.2” Mortar Battery (3x 4.2” Mortar Stands) – “Need” to get…. (yeah… right…)
25 Pdr Battery (4-6 stands…?)
Actually for both the above batteries I could just field FAOs, which I already have DONE!
Reconnaissance – Dingo, Universal Carrier, or Rolls Royce stands… DONE!

Corps/Army Support
Tanks
-2 Squadrons of Matilda II – DONE!
-1 Squadron of Shermans – Have: 3x Sherman V Painted, 1x Sherman VC To Paint!
Air Support
1x FAC (I could use the Dingo or one of the other Observer Stands) – DONE!
-Aircraft – Have: 1x Spitfire Painted, 1x Spitfire and 1x Typhoon To Paint…
(If I was concerned about putting aircraft on the table I should probably track down some Hurricanes or Kittyhawks for North Africa…)

As for the NWE Canadians… Maybe I should give them away or something… I have 20mm stuff to cover that Theatre of Operations…

I’m not even going to bother sorting out what I have for Flames of War…. I can’t imagine playing it in the foreseeable future…

Like I said so close but so far… I should really put the nose to the grind stone one of these days and crank out those 14 rifle stands and a couple of new HQ/CO/Command units and be DONE with it all!!! Well then there’s the Sherman VC…

Then there’s the LRDG Patrol…. Ugh... What to do about them…!? I think Someday I will paint them up and hang on to them for the fun of it….

If I ever REALLY got into playing WW2 North African scenarios again I could conceivably see myself picking up more tanks. Painting 15mm tanks isn’t quite as annoying as painting 15mm infantry… I’d pick up some earlier cruisers (A9, A10, etc.) or maybe some Crusaders… Long way off, that…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Taking Stock - 15mm WW2 Germans; Early War and DAK.

Tims Clash on the East Front (FoW)

... a little after action report of a game played between myself, Tim Brown, and Mr. Tim Miller...

We hooked up for a little "ostfront" Flames of War action. I played some German Grenadiers and Mr. Millerov played his ubiquitous Russians.

Rolling randomly for a scenario we got "The Cauldron". Now in the previous version of FoW the Cauldron scenario was nice for forces like Germans and Brisith in the Desert... but didn't quite work out for anyone that had to play against Russians. So Mr. Miller was a bit hesitant, but we had a look at the sceanrio and how it has changed and decided to give it a go. I was still obliterated, but that had as much to do with terrible dice rolling as the scenario.

Rolling to see who would be attacker and who would be the defender we tied, re-rolled, tied again, re-rolled, tied again... five times we tied before it was finally settled that I would be attacking... attacking a Russian BATTALION which had two entrenched rifle companies and an armoured company.... with my single Infantry company... was there any doubt how this would turn out...

We set up some terrain with a town at a crossroads in roughly the center of the table. The Russians had infintrated a battalion throught the lines and took this vital crossroads on the was to Lenningrad. The Germans would have to crush this force and regain the crossroads before the Russians could reinforce the position.

So "Comerade Millerov" set up his two Infantry Companies encircling the town and kept the Tank Company in "immediate ambush"

(click on the pictures to see a bigger version)


Look daunting, don't they...?



Then I set up my stuff. I got to roll randomly for the initial dispositions of my troops. I decided to take two Grenadier platoons an Infantry gun platoon and a mortar platoon. The two Grenadier platoons were in the to southern quarters of the table and the Infantry gun and Mortar platoons ended up on the Northwest quarter of the table. The quarter nearest the Russian base line.... handy...

So I set up the mortars as far from the town (but in range) and as far from the Russian table edge as possible. In the end their doom didn't come on from arriving Russian reinforcements,but rather the Russian armour sallying out of their defensive pocket....

Here's what it looked like when we were all done...


The picture is taken from the North end of the table. At the bottom of the picture are my Infantry gun and Mortar platoons. In the middle of the table is the town and the two Russian Infantry and single Russian Armoured companies. Off to the left of the picture (east of town) is a single mortar platoon observer. In the two stands of woods furthest south was where my two Grenadier platoons were hiding. That's Comerade Millerov looking on.


Here's that Mortar platoon observer and what he was looking at....


There's one of my Grenadier platoons.

Here's how it played out:

Turn One

Russians - the tanks moved out throwing thirty dice of machine-gun fire at my mortar observer east of the town. My mortar observer tried to look like a shrub. Must have worked because when the dust settled they were alive and well in their little hole.

Germans - No reserves, One plane. I voluntarily withdrew the mortar observer off the table (wouldn't you have wanted to leave?!) also his presence in that particular location would have made it diffeicult for my Stuka to bomb those tanks. As it turned out my Stukas did bomb the tanks and destroyed one and bailed another. The mortars and infantry guns bombarded the Russian infantry in the town, they pinned them but failed to cause any casualties.

Turn Two
Russians - the tanks move, heading for my guns!

Germans - no reserves, no planes.... Realizing they have only one or two more turns to bombard the town (keeping he russians heads down) before the tanks overrun their guns, I started moving my Grenadiers into a position where they could assault from. fired my mortars into town and actually kill one stand of Russians! I pivoted my Infantry guns to face the on coming tanks. Not sure why as they were obsiously going to tear out from behind cover and destroy them before I got a shot off.

Turn Three.

Russians -


Tanks tear out from behind cover and destroy my infantry guns before I got a shot off.

In other exciting news one of the Russian infantry company failed(!) it's motivation check to recover from being pinned by my mortars last turn?!

Germans - NO reserves, no planes... If things weren't looking grim enough at the start of the game, they're looking pretty hopeless now. I can't think of any commander that would try to make such an attack. Oh well. The mortars killed one more stand of Russians before they die. Infantry continue to move up for an assault.

Turn Four

Russians - Reserves (yeah the guy with the "delayed reserves", who really doesn't need anything else on the table, gets reserves before me...).


... and there they are a Recce Company of armoured cars. Here they are lining up firing squad style to kill my platoon of Grenadiers caught out in the open. they shoot them up but only manage to kill the light mortar, a stand of infantry and the platoon commander (who is replaced by the feldwebel).


The Tanks assault the mortars but somehow manage to not kill any. The mortars try to run away. So they died tired the next turn....

Germans - 2 Reserves and 2 planes... I brought on the MGs and the third Grenadier platoon double timing to try and get them someplace useful. The planes blew up a single tank. The Grenadiers in the woods, now somewhat reduced and facing an unpinned, entrenched Russian rifle company to their front and a company of Russian armoured cars to their rear, went to ground and hoped some support might get up and pin the russians in time to launch and assault.

Turn Five

Russians - More reserves; a platoon of towed AT guns. The tanks just shot up the running mortarmen. They died tired. Actually the commander and a single team survived the MGs. Rolling motivation to see if they wanted to stick around... they decided "...Siberia, I hear it's nice this time of year..."

Germans - the last two (completely useless) platoons in reserve showed up. AA(20mm) and AT(pak 36s). Yay. I did get two stukas and they did blow up two more tanks... but I'm still not giving as good as I'm getting.

Turn Six

Russians - Tanks double time back toward the village. the AT platoon makes it into the defensive pocket of the town. The Armoured Cars shoot up the rest of the grenadiers hiding in the woods near the village.

Germans - I get three planes. They blow up the AT platoon and pin the russian infantry company. Yay, now it's only a major defeat instead of a stunning one. The MGs also give the Russians a bit of Dakka-dakka, with little effect.


It's now or never; the remaining two Grenadier platoons move up a bit to prepare for an assault next turn.



Turn Seven

Russians - HMGs kill one of my HMGs. Armoured cars kill one stand of Germans. Infantry kill another two.

Germans - One stuka arrives, it is shot down by the Armoured cars it was going to bomb, but this will keep them for shooting any more of MY ground forces next turn... I move out to assault with two platoons, forgetting only one can actually assault at a time one kills a bunchof Russians in one company before it is wiped out the second one charges in and the russians retire out of range. Conveniently I am within 4" of the other russian company and some woods they occupy - the only cover I could possibly hope to get to so I do a "breakthrough" assault on them. they also retire to take up better positions.


Here's my remaining German Grenadiers at the end of the assault phase.

Turn Eight

Making it to turn eight in this scenario against russians is a victory, of sorts, in itself.

Russians-


Surround and wipe out my remaining Grenadiers. End of game.

Finland! Finland! Finland! (FoW)

Just to try this out I thought I'd start with a report on a couple of games played recently at the Saskatoon Historical Miniature Wargamers Games Night.

On 5 Dec 06 Mr. Miller ran a Flames of War game. The scenario was based on the new Roadblock scenario in FoW v.2. A Russian company column was marching up a lonely road (or, rather, what they HOPED would be a lonely road) across the snowy Northern Finnish wasteland. Little did they know there were German Gebirgsjager waiting in Ambush. Instead of counting points Mr. Miller just grabbed whatever Russians and Germans he had in his vast collection that might be found on or around a lonely road in Northern Finland during the Second World War.

I got to play the Russians for a switch. Usually it is Mr. Miller's Russains laying a beating on my own Germans. This time just to provw he is master of all arms, and not just the brokeness of his FoW Russians, he laid a beating on me in command of his Russians with his own Germans....

A new fellow also joined us to try out the game. I think his name was Clint? He played the Germans along with Mr. Miller.



Here is my Russian Column about to be ambushed.

You'd think my scouts that had gone on ahead would have noticed those massive fortifications the germans built in the woods there. Perhaps they've been hitting the vodka again.

Hiding in that wood was a full strength German platoon with two HMGs atached and a spotter for his mortar platoon. I think he threw 28 dice at me when they fired. Many russians died. And they were pinned. And, "fearless" though they were, hey refused to get up and assault those germans in the woods for a few turns.



Eventually they moved up but never did get to assault. Each attempt was thrown back and they eventually broke and dispersed.



Here's those scouts I mentioned. they were further up the road and started back to help out. they briefly contested one of the objective markers but were eventually overrun by bold German Gebirgsjagers with SMGs (there was the platoon command plus the company command and 2IC; all command SMG teams).



Mr. Miller, who came straight from work, borrowing my Heer officers cap for the night. I was dissapointed he didn't bring his furry russian hat for me to wear... also in the picture is the new fellow (Clint?....sorry if that's not your name...!) friendly guy, I hope he comes out to more games.



Here is the second Russian Company arriving as reinforcements. they were pinned first by mortar, then by MGs, and also refused to get up and get going for a couple turns despite many executions by the company commisar.

Eventually the original ambushing platoon rushed the building my battalion commander had taken cover in (which, I think was also one of the objective markers..?) and killed them. As I mentioned a second platoon of Germans wiped out the scouts that were hiding in the woods by the bridge which was the second objective marker. My second company just couldn't get going fast enough to get anywhere near either objective before the sixth turn.

I had some Regimental guns come on at one point that tried to have a little artillery duel with the Gebirgjagers mountain guns. The Russians, however, were wholey outclassed and ran for cover lest they all be destroyed.

I also had a great big battery of mortars arrive as reinfocements. the only thing they managed to do was pin (and maybe killed one of) the MGs and keep them from utterly annihilating my second company...

Fun game! (might hae been funner if those "fearless" Russians hadn't failed 90% of all the motivation checks they had to make...

Thanks to Mr. Miller for running that!