Albanich 2017 : Operation Sealion

As a taster here are a couple of shots of the Battle for Lympne Map here set up which we will be running as a demo game at Albanich, Dumfries Wargames show on the 11th March. I still have quite a few details to sort so not quite finished yet but it is broadly done. Albanich is a small friendly show if you happen to be visiting come and say hi.

 Lympne Airfield to the left

St Stephens Church

We'll be using Bolt Action on the day.

Stuff from Scotland

Really couldn't think what to call this post, half term last week so took my daughter to Edinburgh for the week. We visited some castles, watched some films, bought a couple of bits and I painted a few figures. Apart from being forced into buying a very expensive Suicide Squad T shirt a successful trip 😀

 

Elsdon Motte and Bailey castle one of the best we have been to, but out of the way. Tower in the background.

 

The Castle from the village...

 

The Battlefield at Otterburn 1388 a really nice day, worth stopping off for half an hour

 

The Otterburn battlefield monument erected in the 1700,s marks the Scottish camp.

 

Hailes Castle one of the oldest in Scotland and only about 30 mins from Edinburgh dating back to C13

 

 

Truck bought for 50p Unimog by Siku

A black cab again 50 p scale may be slightly small

 

Some of the figures I managed to paint in the evenings for the up and coming Sealion game

 

German command

 

Lady Cavendish on her way to Zanzibar

 

Some local hired mercenaries for Lord Cavendish but can they be trusted ?

For those who made it this far we also watched the Great Wall action film which we enjoyed lots and Hacksaw Ridge lots of blood but also recommended 😀

Sorrowful Saxons : Age of Wolf Campaign

Have been off the grid for half term week in Edinburgh, with no TV which is great and rubbish internet connection liberating but slightly annoying. (Note to self I am slightly addicted to blogging so a rest every now and then is a good idea). Anyway last weekend we played our next instalment of our Age of Wolf Campaign. This being Campaign season 2 saw the Saxons defending their homesteads against marauding Danes.

The scenario which is a new one in the campaign allows a very close set up. The attackers the Danes in this case are looking to burn fields and buildings. It was obvious this was going to be a fast a furious battle.

The Saxon battle line in the village, the Saxons having performed badly in previous battles have had to employ another mercenary unit to balance the sides

The Danes go straight for it setting two fields on fire immediately, the Saxons answer with ineffective arrow fire !

Seeking some form of cover the Saxons jump into the fields but the Danish Hearthguard are looking to get into close combat, this is axe work not for shooting.

The middle building is also soon ablaze

Danish Hearthguard prepare to charge .......

I didn't take many photos from here on in......but another field was put to the torch as well.

A very tough battle the Danes outplayed the Saxons whose performance was amplified by some pretty poor dice. In the end the battle casualties were quite close but the bonuses of the burning fields and houses gave the victory to the Danes. The Saxons are looking pretty sorrowful now in the campaign and not sure if they are recoverable, meanwhile the Vikings and Danes forge ahead. The challenge of all campaigns is when one faction starts to fall behind maintaining enthusiasm. We may need to bring another faction into the campaign perhaps the tricky Welsh ?

Colonel Cavendish in Zanzibar : Part 2

We finally played another game with Colonel Cavendish........ we had a lot of fun 😀 Sorry if the quality is off I still don't seem to know how to fix it ? Ok that is weird it is only poor quality in certain views on my iPad the rest look clear so hopefully it is clear ? Matt

The Battle for Lympne : Operation Sealion

 

We are drawing to the close of S day in 'Blau Sector' where the 55th Infantry Regiment has landed. The ever ambitious German planners had aimed to sweep inland past Hythe to take the higher ground drawing a line from Postling through Sellinge and down to Dymchurch. Stiff British resistance has slowed their progress and classic cloudy British summer weather has prevented the German Fallschirmjager from concentrating on key targets. Leaked information through effective British spy networks seem to have given more warning of the invasion, and they have been able to get more troops into key defensive positions on day one than the Germans had anticipated.

However, the Germans have a strong foot hold in the Area between Hythe and Dymchurch. Whilst their original objective line (Red) now seems out of reach for S day they are still driving forward. Another key objective is the Airfield at Lympne, they have avoided bombing it so they can bring it back into use as soon as possible. Scattered and isolated pockets of Parachutists are causing panic in the area, but they have not been able to secure the Airfield. The 55th Infantry Regiment has now been ordered to drive towards the Airfield to secure the road intersection at Lympne to enable a push on the Airfield by nightfall. Opposing them are infantry from the 2nd London Brigade, supported by elements of the Royal Tank Regiment. Having already lost the cross roads at New Inn Green the remaining tanks are being diverted south to hold the Airfield.

This sets the scene for the battle I am running at Albanich Wargame show 11th March, Dumfries and I post a few more updates on the plans as they develop 😀

A mixed bag of weekend activity !

Couldn't really think what to list this as ? a busy weekend but with some hobby thrown in as well. First up I did my bit to encourage the next generation of gamers. A friend from work brought his son Tom over for a game as a keen LOTR fan it was an ideal opportunity to introduce him with a game of my 'Find the Halfling' Game. This does seem to be ideal and works well with all ages, he managed to rescue three hobbits but Aragorn gave his life protecting Frodo.....Sam was carried away to Isengard !

I only took a single photo near the end where Lurtz having killed Aragorn faces off with Gimli, Frodo can be seen running in the distance for the boats !

Second up I had a trip into town for a couple of bits and found these in a charity shop. I am a fairly long way off playing modern games, but am always on the look out for good terrain. Getting the scale right is always the challenge. But found these for a couple of quid (altogether) the two trucks are plastic but will paint up fine and are probably 1:50 scale.

The caravan is an expensive Siku 1: 55 diecast for 50p, don't know why but it just makes me think of ZOMBIES !

Finally I have been working through the list of to do jobs for Dumfries and I needed some more fencing to go around an Airfield, wooden bases from B&Q, modellers matchsticks and flower arrangers wire off eBay. I really wanted to do barbed wire along the top but couldn't get it to work easily with the wire I have, if I find a better way it might get added later but the fence works fine as is.....

............of course this would be ideal to keep zombies out as well TTFN 😀

Putting the Brrrrrrrr in Blitzkrieg : Operation Sealion

A couple more evenings work and the Kradschutzen are completed. Pretty easy to paint and as usual Agrax Earthshade covers a multitude of my painting sins. Happy with the result, though I do need to get one more outrider but I forgot to look at York so will have to wait for a future order to Blacktree who made these.

Part of the reason to get a few more of these Germans completed is I am putting on another demo game at Dumfries show in early March, I have pretty much all the figures I need already painted but want a few more iconic units on the table. I do have quite a few other terrain bits to complete......and more details of the Battle to follow soon.

Ogres, Dragons and Monsters : KoW

As well as a trip to York last weekend we managed a game in the dungeon. A vast horde of 'grey' elves took on the might of a mixed Ogre army. It has been some time since we had so many monsters on the battlefield. I didn't take that many photos as the grey elves are not terribly photogenic.

With 2500 points a side we had quite a lot, the Ogres had two ogres and an arch fiend (daemon) monster as well. Somehow the daemon which should have been awesome was killed off without doing anything 😢

Kings of war rules can give a fairly random element to a battle and this was reflected in the game, initially the elves took the lead killing off a couple of key units including the daemon. Then the Ogres managed to get across the field and into combat a couple of very tight 'nerve' tests and the two largest eleven hordes fled the table suddenly the battle had turned. Then it all looked like is was swinging back the other way with in turn five no less than four ogre units being knocked out.........

....but then the stronger combat of the ogres played out and a crushing defeat for the elves. The game gave us a lot to think about, quite enjoy the KoW rules, they are much simpler than WHFB so are easier to pick up, but they do seem to have a random element which makes units disappear suddenly and sometime unexpectedly. Anyway a fun battle, not too serious and the elves are looking for revenge.

German DFS230 Glider : Operation Sealion

Working away at stuff and have completed my German Glider. In real life they were very small and only carried a small 8 man squad. In reality it is likely to behave as a launch point for Fallschirmjager raids.

I do need to decide about the tail fin which normally sports a swastika, I know this causes lots of issues so haven't put one on at this stage....I might just put a black cross ?

Here they are in action !

TOO MUCH LEAD : Yorks Wargame show

Woooooo what a fun day, not only the York Vapnartak wargame show but when I got home my wife had decided she need to practice making chocolate cake ! I'm not complaining. Really fun day with a fairly easy drive saw three of us at Vapnartak today. Met up with some people which was great, the show itself was even more trader heavy than previous years, a couple of nice games, the pick of these for me being the Back of Beyond type desert affair shown below. More than a few good ideas here for the future.

 

 

 But York seems to be as much about shopping and the active Bring and Buy as the games. I went with a list as usual and mainly stuck to it.

I bought FAR too much stuff and will simply have to stop there😀 not an exhaustive list and not in any order I picked up German Gebirgsjager from warlord games, Gallic cavalry, a couple of foundry packs, to complete units and some persian mounted generals...these really are lovely. A medieval cart and several fraught horses whcih inwill use for the German artillery. Some slightly random Saxon archers these were in a job lot. A couple of elephants, some 6 mm destroyed buildings and some Roman artillery, which I plan to man with other ancients. All of this stuff fits in with other stuff, the 6 mm buildings below were an impulse but they were £2 so I couldn't really quibble.

The other thing on my list was some troops for a back of beyond project I have been discussing with Martin. I had hoped to pick up a couple of troop units to start a faction........back to the bring and buy and a guy was selling off what looked like quite a lot of Woodbine (Gripping Beast) Gallipoli figures, I had a good look and which ever way I looked at them there seemed to be a lot of figures he was asking £40 but in the end when I feigned retreat he took £35. The bargain of the day had been snatched OMG.

Anzac starter army, bombers, NCO's, command Vickers and two infantry units.....

Turkish starter army pretty much as above......

British starter army as above with and I haven't quite tracked them all down about 6 of the woodbine special character packs.

Woodbine are lovely figures and casts, interchangeable heads and there are a few spares in the box. In the British set alone not including the regular infantry there are about 20 unique figures. I am a bit embarrassed really as my luck feels unwarranted. I checked them out when I got home and the cost New of the woodbine figures would be a staggering £180 plus😬 looks like Back of Beyond is a definite GO. Now I'm going to eat some cake to celebrate.

Off to York today 😀

Off to York Wargame show today 😀 A list of things to look for but who know what I'll come back with. If you are there very happy to catch up with any of my followers. Matt

German Kradschutzen : Operation Sealion

After the big battle at the weekend it has taken a while to tidy up and I have been busy with a few bits and pieces. But after being scared off by big prices I found the following three on eBay before Christmas. £6.50 each a bargain considering they are £14 normally. These are the Blacktree versions, pretty happy with how they have gone together but I do hate metal figures there are 9 or 10 bits to each one !

I am hoping to pick up one more rider if I can at York at the weekend so the unit is 10 strong.