Battle for the Xanthos Valley : Blood in the Sand (Mountains)

Following their defeat at the ‘Battle of the Flamming Pigs’ the fledgling Roman invasion force had withdrawn on their ships. No one had given much thought to where they had gone and for the next few months life in Lycia went on as much as normal. This peace was broken with rumours of a significant fleet sailing north along the Lycian coast and then a message reached the Western Capital Xanthos that a heavily armed force with tribal mercenaries had landed at the small coastal town of Telmessos.

The Roman Consul Martinus is looking for revenge and a significant victory before he returns home. Having realised that the coastal communities had nothing of value the force has marched inland crossing into the Valley of the Xanthos River.

The Ruler in this western province of Lycia is Kheriga, son of  Harpagus, not expecting an invasion from the north he has force marched his army North hoping to block the invading army. The citizens in the capital Xanthos have been thrown into panic but it may take several days to discover the fate of their army......😀

The Battle for Dymchurch : Operation Sealion

Our first opportunity this year to get back to Operation Sealion sees the German 55th Infantry Regiment pushing across the beach into the small seaside town of Dymchurch. The early morning attack has caught the British  sligtly off guard so as the German Infantry rushes forward the town is only lightly defended by several companies of the Somerset Light Infantry, (these are part of the 135th Brigade of the 45th Infantry Division who are charged with protecting this section of the coast).

The german assault has deliberately focussed on the town itself to avoid the Dymchurch Redoubt, but a key feature of the town is Martello Tower No 24 taking the town will open up a clear route to advance inland and secure the Romney Marsh area as a bridge head. Other elements of the division have landed slightly further to the east Battle for Botolphs Bridge but the Germans are being delayed in their advance.

The observation post on top of Martello No 24. The alarm is raised as the flotilla of german boats approach the beach.

German pioneer Infantry having pushed through a thin line of defences start swarming across the open ground and into the buildings backing onto the beach

First platoon of the Somerset Light Infantry start running into the town their objective is to delay the advance by capturing the two main road junctions

Infantry approaching the town further west, the local early morning bus has been abandoned to its fate

Many of the local residents have fled which is a good job as jack boots knock down back doors and set up firing positions

The Somerset’s have a couple of Bren Gun carriers in support these oblivious to the approaching german armour charge forward towards the beach opening fire at the first Germans to attempt to cross the road 

Reich Minister Goebbels has ordered the invasion to be filmed a perilous activity so close to the front but as we know propaganda and spin are king

The german pioneers have come armed with a flame thrower 🔥

The first tank to reach the town is a PzII obviously suffering from seasickness the crew initially fail to hit anything then finally one of the Bren carriers is knocked out...but time is of the essence and the Germans need to push on.

A german sniper team sets up on one of the beach defences..causing the British reinforcements to keep their heads down

The Germans seem unduly cautious ? But as soon as they show their heads they come under fire from a machine gun from the houses in the Main Street

However on the left the Germans are pushing forward.

Desperate to hold the road junction Second platoon of the Somerset’s bravely break cover whilst the Pz is distracted 

Pinned down by machine gun fire !

As the Pz turns East along the coast road second Platoon successfully capture the crossing (from a game view the two road junctions were the objectives) but in the distance another squad of infantry led by their officer has rushed out of the building and is coming down the road

At the other road junction third platoon are advancing down the road but the Germans are keeping their heads down

Germans are pushing forward on the left

The Germans have recaptured the junction and the second Bren carrier has been immobilised, first company is ready to charge in but the dice gods decree an end to the battle !

At the other junction the Germans are in control

The invasion captured on film 🎥 

We gave it as a minor victory to the Germans....the Somerset Light Infantry able to partially withdraw. The Germans now have the town but they must push forward to secure a suitable bridge over the Royal Military Canal. 😀 loyal readers won’t have long to wait as we played this next battle last night !

The Six Day War : Part Two

Painted up and based the next group of Arab and Israeli armour. These have had the sand bases lightened which I think looks slightly better 😀 once again the colours don’t quite look right on the photos making them darker than real life. I have as usual deliberately given some variation in schemes to help identification on the battlefield.

Arab PT76’s a couple to use as command tanks

BTR152 troop transporters

And Israeli Centurions....this is the worst photo as they are fairly light grey green, it just doesn’t show against the lighter background☹️

I am now on with some T55’s 😀

Panzer IA : Operation Sealion and more

Between painting more Arab and Israeli tanks (they just need basing now) and a couple of games I finished off this little chap. I think he came in a mail order where I needed to spend a little more to get free postage. They caught me again !! Anyway it’s a Warlord model and very pleasant to put together and paint. He landed on the beaches too late for the Battle of Dymchurch (yesterday) but will no doubt see action soon😀

Manflesh back on the menu

Illness finally over and we had our first game in the dungeon since Christmas. To kick things off for 2018 we played something easy with little setup time. A Lord of the Rings game using Dragon Rampant rules. In this scenario Saruman’s Orcs have been sent into Rohan to cause mischief. They are confronted by a force of Rohirim and both forces must attempt to get of the battlefield from the opposite corner.

In the first couple of the turns the dice gods were good to Saruman’s forces with all of them surging forward the Rohirrim on the other hand were very slow

Luckily the Rohirrim have three mounted units who can move quickly when needed

The Orcs surging forward...goaded on by their master

The Rohirrim are joined by an ancient tree ent

As soon as they are in range the light cavalry can bring into play their bows using their skirmish rule to good effect

An overview of the battle.

However, first blood went to the Orc/goblin archer who manage to wound and scare off a cavalry unit, to counter this the ent.....fairly immune to archery stomps across the battlefield

Orc scouts also bring their bows into action and a second cavalry unit is lost, including Eomer 

The final unit is more hardy and is able to gradually whittle the wargs riders down......

Until a small unit of elite huntsmen are able to make their way to the front

In the distance the ent is now seriously wounded and there are two heavy Orc units remaining.

Near to the end of the battle the Rohirrim spearmen lock shields and are able to withstand the final Orc charge

The men hold..pushing the Heavy Orcs back and with only one remaining wound the ent stomps on them from behind.

The rest of Saruman’s force flees the battlefield. A fun game to start the year, the Orcs suffered from some terrible dice rolling at certain critical times of the battle 😀

Another Persian Sparabara Unit

Whilst waiting for the Arab/Israeli forces to arrive my painting mojo jumped backed to 500BC to complete another Persian Sparabara/Archer unit. These were a slight experiment as I used some light green army painter primer. This forms the colour of their main ‘tunic’ , which has then been washed, highlighted etc. Not sure it saved much time but quite happy with the effect. Again the photo isn’t great as they are a bit more colourful to the eye you can’t really see their red trousers in this shot☹️

Again for variety i gave the front row hand weapons working on the assumption they have already thrown their spears ? Gradually the Persian forces are building up they will still need some mercenary hoplites but are now a viable force 😀

1967 Six Day War begins.......🙂

Gradually the Christmas bug is clearing away, with the help now of antibiotics and steroids ! No Tour de France for me this year. Instead I have started working on some Arab Tank forces for my new Arab/Israeli project. I have ordered a number of new bits for the project but already had a number of items which I was planning to build the expansion around.

A small group of SU100’s

A formidable force of heavy JSIII tanks

Some long in the tooth T34’s (these will play as T34/85’s)

All these are appropriate for Arab forces from 1948 through to 1967, and can be stretched slightly further at a push. The pictures have given a slightly odd colour as in real life they are quite sandy yellow. I plan to add a bit of variety with other units as at 6 mm it isn’t a great idea to paint everything exactly the same. Having now looked at the bases I might lighten the sand on the base slightly to reduce the contrast with the background basecloth, again under the natural eye this isn’t as obvious. I am now awaiting a parcel from Heroic and Ros for the rest of the Arab and Israeli force to arrive. I do have a few trucks and such like which I might get done....😀 the fun part is during the research I have discovered the Syrians had Quite a bit of old German armour and I have a few bits floating around for them too.