England versus Germany 1940

Having had a break for gaming in the shed for a couple of weeks my good friend Mark came over for a spot of Bolt Action. Rather than a VBCW game I decided that we would p[lay a fictitious engagement in Southern England 1940 just after the German invasion. A unit of German Paratroopers supported by a couple of Panzer 1’s had the objective of capturing the Norman Church – its tower being used as a forward observation post by the defending British.

 

I set up a 5ft x 5ft table and was able to use my latest terrain pieces – namely the church and the pub.

 

Starting with the forces:

The Germans were all veteran units (their morale and saves being much better and boy did it tell). Mark would play the role of the attacker.

The force consisted of a Command Group

Captain (SMG), a Submachine Gun squad of 4 men and a small mortar

Three Squads each consisting of an NCO (SMG), a 2 man LMG team and seven riflemen.

This was the first time my fallschirmjagers had seen action on the table and I was really pleased with their look.

 

The British Defenders were a rag tag band of Sailors and Home Guard units with NO armour but they did have a trusty medium AT Gun at their disposal.

 Sailor Unit – 8 rifle armed guys and officer (irregulars)

Sailor Gun Battery manning Medium AT Gun (regular) three crew

 

Home Guard Command consisting of Officer and Medic (Mainwaring and Godfrey) - regulars

Three squads of 10 men – each squad had an NCO (smg), a Lewis Gun and 8 riflemen

Two HMG units (separate units – regular)   

Because they were defending I had predetermined their positions before Mark arrived. 

 

 

The Germans entered on the southern road. We’d agreed that the tanks would be unable to traverse either the hedgerows or the stone walls prior to starting the game.  Mark pushed his Germans towards the village. Still the field remained eerily quiet. I placed all the British units on Ambush and waited.
 

 

In round two he swung his first tank around the outskirts of the village supported by a squad of paratroopers. As the tank crossed the road the naval battery opened fire striking the side armour of the Panzer. Sadly for the gunners their shot failed to strike home merely causing a small fire. This was hastily put out by the tank crew. The tanks was stopped dead in its tracks through pins. Not to worry I’ll get it next time I thought. With the first British unit shown the German commander sent his other tank around the Black Bull Pub to take ion the AT gun (each tank had its own dice for movement). With the tanks AT gun somewhat redundant against the positioned battery he let rip with his MG – one hit took out a crew member and therefore reducing the effectiveness of my gun crew. The rest of the Germans pushed forward into the village.

 

At the beginning of the third turn the Fallschirmjager mortar dropped smoke on the village crossroad – he missed the centre and the smoke drifted across the road blocking off the sight lines between the pinned Panzer and the AT gun. With my original tank target gone the battery switched it attention to the second tank behind the pub. Another hit scored but again the shot failed to penetrate the thin armour.

 

The leading Paratroop unit on the Far side of the village pushed forward. As they crossed the garden fences a hidden British squad opened fire, scoring several hits but the veteran training came into play and only two men dropped. In this isolated engagement the next two rounds the German superiority began was telling as their rounds struck home and drove the British squad into rout.

 

Elsewhere the Nazis pushed up into the village and took the pub. As they looked out of the pub windows the chatter of HMG fire erupted from the bunker emerged from the bunker. My two HMG units began to pour steady lead into the Public house. My dice rolling was awful and again the superior numbers of Germans began tell. Despite the protection of the bunkers both HMGs ended pinned and lost crew members thereby lessening their chances in return.

 

At this point in time a tit for tat exchange of fire was taking place between the AT gun and the Panzer. The next AT round hit immobilising the tank. The tanks MGs continued to pin the gun crew who valiantly continued to fire. Eventually a shot struck home and the German armour brewed up. By now the German mortar had sited in on the naval gunners and successive rounds of shooting drove them from the field in blind panic.  

 

Returning to the village the Germans pushed on round the flank towards the church yard. I decided to reveal the next squad lining the church walls. The Lee Enfields and Lewis Guns putting down serious amounts of fire but unable to holt the German advance.

 

With my pillbox based HMGs suffering the Fallschirmjager advanced towards the defensive position. As the crossed the open ground next to the War memorial I opened up with my last remaining home guard unit at point blank range – again insufficient hits were scored and my Home guard unit fell prey to the advancing German squad and to be finished off by the SMG unit.

 

Things were somewhat bleak for the British, two units and an AT gun down and the Pillbox about to get stormed. My Sailor unit had just reached the Church having originally been deployed on my far left wing. With no means to counter the Panzer now steadily advancing – remember the one I originally hit well it got going again and now significantly outnumbered the Home Guard surrendered.  

 

This was a fast and furious fight. The British suffered almost 60% casualties the Germans closer to 25-30%.  My original defences were laid out expecting a German advance from my left – through the country not the village, but Mark chose the opposite route. My ambushes were lousy – I delivered the hits but not the casualties and the high German morale soon made the pins disappear.

 

I rarely put on evenly matched games preferring to adopt a more realistic approach. Mark had no idea what he might be facing so each turn kept the suspense.

 

It was a great deal of fun and took just over a couple of hours to play.

 

 

Time Gentlemen Please - A Very British Pub - 28mm

Having taken a few weeks off from Terrain building (I have been painting figures) I finally finished off the Church and Lichgate and turned my attention to some gates and stiles.

 What the blog hasn’t shown is the mini production line going on some more typical English buildings – these in no particular order are the station, the post office, a small general store and of course the most important of British institutions the pub.

The basis of all these buildings are mdf kits and as I describe the builds I’ll give right and proper attention to the purveyors of such pieces.

However the one thing I don’t like about the MDF kits is the finish so I have elected to render all of mine which is typical of this period. I myself live in a 1930’s Art Deco style semi-detached house complete with flat roof and white render. Who knows maybe I’ll build this in 28mm?

The render effect is very simple – just coat the exterior of the building in pva glue then cover in sand or fine ballast. A top coat of white, cream or very muted colours (pink, light green, or yellow) acts as the finish.

This is the dolls house from Petite Properties rendered

With a cream paint job

The post office and general store - these are coming very soon

Once this is all dry file smooth the window and door appertures which may have become encrusted with glue and paint.

The focus of this post is the pub – the basic kit was procured from Warbases in the VBCW range. It comes complete with an outbuilding and a yard – more on this shortly. The building retails for around £16 and is perfect for 28mm

You can find this kit here

http://war-bases.co.uk/BUILDINGS/VBCW-28MM?product_id=160

The building was assembled using the render technique discussed above. The windows and doors themselves are on a separate mdf sheet that slides in behind the front of the building. I painted the doors and windows gloss black.

 

 

English Pub windows sometimes have a frosted affect downstairs so to emulate this I found an old file with an opaque finish. The window panes were cut out and superglued to the reverse side of the window frames. I used clear acetate for the upstairs windows.

These panels were then glued into the building.

The roof is a very simple affair two sheets of mdf and some triangular brackets. These were ‘tiled’ using some excellent precut roofing sheets from jimbibbly’s Oshiro Model range. These certainly take away the pain of individual tile cutting and once painted look the business. This building used just over one A4 sheet.

You can source these here

http://www.oshiromodelterrain.co.uk/victorianbuildings.html

The roof was given a black paint job then drybrushed grey to tie into the other slate roves on show. I have tried to do red tiling but I am not happy with the results.

My only gripe with this kit is its boxy form. So rather than use the outhouse inside the back yard I stuck this onto the outside of the building and then cut the yard walls to fit. This has the added advantage of creating a gap in the wall for a new gate. The posts for the gate are old bits of dowling glued into place.

The back yard walls were glued into place onto a sheet of ply and then rendered the same as the walls of the pub.

I was in two minds as to whether or not this should then be lawned or paved, in the end I decided that the paved area would be more appropriate. (cardboard squares glued down like paving slabs). The front of the pub was then paved with the design I’ll be using for all future pavements. These paved areas were painted black and then drybrushed greys with a final brush of brown to dirty then up.

The building itself is not going to be stuck on the board (storage reasons) but fits in the area uncovered by paving.

I have given it a light ink inkwash to dirty up the render.

 

 

Warbases are really generous and offer their customers a choice of three etched front signs – the Black Bull, the White Horse, and the Red Lion. In keeping with the black and white thematic of the building I decided on the first of these names. The sign was first washed black then given a coat of gloss plack paint. The letters were then picked out in gold.

Members of the Home guard take at rest



Can you see the downstairs frosted windows



The Law checks everything is in order out the back

The barrels are from my pirate games

I hope this was interesting...

 

Time please Gentlemen

 

Gates & Stiles

Whilst browsing the other day I vcame across some bits and bobs on the warbases site that I thought would be pe3rfect for my terrain needs - some five bar gates and English stiles.

At a very reasonable price as well !

Without hesitation an order was placed along with their 28mm Pub - this will feature in a future post

Here's a link to their gates

http://war-bases.co.uk/BUILDINGS/VBCW-28MM?product_id=190

And a link to their stiles

http://war-bases.co.uk/BUILDINGS/VBCW-28MM?product_id=187

So onto the Gates - well these needed basing. I cut out some simple hardboard bases c2cm x 7cm and after sanding these down I drilled two holes through each end. the width of the gates.

Through these hole I push bamboo skewers and glued them into place. These were trimmed to the right height.

The rest of the basing was very simple - sand and ballast base fixed with PVA. A black coat of acrylic followed by successive dry-brushing of browns. Static grass and tufts were added to complete the affect.

The gates were then superglued onto the posts

As you can see from the following pictures the gates work well with all the types of terrain - hedges, walls and fences

A couple of Tommies come to inspect - 28mm in case you were wondering

The styles although small are very neat pieces of kit for just a £

Very English as well

Here you can see it has been given the same treatment as the gates. The figure taking his dog for a walk is the freebie from Salute. I decided to paint him up as my officer for my Naval Unit.

Here's the treatment with stone walls

and with timber fences..

Thanks warbases for some simple but effective bits of terrain...

28mm Church Part 4

This follows on from my third post last month - if you want to pick things up from the beginning head here

Part 1

When I left you last the Church was almost finished. But not quite...I still needed to add the Lich Gate and finish off some drybrushing. It all done now bar a small path from lich gate to the church and a few gravestones for the church yard.

In the following pictures you will also see the cemetery from Ainsty - a full review of this can be found here

http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ainsty-castings-graveyard.html

So here we go...

The lich gate seen above and below came from Petite properties the same folks who produced the church - nice little kit - I gave it the same wall treatment as the church. The actual gates have been left off at the moment.

You can find it here - http://petitepropertiesltd.com/onlineshop/index.php?_a=product&product_id=294

The Ainsty Graveyard is on the right hand side of the picture

I particularly like the last shot...

Up next are a few more dolls house building - the train station, the post office and the local shop...

All coming very soon

The Big Night - Zulu 50th Anniversary

So as mentioned already on the blog last night was the big night – the 50^th Anniversary screening of the British epic Zulu. I have to say I was as excited as and excited man could be…

Tuesday morning I checked I had the tickets before I set off for the train…check.

Just before lunch I decided to check the tickets were still there…check, however I also started to read through the blurb that accompanied them and noticed to my horror that Suits and Ties were the appropriate dresscode. Damn my lightweight linen trousers just weren’t going to cut the mustard. Fortunately I had promised myself a new suit given I have just found a new job so I headed off into the shops near the office. As I approached my destination I realised that the sole on my shoes was rather flapping about – a new pair of shoes as well – this was going to cost a small fortune.

Suffice to say and a few quid later I walked out of the store resplendent in a new blue suit and a smart pair of brogues. No more lead for this month ;-(.

The afternoon seemed to drag endlessly on, I shouldn’t complain too much as I am currently working out my notice and have a whole eight weeks off before I start my new role in late August.

Finally the clock struck 4.30 and I dashed off to meet my old man at Waterloo. The station was a nightmare, a double whammy of a train hitting a bus on a level crossing and somebody being taken ill at Vauxhall. Id agreed to meet him at 5.15pm but at 5.30pm no sign of him. Now my father has never got to grips with technology and despite buying him several prepaid mobiles over the last few years he steadfastly refuses to use them so I had no option but to sit and wait it out. All this time the leather in my new smart shoes is cutting into my ankles !

Panic over as I see him disembark from the train. A short hop to Leicester Square puts us outside the Odeon. The doors don’t open til 6pm so there time for quick pint in a local hostelry.

We make our way to the cinema. The crowd has somewhat grown. Its an eclectic mix of old aged men, middle aged men, several forces personnel and for some strange reason quite a few young women. I quickly realise that many of these young ladies are accompanying the older men – I guess it’s the second wife syndrome where you trade in the old model for a new model. Fortunately Mrs Shed has worn rather well over the years so I am not looking to replace her.

 

My father is wearing his old regimental tie (the Royal Fusiliers) which looks uncannily like one the guards regiment ties – apparently the bars on his are wider. So whilst waiting he was a accosted by several other old gentlemen looking for somebody to talk to.

 

The gates opened and we were ushered through onto the red carpet. There was an urgency to get folks through so little time was available to study the re-enactors on display and the Welsh Goat that had been brought along.

Into the cinema…by luck or by design all the seats were clad in leopard print ! We find out seats in the upper circle on which sits a rather fetching pink goody bag inside of which are some rather tasty apple crisps (dinner), a programme and a digitally remastered 50^th edition DVD of the film. This has apparently a talk over by some leading historian who has studied the film.

We settle down and before we know it the programme begins.

Mark Kermode, the film critic, came out and praised the film and told the story of when his old man took him to see the film in the 1970’s – this all sounds very familiar to me and his poignant message that tonight was going to be only the second time he had seen the movie on the big screen strikes a chord. I can see that my old man is just so chuffed to be there.

Following Mark we have a presentation from Dan Snow, self titled the History Guy. Dan does a nice short synopsis on the Zulu Wars but judging by the audience only the young ladies are going to learn anything here.

A three piece singing set from Blake follows – pretty dire, sounds all wrong – enough said

 

Obviously the night was a charity event so we got the fundraising videos – all very good, not too slick which was nice, and carried the right emotion. Well done

 Then out marched the Welsh Military Choir – I had expected at least 30 or 40 guys but I suppose down to army cuts we got 8 men and a goat. They looked great resplendent in their uniforms but quite frankly their singing was atrocious. Their rendition of Men of Harlech should have been a highlight of the night but something was clearly lacking (more men I suspect).

The pints I had earlier were now starting to work their evil magic so I started to make my way down the stairs to the exit. I was abruptly stopped in my tracks by a burly security guard telling me that I had to sit down until Prince Harry had taken his seat. I sat down.

The next uncomfortable few minutes were spent listening to some bloke who had studied the Movies history and had some unseen footage from the film. It was interesting but I need a wee.

I had been hoping that Michael Caine might make an appearance. But he didn’t. He did however send a video with a short message wishing everybody well.

I wanted the toilet !!

Finally Prince Harry arrived and no sooner had he sat down, me and probably half the audience made a beeline for the loos. I returned to my seat just as Blake and the Welsh Choir started to sing the National Anthem. All good stirring stuff but no where near the buzz you get at Twickenham.

Finally, Finally the Movie started….

 

This was real joy to watch on the big screen  - it was emotional watching the movie with so many other fans – the picture was fantastic and the colours so vibrant. Sadly nothing had been done to augment the sound. When the film was originally made it was done in mono and I suppose in todays big blockbusters we are used to hearing surround sound. Last nights performance only had the sound emanating from the front of the stage and it was a little muted – if I can switch this onto four speakers at home I was surprised they didn’t do that in the cinema. This didn’t diminish the experience it merely could have been further enhanced.

As I settled down to watch this movie for what is probably the 50^th time in my life I realised that the build up to the action is every bit as good as the final battle scenes. Indeed the big screen affect of seeing all the Zulus dancing in the Kraal was hypnotic, I wanted more. It also dawned on me that there were some fantastic characterisations in this movie – and the humour in the screenplay really came through with an audience surrounding me.

I suppose when you re watch a movie with the plot already known you can begin to take in the nuances and the pictures the director is trying to paint with the screenplay. This was particularly noticeable with the use of silence on screen. The next time you watch the movie its really worth watching out for these moments. At the other end of the scale John Barry’s score has stood the test of time. Perhaps my favourite part of the film is towards the end when the Zulus are charging and you can hear the Men of Harlech emanating from the mealie bag ramparts.

 Before I knew it the film was finishing off with Richard Burtons masterful narration.

A great end to a great film, a film that has delivered so many wonderful memories and continues to excite 50 years on.

A big thank you to my wife for giving me these tickets and a big thank you to my old man who introduced this movie to me so many years ago.  

 

 

 

 

 

Alfresco Wargaming

With my current gaming mates focussing on other things at the moment it was great to receive an invitation to visit Damas (of Lead Adventure Fame) at his new house down in deepest Sussex. Originally this had been signposted up as a mini-blam but in the end with only four attendees this ended up more as a micro blam!

 

As I set off from Surrey at 8am the sun was already blazing away so there was only one thing for it to lower the roof on the car (don’t often get to do this with the English summer weather). With little traffic on the road the journey took under an hour.  

 Damas’s new place has a polytunnel not a shed. Formerly used as a cover for an above surface swimming pool he had set up a 8ft x 4ft table. Conditions were pleasant to begin with but as the heat of the day rose we chose to move the table into the shade of some trees outside. However leaving that aside I have to say alfresco wargaming appeals.

 

In total four of us made it a day to remember in Sussex, myself, Captain Blood, Hu Rhu and our Host

We kicked of the days proceedings with a two versus two Saga game – Vikings versus Anglo Danes. A close fought contest over seven rounds lead to a victory for myself and Captain Blood.  Even though the good captain managed to lose his Warlord in a hail of blows towards the end of the game we had done enough to assure a points victory. Both Hu Rhu and myself were familiar with the rules but our interpretations were slightly different, however these proved quite easy to remedy and a great game was had by all.

 

With lunch beckoning we headed off to a local pub for Sunday lunch.

 

The afternoon saw Hu Rhu putting on his Treasure hunt game using Pirates. A home brew set of rules created a great light hearted start to the afternoon including carnivorous pigs ! Needless to say Captain Blood and Damas were soon trying to take each other out whilst Hu Rhu valiantly attempted to stop me from my key victualing task. He failed and I could chalk up another win for the day.

 

 

At this point in time I had to head home for a family engagement but I had a great time and look forward to our next event.

 

A big thank you to Damas for his hospitality

 

Until next time

1/48 scale Dolls House Suppliers - for Wargamers

Given the success of the Dolls House church I have looked out for other purveyors of 1/48 scale dolls houses and other paraphernalia.

As I have stated 1/48 is perfect for 28mm,

I thought the blog might be a great opportunity to share with you some of the resources I have found to date that are based in the UK.

A simple table with links and comments might work best and I'll add to this as I progress

Company	Website	Selling	Comments
Petite Properties	http://www.petitepropertiesltd.com/onlineshop/index.php	Buildings Furniture	Great range of English style buildings
Herdwicke Landscapes	http://www.herdwicklandscapes.co.uk/html/1_24th_dolls_houses.htm	Buildings	Appear to be very expensive and limited range
A trifle small	http://www.atriflesmall.co.uk/148th-scale-16-c.asp	Accessories including Furniture Garden Equipment Pubsigns Weather Vanes etc	A cornucopia of 1/48 scale delights
Malcolms Miniatures	http://www.malcolmsminiatures.co.uk/Windows+PVlETndBVE02a25jdmRXWjBGMlk	Range of Doors and Windows for 1/48 scale	Looks expensive
Bromley Craft	http://www.craft-products.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BDH0324	Crofters Cottage	Struggled to find 1/48 stuff on their website
The Craft Pack Company	http://www.thecraftpackcompany.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=90&zenid=ee8o6l85vjqans6sl1ofp1lbg5	Furniture, Beach huts and Deck Chairs	If you need to build an English seaside town head here…
Jane Harrop	http://www.janeharrop.co.uk/48th_kits.html	Range of buildings, furniture etc	Limited range plus another beach hut

 

If you find any others just add them to the comments and Ill include them in this table...