Sandbag topped dug-in markers

Last week I posted pictures of some small hedges that I bought from Pendraken and wondered if there were any other scatter terrain items I could produce. Then I remembered that I had some old prepainted terrain that I had bought for my Western Desert games of Flames of War (many moons ago). These had seen better days and needed a repaint anyway, so I decided to start afresh and paint them for my NW Europe/Normandy games. 

These are actually Dug-in Markers for Flames of War and originally came prepainted for European games. However, when I bought them I converted them for use in the desert with some selected dry brushing to turn the earthen banks into 'sandy' banks topped by sandbags. As I mentioned, they had seen better days, having been stored poorly and bashed around a bit so they were due for a repaint anyway. So I cleaned the models and gave them a new basecoat of Brown primer. 

The paint job was very simple after that, with several layers of dry brushing on the earthen banks and the sandbags, followed by some careful inking of the sandbags to increase the contrast. Once they had dried I gave all the models my prefered practice of using multiple layers of varnish (two Gloss followed by one or two Mat/dull cote) to give them a tough protective layer. I didn't do that with the originals because they were pre-paints and the resulting chips and scrapes were why I needed to repaint them. When everything was thoroughly dry I added turf and grass tufts so they will blend into my other terrain for this setting. 

Hopefully, these will see action soon and I think they will be very versatile.  

Barbed Wire in the desert

I've been slowly building up my collection of 15mm scale desert terrain for some more What a Tanker! games. I'm not above buying some pre-painted stuff and I have a small but growing collection of the Flames of War desert buildings which have saved me a lot of time and effort. While rummaging through some boxes in what passes for my store cupboard I found another box of Flames of War terrain back from when I was collecting stuff for my Normandy project. A set of barbed wire fences, that hadn't seen the light of day since I bought them! Now I decided to re purpose them for my desert games and that meant a bit of a repaint. 

I removed the wire and repainted the bases using the same colour scheme that I have used on much of my other terrain. I also repainted the cross posts as I didn't like the dark brown colour they came in originally. All the bases were then decorated with a few 'late fall' grass tufts so they match my other desert terrain. Once the wire was returned and fixed in place I gave the four sections a liberal coating of matt varnish and I'm really happy with the outcome. The only additional change I may make is to apply some paint on 'rust' as all the barbed wire I have seen in photo's of the desert doesn't look as shiny as this lot. Each of these sections is 8" long so I only have a total of 32"of wire fence which may not be enough for my needs...I may buy another set and repaint them to match these but I'll wait and see if I need them first.

Wire in the Western Desert 1940

The use of barbed wire in the desert was of limited value as it could easily be circumvented by armoured vehicles. The original frontier wire between Italian controlled Libya and Egypt looked formidable (it was 20-30 foot wide in places  and stretched 271km) but it was primarily built to limit the movement of the Senussi Arabs. When fascist Italy declared war on Britain in 1940 advance patrols from Wavell's command began to dominate the area and regularly crossed the wire, using hooks dragged by tanks to break through the fence.

By the end of the desert war it was the minefield that proved the more effective barrier and even today there are an estimated 17 million active landmines in Northwest Egypt. In a bizarre and worrying twist terrorist groups like IS are taking to the desert to plunder this vast resource of unexploded munitions. A bomb is still a bomb it seems, even if its made from 70 year old explosive! (Source: Newsweek). 

FoW Unit Cards... for 3rd Edition

This is something I worked on prior to the Rejects Demo Game at Broadside back in June. Earlier in the year I bought the 4th Edition rules and rather liked the idea of Unit Cards as a simple way for players to understand their troops. However I decided that I didn't want (for the moment at least) to convert to 4th Edition. With the demo game looming I decided to make my own Unit Cards specifically for the simplified version of 3rd edition that I was planning on using at the show. The result was a series of cards for all the LRDG and Italian units that featured in our game, and as a tool for newbie players I felt that worked really well. I have since used the cards again in small scale games at home and decided to expand the collection by making more for other units. 

Here are some examples of the cards I made in June. Note to the rules Lawyers; These are for my simplified version of the rules so any differences to the stats in the rulebooks reflects changes I made specifically for the demo game. 

All the cards were broadly the same, made on a spreadsheet and then printed on card. 

The cards are a convenient place to note down special rules as well as the vehicle or unit stats.

Tank and Armourd vehicle cards are only slightly different

Different movement rates for mounted and on foot are easily accommodated

I was also able to use the cards for units that I created myself that are not in the rulebooks

I'll definitely continue to use these for other games. I'm currently making a set for the units I painted for Operation Compass over the winter. Another advantage of these cards is you can just grab the units and the cards, set up terrain and your ready to play a game in next to no time. If anyone wants a copy of the spreadsheet let me know. Its in a Google Sheet format so I can share with anyone that uses Google Drive. 

The Battle of Sawkhan

I've taken advantage of my day off and the fact that my daughter (aka the Young Padawan) doesn't go back to school until next week. We decided to play another Desert Raiders game using the same cut-down Flames of War rules that I used in the Rejects demo game at Broadside earlier in the year. I employed some of the same units from that game and we set up pretty quickly for a relatively simple encounter battle.

The Setup
An Italian Patrol is investigating a Libyan village that it suspects is being used as a staging post for the LRDG. By coincidence they arrive just as a the first of two LRDG Patrols approaches. Italian forces will arrive one unit per turn while the second LRDG Patrol will arrive on a dice roll so could turn up early or Late.

Order of Battle
British
  2 LRDG Half Patrols (each containing 5x Chevy Trucks & 1x Breda Gun Chevy)
  2 Jeep HQ Units
Italians
  AB41 Armoured Car Patrol
  1 Bersaglieri Campany in Trucks
  CV35 Tankette Platoon
  l AA Truck Platoon

The Action

The setup showing the village of Sawkhan and the arrival of the first LRDG patrol...however the leading Italian AB41 Armoured Car platoon has also just arrived in town.

The Italian Armoured Cars wind through the village cautiously...

But as the first pokes its nose out from behind the buildings it is hit by a mass of Machine Gun fire.

The next turn three trucks race into the village and immediately a company of Bersaglieri disembarks and takes up position in the buildings. 

In the distance the LRDG patrol takes up a defensive position behind a small ridge. This will give them some concealment from incoming fire while retaining clear lines of sight on the village. 

Shooting erupts across the desert as both side open fire. Both sides take casualties with exposed vehicles quickly being hit. 

The LRDG loose many their vehicles but fortunately their crews are all able to escape. 

After four turns without her reserves arriving the second LRDG
patrol finally turns up.

The second LRDG patrol begins to try and outflank the Italian positions while more Italians vehicles turn up and take position. 

The Italian Tankettes don't last long though!

Although the Italian troops still outnumber the LRDG  their position is now becoming untenable. 

The Padawan begins her outflanking move...

...and take apart the Italian units protecting the flank. 

With the Italian position in the town hopeless I send in the trucks to recover the few remaining troops still there. 

Analysis 
Another win for the young Padawan! She played well and I suspect she would have won even quicker if she hadn't had to wait so long for her second unit to arrive. The shear volume of firepower being dished out by the LRDG Chevy trucks overcomes pretty much anything quickly.  

Operation Caravan : Player Handouts

For my Operation Caravan game I wanted to provide each side with a pre game briefing that not only reflected the known historical facts but helped each side appreciate their respective situations. The LRDG players were presented with an operations map and a set of orders from which they would have to devise a plan of attack before seeing the games table. The Italian players received an intelligence briefing that would contain facts of 'variable quality'! Both of these are reproduced below.

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LRDG Orders: "Operation Caravan"

Captain J R Easonsmith - Officer Commanding
Ref maps 1/500,000 – Barce Sheet Number 9 and 10

1. Your Force will consist of three half patrols of LRDG Chevy Trucks. These have been equipped with additional twin mounted MG’s and one vehicle in each Patrol will mount a captured Italian Breda 20mm AA Gun.

2. The destruction of aircraft, infrastructure and material in the Barce sector would severely hamper axis offensive capabilities. Your Objectives are as follows:

I. Your Primary target is the Italian Airfield at Barce. Intelligence reports suggest that 35° Stormo da Bombardamento' are based here. Destroy as many aircraft as possible, causing the maximum amount of damage and disturbance to the enemy.

II. Secondary objectives such as HQ Buildings, Communications, Hangers and other Airfield Infrastructure should also be degraded.

Additional objective should also be destroyed, but only if this will not prejudice the success of your primary task.

III. Fuel Storage facility and Supply dumps within the Airfield. 

IV. Administrative infrastructure in Barce. Headquarters of local Italian Command.

3. Plan your raid so that it takes place on the night 14/15 September allowing sufficient dark hours to facilitate your escape and evasion of enemy aircraft.

4. Having completed your mission all elements are free to make their own way to the RV selected by you. From there you will return to Kufra to await new orders.

Brigadier General Staff
Distribution: Captain J R Easonsmith (Officer Commanding)
Method of Issue: By Hand

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LRDG Operations Map

The operations map is based on actual topography and air reconnaissance pictures taken prior to the raid. The
Ground scale has been truncated to fit everything onto the games table but as far as possible I have tried to
remain true to the tactical situation facing Captain Easonsmith on the night of the raid. 

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The LRDG Players were handed their orders and operations map prior to seeing the games table and asked to plan their attack on the Airfield based on these resources. The LRDG raid would by necessity start stealthily (this was a night raid with limited visibility) and rather than play through a dozen turns where nothing happened except movement I decided I would start the game at the point at which the LRDG commenced their attack and the Italians raised the alarm. Any LRDG units involved in this opening action would be placed on the table by myself with additional and as yet un-revealed units remaining off table with their position marked on my map. The LRDG player would be allowed to use the Ambush rule (pg 266-7 in Main rulebook) to place these at the start of any turn they wished to activate them, or when discovered by enemy movement. 

Meanwhile the Italian players would start the game with most of their forces off table and those that were on table would not necessarily be activated immediately. Consequently their handout is more about 'setting the scene', giving them some idea of the sort of force heading towards them and from what direction. Above all this handout is designed to deliberately recreate the 'fog of war' by presenting lots of information to the Italian commander, most of which is irrelevant or misleading. During the actual Barce Raid the Italians were extremely slow to react to the initial attack by the LRDG. In part this was due to the local Commanders crippling indecision as a result of being faced with a large volume of poor quality intelligence and an enemy that could literally strike from any direction. 

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Barce Command Sector Reconnaissance Report

General Piatti dal Pozzo – Officer Commanding Barce Sector

12th September 

Approx 09:00 - Local Arab informants reported spotting a light truck about 30km SW, coming from Carruba. Reported to local Carabinieri and relayed to Barce Command via Telephone.

11:00 hrs - Air reconnaissance ordered by General dal Pozzo reports no vehicles sighted in area. Additional flights ordered for later in the day. 

12:30 Hrs - German supply trucks returning from front reported in sector and intercepted by local Carabinieri. Identity confirmed but noted that no movement orders have been logged with Barce Command. 

14:00 Hrs – Second reconnaissance flight confirm no other vehicles spotted in area. 

19:30 Hrs - Reconnaissance aircraft spot several heavily camouflaged vehicles near the approaches to Barce. Fading light forced flight to return to base before identification could be completed.

13th September 

08:00 Hrs - Informers at Gerdes Charruba spotted 15 trucks heading East towards barce.

12:00 Hrs – Air reconnaissance cannot confirm earlier sighting of trucks.

16:00 Hrs - Patrol of Ordella Irregulars spot a column of vehicles 2km from Gerdes El Abid.

19:00 Hrs – Contact with Police checkpoint at Sidi Buraui lost. Barce Sector command put on alert of potential attack. Target of suspected attack likely to be airfield but without detailed intelligence and with other potential targets further north troops of Barce Command ordered to remain dispersed awaiting orders.

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With the scene set, plans made and counter strategies discussed all that remained was for the players to meet across the games table and let battle commence.

Operation Caravan at Broadside Wargames Show

I'm aching all over after what has proved to be an exhausting but utterly brilliant day at Broadside Wargames Show in Sittingbourne. Our demo game won Best in Show (!!) and I'm buzzing with excitement as a result. First off let me say a huge thank you to Ray and Postie for their unwavering support and tireless help with the game, and to Surjit and Dave who played a very closely fought battle right to the end. I'd also like to thank all the visitors that came by our table and said nice things about the how it looked, and of course to everyone that voted for our game. Its taken a year of planning and hard work but I have enjoyed every minute of it.

Posties Rejects from L to R - Dave, Surjit, Postie, myself and Ray

Presentation was key, with a table sign, handouts and lots of reference photo's to show visitors.

Initial moved and stuff is already being blown up by the LRDG

View across Barce towards the Airfield in flames

Lots of Italian equipment went up in flames in this game

Nothing was safe from the LRDG's twin Vickers Machine Guns

Looking down what had once been an airfield

We were so busy on our table I barely got to look around the rest of the hall. I did take a handful of photo's but I came home having spent nothing on the trade stands (!).

A final picture ('borrowed' from Ray) showing the LRDG making their escape after the raid. They Won the game despite loosing many of their vehicles. Most of the crews managed to escape to fight another day and this matched the historical battle quite accurately. 

Desert Tank Skirmish

Over the weekend the young Padawan and I took my newly painted tanks out for a joy ride in the desert. Unfortunately her Italian M11 and M13 tanks bumped into my company of British A9 Cruisers and before you could say "Operation Compass" a fight had broke out.


Setup
This is purely fictional encounter battle 'somewhere in the Blue'. All the tanks start the game on the table edge and for the most part are out of view of the enemy. The Italians have more tanks and better armour but the British can fire on the move so hope to be able to concentrate fire a little easier.


Order of Battle
British
Company HQ - 2x A9 Cruiser Tanks
Three troops of Three A9 Cruisers

Italians
Company HQ - 1x M13/40 Medium Tank
2 Platoons of 5 M13/40 Tanks each
1 Platoon of 5 M11/39 Light Tanks


The Action

The Young Padawan and I before the game commenced

She was taking meticulous notes throughout the game...should I be worried? 

Two of my A9 Cruisers roar across the desert kicking up dust. 

I move one platoon into a Hull Down position behind a low ridge and make my initial moved with my other tanks behind the hills. No point exposing myself to fire unnecessarily. 

The Italian gunners get very lucky, knocking out one of my hull down cruisers and forcing the crew of another to bail out. 

Burning vehicles begin to litter the battlefield. The Italians had unwisely moved onto an exposed hill without support. The British tanks were able to take advantage of their doctrine of shooting on the move (aka the Talley Ho special rule) advancing quickly and concentrating fire on the Italians.

Her tanks are burning and still she's smiling! 

The 2 pounder gun on the A9 wasn't a bad weapon for its time but against the frontal armour of the M13's its effectiveness is reduced. I'm going to have to get behind these Italians to get the kill shot. 

Having 'cleared' the ridge I move forward only for a lone Italian tank to get behind my guys Fire from him and another dug in M13 across the valley results in hits on both my tanks forcing the crews to bail out! 

My tanks are now horribly exposed and unable to return fire until the crews pass a motivation test and remount their vehicles. 

Fortunately two other Italian tank platoons have been taking a beating and with nearly all their vehicles destroyed or bailed out the Padawan throws in the towel and concedes defeat. 

Analysis

This was only meant as a quick game and an excuse to try out my most recently painted models. Having said that it showed that the British don't necessarily have it all their own way and need to use manoeuvre and a touch of guile to best the Italians. We had a great time playing this and the first thing she said after being defeated was to ask me when we could have another game! 

Incidentally I didn't use the new 4th Edition version of the rules for this game. I haven't fully read the rulebook yet and decided to stick with what I know for now. Hopefully by the time we play again I can try out the new edition and see how the changes effect the game.

FoW 4th Edition Freebie!

I've just picked up my FREE copy of the 4th Edition rules for Flames of War. Battlefront are giving away copies this weekend to anyone showing their old 3rd edition rules, so existing players don't have to buy the rules again. They did this when 3rd Edition came out and its good marketing because it keeps existing players happy...and who doesn't like receiving a free rule book!

In fact you get two books when you show your old one. One is the core rulebook and the other is a compilation of all the special rules, converted and amended where appropriate to fit the latest addition. On first glance there doesn't seem to be a huge change to the rules, aside from the fact that the rulebook is considerably slimmer than the previous edition. They have achieved this by stripping out a lot of the unnecessary 'fluff' and concentrating on streamlining and clarity over flashy presentation. The result is that the new book is just 105 pages compared to 293 previously. IMHO its about time, I dropped my 3rd edition rulebook on my foot once and I nearly broke my toes!

Seriously though, any attempt to simplify the rules can only be a good thing I think. I have never liked rules that are so complex that games become a battle between the players and the rulebook rather than between themselves. 

Raid on Jakharrad

The Young Padawan and I managed to fit in another 6mm wargame today, this time playing a Flames of War battle set in the Libyan desert in WWII. I wanted to give my LRDG trucks a new chance to go toe to toe with the Italians to see what they are capable of. I soon learnt the answer was "quite a lot"!

The Setup

Three LRDG Patrols are converging on a target across the Libyan Desert. The patrols had traversed hundreds of miles of desert together but two days ago split up to approach their target from different directions. Their objective is an Italian held town, regional HQ and communications hub for forces in the area. If the LRDG can knock out their objective the Italian war effort in the area will be severely disrupted. 

Order of Battle

LRDG

   Command Platoon

   3 LRDG Patrols 

Italian Forces

   Town Defenders

     Bersaglieri Company

     Rifle/MG Platoon (Dug in)

   Reserves

     Armoured Car AB41 Platoon

     Tankette L3/35 Platoon 

     Bersaglieri Motociclisti Platoon 

The Action

Initial Setup - The Italian HQ and hub of local telegraph lines - As the Italian player I made a quick map of the town and secretly positioned my troops in various buildings. 

Likewise the young Padawan, as the LRDG player, decided on her plan and wrote down where her forces would arrive. 

The only Italian forces visible at the start are a series of sentry positions (Dug in Rifle/MG units)

The Rifle/MG pits cover all the approach routes

The first LRDG patrol arrives outside the town.

The second patrol arrives from a different direction...but the third patrol hasn't arrived yet, presumably delayed on the long drive to their objective.

The LRDG open fire and even their limited rate of fire (reduced because of movement) begins to deal out alarming damage to the Italian defenders. The red markers show infantry units destroyed and will be removed at the end of the turn. 

Maybe I'm a little too confident in my Italian troops....

..on the other hand. I knock out one of the LRDG Chevy trucks, although the crew are able to leap to safety. 

Another Chevy truck goes up in flames...this time the crew are killed. 

My Bersaglieri infantry are able to return fire and knock out several LRDG trucks. Maybe this British attack was a mistake. 

The LRDG don't move next turn and so can fire at their full rate of fire.... fistfuls of dice are rolled and an alarming number of hits result, even against troops in hard cover. Infantry save on a 3+ but with so many multiple hits on each unit I still loose several teams. 

The same is true on the other side of town. I'm beginning to worry that this will be a very short game!

...and then the remaining LRDG Patrol arrives on the scene. Oh dear. My reinforcements have not shown up yet and I'm really thinking this game will be a British whitewash. 

Despite heavy losses the LRDG are now in a good position. The latest patrol to arrive have taken up position on a hill overlooking the town, eliminating the problems of line of sight. 

Italian casualties continue to mount and the HQ building begins to come under direct fire. 

At last Italian reinforcements begin to arrive. A platoon of AB41 armoured cars race across the desert and outflank one of the LRDG patrols. 

Meanwhile an L3/35 Tankette Platoon threatens the flank of the latest LRDG patrol to attack. 

Of course victory is predicated on my ability to actually roll to hit!!

Lots of LRDG Trucks are burning but enough remain to dish out a significant amount of fire-power. This battle is far from over. 

Or so I thought. A hard volley of gunfire takes out my Bersaglieri HQ units and without these the remaining infantry fail their moral check, drop their weapons and flee in all directions!! My only hope is that my Armoured Cars and Tankettes can finish the job and protect the HQ building. 

We relied heavily on a laser pointer to help with line-of-sight issues and it worked really well. Not that this was much consolation to my troops.

Well that's it, game over. With the Italian defenders killed or fled the remaining LRDG teams rain fire own on the town and quickly set the Italian HQ building ablaze. 

I'm sensing that the Young Padawan may be happy with that result! 

Analysis
My string of defeats at the hands of my daughter grows every longer! My dice rolling was as awful as usual, whether it was to-hit rolls or saves. The Bersaglieri troops in the town had a big advantage, hunkered down in hard cover making them much harder to hit than if they were in the open. Despite this the massive fire power being brought to bare by the LRDG trucks (every one bristling with machine guns) meant they could quickly overcome local opposition before reinforcements could support them. The Padawan was lucky with her dice roles but in the end that's part of the game and no excuse for my loosing yet again!