Having spent the last few months building up my forces for the Six Day War, it was time to get the figures onto the wargaming table. For the first game, I decided to keep things relatively small and relatively vanilla: the Israelis would be attacking a UAR/Egyptian force defending a pumping station of some sort.
Click on the picture below to see all...
More 15mm Israeli troops hot off the production line: finished earlier this week just in time for today's game.
First up, the Company HQ: two Big Men, two 60mm mortar teams; two LMG teams and a two-man Forward Air Controller team.
Then I had a spare Patton tank. Not really a gripe, but why, when Israeli tank platoons are three strong, do Battlefront sell tanks in boxes of two?
Anyhoo, as it was a spare, I modelled it not as a standard Magach 'battering ram' tank with the 90mm cannon, but as the up-gunned 105mm version. The Israelis had converted about a company's-worth before the start of the war.
First 6DW game was today: report soon!
With the weather all over the place, it's nice to have a constant to rely on...so here's today's painting challenge update!
In no particular order we have:
Today's pics are another mixed bag. So many to choose from...
Kev's tribute to his now-deceased spaniel, Alfie
Lloyd's Romans
Prussians from Mr Helliwell
Better put a couple of these in!
Egg's tanks
My third models of Israeli tank for the Six Day War to roll off the production line are a couple of Sho't Centurion tanks:
By the time of the 1967 conflict, Israel had nearly 300 Centurions in service. All but 12 used around Jerusalem had been upgraded with the new British 105mm L7 gun.
These are, again, Battlefront models from their Fate of the Nation range and are, I think, my favourite of the tanks used by the Israelis so far.
One thing: again the gun barrels arrived twisted up almost like a pretzel. Why can't Battlefront manage to get you straight gun barrels? It can't be that difficult!
Another of Mark Luther's 6mm games of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!
This one, The Road to Oderbruck, is set on January 29th 1945, and features a German rearguard action in the face of a strong Soviet advance.
Click on the pic, below, to see all:
The next tanks for my Six Day War Israelis to roll off the production line are the M51 Ishermans:
Now these really do look slightly ridiculous! Not the models, they are great, but the enormous gun mounted in the equally enormous turret.
As a response to the heavier Soviet tanks gifted to the Arabs, the Israelis mounted cut-down French 105mm guns (i.e. the guns were originally even longer!) onto heavily modified M4A1 Shermans with the HVSS suspension. The turrets had to be up-sized, and the tank's weight increased by some 20% as well.
Again these are Battlefront models from their Fate of a Nation range.
Been filling in some of the gaps in my Dwarves in Space army.
First up are the command figure and a sniper for Khurasan's Thrainites:
These are nice models, as you would expect from Khurasan, and paint up well. There's only one slight problem: the command figure stands easily taller than most 15mm figures, so unless his actual legs end at the figure's knees and the rest is battlesuit, he is about as un-dwarvish as you can get. Harold Hastrada the dwarf!
The sniper is better sized, and my painting hasn't really done the little devil justice.
Next up are some command figures and support platform for the Cactus Mine contingent:
The two figures come from CP Models' very limited line of space dwarves. The Armadillo support platform is from White Dragon and is a most unusual model. It is a quadruped walker with an armoured skirt on just one side. It mounts a gatling cannon on top, and has a couple of light mortar batteries on its armoured side. It's a unique model with just one drawback: the price. That little thing cost me £7 at Salute, which is why the little men will have to make do with just the one. I mean, that's as much as a whole tank...and one from Battlefront at that!
So now that my decals have finally arrived, here are the first of the Israeli tanks for the Six Day War to roll off the production line.
They are a couple of M50 Sherman tanks:
These are Sherman Easy Eights up-gunned with the French 75mm CN-75-50 gun from the AMX‑13 light tank in a modified 75mm turret. By the start of the Six Day War, the Israelis had about 180 of these "French" Shermans available.
The models are from Battlefront's Fate of a Nation range, bought in their 40%-off sale. The only pain is how to mount the company indicator on the toolboxes on the side of the main body: even with decal softener these took some time to place. Nice models, though.
I'm getting ready for my first game with my new Six Day War armies: an Israeli column attacking a United Arab Republic position.
One thing one does need for a game are Blinds markers, so I've put together a set for Israeli, UAR, Jordanian and Syrian forces.
You can find them on the main Six Day War page (see under the Charlie Don't Surf! area of this website), or download them straight away now by clicking on the image, below:
Well this is a first for this year: so many new entries into the painting challenge that I have had to do a second update this week or run the risk of getting too far behind!
In no particular order, we have:
That would be a big update even if it weren't the second this week. Makes me quite jealous...and determined to finish the four units/buildings I have on the painting table!
Today's pictures? See below...
just some of Matt's beautiful Prussians
The Mad Padre's 6mm cavalry
Andy's tank (he only sent in the rear view!)
Ralph's Xar...who have me reaching for the 'buy now' button on the GZG website!
Jason's WW2 German artillery: also something that belongs in MY collection!
Another of Mark Luther's 6mm games of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum.
This one is set on the eastern front in late 1941: General Winter has hit the Germans hard, with temperatures of -30 degrees centigrade freezing their tracks solid.
Find out what happens when the Soviets counter-attack by clicking on the picture below:
Haven't updated the challenge for a few days, so lots of submissions waiting to be processed. So, in no particular order, we have:
Today's pictures are of Mr Luther's terrain for Malaya and, of course, Derek's Minions:
Yes, yes, I know: another post-Salute post to join the thousands already floating around the ether!
Well this one is just a quickie, focusing not so much on the event itself* but on some of the games on show: specifically their terrain.
Terrain isn't really my thing: I'm getting better, but still feel my efforts are weighted towards my figures rather than the earth on which they stand.
There were three tabletops that I would really, really like to have had the opportunity to get my figures onto:
First up was a terrific Vietnam set-up. Wrong scale, being 28mm, but absolutely lovely:
Then there was the sci-fi Hammers Slammers 15mm sci-fi set up. I was definitely working out whether this one would fit onto my tables at home. It would, by the way, so if the owner ever gets bored of it and needs more space, I will quite happily give it a very good home!
And finally the sci-fi set-up from Critical Mass Games was great as well:
Three amazing tables that really inspire.
*Actually I thought Salute was quite good this year.
I had a great journey in: I drove and didn't encounter any of the roadworks that have blighted previous years' journeys...it's almost as if they have finally got that area sorted out road-wise. The £15 for all day parking was a bit steep, but at least the machines were accepting credit cards instead of demanding two fistfuls of coins to satisfy them.
I arrived about 10.15 without a ticket. Walked straight up to the ticket booth and bought one, no queue. Got myself a sandwich and a coffee, ate them, then walked straight in to the show with no delay at all. Another amazing improvement on years gone by.
I thought the show was busier than last year. Still the same horrid floor and dull lighting, but I can put up with them: the eyes soon adjust and there's plenty of places to sit down.
I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of new, teeny-weeny traders as well as the expected big ones. That bodes well for the hobby: lots of new trader blood coming in. I understand that a couple of the massive stands (GW, or a derivative thereof) were collection-only...and that they seemed to be the ones with the queues. In all, however, a good mix, and I was able to find some decal-softener.
Good lunchtime drinks at the Fox with some of the Lardies: some of whom seemed to have led very sheltered lives, but I digress...
I ended up spending far too much money, as per usual, and on a real mix of things. Some Battlefront pre-painted terrain from Team Yankee; some trees; a hill; some of Battlefront's new Pacific-theatre Japanese tanks; some more Israelis; decal-softener; and a few sci-fi bits and pieces. A good haul that will doubtless be on show here at some stage in the future.
One thing I did notice that was different to the last few years: more BO! Maybe because it seemed busier visitors-wise this year, but there were a couple of occasions when I caught a full blast of sweaty wargamer: not very nice and, as I said, unusual compared to previous years.
In all, a good Salute this year.
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I'm at Salute all day today, but just have time to load up a quick AAR from Murphy's Heroes from a couple of year's ago.
I was lucky enough to visit the club whilst on holiday near Delft a couple of years ago, and I will tell you that you cannot meet a nicer bunch of wargamers anywhere. They even let me win the game we played, didn't they, Derk?!!
Anyway, I haven't a report on that game, but click on the pic below to see how this game went:
A quick glance at the Quadrant 13 galleries and army lists on this site will show you that I am quite a Khurasan fanboy. Their 15mm sci-fi ranges are, I believe, some of the best available.
Khurasan are still not posting news of their new releases on TMP (a dispute about sock-puppetry, I believe) so you'll have to like their Facebook page to keep up with what they are doing...or read about it here, of course!
Their latest release is an expansion to their rather nice Soriog range. For those of you unfamiliar with the Soriog, they look like this:
Soriog infantry with energy rifles
Now added to the range are the Raug infantry, client soldiers to the Soriog in the same way that the various states in India provided troops to the British Empire throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Just to hammer home the point, the Raug infantry are even known as Ceepays!
Here they are:
Raug infantry with autoguns
Squad support weapons
Platoon command: Soriog magnate-officer, officer's veteran Soriog assistant, prostrate Raug Ceepay runner, and Raug Windhowler.
Now these are rather nice, and I like the way that the platoon command gives you a bit of character to work with.
I'll produce a Q13 army list for the Soriog/Raug in due course (I like to have the figures in my hand when I do so), and am even wondering how they would fit in with Critical Mass' Protolene Khanate range:
You can visit the 15mm sci-fi pages of Khurasan's website by clicking here.
Here is the third battle report for I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! in as many weeks that uses the A Canadian VC scenario from the IABSM v3 rulebook as the basis for a game.
This time we go back to 2013, and an AAR from the Hotlead convention. CJR, on his blog TwoThreeSixMM (a reference to the scales he plays) describes the action from a double-blind game i.e. played on two identical tables with the Germans unable to see what was on the Canadian table and vice versa.
Click on the pic below to see how it turned out.
Here's the second platoon of Israeli infantry finished for my Six Day War mechanised infantry company.
It's always a hard slog through the main infantry element of any new force: a minimum of about a hundred 15mm infantry is always going to take time...but that's two of the three platoons done now, so given command, weapons platoons etc, I'm about half way through.
Here they are:
A quick AAR from Mark Luther dating back to 2010. It's an eastern front game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! played in 6mm.
Click n the pic to see all:
Last week, I mentioned Dan Wade's superb blog Wade's World of Wargaming. Well, last year, Dan put on a Vietnam demo game at Call to Arms using Charlie Don't Surf! and a mash-up of a couple of scenarios from the CDS scenario pack, Surf's Up!
Dan reported on the demo game, and how he later played it through to a conclusion at home, over a series of blog posts which (and I hope he doesn't mind) that I have combined into one glorious battle report.
Click on the pic below to see his superb terrain and figures:
Sergeant Steiner continues his exploration of the IABSM rules with a game based on the fourth scenario from the IABSM v3 rulebook: A Canadian VC.
See how he gets on by clicking on the pic below:
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
Welcome to Vis Lardica, a not-for-profit website mostly dedicated to the company-sized wargaming rules produced by the TooFatLardies, but encompassing my other gaming interests as well.
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