B'Maso AAR: Saving Shavanje

I'm painting hard at the moment, trying to get everything ready for next Saturday's game of IABSM. That's the trouble with deciding to try a new theatre, setting up the table, then realising that work, training etc means you have precisely this weekend to paint the ten vehicles you need for the scenario you want to game!

So, to give me (and my back!) a break from the painting table, I've found the time to upload another great B'Maso battle report from the archive of the excellent Anton's Wargame Blog.

Again it was set in Rhodesia in the 1970s, and was a battle to rescue the legendary rebel leader, Garfield Shavanje, from the hands of the Rhodesian Police. He had been wounded and captured in an earlier battle after a heroic resistance along with a few other rebels. Rumor was that they were being held in the local Police Station.

Click on the pic to see all...

A Rhodesian Police Patrol

Taking a break from the second part of The September War scenario pack, I find myself getting very interested in expanding my wargaming interests further into the modern era. We're talking later than the conflicts of the  1960's (French Indochina, Vietnam and the Six Day War) and right into the 1970's and beyond.

That's partly due to Team Yankee and all those pictures of shiny new 1980's toys that just belong in my collection (and see also some of the recent entries into the painting challenge) but mainly down to discovering a couple of excellent compilations of modern AARs using IABSM, CDS, and the supplements B'Maso and Rock the Casbah.

Some of these have already started to appear on this site (e.g. Mark Kinsey's excellent Angolan games) and now here's the first from Anton Ryzbak's excellent blog Anton's Wargaming Blog.

This first AAR dates back to 2011 and, using B'Maso, covers a Rhodesian Police Patrol. Click on the pic to see all: 

Another Modern AAR: Chetequera

As people seemed to like yesterday's modern AAR, taken from Mark Kinsey's excellent blog Daddy's Little Men, here's another in the same vein.

This time, we go further back in time to Historicon 2010, where Mark and friends are running a game based on the battle of Chetequera: part of Operation Reindeer, which began on 4 May 1978, and was South Africa's second major military operation in Angola, carried out under the Apartheid regime. This phase of the South African operation consisted of an assault by 2 South African Infantry Battalion on two South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) base complexes, Chetequera and Dombondola, near to the then-South West Africa/Angola border.

Click on the pic below to see all:

Modern AAR: Cassinga

Here's an historical AAR I've been wanting to post for some time: Mark Kinsey and Jon Yuengling's Cassinga game for Fall In 2013.

The Battle of Cassinga took place on 4th May 1978 during the South African Border War. The battle involved South African forces raiding a suspected SWAPO base at Cassinga, Angola and, covered in the game below, the intervention of a Cuban armoured force operating out of the nearby Techamutete village.

The game was played using a combination of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! and B'Maso!, the latter being the Wars in Africa 1950-99 supplement for IABSM.

Click on the picture below to see how this great game played out:

Lebanon 1982 AAR using IABSM/CDS

I'm loving adding all the modern AARs using IABSM and/or CDS: some really nice photography of some really nice models.

Here's a quick AAR from Jon Yuengling's excellent blog, Basement Games, dating back to November 2010. The IDF are trying to rescue a downed pilot from in amongst the Syrian militia. Click on the pic to see all...

Cold War AAR using IABSM

Some of you will remember that I use a variant of CDS to wargame battles from the Six Day War. Other people also use the core IABSM and CDS systems to fight other periods in history, especially those campaigns that we wargamers call 'Moderns': Yom Kippur and other later Arab/Israeli conflicts, the Cold War, the Falklands and more.

So today I've added a page where all these AARs can be collected together. It's under the CDS section in the NavBar at the top...and the first AAR to appear is an excellent 1984 Cold War game from Egg:  Stellingbostal.

Click on the picture below to see if the British can hold the village in the face of the Soviet steamroller...

6DW: Israeli Anti-Tank Jeeps

As an alternative to the reconnaissance platoon featured yesterday, the Israelis can field a platoon of anti-tank jeeps. These are basically a jeep with a 106mm Recoilless Rifle fitted on top of it. 

Now this seems a little crazy to me. I can understand sticking a RR on top of a jeep in order to give your infantry a bit of bunker-busting support, but to actively promote said jeep as an anti-tank vehicle? Well, as I said, I think you'd have to be very, er, brave, to take on a UAR T-55 tank, or even one of the ex-Soviet WW2 vehicles, in one of these!

A platoon of four anti-tank jeeps. Figures are from Battlefront.

6DW: Israeli Reconnaissance Jeeps

These have been sitting on my painting table for some time, and only a concerted effort over the Christmas break got them finished.

As always, however, the most difficult part of the painting process was actually starting: once I'd put the first bit of paint on the first jeep, everything flowed from there.

So, an Israeli reconnaissance platoon for my Six Day War force: four jeeps containing two squads of infantry. Figures are from Battlefront.

6DW AAR: Brawl at the Ruined Fort

Another Saturday morning battle with the Benson boys...but what to play?

Well, my usual default here is to have a look at what hasn't been on the table recently (if ever!) so today's game must be Six Day War and must involve the Battlefront ruined fort. Add on some "tail" that's never been on the table, and Bob's your uncle: one quick scenario written!

A column of Israeli recovery vehicles has strayed too close to the front line. As they pass a ruined fort on top of a hill, they spot a force of Egyptian tanks heading towards them.

Click on the pic to see what happened...

6DW: M50 Shermans

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.

6DW: Blinds Markers for Download

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: