AAR: Green Smoke Marks The Target

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Originally posted 16th November 2013

Topi continues his East Africa campaign with another clash between British and Italian colonial forces.

Looks like some nasty blue-on-blue action!

AAR: Carroceto

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Originally posted 14th November 2013

Lardy Craig Ambler takes a trip to Italy to play Carroceto, the second scenario in the Anzio: Wildcat to Whale scenario pack.

A game characterised by lethal dice rolling:  the British suffering fifty Kills and only three points of Shock. My only question is where I can get dice like that!

AAR: Near Avaux II

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Originally posted 3rd November 2013

Unusually, both my usual wargaming opponents were available in the same week. Last night, Dave and I fought to an epic draw (see below), tonight was Neil's turn. As I didn't have time to set up anything new, we'd fight the same battle as before. Not only that, but I would play the Germans again, and decided to set up in almost exactly the same way as before, looking forward to seeing how the two games would differ.

Well, it was indeed a very different game...

AAR: Near Avaux

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Originally posted 2nd November 2013

Terrific game of IABSM last night. Dave and I fought Scenario #4B from the Blenneville or Bust!scenario pack: Near Avaux. A hugely entertaining clash with the fortunes of war swaying backwards and forwards each turn, and with a truly epic climax!

T-28 Tanks for the Soviets

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Originally posted 1st November 2013

More early war tanks from Battlefront: this time Soviet T-28s. Bad picture, but these are nice little models.

BT-7A Tanks for the Soviets

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Originally posted 26th October 2013

With Battlefront flirting with the Sino-Soviet confrontations in Manchuria just before the "official" start of WW2, they have released a whole new set of early war Soviet kit. Here are the BT-7A tanks i.e. the BT-7 tank with a howitzer rather than a normal tank gun.

AAR: Operation Biting

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Originally posted 25th October 2013

Here's an AAR that's been on my to-do list for some time. John has designed and is playing an IABSM scenario around the Operation Biting raid at Bruneval, where the Paras went in to capture some German radar technology.

A great AAR currently in two parts. You can see the details of the historical raid at the beginning of part two.


AAR: West of Pierrecourt

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Originally posted 20th October 2013

As promised, here is Topi's AAR from playing the first scenario of the Blenneville or Bust! scenario book campaign: West of Pierrecourt. 

To quote his introduction: "Kicked off our Blenneville campaign this weekend. A German panzergrenadier recon unit tries to stop the American machine in the bocage country. 'Greenhorn, this is nothing compared to Kursk' was the German motto, as more and more American troops arrived. Quite a few spoilers to the scenario, so be warned."

AAR: The Battle of Ras Gaan

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Originally posted 17th October 2013

The next battle report slurped from Topi's blog covers an Italian attempt to bash through a British blocking point. It all looks a bit crowded to me!

AAR: A Missionary Man

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Originally posted 15th October 2013

The next battle report slurped from Topi's blog contains a bit more information about the background to his East Africa 1940 campaign. That's in addition to an amusing tale of a ragtag bunch of militia taking on the might of the Italian army. Proves you don't need tons of troops and Tigers on the table to have fun with IABSM!

 

AAR: East Africa Waltzing Matilda

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Originally posted 12th October 2013

I've found a new source of After Action Reports! A gentleman named Topi, from Finland, has an excellent blog with five IABSM AARs. It will take me a few days to catch up, but catch up I will!

Here's the first: his first game of IABSM. It's East Africa, British versus Italians, and Topi's English is a lot better than my Finnish!

Lend-lease Scout Cars

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Originally posted 6th October 2013

Now that I've re-catalogued all my late war Soviets, I can clearly see where the gaps in my collection are. One such gap was transport for the Scouts. Looking at the lists, I saw that lend-lease White scout cars were an option, and as I happened to have three of them lying around in the lead mountain...

Gallery: British Air Landing Company

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Originally posted 6th October 2013

Here's the cleaned up Battle for Liberation gallery for the British Air Landing Company. Landed by glider or transport aircraft, these are better equipped than the parachutists, with anti-tanks guns, pack artillery, and even tanks.

Soviet Trucks

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Originally posted 30th September 2013

One thing I do like to do is to make sure my troops have enough transport: I'm a real fan of "tail". No surprise then that the latest addition to my collection are the Soviet engineer trucks from Battlefront i.e. their usual trucks with some cargo added in!

In The Name of Roma Published

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Originally posted 19th September 2013

Chris Stoesen has released another scenario book for IABSM, In The Name of Roma!, containing a selection of platoon and company level scenarios for the Italians on the Eastern Front.

I've already got the book, and it looks excellent. Here's the blurb from Chris' website:

In July of 1941, the 80° Roma Regiment of the Pasubio Division boarded a train bound for Romania. Along with the rest of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano), they would advance through the Ukraine alongside their German allies. In the coming months, the 80° would be engaged in brutal fighting across 1400 miles of the Eastern Front – covering most of that on foot.

IN THE NAME OF ROMA is a wargame supplement that contains 30 company and platoon level scenarios covering the actions of the 80a Roma Regiment from August to December of 1941. You’ll follow the 80th from the open steppe to the Donetz industrial basin, including the amphibious attacks across the Dnieper, and the fateful decision of Column Chiarimonti to attempt to seize Nikitovka.

IN THE NAME OF ROMA includes:

  • 30 scenarios divided in six distinct campaigns
  • Historical background information and period area maps
  • Italian and Soviet briefing for each scenario
  • Formation information and stats for Early War Italians and Soviets
  • Forward by Richard Clarke

Though primarily written for the Too Fat Lardies rules systems (I Ain’t Been Shot Mum; Troops, Weapons, and Tactics; and the newly released Chain of Command), the scenarios in IN THE NAME OF ROMA work equally well with Arc of Fire, Bolt Action, Flames of War or your favorite rules system.

IN THE NAME OF ROMA is available for $11 US. Send the money via PayPal to cstoesen@corecard.com and I will e-mail the PDF to you as soon as possible.

Cromwells from Plastic Soldier Company

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Originally posted 8th September 2013

I have finally finished my squadron of Cromwell tanks for the later British force. These models, all fifteen of them, are all from Plastic Soldier Company, bought for a grand total of £51!

The models are very nice, and with plenty of options. You can have the normal gun or the 95mm howitzer support weapon; you can add the allegedly-fictious, boccage-clearing prongs; and you can add the cover that sits over the exhaust grill and stops the enemy spotting a tank starting its engine from the gout of black exhaust fired straight up in the air!

Mine are organised into a Squadron HQ of three tanks (CinC with exhaust hood, 2inC with prongs, support tank), then four troops of three tanks each (two with exhaust hoods, two without).

Here are some shots of one individual tank and the whole squadron:

AAR: Avaux

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Originally posted 31st August 2013

Brian Cantwell continues the Blenneville or Bust! campaign with action around the small village of Avaux. Will the British armour manage to smash though the German lines? Read on to find out!

AAR: Hedgerow Hell et al.

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Originally posted 26th August 2013

Sorry there hasn't been much from me lately: all my time has been spent painting up my 15mm squadron of Cromwell tanks, courtesy of Plastic Soldier Company. I'm just finishing the basing now, so pictures etc soon.

Meanwhile, here are three battle reports. Hedgerow Hell is one from last weekend, the other two are from last year.

Hedgerow Hell

First Run at IABSM

Second Run at IABSM