Juno Beach - Rommel Battle

So this Tuesday I played a game of Rommel using the Juno Beach scenario. Few points on this; I know it is a beginner scenario, but why is it 21st Panzer counterattacking - should it not be 12th SS? Also why are the 716th's artillery deployed so far forward - seems unnecessary.

Assault Brigades Advance

The game played well albeit we forgot plenty of rules. The counterattacking forces in the form of the Panzers were very effective in their assaults although the were all fairly spent through attrition by the time we called it. I also feel that I didn't assault very well once past the frontlines and allowed myself to be caught tipped a few times.

Panzer Reinforcements

The order sheets worked nicely, with the interdiction taking out 2 of Alex's artillery batteries which hindered massively his defence.

Allied Command Board

I think this will require a few more games just to get the hang of it but all in all enjoying it.

I have got a lot more Fallschirmjager painted and will get them all posted together.

Canucks vs Green Devils

Last night I got out and played a Spearkrieg Commander game at House Lancaster to introduce DW to the rules. He'd played Black Powder before so knew roughly the command system and we were playing a basic scenario without recce or artillery support.

View from the German lines

3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade were attacking with a Regiment of Churchill IVs in support. In defence were the 2nd Battalion of 1st Fallschirmjager Regiment (with promise of StuG support).

Canadians begin to advance

DW advanced slowly initially as he got to grasps with the rules. As indirect fire was called in and my PaK 40 screen was deployed, casualties were mounting on both sides.

PaK 40 deploys

With no artillery it was a bit of a tough ask to weedle out the dug in Germans until the Canadians whittled them away and managed to get into combat.

Canucks charge in

The 2 lead Canadian Battalions were approaching breaking whilst the German reinforcements were yet to be seen.

Hole smashed through German lines

With the removal of the forces from the hill and the eventual capture of the village sector in the centre (thank you snake eyes in combat), the Canadians pushed on and I was getting nervous. A pair of StuGs arrived but had little impact.

Canadians reach the last village.

Finally the Canadians hit morale - one routed back whilst the other held but it was enough to stop them for now.

A good game with good ebb and flow - I'm going to try and get some more games going. I also really enjoyed the feel of the club - saw some games of Warhammer 40k (and variants) with actual maneuvering going on which was  a major reason I didn't get into it at school. I have a definite reason to get my Bolt Action force finished for a potential tournament. (Anyone got a 750 point concept army for Fallschirmjagers which is historically appropriate?).

Little By Little

I know it seems like a flurry of action but there's not actually much happening - just a little by little - mostly just finishing off the odd bit. But if I clear a bit of space I can get on with some more complete projects which will hopefully be a bit more impressive. And I'll also post a picture showing everything!

Last Nights Work Drying

Shocking picture I know but I was hiding out in the shed. At the back, left to right there is a Sdkfz222 which just needs cavalry markings, 3 HMGs which need texture and my Bicycle Battalion HQ. On the front row from Left-Right, I've got the 3 Early War Panzers which just need divisional markings, 6 StuG III/StuH '42 which I've given a wash to try and reduce how bright yellow they look. Finally in the shadows is my Brigade Command stand for my final Canadian Infantry Brigade - this brigade has been half painted for a long time so a bit of work and should be able to significantly increase my force.

Brigade Command

Its an excessive vehicle but there is no Divisional Commanders in Spearkrieg Commander so I'd rather use it for this than have it sitting around doing nothing. Also helped that I had a spare finished officer model from when I downsized my command stands.

British Paratroopers and Canadian Infantry

So here are my WW2 Paratroopers and Canadian Infantry - based upon 1st British Airbourne and 3rd Canadian infantry Respectively.

The support elements are interchangeable (at the moment)as I don't have enough for both - eventually I intend to have enough to field both divisions concurrently but at the moment either my Canadians represent the Air Landing (Glider) Brigade or the Paras represent standard infantry.

British/Commonwealth Forces

I had organised my Parachute Battalions as having 4 companies each as per standard infantry however I now believe that the Paras only had 3 companies per battalion. I will leave this as is until I get the other parachute brigade - this also means that I can use them for standard infantry in the meanwhile.

1st Parachute Brigade

1st Parachute Battalion

2nd Parachute Battalion - Lt. Col. John (Anthony Hopkins)  Frost Commanding

3rd Parachute Battalion

I have played around with a few rule variants for these in terms of the drops but haven't finalised as yet - once I do I will post them. For our Spearkrieg rules, I count the Paras as SMG armed Rifles - so 5 attack at 3" - 4 attack at 6".

Canadian Infantry Brigade (Probably 7th)

In various states of basing, the uniforms of the Canadians are identical to British Infantry but greener. I have enough left to field at least one more brigade, maybe more and I will complete the Division eventually.

Brigade HQ Stands

The equivalent of Regimental commands in other armies.

Engineer Squadrons

British (Commonwealth) forces are not the easiest to work out what is what interchanging regiment, battalion, brigade, company and squadron for various different units. I then have numerous support elements which can be attached to either.

Heavy Machine Guns

6 pdr Anti Tank Guns

17 pdr Anti Tank Guns

Then a few purely for my Paratroopers. I have some artillery support as well as some jeeps complete with appropriate berets. To represent the transport I have scratch built some gliders out of matchsticks.

Pack 75mm Howitzers. Not a massive punch but can't fit much in a glider.

Airbourne Jeeps

"This signpost looks funny sir!"

So that is it so far, I hope to be able to field both of these as division sized forces separately and in unfinished models I'm a good chunk of the way.

British Armour!

Again had these painted for a while but finally got round to posting these. Got another squadron of Churchills but haven't finished basing them along with a Crocodile.

British Heavy Armour

I've organised the formation into a regiment of 3 squadrons - 3 Churchill Mk7s and 1 Mk8 to each squadron. As with all my WW2 forces, they are Pendraken - lovely models but if I ever do an actual armoured formation (Panzer Division etc)  I would probably use Skytrex miniatures - cost a lot less and don't take up quite such a large amount of space on the table - these are BIG models.

Regimental HQ

Not quite sure how often I'll use this stand - usual practice was to split the squadrons in a supporting role amongst attacking Infantry Divisions.

I may redo the names on the sides of the tank as it was originally done with acrylic and has badly rubbed so the names are unreadable. The individual squadrons have the squadron markings in yellow on the turrets - circles, squares (and triangles).

Side View

I also have (as part of Canadian Infantry Division) a couple of M10 Tank Destroyers. Eventually, I will post the division in full once its completed.

I'm not overly impressed with these - no crews and less detail than I have seen on others. However they are more than adequate and when I'm fielding 3rd Canadian Infantry they won't have much armour to be compared to.

Coming Up: I've got my British and Canadian Infantry to post and I'm still musing over Game of Thrones - working title is currently Stag Rampant.