I have a computer! Well a chromebook, but it will more than do for this.

I have been wanting to post as I've actually got quite a lot of painting down since January but my phone for whatever reason wouldn't allow me to upload photos onto here so it seemed like a waste just doing very wordy posts.

You may have seen some of my posts on facebook and twitter (@EnigmaRawsy) and if not then why not. I have been painting a fair variety including a sudden surge in 10mm models - in fact the only thing really holding me back is a lack of bases!

So expect many photos to arrive soon!

10mm WW2 British Commandos

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?).

Operation Barbarossa Battle

So for the first time in a long time I went down to Lancaster Wargames Club and made the debut of my German Cavalry with AE. Had a good fun game - tested some hypotheses and met up with people I haven't seen in a while. It was also good to get the models out on tabletop.

Cavalry Regiment Deployed

Although I don't have a battle report I can advise of my findings:

• As expected, cavalry just can't stand up and force its way through formed infantry, but it does seem to have the mobility to exploit gaps (the scenario didn't really allow for this). They are also really susceptible to artillery.

Kradshutzen Arrive to outflank

• Early war Panzer Grenadiers mince their way through Soviet Infantry (only casualties were caused by friendly fire).

Panzer Breakthrough

• Early War Panzers are really glad they have good command - they also can't sit in front of anti-tank guns. They also don't have great guns on them and really rely on the infantry to support them. Having said that they are monstrous when overrunning infantry in the open.

KV-2

• KV-2's are scary when they fire (this one stand blew away 2 Panzer 3 platoons) but are still vulnerable to mass flank/rear fire when unsupported. If the Russians had enough command to get the infantry alongside it I don't know how I could have taken it out. On a side note Panzerjager 1B are actually quite good as tank hunters in early war (Anti-Tank 4)

If I was to play this sort of scenario I would play the cavalry as an exploitation force or mobile flank guard - asking them to break through isn't something they are going to be able to do.

I also would try to move more - my back is killing me this morning and has doubly confirmed to me that I'm not going to be able to play football against Burnley Tornadoes. Having said that I should probably let you know what happened on Sunday! 

Soviet Armour?

So I needed some early war opponents for my Cavalry so I picked up a regiments worth of Russian Infantry to play as counter attackers or desperate defenders! I also got my order of turrets for my German Armour and I decided to spoil myself with some Soviet Armour (Including one of the most ridiculous tanks of WW2).

So first of all I'll start with what you've seen before - another couple of Panzer III Shorts and 2 Panzer III Long. I've got 4 more to do but I've run out of bases :(

Panzer III Long

Panzer III Short

So this will act as either a breakthrough or a reinforcement column to my cavalry force. Want to get a few vehicles (transport) and infantry and eventually build this up into a Panzer Division.

I will start mass painting infantry so I can at least get a battalion and a half on table (with lots of support elements) - again I have a shortage of bases but they at least have some armour support (one platoon of which is just silly).

T26s were (officially) deployed as part of a the Rifle Regiment Divisonal Tank Battalion (4 Stands T26 and 3 stands of T37a as per Spearkrieg). I really like the shading - not so sure about the markings - apparently this is an official paint scheme.

From www.armchairgeneral.com

Finally I keep mentioning the silliness so here you go - a KV2. Pendraken models tend to be two pieces - hull and turret - but this is 3 for the hull and a huge turret. The detail is good especially the road wheels (better than normal to be honest) but as per usual with both of these tanks they are a bit squat.

Monster 152mm Howitzer - in 1941!

Definitely going to fall over - the KV2 could only traverse its turret on flat ground due to the weight of its turret!

Menacing

So due to its serious issues (and not having the stats line in front of me) I'm going to make a couple of special rules for the KV2. First it is Unreliable  meaning that for every move order past the first one there is an additional -1 to command. Secondly it is Restricted due to its issues over the turret movement meaning that instead of having a 180 degree view it has a 90 degree view as below.

So here is the combined supporting armour I have collected for the Russians - not massively rushing to reinforce - most likely to just make a Rifle Division and stop.

Spot the odd one out.

You never know, I might get the infantry painted and a game sorted out!

Early War German Reinforcements

So didn't get a huge amount done besides large quantity of texturing some bases. But did get a few reinforcements (which you've already seen WIP pictures for).

First of all the Panzers - I had 12 of these but over time - lots of moves I opened them up to find I only had 4 turrets - quick email to Leon at Pendraken and the turrets are on their way as a separate order. But in the meanwhile I have finished these 4 - not sure about the markings but think they look ok.

Panzers!

The wash really helps detail the tank - also helped by the high quality casting allowing for the wash to settle. The crosses were black then white to help make them jump out.

Panzer IIIE with added foliage

I used lichen to dress the tank and this works well - just need to avoid overdoing it.

Herr Commander!

All in all looking good - building this up based on either 17th or 18th Panzer Division eventually but depends upon what campaigns that they were involved in. My Cavalry also gained reinforcements; HMGs and Recce for the infantry and the majority of the Panzerjager Battalion.

MG42 Teams

Sdkfz222

The recce needs its markings added to it but these shouldn't take long and will be on by time I repost the whole force in it.

Fear my mighty 37mm Shells

I've got to be honest I'm not sure how I use this force against counterattacking Soviet Tank Forces. I mean T26s, BT7s yes but I've just bought a KV2 just to see how much of a monster it is and I have very little to take it out. At least with a Panzer Division you have quite a few mobile anti tank guns and can always throw in your heavy artillery. My heaviest artillery is a single unit of 10.5cm Howitzers!

I've started on my Prussians but I haven't ordered the bases yet. So I'm painting a cavalry regiment at a time (1st Hussars should be done by end of week) so I feel like I'm moving forward.

Panzer Grey

Continuing this no plan painting action; some of which is because my polyfilla ran out so I can't base anything right now.

First I pulled out my small collection of Early War Panzers and decided to repaint them. Unfortunately I seem to have lost most of their turrets so I am left with a single PzIII 37mm, 2 PzIII 50mm and a PzIV with a short 75mm. However having painted them in a lighter grey I then used a brown wash and they look really good. I just need to add some appropriate markings and base them and this can be the core of a battlegroup to support my cavalry. Better pictures will follow.

Panzers!

 I'm also fleshing out my Cavalry - painting support weapons and starting on the building blocks for the 2nd Regiment.

HMGs

Whilst I had the grey out I've been working on my elephants (the cavalry have gone away to make some room). So far I think they look ok.

Heffalumps

Still doing bits and bobs - need to get more bases and just keep motoring. Still got a brigade of half painted Canadian Infantry to finish!

German EW Bicycle Battalion

Just to prove I am painting and its not all words:

Bicycle Battalion

The glues still drying on the bases but this is the core of the battalion. As per usual Pendraken figures and I have the command stand and support elements still to do but they should take little time.

To be honest I'm not necessarily working very efficiently for the purposes of the blog - what paint time I get now is wedged into small time gaps so I try and get as much done in one go as possible. So at the moment I have these, early war German support elements (37mm ATGs, MG42s, Mortars), Fallschirmjager AA Support, Numidian Cavalry, Carthaginian Forces, Prussian Seven Years War Infantry (in 6mm) all on my table - you can see some of the mess in the background.

Now I need an actual rule set to use for Seven Years War (6mm). I'm probably going to base battalion groups on 3" x 1.5" bases as per Volley and Bayonet but I've also got a copy of Osprey's "Honours of War" rules which use multiple stands per battalion. Now I might be able to amend these and use markers to show casualties, formations etc but are there any others people could suggest?

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.