Some pics of my Fallschirmjager

 

A few shots of my Fallschirmjager platoons.  I've been sitting on these for about 4 years and got a notion to paint them at the end of last year.  Unfortunately I haven't quite worked out the best settings for my camera so the pictures didn't turn out brilliantly.  Following is the best 5 shots from about 80 that I took.

 

This force consist of 2 platoons of rifle/MG, 9 stands per platoon with commander, overall company commander and company 2IC, a platoon of 4 HMGs with commander and a platoon of NbW35 10.5cm mortars with commander and spotters.  I bought the mortars by mistake thinking they were ordinary infantry mortars.  All figures are Battlefront Miniatures.

 

The camo pattern is my interpretation of Splittermuster 31, splinter pattern.  One thing I noticed when researching this force is that most painters paint headbands on the helmets however I could only find 1 picture in hundreds that actually showed it in real life.

 

 

Heavy machine guns

The best picture I took was of the backs! 
No, they are NOT retreating!

Mortar commander

Some SS I painted for Richard

Richard had asked me to paint a company of SS for him in pea-dot camouflage.  The figures are Battlefront and Command Decision and took a hefty toll on my eyesight.  Each figure has in excess of 250 dots!!  I ruined the tips of 3 00 brushes painting these guys.  NEVER AGAIN!!!!

I think they turned out rather nicely though.  Sadly, my photography skills are lacking, these pictures were taken on my mobile without any staging or pre-arrangement.  Hopefully you'll be able to get a sense of the work involved.

Another game of Blitzkreig Commander

A 4 player game this time, again US against Germans in an encounter scenario.

Mark H with the US left and me with the US right against Michael on the left and Richard with the right.

I like Blitzkreig Commander, I find it a lot more playable than Flames of War.

After some massive artillery bombardments by the Americans the axis was defeated but it was a close run thing.  The Americans made the mistake of breaking cover in front of the German left and paid a very hefty price.  The Shermans in the centre got caught in the open and decimated by the long range guns of the Jagdpanthers then after a short fight what was left were destroyed by SS assaulting with Panzerfaust.  American AT guns managed to halt the panzers on the left but after a command blunder early in the game were severely hampered by attrition.  The pesky American artillery observer managed to call in a very effective bombardment, Calliopes coupled with a battery of 105mm managed to wipe out several PzIvs and most of the SS. 

Some valuable lessons were learned in this game:

Artillery is too potent and we will limit the amount in future games,
Too many points per side make for a frustrating game,
NEVER crest a hill in front of any type of late war German tanks,
Sherman tanks are rubbish against any late war German tank, the figure of 30+ American tanks was quoted at one point as needed to make a difference.





American off table artillery.  Very effective when it came to it.



German right wing, beautifully painted
PzIV and Konigstigers supported by SS.



German left wing, Jagdpanther supported by
 Heer troops and some towed artillery.



On the American left wing some M10 tank destroyers
and towed AT guns.



German right advancing along the road.



Logjam or "blocage"

American left crests a hill to stop the panzers. 
This tuned out to be a disastrous move as most of these tanks
were destroyed by opportunity fire as soon as they came into view.

American right, 101st Airborne dig in to wait
for the Jagdpanthers.

The FAC calls up some support in the form of a P47 armed with rockets.



Damage done by the Jagdpanthers.

Some Shermans in the centre manage to catch some
SS in the open. Looks like a bloodbath is likely to ensue!

Shermans assaulted by some Heer that had
been hiding in bocage.



The SS join in the assault but come off worst. 
This fight didn't last much longer than this!

Getting my Scottish army into the field

Had a few games with my new army but the pictures haven't worked out too well so I'll post this link to Mark H's blog as a stop gap measure instead.

Sadly after their first outing against a late Crusader army they haven't been too successful, mainly because they have faced large quantities of medieval German pikemen!  (No jokes about crap dice thank you.)

Anyway, check out Mark's link and enjoy.  As soon as I get some decent pics I'll post them.

http://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/fog-20-medieval-stoush.html

In the mean time I have been painting WWII stuff again, this time for myself.  Currently being varnished are some M4 Shermans, MGMC quad .50cal half-tracks, Calliope Shemans and a few other bits and pieces.  Nearly finished is a Fallschirmjager heavy weapons platoon and heavy mortar platton.  Pics as soon as they are all finished.

Test pictures of my new Scottish army.

This has been a mammoth undertaking, over 2 years in the painting alone, 800+ figures from 10 different manufactures, re-spearings, laser cut metal bases, endless testing of varnishes and the list goes on!

The reason it has taken me so long is that I am a constant procrastinator.  In between painting this army there have been side projects for myself - 101st airborne division, hundreds of SS infantry  and artillery figures in peadot camouflage (NEVER AGAIN!!!!) for Richard, dallyings in 6mm, more SS, more paratroopers etc.

The army is meant to represent the Scottish army of Robert III, around 1390 but over time grew to be a generic late medieval army.  In fact, I can play most lists from the Field of Glory supplement storm of arrows, the only exceptions being Welsh, Irish and some of the Iberian armies.  Over time I hope to add some Hussite wagons just for fun.

The roll call is as follows:  (All designations and descriptions are for Field of Glory)

80 bases of HF offensive spearmen,
12 bases of HF heavy weapon,
12 bases of HF pikemen,
8 bases of HF dismounted knights,
18 bases of MF longbowmen,
18 bases of MF crossbowmen,
6 bases of LF (NOT a typo) longbowmen ,
8 bases of LF handgunners,
4 bases of Scottish knights,
4 bases of Burgundian knights,
4 bases of hobilars,
4 bases of Northern border horse (LH),
2 bases of CV crossbowmen,
3 bases of LH crossbowmen,
2 artillery pieces,
18 bases of field fortifications,
4 generals and a dedicated camp.

A massive list I'm sure you will agree.

 I still have 6 bases of knights that I will attempt at some time in the future to give me more options and I am still trying to decide what figures I like to use as Scots highlanders.  At the moment I cant tell you when that will happen.

Most of this army is manufactured by those excellent chaps at Corvus Belli and as such match my 100 years war English army but there are also significant contributions by Essex Miniatures, Old Glory, Legio-Heroica, Black Hat Miniatures, Peter Pig, Feudal Castings and a fantasy manufacturer from Germany whose name escapes me but no longer produce figures (I bought all my crossbowmen and most of my pikemen 2nd hand at a club weekend).  The camp and attendants are all by Baueda.

The reason there are so many manufactures represented is that I wanted to have soldiers of different sizes and builds in my ranks to more accurately show the diversity in human sizes.  This has resulted in bases having up to 4 figures from different manufactures and adds to the visual aspect.  I should note that most of the longbowmen, Scottish knights, hobilars and border horse are by CB and all of the crossbowmen are by the un-named manufactures.  I found it hard to settle on a single manufacturer because not all of the figures I wanted were available in a single range.

After much research I have modelled my army on the premise that Scottish knights fought dismounted in the front rank and that most of the soldiers were peasant farmers.  As such I have tried to represent these knights in livery of sorts surrounded on the same base by 2 or 3 retainers similarly attired and the rest of the ranks as mixed peasantry and experienced soldiers.  In the movies it is easier for massed armies to be shown similarly attired so that the viewer can distinguish between sides but as wargamers we are a bit more savvy as to what constituted an ancient or medieval army.  I will leave it to the producers of such movies to justify their armour and weapon choices.

And so to the pictures...

These are very rough, hastily convened images intended to show the diversity of figures.  All terrain, buildings and figures are by me.  English knights were painted around 6 years ago (and show it).

Comments are welcome.

 

 

The Scots defend the village urged on by their general

Bowmen defend the flanks

 

Nice overhead shot showing deployment

 

The camp

 

 

The English (BOOOOOOOOOO!)

 

FREEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!

 

 

I have managed to get the boys on the table only once so far, against Richards Later Crusaders.  The Franks didn't put up much of a fight and broke before my centre or left could get into the fight.



 

 

 

This was a trial game for the Society of Ancients rule system Corvus (V2).  For the sake of the narrative I will be the red fleet and Mark (onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com.au)will be green. 

 

All of the ships used are from the Xyston Miniatures 1:600 range of galleys, painted and based by me.  The playing surface is a 1200x900x3mm mdf panel painted blue.  I didn't want to put too much effort into the "terrain" as I wasn't sure how well it would play or even if I would enjoy it.

 

Both fleet were identical:  7 bank flagship, 5 quins, 3 trireme and 3 trihemiolae.  This was done to make it easier to work out the factors.

 

Initial deployment of the green fleet - 5 quinquiremes and a heptereme as the flagship in line abreast, 3 trihemolae on the right wing and 3 triremes on the left

 

 

Initial deployment of the red fleet - 2 quins and a trihemiola in line abreast with the 7 flagship in reserve, 3 triremes on the right wing and 3 quins and 2 trihemiolae on the left.

 

 Green moves first

A couple of moves in and the centre lines have clashed.  The red trihemiola in the centre has been wrecked by shooting.  On the red left 2 quins have rammed 2 trihemiolae while 2 ships have broken through to flank the greens.

 The green triremes split up leaving them vulnerable.  Here we see a green tri with both sets of oars sheared.  He is effectively out of the game - immobilised.



The green quins are resisting being boarded in the centre but look out behind you!  The rest of the green centre has wandered off in search of targets.  On the far right you can see the 2 flagships going at it.

The red flagship has been rammed midships by the green flagship.  Disaster - she sunk on impact!

You can see here that after backing off, the green flagship has been rammed midships in both sides and the stern simultaneously whilst another red trireme has collided with her.




On the red left a quin has been rammed midships and in the stern whilst engaged frontally and having her left oars sheared.  A green trihemiola has been rammed and captured by the reds.  (Final deployment)



Close up of the green flagship being ganged up on.  One of the green quins has tried to come to her aid by ramming one of the red triremes but it was too late.



At this stage the green fleet broke as a result of a morale failure due to attrition.  Red captured 3 green ships and lost 1 to ramming and 1 to shooting.

A very simple, fairly quick but really enjoyable to and fro game.  There is a bit of ambiguity in the rules concerning combat factors but we have resolved them to both our satisfaction and intend to play this game again.

The supplied counters are sufficient but I want to make more that are less obtrusive and more in keeping with the visual aspect of the game.

Yanks defend the town, 1944.

 This was a game of Blitzkreig Commander played against Richard and his formidable SS. 

The yanks set up to defend the town against incursions.

Initial deployment of the tanks (M4A1s) and tank destroyers (M10s) with some towed 76mm AT guns.

 The AT guns ready to deploy.

 Infantry shelteing in the church graveyard awaiting the inevitable onslaught.

 Just show us where to shoot sir!

 

 Logjam!  This was one of those battles where deployment was critical but as I had to set up first I had to try to get my armour into the thick of it asap hence the doubling up.

 I see Kraut armour!!!  Panzer IVH(?)

 Engineers and infantry guns rush up to take the centre.  Tigers... oh shit!

 I sink ve heff a target, her hauptman!

 

 Hans!  Americaner ahead

 Nice overhead shot of the American inital deployment.

 Here come the Panzers.  Left flank under seige.

 Fall back... Tigers!

 Oh dear.  Those 88mm guns certainly pack a punch at long range.

 AT guns ready for action

 This is what happens when yuo get assaulted by infantry with lots of close up bazookas!  Tigers looking pretty shaky

 Arty spotters doing a great job bringing rounds home.

 I love bazookas!

 AT guns giving out a pasting.  Panzer IVs thinking twice.

 Unfortunately somebody forgot to mention there was 3 tigers!

 

The Germans won on this occasion but took considerable losses.  This is a new game to me, a lot was learned, some mistakes were made.  Looking forward to the next game.