I’m an avid follower of Martin Rapier’s blog The Games We Play and when looking at his history found his battle report of Leshnov 1941. The scenario has a long history originating with Grant (1981), then Thomas (2014), Rolph (2017) before Martin’s version. The scenario is for Martin Rapier’s One Hour WW2 (6 hit) (a variant of One Hour Wargames). Unfortunately, Martin’s version of the scenario is implicit in his description of the game. Hoping to to play it myself, I’ve tried to re-engineer the scenario from his description. Rapier notes that this scenario exercises all the main game mechanisms of his One Hour WW2 (6 hit) as it includes airpower, artillery, AT guns and all the major unit types including Heavy Tanks and recce.
Steven Thomas
British Trucks for the 14th Army in Burma
I needed a British truck / lorry for my post on Improvising and making Japanese barricades for the Burma Campaign. So I ordered some 3D printed models from Battlefield3D. Before they arrived, and to my surprise, I found an undercoated Bedford MWD in my in progress project box, and some CMP 3-ton lorries in my British unpainted box. So I got to work. You can think of this post as the British extension to You can never have too many trucks.
15mm Wargaming Figures for Chinese in WW2
When British wargamers think of the Burma Campaign, we think the 14th Army. But the Chinese made an important contribution to the Allied effort in Burma. Eureka Miniatures have a Range of Chinese that covers the Second Sino-Japanese War which overlapped with WW2. I have a quick look at that range then explore other options if you, like me, want even more variety in your 15mm wargaming armies.
Improvising and making Japanese barricades for Burma
Inspired by Brett Simpson I put together some Japanese barricades for use in Japanese Roadblocks in the Burma Campaign, so I can recreate some of the Roadblock Battles on the Retreat from Burma. I made some. I improvised some.
15mm Wargaming Figures for the 14th Army
This post is for anybody interested in collecting 15mm wargaming figures to use for the 14th Army, which fought in the Burma Campaign of WW2. The figures will work for British, Indian or African units. At least those that wore either helmet or slouch hat. It won’t work for Gurkhas (except British officers/NCOs) because of their size. It will only work for Indians wearing turbans (e.g. Sikhs) and Scots wearing the tam o’ shanter during the earlier period.
WW2 Painting Guide – Soviet Cossack Cavalry
Okay, I’ve been obsessing about Cossacks in World War 2 lately, hence my post on Soviet Cavalry Regiments in Crossfire. So I went looking for 15mm Cossacks and found that the figures from Flames of War and from Peter Pig look totally different. I wanted to understand why and how to paint each appropriately. This post explains all about that and is a painting guide for both styles.
1643 Game 6 – Wales – English Civil War Campaign
Jamie and I played the sixth game of Populous, Rich and Rebellious, our four player Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War.
Summary: Although the Royalists invaded Wales, the Parliamentarians had a larger army on the day and attacked. The “Battle of Colby Moor” was a Royalist victory.
Designing Modular Raised Roads sections for Burma
Following on the previous success of my custom crests version 2 and the high rice paddy bunds for Burma, I’m now thinking of a set of raised roads. Raised roads were a common feature of Burma. They’ll be the same height as the previous features (1/4″ / 6mm). Otherwise they’d be, well, just roads. I’m hoping to convince Simon from S&A Scenics to make the base features then I’ll do the work to make them look like roads. This post is about my design for the roads, which was a project in itself.
Soviet Cavalry Regiment in Crossfire
I’ve had a hankering to build a dismounted Cossack Cavalry Regiment for a while. For service on the Eastern Front of WW2. What has held me back was the lack of 15mm figures. Flames of War had a great set, but discontinued it. Luckily Peter Pig have brought a new Cossack range to market so now I have to figure out what I need for Crossfire.
Although there were Soviet Cavalry Divisions and Corps, the building block was the Cavalry Regiment. Zaloga and Ness (2003) describe the various TO&E for the Soviet Cavalry Regiments (p. 101-117). The regiment was about the size of an infantry battalion, so perfect for Crossfire. I’ve listed the Crossfire Orbat for the various Soviet Cavalry Regiments. Although Soviet cavalry could and did charge mounted, generally they fought dismounted and the order of battle acknowledges that.
Japanese Roadblock – A Crossfire Experiment
With my Japanese all ready to go and my head full of roadblocks in Burma, I thought I’d knock together a Crossfire game. Chris took defending Japanese. Adam was the British trying to break through. I call this an experiment because very little thought went into it and we were just playing around with the concept of a Japanese ambush.
Roadblock Battles on the Retreat from Burma
I’ve already posted about Japanese Roadblocks in Burma. Japanese strategy involved infiltrating whole regiments behind enemy lines then installing road-blocks to cut off the retreating Allies. So I went looking for examples of road-blocks during the period 14 December 1941 – 24 May 1942. To make my life easier, I’ve just copied out the extracts.
Japanese Roadblocks in Burma
Japanese roadblocks were a thing. During their initial invasion of Burma, Japanese strategy often involved infiltrating whole regiments behind enemy lines then installing roadblocks to cut off the retreating Allies. So I went looking for some source material. I found a couple of interesting war time articles by the Americans on Japanese roadblocks and some more about roadblocks in Burma. I’ll discuss why the Japanese were keen on roadblocks, the nature of the roadblocks themselves, the terrain selected for a roadblock, and typical defenders.
Almost Fosse Bridge – A Crossfire Battle Report 2
Gunnery Sargent Rock (Bruce Stewart) played my Almost Fosse Bridge Scenario. This is the Italian Campaign. All words are Bruce’s.
Musing on Japanese house rules in Crossfire
My Japanese leg infantry battalion for Crossfire is now painted and based. All very exciting! The more I read about the Japanese, the more I realise they had a completely different mind set to western armies. I wonder how much of that difference should flow through into Crossfire. So I’ve looked at other rule sets to see how they have handled the Japanese in WW2 and, from that, possible implications for Crossfire.
Jesús Dapenas paints a second Spanish FT-17 for service in the Rif
Jesús Dapena is a long time collaborator of mine due to a shared interest in the Rif Wars. I previously posted his photos of Renault FT-17 Tanks in the Rif War (from his “Uncle Cipri”) and subsequently his 1/16th model of Uncle Cipri’s FT-17 with a Turtle mascot. Here is the second tank in the series: “INFANTERIA No. 4”, the one with the Elephant mascot. All words are by Jesús. You can see more images in his video: The Renault FT Tank in Spanish Army Service (Northern Morocco, ca. 1924) [YouTube].