The Burma Campaign includes the Japanese invasion of India in 1944. So the setting flips from Buddhist Burma to Hindu India. Our Experiment in Ningthoukhong made me realise that to refight Bishenpur, Potsangbam and Ningthoukhong, I really needed to supplement my Home made Burmese Pagoda with a Hindu Temple from Manipuri state. Here it is. I designed it and Warbases laser cut it from MDF.
World War II
World War II (WWII, WW2, or Second World War) was fought between opposing military alliances – the Allies and the Axis – from 1939 to 1945. The war spanned large chunks of the globe and was both the the largest and deadliest conflict in history. Over 30 different countries fought during the war including all the great powers. More than 100 million people served in military units. Between 50-75 million people died – largely civilians.
I’ve material on the national contributions from Spain, New Zealand, and France. I also cover the battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, Kharkov, Kursk, and Tarnopol.
Leshnov 1941 – A Battle Report for OHW 6 Hit
Chris and Adam played my version of Leshnov 1941 Scenario for Martin Rapier’s One Hour WW2 (6 hit) (a variant of One Hour Wargames). This was our first outing with these rules.
Summary: Good game. Rules were simple but played well. The scenario needs tweaking as favours the defenders too much. And that contributed to Chris’s victory as the Germans.
Cool Ruins – The Mill from Stalingrad
I designed a version of “The Mill” from Stalingrad’s to use with Crossfiregrad. Warbases cut it out for me and then I assembled and painted it. This is part of my project to see use Cool Ruins for Crossfiregrad and Ponyri Station.
Cool Ruins – Batch 1 and 2 now complete
I think I obsess about ruins. I have lots of ruins already but that didn’t stop me Planning my Cool Ruins for Crossfiregrad and Ponyri Station. So one of my projects for 2021, 2022, and 2023 has been to “Buy, build, paint more 3″ x 3” sectors so I can play both Crossfiregrad and Ponyri Station solely with Cool Ruins” (Crossfire of course). Well, I don’t know about Ponyri Station, but now that my 75mm and 150mm sections have arrived I can definitely do Crossfiregrad.
Steven’s Japanese Battalion for Crossfire
My WW2 Japanese are ready for duty in Crossfire. I went for a high priority Type ‘A’ Battalion. Then I added in all the support elements. So I’ve got a massively reinforced Leg Infantry Battalion. Weaker formations, i.e. battalions from a Type ‘B’ Division, Type ‘C’ Division, Mixed Infantry Brigade, or Independent Mixed Brigade, would have less than this.
Modular Raised Roads sections for Burma
My research on Japanese Roadblocks in Burma. Roadblock Battles on the Retreat from Burma and Bishenpur, Potsangbam and Ningthoukhong – Gurkhas on the Imphal Plain 1944 convinced me I needed some raised road features for Burma. I designed the raised roads, S&A Scenics made them for me. and now I’ve painted and flocked them.
Musing on being stationary in Crossfire
Crossfire and Hit The Dirt have several mechanisms for being stationary. I thought I’d list them to see if I get any insight for my revised anti-tank rules
Unlimited Vehicle Movement – Revising Crossfire Anti-tank Rules 8
My recent musing on the anti-tank rules in Crossfire got me thinking about my current rules on vehicle actions. CF11.1 Vehicular Actions is massively restrictive as it only gives vehicles the option to move or shoot. So I for 20 years I’ve been giving vehicles multiple move actions (1-3 depending on speed) and unlimited shooting. Both of these rules are contrary to the unlimited actions of infantry in standard Crossfire. It would be great to give vehicles unlimited actions, like the infantry. So I look at the rules that have come before then look at options for unlimited vehicle movement.
Ningthoukhong Experiment – A Crossfire Battle Report
At 16.30 hours my raised roads for Burma arrived. Unpainted of course. By 20.00 hours they were painted and ready to play. My Japanese have been ready for a while and I recently based my new Gurkha battalion. It was three years ago when I got all keen and wrote up some notes and drew some maps for Bishenpur, Potsangbam and Ningthoukhong – Gurkhas on the Imphal Plain 1944. Finally we could play some Crossfire at Ningthoukhong.
Summary: In a tense game the Adam’s Japanese held the south of Ningthoukhong against a fierce attack by Chris’s Gurkhas.
Leshnov 1941 – A Scenario for Martin Rapier’s One Hour WW2 (6 hit)
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.
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.