Spanish and Portuguese Military History,
Wargaming, and other stuff
Posts featuring my completed armies
Last year I collected a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Army for Tilly’s Very Bad Day. They are what got me interested in the Northern Wars. Actually it was the Gustavus Adolph’s campaigns against them that got me interested – he formed his military ideas in the Livonia fighting the Commonwealth before sailing to German for the Thirty Years War.
I thought I’d share some photos. Rather than have a separate painting guide I’ll give painting guidelines here.
I discovered Moroccan auxiliary troops through my interest in Rif War and the Spanish Civil War. I already have the 2nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán, from the SCW. Now I’ve got another Moroccan unit. This time they are Goumiers, irregular Moroccan auxiliaries fighting for France in Italy during World War 2. This lot are for Crossfire.
I’ve been planning my Kiwis in Italy – Steven’s Wargaming Project for years, since I wrote up a piece on Kiwi Vehicle Camouflage during WW2 in 2006. Well, finally, the plan is coming to fruition. I’ve got my armour for 2 (NZ) Division in Italy. Shermans (III, IB, VC), Stuarts (V), Stuart Recces, Staghound Armoured Cars (I, II), M10 Tank Destroyers, and universal carriers. Most in the unique Mud-grey with Blue-black disruptive pattern but some in plain dark green. Yay!!
This post is long overdue. Roland painted the last of the Fallschirmjaeger in June 2011 and I got them based soon afterwards. Tragically I haven’t used them in a game of Crossfire. I guess I don’t often create Crossfire scenarios for German paratroopers. Perhaps when I have some Kiwis to fight them in the Italian Campaign; I should bump the New Zealanders up in the priority list. Anyway, here are my Fallschirmjaeger.
Artillery is essential in Crossfire, so to support my Russian Rifle Battalion I have forward observers for a variety of calibers of weapon. In addition I’ve got the artillery pieces as heavy weapons stands. This post covers field guns, howitzers, infantry guns, heavy mortars, Katyushas, anti-tank guns, and anti-aircraft guns. The Soviets were keen on firing direct so having the models makes sense. Admittedly I haven’t used many except the anti-tank guns.
I’ve taken the liberty to update my previous post on Steven’s Russian Rifle Battalion for a number of reasons:
I’ve had my New Kingdom Egyptian army for four years now. Wow. I thought it was time to feature in. It is for Big Base DBA. I’ve taken both options from DBA I/22 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543BC-1069BC.
The Portuguese Light Infantry (Caçadores) were the mainstay of the government forces in the Portuguese Colonial War. Unfortunately their quality varied enormously with the ability of the officers largely influencing the quality of the troops. Both infantry and artillery were organised into temporary Caçadore battalions for service in Africa. Must have been a shock for the specialists who suddenly became riflemen. So far I have a single combat group (i.e. platoon) of Caçadores. More will come.
The Special Groups (Grupos Especiais or GE) were African para-military formations raised in Angola and Mozambique during the Portuguese Colonial War. They had a distinctive black uniform with a colourful beret. The GE were so successful that, in Mozambique, the Portuguese recruited a battalion of Paratrooper Special Groups (Grupos Especiais Pára-quedistas or GEP) from the GE. I have one unit that, with yellow berets, can do double duty as a GE or GEP combat group.
I have blogged before about my figures for the Portuguese Colonial War but they were on on individual bases. Now I have rebased for Fogo Cruzado – my period specific variant of Crossfire. That means each base is a fire team. I had to expand the numbers considerably. This week features my commando combat group.
I’m very interested in the fighting around Ponyri front on the northern flank of the Battle of Kursk. As it happens Vasiliy Krysov was at Ponyri. He commanded an SU-122 platoon within the 3rd Battery of the 1454th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment within the 13th Army. I fancied some SU-122s anyway, and reading about Krysov was sufficient excuse, so I purchased 3rd battery in 15mm scale.
I thought I’d show off my 1815 Argentines. I my thoughts on Using Big Base Liberators Figures of 1817-18 for 1815 I highlighted a few gaps that I needed to fill before I could refight Sipe Sipe. I could use some figures from my 1817-18 Argentineans but I had to get a few more.
If you are interested in the other side, I’ve already posted on my 1815 Royalists.
With this year’s flurry of activity on Russian Scouts, including my recent game, Andrew Fisher’s Game and my musing on Reconnaissance Scenarios, I thought I’d complete my Soviet Divisional Reconnaissance Company.
My thoughts on Using Big Base Liberators Figures of 1817-18 for 1815 highlighted a few gaps that I needed to fill before I could refight Sipe Sipe. I could use some figures from my Royalists of 1817 and 1818 but there were a fair few units that didn’t have a direct equivalent. That gave me an excuse to get some more. Okay, it isn’t hard to convince me to get more figures – in this case it just took some fancy uniforms that aren’t seen in other years of the Wars of South American Liberation.
I have rebased my 1818 Royalists on big bases, so I took the opportunity to do a photo shoot including some units I’d not featured before. This is the army that won at the Battle of Cancha Rayada (19 March 1818) and lost to San Martin at the Battle of Maipo (5 April 1818). For those interest in the earlier armies I’ve also got the Royalist army for 1817.