WW2 Desert Game - February 1941 Beda Fomm

A 28mm wargame scenario and AAR

Italian Infantry wait in cover to attack

Last weekend we broke out the Desert stuff for a go at a historical scenario, we've been itching to get a few Germans on the table but lack of time meant I had a limited period to organise the game so I fell back on the old favourites. I was looking for something a bit different and found this idea of an Italian attack quite interesting.

Historical Background

The Battle of Beda Fomm happened in February 1941, the 10th Italian Army was in danger of being encircled, it was retreating towards Agedabia along the Balbia Road. The British had created an adhoc motorised group, Combe Force to block the Italians.

The road passes through a series of hills known as Rus Ben Hagen and it was here that Combe Force blocked the Italians.

Table layout, still haven't got the hang of a map drawing app yet.

Italian Forces

1 Company of M13/40 tanks (1HQ tank plus 4 other tanks)
1 Company of CV35 Tankettes (1 with 20mm AT)
2 Companies of Italian Infantry (each with 2HQ figs and attached Light Mortar, 2 Rifle units with 11 figs, and 2 LMG units with 9 figs and 2LMG)
1 Re enforced assault company (2 x HQ figures and attached Light Mortar, 1 unit of 12 Bersaglieri inc 1 LMG and 3 units of Giovanni Facisti each with an LMG)
Support Group with 2 Breda HMG, 1 20mm AT Rifle, 1 x 47mm AT Gun and a Heavy Mortar.

Italian Forces

British Forces

1 Company of 3 x A10 Cruiser Tanks
1 Mixed Tank Company with 1 Valentine and 1 Crusader
1 Recon Company with a MKVI Lt Tank and 1 Rolls Royce AC
2 Infantry Companies ( each with a 3 Fig HQ unit with attached Lt Mortar and Boyes AT, and 3 10 fig units each with an LMG)
Support Group of 1 HMG and 1 Lt Mortar
Random Air Support of 1 ground attack plane (arrives on draw of Allied Aircraft card followed by a roll of 9 or 10 on a d10)

NB: Please note that the tanks used in this battle by the Brits where in fact A13s, nobody makes these in 28m so thats why we dont have them, Warlord hold the masters from another company but wont release them. There should also be 2pdr portees again apart from expensive US imports there arent any in the UK.

Game Set Up

All British Forces start on table and can set up anywhere on or behind the line of hills in the middle of the table.

Italians start off table and enter on the turn of their activation card.

Rules are unpublished house rules, developed from our SCW rules, a mix of Disposable Heroes, Toofatlardies and warped imagination.

The Italians are in a do or die situation, they have no other option but breakout and this should be reflected in the rules you use. We allowed Italian units to ignore morale effects from other units.

AAR

A very enjoyable game, we opted to not use the Poker style flop on the activation phase and it worked much better for the larger scale game. We will keep it in for club nights as it does add another dimension to the game but slows it down as well when there are large numbers involved.

Things didn't start too well when the Italians lost a unit of infantry on the first turn who had decided to bimble along in the open in range of the mgs of 3 A10s, I didn't think he would see them was the excuse !

The pressure was on for the Italians to advance but the initial set back dented the confidence of the troops on the Italian left flank, the standard Infantry had set up here with the lovely but frankly useless CV35s. The other flank had the better troops and pushed on towards the hill in their front.

A number of Italian shells hit and bounced off these two with no effect.

Nice model, absolutely useless though didnt hit a thing all game

On the left flank the Italians lost all three CV35s in very short order, one brewing up rather embarrassingly after a Lt Mortar shell hit it, on the other flank it was a much closer run thing.

Italian Infantry taking cover or hiding as it is otherwise known

It was a very close run thing the Italians lost 3 of their 5 tanks but managed to get rid of the Infantry holding the hill on that side of the table, sadly they didn't have enough troops left to push home the advantage and the Italians had to settle for a very honourable defeat.

Take Cover !

Giovanni Facisti reach the foot of the hill but that was as far as they got

A cracking game which was done in a day, I had planned it for two. Next up will be the next instalment of the X Wing saga, hope you enjoyed.

28mm Spanish Civil War - Carlists - From box to table

28mm Empress Miniatures - SCW Carlists

Next off the production line is some Carlist re enforcements, bought earlier in the year from the is highly lovely Empress Miniatures at Triples in Sheffield. This is my chosen force for the SCW as they are both Monarchists and Left Footers, much like my Royalist ECW army I have a bit of sympathy with their cause, if not for that of the Nationalists in general.

Presented in the ever popular From Box to Table stylee, we will follow these little fellows from a blank piece of metal to the finished item, ready to game with. All paints are Vallejo unless otherwise stated.

First up we have the basic figure on the left, mounted on a base and primed with Matt Black Halfords spray. Painted first are the trousers with 70823 Luftwaffe Cam Green in the middle and then a highlight with a touch of white added to the base colour.

Next up comes the shirt, left to right we have a base coat of 70924 Russian Uniform WW2, followed by a heavy dry brush of 70886 Green Grey and a final highlight of 70886 with a touch of 70951 White.

A bit of 70875 Biege Brown now, on the rifle, face, hands and taping above the boots, then I have highlighted with a 50 50 mix of the Brown and 70912 Tan Yellow, on the right the rifle has been finished off with 70863 Gunmetal Grey on the metal parts.

Next up literally is the "belts and braces", base coat of some old Citadel Colour Scorched Brown with a highlight of Citadel Colour Dark Flesh.

Berets are not something I have a lot of experience with, they are the trademark of the Carlist troops of the time. Left to right I started with a base of Dark Flesh, a heavy drybrush of Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red, highlighted with Citadel Colour Blood Red, all this is topped of with the tassel, base coat of Citadel Foundation Ivanden Darksun and a highlight of 70915 Deep Yellow.

I paint the figs in batches of 5 or 6, I paint the blanket rolls the same in each batch, I tend to just grab a pot of paint at random and use that, then highlight it with a mix of base colour and white, for this batch it was 70882 Middlestone.

Final stretch of painting now, I have block painted the face n the left using 70804 Biege Red, the next stage is a highlight of 70815 Basic Skintone. Fig 3 has had the taping, rifle and belts washed with GW Devlan Mud and finally hands and face washed in GW Ogryn Flesh.

The bases are sculpted with Polyfilla, painted Miniature paints Earth Brown, highlighted with White / Earth Brown, a dash of basetex which is highlighted yellow, finished with a bit of grass tufting.

Fine figures as always from Empress, a nice addition to my SCW collection.

X Wing - The Campaign - Games 4 and 5 - Kill thr Relay and Destroy the Carrier

Game 4 - Kill The Relay

This is a continuation of the X Wing Campaign, full explanation and details of Campaign rules are here

Pilot upgrades - Rick O'Shea is back after being shot down and surviving for 3 games in a row, he has been given the oldest creakiest B Wing and was glared at by Chief Mechanic Jim on his way to the flight deck, he has also been issued with a special flight helmet which has ice packs over the ears as they have been suffering from a strange burning sensation.

Spike Sharpie - His X Wing was upgraded to an R8D2 astromech (6pts gain a focus token when you gain a stress token ) and some Proton Torpedoes (4) for a total of  10 GC

Captain Tangent held his cash.

Mission Briefing

"Gentlemen, we have received information that an Imperial Communications array is active in a nearby sector, your mission is simple, jump in, destroy the relays and jump out, Intel suggests that the relays will be guarded by a prototype Tie Droid"

Set Up

Empire ships are 2 Academy Level 1 Ties a Level 2 Tie Interceptor and back by popular demand Jeff Vader a level 4 Tie Advanced, along with two Tie Droid (Mk1), set up as shown above. Rebel ships start range 2 onto the board in the top right hand corner away from the relays.

Special Rules

Tie Droid (MK1) - two of these ships are on table, one assigned to each of the relays, this is the basic cheap version with an automatic pilot, the ships have Pilot Skill 0 and will rotate around the relay using the 3 tight turn marker each phase, no deviation, they will fire at ANYTHING in front of them (apart from the other droid or relay), if two targets they fire at the nearest, all other stats are as a Lvl 1 Tie Fighter.

Protect Action - Any Imperial ship may sacrifice its own action in a turn and use a Protect Action on one of the relays, give the relay 1 evade token.

Exiting to Hyperspace - For this scenario Rebel ships may jump to hyperspace without any die rolls in the turns end phase.

Communications Arrays - 1 per 2 rebel players, each has 1 shield and 3 hull, criticals count as 1 hit.

Victory Conditions

Rebel Victory - Destroy all Imperial Arrays, Empire Victory - Prevent destruction of relays.

Game Length - 10 turns.

How did we get on

3 Rebel pilots took on the might of the Empire, all veterans of previous missions, it was not a pretty site, Rick dived in an got beaten up fairly quickly and jumped, the other two calculated the odds and jumped straight away too ! Comedy moment was supplied by the Empire when a Tie Fighter drifted in front of a Tie Droid and got shot down oops.

Pilot Rick O'Shea (2) - B Wing, survived, 1 kill - Totals Missions 4, 5 GC, 2 kills

Pilot Spike Sharpie - X Wing (2), survived, 1 kill - Totals Missions 4, 1 GC, 3 kills

Pilot Captain Tangent - A Wing (2), survived - Totals Missions 2, 7 GC, 0 kills

Pilot Sir Jeremy Dodger - X Wing (2), Not Present - Totals Missions 3, 7 GC, 2 kills

Pilot Twiki Bond - A Wing (1), Not Present - Totals Missions 1, 6 GC, 0 kills

Jim head mechanic in the Rebel Garage was in the infirmary after hitting his head on tool bench when he fainted after all the ships came back from the mission.

Result (2 pts for a win, 1 for a draw)

Empire Victory, Empire 5 pts, Rebels 3 pts

Game 5 - Destroy the Escort Carrier

Pilot Upgrades -

Rick O'Shea spent his 5 GC on an Autoblaster.
Captain Tangent who spent 6 GC to upgrade to pilot skill 3.

Mission Briefing

"Gentlemen, we have received reports that an Imperial Escort Carrier has been damaged, it has been struck by mines above the planet Yuka. The Carrier has performed an emergency landing on the planet surface where there are extreme high temperatures, this is slowing the repair. Get in and destroy the stricken carrier, you will need to be quick before the temperatures effect your fighters"

Set Up

Empire ships are 4 Academy Level 1 Ties and a named Tie Pilot selected at random (it was Howlrunner PS8), all set up range 1 from Empire base edge. Rebel ships start range 1 onto the board (standard 3 x 3).

Special Rules

Imperial Carrier - The whole table is classed as the deck of the Carrier, it has 2 Armour and 2 Agility (which only last until 2 hull points are destroyed) and 9 pts of hull (3 per rebel player). The carrier has active point defence and will roll 5 defence dice when under secondary weapon attack.

Attacking the Carrier - At the start of the movement phase each Rebel player must declare if he is diving down to low level to attack the Carrier, if he does they are immune to the Imperial ships above so long as at least 1 Rebel player stays "high" to hold them off. At low level the Rebel player can attack the Carrier however he is also vulnerable to the point defences of the carrier and will receive a standard 2 attack die, criticals count as 2 hits with no extra effects.

Exiting to Hyperspace - To leave the table you need to declare your attempt and then try and gain 2 critical hits, hits from previous rolls carry forward.

Turn 1. Roll 3 attack die

Turn 2. Roll 3 attack die + Pilot Skill / 2 (round up)

Turn 3. Automatically jump

Extreme Temperatures - From the start of turn 4 the temp starts to effect the ships, before moving each ship must roll 1 attack die, if any hit is obtained the ship is ionised, this increases to 2 attack die on turn 8. Ships can avoid the effect by travelling at speed 3 or above (2 plus boost would count but not 2 plus barrel roll)

Victory Conditions

Rebel Victory - Destroy the Carrier and all escape 4 GC, Destroy Carrier and some escape 2GC Imperial Victory Carrier survives. All other results are a draw.

How did we get on

3 Rebel pilots took on the might of the Empire, Rick, Spike and the Captain

Pilot Rick O'Shea (2) - B Wing, survived, 1 kill - Totals Missions 5, 6 GC, 3 kills

Pilot Spike Sharpie - X Wing (2), survived, 1 kill - Totals Missions 5, 1 GC, 3 kills

Pilot Captain Tangent - A Wing (3), survived - Totals Missions 4, 5 GC, 0 kills

Pilot Sir Jeremy Dodger - X Wing (2), Not Present - Totals Missions 3, 7 GC, 2 kills

Pilot Twiki Bond - A Wing (1), Not Present - Totals Missions 1, 6 GC, 0 kills

An easy victory for the rebels this time, dive in blow up the Carrier and fly out, no problems.

Jim head mechanic in the Rebel Garage was being treated for mild shock, two missions in a row without a Rebel ship destroyed.

Result (2 pts for a win, 1 for a draw)

Rebel Victory, Empire 5 pts, Rebels 5 pts

And that's all for now folks, Game 6 has taken place with two new Imperial Targets, sorry rebel pilots, game 7 is due next week so it will be the usual double report then.

Spanish Civil War - Andalusian Motorcade

28mm SCW Andalusian Scenario and AAR

The Legion advance

Back to a spot of "proper"gaming this week with some 28mm Spanish Civil War action this week, this was the first period I ever covered on the blog and it remains a firm favourite amongst the group I game with.

This game was inspired by the excellent Steves Balagan site and a scenario of the same name at that location, many thanks to Steve for allowing me to use his map of the game. Our rules and scale are different but it was easy enough to adapt. For a full run down on our game system and the purchase method of re enforcements I refer you back to an earlier post on the blog, here.

Background

In August 1936 the Nationalist drive on Madrid, La Marcha, was in full force, the tactic was far from subtle, drive down the road at speed until they met resistance. Dismount and attack, then move on to the next village. Our game recreates one of these meetings.

Starting Forces

Nationalist - 2 companies of Legion (Each with 1 x 4 fig Command and 3 x 8 fig sections each with an LMG), one company of Guardia Civil (1 x 4 fig Command and 3 x 6 fig sections armed with rifles), to support the attack were a UNL 35 and a Bilbao, both Armoured Cars. Set up south of A on the map (North is up).

Republican - 2 companies of POUM Militia each with 1 x 4 fig Command and 3 x 10 fig sections (no LMG), supported by a Maxim Machine Gun and 2 x Snipers. Set up in the village.

Each side started with 10 money rolls and a further 3 per turn, see link above.

Militia wait for the attack

Our latest high tech munitions delivery system or "ammo on a donkey"

There was quite a bit of terrain to hide behind in this game so the Nationalists managed to creep forward with relatively light casualties, mostly from the Maxim and the odd sniper, one company of Legion advanced towards the Church, the other and the Guardia Civil took advantage of the tight terrain on the other side. A firefight broke out between a section of Militia in the southern most building in the village and the majority of the Nationalist, there would only be one result.

The Guardia join in the attack

The Guardia Officer clearly missed day one at Camouflage School, a red cape in a battle, really !

The financial side of the game degenerated, as it always does into "race for the tank", usually at the expense of units having Ammunition both sides managed to get a T 26 fairly early on but it was the Republicans who picked up the second. The Nationalist invested in a Heavy Mortar and lots of Carlists.

Stood around discussing collectivisation of land when a stray round ruins you day.

That was a bad turn for the POUM their morale is shaky at the best of times but now with no HQ things were looking bad, a cheer did rise shortly after that when the Republicans managed to get the first air attack of the day, the "balls of death" dropped from the sky and once again (see last game) took out the UNL 35, before strafing a unit of Legion.

Desperate defending, a Dynamitearo takes on 4 Guardia (and loses badly when he drops the lit dynamite in front of himself)

By now the Nationalists had started to make ground, they gained a foothold in the village and captured the Church, even with the advantage in tanks (the Nationalist T 26 had retreated off table after a failed morale check) the Republicans were in difficulty, a late re enforcement from the Mac Paps of the International Brigade was there last, best hope.

The final attack goes in

Not what the Militia needed

One final glorious charge by Legion and the Carlists finished off a company of Militia in one turn finishing off the game as the remaining Republicans fell back under the cover of their tanks. A good enjoyable game, we had a couple of SCW newbies and they had a good time as well.

X Wing - The Campaign starts in earnest (Games 2 and 3) - Political Escort and Listenind Device

Game 2 - Political Escort

This is a continuation of the X Wing Campaign, full explanation and details of Campaign rules are here

Mission Briefing

"Pilots a few minutes ago we received a distress call from Rebel Senator Maxis, he has been attacked, his shuttle damaged and his escorts sent packing, scramble to your ships and jump into the sector to save him from the clutches of the evil empire"

Set Up

 

Empire ships are 4 Academy Level 1 Ties a Level 2 Tie Bomber and back again Darths more famous brother Jeff Vader, all set up range 1 from Empire base edge. Rebel ships start range 2 onto the board (standard 3 x 3), the shuttle range 1.

Special Rules

Shuttle - Has agility 2, Hull 6, Shield 2 (2 per 3 rebel players), it may only move 2 ahead, 1 left or 1 right. It never suffers critical hits, any rolled criticals count as standard hits.

Protect Action - Any Rebel ship may sacrifice its own action in a turn and use a Protect Action on the Shuttle, give the shuttle 1 evade token.

Exiting to Hyperspace - To leave the table you need to declare your attempt and then try and gain 2 critical hits, hits from previous rolls carry forward.

Turn 1. Roll 3 attack die

Turn 2. Roll 3 attack die + Pilot Skill / 2 (round up)

Turn 3. Automatically jump

Victory Conditions

Rebel Victory - Shuttle exits table on Imperial edge, Imperial Victory Shuttle is destroyed, any other result is a draw.

How did we get on

4 Rebel pilots took on the might of the Empire, Twiki Bond was a no show but new Pilot Captain Tangent took his first flight in an A Wing.

Pilot Rick O'Shea (2) - B Wing, Shot down again, survived - Totals Missions 2, 0 GC, 1 kill

Pilot Twiki Bond - A Wing (1), Not Present - Totals Missions 1, 6 GC, 0 kills

Pilot Sir Jeremy Dodger - X Wing (2), shot down Jeff Vader !, survived - Totals Missions 2, 7 GC, 1 kill

Pilot Spike Sharpie - X Wing (2), survived but shot down - Totals Missions 2, 2 GC, 0 kills

Pilot Captain Tangent - A Wing (1), survived - Totals Missions 1, 7 GC, 0 kills

Sadly for the rebels the Empire quickly destroyed the Senators Shuttle and the Rebels jumped to hyperspace.

Jim head mechanic in the Rebel Garage was looking slightly pale after having to find another 2 ships for the next mission.

Result (2 pts for a win, 1 for a draw)

Empire Victory, Empire 3 pts, Rebels 1 pts

Game 3 - Imperial Listening Device

2 pilots has some cash to spend from the last mission, Sir Jeremy Dodger spent 6 GC to upgrade his X Wing with a 4 GC R2-D2 and also a 2 GC Flechette Torpedo, Captain Tangent spent 4 GC to upgrade to Pilot Skill 2.

Mission Briefing

"Gentlemen, another squadron has been in a skirmish with the Empire in a asteroid belt in the Phato Sector, their sensor data was examined after the incident and a small unexplained energy signature was located, our Tefal Heads believe this is at least one secret Empire Listening Device, travel to the sector, scan the area, locate and destroy any listening devices "

Set Up

Empire ships are 4 Academy Level 1 Ties a Level 2 Tie Bomber, Jeff Vader was in the infirmary after a minor injury in the Death Star Canteen when he was carrying a plate of hot Italian food without a tray, so a Level 4 Interceptor was the lead Empire ship, all set up range 1 from Empire base edge. Rebel ships start range 2 onto the board.

Place 1 different numbered ID token on each asteroid and a corresponding numbered token in a cup.

Game lasts 10 turns, Rebels must jump to hyperspace on turn 10 or be destroyed.

Special Rules

Locating the listening device - Any rebel ship within range 1 of an asteroid can sacrifice its action for the turn and scan the asteroid. The player blindly picks one token from the cup, if that token matches the one on the asteroid he has found the device. If the token doesn't match then remove the marker from the asteroid along with the corresponding token from the cup. Continue until all asteroids are scanned. (There may be more than 1 device)

Asteroids - Standard rules however for this scenario they do not move.

Destroying Listening Devices - once discovered a device has 3 hull and 1 defence dice.

Exiting to Hyperspace - To leave the table you need to declare your attempt and then try and gain 2 critical hits, hits from previous rolls carry forward.

Turn 1. Roll 3 attack die

Turn 2. Roll 3 attack die + Pilot Skill / 2 (round up)

Turn 3. Automatically jump

Victory Conditions

Rebel Victory - Destroy all listening devices, Imperial Victory Listening devices survive, any other result is a draw.

How did we get on

4 Rebel pilots took on the might of the Empire in the second campaign game of the night.

Pilot Rick O'Shea (2) - Y Wing, Shot down AGAIN !!, survived - Totals Missions 3, 0 GC, 1 kill

Pilot Twiki Bond - A Wing (1), Not Present - Totals Missions 1, 6 GC, 0 kills

Pilot Sir Jeremy Dodger - X Wing (2), 1 kill, survived - Totals Missions 3, 7 GC, 2 kills

Pilot Spike Sharpie - X Wing (2), survived, 2 kills - Totals Missions 3, 8 GC, 2 kills

Pilot Captain Tangent - A Wing (2), survived - Totals Missions 1, 6 GC, 0 kills

Rick O'Shea entered the garage very timidly as Jim was seen sticking pins in a small doll dressed as a rebel pilot.

A victory for the Rebels this time, the Y Wing soaked up the Empire Firepower whilst the 2 located listening devices where destroyed.

Result (2 pts for a win, 1 for a draw)

Rebel Victory, Empire 3 pts, Rebels 3 pts

Next report will be games 4 and 5, coming soon

 

Russian Museum of Artillery - St Petersburg

A Day out with the Big Guns (Part 1 outside)

T - 80

I was lucky enough to have recently spent some time in the beautiful city of St Petersburg, Russia, what a fantastic place ! Full of history, loads to see and do and most things pretty cheap to boot.

I managed to spend an afternoon at the Russian Museum of Artillery and well worth it too. The museum is situated next to the Peter and Paul Fortress about 5 mins walk from the nearest metro (tube) station. There is a large area outside the museum with lots and I mean lots of larger exhibits. Entrance to the museum is 300 roubles (about £4.25) and there a two very large floors of exhibits. All the info is in Russian but that really doesn't lessen the experience.

In the mid to late eighties I was pretty sure that I would see the T 80 above rolling towards me from a foxhole in the Western German plain, it was much better seeing it under these circumstances.

I will let the pictures do the talking from here, if you do recognise any of the stuff I don't know leave a message below.

Pic 2 guessing a mine layer

Pic 3 looks like an underwater MTLB any ideas ?

Pic 4 lots of SP Artillery

Pic 5 AA row

Pic 6 For those hard to take out bunkers

Pic 7 That's a big gun ! Any Ideas

Pic 8 SP Gun ISU 122 ?

Pic 9 Looks like some sort of automatic trench digger

Pic 10 Field Art Row 1

Pic 11 AA towed row

Pic 12 Field Art row 2

Pic 13 Large unidentified SP Gun

Pic 14 Russian MRLS

Pic 14 Field Art row 3

Thanks for looking and if you do recognise anything, especially Pic 7 and 3 let me know, I'll put some pics of the inside up later in the month.