world war two Archives - Page 11 of 36

Arnhem – Book Choice

I recently read Arnhem: The Battle for Survival by John Nichol.

In September 1944, a mighty shock force of battle-hardened Allied troops dropped from the skies into enemy-occupied Holland in what was hoped would be the decisive final battle of World War II. Landing miles behind the German lines, their daring mission was to secure bridges across the Rhine so that ground forces could make a rapid dash into Nazi Germany. If all went well, the war could be over by Christmas. The plan went terribly wrong …

Seen through the dramatic first-hand accounts of those who were there, Arnhem is the gripping story of a bitter military defeat that became a triumph of the human spirit. It paints a vivid portrait of those in the cauldron of war, fighting for their lives, fighting for their comrades, fighting for their honour, a battle they won hands down.

For fans of A Bridge Too Far, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, and for readers of Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad and Hugh Sebag-Montefiore’s Dunkirk.

It’s a good book, but I don’t think it really covers the Arnhem battle as detailed and as gripping as Antony Beevor’s Berlin and Stalingrad.

If you have watched A Bridge Too Far then you will find this book useful in finding out more about how the assault on Arnhem actually happened, as well as more details on the British and German forces. As this book is about Arnhem, the rest of the Market Garden operation is covered in minimal detail.

It was a really interesting read and recommended for those interested in this aspect of World War Two.

Buy Arnhem: The Battle for Survival at Amazon.co.uk

Undercoating the Partisans

Having based my Bolt Action Partisans I gave the models a white undercoat.

These are very nice miniatures and there is a nice range of poses and characters within the band itself.

Though there is a “Soviet” feel to the partisans, I have decided to go down a French Forces of the Interior (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur) or FFI force. Though I think some of the figures could be used for some 1920s gangsters games, look at the bloke on the right of this lot.

I am not too sure about the female partisan, as someone said to me, that bloke’s wearing a skirt!

I have been thinking about “transport” and armour for them. Tamiya do a 1/48th scale Citroen Traction 11CV which would work really well I think. As for armour I am tempted by the Bolt Action Char B1 bis and paint it up in FFI colours.

Bolt Action Partisan Band

After thinking about Bolt Action for a while and reflecting on the rules I finally decided on which force I was going to build. My regular opponent Simon was going Italian, so I actually had quite a wide choice of potential foes, from Early War French, British Desert Rats, Anzio which would mean regular British Infantry and US forces, Russians and even Germans towards the end of the war. I did initially think about Greek, they used regular British equipment so would be quite easy to model. I did consider Late War Germans, so I could get a JagdTiger in 28mm…. but in the end I decided that I would go totally irregular and go with Partisans, so just infantry, or maybe a car or truck or two.

Through mail-order I bought from Warlord Games their Partisan Band, which in theory contains eight figures, quite pleased to find that my parcel contained ten figures.

After cleaning the castings, I stuck them to two pence pieces using super glue, after that was dry, using PVA and Citadel Sand I covered the bases.

The next stage will be a white undercoat.

15mm German Königstiger

In the process of sorting some old gaming stuff out I found a bundle of old SDD models. These are 15mm metal castings that I bought back in the 1990s. It makes me think that the other metal models that I have been painting are also SDD.

This box was mainly late war stuff and included a King Tiger. Having constructed the model, I gave it a white undercoat.

The undercoat has shown that the quite severe casting lines, something you don’t always get with a resin casting.

Not airbrushing the Tiger IE

After trying out a non-airbrush method on an old metal SDD SdKfz 251 and been happy with the end result, I decided that I would start to paint my German big cats using a similar method.

Having given the model a basecoat of Warpaint German Armour the next stage was to add the disruptive camouflage. What I did was take an old paintbrush and cut off the bristles leaving a quarter inch. This brush is then used to stipple on the camouflage pattern. I used initially Chocolate Brown (872) and will use Reflective Green (890) later.

I was quite pleased with the initial effect on my SdKfz 251, however I think I may have made the pattern too wide on the Tiger. What I will do is tidy up the camo pattern with some Middlestone (882).

Though the official German manual during the war told how the camo pattern was to be applied, it said the raw paint mixture was to be mixed with petrol and sprayed onto the vehicles. Reality and short supplies of petrol meant that more often the camo pattern was “painted” onto the vehicles, sometimes with brushes and sometimes with rags.

V2

Forged in Battle on their Facebook page have showed off a V2 rocket with armoured half-track.

Looks very nice, though not so sure about the exhaust smoke, looks like it has been modelled as just taking off. Not so useful as an objective, but nonetheless could still be used.

Ruined Ground

A week or so ago I mentioned that I bought a couple of wooden buildings from 4Ground. I’ve always liked the look of the 28mm ruins so was pleased to find out today that 4Ground have released some ruined 15mm buildings.

Some are better than others, but they do look good, they do need some rubble though to add realism.

Going to Ground

I’ve been gaming for more years than I care to remember, in that time I have seen major changes in the manufacturing processes that are used to produce the miniatures and models I use to play games with.

I remember, for example, when Games Workshop first ventured into plastic models. I was intrigued by resin models for many years, I remember been very impressed with the resin GZG scenery I purchased twenty odd years ago now. What I have noticed in the last few years is the increase in laser cut MDF models. These have looked very interesting, but did often remind me of the card Superquick models you can get for model railways. I have always liked the Superquick models and have in the past considered using them for 20mm scale Operation Sealion scenarios. Though today however I would probably more likely use the new resin Hornby Skaledale buildings and scenery. However the scenery if only part of the idea, I also need to build and paint the 20mm models to go with it… one day… I also think that kind of scenery would be ideal for a English Civil War, either the 1930s version that a Very British Civil War portrays, or the more moden version I wrote about in Wargames Illustrated once.

Going back to laser cut MDF I was up at Wayland’s Forge in Birmingham and in one of their display cabinets was some of the new 4Ground 15mm laser cut buildings made up along with some Flames of War models. I thought they looked very effective and nearly as good as the ready painted Battlefront buildings. Always willing to try something new I got a couple of buildings. I went for the ready-painted versions as I thought that would save time and the cost difference wasn’t huge.

I got the Northwest European Hotel with coarse stone walls and coaching arch and Northwest European semi-detached houses, one house rendered green the other is white.

They look quite good and seem that they will be easy to build. If they are then I might get a few more.

Bolting

I know, I know, a new set of rules, a new scale and more painting!

Written by veteran game designers Alessio Cavatore and Rick Priestley, Bolt Action provides all the rules needed to bring the great battles of World War II to your tabletop. Using miniature soldiers, tanks and terrain, you can fight battles in the shattered towns of occupied France, the barren deserts of North Africa, and even the sweltering jungles of the Pacific.

Players get to decide which of the major or minor World War II powers they would like to represent, and then construct their armies from the lists provided. Army options are almost limitless, allowing you to build the kind of army that most appeals to your style of play. The choice is yours.

Created as a joint project between Warlord Games and Osprey Publishing, the leading independent military history publisher, Bolt Action is sure to be the most popular new wargame on the market.

I have been intrigued by Warlord Games’ Bolt Action rules for a while now so was pleased to get hold of a copy.

Initial impressions are very positive, it is an extremely well produced publication, with great looking photographs.

I’ve not had a chance to read it fully or even play the rules, but one of the reasons I am looking forward to playing the game is I like the idea of using order dice.

One thing I do need to decide is which army to go for.

I do quite like the look of the Assault on Normandy starter set.

Assault on Normandy starter set gives you everything you need to pit your tactics and wits against your opponent as you recreate the great battles of World War II on the tabletop! In addition to the glorious Bolt Action rulebook and eight Orders Dice, you will find forty hard plastic, multi-pose 28mm miniatures as well as terrain for them to fight over. This is a great starting point as you seek to defeat your foes and bring an end to the greatest conflict in history.

This is the perfect starting point for Bolt Action, and I would have probably bought it if I knew it was available when I bought the Bolt Action rules…

The ruins are very nice and hopefully will be available separately.

In the box you get two starter armies, US and German, however my regular opponent, Simon, has told me that he wants to go Italian. To quote him

“So I can wargame with a really silly accent and not worry about having to paint camo on paratroopers.”

My problem is who do they fight?

The obvious option is the British in North Africa. I am also thinking about Greek forces. Another option would be the invasion of Sicily.

Time though now to read the rules.

15mm E-50

Having posted a few of Forged in Battle’s pictures earlier I had a look back at what other photographs they had posted. A month or so back they had posted their model of the E-50.

This was a future tank design that never got further than the drawing board.

Really liking these future models. It was nice to read on their Facebook page that they are going to make a British Centurion and possibly the Black Prince too.