WWI Anzac Battalion - Western Front

My Western Front WWI project is now finished. I have completed my 1000 point 1918 Australian Battalion for Warhamer Historicals The Great War. 71 figures, one gun and one light tank. It took 18 months to complete. All figures and the 18pdr Gun are 28mm Great War Miniatures. The Whippet tank is from Brigade Games. I bought the rules, made a 1000 point legal army on paper, stuck to the plan and finished it. The army is an all round balanced unit built to have a bit of attacking power and a bit of defensive power. If you click on the pics they get bigger.

Cheers

Paul

Blitzkrieg Commander

The British confront the Germans in a massed tank battle.

The British are not feeling too happy.

The Valentine formation making a run for it after the British reach Breakpoint and fail the CO's Command Roll.

The victorious Germans sweep across the battlefield.

My good buddy Godfrey came over today for a test game of Blitzkrieg Commander. I bought a new shinny copy of the rules a couple of weeks ago because they use the same command and control system as Black Powder.

We dusted off our old 15mm armies. None of which has seen the light of day since about 2006 when we last played Flames of War. To keep things simple we both fielded three tank formations. I was the Brits, Godfrey was the Germans. We picked up the gist of the rules fairly quickly and had a grand old battle which lasted about 2 hours. The British lost because the German tanks where too tough to crack. I can't wait to have another game. Next time we will add some infantry. Blitzkrieg Commander is a really good game.

18pdr Gun

My 1000 pt "The Great War" Anzac Army is now complete. I quickly painted up the artillery support which is an 18pdr Gun with five crew for a cost of 85 army points. Next mission is to photograph the whole army for the blog. Figures and gun are 28mm Great War Miniatures.

Blitzkrieg Commander 2

My latest acquisition. BKC2 uses the same game mechanics as Black Powder so they must be alright! You can play games at two levels. One stand of infantry = a section, & one tank = one tank. Or one stand of infantry = a platoon, & one tank = 3 to 4 tanks. Have to try it one day.

Anzac Spotter

It has taken me one month to paint one figure. This figure is my spotter for my artillery battery (yet to be painted). It's been a long hot summer which I am blaming for my laziness. No rain for two months, most days averaging 35'c+ and three days in a row of over 40'c makes it hard to paint. Thanks for air conditioning, icy poles, the couch and war movies. It's so hot that when I open my vallejo paint bottles the paint spews out like a volcano. Figure is from Great War Miniatures - 28mm.

Combat Mission Afrika Korps

Not much painting going on but lots of PC Wargaming. Combat Mission Afrika Korps is a brilliant game for wargamers. This version covers Crete, North Africa and Italy. Each 3D unit on the battlefield represents a rifle section, heavy weapon team, gun or a vehicle/tank. I have been playing the Crete campaign as the Australians. Sound effects are great. My Aussie teams run around the battlefield yelling stuff out in an Australian accent. At the end of each battle you get the battle stats of KIA, MIA, Wounded etc. I love that detail. A special bonus is the 3D maps which have given me some great ideas for 28mm skirmishing.

To The Last Round

The Battlefield.

Australian Infantry defending on the left. German Afrika Korps attacking from the right.

Three victory locations are located on the hill at the top of the picture, the centre house and the southern house. 2 to 1 attacker/defender ratio.

Germans in the scrub.

Australian "Man Alone" with two pin markers. The sole allied survivor of the battle.

Played a game of Disposable Heroes against Guido today. I used the "To the Last Round" scenario found on the Iron Ivan yahoo group. To the Last Round is based on the true life Battle of Hosingen during the opening of the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. The Americans being ordered to delay the Germans, fight to the last round of ammo and bug out.

I adapted the scenario to the desert. The Australians fighting a delaying action against Rommel on the road to Tobruk. To win the Germans need to take two of the three victory locations or wipe out the defenders. The Australians need to hold two victory locations for six turns or wipe out the attackers. I am playing the defender.

A brief overview of the battle :

Turn 1 - Australians deploy, spread out and thin on the ground to cover all possible attacks. The Vickers MMG is in the centre house. A bren gun team is placed on the hill with the victory point location. Germans deploy out of the palm tree grove concentrating on one side of the board only and attack the hill victory point location. Germans take the hill in turn one killing 4 Australians to 1 German.

Turn 2 - Not much goes on other than a shootout. Australians loose 1 man, the Germans loose 2.

Turn 3 - Germans begin coming down off the hill concentrating on the northern house. Both sides loose their HMG's this turn. Australians 2 dead, Germans 3.

Turn 4 - Germans prep fire on their intended targets causing 4 Australian causalities to their 1. The Australian platoon commander is killed which is a major moral causing problem.

Turn 5 - Germans bayonet charge into contact with the defenders. No quarter is shown by either side. The Australians are wiped out. One man is left alone in the scrub pinned down. Germans fire at him causing him to rout off the battlefield.

Total German victory at the end of turn 5. This is the exact result of the real battle at Hosingen in 1944. I loose, Guido wins.

I have not played Disposable Heroes for about 6 months. It was good to get a game in. I really like these rules.

Unboxing a Battlefront 15mm Huey Slick

Hi all. I thought I would post some images of unboxing the best miniatures release of 2009, the Wargames Illustrated/Battlefront 15mm Huey Slick. The first thing you will notice is the excellent packaging. The product presentation is top notch. The box is 100mm x 150mm. It look like a nice box of chocolates. The back of the box says "Designed in New Zealand, Made in Malaysia."

Opening the box you find the usual Battlefront plastic blister set-up. Everything is nicely packed and protected.

Tipping out the contents (and checking all the bits are in there - you all know what I mean) you will find all the above items including two 15mm door gunners, a choice of plastic in flight rotors or metal rotors, a plastic flight stand and a couple of magnets to attach the chopper to the flight stand. The instructions look clear and concise. No decals in the pack. You will note the plastic bits look like they are made of wood. But their not. It's a protective covering over the plastic.

And finally a close up of the door gunners.

Overall a great model. It's really well made. The hull is resin and the little fiddly parts are metal. Detail is superb. 2 thumbs up Battlefront and Wargames Illustrated.

A special message to Dom at Dom Decals. I need 15mm Royal Australian Airforce decals. PLEAAAAAAASE!