Belgian Infantry

At long last I got off my butt and did some painting and basing. This is the infantry element of my Belgian Blitkrieg Commander Battlegroup. And a spotter who is attached to an off-board battery of 105mm Artilley Guns.

The formation consists of a HQ, 8 Infantry Sections (2 upgraded with Boyes Anti-Tank Rifles), and 2 Maxim HMG sections. I broke a figure while basing. I cut off the broken figures legs and glued him back on the base as a land mine victim. Problem solved. Figures are 15mm True North. Click on the pictures to get a better look.

Tactics

My local wargaming store made a commercial. I go there a lot.

Suppression Markers

I have not been doing much painting lately. No reason for that really. I just finished making some suppression markers for my Blitzkrieg Commander Belgian army. Figures are 15mm Peter Pig. They are dead French figures masquerading as dead Belgians.

Warlord Ancient Battles (The other WAB)

Here's a topic I am very excited about with the release of Warlord Games Ancients Black Powder style rule book. SOCAL Warhammer Podcast has interviewed John Stallard from Warlord Games about the new rule book which is growing Internet fame as being called Warlord Ancient Battles (or the other WAB). John has stated the rules will be released early in the new year and the core writer is Alessio Cavatore of Games Workshop fame. It looks like many supplements are planned and many UK ancient figure manufactures have jumped on board in a corroborative wargamer effort to create a playable rule system.

If you want to know more down load Episode 33 of SOCAL. Link below (although you will need to listen to the English Civil War bit first).

http://podcast.socalwarhammer.net/2010/10/09/episode-33-special-guest-interview-with-john-stallard-ecw-and-upcoming-warlord-ancient-rules-system--tournament-and-campaign-information.aspx

Blitzkrieg Commander 8th Army v Afrika Korps

Monday morning Godders came over for a game of Blitzkrieg Commander before we went on duty. 1500pts per side. Godders played the Afrika Korps and I was the 8th Army. We each placed an objective on the 6x4 table. The goal was to reach the objective or break the enemy force. I had to reach the wounded Australians pictured above.

Godders went first and split into two formations. The first being a large tank unit consisting of various Mk III's and IV's, supported by three units of HMG infantry on motorbikes. I had three Shermans and two 6pdr Valentines waiting for him. Godders was throwing command rolls with glee racing up to my tank formation. When he came into range I used opportunity fire and halted his advance. Godders second formation consisted of infantry, two Panzer II's and a Diana. They started to sneak down the right side of the table. Godfrey's Diana is not painted and I argued unsuccessfully that it should cause a -1 to his command roll!

My command was split into three formations. The heavy tank formation now engaged in a dual with Godders tank formation. A fast tank formation consisting of three Honeys and two Crusaders, and a three 6pdr Anti-Tank formation lead by the CO. I also had a forward artillery observer floating around. I decided to send the fast tanks up around Godders flank with the intention of coming in behind his army. Good plan ruined by the Diana firing at long range. Slowly I had to break suppression and destroy that Diana. My anti-tank guns sat on the objective.

Slowly the fast tanks closed in on the Diana and destroyed it, along with two Panzer II's. My tanks were now headed for the objective guarded by three units of infantry.

Godders heavy tanks wiped out my heavy tanks but at a terrible cost. Only two of his tanks survived the engagement. In context of the game, a mortal blow to the German army. His two surviving tanks did a u-turn and raced back to protect the objective. His three HMG units were taken out by artillery fire and his army Break Point reached. Godders began each turn dicing to stay on the table. He failed and the Afrika Korps fled the battlefield with a bloody nose. Much to Rommel's displeasure.

The 8th Army (me) were victorious and basked in the glory of victory.

Thanks Godders for a good game, and thanks to Blitzkrieg Commander for being a really good gaming system. This is my fifth game and I only needed to look up the rulebook once. That's pretty good.

Random Russian

The random painted Russian. I will need to darken the boots if I paint more.

Figure is 28mm Black Tree Design.

First Pictures of Black Powder Ancients

It's time to start painting my Romano-British again. YEAH!!

Visit Warlord games on the link below to see more pictures.

http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/?p=7634#more-7634

Belgium ACG-1 Tank

Next item off the paint table is the little known Belgium Army ACG-1 Tank. The Belgians had 12 of these tanks in service for the Battle of Belgium. The ACG-1 has three crew (commander, gunner, driver) and sports a 47mm main gun and a co-axial HMG. The armour is 25mm thick, and the tanks top speed is 42 km/h. One on One the ACG-1 was more than a match for any combat tank fielded by the Germans. Belgium tactical thinking at the time preferred combat deployment of anti-tank guns over combat tanks, thus the lack of ACG-1 numbers. This model is 15mm from Quick Reaction Force.