Adventures on the Wargames Table

Leutnant Meindl cast his eye over the wounded in the old, stone barn. He would have to trust that the British would treat them well as prisoners of war. There was no way he could complete his mission and evacuate them. He made sure several of the less severely injured had loaded weapons – he did not want the French peasants taking revenge before the British arrived. They would surrender the moment a Tommy appeared. Turning around at the sound of boots on the road he saw reinforcements arriving that would bring him back up to strength. There was no time to waste! Their lightning attack had driven the British patrol back in to the village, but he knew he had only minutes to reach his objective. Once the British realised what was going on they would whisk the General away. Meindl actually admired Montgomery, he had been with Rommel’s forces in North Africa and knew the fighting qualities of the tough little Englishman. He hoped that he could capture him alive; he would like to talk to t...

Since the standard late war British infantry platoon in Chain of Command has a relatively low Force Rating (0 or -1) compared to many of the German platoons, it's necessary to have quite a few support options. Here's a four man armoured reconnaissance team; an NCO and a Bren team. Mostly Crusader British figures. Here's their Universal Carrier. It's the excellent Warlord plastic kit, although I have yet to apply the transfers!? Finally here's a sniper. I've mounted him on a slightly larger base, 30mm diameter as opposed to the usual 25mm. BTW - scenery by Jarvis (wall) and the superb Charlie Foxtrot Models (building and fence). More supports to come at some point I hope! Possibly a Vickers MMG, a FOO and maybe a second PIAT team.

Colin's at it again! No, not exposing himself on the seafront (yikes!?), he's been busy designing more lovely buildings ... and he's been kind enough to give me a little preview of his latest project. Buildings for the Eastern Front of WW2, so I just had to share. Here's the first. One detail I particularly like are the window frames; they're in two sections, allowing you to model the window being partially open. The roof will be supplied with card tiling sheets - or you could apply your own thatch using fur or similar. In my humble opinion this looks to be the start of a very promising new range of buildings!! Colin also has some neat tricks for painting these wooden panelled buildings quickly and effectively, but I'll let him spill those beans ;o) Keep an eye on the Charlie Foxtrot Blog for the "official" word.

If you still needed any convincing about the amazing depth of Colin’s creative talent for modelling buildings then please look no further than this , his latest offering. I was delighted when I saw this. Marvellous stuff!! A bank? Yes, but what about using it as a fancy residence, a small chateau maybe, or perhaps a Mairie . Also, having a neo-Georgian-esque look it would be jolly handy for anyone interested in VBCW too. Lovely. Not content with splendid buildings, he’s quite handy with a brush too. Check out this snap I took of his Almohads . No, I didn't know who they were either. ;o) Hand painted shields! With overlapping geometric designs! Now ... stop faffing around ... go and order some buildings from Colin. Lots of buildings! :o)

This superb model building (from Charlie Foxtrot Models ) has been rather nicely painted by Jenny in a style similar to the other buildings - please see earlier posts. Colin sells a range of 'extensions' such as the one shown on the left, allowing you to customise buildings as required. Below is a pic of the rear. No farm could be complete without a barn.... so here it is. Again from Charlie Foxtrot Models. A slightly better pic of the roof and side. The doors can be open, shut or ajar, as required. As with all CFM buildings, the roof lifts off as do any upper floors. After assembly I texture the walls with some cheap masonry paint. Be careful to avoid any seeping in to the gaps for the doors and windows as this will make the windows harder to fit. The structure is then sprayed a sandy base colour, Warlord Dunkelgelb I think. Jenny painted it by starting with a good wash of Earthshade then applied successively lighter coats of sand/cream colours, e.g. Foundry...

This is a slightly tongue-in-cheek mini campaign for Chain of Command - historical purists may wish to look away now! It's based on the following (somewhat dubious) premise: In the days shortly after D-Day 1944 the Germans have intercepted information that Monty is due to tour the front lines in hope of inspiring his men in the push for Caen. Following on from rumours of a mission to capture Winston Churchill ( Operation Adler-ist-Gelandet) , the Germans have formulated another daring mission where a small force of elite Fallschirmjager, all volunteers, will infiltrate the confused battle lines and attempt to capture or assassinate Monty. It's a series of three games; Patrol , Delaying Action and Attack on an Objective.  The action will represent a very short period of 'real' time as the FJs (led by Mike) must attack swiftly if they are to catch Monty before he is whisked to safety. To keep things very simple we've decided not to use the (excellent)  At the Sharp...

Here are some general purpose JOPs I've recently painted up for Jenny's Commandos. They're resin pieces that we picked up at Salute, although I cannot recall the manufacturer! Think it might have been a European company? Each is about 25-30mm in diameter. After giving the resin a wash they were sprayed leather brown as shown. Next, the block colours. The bricks and tiles are blocked in GW Scorched Brown, and the concrete is Slate Grey shade. Highlights are Conker Brown shade, Brick Red shade and Slate mid/light. The earth is the usual Vallejo palette. A few dots of flock complete the finish.