Battle of Bir El Gubi Club Game

During Operation Crusader 22nd Armoured Brigade was tasked with taking Bir el Gubi.158 Crusader tanks faced 146 M13/40 tanks and infantry and Guns of Ariete. The Italians emerged victorious, inflicting heavy casualties for less than 40 of its own tanks.

Re-created at the club meeting, with Bill taking charge of the valiant British, and Mark upholding the honour of the heroic Italians. Bill charged his tanks across the open straight into the line of Italians trying to break through to the objective. Suffering horrific loses on the way as 88's, coastal,and A/T guns ripped his Crusaders apart. Having got on the objective he was repulsed at turn 7, and with his 1iC gone automatically failed morale. A valiant effort in what was a very difficult scenario for the British. Well done to both players for giving an enjoyable and sporting game!

The Italians of Ariete Division
Guns, Guns, Guns!



Dug - in Italians

2 Coastal Guns

The 4th County of London Yoemanry with their brand new Crusader tanks prepare to charge!
After all theyre ONLY Italians!?!

More Crusaders prepare to "Tally Ho!"

British Recon Armoured Cars
(They didn't last long!)

After their valiant charge the Crusaders start gettting "Brewed Up"

Who said the Italians were a pushover?

The Coastal guns did a fair bit of damage to the British Armour

Crusaders close assaulting the Dug-In Italians

Not always successfully?

The Italians repulse another attack by motorised Infantry on their right flank

M13/40's, the cream of Italian Armour!

Tally Ho!!

Things don't go well for the Crusaders?

On the British Left a platoon of Crusaders tries to cross the Wadi, with one of their tanks breaking down

In the centre the British attempt to sieze the objective, but are counter attacked by heroic italians, the British losing their 1iC in the ensueing fight!

Hope you enjoyed the AAR, feel free to leave a comment

Happy Gaming!

Zvezda's STUG III Ausf B

 

Just brought a couple of the new Zvezda STUG's and painted them up for my early war Germans. Zvezda produce some lovely models now and they seem to have changed to a harder plastic, which makes them easier to paint? Tried a bit of weathering on the models to represent the dust from France / Russia / Greece? Well worth getting with good detail and at around £2:50 a pop you can't go wrong? Just need a command vehicle to finish off the platoon?

 

 

 

Please feel free to leave a comment?

Happy gaming!

15mm ACW, First Battle of Mannasas

 

It's been a while since I've managed to get out my 15mm ACW, so having a day off I decided to play a game of Fire and Fury, First battle of Mannasas.

 

Game ended with a Union victory, taking the hill after grinding down the Reb forces.

 

 

 

 

Reb Artillery

Rebel Regiment trying to hold off the Yankee's?

Yankees advance

Small Union regiment with supporting Artillery

Rebels defending the hill, while the Corps commander looks on

Union Infantry march onward through the woods

Rebels defending the fence line against Billy Yank!

Reb artillery opening fire

The Union war machine marches on

Jeb Stuart arrives to help the Rebel cause!

Hope you like the photo's, feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Gaming

Crusaders and Grants!

With a view to looking forward to Crusader I've now finished off my Crusaders and Grants. These should be a nasty surprise for the Italians. Planning the battle of Bir el Gobi at the first December club meeting so the Crusaders will get their first outing on the table then?

A full Light Armoured Company of Crusaders
HQ of four, and four Platoons of three

 

Moving out to look for trouble in the desert

A lovely sight, unless your an Italian Carri Platoon?

The Big Boys
Heavy Armoured Platoon of three Grants

On the move, looking for the enemy!

Please feel free to leave a comment

Happy Gaming!

Italian Reinforcements

I have always had a soft spot for the Italian Army in FoW, great kit and vehicles, variable morale, and crap tanks after 1941! But they do have nice artillery and guns and even the tanks can be nasty in early war, and against Infantry with their twin mg's?

So with bolstering their infantry comrades in mind I have some more reinforcements for the Legions of Rome, Cairo here we come!

Motociclisti Platoon, ,can be used as Recce, fast moving, and feathers in their hats! Whats not to like?

Motociclisti, the Italian version of "Easy Rider"

Italian 47/32 Gun Pit, can be devastating in Early War?

 

Coastal Guns
These are real bad boys, but tend to attract alot of enemy fire?

Fire Luigi!

Lancia Da 90/53
I love these models, and they tend to stick around a bit longer than the Coastal Guns

Lancia crew loading up the Big Guns!

Howitzer Battery with Staff Team, Command and Spotter
You gotta love the Italian Artillery!

The Italian Staff Team breaks for lunch
War is Hell!

Nothing comes between an Italian and his Momma's Bolgnese!

Please feel free to leave a comment. Happy Gaming!

Wings of Glory

 

That nice postman bought me a package this morning from BoardGame Guru which contained the new Wings of Glory Early War series. Twelve planes in all, 3 Fokker Eindeckers, 3 Halberstadts,3 Airco DH2, and 3 Morane Saulniers. All for £105, which works out under £9 a plane. The good lady of the house stumped up for half the planes as a birthday present (thankyou Darling!). I can highly recommend all the planes, my only slight reservation was they seem a bit "shiny", but this was remedied with a coat of matt varnish.

 

 

 

 

                              

        

 

Looking forward to their future releases, namely the D.Va of Von Hippel, and Jacobs, Kirschsteins Dr1, and Stackards Sopwith Camel. Hopefully these will be out before Christmas