Don’t Tread on Me!

Tags

armoured personnel carrier, Military History, Military vehicles, Tank museum

On Saturday afternoon, Graham and I were booked in to take part in a spot of tank driving and shooting at Armourgeddon based in Leicestershire. We turned up a little early and took the opportunity to have a walk around the site and snapped a couple of pictures…

T54/55

Centurion

T34/85

Abbott SPG

PAK 40

Sherman M4

Face off!

M3 Halftrack & Quad-50s

M3 Halftrack

Universal Carrier

When our time came around, we ‘suited up’ and followed our instructor Stu out to our steed for the day, an FV432 light tank named ‘Jane.’ Graham took to the driver’s seat first and managed to plough into a ditch, throwing me around in the turret and slamming me into the turret ring (my back still aches now!), I then took to the sticks to show him how it’s done! During the driver training we did half the course with our heads out of the hatch and the second half ‘buttoned-up’ and looking through the periscope.

Graham at the helm, it’s all smiles till someone hits a ditch!!

A much smoother ride all round, even if I do say so myself!

We then pulled up to the range and took turns acting as aimer and loader for the 40mm air gun mounted in the turret, ready to take to the field in a mock battle with another tank crew. After we had finished our training in all the crew positions, our instructor took us back to the hanger for a cup of tea and a briefing for the upcoming ‘tank-off’ (and a quick check over by the onsite medic for my poor back!)

The battle consists of two tanks, positioned parallel to each other on a straight course. There were several positions at which we would have to stop and fire two rounds at the opposing tank; the quicker we fired off our shots, the sooner we could move on to the next position thus presenting a moving target for our opponents. I chose to be the aimer and Graham to be the loader. As we were one short for a full crew another instructor took the driver’s seat for us. My aim was pretty good, and Graham’s loading was satisfyingly prompt and by the end of the course we were informed that we had hit 11 out of 12 shots!

It was a fantastic day, and I would recommend it to any fellow tank enthusiasts, the staff were very pleasant and really made it a fun couple of hours.

Advertisements

Windswept & Interesting

Tags

air museums, Military History, Newark Air Museum

I had a rather fascinating day out on Saturday at the Newark Air Museum. As with most air museums many of the exhibits are situated outside and the English weather was less than obliging with a cutting wind that seemed to permeate through even the thickest winter clothing!

The sun did, however, make cameo at intervals throughout the day so it wasn’t all bad and I had my trusty camera to take a few photos…

Avro Vulcan B.2 Bomber

North Amerian F.100D Super Saber Tactical Fighter Bomber

MIG-27 “Flogger” Ground Attack Aircraft

Blackburn Buccaneer Strike/Recon Aircraft

Barnes Wallis’ famous ‘Bouncing Bomb’

Assorted parts and turrets from British Bomber Aircraft of WWII

More British Bomber Parts

British Aerospace Sea Harrier Jump Jet

Hawker Hunter Interceptor Fighter

Westland Whirlwind Anti-Submarine Helicopter

What an ice couple of weeks

I have been a little quiet over the last couple of weeks but it hasn’t been my fault!?… honest! The blame lies squarely on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

I have been a fan of the Winter Olympics for a very long time and an even bigger fan of the sport of ice hockey, so the BBC’s coverage of this years Olympics has been a staple on my computer the last fortnight. And what a games it has been! apparently this years cost more than all the others put together!!

As for the ice hockey, what a tournament!! I was rooting for Canada and they didn’t disappoint with a brilliant comeback against team USA in the women’s final and total dominance over Sweden in the men’s.

Sweden’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist couldn’t shut-out the Canadian juggernaut

Canada’s ladies brandish their new jewellery

I was also more than impressed with the Finland men’s team and was happy to see them bag the Bronze medal after giving team USA a lesson in how its done! (I can’t help but wonder how good the final might have been had Finland faced off against Canada)

Teemu Selanne embodies the Finish team.
All hard work and spirit!

Team Great Britain did well with medals in the skeleton, curling and snowboarding but my sympathies go out to Elise Christie who was penalised in every short track speed-skating event she took part in! I’m no expert in this discipline but it seemed a little unfair to me. Hopefully she will come back and get the medals next time in Pyeongchang 2018.

Heartbreak for Elise Christie after some phenomenal skating in both the 1000 and 1500 metres. That girl can put on a burst of speed when she needs to!!

Canada at War

Tags

1944, Canada at war, Crossfire, GHQ, Wargame, WWII

After having received a last-minute text from my good friend Graham, letting me know that he was free for a game on Sunday, I wasted no time in finding a scenario for us to play Crossfire:WWII using my 1/600 scale miniatures.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the anniversary of the D-Day landings took place on Thursday, so I was keen to do a war game set in Normandy and hit the WWII folder (yes I am that organised!) with alacrity to find out more about the battles that took place in the Canadian sector of the Allied bridgehead around this time. As is so often the way, my browsing brought me to my copy of GHQ Micro Armour war game supplement ‘Canada in World War II’…

This excellent book has thirteen historical scenarios, following the campaigns and battles of the Canadian army during WWII, including Sicily, Italy and Northwest Europe and it was here that I found what I had been searching for…

Bretteville-L’Orgueilleuse: June 1944

At 21:00 on the night of 8th June, Standartenfuhrer Kurt Meyer, led a hastily assembled Kampfgruppe from elements of 12th SS Hitlerjugend division. With only two companies of Panther tanks and a single company of Panzer Grenadier infantry with minimal artillery support, he planned to attack the village of Bretteville-L’Orgueilleuse, which was held by elements of the Regina Rifle Regiment of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade.

They reached the Canadian firing line by 22:00 and pressed into the attack, taking heavy losses, but managing to break through the outer defences and after shelling the village several Panther tanks entered Bretteville, one even reaching the Regina’s command post before being knocked out by PIAT anti-tank gun fire.

Deprived of sufficient infantry support the Panthers of Meyer’s force could not push the beleaguered Canadian’s from their positions and at dawn, on the 9th June, the attack was called-off.

The Battle

For this game I decided to take control of the Kampfgruppe Meyer. I don’t often play the Germans due to my fondness for the Allied and Soviet forces, but a change is as good as a rest and I was interested to find out  a little more about this small, hastily formed force. Tanks without infantry support would more than likely become easy pickings for well-trained enemy infantry, when fighting in urban terrain, so this was going to be a tough nut to crack!

Graham set up his forces via Hidden Deployment and placed fortifications, including two sections of barbed-wire and hidden minefields. I deployed my forces on to the table and took the first initiative…

As the map above illustrates, my plan consisted of three groups, each a mixture of tanks and infantry. The southern-most group swung toward Bretteville from the south-east, clearing the forward elements of the Canadian defenders from the woods, east of the village on the main road (N13) and then pressed on to the objective. The northern group took a wide path to out-flank toward the western-most sector of Bretteville. Meyer led the central group holding back a reserve force and directing artillery.

After successive attacks from both arms of the pincer, taking heavy losses of both tanks and infantry in withering cross fires and gruelling close combat encounters, I finally managed to capture the eastern end of the village. Graham’s Canadians made several counter attacks which, fortunately for me,  I was able to repel and I pushed further west, clearing the village of defenders. The casualties on both sides had been very high and Graham was unable to muster a force able to ‘up-root’ me from the objective.

The Aftermath

An interesting and enjoyable game was had by all and a ‘what if?’ situation has now taken my fancy! Meyer’s plan was to co-ordinate his attack with that of the 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment to the west, at Putot-en-Bessin. If he had been successful in capturing Bretteville, the German regiments would have been able to link-up and cut the leading Canadian elements off and maybe even make subsequent attacks further north toward Juno beach?

Fortunately we will never know, it certainly is food for thought however and maybe even a follow-up scenario is to be devised…

Bolt Action: Locked & Loaded

Tags

28mm, Bolt Action, Wargame, Warlord Games, WWII

I had a rather interesting gaming experience the other day after having been invited to my friend Nathan ‘Pancake’ Payne’s home for a WWII skirmish game. Upon arriving I was greeted with a cup of hot tea (which was much appreciated after a long, damp walk) and a quite striking battlefield, indeed, a veritable ‘Slice of Normandie’. Nathan hosted a game of Bolt Action by Warlord Games, with his ‘Jerry‘ Waffen-SS pitted against the intrepid British Commonwealth ‘Tommies‘.

It was a fair-sized skirmish with myself commanding a Canadian infantry platoon along with supporting heavy machine gun, mortar, AT gun, three tanks and an attached squad of airborne troops, facing down Kampfgruppen Pancake, Waffen-SS infantry platoon with similar supporting elements. I snapped photos throughout the battle and Nathan recorded videos at the end of each turn for his Youtube Battle Report…

SS infantry with anti-tank gun, advance into the town

SS troops take cover at the town crossroads

A Canadian 6 pdr antitank gun crew lying in ambush, covering the crossroads

SS infantry advance in support of a ‘Panther’ Tank

At the far end of town, Canadian infantry (in the foreground) advance toward ‘Le Chateau’

‘PANTHER!!!’…This hapless Canadian ‘Sherman’ tank is in trouble!

Meanwhile, Canadian Infantry Advance alongside a Sherman, passing by ‘Le Chateau’

Around the corner, the ‘Big Cat’ still prowls the streets!

It turned-out to be a fun and somewhat eventful battle in which I think a few rules were misinterpreted, I having never played before and Nathan having only had a few battles under his belt, therefore, I am loath to review it with any strong opinions of the rules and such without giving it a fair hearing.

There are some mechanics to be found in this book that I quite liked and it certainly appears to be a  set of rules that achieves the ‘story telling’  theme that I believe Warlord were trying to create, indeed, I still smile at the thought of my artillery observer, crouched behind a chicken shack, (the model of which can be seen in the far right of the penultimate photo) screaming for the artillery to stop blowing the hell out of his position!

This being said, I didn’t find Bolt Action to be a particularly ‘stand-out’ rules set considering the plethora of rules available, and were just a ‘smidgen too light’ for my tastes at this scale, as I prefer rules which evoke a more realistic feel for the period and its historical doctrines, even so, fun and laughter was had by all and it is always a joy to play on Nathan’s terrain. We shall be getting together for a re-fight soon, hopefully with less kinks!…

STONK!…

TinPot, 2013

Thinking warm thoughts

Tags

Arab/Israeli Wars, Wargame

This was the view from my kitchen door here in Nottingham, England on Sunday morning….

So, in an attempt to dispel the frozen temperatures, my hobbying activities have turned to the warmer climes of the desert…. to be a little more specific, the Sinai Desert 1967.

I’ve been very interested in the Arab/Israeli conflicts of both the 21st century and biblical times for some years, the outcomes are always so astounding! I have also been a long time fan of the smaller miniature scales, especially for modern combat, as my 6’x4′ table allows for lots of room to maneuver with tiny tanks. I am also a self-confessed ‘Rules Butcher’ and love following rainbows to find the pot of gold that is, ‘the perfect rule set’!.. Deluded much?.. but at least it passes the time.

Last year I decided to start an Arab/Israeli Wars project and having already bought several packs of Oddzial Ozmy 1/600 scale WWII miniatures in the past, I knew that they were very nice sculpts and so I tarried not in ordering a couple of packs of their modern miniatures and writing a rules set. The miniatures are, for the most part, finished. The rules however, are not. I have made some positive progress over the weekend and hope to post the finished draft up on this blog for anybody who may be interested, sometime in the dim and distant future, I mean, I’ve got to be happy with them at some point surely!? But for now, some ‘eye candy’.

in the red corner we have the Egyptians…

Egyptian T54/55 Main Battle Tanks

and in the Blue we have the Israelis…

Israeli Defence Force Centurion ‘Sho’t Kal’ MBTs in the foreground & M-51 ‘Super’ Shermans behind

and finally, ‘destroyed tank’ markers…

‘Brewed-up’ markers

I use wire wool ‘brewed-up’ and cotton wool ‘movement’ markers during the game to keep up with what’s happening from turn to turn and create a dramatic & cinematic look to the battles. A point that you will be able to judge for yourself as soon as I get around to taking some ‘in game’ pics. I’m also working on some anti-tank guns at the present moment and will post pictures up at the first possible opportunity but for now, I’m going outside, I may be sometime…..

Tanks for the memories!

Tags

armoured personnel carrier, cold war museum

Now I am a self-confessed tread-head, so when my good friends Sam and Rachel told me that they had bought me a tank driving day for my 30th last September I was over the moon! As they weren’t able to book it for the date in question, Sam had decided that we would go out for the day to Cosford RAF and Cold War museum. In my thirty years this is the closest thing I have ever had to a birthday party (Now put that violin away, I’m done with the woe is me diatribe!) and so I spent a most enjoyable day with Sam and his daughters Phoebie and Amara walking around the plethora of tanks, planes and everything in between. I was certainly in my element, even though Phoebie insisted on me carrying her around the whole day (my bad back just isn’t up to that much punishment).

Me with Sam’s daughter Phoebie and a Centurion 105mm

Yesterday the date had finally arrived! I had to rise at the (for me) ungodly hour of 8am and was bundled into a car and driven to Doncaster, the site of the Unltimate Tracks tank driving experience. Having found the car park (situated in a copse of trees in the middle of the Yorkshire country side) we were loaded on the back of a military truck along with some other folks and made what can only be described as one of the most uncomfortable (though mercifully short) journeys of my life, to a farm-house down the road.

After pushing my now loosened fillings back in, we de-bussed and went to sign in and get a cup of tea whilst we waited for our turn. 20 minutes later we clambered into the back of a FV 432 armoured personnel carrier and enjoyed a short ride to a rather churned up field to get behind the levers and have a go. Of the six people in the back of our APC, four would be having a crack at driving and I, quite sensibly, went last hoping to learn a thing or two before I was put in charge of driving a 15 ton armoured vehicle full of people!? As it turns out driving a tank is a piece of cake! A foot pedal to go forward and two brake levers to turn left or right! I roared off around the field for 10-15 minutes (though it only felt like mere seconds!!) and when we pulled up to a halt, everyone was still in one piece! I climbed out of the driving compartment with mud spatters all over my face and a grin from ear to ear.

It was an amazing day and I have a flaming great bruise on my knee to remember it by (getting in to the drivers compartment was trickier than it looked!!?.. Honest… Sam even managed to sprain his wrist trying to get out!) I think you will agree that we can claim ourselves to be ‘proper’ tankies now!

Our armoured steed for the day!
(Glad I could walk away and leave someone else to clean up the mess)

To any fellow tread-heads out there, if you haven’t tried this yet I can thoroughly recommend it! It’s not only amazing fun in itself but the people who run it are very pleasant and make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience!

Up hill and down dale

Last weekend I went away to a place called Kettlewell in the Yorkshire Dales for a friend’s birthday party. We stayed in a hostel booked out especially for the occasion and spent Saturday morning walking out in the Dales, the afternoon playing games and then partied into the wee small hours of Sunday morning. It was a pleasant, if physically draining weekend which culminated in a trip to the York Wargames Show Vapnartak on Sunday. There were lots of interesting games going on and many traders selling their wares, including Mantic Games promoting their latest release Dreadball written by his Quirkworthy-ness Jake Thornton.

I had spent a little time the previous day jotting down notes of things to look for when I got there but was so zombified I could do little more than walk around with a thousand yard stare, I did however, manage to remember to pick up a new set of dice from the Dice Shop Online (more of the evil little square buggers to torment my opponents with!!) and some Zvezda Art of Tactic WWII eastern front models from the Plastic Soldier Company.

I will be writing more about the Art of Tactic war game Barbarossa 1941 at a later date but for the moment it is suffice to say that I am much enamored with this gaming system and at £2.99 a model, the basic boxed set can be added to very cheaply indeed!

Another stall that caught my bloodshot eyes was that of Studio McVey, with a display cabinet full of beautiful miniatures painted to an awe inducing high standard. Here is a closeup pic of one of the miniatures that I was most infatuated with (not my own photography, I was much too concerned with the business of staying upright):

The gorgeous dino riding cowgirl ‘Ruby’

I was very close to braving the fearsome ‘wallet moths’ to get hold of one of these minis but thought better of it, after all, I do have to eat this month! All in all it was a great weekend and as they say ‘A change is as good as a rest’!