Hobby Progress and Exploring Technology

 First things first, I am almost finished with construction on the P61. The rear canopy is giving me some trouble but so far it's going ok!

Second, I finally started the Tamiya M13/40 I was given for Christmas last year. I thought it was time to build it since I am about to run another Italian Theater campaign, but more on that later. The main construction is built and a rough black base coat is done.

Now about that campaign! The focus of this one will be the Anzio beachhead. My old roommate will run a British recon squad in parallel to my worn out 91st recon. Here's the hex map for our campaign. I used a scan I found online of the 1970 Avalon Hill game Anzio Beachhead.

But how to run the map phase of our campaign when we can't often be in the same room. Turns out there's a computer program for that! Tabletop Simulator allowed me to lay out the situation using an upload of the map I modified and some virtual Axis and Allies pieces. Exactly like I would in real life, but in a way my friend can access it and taking up a lot less space.

I also now have an Instagram! I can be found at @54mmempire. It seems even people like me can embrace new technology. When I started blogging , I never knew the doors it would open. 

An Imagination Idea! Lets See If it Sticks

An idea came to me tonight and I would love to hear some feedback from my readers on this. I love RPG style hex-crawls but I am not really a fan of RPGs. I have also been looking at my miniature collection and trying to figure out how to use all my WW2 miniatures in one big campaign. The reality is without a GIANT world sized campaign, I can't. 

But then it hit me! If I was to do an Imaginations type campaign, I could do whatever I wanted to. A Japanese style country could fight side by side with a German style country against something styled after the USSR, etc. However I have never done anything with Imaginations

If I was to do this, do I need to change the names of the super powers fighting, or just the subcontinent they are fighting over?

Is it disrespectful to actual history in anyway? 

Would following an RPG-skirmish hybrid hex-crawl appeal better to you more than the mission based hex campaign I have done before?

Thanks again for any feedback or suggestions on this idea. I'll take anything I can get.

 

Skirmish Campaign: On the Lamb Part 2

I really need to make my posts closer to the time of battle. Again I don't remember enough to write a full After Action Report, but I am happy to announce that the squad is now back behind friendly lines and receiving a much needed R&R.  In the mean time, I have several projects in the works. Another theater of World War 2 is shaping up in my collection. I have decided to shelve the 1898 alternate history project for now but I am exploring an early Cold War/ Imaginations idea. 

Skirmish Campaign: On The Lamb Part 1

After the loss of Lieutenant Hughes, C Troop still had a mission to complete; getting the wounded tanker back to friendly territory. Word was received that an ambulance jeep would be waiting at a destroyed farm (hex 6-4).  

The farm is still in disputed territory so the meet up will have to take place at night. A flock of sheep has drifted in to the area, as has a patrol of Germans. In the dark it is impossible to tell the sheep from the wolves.

A detachment from A troop stands watch. A machine gunner is dug in at the side of the field and a sniper is perched in the attic. An officer waits to give them their next assignment.   

The survivors of Troop C aren't out of the fire yet.

Skirmish Campaign: Stranded Sherman Part 2

The 91st Recon successfully located the lost Sherman but before contact could be made, the tank blundered into a German fortified position. The daring rescue team is now made up of  Lt. Hughes, the ever present Sgt. Cox and his BAR man Cpl. Wood, Cpl Collins the Ranger, Pvt Phillips the grenadier, and the medic Pvt. Mitchell.  The other members of the squad waited behind in reserve. 

November 3rd 1943

As a Sergeant it is not usually my duty to write after action reports but after today's engagement I find myself thrust in command. I have taken it upon myself to write in the late Lieutenant Walter Hughes's journal the record of his death. 

We entered the outskirts of the village of Ponte della Morte and quickly located the tank which we intended to contact. As we approached, a German antitank gun shot from ambush. The shell hit the engine of the tank and smoke poured from its hatches.   

 Lt Hughes and our medic, Pvt Mitchell, rushed to the crippled Sherman and pulled a wounded tanker from the wreck. I led the rest of the squad into cover, taking over an abandoned trench system to our right. Cpl Wood noticed an enemy Squad negotiating the rubble of a ruined building and kept them at bay, emptying his BAR. 

 As the medic helped the wounded tanker to his feet, the brave Lieutenant dove into the burning hulk again, pulling another tanker from the steel coffin. A third attempt was a failure. He jumped out yelling that the fire was close to the ammunition. He grabbed the nearly dead tanker and began to drag him away from the explosion we knew was coming. We all kept our heads down, finding any cover that we could.  

 Cpl Collins held the advancing Germans off but none of us had seen the German sniper who must have been in a building near by. Lt Hughes was noticed as he drug the dying tanker. A rifle shot was heard and he slumped forward, lifeless. Medic Mitchell turned to look but the German gun fired again, obliterating the tank and filling the air with shrapnel.

 We retreated back in to the mountains. The men are still in shock from the days events. As I am in command now, they look to me for our next plan. The decision to press the objective and locate as many allied troops as possible, or to retreat to known Allied lines is is still to be made.

 Sergeant William Cox

C Troop

91st Reconnaissance Squadron

Obviously a disappointing outcome, but that's the reality of a random solo campaign. As the men of C troop are still a ways from Allied lines, even a retreat could bring up some action. The squad is at hex 5-5. Today's battle,marked by the tank was in hex 4-4.

Skirmish Campaign: Stranded Sherman Part 1

After the successful mission in the mountains bordering the Ponte della Morte  valley, Lt Hughes of the 91st Recon moved his men down the valley following the reports of a stranded American tank at the village outskirts. Before they could get off the mountain however, they were ambushed by the angered German sniper whose patrol had been so easily defeated.

The map shows the location of the ambush, hex 5-5. The stranded tank is located in hex 4-4.

Grey chips were distributed across the playing area. When a figure encountered a chip, I would roll to see if the sniper shot, and then resolve the roll. True to his performance in the previous battle, no shots connected and the men crossed the mountain forest with no issue.  

Skirmish Campaign: Mountain Recon

At last! The 91st Recon Squadron is sent back in to action, this time in mainland Italy. The main mission is to locate Allied forces  in the Ponte della Morte valley. It is late fall/early winter 1943 and the mountain valley that lies "somewhere north of Salerno" is often clogged with fog off of the many streams. This coupled with the chaos of war has left a jumbled mess of both Allied and Axis lines. The 91st entered the valley over the mountains, coming into the map at the top right corner. The hex selection dice chose that the first sub mission should be 6-5 (6 right and 5 up), graciously removing and slog over unknown territory without prior reconnaissance. The mission generation dice ruled that a small German recon patrol was headed over the mountains and must be turned back or destroyed. 

November 1, 1943 

Upon arriving in the mountains above Ponte della Morte and begining to plan my infiltration, I was alerted by a runner from General Brasspants that a German patrol was headed our way to scout the mountain trail we had just came over. Calling my second in command Sgt. Cox over to me, I told him to assemble a scouting party to ambush them as they traveled.

Cox chose Corporal Wood, our BAR man, Private Phillips, an ace with a rifle grenade, and Private's Martinez and Harding. Martinez had been located in Sicily by our British allies and returned to the unit. He was itching for revenge against the Nazis. 

Sgt Cox and his patrol set up in the woods overlooking a stream. Taking cover in the rocks and trees they watched as four German Mountain troops carefully followed the stream in single file. 

Suddenly the German point man gave a cry. He had sprained his ankle on the stream bed but his cry startled Cpl Wood who opened up his Browning Automatic. The rifleman with a bum ankle speed limped forward firing his rifle as the scouting force was caught by surprise. Martinez and Harding jumped forward firing rifles to no avail as they scrambled for better shooting positions. The German machine-gunner fired at the movement, wasting his belt.

 The German squad leader aimed his sniper rifle at Cpl Wood but was unable to get a clear shot. Wood fired first, shaking the sniper and one of his riflemen but emptying his magazine in the process. Pvt Phillips made a break for a better shooting position as Sgt Cox rushed the fence with his trusty Thompson. Hobbling Heinrich shouldered his rifle and fired at Cox, who slumped over the fence and lay still.

 The German Gebirgsjager squad started to retreat in an orderly fashion. The cowardly sniper and squad leader made a break while the mg34 covered him.

 Phillips, angered by Sgt Cox being hit, lobbed a rifle grenade into the Germans. When the smoke cleared, the clumsy point-man lay blown to bits, the machine-gunner sat stunned, and the remaining rifleman attempted to get up, even though badly wounded. Martinez felled him for good with a rifle shot.

 As the surviving machine-gunner fled, the men surrounded the Sergeant, he was still breathing. the rifle round had smashed the top of his helmet, shaking him up badly but leaving him physically unscathed. 

I played through the battle using the Fistful of Lead rules for combat and activation. Solo mechanics were a combination of Herkybird's WW2 Skirmish rules , and various Five Men/Five Core supplements. I forgot to remove a joker from my card deck. It had been used in a previous non campaign game as a random event die and functioned as an ace in the card order. When it was drawn, I rolled a random event from the Five Core random event supplement. The poor German had an accident  which set off the entire firefight. I had not planned on using random events in battle but after this serendipitous experience I think I will continue to leave aces in my deck to trigger random events. 

New Campaign

The invasion of Italy has commenced! Axis forces are proving stubborn resistance and Allied troops pay dearly for ever inch of ground. In an unnamed village in an Italian valley, the battle has turned to chaos. Allied and Axis positions are scattered without order and contact erupts into firefights with no objective but to survive. American commanders have sent the men of the 91st Recon Squadron into the jumbled fray. The mission is yet unknown, but the battlefield proves it will be no easy task.

Update!

Sorry for the unexpected break from posting! Life has a way of throwing curves. I am swinging with all my might and occasionally putting the bat on the ball. I am sorry to say that although I ran and photographed both the Five Men Battle in Sicily and the solo moose hunting game, I do not remember them enough to post the reports.  However I have been steadily building and painting!

I took advantage of the snow cover to show off my Korean War air support, including my freshly completed Bell H-13. The stretchers are magnetic and can be switched with a pair of .30 caliber machine-guns.

 Continuing the Cold War theme ( couldn't resist the pun) Here's the first tank kit I ever built, the Tamiya M-41 Walker Bulldog. I never had the nerve to paint it until recently. 

Finally I took a commission to paint some pieces for the Imperial Assault board game. These are much smaller than anything I've painted before so I struggled with the details. The client liked them which really is all that matters. 

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I have a scheduled game day with a friend in the first few weeks of January. We plan to run a WW2 skirmish using Fistful of Lead, which I purchased from Wiley Games recently. It is exactly what I have been looking for to run squad vs squad actions. I will stick to my modified rules for solo gaming, but FFOL looks like a wonderful club/game day rule set for all my eras.

More than Five Men in Sicily

With all of the reconnaissance and infiltration complete, I decided to try to break my home brew rules. I played through the armor column passing through the town and being ambushed by heavy German resistance. It seems that multiple loud infiltrations draws a lot of attention. 

Vehicles became bogged down in the streets and it was left to the infantry to slog through bitter house to house fighting.

It became apparent that I need to rework both my vehicle rules and my antitank launcher rules. Vehicles were given a number of actions per turn, but I found this led to either long sprints or stationary sitting while the turret rotated to aim. I will be scratching my head over that one. A German grenadier ambushed my Sherman in a tight alley with a Panzerfaust..... except the scatter die placed it at his feet and collapsed a building on him. I need to rethink using scatter die and blast radius for missed launcher shots.

On the painting table are small scale WW2 aircraft for my hex-grid based combat system. Not 54mm but I couldn't help but feature them.