All,
Greetings, yes, it's been awhile. Man, I feel ill, I haven't played a wargame in... well, I can't even remember when! But don't think I haven't been working, I've been spending all my wargaming time painting up new 15mm forces. As previously, I've bought quite a bit off of Ebay, Gajo Minis, my buddy AJ, and TMP Marketplace, in addition to painting troops up myself, and although I've made great use of already-painted troops, I generally still have to spend a considerable amount of time touching things up and basing them. In any case, I'm starting off with these guys since I painted them all myself. I actually bought them painted from four different sources, but since they didn't match, I decided to just completely re-do them. So, what are we talking about?
Well, we're talking about my 15mm U.S. Airborne force based for temperate climes, i.e., Normandy, Market Garden, maybe even Varsity.
Here it is, the entire force. If you're looking at it as one stand = one squad or weapons team*, then I have:
-Commanding Officer
-Executive Officer
-Five Rifle Platoons (three squads + Platoon Commander -PC- and Bazooka team)
-An MG Platoon (three M1919s and a PC)
-An Anti-Tank Gun Platoon (two M1 57mm guns and a PC)
-An Artillery Platoon (two 75mm pack howitzers and a PC)
-A Mortar Platoon (three 60mm tubes and a PC)
-A Heavy Mortar Platoon (two 81mm tubes and a PC)
*I say it in those terms because lately I've got a hankering to play some higher echelon games, where one stand = a platoon, or even a company! We'll see how I get on, more to follow.
Another look.
And from the opposite side.
The Commanding Officer, three of the old Battlefrotnt metal troops and a jeep, which I believe I stole fromt he Brits.
Opposite. You can see the leader stripes on the two guys at left (vertical for officers, horizontal for NCOs).
The Executive Officer's (XO) stand, or "2nd In Charge." These are also Battlefront metals.
Reverse.
Another look. You can see I tried to do up divisonal patches on their left arms for the 101st Airborne Division.
A look at some of the platoon command stands. Almost all of the rifle platoon figures are the newer plastics from Battlefront. At first I wasn't a fan of them, but they painted up quick and easy.
A closeup.
Another look, you can see the radio man.
Three of the bazooka teams.
A closer look.
Another.
And one more. The brown I used for the bases is the same brown I always use, but it definitely turned out a bit darker for this force.
Some of the rifle stands.
A closeup.
Another. Look at all those M-1 Garands! My apologies, but I came up on Airfix US Paratroopers and, because of that, I didn't understand the US Airborne actually used M-1 Garands until I was an adult, I thought it was M-1 Carbines and Tommy Guns ;)
Another looke.
Some more rifle squads, these with M-1919A6 "light" machine guns.
A closeup.
Another.
Again.
And how about some more rifle stands? These have the more conventional M-1919 on a tripod.
A close up.
Anohter.
And one more.
The MG Platoon. It's kind of a letdown because they also have M-1919s on a tripod, the only difference to some of the rifle stands being the rifle stands have four figures, while the bespoke MG stands only have three men per stand.
A closeup. These are the old Battlefront metals.
Again.
One more.
The MG Platoon PC.
The ATG Platoon, using 57mm guns.
A close up.
Another.
And their PC.
The pack howitzer platoon.
A closeup.
Another. Agh!!! I was painting these and another paratrooper force up at the same time and it appears I mixed them up! You can see these guys have 82nd Airborne divisional patches on, which is how the other force is painted.
Their PC. Good, strong looking airborne doggies.
The 60mm mortar platoon.
A close up. These are all the newer plastics.
Again.
One more time.
Their PC.
And lastly, the 81mm Mortar Platoon. These guys are Battlefront metals, except the PC.
A closeup.
Another.
And their PC.
I couldn't be more happy with how these guys turned out, a good looking force ready to drop on the unsuspecting Krauts and wreak havoc. Or Japanese; I suppose I could use these guys for Burma, New Guinea, and the Philippines, too.
In any case, this is the first of MANY posts I"m going to make in rapid succession in order to show you what I've been up to.
V/R,
Jack
EDIT:
They look great Jack, hope to see them in action soon!
ReplyDeleteHello John, hope all is well. Not sure when we'll see them in action, lots of other stuff going on, but definitely have to get SOMETHING into action ;)
DeleteV/R,
Jack
Nicely done Jack.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm, I appreciate it!
DeleteV/R,
Jack
Excellent work Jack. Great to see you back.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Darrin, glad to be back! I still haven't played them, but I still keep pulling FOBWWII out to read ;)
DeleteV/R,
Jack
AHA! Now, there's game you have to try. Picture using the paras for a large Carentan game - not just a simple attack, I mean the multi day Carentan battles - that's where FoBww2 will come in.
DeleteYes, it's beckoning to me ;) And I'm with ya; I've got a Rapid Fire scenario book that lays out exactly what you're talking about, will have to give it a shot. My only concern (having not played it), is that I'm looking for rules to play with my boys (12 and 7 years of age now), so I don't want things to get too complex. I need to actually playtest the rules and see how it goes.
DeleteV/R,
Jack
Nice stuff Jack and timely as I have been having a look at my WW2 American force and thinking about building a German force to fight it 🙂
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt, and glad to hear it, I can't wait to see what you get up to with some WWII Americans!
DeleteV/R,
Jack
Very nicely painted 15mm units and the basing of them looks good.
ReplyDeleteHiya Peter, thanks! Just trying my best to work myself into one scale.
DeleteV/R,
Jack
I'm glad you are still active. I look forward to new AARs.
ReplyDeleteMe too, on both accounts! Thanks Chris!
DeleteV/R,
Jack
excellent looking troops, Jack! hey I'm finishing up a bunch of Airborne 15mm battlefront myself for an upcoming Biazza Ridge/ Sicily scenario. they dont look as good as yours do, though! thanks for the proof of life :) we were all starting to worry!
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve, I appreciate it man! Sicily, eh? I dig it! And get outta here about not looking as good as mine; I'm just going by the old Soviet maxim: quantity has a quality all its own ;) And yeah, I'm still kickin', just a lot going on in 'real life.'
DeleteV/R,
Jack
Hello Jack,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you are back. Been busy here for the last week so catching up on blog posts only now. These all look great and I am amazed at how fast you can churn out quality painted figures. It was only 6? 8? months ago you showed off all those 15mm and were supposed to play a game with them :-) Not go and get more minis and paint them! Have you settled on some rules yet? I will hopefully get through the rest of your recent blog posts soon. I see I have Aussies to look forward to looking over.
Hey buddy, good to 'see' you, hope all is well with you and the family. Yeah, I finished up a bunch of 15mm troops, then just kept right on going... There are two issues: first, I get my normal, megalomaniacal campaign impulses, and when that happens I always get the 'one more force' dynamic that keeps me painting rather than gaming. The other issues is rules; I've messed around a little bit, but I still haven't found anything I'm happy with.
DeleteThe issue is I want to play 'big battles,' probably a reinforced brigade (per side) on the table, with one stand = one company, and I want to play it with my boys (now ages 12 and 7), so I need the rules to be fast and simple. I've been looking at Rapid Fire Reloaded, O Group, Field of Battle WWII, Blitzkrieg Commander, a modified version of Fistful of Lead, and have done some reading of reviews for Battlefront WWII (not Flames of War, the actual "Battlefront" rules) and Command Decision Test of Battle.
They all have their appealing points, and the issue isn't that my boys wouldn't understand how to play any of them (with some guidance from me as an umpire), but the issue is that each additional layer of complexity is slowing the game down, and they just don't have the attention span to go 3 to 3+ hours.
So, I continue painting and reading/tinkering with rules.
V/R,
Jack
Good luck on your search for rules. I know I have never found any that I could really get into. The only other suggestions I could have is why not 5Core Brigade Commander - I seem to remember you playing that in the past. If you want simple but good rules, ones I have played (and liked) and am seriously thinking of giving them a go again (and I am *this close* to playing with them) is Pz8 WW2 rules. There is a few rules riffed off the same mechanic, one for Brigade sized battles. Search google for Pz8 Two Pages Wargaming Rules Collection. It goes to boardgamegeek The PDF has about 8-10 rulesets in it. Even Martin Rapier has used them and likes them, so it is not just me.
DeleteThe only other ones that you haven't listed that I think may be worth considering for "not too complex or too long a game' is Fistful of TOWS or Look Sarge no Charts WW2. The latter I actually got out a month ago as I really would like to play it. It is still on the desk next to me).
As I said at the start - good luck finding rules. All the one you list, as you say, all have really good points.
Shaun,
DeleteThanks man, it's really been frustrating. 5Core Brigade Commander is a good game in its own right, but now what I'm looking for.
That is a great point about the Pz8 rules, I've actually got them, as well as the KISS Rommel (with variants for Blitzkrieg, Eastern Front, and NW Europe). You cracked me up, throwing Martin in to lend yourself credibility! You've got plenty of credibility brother, you and Martin are both fantastic wargamers! I used the Pz8 Air Combat rules a couple times, back with my aborted 'Hakuna-Matata Wars' campaign.
I actually have 'Look Sarge, No Charts,' too, and that's not what I'm looking for. I don't have FFoT, I've only read reviews, batreps, and the pared-down introductory set, and I don't think that's what I'm looking for. I've also got Spearhead, but there's not way I'm doing written orders with these little monkeys ;) And sorry, don't mean to 'poo-poo' everything, I appreciate the recommendations.
I've started thinking back to the first games I played with Nikki for Operation Jupiter. I used 5Core Company Command, but swapped out it's activation system for Bolt Action's activation system. It was pretty quick, but I still worry that I need something quicker. What slows it down is the (realistic) pin and suppression effects; with a straightforward activation system (only a shade slower than IGO-UGO, and a helluva lot more fun, in my humble opinion), the only thing slowing us down is all the pinning and suppressing and units falling back and the time it takes to rally them and get them back in the fight. The obvious answer is to make combat deadlier, either killed or not killed.
Goodness I hate that idea, but I need to make things quicker. Keeping the boys focused for longer than 90 minutes is... interesting.
V/R,
Jack
Hello Jack,
DeleteNo offense taken - I was just shooting some rule ideas that may or not fir what you are looking for. I agree with your sentiment - I think you will not find 60-90 minutes rules for large actions that suit what you want without simplifying combat results away from yours (and mine) comfort zone. With my 3x4 square games I got rid of pinning as a result. It was so hard to do! I also tried automatic removal of suppression after a turn (as a few rules do that) but just could not do it :-) Good luck!
Gotcha, and thanks man!
DeleteV/R,
Jack