Western Desert - The Shawaddywaddy Wadi

I haven't posted anything here for a long time. Since my last post I've played one game of O Group but that was an intro game where I introduced the game to a friend using the Attack on Christo scenario from the rule book. A few other games have been cancelled for various reasons but last week I managed to get a game happening.

The battlefield was pretty bare. The Commonwealth forces were deployed amongst the ridge on the east and the DAK were attacking from the Shawaddywaddy Wadi to the west. In between was a small village. I played the British and, my opponent Michael, played the Germans.

The village was divided into three Build Up Areas (BUA). Each BUA could hold one platoon. The dice on the roof of the larger building determined when the sun would rise. The first two turns were in the pre-dawn. Maximum visibility was 18" and all targets were considered obscured. At the end of turn 2 the dice would be rolled. The sun would rise on a 6 for turn 2, a 5 for turn 3, etc... Until the sun rose.

The German start line was the Shawaddywaddy Wadi. 

Still in darkness the German lead elements along with reconnaissance and scouts moved from their starting positions and advanced towards the village.

From the east my own scouts were attempting to get into the village in order to deploy troops. Unfortunately I lost that race. 

While the pre-dawn darkness remained the lead DAK forces managed to get a toe hold in the village as British scouts managed to infiltrate the eastern parts. 

The sun rose early (a 6 was rolled at the end of turn 2 - we decided that or the German attack must have been late getting off their mark). With fighting in the streets of the village both sides brought up armoured support. The German recon had the opportunity to either retreat or fight it out with the British armour. Foolishly they decided to try and shoot it out.

A mortar stonk now fell on the DAK troops in the western section of the village whilst my brave lads now took the 3rd BUA and poured fire onto a platoon of The Bosch approaching from the other side. The Crusader troop took aim at the German armoured cars and blew the entire platoon to pieces in the centre of the town. They should have chosen the retreat option. 

The second Bosch platoon now tried an unsuccessful assault on the 3rd BUA and were repulsed. An attempt to rally them saw them fall back even further. The German assault was getting bogged down.

Hearing reports of DAK armour approaching the village from the west the men of 7th Armoured Div were directed to move out an take them on! The German armour, a troop of panzer III's opened fire on the Crusaders but to no effect as their shots went wide of their targets.

A German platoon advanced on low ridge in the centre of the table edge opposite the village. To counter them I deployed a platoon of infantry with a supporting Vickers machinegun section.

With supporting mortar fire, a fresh DAK platoon moved in and once again assaulted the 3rd BUA - This time with much greater success.

My brave chaps were thrown out of their positions with heavy losses (only one section remaining). 

An artillery stonk came down on the Crusaders. The tanks were not damaged but were forced back to the road.

The Infantry in the town were also caught in the barrage, They were hit hard and they too were forced to retreat away from the barrage.

It was time for a counter attack. A troop of little Honey light tanks, supported by a platoon of infantry, advanced onto the field. They attempted to shoot up the panzer III's in the flank but were unsuccessful. 

At the same time the Crusaders once again advanced and shelled the village. The platoon that was forced to retreat managed to rally and came in to support the tanks. A platoon and a second Vickers section also poured fire into the village.

Unfortunately, a second platoon of of Pz III's drove up and took up hull down positions on the lip of the wadi. They exchange fire with the Honey's with the result being one section destroyed and the other badly damaged. At the same time a second German artillery strike fell on the Crusader troop and their infantry support forcing them back again; this time with some damage.

With all the British armour now retreating or suppressed the German armour moved out of the cover of the wadi. Meanwhile the other Pz III troop sat back and poured HE into the troops on the ridge behind the village.

Mortars hit the British line forcing one of the crusader troops to abandon their vehicle (this isn't specified in the rules but they took damage and were destroyed. Mortars can't really destroy tanks so we thought they must have had enough shelling and decided to abandon their vehicles).

I had a couple of units waiting in ambush and they now came into play and took on the panzer III's coming out of the wadi. A pair of 2pdr anti-tank guns (one a portee and the other a static gun). Both guns scored direct hits on their targets but the superior German armour just shrugged off both hits. 

At this time I forgot to keep taking photos. What happened?

The village was squarely in German hands. Michael consolidate his 3rd company in the village and set up an assault on the ridge behind. The troops there had been pounded by HE for a couple of turns and were in a bad way. The British C company came in as support and got hit with heavy casualties from the HE shelling.

The German armour in the centre continued to advance and my 2pdr guns shot them repeatedly and never once hit them again. My A company was almost completely wiped out and my B company did barely anything other than hold their positions. 

By the time we finished I was almost up to 3 FUBAR's and Michael was on 1 FUBAR. My troops were in a bad way and the only option left for the British was to retreat.

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It was a good game after such a long time. I didn't get the win but it was good to lay out the table and put models on it again. This is the first time I've put my desert forces on the table since I rebased them for O Group. I think the overall set up looked good.

P.S: In case you're wondering... Here's a link to how I made my desert table mat: Desert Mat

Western Desert Force Re-Basing

The rebasing continues and it's taking a lot of time. The reason for this is because I found that I didn't have as many troops painted as I thought I had. And the reason for that is because I shifted from playing Battlegroup to Chain of Command and I only needed a platoon plus a few extras to play CoC so I just didn't paint as many figures.

So I've had to paint a whole bunch of figures and, in many cases buy more figures which takes time (either waiting for open days at Eureka or waiting for the post). As it is, I've now finished the basic companies for most of my Germans and all of my British. There are still gaps that I could fill and I will, at sometime in the future.

Last night I finished my Western Desert Force/8th Army. They are 100% AB figures. Some of them are the very first AB 8th Army figures sold. When they were released at Little Wars, Melbourne I had my own display game so I was able to pick them up from Nic at Eureka before the place opened for business. I took them home painted them and put them on Facebook the next day. The first ones in the world!

Heavy Weapons: 3" mortars and Boys AT Rifles. I forgot to put out the Vickers MMG's when I was taking these photos but I have two of them painted and another unpainted.

The commanders are from the AB Allied Commander set. I just desertified them a bit.

Going through their transport today I found that I have a bunch of Universal Carriers that are/were for a carrier section. I'll have to get a few more of them as well as enough figures to fill out a carrier platoon. I have a bunch of painted Esci plastic's that can stand in for the time being.

DAK Re-Base.

Continuing with the re-basing of my figures, the next lot in line are my DAK or Afrika Korps. I had enough figures to convert the lot into a battalion with one exception: I seem to have lost an LMG group somewhere along the line so I painted up a new one.

I pretty much have all the figures needed for most of their support too. In the photo below are 2 MMG bases, 2 AT Rifle bases, 2 mortar bases, FOO +kubelwagon, a sniper and Battalion HQ with a heavy car. If I want I could replace the HQ with an SdKfz 250/3.

The infantry are a curious mix. The majority are AB, with a healthy bunch of Simon's Soldiers (unfortunately these figures seem to gone from their catalogue) there are also some plastics in there from ESCI/Italeri and some PSC late German's converted with the very simple, yet tried and trusted "Paint Conversion" method!

To add to the mix I also have a Pioneer Platoon that can have either a Mine Clarence option or a Flame Thrower for an assault role. The are about 90% AB.

Motorcycles. I did these for Battlegroup and what I have pretty makes up a motorcycle section and/or dispatch riders. For 'O' Group I want a company. Luckily this will be pretty easy to achieve. I've been doing some research and number crunching and the numbers I came up with mean that all I need are two more motorcycle/sidecar combos and a pair of kubelwagons (or heavy cars). I already have the cars and I also have two unmade m/c combos. Dismounted figures is more of an issue as I'll need six LMG teams (12 Figures) and three rifle teams (9 figures). In game I figure I can use them as either Recce or treat them like Panzergrenadiers when they dismount. The single motorcycles will go to BHQ.

So that's what I have in the way of DAK. The infantry side is pretty much complete. Looking at them I figure I could add a shed-load of LMG's and pretty much turn them into a panzergrenadier regiment which would be nice for some big games. (I'd need another 27 LMG stands to do that!... Who makes individual 20mm DAK LMG figures?)

And that's what I've been doing. I'm now on to their opponents in the Western Desert Force. I only have two companies painted and a bunch of metal that got put away last year when I lost interest during our lockdown. One of the finished companies I have is plastic and not very good. I have enough metal AB figures to finish another company but I'll be visiting Eureka on Friday so I can pick up enough to finish off the battalion. I'll still use the plastics but they'll be diverted into the carrier platoon/company/whatever.

All Sorts (Except Licorice)

Greetings folk,

I've been making all sorts of stuff lately. A few buildings for Europe and the desert, I finished painting my BEF platoon and I've made a few models. There are some other things I've completed but these are the ones I have for posting today.

These desert houses are made of 5mm cork sheet. I like this material for making basic buildings like these because it has a nice texture that sits well. It's also pretty easy to work with. These buildings are very basic and I plan to make quite a few more that will (I hope) become a bit more complex as I become more adventurous.

These buildings are from Plasticraft. I ordered a bunch of these last year and made a pretty nice little town with little effort. These two were left over just because I had enough and I got a bit sick of painting them. So they have been sitting there making me feel guilty ever since. But now they're painted and they'll be on the table pretty soon.

 The back of the  roofs come off so that you can place troops inside on various levels.

Little Brits - So I've almost finished my BEF Platoon. For now this is all the infantry I need, which is enough for a basic game using CoC or Battlegroup. However, I'm waiting on some more figures for the command section to finish it off. I also have a Lewis Gun team, a Boys AT rifle and 2" mortar half painted. I think I also have a Vickers MMG coming with the command group.

This is a 1pdr AT gun. They were actually 25mm French pieces that the BEF borrowed to make up for shortages. I'll also be able to use this with the French when they arrive (and they are on order!).

 Some more support - A sniper and Rifle Grenade.

And some German recce to give those BEF lads a hard time. Not a bad little model from a Polish company. It was supposed to have the funker aerials on top which proved to be a real pain because the struts to hold it up were so delicate they just snapped when I tried to cut them off the sprue. Same with the main gun (which is a replacement).

And some SdKfz 251 halftracks. These are the Italeri quick-make kit with two in the box. Sandy coloured. painted for Tunisia and beyond, they can also stand in for basic desert vehicles. I'm not a purist. I paint my models to get the widest use out of them. As long as they're not green in the desert or Caunter Scheme in 1940 France, I'm okay with it.

And lastly... This stuff. This is cobbled road on thick card. It looks okay but it's too neat for my liking. It's for railway layouts. I'm not sure what to do with it. I bought it a while back for some reason. I suppose I can stick in on to thicker card or maybe even give it a backing of gaffer tape. That is a possibility because gaffer tape might lend it a degree of flexibility over time.

There's a lot more of it than appears in the pic. Maybe I should get to taping.