Devon Wargames, painting, gaming...............

Back again with another load of old crap.

Saturday was the latest gathering of like minds, which is a scary thought,  at the Devon Wargames Group.  Three games were played, 28mm English Civil War, 15mm Napoleonics and 15mm WW2.

Things begin at Marston Moor

Marston Moor was the basis for the ECW game, catering for 8 players and involving much toing and froing.  It looked like a fun game and the players seemed to enjoy shouting at each other.  Look for a report soon on the DWG blog.

Contact in the centre

JJ put on a typically beautiful 15mm Napoleonic game using figures from his ongoing Talavera project.  The rules used were apparently called DBJ, not sure if that's for De Bellis Jon or Death By Jon.  Again the players looked to be having a good game, even if they did get their units a bit mixed up.

JJ's Talavera game

If you want inspiration on what you can do with 15mm figures and some spare time then check out his previous posts about the Talavera project, they are worth looking at.

These are not the gun's your looking for

Brits appear to steady the line

Unhappy Spanish Cavalry

German's advance through the woods

The final game was a 1940 Chain of Command game put on by me.  Four of us played it, Nathan and Christopher took the attacking Germans, Jack commanded the dug-in Highlanders and I took the French.

Each German player had a platoon of infantry (4 squads of 10 men plus a 5cm mortar) plus  2 Pz IIs, 2 Pz 38ts, 2 Sd222s, a tripod MG and an engineer section in support.  The British platoon(3 squads of 8, 2" mortar and Boys AT rifle) were supported by a Vickers MG team and a 2pdr gun while the French Platoon(3 squads of 12) were backed up by a Hotchkiss MG and a mighty 25mm AT gun.  The allies also had a carrier section(3 Bren carriers) and a single Vickers VI light tank as reinforcements. 

Defenders appear in their entrenchments

2pdr appears, not that it did much

French 25mm gun gets hit

The Germans had to break through the defences, but failed miserably.  The Brits were hard hit by the end, with two sections routed and the third pinned down.  All their support was still there though, although the 2pdr had run out of ammo without killing a single enemy vehicle.  The French were in a stronger position, with one squad at half strength and pinned.  The AT gun was slightly battered and the MG was pinned, but the remaining squads weren't even deployed.  The Germans took heavy losses due to remarkably accurate fire from Jack's Highlanders.  It did help that he managed several multiple phases during the game, one time he had 4 in a row!  This really scuppered the German's advance and prevented their infantry from ever getting going.  Low point was Jack's 2pdr firing 10 shots and only damaging a Pz38t once and an Sd222 once.  This was despite hitting on 5+ on 2d6 as they were in the open AND rolling 5d6 against 2 or 4d6 for penetration.  Not good at all, but the Boys AT rifles made up for it.  The infantry one knocked out one Sd222 and kept the other one and both Pz38t's pinned at the edge of the table.  The carrier one fired 2 shots and caused both PzII's to retreat off the table.  Fear the Boys, for it is mighty!  Anyway, the game went well, even if the German's never really got into the fight.

I have managed a bit of painting too, so things are not going too bad.  First things I have done were a couple of 4Ground 15mm terraced buildings that I have based and detailed to improve how they look on the table.  At least that's the plan anyway.  First one was a definite learning experience and took far longer than the second.  The buildings have been painted up to cover the scorch marks from the laser.  They were then attached to a hardboard base with some pavements and back gardens added.  I cut the board too big and was left with some space at the end(measure and check before cutting), so I added a small allotment to fill that.  The walls and fences are 4Ground too, with plants from various sources.  Some are just grass tufts while others are railway modellers scenic bits.  The garden paving is Wills sheets of various types.  they are a bit overscale but look ok and will do.  I think they came out well and will soon be joined by some more as I have many buildings that need doing.

 The second terrace was based on a correctly cut bit of hardboard and has more grass in the gardens.  As I said, it's been a learning experience.  It's been a fun exercise though and will be repeated soon(ish).

 I also managed some 28mm WW2 Germans, a 32 man platoon of Bolt Action plastic figures for eBay.  Got to pay for the MOT on the car, which cost a bit more than we hoped for.

Final things were some entrenched 15mm WW2 British and French infantry.  The figures are all from Skytrex, but the French are really Germans with Peter Pig heads fitted.  Nobody does dug in French troops.

Well that's your lot again.  I am off to paint some more on the French tanks I am doing before calling it a night and going to bed.  Off to Torbay Hospital tomorrow for the op on my stomach, assuming they have found me a bed as I have to stay in for a day or two.  Have fun while I'm offline, I know I won't.