WW1 A7V German tank in Manchester

Went out to the Sapporo Japanese restaurant in Manchester and decided to walk the meal off in the next door Manchester Museum of Science & Industry and very interesting it was too. However we were surprised to find an A7V German tank just outside the Power Hall and in very good condition. It is of course a replica but very impressive.
Some details about the A7V here
http://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/detail.asp?armor_id=279




A video of the A7V at Tankfest 2009 is here
http://filmpanzer.squarespace.com/journal/2009/6/30/replica-german-a7v-makes-the-rounds-at-tankfest-2009.html

Quickstitch saved my jeans

OK nothing to do with wargaming but I thought I would share.
I noticed that change was falling out of my pocket and sure enough it had a hole in it, Since my sewing skills are almost non-existent, I looked online for a repair service. For £7.99 Quickstitch put a reinforcement on the bottom of my pocket and got the jeans back to me in 3 days (the return postage is included in the price). Saved me money and effort, full marks and recommended.
URL
http://www.quickstitch.co.uk/

First Game of Clash of Empires rules

One game played so far of Clash of Empires (CoE) ancients rules. We played Imperial Romans vs a Gallic army.
I found choosing an army easy and good. Core choices are the standard troop types for an army and for every core choice you pick you can have either a support or skirmish choice - there might be specific limitations you have on those.
Units are limited in size to a specific range of numbers in a unit. All this limits what you can choose and to me makes for more sensible army selection.

Choosing terrain, looks to me like tables would be very full of terrain.

Game play, manoeuvring easier than in Field of Glory, I would quickly get used to it.

Shooting, did not seem that bad. Since only the front rank of skirmishers fire at full effect (the rest at half effect) it is not as bad as it was under WAB. Pila are used as a shooting weapon just before combat (just like my rules) not terribly effective in the main, I think my Gauls took a wound about 50% of the time.

Combat, only really between legionaries and warband and the legionaries got beaten. Reason, the Gauls get 50% bonus for their attacks because they are charging, the Romans get only the front rank fighting (because they have been charged) and no expert swordsmen rule (only in 2nd round of combat). And this is the biggy because it is IGoUGo the warband gets to hit first and those figures they kill will not fight back. I did not like the effect and I think it is because that charging warband has too many advantages. To my mind a significant change would be to allow as default all combat to be simultaneous (perhaps there need to be exceptions to this) because giving bonuses for charging and letting the chargers kill enemy without reply makes them too damn good. So thats the biggy, remember only one games experience.

Blitzkrieg Commander Germans vs US

OK we experimented last night with an attacker/defender game. Scenario 2 in the book, 2000 points of late war Germans against 3000 points of (very) late war US (including M26 tanks and naval gunfire support).
In the game the US forces have to capture an objective within 8 turns whilst the defenders are dug-in and invisible until they either open fire or the attackers are within 20cm of them.
Sorry the pictures are not up to the usual standard, I used my phone camera for these.
View of the game, US paratroopers are moving through the woods on the left with the defending Germans set up in the road using the hedges as cover


Close up on the paratroopers


Centre of the German line, with the objective the small green field behind the hedges


On the left M26 tanks crush the German line

The game was won by the US forces on turn 5, simply by the Germans being slaughtered. IMHO a better defence would be groups of units in strongpoints rather than strung out in a line. Also better to have German infantry well in front, supported behind by longer range weapons.
The dug in units were hard to hit (needing 6's) but because we used the optional 'keep the wounds on' rule a unit could be hit over a number of turns and gradually 'killed', it would have given the defenders a slight advantage if excess wounds had been removed. No problem with length of game, it was over by 9pm (started at 7.30pm).
15mm BKC is obviously a hit at CACK probably because of the visual appeal of the models but it also is a very balanced game. We had been playing with 6mm but I think that players will be moving up to 15mm and we are buying some more terrain (including bunkers) to give a few more options.

Photos from Triples 2011 - Marlburian battle

At the Triples last weekend I came across this big battle of Oudenaarde run by the Grimsby Wargames Society. I thought I would share, apparently there are WF figures in these pics but where I could not say. Lovely chaps, the rules they were using were home made and they had a pile to hand out to anyone interested.

These are 1200 pixels wide pics so if you want the big version just click on them to get the big version of the picture. They have been reduced from 4000 pixels wide.

These are smaller pictures

Carthaginian project

For the next Toy Soldier tournament (Manchester 23-24th July) I have decided to use a Carthaginian army. One of the advantages of Carthaginians is that they tended to use mercenaries from other nations, so if you have armies of that period then you use those figures rather than buying new. So most of the army I have already got. But there is one troop type unique the the army, Libyan mercenaries so I am going to have to do a couple units of those for the army. Like most people who live around the Mediterranean, the skin colour would be dark but not as dark as central Africans. Clothing I have assumed as fairly simple, I think the main reason that the Carthaginians employed those soldiers is that they would be cheaper than using Greek mercenaries (cost-benefit was an important part of war for the Carthaginians).

Now one wrinkle was that I wanted to see if the Wargames Factory plastic Numidians could be made up to look like spear armed close order infantry. They were made for skirmishing infantry but there were enough bits on the sprues to make a stab at close order infantry and so it proved. After a few efforts I found the best looking option was a helmeted head, two arms held close to the body (one for the shield and one for the spear). There are 4 different body variants in a set, two of these made a good spearman and the others could be made into spearmen at a pinch.

My first step was to build the figures in the movement trays. I do it this way to make sure that the units will rank up when formed. Each unit was 20 figures strong with leader, musician and standard bearer but I also made up a couple of spares as well for just in case. The white stuff around the plastic bases is flocking gel which I left to dry out overnight.

Once the figures were assembled the next thing was to put the figures (which have magnetic bases) onto a 'stick' of heavy card faced with steel paper, that allows the figures to be sprayed with primer without being touched.

you can even spray them upside down

Close up on the figures after spraying

Then after spraying. I decided to go for a dirty white shield using my own transfers (a large horse head designed by Kit Burroughs). The rank and file are dressed in unbleached linen tunics, the officer in red. For the next unit I think I will use grey and dirty white (inspired by the film Gladiator). I also decided on iron helmets, rather than bronze. Iron was in general use in the period so should be cheaper to make, if more difficult and the helmet would be stronger. The figures were varnished with Ronseal varnish with a touch of brown paint to give a bit of shading. In the shields I used plain (non-coloured) varnish before applying the transfers. Then at the end the whole of the figure was then varnished with a brush-on matt varnish.

And view from the rear

And who noticed that I glued the standard on back to front? Will I did after building the figures but decided to let it ride.

OK second unit coming off the painting table - just painted the bases so they are still wet!

Lessons learned from the first unit; mix up the colours of the tunics and inspired by the film Gladiator I have gone mainly for shades of grey to almost off white. The shields are a red centre, yellow rim and a jolly little white elephant transfer.

I also (because I mix the skin colour) lightened the skin tone and that way the shading in the varnish stands out more.

So from the front

rear view

Thursdays Warmaster Ancients battle Romans vs Ancient British

Steve and I played a 1250 point game of Warmaster last night. Both armies were supplied by Steve and after seeing his Future War Commander figures I was looking forward to seeing these, I was not disappointed.

So Romans vs Ancient British (with me taking the British) lets look at the armies.

Romans

 

And the British army

In the centre the Romans advance against very little opposition. I decided to mass the British on my right flank and overwhelm them

So on the right I move forward more infantry and massed chariots

An attack on the Romans on my right breaks up their formation but at the cost of half the infantry involved. That seems to be the problem with the British, with no save, any combat sees them die like flies.

The Romans counter-attack, attacking from the front and left at the same time. The British were slaughtered but proved a good example to show Steve how the combat rules work.

In the centre the Romans advance over an empty battlefield.

The Brits were demolished, losing 10 entire units of infantry, 30 bases worth. This battle really had the proper flow of a Roman vs barbarian battle. Masses of enemy to start with and a couple of moments where the warbands threatened to overwhelm the Romans but in the end beaten by Roman discipline and superior equipment. Good game.