A tale of three books.....

 

This is not a good, bad and ugly type review. Just some reflections on what I have been reading recently. 

The first of the three is James Holland's Savage Storm. I have read possibly all of his books. I have enjoyed them all and some of them have improved my knowledge immensely. I found this one a different kettle of fish. I don't think this is the fault of the author. Some things ticked me off very quickly from the incongruous 1907 bayonet on the cover to the number of barrels on a nebelwerfer (one page says five and the next six, either or both could be correct). What I found most difficult was the the lack of a clear narrative. The constant diversion into individual's personal histories made it difficult to follow the story. The writing is fine, I think the problem is the editing. I think I'll get Cassino from the library. 

I watched a WW2 TV episode with the author of this book. It looks at the beliefs and attitude of the German soldier on the eastern front through their letters home. An interesting book, pretty much on the academic side. If you have read the works of Omar Bartov, Michael Burleigh, Christopher Browning (or even Daniel Goldhagen, but I'm not intending to start a debate on that one), then this is a valuable addition to the story. Nice to have 50+ pages of footnotes!   

I got this for my birthday. A fictionalised memoir of a Churchill tank troop commander. Written in 1957, I have no idea how this escaped my attention for so long. A great read and a really useful perspective on war fighting in NW Europe. 

So, that's the end of book club for this week. More to follow in due course.

Sam Mustapha's Eisenhower

Mr Steel's initial overview of these new rules from Sam Mustafa is really good and well worth your attention.

I have to say that these rules have awakened me from recent slumbers. Having heard news of their development I checked out the introduction videos on Sam's website. 

I don't have any of Sam's other rules. I have pondered them over the years but have not adopted them. They are obviously very good rules, concise, complete and integrated. Everything that you need is built in. I think that is one of the reasons for my not getting into them. I am not a rules as written person and I much prefer something that can be hacked.

This is the difference with Eisenhower. It is a corps level game which gives great scenerio possibilities, Op Epsom is covered in the rules. Units are battalion, initiative is by division. The combat rules are very simple (just roll some dice, unlike the complex table in Rommel). It is played on a square grid (12 by 8), which could just as easily be a hex grid. It can be played with miniatures of any scale or using counters. Therefore it is very hackable. 

I have purchased the POD version via Amazon. As Mr Steel comments, the paper and the binding are poor. PODs can be produced with far better quality than this. However, the layout of the book, diagrams and illustrations are great. Pity it wasn't on nice heavy shiney paper like Helion does.

Nice wings comrade!

 

Another quick Zvezda diversion, a 1/144 LaGG 3, Pre-war colours to match the red leather outfits and the pointy hats with red stars on them. They were hastily scrubbed over with green paint at oubreak of war in 1941. The cowling, air intake, cockpit frame and stabilisers were in red brown undercoat (957 Flat Red), fuselage and wings are silver grey (989 Sky Gey). Elevators in bare metal (997 Silver) and rudder in red (817 Scarlet). I like the flat metal plates on the fuselage to stop the exhausts from setting fire to the pilot.

The LaGG 3 was a bit of a dog, so probably a good job that Lavochkin ditched his co-designers at this point.

I need more tanks!

 

Well, of course, what I really mean is that I fancy buying some more tanks. In this case, some nice 6mm WW2 tanks. The plan is to have a small OHW hex game using some 6mm troops and my 80mm hexes. To illustrate, this picture shows two old (mid-1980s) Pz IVHs from H&R. I'll be using the OHW scenarios set in mid-1943 Eastern Front. 

The question is, which manufacturer should I go for? An influencing factor is that I have small but reasonable selection of H&R tanks plus a far too large number of old Leicester Micromodels Tiger Is! It would be easy to add to this from H&R again.

There are variations between manufacturers in materials (metal, 3d print), size (6mm vs 1/285), packaging (single models or packs of several), crispness of finish and mould quality. There is also a wide range of prices. A rough survey of prices per vehicle (using the Churchill or proxy as the sample vehicle) shows:

GHQ: £2.26

PSC: 2.00

2d6: £1.20

Baccus: £1.46

BPM: £0.89

Irregular: £0.88

Scotia: £0.85

H&R: £0.75

Phew! As much as I fancy GHQ they are outside my price range. I'm still thinking H&R but I'm open to suggestions.

No longer a mystery!

 

Some valiant guesses but my map remained enigmatic to say the least. Top of the map is North. The sandy coloured road is the main route from Belgorod to Oboyan. Tomarovka is in the bottom left hand corner. So, despite looking misleadingly mountainous, this is the southern flank of the battle of Kursk and is the latest incarnation of the Steel, Steel, Steel! design.

The German unit with the British 25pdrs is the 57th Infantry Division, part of Army Detachment Kempf. According to the Dupuy Institute data, they had 8 87.6mm Howitzer (e), otherwise known as 25pdrs. I don't know the source of these but possibly Dunkirk rather than N Africa.

I have often wondered what happened to the kit abandoned in 1940. I have read, and seen photos, of Bren carriers in use by the Germans on the Eastern Front. Captured from the British or the Soviets? There is also an interesting German flamethrower unit armed with British MkIV cruiser gun tanks. Everyday is a school day!  

A mystery map?

 

No prizes, but can you see what it is yet? Playtest map, under plexi so a bit blurry. I started this project in 2013 but I aim to finish it in the next couple of months.

Here is a clue, one German division in this battle had an artillery battalion with 8 25pdrs!

Cheeky Cromwell

 

A quick and fun build of a Cromwell from my Christmas stash (Airfix 1/76). Very pleased with it. A bit big for my 80mm hexes but still usable.

Reading around the subject of Cromwells while I was modelling I was interested to learn that the very large 17pdr Challenger variant was actually lower in height than a Sherman (2.77m to, say, 3m). I always imagined it as the same size as barn, so I am quite interested in seeing if there is a 1/76 Challenger available.

BTW many projects are in various stages so I'm planning to post a few updates this month.

Ooh shiny!

 

Well, once again Norm has helped me spend my pocket money. And very well spent it is too. 

Norm posted about Velikie Luki by Legion Games back in December. This is, to be honest, one of my favourite battles alongside Quatre Bras, amongst others. This is largely due to the close run natiure of the situation. I have very fond memories of the GDW game White Death from the the 1970s which treated the battle at battalion level. It featured use of impulses and also used one of the best ever battalion level combat systems. This is the sort of system that creates narrative. 

From a game played forty years ago, I still recall the massive Soviet artillery barrage that failed to hit a fortification hex, a Soviet infantry regiment being cut to pieces by a German battalion supported by a 20mm FLAK battalion, an artillery unit of 3rd Mountain Division abandoning their guns and evading the advancing Soviets to reach thier own lines. As you can tell, I played the Germans in that one.

Despite a reasonably sized map, it came with 400+ half inch counters. Even setting up the game would be challenging now, actually I have nowhere to put it!

For some time I had had my eye on the Vae Victis issue with their Vilikye Louki game but Norm's review swayed me. Interestingly enough, I ordered the game from the US. It arrived very quickly. Although the shipping exceeeded the cost, it was well worth the final price.

I recommend Norm's review for a complete picture of the game. The points that are important to me are that the map is small, the rules are short and there are 64 counters all in. The rules are straight out of the Jim Dunnigan wargames design book which means that the game is the thing, not figuring out how to play it.

Needless to say there are many other projects on the go. The problem is finding time to get on with them!

Tempest completed!

 

Well, a little later than expected but here is the completed 1/144 scale Tempest V. As you can see, not a perfect paint job but I'm really pleased with it. It looks better in daylight from a distance. I'm looking forward to some ground support in NW Europe!

On the modelling side of things, I built up a little stash over Xmas from the Aldi Airfix offer. I have a Spitfire, P40 and a Cromwell tank. I'm really impresed with these modern kits, so much better than I recall from the 1960s. Almost 1/48 scale detail in 1/72. So impressed have I been that I went out to find a Bf109 E.

I tracked one down at The Railway Conductor model shop in the depths of the countryside. Not actually the depths, 15 minutes or so from where I live. An interesting shop, it is in an old barn where we used to take the kids to see new born lambs many years ago. Worth a visit. The countryside is also worth a look, the finest rolling countryside not in Devon!

Having rediscovered the joys of scale modelling, I will return to the subject in the near future once I have got on with some other projects.

Primer power!

 

Continuing the theme of poor photography and diversionary activity, here is a 1/144 Revell Tempest. Bought ten years ago to encourage my children to enjoy sniffing glue and cutting their fingers, I found that the canopy was missing. I filled in a form on line and a replacement canopy eventually arrived. In the meantime, I had used an Airfix Spitfire for educational purposes.

So I have had this chap sitting around dusty and unpainted for a long time. I finally had the urge to finish it off. A quick brush, clean, sand and prime. Unpainted, the Tempest looked quite uninviting. However, two coats of Vallejo primer and it starts looking very nice. RAF day fighter colours here we come.

 

Lift off...

 

The Fairey Battle is completed at last! I am very pleased with it. I have been learning some scale modelling tricks on this one. It is a lot more complicated than it used to be in the olden days. You might detect some panel lining (even tho its not really a panel lining sort of kit). I have also used Vallejo Decal Fix. Even Captain Beefheart couldn't get these decals off!

I have also done some research on colours. This is K9353 from 218 Sqdn in 1940. Painted in bomber scheme with black undersides and Dark Green/Earth upper sides. I used Vallejo 894 Cammo Olive Green and 921 English Uniform. It looks OK to me, even if a little dark.

I found a couple of useful resources:

• an on line copy of British Aviation Colours of WWII which gives the official RAF instructions on colour schemes and also includes facsimile colour chips;
• a site dedicated to Luftwaffe Camouflage Schemes, this includes some excellent diagrams showing the development of scehemes over time with RLM colour references. 

Over Xmas I also got a Spitfire, P40 and Cromwell from the Aldi's range of Airfix starter kits. These kits are really nice and I'm looking forward to making them. Panel lining here we come!