PAPR Tigers

1st Guards Mechanised Brigade - veteran of many an action -
less its armour and other heavy equipment.
The battalions are also shown without their Mortar and Anti-tank Gun Companies.

 One of the attractions of Imagi-Nations is the capacity to create (more or less) historical armies, even use them in familiar environments, but without being too restricted by historical perecedent. In particular, it is hard to refight the entire East Front campaign, especially given the changes in the nature of the respective forces in that war. Given smaller countries, with less than a tithe of the vast prototype armies, gives you the scope for a larger story than can be provided by one-off pick-up and scenario battles.

I Battalion, 1st Guard Mechanised.
  Two rifle companies advance with the SMG platoon, supported by the MMG company.  The Anti-tank Rifle company guards the right flank; the Battalion commander remains with its reserve company ready to exploit success.

One of my Imagi-Nation campaigns goes under the 'working title' Latin Wars, a period of warfare among small Latin-American countries that begins towards the end of World War Two.  One of these countries, formerly called Vespuccia, has shortly brfore overthrown its Dictator government, substituting for it one with a more societal, though nationalistic, programme Certain political commentators called it Socialist, others even Communist (George Orwell, though sceptical in view of his observations concerning the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union, was inclined for the time being to scatter praise upon its social ambitions) yet it managed for several years to fly pretty much under the radar of United States's vigilance (paranoia) concerning such regimes.    Not that the revivified State hid behind any euphemistic appellation: the Pan-Andean People's Republic was exactly as it announced itself to be.

I Battalion, again.

The fact was, this was a populist nation, run by a populist leader, with a populist, and popular, social and economic programme of reform.  It quickly became clear, however, that it's popularity did not extend far beyond its borders, barring a few sympathetic commentators.  Distracted by the World War and the subsequent falling out with the Soviet Union, the USA was at first, however, inclined let the bordering dictatorship of Orotina to bring down this upstart nation.



III Battalion.

The Pan-Andean government found no shortage of volunteers for its armies, as it quickly mobilised  several units for the impending war with Orotina (you can see as how this is going to have a distinctly 'Red Army' look, eh?).  Not that the latter needed any encouragement from the Great Powers.  Expansionist in any case, and casting covetous eyes upon the recently nationalised natural resources President Adolfo-Augusto Ximenez  was inclined to the view that by rights the entire nation of The People's Republic was territoryintegral to the Orotinian State, to be brought under proper government (i.e. his) by force. 

Brigade HQ, 1st Guards Mechanised,
 with the Brigade SMG company and some light trucks.

Calling themselves the Tigers, the early Pan-Andean units gave a good account of themselves in the early fighting along the border as Orotina tested it's opponent's mettle.  Orotinian propaganda expressed contempt for the PAPR Tigers, but this achieved no more than to induce the Pan-Andean volunteers to wear the name with pride.   Orotina was to find that, despite its advantages in equipment and training, they were not going to have things all their own way in the wars that followed...

These pictures show the 1st Guards Mechanised Brigade, less its heavy equipment and armour. 

MMG Company with Airfix MMGs.
  Most of the figures are also Airfix, but the gunner on the right hand one is ESCI

 As these pictures show, some touching up work would not go amiss, it having been eight or nine years since last I painted them and flocked their bases.  They have not travelled as well as they might have done, nor have the earthquakes been very kind (several troops got dumped twice from a great height upon the floor). 

Anti-tank Rifle Company, armed with single shot PTRD anti-tank rifles.

 This brigade features also a mix of Airfix, ESCI and HKKO figures.  HKKO?  Hong Kong Knock-Off.  Mostly ESCI in this Brigade.  I liked the ESCI rifleman figures, but there were really rather too few of them and too few poses (the standing and kneeling firing are very good).   The ESCI MMG is much less crude than the Airfix version, but I much prefer the latter's gunner, sitting behind the weapon.  Pity Airfix did not do the same for its Vickers MMG.

Another pic of III Battalion, 1st Gds Mech Bde.
  A mix of ESCI and Hong Kong knock-offs.
  Some of the latter have pins substituting for their SMGs

 I also found the ESCI and the HKKO figures nicer to paint.  The Airfix chaps were marred by flash difficult to remove. 

SMG Coy, First Gds Mech Bde.  These are Airfix.
  The rather munted helmet worn by the officer figure probably ought to have something done about it...

Of course, this is just a small part of the PAPR army.  I still have to sort through the Tank Brigade, the three Rifle Brigades, plus assorted security and border companies, and special units that make up the whole force...

Klimenti Voroshilov...



First Heavy Battalion: HQ plus a company each of KV1 and KV2
All Fujimi models

Having recently seen on the Plastic warrior blogspot a model of a KV2, I bethought myself that perhaps I ought to go back over my stuff, photograph it, post it on my blog.  Not so much to show off my stuff (there's that, of course), but also as a reminder of where I'm at.   Yes, well.

The KV1 company. 

The two tanks comprising the KV1 Company (if using Command Decision rules; Platoon, if using Panzer Marsch), I bought only a few years ago.  These days I don't 'do' decals, preferring to paint the numbers on if I can.  It looks as though I have skimped on the weathering... haven't done any in fact.  The tank was identified on the Fujimi pack as KV1-A 'Late Type', whatever that means...

KV2 Company

 The lead KV2 I built some time in the 1970s.  It had a moulding fault on the rear turret hatch (munted hinge), obviously has taken a large calibre hit there.  At any rate, that vehicle has seen a bit of  climate, by the look...  The other was built at the same time as the my new KV1s.

Battalion Command

The Battalion Command Tank was built early 1977, way back in my pre-numbering days.  It is interesting to compare this vehicle with the next picture.  Something of an orphan, this latter vehicle, an ESCI KV1-C (KV1-S),  at 1:72 scale is noticeably larger than the 1:76 Fujimi types.  A fine model, but doesn't 'fit' very well with the others.

Now the modified versions.  A local modeller, one who likes things 'just so', has developed a line of adaptive pieces for modifying models that seem to require a bit of tweaking.  Some of these can result, withal, into completely different vehicles.  Here is the Heavy Battalion, completely re-equipped with KV85 tanks.


First Heavy Tank Battalion on manoeuvres in their new KV85 tanks

 The hulls are precisely those in the earlier pictures.  The turrets are resin, and come in two parts (I think), the main turret being mounted upon a resin ring identical to the plastic kit's ring.  The guns I've made from cotton bud (Paul of Plastic Warrior uses chup-a-chup stick, but I keep those for ships' masts...).  Boring a hole into the gun mantlet, I insert a piece of matchstick or toothpick, and jam the cotton bud (trimmed to length with the buds removed) onto it.  Seems to work.

First Heavy Battaion advancing in wedge formation -
one they will probably never use in actual battle...

The gun barrels are noticably fatter than those of the Airfix T34/85, but in my view the Airfix guns are far too thin anyhow.  Soon, my own T34s will be upgunned with cotton buds...

Plastic Prussians ... Again....

At last, but not finally, it seems, I have flocked the bases of my Plastic Prussians.

A small Grenadier Battalion (2/9 Pomeranian) and 3 Line
Infantry Regiments in the first line; 3 Landwehr units in the second.

Their appearance is much improved thereby, but, having taken a number of pictures, I am forced to admit there's plenty of touching up to do.

A Frenchman's eye view of advancing Prussian infantry

But I think the time is rapidly approaching in which a Prussian corps will strike at some outlying French force, just to chance their arm.

Plastic Prussians

It is always sad, I think, to see an army being abandoned by its owner.  Whether sold or ditched, clearly this army is now superfluous to requirements, and is worth less than whatever its owner may fetch for it, even if that is no more than freed shelf space.




For a number of reasons, a friend was divesting himself of between three and four hundred plastic Napoleonics, about 150 Prussian infantry, almost as many French foot, 60-odd horse and a couple of guns. 







I gather he was going the 15mm route (in keeping with a locally grown rule set in use for a current campaign).  At any rate, rather than see perfectly good troops heading for the tip, I took them on.  At once the French went to a new home, as you will see if you look at the 'Fist Full of Plastic' blogspot in the side panel to the right of this screen.  Meanwhile, I thought to look at the Prussians, not my favorite Napoleonic army, it has to be said,  but I already have a considerable Austrian army, and the beginnings of a Russian, not to mention a small British expeditionary force...

Well, they could do with a tidy-up, sure.  Successive earthquakes over the last 18 months an more had not been kind to these fellows, but they also had the look of a rush job to get them onto the table - an objective stymied by having to find accommodation in a house that wasn't broken  (Barry lucked out a bit there, having found a place with a sleep out that could be modified into a games room).   

Laying the stands out in groups of 6 in no particular order gave a picture of considerable 'unit character', no bad thing at all.  But the 2x2-figure bases need some work just to get them into a consistent size and shape and compatible with my own bases.  It seemed to me, too, that the overall effect was rather sombre.  These guys needed a little livening up.

Rather more than half way through the refurbishing process, and I think reasonable progress has been made in that direction.   First off,  I had to replace some of the bases as being too small.  I didn't want to mount the smaller base onto a larger, as that would have led to a different kind of inconsistency I didn't want.

I also found a few Frenchmen - including an eaglebearer - among the herrenvolk, and culled them out.  As it happened, I didn't get them all, and a few remain.  I am not all that unhappy about it, though, as wearing bits of enemy uniform were not unknown in any army. 

I also tried draughting them into Line and Landwehr units, with a 'left over' group forming a Grenadier battalion: the 2nd/9th (Pomeranian) Grenadiers.  The line and grenadier units received new flags (courtesy of the warflags site, in my view the go-to place for the wargames vexillologist).  A couple of the Landwehr units received white trousers, pants or breeches; the rest got a rather lighter grey than formerly.  The shakos received a white band around the top, and the Landwehr headgear (except for the Silesian shakos) a band above the peak in the unit colour.

The plumes of this small (16-figure) unit were made from cotton bud.  None too securely attached, I have no doubt that the plumes will disappear and gradually the shakos will be end up 'wrapped in black oilskin'.  Nor, as you see, are the units of consistent size otherwise: 4 of 24 and 2 of 20 making up 7 battalions (regiments) in all.

In building up my armies, I like every unit to have an identity, even if it's just a number.   I've never really cottoned to 'generic' units that can be 'anything' although that doesn't stop me enlisting this or that unit to 'stand in' for a completely different one when the situation demands (such as in historical refights).  The flags are chosen accordingly, although in this army, the Landwehr units lack these colourful additions.  Instead, I have identified them by uniform colour, and the differencing conventions adopted in the post 1806 Prussian army.

Breakthrough at San Angelo - Part 3

Gran Bolivarian infantry, #1 Section awaits an attack
that never arrives...

Having cleared out the leading enemy infantry from the fringe of brush flanking San Angelo, the Orotinians pressed on.  As the infantry swept through the brush, the Mark IV and one of the Mark III tanks eased up to the stone wall behind which the sole Crusader tank so far encountered was smouldering gently.

At once the armour came under fire from a 6pr anti-tank gun a short distance beyond.  At the same time, a Boys Anti-tank rifle team, finding itself too distant for an effective shot, tried sneaking along behind the stone wall to close the range.

Both sides had a measure of luck, here.  The 6pr gun's shot simply went wide, and the Boys team, spotted by the Mark III commander, escaped the quick burst from the tank's co-axial machine gun.  But their position was becoming precarious, as the Orotinian infantry rapidly approached.

A brisk tank and anti-tank firefight quickly ensued. 



The Boys rifle fires ... and misses!

Just as the Orotinian infantry burst out of the brush, the AT Rifle team squeezed off a shot at the Mark III.  A complete miss!  A sad fate for what had been a suicidal attempt: under a hail of small arms fire, the anti-tank rigle team were eliminated.


A tank shell eliminates half the 6pr gun crew!

The 6-pounder's first shot drew attention at once to to both AFVs, which returned fire with high explosive and machinegun fire.  With men dropping all around, the gun fired back with a will, switching its fire to target the more dangerous-seeming Mark IV.  It was a fortunate as well as fortuitous choice.  The solid shot penetrated the gun mantlet beside the main gun, putting the vehicle out of action.

The Orotinian commander was now in something of a quandary.  Could he continue the attack?  Down to two tanks, one of those on the other side of the road guarding against a possible counter-attacck from that direction, his infantry was as much depleted.  As the latter swept across field towards the anti-tank gun, its remaining crew having been wiped out by the panzers' HE, he ordered the left flank Mark III to check out the situation in its part of the field.

End of the action: the lone effort of the Mark III tank is stopped cold
by a single shot that penetrates the front hull.

Disaster!  In a village back yard, the defenders' second 6-pounder gun was waiting just such an opportunity.  Early in the action, it had had a go at the tank through the gap between the village and the tract of forst to their front.  Unsuccessful, the crew had waited patiently, half expecting the enemy to emerge around the other end.  The gun's first shot settled the matter before the tank crew could see whence the threat would come.

An unfortunately fuzzy picture of an
Orotinian armoured infantry platoon

At once the Orotinian commander yielded the palm to the defenders.  Having one tank left of the five with which he began, and just 19 men remaining of his 40-strong platoon, it was clear to him that further progress could not be achieved if he were to retain sufficient strength to resist a likely counterattack.  It was unlikely he could succeeed at all!

Gran Bolivarian infantry - two sections of a platoon.
  Nearest the camera is a Boys AT Rifle team stand
 adapted from first generation Airfix figures.
  This counts as an ordinary infantry stand when I'm using Command Decision rules.

The Gran Bolivarian losses, though severe enough, were light compared with their opponents: some 13 men - 7 from #2 Section, 2 anti-tank riflemen, and the 4 6pr gun crew - plus a Crusader tank.  The situation was clear: the attack had been defeated, San Angelo was safe.

Overall, the Airfix rule set offers a framework for a brisk and enjoyable game.  But I do believe a deal of work needs to be done to make it really playable, especially if infantry are to have a role on the table-top...

Breakthrough at San Angelo - Part 2

As the recon light tank erupted in flames, the commanders of the mediums frantically searched out whence the deadly shot had come.  It soon became clear that the range had to be closed for an effective shot by the Mark IIIs, but the Mark IV dropped at once into action.  The first exchange of fire was 'honours even': both missed.  But soon enough the three Mark IIIs were ready.  At four to one odds, even with the partial protection of the stone wall (which I tended to think of as offereing a partial concealment rather than protection against solid AP shot), the Crusader might have been better advised to have bugged out when he could. 

Four against one!  The Crusader's 6pr gun knocks out the centre Mark III, but the left hand tank drills the Crusader turret with a solid shot.  The PxIV missed altogether; the other PzIIILs strike the wall directly in front of the enemy tank.  That the turret hit was effective saved me from deciding how much protection the stone wall could give to the Crusader's front armour!

True, a Mark III suddenly clanked to a stop, smoke billowing from its hatches.  But a 5cm solid shot punched through the Crusader's turret armour, and ended the fight.

The executive decision to which I alluded rather abruptly before ending the last posting was this.  About to adjudicate the response of the Gran Bolivarian infantry observing the approach of the Orotinian armoured infantry and tanks, I saw two aspects of the rules that reminded me why the Quarrie WW2 battlefield was such a hostile environment for miniature infantry.  First was that the range: long range being 900 meters - 900mm in the Airfix rule set. 

The second was that rifles had a rate of fire of 4 shots per 30-second turn; and machine guns could claim a target of anyone within an unspecified arc.   This seemed to me far too punitive.  Right there I let the ranges stand, but reduced the rifles to one aimed shot per turn, and machine guns to 3 shots (SMG), 4 (LMG and vehicle MG) and 6 (MMG).  Even that was bad enough...

As the leading sections dismounted, the incoming laid low four from #1 and two from #2 Sections - a third of the 18 men dismounting. 

At just under 600 meters range, it would be a long time before these lads could get close enough to shoot back - that is, to within 100 meters.

As the rest of the platoon pressed on, accompanied by the armour, it became clear that the planned 'suppressive' fire wasn't going to work.  Under the spotting rules, anyone in cover could be spotted only at very short ranges - 100mm on the table.  There were no rules that allowed speculative fire into cover from which enemy fire was emerging, or might be expected.   A firing unit became easier to acquire, yes, but only within the standard spotting range.  There was absolutely no chance of the leading Sections (#1 and #2) getting close enough to make a difference, and indeed, half their remaining dozen men were cut down as they struggled forward. 

Gran Bolivarian infantry fire: SMG (green), LMG (red), and rifles (white).
 Good shooting at that range - though they must be getting a bit edgy
 with Orotinian panzergrenadiers so close - 6 hits out of 10 shots.   

Once within range at which they could engage the Gran Bolivarians, #3 and #4 sections dismounted, and pushed forward into a hail of fire.  Half a dozen were at once bowled over by the defenders in the brush;

Vickers MMG catches the right flank of #4 Section...

 and when part of #4 Section strayed to the right, three more were cut down by a hidden Vickers gun.

But these Orotinians were now in a position to fight back.  Spotting their assailants, #3 and #4 Sections gave back everything they had.

#4 Section shooting into the scrub.  Not terribly effective:
 just 3 hits - 1 from the SMG, 2 from the vehicle MG.

Not especially accurate, their shooting was deadly enough.   Brutal as the exchange had been, and the Gran Bolivarians had got slightly the better of it thanks to the Vickers MG, as the clatter and bang of the firing died away, there was nothing left of the Gran Bolivarian infantry section that had borne the brunt of the attack.  The Orotinians could now advance into the town...

Slightly more effective, this: 4 hits.
 This patch of scrub is now clear of the defenders...

To be continued...

Breakthrough at San Angelo

In recent times, I have noticed several blogs posting articles on refights of some of the more well-known actions from wargames literature.  The two favorites come to mind: 'Battle of Blasthof Bridge' and 'Horse and Musket action in the Plattville Valley'  (having lost or mislaid my copy of Don Featherstone's book, I don't properly recall the chapter title).

It was in the spirit of this kind of nostalgia that I resurrected a game based upon a report in an old Model Soldier Magazine under the above title.  That game used a set of rules that enjoyed a considerable popularity in this country in the 1970s - probably because they were the most accessible in terms of availability, but also to learn:  Bruce Quarrie's Aifix Magazine Guide 15: World War 2 Wargaming (1976).

From the original game, I made some changes: one to the identity of the countries involved, another to the army lists, and a third to the terrain.  The action purported to be a border clash, the invading Orotinian (Pangolian) army seeking to force its way through or past the village of San Angelo, defended buy a hastily cobbled Gran Bolivarian (Uralayan) battle group.  Owing to differences between the original army list and what vehicles I had available, the composition of both sides I had to amend:

Gran Bolivarian (Uralayan) Army:

3 x Crusader III tanks (6pr guns armd)

2 x Bren gun carriers

2 x 6pr anti-tank guns

2 x Heavy machineguns (Vickers MMG)

2 x Light machinguns (Bren LMG)

2 x Anti-tank rifles (Boys ATR) - seemed to be more in keeping with the other equipment than did bazooka ATRL,

12 x infantry organised as 2 x SMG armed  Section commanders and 10 riflemen.

The infantry were organised into a weak platoon of 2 Sections comprising 1xSMG, 5 rifles, 1xLMG, 1xATR.  I added a small Platoon HQ comprising a pistol-armed CO, an SMG man and a couple of riflemen.

Orotinian (Pangolian) Army:

1 x PzIV Special (75L43 gun)

3 x PzIII Special (50L60 gun)

1 x PzII (substituting for the 2 PzI tanks)

1 x Command SdKfz 251 with frame radio aerial

5x Hanomag SdKfz 251 (1x251/10; 4x251/1)

5 x LMG (bipod mounted MG34)

40 x Infantry.

The infantry was organised as a Platoon HQ of Pistol-armed CO, SMG, and 2 riflemen; and 4 sections (Squads) of 1xSMG, 1xLMG team and 6 riflemen (9 men) each.

Finally, I thickened up the terrain a bit and gave it more definition.  This applied to the tracts of heavy wood and scrub dotted about the envorons of San Angelo village.  To the scasttered trees, I added dark, tree clad areas of thick bush; fringed here and there by brush represented by the moss.

Crusader, 6pr Anti-Tank, Boys ATR, and No 2 Section.
  Hidden by the thick bush on the extreme left, lurks a Vickers MMG attached to No 2 Section.

As the Orotinian invaders spilled into the cleared farmland about San Angelo, they almost at once came under fire from the Crusader tank close by the house on the north end of the village. 

No 1 Section, Vickers MMG and 6pr Anti-tank gun on the east side of the town.

Pushing forward up the road, the Orotinian light PzII tank did not last long before being put out of action.  Meanwhile, at slightly under 600 metres range, the two leading sections of infantry debussed.  At once they came under a deadly fire from the scrub edging the belt of jungle.

The Orotinian Composite Panzer Platoon arrives upon the field...

Where are the enemy?

At once I saw that I would have to make my first of a series of 'executive decisions...'

There are the enemy!

To be continued...