British Advance

The British advance up to the farm, the arrival of the tank is very timely and explosive shells start to rain down on the Germans.
The number 2 rifle Section falls back and regroups under the hard cover of the M3 half track. They soon recover and ready themselves to move up in support of the tank.

Lt Ludeman leads a small three man party into the deserted farm house while his weapons team gives him covering fire. Once set up in here he should be able to get a cross fire on any unwary Tommy whole tries to advance.

The Cromwell opens up

The tank commander shouts to the near by rifle sections and gets a quick low down of the situation. On hearing of the near by German positions he orders his gunner to open up on the knocked out Panther tank to his front. The high explosive shell hits the tanks and shatters the recon squad taking cover behind it. At last Lt Proctor sighs, something has finally gone his way for once.

As the sound of the British medium tank gets nearer all the Germans can do is stay low and keep out of sight. AT grenades are passed around the squad and the Panzerfaust is prepared.

British Vickers machine gun

Finally the British manage to bring up some more supporting fire in the form of the Vickers Machine gun. The British line is now looking a lot stronger and the order is give to advance under the cover of Vicker's withering fire..

German Re enforcements arrive

Another German rifle section arrives in the nick of time and runs for the cover of the hedgerow. The German sections have a huge amount of automatic weaponry which gives them an advantage over the British squads in close quarter fighting. This is balanced out by the amount British support weapons which give covering fire to their squads.

The Cromwell arrives

The blast of exhaust and the squeak of wheels heralds the arrival of the British Cromwell tank. It's firepower could change the course of the battle which so far has swung the German way.



The Cromwell is a metal Corgi piece like the American M3 half track next to it. They are both straight from the box so aren't quite up to my usual painting standard, but they still stand up well as gaming pieces. I haven't yet been able to find anywhere to get good 28mm decals for vehicles.

Incoming!

I just remembered about these little beauties I picked up at a Salute one year. Perfect for marking Mortar hits.

I'm also going to try and paint up some more Brits in record time, using Ink washes rather than timely layering techniques.

German Sniper

To make matters worst for the British platoon, a German sniper team takes up position.

Mortar exchange!

A British Section is hit by a 8cm mortar round.
A British rifle grenade goes off within my number 1 Section.
A very useful piece of battle field equipment!

Rules of Engagement so far...

The game started off quite slow but I think that's to be expected of any new game. We played another hour last night after I got back from London and things really started to move much quicker.
I think the game structure owes a lot to Warhammer 40K, which for me is great as It's what I grew up with and I love the 1:1 man ratio. It allows you to become really attached to certain characters within units. The game can be played with about 30 or so figures, although to get the weapon variety for different scenarios, I have ended up with about seventy different figures. This is great if you like painting as I do so I've rather enjoyed having the excuse to paint more.

The battle is well under way now and I'm really starting to enjoy it, I still have a few more units to bring on and the Brits have a tank yet to appear. I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with that quite yet. Mortars have just proved to be very affective and have taken the fight out of one of the British Rifle Sections. I'm also enjoying all the different weapon stats and attention to detail that the game offers.

Tommies return fire

Brits reach cover

British infantry reach the hedgerow and spread out. On crossing the small mud track, they are seen by the german command sction who open fire on them.

""What's that moving there?
My command Section holds it's position and hunkers down.
The 1st German Rifle Section sneaks it's way through the undergrowth towards the farm. This is a very well armed squad indeed and includes two STG44 assault rifles and a host of MP40 machine guns.

German Recon section

A small six man Recon Section advances up the main road and sets up a MG42 under the hard cover of a knocked out Panther Tank.
If anything moves...shot it! The main road has now become a death trap.

Waiting....waiting.
My Command section reaches the stone wall and sets up defensive position.
Where did that Orchard come from?...who cares It looks great, get it on there.

Tommies enter stage left

Here they come at last working their way in land. No armour up yet so It's down to the Infantry to secure that hedgerow.

Mood shots

A grenadier gets ready with his Panzerfaust for any unwary Allied Armour. Talking of which I do believe I can hear a Cromwell in the distance!
These Corgi Toys make great props and come quite well painted and detailed straight from the box. They were not active pieces but served as hard cover and eye candy in the game.

Battle in the undergrowth

Normandy July 1944
A German Section heads for the cover of a stone wall...very wise.
Look thats me with the MP40 and my trusty command group.

Testing out Rules of Engagement from Great Escape Games

We have been meaning to play this game for ages and finally got around to it at the weekend. It was so nice to set up the board with all the terrain on, after collecting pieces for years it was nice to actually use them.
I also got to place my fantastic farm set made by Paul Darnell of Touching History.

Painting up French Generals and Aide de camps

Finally, Finally.. I've managed to get my head in the right gear to sit down and do some nice relaxing painting again, man alive It's good to be back. These poor chaps have been sitting around for months waiting to be finished. I have a bit of time off for Christmas and plan to do a lot of catching up.
Now that I have rearranged my French units to represent Brigades rather than Divisions (as per the Napoleon rues), I am painting up the Generals in General de Brigade colours. Their Aides also wear the sky blue plumes and sashes of the rank.
After reading about the new Inks from GW I thought I would try some out rather than use Army Painter. They are better than the old GW Inks I think and the coverage seems better, I plan to use them soon on my WWII units to speed up production.