Defending Dunkirk

The recent release of Christopher Nolan's epic movie Dunkirk has meant that everyone is talking about the 1940 Battle of France.  As a wargamer, this has been great news - from the Sunday Telegraph to Wargames Illustrated, there has been a huge amount of information published that should be enough to spark anyone's interest in the campaign. There are so many actions that are ideal for reproducing on the tabletop, but the battle that resonates most with me occurred at Hazebrouck.

At the end of May 1940, with the BEF in full retreat towards the channel ports, a ring of positions around Dunkirk represented the shield behind which thousands of men could board the ships to take them to safety.  On the 25th May 1940, the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry moved into Hazebrouck to defend the town and delay the German advance towards the channel.  Over the next few days, the 1st Bucks defended so valiantly that the German Army said of them "the defenders of HAZEBROUCK not only delayed the advance, but resisted in a manner truly worthy of the highest traditions of the British Army."

I am a lifelong resident of Buckinghamshire in the UK, and I come from High Wycombe where the 1st Bucks was partially raised.  If that were not enough, this is the very battalion in which my Grandfather served a generation earlier.

Will at The Plastic Soldier Company has been helping hugely by releasing a number of models in 15mm. Here are some of the the latest additions to my collection...

18/25 Pounder and limber from The Plastic Soldier Company (PSC).  I understand 

that 4 such guns supported the 1st Bucks at Hazebrouck.

This is an early StuG III.  Most of this kit is the PSC StuG III, with the gun and 

mantlet from the Zvezda kit.  It's not 100% accurate, and there were few 

enough StuG IIIs in France, but I like the kit!

A bit of a departure from France 1940 - I made this one just for fun.

My to-do list still includes 15mm Universal Carriers and German armoured cars, and I have a brace of other soft-skin vehicles to paint.  More of these soon...

Bye for now.

France 1940 - Progress so far.

I may have been away, but I haven't been idle.  I have been focused on creating forces for Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command rules, but that has the added advantage of making my forces suitable for Rapid Fire if I ever get a table big enough.

Anyway, here's a little on my progress so far.  I have a reinforced platoon of German infantry in 15mm from The Plastic Soldier Company.

To beef up the platoon, I have heavy weapons support in the shape of an MG34 team, 5cm mortars, anti-tank guns and infantry guns, and an AT rifle team.

Armour support comes in the shape of a pair of Panzer 38t (with more on the way - I'll be able to field nearly a full company).

Alongside these, I have armoured cars and soft-skin transport, a combination of Forged in Battle and Flames of War.  All told, it's a pretty capable force.

Trying to hold them back, I have a platoon of British Infantry.  So far, I have been using Late-War Brits from The Plastic Soldier Company.  I know they're technically not right, but I like them, and I will get round to replacing them with Early-War Brits from Forged in Battle eventually...

To fight alongside the infantry, I have a Carrier platoon from the Flames of War range, and a choice of armour support...

The pair of Matildas are from Flames of War.  The A10 is one of three from Plastic Soldier - this is a CS version, the other two are armed with 2 Pounders. 

Bye for now

Painting stuff

I haven't been entirely inactive over the last few years. Here's a selection of what I've painted, and then subsequently sold.

All of the Vietnam stuff has gone...

 The ACAV's are 1/72 scale  from Britannia, the 

waterline ACAV is a converted Trumpeter kit.

These 1/72 scale M548s are old Liberation resin 

kits, each with a driver from Britannia.

The start of my Spanish Civil War collection has gone...

1/72 Scale Panzer 1s from Minairons.

I also did a few random bits to keep me occupied...

This was a Britannia T-55 in 1/72 scale.  I enjoyed this one.

These were part of a batch of four M5 halftracks 

in 1/100 scale from The Plastic Soldier Company.

It feels like I'm improving.  I hope it looks that way too!

Bye for now.

A New Start

Well, the last few years have flown by.  I'm told that tends to happen when you have kids, but I guess you're never fully prepared for it.  Anywaaaaaay...

My mini-board as I'd originally planned it never actually happened, mainly because something better came along! My father in law listened to my plans and said "What if I made you a bigger board?"

Well, I wasn't going to say no, was I?

So, a trip to Wickes and a couple of hours in Ted's shed resulted in a 3' x 4' table made up of two locking 2' x 3' boards. I finished them with a bit of flock, and I'm quite pleased with the result.

Once the table was completed, I needed to start gaming.  When I last posted all those years ago, I had a collection of 20mm Vietnam stuff, but I came to the conclusion that I couldn't play the kind of game I wanted to within that period.  I started looking around for a new challenge.  

Chain of Command is a platoon-level skirmish ruleset from TooFatLardies, and is designed to be played with 28mm figures on a 4' x 6' board.  I worked out that if I scaled everything down and used 15mm figures, then my 3' x 4' board would be perfect. At about the same time I discovered the early WW2 figures and vehicles from The Plastic Soldier Company, and so my next project seemed to decide itself - France 1940.

As a result, I have sold all of my Vietnam stuff and I now have a complete platoon each of German and British infantry already painted, along with some supports.  I've even had a game or two.

Here's a quick shot of some of my first efforts, I'm hoping to improve!

Bye for now!