Lard Magazine 2020 is out!

 

 

As usual just before Christmas, TooFatLardies has just released today its Annual Lard Magazine. This is HUGE 180 tome of scnearios, special rules, army lists, etc, covering a broad range of rules sets from this publisher, as well as some other very useful wargaming-related materials. 

 

 

At an unbeatable price of GPB5.5 (equivalent to 1 pint of beer in the UK and around three beers if you live in Spain), you cannot miss it.

 

 

Churchill Tank for Chain of Command

The latest addition to the armoury is this British Churchill heavy tank.

British Sherman for Chain of Command

I’m having quite an enjoyable wargaming weekend. Started yesterday (Friday) playing the inaugural game of Sickle Cut (GMT’s strategic France 40 wargame designed by the my most revered Simonitch).

And today Saturday I had the opportunity to conclude my latest model, a British-crewed Sherman useful either for either Chain of Command or What a Tanker. This is part of the tail of models that I could not finish before the Painting Challenged ended a month ago.

Martlet Campaign - Games 1 & 2

Over the past two weekends we started and re-started again playing the Martlet campaign:  no surprise, my gaming pals and I seem to be a little bit rusty in relation to the Chain of Command book and additionally forgot to read the special scenario rules, which basically invalidated the result of the first two games.

The first replayed game (Scenario 1-Probe into Fontenay) represents an attack of the German outposts located in the outskirts of the village of Fontenay. The British win if at least one team exits the table through the German baseline. 

Chain of Command Martlet Campaign - Introduction

I can’t believe it’s been now two years since we played our latest Chain of Command game. Despite having used the rules intensively since the release (and even before, as we were part of the testing group), for different reasons my gaming group oriented their games towards other periods and rules, falling almost into oblivion… until this weekend.

One of my club members and I were having a coffee a few weeks back on a Sunday and I casually mentioned Chain of Command. Very quickly we both close a date and today we have started a (hopefully) new cycle of games.

As we prefer campaigns to casual games, we agree to play the Martlet pint-sized campaign, likely to be followed by the Scottish Corridor supplement in due time. Martlet is a pre-Epson Normandy June 44 operation. The goal was to capture the Raury Spur by the 49^th West Riding Division to protect the flank of the 51^st Scottish Division during Epsom.

Source: Too Fat Lardies - Martlet Campaing Book

This is a 6-rung campaign in which the British fight not only against the Germans but also the time, to complete the breakthrough in 1 day before the opening of Epsom.

 

Source: Too Fat Lardies - Martlet Campaing Book

Thrilled to resume my love affaire with Chain of Command, I’ll keep an updated diary of the campaign over the next weeks. I’ll be leading a panzergrenadier platoon of the 12^th SS HJ although on the table I’ll be featuring my German Fallschirmjager models instead (I don’t own any SS models and is very unlikely that I’ve ever will paint  some).

More news coming soon.

Th Painting Challenge - Final Report

Incredibly how fast time flies when you are enjoying an activity. Unexpectedly, March 21^st arrived and the IX Challenge was suddenly called off. I couldn’t achieved my target points (750) but having obtained 637 points left me happy enough (my highest score in a Challenge so far).

This is a group photo showing all the models painted included in the customary wrap up post in the Challenge blog.

And now let’s look at the different entries since my latest post here

The Painting Challenge Progress Report (2)

This is the second report of my participation in Curt’s Annual Painting Challenge.

Over the last three weeks since the previous blog entry, I continued fully focused on my British Airborne platoon for Chain of Command, adding a few pieces to the project and maintaining a (surprising) good painting momentum.

The first new entry was the Section Two of the platoon. This is identical to the first section, featuring a Rifle Team and a LMG (Bren) Team   and led by a Junior Leader (in the parlance of Chain of Command).

The Painting Challenge Progress Report (1)

As many of you know, the ninth edition of the Annual Painting Challenge started with a Bang! last 21^st December, extending until the end of the winter season in March this year. My project for the current edition (also explained in previous posts) is to complete a British Airborne platoon with supports to play with Chain of Command.

The platoon OB is as follows:

·       Platoon HQ: 2 x senior leaders, PIAT Team, 2” Mortar Team and Sniper Team

·       Section one and two each with 1 Junior Leader, Rifle team (5 men armed with lee Enfields and one with Sten) and a LMG Team (Bren Gun with 3 crew)

·       Section Three: 2 LMG teams as above plus 2 Stens and a Sniper Team

How is it going so far? Not bad at all considering that only two weeks has passed since the start of the event. I have managed to maintain a good momentum, undoubtedly helped by the Christmas holidays; I have invested many hours day and night to paint during the break.

My first entry (click in the links for more details) was a cadre of senior leaders, including some well Hollywoodian characters easily recognisable if you have watched A Bridge Too Far.

So here we have Major General “Roy” Urquhart, Lt Colonel Frost and major Digby Tahtam-Warter

A Personal Guide to Painting British Paratroopers

The IX Painting Challenge is now live. On this first day I woke early to attempt having my first submission ready before lunch time, which you can see in the Challenge website.

As commented in a previous post, my core project for this year’s Challenge edition will be a British Airborne platoon + supports for Chain of Command.

The most challenging aspect of the project is how to paint the camo scheme used by the British paratroopers in using the Denison smock. I know some wargamers whom painting camo takes them easily aback; but as I already experienced when I did my German Fallschirmjager army a couple of years ago, it is just a matter of experimenting and practicing.

I’ll try in this post is to show how I do it, and hopefully will help some people out there breaking the mental barrier of painting camo schemes. Incidentally, I had a similar mental blocking with the airbrush until this year; but thanks to the help of one my wargame club’s friends now I’m totally hooked to airbrush painting and what I regret is not having tried it before.

Before we start with this step-by-step guide, a couple of disclaimers: first, my painting style is oriented towards the wargaming table, not to win a Golden Demon; this means that I do not go into a lot of detail, just enough to look good on the table at a distance.

Second, I like to paint faded camos. Personally, I find painting pristine uniforms with bright colours utterly unrealistic when on the table, so I like a faded uniform finish in my models, reflecting the wear and tear over time. This is not to criticise anyone (as the Spanish say goes “on tastes, nothing is written in stone”), it is just how I like to paint my models.

So let’s star.

Colour palette

The Dennison Smock is the critical part in the British paratrooper gear. Looking at contemporary colour photos, collectors platforms and reenactors websites, you’ll notice that unlike the German schemes, the British feature relatively large splash of brownish red and green on a light beige (sometimes dark yellow) base. 

Monty, the one and only

The British Airborne Buildup

Operation Market Garden has been a field of special personal interest since probably the prémiere of A Bridge Too Far back in the 70s (I actually watched the film in London cinema during one of my summer trips to study English). In November 2015 I have the opportunity to visit Arnhem and did part of the Hell’s Highway (we detour to visit themust-see Overloon Tank Museum) too.

My attention to the battle has recently taken a new interest after the publication of Beevor’s "Arnhem" and specially after reading a short work by a Dutch military historian R.G. Poulussen “Lost at Nijmegen” and Robin Neillands’ “The Battles for The Rhine 1944”.
 

Beevor’s is (I must admit) a very good and readable book, very decently covering the Allied and the German sides; but it can be argued that adds very little to the knowledge we have of Operation Market Garden except updating some of the information.

Poulussen on the contrary is an excellent research work that digs deep in the decisions taken by the US 82^nd Airborne and specially Gavin in his area. The argument goes that Arnhem was actually lost at Nijmegen (the books title) because instead of planning and prioritizing taking the Waal bridge, the US units were ordered to take and consolidate first the Groesbeek Heights.

Update & House Cleaning

 
Easter week holidays and some domestic priorities among my gaming buddies has brought a temporary break in our Vietnam games. However I have not been idle and manage to finish this
M-577 Command Post vehicle from Force of Arms, a really nice model but alas unavailable as the company seems to have gone under.

If you follow my Twitter account (@Anibal Invic) you'll also know that I'm currently working on a M106 Mortar Carrier too, again form Force of Arms.

DMZ Vietnam # 3 - Winning Hearts and Souls (or at least trying)

Third game of CoC DMZ, the Vietnam supplement for Chain of Command. After two games, we are now more confident on controlling the new mechanics and decided to add some complexity, introducing a political dimension to the game loosely based on Charlie Don't Surf, the Platoon-sized rules written by TooFatLardies (full details at the end of the post).

Using this time one of the scenarios included a Surf's Up, the US player was briefed about its mission: he must take control of remote village of uncertain name suspected to be the depot area of NVA units infesting the region. In Chain of Command terms, this is a "Scenario 6 Attack on an Objective" of the main rulebook, in principle winning the US if capturing the jumpoff point located in the center of the village.

But it wasn't to be so easy. As the NVA had important food and weapons supplies hidden in the village, those should be discovered and destroyed. If the enemy could exit its tactical edge with the supplies, the NVA player was victorious even if the US take control of the village. The village was inhabited and any civilian potentially a casualty in a fire exchange would count againts the US (or the NVA!) "Political Score".

Peaceful local peasents (or not?) on their way to tendering the fields

Setting the scene let's see how the table looked opposed the US entry side.

Chain of Command Vietnam - Enter the ACAV

Second test game today with Chain of Command DMZ, the unofficial supplement to play the Vietnam conflict with Chain of Command. In this game we introduced for the first time a vehicle, my "Peace Maker" ACAV model,  parked in my garage for sometime now.

 
We chose this time to play the "Attack on an Objective" Scenario Six of the main rule book. The table had a major jungle (type 2 area) crossed by a dirt road leading to a village which according to the intelligence cources was a major NVA depot area.

The battlefield form the US edge

Storming the Citadel - New Chain of Command Campaign

TooFatLardies just announced a new campaign book for Chain of Command in their "pint-sized" campaign series (Pint = priced as a pint of beer in Richard Clarke's local pub). Storming the Citadel is the first  time that TFL moves East, to the time of Kursk/Citadelle, following the trails of the GrossDeutshcland Division.

As usual, the campaign is self-contained with all the army lists, scenarios and special rules, supported by a nice display of maps and historical information. Another one not to miss!

Up Country - Testing Vietnam Chain Of Command Variant (take 1)

Don't panic, despite a long period without posts I'm still here...

As announced early this month, I recruited some of my gaming pals to test the Vietnam War variant for Chain of Command developed by Jason Sendjirdjian in his blog Wargaming DMZ  and finally today we could put some minis on a table to see how it works. If you are interested in the period, I stronlgly recommend your browse that blog, lots of wargaming good food for thought and many interesting resources. Note this is NOT an official or TooFatLardies-endorsed supplement.

First things first, if you don't know Chain of Command this is a set of rules published by TooFatLardies to play skirmish battles in the Second World War, typically at platoon level but can accomodate up to a company-size game using the Big CoC supplement. 

The rules are mainly focused on infantry units complemented with other weapon supports and  1 or 2 tanks. If you like to dwell in the detail of the rules, I published here a set of posts titled "The Chain of Command Diaries  # 1-6" commenting the most innovative aspects at the time of the playtesting.

Whats new in Chain of Command DMZ? 
The Vietnam variant basically leaves untouched the core rule mechanics and adds a few bits and pieces needed to simulate the tactics of the conflcit. These changes refer to the terrain, weapons, unit organisations and national characteristics.

Old Hickory Campaign Games 4 and 5 (conclusion)

This weekend we played turns 4 and 5 (conclusion) of the Old Hickory campaign for Chain of Command. If you remember when we stopped in early December, the Germans had already won two games through the "orange route" and were now arriving to the final US defensive line at Le Neufbourg.

The US players called all reinforcements scattered in the different approaching routes to concentrate now into the village and to put a strong opposition despite overwhelming odds. The US side also played their last air support card in the 4th turn, resulting in the dispersion of the German attacking columns, winning the game and gaining some breathing space.

After this, the German deployed a new platoon form the general reserve (the one used in game 3) and then we moved to game number five, which as you will see resulted in a new straight German victory and also de conclusion of the campaign.    

Old Hickory Campaign Game 3

The third game of the Hickory Campaign concluded with a decisive German victory, causing a bloody havoc on the US units that had to pull out into Le Neufbourg, the objective of the offensive. Frankly, the position of the US players is in serious risk as the game today eliminated some critical scarce assets like ATGs and men.

The game was played in the Orange 2 map of the campaign booklet and corresponded to a Scenario 6 "Attack-Defend" in terms of the Chain of Command terminology. The German was of course the attacker and the victory conditions called for them either to wipe the resisitance in the table or force a withdrawing due to Force Moral erosion.

Old Hickory Campaign Game 2

The second game of the Old Hickory campaign finished with a German victory. A very funny game in which for the first time in life I saw a F1 race between three German Hanomags, competing to reach first the US table tactical edge.

Following the initial setback  of the campaign when the Allied airforce dispersed the concentration of German units at its jumpoff area, the German HQ activated the second company (2 platoons) and ordered an attack through the same Orange route of the first attempt.

Old Hickory Campaign Game 1

German HQ (H-1 hour)

News that the heads of the assault columns are now in the jump-off positions and ready to take on the arguably unprepared US troops near the railroad line (area code name Orange 1) are received with satisfaction at the Das Reich regiment HQ. 

Suddenly the deafening noise of aircraft engines flying at low level fill the air and the dreaded black and white stripes of the Allied air force the German officers eyes ... luckily the planes pass away leaving the HQ unmolested, but almost immediately machine gun and bomb explosions are heard towards the jumpoff area followed by black smoke columns .

A devastating air attack has dispersed the German forces, with the units running in panic pursued by the Allied Typhoons and the Mustangs. After what looks like an eternity, the planes finally leave and it's time now to take stock of the damages and regroup the surviving forces. The attack is cancelled and will be postponed at least for the following day.

-------------------------

And this is how the first turn of the Hickory campaign ended... played without placing a single model on a wargame table and actually resolved by Whatsapp! Let me explain what just happened.

As commented in the previous post, there are three attacking routes and the Germans must select one; the Allied had an air interdiction asset that had to be allocated to one of the routes before the Germans announce their attack. If they select the same route, the Germans suffer a devastating air attack and their units are dispersed and unable to take the offensive, losing the game.

Incredibly, both decided to choose the Orange route, which they communicated to me this same afternoon. Must reckon that I had a big laugh and the poor German players were in total shock for this unexpected (and unknown to them) option in the Allied hands.

All this was settled communicating with the two groups of players through Whatsapp!

This is one of the advantages of playing campaigns and using independent umpires: incresed for of war and uncertainty; and of course more fun (specially the umpire). More surprises in store for both sides... and only I know.. Wa-ha-ha-ha!! 

New Chain of Command Campaign rolling!

Seeing my club gaming buddies somewhat inactive, I decided to stir things a little and have put in motion a new campaign for Chain of Command. We'll play the supplement Old Hickory confronting US and German units in Normandy. This campaign is specially challenging for the former, as they face a brutal counterattack of the Das Reich division (operation Luttich) in late July 1944 in the Mortain area.

Historically the counterattack failed thanks to the stiff resistance put by the US 30th Infantry Division "Old Hickory", a relatively untested unit arising from the National Guard, despite facing a veteran German formation.

This campaign supplement presents a conundrum to the US player, as the Germans can chose attacking through three different axes and the Americans must distribute their limited assets before the actual campaign starts to cover all possible routes of advance.

The response of my gaming group to the campaign proposal has been phenomenal and now I have six players enrolled. Therefore I will have to accommodate more forces than those stipulated in the book and will be using the Big CoC large battles supplement to play the campaign.

The campaign will start tomorrow December 8th (national holiday in many European countries). You may like to follow live in Twitter the progress of the game (@AnibalInvic) but I'll also be debriefing here shortly after each game.