I have finally finished my France 1940 15mm Platoons I have been working on. I intend to use these with the excellent Too Fat Lardies France 1940 supplement I bought some time ago (link here). I have talked about the book before and it is a fantastic resource for any Platoon based WW2 Gaming. Here they are, I used Skytrex (link here) and Peter Pig (link here) miniatures.
I bought the Little One a copy of the Airfix Battle game for us to try out over Christmas and we took it with us to the holidays in Sweden. He rather likes it and I thought why not ask him to write a short review/reflection of the game I have added it at the end of this blog post.
British 1940 Regulation Platoon (Skytrex and Peter Pig)
Platoon Structure with support (note that I made prone Bren Gunner Teams as well as walking, with the same for Boyes Anti-tank team and the 2″ inch mortar team).I think these relatively old Skytrex Models are just fine.I did base them eventually – part of Machine Gun Team and a 2pdr AT Gun (these are Peter Pig)Peter Pig Anti-Tank Rifle Teams2″ mortar teamsA British Squad (All Skytrex apart from the Bren Gunner from Peter Pig) on the left and the Platoon Sgt and the Lt on the right (both from Peter Pig)
German First Wave Platoon (Peter Pig)
Some regulars and a SniperInfantry GunPlatoon Structure with SupportsBased up Squad on the Left and Platoon HQ on the left
Mortar and Anti-tank Rifle TeamsNice weekend of basing
Airfix Battles – A review by the Little One
I find Airfix Battles a good game because everything you need sits in a small box – flat miniature soldiers, tanks and guns. The rules are simple to understand for a 10-year old wargamer. However I have played a lot of games before so maybe they are a little bit more difficult for you. There a paper sheets that are used to play on and some terrain features you place on the mat. These are ruins, hedges and difficult ground. It takes on some things that I like with WW2, such as Tigers, Bazookas and Pak-40 guns. However, it is a little bit unrealistic as you can shoot in a curved trajectory (kind of) and mortars and artillery do not seem very powerful – I read in a book that artillery was the biggest cause of death in WW2. Also the ranges are a little bit strange, the MG-34, Browning and Sniper Rifle has the same range. My Papa, that is what I call my dad, tells me there should be figures with the game, but we have plenty at home and the flats works well for travel. It also shows how dangerous war is – so you have to manage your units carefully and protect your commanders as they are important to allow you do things like getting cards and playing orders. You can also use the set to play other games on while you travel, we played What a Tanker using the Panzers vs the Shermans – that was fun!
The Game comes with two thin sheets of paper you can use instead of a battle mat, they look ok.Here are some of the unit cards, showing a lot of useful information like the number of stars (this is how much the unit is worth), how may are in the unit, what the units skill is (the dice), how much it moves, what weapons it carries (with range and damage) and any special abilities.I like this game. Our games have taken between 20 minutes to 2 hours.I think the rough terrain markers are funny – maybe they could have used something less boring like some stony ground of something. My Papa hates markers like this – I am less bothered and just get on with things. That is clearly one of his rolls by the way.
The other day we used miniatures to play the game, it made my Papa a little bit happier and we had a very good time. He does not like this game as much as I do. I really like it. There is also a way you can play against yourself in Solo mode – I like it and it is harder than playing against Papa because I roll very well for both sides.
I really like games and I think I have learned a few things from this one that I will try to use in my own rule set I have been working on.
As Papa would have said, I hope that was of some interest.
– The Little One (you can read more about the game here)
Below are some more of the pictures we have taken of our games.
Excellent, a future blogger is born! Like the 1940’s platoons Per, I’ve been interested myself recently but might go Belgian. And congrats to ‘the Little One’ on a fine review (nicely done with the bad dice mention too!)
Roll a One - Wargaming Blog 
Love the figures. The Germans look to be a powerful fforce. The 75mm HE round will be quite nasty in an infantry battle.
Great review by your little one. Tell him well done from me and I’m looking forward to the next review.
Cheers,
Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Pete, I will let him know. Perhaps Star Wars Legion will be the next one, but we have a few steps to do yet.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Excellent, a future blogger is born! Like the 1940’s platoons Per, I’ve been interested myself recently but might go Belgian. And congrats to ‘the Little One’ on a fine review (nicely done with the bad dice mention too!)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for you kind words. I will let him know. Hope you are well Iain.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice double up post, especially the part from your son Per. Lovely work on the figures and the bases as you always do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks Mark – I enjoy his engagement and enthusiasm so much!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Pingback: GNW, Little One, Sweden 1943, Mutant 1984 and Podcasts – a review of 2019 – Roll a One