Went up to Bedford with Des on Saturday to attend the new OUSEing LARD event at the Kempston East Methodist Church Halls. In short it was another fantastic day enjoying a wide variety of Too Fat Lardies rulesets playing the period and not the rules. Meeting a lot of new and old friends having a blast.
Games on offer were:
I had the pleasure of playing Charley Walkers excellent Indian Mutiny Game in 1857 in the morning using the Sharp Practice rules in an interesting urban setting, with a mixture of troop types and exotic elements, including random events like holy cows, bombs, etc. The table is very immersive and the wonderful walls really adds to the overall experience.
The walls of Flyzabad had been breached ad the Khazi’s private army and mutineer allies under Subedar Abhinavin Asheet was pouring into the city to crush all vestiges of imperial rule. However, Captain Phil Macludgie and the ageing and rather poorly Sir Richard Fondler, marshal the remnants of the city’s European community in a bid to reach the North Gate of the City which is still held by a small force of Major Flushing’s loyal Sikhs.
I was controlling the Captain and Sir Richard and we did not manage to get to the North Gate but it was a really fun game and I thoroughly enjoyed it, a few pictures from the game here.
In the afternoon I tried John Savage’s What a Gangster ruleset, being an expansion of the upcoming What a Cowboy ruleset. It was really fun and the table was very immersive with John’s beautifully painted miniatures on a very nice terrain setting.
Well I took a few more pictures, so here we go in no particular order…
…and not to forget the nice special edition miniature by Paul Hicks given to each attendee.
The evening was spent at Brewpoint, a local brewery, before we had to dash of to take the train home. I think brilliant was a good summation of events. Thanks Ally for organising this and to all those who put up a game and of course all the people who attended and made it such a great day. I am already looking forward to attend the next one.
In other news I am still behind with some blog posts covering OML and the Joy of Six and some general hobby updates. But that is for another time.
I had a lot of fun with the hobby in 2018 and this is my year end account of a lot of the things that has been and some things to come. I really hope that your 2019 will be great and I am really grateful for all of you who visit this blog on a regular or occasional basis. One of the best things, this year, is that the Little One is getting more interested and involved in the hobby – thanks Mate!
Also a big thank you to Nick Dorrell, who I did the Horka Battle with at Joy of Six in the Summer, also all the Twitter people (it is a very nice place to be, I call myself Per at Roll a One there), and all the fantastic hobby related podcasts I listen to in between the audible books whilst I try to put paint in the right places. These include, the Too Fat Lardies Oddcast, the Veteran Wargames, the Grognard’s Files, the WSS Podcast, Henry Hyde’s Battlegames (not strictly a podcast but he has done a lot of great ones this year), Wargames Recon, and Trouble at T’Mill.
I also regularly listen to the Meeples and Miniatures podcast and inspired by them the Little One and I thought we would do our own top 5 games we played this year, in no particular order.
What a Tanker – this is so much fun and it inspired me to do a lot of Russian and Finnish tanks during the Sovietic Summer Offensive 1944. I also did a List for the Finnish Tanker (see more below). A brilliantly simple, but not simplistic game, that I really recommend anyone to try (link to the rules here).
Bag the Hun – Provoked by some of the Twitter chums, you know who you are, but again got me a reason to explore some of the Finnish connection. The Finns basically flew the shit of the machines they had and painting those tumbling dice plane has been great fun (see more below). We only did a few games to learn the rules – we will definitely fly more next year (link to the rules here).
Maurice – we just pulled this out for our Christmas game but ended up playing another two games in the last few days. I had forgotten how good of a game this is, it really gives a very nice feeling of the larger battle with the cards adding that narrative feel and grand excitement to the outcome of the battle. I wrote about this battle in the last blog post (see here) and a link to the rules here.
Saga – we have had fun this year using the Second edition of the rules (see more below) and we recently got the book of battles that is a fantastic product – that could be used for other games than Saga (link to the rules here).
Mutants and Death Ray Guns – In the quest for rule sets for my Mutant 1984 project (see more below) we have had some fun games using these rules. Perfect for smallish skirmish (link to the rules here).
Next year we are looking forward to playing all of the above, but also a few other games:
Star Wars Legion – the Little One got a fair amount for this game over Christmas. Looking forward to see if the force is with us or not. I am not a great fan in doing 28mm painting because it takes too long and I am crap at it – so I think we have more than our hand full with this project.
Chain of Command – I want to finish the Swedish platoon write-up and do a few Scenarios based on the 1943 Swedish invasion plan made by Adolf Schell. Part of this plan had some of the lines of advance going through Dalarna (the county where I was born) in Sweden and it would be interesting to place some of the action here. I also would like to do some scenarios based on some of the fighting in the ‘Unknown Soldier’ book/movie during the Finnish Continuation war (I made some assault boats I really would like to put in a scenario). I also need to finish the Germans for the 29th Lets Go Pint sized campaign.
Other stuff – I am excited about the Rebels and Patriot Rules, as we have enjoyed playing Pikeman’s Lament and the Rampant rules. I also think the Little One is getting ready for a few more involved rulesets, like Twilight of the Sun King and some higher level WW2 rules. In addition I will do the final battle of the Towards Moscow Trilogy, Poltava 1709, at Joy of Six, but plenty more of that next year.
Here are a summary of the projects I have been working on this year….
Kirbekan 1885 – 6mm Sudan/Egypt Colonial Project
This project was started this year to try out Peter Rileys draft “A Steady and Deliberate Fire” rules. It has been fun to paint the Baccus colonial range. I will need to get some terrain together so I can have a go with the rules next year. Here are few pictures and links to relevant blog postings below.
Rapier Miniatures are doing some fantastic Glorantha stuff in 6mm and 28mm, I could not resist to get a few of their Bison riders. They painted up really well. Here are few pictures and a link to the relevant blog posting below.
WW2 Platoons, 15mm for Chain of Command (or any other platoon based game)
I painted a fair few Platoons with supports this year, including a Swedish what-if platoon (with some initial notes on the composition to do a list for Chain of Command). Here are few pictures and links to relevant blog postings below.
I also did a full set of markers etc, to use for winter war gaming of Chain of Command. I especially enjoyed doing the patrol markers and the tall pine trees. Here are few pictures and links to relevant blog postings below.
Here are few pictures and links to relevant blog postings below. We have played a lot of games with these rules and made a list for the Finnish Tanker so we could play Continuation War scenarios. Here are few pictures and links to relevant blog postings below.
This is my old 1980s RPG nostalgia project. I let you read up on it, I even built a 28mm log cabin. Here are few pictures and links to relevant blog postings below.
If you follow this blog you are aware that most of my projects end up getting some kind of Nordic twist in the end. The Little One and I have enjoyed the What a Tanker rules (link here). We have been playing this during the 1944 Summer offensive of the Finnish Continuation war. In two earlier blogs I wrote about a Finnish Career ladder based on tanks actually available as well as tanks that could have been (more in the links here and here). In doing this I felt that I wanted more continuation war so I have painted up a Platoon of 15mm Finns from Battlefront (the same guys who makes Flames of War) and some supports, that I intend to use for playing Chain of Command by Too Fat Lardies (link here, but I suppose that the platoon can be used with any WW2 Platoon based rules).
Incidentally Osprey’s book vote this month offers the following potential title (with only a few days left).
Soviet Rifleman vs Finnish Infantryman: Continuation War 1941–44
From June 1941, Finnish troops fought alongside German and other forces against the Soviets. After recovering territory lost in 1940, the Finns participated in the siege of Leningrad before facing a renewed Soviet onslaught in mid-1944.
In my option there is far too little produced on the Continuation War in English – if you find this period interesting please click and vote here. Back to the platoon.
From the excellent Jaeger platoon webpage (link here) we find the following information on the Infantry Company from 1943 to 1944 (there is also information there if you would like to run a Machine Gun platoon or an Anti-tank platoon, both these could offer some interesting battles):
Command Squad
Gas Protection Section
Antitank Squad
3 Rifle Platoons (4th Platoon usually only on paper), in each rifle platoon
– 8 men (light machinegun + submachinegun + 6 rifles)
Relatively straightforward, here is a Rifle Squad.
The Finnish squad, the Alikersantti (Corporal) in the Front with a Suomi Submachine gun, leading his squad of six rifle men, submachine gunner and a light machine gunner (the domestic Lahti, that was relatively unpopular but since I do not have any with captured Russian LMG this will have to do). The LMG comes in the Jalkaväki Platoon (FI702), this is standard infantry, see more below of what the pack contains (however I have had some variation in the content for the packs I have bought). To get sufficient amount of SMGs you need to buy the Jääkari Platoon (FI703). This will give you what you need.
and all of the squads
I made all the squads the same combination of miniatures.
…and finally the company command (note that the runners are not included as per normal Chain of Command praxis).
Vänrikki Ruotsalainen and Kersantti Pössi
In a discussion on the Too Fat Lardies forum the potential of more Submachine Guns in the squads were discussed (link here), so I did a few more submachine gunners (some of them have very big hands!).
Some extra Submachine Gunners
In addition the Finns were equipped with both Panzerfaust and Panzershreks in the Summer of 1944.
Some punch against those Russian Monsters! (They were being used from June 1944). The Panzershrek was called Panssarikauhu by the Finns and the directive was to repaint them in Finnish Camouflage Colours before being used – I need to rectify that or pretend it was pressed into service without a repaint. The Panzerfausts were called Panssarinyrkki. Before this (and after) the Finnish infantry man would have used Anti-Tank Mines, Anti-Tank Rifles, logs and Molotov cocktails in trying to stop the metal machines.
I also some did some other supports,
Sniper Team
Some Medium Machine Guns
A medic (a artillery chap with a green stuffed bag on the front)
An anti-tank gun
I will try to get some more types of anti-tank guns and also some Anti-tank rifles, but in combination with the tanks I already have (see the link above) the force is ready to go and try to stop the Russian Onslaught.
Here are the contents of the various platoon packs from Flames of War (to build the platoon above you need to get FI703 and FI702) :
FI703 Jääkari Platoon – 1 Officer with a Pistol, 1 Officer with SMG, 5 No. NCO men (I think, 3 Rifle and 2 SMG), 1 No. SMG man with AT Grenade, 8 SMG Men, 24 Riflemen
FI702 Jalkaväki Platoon – 3 officers (one with pistol, the other with binoculars), 5 NCOs (I think, 3 Rifle and 2 SMG), 1 SMG man with AT grenade, 4 LMG, 29 Riflemen.
FI706 Pioneer Platoon: 1 officer, 5 NCOs (I think, 3 Rifle and 2 SMG), 13 Pioneers with AT grenades, 18 Riflemen, 2 Flame-throwers.
In addition I got the following packages for supports:
You can buy this directly from the Flames of War website, your favourite retailer (like element games) or occasionally get some good deals on ebay. The total cost for the above, excluding the Pioneer Platoon, is about £55, excluding postage. This gives a lot of spare miniatures but I have a cunning plan for those at a later date – it is from one of the scenes from the recent Finnish 2017 blockbuster “The Unknown Soldier”.
Here is a trailer that contains the scene in question., 54 seconds in.
I actually bought the Pioneer Platoon pack, but as for variety and uniqueness it only offers the flame-thrower model. For £12 to £14 for a pack it is perhaps not really worth it, anyway here is a flamethrower team.
I also have some gents carrying Anti-tank mines, they can also serve as an engineering team, or part of a anti-tank hunter section (with the Panzer knockers! above).
The platoon can now report for service, where is the enemy?.
A lonely man is observing the advancing Finns
He stays hidden and signals frenetically towards the Roller of Ones
Ok, ok, I only have painted one of the opposing side yet. I thought I start out with some Russian Scouts and make a Recon Platoon (as presented in the Lardies Xmas special 2016). But in writing this I have only done a test miniature. This one is from Peter Pigs excellent range of Russian Scouts (link here). But that is for next time…
Привет (Hello), Roller of Ones, Now get you act together and do my platoon!
In a previous blog post I presented a career ladder for a Finnish What a Tanker player for the late continuation war period (see link here) based on known tanks used by the Finns (I also updated this blogpost on the 2 July 2018 with some more pictures of tanks I have made). We are still missing the T-50. As indicated the Finns did capture a lot of Russian tanks that were pressed into service. This is an optional list and shows other tanks (and TDs) that were used on the front that theoretically could have ended up being used by the Finns (but were not).
If the Russians had ’em the Finns could nick ’em (all 15mm)
Level 2
Valentine III – Plastic Soldier Company
Level 3
Matilda II – Zvezda 1/100
M3 Lee – Zvezda 1/100
SU-76 – do not have any yet but are waiting for plastic soldier company to release their set (this is from a press release earlier in the year). Or perhaps Zvezda who also has a model in the pipeline.
I should have pressed on with my GNW Horka Project but seem to have drifted off doing Finnish Continuation War tanks – I started doing some of these a very long time ago and base painted six tanks in 2016 but had done nothing since (see this old blog post). But as always in this hobby we do come around to things one day, one day…
The reason for this sudden diversion is of course the excellent What a Tanker game from Too Fat Lardies (link here) – it is a fun game and plays quickly. The Little One and I have set of German and a few Russian Tanks to play with and the two small games we had to date were a blast. However, like with most things I do, a Nordic angle seems to motivate me more. The Finnish tanker career is a limited one but there are some interesting Vehicles on offer – some are absolutely hopeless and others as good as they get – but tell me who needs a Tiger when you have Sisu?
I have the spent the last few days painting a large number of tanks relatively quickly (about 30 including some Russians). I do not have the ability or time to do much more but I think overall the impressionistic approach with washes and mud effects gives a reasonable look. All of the models used are 15mm and from Zvezda apart from the T-28, StuGs, BT-42 and the Landsverk that are from Battlefront. I have a few tanks I need to add to this post at a later date for completeness – the T28s and the T34/85.
What follows is a Finnish Career list for the later part of the Continuation War and covers the major Karelian Offensive in 1944 (from June to September). The career ladder can be used against a Soviet Opponent using the Soviet 1944 list from the What a Tanker rule book. Of course there are mistakes in it because nothing is perfect – if you find any I welcome them. I am an enthusiast with regards to this theatre not an expert.
I may extend this to include a few scenarios based on some of the actual encounters I have come across whilst reading about the offensive. However, this should be a good start,
Finnish Continuation War – A 1944 Finnish Career Ladder for What a Tanker (Karelian Offensive / Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, link to Wikipedia here)
At the start of the Soviet offensive in June of 1944 the Finnish Army only had one Armour Division (Panssaridivisioona) that that was mainly equipped with the more or less obsolete T-26 tanks. The only tanks able to take on the Soviet onslaught were a handful of captured T-34/76 and KV-1s in addition to 30 No. StuGs (StuG 40 G) that had been bought from Germany in 1943. During the conflict further StuGs were delivered, and some more tanks captured including the T-34/85 and the ISU-152. In addition, and just before the armistice, some Pz IV J were delivered. It was a desperate time for the Finns and the young nation’s independence was yet again severely threatened by the eastern bear.
Notes on the list: If I found any mention that at least one tank of a type was used in combat, or ready to be put in service during this period I have made the tank available in the list. Stats for each vehicle can be found in the WaT rulebook apart from the BT-42 and the Landsverk that are provided below. Most tanks are of Russian origin apart from the ones marked with an asterixis (*) that are German.
The list does not include Armoured Cars or Small tanks like the T-37 and T-38. Also the Finns did capture both T-60 and T-70 tanks during the 1944 campaign but they were never put into service. If you want to run a more what-if campaign you could just assume any Sovietic tank were successfully captured and used. Alternatively in a campaign setting you could have any Sovietic tank not destroyed but lost, i.e. where the crew has bailed out, being available as an option for the Finnish player in the next game on a roll of 5 or more (or whatever seem reasonable). This would to some degree simulate what actually happened during this particular conflict due to the limited armoured resources of the Finns. Anyway, here we go…
Level 1 – T-26 (any version, declared obsolete in July 1944), BT-42 (separate stats below, only used in the beginning of the offensive and as for the T-26 declared obsolete in July 1944. It was not a very good piece of kit but the only “Finnish” vehicle of the period), T-28 (either type – go for the best one, also declared obsolete in July 1944), Landsverk L-62 (not really a tank or a assault gun, but perhaps a successful commander could start his career in one after using the AA gun against a tank successfully, or perhaps more adequate to use the word, miraculously. Again, added for Novelty and I did paint one!).
Level 2 – T-28E (see note with regards to obsolescence above)
Level 3 – T-34/76 M41-42, T-50, Pz IV J* (did not arrive until the end of August 1944 so not really in play during the main fighting of the offensive).
Level 4 – KV-1, KV-1a, StuG 40 G*
Level 5 –T34/85 M43 (7 captured vehicles were captured during the offensive and put into service during the offensive)
Level 6 – ISU-152 (only one of two captured vehicles during the offensive were used in combat).
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