Flames of War: Armia Krajowa (Home Army)

Just thought I’d show what I’ve been up to this week. I’ve got a fair way towards finishing my current Flames of War force. To get up to the playable skirmish points threshold of 750 Points I only have to finish another 6 bases of elite infantry and a pair of improvised armoured cars that I can swap out for the Hetzer. I have yet to buy these miniatures however, and am not allowed to (by order of the wife) buy them until I have finished an as yet undecided amount of my lead hillock – for the time being this force will remain at the 75% level of completion and rather unplayable. Anyway, enjoy and tell me what you think…

Partisan Platoon

Pair of 76mm Light Howetzers

A Pair of captured 75/Pak40s

Machine Gun Platoon

A home-made mortar platoon

A pair of captured German Assault guns, a Hetzer and a StuH 42

And finally, a pair of home-made Molotov/Mortar Round Catapults. These are very simple scratch builds made of a 1/72 suspension spring and a sliced up wooden coffee stirrer. I’m pretty happy with the result given the miniscule amount of effort involved and the character they help to give the force. In-game, I’ll count them as Light Mortars

They were a real improvised weapon used by the Polish resistance during the Second World War, particularly during the Warsaw Uprising. They were very simple, made from car and lorry suspension springs attached to wooden bases, and could launch various petrol bombs and home-made or captured mortar shells They varied from crude springs bolted to pieces of wood to larger and more complicated and medieval-looking types with larger stands and winches and locks that would allow the weapon to be drawn back and held before firing.

Picture of a surviving example kept at a Warsaw Military Museum.

Narrowgauge Railway Engine.

Heres a little Railway Engine that I have recently knocked together. It was a ‘thomas the tank engine’ die-cast that I have sawn apart and turned into a 28mm scale model (I don’t know what Die-Casts are made of, but its not easy to rip apart with a jewellers saw!) All I have done is set the wheels so that they fit on the track, cut open the cab and added a platform from a 25x25x3mm base, chiselled off the little engines face and replaced it with a 15mm Troll’s shield and added a few internal details. 

 

It’s mostly just a bit of table dressing but I can see it being an objective for a few future games. I’ve got about 6’ of track (with every other sleeper cut away to make it look more in-scale) and a few bits of rolling stock. I’m rather happy with it. Tell me what you think! Thanks for looking. 

Generic Un-English Buildings.

I made these, start to finish, in the space of two afternoons. They are made out of Foamboard over Polistirene cores, with doors and windows either cut out or added out of balsa wood. I gave the things a good coat of a 50/50ish mix of PVA glue and Polyfiller to add a little texture, then painted them up. I’ve made them with VSF Turkistan in mind, but they will do for everything and anywhere East of the Holy Roman Empire. Hope you like them.

 

Polish Armour 1945

Here’s some Polish Armour I painted tonight for my Late War Polish ‘Cursed Army’. Apart from a few brief stints, the Polish resistance, like just about every other resistance movement of The Great Patriotic War, did not have any armoured vehicles to call their own. These assault guns and tanks are made to take part in a ‘what if’ force, fighting off the tail-ends of the Nazi German occupation forces and the new oppressor – The Soviet Union.

A T-28e-85.  This one has probably been captured off the Russians (perhaps part of the 1939 invasion force) and has been re-armed with a captured 75mm or 85mm gun. I knocked it together because I use this tank on 'World of Tanks', and have got to the point where I have to make models of everything that I take a fancy to.

A Captured StuH 42.

A Captured Hetzer.

A Captured FCM36 Ex-Police Tank.

Also, Ive been playing with magnets. Both of the turrets have been hacked up to fit the magnets in properly.

More to follow soon.

Battle Report: 1877 The Russio-Turkish War

It was a nature-deifyingly hot day out, so for the first time ever, I played a wargame outside!

1877 The Russio-Turkish War, A Squadron of the Black Seas fleet, Reinforced by Ships rushed in from the Baltic face off an Ottoman Squadron of Ironclads.

As the two squadrens come into range of one another head-on, they manuver into their formations for the battle.

The Russians form their frigates in a line on their left whilst Khaptain attempts to go-it-alone down the right, all with the circular ironclad Novgrod dawdling along giving long range supporting fire.  

The Ottomans take a different approach, advancing in-line, with their ironclads screening their more vulnerable unarmoured ships.

As the two squadrons close, the concentrated fire of the ottoman ships jams the rudder of the lead Russian Armoured Frigate, forcing her to cut to starboard, destroying a number of her guns and starting a sizeable fire below decks. No other ships take any sizeable damage, and move on unmolested. 

As the ships speed on, exchanging shells at distance, an unexpected catastrophe befalls the Russian Armoured Frigate Kreml, who takes a hit to her boiler, causing her to explode with unrivalled violence, killing all aboard and sending the previously undamaged ship, in pieces, to the bottom of the Black Sea. 

The Ottoman Fleet breaks into two wings and takes significant but not crippling damage from Russian fire, and contuse onward doing considerable damage. The now one-ship-column of the Russians speeds on firing ineffective volleys at the large Ottoman Ironclad Messudieh, the Russian General Admiral, that had previously taken a rudder hit was left dead in the water, but still returning fire, and Khaptain continued her wide arc towards the enemy fleet, cannons blazing as she goes.

Then came the most dynamic moment of the game. Khaptain, moving in at full speed rammed the damaged Ironclad Corvette Muin-I-Zaffer, splitting her in two, before successfully ramming the Side-wheeler Torpedoship Squab and reducing her to matchwood. Khaptain then took the brunt of the fire from the remaining Ottoman ships at very close range, destroying many of her guns. 

The game ended with the Khaptain ramming into Messudieh to little avail. The few remaining guns of the ships exchanged blows, before, with all ships badly damaged, night approaching and all crew exhausted from the days events both squadrons disengaged. The game was a draw in Russia’s favour.