AAR - Schwerepanzerjager vs Irish Guards - No Retreat

So I've a slightly different game for you all today.

I'd agreed a game with a local player down the club for an attempt to recreate XXX core racing up Hell's highway.

For this Kev choose an Irish guard list, I decided to give my Jagdpanthers their last game (for the time being) we worked decided before hand on 'hold the line' with my forces defending.

Irish Guard Sherman Platoon

Hello All

Ben here with my latest platoon painted up for my Market Garden US Para Army. This platoon was made with the Sherman Armoured Platoon Box BBX08, plus an extra Firefly blister to get the second Firefly. I went for the box set as I had a lot of trouble with putting the Battlefront plastic together and I thought the individual sculpted hulls looked very nice.

The Fighting Irish - Shermans

Hello All

I have had a busy weekend painting and have finished off the Shermans for my Irish Guards I previewed in my last post. I have had the models for a fair few months and bar a Typhoon they were the last models I needed to paint for my Irish Guards army.

Sorry if the pictures are great I had a few problems with my camera set up tonight...

I was trying to do this army to be a accurate as possible (thanks to the FOW article on the Irish Guards this was quite easy). As a whole this wasn't hard to do, that was until I did the Squadron makings on the side of the tanks. From what I have read the Guards had the middle blacked out but the only decals I could find had clear centres. So not wanting to fail at the first hurdle I decided to paint the area behind were the decal was to be applied. This worked quite well and I only had to touch up a couple of the black areas. I then decided to double the pain and add a really small number decal over the top of the squadron decal. But I think the end result was worth it.

A quick word on the decals, they are all from Dom's Decals. He has a great range of WW2 unit marking and you get lots for your money. The only problem with them (and it's not really a problem) is that all the decals come as one big decal so you need to cut them quite close to reduce silvering.

The army as a whole. In the end I don't think the individual Shermans are the best models I have every painted but I think the army as a whole looks good.

I have just a few last touches to put onto my Cromwells as I hope to have them up in a few days, so keep an eye out for them.

As always thanks for looking Ben.

Hobby Plans for July

Hi All

I thought I would do something a bit different this month. My painting production has been down in the past few months so I'm going to post monthly goals on the blog to help keep me focused. I would also like everyone to post friendly reminders as the month goes on as I dare say I will forget what I'm meant to be doing from month to month (lets face it I'm a hobbyist, all it takes is something shinny to distract me!).

So what I have got planned for this month?

Painting wise I'm planning on finishing off my Irish Guards, this will be:-

A Sherman Platoon (2 Shermans and 2 Fireflies)
A Stuart Platoon (4 Stuarts) - This one might end up in next months if they don't turn up on time

 This will let me use this list

Confident    Veteran

Guards Armoured Squadron

British Late-War

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Guards Armoured Squadron HQ  p.17	1 1 1	Sherman V Sherman V with .50 cal AA MG Warrior JOE Vandeleur in Humber	240
Combat Platoons
Guards Armoured Platoon  p.17	2 2	Sherman V Firefly VC	390
Guards Armoured Platoon  p.17	2 2	Sherman V Firefly VC	390
Guards Armoured Platoon  p.17	2 2	Sherman V Firefly VC	390
Weapons Platoons
Guards Recce Patrol  p.18	3	Stuart VI	165
Company Points:			1575

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Hell's Highway

I have some Terrain on the go, so I'm planning on making and paint:-

3 Kerr and King buildings to finish my French Set
2 Large Woods - I say woods I have made a few bases to use the GF 9 trees I have
5 Wood Strips for the sides of roads - sort of the same as above

Building wise I have a Soviet Army and US army on the go so i would like to get all of them built this month:-

20 Plastic Soldier Company T34's - for a Mid War and Late War army
Kommissar Dedov's T34 for the company HQ
3 ISU 122
Spetsnaz Platoon for 5 bases of infantry and 3 German Half Tracks
8 M18's
5 Stuarts
Support vehicles for the Tank Destroyer company

I have also been busy with a few trades on the WWPD Forum trading section, so I have some US Paras on the way to me for yet another project! But that's for a future month (probably September/October).

So let the painting and building begin and please keep sending those reminders!

Thanks for your time Ben

Irish Guards Armoured 1750pts Army List

Hello All

Over the Easter weekend I got 3 games of FOW in with my new Irish Guards Armoured Squadron. Surprisingly I won all 3, even more surprising was the fact I thought I had lost two of the games two or three turns in! It was a nice selection of opponents, with three different companies and three different missions, so hopefully I can start to see were I am with the list from these games.

 First up was a German Armoured Recon list which was mainly Pumas. We played Hasty Assault, my main problem was a unit of Tigers that deployed in ambush, they killed 4 or 5 tanks but couldn't stop me from taking an objective before the German reinforcements could come on in big enough numbers. 6-1 Win to me.

Next up was Adam's (from For King, Country and the Empire Blog) British Para Company in Pincer. I took a pounding, but my Guards (thanks to being Guards) held it together and I took the objective on turn four by rushing it with everything I had and assaulting the one Infantry platoon on the objective with 2 different tank platoons. If the game had gone on for one more turn I would have been swapped by arriving Para Platoons on from my flanks and I would have been wiped out. 5-2 Win to me


The final game was against Ferb's (from Ferbs Fighting Forces Blog) German Panther Company. Ferb has written a AAR on the game. This was a tough game for me, by turn three I really thought I was dead and buried. All my Platoons were down to 2 working tanks, I had taken and passed 4 platoon moral checks and my company commander was dead. Then the Unit of the Match Typhoons turned up and killed a platoon of Panthers freeing up a flank, Pete then had a bad turn of shooting and my Shermans were able to push and take an objective. I really don't think I should have won this game, yet some how I pulled off a 5-2 win!

Lessons Learnt 

Well this was my first games not using an Axis force. I knew Shermans were not Panthers, Tigers or Finnish T-34/85's (the only other tanks I have used in Late War), but I really had to see them in action against Axis armour to realise how brittle Shermans are! Also Fireflies look great on paper but Anti-Tank 13 is not that good in long range duels with tanks that save most shots from 17 Pounders, but your Fireflies don't get a save from the return fire!

The main plus points I liked with the army were "All Guns Too The Left" and the Typhoon. AGTTL really makes this an attacking army which brings it's own risks, but that re-roll is really useful. I did think long and hard about weather it's better than Semi Indirect Fire and while I think they both have there uses I like AGTTL more as I will be facing Veteran Infantry lists quite often and as SIF only works a long range you can't hit dig in gone to ground Veteran Infantry. I also found JOE's extra move very useful with ADTTL for getting side shots, sure it's only on a 5+ roll so you really can't rely on it, but when it works it's just great. The second plus point and without doubt the best unit in the army was the Typhoons. It just keeps enemy armour second guessing there moves and sometimes doing something risky hoping they pass their Stormtrooper move, with a fail probably mean some dead tanks. One last thing to remember is Guards are hard! The 4+ with a re-roll to pass yout platoon motivation test means most of the time you need to wipe out the platoons to get them off the table. This really saved me in the second and third game!

This is my current list.

Guards Armoured Squadron 1st list

British Late-War

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Guards Armoured Squadron HQ  p.17	2 1 1	Sherman V Warrior JOE Vandeleur in Humber RAF Forward Air Controller	245
Combat Platoons
Guards Armoured Platoon  p.17	1 1 2	Sherman V Sherman V with .50 cal AA MG Firefly VC	395
Guards Armoured Platoon  p.17	1 1 2	Sherman V Sherman V with .50 cal AA MG Firefly VC	395
Guards Armoured Platoon  p.17	1 1 2	Sherman V Sherman V with .50 cal AA MG Firefly VC	395
Brigade Support
Guards Column Platoon  p.19	3 1 1 2 2 2 2	Universal Carrier -OR- Cmd Rifle team Troop Carrier -AND- ML 3" Mk II Mortar Mortar Carrier - OR - OQF 6 pdr gun Loyd Carrier	100
Divisional Support
Air Support  p.38	7	Priority Air Support Typhoon	220
Company Points:			1750

Source document: Hell's Highway

As always thanks for reading.


Ben

The Fighting Irish - Universal Carriers

Hi All

My Irish Guards are making good progress, I have now finished the universal carriers and the RAF controller that goes with Joe.

I'm not sure about the basing, I might change the grass for somthing a bit brighter.

Need to add Allied star to the front.

Next up 4 more Shermans and some tank crews.

Thanks Ben

Busy Few Weeks

Hello all,

In the past I have never understood people when they said to me "I can't do that it's over Easter and I'm busy". It seemed strange to me, for me Easter was a few extra days off were you do stuff with your friends and got chocolate. Well that was until my little one came along, it would seem when you have child Easter because less about having fun and more about spending time with family (not that that can't be fun!). Unfortunately for me I only worked this out after I had planned on spending Easter doing a big chunk of hobby. So I'm now behind on all of my projects with my next planned projects meant to be starting in a few weeks. Time for a re think.

To be fair Easter wasn't a complete loss for me, I got in a few games with my Irish Guards (more on that in a few days) and I picked up my first few Infinity models (can't wait to paint them).

So with my original plans ruined I'm now forced to think on my feet and come up with a new one! So some of you may remember my post back in February about trying to have 2.5k of Hungarians done for a big game the 22nd April. Well for some time I knew this was going to have to change as I have been trying to get the Hungarian Artillery box set but my LGS can't get them in (I think this is a common problem at the moment with supply from Battlefront), so I'm now just going to aim to get 2k done. For this I need to paint up 3 Tigers or 3 Panthers, if I get time I'll try and get both done. On a similar note I finally got my 3rd box set of PSC Shermans/Fireflies, so as the allies look a bit light on the ground I have offered up my Irish Guards as extra troops. This means I'd like to have the final 4 Shermans painted up for the game too.

So that's my hobby until the weekend of the 22nd April. After that I will continue the Road to Fearnaught and get my DAK done for the 16th June. I would like to have my Typhoon, Guards Infantry and Heavy Mortars painted up for my Irish Guards, I was also give some crew for my Shermans so I'll need to get them painted up. Finish off any Panthers and/or Tigers I haven't got done for my Hungarians and start my Infinity force & terrain. Going on from this I have picked up a few bits of Desert terrain when I was in Bournemouth for my FOW/Infinity Desert board, I'll be doing a review of the Gale Force Nine terrain in the next few days.

Finally some of you may have seen I have started my own painting service for FOW. This was something I thought long and hard about, but as I have dropped a shift at work to save money on childcare and I'm meant to be getting married this year (wedding aren't cheap) I thought it was a good way to get extra money in. So I'm looking at doing a few painting commissions over the year, I already have one almost confirmed for some Desert Italians. This will need to be done for Fearnaught so I now have two armies to paint for it.... This might be a long few months!

Anyway until next time Ben

The Fighting Irish - Shermans WIP

Hello All

An update on my Plastic Soldier Company Shermans. I have finished Painting the tanks (bar the 4 I'm still waiting on from my Local Stockiest), I now just have to get hold of some Battlefront British Crew and paint them up.

Note- I'm not 100% happy with the way the pictures come out, they make the models look alot more "green" than they really are. I'll try and either get some better ones done up over the next few days or try to do better when I have finished the crew.



The to HQ Shermans



The First Combat Platoon

The Second Combat Platoon

 I had a few unexpected challenges with the Shermans. The main one was the small problem that the company marking decals I bought were the wrong ones! (a little looking around and I failed to find any that were "right"). The company symbols of the guard regiments were coloured in black, so I ended up painting behind the decals and the tried to line up the decals so they had the middle coloured in black.

I was also happy how the weathering turned out. It adds alot to the model without over powering it.

A close up of the decals after the black as added

Next up is some Universal Carriers

Thanks for looking, I hope to have another update soon!

Ben

The Fighting Irish

Hello All

I have finished my first test model for my Irish Guard. I decided to paint up Joe Vandeleur first as normal my test models end up being the best painted model in my army so I thought it should be an awesome model (and he's Michael Caine!)

I'm happy with the results, and this might have been the easiest paint scheme I have ever done!

It was painted (and this is also a reference for me as when I come back to armies I always forget how I painted the army!) was:-

* Spray it Black then War Paint British Armour Late War
* Dry Brush Russian Uniform mixed with Khaki, then a really light dry brush of Khaki.
* I then lined with model with Devlan Mud
* Next up was add the decals and paint the details (tools, tyres, etc)
* Then dry brush on the mud with Flat Earth, followed by Green Brown and finally a really light dry brush of buff.

Next up is are 10 Shermans and 3 Universal Carriers, I hope to have them painted by the end of the weekend.

Thanks for looking Ben

Review - Plastic Soldier Company Sherman M4A4/Firefly

Hello All

I finally got a couple of boxes of the new Sherman/Firefly sets from Plastic Soldier Company. I have been waiting a while for my local gaming shop to get in the 3 sets I ordered from them, so as I'm in a rush to get the army started I ordered 2 extra set directly from PSC and they turned up two days later.

This is the third set of PSC models I have bought and the second I have reviewed (see my Panther review here). so by now I sort of know what I'm getting and this set doesn't disappoint. You have 2 options from the box, a normal Sherman and a Firefly, the core model is the same, only the top half of the hull and the turret are different. The detail is really nice and crisp as are all of the PSC kits.

Again the instructions are not that clear in places, I had a little trouble with the turret. As with the Panther a dry run did help me work it out but only after a few tries. I do think this problem could be solved by adding numbers to the sprue and instructions as a lot of other companies do.

Another small down side was I had hoped like the T-34 you would be able to make 2 turrets out of each sprue so I could have some of the Fireflies as Sherman's for none Market Garden Sherman companies. But they use the small bottom and hatches so this was no possible.

Another problem was the .50 cal, the gun is very thin and all 5 from my first set broke when I tried to get them take them off the sprue. I tried a few different methods but nothing worked, so I'm not going to use them as if they break that easily when they come off the sprue then I would imagine they will break in game.

On the up side the Sherman's tracks are a big improvement on the T-34 tracks in regards to ease of building them.

I don't have any Battlefront Sherman's but here's a few pictures of built PSC Sherman's and one comparing them with a PSC Panther.

So overall this is a great kit but a few small problems stop it from being as great a kit as the Panther.

8/10

Now to get them all built so I can start playing with my Irish Guards!

Thanks for reading Ben

New Projects Looming

Hello All

I have picked up a few new bits for my next few Projects. Firstly I'm looking to do a British Armoured Company (Irish Guards to start with, then 11st Armoured with Cromwells) as I have mostly done Infantry in FOW and I fancy running some armour. Also being British it seems fitting to have a British Army!

So far I have picked up JOE Vandeleur (because he's Michael Caine!), some Universal Carriers (one of my friends was selling of some of his unneeded British bits) and I have 3 boxes of the New Plastic Soldier Company M4A4 Shermans/Firefly sets on order for as soon as they are released (hopefully soon!)