Gaming

By Kreighton Long.  Pictures from May ’40 Miniatures, Warlord Games, Black Tree Designs, Artizan Miniatures, Offensive Miniatures, Perry Miniatures, Wargames Foundry, Gorgon Studios, Crusader Miniatures, 1st Corps, and Westwind Productions. 

As one Bolt Action project ends, another begins.  Reflecting on my current inventory I notice a distinct lack of dedicated early war options.  Within my hobby circle this is the period of World War Two which is notably neglected.  Theories as to why range from a lack of US involvement to a distinct absence of the more iconic mid and late war tanks and weapons.  In an effort to try to rectify this bias, as well as to challenge myself with something new, I began planning to build and paint an early-war German paratrooper, aka Fallschirmjager, force designed around Case Yellow.

Case Yellow, also known as the Manstein Plan, was the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.  The Fallschirmjagers saw their first deployments in the Poland campaign and then saw their first firefights in Norway.  These experiences provided lessons to hone their abilities for Case Yellow.  On 10 May 1940 the Fallschirmjagers made arguably their greatest contribution to the war with their successful capture of the Belgian fort of Eben Emael.  The raid is worth a look if you’re unfamiliar but I’ll tease you with the note that 85 Fallschirmjagers landed in gliders on top of the fortification consisting of multiple gun emplacements and housing over one thousand Belgian troops.  After a few hours of fighting the garrison surrendered and history was made.  The Fallschirmjager went on to operate with mixed results in the Netherlands, Greece, their last major airborne operation of the war — Crete, and finally as conventional line-units in Italy, Russia, and Western Europe.

For my early-war Fallschirmjagers I aspire to stay as true to the Case Yellow theme I chose for myself.  This means limiting my troopers to the early war smocks.  The early war smocks were step-in smocks where the paratrooper had to step into the leg holes, pull the smock up over his shoulders, and feed his arms through the sleeves.  These smocks differed from the next generation smocks, issued starting in 1942, that look more like short cut trench coats.  By 1941, both the the early war step-in smocks and the coats were issued in the splinter camouflage pattern.  As I want to keep my jumpers true to the Case Yellow period I sought out models that exclusively used the early war step-in smock model.

As I started investigating different options on where to get my Fallschirmjager I quickly realized that I was about to be overwhelmed with the possibilities.  A feeling of paralysis by analysis started to set in.  Below are some of the options I found and a quick summary of what I noticed.

 

May ’40 Miniatures appears to be an excellent match for Case Yellow Fallschirmjagers.  Their sets even include Fallschirmjagers with hollow charges for their raid at Eben Emael and a set with captured Dutch weapons for their fighting in the Netherlands.  For someone looking to get painting right away these option is tough to beat.

 

 

Warlord Games has a variety of options for Fallschirmjager models.  The core is the plastic box set which includes five sprues of six torsos with three being sculpted with the early war step-in smock and three with the mid-war open smock.  Warlord offers the widest variety of support weapons and options for Fallschirmjager collectors.  For my early-war vision I would have to be mindful of whether or not I’m getting metal models in the mid-war smocks when ordering their support weapon sets.

 

 

Black Tree Designs has a range of Fallschirmjager for both early and late war.  Most of the model packs I looked at were sculpted with the early war smocks so that’s a plus for Black Tree Designs.  There is an excellent variety of support weapons and options which is appealing.  Most everything I foresee needing is available.  Black Tree Designs features Builder Packs to help save money when ordering multiple packs at a time which is another plus for this option.

 

 

Artizan Miniatures features a range of Fallschirmjager modeled for mid and late war actions. Their packs include sculpts of both step-in and open smocks.  I’ve painted Artizan miniatures in the past and am a fan of their work.  However, as their miniatures are metal they are more difficult to modify than plastics.  Additionally, their weapon options are tailored for the mid-war period with no MG-34s available.

 

 

 

Offensive Miniatures‘ Fallschirmjager range has a ton of character but appears to be sculpted with mid-war actions in mind judging by the open smocks and MG-42s.  Certainly worth considering for Fallschirmjagers fighting in North Africa, Italy, Russia, or France after Operation Overlord.

 

 

 

Perry Miniatures includes packs of Fallschirmjager in their German collection.  The sculpts look intended for the North Africa campaigns and include open smocks mixed in with step-in smocks.  While the metal miniatures look like a joy to paint altering the metal open smocks to fit the step-in requirements of my Case Yellow army will be far less joyful.

 

Wargames Foundry has four sets of Fallschirmjager.  While the miniatures look well sculpted with details such as external knee pads for those tough landings, the limited selection of options makes this a difficult sell for filling in a full Bolt Action army roster efficiently.

 

 

Gorgon Studios offers nine sets of Fallschirmjagers.  All sets are sculpted with the step-in smock and are an ideal match for early-war Fallschirmjager.  This was my first exposure to Gorgon Studios and I will certainly keep them in mind if when I look at either Norwegians or Polish 10th Mechanized Brigade.

 

Crusader Miniatures‘ Fallschirmjagers are sculpted for the early-war period with step-in smocks and MG-34s.  Their World War Two Platoon Deal is an ideal way to start collecting an early-war Fallschirmjager force.

 

 

1st Corps also has a range of early war Fallschirmjager.  1st Corps also offers casualty figures (especially handy as I’ll need to make pin markers for my army), drop canisters, and a supply dump.  Easily a one stop shop for getting started with early-war Fallschirmjager.

 

 

Westwind Productions offers a few packs of Fallschirmjager which appear to be more suitable for late-war action based on their uniforms and the equipment they are sculpted with.

 

It’s not surprising that a force as famous as the Fallschirmjager have been covered by so many different manufacturers.  Among the available options May ’40 Miniatures, Black Tree Designs, and Wargames Foundry stand out the most through my Case Yellow tinted jump goggles.  While looking through all the pretty toys I began to feel that I wanted more of a challenge than simply buying some kits ready to go.  I have been called a glutton for punishment before.  In the end I decided to go with the Warlord Games plastics.  This is partially me being cheap, as I already have a healthy pile of Fallschirmjager sprues in my box of shame,  a combination of gifts from co-conspirators and freebies from Wargame Illustrated and Warlord Games, and partially the excitement of a challenge.  Working with the Warlord sprues will force me to step outside my comfort zone by modifying the jump jackets into step-in smocks, kitbashing to have a unique force, and to practice my green-stuff skills by creating some of the weapons I will need (such as flamethrowers for my Fallschirmpioneers).  This will be a slow burn project but I hope to one day have a unique looking army to take to both club and competitive events.  Time to hit the hobby bench and start proof testing my ideas.  Stay tuned for the next addition where I hope to talk about having more success than sorrow converting the Warlord Fallschirmjager sprues into something worthy of raiding the fortress of Eben Emael.

The art of coalition command … in Afghanistan … is to take the resources you are provided with, understand what the strengths and weaknesses are and to employ them to the best overall effect. – David Petraeus

By Patrick S. Baker

In 2015 Vietnam ’65, developed by Johan Nagel and his company, Every Single Soldier, was published by Matrix/Slitherine on the Steam platform and Apple’s App Store. Vietnam’ 65 was an operational-level game that focused on the American and South Vietnamese counter-insurgency (COIN) campaign in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The game received critical praise and sold well.

In March, 2017, Afghanistan ’11 (A’11), published by Matrix/Slitherine, was released on Steam and the App Store. A’11 was developed by Every Single Soldier and Retro Epic and is an operational level game focused on the counter-insurgency in the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

A’11 is not a simple re-skinning of Vietnam ‘65, replacing jungles with mountains, the Viet Cong with the Taliban, and Hueys with Blackhawks, instead the game had been markedly improved, and expanded, with much deeper game play. This new depth included multiple historical scenarios as well as the familiar skirmish mode.

By Troy Hill

The wait is over!

“This is what you’ve all been waiting for. This September, the fighting intensifies. Warlord Games and Osprey Games are proud to announce a new edition of the world’s greatest World War II wargame… “~ Warlord Games

…premiering late September, 2024.

Warlord has an announcement on their website here.

EDITOR’s NOTE: Since that includes more information than was in the original press release, this story is being updated with additional information.

This seems to be the year for World War 2 action from Warlord Games! The exhaust and smoke from the battlefield of Warlord’s new Achtung Panzer! game is hot an heavy, and now Warlord announces the impending release of Bolt Action 3rd Edition.  Wow!

In a press release from Warlord Games, Alessio Cavatore is tagged as the rules guru behind the new version. Since he’s been at the controls of the game since its inception, that’s no surprise.

by Matt Varnish

 

Good morning everyone, hope all is well.    While I have been slaving away the past few months with rebasing entire units of French and redoing every single officer, and painting WAY too much gold braiding, I have also taken some time to make up a few characters for Sharp Practice.    Sharp practice is a semi skirmish ruleset for a variety of time periods, but is in the adventurous vein of Sharpe’s Rifles, the excellent show where the good guys always lose (the French)

In Sharp Practice, in addition to the usual infantry, horse and skirmishers that anyone with a Black Powder army already has, there are also leaders and heroes as well as some other characters on single bases.   There are a great many charts to roll up for them and see what special abilities they had, and a LOT of them under the Cad section has them chasing after women.. I mean, this IS AFTER ALL based on Sharpe !

By Kreighton Long

I recently stumbled across Father and Son Gaming’s Organic Shapes MDF Terrain Base Set and thought about the improvement they could offer my current terrain set-ups.  For years I’ve collected trees, a couple at a time, from various conventions.

I’ve used those same trees on nearly every table I’ve thrown together.  From time to time I’ve had a minor hiccup where my opponent or I would need to reposition a tree or two to accommodate units moving through  the clusters of trees and in doing so would lose track of the intended outline of the trees.  For the most part these are friendly club games and we’ve been able to work through it for the spirit of the game.

 

By Robert Kelly

Visit IWM London – Plan Your Visit | Imperial War Museums

I’ve left the granddaddy of all London museums to the end, the Imperial War Museum (IWM)London. There are actually five Imperial War Museums. This one in London, HMS Belfast and the Churchill War Rooms also in London, Duxford for all things aircraft and IWM North in Manchester.

“When you have attained the way of strategy there will be nothing that you cannot understand. You will see the way in everything.”  – Miyamoto Musashi

By Patrick S. Baker

Small Beginnings

In November 2023, Ranker.com named the Total War game series: “The Greatest Strategy Game Franchises of All Time”, even better than the much-vaunted Civilization franchise. Hard to believe it all started as an idea for a “B-Title” Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game.

In 1997, Command & Control (C&C) dominated the RTS game market. A whole slew of cheap knockoffs had been released and were doing brisk sales, one “pile of crap” C&C-clone called Krush, Kill ‘N’ Destroy had done some 600,000 units in sales.

Enter Tim Ansell, founder, owner and Chief Executive Officer of The Creative Assembly game company. Creative Assembly (CA) had been grinding away, porting sports games for gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) and selling about 100,000 units per game.  Ansell heard about the success of Krush, Kill ‘N’ Destroy and decided Creative Assembly would to do its own “upmarket clone” of C&C.

By Kreighton Long

Thanks to Great Escape Games I finally worked up the courage to take a crack at painting horses with their Romanian cavalry.  Fortunately for me, I have a former equestrian a shout away to lend her expertise.  A goal I had for my mounted Romanians was to have an eye-catching amount of variety with the different mounts.

Of course with my partner passing my painting desk every so often to quality control my progress I was able to work with her to incorporate some authentic colorings.  Below are some of the different colorings I ended up with and the corresponding colors. All paints used below are from Vallejo.

By David Garvin

As many who frequent this site know, wargaming is used by many modern militaries as a means to train and develop their leaders. There are semi-professional organizations, and there are military colleges and organizations that use wargames as an educational and development tool. One of the latest armies to dip its toes into wargaming as a professional development tool is the Canadian Army. Active since 2018, many of the wargames promoted are computer or PC based. In an effort to further the use of wargames as a tool for professional development, I recently suggested to my commander that I host a symposium based on this very idea. I have yet to deliver this symposium; this is set for April. That said, my method has been in development for a month or so no, and there are no trade secrets, so the aim of this short article is to whet the appetites of those who may be considering something similar. That said, I’m not going to be advocating computer or PC-based games; I will instead focus entirely on board wargames.

My aim is to first show how wargames have been used by professional militaries throughout the ages, and especially since the Prussians developed Kriegsspiel in the 1800’s. My aim in so doing is to demonstrate that the use of games is not a new concept and one that how shown its worth in history. As but one example, I intend to show how the commercially available board game, Advanced Squad Leader was used by US Marines prior to the liberation of Kuwait in 1991 to develop tactics to assault Iraqi positions. This is a specific example of a specific game used to develop a specific plan for a specific situation. I of course intend to go beyond that, even advocating that certain games with absolutely no bearing on military history are of great use. My one example? None other than Starship Troopers by Avalon Hill.

Even though the game is based entirely on a science fiction novel, the game has merit for use for professional development. All factions in the game have certain characteristics, and it is in the players’ best interests to know these factors and to develop conclusions based on these. What weapons do I have? How far can they reach? What about my enemies? How will I deal with them? What Starship Troopers does is force the player (or, in this case, the army officer) to look at the situation in hand and to throw away any pre-conceived notions, which is a real problem when dealing with real-life situations. One relevant example of this causing some hardship for army leadership happened in the early 1990s in the former Yugoslavia. 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, which had as its focus the defence (sic) of West Germany, deployed units to Bosnia as part of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). No longer were the units focused on setting up reverse-slope defenses with interlocking arcs of fire; its leaders had to contend with up to three warring factions, refugees, war crimes and more. In short, the situation was entirely new and unknown.

Another aim of the symposium will be to illustrate three general aims of professional wargaming: education, experiential and experimental.  I aim to show the many uses of gaming, from the lowest level up to strategic planning, but my focus will be on the tactical and operational. Not only will I show that games can be used to teach how to Take that Hill, but also to plan even logistical support to operations. The main lesson is that when playing wargames, the aim isn’t to beat the game itself, but rather to analyze a situation, make a decision and then watch the consequences of that decision, vis-a-vis an opponent who is doing the same thing but with competing objectives. A characteristic of this lesson is that it is safe-to-fail. If you make a wrong decision and your force ends up wiped out or you fail to properly support that platoon with commodities; it’s okay! Nobody died and as long as a proper after-action review (AAR) is completed so that lessons-learned are emphasized, then the wargame has been a success.

So, that’s it.  I have another month and a bit to prepare for the symposium, and at the very end, I intend on presenting the participants with a problem to solve using a wargame.  Based on a scenario from Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 (ASL SK 1), I will have them develop a plan for one side in the scenario. I will not try to teach them how to play the game, but I will use various characteristics from the game (terrain, firepower of units, objectives, etc) with just enough information for them to develop a plan. They will then brief back and then at the end, I will seek feedback from the participants on the symposium. As an added bonus, I will give away by raffle an in-shrink copy of ASL SK 1!  With luck, I’ll be asked to teach the winner how to play the game! Keep watching this site to see how it goes!

 

David Garvin is an active-duty Canadian Army Officer who has formerly been an instructor at the Combat Training Centre in Gagetown, NB, Canada.

“We are fighting a war with no front lines, since the enemy hides among the people, in the jungles and mountains, and uses covertly border areas of neutral countries. One cannot measure [our] progress by lines on a map.”—General William C. Westmoreland

By Patrick S. Baker

1965 was the year that, as one source puts it, “Vietnam Becomes an American War”. The massive bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder, started. The first American ground combat units arrived “in country”. The Battle of the Ia Drang, the first major set-piece battle of the war (so well detailed in We Were Soldiers Once… and Young by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore and Joseph L. Galloway) was fought in November that year.

It was also in 1965 that the bifurcated nature of the Vietnam War became clear. Part of the war was a conventional ground war with regular American military and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) units fighting conventional battles against the communists’ guerrillas, called the Viet Cong, (VC or Charlie) Main Force units and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units.

The other part was a counter-insurgency (COIN) campaign with America and her South Vietnamese allies trying to win the  “hearts and minds” of the largely rural population with generous foreign aid, civic construction projects, and Special Forces (SF) deployed to train the local defense forces to battle the VC guerrillas.