Sunday 5 December 2021

A Second Game in Three Days

 Making the most of our new found freedoms, the usual gang of Paul, Chris, Julian, Mark, Rick, John and I arrived at Barrys wargaming centre in W Auckland for a very long planned (ie since August!) early WWII game in 15mm - Germans v Poles.

I even managed to get a very few of my own original FoW resin vehicles on the table, although I was in charge of the infantry on this occasion. When Mark ran the wargaming business in Auckland back in the 90's, his "next big thing" was going to be importing Old Glory Command Decision 15mm models - till an acquaintance Evan told him he could sculpt the same things and cast them in resin - and that is how Battlefront Miniatures and Flames of War was born. Mark ran the shop, with Barry, Rick and another John as directors, along with Peter Simunovic. They had really started the business as a way to ensure supply of miniatures for their own gaming habit I think, but the WWII resin vehicles changed all that and over time the business changed, expanded, moved premises and employed a number of extra staff. Mark left and ended up with his current job at Air New Zealand and Mr Simunovic, who was already a multi millionaire businessman heading up Simunovic Fisheries in Auckland, aimed to turn the small NZ cottage industry into a world dominating brand, even buying and running Wargames Illustrated for a umber of years, and using it as a vehicle to promote FoW as THE 15mm WWII option.

Anyhoo - back in the day, I worked shift work and often had a period from say 10am  - 2pm free, so I got into a habit of going into the shop in Marua Road and helping sort and pack the hand molded miniatures, with Mark "paying" me two models per hour worked, which resulted in a pretty large collection of German, Russian and British vehicles - I am talking 100+ vehicles for each of the three nations - the only problem being, most have never hit a tabletop in the intervening quarter of a century!

Well, enough of ancient anecdotes - here are the images of todays game - which was a Bltzkrieg affair with we Germans - Mark, Paul, Julian and I - attempting to break through the Polish defences and capture a bridge at the far end of the table from our stating point. Virtually all the Poles were concealed and the table was dotted with woodland that had to be recce'd as we advanced - a rather slow and painstaking business. 


The Wehrmacht at their start line with a long way to go to reach the target bridge


The :Polish town at the far end of the table, with the bridge we were aiming to capture


The only Polish forces visible - artillery and AA guns around the river crossing - YES, they are Desert War British AA guns - that's all Barry had available!


German recce SdKfz 221 and 222 armoured cars - commanded by Paul but my models


My contribution to Paul's panzer forces, 5 PzKfw 38(t) - the backbone of the panzer forces in 1939 and 1940 and far superior to the PzKfw I and II


The recce troops doing their job


From early on, I made a point of laying smoke with mortars and SPG's to cover my infantry advance


Polish armoured car uncovered by the recce troops


Target front - engage - mission, to destroy!


Close up of the rear of one of my 222's showing the yellow convoy markings 


The Poles had an armoured train, much to Rick's delight!


An FT 17 tank on a "virtual" flat car was attached at both front and rear


German recce commanded by Julian proceeded my infantry force


Infantry and towed Pak 36 AT guns advance


Paul's panzers grind forwards to take out the Polish defenders commanded by John


Barrages of smoke mask our advance from some of the Polish forces


Mark was quite successful at rolling up air support but less so at achieving any hits with it!


Several shots of the German armoured advance on our left flank





A unit of Polish tankettes uncouvered by recce - our artillery laid a smoke barrage to cover the panzers as they moved in for the kill


Julian's recce - motorcyclists to the right, find more Poles skulking in the woods


View of Paul's advance from the Polish lines


"Hurra!" (correct German spelling!) - and don't credit the Luftwaffe - my SIG 33 SPG took out the locomotive of the armoured train - although a moment later, Mark successfully bombed the first armoured artillery car as well!


The Germans moving forward all along the line


Having destroyed 17 Polish vehicles for the loss of 5 German ones, Paul reorganised his force ready for the final assault on the Polish town


The German left flank with no opposition left to worry about


On the German right flank, massed PzKfw I and II move up to support my infantry, as Polish tanks inflict some losses with mg fire


Last picture of the game - it was 4pm and time to call it a day - with the Poles declared the winners having prevented us from reaching the target bridge - mind you, if they had not spent almost 90 minutes deciding on what forces to employ and where to position them before we were actually able to start the game (arrived at Barry's 950am, moved first troops 1120am!), we might have been able to achieve the aim of our operation! (Maybe that was Ricks strategy in taking so long to deploy the Poles....?!)
Great to catch up with all the guys after a three month gap, even though we were unable to really get to grips with the enemy, with the exception of Paul on our left flank, who did a sterling job with the panzers.

32 comments:

  1. Another game Keith? Steady on old chap, you don't want to get gaming burn out just after Freedom Day;)! The game looked great and I love the Polish armoured vehicles, which I have in my lead pile and someday will see the light of day. A nice bit of background too on FoW and how it started.

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    1. Thanks Steve, I would have to play A LOT of games before there was any risk of burn out! Nice to have an early WWII game for a change - the only thing that didnt make it onto the table was lance armed cavalry, although Barry has them in his collection and I teased Rick about it quite a lot in the lead up to the game - Rick LOVE sweeping flanking manouevres with cavalry....

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  2. Interesting anecdote there matey. Amazing how these things start and gather pace.
    I’ll suggest being paid in models to the dairy where I occasionally work. It’d cut out all the hassle of actually having to go and buy models with the pocket money I earn there. Lol. Lovely looking game and probably sweeter now that you are out from under all those restrictions.

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    1. Cheers JBM.....my regret now is, I should have got less 15mm WWII and substituted some Front Rank 28mm instead...but as I remarked to Chris tidal, THEY would have probably just sat in cardboard boxes in my garage doing nothing much for the last 25 years too....!

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  3. Oh, Great to see your next game!
    Best

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    1. Thanks Michal and you would be pleased to see a Polish victory!

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  4. Some interesting background and a splendid looking game. I do love early war armour especially German kit 👍 you need a big table for 15 mm tanks in that number though ?

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    1. Thanks Matt. Yes, the table at Barry's place is big...at a guess, 6' x 18' or something similar...at 200 or 300mm per move, it takes a long time to go the full length of the table!

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  5. Very jealous... Nice to see some the early war stuff getting an airing.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Thanks Stu. Being associated with Mark and the old Battkefront, we all have big collections of these figures, so getting them on the table can be problematical! Julian and used to play a lot of Crossfire with our 15mm collections.

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  6. Another great looking game. Always found the early part of the war easier to game

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    1. Thanks Scotty. We always seem to struggle with WWI, regardless of what era. Modern firing rules are particularly complicated, it seems to me...well, the way we do it is anyway! Rules used are a home brewed amalgam of FoW and some of Mark and Barry's ideas.

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  7. Fascinating history of the Battlefront/FoW enterprise. As others have remarked, early war is a fascination for me too. Great looking game, Keith!

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    1. Thanks Jon...if we had played across the table rather than down it, we might have been able to get a conclusion...but it was great to get together with all the guys!

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  8. Very cool gaming, Keith. What's not to love - Planes, Trains and Tanks!

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    1. Thanks Dean, yes, we had a lot going on for sure!

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  9. Interesting hobby back story. Really like those wooded terrain blocks and the armoured train.

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    1. Thanks Norm. Yes we have a large collection of wooded areas of this type, created by Mark and one of our previous group members who sadly passed away about ten years ago at a relatively young age..possibly 70 years or thereabouts.

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  10. That looks great, and the armoured locomotive is a very nice piece. I don't remember Barry (or Mark) being interested in WWII back in the day, so it is surprise to learn he has a collection like that. Lovely stuff.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence - Marks not too keen on WWII and I am not sure he has any - but Barry got very interested in it and has a huge number. Rick and Paul also have substantial collections, as does Julian - Chris got rid of his at one point I think - and I have the few hundred I mentioned in my post. I am very glad I did not pay for them as it would have been a wasted investment but like my other collections, I am loathe to part with anything at this stage!

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  11. Got to love a game with an armoured train!
    Best Iain

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    1. I particularly enjoyed the part where I blew it up!

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  12. Had a look at your dragoons, eclectic posts in 2016,nice Napoleonic Austrians and did you enjoy Game of thrones?
    Best Iain

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    1. I am glad you had a look Iain, it took me quite some time to find that post! I had forgotten how few comments I used to get back then...it's a wonder I carried on with the blog! And yes, I did enjoy GoT although I was a bit upset that Danaerys was killed off!

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  13. A great looking game Keith…
    I bought a whole bunch of Americans with the intention of doing the Tunisian campaign…
    Alas no one else wanted to join in… I ended up giving them away…
    Early war is something I would be tempted to do in 28mm though…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Cheers Aly - I think a lot of people were bitten by the FoW bug - so in that respect, what Peter Simonovic did, worked! And we are already ahead of you on the early War 28mm idea - Rick has painted at least the French and Germans and quite possibly the Brits too - he tried to con me into doing Poles but I like to win a game every now and again!

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  14. Hmmm, it seems my first comment was eaten by the internet. Too bad, I can’t be bothered to be that elegant and poignant again. But I did want to say that I enjoyed the post and the bits about your ancient history. You have quite the gaming fellowship there! Unlike the lazy good for nothings that run around with. 😀

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    1. Shane Stew - we look forward to your witty repartee - bloody internet, that ANOTHER thing we can blame it for! I was pretty peripheral to the shop, Military Miniatures, and how the company developed, but most of the older guys I game with were right in the middle of it all and Mark of 1866 and All That was pivotal to the whole genesis of Battle Front and Flames of War.

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    2. Bloody hell - that should read "Shame Stew..." .....obviously!

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  15. I thought that you punchline was going to be that you'd decided to get the vehicles onto the table after all these years...*
    Another marvellous looking game. Good to see the Poles in the 'winner's circle' and even gooderer to see a cameo by the FT 17!
    Regards, James
    *The beauty about our collections is that they don't go 'off' and will wait, patiently, until we attend to them!

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  16. '...your punchline...', of course. Typos are catching!

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    1. LOL - I seem to have more typos in Blogger than Word or Outlook - I am sure its simply that Blogger does not highlight the mistakes like the other two programs do! (OR, its the predictive text changing the word I typed to something it thinks is more appropriate.....)

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