Fresh From The Painting Desk

 So yes, I alluded to something other than the subject of this post appearing next, and to be fair, something quite different was ahead in the painting queue, but WWII stuff is so quick and easy to do, this one surged ahead and beat the opposition to the finish line!

The 85 mm air defense gun M1939 (52-K) (Russian: 85-мм зенитная пушка обр. 1939 г. (52-К)) was an 85 mm (3.3 in) Soviet anti-aircraft gun, developed under guidance of leading Soviet designers M. N. Loginov and G. D. Dorokhin. This gun was successfully used throughout the Second World War against high level bombers and other high- and medium-altitude targets. In emergencies they were also utilized as powerful anti-tank weapons. The barrel of the 52-K was the basis for the family of 85-mm Soviet tank guns. After the war some 52-Ks were refitted for peaceful purposes as anti-avalanche guns in mountainous terrain.

Adopted in 1939, the 85-mm M1939, like its German counterpart the 88-mm Flak 18/36/37, was meant for air defense. Like many anti-aircraft (AA) guns of the era it was also provided with anti-tank ammunition in the event a tank should appear.

I am not sure why the model came with the barrel resting on the support mounting - I would assume that was normally lowered before the gun was fired and the image on the web site has it modelled in the lowered position, but as it came this way, I just left it as is - if I attempted to alter it, I am sure I would just break the model!

I notice the two standing crew members need the soles of their boots tidying up, as they were attached to a base with PVA for painting, and some of the PVA has remained in place.

A close up of each of the crew members

A few images/videos of what we got up to over the weekend

On Saturday, we went to see our son Michael playing rugby for the first time since he was about 15 (us watching, not him playing!). That is him at the back, in the half back position:

The key player at the scrum is the scrum-half or half-back. This player throws the ball into the scrum, moves to the hindmost foot of the scrum, and is usually the player who picks the ball up and passes out to the fly-half who then distributes the ball to the backline.

A try being scored by Michael's team in (Patumahoe)

Thats Michael getting the ball then being tackled - he managed to hold onto the ball and feed it back though! His team won by something like 56 - 27

On Sunday, we took a short walk in a local reserve, and heard some magical birdsong...

Thanks for visiting and extra thanks for leaving a comment!

Wednesday Night Game - Delayed till Friday.

 I think this is my first failure to play my solo game on a Wednesday so far, apart from when I have been unavoidably detained elsewhere eg work trip to Taupo last week!

I decided to head to the other end of WW2 from the recent games and get some new stuff on the table - so taking the "Tank Rider" book I recently read as a sort of inspiration, I set up a small skirmish whereby a T34/85 and the attached tank riders would be ambushed by defending Germans somewhere on the road between Kiev and Berlin.

I took lots of pictures and played around 40 turns (!) but not an awful lot happened in many of them, as you will see below.

The lone Soviet tank and tank riders leading the Soviet advance enter the battle space

I had four black face cards for random German ambushes - Ace for an AT Gun, King for Panzerschreck, Queen for HMG and Jack for 6 rifle armed infantrymen.

Despite a LOT of card shuffling, the very first card was the black Ace. I rolled a D6 for placement, got a 1, and the PAK opened fire from the wood to the left of the T34.

With a +2 against heavy armour, the German crew got a hit and disabled the Russian tank - great start!

The next turn was a red card, the T34 returned fire - plus 3 for the 85mm gun minus 1 for the cover 

So that's 12, then, and the PAK is destroyed!

Next up was the black Queen! The HMG crew appeared in the same wooded area as the burning PAK and put a hit on the tank riders as they rapidly leapt from the rear of their stalled carriage.

A couple of turns later, and the HMG had put four hits on the Soviet infantry, who were now in grave danger of fleeing of the very nearby table edge!

Fortunately, on the next turn, the Red infantry slightly recovered their nerve, and the T34 suppressed the enemy HMG crew!

The Wehrmacht crew fell back into the cover of the woods to avoid a second hit, then a couple of turns later, rallied the hit off

And immediately caused the Soviet morale to teeter on the brink - again!

And again, they recovered

Deja Vue on the HMG

For a few turns, not a lot happened, the Soviets failed to roll any rallies and likewise the HMG crew. Then the black King came up, with the Panzerschreck entering in wood number 2

Having rallied off another hit, the tank riders moved forward to engage the ambushers

Slow progress in the centre, but the HMG is still suppressed and can't intervene

Finally, after probably 12-15 attempts, the Soviet tank crew have affected repairs to their damaged vehicle - Urrah!

The next turn up came the black Jack and the last German troops arrived - 6 infantrymen in wood number 4, to the rear of the T34 and tank riders!

In the first round of firing, they put a hit on the tank riders!

And then again - the Soviet infantry face yet another morale challenge, as the T34 swings around to engage the pesky Landsers

This is what a couple of rounds of close-range tank fire can do to infantrymen - 4 hits and the Germans were forced off the table edge a couple of turns later!

Whilst all this had been happening however, the Panzerschreck had moved through the woods and taken up a firing position next to the burning PAK. An armour piercing round explodes from the wood and whistles towards the exposed rear of the T34 .......

...... but the gunners aim is off and the round flies harmlessly past the Russian tank!

With the infantrymen in full retreat, the T34 swings around 180 degrees - and puts a hit on the Panzerschreck gunner!

Next turn, the gunner tests to rally - success!

Then, he fires another round at the T34 - ANOTHER success! BOOM

The destruction of their comrades could have taken the wind out of the tank riders sails - but it had the opposite effect, and, like the song says "Their noble rage boils over like a wave"! A double 6 for rally removes ALL the hits they were carrying!

Small arms fire from the tank riders keeps both the remaining Wehrmacht elements suppressed

As they advance over open ground to engage the Germans in close quarter battle. (If you are wondering about the turn number, I ran out of cards at 34!)

I decided to call the game here - the two remaining Germans pulled back, having knocked out the T34 but failing to eliminate the tank riders

Not the most inspiring game really - I would have liked the T34 to have got a bit further onto the table before the first ambush occurred, but it played out well enough and probably a typical microcosm of the actions described in the Tank Rider book, so achieved what I was aiming for!

Thanks for dropping in to check out my blog and hopefully, recording your visit with a comment!