A Spot of Gardening

The backyards and gardens of our buildings can often just be open table enclosed by walls or hedges, perhaps with the odd shed or outside WC.  This is fine for most games as it makes it easier to place our models but I wanted to make those open spaces a bit more realistic.  So I've made some garden sections using offcuts of mdf.

I began by chamfering the edges then added some putty to give ridges for rows of potatoes. 

The planks are wide coffee stirrers roughly snapped whilst the raised beds are narrow ones.  The bean poles are are simply wire spears from which I've snipped the sharp points.

The holes were drilled at a slight angle as the steel wire can be tricky to bend in to place.  Super glue gel holds the the cross piece in place.

A good coat of PVA and a variety of sand/grit finishes off the construction.

I used the following paints to get a good earthy colour:

• Americana Dark Chocolate
• Americana Milk Chocolate
• American Honey Brown
• VMC Dark Sand

Then it was out with the grass, foliage and tufts!

Thanks for looking!

Patrol on the Ring Contour

Game One of Kampfgruppe von Luck

Private Goodbody scanned the hedgerows through his telescopic sights.  There was just enough light now to properly make out the shapes of trees and bushes across the wide fields of wheat.  He shifted his weight slightly, as his left ankle was still sore after the drop.  Laden with extra kit and plenty of ammo, his landing had been heavy.  His ‘stick’ had been fortunate as they’d landed close to Ranville but plenty of his fellows in 12 Para were still unaccounted for.  The drop had quickly become a shambles as aircraft weaved to and fro through heavy flak.  He wasn’t too concerned though as the lads were gradually turning up in 1’s and 2’s, sometimes more.
Sergeant Cameron appeared at his side and held out a tin cup of scalding hot tea.
“Movement?” he asked, his broad Scottish tones barely a whisper.  Private Goodbody was the sniper in No. 3 section and had the sharpest eyes in the platoon; if anyone could spot Jerry approaching it would be him.
For reply Goodbody simply shook his head.  He and Cameron were the furthest pickets out on what was known as the ring contour.  The Germans would be looking to re-take Bas de Ranville and the most likely route was right through this position.


At last Dave and I have got Kampfgruppe von Luck up and running!  It’s taken a while to post up though (sorry Dave) as things have been pretty hectic recently.  Anyway, this will be one of those fairly lightweight AARs ;o)

Rolling for the random structure of my platoon I got 1 Senior Leader, 1 Sniper and the 2" mortar team for the HQ.  Sections two and three came out as just one Junior Leader and a Bren team each.

A quiet piece of Normandy...

The Paras take up position

The Germans arrive!

I played it fairly cautiously through the early stages of the game and was doing well in terms of keeping my distance and inflicting shock and kills on the advancing Germans.  I had expected Dave to rush my position but thankfully he deployed troops then paused for a few phases of shooting.  Even with his superior numbers that was a contest I felt my men could do well at, and they did!  With his troops closing in on the hedge line I was still doing fine in terms of both casualties and morale.

Then I let it all fall apart ... For some bizarre reason instead of withdrawing with most of my platoon intact I threw a whole yet-to-be-deployed section of Paras straight in to combat with the Germans.

Working through the combat dice table I began to realise the dreadful mistake I’d made.  Dave was chuckling maniacally!  Sure enough the combat was bloody but the Paras came off worse by far and those were men I simply couldn’t afford to lose.  We agreed that the Para JL, Sergeant John Cameron, was captured by the Germans as then we might be able to play a rescue mission at some point as a little extra for the campaign.  Utter madness!  Oh well, lesson learned.

Germans hold one JOP but the Paras deploy from the other straight in to combat!

It looks like George rolled my dice!

One Para flees in to the wheat field as the retreat is ordered

Following that disaster I sounded the retreat. Thankfully everyone managed to withdraw successfully, well, everyone who wasn't full of bullet holes!

The Butcher’s Bill
The Paras took 11 casualties, so 5 dead, including a JL captured, and 3 missing the next game (9 of those casualties were from that fateful combat!)
CO’s opinion: Dropped from +1 to 0.
Men’s opinion: Dropped from +2 to +1.
Neither the CO or the men are particularly happy with Lieutenant William Campbell after that debacle.

German 1st Platoon, CO Lt Klinsmann
Squad 1, 2 casualties including JL Matthaus.
Squad 2, no casualties
Squad 3, 1 casualty.  JL Trochowski – Awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class for destroying a Para squad in combat & capturing 2 JOPs.
CO’s opinion: Up from 0 to 1.Men’s opinion: Dropped from +1 to -1. (ouch!)
The German CO is pleased but Dave's men took a dim view of the death of Obergefreiter Matthaus.

Lessons Learned

• Remember your objective!  Don’t pointlessly throw men in to combat, doh!?

Petrol Station

Continuing with the theme of shops for my World War Two collection I decided to add a (mini) petrol station.  Here it is...

More of a 'petrol shed' really!

I've built it to be used stand-alone or butted up to another building.  Here it is next to my newly painted Tabac.

The 'shed' is made from a foam-core box covered in coffee stirrers (it's the only thing I use them for as I don't have sugar in hot drinks!), the door frames are matchsticks and the windows are spares from another MDF kit.  The roof is corrugated plasti-card.

Rummaging through the bits box I found some resin crates and a barrel.  The splendid petrol pump is from 1st Corps here.  The cobbles are pieces of textured wallpaper.

I primed it using Halfords grey primer then set to with my brushes ... The green woodwork is Foundry Storm Green, washed with GW Agrax, highlighted with the base colour then Foundry Dragoon Green shade and mid.

The roof was painted using the Foundry Slate Grey triad whilst the cobbles are the Foundry Stone triad.

I wanted the shed to look a bit dilapidated so I painted some rusty areas on the roof using a base of Foundry Conker Brown, then adding yellow to the base to get a range of orange colours.

I added a 'new' piece of roof to cover the big rusty section.

The paint scheme for the pump was based on pics from Google.  When I find my box of Sharpie pens I'll add the "SHELL" lettering to the top of the pump.

The ground was painted using VMC 983, 877 and 847 with some of Colonel Bill's summer static grass plus a few tufts.  The crates are Americana Dark Chocolate, GW Agrax then highlights of Americana Milk Chocolate and Foundry Bay shade, GW Agrax then highlights of the base followed by a light drybrush of Foundry Boneyard mid.  The oil drum is VMC Russian Green, Agrax, then a highlight of the base colour.

Some vintage Shell and Michelin signs add a bit of extra character.

The bicycle came out of my bits box too.

Tabac from Charlie Foxtrot

I’d like to build a small village for my World War Two games and that means adding a few shops!  I've got the Epicerie and Chapellerie from Colin's fantastic range but thought I'd start with the Tabac.  Here it is...

Paras hoping to find a few packets of Gauloises

To add extra interest I've added wooden boards using coffee stirrers to the edges of the roof and the base of the upper floor.  I've also swapped the chimney for another from a farmhouse kit.  Here's the basic MDF building.

I also decided to paint the floor boards - the pic is a bit blurry tho!

I textured the walls and chimney using a fine grit/ballast mix fixed using slightly watered PVA.  Then it was on to the painting... The walls are simply the Foundry Moss Green triad.  The gritty texture makes highlighting very easy.

The brick front was base coated in Foundry Conker Brown then I picked out a few individual bricks using the colours in the pic.  Then wash with GW Agrax Earthshade to pick out the bricks.  Finish by highlighting with the original colours.

The paving and steps were undercoated black then painted with the Foundry Slate triad.

 

After applying the base coat of Foundry Moss shade to the walls I washed the edges with GW Agrax as I wanted a slightly dirtier look for the walls.

Then I went back over the washed areas with the base coat to blend it in.  This was followed by highlights using Moss mid then light.

The window frames, sign, shutters and boards were painted using the Foundry Boneyard triad.

I've added a couple of closed sets of shutters to the side where there are no windows simply because it will make the building more 'playable' in a game, i.e. a few troops can see out from that side.

The roof was tiled using Charlie Foxtrot tiling sheets then painted GW Corvus Black, then highlighted with the Foundry Slate triad.

I couldn't resist adding an advertising sign ... I may add a few more.

Thanks for looking!