All Coated Up and Ready to Go

The mojo seems to have returned with the good weather, as I have finally finished off the latest, long drawn out, WiP batch, the 121ème régiment d'infanterie with a supporting unit of voltigeur skirmishers, and all overseen by Général de Division Jean-Marie-Pierre-François Lepaige Dorsenne.

So, after going through their paces in the field, a quick trip to the local photographic studio was called for.

21st Panzer Ready to Roll

It was only when writing the last post that I realised I had completed the 20mm vehicles for future Chain of Command (CoC) games that I had featured in earlier Work in Progress (WiP) posts and just put them away in the cabin without posting.

So, time to dig them out and show what the finished articles look like.

The lead vehicle in an old MMS metal kit only included in the picture for comparison with the resin and white metal vehicles from Early War Miniatures (EWM).  The others are described in turn below:

UNIC P107 U 304(F) troop carriers 

These are 'built' straight from the EWM 'kits' with a resin body and white metal wheels, tracked running gear and MG42 mount.  The figures are also those supplied with the vehicle, albeit I only used 6 of the 8 seated infantrymen provided.  The camouflage scheme is taken from a WW2 photograph of this vehicle and gives them (IMO) a lot of character.  

One slight niggle is that the gun shield on the MG42 mount on the P107 was different but I decided to let that pass. 

The driver and commander have been glued into the front seats as shown below alongside the 150mm self-propelled gun.

The seated infantrymen in the back can be removed, as they are all attached by their feet to a false floor as described in a previous post (Becker's Specials - Build Complete-ish).

Sdkfz 135/1 150 SPG LS(f), 150mm self-propelled gun

This was also pretty much built straight from the 'kit', also with a resin body, and white metal gun mounting and recoil spade.  The few minor changes also were also discussed in the earlier post.  

The camouflage scheme for this vehicle was taken from this book which I had treated myself to; it's jam-packed with beautiful artwork.

The gun crew in this vehicle can be removed as they are also fixed to a false floor, the shell cases around their feet, as planned in the earlier post, making the joints more robust.

Pak40 Somua MCG S307(f) Panzerjäger

This vehicle was the real inspiration for the whole batch as it's in the Too Fat Lardies 'Kampfgruppe von Luck' pint-sized campaign and Hans Hoeller's memoirs 'D-Day Tank Hunter'.  Its camouflage scheme was also taken from the book mentioned above but slightly tweaked to match that in the photos of Hans Hoeller's book.  As this was an ambitious kit-bash of the EWM P107 kit I shall indulge myself with a flurry of captioned photos.

Left side

Right side

Front

Rear

Close-up of fighting compartment

Close-up of scratch-built tools

It's not perfect, but I'm still pretty pleased with this effort, and it deserved the up-market crew from AB Figures (actually a Flak crew) who are secured by magnets in the figures and the seats.  The biggest error is the retention of the seating down either side of the fighting compartment.  This was error in reading the plans I used but fixing it would've undone much of the work put in and I doubted the structural integrity of the resin body would survive their removal so I decided to leave it as is.

Becker's Specials - Build Complete-ish

Finally, after lots of failed attempts I've managed to get my scratch-built S307(f) finished and ready for painting together with the other vehicles intended for 21st Panzer in the Too Fat Lardies 'Kampfgruppe von Luck' campaign.

The reference in the title to them being not quite complete, is because the Pak40 on the S307 and the machinegun mounts on the P107 carriers are not yet attached to make the painting easier - see below.

The P107s are straight Early War Miniatures (EWM) 'kits' (resin body and white metal axle/wheels and tracks/running gear).  Once painted I will glue the driver and commander in the front seats and attach the machinegun mounting.  The 'passengers' have been attached to plasticard false floors so they can be removed as required.  Unlike the Sdkfz 135/1 SPG crew these are not just superglued on, but have holes drilled up into their legs and plastic rod inserted.  This rod is then passed through holes in the plasticard floor and rivetted under the 'floor' with a hot blade.

The Sdkfz 135/1 gun crew are now more secure on their false floor with empty shell cases glued around their feet - see below. 

This vehicle is also a straight EWM build with a separate metal gun and recoil spade at the rear.  The only extras were a gun-rest, fashioned from a piece of scrap plastic from my bits box, and some steel wires as latches holding the spade in the raised position (not shown).

The Pak40 S307(f) now only requires the gun mounting to be attached, it's just resting in place in the photos below.

I'm pleased with the build, the gun mounting should be a bit lower, as should the top of the bonnet, but holding it up against a 1/76 scale drawing it's close enough.

I was rather pleased with some of the detailing like the engine hatches and tools all fabricated out plastic bits and pieces (the close-up below shows just how messy I am when using glue).

Other details (see below) include the shot rack below the gun breech, made from plastic rod (ends rivetted with a hot blade to create the cartridge rims[1]) and plasticard.  Also, in the photo below can be seen the magnets for holding the crew in place, and the rack of jerrycans on the back.

The jerrycans were 3D prints I bought especially off eBay from Diesel Dog Models as my bits box turned out to only have Allied jerrycans.  Nice prints as can be seen below, albeit I've spilt quite a bit of glue on them.

Next comes the painting, although I suspect a few more flaws might show up once I get the first coat on.

Notes:

[1.]  There should be 8 rounds in the rack, but six was all I could fit in ...   :o(

Becker's Specials - The Genesis

Having been enjoying a lot of Chain of Command (CoC) games, I recently invested in figures for a British Paratroop platoon to give me a slightly different force to pitch against my Germans.  Then looking for a campaign to use them in I bought Too Fat Lardies' (TFL's) 'Kampfgruppe von Luck'.

In this the opposition is mainly the 21st Panzer Division with an eclectic collection of armoured vehicles modified from old French captured equipment, of which I have only a single UNIC P107 and that doesn't match the photos of the originals.  

As there was no rush (my British Paras are a long way down the painting queue) I did nothing, but as my interest in these makeshift AFVs had been piqued, I was tempted into buying Hans Hoeller's memoirs 'D-Day Tank Hunter'.

The main reason for buying these being that he commanded a troop of three Pak40 Somua MCG S307(f) tank destroyers in Normandy.  

I found this memoir to be one of the best I have read and it inspired me to get the necessary vehicles for the 'von Luck' campaign as these vehicles feature in the German arsenal in the TFL campaign guide.  The guide acknowledge that players may have to use similar vehicles as stand-ins as they are not produced by many manufacturers.

They were right, not helped by the fact that I game CoC in 20mm which seems a less-favoured scale.  Early War Miniatures (EWM) produce most of what is called for in the campaign but don't do a S307(f) ... but they said they would sell me bits from other kits from which it should be possible to scratch-build one.  So, I dived in and in addition to the bits for an S307(f), I bought two UNIC P107 U 304(F) troop carriers and an Sdkfz 135/1 150 SPG LS(f) self-propelled gun (SPG).  

The first step was to cut down the P107 body to leave just those bits needed for the S307(f) - as shown in the photos below alongside a standard P107 body.

As can be seen there's not much left and what there is will be largely covered up by the armour plates (plasticard) to form the S307(f); the radiator grill is just about the only part of the exterior that will remain visible.

Realising this was going to be a long drawn-out build, I thought I should assemble the other kits in parallel.  The first bit tackled was how to create a removable gun crew for the Sdkfz 135/1 SPG.  Magnets didn't seem an option with the crew figures provided so I decided I would try and attach them to a false floor that would sit on top of the fighting compartment's floor.

This seems to work well, but the figures are a little precarious, only having their feet (foot in the case of one figure) super-glued onto a piece of plasticard.  I intend to bodge up some used shell cases to scatter around their feet.  These will be secured with Araldite (epoxy-resin) and butting up against their feet should make them more secure.

More updates due very shortly, as the photos for this post were taken just over two weeks ago.  The post was delayed as I was distracted by getting my car rear-ended and written-off which, with the need to find and buy another car, has sucked up so much time I forgot to post this.

Sidetracked

Along with an interrupt for the CoC game described in the previous post, my work in progress (WiP) was put on hold while the wife went away to visit friends for a few days.  While that has its downside, it also frees up the kitchen.  As this gives me a 6'x3' table and 4'x6' peninsular it allows me to spread out far more than is possible on my cluttered 2'x2' painting table.

What this means is I can do some terrain work that won't fit on the painting table.  And in this case, it was painting my recent purchase of latex tracks and cobbled town streets with pavements from Early War Miniatures at Partizan.

First, the country tracks and junctions.

The EWM range doesn't include any junctions between 7cm-wide cobbled roads and the dirt tracks so I had to bodge these.  Down the lefthand side are the cobbled roads cut from road T-junctions.  Butted up against two of them are the tracks cut from track T-junctions.  In the middle of the second column is a section of cobbled road with two track sections cut from track T-junctions to make a 'road-track' crossroads.

Some of these featured in my previous, CoC AAR, post.  The posts are out of sequence as I need to do AARs immediately after the game before I forget what happened.

The town streets, including some damaged (bombed/bombarded) sections were simply a paint job.  

The paints used were all acrylics by Vallejo and/or Citadel.

Who's Teaching Whom?

 The Scenario

This was a one-off Chain of Command (CoC) learning game for a friend, Colin, who had only played one game of version 1 some time ago and was interested in trying the second edition of the rules.  Offered the choice, Colin opted to defend with a German platoon; I would attack with the Brits.

I based the game on an Attack-Defend scenario from the Operation MARTLET pint-sized campaign (the attack on Fontenay), but swapped the German SS Panzergrenadier platoon for a Heer Infantry platoon to give Colin some practise with rifle groups as well as machine gun teams.

The table set-up looked like this:

As per the campaign scenario, each of the German sections was down by one man and they received a Panzer IV in compensation, plus 8 support points.  The Brits had 16 support points.

With my 16 support points, I opted for: 1x M4 Sherman (6pt.s); 1x Vickers MMG Team (4pt.s); 1x PIAT Team (2pt.s); 1x 2" Mortar Team (2pt.s); 1x Adjutant (1pt.); and, 1x Replenishment Point (1pt.).  Colin plumped for: 1x Mortar Bombardment (4pt.s); 1x Senior Leader (2pt.s); 1x Medic (1pt.s); and, 1x Adjutant.

The Patrol Phase

We both rolled a starting Force Morale of 10, so as the attacker I started the Patrol Phase.  The Brits start with 4 patrol markers on the road where it enters their baseline.  The Germans, who opted for 3 patrol markers, start anywhere up to 18" in from their baseline and may be spaced out (but within 12" of each other).

With their head-start and fewer patrol markers, the Germans penned the Brits back around Home Farm; the photo below showing the patrol markers and two of the three German jump of points (JOPs - the small Cross markers).

The other German JOP was in the Derelict Farmhouse, and the British JOPs were in Home Farm, the Tractor Shed and the Orchard.  

The Germans then placed two objectives, marked by abandoned artillery pieces.

The Game [1]

1BR(3,4,4,5,6): I never like to bring on my senior leaders too early so I settled for just deploying No.1 section in the yard of Home Farm.  

2GE(2,3,4,4,6): Colin passed to wait and see what I intended.

3BR(1,1,1,3,5): allowed me to deploy a 2" mortar team in the farmyard, the Sherman on the road, and No.2 section in the orchard from where they put down suppressive fire on South Wood.  The JOP in the orchard can be seen in the photo below just behind No.2 section (with a scenic cover on top of the JOP marker).  

4GE(2,3,3,5,5): Colin had seen enough at this point, and deciding that attack was the best form of defence, deployed his tank (PzIV) and III section along the hedge running down the road.

He also deployed I Section in the Derelict Farmhouse from where they fired at No.2 section in the orchard, inflicting one kill on the Bren team and one point of shock on the Rifle team.

5BR(1,2,3,3,6): rattled by such an early, and aggressive response before I'd started to organise my attack, I withdrew No.2 section deeper in into the orchard to escape the fire from the Derelict Farmhouse.  No.1 section advanced from behind the Tractor Shed to line the nearby hedge and my Sherman fired h.e. at III Section advancing along the roadside hedge.  The h.e. was an immediate success inflicting one point of shock on the MG42 team and wounding III section's obergefreiter, the junior leader, which caused German Force Morale to drop from 10 to 8!

6GE(2,3,5,6,6): our first double phase, which Colin used to tactically advance III section along the hedge while deploying a Medic to attend the wounded obergefreiter.

7GE(1,2,5,5,5): for three CoC points leaving Colin only wanting one more for his first full CoC die.  I, as the attacker, had started with 2 CoC points but was now left trailing on only 4 CoC points.  

Colin used the '2' for the Medic who treated the obergefreiter, restoring him to full fitness for the following phase.  And, with the '1' he deployed a forward observer (FO) with a battery of 8cm mortars on call - the aiming point was placed to embrace both my section in the orchard and some of those in Home Farm.  Luckily for me the dice came to my rescue and the first aiming round from the mortar battery landed unobserved, who knows where.

8BR(1,1,2,3,4): if I was rattled before, I was definitely panicking now, and No.2 section's corporal rallied off the point of shock and moved his men as far from the aiming point as possible, albeit still within the orchard[2].  Also in a funk, No.1 section promptly dashed for cover into the Tractor Shed.  The 2" mortar team was just outside the threatened area so were left in place while the Sherman again fired at III section behind the roadside hedge - to no effect.

9GE(1,3,3,3,5): and Colin got his first CoC die.  The '1' was taken by the FO, who moved the aiming point to take in the entire Home Farm complex and the M4 Sherman.  This time the aiming round was spotted, but fell 13" short in North Wood!  Phew, that wasn't even close.  Elsewhere, things were moving quickly, as the PzIV advanced flat out ...

... and III section doubled along roadside hedge.

10BR(1,2,3,5,6): finally realising the mortar bombardment could come down anywhere, the 2" mortar team was moved into Home Farm, while the Sherman again engaged III section with the bow MG and high explosive.  The MG was completely ineffective but the h.e. killed two and inflicted a point of shock, all on the MG42 team - now down to just one man.   

11GE(1,2,3,5,5): and at the third time of asking the mortar bombardment came down on target and with immediate effect.  But with everyone taking cover in buildings only two points of shock were inflicted on No.1 section's Bren team.  

III section rallied off a point of shock and moved to cross the road, but didn't get very far, and the Medic doubled across to the Derelict Farmhouse.

Frustratingly this tempting target was unavailable to my Sherman which was within the mortar bombardment area.

12BR(1,2,2,3,4): and my platoon sergeant deployed in the Tractor Shed, to rally off shock[3].   Overlooking No.2 section in the orchard, I thought everything, except the Sherman, was pinned by the bombardment.  So, all I attempted was to move the Sherman out from the bombardment to fire at III section crossing the road.  But with only a 2" move from the dice it failed to get clear of the bombardment zone.

13GE(1,1,2,2,4): and the second bombardment phase proved more deadly, killing two riflemen in the Tractor shed and inflicting a point of shock on both the rifle and Bren teams there.  The 2" mortar team in Home Farm also lost one man killed and one point of shock.  Ouch!

III section now completed their movement across the road, advancing out of danger and reaching the edge of the North Wood.  I section started to leave the Derelict Farmhouse, the rifle team on the ground floor moving outside while the MG42 team came down the stairs.  They were joined outside by the platoon's commanding senior officer, the oberfeldwebel, as he deployed from JOP inside the building.  Alll this can be seen in the photo below.

14BR(1,3,4,5,6): the Sherman escaped the bombardment zone[4] this time and engaged III section in the edge of the North Wood, killing one rifleman and inflicting a point of shock on the rifle team.  Meanwhile the platoon sergeant rallied off more shock and I deployed a PIAT team in the orchard to deter the PzIV from advancing on that flank.

15GE(1,1,4,4,6): and the final round of the mortar bombardment killed a Bren gunner and inflicted a point of shock on the rifle team of No.1 section in the Tractor Shed.  The oberfeldwebel ordered I section's MG42 team out of the Derelict Farmhouse and their rifle team to advance to the North Wood.  He went with the rifle team, and on arriving at the wood, rallied a point shock off III section.  The feldwebel, the support senior leader, also deployed outside the Derelict Farmhouse at this point.  Finally, the PzIV driver put the tank in gear and moved off towards the road.

16BR(2,2,4,4,6): time for another of my MISTAKES - I forgot the effects of a bombardment last until the end of the phase following the end of the bombardment so, my platoon sergeant rallied off some shock and moved No.1 section out into the yard.  He also ordered the 2" mortar team out into the yard, but as they were not pinned this was permitted.

Now being fixated by the approaching PzIV I passed on doing anything else.  I really was below par in this game.

17GE(2,3,5,6,6): and now as if to punish both my mistakes and poor play, the Germans have a double phase just as the tanks are about to meet.  And yes, the PzIV did advance out onto the road so I spent my only CoC die to interrupt and fire at it with my Sherman.  So the question now was where do I interrupt and fire?  While it's presenting its flank, or after its fully emerged from behind the building but is facing me?  I opted for the former.  What an idiot!  I should know by now that if there's one dice roll I always seem to have trouble with, it's hitting AFVs, and yes I missed!

As this was going on, the German III section moved deeper into the North Wood.

18GE(1,4,5,6,6): a triple phase!  Surely my Sherman was a goner now.  The PzIV fired and hit the Sherman and rolled five armour penetration hits.  Luckily I saved all but one and only took a single point of shock.

In the North Wood the oberfeldwebel removed three points of shock from III section.

19GE(3,4,5,5,6): and the seemingly inevitable destruction of my Sherman by the PzIV (it didn't blow up) saw British Force Morale fall from 10 to 8.  

At the same time the oberfeldwebel now advanced the restored III section up to the hedge at the edge of the North Wood and fired at No.1 section in the Home Farm yard.  

Cue another of my MISTAKES as I forgot to halve the number of fire dice for moving and firing.  Fortunately, I had spent my last three CoC points to Hit the Dirt so I only suffered two points of shock from nine hits.    

20BR(1,2,3,3,6): and Colin had to leave shortly, so we agreed we'd each play just one more phase.  First, I deployed my Vickers MMG to fire at close range against his III section in the North Wood.  Ten fire dice at close range against a target only in soft cover; but to no effect!  Colin used some of his rather plentiful CoC points to React Fire causing one kill and one point of shock.  The 'kill' wounded my Platoon Sergeant and British Force Morale dropped from 8 to 7.

Then as it was a learning game and about to end, I decided to show Colin how Close Combat works and deployed my last section (No.3) directly into a close combat against his III section in the wood.  This proved an excellent lesson on how not to do it, as the benefit of cover offset my numerical advantage.  This, combined with some lop-sided dice rolls saw me inflict one kill and one point of shock while taking three kills and three points of shock.  In this exchange of fire, Colin lost his oberfeldwebel who was killed (German Force Morale fell from 8 to 5), and my No.3 section's corporal was wounded (British Force Morale fell from 7 to 6).  Then, as the British had BADLY lost the combat, the resulting Force Morale tests for losing and then breaking saw British Force Morale sink from 6 to 5, and then from 5 to 4!  The Brits were now only on four command dice - on the bright side this was their last phase in the game.  The routing section, with all their accrued shock, can be seen in the photo below (although by my count they are one shock short).

21GE(2,2,3,6,6): and just to rub it in, the Germans got another double phase, albeit we'd agreed to end the game after Phase 21.  There really wasn't much of interest here, just some desultory firing and units moving up, before the end of game was called.

Just out of curiosity, Colin threw his command dice for Phase 22 and got: 1, 5, 5, 6 & 6, for what would've been another treble phase - it clearly wasn't my day.  He did roll for Phase 23 but only rolled: 1, 1, 3, 4, 5.

Post Mortem

Colin enjoyed the game and despite some concerns about how JOPs work in the rules is keen to play again - so key objective met.

Otherwise, the story's a bit less positive.  I'm still making silly mistakes, and I played poorly, being almost entirely reactive and letting Colin seize and keep the initiative for the whole game.  Colin deserves the credit for this as he did decide to go on the attack and throw everything at me; I was just so shocked by that I never really got going.  

In retrospect, I think applying the 'game set-up' from CoC v2 except where the campaign scenario explicitly stated something different was why I found my JOPs hemmed in by the defending Germans.  The campaign scenario starts the defender patrol markers 18" in from their edge, instead of 12", and the attacker's in one spot as opposed to spaced out along their table edge.  But, in CoC v1 (for which the scenario was developed) the defender has four patrol markers, not three and the attackers get 1D6 free patrol moves before the start of the patrol phase.  All of which would likely improve the attacker's JOP options.

It seems the pint-sized campaigns really need to be adjusted to allow for some of the changes in CoC v2.

Better luck next time?  We'll see ...

Notes:

[1.]  Each phase description is labelled with the phase number, active side and the scores of the command dice.  1BR(3,4,4,5,6): is the first phase, the British are the active side and their command dice rolled 3, 4, 4, 5 & 6.

[2.]  This was foolish as at the next attempt the FO could place the aiming point where desired so could easily follow my section if that was what was wanted.

[3.]  I could find no mention of whether deployment into a mortar bombardment was allowed, so as it was not listed as an effect, we allowed it.  PLEASE, if anyone knows different point out where it is in the rules.

[4.]  Again, I could find nothing that about AFVs in the 'Danger Close' zone around a bombardment, so we compromised and applied half the effect of being in the bombardment i.e., one d6 which was ineffective.  AGAIN, PLEASE, if you know the correct rule let me know in the comments.