Chaos Marines

I sweated blood painting this lot but...I need the space and I have lots of marines.

To eBay, you go.

Pig Iron Kolony Feral Troops

The time has come for a cull so I'm putting my Pig Iron Kolony Feral troops up on eBay.

Great soldiers but I already have a very similar Vrak Army - so....

The full army.

A little display tableau.

KoW - The Shuffling Hordes

The Army of Evil grows, mwah, ha, ha, ha, ............gurgle.

I have upgraded my Skeletons of Nergal to a Regiment and hence unlocked a skull thrower.

Bolt Action - Pacific Massacre

Banzai!

It's dawn, 1944, a small island in the Pacific.

Elite American marines have landed and are making their way inland having broken through the coastal defences. The Japanese General order an immediate banzai charge with his remaining troops. The assault in this sector bumps straight into an American infantry team equipped with flamethrowers - about the only thing that will stop charging Japanese infantry.

I'm playing the Imperial Army and Simon the marines. The Japanese are regulars except for a small group, which I'll come to.

The Japanese reinforced platoon consists of two squads of assault troops armed with rifles and two fire support troops with a light mortar and an LMG.

In support they have a light artillery piece, a medium mortar, an MMG, an old tankette with LMG and a Ha Go light tank (aka Vickers 6 ton).

The photo shows the assault squad led by a sword-armed lieutenant storming towards the Americans.

The thin green line.

The view from the American left flank, which is bearing the brunt of the Japanese assault. The marine unit on the hill has taken serious casualties from the Japanese fire support teams.

 Eye in the sky.

An American float plane off one of the cruisers out in the bay makes a low level run in an effort to identify targets in the melee. The Japanese have no AA weapons and are helpless, although a veteran suicide anti-tank man attempts to bring the floatplane down with its shaped-charge-on-a-pole.

On its second run the plane misidentifies the Marine section on the right flank as Japanese and wipes them out with napalm before returning back to its ship with the satisfaction of a job well done.

Contact!

The Japanese assault teams reach the American line.

Sea of flame.

Marine flamethrowers turn the woods in front of them into a sea of flame, slaughtering most of the attacking IJA. Nevertheless, a few survivors stagger out to slaughter the American squad in front of them before succumbing to a second burst from the tank's flamethrower.

Kaboom!

A lucky shot from the Ha Go's light anti-tank gun sets off the Stuart's flame tank and it explodes catastrophically.

The disheartened marines fall back leaving the field to the Japanese infantry, such of them that are still alive.

It was a massacre.

Lessons

1. Charging with large cheap units is possibly the best Japanese tactic but next time I'll give them anti-tank grenades.

2. Flamethrowers are the only thing guaranteed to stop the Japanese because you have to kill them.

3. Air support is dodgy (Simon threw a 1, which was the turning point of the game).

4. Marines versus Japanese is great fun: firepower versus numbers and fanaticism.

Sudan Nuggar

The small 20 ton cargo boats of the Nile are known as nuggars. They feature heavily in the Sudan Campaign being used as ferries and to transport troops and supplies up stream on the north wind. Sometimes they were towed behind steamers in a train. I made the sail a bit small for practical reasons.

The boat is made from the Sarissa German Sturmboot model, This kit is a real dog with an oversized base, a gaping hole in the bow, and a water drive too long and fragile for a wargame model.

It is however cheap at £5 and gives one a launch shape suitable for conversion.

Germany Strikes

My next wargame book, Germany Strikes, a supplement for Bolt Action, is available for preorder here. If you get the book from Warlord direct they throw in a free mini of Mad Jack Churchill MC: motto "any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed" -  complete with bagpipes, sword and longbow.

Note the sword.


He is believed to have been the last English soldier to have killed an enemy in action with a longbow.

 When the surfing craze hit Britain in the 60s, Mad Jack became the first man ever to ride the Severn Bore. This is now an annual surfing event.

Mad Jack will be making another appearance in a later book, so don't miss out on this mini.

Her Majesty's Aerocutter 47

An aerocutter is a small  flying boat usually armed with a five barrel Nordenfelt mechanised organ gun capable of firing 500 rounds per minute. It relies on galvanic cells powering cavorite panels for lift and a Clayton & Shuttleworth steam engine for motive power through a pusher-propeller and to recharge the cells.

It is used on Mars as a mobile desert patrol vessel capable of carrying a squad of infantry or as a supply vessel for isolated outposts located away from a convenient canal. It is armoured and can set down on a flat surface as well as water.

In short it is a jack of all trades, the Royal Navy's colonial workhorse.