I generally like to include an army Chaplain in my lists if I can because I just think they are cool and I also had a very good friend at college who became one.
I am really glad that I brought a handful from North Star Miniatures as they have come in very handy.
They add flavour to your army by aiding the morale of your army but are probable not worth the points cost.
The 2/7th Field Regiment was an artillery regiment with distinguished service at Tobruk, El Alamein, and Mersa Matruh before returning to Australia to take part in the Tarakan landing.
An artillery crew from 2/7th Field Artillery Regiment moves their gun in battle for Tarakan island.
The first phase of the Borneo operation was an amphibious landing on Tarakan Island by the 26th Brigade and the 2/7th. Coming ashore in landing craft, following the infantry, the regiment landed on Tarakan on the first day of the invasion on 1 May. Preceding the invasion, five guns from the regiment’s 57th Battery landed on Sadau Island to help cover the landing. The regiment was frequently called upon to give artillery support, shelling heavily defended Japanese positions. The regiment fired more than 37,000 shells during the campaign.
BOUGAINVILLE. 1945-05-25. A JEEP TOWING A 25-POUNDER ALONG BUIN ROAD TO A NEW BATTERY POSITION AT THE HONGORAI RIVER. AWM.
The Australian commander on Tarakan, Brigadier D.A. Whitehead, later wrote it was “good to know” that he had a whole artillery regiment to support his operations on the island. “It was certainly good to know,” he wrote, “that the Regiment was the 2/7th.”
The 25-pounder Short Mark I, or Baby 25-pr, was the Australian pack gun version of the 25-pounder, first produced in 1943. This was a shortened version of the standard 25-pounder, mounted on the Carriage 25-pr Light, Mark 1. Weighing 1,315 kilograms, it was around 315 kg lighter than the 25-pounder Mark II.
The “Baby” was intended for jungle warfare and was only used in the South West Pacific Theatre. The gun could be towed by a jeep or broken down into 13 sections and transported by air.
From a gaming perspective I would like to be able to use this in Bolt Action games. There is a list for a Mid/Late-War Royal Artillery Gun Troop in the D-Day: British & Canadian Sectors Campaign Book. I will need to make a few adjustments such as removing the +1 save for the gun shield which was removed in the Australian shortened version.
The other change, as noted above, was they were towed by Jeeps and not the British Quad gun Tractor. The Jeep is no more effective as a tow, and I will just cop the extra six points or just use a “count as” option. If opponents are upset by this then they are probably not the people I want to play against anyway (Grumpy Guru rears his ugly head again!).
The other two options I will not use are the ability for Observers to be transported in a Universal Carrier as the jungle prevented this, and access to a Free Observer as the Australians are not allowed to add this bonus.
Over the next few days I will add the rest of the “troops” guns to make a total of four. At the moment I am busy painting Jeeps for the guns tows.
With the arrival of a Mortar Universal Carrier from good friend Andrew the army is now complete.
Captain support team’s Universal Carrier
Lieutenant support team’s Universal Carrier
Anti-tank Rifle Support Team
25pdr Artillery Support – gun, crew, tow and spotter
Platoon Chaplain – Father Sweeney
Tomorrow we move on to another project!
The completed WW2 Australian Machinegun Support Platoon
It has taken from August 29th (see first post) until the 9th of December to complete but only just had a chance now to post on it. I have been waiting for some cavalry to arrive but have given up and decide to get this post off my draft list and out of the way and make a separate post when the cavalry arrives and receives some paint.
Lieutenant’s Command Squad – 4 September 2023
Greek Medic – 5 September 2023
Greek Infantry Squad 1 – 10 September 2023
Greek Infantry Squad 2 – 12 September 2023
Greek Infantry Squad 3 – 14 September 2023
Greek Captain and Team – 15 September 2023
Greek Flag Bearer and Second Medic – 16 September 2023
Greek Anti-tank Rifle Team – 19 September 2023
Greek Light Mortar Team – 20 September 2023
Greek Chaplains – 29 September 2023
Infantry Squad 4 – 9 October 2023
Skoda 7.5 cm Gebirgskanone M.15 Mountain Gun – 11 October 2023
Pack Mule Limber Team – 12 October 2023
Greek Sniper Team – 14 October 2023
Greek CV3/35 Tankette – 16 October 2023
Flamethrower team – 19 October 2023
Medium Machinegun Team – 20 October 2023
Greek Vickers Tank – 21 October 2023
Greek Infantry Squad 5 – 24 October 2023
Medium Mortar Team – 3 December 2023
Forward Observer Team and Spotter – 4 December 2023
Greek Elefantino Anti-tank gun – 5 December 2023
Light Machine Gun Team – 6 December 2023
Greek Squad 6 – 7 December 2023
The one unit that I am waiting for Santa’s second run is a unit of Greek cavalry. As there are no Greek cavalry available I am using the Great Escape Games Hungarian Cavalry. Hopefully they will arrive soon.
I have had these for some time and have decided to add the detail ready for painting.
They are from Knights of Dice no longer in existence.
I have about the same number from Dark Castle Terrain still in their shrink wrap.
If there is a need I may work on these in the next few days.
The second rifle squad squad is exactly the same as the first, with NCO equipped with Owen Gun, a second rifleman armed with Owen Gun, a Bren Gun Team, and six rifles. They are to provide the infantry support for the machineguns.
As this was the last unit except for the resin print of a mortar carrier I will do a round up of the platoon tomorrow.
Could we reverse history and restore the pride and honour of the Royal Australian Artillery? Or would the Emu horde advance unstoppable through the Western Australian wheat belt?
Armed with Lewis guns, and commanded by Major G. P. W. Meredith, the campaign commenced on the morning of November 2, 1932.
Whenever native animals are in plague proportion in Australia there is always a vociferous debate around the efficacy of any culling. In 1932 the situation was the same, with farmers saying the Emus were destroying their crops and most of the media and city folk against it.
A lot of debate centres around the Australian Coat-of-Arms with the argument along the lines of “how could we destroy our national emblems/symbols”?
The emu, a large flightless bird, weren’t however, always seen as a harmless symbol of national identity. In the past, they were seen as pests threatening the livelihood of farmers who had to live alongside these animals.
The two protagonists.
The soldiers are from Australian Wartime Miniatures, sadly no longer in production, and the emus are a combination of Andrews 3D prints and Eureka Miniatures.
In 1932, the Australian government took a heavy-handed approach to dealing with the problem and called in the military. What happened next would be known as the Great Emu War.
The two military team consisted of one sniper and a squad of five men including two Lewis guns. Wayne and I were primed ready to seek revenge for our forebears.
The Great Emu War began on November 2, when the Australians spotted advance elements of the emu horde and sprang into action. With the assistance of the local farmers, they attempted to herd the emus into an ambush, but contrary to what they expected, the birds did not stick together but scattered, making them difficult targets.
The emu contingent consisted of eight mobs of 5 emus.
Later in the day, after encountering a small flock, the Australians tried again, but with similar results.
Three mobs of emus advance in the centre – they have already secured one haystack.
The objective was for the emus to be within three inches of an objective (representing water sources and wheat crops) at the end of turn six. The army wins from preventing them from achieving this.
Two days later, Meredith and his team had painstakingly prepared an ambush at a nearby dam. They waited in silence as a battalion (mob) of around 1,000 emus approached the water. At virtually point-blank range, the Australians opened fire, but after a few rounds, the Lewis machine gun jammed, and the emus managed to escape with relatively few casualties.
The army advances to take on their foes.
It is difficult to assess the emu losses, as the animals tended to run away before dying from their wounds. By the third day, only around 30 emus had been killed. From an army of 20,000, this was hardly a dent.
Emus under attack – initially shooting was ineffective.
The next few days also saw limited success. The emus responded to the danger and split into smaller groups, each with one tall emu (a male called a “cock”) on the lookout while the others continued the destruction of the wheat crops. Meredith and his men mounted their Lewis machine gun on the back of a truck, but this proved ineffective as the ground was too rough for both the truck to gain a speed advantage and the gun to be accurate.
The gunners disperse one mob
The Australian soldiers, of course, had help from the local farmers who tried to herd the emus. A truck was brought in and used to ram and run over the birds. One emu got its head stuck in the steering wheel, causing the driver to panic and crash the truck.
Close range fire was devastating.
On November 8, amid bad press and poor performance in the field, Meredith and his team were forced to withdrawn. Most of this information from National Geographic
A sniper guards one of the objectives in order to hinder the Emu communication lines!
Andrew, who was running the game, was using a severely modified version of Bolt Action. The Emus were given no attack or shooting capabilities. I disagreed with the lack of close combat capability, because if you have ever come close to an emu they can be intimidating and their claws and beaks can be dangerous.
Another mob almost wiped out.
Another mob in rout. The emus were starting to falter.
Charge by a sniper another mob of emus disperses.
The cards (red and black) were used to determine initiative order.
The tide was turning as the army was forcing the emus away from their food and water.
A near run thing with the emus 2 to the army 3!
In reality why did the emus win? My guess is the Emu command had ordered guerrilla tactics, and its larger unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the local terrain they new only too well. A crestfallen Australian field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after only six days.
A great game was had by all.
Historical photos from several websites.
Whilst only effective against the lightest of enemy tanks the ATR at least gives the platoon some anti-armour protection.
Tomorrow the last of the Machinegun Platoons Units!
Back to painting WW2 Australian Infantry. The WW2 Australian Machinegun Support Platoon has two rifle detachments to provide protection to the machineguns. The squad is your standard rifle squad with NCO equipped with Owen Gun, a second rifleman armed with Owen Gun, a Bren Gun Team, and six rifles. They are to provide the infantry support for the machineguns, for a total of 146 Bolt Action points,
Unlike the two command squads they cannot replace the machinegun crew casualties.
NCO and second SMG carrier.
Bren gun crew
The six riflemen in the squad.
Tomorrow some (could be debated) anti-tank protection.
A bit of a different game at my place last Friday week ago. Wayne, Andrew, and I played Batman with PIG (Phillip Island Gamer) “Bucko’s rules. These are simple, easy to learn extremely funny to play and yet have tactical decisions you need to make every turn.
The game was a straight Wam and Bam game between the equally matched Joker, Harley and their henchman and the law in the guise of Commissioner Gordon and his cohorts, and Batman, Robin, Batwoman and Catwoman.
The Joker gets hit in the first turn of the game by a SWAT marksman on top of a building doing two wounds.
Joker’s thugs Giggles, Tehe, and Chuckles move up to protect the Joker.
Batman is attacked by Harley’s hyenas Bud and Lou. They have more than a chance against the caped crusader, but do absolutely no damage despite their ferocious bonus and are knocked straight back to the jungle!
More thugs, supporting Harley Quinn, sneak around the building to attack Batman.
“Holy hole in a doughnut” – Bat Woman and Boy Wonder advance towards the edge of the Police Station.
“Holy Molley – Harley holed” after seizing an objective. Shots from Commissioner Gordon and two policemen deal Harley two wounds. Things are not looking good for the Joker and Harley.
Batwoman Batarangs as Cackles is close to carking it!
In a last desperate attempt to win the Joker unleashes his “Exploding Henchman”. Carnage everywhere and not only to the Henchman! One cop patrols that great beat in the sky, one suffers a wound and Commissioner Gordon just escapes with two wounds. Alas Harley Quinn is also no more!
“Holy Batman that’s a bit of an overkill” as Catwoman, Batman and Boy Wonder seize the objective on the roof of the Police Station.
THe Joker who had climbed in the window and was up to the second story thought the better of taking them on and excited back out of the station!
Batwoman and Commissioner Gordon survey the remaining carnage, as a Police Officer moves towards another objective.
The Doughnut King Himself, Bullock, moves to arrest his third thug for the day. It’s slam” and the slammer for you!
A great “retro” game was had by all.
My Favourite Batman quotes!
“You’re a real nice girl, and I like you a lot, but right now—shut up!” – Bruce Wayne/Batman]
“Riddle me this, riddle me that, who’s afraid of the big black bat?” – The Riddler, Batman Forever
