This is the six and last of the standard Infantry Squads.
The squad of 13 figures will to cater for all possible options. It has 2 NCO’s one with SMG and one with rifle, a LMG, and 10 riflemen. The squad can only have a maximum of 11 at any one time.
The two NCO’s to choose from.
NCO with SMG.
The NCO’s are differentiated from the OR’s by the caps they wear.
NCO with rifle
Infantryman with LMG.
The ten riflemen
The completed standard infantry squads.
More Italians tomorrow.
This is the penultimate of six Infantry Squads.
The squad of 13 figures will to cater for all possible options. It has 2 NCO’s one with SMG and one with rifle, a LMG, and 10 riflemen. The squad can only have a maximum of 11 at any one time.
The two NCO’s to choose from.
NCO with SMG.
The NCO’s are differentiated from the OR’s by the caps they wear.
NCO with rifle
Infantryman with LMG.
Ten Infantrymen with rifles
The five Squads completed so far.
More Italians tomorrow.
I finally found a box of figures that I had been looking for ever since “stuff” went into storage. These have finally been painted. They are from a long gone Adelaide miniatures company, cannot remember their name,who made a very large range of fantasy and sci-fi type figures.
I was very impressed with their quality and still have a lot of the dwarf slayers. Unfortunately there excellent sci-fi marine figures fell foul of a certain English miniatures company, and not being able to afford to defend the lawsuits had to close their doors. It was a very sad day for Australian gamers.
Ents, also known as Onodrim (Tree-host) by the Elves, were a very old race of Middle-earth. They were apparently created at the behest of Yavanna after she learned of Aulë’s children, the Dwarves, knowing that they would want to fell trees.
Becoming “shepherds” of the trees, they protected certain forests from Orcs and other perils. The Elves had tales of teaching the trees and Ents to talk: although the Ents were sapient beings at the time, they did not know how to speak until the Elves taught them.
Treebeard spoke of the Elves “curing the Ents of their dumbness”, an unforgettable gift. They were the second of the Free Peoples of the World.
I really like these “chunky” miniatures that are simple enough for gaming but clearly depict what they are.
The 4th and last of the Italian Medium Machine Guns
The four MMG teams completed
This is the fourth of six Infantry Squads.
The squad of 13 figures will to cater for all possible options. It has 2 NCO’s one with SMG and one with rifle, a LMG, and 10 riflemen. The squad can only have a maximum of 11 at any one time.
The two NCO’s to choose from.
NCO with SMG.
The NCO’s are differentiated from the OR’s by the caps they wear.
NCO with rifle
Infantryman with LMG.
Infantryman with LMG.
The ten riflemen
The four Squads completed so far.
More Italians tomorrow.
The third of the Italian Medium Machine Guns
The three MMG teams so far.
Finally catching up on some batreps. This was an American Revolutionary War played with command and colours rules adapted for tabletop miniatures. The revolutionary set is one of their best and is the one I have found best represents the capabilities of the wide range of troop types.
The objective for the British was to take the ridge line., with a victory point for each hill hex either held (American) or taken (British). Here my British force moves in strength to attack the hill.
The rest of the British attempting to cross the stream.
The Prussians advance down the left flank to threaten the American right flank which was held mainly by militia..
The Prussians press their attack. At this stage we did not have any cards to move the British centre which just stayed put.
The Prussian artillery pounding the hill forced the militia to retire to the reverse slope.
The threatened American right flank.
The Prussians turn the flank but at such high losses that it is unlikely they will be able to consolidate their gains. Meanwhile the British centre still stand there!
This final pic is at the stage of the battle that I had to leave showing the repulsed British right and the failed Prussian advance. The British centre with the grenadiers and light troops, the best troops on the field, have still not moved!
I find the command and colours works well for most periods and is ideal for those of us with large 15mm collections.
I have decided to build a machine Gun Platoon of four teams. This is the second.
The two MMG teams so far.
I have missed the first few weeks of this campaign due to moving but Hello Boys I’m back!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not like Eminem – more like:
Gotiffredo Grimaldi the il Generale from Genoa takes the field with accompanied by his Cavalieri di Scudo, 2 units of the famous Balestrieri Genovesi, one unit of Gravibus Pedites, and a final unit of Pedites Excursores.
Allied but subordinate to Grimaldi were the Milanese scum of Duke Sworza.
Also assisting Grimaldi were the riff raff from Florence led by that obtuse social climber Lord Lorzenzo De Medici the Magnificent.
Those upstarts having the audacity to challenge Grimaldi was the Papal Army of Pope Sixtus the IV
Sixtus pursued his own ego and dreams of a glorious papacy before anything else, and every time met with disappointment. His only “saving grace”, pun intended, was that he cared for his family! Within a year, Sixtus’ sisters had elaborate houses in Rome and every luxury they desired. His nephews Pietro and Guiliano were also immediately made cardinals despite being completely unqualified for the position.
Allied to his “holiness” was the “stench” of Savoy!
The glorious Genovian troops of Grimaldi move forward to snuff out Savoy.
The Balestrieri Genovesi pass to the right of the forest already held by their brothers in arms the Pedites Excursores.
The Savoy bowmen mover forward into a fire fight with the Genoese crossbowmen. The bombard has a devastating effect on the Milanese foot Men-at Arms.
The “brave Florentines” lead by Lorenzo make short work of the Papal Militia – brave knights indeed!
The Milanese and Florentines advance in the centre,
The glorious left flank attack on the Savoy who are as soggy as a pack of biscuits.
The Florentines are about to outflank the Papal…….see!
Grimaldi and his Cavalieri di Scudo move to attack the Savoy centre.
Milanese knights are about the chase the Pope who is all that is left of his knightly retinue after Lorenzo’s knights dispatched them. although at great cost.
The wavering ruler of Milan shows the Pope running away with no hope.
The Savoy knights led by their rash general are tempted to charge by the Milanese skirmishers.
The battle is about to reach its climatic finish.
Unfortunately the Milanese skirmishers failed to evade but only lost two to the knights and retired in good order.
Genoese troops failed to shoot for the third successive turn. Unlock the torture chamber!
See the Papal army surrounded.
The Savoy knights are about to be kneaded by the Genoese crossbows.
Only half of the knights are left after the two units of Balestrieri Genovesi unleash their frightening bolts – that torture chamber threat worked wonders.
More Milanese knights about to charge the buttocks of the Papal army.
The remnants of the Vatican vultures.
The Savoy veteran infantry make a last ditch attempt to breakthrough but the Genoese Gravibus Pedites hold firm and repulse them.
With the last remnants of the Papal/Savoy army totally surrounded it was time to look and see if it is black smoke or white smoke wafting over the Vatican.
A great game was had by all. This battle report was brought to you by the Merchants of Venice. Falsis Rumoribus signing off from the Acta diurna Genuanae
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This support choice is again straight from the Wargames Atlantic box. It is a great model and two are supplied with each box.
The Breda M37 was a gas-operated, air-cooled heavy machine gun. The Breda used a larger cartridge than its rivals, the 8 mm x59RB Breda.
Unlike other infantry machine guns, the Breda lacked a camming mechanism for initial extraction of the cartridge case after firing, and this meant that each cartridge had to be oiled via an oiling mechanism before being fed into the chamber.
This attracted dust and debris, particularly in desert environments such as found in the Royal Italian Army’s World War II campaigns in Libya and the Western Desert.
Another drawback was that the gun was fed by 20-round strips of cartridges.
This limited continuous fire, as the gun could only be fired rapidly when a second crew member fed in one ammunition strip after another.
The rounds still had to be oiled to stop the cases sticking in the chamber, with all the disadvantages this entailed.
Another peculiarity of the design is that the spent cases were reinserted in the strip as each round was fired.
The mechanical energy required to perform this function substantially reduced the rate of fire, and the weapon tended to jam whenever a case was reinserted even slightly out of line.
It also meant that in the event the metal clips had to be reused, the gunner’s assistant had to first remove the empty cases from the strips.
I have enough figures left over to build another couple of teams just for the hell of it.
Back to some infantry teams tomorrow.