Merry Christmas
Attached are some photos of Christmas Trees on display in St Matthews Church Ashford .
Have a nice Christmas and a Happy New Year
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I have been working away buying and priming more figures for the British although the weather is now turning against me for priming outside. Well to date I have acquired and primed the 1st Special Service Brigade of 4 consisting of 3rd, 4th, 6th Commando and 45th (Royal Marine Commando) which also includes the Free French commandos. This included Lord Lovat's piper!! I have built and primed the Royal Marine 5th Independent Armoured Support Battery - Centaurs and Sherman Op tanks. I have built and primed are two of the artillery regiments which each need a carrier OP vehicle.
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I have bought the 41st Royal Marine Commando and engineers for 17th, 246 and 253rd Field Companies - not yet primed. Also acquired heavy 3.7" AA gun - not built or primed yet. I now have the vehicles now for both Infantry brigades of 3 Battalions. What is left? Well I need one more Artillery regiment and some HQ vehicles. I now realised that this will not be ready for June 2019 so I am going to set this back to June 2010 when the 6th June is a Saturday. I think it has turned out to be a bigger project than I first thought. I am now turning my attention to rules which work on a platoon/ Company level that is quick play.
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On Sunday 23 September 2018, we gathered at Rob's War Room to refight the relief of Vienna in 1683.
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The fine weather has spurred me to on to prime as many troops and vehicles as possible to paint over the winter. I have also decided to scale up the first couple of waves to match the scaled up defences on the beach. The secondary waves are scaled back down so are in the inner German defences. - I hope that will work on the day! This has resulted in a few purchases.
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So far the landing craft have all been made and primed along with the crew figures. The 13th/18th Hussars of 27th Armoured Brigade are primed which is wave 1 (DD tanks) and about wave 5 the remainder of the battalion. I thought all 3 squadrons and HQ were converted into DD tanks. However only A & B squadrons were converted which has given me 7 spare DD tanks - useful for Gold or Juno beaches where 2 battalions were landed as opposed to one on Sword! The 77th and 79th Assault squadrons are made (scale 1 model represents 2 tanks!) and I have made up the follow up beach clearing vehicles. I am pleased with my conversions of 2 Airfix Churchills into 2 AVRE versions with Bullshorn ploughs. Next up are the Commandos and their Centaur support tanks. The biggest gap in my collection is landing all 3 artillery regiments - 27 priests! I have one in my collection. 26 to buy with supporting vehicles..
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At this stage I only plan to land two thirds of the Division as I think we will struggle to get it on the table. Once I have done the commandos, Beach Troops and Assault troops I will post more pictures!
Following my large Vietnam game I was thinking about my next big game and I have always wanted to wargame one of the most famous battles of the Second World War - D-Day, Operation Overlord.
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I will blog my progress as I go along. Pictures show the landing craft I currently have, being primed. The bunkers I have bought so far which will be included within the various strong points on the beach. I have also pulled out Wave 1 DD tanks 13/18th Hussars and Wave 2 Hobarts funnies from 22nd Dragoons and 77th & 79th Assault Squadrons RE.
I ma not sure which rules to use yet. Scale will be 1 model will represent 3/4 real vehicles. I figure will represent 10 men and this will be played on a 22'4" table by 6' 1". As ever Andy Grubb from Britannia has been a star in helping put together special pieces for this game already. Many of the figures, vehicles and bunkers come from his stable!
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