Polish Reinforcements

Here I present some recent reinforcements for my Polish Army for Bolt Action. The core theme of my Polish force for the 1939 Blitzkrieg is the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade. They were an elite unit and the first (of only two!) to be trained as motorized infantry with integral tank support and part of the Krakow Army.

The 10th Mot. Cav. fought a delaying action in the southern corridor of Poland against German 2nd Panzer Division, 4th Light Division and 3rd Gebirgsjäger Division, including the Battle of Jordanow. During these 5 days they slowed the German advance, giving only 10km of ground. The 10th also acted as a screening unit, defending bridges and fords, during the fighting withdrawal prior to the Battle of Lwow. Due to the tanker leather coats worn by part of the unit, especially officers, and their hard fighting resistance, the Germans nicknamed the Unit the "Black Brigade".

This Black Brigade squad is by Warlord and displays the distinctive greatcoats and the khaki coalscuttle helmet from Austrian WWI surplus. Some images of figures waering the black leather jacket will follow in another post some time.

A light mortar team by Gorgon Studies with the Polish Granatnik wz.36 mortar.

A 100mm Skoda wz. 1914 medium howitzer as artillery support for the 10th Mot. Cav.. Its an upgraded WWI howitzer exported by Czechoslovakia. The gun is a diecast toy bought off eBay and the soldiers are from Warlord's Polish Light Howitzer. 

M3 Lee Tank

To bolster my British forces for Bolt Action to keep pace with the mid-war armour race, some time ago, I aquired a M3 Lee tank. With its 6 pdr gun in the hull and QF 2 pdr in the turret this mobile anti-tank platform will be a nightmare for axis amoured vehicles in the desert. In addition the Vickers MGs in the turret and cupola have the ability to mow down a lot of infantry, too.  

The model was a resin miscast by Warlord Games, so I bought it rather cheap off eBay. But besides some airbubbles, which I had to remove, luckily nothing miscast is visible.

This M3 Lee is painted up in exactly the same desert camo scheme like the M3 Grant shown in the Bovinton Tank Museum. Therefore it is destined to serve in North Africa under Field Marshal Montgomery with the 86th Desert Rats, as the decals indicate.

Modern MicroArmour Test Game

Last weekend we proudly reinaugurated my party cellar, which I made accessable again after years of nonuse and decay (thanks to my parents for doing nothing with it over the last 10 years!).

So, we finally got to play our first round of Alex' lovechild: Modern MicroArmour.

Set during the early 1980s and the Cold War gone hot, the Soviets and NATO forces clash in Germany. While fighting in the famous Fulda Gap is fierce and sagging (luckily, as we live in Wiesbaden^^), the Soviet High Command has decided to try a push through the northern part of Hesse to outflank the US forces near Fulda. Therefore they need to force a crucial river crossing near the town of Bad Hersfeld, which is defended by the 3rd German Corps.

The virgin battlefield viewed from the south along the river, a village indicated in the foreground .

So, a Soviet tank regiment with supporting infantry and other assets rolls ahead to crush the defense of the German Bundeswehr. It comprises one battalion T-64s, one battalion T-72s and one motorized infantry battalion in BMPs, including 3 artillery batteries, 2 BRDM scouts and AA support. This was divided into three equally stron battlegroups: 'Lenin', 'Trotzki' and 'Zhukov'.

 Soviet battlegroup 'Zhukov' is heading towards the river village

The Germans formed in two battlegroups, equipped with Leopard 1 battle tanks, Marder IFVs and M113s, plus 2 Gepard AAs and one M109 battery.

German battlegroup readies its counter-thrust

The river had two vital crossings, one of them in the village, and three points may or may not be fordable, which the scouts had to discover (as we later discovered there were none!). The Germans needed to defend the crossings and prevent the Reds from pushing further into Germany at all costs. Therefore they positioned themselves in the woods opposing the open bridge, watching the Russian advance.

Bundeswehr in the woods

Soviet advance towards the bridge

My Soviets quickly realised, that the central hill gave them huge advantage for spotting targets and dominating the fields of fire. In Modern MircoArmour you usually can not see as far as your guns might shoot. Range of vision is limited to 20", while the hill increased it to 30".

They'll be coming from the mountains, when they come...

Meanwhile, both forces entered the river village,where fierce street fighting with heavy losses raged on for the remainder of the battle.

A day in Town

The slaughter after heavy artillery bombardment and fighting

Battlegroup was forcing the German strongpoint at the open bridge, scoring some hits onthe hiding Leopards, but also suffering some losses. Their hopes lay with an outflanking maneuver of the infantry company waiting for the scouts to discover the ford (in vain!).

T-72s cutting down cats in the woods.

More German woodcutters form up

Heavy losses and bombardment on both sides

Infantry in BMPs wating to be disappointed

We also had some airstrikes, but no models. Two anecdotes: 

1. A F-14 Phantom got shot into pieces by a Shilka and Gaskin before dropping its load

2. The unhindered MIG-23 pilot over the village (due to the loss of a German Gepard AA) bombarded the wreck of a M113 two times(!) with not much effect. Don't drink vodka when flying into battle, comrade!

Time was running out, so we could not play to an end. The Soviets had achieved more hits on the Germans, which might have been crucial later on, but ended the evening still on the wrong side of the river. 

As a conclusion, Modern MicroArmour played very intuitivly and felt really approriate to simulate regimental level warfare. The author had a slight bureaucratic tendency with firing been resolved by 'combat differentials' and large tables to check on. But after a few games, this might get easier, as with Warhammer and other similar games. 

It is also a nice system for people with limited space to store models, as everythin on the table was in 6mm. Far to fiddly for my personal painting skills, but the grade of details and paint job on these 6mm tanks is truly amazing!