Picking up those brushes again.

Hi and welcome to the occasional mutterings of Dave Doc, a military modeller and some time gamer. Gaming and model making has given me a real education, History & Geography(obvious really), Artistry, Politics, Economics, Logistics, Project Management -you try building miniature armies without the last 3.

I will use the blog to record my creations & the odd occasion I actually do some gaming.

I have always been inspired by the aesthetic side of gaming. Playing on well constructed terrain using excellently painted units is always a joy.

Monday 4 June 2018

Normandy 44 - The Battle of Le Petit-Clelland

We played out the first battle yesterday - a bit of a what if scenario to blood our new troops - British paras (Martin c - has account here ) and American armour (me)

James brought over more scatter terrain to add to what I had already set up and his Germans. We cluttered the table up some more. By time we were adding troops it was looking very good.

lots of trees, hedges ,fields, rolling hills - very Normandy

Our scenario had Martins paras assembling in the night to capture the two bridges from the Germans and hold until relieved by my US forces - who were in no rush!

Para move into the town

The flak gun crew woke up and sprayed lead everywhere



The action was intense south of the village with Martin chucking everything at James's reinforcing tanks.

Meanwhile , my lead recon scouted the lanes looking for an easy way through





probing round the corner the lead jeeps spy defenders 

My light tanks advance through wood , as fire destroys the lead recon on my right. 
The main column arrives

and so does a little ambush! 
time for a little attention from the Air Force - 1/200th P47 our now until I get my 15mm ones painted,, but scratch a  Stud

My light forces blue away at a gun battery position to clear the track into town
A second Stug is blown up by a Sherman , the 3rd bails out.. the road is clear.

Paras have cleared the anti tank gun at the railway crossing time to race on down the roads 

the bridge is secure ! 

a few more shots of the newly liberated village of Le Petit -Clelland



Martins paras had a great game clearing out the defenders and coping with an uncanny ability by James of being able to roll just the right random dice to bring his forces on in the worst place for Martin!

The effort put into the terrain really payed back - we were all really pleased with the look of the table we are planning on up scaling to a 16x6 large D Day game later in the year , so will need a lot of terrain bits , but we are well on the way .

Sunday 3 June 2018

Normandy 44 - Table progress

What with one thing and another I have not managed to catch up on the blog , but progress has been being made on various projects. Most notably the Normandy 44 project US forces , and terrain pieces. So much so we have a starter game today with Martin C and James M contributing troops and other bits of terrain.

So some initial shots of my set up today - pre extra terrain bits and troop deployment -
initial set up with my terrain bit - need more clutter yet

4 ground buildings - still to be tarted up 

10 feet of bocage hedging made yesterday - I reckon at least another 30 feet  required. 


last of the vehicles for now 

the box is filling nicely , another infantry platoon and anti tank guns on the table at the moment

More terrain pieces have been sourced - including a great looking classic Norman church from Tiger Terrain. - looking forward to painting it.

it also comes with a ruined bell tower section which is interchangeable 


As for other progress -I have also finished a West German battlegroup for Team Yankee



Anyway plenty to keep me busy, and I will be moving on D Day landing forces coming up .