CoC Italian Desert Patrol Markers WIP

As mentioned in my previous post I already have quite a few painted 15mm Italians for North Africa (for which I can't take any credit), so this seemed like the most appropriate place to start building my Patrol Markers. Flicking through the Chain of Command scenaios it appears that six markers is the most I will ever need (for Scenario 5: 'Flank Attack'), which is emminently managable.  With this in mind I started picking suitable miniatures out of my KR case, and put together the following:

An unbuttoned Autoblinda 41 scouting ahead.

Two L3/35s and a brave/foolhardy tank commander.

A broken-down L6/40 with unhelpful driver. Camouflage needs finishing.

A parked Autoblinda 41 and radioman.

A Fiat CR.42 Falco - ace model, but still need to work out how to mount it.

 

 

By far and away my favourite is this little L3/35 cresting a dune...

Look at him, going as fast as his tiny running wheels will carry him.

 ... which is my attempt at a homage to this fantastic Italian propoganda picture.

If only there had been sand dunes on the Eastern Front.

The markers themselves are 60mm bases which have been textured with wood filler sculpted into vague dunes, then had the wheels of the vehicles dragged through it to create some tyre-marks, and finally had very fine sand dumped on them whilst still wet. This has adhered to the filler to provide a suitably textured surface. These will then get some coarser sand and the odd bit of gravel stuck to them with a bit of a PVA to make some more stoney ground, and then I intend to undercoat and paint them - though I am sure Darren will suggest I don't need to. Add the odd bit of yellowed static grass after painting for parched and dried up vegetation, and I'm away.

Of course these markers are best suited to the Fucilieri, but I intend to do some more appropriate to the Bersagilieri later on - with a suitable focus on Motociclisti, but I'm also thinking of putting in some Auto-Sahariana in AS.42s, as I'll mainly be fielding them to counter the SAS and LRDG. More on them - and the other British and Commonwealth forces - later. 

Bi-curious Italians Hungry For CoC

With Operation Stag out of the way - and the majority of us extracted from the jungle with only minor damage to our sanity - I can once again contemplate some hobby activity which doesn't solely consist of repetitively cleaning up and basing an entire Battlefront PAVN infantry battalion.

The horror... the horror...

Numerous distractions aside (15mm ACW anyone?), my main aims for this year were to get a 6mm Soviet force together for Team Yankee and to use the numerous 15mm WW2 miniatures I own (initially purchased for Bolt Action) to give the supposedly far superior Chain of Command a go.

The book features the usual high quality Lardy production values...

Ostensibly, it shouldn't be too hard to switch from 1940k to Chain of Command. The basing conventions are the same (no pesky element bases), both systems represent combat at a platoon level, and whilst the range of hardware available in the supporting list can be pretty wide it seems from a superficial reading of the CoC rules that you are likely to be fielding far less supporting units. So any viable and faintly historically accurate Bolt Action platoon should be pretty much ready to go.

But I then got thinking about one of the more unique mechanics of Chain of Command - and the aspect that got me interested when I first heard about it - the Patrol Phase. During the initial deployment stage, both players take part in a mini-game which represents them reconnoitring the board and attempting to find and 'fix' their opponents in play to gain a tactical advantage against them when they deploy their forces. Or that's how I understand it at least... I've not actually played yet!

Given that we will be playing the rules as written, just scaling down to 15mm for a slightly more realistic experience as we did with Bolt Action, this offers a fun hobby opportunity with regard to the Patrol Markers and Jump-off Points. The rules state that Patrol Markers should be approximately 2.5" in diameter, and when playing in 28mm that they should feature some appropriate national symbols to denote which is which. 2.5" is close enough to the 60mm MDF bases I have kicking around for government work, and in 15mm is more than large enough to put together some cool little dioramas representing the various reconnaissance forces each side has at their disposal.

The title of this photo is 'Jeep Mania', which is an actual condition that Tom has.

(This totally wasn't my idea by the way - but it seemed far too good of one not to pinch. I've now long forgotten where I first saw it, but it might have been on www.lead-adventure.de)


The rules are a little bit less clear about Jump-off Points ("...an unobtrusive vignette...") but similarly offer an excellent opportunity to build some characterful dioramas - and Battlefront and other companies already produce a number of theatre-specific Objective Markers which would work really well and which take up the same dimensions as a large Flames of War base, so this will be my starting point. In fact, I already own one for the Italians of an officer sitting down to his spaghetti!
 

Other Italian cultural stereotypes are available...

Initially I was just thinking of adding to my existing Paracadutisti Nembo force and going from there. However, there aren't actually any published army lists for Mid/Late War Italian Paratroopers - and whilst there are some useful tools out there like the Coc Calculator to help you work out your forces, and bloggers like Andy Duffell over on Tiny Hordes putting out some exhaustive lists for the Italian Theatre of their own devising, it seemed sensible to go with one of the Lardies own published force lists for my first foray into Chain of Command.

Fortunately for me, Too Fat Lardies have been very good at supporting Chain of Command over on their blog Lard Island - releasing lists for plenty of theatres which fell outside of the D-Day and beyond scope of the main rulebook, including some very interesting ones which proceeded WW2 altogether like the Spanish Civil War and the Abyssinian War.

The most interesting theatre for me though has always been North Africa, and in particular the early stages of the conflict- when men were men, tanks were awful, and armoured cars went 'swanning around in the blue'. Luckily again the Lardies have me covered, with lists for both the Italian army in East and North Africa in 1940 and the early desert British circa Operation Compass.

Whilst they've never properly graced the table outside of the odd game of Tank War, I do actually have quite a few North Africa miniatures for all the different sides, in various states of completion. This includes a whole Flames of War Bergsagilieri Army - painted to a far higher standard than I could muster - bought off eBay a while ago. Why not use Chain of Command as an excuse to whip my existing miniatures into shape and start getting them to the table? Why not indeed.

One thing I won't be doing, however, is bettering this amazing Afrika Korps objective marker...!

There is also a mini Indiana Jones, with mini anachronistic Panzerfaust. AMAZEBALLS.

Paracadutisti Month 3 - Well, someone has to sell the ice-cream

Month 3 marks the start of everyone's second platoon, and also the halfway point for those of us looking to build a whole company (errr... hopefully that isn't just me). As we agreed at the beginning of the escalation league, starting a second platoon also means that you need an HQ, in addition to the compulsory two sections and a lieutenant.

Given that I don't want to change the composition of my veteran late-war Paracadutisti squads, and even opting for the cheapest non-inexperienced officer that I can (a regular Captain) in addition to a regular second lieutenant, that will still constitute... all of my points for this month. Not even enough left over to buy him a little Fiat 500 Militaire staff car, as so ably modelled below. Oh well, at least there are no agonising decisions to make this month.
 

If only Britney Spears had been wearing puttees and jodphurs during the infamous gussetgate incident...

Since list building this month was a complete no-brainer, you might expect that I'd anticipated the miniatures I was going to need and already finished painting them. And you would be wrong. Still, I made a start today by getting the miniatures cleaned up and onto their bases, and if the heavens don't open again I should be able to get them undercoated too.

The silver lining to the lack of options this month is that another 500 points at least gives me the opportunity to finish up a coherent platoon of Paracadutisti from the same range, and painted in the same camo. I changed both manufacturer and colour scheme halfway through my last platoon, so my force is looking like rather a mixed bunch at the moment. In particular, I moved away from using Battlefront's Flames of War Compagnia Paracadutist miniatures - most of whom are wearing shorts, and look far more suitable for Paracadutisti Folgore in North Africa than for fighting on home soil - for Eureka's excellent Paracadutisti who are clad in much bulkier gear, supplied by Fighting 15s. Once I've finished the miniatures for this month, I will at least be able to scrape together a full platoon of the latter.

With half an eye on Chain of Command, I'm also going to take the opportunity to work on some support units and squad options which I haven't chosen for Bolt Action but which I will likely require for CoCs more proscriptive list building. So into the painting queue go some LMGs, an MMG, and a medium mortar. I'm also casting around looking for things I can use to put together some diorama-style reconnaissance markers and jumping-off points (more on that later)...

More 15 in 2016

We may have run out of steam a little after month two (not in the least because Ed appears to have adopted the Fabian strategy that if he doesn't buy any miniatures, he can't technically lose a game) but it's now a new year full of new opportunities to miss painting deadlines.

At the very least I would like to use the next 500 points to round out a full Bolt Action platoon of Paracdutisti (with options) that we can then use in the newer, shinier and more Henry Hyde approved World War 2 games such as Chain of Command and Battlegroup which are already starting to turn heads in our gaming group - including mine.

Plus, it seems rather chulish to bring our Italian campaign to a close just before Warlord Games release their theatre specific book for the Mediterranean conflict, backed full of juicy new scenarios...

Duel in the Sun comes out on the 20th February - making the 25th a good deadline for 1,500 points.

Month 2: Blue on Blue

So the clanking of treads and rattle of machine guns have gone quiet and the dust has settled on month two of the Bolt Action escalation league.

Scores on the wars are..

	US Airborne	184th Italian	Gebirgsjager	H.G. Division	US 3rd Infantry
Win	3	2	1	1	0
Loss	0	1	2	2	2
Draw	0	0	0	0	0
Played	3	3	3	3	2
Points	9	6	3	3	0

3pts for a win 1pt for a draw

This month saw the jeepborne airborne and the Italians go head to head for top dog. The HG Division even managed to snag a win dragging the Gebirgsjager down to their level.

Campaign

This puts the Allies further ahead. As the second game was blue on blue only the US/Italian game counted.

Axis 2 

Allies 4

Hobby

Everyone completed their allotted painting tasks, although for some it was touch and go (thankfully for me the check in was delayed a week). The US 3rd did not see the field due to a bout of illness striking their HQ.

Player	1000 Pts Painted	Games Played	Blog Post
Jon	2	2	2
David	2	2	2
Ed	Bye	2	2
Tom	2	2	2
Darren	2	1	2

Month 3

So final month is upon us already and we all have our final 500 points to add,  remember:

• You can field a single platoon for every 1000 points so you can field a second platoon now.
• Each platoon must include a platoon HQ and 2 Rifle Squads.
• If you include more than one platoon then you must include a company HQ.
• Lists are chosen from the basic BA selector with FOW lists for Italy used to dictate equipment and general organization.
• Units can be chosen from the above based on a time frame of Sep 43 (mid war) to Jun 44 (late war)
• You must keep the original list fielded last month.
• No vehicle over DEF 8, Forward Air Observers or Forward Artillery Observers in the first 500 points.

HG Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1 Hermann Göring - Month two

So. Month 2.

My current score: 0-2

Joint bottom of the leader board with Darren, with him edging ahead of me on 'painted miniatures difference'.

Relegation form and no mistake. 

The chaps don't look too dispirited in the dressing room

US 3rd Infantry Division Month 2

OK so month one was a bust with two losses, what can we do in month two...

What caused the biggest problems in month 1? The enemy scoring cheap kills using snipers to one shot my MMG teams, and the difficulty of rooting out infantry in buildings.

Clearly I'm going to need something to neutralize enemy snipers.

Paracadutisti Nembo Month 2 - The Merchants of Menace

After two victories from two games (including one where my opponent made a do-or-die grab for the demolition objective, only to be destroyed by my HQ!) I'm feeling pretty pleased with Paracadutisi Nembo. Granted, I got a rather salutary lesson in the damage that 'Hitler's Buzzsaw' can wreak even on Veterans on the way, and am yet to play Tom's extremely broken Jeep list yet. But nonetheless I'm feeling confident enough to be the first to post the army list for my next 500 points, and risk ceding the meta to lesser players like Darren and Ed...

Now that's the obligatory trash-talk out of the way - on to the list.

Month One ist Kaput!

So month one has drawn to a close and in true Italian style Jon swapped sides for his second game to take on and beat the HG Division.

Gaming Results Month 1

Bolt Action First Action

So everyone got at least one game in tonight with their 500pt lists, some of us had the pleasure of playing losing two...

	US Airborne	184th Italian	Gebirgsjager	H.G. Division	US 3rd Infantry
Win	2	1	1	0	0
Loss	0	0	1	1	2
Draw	0	0	0	0	0
Played	2	1	2	1	2
Points	6	3	3	0	0

Luckily the US Airborne held up their end for the Allies

Campaign

Axis 2 

Allies 2

US 3rd Infantry Division Painting Guide

US Infantry

All paints from the Vallejo Model Color range. Started from a black Army Painter spray undercoat

Bases
Foundation 826 German Cam. Medium
Dry Brush 876 Brown Sand
Dry Brush 819 Iraqi Sand

Boots and Rifle Straps 984 Flat Brown
Puttees and Jacket 988 Khaki
Trousers 873 US Field Drab
Skin 815 Basic Skin Tone
Helmet 887 Brown Violet
Rifle 875 Beige Brown

Everything was washed with 203 Umber Wash which is really nice and then the webbing was highlighted with 886 Green Grey.

Initially fiddly to paint, as usual the wash bought everything together nicely.

Month 1 500pts completed!

5th Gebirgsjäger Division

"Who said that?"

By the time it was sent to Italy in 1943, the 5th Gebirgsjäger Division had already fought in the Balkans campaign and as part of army group north in the push towards Leningrad on the Volkhov front.

The Gebirgsjäger were light infantry and specialists in mountain warfare.  Identifiable by the edelweiss insignia on their sleeves and on their distinctive mountain caps, they were (and still are) recognised as one of the elite units in the German army. But the main draw for me has to be the pack mules (which I am reliably informed carry shoulder mounted panzershreks and are also commonly known as 'PAK mules').

Pack mules apparently have some serious balance issues in Bolt Action

As a newbie to the game of Bolt Action I was at a loss as to which force to build for this campaign.  I wanted to play axis, as I could tell there were plenty of allied players already, and I quite fancied an elite infantry force.  After some reading, the idea of veteran mountain infantry really caught my imagination, and the fantastic models battlefront have released for these troops sealed the deal.

The List

Building a list for a game you don't know is always interesting.  To give myself a starting point, and to hopefully be more forgiving of my early mistakes while I learn the game, I decided that my list would focus on versatility, redundancy and resilience. I then had a play on easyarmy.com and came up with the following for my first 500 pts:

German Reinforced Platoon

Order Dice: 5

Officer

Second Lieutenant  (page: 20)    Veteran               78

Qty         Weapons             Range   Shots     Penetration        Special Rules

1              Second Lieutenant                                                         

                 with Rifle            24"         1              n/a        

                 with Pistol          6"            1              n/a         Assault

                 with Submachine gun   12"         2              n/a         Assault

                 with Assault rifle             24"         2              n/a         Assault

1              Infantry (equipped as modeled)      

                         -              -             

Infantry Squads

Heer Veteran Grenadier squad  (page: 22)           Veteran               126

Qty         Weapons             Range   Shots     Penetration        Special Rules

1              NCO with Submachine gun          12"         2              n/a         Assault

4              Infantry with Rifle            24"         1              n/a        

3              Infantry with Submachine gun   12"         2              n/a         Assault

2              men have Panzerfaust in addition to other weapons        12"         1              +6           One-shot, Shaped Charge

Heer Veteran Grenadier squad  (page: 22)           Veteran               132

Qty         Weapons             Range   Shots     Penetration        Special Rules

1              NCO with Submachine gun          12"         2              n/a         Assault

1              Infantry with Light Machine gun (requires loader)            30"         4              n/a         Team (2 men)

6              Infantry with Rifle            24"         1              n/a        

1              men have Panzerfaust in addition to other weapons        12"         1              +6           One-shot, Shaped Charge

Heer Veteran Grenadier squad  (page: 22)           Veteran               98

Qty         Weapons             Range   Shots     Penetration        Special Rules

1              NCO with Rifle   24"         1              n/a        

1              Infantry with Light Machine gun (requires loader)            30"         4              n/a         Team (2 men)

4              Infantry with Rifle            24"         1              n/a      

  

Sniper team  (page: 32) Veteran               65

Qty         Weapons             Range   Shots     Penetration        Special Rules

1              Sniper team (rifle)           36"         1              n/a         Team (2 men), Sniper

Platoon Points: 499

The entire force is veteran, so hopefully that should give me some level of resilience.  I have also gone for relatively large numbers for such an elite force, with very few weapons teams present.  My hope is that the high ROF German LMGs in two of my squads will grant sufficient fire power to compensate for a lack of any MMG teams or vehicle MMGs.

As the entire force is veteran already, I chose the basic second lieutenant leader to save points.  I couldn't bring myself to make him anything less than a veteran though, that just wouldn't be right!  I also gave him a buddy/bullet sponge for some added protection.

The first squad is meant to be my main forward operating squad, with a total of 4 smgs and 2 panzerfausts to make them a threat to anything up close.  From perusing a couple of forums, the total of 8 men seems to be a generally accepted 'good number' for veteran troops (always trust what you read on the internet!)

The second squad is designed to be flexible.  One LMG, one SMG and one panzerfaust should make it a moderate threat in quite a few situations, and with 8 members again it should be fairly resilient.  I expect this units role to change depending on the situation I am faced with each turn.  Early on it might be giving covering fire to the 1st squad, but later on when my brilliant leadership gets 1st sqaud killed to a man, this squad might move up to grab an objective or pop a tank with its panzerfaust.

The last squad is lower strength at only 5 men, so I will probably try to keep them back a little out of harms way.  A single LMG will be useful for giving covering fire to 1st or 2nd squad as they advance.

To finish off the list I have added in a sniper.  My logic here is that in small 500 pt games most players will not have much redundancy in their plans, and a well placed shot form a sniper could take out that MMG or mortar team which is ruining my day.  Whether this translates to the tabletop remains to be seen!

Models

I have used the Gebirgsjäger infantry models from battlefront to represent this force. A single company box was all I needed for this months troops and all the basic infantry, machine guns, command and light mortars I could want for the entire campaign.  In fact, I now realise a single platoon box would have been plenty!  Plans are however already afoot for some of the spares...

I should really look at the back of the box before concluding this is how many models you get...

In an inspired flurry of painting I managed to get my first 499 points painted this afternoon.  I have gone for a fairly straightforward (read 'quick and dirty') dipping method.  The minis were all primed grey (Halfords grey primer) then had greatcoats picked out with army painter 'fur brown'.  A dry brush of vallejo 'green grey' over the entire model produced a nice German uniform colour before details like skin, weapons and boots were picked out and army painter strong tone was used to shade/do all the hard work.  For basing I used a mix of dark grit and some ash colour flock topped with modelling snow, grass tufts and some tiny bits of clump foliage to give a spring thaw mountain theme.  I mainly chose this as it can be hard to make drab colours stand out on brown or green bases. The dark grey and white help the models stand out nicely.


Without further ado, I present to you the first instalment of the 5th Gebirgsjäger Division!

All primed and ready for painting

The first 499 points ready for battle

A sniper team lines up a shot

2nd Leiutennant Hans Mueller and associates