Natal Carabineers

Another re-based unit. These are the Natal Carabineers who took part in the first invasion of Zululand in January 1879. Part of this unit fought (and died) at iSandlwana.

First up we have the mounted version of the unit:








Finally we have the dismounted version of the unit:








All figures are Baccus from packs CBR12 (mounted figures) & 13 (dismounted figures).

That's it for now on the re-basing front as I've run out of bases till the next batch arrives from Minibits. Time to paint some more figures....

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More Zulus

Managed to re-base another couple of bases of Zulus today.

First up we have the second of the standard units of Zulu's from the uKhandempemvu ibutho (regiment). Each base represents a couple of amaviyo (or companies):








Secondly we have a skirmishing iviyo (singlular of amaviyo), I may well add a second base to represent one unit strung out on a wide front:








Finally here's a shot of all of the re-based Zulus:





I'm pretty happy with the way these have turned out and have plans to resurrect some of my other Black Powder era interests. Will post photos of these again when they get their name plates added.

All figures are Baccus from pack CZU1.

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First Zulu Base Finished

Managed to get the figures based and flocked last night, just need to add a label:









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Anglo-Zulu War WIP

Okay so I got distracted by re-basing my Zulu's:






I've based these as a pair of companies from the uKhandempemvu Regiment both moving in line ready to attack. All figures are Baccus from pack CZU1.

These will be used with the copy of Black Powder I finally got around to ordering last night.

Thanks to those that commented on the Roman basing idea it has helped me come up with more ideas for that and other eras.

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Basing 6mm Romans Part 2

Thanks to Dr Mike's (aka Cranium27) suggestion I've added a third rank which really does make the unit look a whole lot better:









I was planning to add a black 10mm thick strip at the back for unit details somewhat like this.

I'll see if I can complete this base this week then I can see if it's a worthwhile project.

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Basing 6mm Romans

I've been playing around a bit with the basing for my 6mm Romans and came up with an idea that sort of shows a unit in motion (based on the fact that no straight line of men can stay straight as it moves cross country) and thought I'd blog some pictures of the mock up I've done to see what other people thought of the idea?

I'm afraid that you'll have to use your imagination somewhat as I haven't done anything to the base yet and I didn't have a spare Optio (the chap at the back with the yellow shield) available with the right shield colour:









My thinking is that Roman units wouldn't be solid ranks of men (except perhaps if attacked by cavalry) as the Roman historian Polybius (writing in the 2nd Century BC) tells us that a legionary occupies about 6' of space. Being primarily a swordsman a legionary would need this space to move around in to fight effectively. That's some of my reasoning anyway.

Each of these bases would represent a 480 man cohort, and there would be 10 per Legion (with the first cohort being 800 strong).

All figures are Baccus and are from pack AIR1. The mdf base is from Minibits.

Any comments positive or negative would be welcome.

Thanks

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Russian Predreadnought Battleships 1904

Been thinking about getting my naval wargaming going again so I pulled out one of the trays of Russian warships for the Russo-Japanese War (RJW) (1904-5) and took some pictures.

Here we have the 1st and 2nd Sub-Divisions which formed part of the Battleship Division of the Battle Squadron of the Russian Pacific Fleet in 1904 (Navwar codes shown in ()):


At the front we have the 2nd Sub-Division consisting of the (Left to right) Retvizan (N7019), Pobieda (N7113) and Peresvyet (N7113). At the back is the 1st Sub-Division consisting of the Poltava (N7110), Sevastopol (N7110) and Tsesarevitch (N7108).

The 1st Division also contained the Petropavlovsk but she was lost in April 1904 when she hit 2 mines outside of Port Arthur, unfortunately as fleet flagship she was carrying Vice-Admiral Makarov whose loss was a severe blow to the Russian war effort. I think I have the model for this ship somewhere. The Poltava and Sevastopol are of the same class as the Petropavlovsk. The Pobieda (N7113) and Peresvyet are also of the same class.

Note that Russian (and Japanese) navies did not use a prefix like the Royal Navies HMS.

There is a really detailed pdf of both the Japanese and Russian Fleet make up at the beginning of the war here. The website where this document comes from is well worth a look of you're interested in this period.

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US Artillery WIP

Just a quick update tonight.

I've found time to add all of the gun crews to the US artillery pieces:


Hopefully I'll get these flocked tomorrow night.

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A simple conversion

I did these some time ago now but thought I'd put some pictures of it up. This is the armoured ammunition carrier (Munitionsträger Hummel) used to supply Hummel batteries.


The model is the standard Hummel hull (G060 or G033 if you have spare Nashorn hulls like I did) with the gun barrel removed and "plated" over with a small square of cardboard. I've then added some of the various ammunition boxes supplied with Adler Miniatures WWII gun crew packs (they could of been from the Soviet or German packs).


I'll be using these for campaign games where ammunition supply could be an issue.

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Russian Regiments

Another batch of units that are being reboxed.

1223rd Self Propelled Gun Regiment
This Regiment formed one of the Self Propelled Gun Regiments attached to the 29th Tank Corps in 1944. This unit was one of two equipped with lend lease M10 tank destroyers, unfortunately there is only a single picture and no details on their combat performance (see http://www.o5m6.de/m10_wolverine.html). Each Regiment has 4 "companies" (equal to a single German platoon) each of which is represented by a single M10 (US19) stand. A fifth M10 is used as the HQ. The Regiment also has a tank riding SMG company (SR3).


14th Guards Separate Heavy Tank Regiment
This Regiment was occasionally attached to the 29th Tank Corps (from the 5th Guards Tank Army reserve) so forms one of the optional Army level attachments available for the BKC version of the 29th Tank Corps. As with the 1223rd Regiment above this Regiment also has 4 "companies" each of which is represented by a single IS-2 (S16) stand. A fifth IS-2 is used as the HQ. The Regiment also has a tank riding SMG company (SR3).


20th Guards Super Heavy Howitzer Artillery Brigade
Another small but powerful Russian unit, consisting of 4 Super Heavy Artillery Battalions. As each Battalion had three batteries of two 203mm howitzers I decided to represent each Battalion with a single 203mm Howitzer (S33). For on table use I may well add a set of S65 tractors (S46) and probably a HQ.





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Schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 & 3rd Abteilung Schweres Panzerjager Regiment 656

More German units this time for Kursk. As usual the Heroics and Ros references are shown in ().

Schwere Panzer Abteilung 503
Although none of the Abteilung's Tiger I (G019) companies fought together at Kursk I couldn't resist doing all 3 and a HQ.


3rd Abteilung Schwere Panzerjager Regiment 656
This is Sturmpanzer IV Abteilung 216 which was assigned to Schweres Panzerjager Regiment 656 along with 2 Ferdinand equipped Schwere Panzerjager Abteilungs (653 & 654). The Abteilung has 3 companies of 3 platoons of Sturmpanzer IV's (G073) and 1 HQ.


This Regiment also included two remote controlled demolition companies. Whether I'll ever build the rest of the Regiment I don't know.

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II./Panzer Regiment 11

I've been sorting some models out today and thought I'd snap a few pictures as I transferred them from one box to another. As usual the Heroics and Ros references are shown in ().

II./Panzer Regiment 11
This is the 6th Panzers only organic Panzer Abteilung during the summer of 1944, it's Panther Abteilung was provided by I./Panzer Regiment Grossdeutschland. This unit has been reorganised to platoon scale (i.e. its appeared before on this blog) so now has 4 Pzkpfw IVH (G015) companies each of 3 platoons. The Abteilung has a Pzkpfw IVH HQ, a Pzkpfw IVH recce platoon and a single Engineer Stand (GWG12) with its Sdkfz 251/7 (G151) transport.


The Abteilung will also gain a single Sdkfz 7/1 (G078) stand for air defence.

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US and German Artillery - WIP

These are what I'm currently working on. As usual the Heroics and Ros references are shown in ().

B Company, 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion (Towed)
3 platoons of 76mm anti-tank guns (US23), each platoon will have a M3 halftrack tow.


7th Field Artillery Battalion
3 batteries of 105mm howitzers (US28).


5th Field Artillery Battalion
3 batteries of 155mm howitzers (US29).


IV./Artillery Regiment 352
3 batteries of 150mm howitzers (G062). These guns will also double up as III./Panzer Artillery Regiment 73 for my 1941 Panzer Division 1 list, technically they'd probably be in a different colour but it fits nicely in to my multi use unit plan.


Will post pictures of the finished guns later in the week.

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16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division 1944

Here's the almost complete 16th Infantry, the crew figures need adding to the anti-tank guns and the yet to be painted command figures need adding as well but at least you can get an idea of what the completed regiment will look like. I'm actually missing the 105mm infantry gun as I forgot to buy some crew figures for it, doh! The Heroics and Ros references are shown in ().

HQ and HQ Company
This consists of a recce section (USR1), a HQ (US58 - to add) with jeep (US38) and a 57mm anti-tank platoon (US22) and Studebaker tow truck (US40).


Rifle Company
There are 3 of these in each battalion each with 3 platoons (USR1 & US01 for the bazookas). Each infantry stand has five figures which is my standard way of representing infantry stands.


Support Company
There is a single one of these in each battalion. This company consists of a 81mm mortar platoon and 2 HMG platoons (USR2). All support stands consist solely of the weapon and its crew, occasionally I will add additional infantry figures if the weapon is crewed by only 2 figures.


The Full Battalion


The Full 16th Infantry Regiment
Well almost the full regiment anyway. At the front you can see the yet to be completed CO stand complete with a Dodge Weapons Carrier (US39), along side the CO we have the Regimental anti-tank company which I've modelled as two stands due to its size (9 guns - I use the WW2/Modern Spearhead method of representing small companies as two stands, this method will make more sense when you see the larger (12 gun) 76mm anti-tank company in my next posting).



Thanks for looking, more to follow....

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741st Tank Battalion, 7th Corps

Managed to take a small batch of photo's of the units supporting the US 1st Infantry Division. This is the 741st Tank Battalion, 7th Corps which was attached to the Division during D-Day itself through to the 15th June 1944, it could also be used to represent any of the other tank battalions that were attached to the Division during June. The Heroics and Ros references are shown in ().

HQ and HQ Company
This consists of (left to right) the HQ tank (US04), a recce platoon represented by a single jeep (US38), a Gun Platoon in the form of a M4 with 105mm gun (US04A) and an M21 Mortar Halftrack (US31) representing the mortar platoon:


Medium Tank Company
There are 3 of these in the battalion, each has 3 tank platoons. 2 platoons are represented by M4's (US04) and 1 by a converted M4A1 dozer (US36 with the dozer attachment points removed - H&R don't make a M4A1 thats suitable for the US tanks in the ETO, the one they do make has sand guards):


Light Tank Company
There was only the one of these in the battalion, which like the medium companies has 3 tank platoons each of which is represented by a single M5A1 (US03):


741st Tank Battalion


Please see my earlier post for the units BKCII TO&E.

More pics of the Infantry Regiment to follow when I get chance of the weekend.

Thanks for looking

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German Infantry Division 352 Normandy 1944 The Army List

This is the opposition for The Big Red One. I've still to decide quite how many fortifications to build but there will be quite a few of them:

GERMAN INFANTRY DIVISION 352
NORMANDY JUNE 1944

CORE UNIT

Grenadier Regiment 915
HQ: 1x CO (CV9)
Anti-Tank Company:
1x 75mm ATG/Truck
Infantry Gun Company:
2x 75mm IG/Truck; 1x 150mm IG/Truck
Pioneer Platoon:
1x Engineer Stand (Panzerfaust)
Reconnaissance Platoon:
1x Bicycle Scout Stand

I./ & II./Grenadier Regiment 915, each with:
HQ: 1x HQ (CV8)
3 Rifle Companies, each with:
3x Rifle Stands (Panzerfaust)
Heavy Company:
1x HMG Stand; 2x 81mm Mortars

DIVISIONAL ATTACHMENT OPTIONS

I./Grenadier Regiment 726 (from Infantry Division 716):
HQ: 1x HQ (CV8)
Bicycle Rifle Company:
3x Fortress Rifle Stands/Bicycles
3 Rifle Companies, each with:
3x Fortress Rifle Stands
Company Support Stands:
2x 81mm Mortars

I./Artillery Regiment 352:
1x FAO (CV7)
3 Batteries, each with:
1x 105mm Howitzer/Horse Limbers

IV./Artillery Regiment 352:
1x FAO (CV7)
3 Batteries, each with:
1x 150mm Howitzer/Horse Limbers

2./Pioneer Battalion 252
3x Engineer Stands (Panzerfaust)

Panzerjager Battalion 352:
HQ: 1x HQ (CV8)/Kubel
Anti-Tank Company:
3x Marder IIIH
StuG Company:
2x StuG IIIG
AA Company:
2x Truck mounted 37mm AA

Air Support:
0-1x FW-190
0-1x HS-129

Assets (per stand):
0-2x Artillery HE
0-1x Artillery Smoke
0-1x Aircraft Ground Attack

Fortifications:
0-12x Trenches (1 stand width each)
0-?x Gun Pits (for 1 artillery or AT stand)
0-?x Wire (20cm)
0-?x Dummy Minefields (20x10cm)
0-?x Marked Minefields (20x10cm)
0-?x Unmarked Minefields (20x10cm)
0-?x Anti-Tank Ditch (20x5cm)
0-?x Dragons Teeth (20x5cm)
0-?x Dug-outs
0-4x Pill-boxes
0-2x Medium Bunkers
0-4x Heavy Bunkers (1x 150mm gun each)
0-1x Command Post (+1 CV)

NOTES

1. Morale Grade: Regulars.
2. Flexible tactical doctrine.
3. No air superiority.
4. Rifle stands may additionally receive a second anti-tank upgrade in the form of Panzerschrecks. However there is no evidence that the division received any. If Panzershrecks are used a maximum of 1 per company is allowed (not fortress rifle stands).
5. Infiltration: +1 to command value for flank deployment.
6. 150mm guns in heavy bunkers can be used as indirect artillery (via a FAO in a Command Post) or for direct fire.

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US 1st Infantry Division Normandy 1944 The Army List

This is the army list I've created to model a Regimental Combat Team (or RCT) and its supporting Divisional assets:

US 1ST INFANTRY DIVISION
(THE BIG RED ONE)
NORMANDY JUNE 1944

CORE UNIT

16th Infantry Regiment
HQ: 1x CO (CV9)
Anti-Tank Company:
2x 57mm ATG/Truck
Cannon Company:
1x 105mm IG/Truck

3 Rifle Battalions, each with:
HQ: 1x HQ (CV8), 1x Mine Marker
AT Platoon: 1x 57mm ATG/Truck
Recce Section: 1x Scout Stand
3 Rifle Companies, each with:
2x Rifle Stands; 1x Rifle Stand (Bazooka, M1A1)
Support Company:
1x 81mm Mortar; 2x HMG Stands

DIVISIONAL ATTACHMENT OPTIONS

7th Field Artillery Battalion:
1x FAO (CV8)/Jeep or L-4 Grasshopper
3 Batteries, each with:
1x 105mm Howitzer

5th Field Artillery Battalion:
1x FAO (CV8)/Jeep or L-4 Grasshopper
3 Batteries, each with:
1x 155mm Howitzer

62nd Armoured Field Artillery Battalion:
1x FAO (CV8)/M4
3 Batteries, each with:
1x M7 Priest

1st Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanised):
HQ: 1x HQ (CV8)/M8 Greyhound
3 Recon Platoons, each with:
1x M8 Greyhound; 1x Jeep

B Company, 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion (Towed):
3x 76mm ATG/M3 HT

A Company, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion:
3x Engineer Stands

741st Tank Battalion, 7th Corps:
HQ: 1x HQ (CV8)/M4
Recce Platoon: 1x Jeep
Mortar Battery: 1x M21 HT
Gun Platoon: 1x M4 (105)
3 Medium Tank Companies, each with:
3x M4 (75) or M4A1 (75)
Light Tank Company:
3x M5A1

1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division:
HQ: 1x HQ (CV9)
Mortar Platoon: 1x 81mm Mortar
3 Rifle Companies, each with:
2x Paratroop Stands
1x Paratroop Stand (Bazooka, M1A1)

Naval Support:
0-2x Naval Gun Fire
0-1x Naval Rockets

Air Support:
0-1x FAC (CV8)/Jeep
0-3x P-47 (Bombs or Rockets)
0-1x B-25 Mitchell

Assets (per stand):
0-4x Artillery HE
0-2x Artillery Smoke
0-2x Aircraft Ground Attack

NOTES

1. Morale Grade: Regulars (Paratroops: Motivated).
2. Normal tactical doctrine (Paratroops: Flexible tactical doctrine).
3. Full air superiority.
4. Close Artillery Support: Any command unit can request artillery support using the CV of the FAO and the LOS of any infantry or infantry support unit within 20cm of the command unit.
5. Tanks and tank destroyers may be used as off table artillery.

Photos of the finished platoons to follow....

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An Update

It's been a long time since I did an update but I haven't been idle. So far I've finished over 60 bases for my Normandy'44 campaign, the US infantry regiment is based, as is the supporting tank battalion and a large batch of anti-tank guns and artillery pieces are nearing completion (note to self painting 14 guns at once is easy, painting 14 crew sets isn't....).

One of the other things I have been doing is thinking about my overall wargaming plans and I've decided to:
1. Go back to using 1 base = 1 platoon, it just makes things a whole lot simpler when translating real world TO&E in to BKC format*.
2. Focus my energies on completing my WWII armies for BKCII.
3. Put anything post war on the back burner so to speak. To be honest I'm not really that interested in the post war period these days and it reduces the amount of models I need to paint from the ridiculous to the might be achievable with a bit of effort.
4. Finally sort some rules for the Zulu War and paint some more of the 1500+ figures I have.

*Exception: smaller companies (e.g. those with 10 tanks or low numbers of infantry) are represented by two stands (effectively a half company per stand).

The WWII armies I'm working on are:

1. German Panzer Division 1, June-July 1941.
2. German Infantry Division 352, June 1944.
3. German Panzer Division 6, August 1944.
4. Russian 3rd Tank Division, June-July 1941.
5. Russian 29th Tank Corps, August 1944.
6. US 1st Infantry Division, June 1944.

Each consists of at least a regiments worth of troops and a varied selection of supporting units based on what was historically available to each particular formation. The armies are all matched pairs so I can always play solo if I want. All are at least 60% complete.

I'm also toying with adding the following units (I have most of the models anyway but just didn't want to get too carried away to start with):

7. Russian 29th Tank Corps, July 1943 (Kursk).
8. German forces to take on No.7. Not sure what these would be at this point.
9. Russian Infantry Division - I'd probably build this to make it usable for any point in the war but would start off with a 1941 era division to take on No.10.
10. Romanian Cavalry Brigade, June 1941.

Thanks for reading.

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