Revisiting the 1990s

I've had a little unfocussed hobby time of late that I've used to revisit some old models and bring them up to my modern standards. As part of this I decided to take another look at the United States forces I acquired for 1990s Andreivian games.

The vehicles were picked up from junk shops, market stalls and game show bring-and-buys over the past quarter of a century. I think the LVTP at £7.00 was the most expensive and I rarely paid more than a fiver for any of these toys.

They vary widely in detail and quality but over the years some of them have done good service in Andreivia and beyond. 

Anyway, as I said, I've had some time available and fancied having a go at improving some of them. The Matchbox HMMWVs with TOW launchers are particularly tacky looking.

As you can see, these two have been in storage for a while and are dusty as hell as well as cheap-looking. So I thought I'd have a go at upgrading them.

Now, Andreivia's Black Sea location was partly chosen because it justifies the use of vehicles in either temperate or desert camo but I thought it would be nice to have some of my Yanks be in the NATO three-colour scheme adopted in 1984. For this I've used Vallejo Model Colour Refractive Green as the base with VMC Black Grey and Vallejo Air NATO Brown for the disruptive elements.

The cheapo plastic TOW launchers were removed and in their place I added white metal 50cal HMGs from Sgts' Mess.

I won't pretend that these are hugely accurate models but they'll do fine to provide some mobility to U S forces attempting to bring peace to war-torn Andreivia.

Attack on Iskender's Fort

On Sunday I hosted a game so some mates could have a first go at wargaming. Given a choice of several games from throughout history, they chose to go with an Andreivia 1918 scenario.

Back in 2024 I'd planned an Arc of Fire game in which several factions competed to capture Professor van Langendonck's experimental gas shells from the rogue Turkish officer calling himself Iskender Bey. Scheduling conflicts meant it didn't go ahead at the time but now I knocked up a two-player version of the scenario.

In the end we had three players; Tim and Frazer who commanded a small British force, and Nick, who took on the role of Iskender Bey himself.

The field of battle was dominated by a ruined fort on a small hill:

The British would arrive from the road on the near edge of the table above but with a small chance of units being delayed or arriving in the wrong place if the dice so decreed.

The venerable Sarzeh Fort making yet another
appearance on the gaming table

Meanwhile Nick had to deploy his forces not knowing from which direction the enemy would arrive or even which enemy they would be. The Andreivian army, the British, the Germans or even his Turkish former colleagues could all be after him!

After Nick had deployed his forces it became apparent that he'd misunderstood my briefing and had his entire force facing in the wrong direction! As I felt the error was mine, I allowed him to redeploy one unit (Iskender Bey's personal guard) and its trenches. This would be balanced by my making another on-the-fly adjustment in favour of the British later in the game.

After a small dice-driven delay, the British arrived and began pushing towards the fort with their Mark V tank in the lead. Nick's only effective defence against this lumbering monster was his 75mm field gun, which happened to be the unit equipped with the VM gas shells.

Unfortunately, they were deployed facing in the wrong direction and it took them a while to redeploy. 

When they did, though, they got off a lucky shot and brewed up the tank!

There was always the likelihood that one side or the other would lose a duel between tank and gun. This was the reason I'd reinforced the British with a Gun Section with a Quick Firing 13pdr and a Vickers MMG, which Frazer skilfully deployed on a hill covering the approaches to the fort.

If the tank had taken out the Turks' gun I would have allowed them another as a reinforcement. This would have to drive onto the table from the far end so encouraging the British to press their attack before it arrived.

It was about this time that I discovered my second error. I'd been treating the Iskenderist (can we use that term?) troops dug in in front of the fort as "Concealed" for the purposes of the Arc of Fire spotting rules. This might be appropriate for well-camouflaged Japanese bunkers in the jungles of Burma but in this case the British couldn't target their enemies without getting ridiculously close. 

I made an executive decision to change to "In the open" for spotting purposes but retaining "Hard Cover" against the incoming fire. This worked much better and rewarded Frazer's positioning of the Gun Section.

Nick had successfully repositioned his Arab bandits to the end of the fort menaced by the British but this only brought them under the fire of Frazer's Gun Section. They were rapidly reduced to just a single man left wandering inside the fort!

Meanwhile, Tim (in the role of the British commander, Lt Ponsonby-Smythe) had pushed his infantry forward on the left. Using the knocked-out tank as cover, his Lewis gun team brought the enemy guards under enfilading fire. 

The effect was to trigger a morale test on the guards that left them all cowering in their trenches. If Ponsonby-Smythe's main force had been in a position to charge the enemy trenches, the fight would have been all over bar the shouting. This kind of timing would be challenging even for a player with luck and experience on his side. Sadly Tim had neither.

At this point Iskender Bey himself made an appearance in the trenches. His steadying influence rallied enough of the defenders to all but wipe out Tim's charging First Section.  The Second Section, moving out of the woods in support, were hit by gas shells and forced to retreat.

On mature reflection, I'm calling it a win for Nick and Iskender Bey.

Nick and Iskender Bey

I'm reasonably pleased with how the game went but wonder whether one of the other scenarios might have been a better introduction to wargaming. The rules considered were Arc of Fire, Lion Rampant and Sharp Practice. I know all of them really well but perhaps the other two have a slightly shallower learning curve? Might Chain of Command have been a better choice for this period - easier to pick up although they are notoriously hard to master?

Anyway I don't expect to make any instant converts from this but at least the guys now have some idea of how I spend my weekends.  I'm pleased that we've also told another tale from the bloody history of Andreivia. Maybe a future game will see a second attempt the pull the fangs of Iskender Bay?

The Iskender Incident

I've managed to get a couple of non-wargamer mates to have a go at a game. I gave them a few options (based rules I know really well and periods for which I can provide models that will give a good visual impact) and they chose an Arc of Fire Andreivia 1918 scenario. The background is as follows:

Our story takes place in the Summer of 1918. Andreivia, a small kingdom on the coast of the Black Sea, has been a battleground for the last four years with Russian and Turkish armies facing each other across the shell-scarred landscape of the Southern Hills.

With the withdrawal of Russian troops following the October Revolution, Turkish troops have penetrated into Andreivia and the war has become one of movement rather than static trench lines.  The small British expeditionary force fights alongside the Andreivian army to hold off the Ottoman horde.

Now a Turkish officer has gone rogue, calling himself "Iskander Bey” he claims to be a reincarnation of Alexander the Great and peculiarly blessed by the gods. He has taken over an old fort in the Andreivian hills and built himself a private army. Worse, he has secured a consignment of experimental gas shells developed by Professor van Langhendonck of the University of Andreivia. 

Whoever control the gas shells will control the future of Andreivia.

Iskender Bey and his bodyguards

This will be a first opportunity to use some old Italeri (?) colonial figures that I painted in fictional black uniforms:

As well as one of the peculiar Akheton Models French 75mm guns:

The opposing British will be various models from the Tumbling Dice Palestine and Arabia range. 

There will also be a Mark V tank that I 3D printed.

Battle report to follow!

Andreivian Armenian Air Support

I've recently added this Hawker Hunter FB Mk6 to the Andreivian air fleet.

It's based on the Mistercraft kit, which is a complete dog. I strongly recommend that you give this manufacturer a miss!

Memorial to Andreivian Police 1918

For those players who took part in Crisis Point 2018 you may remember on Sunday the massacre of Tom's Andreivian Police at the hands of Mark J's Cossacks. At the time it was commented that I should make a war memorial to mark the occasion and to remember the brave policemen who defended Andreivia's capital against the invading hordes. So as soon as I returned on Sunday night I set to work. It's now finished and will be added to the Tcherbevan layout for subsequent games set it in 1992.

Houses for Downtown Kedelkalak

Using some city walls that Richard Phillips has in production, I plan to add the walled northern city of Kedelkalak to this year's vision of Andreivia. I'll be needing to add some buildings to its streets of course.

Over the weekend I had a dig through the map chest where I keep things that might be useful for terrain one day.  Having spent a day recently gluing together and cutting out boardgames components I suppose I was receptive to the idea of having a go at some flat-pack buildings I found therein.

First up is this low-profile shop I got free on the front cover of a model railway magazine I spotted on my weekly supermarket shop:

It's by Metcalfe Models and I have to say it was a joy to put together.  It came preprinted and die-stamped in heavy grade cardboard with clear plastic for the windows.  The instructions were comprehensive and very clear.

As you can see I added a suitably Andreivian name board in place of the English ones that came in the pack.

I also found some paper buildings I'd printed out years ago and filed away in the can't-be-bothered pile.  I made this one first:

As you can see it's actually more like 15mm scale but it may find a place somewhere in the crowded streets of the city.  It needs a bit of paint to disguise the white, cut edges.

The next building looks like it came from the same source as the above.  I blew it up to 133% of the original size using my scanner.

It's a peculiar little structure; all doors and windows but it will do.  Given the adverts on the sides it may see use in France for WW2 games too.

Wish me luck, I'm going over the top...

Prior to last year's Crisis Point (our first exploring the history of Andreivia at the end of the Great War) I attempted to build a box of HaT soft plastic German cycle troops.

I still bear the emotional scars of the experience.  The figures come with separate arms that should in theory connect shoulders to handlebars but in fact are almost impossible for anyone with fewer than three hands to attach securely. In the end, pressed for time to get forces ready for the event, I gave them up as a bad job and returned them to their box.

However, I'm damned if I'll let them beat me again.  With a little more time to go at them surely they can't be that bad?  Can they?

More reports to come but, please, stay away if easily offended; I suspect bad language may ensue....

Crisis Point VI - AAR (Richard P)

The first two parts are up on my blog.

http://atomicrenegade.blogspot.co.uk/

Cheers

Richard P

Trenches part 6

A couple more lengths of trench added to my contribution.  I've added an obtuse angle and another junction to blow for a second communication trench to the rear.

Tonight I shall mostly be adding flock and static grass.

Andreivian Air Force

The Esci Fokker D.VII cost just two quid from a local model shop.  An absolutely perfect find for 1918 Andreivia!

Trenches Part 5

All textured ready for painting once they are dry. These plus Richard C's trenches will form the centrepiece of one the tables at this years Crisis Point.

Trenches Part 4

As you have probably already read Richard C (The Oracle of Andreivia) and myself have spent the weekend working on some trenches for one of the tables for Crisis Point. Richard C's are pretty much complete and mine are still in the WIP stage but a bit more work today and they will be ready for painting.

Trenches part 3

OK, the trenches are at a point where they'll do.  They were never going to be anything other than gaming pieces; high quality trench modelling would require cutting to a base board.

I'd like to add at least another T-junction piece and probably another mortar position.  I'd also like to get some Milliput and add some sandbags to the roof of the dugout.

I might also add a bit of static grass around the edges to give it that long-established look.

Trenches part 2

A bit more progress on the trenches.  I've applied all the gloop required and done some painting.  I've also added "wriggly tin" and some small shell craters to the roof of the dug-out.

My initial thought was to add some Milliput sandbags to the parapets but then I realised that they should probably only be on the front edge, which would reduce the flexibility with which I could use the pieces.  I shall ponder further.

Trenches

Richard P and I have both spent part of the weekend making trenches for the Caucasus Front.  Here's a first look at my progress so far...

The bases are mostly artist's mounting board but there's some off-cuts of MDF too.  The revetments are made of two layers of chamfered foam-core.  I've started coating them with coloured tile grout for texture.

There's about six feet there and I'm hoping Richard can produce as much again.

1918 - Andreivian Artillery

The withdrawal of Russian troops from the Caucasian Front after the treaty of Brest-Litovsk left a power vacuum in the eastern Black Sea region.  The Andreivian state quickly moved to reconstitute its army using whatever military hardware it could acquire. 

Improvised vehicles were common - this artillery supply wagon for example...

The ubiquitous French 75 was widely used by Andreivian artillery units.

The Andreivian People's Horse Artillery (formerly Royal Horse Artillery) wore brown busbies with cobalt blue bags.