WSS_87

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ISSUE 87

Theme

Refighting Newbury and

Cheriton

The Swedish influence on

the Battle of Newburn

Small-scale skirmishes

for the ECW

• • • • • •

Specials

The last Welsh warrior

princess

Armoured actio

Armoured action in then in the

autumn of 1944

Let’s play

Swordpoint

• • • • • • W W W W W W . . W W S S S S M M A A G G A A Z Z I I N N E E . . C C O O M M / / / / K K A A R R W W A A N N S S A A R R A A Y Y P P U U B B L L I I S S H H E E R R S S

THIS ISSUE:

England thrown into turmoil during the war

with no enemy

ALBION TORN

ASUNDER

THE ENGLISH CIVIL

WAR

8 8 7 7 7 7 2 2 5 5 2 2 7 7 4 4 7 7 2 2 1 1 7 7 5 5 7 7 US/CN US/CN$8.99 €5,95$8.99 €5,95 DEC / JAN 2017 DEC / JAN 2017

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W ARGAMES ARGAMES , S , SOLDIERSOLDIERS & S & STRATEGY TRATEGY 87 87

4

Publisher: Rolof van Hövell tot Westerier

Managing director: Jasper Oorthuys

Editor: Guy Bowers

Copy editor: Duncan B. Campbell

Layou

Layout, design: Christianne t, design: Christianne C. BeallC. Beall

Maps: Rocío Espin

Contributors: Mark Backhouse, Tony Barton, Ian Beal,

Ste-ve Beckett, Piers Brand, Rob Broom, Richard Clarke, David

ve Beckett, Piers Brand, Rob Broom, Richard Clarke, David

Davies, Tony Harwood, David Imrie, Eoghan Kelly, Michael

Leck, Dan Mersey, Chris Payne, Rick Priestley, Nicholas Stock,

Ruben T

Ruben Torregrosa, orregrosa, Rossco WatkinsRossco Watkins

Illustrations: Georgie Harman

www.redfoxillustrations.com

Print: Gra Advies BV

Editorial ofce

PO Box 4082,

PO Box 4082, 7200 BB Zutphen, The Netherlands7200 BB Zutphen, The Netherlands

Phone: +31-575-776076 (NL)

(Europe),

(Europe), +1-800-549-4742 +1-800-549-4742 (US)(US)

Email:

Email: editor@[email protected]

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Website: www.wssmagazine.com

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and publishers apologize for any unwitting cases of copyright

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transgressions and would like to hear from any copyright holdersfrom any copyright holders

not acknowledged. Articles and the opinions expressed herein

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pub-lishers. Advertising in Wargam

lishers. Advertising in Wargames, Soldiers es, Soldiers and Strategy does and Strategy does notnot

necessarily imply endorsement.

Warga

Wargames, Soldiers and mes, Soldiers and Strategy is published everyStrategy is published every

two months by Karwansaray BV, Zutphen, the

Netherlands. PO Box 4082, 7200 BB

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ISSN: 2211-503X

Printed in the European Union

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BANG! YOU'RE DEAD

A wild west shootout with a diﬀerence

GWENLLIAN OF THE GREAT REVOLT

The last Welsh warrior princess

AN AUTUMN STORM

Armour action in Belgium

GETTING BACK IN THE SADDLE

Rediscovering your wargames mojo

NOSTALGIA IN TIN NOSTALGIA IN TIN A sculptor's ﬁrst inspiration A sculptor's ﬁrst inspiration

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20 FEATURES

FEATURES

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THE DOVE HOUSE

Building a timber framed dovecote

WHITE DEATH

Painting snow camouﬂage for Kharkov

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W ARGAMES , SOLDIERS & STRATEGY 87

5 E dit orial

“No more blind bullets, fire, nor bloody sword / Dissentions end, but let just law accord / Brute bankerupt Ruffians, and Blas- phemers are / All chief e rejoycers, when true Christians jarred /

That they may plunder, pillage, drink, and whore / And mourne when mischief they can doe no more.”

— John Barford: a Prayer to God, King and Country The English Civil War is a fascinating period of history which di-vides opinions and loyalties even today. It was the last real war

fought solely on British soil with battles in almost every part of the Three Kingdoms (of England, Scotland and Ireland). A little local research will throw up some surprising facts and many forgotten engagements. I live in the West Coun-try, and near me there are several battlefields and a number of notable sieges. I have visited these sites and even replayed some of the battles on the table top (such as the Bitesize Battle of Braddock Down which appeared in WS&S 67). The great thing about the period (apart from the interchangeable nature of the units) is the variety of engagements, from skirmishes to full scale battles and sieges. Whatever your scale or preferred size of play, the English Civil War has something to offer you. The concept of a ‘Civil War’ still catches gamers’ imaginations. Take the popular-ity of Very British Civil War or the Winter of ‘79, both rulesets that offer alternative timelines where England goes to war with itself again. But however odd these alternates may be, the history of the actual English Civil War is much stranger still. According to Michael Leck, it’s Sweden’s fault! To learn more, read on… In our next issue, we'll be looking at the Winter Wars and the challenges of fight-ing in the winter season.

Guy Bowers

[email protected]

N ow on the

websi te

m

I n t he next issu e

&

The Battle of Brentford

Recreate Prince Rupert's ride to victory against the Parliamentarians in this 1642 battle.

(http://www.wssmagazine.com/wss87_extra)

Time to chill out

In the next WS&S , we'll be looking at the challenges of cold weather actions during World War II. From Russia to Finland, this should be one cool issue.

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M I N I R E V I E W S

MINIATURE REVIEWS

Paranormal Exterminators

Company: Crooked Dice Games Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 31mm tall Era: Modern

Price: £3.50 each or £15.00 for the set www.crooked-dice.co.uk

Who you gonna call? These Paranormal Exterminators catch them all. The third and latest set of ‘exterminator’ miniatures from Crooked Dice pay homage to a recent film with an all-girl Paranormal busting team. There is also the one guy – the ‘wannabe’ exterminator - but he can hardly answer the phone, never mind fight ghosts… Who gave him a uniform and a neutron pack? The girls are armed with a selection of specialist ghost fighting weapons (which specialists of this genre will recognise). As we’ve come to expect from Crooked Dice, these are great ‘lookalike’ character models with excellent sculpting and casting. The detail is very good and the characters easily recognisable. Each model is supplied with its own ‘slotta’ bases as standard. If dipping your toes into pulp gaming and fighting the supernatural (with an unlicensed nuclear accelerator strapped to your back) is your thing, then you’ll love these. Now all they need is a car and a fire house…

Stoessi’s Heroes

Company: Stoessi’s Heroes

Size: 30mm ‘foot to eye’ or 33mm tall Era: World War II

Price: €5.90 per model toessi.blogspot.co.uk

Thomas “Stoessi” Stoesser started Stoessi’s Heroes to give World War II gamers a selection of character figures to paint and liven up their games. This range is fully focused on 28mm WW2 and offers a mix of interesting personalities. Currently there are seven characters. The ones shown (left to right) are US Donny Drumpf (who ‘knows’ more than generals), SS Officer Hans (bad guy in an overcoat), British Para Roy (very Urquhart), Harold the Canadian Sniper and Lyudmilla, the Soviet sniper. Each is well cast and realistically posed. The detail is high quality. Most are one part castings apart from Roy whose arm is separate. The models come on a metal tab, but this can be filed down and removed for basing (I prefer flat bases). Size wise, these are on the larger side of 28mm, but then again character models are supposed to stand out. These are ideal for the WW2 gamer looking for a model with great character to lead their armies.

Land Rover Technical

Company: Skirmish Sangin Size: 28mm

Era: Post War

Price: £20 each or three vehicles for £55 www.skirmishsangin.com

It is common practice in Africa and the Middle East to take a commercial vehicle body and mount a heavy weapon on it. This Land Rover has a recoilless rifle mounted on it. Skirmish Sangin has released a new book called Skirmish Africa which encourages players to choose from fourteen ‘imagi-nations’ and fight make-believe wars. They have also released HUMVEEs (armed with M2s or Mark 19s) and a Land Rover technical. There is even a range of African buildings to support these games. The vehicle kits are a combination of a resin body and metal wheels and crew. The technical comes mounted with either a heavy machine-gun or a recoilless rifle (shown). A gunner, loader and driver are supplied as standard. The building is made of a lightweight foam but is very durable – almost as light as MDF. All the models are well cast, fit together well and the finished technical looks impressive. This is the start of a very impres-sive range from Skirmish Sangin which will have many modern players salivating.

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7 Churchill and Grizzly

Company: Warlord Games Size: 28mm (1/56)

Era: World War II and Weird War II Price: £20.00 (Churchill), £25.00 (Grizzly) www.warlordgames.com

The Churchill tank was the ubiquitous British heavy tank of World War II. Warlord have released a plastic kit which allows seven variants of this classic British tank, from the Mark III, Mark IV and Mark V including AVRE, Close Support and 75mm variants. Contrasting the Churchill is the Grizzly Combat Walker for Konflikt 47. In this alternate timeline, super science has led to the development of fantastic machines, like the Grizzly. The detail on both kits is excellent. The Grizzly is cast in plastic resin and is very easy to construct, with only a few minor parts needing filing down (vent ports from the casting). Being a kit, the Churchill takes a little longer but everything fits together very well and I think it took me more time to decide which variant to build than to construct the actual model itself.

TYW Cossacks

Company: Totentanz

Size: 17mm ‘foot to eye’ or 19mm tall Era: 17th century (Thirty Years’ War) Price: € 4.25 for eight infantry

www.totentanz-miniatures.com

The Cossacks were a fierce and independent people who fought as mercenaries and for their own glory. They earned a bloody reputation in the Thirty Years’ War, fighting against the Turks, and for their rebellion against the Polish Lithu-anian Commonwealth. Totentanz Miniatures has released a range of seven packs of Cossacks covering both cavalry and dismounted infantry. Shown is a mixture of the infantry, either ready to hold spears (not included) or ready with muskets, plus two command models. The miniatures are very well detailed and could be mistaken in a photograph for being a larger size – these are nice figures! The casting is good, with no mould lines visible. This useful range adds to Totentanz’s existing extensive Thirty Years War range. These are scaled at 18mm, so should fit with similar 15mm/18mm scales and will be a must for those playing the Thirty Years’ War in this scale.

Europe in Revolution Infantry

Company: Steve Barber Models

Size: 27mm ‘foot to eye’ or 29mm tall Era: 19th Century

Price: £5.00 for 4 models www.stevebarbermodels.com

The wars of revolution in Europe during the 1830s and ’40s are deﬁnitely a neglected area of gaming. During this period there was the Polish Uprising of 1831 and several revolutions in 1848, the most successful of which was the Hungarian Revolution, which saw Hungary for a brief time become an independent state. Now Steve Barber Models has produced 28mm miniatures for this period. There are currently nine packs in this range, which include Polish Revolutionaries, Hungarians and Russian troops. The models are well cast with little ﬂash. The poses are currently limited to advancing or standing, but this is a new range and more are sure to follow as its popularity grows. This is admittedly a neglected period in wargaming, probably because there were so few models to game it with without a lot of conversion. To quote the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” More European Revolution models including Austrian troops are promised soon.

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8 Dread Pirates

Company: Antediluvian Miniatures Size: 29mm ‘foot to eye’ or 32mm tall; the giant stands 39mm tall Era: Fantasy

Price: £16 for four pirate adventurers antediluvianminiatures.wordpress.com

“Inconceivable!” I hear you cry… Antediluvian Miniatures has released a strange bunch of ragtag pirates which look like they are fresh from the pages of a story book. Left to right, you have the swordsman sworn to avenge the death of his father, the hero ‘dread’ pirate captain seeking his lost flower, the pragmatic giant and the Machiavellian Sicilian, who isn’t half as bright as he thinks he is… The models are brimming with character – if you do not know the inspi-ration for these models, I highly recommend a little video research. The casting is very good, with no mould lines, and each model comes with a ‘slotta’ base. While these models are based on fantasy fiction, they would certainly fit into any renaissance or pirate crew (the vengeful swordsman would make a good Dread Pirate Roberts). Hopefully, a second set will follow with a bride princess, a cowardly prince of Guilder and a six fingered man…

‘Gothic City’ Street Furniture

Company: 4Ground Size: 28mm

Era: Modern

Price: £5.00 to £6.00 a kit www.4ground.co.uk

Holey moley, Gnatman! 4Ground has released several sets of street furniture for modern and pulp gaming to go along-side their buildings. These include the smaller items shown, such as street lights, telephone kiosks, waste disposal skips, dumpsters and barricades. Larger items are also available, such as shipping containers, subway entrances and ﬁre escapes for buildings. Assembly is very easy, taking only a few minutes from ﬂat pack to complete item. No paint-ing is required as the MDF is ready-painted, although gamers can always add their own highlights. I’d be tempted to ‘dirty’ up some of the bases. For the smaller items, such as the kiosks and lights, three are provided per kit. Ten barricades are provided in that pack. The skip and dumpster are double layered so are extra sturdy. These are great and inexpensive little kits which can really help bring the modern gaming surface to life. These are going to be useful whether you’re into modern warfare, superheroes or zombie gaming.

Myths of Albion

Company: Conquest Games

Size: The giants are 60mm tall; Herne is a mere 41mm tall

Era: Dark Age Fantasy

Price: £13.00 for each giant; Herne and three barghests £12.50

www.conquest-games.co.uk

Conquest Games has taken a diversion from its historical lines to bring out a range of mythic creatures for ancient Britain. The two giants are Gog and Magog – while referenced in the Bible and the Quran, there are also many references in Welsh, English and Irish folklore to the giants. It is said that Gog and Magog led the giants of Albion to oppose the landing of Brutus the Trojan. The other magniﬁcent model is Herne of the wild hunt, leading his three barghests (or ‘black dogs’) which can possibly be linked to the Celtic Cernunnos, the horned god. It is said the appearance of the wild hunt is a portent of forthcoming disaster or catastrophic war. All the models are exceptionally clean, are well cast and have good detailing. These are great character models for fantasy or for a more unusual dark ages scenario; after all, the denizens of those ages believed in giants and vengeful hunting gods.

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9 Bear & Viking Ladies

Company: Bad Squiddo Games

Size: 26mm ‘foot to eye’ or 29mm tall; the Bear is 30mm at the shoulder Era: Dark Ages

Price: £4.00 for Thorrun, £10.00 for Jarl Letty and £6.00 for the Bear

thedicebaglady.net

Annie at Bad Squiddo Games has released a range of animals and more historical female characters, this time for the Dark Ages. Jarl Letty, the "Little Lady Warmonger", comes as set with mounted and dismounted versions. She may be little (27mm tall), but even berserkers turn away from her frown and she would be a great character for SAGAor fantasy… Thorrun is a fierce Viking shield maiden – I’m reliably informed that similarities with a certain TV series about Vikings is entirely circumstantial. The ladies are cast well in metal. The bear is cast in a flexible plastic resin and has a great pose, like he is sniffing the ground for food. Detailing is very good on all the models. These will be a useful addition to Dark Age and fantasy games, with the bear also being useful for many periods, from the Stone Age to the French and Indian Wars.

Plastic Macedonians

Company: Victrix Limited

Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 31mm tall Era: Ancients

Price: £19.95 for 27 models www.victrixlimited.com

It is said that Alexander of Macedon’s father Philip developed the phalangite, an infantryman with the sarissa pike. With the combination of cavalry, hypaspists light infantry on the flanks and a core of phalangites, Alexander conquered all of Persia. Victrix’s plastic phalangites come on sprues of three, with a separate command sprue. The figures are all well detailed with an excellent selection of different heads. The detail on the sarissa pike is spot on, with butt spike, and very good. Assembly is straightforward – just stick on the head, shield, and pike arm. The poses are not quite as animated as previous sets – restricted to the standing position – but as a gamer I’m more than happy with this. It’s by far the best pose to rank up practical wargaming units. Three sets are available: Macedonians, Successors and Hypaspists (the Successors sprues come with the option of wearing trousers). Coming soon from Victrix is a plastic elephant set, suitable for Carthage, Rome, Numidia and the Successors.

25pdr and Morris Quad

Company: The Plastic Soldier Company Size: 15mm (1/100)

Era: World War II

Price: £21.50 for four guns and tows with crew

theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk

The Ordnance Quick Firing 25pdr was the standard British artillery piece of World War II and served into the 1960s. It was pulled by the almost equally famous Morris Quad tractor. There is not just a single gun on the sprue but several build options. For early war, there’s the 18/25pdr (using 18pdr ammunition as Britain had so much stockpiled from the Great War), the Pheasant (a 17pdr antitank gun on a 25pdr chassis, used in Tunisia), early 25pdr and late 25pdr (with muzzle flash shield). A full set crew for the desert war and late war are provided as standard. This selection of parts gives enough for eight complete guns (at the cost of using the wheels off the limber). As usual, the design work, moulding, and detail are excellent on the vehicle. Everything fits together well apart from the wheels on the gun, which are a little stiff. The price is very attractive too.

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10 Congo boxed sets

Company: Wargames Foundry Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 31mm tall

Era: Darkest Africa (19th century) Price: £36.00 for 24 miniatures www.wargamesfoundry.com

Wargames Foundry has released a selection of its Darkest Africa range in boxed sets to support Congo, the latest game from Studio Tomahawk (reviewed this issue). Each set provides all the player needs for a 70 point force for one particu-lar faction. There are five boxed sets in total: White Explorers, Zanzibar Slavers, Forest Tribes, African Kingdoms and an adventure set with fierce animals and characters to play the scenarios from the book. The casting is very good with no mould lines visible. The models themselves are full of character and very well detailed. There are no repeats in a boxed set, all the models are different. While the model range isn’t new per se, it is useful to see them available as ‘army deals’ for the game without the need to buy several packs. They are a good price too. These great sets are ideal for someone wishing to dip their toes into Congo or perhaps wanting to build their forces for The Men Who Would Be Kings.

Cold War British & Humber Pig

Company: Sgt’s Mess

Size: 21mm ‘foot to eye’ or 24mm tall Era: Cold War

Price: £3.00 for 4 infantry, £6.90 for the Humber Pig

www.sgtsmess.co.uk

Supporting their range of British Cold War vehicles in 20mm, Sgt’s Mess has released British Infantry. The current release includes six packs in firing and advancing poses with SLRs, plus support weapons (GPMG, 81mm and 50mm mortar). These will be suitable for 1970s and early to mid 1980s. The models are well cast and detailed, with a little flash. Sgt’s Mess has also expanded its vehicle range to include the CVR(T) series (Scorpion, Scimitar, Samaritan and Sultan) and the Humber Pig armoured car (shown) – available with or without ‘wings’ (riot screens which can be extended from the vehicle). The model is made of a sturdy but lightweight resin with metal wheels and ‘wings’. These are ideal additions to anyone’s British 20mm Cold War arsenal or for the ‘Winter of ’79’ campaign setting.

Napoleonic Light Infantry

Company: Gringo 40’s

Size: 29mm ‘foot to eye’ or 35mm tall in shako

Era: Napoleonic

Price: £1.50 per model www.gringo40s.com

The one side everyone needs in the Napoleonic Wars is the French. Napoleon’s light infantry had an excel-lent reputation for their field craft and esprit de corps. Gringo 40’s has released a range of Napoleonic light infantry suitable for 1808-14 (according to regulations, but they’ll do fine for 1815 too). These join Gringo’s existing French Napoleonic infantry releases – the Engineers of the Imperial Guard and the Marines of the Imperial Guard. The models are sculpted in light kit and some wear greatcoats. These infantry do not have backpacks, which is correct – they are skirmishing troops so only carry the bare essential kit. The casting is good, with only a little flash on the bases, and the poses are very animated. You have advancing, firing and marching poses plus the officer and one dead figure. Size-wise, they will be compatible with most mid- and larger ranges and will be a must-have for French Napoleonic generals.

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11 Napoleonic Prussians

Company: Front Rank

Size: 29mm ‘foot to eye’ or 35mm tall to top of shako

Era: Napoleonic

Price: £7.50 per pack of six miniatures www.frontrank.com

It was once said that Front Rank did everything you need for Napoleonics – everything except Prussians. They didn’t do them… that is until now! Front rank has decided to start its Prussian range (covering the 1808 to 1815 period) by releasing musketeers and fusiliers. There are seven packs of line infantry currently. The musketeers have marching and advancing poses plus command. The fusiliers have marching, advancing and skirmishing poses plus command. The casting is very good, with no mould lines or flash visible. Likewise, the detail is very good and the models are histori-cally accurate. Size-wise, these are slightly on the heroic side but nevertheless should fit in neatly with most existing ranges. Coming next from Front Rank are five packs of Prussian Reservists in shako and cap. These will be a boon to any Prussian Napoleonic player.

Mongol Victory Feast

Company: Gripping Beast

Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 34mm tall to plume top

Era: Medieval

Price: £10.00 for the vignette www.grippingbeast.co.uk

I was at first tempted to call this review ‘A Mongol Tea Party’, but given the nature of this nice but quite brutal vignette, I decided differently. Being the ‘nice’ people they were, Mongol Generals used to feast after a battle by piling up their enemies, putting planks on them and feasting on the dying, who were slowly crushed. This vignette shows this horrific but historically accurate practice. What you get is a resin base, complete with squashed victims and four Mongols. Three are sitting and one is standing guard (or would perhaps make a good standard bearer). There is even a selection of pots and food containers to place on the vignette. The casting is good and despite its quite grim nature, this would make an excellent general vignette for games, including Swordpoint . Then again, the Mongols were more horse lovers than ‘people’ people. A Mongol Victory Feast? Every Mongol player should have one!

MDF Saracen & LWB Land Rover

Company: Warbases Size: 1/56 Scale (28mm) Era: World War II

Price: £9.00 for the Saracen, £7.00 for the Land Rover

www.war-bases.co.uk

It is simply amazing what you can make in MDF nowadays. These kits cross the border between MDF and high detail paper models. Warbases has released a range of post war British army vehicles. Each comes as a flat pack kit, which is assembled with instructions on the Warbases website. This does take a little time (I estimated 20 minutes a kit) but the results are very satisfying. While some details are obviously simplified, the finished kits do look remarkably like their real life counterparts and could be detailed further by the modeller. The current range includes the Series 1 Land Rover (Short Wheelbase and Long Wheelbase), the Saladin Armoured Car (shown), the Saracen APC, a turretless Ferret and the Humber Pig. Apart from their obvious use by the British, these vehicles were widely sold around the world, making these very useful for small wars around the globe or for the Winter of ’79 campaign setting. The Kuwaiti Army for example used the Saladin.

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C O L U M N

THIS GAMING LIFE

GOING DIGITAL

There’s a quiet revolution going on in the worlds of

fantasy and science-fiction model design. Behind the

scenes, bleary-eyed chaps are staring intently at

com-puter screens and jabbing thoughtfully at keyboards.

By Rick Priestley

D

esks that were once a glorious cacophony of scal-pels, dental tools, putty and tin-dollies, littered with glittering metal and green models in diverse states of abandonment – concealing any number of stained coﬀee cups and half-eaten Mars bars – are now pristine clean and devoid of the dust and detritus of crea-tivity.

Yes – these days it seems everyone is going digital! Even experienced sculptors, long-established crafts-men skilled in the art of putty-pushing and polishing, are abandoning the hard-won experience of a lifetime in favour of 3-D design packages. I say ‘everyone’ and I’m sure the eagle-eyed reader will spot the hyperbole, immediately reeling oﬀ a list of sculptors and manufac-turers rooted in the ﬁne traditions of model making that have stood the wargames and collectors hobby in good stead for decades. But things are changing.

The change really started twenty years ago, but it is not un-til recently that developments have enabled sculptors and manufacturers to realise the potential of the technology. The promise of the ‘Star Trek’ style ‘replicator’, where new models could be endlessly produced at the mere touch of a button, was something that caught the imaginations of accountants – if not sculptors – even back then. In the 1990s, the design studio I was running at that time was approached by a local company keen to oﬀer its brand new state-of-the-art scanning technology as part of a CAD/ CAM solution for making plastic injection tools.

That company was manufacturing moulds for things like plugs, sockets and small electrical components: products that were relatively simple in form. They were obviously looking to exploit the new technology for tool making generally. We gave them a piece to trial, deciding upon a sculpted wing. This was a metal cast-ing, probably a piece that had been made for a giant ea-gle or some other beastie of that kind. As such, it was es-sentially ﬂat but detailed with feathers. We felt it would be a good test of their ability to capture detail.

The results pretty much summed up the diﬀerence between the promise and the reality. To start with the technology struggled to even establish a datum – the base point from

which a three dimensional design is created. Even though we had used what was to us a ﬂat piece of metal, to a scan-ner the curves, dips and bumps made it almost impossible to know where to start. We had a bit more success scan-ning the textured surface, but here the problem was simply the limitations of the technology at that time. The amount of data yielded by just a few centimetres of wing surface was almost impossible to process, taking what seemed an impossibly long age just to give us the tiniest of samples. It wasn’t long before the company decided that they really couldn’t give us what we needed, and that was that. Even so, it was the ﬁrst glimpse of what was to come.

As computers grew more powerful, and CAD/CAM pack-ages more sophisticated, it became possible to integrate the 3-D sculpting with the tool making. However, the process would not become routine until well into the 2000s. Scan-ning technology went through several iterations. I recall seeing the first GOM scanners, hugely expensive pieces of kit that looked as if they’d been knocked up out of Mec-cano by a crazed optician. I remember thinking it didn’t look much for the price of a Ferrari! Scanning allowed for the transition in technology, taking a physical object – in this case our sculpted original model – and converting it into digital format that could be modified on a computer. The initial motive behind the development of 3-D im-age manipulation wasn’t really sculpting at all, but tool making, where the traditional pattern making and pan-tography were severe limitations. These old-fashioned hands-on craft processes were expensive. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say they were a dying art, practised by tool-makers schooled way back in the days when Lesney (Matchbox) and Airfix were going strong. Again, one reason why the new technology was taken up so enthusiastically was that it was perceived as being cheaper. The thinking was, going digital would cut out one of the most expensive parts of the tool making pro-cess – the pattern making. This was – of course – hope-lessly optimistic. Even without a mechanical pattern, it was still necessary to translate the digital data into a file format suitable for engineering and then marry the dig-itised ‘pattern’ to the tool engineering. This turned out to be a process every bit as skilled, time-consuming and expensive as the old ‘hands on’ approach. However,

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there was an obvious advantage in adopting a new and developing technology that was only going to improve over time, as well as tapping into a young, technically literate workforce that was only going to expand too. When we started with 3-D sculpting, the only reason to generate a digital model was because it was easier to translate into a CAD/CAM process and therefore to use for automated plastic tooling. At any rate, it was easier than scanning a physical model and then ‘cleaning up’ the scanned data, a frustrating compro-mise that can potentially take longer than creating a new digital model from scratch. That’s why the pro-gram first developed for 3-D sculpting was designed for working with injection moulding tools: Geomagic’s Freeform. Freeform remains the premier design tool for 3-D sculpting, primarily because it allows the sculptor to work out split lines, identify and correct undercuts, apply suitable draft angles, and – crucially – it can be used to create an industry standard file to run an auto-mated milling machine. This is generally an STL file – although I claim no expertise – and anyone interested in the technical specs can read about the capabilities of Freeform on Geomagic’s own website.

None of that matters, of course, if you don’t want to make a plastic injection tool. And here’s where the wargames industry has recently been blessed with a new genera-tion of eager 3-D sculptors. Their inspiragenera-tion and techni-cal abilities lie closer to the world of video game design and more general types of digital design than to traditional wargames ﬁgure modelling. It’s a skill and a kind of art that bears no relation to the model makers of years ago. These newcomers are more like artists or graphic designers, who just happen to be working with 3-D images rather than a

ﬂat 2-D picture. Nor would the eﬀorts of these new digital sculptors be of much use were it not for their ability to output designs in a physical form. It is the ‘coming of age’ of 3-D printers that has made this possible. Now, rather than sculpt a model out of wire and putty, it is possible to build a 3-D model on a computer and ‘print’ it. The result in both cases is the same: a master model that can be used to make a mould. So, we are a ways away from the ‘Star Trek’ replicator, but it’s a step closer for sure!

Relatively cheap and accessible 3-D drawing programs, like Pixologic’s ZBrush, enable sculptors to render digi-tal images without the cost or full capabilities of Free-form, but which are still suitable for 3-D printing. Al-though good quality 3-D printers remain expensive, it’s now top-of-the-range Ford expensive rather than Ferrari expensive like those GOM scanners we had all those years ago. Today, we see many fantasy and science ﬁc-tion models that are entirely designed on a computer screen and the ‘original’ is outputted via a 3-D printer. It’s true of historical subjects too – but fantasy and simi-larly fanciful subjects abound. The entire Konﬂikt 47 Weird World War Two range was created in this way, for example. Similarly, the models for the Dark Souls game that caused such a sensation on Kickstarter

re-cently (raising a million dollars in 24 hours and going on to raise 5.4 million) were all designed digitally. What I find especially interesting about this new genera-tion of sculptors is that now, for the most part, they are not rooted in the old aesthetic of the ‘toy soldier’ as iter-ated over many decades. Judging from the results, many of them are inspired by comic art: the proportions and posing of their models bear more resemblance to the work of comic book artists than anything else. Others are plainly influenced by video games: the Dark Souls mod-els are derived from an established video game franchise, for example. There’s obviously a lot of overlap between these two media. It’s only to be expected that anyone undertaking a digital design course at college today will be steeped in the aesthetics of the latest comics, video games, and contemporary animation. This is all a world away from the traditional aesthetic of the ‘wargames fig-ure’ that has developed in conjunction with wargamers’ preferences for deeply rendered detail (which is easier to paint), over-scaled weapons (which don’t break in the hand), and horizontally exaggerated human proportions (which manage to ‘look right’ on a wargames table). These things may be practical considerations, but they also help form our tastes and expectations, or at least they do if we started with the hobby in those halcyon pre-digital and pre-internet days of yore.

If the future belongs to the young (which I fear it does, barring discoveries in the ﬁeld of time-travel of which I remain hopeful), then one wonders if the traditional processes of sculpting and model making are going the way of those pattern-makers and pantographers: skilled craftsmen who turned out all those Airﬁx and Matchbox kits in the 60s and 70s, and who have long since been replaced by computers and keyboards. If so, would I be the only one to miss those essential ‘craft’ qualities that mark out a traditionally made model from the digital perfection of a 3-D render? I suspect not, but I also im-agine that my claims of ‘charm’ and ‘character’ would come across as mere nostalgia to anyone steeped in the aesthetics of the comic book and video game.

Whether our computer generated armies of the future - perhaps even delivered directly into our homes by mean of that ‘Star Trek’ style replicator – will develop a look and character that is radically different from today’s hand-sculpted models I don’t know. There is certainly a potential for tastes to swing that way. Tomorrow’s war-gamers may prefer models that reflect video game im-agery and computer generated graphics that feel more familiar to them. Inevitably, tastes in such things will change as one generation shuffles aside for the next, but who can say how? One thing is for sure: new tech-nologies bring new skills and new ways of looking at things, and ultimately change our perceptions and our sensibilities. Come what may though, you can bet that sometime, somewhere, somebody will be hunched over a keyboard, painstakingly rendering goblins and space men for wargamers as yet unborn. WS&S

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F E A T U R E

BANG! YOU’RE DEAD

A WILD WEST SHOOTOUT WITH A DIFFERENCE

By Dan Mersey

A small collection of Old West models is perhaps the most cost-effective ‘army’ a

war- gamer can own. Terrain and scenery is interchangeable – basically, once you have your

cowboys painted and based, you’re good to go with any rules that hits the market.

S

cenario-wise, there’s plenty of choice in the

best rulebooks, but you need look no further than any 24-hour movie channel to find your-self engrossed in a whole slew of woodenly-acted black and white Westerns with scenario ideas bubbling up in between the advertisement breaks. But recently, I wanted to try something a bit different thanks to the Wild West card game ‘Bang!’ . Designed by Emilano Sciarra, the aim of the game is to play cards to eliminate your opponents and help your friends to survive. The only problem is, with the exception of the Sheriff, you don’t know whose side the other players are on, so you have to make some rapid deductions while the bullets fly. With a little bit of work, the concealed role aspect of Bang! works superbly well on the tabletop.

ROLES

Each player takes a role in the game; the real fun – and the real ‘game’ element – comes when you try to work out who is on your side and you should therefore be helping… and who is not. The only player whose role is known to everyone at the beginning of the scenario is the Sheriﬀ.

Make as many role cards as you have players, written out as follows:

• _{4 players: 1 Sheriﬀ, 1 Renegade, 2 Outlaws}

• _{5 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 2 Outlaws, 1 Deputy} • _{6 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 3 Outlaws, 1 Deputy} • _{7 players: 1 Sheriff, 1 Renegade, 3 Outlaws, 2}

Deputies

Shuﬄe the cards and give one, face down, to each play-er. The Sheriﬀ reveals himself or herself by turning his or her card face up. All other players look at their roles but keep them secret until they are out of the game.

Remember: Don’t show anyone the card with your role on it!

The aims of each player are as follows:

• _{Sheriﬀ: You must}

eliminate all the Outlaw and Ren-egade posses.

• _{Outlaws: You want}

to kill the Sheriﬀ and his posse, and have no scruples about eliminating other Outlaw pos-ses to gain rewards!

• _{Deputies: You must}

help and protect the Sheriﬀ’s posse, and share his or her goal.

• _{Renegade: You want to be the new Sheriﬀ (or at}

least in charge of the town…); your goal is to be the last posse remaining in play.

There’s nothing to stop players telling everyone else what their role is – whether telling the truth or lying about it – but actions speak louder than words, so you can try to work out who is on your side and who is not by closely watching what they do.

When your posse is out of the game, reveal your card to help the remaining players deduce who is who. De-pending on which roles are still in the game, the sce-nario may well suddenly end with the elimination of a posse, keeping everyone on their toes.

WINNING

The game ends if one of the following conditions is met:

• The Sheriﬀ is killed. If the Renegade is the only posse still in play, then he or she wins. Otherwise, the Outlaws win. If only one Outlaw remains in play, he or she is the overall winner; if more than one Outlaw posse is in play, they all share the win.

• _{All the Outlaws and the Renegade are}

eliminat-ed. In this case, the Sheriﬀ and his Deputies win (whether the Deputies are still in play or not).

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If the Outlaws are eliminated but the Renegade and Sheriﬀ remain in play, keep playing. If the Sheriﬀ ‘s pos-se and all of the Outlaws are eliminated, but at least one Deputy and the Renegade are still in play, the Outlaws still win, despite losing their lives.

POSSES

You could allocate each player a set number of points to build their own posses from, which is catered for by most rule sets for the Old West, but given the nature of this scenario, it’s perfectly acceptable for everyone other than the Sheriﬀ to start out with equal forces con-sisting of, for example:

• 1 Veteran gunslinger (leader)

• 2 Experienced hands

• 2 Greenhorns

The Sheriﬀ gets one extra Experienced hand, given that he’s going to be a target (or enough extra points to add another model to his or her posse).

Weapons-wise, again if you’re not playing with points, give each model a pistol, and then divide up one shot-gun, one riﬂe or a second shotshot-gun, and one extra pistol between your models. Everyone carries a knife or simi-lar hand weapon, too. In various rule sets, these posses translate as shown in the table below.

If your chosen rules break down posses by type – lawmen, outlaws, cowboys, desperadoes, and so on

– I recommend that other than the sheriff (who must field a lawmen p osse), each other player may field a posse type of their own choosing, rather than stick-ing to the best match for their role in the scenario. Otherwise it would be far too simple to work out who is on who’s side. There are plenty of backstories to write, explaining why the Apaches have taken on the role of Deputy, or the US Cavalry are playing as Renegades, for example. Go crazy with your sto-ryline – this is Hollywood’s Wild West!

SETTING UP

The beauty of this scenario is that winning and los-ing is based on semi-concealed roles, rather than achieving a defined objective on the tabletop. This means that your tabletop can be as empty or full as you wish – the gunfight could happen in the centre of a one-horse town, at a ranch, in the wilderness, or even at a corral (whether it is the OK or otherwise). Depending on the number of players you have, I rec-ommend the Sheriff’s posse deploying at the centre of the table, and the other players deploying at equal distances around the table’s edge (or just beyond ri-fle shot range, depending on your table size). Ran-domly determine who starts where.

The Sheriff – being in the centre of the table and therefore most vulnerable – holds the initiative in the first turn of the game. WS&S

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F E A T U R E

GWENLLIAN OF

THE GREAT REVOLT

THE LAST WELSH WARRIOR PRINCESS

By Rob Broom

It is generally assumed that, with the victory at Hastings, the conquered lands

rolled over and embraced Norman rule. This was not the case. For many years,

op-position to Norman rule was ferocious. Wales, in particular, was a hotbed of both

resistance and localized inﬁghting between different factions. One Welshwoman,

the princess Gwenllian, donned her armour and sword and, together with her

sons, led an army to battle in 1136 against the Norman invader. This is her story.

W

ales at this time was divided into a number

of kingdoms. These kingdoms spent as much time fighting one another as they did resist-ing the Normans (and earlier invaders). In 1136, with the Normans temporarily weakened, prince Gruffudd ap Rhys of Deheubarth seized his opportunity. He rode north for the kingdom of Gwynedd to ask for as-sistance from his father-in-law, Gruffudd ap Cynan. With his help Gruffudd ap Rhys would have a real chance of reclaiming part of his kingdom. The Normans were not sit-ting by idly however. Expecsit-ting reinforcements, they were preparing to launch a campaign against the rebels. They may have been told by spies of the Welsh prince's plans.

THE WARRIOR PRINCESS

The awaited reinforcements landed somewhere on the coast of Glamorgan and commenced their march to a rendezvous with the Norman lord Maurice de Lon-dres. We can assume they took the opportunity to loot and pillage along the way. As the Normans were al-ready raiding into Deheubarth from the direction of Kidwelly Castle, once the news of this new threat reached Gwenllian, she had to take action. She called her warriors and local population to muster ready for battle. Donning her armour, she rode out with two of her sons to attack the invader.

Gwenllian led her small army towards Kidwelly, halting at the foot of Mynydd y Garreg (the ‘mountain of the stone’) with the River Gwendraeth running nearby, at a site ap-proximately 2 miles from Kidwelly Castle. Learning that

the Norman reinforcements had not yet arrived, she sent a force to intercept them while she waited. She did so either to await the Norman response, or to cut the Norman raid-ing parties oﬀ from Kidwelly Castle.

Unfortunately, her plans went tragically wrong. The re-inforcements, led by a Welsh traitor, had avoided con-tact with Gwenllian’s intercepting force and manoeu-vred themselves in secret to the heights of Mynydd y Garreg. Two days after Gwenllian had taken position by the banks of the river, Maurice rode out from Kidwelly Castle, and before Gwenllian had a chance to respond, the reinforcements attacked from the top of the hill. Gwenllian and her small force were trapped.

Legend has it that Gwenllian fought gloriously, sword in hand, inspiring her men to ﬁght against overwhelming numbers, but to no avail. The survivors were rounded up, A map of the battleﬁeld.

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including a wounded Gwenllian. Maurice de Londres showed no mercy. He ordered the immediate beheading of Gwenllian upon the ﬁeld of battle.

Gwenllian’s husband Gruﬀudd ap Rhys and her brothers Owain and Cadwaladr bought retribution upon the Nor-mans. In the battles that followed, the war cry “Revenge for Gwenllian” was taken up and no doubt sent a shiver down many a Norman spine, as they faced the enraged Welsh foe. Later in 1136, having mustered a large army, the Welsh brought the Normans to battle at Crug Mawr (the ‘great barrow’) . There is little information, but the rout of the combined Norman, Flemish, and English army was total. Around 3,000 were killed, and those taken prisoner were reportedly guarded by Welsh wom-en, while the Welshmen continued the pursuit.

Following this victory, the Welsh were able to reclaim much of their lands, and many tales of heroism and vi-olence were carved into Welsh history books. Gwenl-lian’s courage has earned the last warrior princess a place in Welsh history.

SCENARIO – GWENLLIAN, LAST WARRIOR PRINCESS

Wargamers usually like a reasonably balanced game, and refighting the battle as it happened historically would be a very one-sided affair. Our scenario is inspired by the events of the battle and the possible outcomes, had Gwenllian’s intercepting force been more successful. There are three possible options, but you should feel free to come up with more or to amend them as you see fit.

The scenario is written with War & Conquest in mind, but can be used with most other ancient and medieval war-games rules. Roll a die to determine which scenario op-tion you will ﬁght, or try all three, adding up the results to determine who had the best chance overall.

The table should be set as indicated on the map. The Mynydd y Garreg hill is classed as Uneven terrain (or, depending on your rules set, somewhat easier to move through than ‘Difficult’ terrain). The woods should be Difficult terrain, except the large wood by the Welsh in-tercepting force’s position, which should be Uneven ter-rain. The rivers should be Difficult terrain, but not too wide; 2” or 3” should be sufficient, and fording places or bridges should be placed where the road crosses them.

The Forces

Using War & Conquest select 2000 points of troops for the Welsh and 2200 for the Normans (adapt with similar ratio for other rules). Both these forces will be split into two factions. As army general, Gwenllian should be in-cluded in a smaller Welsh force of no greater than 900 points, leaving the remainder in the intercepting force, which should be commanded by a minor Welsh person-ality. It is likely that Gwenllian’s force was hastily pulled together and would have consisted of mainly men from the ﬁelds; so if taking the Teulu option from the free on-line Welsh list, these should be the smallest unit, or bet-ter still, combine them with regular warriors if your rules allow it (for War & Conquest , use the Combined forma-tion rule for Thegns and Ceorls from the Saxon army list). Normans spread terror by raiding a Welsh village. Models by Gripping Beast.

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Gwenllian should not be allowed to use Strategy Inter-vention Points to win Strategic Advantage, although she can use them for other dice rolls as normal. For other game systems, let the Normans take the ﬁrst turn. History shows they certainly had the initiative.

One of the Norman forces should be no greater than 800 points, and this should be commanded by Maurice using a Dux or Lord proﬁle. The other force should be com-manded by a minor Norman personality, but he should have inﬂuence on the troops under his command.

Scenario Options (roll a D6)

Gwenllian’s deployment position is ﬁxed throughout and her force may move from the start of the ﬁrst Welsh turn. If both complete their victory conditions, the game is a draw.

Ambush (1 or 2)

The Welsh intercepting force is deployed as on the map, ready to launch its ambush. Any Welsh skirmishers in this force may be placed up to 6” further forward in the wood. The Norman reinforcements are deployed in column or other disadvantaged formation, and stretch from Point C toward Point B (and oﬀ the table, if required; they may enter when there is space). As they are hurrying to meet Maurice, they should also be considered Disordered un-til they pass a Command test. Maurice and the Norman force from the castle enter from Point A on either or both roads at the start of the second Norman turn. Welsh Major Victory: Kill both Norman commanders or the destroy or rout of 70 per cent of the Norman forces. 60 Percent destruction or rout gains a Minor Victory. Norman Victory. The death of Gwenllian or the destruc-tion or rout of 70 per cent of the Welsh forces. Alterna-tively, get at least 50 per cent of both Norman forces oﬀ the table at Point A.

Gwenllian’s Last Stand (3 or 4)

Maurice and the Norman force from the castle are de-ployed up to 12” onto the table from Point A. The Nor-man reinforcements move onto the table from within 6” of Point D at the start of the ﬁrst Norman turn.

Having failed to intercept the Norman reinforcements, the Welsh intercepting force moves onto the table at Point B from the start of the ﬁrst Welsh turn. If there is insuﬃcient room, they will have to await their turn. Welsh Victory. The death of both Norman commanders or the destruction or rout of 60 per cent of the Norman forces. Norman Victory. The death of Gwenllian and the de-struction of 80 per cent of the Welsh force with her.

Full Engagement (5 or 6)

Maurice and the Norman force from the castle move onto the table from Point A on either or both roads at the start of the ﬁrst Norman turn.

One unit from the Norman reinforcements should be placed on the road at Point B and the remainder move onto the table from Point B at the start of the ﬁrst Norman turn. The Welsh intercepting force should be moved back from the position marked on the map and are deployed up to 6” onto the table from Point D to the top right-hand corner. Welsh Victory. The death of both Norman commanders or the destruction or rout of 70 per cent of the Norman forces. If 80 per cent of the Norman force from the castle is routed or destroyed, the Welsh gain a minor victory. Norman Victory. The death of Gwenllian or the destruc-tion or rout of 75 per cent of the Welsh forces. WS&S

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2 0

F E A T U R E

AN AUTUMN STORM

ARMOUR ACTION IN BELGIUM

By Piers Brand

By the end of August 1944 the campaign in Western Europe was ﬁnally achieving

what it had set out to do. After wearing down the German Army in Normandy, the

following German collapse and Allied advance had been so rapid that it seemed

in-credible to some. By early September 1944 the British War Cabinet began to look at

31 December 1944 as a possible date for the end of the war against Hitler’s Germany.

H

owever it was not to be. Over September and then into October and November 1944, the German resistance increased and the Allied ad-vances slowed. Instead of a quick victory, far more hard fighting would be the order of the day. While Operation Market-Garden steals the limelight in the pe-riod between Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, there are a wealth of hard-fought actions and campaigns that offer the wargamer much inspiration to refight on the tabletop. From the esoteric mix of thrown-together German Kampfgruppen consisting of odd obsolete ve-hicles, to more standard ‘big cats’, the fighting in this period has something that should appeal to many. The period is also relatively overlooked among the more popular periods of the war, and yet it offers much, and not just full-scale airborne operations: from desperate rearguard actions to armoured encounters. The fighting in Belgium and Holland during the autumn and winter of 1944 and then into 1945 offers a great deal for the WW2 gamer who wants a more historical focus to their games. This article aims to look at two actions during this pe-riod, and offer historical scenarios for the Battlegroup rules in order to refight them; along with the previous article on the Liberation of Arnhem, it will hopefully of-fer a window onto a period of the war that is not as pop-ular or as well-known as it perhaps should be. The stats are given in terms of the Battlegroup series of games; however the Orders of Battle are universal and should be adaptable to any WW2 games system.

HUNTING IN PAIRS – GEEL, 10 SEPTEMBER 1944

During early September the British crossed the Albert Canal and pushed to take Geel from the Germans. Over several days a protracted ﬁght was fought by the Durham Light Infantry and Green Howards of 69th Bri-gade from the 50th Northumbrian Division, supported by platoons from the 2nd Cheshires and their machine guns, along with tanks from the Sherwood Rangers,

against Kampfgruppe Dreyer, a force composed of units from 85th Infanterie Division and Grenadier-Regiment 723. The ﬁghting carried on for several days, and de-spite ferocious resistance, the British attack gained the upper hand and pushed into Geel.

In response to the British gains, the Germans commit-ted 1st Company Panzerjäger Abteilung 559 to a coun-ter-attack aimed at containing the British advance, as preventing the capture of Geel seemed unlikely at this point. The company fielded seven Jagdpanthers, and over the course of a day and night, they engaged the British forces in a series of small skirmishes, operating in pairs to hunt British tanks. The first casualties were three Shermans from C Squadron of the Sherwood Rang-ers, engaged by the Jagdpanthers from positions near St. Dimpna’s church on the outskirts of Geel. Other Jagd-panthers attacked further south of Geel at Winkelholm, but were driven off by the artillery fire of the complete 74th Field Regiment. In the evening of the 10th of Sep-tember, all seven Jagdpanthers joined with Kampfgruppe Dreyer in an attack to eliminate the British positions. In this attack the Jagdpanthers were used as tanks, and suf-fered as a result. By the end of the fighting, only two

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dpanthers were still operational, and one of those was in need of repair. But the British had taken heavy losses during the German counter-attacks. 50th Division had suffered severe losses and eleven Shermans of the Sher-wood Rangers had been knocked out, with two more damaged, plus 15 British carriers were also knocked out. The first scenario recreates the fighting at the Doorn-boom Crossroads between two of the Jagdpanthers and their supporting infantry and the 6th Green Howards and the Sherwood Rangers. The short battle during the night led to the loss of two Shermans and several carriers as a platoon from the Green Howards were shot up as they tried to advance. During the confused night fight-ing, Brigadier Gordon and his staff were almost overrun and Leutnant Kossack commanding the attack had his Jagdpanther knocked out. It was a night battle that was

confusing to all in the extreme.

The battleﬁeld should consist of the crossroads and lanes that crisscross the area plus plenty of trees and bushes that line the roads and allow for easy concealment. The two houses near the crossroads are of brick construction and oﬀer hard cover for any troops in them. The battle is fought at night and all troops have their spotting range reduced to 20”, and a further -1 to hit all targets.

All British forces must deploy ﬁrst to the west of the crossroads and 1d3 units may start on Ambush Fire. The German player may deploy all his forces up to 10” from his table edge. There are no objectives on the table, the

result is decided solely on Battle Rating. Due to the small size of this engagement, both sides should track ammunition used as normal but when a unit reaches ‘zero’ ammunition, roll 1D6. On a result of 3+ the unit still has rounds left and may ﬁre as normal. Roll again the next time the unit wishes to ﬁre.

The Germans made great use of parachute flares during the battle. To simulate this, the German player may fire Parachute Flares in his turn, up to three times during the game. During the turn the flares are fired, all spot-ting tests and to hit rolls are made at normal ranges and values with no penalties. The flares last only for the Ger-man turn and play reverts back to the nighttime rules in the following British turn. However, any British troops on ‘Ambush Fire’ may of course benefit from the flares if firing during the German turn.

German Forces – Battle Rating 20

FHQ – Jagdpanther of Leutnant Gerhard Kossack (Senior Oﬃcer, Regular)

Jagdpanther (Regular)

German Infantry Platoon (Regular):

• Platoon HQ – Five Men

• 3 x Riﬂe Teams – Five men and Panzerfaust

• _{3 x LMG Teams – Three men and MG42}

British Forces – Battle Rating 29

FHQ - Brigadier Gordon and two staﬀ in jeep (Senior Oﬃcer, Artillery Spotter, Regular) A Jadgpanther advances - they are great tank killers but don’t make for great tanks.

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Infantry Section (Regular – Close Protection for Briga-dier) – 8 men with Bren in truck

Sherman Tank Squadron, Sherwood Rangers (Regular) – 3 x Sherman (1 x Oﬃcer), 1 x Fireﬂy

Two Carrier Sections (Regular):

• _{1 x Carrier with three men and Bren} • _{1 x Carrier with three men and 2” Mortar} • 1 x Carrier with three men and PIAT

JOE’S BRIDGE? GORING’S RAILWAY –

KARRESTRATERHEIDE, SEPTEMBER 10TH 1944

While scouting for a route over the Maas-Scheldt Canal and finding the now famous ‘Joe’s Bridge’ in-tact, another reconnaissance group fought a short but fierce battle at the Karrestraterheide crossroads outside Neerpelt. As British troops advanced up the road from Hechtel, it reached a railway crossing just

before a main crossroads. Around this area a battle sprung up, reinforced by the British with infantry and tanks from No. 3 squadron Grenadier Guards, while on the German side, the fierce resistance was mainly conducted by Kampfgruppe Schulz comprised of the II./Fallschirm Panzer Ersatz und Ausbildungs-Reg-iment Hermann Goring , a unit equipped with ob-solete vehicles for training use, and some flak guns from Flak-abteilung 602 plus three Sturmgeschutze from 2./559 Panzerjager Abteilung .

The battle raged from the afternoon and into the even-ing around the railway crosseven-ing and over the crossroads. The ensuing short but intense battle saw four German tanks knocked out, plus seven of their guns. Those who fought in the engagement commented on the evening being lit up like “Guy Fawkes night gone mad” due to the burning vehicles and ammunition cooking oﬀ from the vehicles engulfed in ﬂames.

This scenario starts with only the British recce ar-moured cars on table on Turn 1 and then 1D6 units arriving from Turn 3. All British recce units may deploy up to 10” from the British table edge. The Germans start with all initial defenders placed within the centre third of the table. Their reinforcements arrive from Turn 5 at the rate of 1D6 units per turn. Both the level cross-ing and the crossroads count as objectives for both sides, though neither side may claim an ‘all objectives secured’ victory - the enemy must be cleared from the ﬁeld of battle to secure the road network.

The terrain should be lightly scattered with trees and low hedges around the roads. A small farm complex should The British cautiously advance – Jadgpanthers on the defence are still dangerous.