Auld Nick's workbench: Stone Walls

This time it's not me who is seeking your estimated attention. Auld Nick, a close friend of mine, spent some time to create some stonewalls for our gaming board. He wrote a short tutorial and asked me wether I was interested to post it as byline article.

Needless to say I'm pleased to and admit Auld Nick to the floor:

Hi there folks,

my name's Niclas (a.k.a. Auld Nick). Monty and I are old friends since school days and share, not surprisingly, a common interest ­­– 20 mm (1/72 – 1/76 resp.) scale modelling.

After our trip to the WTS and subsequent scale modelling session last weekend I decided to build some other terrain parts for our little game – stone walls.

Building stone walls actually follows the basic concept of building bocages explained by Monty in a recent post (link); because of the good results obtained when building several bocages last weekend I decided to adapt it in order to build the walls (Monty's not: I'll present the Bocages after the finishing touches) .

I used the following material to build the walls:

• Hot glue: I used it to glue base strips and wall cores together.
• PVA Glue (Wood glue): Used to fix turf and scatter material onto the wall’s surface. My recommendation is to dilute the glue with water as it is a bit thick when used straight out of the bottle.
• Primer: I used black acrylic spray paint.
• Turf yellow grass: Fine scatter material; ideal to emulate moss and lichen.
• Scatter material: Slightly coarser variant of turf resembling sod/grass and used in this manner.
• Clump foliage: Used as shrubbery.
• Stone boulders: Needed for the stone surface of the walls. I used medium-sized quartz boulders.
• Kapa board: Kapa is the German trade name of three-layered composite board (two outer cardboard shells with a polystyrene core). I decided to use boards measuring 3 mm in thickness. (Monty's note: I think in English you call it "foamboard")
• Styrodur: Styrodur is the trade name of foamed polystyrene blocks sold in shape of rectangular bars in German DIY stores (Obi, Bauhaus etc.). The size of the bars doesn’t really matter, as long as you can cut it into pieces of the following measurements: length: 10 or 5 cm resp.; height: 2 cm; diameter: 1 cm.
• Fine sand: Used as scatter material.
• Ballast: Used as scatter material.

And here’s how I built the walls:

The base of the walls I fashioned out of kapa board. Because I had something of a modular system in mind I decided to use two basic lengths for the base strips, 10 cm and 5 cm respectively, the width of the strips measuring 2 cm.

A piece of Styrodur foam before it's been cut. It's rather solid stuff that's a bit tricky to cut but it can be sanded nicely.

Onto those I glued styrodur pieces of the appropriate length using hot glue (N.B.: When used excessively the hot glue tends to melt the styrodur considerably, a fact that should be taken into consideration when applying the stone boulders in a later step). This procedure gives you straight wall sections; I recommend that you treat them with a scalpel or cutter in order to give the crest and sides an uneven and more natural appearance.

The prepared core for the stone walls. More for the cornered section later...

To have more options of setting up the walls I decided to build some quoins as well. For this I used two 5 cm kapa strips. These were joined by means of a mitre joint: I took one strip and cut away part of one end in 45° angle; I repeated this with the second strip; then I glued both strips together. The result was an angled piece with a 90° angle (the outer edges of the piece measuring the original 5 cm of the two separate 5 cm strips) onto which I glued the styrodur core of the wall following the outline of the base (i.e. a quoin with a 90° edge).

The next step was to apply the primer; although I used acrylic paint with water as solvent the binder contained within the paint (some sort of resin would be my guess) had a slight dissolving effect on the styrodur of my first two wall segments. This effect can be diminished, I found out, by sparsely applying the paint. In case that there are some blank spots left: That’s no grave matter since my next step consisted in painting the segments by hand. I used a middle grey colour for the styrodur core and a dark green for the parts of the kapa base still visible.

The stone wall ready to be covered with pebbles, clump foliage etc.

After the paint had dried I started to glue the stone boulders onto the styrodur using hot glue (my advice is that you treat only small portions of the pieces at a time: this gives you the opportunity to correct the fitting of the stones and by the same token diminishes the chance of burning yourself with hot glue – not an altogether pleasant experience I can assure you!).

The next step was to decorate the segments using the foliage, turf and scatter material. The turf is a good choice for imitating moss or lichen on stones, the scatter material can be used as grass. In order to glue it onto the walls you simply treat the spots where you want the lichen, grass etc. with diluted wood glue and then sprinkle the material turf etc. on it. The clump foliage can be used as shrubbery: Simply glue it to the spot where you want a shrub; let it dry, then brush some diluted wood glue onto the clump foliage and sprinkle it with fine turf or fine scatter material.

You can further adorn segments with trees: Simply glue them to free spots, where, for example the wall has crumbled leaving open a breach – there are quite a few arrangement possibilities.

That’s, more or less, the procedure for building stone walls.

A last hint: I encountered some problems with the straight joints of the segments: There were quite a few gaps between the individual segments when I aligned them in order to form a continuous wall. I overcame this problem by gluing little pieces of clump foliage onto both narrow sides of the segments; this helps concealing the uneven straight joints of the individual segments.

Well then... Thanks a lot for the tutorial. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Next time I'll present the finished Bocage segments and maybe some WIP-pictures of the houses I'm working on. Soon I plan a side trip to some 28mm Napoleonic stuff and I hope you don't mind that I'll post it here although the main theme of my Blog was 20mm WW II.

Finally some pictures of Nick's finished wall segments:

Monty on Tour: Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung Koblenz

Last Saturday some friends of mine and me started a very special excursion:
We visited the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung (Collection of Defence Technology) Koblenz. We spent a really interesting time there and we were wandering through the exibition for about three and a half hours. Although there are museums which are much more spacious than the WTS (abbreviation for Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung) we saw some nice objects there.

However let's get back on square one:

Since my wife and daughter took the car to visit some schoolmates of my wife over the weekend I had to rely on Deutsche Bahn (German Rail). Therefore my alarm clock rang without mercy on 06:30 a.m. Still dowsy I got up and took a refreshing shower. Afterwards I prepared some provisions for the road: A thermos flask of tea and some buns. Fortunately my tea pot is larger than the flask so I was able to take a cup of Earl Grey right before breakup. Afterwards I hurried to the subway and caught the 07:56 train to Düsseldorf at Bochum central station.

Smaller than I thought: Light infatry support gun 75mm (link)

After three-quarters of an hour I arrived at Düsseldorf central station were Niclas picked me up. We entered his green Volkswagen Lupo "Tree-Frog" and set sail for Koblenz. These days that's a little tricky since some bloody stupid bastards burned a bridge on the A57 motorway which is a possible southbound cinjunction from Düsseldorf. Anyway we chose a alternative route and got to Koblenz half past ten. Soon after us our third companion Daniel arrived and we entered the WTS. The admission charge is as low as 3 € which is really fair.

On the ground floor are several vehicles and a lot of guns arranged. Very interesting is the technical process from medieval forget archebuses to modern artillery. Unforunately some parts of the exibition are densely stuffed and there is no chance to get a close view at the details which are that interesting for us modellers...

A rare exhibit: Renault FT (link)

The other part of the ground floor is a large hall with vehicles, planes, helicopters and various smaller items like ammunition, rockets and more guns. Exceedingly impressive is the 128mm Anti-Aircraft Gun. An awesome monster of a gun!
However there are several nice exhibits from World War II aus you see on the pictures (klick to enlarge).

Additionally there are several vehicles and planes of younger age: A Marder II APC prototype, a Leopard I MBT, Lepard II MBT prototype, a french Mirage, a F107 Starfighter, a F4 Phantom, a Hind and some other stuff. Even a gun turret of a Navy ship is presented in Koblenz. Just check the (German) Wikipedia page for more information (link 1, link 2). Unfortunately some of the most interesting WW II tanks were absent for repair or maintenance: Panther, StuG III and Jagdpanther.

The upper floors are filled with more guns and an incredible number of small arms, uniforms and equipment. Again it's too much stuff to mention each item here. Nearly every German Weapon of WW II is displayed there and a lot of technical equipment of the last century: Wireless sets, Radar equipment, Night Vision devices etc. In Addition there are several displays with uniforms of Prussian Forces before WW I, German forces during WW I and WW II as well as some modern uniforms of western and eastern armies. Because the light wasn't ideal I took only a few photos there. Nothing special...

A modified 35mm shell which was made a gift to wearers of the Iron Cross with diamonds. It's fance name was "Kopfzerbrecher" ("Head Breaker").

After about four hours we had seen all section of the collection. About six hundred photos and even more impressions richer we left the WTS and headed for a small bookstore nearby. It's an old-school second hand bookstore which is spezialized on military history. The opening hours are kind of unusual (Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m.) but the offering is great. Most book are German but some English ones and the complete Osprey ranges are offered as well. Additionally they have some nice modelling kits there. Definitely worth a visit! My wants were fulfilled with a box of Italeri's fast assembly Jeeps and therefore we headed satisfiedly back home.

Unfortunately our  return journey was kind of nerve-racking. The diner where we had lunch crowded out and traffic on the motorways was terrible. Somehow we git back to Bochum in the late afternoon and Nick and me spent the rest of the day building bocages and hills for my board. I'll post pictures of them later this week...

After all it was a really nice Saturday and a great trip. The collection is really worth a visit although it's conglomerate and narrow in some parts. It's rumoured that it shall move to another place soon. On the hand the Bundeswehr Military History Museum (link) in Dresden is an option but on the other hand the WTS might move to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (link) within Koblenz as well. We'll see.

Closingly some more impressions from WTS Koblenz:

The extraordinary 128mm AA gun (link)

Very impressiv: 60cm granade for "Karl" (link)

Another exhibit which is rarely seen: Kommandogerät 40, an analog computer for targetting)

A SdKfz. 231 (but without antenne...) (link)

My workbench in a mess... Lots of work to do...

The last week was very buisy and my workbench is in a mess. A lot of thing started but not enough time to finish them...

However see for yourself:

My workbench...

Especially the following things were put on hold:

• Two Sherman Fireflys from Armourfast. Both painted but awaiting the finishing touches.
• A couple of trees waiting for their leaves
• Several blank bocages seeking clump foliage and pebbles
• Three excellent buildings of Najewitz Modellbau to be assambled
• A box of cast cobbled streets to be painted
• Several foame boards to be cut´

I am really sorry that I'm not able to present results these days but I'm confident of getting some tasks done next weekend. Since my wife and daughter will spent the weekend with some dear friends of hers I'll be able to spent the whole Saturday on wargaming things. Saturday morning a friend of mine and me will visite a military museum in Koblenz and in the afternoon we'll build some terrain stuff...

Game Review 18.02.2012 - Part 2: The Battle

Finally on Saturday morning everything was ready. Michael and me gathered around the table which a friend of ours had prepared. He arranged interesting terrain with the Italeri church dominating the eastern part of the board. After discussing the areal chracteristics (cover, movement etc.), Niclas prepared a interesting though historically incorrect scenario and explained the mission objectives:

British Mission

It's soon after the allied landing in Italy. The British spearhead was able to advance from the landing zone which lies somewhere westerly of the board. To secure the arriving reinforcements it is vital to conquer the village nearby to expand the beachhead (2). Additionally the allies will need a high-capacity supply line. Therefor the well supported road in the east must be taken (3).

Italian Mission

Although the Allies were able to bring the first wave of troops onto the beach, there is still a chance to baulk the invasion. Therefor it is vital to stop the allied advance and keep control of the village (2). Additionally the pressure on the landed troops must be enhanced. The Italian forces have to gain control of the hill in the west to install an artillery observation post there (3). This would open the chance to overlook the landing zones and range in long-range artillery.

The deployment zones and the mission objectives (yellow).

Deployment

We preserved the adverse corners of the board for deployment. Michael's Italiens started from the north-eastern corner while my British entered the battlefield at the south-western end. We agreed to try some idea of "Fog of War" and fielded our units as small slips of paper. Those were marked with signs for infantry, wheeled vehicles and tracked vehicles but nothing else. On the back of course was noted the concrete name of the represented unit. To spy out a unit you have to establish a line of sight to it and pass a test depending on the largeness of the target.
After having set up the brave troops (and additionally some Italians...;-)  ) we rolled for initiative. Initiative is checked every turn and the winning player may decide wether he wants to play first or second. However the British fielded more NCOs than the Italians so they got a bonus and won the roll. I decided to have another cup of Earl Grey tea with my subordinates and presented the first turn to Michael.
The first surprise on this foggy morning...

The beginning of the game:

Italian pressure and British counterblast

Advance and firefight (yellow) during the first turns of the game.

Michael had deployed his 90mm AA-gun near the church. It was able to overlook the Northern part of the battlefield and its huge range was able to even cover the British deployment zone with fire. Therefor he decided to expose the gun and tried to clear up one of my units. He passed the test and I placed my 6pdr ATG on the table. Since I had appointed it "in readiness" I was allowed to shoot first. With trembling hands I parked my cup and took the D20. Fortunately the cold-blooded British gunner kept calm in this pernicious danger. He hit the Italian gun and blast it into pieces!
On the southern flank an Italian truck dashed over the road. It headed towards the cottage in the South and I was afraid that they might to install a strong defensive position there.
The other Italian troops just made smaller movements behind the church to reorganize the northern flank.

The cold-blooded British gun crew destroys the 90mm AA-gun.

Now baton was passed on to the British. I overlooked the battlefield and whished to be able to contact supreme command for a decent air strike. But no chance... The army had to manage the mission on her own. First of all I wanted to avoid that the Italians get into an orderly defense. So pressure on both flanks was the instrument of choice. A Rifle Section sprinted towards the cottage to establish an observation post there. Simultaneously the two Mortar Sections jumped off their Universal Carriers and set up the weapons. The 6pdr ATG stayed back covering the left flank while the Shermans advanced in the center. One of them reached the hedgerow beyond the field and took aim at the truck. The 75mm shell hit the vehicle and killed the driver and two passengers. But the danger was still given because the Italians passed the morale check. Very unusual...

The Sherman hits the Italian Truck and causes severe damage. Meanwhile the mortar prepare to finish the job...

However the British turn ended and initiative was determined again. Since the British won again I decided to play my second turn first. That gave me the unique chance to act twice in a row. While the British advance continued the Rifle Section took the cottage. They ranged in both Mortar Sections and four 3" shells filled the air with a whistling sound. One shell hit the Italian truck directly and the vehicle with the whole squad on the platform was destroyed.
During their turn the Italians tried to put away the counterblasts and tried to regroup. They gathered behind the church and prepared a counterattack for the next turns. To cover this attempt the Carro Commando advanced carefully trying to come into a good position the overlook the plaza in front of the church. He ranged in Italian mortar fire on the Sherman but the impacts skattered too far. No damage caused on the tank.

Midgame:

The Italians try to break out of the pocket

Initiative for turn three was won by the British again. Because the only visible threat was the Carro Commando I decided to pass the right to play first to Michael. As expected the Italians were not prepared for this twist. He continued arranging his troops in cover of the church but he wasn't able to develop a powerful breack out yet. He hid his left flank with smoke when the Semovente dashed through the bushes and attacked the southern flank. I piped down when it turn to the Sherman on the plaza and fired a 105mm shell at him. Fortunately the front plate was thick enough to withstand the impact.

Impressed by this strike the British slowed down their advance. They came to more infantry to support the armoured spearhead. The only significant blow hit the Italian Carro Commando which risked a bit too much. When the mortar shells covered the car in shrapnels its tracks were heavily damaged and one crew member died. The Sherman tried shot the Semovente but didn't penetrate its heavy front armour.

Afterwards the Italians raised even more pressure. The Lancia Lince scout car darted  out of the smoke and ranged in all four Italian mortars on the Sherman. Four heavy shells detonated around the tank and his drive was damaged. For the rest of the game he was limited to go straight forward or backward but he didn't suffer major damage.

The Lancia Lince drives down the road and ranges in mortar fire on the Sherman.

While the British tank crew recovered the Italians brought forward their attack. Defying death two Carri Veloce crossed the road and tried to create pressure on the British infantry on the right flank. Probably the flank would stagger when the Italians were able to run the rifle section away from the cottage since the Mortar Sections and the 6pdr ATG would be uncovered then...

The Carri Veloce bring forward their charge in front of the burning truck... and end up in mortar fire.

So when Michael passed the turn the British faced a severe danger on my right flank. Although the light armoured cars weren't able to hurt the tanks their machine-guns could be hazardous for the infantry, the mortars and the 6pdr ATG. And I didn't know what Michael was still hiding behind the church...

However I decided to put all my eggs in one basket and wanted to go straight for the decision!

The Daimler Mk. II armoured car rushed forward to outflank the Semovente. The 2pdr hit but and damaged the tracks. Not great but anyway the tank was more or less immobilized. Again the British used their 3" mortars and let the shells rain between the Carri Veloce and the Lancia Lince. All three vehicles took severe damage and the two light armoured cars were destroyed. Concurrently the last British charge began. The 6pdr crew attached the gun to their Lloyd Carrier and moved forward. The second Sherman as well as the Bishop rushed along the left flank and headed to the church. Infantry followed as fast as possible.

Ending:

The British enforce the decision

The next Italian turn elapsed nearly without significant events. Because the road was completely blocked with wracks Michael had no chance to reinforce his left flank with vehicles. The Semovente wasn't able to turn because of the damaged track and was blinded by the burning Carri Veloce. An Italian machine-gun section entered the church and laid fire on the advancing British infantry. Combined with Italian mortars they scored 8 casualties and nearly wiped out a full British Rifle Section.

The British advance on both flanks facing resistance of Italian infantry in the church and in the Northern woods.

But the British continued their advance nevertheless. The Daimler Mk. II conducted mortar fire onto the Semovente and a lucky direct hit penetrated the thin top armour and destroyed the tank. 

The British mortar crew recalibrates their weapons to lay fire on the Semovente.... and hit devastatingly.

At the same time the remaining two Rifle Sections advanced in the center of the battlefield and on the left flank. The Platoon HQ follwed. Supported by the second Sherman and the Bishop they broke the Italian resistance in the Northern woods and headed for the open Italian right flank.

British infantry rushing forward...

After these breakthroughs the last turns went by rather softly. The Italians threw their last reinforcements into battle and destroyed the Daimler Mk. II. Despite this they weren't able to spin fortune again. Finally the last remains of the Italian forced retreated...

Conclusion

My first game in 2012 was really fun and we had a great time. Nevertheless Michael wasn't satisfied with the progress of the battle.
He really did his very best but some parameters just went against the Italians:

The Battlefield
 At first glance we thought the Italians might have a great advantage because they were able to cover behind the church and might conquer it as strong defensive emplacement. The game proved that it was more loss than gain. Since the British 6pdr gun was able to overlook the Northern flank Michael tried to carry the battle to the Southern part of the battlefield. After the road was blocked with wracked vehicles it was too narrow there to expand troops.

Technical Advantage
Although both forces completed 750 pts. The Italiens had technical problems. The British were able to field the Sherman tank which has a good armour and a reasonable gun. Most Italian tanks are equipped with outdated 47mm guns or even lighter guns. The only exception is the Semovente SPG which is available with 75mm and 105mm guns. Since only one model was available to Michael he only deployed one of them. Not enough to cover both flanks...
The other heavy anti-tank weapon was the 90mm AA-gun. Dangerous for Sherman and Bishop but lost in the very first exchange of fire...

Tactical procedure
Maybe  in some situations other decisions would have caused better success. The Italians did use too little smoke shells to blind the British forward observers or tanks. Perhaps that would have bought them enough time to advance with the infantry and attacks the British tanks in close combat.

Although Michael was deservedly a bit disappointed I hope he had fun alike. We played in a very relaxed mood and got the game played rather fast. For the next game I wish him better luck and a stronger force...

I hope you enjoyed this review. Albeit I tried to describe the game rather neutrally I wasn't able to leave my involvement behind all the time...
;-)

Game Review 18.02.2012 - Part 1: Order of Battle

(Italian order of battle updated on 21st feb @ 2 p.m.)
Last week has been very quit here. I'm really sorry about that but last Saturday I played my first game in 2012 and the week before was bloody busy. Urgently I had to paint some British Infantry and two Shermans to use them in the game. I'll post some pictures of them next week, but in the next two or three days I'll write a game report about the Saturdays battle.

As usual we used a unpublished, homemade set of WWII skirmish rules. Some dear friends of mine and me started to work on our wargame about 15 years ago and are still updating, changing and re-developing the rules.
However Michael and me decided to play a scenario in Italy 1943. The British were on their advance during Operation Husky and encounter Italian resistance in the outskrits of a small village. We agreed to use forces of medium size which means 750 points in our system.

Here is what I fielded for those points:

Platoon HQ

(49 points)

The HQ is lead by a brave Lieutenant. He carries a Webley Revolver as well as field glasses and is supported by a signaller with wireless equipment (I used the piper miniatur which I really like), a Sergeant with Sten SMG, a 2" mortar team and two Privates with rifles. The section carries some equipment like handgranades and magnetic charges.

The Platoon HQ.

Four Rifle Sections

(4 x 59 points = 236 points)

Although the original TOE stated three Rifle sectionsI included four of them because I had enough points to do so. All four were built up of a Sergeant with Sten SMG, a Private with Bren lMG, a Private with wireless equipment and seven Riflemen. The sections carry handgranades, magnetic charges and field glasses as additional equipment.

Three of the rifle sections. The fourth one is not pictured because I had to borrow it from a friend and gave it back before taking the photos. (the section in the front is the one I painted last week)

Parts of the Support Company

(191 points)

For additional firepower and anti-tank support the rifle platoon got some sections of the support company. I decided to include two 3" Mortar Sections with Bren Carriers (76 points each) and a 6pdr ATG Detachment with Lloyd Carrier (39 points). All three units were commanded by a Sergeant.

Two Mortar Sections with two 3" Mortars each and the 6pdr Detachment. The Lloyd Carrier was borrowed and isn't pictured since I had to give it back earlier.

Armoured Support

(274 points)

Last but not least I added some heavy stuff to support the infantry. A Daimler Dingo (13 points) for fast reconnaissance and a Daimler Mk. II for reconnaissance and taking out light vehicles (41 points). Both were able to range in mortar fire. To support the infantry against dug in enemy troops or fortified emplacements I added a (borrowed) Bishop (25pdr SPG) and to encounter Italian tanks I added two Sherman IIs (89 points each).

The Daimler Mk. II, the two Sherman II, the Dingo (in the game I used a green one) and the Daniel's Bishop.

I hope you enjoyed the first glance at the brave British detachment which faced Italian resistance on Saturday. The point values might not be significant for most of you but maybe you like the pictures and the describtion of my forces.

Here the Italian forces which Michael fielded on Saturday (updated):

• Platoon HQ with Tenente (Lieutnant), Private with wireless set and three other Privates with Rifles and Breda lMG
• three Infantry Sections with Sergente (Sergeant), seven Riflemen and a Private with Breda lMG, the sections carried handgranades, fog granades, magnatic charges and Molotov cocktails
• four 82mm mortars additionally equipped with radio set and Molotov cocktails
• three light armoured cars "L3/35 Carro Veloce" with machine-guns
• a command tank "M. 14/41 Carro Commando" with wireless set for ranging mortar fire
• a SPG "Semovente Medio M. 15/42L da 105/25 "Bassotto"" with 105mm gun
• a medium tank "M. 14/41" with 47mm gun
  
• a light reconnaissance car "Lancia Lince" with wireless set (Italian Daimler Dingo copy)
• an armoured truck "SPA-Viberti AS.42" with 20mm gun
• a "Cannone da 90/53" 90mm AA-Gun (copy of the German 88mm Flak 18/36/37
• a lorry "Carro Unificado Medio Fiat 621/626" for infantry transport or tracking vehicle for the AA-Gun

This evening or tomorrow I'll post some pictures of the battlefield and describe some important scenes of the battle.