Prepping for a Guards Division, Normandy 1944 - Part 2 Updated

Guards Division build part 2 is about what forces and vehicles I am going to use based on the Beyond The Beaches lists by Battle Group Kursk.
And Yay my transfers arrived!!!

My Armoured Teeth of the Division is going to consist an HQ, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, Elements of the 1st Motor Battalion Grenadier Guards, A/T Regiment RA, A/A Regiment RA, Field Regiments RA, Elements of an Armoured car Regiment, and Elements of the 2nd RECCE Battalion the Welsh Guards, along with Engineering, Supply, REME, and Medical Assets.

 First up is the Divisional HQ:

There is no actual Divisional HQ as such just a Forward HQ. We have the choice of multiple vehicles such as a Jeep, M5 Halftrack, White Scout Car, Dingo Scout Car, Humber Scout Car, M4 Sherman and Cromwell, with the last two having an HQ version option. I have Tentively decided to use the Humber for the Senior Officers mode of transport, I can also use one of the tanks from the HQ Squadrons of either the Coldstream Guards or Welsh Guards.


Humber Scout Car, and Forward Signals Unit

The Forward Signals unit which in reality is the Artillery rear radio link can use a Radio truck, M5 Half-track or a Dorchester ACV (Hmmmm). Their markings was the same as the HQ they were allocated to but in this case my Radio truck has the signals Tac marking with the number 40 on. The Dorchester ACV looks appealing and I have the ability to add one to the army which may give a more unique feel to the over all HQ troops.

UPDATE: The HQ gets its Armoured Command Vehicle an AEC 6x6 ACV

3D Printed ACV

Next HQ unit to add will be the Forward Air Controller who can have either a Jeep, Radio Truck, M5 Half-track, Bren Carrier, Dingo Scout car or a Humber LRC Mk1. At the moment I will be using a Jeep but toying with the idea of the Humber LRC Mk1. The markings for this vehicle are a little different in that it used the Division marking and a small RAF roundel as the Tac Markings.

The Motor Rifle elements from the Grenadier Guards will be mounted in M5 Half-tracks, with The supports being in Bren (Universal)
 and Loyd Carriers. These will all carry the Red 54 and Green Squadron Markings on the side of the Half-tracks.

Now for the Teeth of the Division the Tanks. I am going to mark mine up as the 1st Battalion Cold stream Guards, as I had in part 1 purchased a tank squadron marked up as this battalion but it was pointed out the wrong type of Sherman's. This has been rectified by raiding my Italy Sherman's and quick ebay purchases which will provide enough Sherman's for the missing Troops and HQ vehicles. These have duly arrived and have turned out to be Battlefronts new plastics which I must say do not fit together well and are not a patch on the older resin models.
In addition the HQ Squadron will have Crusader AA Tanks and a Light Recce troop of 3 "Honey" Stuart 3's which by late '44 were replaced by Stuart V's.



HQ Squadron vehicles, Sherman IV, Crusader AA, and M3 Light Tanks.

UPDATE:  The 3 M3A1 Stuarts have now been replaced by M3A3's Stuart V's which are more inkeeping with the Guards Division. The M3A1's are going to my BattleAxe Division for Tunisia.

HQ Squadron 3D printed Stuart V as to cut down on costs although detail is not as good on these, they will do.Awaiting Squadron Markings.

Instead of marking them up as one Squadron, each  troop will represent a Squadron. The HQ Squadron will consist of AA and light Recce tanks. Whilst the normal Troops will be 3 Sherman IV/A4 and 1 Sherman VC. The Squadron markings will also have black centres


Late '44 Squadron markings without the Black centre.



First of 3 Troops ready for Squadron markings

Troop markings now applied.

The other armoured option are Cromwell's, which under the lists can not be used in conjunction with the Sherman's (Oh Pooh, said Piglet), another reason for doing the Guards Division. Along comes the Recce Squadrons of the Welsh Guards. In the list each Cromwell Troop can have 2 Cromwell's and 1 Sherman VC, with one troop allowed an Challenger.
They can also supply Individual Cromwell's as RECCE Tanks. At the moment I have enough Cromwell's to make up 2 Troops.

UPDATE: The Welsh Guards did not get Firefly's so will not be used in a Teeth role but consigned to the role for which they were used for; Reconnaissance . At the moment I have 4 Cromwell's and re-enforced them with a Challenger and 3 Stuart V's. This means that if I wanted to field as Teeth Troops, one can have the Challenger, and the other Troop will get support from a firefly from one of the Cold stream Troops. Under BGK tanks can run around independently to the rest of the troop.

Again 3D printed to save costs, a Challenger and another 3 Stuart V's. Although as time goes by they may be updated with newer models.

One of my First completed units is the Anti Tank Battery, Royal Artillery, which will provide additional SP 17pdr A/T support in the form of half Troop of M10 Achilles. These can also aid the Infantry along with some 17pdr towed guns from the same regiment.

M10 Achilles

Now onto the Artillery. The Senior Regiment equipped with Sextons and an Sherman IV AOP. Support from the regiment is going to be two Troops of two Sextons. An optional AOP Tank is the Cromwell which now has been done.

First Sexton Troop



Sherman FO. All Marked up.

Taster of what else is on the bench

I modified a damaged Sherman to an ARV, a little more stowage needs adding.

Scotts Guards M4 Dozer tank  with a 3D printed Dozer blade, and an Scotts Guards Objective 

Royal Artillery, SP Artillery, SP and Towed Anti-tank, OP's and Ambulance Jeep.

HQ Units, along with some lorries for the infantry, The Stuarts are going back to Tunisia, Notice the difference in quality between the old resin Sherman and the New plastic Sherman (Left)

Well that's all for now, watch out for part 3.



WW2 Infantry Basing for multiple rules

Most of my 15mm WW2 armies are based as per FOW, but now I have moved away from FOW and onto Battlegroup Kursk and back to Rapid Fire, I realised that I could not easily convert the infantry with out debasing the already based to FOW infantry which I wanted to keep based that way in case I went back to FOW.
So an Ingenious (Well to me) Plan came about using the small FOW base and 15mm round bases.

Below is a 3 man through to 10 man units. Casualties on the larger bases can be handled either through  Splat markers, Curtain rings, Small Dice or using spare figures based on the smaller bases.

HMG, Mortars, etc.  are based as per FOW with 3 crew each, Light mortars , AT teams on Small bases as they are usually 2 men. The German 3 Man MG team for BGK are in my units based on a Medium FOW base, as well as all my AT Guns up to 76mm which need 3 man crews are all on Medium FOW bases and the 4 man crewed larger Guns on the Large FOW base

Prepping for a Guards Armoured Division - France 1944. Part-1

The other year I purchased on a whim a British Sherman Squadron off E(Vil)Bay. For a very good price. It duly arrived and the company was marked up as a Guards Division. Having got the Battlegroup Kursk WW2 Rules bug, I have decided to do the British lists from the book Beyond the Beaches, which at the time of purchase was included in the hard back Overlord book. As I am interested in the fighting around Caen and operation Bluecoat.

I have also gone OCD on all my 15mm WW2 armies in that I have got the transfer the hell outa them bug which has resulted in me researching markings and in the end remembering I had a book on British markings purchased 30 years ago, with mine being republished 49 Years ago (1971) OMG one year after I was born, how time flies. Also Battlefront and their Gale Force 9 website have some very good info on markings although further research is always needed, This is what they have to say:
"Guards Armoured Division
The Guards Armoured Division was formed on 17 June 1941. The division remained in the United Kingdom training until 26 June 1944, when it landed in Normandy as part of VIII Corps. Its first major engagement was Operation Goodwood. The attack by three armoured divisions towards Bourguebus Ridge was an attempt to break out of the Normandy beachhead and get beyond the city of Caen. That was followed by Operation Bluecoat, the advance east of Caen as the Falaise pocket formed.
The armoured element of the Guards Armoured Division consisted of the 5 Guards Armoured Brigade: 2nd Armoured Battalion Grenadier Guards (Sherman V & Firefly VC) 1st Armoured Battalion Coldstream Guards (Sherman V & Firefly VC) 2nd Armoured Battalion Irish Guards (Sherman V & Firefly VC) 1st Motor Battalion Grenadier Guards, Its Armoured Recce Regiment was the 2nd Armoured Recce Battalion Welsh Guards (Cromwells)."

Guards Division Markings

So having found the basic unit tac markings, I ordered a load of transfers from Skytrex, but as I write this they have not turned up, fingers crossed it will be soon.
The Army that I am building will consist of elements from all the services; HQ, Signals, FAC, FAO, Tank Squadron, Motor rifle platoon, Infantry platoons, A/T, Artillery, Recce, Engineering assets, Logistics, and REME. The Infantry Division side of the lists I was going to do a separate Division but I have decided to make them Guards as well.

Guards Battalion or is it

My Guards Squadron is actually marked up to represent the whole 1st Armoured Battalion Coldstream Guards, with the corresponding squadron markings for Regimental HQ, A,B and C Squadrons

Spot the error

Also thanks to the TMP thread I have discovered I have an transfer issue, as the Squadron markings for the Division should not be on the turrets but on the hull, I have two options, the first is to wet the transfers in the hope that they are not sealed on and move them to the hull. The second is to paint over the transfer and buy new squadron markings and place them on the hull, either depicting the whole battalion as purchased or making it one squadron. I will also consider painting the centre of the Squadron marking black.  I also have an transfer issue with some Recce Stuarts I recently marked up in white squares on the turret sides, time to redo them as they should be in the HQ Yellow diamond, same as the AA tanks.

Edit: An additional spanner in the works cropped up when a fellow player pointed out that the Guards did not use the Sherman II or IIC... Uh OH... Think fast... plan Delta Six... Logs onto E(Vil)bay.

Sexton troops

Above are two Sexton troops and Armoured spotter awaiting transfers. I do have another two Troops but I think they will go into the surplus box for disposal.

In Part 2, I will be going through the make up of my Division along with the  units and vehicles I will be intending to use.


References:
[1] Vehicle markings: Division Markings
[2] Guards Division Article: Gale Force 9 article
[3]Army build: opmktgdn.blogspot.com
[4] TMP thread: theminiaturespage.com
[5] British Military Markings, 1939 - 1945 ISBN 085524298 (Hardback) or 085524296 (Paperback)

"Peace For Our Time" - Early War Tank Formations

Happy New Year to you all.

"Peace for our time" - proclaimed Chamberlain in 1938. Although Hitler had other ideas. 1939 saw the invasion of Poland, then in 1940 saw Holland, Belgium and eventually France, drawing in the largest and best equipped forces of the British and French, only for them through lack of command and communications to be smashed by the advancing German forces, even when the British counter attacked at Arras and a few days later when the French managed to join in, it sent shock waves through the German High command and if it had been co-ordinated correctly that the French actually attacked at the same time and the British Infantry had been in place earlier rather then being tired from a march the night before it may have halted the Germans long enough for the Allies to turn around and do something that could have been written down in history... But Alas it was not to be.

A few years ago the release of Battle Front's "Blitzkrieg" should have heralded in a new age of interest and gaming. But due to BF marketing and release schedules along with V3 rules most likely killed it. The period although supported by new releases was to many a big disappointment.  The hype and dream of Early War was better then the actual reality. And many would consider it a flop.

What happened, Well Early War came too late, BF was more interested in Late War gaming, along with a Errata that Nerfed the British Armoured units. The Same was for the Early Desert book.
In 2007 there had actually on BF's forum been a section for EW. And it was vibrant, lots of enthusiasm, even an unofficial army list that BF was very happy to allow on the forum. Many played with these lists and the armies were balanced and quite decent. All BF had to do was tweak the lists and produce an official version. I can see it from their point that they did not want an outsider writing an army list for them, so they set about making their own. When "Blitzkreig" came out well you could feel the collective groan from the gaming community, and soon after the EW part of the forum ceased to be.

Over the years before FOW rules were printed I used to use the Rapid Fire rules and unofficial EW lists to play our 1940 to 1943 battles.  1940 was France and the British Vs the Germans and 1943 was Russians Vs Germans. Rapid Fire was at the time concerned more with 1944 onwards, even though the scenarios in the rules were for 1940 to 1943.

Rapid fire have recently released and Early War Book "Blitzkrieg Battlegroups". It deals mainly with the Germans, British and French giving 29 army lists, although 14 are 400 point listed and the other 14 are 200 to 400 point lists of the 400 point armies, plus a French Cavalry list. Hopefully a scenario book will come out shortly but we waited over 20 years for the Army lists, so dont hold your breath.
This new release has rekindled my interest in ww2 Gaming that was dimmed by the release of FOW v3 and defently snuffed out by the release of v4. So now I come full circle to Rapid Fire, albeit v2.

So I have been busy updating my British forces and bringing them up to strength. New Artillery has been acquired giving the British 18pdrs, 18/25 pdrs and 4.5" guns, along with new armour, A9, A10's and A13's. The Infantry tank units have also seen a increase in strength. Below are some comparison s between my FOW and RF units.

Rapid Fire British Armoured Formations

Rapid Fire gives you 3 Armoured Units; first is the 1st Armoured Division which gives you the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment armed with Cruisers. The next armoured list is the 50th Infantry Division which gives you the 4th Royal Tank Regiment and the 7th Royal Tank Regiment both equipped with the mighty Matilda. Although for both of the 400 point lists there are 200 point lists with reduced size units.

1st Armd Div, 3RTR

The 3RTR formation gives you a Command unit of an A10 Cruiser and an A9CS tank. A RECCE troop of an Damlier Scout Car, 'A' squadron consists of an A13 mk1 and 2 Mk VI's, Both B and C squadrons consists of an A13 mk2 and a single Mk VI.

50th Inf Div, 4RTR

50th Inf Div, 7RTR

The 50th Infantry Division gives you two armoured formations the 4RTR and 7RTR; The 4RTR is equipped with a HQ Mk VI tank, 'A' company has a Matilda Mk II and a single Matilda Mk I. Both 'B' and 'C' company are equipped with 3 Matilda Mk I's. 
Whilst almost similar in appearance the 7RTR has a command Mk VI, 'A' and 'D' companies are equipped with a Matilda Mk II and a Matilda Mk I, whilst 'B' company is equiped with 3x Matilda Mk I's. Its interesting that the author has missed out C Company.

Flames of War British Armoured Formations

FOW Blitzkrieg gives the players a choice of two true armoured units, one Cruiser Squadron and one Infantry Tank Company.

FOW Cruiser Company

FOW Infantry Tank Company

Shown above are two examples of Tank Squadrons/Companies that can be assembled from the FOW list.  Although there are a few changes that you can make to both these formations, they both show the strengths of the Squadron/Company, With the Cruiser list allowing 3 such Squadrons to be fielded deploying each Squadron as a single unit.
So essentially it would be possible to field... which is 3x the quantity any German Formation can field, talk about buggering up the game balance.

@935 points per Squadron. The Armoured Regiment come in at a little over 3000 points if you count the Regimental HQ. 52 tanks in total. Smacks of Late war Russian Tank Hordes to me.

 Rapid Fire German Tank Formations

The Germans in the Rapid Fire List get to choose from five Panzer divisions that have massed Panzers in them. They are the 1st,  3rd,  4th,  6th and 7th Panzer Divisions.

1st Pz Div -1st Battalion, 1st Pz Regt

The 1st Panzer Division gives you one battalion with an HQ comprising of a PzIII(vmg), a Recce PzII, and 2 Platoons each with an Pz I, 2x Pz II and a Pz III.

3rd Pz Div - 1st Battalion, 6th Pz Regt

The 3rd Panzer Divison has one strong battalion consisting of an HQ Pz I, one company consisting of 3x Pz I's and 2x Pz II's, a second company equipped with 2x Pz 1@s and 2x Pz II's, with the third company containing 2x Pz III's and a Pz IV tank.

4th Pz Div - 1st Battalion, 35th Pz Regt

4th Pz Div - 2nd Battalion, 35th Pz Regt.

 The 4th Panzer Division is the strongest with its two tank battalions although both are under strength, The 1st Battalion has a HG Pz I, along with 2 companies each 2x Pz I's and 2x Pz II tanks, a company of 2x Pz III's and a Pz IV. Whilst the second Battalion has a HQ Pz I, with only one company equipped with 3x Pz I's and 2x Pz II's, with a second company equiped with 2x Pz III's and a Pz VI

5th and 6th Pz Div

The 5th and 6th Panzer (shown above) Divisions both get a Panzer Battalion each comprising of a Command tank, in my case a Pz38T, along with two companies each consisting of 3x Pz38T and a Pz II and a company with 2x Pz IV.

As you can see the German Panzers are not up to full strengths, unless you count the 4th Panzer Division that gets 2 tank Battalions. The 5th and 6th Pz Divisions get the same number of tanks except that the 5th is equiped with  Pz35T (Which I do not have) and the 6th is equipped with Pz 38T as shown.

FOW Panzer Fomations

Blitzkrieg gives the German player four tank formations to choose from equiped with a range of Panzers from the humble Pz I to all Pz III's.

Light Armoured Company

 My Light Armoured company has a HQ consisting of a cmd Pz I, 2x PZ I's, a RECCE Pz II and a FAMO recovery vehicle. The first two Platoons consists of 3x Pz II's and 2x Pz I's; the third platoon consists of 4x Pz III Tanks (Can be 5); with a fourth platoon of 4x Pz IV tanks.

Czech Armoured Company

The Czech Armoured Company, is the poor mans' version of a Pz III company. It has a HQ equipped with 2x Pz38T tanks along with a FAMO; and five platoons: three platoons of 5x Pz38T tanks; a fourth platoon equiped with 5x Pz II's; and the fifth platoon equiped with 4x Pz IV tanks, although it could drop the Pz IV's for 5 additional Pz 38T's. It Weighs in at 2340 points.
So imagine pitting either of these formations against a massed British Cruiser Regiment.

Rapid Fire French Armoured Formations

Now onto the French, a little disappointing when it comes to these guys, considering the amount of tanks they had. available, you only get 2 formations to choose from.  The 3rd Armoured Division and the 3rd Light Mechanised Division.

Bottom two units are part of the 3rd Armd Div and the top formation is from the 3rd Mech Div.

The 3rd Armoured Division gives you the heavies. It has 2 battalions, the first equipped with 5 Char B1bis Tanks, the second with 5 H39's. The Char's should give the Germans a run for their money.

The second formation available is from the 3rd Light Division and consists of one battalion equipped with a HQ Somua S-35, one company of 4x Somua S-35's and two companies of 4x H-39 tanks.

FOW French Armoured Formations

The French player gets to choose from two formations, a Compagnie de Combat and the Escadron de Combat although they do have a third option of a Recce company.

Compagnie de Combat

 The Compagnie de Combat could be fielded as all Char B1bis, giving 10 Char's and 3 H39 tanks. I do not have that many Char B's so tend to field it as shown although I could have a HQ Char. My Unit consists of a HQ H-39, Three Platoons of 3x H-39's and forth platoon equiped with the Mighty Char B1bis, all 3 of them.

Escadron de Combat

Escadron de Comabat

I can make up two different type  Escadron de Combat and show both versions above. The first Company has a HQ Somua S-35 tank, one platoon of 4x Somua S-35's, and a further 3 platoons of 4x H-39 tanks. Quite a hard nut to crack, although it could be equipped solely with a astounding 21 Somua S-25 Tanks.  The Bottom company I can make is only equipped with the H-39 tanks.

So I hope that gives you some eye candy and a taster of things to come this year.
Thanks
J

Battlegroup Kursk Game overview

In response to a question by a forum user as to how do I like Battlegroup Kursk/Overlord, I gave a slightly longer and candid overview of the game, to which I though I would post my reply on here also.

Battlegroup Kursk test game

Having had the rules for a while, I have not been able to test the rules, but last night I did with a little help from the usual suspect.
I put together two 150 point armies and headed over for a few hours tinkering.
Germans:
1 Infantry platoon, 1 panzer IVG = 150 points 14 Br
Russians:
1 Forward HQ, 1 Infantry platoon, 1 T34-76, 1 Matilda 2 = 148 points 14 Br

The table was 4x4 feet and had a church in the middle with identical terrain both sides.