Here are some pics from Normandy during the 75th anniversary

Omaha Beach and defenses

Saumur Tank Museum put on quite a display outside the museum at Utah Beach.

The Airborne Museum in Ste. Mere Eglise is First Class!

The price of freedom...

The brief apperance of a reenactor was a poignant reminder of the fallen. They are not forgotten.

Pegasus Bridge..."Ham and Jam." The historical bridge has been moved to a nearby museum site.

D-Day in 1/285 (6mm) scale using Command Decision: Test of Battle rules

Real-life obstacles really hurt my gaming time and Covid was a disaster for wargamers who do not preter solo gaming. As a result, this blog took a big hit. Now, my gaming time is way up and the convention doors are open again...so let's revive the bogging! We shall start with some catching up... After a trip to Nomandy for the 75th anniversary, I was inspired to run a D-Day game. For terrain, I broke out some old Geohex, a beach mat from Battlefront and other micro terrain items. I set the scene for the game as Omaha Beach and to keep the game looking right, while reducing figure numbers, I used the latest edition of Frank Chadwick's Command Decision rules. Each stand on the table represents a platoon. The forces selected for the game provided a match that was meant to play out like the historical battle. The players cooperated running the American forces, while I ran the game and the German defenders. Eventually, the American forces prevailed and opened the Vierville Draw to exit the beach. Casualties were high, but the engineers, some Rangers, a handful of tanks and accurate shore bonbardment from a destroyer at close range, combined to achieve the objective. The rules worked very well. The fire from the destroyer and the tanks suppressed and even silenced some bunkers and allowed the engineers and Rangers to assault the defenses in close combat and to blow up the obstacle wall blocking the exit from the Vierville Draw.

Pictures of real WW2 vehicles from Bastogne Barracks in Belgium.

Such a nice little museum....loved the tanks and vehicles, lovingly restored!

ISU-152

JS-3

Panzer IV

Matilda, Valentine, Sexton

Chaffee

Sherman 76

M-47 Patton, or a Hollywood Tiger tank

Gaming with Combined Arms, modern version of Command Decision WW2 rules

A-10's target Soviet armor.  We use 1/700 aircraft and 1/285 ground forces.

An M1 Abrams platoon destroyed by a Hind gunship.  Sadly, my Americans aren't painted for the European theater.

Some more 15mm armored goodness!

M-13/40 from Battlefront's line.

Semovente with long 75mm gun.  It took me quite awhile to apply the camouflage to this one. 

Super Pershing.  This one is a GaleForce 9 expansion kit for Tanks.  You can build the kit as a Pershing, or the Super Pershing.

I don't have pics of the completed kit.  I will add them later....since I have painted the MG's and other details since I took this picture.

TACAM R-2.  A Romanian tank destroyer model from Battlefront.  Cool little kit and it looks the business with the crew painted and decals added.  In the Tanks game, I use this as a Stug-IIIg for now...

The Romanians prepare to ambush the American armored column.  Must be some sort of alternate history here!

A Battlefront Pershing surveys the river valley below, scanning for targets.

Tanks! A battle near Messina, Sicily

A game of Tanks! (by GaleForce9) using my Italian paper village for some rather challenging scenery.  We played with two objectives that you can see on the town's main road.  Two Shermans and two M-10 tank destroyers against a Tiger and a Panther.  

The American are trying both flanks.

The Panther moves to contest an objective near the crossroads.

The M-10 tank destroyers didn't do that well.

The big cats close in for the kill.  Game over man, game over.