Austrian Dragoon Regiment No. 6. Riesch

I must confess I don't pay much attention to which regiment I paint, going more on what colours I have to paint with.  There is a light blue I'm fond of so this unit ended up with that colour facings.  At least I checked that there was a regiment that had light blue facings.

 At rest, for the moment.

 Flags are paper, printed from the Warflags site.

 The horses are a range of browns with a black wash.

 A long march column, headed to the front one day soon, maybe.

Matching or rather getting best fit of rider to horse was a bit of an effort.

Painting moustaches was a bit hit and miss.

Not sure why half of the command are in campaign dress (and not resting).

I couldn't decide if chin straps were gold or black, so command got gold and other ranks black.

Ukraine'43 First Edition - Turns Seven and Eight

The Axis frontline can only hold for so long.  With the coming of the overcast weather in September, maybe it is time to stage a withdrawal?

 The Soviets launch attacks all along the front line.

This image has missed the first two attacks (lower left hand corner)

but the results can be seen in the disrupted retreats.

 Follow up Soviet attacks in their exploitation phase.

At lower odds, but deadly this time.

 The two Panzer Corps strike back,

while the rest of the army struggles to reform a line.

 There is even a follow up German attack to retake a victory village.

 Turn 8 sees another set of attacks by the Soviets along the whole front.

These produce a lot of exchanges which results in many holes appearing in the Axis defences.

 Stalino has fallen (worth 2 VPs) and the Soviets can start to relax 

confident that they will be able to maintain VP parity (essential to avoid sudden death).

Follow up attacks widen the holes that are now evident in the German front lines.

The Germans retreat.

The Soviet Central Front has extended well down the northern flank,

causing the Germans to allocate troops to cover this area.

The challenge is to extricate enough troops to create a new line anchored on the Don.

France'40 - Take Two - Part Two

Playing three GMT WW2 games at once is not necessarily a good idea, as although they all use the same system, there are differences and these can play with your head!

But on with the campaign (I'm the Wehrmacht, Richard is the Allies).  Our previous session (20 March) had resulted in three pockets by the end of Turn 4.

 The pocket at Namur is ignored as it is sure to get bigger.

 On the southern flank, one pocket is liquidated, while the noose around the other is strengthened.

A simple decision process as one pocket was weak and the other strong.

 The strong pocket attempts to breakout, but the panzers hold firm.

 In Namur the French fight through to link up with the other defenders.

Work now goes into reducing the Namur pocket.

while the panzers, lead by Rommel, push onto Charleroi. 

 The farthest advance on Turn 6.

8th Panzer in the lead.

 Total annihilation of the southern pocket.

 More French units are surrounded to the west of Namur,

 but they are trying to get free.  

Not going to happen.

 German attacks on the Namur and Charleroi pockets.

While destructive, it ties down a number of panzer divisions that should be heading west.

This could cost the Germans victory.

 In action again, 8th Panzer leads the dash westward.

Note De Gaulle in the top left hand corner of the image.

 The Germans attempt to secure the southern flank,

but even at maximum odds it is hard work.

 Turn 8 

Are the Germans getting bogged down trying to take Namur
and clear the Charleroi corridor?

 Their push west looks a bit thin,

but interestingly has a number of infantry divisions to the fore,
along with 8th Panzer.

 The 1st Panzer attacks De Gaulle at St Quentin.

 The French counterattack against the German southern flank.

The big picture.

The Germans have captured the important road junctions of Cambrai and St Quentin.

More importantly their panzers are now free to move forward through Maubeuge.

The defenders of Namur are on their last legs.

At this stage the game is turning into something of a race.

World in Flames 33

With the easing of restrictions and gatherings of up to ten people now allowed, WiF is back on!

Only challenge was remembering how to play.

Then remembering the situation... Glum!

 The Soviets are bottled up in the Caucasus.

More interesting, top left hand corner of the photo,

the Allies are advancing in North Africa.

The Soviets in the Urals are about to face a massive onslaught

 from the Axis forces arrayed before them.

While the defensive position is decent, the Soviet forces are vastly inferior to the enemy units.

At least the Soviets have fighter protection (for a while).

In the Pacific the US sank two Japanese cruisers.  

Not much, but it's a start as those cruisers are irreplaceable.

Ukraine'43 First Edition - Turn Six

Just able to fit in one turn this week.  A turn of Soviet sixes!

An unfortunately blurry photo, 

portent of disasters to come perhaps?

There are eight Soviet attacks.

Fortified positions evaporated under a hail of sixes!!!!!!

(A roll which also meant no heavy losses)

The careful and consistent allocation of Guards units (red counters) by the Soviets meant that the German Tactical Superiority rule that required Soviets to reroll sixes didn't apply.  Bum!

 After that there are four follow up attacks!

But still the Axis managed to rebuild their lines and even launch an attack.

Bare Under Wash

Trying to work out what detail exists on some shiny metal figures is hard work.  An undercoat doesn't help much, but the addition of a black wash...

Ukraine'43 First Edition - Turns Four and Five

The Soviets continue the offensive.

 Attacks everywhere!

 The line holds, although a bulge appears to the south east of Kharkov (centre of image).

Two Panzer Corps can be seen heading to this sector.

 Another set of attacks.

With one exception most were disappointing for the Soviets.

However Kharkov has fallen so the risk of an automatic Axis victory has been averted
(it is worth 3 VPs and if there is a difference of six or more based on historical achievements,
it's game over for whichever side is behind).

The Panzer corps have made some restorative work to the east and west of Kharkov.

There was a potential breakthrough that could have seen 48th Pz Corps head to Kursk.  

That would have been interesting. 

 If I had been playing on Vassal I might have seen how it played out, 

using the saved game to continue on otherwise.

In the east, in a series of 2 to 1 attacks, the Soviets repeatedly threw 1s, taking losses but no gains.  Have they crippled their offensive ability in this sector?

It is where the bulk of the immediate VPs are to be found...