Iron Cross

 

 

I decided to order the new Great Escape Games WW2 rules yesterday, along with some counters for the US and Germans. I'm hoping they will arrive in the post sometime before next weekend, so that I can read them through over the Xmas holidays, although the post is very slow at the moment so I'm not holding my breath. I have also finally received my order of Artizan late war winter Germans and the extra US riflemen in greatcoats that I need to complete the third squad for my Bolt Action reinforced infantry platoon. These arrived today, so I haven't had time to base them up but will do so tomorrow, ready to take them on holiday for a lick of paint.

War of the White Death

The Winter War isn't a conflict I know that much about, beyond the usual stereotypes of plucky Finnish ski troops running rings around freezing Soviet soldiers deep in the snow clad forests of Finland. This means some reading is required, especially from a Russian perspective rather than just the Finnish side of the story, so this book looks really interesting. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but if the content is as stirring as the artwork, I won't be disappointed.

Stocking Fillers

I'm running out of steam at the moment and drowning in marking, so I thought I'd get myself a stocking filler to cheer myself up a bit. So, here's a small but perfectly packaged Finnish force for skirmish gaming in the frozen forests of the far north, which is all very festive and not too expensive either given the current drain on finances due to Xmas shopping for the sprogs. The ski troops might even be useable for WW2 commando raiding games in Norway? I wonder if The Heroes of Telemark will be on the telly over Xmas?

Charlie Foxtrot Rubble

 

Now this is a really good terrain extra, that won't break the bank but will add a little realism to your WW2 scenarios, especially those set in war-torn Built Up Areas. These resin pieces are designed to fit around the walls of bombed out buildings, either on the interior or exterior faces, to create a rubble strewn effect, complete with smashed bricks, tiles and window frames. They are available in a pack of eight for £12, which sounds like quite a lot but it does save you the hassle of doing it yourself and works out at £1.25 a pop, which seems reasonable for such a useful bit of scenery. I think they're great and will be using them to decorate my wrecked Battle of the Bulge buildings for Bolt Action.

Bolt Action Yanks [40]

 

I've been marking Year 8 geography exercise books all day today so no painting this weekend, which is becoming a bit of a theme of late. There's always a rush of work at the end of the Autumn term but this year it seems to be particularly bonkers, although nothing compared to primary and junior schools, so I can't really complain. Anyway, the good news is that my tank force for the late war US infantry platoon has now been expanded to include a 1/50th scale M4A3E8 'Easy Eight' 76mm Sherman, making a Tank War scenario a distinct possibility. It only cost me £20 as well, so cheaper than the unpainted, unassembled kit equivalent. I'll need to do a serious re-paint of the Korean War dragon markings, however, before I can deploy it alongside my other bog standard Shermans in the Ardennes, Rhineland or Alsace Lorraine.

X Wing: The Force Awakens

We were off Xmas shopping this afternoon, now that our Finnish exchange student has gone home (at 5am!!!) and things are returning to normal. I was supposed to be getting a new pair of school shoes for the middle one and a few presents for the other two, but ended up with a nice new box set of the latest version of X Wing instead (not sure how that happened?). Anyway, the urchin is now barefoot and I have some shiny new Tie Fighters and a T70 X-Wing to play with, so mission is accomplished.

 

I spotted the new game in WH Smiths of all places and was surprised to find that it was cheaper than the old version at only twenty two quid, which seems very reasonable for a full-on game. I really should play more X Wing but it usually only gets un-boxed in the holidays, when I have the time and energy to sit down with the kids for an afternoon of gaming. This holiday, I'm hoping to do just that, especially as the film will be out by then and the sprogs will be suitably enthused!

Iron Cross

This looks interesting. It seems as though it's aimed at a platoon level games despite the official blurb, with lots of tanks and support units and relatively few infantry, judging from the composition of the army deals that are listed on the Great Escape Games website. I like the sound of 32 pages of rules, of which the core mechanisms only take up 10 pages, with a definite fast play impression from the synopsis on the website:

Iron Cross is compact, easy to learn and has tons of decision making, tension and tactical nuances. What it does better than anything on this scale is give you a game that feels like WWII and looks like WWII. It’s a game that gamers can quickly pick up, without the extra padding in other WWII games to enable the player to concentrate on close quarters engagements between opposing forces of tanks and infantry.

 

Iron Cross is elegantly simple. Iron Cross uses a dynamic activation system which means players are always involved and constantly faced with tactical decisions. Playable in any scale, forces represent formations from company to battalion size. This book contains the rules for Iron Cross, scenarios and orders of battle for German, US, British and Soviet forces from 1944-45 in the European theatre of operations.

 

The inevitable tokens and chits look pretty flash too, although I'm not a big fan when it comes to littering the terrain with loads of nick nacks. I may well add this to the Xmas stocking, although I have plenty of other rules that I can play around with for 28mm. If it's anything like the other Great Escape Game skirmishy rules, it will be probably be £25 well spent and will give my late war US infantry something else to do in 2016.

Finland at War

A new book for the Kindle Xmas holiday reading list...guess what Father Xmas might be bringing me from Lapland in a few weeks time (assuming the chief elf agrees?).

Charlie Foxtrot Models

 

I ordered a 28mm laser cut ruined house kit from Charlie Foxtrot Models at the weekend and it arrived today. I haven't assembled any of this range before, although I do remember hearing about it somewhere and did have a nice chat with the designer at Colours back in September, after being gobsmacked by the fantastic V1 launch ramp model that he had on display.

 

I'm really impressed by this kit too, which comes bagged with a set of instructions and loads of mdf bits. The main walls, roof and floor sections are cut from 3mm mdf, so really sturdy and able to take some serious punishment. The other components include the usual windows, doors, shutters, chimney parts and roof beams together with a whole load of rubble and wreckage to sprinkle about.

 

There are a whole load of other kits available from the Charlie Foxtrot web shop thing including some VBCW stuff, some really nice Eastern Front rural buildings and a good selection of Normandy town buildings too. I particularly like the resin rubble pieces that are designed to fit around the ruined houses, so I've ordered a pack and a couple more of the wrecked houses for my Bolt Action project.

 

It turns out that the designer lives only fifteen minutes from my parents house in Cornwall as well, so it's good to support a local company with some really nice products. If I can think of a valid use for a V1 launch ramp in 28mm and a 28mm pontoon bridge just like the old 1/76th scale Airfix kit, I'll be after those too!

 

http://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com/

 

Bolt Action Winter War

 

I've been pondering ways in which to make use of my new Cigar Box Battle tundra terrain cloth of late and have drawn up some ideas which may well end up on my Xmas list this year. I already have some 28mm British commandos that I can paint up for raiding in Norway and some late war Germans in greatcoats and smocks that I'm planning to use as opposition for my US reinforced Battle of the Bulge infantry platoon, but this still leaves some room for a other things.

 

As I'm planning to scale back my half completed Chain of Command Japanese project to a more manageable Bolt Action size, I could add another platoon sized project for next year for Bolt Action. The obvious choice would be Soviets or Finnish* troops for the Winter War, so that is something I'll be investigating in the run up to Xmas. There's a handy army builder deal from Warlord which would give me a good basic force for the Finns but the Soviets need some more thought, although I do really like the Crusader range in greatcoats and furry hats.

 

(* we actually have a Finnish exchange student staying with us now...so it must be a good idea!)