More Slimming Down, And Research

Well, I didn't do any more on the Division Azul, but I did become aware that the figures I've bought are correct in all but two respects.

First of all, the Blue Division apparently never got issued jackboots. They were issued ankle boots and gaiters. ARRRRRGH.

Secondly, I'll be needing to model a few of them with their blue shirts turned out over the collars of their field grey tunics. I searched high and low for evidence to support this, and found...

...this. The machine-gunner appears to be the only man in the boat to have turned his collar out, and every other photo I found showed only Blue Division men with their shirts worn as per uniform requirements, i.e. inside their tunics. Which is a relief, as it means I can ignore that particular bit of green-stuff madness. Even better, I found this photo:

Which purports to be Div Azul men marching up to the Krasny-Bor front. Note the large number of visible jackboots. O joy! O fortuna! No need for green stuff after all! Success! Obviously this means that the blueshirts, er, 'appropriated' jackboots as often as they could, and it appears that some of them either never bothered or couldn't find any in their size.

In searching for pictures of Blue Division troops displaying both ankle boots and blue shirts, I came across this interesting little gem:

There's a Wordpress blog post about it here, and it's available on Amazon here. He seems to have also written at least two bande dessinees about the Spanish-American War, called Terre Libre and De Sangre Y Ron Mi Cuba. WHY can't we get stuff like this published in English?!

Anyway, what I have been doing, however, is lots of e-Baying - stuff for my friend JY, and stuff that's mine that I want shot of.

So... if you're in the mood for some Dark Angels, Space Marines, Urban War, Lord of the Rings, Orks, Dark Eldar, Flames of War, or anything like that, head on over to my eBay profile here and have a trawl through what I'm selling.

I'm still umming and ahhing over selling my Dark Eldar army - the Kabal of Thorns - in its entirety, which consists of:

• Archon (converted)
• Archon's Court (mix of manufacturers and figures)
• 4 Incubi (kitbashed)
• Venom
• 2 Haemonculi (old, 3rd Edition metals)
• 9 Wyches (new)
• Raider (old, 3rd Edition vintage)
• 44 Warriors (one squad of 20, two of 12 - all 3rd edition plastics with some conversions and kitbashes mixed in)
• Beastmaster (plastic kitbash) with Donorian Clawed Fiend
• Beastmaster (plastic kitbash) with Razorwing Flock
• 3 Reaver Jetbikes (3rd Edition, kitbashed)
• Talos Pain Engine

What I am selling from my Dark Eldar are five new Mandrakes, five old 3rd Edition Mandrakes, a Finecast Haemonculus, and two old 3rd Edition Archons, as well as two 3rd Edition Warriors with Shredders and a pile of Warriors and Wyches still on the sprues. The two Archons for sale look like this:

I think I may as well keep the army listed above, it's reasonably small, easily finished (ahahaha) and will take to the rebased desert scheme quite well, I think. Plus it has an innate tactical theme - a firebase of Warriors backed by the Archon's Court and the Haemonculi with their Talos, and a flanking force of Wyches and Archon supported by the Reavers and Beastmasters. Around about 1500 points-ish I think. Assuming I ever play 40K again that is!

Cara Al Sol...

...Los Camisas Neuvas!

Today I started building my Division Azul platoon for Chain of Command. The figures are the Warlord Games' plastic 'Blitzkrieg' German infantry 1939-42, and are pretty characterful. Reasonably easy to build, and ingenious touches like the one-piece pouches are great. I'm splitting them into three squads, each with a different set of poses - one standing firing, one charging (with grenade-throwing and bayonet) and one prone and kneeling, firing. So far I've made up a mere handful of men, but here they are on my painting table:

Yesterday evening I went with JY to a wargames and games club based in Coventry, where I played a very nice chap called Kevin at X-Wing. His tactics weren't brilliant, and I beat him 100-59 with my TIE swarm, and then we swapped sides and I beat him 100-0 with his X-Wing/Y-Wing flight. Here's the turn-by-turn pics from the first game:

 Setup - Obsidian Sqn in their usual two flight groups side-by-side. Note the Y-Wings in the Rebel centre and the X-Wings off to starboard.

 End Turn One: Obsidian Sqn and the Rebels move in, no-one in range. Asteroids ahoy; time to move.

 End Turn Two: I made a serious error here. 'B' Flight moved 2 Forwards rather than 3 Forwards, which meant that 'A' Flight ran into them. D'oh! However the Rebels were not in a position to capitalise on this; ion turrets hit O5 but Obsidian Sqn firing knocked an ion turret off one of the Grey Squadron ships.

 End Turn Three: The furball begins! TIEs manouvering as best they could; O5 causing some problems as it drifts under the effects of the Ion blast.

 End Turn Four: O5 goes west, but so has one of Grey Squadron and now I outnumber them 2:1 and have concentration of firepower too.

 End Turn Five: The Rebels break, my TIEs strip them of their shields as they lose formation.

 End Turn Six: Howlrunner down! But so is the second Y-Wing, and the X-Wings are separated.

 End Turn Seven: O2 has managed to K-Turn himself in front of one of the X-Wings - an error of judgement on my part. Miraculously he only took two damage rather than go BOOM.

 End Turn Eight: One X-Wing down, one to go, but O2 has gone. I now have a 4:1 advantage, but not for long...

 End Turn Nine: Another TIE breaks up under the punishing firepower of the X-Wing, in return for a point of hull damage.

End Turn Ten: And that's all she wrote. Outnumbered 3:1, the last X-Wing is shot down and the day belongs to the Empire. Score: 100 points to 59.

In the rematch I flew the Rebels as a single flight, splitting into two elements each of a Y-Wing and X-Wing about half-way through. Kevin's lack of experience with a TIE swarm told; he flew them in a ragged line which meant O2 and O3 (both PS5) were on their own and dispatched by turn three, followed shortly thereafter by Howlrunner (PS8) which then meant the PS4 Rebels were shooting first and able to concentrate their fire on a small number of fragile TIEs, often at ranges 1-2, maximising their shooting potential and minimising the TIE's agility advantage. The result there was a whitewash; I destroyed Obsidian Squadron for no losses (although I was down to one hull point on one of the Y-Wings)! I think Kevin may be a tougher opponent next time; he certainly had a pretty solid list!

The club were a friendly bunch and I took some photos of the other wargames going on in the same room:

 The "two Petes" and their Romans-versus-Britons DBA game in 15mm! I think the Romans won but I'm not certain.

 Simon and John setting up for their second X-Wing game. Interceptors versus B- and Y-Wings.

Gary and Tony, playing Pulp Alley! - a race against time to stop the Dastardly Nazis getting away with a Death Ray! No idea who won but lovely terrain, nice models and by the sound of it a jolly fun game.

Oh, and tonight I introduced SB to X-Wing and had a couple of games of Magic: The Gathering. Tomorrow, more Division Azul and probably a bit more X-Wing, because why not!