Below are pictures and maps of my preparations for a Battle of the Bulge game, specifically the Battle of Foy-Notre-Damme-Celles involving British, American and German forces on December 25, 1944. I started working on this in January 2024 but other projects like Cangames 2024 took priority in mid April and the game did not happen in 2024, but maybe it will in the the not too distant future.
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| Overview of Battlefield |
Now that I am back in to playing 6mm W.W.II (Spearhead and Fist Full of TOWs3) I have pulled some of the figures out of storage including German, French and British AFV and infantry. Although the scenarios I have played recently with the Spearhead rules were set in Normandy in 1944, I have always wanted to play some games set in France in 1940 so it is time to start painting my French 1940 Infantry by Heroics and Ros (H&R) and GHQ. Plus as I will note later some 6mm German Fallschirmjagers (FJ)/ Paratroops that can be used for 1940-45 will be on the painting table soon (I hope).
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| Painted H&R Classic German Fallshirjager with LMGs |
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| WIP GHQ & H&R French 1940 Infantry in Vallejo khaki green |
This was a 15mmSpearhead game run by my friend William at the Ottawa Miniatures Games Club on Friday night February 17, 2023. The terrain and figures were contributed by multiple players, including myself resulting in a bit of an unmatched look The Scenario is called Pushing Forward set in the Summer of 1944 and was a test Game for Cangames 2023 and can be found here.
https://ww2spearhead.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/pushing_forward_1944.pdf
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| Overview |
I was pleased that some new members at my Games Club the Ottawa Miniatures Gamers (OMG) club have expressed an interest in playing Spearhead, a battalion / regiment level Second World War land battle game, reviving one of my favourite micro scale Second World War rules sets that I had not had a chance to play in over a decade at the club. This game took place on Sunday February 5th, 2023 at OMG, it is set in the Summer of 1944 in Normandy with two reinforced British battalions attacking one German reinforced battalion that is defending a town and a nearby ridge line. The scenario is an introductory scenario since both players had not played for some time and with an AGM a the club meeting interrupting the game we had limited time. The game was played in 6mm, 1/285 scale on a 3' x 4' gaming area, a Warzone Homeland - green grass and earth mouse pad mat.
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| Scenario map |
The
map above is based on a 36" wide by 48" deep table where each grid square is 12" in width or 1200 yards. A series
of woods break-up the battlefield and provide cover for both the British forces and the German defenders, whom I was playing.
The scenario called "Battalions Advance" can be found here: https://ww2spearhead.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/battalion-advance/comment-page-1/#comment-292
Another game report from some years back in late November 2012 when I experimented with using my favorite 6mm Second World War rules for 15mm scale. The advantages of Spearhead are it plays fast and produces reasonably accurate historical results. There are some abstractions (city fighting) and modification needed for games with less than 3 formations (battalions for 6mm, companies for 15mm). The rules have a ground scale of 1" = 100 yards and a figure scale of one base = a platoon for 6mm. The ground scale definitely needs to be altered for 15mm (1" - 50 yards) and an option for 1:1 play is a good idea. I have started to write up 15mm rules. Here are some pictures of a game set in France in the spring of 1940 pitting French and German armour against each other.
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| German Pz IVd and 38t tanks versus French S-35 tanks |
