The September War

It does not matter to me if we are talking about the Battle for Warsaw 1939, Poles crashing back with the Soviets on the Eastern Front or those that flew with the 303 Squadron over Britain, the Polish armed forces are a great interest to me in my studies and gaming. These are stories over men fighting for their country and honor. A Poland many would never see again.

It was a great surprise when I received the email from Mr Avery that the first of two supplements would be coming out the next day covering the German/Soviet Invasion of Poland. Well I was reading this the next day over breakfast and I thought through the purchase carefully and immediately payed the sum of $12 for The September War this 240 page reference material. It covers in detail the history, Big Men  stories and so many scenarios with several for my beloved Black Brigade.

Rules are for IABSM but this will be useful for any company level game (not sure why anyone plays with anything else :-) or even Chain of Command. While I have only read through half of the scenarios these would be interesting to play as designer or for any of the early war powers as many of the weapons were similar.

My only problem is I need to buy more Poles and Germans figures. No problem there, I see an order to Peter Pig and Forged in Battle in my future.  Lucky for me I recently purchased a few TK and TKS and an odd armoured car. The painting table will be getting a bit more crowded. After Action Reports soon to show up.

Paint Table Saturday - The Big Push

I will be sans computer tomorrow so here is my Paint Table Saturday.

This week I finished 16 Arab towns folk and 4 Ottoman WWI artillerymen along side sixteen signposts and telegraph poles.

Easiest way to show this is with a simple town scene.

On the bench now are four M-51s, a Whippet, two A7Vs and two Mark IVs. I am please with the size in comparison with my existing WWI tanks. My current M-51s may be sold soon.

Paint Table Saturday - The Big Push

With the year coming to an end I am trying to clean up a few projects and at the same time clear off the painting and gaming table. I want to end 2014 the same way I began on the Vis Lardica website, with a bang. As you can see in this picture I have my work cut out for myself.

While I have new World War I tanks to work on (as well as four Ishermans) I will work on the projects that are needed and or quick. This means Turkish troops for Fao, aircraft for the North Atlantic Harpoon scenarios and blinds for my TOOFATLardy’s games.

After that I have a battalion of British for the Middle East and East Africa, the tanks that I just got and what ever else is on the table that needs to be taken care of. I look to be very busy.

5 Reasons Why To Have Monitors In Your Fleet

 
As I have been going through old miniatures and trying to get them painted up for Vis Lardica painting contest I have come across a bunch of 1/2400 scale monitors. These are than added to the completed 1/6000 scale monitors I painted up last week. To be honest, I have monitors in several scales and classes.

These pre-dreadnought wonders have seen battle in several of my games of Seekrieg 4 and Frank Chadwick’s Ironclads and Ether Flyers. Often they came out of these battles with the accolades of their commanding Admiral, but not always.

These warships were common not only in the New Navy of the United States but also had a part in the battle line of the Royal Navy and the Czarist Navy. Even a cursory glance of the first two volumes of Conways shows monitors in many of the navies of this era.

And they should have a place amongst your miniatures as well. Here are five historical and operational reasons why you should think of adding them to your fleets.

Fire Power - When you want to level a fortification or turn back a raiding force fire power is what matters. Monitors are able to bring heavy guns to bear on a small platform and a limited draft.

Pesky Governors - The Governor's of coastal United States during the Spanish American War (and other fictional wars) often demanded ships to defend their coasts and ports. Instead of using battleships and cruisers, which were in short supply, the Navy Department would release monitors for protection.

While they cannot with stand a battle line they and torpedo boats could cause sufficient damage to make the enemy think twice before raiding the east coast.

Support - Monitors were able to bring fire support in most conflicts in the late 19th century and early 20th century. From the Philippine Insurrection to The Great War monitors had a place in the line. During The Great War they were used to protect the British left flank along the English Channel as well as in the destruction of the
SMS Königsberg.

Cost - As a defense vessel these are very affordable. These ship carry a similar weapon to most pre-dreadnought but at a fraction of the cost. The initial New Navy Monitors were built over twenty years and used old Civil War era monitors for scrap. The savings from these were applied to the new classes.

As these were designed to be cost defense vessels, they operated with reduced crews. There was also only limited comforts for the crews as they were rarely away from port.

	"New Navy" Monitors	USS Kearsarge BB-5
Cost	~ $250,000	$5 Million
Crew	150-210	550
Firepower	10" or 12" Guns	13" Guns

Retro - Lastly these ships are so retro. They looked retro in the 1890s compared to the vessels in the American Civil War. Even more so when they were used during the First World War. There is something special (at least for me) with these ships.

So what do you think? Do these ships have a place in your navy? Let me know.

Period Battleships(1/2400 scale) to the left. Monitors in
both 1/2400 and 1/6000 scale to the right.