Makariv, Ukraine – 2022 (Modern Panzer Leader)

Today we’re getting back to our channel’s original focus on modern-era wargaming. Our scenario takes place in the early weeks of the Ukraine War, using modern-edition updates to Avalon Hill’s classic Panzer Leader system.

With their initial efforts to storm Kyiv frustrated at places like Hostomel, Bucha, and Irpin, Russian brigades tried to flank the city from the west or bypass it altogether in an encircling maneuver. One of these units was the 35th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, ordered on 27 February 2022 to take suburb of Makariv, some 50 kilometers west of the Kyiv.

They were met by elements of the Ukrainian 14th Mechanized Brigade, starting a series of assault and counter-assault that would last into mid-March. Is that the result we’ll see in today’s Panzer Leader game?

We’re back to finish up our wargame commemorating the 80^th Anniversary of the Marine landing on Saipan (15 June 1944).

We started this game last week, recreating part of 2^nd Bn/ 6^th Marines’ assault on Red One beach on Saipan, part of Operation Forager in the Mariana Islands.  So far, the Leathernecks have taken one hell of a pounding getting ashore, with almost 50% losses among their LVT-2 Amptracks and infantry platoons.

But now the (surviving) Marines are ashore, and the Japanese are about to learn to their cost just how well-equipped Marine assault units can actually be.  Can the Marines overcome the bloodbath at the game’s outset and secure a foothold on this critical objective?

Almost simultaneous with the famous Allied landings at Normandy, another big invasion took place in the Pacific when 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions hit the beaches at Saipan. This was the opening assault of Operation Forager, the American invasion of the Mariana Islands.

Saipan would stand as one of the true bloodbaths of World War II, with ferocious Japanese resistance surpassing anything yet seen in the Pacific. Saipan sat well within range to launch B-29 bombers over the Japanese homeland, and the Japanese knew it.

This wargame was played on the 80th anniversary of the battle, recreating 2nd Bn / 6th Marines’ landing at Red One Beach. They’re up against grimly-resolved defenders of the 136th Regiment, 43th IJA Division and even some armor of the Japanese 9th Tank Regiment.

Everyone knows about the furious fighting along the beaches of Normandy eighty years ago this week.  Here’s a game depicting one of the key fights behind the beach, using Mark Ritchie’s Tactical Combat miniatures system.

Elements of the British 3^rd Infantry Division and 27^th Armoured Brigade have landed at Sword Beach.  They push inland to Périers Ridge, where meet one of the few real German counterattacks that day.  Kampfgruppe Oppeln of the 21^st Panzer Division wants that ridge back, the ideal high ground from which to shell the British still coming ashore on Sword Beach.  The British, of course, politely disagree.

We’re getting ready for an 80th Anniversary commemorative wargame recreating part of the the US Marine Corps’ landings in the Mariana Islands in June, 1944.  Specifically, we’ll be looking at Red Beach on Saipan, where 2nd/6th and 3rd/6th Marines (2nd Marine Division) landed against 136th Regiment, 45th Division, Imperial Japanese Army.

Needless to say, I’ll be needing some serious LVTs to put my Marines ashore.  These include LVT(A)-1, LVT-2, and LVT(A)-4s.

The majority of these were provided by Blair Fenning Sr. as 15mm 3D prints, which I’m now in the process of painting.

Primed black, then case coated dark green.  So far I’ve worked the tracks, machine guns, mud and sand along the sides, and some basic markings.

Touchups are still to be done, include pin washing and a light drybrush.

Join us as we finish up our 15mm miniature game of “Battlegroup” – recreating part of the Anzio Breakout.

Part of the Italian Campaign of World War II, this engagement took place 80 years ago this week.  Specifically, we’re looking at elements of Combat Command “A”, 1st US Armored Division hitting the “Caesar Line” positions held by elements of 3rd Panzergrenadier Division.

Join us for a 15mm tabletop miniature game of “Battlegroup” where we’re recreating part of the American breakout from Anzio beach head, 80 years ago this week, at the end of May 1944.  It’s a 50 square foot table, over a hundred miniatures on the table (including infantry) and four players.

Anzio was a rather rough story for the Allies, especially the Americans.  But now four months of wasted opportunity and bitter stalemate are coming to an end.  Combat Command “A” of 1^st US Armored Division might finally be spearheading a breakout, only exhausted survivors of the 3^rd Panzergrenadier Division stand in their way.  Can the Americans finally open the road to Rome and fulfill the elusive promise of the Italian Campaign?

We’re back to finish our game of Valor & Victory commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Kohima. Fought in April 1944, the Battle of Kohima (part of the larger Imphal Campaign) helped check Japan’s Operation U-Go, where the Japanese mounted an invasion of British India out of occupied Burma.

So far, the game has certainly proved bloody, but the Japanese have taken the Tennis Court and are about to overrun the Clubhouse beyond, enough ohjectives to give them victory. Can the British and their Indian allies (Rajput and Punjab Rifles) stand tall and pull out a win?

Join us for a big, meaty game of Valor and Victory, where we’re recreating part of the Battle of Kohima in World War II. This week marks the 80th Anniversary of the climax of this battle, fought along the east Indian borderlands in April, 1944.

The Battle of Kohima (part of the larger Imphal Campaign) helped check Japan’s Operation U-Go, where the Japanese mounted and invasion of British India out of occupied Burma.

Part of the Battle of Kohima centered on (of all places) the tennis court of a local Deputy Commissioner’s residential estate. For upwards of a week, this tennis court stood as a blood-soaked no-man’s land between troops of the Japanese 58th Regiment (31st Division) and troops of the Royal West Kents, the 7th Rajpat Rifles, and 2nd Battalion / Dorset Regiment.

Let’s see how this “Wimbledon from Hell” unfolds on our gaming table!

We’re back with another modern-era wargame tabletop battle report. This time, we’re using Mark Ritchie’s “Tactical Combat” system in 15mm to recreate the 1983 Battle of Souq el Gharb. Part of the Lebanon Civil War, the battle pitted Syrian-backed Druze militia and PFLP remnants against the recovering Lebanese Army in a small village southeast of Beirut.

It’s a conflict not often seen on the wargaming table. What small, half-forgotten corners of military history has your group explored?

Returning at last to the hobby miniature desk, I crack open a box of Warlord’s 28mm US Infantry figures, reviewing the contents and putting the kit together.  28mm isn’t a scale in which I usually work, but I’m usually up to try something new when it comes to wargaming hobby.

What 28mm World War II have you worked with?  Do you play Bolt Action, or other larger-scale friendly games like Rapid Fire or Chain of Command?

“Assault” is a great tactical combat wargame system designed by Frank Chadwick of Game Designers Workshop back in the 1980s, simulating theoretical battalion, regiment, and brigade-sized battles in what was then the “possible future” of 1985.

US and Soviet forces, strictly built and organized along actual tables of organization and orders of battle, face off in the hills, forests, and towns of West Germany. Later expansions would delve into West German, British, and Dutch forces, as well as bringing in rules for armored cavalry, air cavalry, and combat engineers.

In this video we take a look at this classic, a cherished relic by the bygone golden age of wargaming.

Damon and Oriskany Jim are back to complete our game of Avalon Hill’s Panzer Leader, set during one of the battles of the 1944 Anzio Campaign.

Shortly after the Allied landings, three British battalions of 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, driving toward Campoleone were about to be cut off by counterattacking elements of the German 3rd Panzergrenadier Division.

It was up to 46th Royal Tank Regiment and the London Scots to hold open an escape path so their comrades could safely withdraw.

Join Oriskany Jim and Damon for a game of Avalon Hill’s Panzer Leader, set at one of the battles of the Anzio Campaign in Italy, fought exactly eighty years ago today (4 February 1944).

Here, three British battalions of 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division driving toward Campoleone were about to be cut off by counterattacking elements of the German 3rd Panzergrenadier Division.

It was up to 46th Royal Tank Regiment and the London Scots to hold open an escape path so their comrades could safely withdraw.

We’re back for the fiery conclusion of our “North Pole Defense” Christmas wargame! As we saw last week, once again an army of villains have mobilized to attack Santa’s North Pole workshop and Christmas village. This time it’s a brigade of Spartan and ODST troopers form the Halo universe, reinforced with vehicle and heavy weapons support.

Losses have been heavy, with heroes eliminated on both sides, only for new heroes to arise to take their place. Santa’s forces are holding for now, but the game remains precariously in doubt!

Well, looks like it’s happened again!  Once more an army of miscellaneous evil doers has gathered their strength for a direct, tabletop assault on Santa’s north pole workshop and holiday village, intent on ruining the Christmas holiday for everyone.

Fortunately, the heroes of Santa’s North Pole Defense Force have mobilized to save the day in the name of the holiday spirit and Christmas cheer.  But it seems every year the enemy gets stronger!  Fortunately, the NPDF has also been reinforced with new reindeer and polar bear figures, but will it be enough?

Well, this was going to be a series of wargames and discussions to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War of October, 1973. But for now, we’ll just finish up with our Part 2 of Golan Heights and we hope you enjoyed it. We’re using Seven Days to the River Rhine System by Great Escape Games. Here, the “OZ 77” Battalion fought an epic defensive battle against huge Syrian forces at what history would call the “Valley of Tears.”

We’re kicking off a short series of wargames and discussions to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War of October, 1973.  For starters, I’ve put together a game set on the Golan Heights using the Seven Days to the River Rhine System by Great Escape Games.  Here, the “OZ 77” Battalion fought an epic defensive battle against huge Syrian forces at what history would call the “Valley of Tears.”

This release was originally scheduled for the first week of October, the actual 50th Anniversary of this battle. However, that date was uncomfortably close to the start of the current Gaza Conflict, so the release was postponed until now.

Had a great game of Mark Ritchie’s Tactical Combat today, with pro-Syrian Druze vs. Phalange “Kataeb” Christians, northern Lebanon, September 1983.