S&S Models 122-mm howitzer D-30

Recently I completed a trio of D-30s from S&S models. D-30s are a very useful artillery piece for gaming the modern era and the S&S model is a nice representation of the weapon system.

In CD terms each one of these models represents a battery of guns, so with the addition of  vehicles and personnel stands to represent transport and supply vehicles, gun crew, forward observers, and command elements, I can table an artillery battalion.

In CD terms this could look like the following (based on the organisation in GDW's Combined Arms and several real world ORBATs):

Artillery Battalion

    Headquarters:

        1 Command stand

        1 Forward Observer stand

        2 UAZ 467 (or similar light vehicles)

    Supply Company:

        2 Heavy Ammo trucks with trailers

    3 Batteries each with:

        1 D-30 122mm Howitzer

        1 Gun crew stand

        1 Medium Truck

 

Note that the above organisation could easily be downgraded by the removal of the Forward Observer, or upgraded by adding in additional elements that increase the capability of the unit.   

In order to maximise the utility of these guns I plan to create a number of vehicles and personnel stands representing a range of different forces. This would let me field the D-30s as part of Soviet, WarPac, USSR successor state, Middle Eastern, and Imagi-nation artillery units.

By doing this I should be able to provide artillery support to a wider range of forces without having to make a large number of  model D-30s.

Some ZSU-57-2 SPAAG For You

 A couple of years ago I ordered some ZSU-57-2s  from S&S Models (product located here), with the intention of painting them up in a way that would let me us them as a support element for a range of forces. 

Note that there are only four road wheels, as opposed to the T-54's five.

Recently, as part of an effort to finish off a number of projects that have been left half done on my work bench, I decided that they would be the next models to complete. 

I gave the crew a mix of brown and black headgear.

The resin turrets, hulls, and track sides cleaned up nicely and the white metal components were nice casts with a minimum of flash to clean.

Despite having been replaced in Soviet service by the ZSU-23-4 Shilka in the early 1970s, the ZSU-7-2 soldiered on in other armies. The Wikipedia page here has information on both previous and current operators.

Of course, in addition to the obvious Anti Air role, the ZSU-57-2 is capable of engaging ground targets. I suspect that will be their major employment on the tabletop as the twin 57mm guns look to be useful against targets such as soft vehicles, and troops occupying buildings. This fire support role was their main use during the wars in Yugoslavia (click here for the history of the ZSU-57-2 in Yugoslavia).

The business end of a pair of ZSU-57-2s.

 

Now that these have been completed, I will need to find another project to finish so that I can continue procrastinating about painting figures for Volley and Bayonet.

A warm day in Bosnia: Part 3.

Shuffling armour in the woods.

Turn 4. I manage to reorganise my surviving armour, by disengaging one platoon back into the woods, swinging another round into a firing position to guard against an advance on the left flank, and moving back into the woods with the remaining T-34/85s. Frank dismounts his mech infantry, and seizes the remaining hill. Nod now controls the high ground on the board.

The high ground is all Frank's...

 The BDRM fires a Spandrel and destroys one of my T-34/85s as it advances into the woods. I return the favour by using a TOW stand to destroy the BDRM.
 

TOW vs. BDRM 2.

The other TOW damages a T-55 putting it on red, forcing it back, while my T-62 fails to damage the T-55 it is shooting at. Poor shooting is not limited to just the Bosniaks - a battery of Nod twin 23mm guns opens up on my infantry on the edge of the woods for no effect. The Noddist T-55s open up on the infantry and TOW stand, destroying the TOW stand and chewing up the Bosniak infantry. In return, the infantry brew up a Nod recon buggy that advanced into effective range. Frank uses his 120mm mortar on the other TOW stand for no effect, but one of my infantry infantry companies pin in the morale phase.

Poor dice stops the T-55 from sharing its neighbours fate.

Turn 5. Frank advances his T-55s, and his infantry on the hill shoots at the TOW stand. The TOW engages and fails to damage a T-55, and the T-62 fails to hit the other T-55 in the opportunity phase. In the general fire phase, Frank finally gets artillery to conduct a mission, pummeling Bosniak infantry advancing in open towards the woods on the right.

 The sole remaining TOW survives further attack from a T-55 firing direct fire HE, while Frank's massed APCs on the left flank conduct long range fire at the Mujahideen occupying a BUA, doing little damage.

Massed Nod APCs - a perfect target for an airstrike. Sigh...

Bravely holding on.... but it's just a matter of time until they have to fall back further into the BUA.

At this point I decided to call the game, as we had been going for around 4-5 hours, which was the allotted time frame for the game. Frank's forces had advanced further along the board than I had, but were not in a position to advance further.  I had abandoned ideas of advancing some time ago, as I simply didn't have the numbers to advance in the face of Frank's artillery (battery of 120mm mortars, and a battery of 122mm SPGs), or his virtually unscathed infantry forces.That being said, Frank was very reluctant to attempt a further advance down the road in trhe face of my surviving armour. As such, I viewed the situation as being a marginal Nod victory.

The BDRM-2 with its Spandrels had been an unpleasant surprise for me, and the rapacity of advance by Frank's mech infantry is always troublesome. My lack of artillery support in these games is an area that I am working on, as it is artillery that seems to save Frank's bacon in most games. Still, a very enjoyable game, that has left me pondering a number of points.

A warm day in Bosnia: Part 2.

The sweeping vista of the bold Bosniak advance.

On the first turn I advanced my force boldly towards the Noddist hordes. My tanks engaged Frank's armour in the center and I fired all four of the lead T-55s at the Nod armour. This resulted in achieving 1 hit. I had hoped for a more satisfying results. Frank's gunnery was somewhat better with his four lead tanks achieving two hits on one of my T-55s, forcing it back and into the nearby woods.

Hiding in the woods seems like a good idea...

Frank is also using his Spandrel equipped BRDM 2 for the first time. He bloods it by taking out a light truck carrying a TOW stand.

Frank's new toy. S&S Models, BRDM 2.

Burning Bosniak light truck.

Sneaky thrust on the left flank...

Turn 2 sees a rapid advance forward by Frank's mechanised infantry on the left flank. Meanwhile, my T-34/85s advance and outpace their supporting infantry by 18" - or in scale terms half a mile! The speed of the T-34/85s advance surprises both sides as they charge unsupported into the woods!

Outpacing the infantry and charging into woods is not the best of plans...

Brewed Bosniak T-55.

Meanwhile, on the main axis of advance,  the Noddist BRDM 2 takes out a T-55, and his T-55s open up and do 3 hits destroying one of my T-55s. My tank gunnery this turn is shocking, causing no damage to his armour. The remaining T-55 platoon then pins in the morale phase - not really a surprise. The only bright spot of the turn was my brewing of Frank's recon BMP with the T-55. Overkill? - yes.

Take that, Mr BMP!

Turn 3, I manage to disengage my T-34/85s from the woods before they get close assaulted by Frank's infantry. I also manage to advance two infantry companies forward to support the T-34/85s.Both sides perform badly with tank gunnery, exchanging fire with no hits!

Where is the Bosniak infantry?

Frank's air support arrived this turn as well. At this point I start to seriously doubt my air defense... my stingers fail to hit the MiG 21, but the MiG fails to damage anything in its attack. It does generate a morale -2 penalty for any of my forces within 20" of the target. This results in one of my infantry companies becoming pinned. Not the worse possible result from air attack, but still quite disruptive.

Guess what my Stingers can't hit....

 In better news, one of my TOW stands destroyed one of the Nod T-55s! Frank then uses his BRDM mounted Spandrel  to toast one of my T-34/85s!  Frank's artillery missions fail to arrive this turn, as he doesn't have an Artillery Spotter or Forward Observer with his force -meaning his chances of getting fire when he wants it is fairly average. Frank then vows that in future missions he will always take an artillery spotter.

Brewed Nod T-55.

Brewed T-34/85. The Spandrel is very effective.

To Be Continued...

A warm day in Bosnia, 1992: Pt. 1

Last weekend frank and I played a small encounter game of CD3 set in our alternate history Bosnia. The alternate history that we use is very rough, and not well defined, as it is only used as a rough framework for staging pickup games. The background is as confusing and as fratricidal as the real world Bosnian conflict, but with the added presence of both Nod (aiding the Serbian forces) and GDI (fighting Nod and its allies).

Turn 0: Let the games begin!

Frank has made up a number of very nice Bosnian themed BUAs, and his Nod forces are loosely based around the Soviet Motor Rifle regiment organisation used in Combined Arms.

Frank's Noddists use Soviet equipment and organisation.

A vast horde of Noddists prepare for battle.

Nod Infantry and a 120mm mortar battery get ready for action.

Nod T-55s rumble into their assembly areas.

Our game had my forces, Bosnian Muslims, advancing forward to counter an advance by Frank's Serbo-Nodian horde. For either of us to win a decisive victory we had to sweep the other off the board!

Frank used the Orion Federal Russian Forces set as the basis for his Nod troops.

We had earlier agreed that Frank could use air support. I was expecting him to use a Hind, and had taken a force that I felt could deal with attack helicopters. Unfortunately, Frank's Hind is still awaiting repairs from damage it took in one of the quakes, so I would be facing fast jet instead. We also decided to use simple ammo rules, and only keep track of special rounds and anti tank missiles. We did this as we were both too lazy to write up ammo sheets. we also decided that we would both be fielding high grade, well motivated troops. Both sides would be Troop Quality: Experienced, Morale: 10.

Fast Jet air support in the form of a 1/144 scale Mig 21.

After my last game, I figured bringing some smoke would be useful!

My force was based around two ideas, firstly, that taking a force with T-34/85s and T-55s would be awesome, and that by playing a Bosnian Muslim force I could use infantry, that I have painted up for Harad, as foreign volunteers and mercenaries.

Bosniak Task Force commander sets up HQ in the BUA, while elements of the Tank Battalion, and the Mujahideen, prepare to advance.

Bosniak Forces - Troop Quality: Experienced,  Morale: 10.
  Task Force Headquarters w/
  1 Command  Stand
     Mujahideen Volunteers w/
     1 Command Stand 
     1 RPG-7 Team
     3 Infantry Stands
     1 82mm Mortar Stand (ds)
     1 Support Stand

Mujahideen Mortar stand. My sole artillery element!

     Composite Tank Battalion w/
        Headquarters Company w/
         1 Command T-62
            2 Tank Companies w/
               1 Command T-55
               1 T-55
            1 Infantry Support Tank Company w/
            1 Command T-34/85
            2 T-34/85s

The two T-55 companies.

The T-34/85 company, with the 9th Volunteer Infantry Company, with elements of the 5th VIC (on right), a Stinger team (at bottom left corner), and a light truck and TOW stand of the Anti-Tank Company on the left.

     Air Defense Company w/
          2 Stinger Teams
     Anti-tank Company w/
          2 TOW Stands
          2 Light Trucks

Foreground: The "Red Devils" of the 5th VIC prepare to advance, supported by armour and the 9th VIC.

    "Red Devils"  5th Volunteer Infantry Company
          1 Command Stand
          2 Infantry Stands
          1 Weapons Stand
          1 MMG Stand 

    "Sudanese"  7th Volunteer Infantry Company
          1 Command Stand
          2 Infantry Stands
          2 Weapons Stand

    "Nubian"  9th Volunteer Infantry Company
          1 Command Stand
          3 Infantry Stands
          1 Weapons Stand


 My Bosniak force was quite a powerful force, having a great deal of firepower in the volunteer infantry companies, quite a few tanks, and consisting of experienced and highly motivated troops. In terms of supporting assets it was very light, having only the 82mm mortar platoon as the sole artillery support, very light air defense in the form of the two Stinger teams, and no air support. Still, I was very confident of success as I had faith in my TOWs and my tanks to deal with any major opposition from Frank's Noddists. What could possibly go wrong?

To Be Continued...

Support stands for modern games.

At the moment I am looking at getting a moderns campaign going that is loosely based on the collapse of Yugoslavia. Part of this project requires me to have available for player usage a number of HMG, and other support stands. Some time back the blog Plastic Warrior had a great idea for making Sagger teams for use in CD. Since it was such a great idea, I thought that I would make some up too! Thanks Paul for sharing such a great idea!

Figures are from the Atlantic Machine Gunners and Mortars set.

Saggers are made from cut down Katyusha rockets and an ammo box from a Fujimi kit.

While the fins are far too small, and the missile the wrong shape, they look suitable for the purpose. In the version of modern Cd my group plays, teams like this are represented by single figure stands, allowing greater flexibility than if they were represented by one stand for a whole platoon.

Another type of stand required for the game will be that of the media. A number of stands will be created, but here is one of the first.

The dreaded Fourth Estate! Flee!

Figure is probably a knock off of a Galoob/Micro Machine figure. 

The role of the media in the campaign will be something I will blog about should the project manage to get up and running. In the meantime here is some work in progress on some HMG and MMG stands that I am making up.

 

Figures are Caesar WW2 Underground Resisters and one Esci Modern Russian Paratrooper. HMGs from bits box and the one the right the Atlantic Machine Gunners and Mortars set. Resin ammo boxes from the Leva Productions Russian Infantry equipment set.

Figures are Airfix WW2 Russians on left, and one Airfix Modern Russian on right, with an Atlantic figure from the Machine Gunners set.  MMGs are from the Leva Productions Russian Infantry equipment set.

HMGs are Atlantic, figures are Esic Warsaw Pact, Caesar Underground Resisters, and two Imex North Koreans.

More Atlantic HMGs crewed by an Esci Modern Russian Paratrooper, and three WW2 Airfix Russians.

The last of the Atlantic HMGs! Crew is Imex North Korean and Esci Vietnam War US special forces. The MG stand on the right are metals of unknown make, but are a WW2 German MG42 team.

Once these stands are finished, work will start on the mortars. Hopefully, I will be able to get this project all ready to go by the end of January.