Mostly WWII and Building a 15mm Bridge Really Quick!

Almost everything I've gamed in the last few weeks has been a WWII theme.

A solo game of Wings of War WWII.

A game of Tide of Iron using the Desert Fox expansion.

A game of Flames of War.

Well on second thought it looks like everything I gamed was WWII.

When I started playing miniature games around grade 7 I gamed almost exclusively WWII using a set of rules called Operation Warboard with two of my pals Gord and Danny. Gord had a 4 by 8 foot board set up in his basement and we played many hours using 1/72 Airfix and Matchbox models and figures. I believe these rules have recently been republished though I still have 3 copies my original books. Since then I have gamed quite a few other periods as well as non-historicals but I have always enjoyed playing WWII games and it is sort of my fall back period. It is also the period I know the most about so it can make the games more interesting having that general knowledge.
 
The first game I played was a solo Wings of War scenario from the Fire From the Sky expansion where I would control a Stuka and ME109 attacking ground defenses on Malta. And it ended pretty quick with the first AA shot on the Stuka being an explosion that destroyed the aircraft followed by ground fire causing 4 points of damage on the ME109 at which point I figured the Germans would probably head for home. 

The planes fly in and the Stuka comes under fire...

and is promptly shot down!

Next I played Tide of Iron against my son. This was the first time I played using the Desert Fox expansion though I've had it for a few years. We played the first scenario from the expansion, Hell Fire Pass, with me playing the Germans and Tristan playing the attacking British. The British had to occupy the two hexes on either side of the pass that held the 2 German 88's by turn 6. Tristan was able to knock out the guns but could not occupy the positions in time. The 88's were able to leave quite a trail of burning and disabled British tanks as he tried to close with them. Another fun game that was quite quick to play.

The setup for the game. Germans on the left, British coming in on the right. The British reserves for turns 1,2 and 3 are at the bottom of the picture.

Next up was the Flames of War game with my friend Chet who traveled a fair distance to play out the game. This was a 1500pt late war match up pitting his Canadians against my armoured panzergrenadiers. It has been quite awhile since either of us played so it was a bit of a learning game but still moved fairly quick though we did get a few things wrong after I read through the rules again after the battle. I took a number of pictures so I will leave the AAR to be told in pictures.

The board setup.

My card buildings got replaced by Chet's Battlefield in a Box buildings and units get placed. I setup with a strong left flank to attack through the town.

The Canadian deployment with enough units to have a strong center and flank facing my attack.

Typhoon's doing what they do best!

Sherman's take out one of my Stug's in the center.

Curse those Typhoons! Chet has stayed in position and weakened my units with fairly good fire.

Finally on turn 3 I hit something, one of the Shermans goes up.(yes it was turn 3 before I actually hit something)

I tried to redirect my Panthers but the Typhoons took care of them, pretty much how it really happened I guess.

Bolstered by my loses the Canadians move up.

The end, Chet's Canadians have their objective on the right.

The destroyed German thrust.

And pretty much what the German's managed to destroy other than almost taking out an infantry platoon in the town.

In retrospect I lost because I positioned my units poorly at the beginning. Having not played in awhile I forgot how much I would be outnumbered and should have put my Panthers in the middle of the board so they could have influenced more of the battlefield and advanced through the more open ground on the right rather than the left. Of course those Typhoons didn't help or my ability to not hit anything till turn 3!

Finally in preparation for the Flames of War game I built a bridge to replace the cardstock one I had been using. I built this in 1 to 2 hours the morning of the game though I will take the time now to add some texture and detail.

Top is the card template. I drew the shape I wanted for 1/2 the bridge on 1 side and then folded the paper in half to make a mirror image when I cut it out. Next piece is the foamcore roadbed with slits cut in it to allow it to curve. Next is the wood sides cut out in wood using the paper pattern.

I used pins to hold the arch at the length required.

Then glued the wood sides to it.

Sprayed it grey...

and done.(except some details and weather)