Rapiercon & The Hotel From Heck

Last Friday and Saturday we went to Rapiercon in north Jacksonville, FL. This was our first time to the convention, and it was an "interesting" event to say the least. We arrived at the convention hotel just after lunch. It's no secret that the hotel is under construction, which is why we booked a room down the street at the Hilton Garden Inn.

We Arrive in Heck
While the Hilton was a pleasure to say at for only a few dollars more, complete with cooked-to-order breakfast buffet for the both of us, the convention hotel was an absolute disgrace of a building let alone a hotel. I'm surprised Double Tree (aka Hilton) is even trying to renovate it, though I was told they are dragging their feet on the project. Bottom line, this was the worst hotel I have ever seen outside a third world country. The folks on Tripadvisor are correct in their negative reviews.

After finding a parking space in the parking lot--which is way too small, badly designed, and cluttered with containers and construction equipment--we made our way through the hotel to the con's registration desk on the building's far side. It was an interesting trip to the desk, full of strange (possibly toxic) smells and interesting "under construction" sights of exposed ceilings and walls.

Thankfully, the folks at the con's registration desk were friendly. We picked up materials, paid for Jeremy's con t-shirt, and went into the miniature gaming hall. Since it was about 1pm on Friday, not many people were there yet. Dealers were still setting up. We had registered for a game at 1pm, a WWII bombing game, and saw it set up already.

A panoramic shot of the con on Saturday afternoon. My first attempt at trying out the feature. It came out pretty good for indoors and not knowing how to take the shot.

And It's as Hot as Heck
We walked around a bit, checked out the numerous door prizes, and then checked out the dealers booths. Within a few minutes I had worked up a sweat! I mentioned to a fellow that it seemed a bit warm in the room. He replied that the AC was barely working and that the hotel was "investigating" it (we all knew this was corporate speak for doing nothing). The temperature in the room wound up in the low-to-mid 80s, which was downright unacceptable and uncomfortable. From what I was told, it was the same way last year. As Jeremy commented, it felt better outside--and this is Florida in the summer! I should have known something was wrong when people were bringing electric fans!

Right before our game began, I stopped by a dealer booth. I picked up another copy of Warmaster for $1, 5th Ed Warhammer for $1, Warhammer Ancients for $1, some old codexes for $1, War of the Ring for $5, and a bunch of other free WHFB and 40K rulebooks, expansions, and catalogs. I also bought a boatload of old White Dwarfs for 5 for $1. I never expected to buy GW stuff!

Sweating to the Oldies
Since I literally was dripping with sweat and rushing to get to the game, I was having a hard time thinking through everything. If I had time to really look through the stacks of White Dwarfs, I would have bought even more. Still, I did get a ton of WDs from 1992 onward along with some of the brand new issues each for the price of a stick of gum. All said and done, I spent $23 at the booth. Later, Jeremy got to load the big box of WDs and rules into the car! I also got a bunch of Axis &Allies 15mm armor at 2 for $1 from Cool Stuff, a 3mm sample pack of Modern Early 80s Pico Armor, and the 15mm AP-Team pack from Odzial Osmy. (I'm mail ordering the rest of the line!)

Though I got to the game late, the fellow running the game didn't mind at all. He had been shopping as well, getting some good deals. It's all part of the fun. So let's get to the game!

A Hot Time Over the Arctic

The game was "Goering's Carrier" run by Jerry Boles using the Black Cross/Blue Sky rules. Jerry was a great guy with the right attitude for a convention game. He made it fun and simple for newbies like us, who just wanted to try out something new. We had a blast playing the game, even though the room kept getting hotter and hotter. Jerry just was a swell guy with a good sense of humor. It was the highlight of the con and turned into the only game we played that weekend, though we didn't plan it that way.

The premise was based on an historical battle: British convoy PQ 18, escorted by carrier Avenger, is heading towards Russia with much needed supplies. Taking note of the carrier, Herman Goering orders, "Ignore the convoy, get the carrier."

Jeremy and I played the Germans, while Jerry and another fellow named Bob played the Brits. We had a flight of  He-111 bombers. The Brits had Hawker Hurricanes and flak from their ships. So we had a Jeremy, a Jerry, and two Bob's playing the game--what are the odd of that!?

In the end, we fared worse than the actual Germans did in the real battle. For a while, it looked like we were winning, but a few lucky critical hits on our planes made sawdust out of our plans just as we were getting close to dropping our torpedoes. One bomber had no damage, took one hit, and blew up due to a fuel line hit! Rats!

Last year, I had seen Cool Stuff and Miniature Market blowing out the game on deep discount sales. I knew little about the game and feared it would sit on the shelf untouched like most of the games that I had been buying. Plus, I had Wings of War if I wanted a flying game, though that was sitting unused as well. I liked playing the game so much I checked into buying it online later that evening. Sadly, the only place selling it is the publisher, but it would cost $105 for the base game. That's a bit out of my price range at the moment.

I Got a New Toy!
Literally right before the con I had bought a new camera off of Amazon, finally ditching my 10 year old Lumix. This time I bought an Olympus Stylus SH-50 iHS along with the the fastest and newest SD card on the market, a Samsung Pro SDHC MB-SG16D/AM. The card writes blazing fast and the camera is da' bomb!

These are the very first photos I shot with the camera, so they were a learning experience. All I did was set it to Automatic and let the camera do all the work. I didn't even need macro. The flash never went off once. I was amazed, even considering how poor the lighting was in the con. The photos I took outside are fantastic. Plus full 1080p video was great--I shot some trains later in the evening when we did some train watching up in GA. I think this will take far better photos of miniatures than my old camera.

Ok, enough blathering! Here are the photos.

The British convoy and escort. That's not the USS St. Lo. It's really the Avenger. You just need to squint a bit to see it. :)

Our He-111 bombers heck-bent on the carrier.

"The kid" waiting for me to take my seat after taking the obligatory photo for Mommy.

Jerry did a great job on the planes and bases. We were impressed.

His homemade cards for the planes. He put them in 'hardbacks' so we could write on them using Vis-a-vis markers.

A close-up of some He-111's. We used to die to track how many hexes each plane had moved in a straight line.

The bomber's card.

Each card handles three or four planes. This is the back of the He-111.

Jerry helps Jeremy make a hard decision, while Bob watches as he contemplates which bomber he'll shoot down first. Hey wait a minute! The kid is getting "help" from the enemy!?! LoL.

Bandit! 3 o'clock!

Ah, the end game. As you can see by the graveyard on the left it has been a bloody game. We are each down to one plane a piece. My bomber on the left dropped its torpedoes but missed. Rats! Jeremy has switched ends to watch his bomber try to drop torpedoes. Unfortunately, the Hurricane ruins those plans, blowing the He-111 out of the sky. The escort carrier survived unscathed. Just as in real life, the mission was a total failure that would hurt Germany the rest of the war. Still, we had a great time. I really want this game! Thanks, Jerry, for putting on such a good show and being a gracious host!

The Price of Victory - Turn 1

While I know that many guys are happy playing many of the popular World War II miniature rules that are available, it's no secret that I've been having a difficult time finding a set to handle a platoon per side that I really like. I want something that makes me face all the hard minute-by-minute decisions real commanders had to make. I want it nail-biting to the end, with victory never guaranteed. I want to feel for my soldiers. You know. The basics. :-)

I Create A Game That Works? No Way!
A couple months ago in a fit of frustration temped with rage, I threw up my hands, sat at my computer, and began banging out a set of rules that featured what I would like to see. I even came up with a name for them: "The Price of Victory." (I tried to avoid using words like "band of" or "brothers" or "heroes" in the title--the world cannot bear the weight of another WWII game with those words in its title! However, "Hero Brothers Band" did strike a chord with me. ... Thank you, I'll be here all week. Tip your server.)

Over the Christmas break, I was tinkering with "The Price of Victory" at my computer when I smacked myself in the head. Idea! Why not set up a table using my 15mm figures and scenery that have been languishing in a box for ages? For some reason, pushing metal about a table gives a better perspective than pushing a pencil across paper.

After a few games of tinkering solo, I had myself a set of rules to play. We gathered together the League (ok, it was just Agent Abel and me, but then we are the League, aren't we?) and got our game on, so to speak. I played Americans the first game and then Germans the second game. Instead of me explaining how the rules work, I'll show you with a bit of an AAR from one of the games.

"Not So Quiet on the Obscure Front" (The title was my son's idea when he saw the table set up. He's a WWI guy, finding WWII a bit too pedestrian for his tastes. Uh huh. Yep. So he says to us, "So how's the fighting going on the Obscure Front today?" Sigh. I think he takes after his mother. LOL. Anyway, let's begin the game!)

The game is set up. A bit abstract, but sometimes ya gotta work with what ya got.

The Game Turn: The game is a series of turns. There are no phases or anything. Just a turn. When one turn ends, players remove any markers needing to be removes, and a new turn begins. Of course, a lot can happen during a turn!

Units: Each figure is one soldier. Figures form into units based on their nationalities and the time period. A unit could be a single figure, such as a medic, or it could be an entire squad of riflemen with a BAR and SMG tossed in. It doesn't matter. The rules refer to everything as a unit, though sometimes in this AAR I call them squads and such for flavor.

Initiative: Player initiative is playing card driven because it's easy, fun, and oh so chaotic--just like the battlefield. Standard 52-card deck here with two jokers. Flip a card, see who has initiative. Player 1 gets black cards, Player 2 gets red cards, and Jokers end the turn. Simple enough. (Plus, I like collecting playing cards. BTW I have a neat deck of WWII airplane recognition playing cards. I kept my Scooby-do card in the closet.)

Turn 1: Round 1 - American

The American Force: A reinforced Platoon with 6 units

After some friendly banter about who will beat whom, the first initiative card is turned over for the first turn. Black. The American player has the initiative. He is advancing his platoon in V formation through some light wounds on the edge of the village, with 1st and 2nd Squad on point, 3rd Squad in reserve, and a LMG unit looking to set up some fire for support. The Platoon Lt and his Sergeant form the force's Command Unit, which is walking a bit behind but close enough for his messengers to reach his squads. The medic (a 1-figure unit) is hanging by the Command Unit. The American objective is to take and hold the church, which sits in the center of an important crossroads.

The American player announces that he will try to activate one of his infantry units, 1st Squad, to move forward. He needs to roll 7+ on 2d6 to activate the unit. All Regular units activate on 7+. Veteran units on 6+, Elite on 5+, but Green units on 8+. The 1st Squad is within 9" of the Platoon Commander, so he gets a +1 bonus for being within Command Range of his force's commander. The unit is totally fresh, no Combat Fatigue markers or Action markers on it, yet. They're not abandoning any wounded figures to the enemy, so no penalty there. Excellent. Just as it should be on Turn 1! He rolls an 8, adds the + 1 command bonus, for a total of 9. The squad activates, understanding the battleplan to keep advancing for now.

The American player now rolls for movement, which is random. He rolls 2d6 and gets a 1 and 4. Since a unit can move up to the highest rolling die in inches, the unit can move up to 4" as its action, which it does. The unit then ends its action, so the player places a small Action marker next to the unit. (He could use an off-table roster to record this or his memory, but we like to use small markers to make life easier in our old age!)

Turn 1: Round 2 - American
Another initiative card is flipped. Black. American again. Now, the American player could try to activate the 1st Squad again. After all, a unit can perform a maximum of three actions a turn. However, each Action marker will add a -1 die roll penalty to his unit's Activation roll. The American player decides best to keep his force together as best he can before the shooting starts. He makes an Activation roll for 2nd squad, makes the roll, and has the unit move forward. He rolls 2d6 for 3 and 5, discards the 3, and moves 2nd Squad the full 5", just a bit ahead of 1st Squad. He places an Action marker on the unit, ending its activation.

Turn 1: Round 3 - German
Flip an initiative card. Red. German player has initiative. Yipee! Unfortunately, there's not much to do since he is defending in place. He has two infantry squads in place. He is waiting for the third squad to arrive--during their mad rush and confusion to defend the village once they realized the Americans were landing on Normandy they lost sight of the truck carrying the third squad. Hopefully it wasn't captured.

He has divided each of his two infantry units into two independent units--an LMG unit and a rifle unit--giving him a total of four infantry units plus a Command Unit to activate for now. One LMG unit is in the bell tower while its parent rifle unit is in the cemetery to the rear of the church, facing the enemy. The other LMG unit is barricaded in the middle of the street, while its parent unit is in the farmhouse to the lower right. (We pretended that when it arrived prior to the game, the force encountered  brief partisan resistance from the farmhouse, which is easily put down with an assault.)

The German player announces that he will be activating his rifle unit in farmhouse and that they will move across the courtyard toward the far wall. His units are all Regular, just like the American player's units, so he will need to roll 7+ on 2d6 to activate. The unit is too far away from the force's Command Unit, which is in the church cemetery, so no +1 Command bonus this time! No other modifiers apply, so he rolls the dice and gets a total of 3. Ach! (Or, insert your own German cuss word here.) The unit fails its activation roll and is marked as Spent, able to do nothing.

Spent Units: A Spent unit either has performed its maximum of three actions for the turn or fails an Activation roll during the tun. A Spent unit cannot be activated the rest of the turn. In this case, the German player reasoned that his so called soldiers were too busy getting frisky with the house frau and the pantry to hear the orders being barked.

Turns & Time: A turn is only a few minutes of real time, so you can see how this would make sense. Also, now the American player knows that German unit is Spent and cannot activate. The info does him no good since the enemy unit is too far out of sight and range to be any threat for a long time. When a closer unit enemy unit becomes Spent, we rationalize this by saying that our soldiers can tell when something ain't right with the enemy. Why are they not moving? What is going on there? Perhaps the player will take advantage of those Spent enemy units and lay down some fire or try to move through the Spent unit's field of fire while the Spent unit cannot react. Just remember that all movement is random. Initiative is random. The Joker can end a turn at any time. And Activations are rolled for. Push your luck if you like, but be prepared to pay the consequences if your luck runs out!

No Opportunity Fire: Here is where no opportunity fire comes into play because it is baked into the initiative, activation, and movement mechanics. Imagine your opponent decided to move one of his units through your LMG unit's field of fire. One of your opponent's units is caught in the street at the end of its action, not having enough movement to make it into cover because it faltered while moving. (The player rolled double 1s when he needed at least a 3 to reach cover!) Lucky for you, you own the next drawn initiative card. Your LMG has a clear line of fire to the enemy unit in the open--easy pickings. It also has a line of fire to an enemy LMG that has been harassing you from the wood edge, and it looks like another enemy unit is preparing to assault a key objective. Which unit do you shoot at? Or do you withdraw to safer lines while you still can? Perhaps you'll get lucky with initiative draws and activation rolls, being able to act two or three times before the enemy can. Perhaps your opponent will get unlucky again, leaving his unit in the open to activate a different unit. See, it's all about prioritizing decisions. No need for "opportunity fire" rules. It's baked in. It also creates many tense moments!


Turn 1: Round 4 - German
Another red card is drawn, so the Germans have the initiative again. Still waiting and watching what the Americans will do, the German player is down to three units since the one unit is Spent for the turn: his Command Unit, his LMG unit in the tower, and his rifle unit in the cemetery. He decides to give his rifle unit in the cemetery a Pass action, which automatically gives the unit an Action marker, ending its activation for the round but keeping it available until later in the turn, when it might be needed,

At Will Actions: He also had the option of giving one of his units an At Will action. However, there was no need just yet. There are only two At Will actions: Rally and First Aid. Actually, a unit can normally perform either of these actions when rolling to activate. However, when a player says a unit will perform one of these two actions as an At Will action, that can be the one and only action that the unit performs that turn.

So why bother then Rallying a unit only once as an At Will action when you could possibly Rally a unit three times in a turn? Well, how lucky do you feel and how desperate is the situation? There might be times that a unit suffers so many Combat Fatigue markers from taking fire that there is practically no way to activate the unit. For every two of those markers, which we shorten to Fatigue, gives the unit a -1 die roll penalty on its activation roll. Five Fatigure would incur a -2 penalty. So taking one guaranteed action to Rally off the Fatigue might be a good decision. Just another one of those decisions you'll have to make--push your luck and keep firing on the enemy instead of trying to Rally off those couple Fatigue markers, hoping to eliminate him before your boys become shot up again and take more casualties? You decide. (We'll cover Fatigue next time when we get into combat.)

First Aid does not remove Fatigue. Instead, the soldiers in the unit take a few moments to try patching up all their Wounded comrades. If lucky, their wounds will be lighter than thought so the soldier can return to action or be patched up enough as to not be a burden, finding a safe spot to wait out the action for more help. (Leaving wounded soldiers behind while withdrawing from an enemy is not a good idea! The other soldiers in the unit might not like that, refusing to move.) A nearby Medic Unit might help increase the odds. If unlucky, the soldier dies from his wounds and is removed from the game. Still, it's always good to check. But when is a good time for First Aid? That is another decision to make?

Turn 1: The Rest of the Turn
Play keeps going like this. Initiative cards are drawn, players try to activate units, some units activate while others fail. The American player keeps most his force together, though 3rd Squad tends to lag behind. His Command Unit advances in step with the other two rifle units and the LMG unit. The German player bides his time, passing for the first turn. Unfortunately, he wishes the first unit he tried to activate were better at following orders, but such is the Fog of War. Better luck next turn.

Command Unit Activation: This is a good time to mention Command Units. A Command Unit does not need to roll for Acivation. It does so automatically and can do so up to three times, like any other infantry unit. However, Command Units do little other than moving. Their job is to make sure the troops are carrying out the battle plan. Command Units on their own cannot attack or be attacked by direct fire. (They can be attacked by snipers and indirect fire, but that is another issue.) They can attach to a unit, which helps the unit during Rally attempts more so than it would being near the unit. Once attached to a unit, the commander can begin attacking, but it can also be attacked. So attaching can be risky, though sometimes one must lead from the front.

End of Turn: The turn ends when a Joker is revealed or there are no more units left to activate, or when both players say that their remaining units are doing nothing but passing anyway, such as when there are only Command Units left that are going nowhere.

The Americans at end of Turn 1. Not too bad. Unfortunately, the LMG unit is lagging a bit.

So here is where we leave it. In this post you got to see how the activation and movement works. You also got a glimpse and command and control and well as some decisions players will have to make.

The Thrilling Next Installment!
The next installment will continue the game and rules (as I find time to write the post!). The Americans will continue their advance, probably coming into weapons range real soon. Will they be able to find the enemy, fix him with fire, and then flank him? Will the German reinforcements arrive in time? Will that German squad ever get out of the farmhouse? Will their three machineguns make small work of the American's advance, repelling them back to the beaches? We will see in the next thrilling installment of "The Price of Victory," when we look at how combat works.

Stretlets Germans in Stalingrad

I was poking around Stretets' website this evening looking at their 1/72 figures because the scale has always had a strong fascination for me. Stretlets is an interesting company that comes out with all sorts of crazy sets. Some seem good, while others seem a bit shoddy. And the can have the freakiest box covers! Anyway, I checked out their new Germans in Stalingrad set. I will admit that these figures sure look the business, unlike what I've seen in other scales. I get cold and tired just looking at them! I thought some folks here might find them interesting. Am I going into 1/72 now? I'm thinking about it, especially for the size, cost, and quality. I am tempted to get these, that's for sure. (Yeah, it's been a slow summer around here!)

15mm Zvezda WWII German Opel Blitz

Earlier this year I picked up a pair of Zvezda'a 1/100 scale WWII German Opel Blitz trucks to use in skirmish games with my Peter Pig figures. The kits sat and sat in the closet until Saturday afternoon, when I finally decided to put one of them together.

Operation Barbarossa 1941
Zvezda is well known for making excellent 1/72 scale figures and has been one of the main forces driving my constant interest in that scale. The Opel Blitz truck, along with other German and Russian vehicles and armor, is designed for Zvezda's line of WWII board games. The figures and artillery are 1/72, the vehicles are 1/100, and the  planes are 1/44.

Not Normal Styrene Plastic

The plastic Zvezda uses for the Opel Blitz is not hard styrene like you would find in other armor kits. Instead, it's a medium-density plastic more akin to the kind used in plastic 1/72 figures. As a result, it flexes a bit and can be a bit trickier to cut and trim. There was only minimal flash at spots that cleaned up easily. I used my sprue cutter to remove the pieces from the sprue and a fresh #11 Xacto blade to clean up what remained. Just watch out for feathering the plastic. Since the plastic is soft, I also discovered the hard way that filing and sanding didn't work too well. The kit is "snap-tite," but I still glued the pieces after test fitting them. Testors liquid cement worked great.

Building the Kit
The kit instructions are all visual and dead easy to follow. The kits builds easily enough but does not have anything near the quality of a 1/72 kit from Dragon or, I would guess, a 15mm kit from Plastic Soldier Company. After all, these little Zvezda trucks are meant as game pieces a 12-year old can snap together easily. As a result, the cab section has slight gaps where some of the pieces meet. I tried clamping these pieces after gluing them, but had only slight luck with the gaps. Oh well. I can't complain too much for $3. While in the box, some of the undercarriage struts got badly bent to the point of breaking. I made sure to glue each strut to the bottom of the truck bed. Because the truck flexed a bit, I also glued the back of the cab to the front of the bed, which stopped that from happening. I left the canopy unglued so I could remove it from the bed when needed.

What's Next to Do
The next step is to wash the kit in soapy water (I forgot to do this when on the sprue!) and paint it. The kit comes with a stat card for the game but doesn't include any decals. I assume finding some decals won't be hard

So there you go. A nice cheap kit you can use as an objective or just plain line-of-sight-blocking scenery. I plan to use at least one truck as an objective as in Call of Duty 2-player missions, such as somewhere in the town is a truck loaded with explosives. Find it and destroy it before it's too late. Or steal the Nazi's hoard of gold, load it into the truck, and drive off into the sunset. Wait a minute. That last bit wasn't in Call of Duty 2, was it? ;-)

Have a Happy New Year!

Of course, I only thought of snapping some photos midway into the project. So here you can see the box, instructions, and my progress at the moment. I'm using my OTT lamp for lighting. I always use a folded vinyl tablecloth when painting and modeling. It cushions my forearms, helping to prevent pain..See, I have pinched nerves in my elbows, along with carpal tunnel in both hands, a bone defect in my right hand causing tendon pain if I move it left and right, and plain old shaky hands. My son says my entire life is irony--the last thing I should be doing is modeling and painting figures! (If you watch me build models or paint, you'll hear me mutter mantras like "hold still," "don't shake," and "that's what they make touch up paint for." Wow, this was a long photo caption that got a bit derailed!

Assembled at last! All in all, it took me only 30 minutes of easy work, and I worked slowly.

Game angle view of truck and a Peter Pig figure. Looks fine from this angle.

From the side, the based figure is a bit taller than it should be, but gamers are used to this when using unbased vehicles. These vehicles will fit perfectly with my 1/100 Landmark buildings.

Road to Victory 2012: German Weapons

I forgot to add some of the other German reenactor photos I shot when we first arrived. I have to paint up some snipers, so the top photo will come in handy. And who doesn't like a machine gun? Photos of the American camps and jeeps coming next.

A German MG34.

So that's what they kept in the gas mask cans--balsa wood airplanes!

Road to Victory 2012: Intro & German Entrenchments

We had a great time last month at this year's Road to Victory military reenactment benefiting the planned Central Florida World War II Museum. The weather was warmer than normal, but clouds and a strong breeze make the day comfortable. There weren't as many reenactors and spectators there on Saturday as there had been last year because just south of us in Saint Cloud was a large ACW reenactment that same weekend. (I wished I could have been at both the same day!) I'm not sure how or why two large events were scheduled for the same weekend, but it seemed to cannibalize the RtV event quite a bit. (To see photos from last year's RtV, check the WWII Reference link in the Archives.)

So What Was Different This Year?
Quite a bit was different, which often is needed to keep everything fresh and fun. I was happy to see a much better food service than last year, with a large area for grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. The funnel cakes were back as well--yum! Still, they need some tables and chairs for folks to eat at. But that is a minor gripe.

On the reenactment side, the ACW fellows were missing from our show, preferring to spend their time down in Saint Cloud, which is understandable. I'm sure the local subdivision didn't miss the ACW artillery setting off the car alarms all day! The M-8 Greyhound was missing, but there were more awesome jeeps than last year.

This year, for a donation, you could have the Germans arrest someone and hold them prisoner for a while. The German officer would suddenly pull up in his motorcycle, accost the accused 'criminal,' toss him in the sidecar, berate him endlessly, and then haul him off to the 'jail' (aka food stand tent), while taking a rather lengthy trip around the reenactment. Sadly, we didn't learn about the motorcycle part until just before the battle, which ended the day for us because rain was coming, otherwise we would have done it.

A few new organizations also set up this year. I'll be posting info about them as well, including photos of a highly-detailed 1/72 Gato submarine. I think you'll like that!

Anyway, I only have a little time this weekend to post something, so onto some photos!


German Entrenchments
When we arrived for the opening at 10am, we popped over to the German encampment, which was much more interesting than last year. Here we see some young Germans digging entrenchments for their machineguns, laying land mines, and stinging barbed wire  Yes, they dug those holes by hand! They didn't use them for Saturday's battle, which was on the other side of the field.

Road to Victory: The Thrilling Conclusion

Forgive me, but I thought I had already posted the conclusion to the Road to Victory series! Since it has been such a long time since our last installment of this D-Day reenactment battle, below is a little refresher of where we last left the action at the beginning of the engagement.

Two young French partizans have just wandered into the SS road block during the Normandy invasion. Luckily, their papers are in order and are allowed to pass.

 

Watching the German road block from a nearby copse of trees on the enemy's left flank, lead elements of the American recon force watch the partizans quickly leave the area, while the enemy troops continue to deploy. The outnumbered GI's will have to hold tight until the rest of their force along with an M-8 Greyhound can catch up.

Will the evil Germans repel the advancing US forces, pushing them back into the sea, or will the brave GI's show the Krauts what for? Let's find out!

"Jeder macht schnell! Enemy auf die rechte Flanke!" -- Everyone hurry! Enemy on the right flank! -- Suddenly, the Americans open fire not from the left flank but from the right flank! The German checkpoint forces, including a lone Fallschirmjäger in the foreground, quickly return fire.

The Americans on the right take heavy fire and severe casualties but refuse to give up the fight!

It's a crossfire! The American recon forces along with their Greyhound suddenly advance out of the trees on the German's left flank,opening fire on the confused enemy, who now is being attacked from both sides!

While the Greyhound on the left flank provides covering fire, a brave medic tries to save the wounded infantrymen from the burning jeep on the right flank.

"Nicht schießen! Wir geben auf!" -- Don't shoot! We give up! -- Though both sides fight hard and inflict many casualties, the Americans win the day.

Taken by one of the young partizans and then placed in the bottom of a shoebox in the back of a closet, this photo remains a testament to the brave Allied soldiers, ordinary men, who liberated Europe 65+ years ago on the Road to Victory, giving us the freedom we enjoy today. 

(The photo above in its original color.)

Road to Victory: Reenactor Displays

With all the confusion of the past few months, I forgot to finish posting the rest of our photos from the Road to Victory military reenactment that took place here in Central Florida. I'll start this evening with some of the reenactor displays.

Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 39th Infantry Living History Group was there. This is a new group being established here in Central Florida. The 2nd Ranger Battalion Company F had a nice tent display. The 197th Guards were supposed to be there, but I don't recall seeing any Soviet reenactors, which is a shame because I could have used them as inspiration for my Black Tree Design Soviets! Others were there as well, but I can't recall them. March was a long time ago!

Over the weekend, I'll finish with the American vehicles (a jeep and M-8 Greyhound) and then the conclusion of the big battle. I apologize for forgetting to post these pics! You can check the older posts as well: Bren Gun and 130. Panzer Lehr.

Road to Victory: 130. Panzer Lehr Division

It was beautiful weather today for a military reenactment: not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze, and temps in the mid-80s. Granted, it was a bit warm to be wearing a wool uniform. As one of the organizers said, WWII uniforms weren't made to be worn in Florida.

We arrived shortly after 10 o'clock this morning. The festivities were in full swing. Since my wife was feeling under the weather, it was just Jeremy and myself today. We were hoping to take our neighbor, Bill Peebles, but he was out of town this weekend. Bill is an 86-year-old WWII vet who served in the 36th "Texas" Infantry Division from 1940 to 1943 as a .30cal machine gunner. He was in North Africa, landed in Sicily, fought at Anzio and into Rome, and then landed in the South of France. He ended his service as a gunner in the Air Commandos. He was wounded five times and survived being shot down over Germany. I'll have a special blog post soon about Bill and what he did for Jeremy a few weeks ago.

130. Panzer Lehr Division Reenactors
This evening's photos are of the 130. Panzer Lehr Division 5. Kompanie, a reenactment group here in Central Florida. (Click here for their website.) They have a sidecar and a "mobile" museum. The museum has a large collection of authentic artifacts, many of which were brought back by US servicemen after the war. Since I collect china, I enjoyed looking at china and silverware that once belonged to Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun. A bit creepy to think they ate off the same plates I was looking at. Anyway, I bet you all are more interested in the hardware, so on with the photos!

MG42 and ammo boxes.

Motorcycle and sidecar.

In a rare moment, a German commander gives a friendly lift to a couple of American GI's on the promise of giving them some fresh strudel and hot kaffee. He might have been lying...

 

The Mobile World War II Museum

This original PIAT caught my attention. I can see why it took a brave soldier to fire one of these!

The German's encampment.

The kompanie lines up for a weapons demonstration.

Two young French partizans wander into the SS road block during the Normandy invasion. Luckily, their papers were in order and were allowed to pass.

Watching the German road block and waiting to attack are the lead elements of an American recon force. They'll have to hold the line until the M-8 Greyhound and rest of the force can catch up. Stay tuned for more reenactment photos, including American WWII units, Signal Corps, Vietnam, Union Civil War artillery, and modern equipment. And the battle at the road block!