Easter Big Game - Grave to Nijmegen - Days 3 and 4

Easter Monday past by very quickly and I failed to take enough pictures of the action. At last Guards Armoured had arrived but their progress was slowed by having to clear Grave. In the east, yet more German reinforcements were arriving so there would be a lot of pressure there.

Yet more German artillery

Guards Armoured on the move after having cleared Grave

Assault on Nijmegen, mainly from the east, but Guards Armoured provided a bit of support to the south (the tanks couldn't move off road)

German defenders view

Continuing the assault

End of game pictures - the German defenders of Nijmegen have been counter attacking, strongly supported by their guns and mortars. Over in the east Beek has fallen to them and they are pushing through from there towards Nijmegen. Overall a German victory.

finally, curtesy of Don, a picture of all the participants

The motley crew involved from L to R - Me (Will McNally), Will Morriss, Alan McCoubrey, Colin Rumford, Don McHugh, Rob Beswick and Ian Willer.

Easter Big Game - Grave to Nijmegen - Days 1 and 2

Sunday was split in two with Day 1(17th Sept 1944) played in the morning and day 2 (18th) in the evening

505th Paras with assorted supports and a useless Corps HQ south of Groesbeek preparing to move out

504th Paras heading towards Grave with some covering forces detached in the direction of Nijmegen (this was my command)

German heavy artillery, ex Russian 152mm guns, that over the coming days would cause enormous damage to the 505th and 506th Paras. Lovely models by Alan with the towed versions in the woods

506th Paras heading towards Wyler

Preparing for an assault on Grave bridge, it's a long way and the defenders are dug in

"Boy" Browning poncing around in Mook

Day 1 ended with me clearing the bridge defenders at some cost but not able to cross the bridge in time.

Day 2 505th Paras dug in around Groesbeek

506th still attempting to capture Wyler

German reinforcements arrive from the east and also from the north for the defenders of Nijmegen

Yet more

Across the bridge, the defenders of Grave have concentrated on the side of Grave out of sight of my mortar and artillery observers.

Our reinforements 325th Glider Infantry and our artillery.

Close of Day 2 - US forces gathering to the east of Nijmegen and all the buildings on that side have been ruined by artillery with no better targets available.

But what happened at Grave? The defenders caused enough casualties on my assaulting force to force a morale check, and if anything but a 1 is needed, please fill in the rest...

German defenders settling in in Nijmegen, it's going to be a tough fight

506th have still not taken Wyler, but the German were badly mauled.

505th are dug-in in something of a salient

Glider Infantry and some Paras have worked their way through the Groesbeek heights towards Nijmegen

German artillery north of the Waal, the 105mm's are actually off table and the 88mm has had minimal sucess firing indirect

The German defenders waiting in Nijmegen

Now out for a meal and a good nights sleep!?

Easter Big Game - Grave to Nijmegen - Setup

On Saturday we met at the Games Bunker in Weston Super Mare to set up the terrain for the game to give us a quick start for gaming on Saturday. These are pictures of the table as finally set up.

Eastern end - Wyler, behind is Beek and to the left Groesbeek

Eastern end - Groesbeek

Mook left foreground and Groesbeek to the right

Beek

NE view of Nijmegen

NW view of Nijmegen

SW view of Nijmegen (the sun was a problem for taking pictures)

Grave and Grave bridge

A quick check of boats crossing the Waal

Then we moved on to doing the paratroop drops, these are mine near Grave

Except Fox company south of the Grave bridge

One stand rather too close for comfort

Another drop, a bit of a fuzzy picture

A last view of Nijmegen

A final view down the table

Progress against plan 1Q24

A reasonable start to the year with 650 items completed.

Compared to my much looser plan than usual I have done the following:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible - underway
2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection - underway, but I've not seen anything to tempt me into a new period yet
3. Maintain or ideally reduce the stash - ongoing
4. Exploit the 3D Printer - I restarted the printer, but as the temperature was still low the failure rate was higher than normal, so I'll leave it for now and work on files to print
5. Enjoy Games & Shows - underway with trips to Vapnartak and Hammerhead plus the recent Easter big game

Amplifying the above:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible.

• Start on the Napoleonics (this may take a couple of years to do) - I've made a start on the British - British are now well underway
• WW2 Winter Russians - not started yet, but I've bought the necessary figures
• Early War German Fallschirmjager - not started yet

2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection in no particular order

• 15mm DBA Italian wars army (for the forthcoming inter-club tournament) - bought a Hungarian army but it didn't have all the necessary options, so I will use some borrowed "Florentines" for the game with some additions
• 28mm Female Gunfighters - not started yet
• Add a unit of WW2 Japanese SNLF - completed
• Extra units for the Crusades - not started yet
• French Dragoons for Egypt 1800 - not started yet
• Modify the SYW Austrian Grenz to use for Prussian Frei Korps - not started yet
• Some extra Aztecs for skirmish games - not started yet, but I have trialed a couple of 3D printed figures
• Various figures and terrain need for Montgisard 1177 - not started yet
• WW2 BEF infantry (I plan to 3D print the extra needed figures, etc.) - not started yet

3. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures

• Re-assess each existing period, army, and units to consider if I am really going to use them - not started yet
• Reduce the stash (figure and plastic bits box) from 4 crates to 3 - not started yet
• review my 1/300 collection and decide its fate - not started yet

4. 3D Printing - the bulk of my immediate needs have been printed so I will work on

• gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - not started yet
• components for houses and other terrain - not started yet
• work on how to make/modify files to meet my specific needs - underway, I've enhanced my 1/80 Waco and I'm currently working on a similar bath-tubbed Horsa glider

5. Gaming

• Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - underway only one weekend missed so far due to other commitments
• Attend at least as many shows as last year - underway with trips to Vapnartak and Hammerhead plus the recent Easter big game

On the workbench - April 2024

Just finished an Easter big game so pictures to follow soon. I'll be spending quite a bit of time this month visiting friends and family so I don't expect to get as much done as usual, but I'll be working on

• Rework/Rebasing my remaining Napoleonic British Infantry
• Finish some more Saracen Infantry
• Maybe start rebasing my Napoleonic Portuguese Infantry
• Maybe start painting some of the 3D models I have printed

Kings German Legion Infantry - rebased

The first batch of my Napoleonic British infantry to be replaced was my Kings German Legion Infantry Brigade. In addition to rebasing I also added in the missing command figures from the HaT Napoleonic British Command set. This also included carefully swapping over the old hand painted flag to a new standard bearer.

Napoleonic British Cavalry rebasing - complete!

A lot of debate on my part about the rebasing of this large unit of Light Dragoons, in the end I decided on a compromise, the originals were all Airfix RHA officer figures and looked very old style as they were all the same pose. So I decided to mix in the Strelets British Cavalry in Egypt set. But I still kept all the common rider poses in one unit, but mixed up the horses.

At the front of the pair is the new 14th Light Dragoons with mixed horses, followed by the older 16th Light Dragoons. To the left is my new 26th Light Dragoons for Egypt in 1800 with their French grey uniforms again containing a mix of figures

Ideally if I had thought to purchase another box of the British Cavalry in Egypt when they were available, they would have been far better.