Ground Crew Markers Work in Progress

Prior to the GAZALA game all my ground crew markers were on irregular sizes of bases, and not very many of them at that. Recycling some existing 30mm bases, and adding a few "Brits Drinking Tea" from Peter Pig with spare Old Glory Italians, gave me 24 ground crew markers. This should be enough to get a dozen squadrons into the air on each side of the battle.

Markers like these give plenty of scope for using up odd figures that can't find a home anywhere else. they also give plenty of scope for vignettes. Tim Gow has some nice examples of the art in his ground crew.

Guarding stuff to stop it walking off. Brits above, Italians below.
 

Tapping stuff to see if it really is disarmed!

Fire crew on standby. The chaps on the left are from Peter Pig's old Sci-Fi range.

Pin Markers

Fed up of finding ball pins stuck to your fingers? Hit markers come to the rescue! To save having to ladle heaps of pins onto your brigade or even division after a particularly heavy round of fighting, this marker doubles as a divisional first aid post and an on-table record.

The green (light), blue (medium) and black (heavy) pin records units. The white pin records tens.

It is easier to count up hits at a glance when a morale calculation needs to be made.

When the unit reorganises, black pins are still stuck directly onto the stands.
Your friends can use them for their own troops, who may not take kindly to pins chipping their bases. 

 Pin (hit) markers prior to varnishing and base texturing.

I have made the first nine first aid markers to record hits on formations and a pair of ammo marker to record remaining ammunition. Just remember that ammo counts down to zero and hits count up to whatever the unit maximum is.

It doesn't matter how you model the marker. A free stand will work, but the neatest way is to make it an integral part of the model. Cunning players will want to put a canvas tarpaulin over the marker to screen it from enemy recce! Brummy Stokes , who was last seen reading the Racing Times  in the January 2012 Archives, is probably already working out how to turn a fast bob or two from this idea!

Monthly Archives: January 2012

31/01/2012

Royal Romanian Air Force

I have hived the Romanian air assets off into a seperate post to make it easier to read
Under operational control of 4 Fliegercorps :

Royal Romanian Air Force  (GAL)

Gen Celareanu
Regt 1   
                           (1) SM.79B, (1) PLZ 37B, (1) He 111H3

Regt 2  

               (1) Potez 63 B 2, (1) Bloch 210

 

Fighter Regt 1     

(1) He 112B, (1) Bf 109E3/4, (1)IAR-80/A

Army Cooperation Regt 2          

(1) IAR-37, (1) IAR-38, (1) IAR-39

July 1942 Acquisitions from Germany

(2) Bf-109E-4

(2) He-111H

(1) SM-79 II

(1) Ju87B

1943 Acquisitions from Germany :

(3) Bf-109G

(1) Bf-109G-6

(4) Ju-87D

(3) Ju-88

(1) IAR-80

 

 

31/01/2012

Royal Hungarian Air Force

Here is the missing Hungarian air component for Barbarossa :

Royal Hungarian Air Force

LtGen Magyarossy
Fighter Group 1 
                                   (1) CR. 32

Fighter Group 2  
                                  (1) CR. 42 or Re. 2000*

Bomber Group 4                                   

(1) Ca. 135b, (1) Ju 86K-2SR

Recon Squadrons
                                 (1) He 46, (1) WM21

Long Range Recon Group
                    (1) He 170A

October, 1942 acquisitions from Germany

(1)* Bf 109F-4  to re-equip Re 2000 unit.

(1) Ju 87D-1
(1) Ju 87D-5

(5) Me 210

Sources as per the previous post

 

 

30/01/2012

Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front

This year, I revisited my NQM Orbats for the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front. This does not include the Feltluftgau (Special staff groups for controlling logistics in the Field) as even I recognise that an interest in logistics can become obsessive at some point The orbat will of course be tweaked as I have taken 1941 as my starting point.  As ever, the (bold numbers in brackets) are the number of models needed to play the campaign with NQM.

Fw 190 Jagdgruppe of 4 squadrons

Luftflotte 1

GeneralOberst Keller
Kampfgruppe zur besonderen Verwendung (KGr zbV)106 – (1) Ju 52

Fliegerkorps I

General der Flieger Foerster
Kampfgruppe (KG)1                          (2) Ju 88A
KG 76                                                 (3) Ju 88A
KG 77                                                 (3) Ju 88A
Jagdgruppe (JG) 54                            (4) Bf 109F

FliegerFuehrer Ostsee

Oberst von Wild
Aufklaerungsgruppe        (1) He 60 or Bv 138 or He 114 or AR-196
Kuestenfliegergruppe (KuFlGr)806     (1) Ju 88A

Luftflotte 2

GeneralFeldmarshall  Kesselring
KG zbV 1                                            (1) Ju 52
JG 53                                                   (3) Bf 109F

Fliegerkorps II

General der Flieger  Foerster
KG 3                                                   (2) Ju 88A
KG 53                                                 (3) He 111H
SturmKampfGruppe (SKG) 77          (3) Ju 87B
SKG 210                                             (2) Bf 110
JG 51                                                   (5) Bf 109F
KG zbV 102                                        (1) Ju52
KG zbV 105                                        (1) Ju52
In Nov 1941 the HQs of Luftflotte 2 and II Fliegerkorps were sent to the Mediterranean theatre,

Fliegerkorps VIII

GenOb  Dr Richthofen
KG 2                                       (3) Do 17Z
StG 1                                       (2) Ju 87B
StG 2                                       (1) Ju 87B, (1) Ju 87R, (1) Bf 109E
Zerstoerergruppe(ZG) 53       (3) Bf 110C or E
JG 27                                       (3) Bf 110E or F
KG zbV 9                                (1) Ju 52

Flakkorps I

GenMaj  von Axthein
FlakRegt 101                           (1) 20mm Flak, (2) 88mm Flak
FlakRegt 103                           (1) 20mm Flak, (2) 88mm Flak

Luftflotte 4

GenOb Loehr
KG zbV 50                                         (1) Ju 52
Deutsche Luftwaffe Mission in Rumaenien
JG 52                                                   (1) Bf 109F
KG zbV 104                                        (1) Ju 52
Seenotstaffel 8                                     (1) He 59

Fliegerkorps IV

GenLt Pflugbeil
KG 27                                                  (4) He 111H
JG 77                                                   (1) Bf 109E

Fliegerkorps V

GenLt Ritter von Greim
KG 51                                                 (3) Ju 88A
KG 54                                                 (2) Ju 88A
KG 55                                                 (3) He 111H
JG 3                                                    (3) Bf 109F

Flakkorps II

Gen der Flak Dessloch
FlakRegt 6               (1) 20mm Flak, (3) 88mm Flak
FlakRegt GG           (3) 20mm Flak, (2) 88mm Flak, (1) 37mm Flak
 Under operational control of 4 Fliegercorps :

Royal Romanian Air Force Air Combat Group (GAL)

See following post for GAL


Sources :
 http://uncleted.jinak.cz/minorafe.htm#hungary (Accessed 31/01/2012)
http://niehorster.orbat.com/011_germany/41-oob/luftwaffe/__okl.html (Accessed 30/01/2012)
http://niehorster.orbat.com/015_hungary/44_oob/corps-air.html (Accessed 31/01/2012)
http://niehorster.orbat.com/031_rumania/41-06/_airforce.html (Accessed 31/01/2012)

Boyd, A. (1977) The Soviet Air Force since 1918. London, Macdonald and Jane’s.

16/01/2012

Have Fun Modelling Logistics

Or … “Sergeant Bilko goes to War”

Troops work frantically through the night somewhere east of TOBRUK to crossload fuel from army to corps transport

Combat mechanisms in most wargames are complex, yet Wargamers enjoy rolling dice to calculate them. There is no reason for much simpler logistics mechanisms to be dull or tedious. As long as they are an integral part of the game, they should not slow it down. If logistics slow a game down, they will not be played and if dull, players won’t play the game.  Simple really. So how does NQM do it?

Army Railhead somewhere east of TOBRUK with no rails in sight, but lots of trucks. Note the Junior General truck printed onto card in the foreground

Firstly, logistics are modelled. Figure gamers love modelling, and I’m no exception, even with my dodgy modelling skills. The previous post but one showed a logistic train from railhead to fighting unit.
The only complexity not previously discussed is that in pursuit, motorised units use 2 POLs (Divisional Fuel  Loads)  per day and no CUs (Divisional Ammo Load) or FUs (Artillery Load), as they are racing along in pursuit of a defeated enemy. In defence, up to 2 CUs (because the defenders will almost certainly have to fight off more than 3 attacks) and as many FUs  (usually one) as can be brought forward or have been stockpiled. Likewise in attack, up to 2 FUs of artillery will be fired off to soften up the defenders and 1 CU of ammo expended as the division goes in.

Sergeant Bilko's English cousin WO1 "Brummy" Stokes reads the Racing Times in his supply depot. "Want any jam mate?"

I have showed divisional and corps supply dumps being modelled. Most players will not want to bother with the calculations of how many  CUs, FUs, and POLs are in these dumps. If you want the full flavour of desert warfare however, then modelling the flow of supplies moving forward is very instructive, and helps to explain why battles were followed by long lulls of apparent inactivity as the logistic troops raced to build up supply dumps and repair damaged fighting vehicles.
Page 18 shows how this works … so how were the sums arrived at :

WARNING – SIMPLE MATHS START 

A division consumes somewhere between 200-400tons of supplies a day* split broadly into Ammo (CUs), Artillery Ammo (FUs) and Fuel (POL). If each NQM model represents 30 trucks, then a 3-tonner can lift 90 tons and a 5-tonner 150 tons, so say 1 model per 100 tons. Conveniently, most NQM divisions have 3 trucks to supply 1 each of CUs, FUs and POL.

RELAX – SIMPLE MATHS END

* The Allies planned for up to 650 tons/day at D-Day, but this was pessimistic. Simple sums derived from van Krefeld’s Supplying War.

 

 

12/01/2012

Camouflage nets 2

The glue is set and the paint is barely dry as 1st Shock Army rolls out to try a breakthrough on the northern flank of MOSCOW. It’s a bit early in 1942 for 85mm guns yet, but this is the model that I stuck the cam net to.

A camouflage net of rolled gauze prior to drybrushing renders this Old Glory UK T-34/85 barely visible against the yellow background.

A bit of brown paint with sand drybrushing and that’s it really. They looked fine without foliage, though I may stick some on later. Don’t laugh, this counts as super detailing for me

1st Guards Tank Division (The Tank element of an NQM Tank Brigade)

 

 

10/01/2012

Logistic Dumps and Trucks

Without getting too complicated about logistics, I find that simply putting railheads and dumps onto the table gives decent appreciation of why breakthroughs are so devastating to an army. Marauding enemy finds itself amongst a rich array of depots stuffed full of goodies, and the disrupted army finds itself similarly short. Modelling opportunities for NAAFI, PX and soup kitchens abound.
You can see below a schematic representation of the chain from the railhead on the left of the picture through to the fighting troops on the right. I just run the trucks in a line between the depots to mark out the logistic routes used for supply. For a division of perhaps 10 fighting vehicles, suddenly having up to 20 trucks in a logistic tail gives a better appreciation of why modern armies are perhaps not as nimble as we would all like to think. The yellow lettering above the trucks lists the German designation for the transport columns and the green lettering below the dumps gives the level of depot. Depots can be co-located if roads are sparse.

The Logistic Chain from Railhead to Fighting Troops

Full marks to Tim Gow for spotting that there were not enough trucks in the picture above.  Each division should have its own transport companies as well as the corps level transport and army level transport shown above. The labels below of  ‘A’ and ‘B’ echelons apply properly to battalion level units, not divisions as we see here.

The full representional logistics chain, showing why divisions have roughly a 2:1 ratio of trucks to tanks

Monthly Archives: December 2011

31/12/2011

The President’s New Tank – An After Dinner Game

This game gets an airing every few years, and in keeping with anything to do with the arms industry, should be accompanied by fine wines and dining, outrageous flattery of the President and dodgy accounting. The umpire should be the purchaser if player numbers are limited but 2-6 players can be easily accommodated.

This outing of the game hit all the buttons, with Chris Agar’s suspect sums and Phil Steele’s Port and 30-year-old half bottle of Sauterne being deployed to great effect. I provided the chocolate buttons and Stilton.

Tanks can be drawn, built from cardboard, or simply described. It is up to the umpire to keep the game rolling along and the humour good. Players who sulk should be offered Port and/or chocolate buttons until their mood improves. My thanks go to Phil and Chris for both playing the game in the spirit it is intended!

The Internationally Successful MONGOOSE Tank

All you need is a pencil, paper and the following rules :

The President(s) decide how much they want to spend each year on Tanks (100 £, $,or Chocolate Buttons being a good start). The Arms Dealer(s) design a tank to the following costings :

Base cost of hull and armour (H) : 1 = Light, 2 = Medium, 3 = Heavy.

Then add Speed (S) to the base cost:  1 = Slow, 2 = Medium, 3 = Fast.

Then add a Gun (G) to the base cost:x1 = Light, 2 = Medium, 3 = Heavy.

Then add Gun range(R) to the base cost: 1 = Short, 2 = Medium, 3 = Long.

Examples :

A H1+S1+G1+R1 tank would cost 4 points and 25 could be bought for 100 Buttons.

A H3+S1+G3+R3 tank would cost 10 points and 10 could be bought for 100B

Note these exceptions :

The gun can only be 1 step heavier than the hull.

Light guns cannot be long range.

Heavy hulls can only be slow.

Note these advantages :

Each step that the gun outranges the enemy gives one free unopposed shot.

Each speed band that the tank is above the enemy negates one free unopposed shot.

The Dealer(s) then tender to the President(s) in a trial mock wargame. Use a simplified table 12 so that :

Light kills Light on 4-6, Medium on 5-6 and heavy on 6.

Medium kill Light on 3-6, Medium on 4-6 and Heavy on 5-6.

Heavy kills Light on 2-6, Medium on 3-6 and Heavy on 4-6.

The President(s) decide(s) how many tanks they can afford and fight with that many dice. Using real chocolate buttons  gives the game an incentive :O)

The Impressively More Expensive and Less Effective PEOPLE's Tank

In the Example above 25 dice would be rolled looking for 6s to kill, against 10 dice looking for 2-6, with 2 free rolls of 10 dice each, before any survivors closed to fight back. Clearly this favours heavy tanks

Our game used a slightly different scoring mechanism, which deliberately favoured light cheap slow tanks by multiplying the base hull score each time instead of adding each module. So the Light tank would cost 1x1x1x1 = 1 and the slow heavy tank would cost 3x1x3x3 = 9

In round one, the Panto Production Corporation (Phil) produced the BONOBO tank (H1S2G3R2) = 12B, immediately cheating on the gun and stating that although heavy, it only fired straight ahead with a stabilising trail.

The WhizzBang Co (Chris) Produced the MONGOOSE (H1S3G1R2) = 6B but claimed it only cost 3 Buttons.

Phil did not spot this so lost the first wargame, and Bombastia bought 32 MONGOOSE tanks in a heavily subsidised deal. It helped that the King was allowed to dip into the chocolate buttons

Round 2 saw the PEOPLE’s TANK (H2S2G2R2) = 16B narrowly defeating the BONOBO MkII in wargames against the MONGOOSE in the Paprikan People’s Republic, although the MONGOOSE defeated both rivals. The Committee also liked the name of the PEOPLE’s Tank and the impressive height that the cupola towered above the ground. The PPR bought  6 tanks.

In the final round Bombastia bought 100 SPIDER tanks (H1S1G1R) = 1B from Panto as the WhizzBang Co had gone with a revolutionary concept of concrete and steel fortifications that had (obviously) no speed at all. (H3S0(1)G3R3) = 9B

 

 

27/12/2011

Men in Hats

Many wargamers are prone to collecting fetching military hats and striking poses in them, so in honour of the late Doctor Paddy Griffith submit your pictures here please, where they will be immortalised.
Become a member of the wargames glitterati :O)
http://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/men-in-hats/

 

 

17/12/2011

Eisenbahntruppen – Railway troops

Railway models in most wargames are restricted to a role as objectives, or perhaps the appearance of an armoured train tortuously worked into the scenario because the owner bought one of those nice Peter Pig models. Strategically and operationally though, railways came into their own in the east over distances of 200 miles or so, where their ability to move tonnages of stores were in the order of :

“1600 lorries were needed to equal the capacity of just one double tracked railway line“.

van Crefeld (1976) Supplying war – Chapter 5 - Russian Roulette p.143, (which chapter  is the source for most of the following post.)

Grosstransportraum, the German body of trucks operating between railheads and the rear echelons of the fighting formations’ own organic transport (Kleinkollonenraum), would allow the army groups to penetrate 300 miles into the Soviet Union. The Germans planned to advance 500 miles into the Soviet Union, bridging the gap with handkoffer, or containerised fuel carried by the army groups themselves. To make up for a shortfall in motor transport for the Kleinkollonen, captured French and Allied transport was used until it became unservicable.

The Wehrmacht’s problems were compounded by poor or absent roads and Soviet railways that were of lighter gauge and had trains that thrived on poorer coal than the German ones, so it was not just a simple matter of resetting the rails and using captured Russian coal. 

To add insult to injury, when the freezing weather came, the heavier German trains had exposed steam pipes that ruptured if left standing

So in NQM terms, every army group has at least one railhead with a Grosstransport column linking it to the rear area of the army group. Due to the usual space constraints these usually only ever appear in big multiplayer games. You can see one here behind Moscow :

The railhead can be seen at the far left end of the railway, on the table edge

The flow of ammunition (combat units, or CUs) and fuel (POL) between the railhead and fighting formations is usually only modelled in solo games or larger multiplayer games, where a willing participant can be found.

The logistic game either interests you, or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t then there is no pleasure to be had from slogging through a book-keeping exercise that slows down the game and adds no enjoyment to the gaming experience. If you are prepared to foray into the black art of logistics, however, then it gives a deeper understanding of why so often armies appeared to stop when any fool could see that a few more miles would have given a victory.

12/12/2011

Where do all those Trucks fit into the Box?

One part of my last post raised Phil Steele’s normally inscrutable eyebrows a fraction :

Independent T-26 Brigade

145 T-26 (5), 56 Artillery/flame tanks (2), 28 Armoured cars (1), 480 trucks/cars (16)

A ratio of (8) armoured vehicles / (16) softskins may seem disproportionate although I didn’t think so. I checked the sums in Zaloga and could only find 311 on table 2.7 p.73. This is consistent, give or take a few trucks with later orbats (oops!) he’s apparently missing 6 trucks somewhere. The Soviets are free with Battalion/Regt/Brigade designations for essentially the same sized units. I don’t know if the normally reliable Zaloga has made an error, or whether I’ve just added up wrongly

Here is the breakdown:

Motorcycles	Cars	Trucks/tractors	(NQM)	Unit
9	7	15	(1)	Bde HQ – 1car
27		1	(1)	Recce Coy – 1 motorcycle
2	6	73	(3)	Tank Regt – 3 trucks
3	2	57	(2)	Infantry Bn – 3 trucks (incl 1 fm Tpt Coy)
	1	29	(1)	AA Bn – 1 truck mounting quad AA
2		25	(1)	Maintenance Coy – 1 Workshop Truck
1		44	(1)	Motor Tpt Coy (to inf Bn)
		7		Medical Platoon (modelled at army level)
44	16	251	(10)
(1)	(1)	(8)	(10)

 

 

10/12/2011

Getting to Grips with Soviet Tank Formations.

Here is a quick trot-through of Soviet tank formations in NQM terms. Remember that these are the authorised strengths. Actual strengths were often much lower, as low as 40%. The main source for this post is Zaloga and Ness’ (1998) Red Army Handbook 1939-1945.

Pre War Tank Corps 

(Numbers of NQM models representing 30 tanks, mostly rounded down)

560-600 Tanks (20)

2 Light tank brigades each approx 270 (9)

1 Motor Rifle Machine Gun Brigade (About 3 trucks/cars )

Independent BT Brigade

240 BT (8), 56 Artillery/flame tanks (2), 28 Armoured cars (1), 480 trucks/cars (16)

Independent T-26 Brigade

145 T-26 (5), 56 Artillery/flame tanks (2), 28 Armoured cars (1), 480 trucks/cars (16)

Independent T-26 Brigades were expanded to the same size as BT Brigades as tanks became available

Independent Heavy Brigade

136 T-28 (4), 37 BT (1), 28 Armoured cars (1), 480 trucks/cars (16)

Independent 5^th Tank Brigade (the only one with this orbat)

94 T-35 (3), 44 BT (1), 28 Armoured cars (1), 480 trucks/cars (16)

As the War Broke out, tank corps were disbanded. In June 1940 tank divisions were authorised, two in each of 20 mechanised corps. Tank brigades were authorised, to be formed by handing over surplus T-26s as newer tanks became available for the tank divisions. This never happened though, and more mechanised corps were formed with a larger orbat. Not enough tanks were being built to fill these formations and by June 1941 just over 23,000 tanks existed to fill an orbat of just under 30,000, with the balance being weighted towards light tanks, and a key shortage of nearly 11,000 T-34s and 2,000 KVs. The new mechanised corps were equally unmanageable and badly maintained, the new tank divisions proving not fit for purpose, so by August-September 1941 tank brigades were authorised once more :

Tank Brigade September 1941

7 KVs, (0 – I abstract this to army or front level), 22 T-34s (1), 38 light tanks (1)

By December 1941 this was reduced to 46 tanks (1)

Connaisseurs will have no trouble spotting the origins of the film-style KV mock-ups on the left of the picture below from the real thing on the right. “Not even close” would be high praise indeed, but at least the Cromwell in the centre has two circular vents on its rear deck and a shortened gun!

More Suspicious Substitutes - this time KVs

By March 1942, four tank corps returned to the orbat, each of 2 tank brigades (although it was commoner to find only one brigade in reality) and a motor rifle brigade but no corps artillery, engineers, recce or logistic support. These defects were rapidly remedied , but actual strengths were still lagging behind plans :

Tank Brigade March 1942

20 KVs, (1), 40 T-34s (1), 40 T-60/70 (1)

By the end of 1942 the KVs had been extracted to army level and there were now three tank brigades per corps leaving :

 Tank Brigade Late 1942

32 T-34s (1), 21 T-60/70 (1)

Tank Corps January 1943

98 T-34s (3), 70 T-60/70 (3)

1943 saw the introduction of new additions in the form of the SU-76 and SU-122/152 as a battalion/regiment of 12 vehicles (I extract these to army level) so by November 1943 the tank brigade looked like this:

Tank Brigade November 1943

65 T-34s (2)

Tank Corps January 1944

208 T-34s (6)

On reflection, the corps that I built with (9) T-34s is going to need reducing to (6) or even less. The NQM Eastern Front will only ever need three T-35 models. Bombastia will probably purchase any that are spare!

After much agonising over putting models into the tank corps that were present in quantities of less than 30 such as SP guns, I now just form independent groups of models at army/front level and allocate them to rifle, tank and mechanised corps as required. This works surprisingly well and reflects the Soviet practice of concentrating equipment from reserves when it was needed. It is worth noting that the more numerous mechanised corps had more tanks in them than the tank corps did.