Beach landing ...

Greetings troops,

     Steve and I were able to get a late war beach landing game in this last week.  It was perfect for me since its been some time for my Americans hitting the table.  It was also the first time I have played a beach landing so that was a plus as well.

     Be sure to catch Steve's in depth battle report at What Would Patton Do ?

     Enjoy the pictures .... !!!

Calm before the storm ...

Unlucky landing craft ...

1st wave(L to R) ... Engineers, 81mm Mortars, Infantry

Boat 1 with Engineers, 2IC and attached Bazooka team

81mm Mortars in Boat 2

Boat 1 and 2 drift ... confusing landing action

Boat 3 lands a distance from desired point but hits the beach running ...

81mm are annihilated by beach defensive fire ...

Another boat deploys 81mm 2nd platoon ... running by their fallen 1st platoon

Priests firing from the water ...

2nd plt 81mm attempting to deploy for smoke as Infantry and Engineers move to the sea wall ...

81mm 2nd plt in action ...

1st plt of Engineers getting hammered as they run for the sea wall ...

Incoming mortar fire on the beach ...

Priest and 81mm Smoke Barrage ...

Infantry at the wall as 2nd plt of 81mm mortars support under a hail of gunfire

1st plt of Shermans hit the beach, these 2 bog as the others move to support

2nd plt of Engineers hit the beach to support the right flank ...

1st plt Infantry makes it to the wall and crosses.  2nd plt of Engineers moving to assist

3rd plt Infantry hit the beach on the left flank, past fallen soldiers of 1st and 2nd plt of 81mm Mortars

Heavy machine fire begins to stall the advance ...

1st plt Infantry makes the gap ... Engineers hit the sea wall ...

Left flank preparing to breach the gap as well ...

One of the last photos of the failed landing, right flank assault was repulsed.

      My American troops went through 7 rounds of attempting to get a beach hold.  The right flank was able to gap the barbed wire but failed an assault and never recovered.  The left flank was also to get over the sea wall and approach the barbed wire line but were pinned by the end of 7 rounds.  The single minefield was cleared as well but time ran out.  Time ran thin as well as the fact that my boys were pinned, German Reserves were moving forward fast and I was not going to make the objectives by nightfall (ie round limits)

     I had a blast.  I was able to get my Americans on the board, play a new mission and have a blast once again hanging out with Steve.  I look forward to our Eastern Front battle later this week!

Keep the Paint flowing and the Dice rolling ...

Joe ... aka Mezz

7th Annual Ft. Lee's FOW

Greetings troops,

A couple of Saturdays ago I was able to attend this event with Steve, Luke, Dirty John and Eric Turner.  It was a doubles tournament with some different scenario rules by Ron, the tournament host.  Enjoy the pictures and then check out the information regarding the event.

Our initial battleground before our General reassigned our forces

The 1000 points of Germans I commanded

The site of our first battle ...

Dirty Jon and I placing our forces ...

NEBS !

Panzer IIIs in an olive grove

Panzer III's led by Dirty Jon attempting to flank ...

My Nebs and Wespe artillery line ...

Our second battle ... push the allies off the Italian beach

Pioneers moving in trucks ...

Allies digging in just off the beach ...

There was a total of 14 teams with 28 players plus 2 Army Commanding Generals.

Allied armies were commanded by Bill.  Allied armies present were 

• US Infantry
• US Armor Infantry
• US Armor
• US Glider Infantry
• US/Canadians Special Service Forces (SSF)
• British Infantry with Churchill's
• French Goumiers 
• Free Polish Infantry with Armor support.

German Commander was Steve of WWPD fame.  German units present were

• Panzer Grenadiers
• Grenadiers
• Panzer Company
• Herman Goring Division (Which I controlled infantry and artillery of this division)
• Fallschirmjagers 
• StuG Company

There was a total of 7 scenarios which involved the following scenerios

• Modified No Retreat (Anzio and Mt Cassino)
• Modified Meeting Engagement with Domination points
• Frontline Domination
• Cauldron
• Dust Up
• City fight (Not one step back)

Allied armies won 9 out of 14 games. German troops won 3 games (OUCH) and 2 games ended in draws.
German soldiers won Monte Cassino twice even with Mountaineers attacking in both rounds

After points were added up the winners of many categories were announced ...

• Best Winning Generals; James & Jeff (Allies) w/Free Polish infantry with armor support
• Best Losing Generals: Jen & Matt (Germans) w/PzGren and Pz Co
• Best Painted Army: Tom (French Goumiers)
• Best Tanker: Adam & Doug (PzGren) killed 12 tanks
• Best Infantrymen: Luke & Eric with 11 successful infantry assaults

You can read more about this event at the following ...

• Ft. Lee Traveller
• WWPD - Goum and Doom by Tom De Mayo
• WWPD - Ft. Lee FOW day

Thanks to Ron and all that assisted with the scenarios and table setup. Awesome event indeed !

Be safe .... Keep the Paint flowing and the Dice rolling.

Joe ... aka Mezz

American 76mm Shermans - WIP (1)

Greetings Troops,

I hope your New Year Resolutions are moving along and still in effect.  Welcome to my first WIP for my American forces this year.  These beauty's are some 76mm Sherman Tanks that Steve and the WWPD gang gave me last year.

Granted these are just primed in black primer as we speak but it gives you an idea of where I am starting.

Add caption

4 tanks with sandbag protection, 1 without

The turret that is unprotected is the Platoon Leader

I also have another platoon of Sherman tanks to make make an Armor company for my Americans.  The plan is to also add some half tracks for a platoon of Armored Rifles.  I am looking forward to adding a new Company type to my Americans. 

Keep the Paint flowing and the Dice rolling ...

Joe ... aka Mezz