Wargaming Nostalgia - Manchester Visit + MAWS

Back in the Summer I was in my old town of Winton in Manchester and I got the chance to game in the very same church hall where I used to wargame as a kid with my little plastic Airfix soldiers and tanks.

Back then the group was called the "Winton Warriors", and every week, with other kids my age, historically incorrect battles would be fought out with Tigers and Panthers against Centurion and Patton tanks, and other similar aberrations, but we loved it. At the club I'd marvel at the lovingly painted armies I'd see on the other tables there and the much more historically correct games being played by the older gamers who tolerated us youngsters and our plastic battles.

I've not been back to that church hall since the mid 70s, so just actually going back inside that very place after so many years made me feel nostalgic, to say the very least - nearly even brought a little tear to my old worldly eyes.

The fact that I also actually got to have a game there 40 years later, gave the nostalgia even more significance.

I'd seen on Facebook that the Manchester Area Wargames Society (MAWS) were going to be playing a big Normandy game in 20mm on a Sunday in August that coincided with my visit to the area, so I contacted them to see if I could come along and watch - well if you don't ask the answer is always no - and they kindly said yes ! They even went so far as to ask me to join the game as a player, which I course jumped at the opportunity,

And I had a great time, superb table, good friendly welcoming company, and a big game in my favourite scale.

Thanks to the MAWS lads for letting me join in on the day, I got thoroughly hammered during the game, but enjoyably so, and met some great blokes and made some new wargaming friends.

Disposable Heroes - Latest Game in 1/72 Scale

On Saturday afternoon my mate Alejandro invited us to his house and we got together with another of our gaming buddies, Juan, and managed to get in a good skirmish game using the the Disposable Heroes ruleset by Iron Ivan games.

We've only recently got back to using these rules, maybe the last time we gamed regularly with them was about 4 - 5 years ago, so there were a few things we'd forgotten, but we remembered the basic mechanics and with the rulebook at hand we got in a good 1:1 skirmish game (the rules are about 15 years old, and there's a version II recently released which we'll maybe give a try soon).


The scenario was taken from the "Go Forward Together" British / Commonwealth armies list


It's set in Normandy 1944, British attacking with numerical superiority against a smaller force of SS Panzergrenadiers.


"Montgomery is determined to tidy his lines as part of the drive on Caen. He sends heavy attacks driving around the town to capture vital positions before launching the major operation designed to take Caen itself"


The British have to take the majority of the scenario objectives to win.




General view of the table




Sherman close-up (Airfix kit with "extras" to hide the undersized turret)




British advance





Pz IV Straddles the road





And takes out a Sherman on the 1st turn




The PAK 40 took various pot-shots but missed miserably




German troops regroup behind a barn




More Germans emerge from a field




And successfully immobilise a Sherman too eager to advance without infantry support




A Churchill "races" along the right flank to take one of the objectives




Meanwhile a brave PIAT team (actually a bazooka wielding ancient Matchbox 1-76 Brit) move ahead and spy the Pz IV straddling the road.




Boom ! - A lucky shot from the PIAT and the Pz IV goes up in flames.


Despite the numerical superiority of the British, it was not easy for the attacker, they (ie : me and Alejandro that is) made the mistake of not going full-out to reach the objectives.


We found it was a good balanced scenario and the Germans SS and have a higher morale rating but less units and so less activations, and it was hard to get them pinned.

The British had some luck with a 3" mortar and the PIAT, but they only reached one objective, which was really their own fault for dawdling around given the limit on the number of turns.

FUBAR WW2 Skirmish Game - Brazo de Nelson Wargame Club

Two weekends ago we did a first test of the FUBAR free rules with a WW2 game. 

The scenario consisted of a British infantry and tank attack on some houses defended by Germans who had a Tiger and a Puma. 

Defenders were deployed hidden on a map and, in the spirit of the rules, we improvised a spotting system on the fly. 

At the beginning the British advance took place without too many setbacks and they even destroyed the Puma and immobilized the German Tiger, but as they approached the houses the resistance hardened.

 Some already depleted attacking units attempted melee assaults but all were destroyed for few casualties and although the Tiger was pinned down, it managed to keep firing and crippled the Shermans one by one. 

A German defensive victory. 

Battle Map by our gaming artist Iván - Skulls are knocked out units, explosions are damaged units.

Disposable Heroes Wargame - Brazo de Nelson Wargame Club

A game that we played this past Saturday in our usual scale (1/72). A rural battlefield crossed by a road was the scene for the confrontation between the German and British forces. While the Germans started the game with a Tiger tank, the British awaited their armored support turn after turn without success while trying to stay out of range of the Tiger Tank. Nothing the British could throw would have made a dent in the armor of the colossus that caused heavy casualties in the enemy infantry so the English tactic was to press the enemy infantry and half-tracks on the flanks. Eight turns of heart attack.