28mm projects: Arab Legion for the Battle of Habbaniah and Operation Exporter 1941

After a long break in the 28mm scale, I now had the opportunity to paint a few figures for it again.

At the end of last year, Max and I decided to start a joint project for a participation game that we wanted to present at various cons.

For the setting, we decided on an excerpt from ‘Operation Exporter’, more precisely the battle around Palmyra.

For the rules, we decided on ‘What A Cowboy’, which we are still adapting to our chosen setting.

While Max painted the Frenchmen of the French Light Desert Company, I took on the part of the Arab Legion.

And here is the completed squad of the Arab Legion - maybe the foundation for a complete platoon, such as for Chain of Command?

For WaC the figures represent 1 Lieutenant (Gunslinger), 1 Sergeant (Shootist), 2 Corporals (Greenhorn), 2 groups of normal soldiers (Henchmen) and 1 special group of soldiers (also Henchmen) equipped with a Lewis LMG.

The Lewis LMG team initially consists of irregular Arabs from Artizan Miniatures, the rest is from Woodbine from their WW1 range.

The complete squad - a start for more maybe?

The leader of the pack - maybe Glubb Pasha himself?

My squad leader.

One of my Lance-Corporals.

And my 2nd Lance-Corporal - he will lead my 2nd squad (still to do)

Special Soldiers Group - Irregular Arabs acting as my Lewis LMG team for now.

A group of Soldiers.

And another group of Soldiers completes the Rifleteam.

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15mm Swedes for the late TYW and the Deluge: Swedish National Infantry

First infantry unit for my Swedes is finished - a unit of Swedish National Infantry, which I will shamelessly use as Dragooned Musketeers for my Swedish Field Skirmish Force too 😀

With this unit my basic Skirmish Force is complete and from now on I will add a Light Cannon Battery and more Reiter, a Major and Dragoons to complete my Garrison Skirmish Force too and to add variety to both.

Models are all Totentanz Miniatures, just did a Quick & Dirty paint job with only base colour, one shade, base colour again and one highlight.

The complete unit of Pike & Shot infantry.

In formation "Melee Weapons Upfront"

At the same time, each row of this BFaS unit is a unit itself for "Twilight of Divine Right", so all in all 3 units done for these rules:

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Home grown scenario for Chain ov Command: Scenario Eight - Armoured Reconnaissance

Over the last few months, Max and I have also been using our CoC games to create our own scenario and improve/adapt it over time.

It is ultimately a mix of ingredients from different systems - for example, elements from the ‘Battle for the Tower’ scenario from Warmaster, the Reconnaissance Phase from Battlegroup, etc.

And we also wanted to integrate a kind of ‘ticking clock’ that forces one side to keep an eye on the time.

So here it is, comments and as usual remarks are always welcome of course, feel free to comment down below!

To access the PDF just click at the image above.

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Big Chain of Command AAR: The Fight for Pozillo

Last Saturday, Daniel, Max and I met up again for our monthly CoC game, so we had another Big Chain of Command, which we also used as the final test for our self-designed scenario: Reconnaissance-in-force.

I'll post the scenario on the blog in the next few days, but here are a few key points:

- both sides roll 1D3+6 each for Force Support

- side with the lower number counts as Active Player

- Active player gets 1D3 free moves in the following Patrol Phase

- there is a Reconnaissance Phase where only Reconnaissance unit can act, the duration will be diced for

- both sides try to secure an Objective and at the end of each Turn the Force Morale of the side that doesn't control the Objective drops by -1 (so a ticking clock in the end)

The vanguards of an American and an Italian battle group clashed at Pozillo and both sides tried to secure the small village as a base for further operations, resulting in a fierce battle in which more and more troops became involved.

The scouts on both sides explored the terrain and occupied strategic points that seemed favourable to them, from which the advancing platoons of the two battle groups were to join the battle.

However, the Italians were caught on the wrong foot by the aggressively advancing Americans, who advanced into the village with vigour, denying the Italians even the strong position of the small chappel of Pozillo and thus also the opportunity to bring their platoons into the battle in a concentrated manner.

The battlefield with Pozillo dominating the area.

Pozillo itself looked on from the chappel.

A Scout Jeep accompanied by a M5 Stuart and later joined by a Halftrack-mounted Armoured squad are pushing forward to secure Pozillo.

While the Italians deployed a squad of Solothurn AT rifles into a field to deny the road leading from Pozillo (both AT rifles never fired a single shot though) and advancing cautiously with an AB41.

But the Stuart immediately stopped their advance with some well placed shots!

In the meantime my Armoured squad had dismounted, sneaks forward and occupies some houses to set up a defensive position.

A few shots later the AB41 is out of business.

The Italians deploy their Cannone da 65/17 and try to stop the M5 but to no avail - they later join the Fucilieri to fire at the lone US Armoured squad in Pozillo.

A full squad of Fucilieri deployed in the Olive groove and they soon break the US squad in Pozillo, but the US Armoured will deploy more squads and they can be never challenged to give up Pozillo in the and.

More Italians move up in support on the left of their comrades.

But meanwhile 2 squads of US Parachute Infantry can open up fire on the Italian Fucilieri ...

... joined by my Armoured LMG squad in Pozillo and the 60mm mortar behind the village.

The result: Cannone da 65/17 destroyed and nearly the complete squad of Fucilieri out of action including some leaders. So the Force Morale of this platoons dropped to Zero and they decide to leave the bttlefield to fight another day and with them the Bersaglieri have to withdraw too.

It was another exciting game in which Daniel's perfectly played patrol phase was ultimately the deciding factor:

The Americans controlled the village from the start, but at the same time had denied the Italians the chappel as a jumping-off point for many phases and were able to pin the Italians in their cover.

In addition, Max and his Italians had relied for too long on being able to drive the US Armoured out of the village simply by firing on with one of his Fucilieri squads, albeit very devastatingly, supported by the Cannone da 65/17.

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By Fire and Sword: Two training battles with my Swedes

Last Saturday, Max and I met up for a few games of ‘By Fire and Sword’.

In the first game, my Swedes faced his Imperials and then Max's Ottomans; both games ended in a crushing defeat for me.
Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun as usual, the rules are quick to play and easy to get the hang of and we'll definitely be sticking with it.

We will gradually expand our armies now so that after the ‘Skirmish Level’ we can also tackle the ‘Task Force Level’ of BFaS, but that will take a while until we have painted enough units for that.

Some pictures of our games:

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Chain of Command AAR: Clash of Patrols at Ponte Olivo

Saturday was our monthly CoC game, this time as an introductory game for Stefan, a CoC newcomer.

Max took over a Platoon Bersaglieri, Stefan led my US Parachute Infantry into battle and I took on the role of game master and was on hand to answer Stefan's questions about rules and tactics.

First of all: I didn't have to give many tips.

At dawn, the platoons of US paratroopers and the Italian Bersaglieri meet on the outskirts of a small Sicilian village.

Surrounded by vineyards, orchards and date palm fields, the terrain offers both cover and tactical advantages. Both sides are initially on patrol and try to outmanoeuvre each other.

The Bersaglieri advance skilfully and are thus able to secure the village and take cover in the buildings on the outskirts.

The paratroopers advance on their right flank and take up positions on the hills at the edge of the village. Two squads take cover in the vineyards and orchards, while two 60mm mortars take up positions behind the hills.

And here are pictures of the US Boys looking towards the village (these two pictures were shot by Stefan):

Supported by the two mortars and a bazooka team, which is soon eliminated by the Bersaglieri, the US soldiers concentrate their fire on one of the three Bersaglieri squads entrenched in one of the buildings on the edge of the village.

This concentrated fire puts the Italian troops in dire straits.

The first Bersaglieri squad quickly loses several men when grenades explode in the houses. The squad's sergeant is wounded several times and finally killed.

Shortly afterwards, the commander of the Bersaglieri platoon is also seriously injured as he attempts to take command of the battered squad and restore order.

After the loss of two commanders and the ever-increasing losses in their ranks, the survivors of the Bersaglieri squad lose their nerve, break and run away and shortly after the whole platoon has to beat retreat.

The US paratroopers were thus able to capture the village and secure a strategically important point on the edge of their beachhead, which could make a direct Axis attack on it more difficult or even impossible.

Conclusion:

The US paratroopers were able to decisively weaken the Bersaglieri through concentrated fire, even if they themselves also suffered considerable losses. However, these losses were distributed among their squads, which did not significantly weaken their fighting strength.

Max once again underestimated the unpredictability of CoC and, trusting that he could hold out for one more phase, did not take the battered squad out of the firing line ... Unfortunately, this was followed by a double phase for the US Boys.

Stefan played cleverly, focussed his fire to achieve maximum effect and also had the ‘Pabst in his pocket’ (i.e. some really incredible luck with the dice) like this burst with one of his LMGs 😎

But the most important thing was: he had fun and this was his first, but not his last game of CoC - a perfect day for us too!

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Italian Bersaglieri Platoons: CoC Army Lists for the operations in the Mediterranean 1942-1943

I must confess that the research on the Bersaglieri was the most exhausting and contradictory so far for our CoC army lists.
So many reorganisations, some of which were only ordered but never implemented, requests for changes from the divisions based on their combat experience, which were usually, but not always, granted, and so on.
Or as my mate Max said so aptly when I held him up-to-date during the research: In principle, one needs to draw up a separate list for each month and each division 😅

However, here are the lists for the motorised platoons and for the motricycle company of a Bersaglieri regiment - the latter was mainly used for reconnaissance.

The Bersaglieri were not only the equivalent of the Panzergrenadiers in the Armored Divisions of the Regio Esercito, but also part of the motorised infantry divisions, or, as in Sicily, part of the Mobile Groups.

Late 1941 the Bersaglieri regiments adopted the North Africa TO&E originally specified for the

Trento and Trieste Motorized Divisions, the only difference being that the armored cars of the motorcycle companies were AB.39 models (armed with machine guns) in the motorized divisions and AB.41 models (with 20mm guns) in the armored divisions.

Initially the intended Bersaglieri rifle platoon organization was two rifle squads each of two sections, so the same like most of the Fucilieri -> Standard Fucilieri Platoon outside Africa Settentrionale

But as mentioned it was requested to change this because it was found to be too inflexible and cumbersome, and the divisions wanted instead three 13-man squads each with a single light machine gun. The loss of one light MG per platoon would be offset, they argued, by the addition of a medium MG to the company's machine gun platoon.

On 18 August SMRE gave in and authorized reconfiguration of the Bersaglieri rifle platoon to three rifle squads and its AT section, and further to the creation of proposed scout elements in the Bersaglieri units, although personnel for the latter were to come from existing strength.

For the complete list just click on the picture of the list above.

And as usual - comments, suggestions and amendments are always welcome!

Sources

• "Tactical Structure in World War II. Italy. Armor"; Leland Ness; 2023
• "Tactical Structure in World War II. Italy. Infantry"; Leland Ness; 2023
• "Storia della fanteria Italiana"; different authors; 2018
• TME 30-420 Handbook on the Italian Military Forces; 1943
• "LE SQUADRE DELLA FANTERIA"; Scuola di applicazione di fanteria", Turin 1943

Additionally these websites have been used:

• http://www.regioesercito.it/index.html
• https://comandosupremo.com/ -> don´t miss the forum of this site!

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US Armoured Rifle Infantry Platoon: CoC Army List for the operations in the Mediterranean 1942-1943

This list has been compiled for the combat operations in the Mediterranean region in mind, i.e. ‘Operation Torch’ and the subsequent fighting in Tunisia until the surrender of the Germans and Italians, ‘Operation Husky’ and the conquest of Sicily, up to the landing on the Italian mainland.

It ends with the year 1943.

This CoC Army List for a Rifle Platoon of the Armoured Divisions is based on original sources like the ToE T/O 7-27 and documents like FM 17 - 71 which describe how an Armoured platoon acts in battle, be it in attack, defence, or on the march, etc.

Here, for example, it is also stated that at least the drivers usually stick to their half-tracks, in defence in any case. It also states that in such cases the co-driver mans the machine gun.

Accordingly, my version of the list for a US Armoured platoon includes neither the driver nor the co-driver.

The options include the support units that are possible and typical for the period and the Mediterranean region.

For the complete list just click on the picture of the list above.

Suggestions, comments and corrections are always welcome of course.

Used and recommended sources:

• FM 17-40 Armored Infantry Company
• FM 17-42 Armored Infantry Battalion
• FM 17-71 Armoured Command Crew Drill for Half-Track Vehicles
• T/O&E 17-37 Detailed Organization American Armored Division Reconnaissance Company for Armored Regiment or Armored Reconnaissance Battalio
• T/O&E 7-27 RIFLE COMPANY, ARMORED INFANTRY BATTALION
• CORG-M-198. The Evolution of the Armored Infantry Rifle Squad
• CMH Pub 2-1 THE ORGANIZATION OF GROUND COMBAT TROOPS; Kent Roberts Greenfield, Robert R. Palmer  and Bell I. Wiley
• World War II US Armored Infantry Tactics; Gordon L. Rottman, Elite 176, Osprey Publishing

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