Saturday 2 May 2009

WW2 Micro-Armour


The clear-out of my old wargaming kit continues with the unearthing of my forgotten 1/300th Eastern Front-themed armour. I loved micro-sized WW2 and like many others, devoted a lot of my gaming time to it, but understand it is now unpopular with many people looking to larger scales.

For me back then, it ruled and the only theatre that typified classic armoured tactics with its huge, sweeping pincer envelopments and attrition was the War in Russia, so I concentrated on it for my gaming.
Germany's Operation 'Zitadelle' in July 1943, awed me with its sheer scale, ambition and ultimate folly.
This, along with the defeat of the 6th Army at Stalingrad in February of the same year, proved to be critical turning points in the outcome of the war.

With this in mind, I've always loved the way 1/300 allows ambitious games that capture some of this epic scope to be fought out on a relatively small area.
Tanks and vehicles are easy to paint as well as being cost-effective, just like the terrain and buildings - all good stuff, considering. I was pretty 'green' in the gaming world when I did these and again, they were my first examples.

But I enjoyed my time with them and had some pretty good games. I don't know how popular this scale is now or whether there are still any decent rules knocking around, but if it has indeed slipped away in gamers' affections then it is a pity.

I've stuck a few pictures up as part of my ongoing nostalgia!


Advancing Soviet KV1 and T-34 tanks come under artillery fire while pushing through a Russian hamlet.



German PAK 43 guns and Panzerfaust troops occupy a Russian farm complex.


Waffen-SS Tiger 1 and Panther tanks counter-attack.


Point-blank encounter that so typied the latter stages of the battle.




German Elefants advancing under artillery fire are ambushed by Soviet anti-tank infantry.

Well, that's it for now, I will have a look around for some more old stuff and maybe post that too, while getting around to finishing off my sample Bolt Action German paras; who knows, I may even get a game in at some point!
Best wishes for now,
Monty



12 comments:

  1. Great stuff, I love the visuals of micro-armour, it is something I have considered in the past. Have you seen Keith's desert micro-armour games: http://keefsblog.blogspot.com/ scroll down a bit as he has a few posts with great pics.

    I have to say the Eastern Front does it for me too, I read The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sayer last year and it really got me interested in the theatre.

    Great pics as always!

    Josh

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cheers Josh,

    Nice one, mate. Yeah, I loved FS too, loved it despite the controversy.
    I will check out the blog you suggested - many thanks! i've just bought Empire Total war on PC, so that is eating into my painting at present.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Monty, nice blog!

    Take a look at the "Blitzkrieg Commander" rules. They can be used with a variety of scales and 1/300 will work just fine.

    I use them with 15mm for both WW2 Eastern Front and NW Europe and we always have enjoyable games. Next step will be for my regular gaming partner to finish painting his early war French to battle alongside my Poles.

    cheers
    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Steve - much appreciated.

    I will have a look at Blitzkreig as they sound ideal.

    Regards,

    Monty

    ReplyDelete
  5. I reckon, if anything, 6mm, and micro armour is becoming more popular, and as Steve mentioned, blitzkrieg commander plays very well, and is ideal for 6mm.

    Nice blog by the way!

    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good work (again). I like the 1/300 scale [late war] and 1/200 [early war] as I think it represents the ground scale of the battles better than 20mm.

    Hence my liking for Cross Fire's emphasis on infantry

    ReplyDelete
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