15mm Canadian Armoured Autocars

I have finished up two 15mm Canadian Armoured Autocar.  Not sure if I'll paint any markings on it, but I think they turned out pretty well.  These models from Battlefront Miniatures are excellent.  I do think the machine gunners are sitting a bit high based on photos I've seen.  These will make their appearance in a future Square Bashing rules 1918 scenario.

My full blog post on the Canadian Autocar: link

Named Locations on WWI Middle East Maps

When I first browsed WWI Middle East maps I was a little confused by the locations marked on them.  I thought they were towns, but in reality they were not.  Below is an example of part of a WWI Middle East map.

Here are some examples of location from this map that I thought were towns.

• Bir Abu Rami
• Bir en Nuss
• Hod El Enna
• Tell El Farama
• Hod Marzugiat

It took a little bit, but I figured it out.  Here are what these locations really are:

• Bir: well
• Hod: oasis
• Tel: hill

Some additional features:

• Khirbet (or Kh.): ruin
• Beit: house or small village

Hopefully this is of some help for wargamers trying to figure out what all these named locations found on the maps.  I'm sure there are additional locations I did explore and I welcome if people want to share their English equivalent.

Canadian WWI Armoured Autocar

Autocar in Canadian War Museum, November 2014.

One of my favourite artifacts from the Canadian War Museum was restored to running condition this year and shipped over to Belgium to take part in the end of WWI commemoration activities in Mons, Belgium on November 11.  As a kid and even today, this vehicle has always been interesting to see.  I would have loved to see it run in person in Ottawa or in Mons.  I have yet to find a video of it running in Belgium.

This armoured car was built in 1914.

From the Canadian War Museum:
This armoured car was manufactured by the Autocar Company. Built on a two-ton truck chassis, the car had 5mm of armour at the front and 3mm in the rear. With its solid rubber tires and 22-horsepower engine, it could reach speeds of 30 to 40 kilometres per hour on roads, but had very limited cross-country capability. Its twin Vickers machine-guns could each spew 450 bullets per minute. (source)

Canadian armoured cars going into action at the Battle of Amiens.

(source: Library and Archives Canada)

Canadian armoured cars pass through Mons, Belgium.
(source: Library and Archives Canada)

Videos

Autocar driving in Mons

Below are three videos of the autocar being restored before being shipped over to Mons.

Autocar in Mons: Facebook link (video)

Photos

source: Link

More photos of Autocar in Mons

For the wargamers, there is a 1:144 scale model of the Autocar available from Shapeways: link

Also available is the Flames of War 15mm pack of two.

My final painted 15mm Flames of War armoured cars.

10mm Palm Trees Tutorial

Here's an option for creating your own 10mm palm trees.  I made these up for my WWI Middle East battles.  I'm sure I can use them for other scenarios needing palm trees.

Palm tree leaves.

 

Aquarium plant, toothpick, coffee stir stick/straw, cork sheet.



 Everything cut to size.



 All the pieces put together.

 

 Glued and painted up.

 

Trees in action (Battle of Gaza).

First Battle of Gaza Table

Progress has slowed down on my First Battle of Gaza, WWI scenario.  I have painted up all the miniatures for the game, and I am down to just testing the scenario/rules and finishing the terrain.  In the pictures below you will see the layout with no armies and with hidden movement bases.

I am not happy with the sand dunes at the bottom of the photo.  I'll have to come up with something different.  The palm trees, buildings, rail, hills, cactus hedges and wadi came out not too shabby.  The cactus hedges are on two sides of Gaza.  Note that any Turkish trenches are not visible.  These get placed once certain movement bases are made visible.

Australia, New Zealand, Gallipoli and Peter Jackson

Lately I have seen a lot of interest in the Australia and New Zealand involvement in WWI.  I am still painting up both sides of the conflict in the middle east in WWI, of which Aussies and Kiwis are in the mix.

My take on the media (movies/books) coverage of Australia and New Zealand involvement in WWI focuses heavily on the Gallipoli campaign.  This is a Canadian writing this, so maybe those living in Australia and New Zealand have better coverage.  What is their full involvement in WWI?  Yes Gallipoli, but New Guinea, Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia and on the Western Front.

There are always some sort of Gallipoli book in the book stores.  I've seen an amazing Gallipoli wargame terrain layout online video from the Salute 2011 convention.  Various Gallipoli movies are out there.  What about Egypt and Palestine?  I contend that Gallipoli has some sort of mystique, but in reality was an amphibious landing, stalemate and pull out.  To me, ended up the same warfare as the Western Front.  The post Gallipoli ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) in Egypt and Palestine is more interesting.

So back to the interest in the Australia and New Zealand in Mediterranean WWI lately.  Here are some recent things I have come across.

Link to description of project

Peter Jackson, of Lord of the Rings fame, with the Perry Brothers working on Gallipoli Diorama (c. March 2015).
Blog link

The movie The Water Diviner has Gallipoli in it.

I guess I fall in this category as well.  These are my 10mm Turkish infantry.

Artillery still to come.

WWI Palestine

The "What should I work on next?" poll result has kick started my WWI in Africa/Middle East wargaming.  I do not have what I need painted up and know very little about WWI in Africa or Middle East.  This all started with the purchase of 10mm Pendraken miniatures at a garage sale that a friend put on a year or two ago.

I had read about the war in East Africa in WWI and there are only limited set piece large battles and it was basically a German withdrawal to fight another day campaign.  The Battle of Tanga may still be doable.  I then looked at Egypt with the Suez canal.  I did some testing of the Battle of Romani, but discovered the Turks did not attack with enough troops and were easily stopped and pushed back.  This battle would not be an interesting scenario.  I am now exploring the First Battle of Gaza (1917).  I think it is doable.

 

As part of putting together a scenario is deciding on what rules to use.  My current favorite rules just don't fit with these battles or are not designed for WWI.  Here are the WWI rulesets I have been looking into potentially using:

• If the Lord Spares Us
• Great War Spearhead
• Field of Battle WWI
• Blitzkrieg Command WWI
• Command Decision
• No Mans Land
• Megablitz WWI (Kaiserblitz)
• Big Table Little Men

I discovered that to really encompass a good variety of units in a battle with some interesting terrain, the rules have to cover a larger map area, otherwise there would just be a few dunes on the table and all the figures on the board would look the same.  For me, a pretty boring scenario.  This knocked out most of the rulesets listed above.  I believe I have narrowed it down to Big Table Little Men (a free ruleset) with some help from Megablitz.  The scale is basically 4cm to 1km and each turn being about 2 hours.  The First Battle of Gaza took place over two days and Megablitz takes this into account.  Using this scale, the British for example have four divisions and about two brigades on the table.  I will say that someone could focus just on the town of Gaza and maybe do a skirmish game, but I'm more interested in something bigger.

I used to wargame 20mm North Africa WWII, and figured I would not go back to desert wargaming, but here I am.  Researching the maps of the Sinai and Palestine, it does look pretty bleak.  Gaza does sound interesting with cactus hedges, but outside Gaza there doesn't seem to be very much.  I'll have to see what I can do to spruce it up somewhat.  I have some ideas for palm trees.  Maybe with all the figures it will look better.

 

I'll be using 10mm Pendraken miniatures.  I have been painting up some Australian lighthorsemen.  I look forward to painting up the interesting variety of Turkish, Austrian, British, Australian, and New Zealander miniatures.  There were aircraft over the battlefield, but I'm not certain how to incorporate them.

After I paint up everything, I can do future battles in Palestine and maybe Mesopotamia.  The Second Battle of Gaza has British tanks.

I am not ruling out picking a different ruleset for a different battle in the future.  The First Battle of Gaza will probably work best for me with the Big Table Little Men and Megablitz combo.

"Wings" BBC Series

I just finished watching the first season of Wings.  It is a 1977-78 BBC produced series focused on a British 17 year old who wants to fly in the Royal Flying Corps in 1915.  His family are involved in a smithery.  I stumbled upon this series while doing research on the British B.E. 2c aircraft.  It turns out this plane is basically the only British plane featured, but the plane and action looked great in the episodes.

 

 

 

A blog I read recommended watching the series, so I started watching it.  Each episode is about 47 minutes.  It is completely available on YouTube.  Each episode spends about half the time featuring events with his family or love interest at home and the other half with his squadron.  I also recommend watching this series.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The blog that recommended it also recommended not watching the second season, so I'll pass on that.

 

I actually recognized some of the actors in the series.  I think the one that stands out the most is Michael Cochrane.  I watched him play a General in the Sir Henry Simmerson in the BBC Sharpe Series.  You can't miss him in Wings.  Just a wee bit younger.