A Wargame on the go

 

This blog is mainly centered on wargaming, model railways and military models. I have actually no plans to change 'this concept', but sometimes I take some 'hobby detours' and do some other 'odds and ends'. So I'm doing a little bit different Wargame Review this time. -I'm not even sure if this blogpost is considered as 'wargaming'??

Even if I prefer tabletop wargaming with miniatures, I really like the thrill, decision-making and dice-roll which randomize the outcome of any (war-) games. Sometimes I just want to have a 'quick wargame on the go'. The "Lunge, Cut and Stop Thrust" Dueling Game" is such a simple, fast to set up and easy to play wargame you can play without much preparations. But sometimes there is not even time or place for even such a small wargame. I've found a substitute for desire to fast and easy wargaming by downloading a App from Google Play/ Play Store called Risk. It is just like it's board-game equivalent, but it's much faster to set up and play, and it allows you to even do it on the go. -Which suits me when train-commuting to work for instance.

The Scenario

The Risk App allows you to choose between a lot of different scenarios, modes and maps, but I went for The Classic in this casual game; Conquer the World.

Forces:

You can play this game against the App it self with bots, but I like the unpredictability added by the human factor, and invited 3 other 'live players'.

The Game

Time:    30 minutes

Turns:   12

Result:  Red wins

I like the game to randomize the countries and number of troops given to each players in the start position. It looks like a pretty good start for several players and which continents they should focus on (to gain extra troops) in this game:

And the gamed pretty much started as expected....
-Until Orange Player went rogue:

The Orange offensive changed the situation, and decisions needed to be made. Probably worth the risk of loosing a lot of troops to 'change continents' to improve own chances to achieve the mission now:

Luckily the Blue Player was equally defensive as the Orange one was aggressive. Probably a good idea to take out Orange now and fortify the the rest of the troops:

-Which was a success. Being too defensive and careful can cost you a victory. -Time for Coup de Grace:

Victory:

Pros

• The App is free, but you can pay to gain even more options to your games.

• The rules are very easy to play.

Cons

• It's not a Tabletop wargame with real miniatures nor dice.

• It's not a very narrative game.

Conclusion

Just to follow up the 'Con', I'm not even sure if this can be considered as a 'wargame'. What do you think? Please share your opinions in e comment-section.

I'm usually a SOLO-gamer, but this Game-App allows me to casually 'battle' against other people, which again adds to the 'human factor' and a uncertain outcome of a game, which again adds to the satisfaction. Besides you can play it when you actually have not time or possibilities to do other (war-) games, but just want the thrill of throwing some dice. If you haven't tried this yet, I recommend you to give it a try.

Arming my G-scale German Heeresfeldbahn train - An easy model you can build

When participating at garden railway running sessions at fellow MRC member's garden railways, I often bring my G-scale WW2 German Heeresfeldbahn military narrow gauge train and run it on unsecure lines and into 'unknown territories'. -unaware of any potential danger of saboteurs or partisan actions. It is a military train after all, so I decided to give it some light protection against ambushes or railway sabotage. It's only for a small narrow gauge train, so nothing big or complex, just perhaps a small armed wagon in front of the locomotive?

I haven't seen any periodic photos of small machine gun trolleys or armed railway cars used by the German Wehrmacht on their narrow gauge lines during WW2 (just standard gauge ones), so this is just some modeler's licence and a product by my imagination. Hopefully it's not too improbable.

I did't want a too large armed wagon in front of my small narrow gauge locomotive, as I think that would make the engine seems small, so I decided to try one of the smallest I got by LGB:

Even if the wagon was lightly weathered, I decided to give it a more heavy weathering depicting a surplus wagon that would be available for this kind of service:

For the German soldiers I sourced some free files at Thingiverse I could 3D-print. They were actually meant for 28mm Bolt Action, so by scaling them up to 1:19th scale they looked a bit more chunkier and 'over-sized' (like many wargaming miniatures often do). Even when 'down scaling' them a little bit more to the right height for sitting in this scale, they still looked oversized due to their larger 'wargame proportions'. Perhaps too much bier and würst? For instance the ammunition for the machine gun looks like it's 0.50 ammo for a M2 Browning machine gun instead of 7,92mm. I don't actually mind that much since I'm not into this scale because it's a 'fine scale'.

The 3D-file comes with multiple machine guns, but I went for the MG42, as I have a soft spot for this weapon after being a main instructor on the NATO equivalent; MG3.

After carefully removing the supports:

This is eventually what the equipage would look like (after some adjustments):

But first some imperfections and layer lines needed to be filled and smoothed on the 3D-printed figures with Miliput and modelling paste:

To make the surface even smoother they were given a couple of coats of car spray filler:

Then they were primed:

And painted:

Finally they were given a light brown- and black wash and lightly drybrushed:

I think they looks less 3D-printed now. I also think the soldiers looked a little bit unprotected on the flat wagon, so I decided to give them a couple of sandbags for protection too. The sandbags them selves were again sourced from a free file on Thingiverse, rescaled to 1:19th scale and 3D-printed. To remove the layerlines and replicate fabric I decided to drape them with tissue paper soaked in diluted white/wood glue:

Finally it was time to tie everything together and give the whole thing a coat of mat varnish. Despite being 3D-printed the surface of the soldiers was so smooth that it was really challenging to get it as flat as I wanted.

It seems like they're ready for some action. Coincidentally a member in our model railway club invited to a running-session in his garden instead of going to the club one afternoon/evening due to very nice weather, so I decided to take them for a day out:

It was a long and heavy rake of wagons the locomotive was hauling this afternoon, and about it limitations coming to the gradients:

All in all this has been a fun little project thus taking a little longer time than expected. Thank you for reading! 

The Atlantic Wall and a public Model Railway in Ålesund - and OHSW

I've been considering on how much 1:1-stuff I shall post on this blog, but during a recent visit to the city of Ålesund where my oldest son studies (soon finished as a Chief Mate) they opened up a German WW2 HQ bunker which are very rarely open to the public. So I thought it would be nice to share my impressions with you as people er seldom permitted there.

The Norwegian coast was a part of the Atlantic Wall during WW2, and the Germans constructed over 300 different coastal fortresses along the coast, each of them with tens of different bunkers or emplacements. Some of the larger ones even hundreds. 2 of these old coastal fortresses are located very close to where my son lives. Less than 10 minutes walking. 

Tueneset Fortress 

Tueneset Fortress is open to the public 24/7 is very much intact.

Living quarters

a larger AA position...

...with shelter...

Open gun emplacement 

German 88mm

Bofors 40mm in Norwegian service after WW2 

A "Firling", quad mounted .50 cal

Command bunker

An old mine

Living quarters 

Hessa Fortress 

Hessa Fotress is located just another 10 minutes walk away from Tueneset Fortress, but are not very intact any more. A lot of the positions and installations are demolished  and they constructed a sportsfield over part of it. Whats left of it is still open for the public though:

Open gun emplacement 

Command bunker 

Aksla HQ and Command bunker

Aksla is 'the town mountain' of Ålesund, rising over the city. 

In this mountain the German forces constructed a HQ and Command bunker. The lower parts are very seldom open to the public, but opened a couple of days last weekend in the occasion of it's 80 years since the liberation, and that's why I decided to make this post:

They had made a temporarily display:

Did the last troops have a "taco friday" before withdrawing?

Outside there is a stairs with 418 steps to take you to the top of Aksla:

Finally almost there 

On the top of mountain Aksla there are even more bunkers belonging to the HQ and Command bunker below:

This Tobruk position has a great overview of the coast of Ålesund 

At the top of Aksla I spotted the ferry going to Langevåg and a public Model Railway display at the Devold Factory located there. Let's see if I can catch it and give this blogpost a modelling alibi.

Devoldbanen Model Railway 

I did catch it (!). Danger close though.

At the Devold Factory there is a large Model Railway display open to the public every Saturday.

It's kinda unusual that a town without a (real) railway or close to one have a model railway club and a public display model railway layout. But it looks like there existed plans to extend the Rauma railway to Ålesund:

I was here last November too and then they were about to open a Gingerbread town display with G-scale trains. Then Alan asked if I would revisit the Gingerbread town. Well I didn't before now, but the Christmas Layout and Gingerbread houes was still there. I won't recommend any to have a taste of them now some 6 months later.

Another part of which was not finished when I visited in November was the Rauma railway line. It was opened to 100th year anniversary just right after my visit last year and it is quite not finished but they have trains running:

Class 63, ex-German Br52 at Åndalsnes station. NSB, the Norwegian State Railway had 74 such locomotives in service after WW2,initially brought here by the Germans. This was the most numerous Class steam locomotive in service by NSB.

Nohab Class Di.3

This is Trollveggen railway station, which I visited during a motorcycle tour in 2023.

I recognized the railway car beside the station as there was a small WW2 exhibition in it with models and artifacts portraying the fighting in Åndalsnes and the evacuation of the Norwegian gold reserves. These 5 photos are from my motorcycle tour back in 2023:

Even if they claim to be the biggest model railway in Norway,  they are still expanding. Bergen station is coming and was only a mock up now, the Devold Factory area it self was ongoing:

A harbour area was also in progress:

They're a bunch of really friendly modellers and I was given 'the grand tour' behind the scenes too.

The Devold Factory complex also have an excellent café not serving Gingerbread from last year. I recommend you to order "Skolebolle":

As I was in Ålesund At the same time as the "VE-Day" I visited the statue of Joachim Rønneberg, one of the locals who escaped to UK to recive SOE training and returning to Norway to lead and execute sabotage actions preventing the Germans to develop nuclear weapons:

In Ålesund downtown there was even a representative from our very early navy:

Blog PostScript 

If you are visiting Ålesund at some time, and going at the top of Aksla (town mountain) to see bunkers, you also see another great peak slightly higher:

It's Sukkertoppen at only 314 metres. 

It's a nice tour and will give you an excellent view of the town:

Remember to buy 'Kvikk Lunsj' as it's a 'Norwegian tradition' and tastes really good on hiking tours. 

Blog PostScript 2

When returning home again after my trip to Ålesund I was met by another surprise as a late birthday present from my wife and kids had finally arrived by mail.

I did a wargame review on playing the One-Hour Skirmish Wargames on a budget earlier this year, and concluded that the rulebook would be necessary to fully enjoy these rules and game. Now I finally can. Still on a budget though since it was a gift from my belloweds. Thank you Titti, Jørgen and Nikolai. 

Thank you for reading!