New Projects - Canadians in Italy WW2

 I went on a trip down to southern Alberta and hit some used book stores and found a few old gems. 


A decent start for research. Dickens of the Mounted and the Trial of Joan of Arc are more of a personal interest, the other three are for my Canadians World War II research. 


These three books are copyrighted 1969. Reader's Digest created this two volume set with a Tools of War booklet. The have some handy maps in the back which I will make use of. The Tools of war has some neat illustrations. Including one of the most surprisingly useful weapons, the PIAT.


My initial plan was to stick with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and follow them into Italy, sharing their history while creating some scenarios for historical tabletop rules sets. There are just so many interesting stories with other regiments as well. 

I'll hit the books and follow a timeline as best I can. Once COVID has run its course and we can hit the tabletop again, After Actions Reports should follow. 

Cheers.    

    
   




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Onwards to Leonforte, July 21st, 1943

Image
The Loyal Edmonton Regiment's first taste of combat was the engagement 3 miles south of Piazza Armerina on July 16th, 1943. After having chased off the 2nd Battalion of the 104 Panzer Grenadier Regiment from that position, the Loyal Eddies were ready to advance on Piazza Armerina itself. Was it going to be heavily defended?  What was the enemies strength? Artillery fire from the Germans on the Canadian position was countered with counter battery fire and the German guns were silenced. By nightfall the Germans had vacated Piazza Armerina and the Eddies moved in. With 3rd Brigade pushing past the Eddies (who are with 2nd Brigade) in Piazza Armerina, the Eddies were able to take a bit of a breather before they were again called into action. Lieutentant Colonel R.M. Crowe and Major J.H.W. Pope - Commanding Officer and battalion second-in-command of The Royal Canadian Regiment, checking a map outside of Piazza Armerina on 17 Jul 1943. They were the only two RCR officers killed i...
Read more

Command & Colors - War of the Roses

Image
 After having played a playtest using the blocks I made I found I was not to happy with them. They just seem to big. Here is my set up for Blore Heath.  Lancastrians on the far side and the Yorkists on the near side.    I removed the two Heavy infantry cards from the C&C deck as the only forces we had on the field were Billmen (medium infantry), Longbowmen (light infantry) and Cavalry (medium cavalry).  To make the scenario a bit more historical I was going to have the "I am Sparticus" card a traitor card. When drawn the card would be played immediately (after round 2 maybe). The Yorkist would roll his command (5 dice) and all medium dice rolled would indicate how many units of the Lancastrian horse would turn traitor.  We didn't use that rule in the play test.  I am considering some other options. Either make bases for my paper troops and use them like that or to shrink the prints and mount them on proper C&C blocks.
Read more

Command & Colors - War of the Roses - Battle of Blore Heath - Sept 23rd, 1459

Image
 BrtishBattles.com has a ton of information regarding the War of the Roses. I used the website as my source material for my C&C Blore's Heath scenario. So let's see if those Lancastrian pretenders get smacked like they did historically... Here is our battlefield and the armies deployed for battle. The accounts indicate the Yorkists built up some defensive works and were on the defensive as they were outnumbered by the Lancastrians.  Crossing Wemberton Brook and assaulting the Yorkists position is going to be a tough go but with double the number of troops it may be possible.  I laid out the Command & Colors battlefield as follows; Yorkist Army Composition: 1 Commander - Richard Neville the Earl of Salisbury 1 Cavalry unit (Medium Cavalry) 2 Longbowmen units (Light Infantry) 8 Billmen units (Medium Infantry) The Yorkists defensive works are classified as a palisade Lancastrian Army Composition: 1   Commander - Lord Audley, Noblemen, veteran of the 100 yea...
Read more