Suggested variant rule.

“All mortar units have one Smoke round at the start of the game. Place a small coin beneath the unit to represent this.
The Smoke round may be fired instead of an attack by the mortar during any assault phase. It need not be fired at an enemy unit, but can be placed in any hex the mortar team has a line-of-sight to within the mortars’ maximum range.
Place the coin in the target hex. It will cause no damage to any unit, but all units in that hex automatically count as in cover against attacks from outside the hex - even if the hex is open ground - and line-of-sight cannot be traced through or out of that hex.
The effect lasts until the end of the next assault phase, when the coin is removed.”

Thank you very much, that certainly does help.

The scale is quite good but I can see myself adding a bit more detail/colour, or even just mud, to some of those vehicles.

A bit more effort could have been made there, if you compare them with Heroclix or Star Wars miniatures they are almost more like the little plastic soldiers we had as kids, the momotone plastic parts of some of the tanks like the Panzer IV turret are particualrly bad and the light grey MGs look like tacky add ons…

A real attraction to these games for me is not having to paint them, but here it looks like I’ll have to spruce them up a bit anyway. Thanks again.

This is what I have from 1 starter and 7 boosters
1 MAS 7.5 mm Rifle
2 Renault R-35
1 Commissar
1 KV-1
4 Mosin-Nagant 1891/30
1 T-34/76
3 6 Pounder Antitank Gun
2 Humber Scout Car
3 Inspiring Lieutenant
2 Royal Engineers
1 SMLE No.4 Rifle
3 Vickers Machine-Gun Team
3 Bazooka
1 Jeep
3 M1 Garand Rifle
1 M18 Hellcat
1 M3 Lee
4 M4A1 Sherman
1 M4A3E8 Sherman “Easy Eight”
2 Marines M2-2 Flamethrower
2 Mortar M2
2 Red Devil Captain
1 Light Mortar
4 Mauser Kar 98k
3 MG42 Machine-Gun Team
2 PAK 38 Antitank Gun
3 Panzer IV Ausf. G
4 Panzerfaust 30
1 Sd Kfz 222
3 SS Hauptsturmführer
4 SS-Panzergrenadier
1 Tiger I
4 47mm Type 1 Antitank Gun
1 Type 89 Mortar

I intend to use the Jap 47mm ATguns as Russian 45mm AT guns until they release a Russian AT gun unit. Also The UK AT gun can substitute for the US 57mm AT gun. Shermans and Lees can be used by both the UK and Russians as they were Lend-Lease items.

AOS

Last Thursday I played this army:

USA - M1 Garand x3
USA - “Red Devil” Captain
USA - Jeep x2
UK - SMLE No. 4
UK - 6-Pounder Antitank x2
UK - Vickers MG Team
UK - Humber Scout Car x2
USSR - T-34/76

Despite my crappy roles during the game I managed to hold on and almost win, despite losing my T-34 to a Tiger-I.

Some key things that I learned during the game were that cover is very important. The Jeeps were useful to get soldiers to the front very fast.

The Humber Scout Cars are good but just don’t leave them out in the open for attack, that’s what makes the strike and fade very useful.

djensen

All in good time mate!

More insomnia.

I got a look at the French tank mini - Renault R35? - yesterday. I noticed it had a cross with indented arms painted on its tail.
Wait up, I thought. That’s not French. It’s Romanian.
A little checking revealed that the Romanian Army had over seventy R35s that they bought from France in the 1930’s.

So, your R35 mini can fight as

French, allies, in 1940

-Vichy French, axis, against the British in Syria in 1941 or the Brits and Americans in Tunisia in 1942

Romanian, axis, as German allies against the Russians in 1941-44

Romanian, allied, as Russian allies against the Germans in 1944-5

German, captured, 1941 onwards.

French, allies, in 1944 (they hid a few and dusted them off after D-Day).

For that matter the Syrians used some R35s against the Israelis in 1948, and the Israelis captured several and used them right back….

When fighting alongside the Russians, the Romanians were still using lots of German kit including PzIVs.

In the same vein, there was a short - lived Australian Tank Regiment in Lybia in 1941 equipped with captured Italian medium tanks (they all had to be scuttled as the British didn’t have the diesel fuel to run them), and the British Guards Armoured Division had a ‘pet’ Panther tank named Cuckoo that saw action against its former owners in 1945.

Anyone know any better examples?

Here is some information about sanctioned play for prizes. Contact your local game ship to set something up.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=retailer/support/aamleague

http://boards.avalonhill.com/showpost.php?p=61877&postcount=73

The following are links to previews of pieces from the upcoming Axis & Allies Miniatures game. I will update this topic with new links.

Piece Previews

Opening Salvo: PzKpfw IV

Opening Salvo: KV-1

Opening Salvo: Rotations

Opening Salvo: Tiger I

Opening Salvo: M4A1 Sherman Tank

Opening Salvo: SdKfz 251

Opening Salvo: Churchill Crocodile

Opening Salvo: German Crew Served Weapons

Opening Salvo: M3 Lee

Opening Salvo: sIG 33

Opening Salvo: T34/76

Opening Salvo: Carro Armato M13/40

Opening Salvo: The Humber Scout Car

What’s a Salvo?