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All,
I’ve embarked on a new project, “The Hakuna-Matata Wars,” and established a blog just for it (like I did with my Cuba Libre project). The concept is a former British colony wins independence in 1946, but then tribal affiliations lead to strife and ultimately the former colony splits into two separate countries, Hakuna and Matata. The former is Western backed, the latter supported by the Warsaw Pact.
The two countries will fight about a dozen wars between 1952 and the present, upgrading their armies and air forces each time. I anticipate each war will consist of about ten tabletop battles, played on a 2′ x 2′ or maybe a 3′ x 2′ table using Ivan’s 5Core Company Command. Each ground fight will be preceded by an aerial dogfight, with the winner having air support in the subsequent ground fight.
The forces for the first Hakuna-Matata war are prepared, and I plan on starting the fights this weekend. Here’s a look at our antagonists:
The whole shabang: each side has four fighters, two bombers, fifteen tanks, fifteen transports, fifteen infantry stands, three anti-tank vehicles, three recon vehicles, three heavy guns/launchers, and an anti-aircraft gun.
A Firefly and Halftrack from Hakuna.
And a T-34 and truck from Matata.To see a bunch of closeups of all the gear, please check the blog at:
http://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2016/08/forces-for-1952-war.htmlAlso, please check the preceding blogposts, where I introduce the concept, the tables of organization and orders of battle, the overarching timeline and equipment upgrades, and I walk you through receiving my order to getting these little guys ready for the table.
Stand by for the beginning of yet another war.
V/R,
JackJack:
Shouldn’t that be, ‘Pipi&pupu Indian paja’mas’? They’re made from good quality Indian cotton and have convenient button-up or Velcro flaps fore and aft so young Marines don’t soil the poop-deck when harsh seas strike the bowels. ‘Uhuru na Ujamaa’ means ‘freedom and Socialism’ in Swahili. I’ll root for the boy then as there’s still hope for him.
Cheers and good gaming.
Rod Robertson.
PS. There were no post-war users of Sherman Fireflies in Africa. They were used by Italy, the Netherlands, Argentina, Lebanon and Belgium but never by African states.
Kyoteblue:
With Jack in the navy and poco-Jacko in cowboy boots this campaign is beginning to shape up as a Village People reunion.
Cheers and good gaming.
Rod Robertson
Kyoteblue:
I only put the bit about Fire Flies in because Jack said I would and I wouldn’t want too disappoint him.
Jack:
No worries! Marines are scary and you being a Marine are scary. I am just old enough not to care! One can half-live one’s life in fear of what might come to pass or one can live one’s life. For years I did the former but lately the latter seems more sensible. So you’re welcome to knock on the door, but if you don’t get the jump on me I hope you like edged weapons. Of course if you bring beer instead of a MAU, we can have a rousing wargame and I can show you the proper use of carpeting for terrain.
Cheers and good unmolested gaming.
Rod Robertson.
(Sounds of laughter and the sight of my head-shaking!)
Jack:
Well done, sir! You have slapped me down and put me in my place.
Canadians are afraid of few things. Their wives, their kids growing up too fast, running out of beer (or wine if they’re Québécois), hungry bears and frisky moose are about it, if you don’t count thermonuclear war and the return of Celine Dion from the Las Vegas wastes. And we shoot ducks from covers!
As to the Marine Expeditionary Force, touché, sir.
On the subject of rousing wargames, well one man’s mead is another man’s poison. But I’m sure if I want to refine and enhance my understanding of the “Hi-diddle-diddle-let’s-run-up-the-middle” school of battle, I would be like Grasshopper at the master’s knee, snatching for pebbles!
As to the Marines, the Canadians and the Taliban I am ashamed to say that they are not yet done. So much for my vaunted grand plan of a year and a half ago (or was that two years ago?). The 150+ Tallies are about 1/3 done and about 1/3 primed while all the remaining are mounted and ready for priming. The 50+ Marines are about 4/5 primed but only one thirteen-man squad is done, not flocked but painted, black-washed and dry-brushed. The rest are in various stages of painting. The Canadians are filed, mounted and primed but not painted as are the British Royal Marine Commandos. The FFL troops and vehicles are not even started really although about half of the French vehicles from Irishserb are assembled and three are primed and partially painted. Likewise, some Peshmurga, Middle Eastern irregulars/baddies and Africans are mounted but not primed and most are still in their packs.. Most of the modern vehicles are assembled and a dozen are painted. The rest are in the queue awaiting priming or painting. Buildings and walls are about half spackled and four are sanded, primed, painted and finished. But not mounted and flocked/decorated. Then there are the many Cold War 15mm minis and vehicles to work through, but that’s just depressing!
The reason for this shocking delinquency on my part is I got distracted by work, life, books, illness, painting WWII 15’s, painting ancient Celts and Thracians and assembling and painting some 25/28mm Fantasy minis for a now-defunct D&D club I was running at school. Plus, I am preparing to paint 25/28mm Dark Ages, more Fantasy figures and 1/300 scale WWII aircraft. There is also a comprehensive revamp of the thousands of not-so-modern and WWII 6mm forces to do but that is way down the road.
So, there is the sad truth, I’m way behind!
Cheers and good gaming.
Rod “the Snail” Robertson.
All,
Recently I posted about my new blog covering the Hakuna-Matata Wars, a pair of African Imagi-Nations fighting through a series of wars from 1952 to the present, all in 3mm. Two weeks ago the war began, but it’s taken me forever to write the batreps up as work has kept me busy, then I got sick as a dog. But the first battles are in the books, and here you go. If you’re wondering why I keep saying ‘battles,’ it’s because every ground fight is preceded by an aerial fight to determine who gets air support in the ground fight.
The aerial fight saw two Corsairs of the Hakuna Air Force and two Spitfires of the Matata Air Force square off; oddly enough, not a single aircraft was shot down. But the boy managed to damage both my aircraft to pull off the win, so he got ground attack aircraft in support for the ground fight.Here’s a link to the dogfight:
http://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2016/08/1952-war-dogfight-1.htmlThis was followed by tanks of Matata pushing hard to cross the Mashandane River, with air support, against a numerically inferior Hakuna force.
I won’t say who won, but there were a lot of burning T-34s 😉 To see the whole thing, please check the blog at:
http://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2016/08/1952-war-ground-fight-1.htmlWe’ve played the next two games (air and land) last weekend, I’m working on getting them written up. The first air fight wasn’t as fun as we’d hoped for, so the second one we went with a simplified version of the Lardies’ “Bag the Hun,” and it was just what the doctor ordered, we had a great time. On the ground side, the only issue I’m having is, with the amount of vehicles on the board, I’m wishing I’d have element based them rather than single based them (i.e., put 3 tanks on a stand, rather than putting one tank per stand).
More to follow.
V/R,
Jack
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