Travelogue XVI: French Army Museum IV Crimea and beyond

 

a real French Zouave 'habite'

then came a WWII section, where the cross of Lorraine featured

this part of the exhibit had actual leaflets
that were air dropped over France
during the war to help keep up morale
and inform resistance cells

from America, there were French ex-pats
that took up arms and returned as volunteers
as part of the landing forces

medals to recognize the
French Forces of the Interior
FFI

Minerva (or Athena)
was a source of inspiration
and quiet identification of FFI
supporters in the French homes

Then came the top floor, dedicated to Vauban.

Travelogue XI: Birmingham GAME of Arnhem

 After a drive to find, I met with a most excellent gamer that I had done some play-testing of rules for last year.  We had a fun Tex-Mex dinner, then settled in for a bit of WWII at Arnhem.

Flipped a coin for who commanded what, I ended up with the Paras.

Martin has a game set in progress, with many buildings and the bridge section in advanced stages, we chatted about terrain and ideas during the game.

our battlefield for the night

The rules set is a work-in-progress, having first been put into print in 2019.

We had some lively exchanges about the morale effects, especially 'cobbled together' companies of the second rate troops that much of the German forces were at Arnhem (the Luftwaffe 'infantry' that were formerly mechanics and drivers) also the determination of the armored forces of the Germans, though they would also not move forward without infantry support - especially in the urban 'Built Up Areas' BUAs.

some inspirational reading associated with this battle

this road was the critical terrain
for the Paras to hold on to
(any future supply must cross it)

wonderful terrain that would be expanded
upon in the near future

the play mat made moving a cinch

models were all well painted and on flocked bases

Martin's game system used four different
coloured dice for the controls
then the 'blue & red' die would be
re-rolled often for combat effects

Game was a straight forward hold area defense
vs line attack - sadly the Germans failed to get
their artillery to do much before or during the
attack and this left their armour vulnerable

All in all it was a fun day out, though it did mean I would have to drive back to Glastonbury in the dark and some rain.  Thankfully the diversions were all shut down for the night and I had easy access to the M2.

many thanks for my hosts Martin and his bride