Anzac Day 2020: Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels

The 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' entered Australia's wartime mythology following the publication of Sapper Bert Beros' poem of the same name in 1942. Modern review recognises a more diverse range of experiences for the Papuans.

Stretcher bearers in the Owen Stanleys. William Dargie, 1943

Many a mother in Australia, when the busy day is done,

Sends a prayer to the almighty for the keeping of her son.

Asking that an Angel guide him and bring him safely back.

Now we see those prayers are answered on the Owen Stanley track.

For they haven’t any halos, only holes slashed in the ears,

And with faces worked by tattoos, with scratch pins in their hair.

Bringing back the wounded, just as steady as a hearse,

Using leaves to keep the rain off and as gentle as a nurse.

Slow and careful in bad places, on the awful mountain track,

And the look upon their faces, makes us think that Christ was black.

Not a move to hurt the carried, as they treat him like a Saint,

It’s a picture worth recording, that an Artist’s yet to paint.

Many a lad will see his Mother, and the husbands, weans and wives,

Just because the Fuzzy Wuzzy carried them to save their lives.

From mortar or machine gun fire, or a chance surprise attack,

To safety and the care of Doctors, at the bottom of the track.

May the mothers in Australia, when they offer up a prayer,

Mention those impromptu angels, with the fuzzy wuzzy hair.

These figures are from Eureka, on a 60mm Rubicon base. I drilled out the hands, which was a little anxiety-inducing.  The Papuans were painted with Army Painter Leather Brown and two coats of AP Strong Tone. Their hair was Vallejo 70.899 Dark Prussian Blue with AP Dark Tone, which avoids going towards grey. I chose the terracotta skirt colour based off Dargie's painting above.

I chose to model kunai grass as seen in George Silk's iconic photo above. I used an old broken paintbrush and stained the hairs with Woodland Scenics Yellow Ocher, then glued clumps of it using PVA. I then individually picked out all the hairs that had fallen over or weren't attached. I am finding these hairs everywhere now...

Lest we forget.

Kokoda Memorial, Griffith,
Australian Capital Territory

Further reading:

Emma Rogerson, 2012. The 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels': Looking beyond the myth. Australian War Museum.

Painting and all other photos

CanCon CoC- France '40

I had my first game of Chain of Command at CanCon. This was a participation/ demo game run by Trailape. My opponent was Gorillamo, running the French.

The French mission was to destroy two caches of supplies before the German blitzkrieg captured them. The French have a platoon with attached engineers and a 25mm AT Gun. I had a platoon with an attached Pz I.

I deployed one squad with a 50mm mortar on the low brushy hill to the bottom right, who covered the advance of the remaining squads on the left. 

Germans cover the buildings

Some French rifle fire near their first objective was hit with a fusillade of return fire, including a very accurate mortar blast. Unfortunately for me, the mortar ran out of bombs and was never able to resupply!

Suppressing fire!

The other squads advance through the fields towards the French cache.

My moving squads became bogged down under fire despite covering smoke.

More French slow down the German advance

My Pz I trundled on and was immediately destroyed by the AT gun! My force morale was crumbling rapidly and my squads weren't advancing.

25mm gun fires down the street...

... and destroys my little tank!

The French engineers destroyed their first objective, and ran for the second- a disabled tank.

Kaboom! Cache destroyed, and a French squad withdraws under withering fire.

But the engineers were caught by devastating MG-34 fire and were destroyed before completing their mission.

Twin MG-34s fire down the street

The French engineers are unable to blow the second cache. 

It was a fun game which could have gone either way. Trailape was engaging, the terrain was appropriate, and the accents were outrageous. I liked the variable turn lengths, the patrol phase, and the inability to micromanage every soldier. I'd play again, but I don't think I'll be jumping into a new period...

SFx with LensFx iOS app.

CanCon 2020

I went down to CanCon last weekend, and I'll put up a couple more blog posts this week about what I did down there. I've been a bit busy otherwise, so the blog has suffered. Similarly, we didn't organise a Bloggers' Catch-Up this year, which was unfortunate. I did, nevertheless, manage to chat with  fellow Analogue Challengers Paul of the Man Cave and Slowpainter John.

I only took a few photos this year of some participation and demo games which caught my eye:

Blücher in 6mm:

Battle of Bishenpur, India, 1944 using WWII: Friend or Foe in 20mm:

Wings of Glory. There were Tripods as well!

Here's my swag: a mix of boardgames, paint, scenery, and new and second-hand figures!

What a Tanker- France '44

I had my first game of What a Tanker this week, in the heretical scale of 15mm. The models and scenery were provided by my friend Gorillamo, and I took a Tiger against three Shermans commanded by Gorillamo and Lims.

I'm not very good at my Sherman identification, but there was a 75mm, a 76mm, and an Easy Eight.

I've been playing with a new app on my phone, LensFX, which allows me to add explosions and dinosaurs etc. to my photos. I think it helps tell a story, but let me know if it is it a distraction?

The Tiger spots advancing Shermans.

 An overview of the battlefield.

75mm, 76mm, and Easy Eight Shermans

The Shermans spread out around the crossroads

The Tiger fails to hit

The Tiger's armour deflects all shots!

The Shermans outflank the Tiger...

...which manoeuvres down a lane...

...and jostles past the Easy Eight before spinning around.

The 75mm Sherman rams the Tiger and has to bail out!

Caught in a crossfire, the Tiger crew bails out!

A fun first game which lived up to my expectations. It was a delight to play on this terrain with these models. The Tiger only hit once, doing optics damage, but shrugged off over half a dozen hits. Being rammed reduced my command dice options, and I wasn't able to recover them before taking a hail of fire that convinced the crew to bail out and fight on later.

Anzac Day 2018- WW2 digger

This is one of my old OzMade 54mm figures I painted 15-20 years ago. He's carrying the Australian-designed 9mm Owen submachine-gun, and is kitted out for jungle warfare.

I added the helmet netting myself. I'm happy with the skin tones, but it could do with an overall wash to build depth and contrast, as well as better basing and foliage. (Not to mention fixing the chip on his collar...)

These evocative paintings by George Browning are of the 25th Infantry Brigade in the 1942 Kokoda Track campaign. I had the privilege of walking the Track in 2007- very hard to imagine doing it whilst being opposed.

That's me in the red.

Lest we forget.

All other pictures via the Australian War Memorial.

PSC Battle of Britain

What ho, Squiffy! Bally Jerry, pranged his kite right in the how's-your-father; hairy blighter, dicky-birded, feathered back on his sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harpers and caught his can in the Bertie.

Translated from banter:

PSC shot themselves in the foot during their crowdfunding campaign to re-release Richard Borg's Battle of Britain game. After significant delays in the Chinese factories, the miniatures released did not meet some consumer's expectations due to a softer plastic resulting in significant warping. Here are some of my 1:300 planes:

This one is the only moulding failure

Warping is common to any soft plastic boardgame miniature, and quickly settles with the hot water treatment. I fixed mine in about 20 minutes and am very happy with how they turned out. I like the contrast between the cheerful RAF and the utilitarian Luftwaffe camouflage patterns. I handpainted all the markings- the crosses and swastikas were a bit of a headache, and I'd consider decals despite the artisanal charm. On the table, I think they look great.

Spitfires

Hawker Hurricanes

Bristol Blenheim

Gloster Gladiator

Boulton Paul Defiant

Heinkel 111. Love the canopies!

Junkers 87 Stuka

Messerschmitt Bf 109. These are the smallest planes, and the markings were harder.

Junkers 88

Messerschmitt Bf 110

Dornier 17

Unfortunately, combined with some poor communication, PSC caved to pressure and has announced they will send out hard plastic planes to everyone. They're already quite fine miniatures, and a snapped tailfin will result in more wailing and gnashing of teeth than some easily correctable warping.

I got a game in of the first 4-round scenario. The RAF cracked out a win, but it would be interesting to see how they fare against attrition by the late campaign.

Game set-up

Cabbage crates coming over the briny

Pevensey radar station takes a hit!

It's grim up north