Museum Holiday, part 2

     The Canadian War Museum is a treasure trove for military buffs, collectors, and people who wonder about things that go "boom." Last Wednesday, through a driving rain and Ottawa's efficient but convoluted bus system, Beth and I spent the day at that museum. Lots of photos to follow.

     Since this year is the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in the "War to end all wars", the specially featured display is focused on Vimy. Many folks believe that this battle was the one that inaugurated Canada into the family of nations as an independent nation rather than a colony. The memory of the sacrifice there is held in memory by Canadians.

A chilling piece of art that features both the Vimy memorial and the ghosts of the troops who died taking that ridge.
It is quite moving. No matter what anyone might think of the command and the reason for that war, the bravery and sacrifice... on both sides... is to be held in memory.

One light for each Canadian casualty

A view of most of the display -  much of it interactive.

Elsewhere in the museum, in the WWI portion, an aeroplane still flies.

An 8-inch howitzer.

An original uniform of the Canadian Nursing Sisters.

The original light blue has faded to grey over the years.

In the War of 1812 section, we found General Brock's coat.

The General took this wound at the Battle of Queenstown Heights in October, 1812.
The black spot is the actual hole from the shot that killed this man, one of the few
British officers who understood fighting in North America and how to work with the First Nations.

We didn't go into the WWII section or the UN peace-keeping section. We wanted to go downstairs to the BIG display of vehicles and artillery.

Quite a garage.

A t-34/85 and a Churchill tank. A Sherman 76 is trying to photo-bomb this shot.

Your humble blogger attempts to read the bronze plaque on the Canadian Leopard II
that warns that the coating on the tank could be toxic if you take a metal grinder to the armour.
I quickly ditched my grinder and Dremel tools.

A Canadian APC - a Grizzly, I believe.

A variant of the M-113 with a TOW projector on the top.
These are hefty vehicles.

For a change of pace, a soup-and-hot-coffee wagon from the UK.
built on a Ford chassis, it would make a nice side piece of "table clutter" for a WWII game.

German searchlight with the business end turned away.

Quite a line-up!
Sherman 75, Sexton self-propelled gun (25#), the clumsy-looking Lee, the sleek Panther, a Sherman 76, and the T-34/85.
Classics of armour each one.

My friend, Martin's favourite vehicle - the Bren Carrier.

The F-101 Voodoo in Canadian markings.
I'd heard that this venerable warbird soldiered on with the RCAF for a long, long time.

Need a garden tractor? Try this engineering vehicle!

A German Kriegsmarine midget submarine, brought back to Canada by Canadian author, Farley Mowat and the unit he was assigned to in the Netherlands at the end of WWII.

Goliath, a small, fully-tracked, remotely-controlled demolitions vehicle used
by the German Wehrmacht in WWII. It's smaller than my kitchen table,

Various trucks and cars, including a VW amphibious Schwimmwagen just to right of center.

If I had one, I'd ride it... and the neighbors would hate me.

A rarity! The German 2.8cm light anti-tank gun (2.8cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41...translation -
28cm heavy anti-tank rifle) referred to as a "squeeze-bore" weapon. The bore tapered and provided
more power and velocity to the projectile.

The 17-Pounder British anti-tank gun. This could take on almost any of the Axis
tanks near the end of WWII. The main armament of the Sherman "Firefly"

A German 8.8cm rocket-projector called the Püppchen ("Dolly" as in toy)
Beth wanted to get an idea of the bore so I put my hand against it.

A bronze 18-pounder

A carronade on a garrison carriage

Looking into the display area from the outside.
You can see the Zimmerit anti-magnetic mine paste on the Panther.

Some "nose art" from Canadian aircraft.

If you get a chance to go to Ottawa and see this museum, I don't think you'll be disappointed. There is much we didn't see this time and much that we saw and didn't photograph. It's worth the trip... and you can purchase a pass that gets you into a number of museums for a discount price over the space of three days. Well worth getting. Beth and I saved about $18 by buying the pass and going into the three museums. There are also other ones we didn't try to see, either because they didn't interest us or they were closed when we had the time to go.

Meanwhile, back at the Museum of Nature, I engage the staff in a deep conversation.

Panzer War

This past Saturday at the Hamilton Road Games Group, we tried out a new (to us) set of WWII rules called Panzer War. Martin and Kevin have been eager to try out the rules so we set up a game set in North Africa after the Torch landings, with US armour and infantry doing a fighting withdrawal in the face of the Afrika Korps in the battle of Kasserine Pass. I skippered the US forces while Bear ran the Germans. Martin and Kevin handled the rules, a good idea since they were the only ones familiar with the rules. Andy supplied a lot of the German vehicles and Martin brought most of the US stuff with a small contribution from my collection.

The board - three villages, two held by US forces.
This was my first time to field M3 Lees, which I dug in hull down just beyond the town in the centre.

The US position - Lees, Stuarts, Greyhound ACs, M2 & M3 halftracks and infantry with mortars and bazookas.

The Stuarts back up the Lees' position.
My collection included M5 Stuarts which we declared to be M3s for the day.

The rules called for an initiative roll and Bear moved his Pz. IIIs and IVs forward, holding back his truck-bourne infantry on Andy's advice. One platoon of infantry went into the houses in the first town. In my turn, I mortared those troops and took out their command stand. The 37mm guns of the Lees' turrets disabled two of the five Pz. IVs while the one 75mm main gun that could be brought to bear merely kicked up some sand. Since we were unfamiliar with the rules, shooting took quite a while. (Visibility? Targeting? Range? To hit? What area on the vehicle? Penetrate? Damage? On fire? Tank commander kill? Stun? Bail out?) Bear's return fire on the second turn took out ALL of the Lees. ("Coffin for seven brothers" indeed.) I was able to slow down this advance but not for long. Bear had to leave in the mid-afternoon for an appointment so the game only when two turns. Looking back, I should have begun a withdrawal really early.

M8 Greyhound armoured cars at a distance...

... and up close. From Martin's collection.

Mortars and their halftrack - from my collection.
Figures by Quality Castings. halftrack by Old Glory

M3 White Scout Cars and Jeep
More Old Glory originally painted for Canadian and Russian use.

In the town

Battle taxis await the word to withdraw.

Martin's infantry, vehicle and buildings.

Bear's Pz.IVs advance.
the D4 indicates the phase of the turn in which this unit may fire.

The Pz.IIIs advance on the other side of the hill.

German infantry in the village.

In a later turn, Bear brings up his undamaged tanks to take on the M3s.

The other Panzers round the hill.
"Ha! Those rules are no hindrance to my tanks!"

Infantry in trucks wait their turn on the back side of the hill.
They are supported by a Pz.III, a Pz.III½ (III hull/IV turret), and a Sturmgeshutz.

As Bear had to leave early and had cut up my defending force badly, we declared him the winner and I agreed I should have started a withdrawal earlier, although I suppose I was playing a delaying force while the main force made a run for it.

In all honesty, I found the rules "clunky", with 8 pages of charts and variables that you had to access for just about every shot. I agree with Kevin who felt this game allows for more realistic results in armoured combat. I just felt that it could become an exercise in calculation, accounting, and hair-splitting since a long check-list might be needed to adjudicate every turn. Realistic, no doubt. Playable? I have reservations. I studied business and economics in university and economics is not called "the Dismal Science" without reason. Ultimately, in my dotage, I think I prefer simpler, quicker games. As always, it was worth a try. The vehicles looked good!

The defencive line outside the middle village.

Bear's Pz.IVs advance past the first village.

My M3 Scout Cars and a Jeep.
The nearest scout car has an illegible Cyrillic slogan painted on the side.

The Pz.IIIs and some Pz.IVs do the end around.

The M3 Lees from Martin's collection and infantry from mine.
The beads show the condition of the tank - yellow means the crew bailed, black - the tank is on fire,
purple - I don't remember.
By the end of the game, all four M3s were in flames.

Infantry from my collection - from Quality Castings
Originally they were based for Command Decision so I glued them to a cardboard sabot base.

This coming week -
The Gaming Group's Birthday Bash, including Big Stompy Robots in Quebec City.