Mustering for Barbarossa

Laying out the troops

Contrary to all expectation and thanks in no small part to the help of David Crook, Tim Gow and Old John, I've managed to get the Barbarossa campaign on track.  So much so in fact, we'll be playing it on Saturday. 

In advance of the game, I've been making sure that we've enough kit.   This included getting tanks from the aforementioned David Crook, Tim Gow and Old John, painting up seventeen Revell Cossacks and forty four Strelets RKKA infantry. The tanks are all base coated and will need detailing over the next two days.  There are a few other jobs that need doing, but honestly I surprised at how quickly this came together.  Having a list helped and being ruthless about the bare minimum that was required to get the campaign on the table was a big factor.

The other advantage of the Barbarossa campaign is that once we have the gear to do it - we can always play it again with very little prep required.  Laying everything out on the table certainly helped establish where the gaps are and made it easier to muster our forces.  It also prevented me from falling into a false sense of security and making simple errors like...

...the time Du Gourmand and I forgot that a Memoir board is nine hexes deep not eleven. 

...forgetting to print out any of the scenarios and trying to find a net cafe at 10am on a Sunday. 

...that I'd double counted the French infantry and had gotten too many.

We are not clever men sometimes. 

My apologies for the terrible picture.