Irish Guards Column March - Operation Garden

Hi all. Griddon here. About time we got some allies up on this blog. Blackwolf popped over earlier and we did some serious production lining at Dave's to get some roads ready. Post on those later no doubt. Afterwards we took to the garden and got the cameras out.

The Irish Guards are my first force in Flames of War. I didn't really know what I was getting into when I placed the order for the whole lot at once. Needless to say I was massively overwhelmed with 'little manz' when the package arrived. 'I've got to paint how many 15mm infantry?'.

At first I didn't really enjoy painting the 15mm scale infantry. The details were often obscured and it felt like a monumnental task even without block painting or shading. As it was I did the force with simple block painting and washing and the end result is cohessive and I think it has the required table top appeal.


On the other hand, the tanks were fun to paint. All my Shermans came together in one afternoon of painting and I'm happy with the results. The M10Cs required even less effort although they did feature 50cal AAMGs originally but even with careful transporting, those have long since snapped off.

Tactically the force is a combined arms force with a bit of everything. 'Pick and Mix'. That's been my style in 40k too and I much prefer to have a little of everything than create a rock, paper, scissor list and dominate one aspect of the game.

In WWII the Irish Guards Armored division led the charge into Holland during Operation Garden, leading XXX Corps and hopefully securing all the bridges all the way to Arnhem. Well it's certain that no plan survives contact with the enemy. The charge into Holland was almost immediately behind schedule due to road side ambushes by elements of 6th Fallschirmjager Regiment. The column pushed on and cleared the positions but they would go on to suffer major setbacks to the planned advance at Nijmegen. In the end, only a few tanks from the Irish Guards Armored division made it over the bridge, the remainder were scattered over 25 square miles of the south bank of the Waal. Those that did make it past Nijmegen were stuck in the 'island' atop raised roads through the flooded fields south of Arnhem. The Germans halted the Guards progress and they never managed to reach the British Paratroopers at Oosterbeek.

The Guards did employ a novel approach to moving up 'Hell's Highway'. The 'Column March' was organised such that complimentary elements of infantry, armor, anti tank and support were available in blocks up and down the column. At the first sign of enemy, the infantry would dismount and clear enemy positions with armoured support. Artillery could be called from further back in the column and Anti tank elements could be used to reinforce positions.

Thanks for reading! Photos below!

HQ and 3 x Infantry Platoons

6 Pounder Anti Tank Section

Anti Tank Platoon, Royal Artillery

Guards Armored Platoon

Field Battery, Royal Artillery

Armored Car Platoon

This is slightly more than 1750 worth of units on the table. The third Infantry platoon can be fielded in lieu of a section of M10Cs or sometimes the Amoured Car Squadron is replaced with an Infantry platoon with two sections.

Some of the Guards in action.

The Anti Tank Platoon, Royal Artillery M10Cs covering the main route of advance into the village

The Guards Armoured Platoon flanks the approaching Tiger 1Es

The Infantry assault two bogged down Tiger 1Es