"2 Armoured Battalion Irish Guards" Topic

I have just completed my models for 2 Armoured Battalion Irish Guards, which I plan to use in Rapid Fire Market Garden scenarios. You can read all about it here:

link

Rod

They came up nicely, Rod. Will you be doing Cromwells for the 2 Welsh recce regiment?

And mightily bored we'll be?

Sorry, couldn't resist the open goal. I'll get my coat.

Sorry, couldn't resist the open goal.

Would you mind explaining what you mean to the dumb colonial, advocate?

@dg – Appears to be a cinema quote:

IMDB – A Bridge Too Far (1977)

[Horrocks is about to brief his XXX Corps on Operation Market Garden]

Lt. General Horrocks : Gentlemen, this is a story that you shall tell your grandchildren, and mightily bored they'll be.

[the entire corps laughs]

@RMacA:

Those models look ACE.

(You aren't going to set them alight with your Ronson when they brew-up are you?)

Thanks, Stoppage. I should have made the connection, but I was thinking about the run from the beaches to Belgium, not air pollution in Holland. :-)

Dai,

I could do 2 Welsh Guards Recce Regiment on their Cromwells, since I do have some card models of Cromwells. However my priority is 5 Gds Bde and they were normally in 32 Gds Bde.

Rod

Stoppage,

I gave up smoking 55 years ago, when I was 25, so don't have a Ronson. My local wargame club meets in a village hall with no smoking allowed, so that would prevent a real incendiary brew-up. Paperboys make a nice brew-up marker, so you can remove the turrets and fit that over the turret axle.

Rod

@RMacA

Inappropriate and poor joke on my part – detracting from the excellence of your models.

'Ronson' was the enemy nick-name for Shermans (probably due to the ease of setting them alight – at least the earlier marks)

However my priority is 5 Gds Bde

Still picking the show ponies, Rod? :-)

Dai,
Just picking the units who led the XXX Corps advance.
Rod

Ronson was an Allied term for Shermans. "Light every time!", although reputedly that slogan wasn't adopted by the Ronson company until after the war, so it may be a postwar appellation, like calling Sherman Vc "Fireflies".

Just picking the units who led the XXX Corps advance.

Are you doing the whole run from the ditch to Arnhem, Rod, or just parts? M-G has always fascinated me and the different viewpoints of Ryan, Kershaw and Niellands are always good bases for a robust discussion.

Dai,

I am using Rapid Fire rules, so basing it on their scenarios in their 2020 revised Market Garden scenarios. The hard copy is a single book, but there are separate Kindle versions for each scenario.

I am starting with making all the units for scenario 1 "XXX Corps Breakout", but will then move into making the units for each other scenario in turn, ending up with the final scenario 6 "Out of Ammunition: God Save the King". The original Rapid Fire Market Garden supplement had a couple of extra scenarios, so I will make sure I have the troops for those as well.

I have got Ryan and Kershaw. I don't know about Niellands and will look that up. I also have Beevor, Buckingham and Middlebrook, plus Urquhart's and Frost's memoirs. I have the Guards Armoured Division History and Glider Pilot History plus lots of Ospreys and biographies of Horrocks and Browning.

Robin Nielland's book is The battle for the Rhine 1944. He's more pro- than anti-Montgomery, but isn't an apologist, and seems to see himself as a bit of a myth buster. He also maps out his arguments very well. His chapter on Nijmegen answers a few questions I've always had, reference what the GAD were doing before and after the bridge was captured. As I suspected they weren't sitting around having a cuppa and spam sangers, as some histories would have us believe.

I have Frost and Middlebrook, have read Buckingham (that's Arnhem 1944?) and Urquhart (that was a long time ago). I didn't know about Beevor (my wallet may hate you).

Please keep us posted on how it all plays out, Rod. I've never played the campaign/battles using mini's, but I have played the full campaign version of the SPI monster and the John Tiller/WDS computer game.

Dai,
Thanks for that. I have now bought the Kindle edition of "Battle for the Rhine 1944". Yes, Buckingham is "Arnhem 1944". Beevor is "Arnhem – The Battle for the Bridges 1944". It is only £4.99 GBP on Kindle. I buy most of my books on Kindle now, since I have hundreds of hardbacks and paperbacks, with no more room on the shelves in my study/library/wargames room.
Rod