Battle at Government House, Stanley, Falkland Islands, April 2, 1982

The Battle at Government House, Stanley, Falkland Islands, April 2, 1982

 

The Argentinian Forces deployed on the Islands the night of April 1-2, 1982.  One of the main goals was to capture the Government complex in Stanley. (See the dashed red circle and flag, map above)

 

The first Argentinian assault was launched at 6:30am local time. Armored/amphibious infantry traveled through Stanley and up the main road towards to Government House Complex on the hill. (from the right on the map)

The second Argentinian assault, to support the 1st assault, was launched from the southwest, coming up and over a rocky and mostly barren hill to surprise any engaged UK forces from the rear.

(and it worked.)   

 

 

The Government House Complex in the game.  A contingent of over 30 UK Royal Marines were stationed here to protect the governor.  The marines were strategically placed around the complex to defend it against attack.
(Notice the British vehicles in the compound, including the Governors Black car.)

 

 

The Argentinian 'Elite' Infantry make their way through the streets of Stanley approaching the Governor's House road.

The approach up the hill towards the Government House Complex.

 

Royal Marines hidden in cover unleash an AT round at the approaching AMTRAK, loaded with a squad of elite Argie Infantry. So much for the first wave.

 

 

Elite Argie Infantry decide to move back down the hill and regroup after taking heavy fire from the Complex.

 

Regrouped, the Argie infantry advances up the hill again, but first shooting some smoke to cover their advance.   

 More smoke as additional mobile infantry is brought up the hill.  The UK Marines retreat back towards the Governor's House and take up new positions there. A later attack from behind the Governor's house will split the UK Marines and slowly reduce their fire power until they surrender.

 

The Royal Marines inflicted much heavier casualties during the game than the actual battle.

 

...next up will be the Battle of Goose Green and the Skirmish at Malo Top House.

 

Falkland Islands: Argentinean Forces, 20mm modern

I don't have any 'real' Argentinean miniatures, but these will have to do for now.  They can also double as Cuban elite/marines for a future Grenada game or any other modern, Central or South American disturbance that I create.  The metal miniatures are part of the 'Merc' line of miniatures from Stan Johansen Miniatures.

Since my AA7V, from Dragon Models, doesn't have any US markings on it, it is on loan to the Argentinean forces to patrol Goose Green or any other small Falkland hamlet.  I still need to find at least one AML-90 Panhard Armored Car for the Argentineans' use .

We'll call these 'Echo' Company.  They have a typical olive drab uniform, web gear, blue berets, and a mix of weapons.  They can easily serve with just about any army, including Argentina, Cuba, Russia, and even the U.N.

 A close up of the 'Blue Berets'.

We'll call these 'Foxtrot' Company. They have a typical 3-color, tiger stripe camo uniform, olive green web gear, black berets, and a mix of weapons. I thought it was just a cool camo scheme and came out good for 20mm figures.

 A close up of the 'Black Berets'.

 We'll call these 'Gamma' Company. They have a typical 4-color, Russian camo uniform, olive green web gear, green berets, and a mix of weapons.  Again, they will serve proudly under some unfortunate dictator.

 A close up of the 'Green Berets'.

New $1 find at Target

OK, I was at Target and browsing through the Dollar aisles at the front and found these two packs of cheap plastic army men.  At first I picked them up (thinking the vehicles had some potential use with my 20mm modern troops.) and then put them down again, and even walked away.  However, I had to go back to rule #2 of gaming acquisition: If you see something that will work, buy it now because when you go back for it, it will be gone!  I've violated that rule too many times to not heed the warning.  So, I went back and picked up a bag of each.

Here are the two bags.

Bag #1 (Left) has 28 pieces that included a truck with an absurd weapon on the back, an undersized plane, and 26 figures. I thought all of the plastic men were useless until I saw the four kneeling figures with a 30 cal. MG.  I'll probably cut these off to use with my Car Wars vehicle conversions or for use with the helicopter as a 50 cal. MG.

 Bag #2 has 22 (Right) pieces that included a tank, a helicopter, and 20 figures.  Again, I thought all of the plastic men were useless until I saw the four kneeling figures with a 50 cal. MG. I'll probably cut these off to use with my Car Wars vehicle conversions as they are too large to use with the helicopter as MG's.

 Here are the four vehicles with 20mm modern contractors (not completely painted yet) for scale.

Truck: I'm going to cut off the hideous weapon (that will leave a big gaping hole in the cheap plastic truck) and add a utility/transport bed made out of plastic styrene.  This will serve as a transport truck for one of my smaller modern contingents in need of transportation. (I.E.: 20mm Grenadians, Argentineans, Cubans, or Somalis.) 

Small Plane: I may cut off the bottom struts/wheels and use it as a UAV/drone. I'm not sure yet.

Tank: At first I thought it was too small, but after looking at it, I think it will be turned into an armored,  infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), sort of BMP-2-ish.  The turret needs to go, or at least cut off the main mantlet/gun and the rear portion and replace with bits of plastic and a new, smaller caliber, main gun.  Similar to the truck, this vehicle may be put into service with a variety of the smaller, modern contingent countries in need of a little armor.

Helicopter: The main reason for getting the pack was to turn this into a good/cheap replica of an OH-58 Kiowa. You can never have too many of these. I'll need to remove one of the sets of blades and maybe use a bead or something on top of the rotors for the optic sights to make it a scout. It will certainly come in handy and will be well used by my contractors employed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other hot spots around the world.

Here's the Kiowa glued together, mold line trimmed and sanded, and primed with some Krylon Fusion black paint. The 20mm contractor is shown for scale.

Here's the IFV glued together, mold line trimmed and sanded, and primed with the Krylon Fusion black paint. Again, the turret needs to go.  The 20mm contractor is shown for scale.  The hideous truck is in the background.  However, by the time I get done with it, it won't be an ugly duckling any longer.   Now that I think about it, I may have to either make some type of emplaced gun position out of the hideous gun, or just relegate it to the parts box.