James' wargaming blog

40K scrap modelling

2011-09-13T15:17:00.001-07:00

I have a boxful of bits of kits including some old GW vehicles. I think the bit in the top photo come off what is called a Rhino? Anyway I never liked the shape of this vehicle because it always seemed to be to be the wrong way up. So an hour's modelling produced these new track units. The wheels came from old 1/72 Pzr III kits I had in my bits box. I made up 22 sets (11 per side) which I then had to cut in half to make it look as if they are recessed into the hull. Drive sprockets and idler wheels (also from the Pzr III kits) are actually set into the hull. The rubber track is off an old toy tank cut to fit.

I really enjoy using up bits from my scrap box to make something new.

I was after something a bit like the Churchill tank . Will start work on the hull tomorrow. Not sure yet whether I want it to be a tank or some kind of personnel carrier.

more pics of the future tank

2011-09-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

I will dress it up with some Old Crow and 40K accessories. The original turret I will use on another vehicle so nothing is wasted. Comments welcome.

Future tank

2011-09-12T16:31:00.001-07:00

OK, they uploaded in the wrong order. This is my version of a "future tank" for my low tech rebel forces. The base model is a 1/35 Panzer 1F German tank, a rare WW2 type (only 40 were built) you see it here with the proper mg turret built straight from the box. The turret I replaced with a complete one from a 40K Leman Russ.

Sci Fi scratchbuild

2011-07-04T04:45:00.000-07:00

I can't afford GW/Forgeworld vehicles so I will have to build my own. I took an old crappy plastic toy tank of indeterminate scale (1 of 2 I got a long time ago from Poundland), discarded the turret and hull top, removed the wheels (it was a push along wheeled toy) and repositioned the tracks lower down on the hull sides to give a realistic ground clearance.

I did that quite a while back then put it away again.

However, with my sci fi project I now have a need for a large transport vehicle or two and decided this would be the ideal starting point.

It was too narrow however.

So I cut the hull length ways and added a new bottom hull of a wide piece of 60 thou plastic card. The width of the hull between the tracks is now a satisfyingly fat 4 inches, and also longer than before.

However, I rushed this and found after it was glued solid the two tracks were not parallel, so had to correct this.

The photos explain everything, although they loaded up in the wrong order. Side skirts will add further width to the vehicle. More photos and explanations later as it goes on.

Pig Iron /Renegade French

2011-06-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

Yep trust me this will work

Sci Fi Project update

2011-06-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry no pictures again. But collecting various bits and pieces for this, looks like it is going to be a real project.

I won a few 40K bits from Ebay at low prices, mainly heavy weapons. However the 3 I bought for a couple of quid from one seller arrived all broken. The retard had put then in a jiffy bag without any extra packing at all. They could not have been more broken if he had stamped on the bag before posting it.

Thanks to my friend Mattbot however I now have 4 lascannon , 3 autocannon, 4 heavy bolters, 4 mortars and 4 bazookas to play around with on sprues that were surplus to his requirements.

The two types of cannon I will use for the fixed emplacements of the Fortess Artillery. The heavy bolters (which I don't like) I will add 40mm barrels from Old Crow on the ends, pair them up and convert them into twin anti-aircraft guns on scratchbuilt carriages.

The mortars are quite poor IMO, I only need one mortar for my weapon squad which I will scratchbuild the tube but use the GW bipod.

Crews for all the above will need to be converted . The base figures I fancy are -believe it or not- WWI early War French from Renegade as they have the exact baggy trousers and open greatcoats as the Pig Iron Kolony Militia. The heads, and detail on the torsos does not matter as this will be remodelled and heads and weapons replaced. I tried to add a photo from the web but it would not work. Maybe next post.

more thoughts on SciFi project

2011-06-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

Been musing at work today on unit composition...I enjoy constructing Orders Of Battle..at the moment I am thinking about the Rebel units. This is my prospective Rebel force , subject to change of course; it will represent a fortified section of the front bordering the Wastelands.

HQ:

Commander, Robot, Technician, (Pig Iron) other figures as needed.

Force Troops:

2 x 10 man Conscript Squads. These from Pig Iron. Standard Kolony militia made up from all the various sets. One squad has option to be motorized, various converted scratch built vehicles.

1 x 10 man Veteran Squad. Pig Iron Kolony Rebels, some light conversion. These are a unit that has been in action so long they are now contaminated at gene level and can no longer return home. They know they are dead men walking and have a fierce esprit de corps. May paint them up with special unit insignia or something. They are extremely important to the commander, used for long range patrols and intelligence gathering.

1 x 7- man Elite Squad. Ironwind Neo Soviets. Just because I have a few already.

I Walker squad. 3 Warzone models, crew fitted with Pig Iron heads.

1 x Weapon squad. Pig Iron Kolony Militia missile set, perhaps with addition of a 40K tripod mounted weapon or 2.

1 x tank. Converted 1/35 panzer IF.

Mercenary Troops.

This sector of the front has received reinforcement from High Command of 1 or 2 squads max of offworld mercenary troops. The mercs available to the Rebel government are of variable quality, have their own different weapons and equipment. These are old Warzone figures I already own. Only available during games where attack is planned.

Fortified Base Troops.

This sector of the front has an allotment of heavy weapons . These will be from Old Crow and few GW 40K models I pick up off Ebay. The crews of these are only nominally under the command of the unit commander, belonging to a Fortress unit.

Wasteland Units.

Outside the security of the base lies the terrible ruined Wastelands..... There are some units here under the command of the Sector HQ.

1x 10 man Feral Militia squad (Pig Iron Ferals) These are the remnants of soldiers who have been in action for decades, now physically manky, mutated and damaged.... however to counter the new threat of the Union Genetic Troopers, the Rebel government has re-equipped certain of these and banded them into adhoc units..they fight in return for food and medicines. They are however of low quality.

1x mutant handler squad. See fluff a couple of posts back. 1 handler and 3 mutants. All to come from Ironwind.

1 x Cyclops squad. 1 handler and 3 cyclops. Ironwind.

1 Chemgrunt squad. Ironwind. Because the minis are so damn cool.

Wagon Train Game 28mm

2011-05-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

This was a multiplayer 1:1 wild west skirmish game I played in over a year ago. Don't know what the rules were. But it was a lot of fun. 7 of us chose randomly a player card which had two characters on it (corresponding to miniatures on the board). As it happened I was the commanding officer Captain Ellis Cox. The player who was also the games master controlled the Indians.

Here was the scenario:

US Cavalry were escorting a wagon train of supplies from a town to an army fort. Against the advice of the sergeant, the Captain decided NOT to take the usual direct route west across the salt flats, but instead to take a leisurely route that roughly followed the Greasy River south until it turned west at the foot of the Black Hills (known Injun country) That way we could keep the horses well watered as we went.
To set the scene further:
It was late afternoon and the four wagons were moving at walking pace, with 4 cavalry troopers at the head of the column, and a scout and a trooper further ahead. I was in the lead wagon The 14 cavalry characters were a mix of veterans and some new untested recruits. We having cut the corner of the bend in the river were approaching it again as it cut east to west. I was told by the gamesmaster that I would not make the fort before nightfall but it was up to me if I wanted to carry on through the night. Oh additional information: dust had been seen directly behind us travelling in our direction.
I had never been in a "free" unstructured type of game like that before where you could do whatever you wanted. Everybody was looking at me to give some orders. I decided that we would not keep on travelling but find a suitable spot and camp near the foothills , away from the woods by the river but near enough to fetch water for the horses. I called a cavalry trooper back and gave him orders to gallop forward to pass the message to the scouts to find a suitable camp site. I also ordered my driver to speed up to a trot, as the horses would rest soon. Being the lead wagon the others would follow my pace.

(I immediately found that command and control was difficult: It took 3 turns for the messenger to reach the scouts, who had by then advanced quite a way and the whole wagon train had also moved forward. By the time the scouts got my message the column had already been attacked and the situation was changed.)

As my messenger set off the sergeant wheeled his horse back to report that he saw more smoke and dust to the North west. Accordingly I sent him and his partner to the rear as a rearguard . That only left one trooper forward in front of the lead wagon.

Ok over to the photos:

The 4 cavalry troopers at the lead before the game started

some of the wagons

The scouts Sorry not a good photo.

The head of the column after the rearguard and messenger have left. The wagon train has speeded up.

Injuns!! As soon as the rearguard got to the end of the train injuns popped up in the scrublands and also in the woods to the front, on both sides of the wagon train. One trooper driving the third wagon was hit and a shot just missed me. Here the warriors are about to rush the rearguard. They pull one trooper off his horse and kill him.

The scouts have came back to meet the wagon train. You can see the injuns in the woods by the river who fired at us. As we only had taken two casualties, at this point I was thinking of speeding up and keeping going. But the scouts and lead trooper now dismount on their own iniative to fire at new Indians who appear on the hills ahead of us. More appear behind.

Now something happened I did not plan for!! The player controlling the third wagon in the column (whos driver had been wounded) decided to jump out and take on the indians single-handed!! Here you see him surrounded on the ground. Amazingly he killed 3 braves before he was overwhelmed. The wagon, driverless, veered towards the river and came to a stop by the woods. Indians swarmed over it. However, due to the bravado of the player, the gamesmaster allowed him a surprise character. This was Grits, the grizzled cook who jumped out of the back of the wagon and started hand to hand with the braves. This wagon must have had the beans supply because, well, Grits fought like a fucking madman.

Lots happening here. I have stopped the train and everybody is dimounted. I find it difficult to give orders because I am busy firing at the injuns on the hills. They are scoring hits on us. Luckily the sergeant (surviving rearguard) orders the 4th wagonto close up and they form a perimeter to defend our rear. We can't do anything to help Grits in the isolated wagon

Here is the situation at the peak of the battle. My driver was been wounded and so has the scout. But we have managed to nullify the threat from the hills . The trooper in the foreground has remounted to rescue a wounded trooper out in the scrub. They both make it back. At the rear of the train the sergeant has just been seriously wounded. Don't think I am his favourite person at the moment. I am thinking we should have taken the salt flats.

Grits has been so successful fighting off the injuns that the wounded corperal shot in the first encounter has now recovered sufficiently to help the cook at the back of the wagon. Right after this the Gamesmaster decides that the Indians have had enough and they melt away. We win and the wagon trainis saved but with 2 troopers killed and 5 wounded. Oops.

It was a great fun game.

More Lancashire Romans

2011-05-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

A few more pics for posterity.
A better view of one of the Auxiliary units . I only liked this one pose of those available so made them all the same. With Ancients and Napoleonics you can get away with that I feel.

A different unit of Auxilia. Same pose but I painted them a different skin colour and used Shield transfers on plain shields.
Sorry about the quality of the photos. Can't apologise for the bad painting though you will have to lump it !

My Lancashire Romans (old stuff)

2011-05-16T15:53:00.001-07:00

Some 28mm Lancashire Romans I did years ago. Not the best quality figures but I was very fond of them because they were the first 28mm figures I actually got finished. They were old school gloss varnished.
Lancashire figures have quite varied poses.
These particular shields have an embossed design so easy to paint.
A unit of auxiliaries, hand painted shields again
All of them together. I sold them to a gamer in Australia.

VOR rulebook

2011-05-16T15:41:00.001-07:00

RalPartha Europe has a few of the miniatures I want in stock. They also had the VOR core rules on offer down from tenner to £2.99. So I splashed out and ordered these to see if they are useful. And a few miniatures too.

my Sci Fi /Future War project- planning stage

2011-05-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

These are my first thoughts:
The scenario that interests me is of two great powers on some planet in the far future. They have been fighting a war for a hundred years, both sides are now exhausted and the original cause of the conflict long forgotten. The civilian populations of both sides live mostly underground for safety. For the last decade the military forces of both sides are at a stalemate, having very little left in the way of heavy weapons , tanks and aircraft. They have technology, but no infrastructure or heavy industry to build it. The armies are basically reduced down to a technology level not much better than WWII, with the exception of a few armoured battlesuits, drones and robots used by the elite units.
(This allows me to use or adapt some WWII rules )
Peace would be the obvious option but both sides are committed to wiping the other off the face of the planet.
The surface of the planet is a wasteland, poisoned by nuclear and chemical weapons. In this terrible environment mutants roam, the pitiful twisted remains of both animals and men, soldiers who have stayed too long in the contaminated zone and can no longer be allowed back into civilization.
One side I will call Union , the other Rebels, until I think of something better.

The main military missions of both sides are raids to steal healthy civilian women (for breeding purposes) and take prisoners for Genetic experiments.

The contaminated No-Man's Land has forced both sides to try to find a way to wage war in these conditions.
The Union, which is richer and has more resouces in this area, has created a new breed of genetically engineered soldiers (Genetic Rangers) who are at home in the Wasteland and can operate independently. This has put the Rebels on the defensive.
In an effort to combat this threat The Rebel scientists have implanted robot controllers into the brains of mutants gathered from the wasteland. These are grouped into units under the control of a mutant handler. These units however are only an expedient adhoc solution, as they can be sometimes very effective but other times unstable.
The second solution by the Rebel scientists has been to genetically engineer Union prisoners into fearsome mutants known as Cyclops. These are also under the control of mutant handlers.
The third solution has been to feed and rearm the human mutants of the wasteland into military units with the promise of curing them . These units are of very low quality.

From time to time both sides have employed off-world mercenaries . The mercenary units employed by the Union are well equipped and well disciplined .
In contrast the less well off Rebels can only afford fortune hunters and ex-soldiers from all over the galaxy that vary widely in quality, like the rest of their army.

So much for the war.
The planet itself is quite rich in rare minerals such as lithium. This means to add to all its other problems, it gets raided quite regularly by Space Pirates.

Rules: no idea as yet.

Figures:
Space Pirates: Chiltern Miniatures and anything that will fit the look.
Union Troops: Ironwind Vor Union infantry
Drones : As above.
Union Genetic Rangers: Ironwind Special Forces, probably painted blue
Union Mercenaries: Pig Iron Heavy Infantry, with some vehicles and aircraft from Old Crow

Rebels: Pig Iron Kolony Militia
Rebel Elite Troops : Ironwind Neo Soviet Vanguard
Contaminated wasteland Militia : mix of Pig Iron Kolony Rebels and Kolony Ferals and Ironwind Neo Soviet Chemgrunts.
Mutant handler and mutants: Ironwind
Cyclops : Ironwind
Rebel Mercenaries: random Warzone miniatures that fit the bill, most I already have.

May 2011 New Start

2011-05-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since I blogged last 2 years ago. Eyes deteriorated so I could no longer do a good job of painting 20mm figures so I sold all this off last year, along with several hundred 28mm figures painted and unpainted, and some 15mm I was hanging on to. Bought my wife a nice gold eternity ring with half the money!

It feels good to have got rid of half my leadpile for the sake of my sanity.
I still have lots that I am holding back for now but could easily sell to raise cash if need be to fund other projects.
My gaming is stalled because I have lost touch with my gaming buddies a year ago.

I have decided to start again in 28mm only from now on, just painting and modelling some vehicles at my own pace.

There are a few projects I would like to get finished, and some new ones I would like to start eventually.

Just going to list the big ones here without explanation, to order my thoughts:

Chiltern Normandy British Skirmish
Chiltern Normandy German Skirmish
Gaslight (Victorian SciFi)
1920s Pulp British/ Indian
Vietnam Skirmish
Sci Fi future war
Napoleonic British

Norway 1940

Quite enough to be getting on with.

stugs assembled

2009-04-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

The four stugs are assembled and one of the Panzer IIIN. I finished all of this before the weekend. The lower hulls of the stugs I have started painting already, I will finish all the lower hulls before I attach the skirt armour.

During the weekend I have been working on some other things;

adding zimmeritt to a die cast P anther and modifying some 20mm metal figs.

More pictures probably tomorrow.

Progress

2009-04-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

I have some stuff coming to me very soon from America, (which are a swop/trade thing) and 5 diecasts from a friend in Portugal (which I have to pay for)

Also got a couple more swops lined up for Deagostini diecasts which I don't want in exchange for useful ones that I do.

Yes, the Madness has definitely started again.

About the photos above:

I have been messing around with a stack of Panzer III and Stug kits. I need 4 stugs and 2 Pzr III ausf N, the ones with the short 75mm gun. I have bought all the relevant Italeri kits. But then I saw a way to improve the Altaya diecasts (I have 5 ) at the same time.

By using the lower hulls and suspensions from HAT and Italeri Pzr III fast-build kits (which are very cheap , and I have a load already unused) and mating these with the Italeri hull tops, I kill two birds with one stone.

1) the Stugs and IIINs will go together very quickly

2) the suspensions are hidden by skirt armour anyway

3) I then can use the plastic link-and-length track from the kits to replace the weak tracks on the Altayas.

The rubber tracks on the Altaya/Deagostini diecasts are the only weak point on an otherwise good model. They are very thin and I think will not last long. By replacing with link and length track it will make a very solid wargames model.

First off though is to build all the plastic kits . I have started 4 and made good progress. The different kits all scale together very well and there seems to be no trouble cross-kitting.

Ma Wee Beastie

2009-04-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

I am celebrating. This is the first thing I have finished since I can't remember when. it is an old diecast fire engine I found in a charity shop. I thought it would look good as a tractor for a BEF 2 pdr AT gun. Gun is Skytrex. All fire engine parts were removed or disguised with stowage. I built the dodgy ammunition locker on the back from plastic card, this is hiding all the pump controls. Scratchbuilt the towing attachment too. Stowage is all Skytrex except the haversacks which are Valiant. 4 of the crew are Raventhorpe from the universal range with British heads. The other two are Fantassin late war British, with weapons and haversacks cut away, and Raventhorpe head swops. You may notice one of the crew is wearing the pre war service dress and puttees. I thought why not?All the gas mask cases were scratchbuilt with milliput because I could not find my Greenstuff.The gun is on a separate base, that way if I want I can have the vehicle towing an 18/25pdr and limber. (a future project) I will have another base with the AT gun deployed and crew around it, that is my usual practice. Oh bases are not finished I need to add sand, scatter etc.

OOB for German Recce bns

2009-04-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

One advantage of me buying diecasts and models again is that I almost have all the stuff I need to finish off some wargames units I was planning.
Reconnaissance units can be very important in WWII wargames especially in encounter type scenarios. So I planned to paint up TWO complete battalions for the German side. One is late war, one is early war .

I am putting the OOBs up here for reference. By the way these are WARGAMING OOBs tailored for the ruleset that I play; they are an APPROXIMATION of true OOBs, open to interpretation so nobody should get their knickers in a twist.

LATE WAR 1944

Bn HQ: Heavy staff car

HQ COY:
signal pl: sdkfz 251/3 half track
supply pl: Opel Blitz truck

HEAVY ARMOURED CAR COY:
coy HQ: sdkfz 234/3 (75mm howitzer)
4 pl each: 1 sdkfz 234 Puma

1st RECCE COY (half tracks):
coy HQ: sdkfz250/3
3 pl each: 1 sdkfz 250
heavy pl: 250/7 80mm mortar
support pl: 250/8 75mm howitzer

2nd RECCE COY (kubelwagens)
coy HQ: radio kubel
3 pl each: 1 kubel
MG pl: 1 kubel

Optional: I am not sure that there should not be a Heavy Company with towed AT, Engineer and possibly, by this stage of the war, light AA pl.
I need to investigate this further but the original internet sources I made this OOB from have gone down.

EARLY WAR 1939-41 (Blitzkreig era)

Note: I took liberties with the number of a/cars, there should be TWO a/car coys but because of the cost of the a/car models I have only one of these and TWO m/c coys instead.

Bn HQ: sdkfz 261

signal pl: hvy field car (radio)

supply pl: Opel Blitz truck

ARMOURED CAR COY:

coy HQ: sdkfz 221 or 223

4 pl each: 1 sdkfz 222

heavy pl: sdkfz 232 (6 rad)

M/C COY:

coy HQ: Kubel (radio)

3pl each 1 m/c combi

2nd M/C COY:

as above.

HEAVY COY:

coy HQ: field car

at gun pl: PAK 36 and towing vehicle (seperate gun model for deployed AT gun)

cannon pl: IG 18 and towing vehicle (seperate gun model for deployed Infantry gun)

engineer pl: light truck or heavy field car. Seperate base for engineers when deployed, or boat model)

More Pics 3

2008-09-30T19:57:00.001-07:00

Yet another. Need another helmet for this one which I don't have at the moment. Again a new shield. The new thing on this one was that I had to carve off the furry leggings to look like hose. Once painted this will give her a completely different look.

More Pics 2

2008-09-30T19:52:00.001-07:00

On this one I filed off the shield and top of head, substituted a large heater shield and a kettle hat. I need to add a little hair detail with green stuff at the back.

Project Madonna: More Pics

2008-09-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

OK here are comparison photos of a Shadowforge Viking lady and my conversion. The short boots were already OK so this was an easy conversion of a new shield, filing the head and adding a deep sallet. She is my favourite already.

Project Madonna Update

2008-09-30T08:03:00.001-07:00

This last weekend was a productive one. While at work I managed to get 7 more figures partially modified, including 3 of the Shadowforge ones. My problem now is that I am running out of suitable medieval helmeted heads and must source some more. The way the hair has been modelled on the head dictates what type of headgear can be used. I need more sallets and kettle hats. After I get home from work tonight I will put up some progress photos.
I am gaining confidence as I go. The hardest job is altering legs to to look like they are wearing medieval hose, but I have done 10 now with no failures.

Project Madonna: first fruits

2008-09-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

OK, these first two girls were the exceptions as they were wearing perfectly acceptable sensible armour. The only problem was that the shields were wrong, being fantasy types. I filed off the shields and added new "heater" shields as seen. These just need a clean up to be ready for painting.
These were borderline but I decided not to change them too much. Originally they both had thick high boots. I carved these away to look as if they are wearing medieval hose (as worn by men) Not sure if I will use them or not yet.

Lastly here are two views of another figure. She was wearing a chainmail shirt? (looks more like a mini dress) with bits of very decorative armour, a silly tiara in her hair and thick boots. Her weapon was already broken so I started her first as an experiment. I altered her legs into hose and scraped/filed the detail off the armour plate. Then I filed the top of her head flat and added a kettle hat cut of a Front Rank HYW figure. I will still have to do something about the weapon but I am fairly pleased with the transformation.
Any comments welcome.

Project Madonna

2008-09-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

This is my long term project. I have been doing this at work during break times and odd moments. I guess it is time I explained it.
I want to make a small medieval FEMALE warband, loosely based on the historical Free Companies. For years, I have been collecting the odd miniature here and there. Some of these are no longer of any use because scale creep has made them too small. Now, Michi has donated me a load of Sandra Garrity Reaper sculpts, and I have also bought 24 Shadowforge miniatures which need converting. It is time to start.

The Look
My warband must look like a homogenous unit if they are to look good on the tabletop. That means they must look
a) believable
b) all from roughly the same time period.
c) be painted the same colours

Leaving the painting till later on, neither the Reaper figures nor the Shadowforge figures are ideal and I will go into that:

Sandra Garrity figures: the problem

Sandra Garrity is an excellent sculptor. Being female herself, she doubtless wants to do justice to the female form and the sculpts are not caricatures with huge breasts. Faces and hair are her strong points. Unfortunately the problem is that many of her female figures, being fantasy, are a mixture of diferent periods and genres. Instead of helmets, they wear tiaras on their heads. The armour is decorative and more Greco-Roman than I would like.

Shadowforge figures: the problem

The Shadowforge sculpts by Neil Harrison are all of his Valkyrie range which are dressed and equipped as Dark Age damsels. If I was doing a Norman army that would be great. But I need to update them to the 14-15th century. So mostly the helmets, shields and boots are wrong and need to be modified.
Another problem I did not foresee is the bows on the archers. I was going to replace their small girly bows with medieval longbows. But, the bows are separate with the hands attached.I am not skilled enough to sculpt new hands. So I somehow must modify 12 bows to make them into longbows.

A Few Pics

2008-07-21T00:02:00.001-07:00

Just to break the monotone of too much writing here is a few pics of stuff I completed a couple of weeks back, all 20mm . The two Bedfords are basecoated and are awaiting weathering. The large group of figures are Kelly's Heroes, mostly weapons crews and HQ types; I don't need any more rank and file infantry. The photo with four seated figures are also Kelly's Heroes , this time jeep crew. I only photographed one driver but painted 3 .
The other photos are bits and bobs mostly Britannia. Sorry about the very bad photos I did them in a rush. Been painting this morning a little also.

current workbench update

2008-06-19T01:27:00.000-07:00

lots of things on the go at the moment. I included a couple of pics of some of the Chiltern 1/48 Brits. These are now at the stage that, if they were 20mm minis, I would call them finished. It is very tempting to be lazy and varnish them as they are, especially as I have about 40 more to do! But I intend to try to push these and add more highlights to the uniform and webbing. The Daimler armoured car is undercoated and basecoated in GW Catachan Green . The two Dingos have been cleaned up but need some stowage before these get the same treatment, I will then paint all 3 together.

My Eagle Napoleonic figures arrived yesterday, they are fine but I have put these away with my Essex figures for the time being. A batch of stuff came from Allan at Lancashire games, The Roman Auxiliaries in the blister packs I have needed for ages, I will get started on these straight away. The 3 Napoleonic soldiers pictured are free samples Allan kindly sent me; he is good like that. I am very pleased with them. They are slightly bigger than Essex/Eagle/Old Glory but that does not matter much as they would be based in separate bns. There is a HUGE difference in price-a bn of these would cost only £14 including the command compared to around £24 for the others.
I am going to paint one or two of these up quickly to see how they look.
in addition to all the above, I have 12 20mm still on the blocks about half-way through painting.
So, everything is going steady, I just don't know which job to do first!
Gonna restrict myself to 3 projects , each of which has various sub-tasks:

1) 1/48 Chiltern:
1a) extra highlights on current figures; paint bases and varnish
1b) 10 Germans to finish
1c) Next 10 Brits to start
1d) stowage items on Dingos- duro bedrolls, packs etc.
1e) undercoat and basecoat Dingos
1f) black line all 3 vehicles

2) Lancashire 28mm Romans:
2a) Clean up 8-12 auxiliaries, stick on shields
2b) glue to painting blocks, undercoat black, begin painting as normal
2c) Finish all command figures already started (5)
2d) Order more 20 x 30mm bases from ERM
2e) texture and finish bases on the ones already rebased

3) 20mm Brits
3a) Finish these asap including odd crew figures to clear painting blocks (4 blocks)
3b) clean up cabs of 2 Bedfords, fit drivers (already painted) and assemble.
3b) undercoat and basecoat 2 Bedfords

This all sounds a lot, indeed it may take me a couple of weeks, but clearing this lot will really clear the decks and do wonders for my mental health.

half-painted

2008-06-13T23:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning and this is how far I have got on the Chiltern Brits. They look pretty rough at the moment but they are going through a messy phase before the detail and tidying up. (that's my excuse anyway!) The Officer is not really that stumpy shape it is just he is leaning forward at 45% which gives him a foreshortened appearance.

The carrier kit I bought yesterday, that will be my only purchase for this week. That is the only vehicle for this project I bought new; all the others (including the German ones) were acquired gradually from swopping or from second shops and car boots.

Forgot the sergeant

2008-06-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

I forgot the photo of the grizzled old sergeant.

Victorian Home Service Troops

2008-06-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

Here at last are my "Thin red line" against invasion....the groundwork on the bases is not yet done but I was impatient to get some photos up..

Cost of a Napoleonic army

2008-05-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

I decided a while back to take the plunge and start a 28mm Nappy army to play the period with my friend Paul. The choice of nationality was easy, as Paul had no British, only French, Prussian, Dutch, what have you.
So I would do a British army, which suited my requirements exactly. (If I wanted to use them for other games I can always use orcs, fishmen or space aliens as opponents.....what?) The minimum worthwhile force I decided would have to be:

2 infantry brigades each of a mounted command, 3 line battalions and 1 light (skirmish) battalion, plus an attached artillery battery each.

1 cavalry brigade of 4 cavalry regiments plus an attached horse artillery battery

An army command.

Now to cost. Each infantry bn if bought separately will be £22-£25 (more on this later) so the major part of the 2 brigades alone will be £200. Depending on where I get the cavalry and artillery the cost per unit might be more, pushing the total cost for my small force to perhaps £500. I doubt that the whole of my 20mm WWII collection of 6 different armies will total that much!
However, it is not really the amount of money that is a huge issue, as it will be acquired a unit at a time perhaps one a month. As always it is far easier to spend money than it is to find time to paint and base.

Thoughts about Napoleonics

2008-05-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

Back at work again tonight (monday Bank holiday) not much to do except think about wargaming again. On my mind tonight is the Napoleonic period, known to gamers as "Nappys".
When I first started wargaming, I was heavily prejudiced AGAINST Nappys. Why was this? It was because the Nappy gamer seemed to be the archetypal Geek, obsessed with uniform accuracy (button counter), the image that most ordinary folk most likely have of a wargamer.
And of course I was different because I was interested in the history and the tactics etc etc....

So anyway I started off playing mostly Ancients and Medievals and a single game of AWI. Then a few years back I met my mate Paul who lives about 40 miles away and was looking for gamers to play on his permanently- set-up table at his home. When I got there he showed me his collection of about 1000 25mm Nappy figures, some 30 plus years old.

Therefore it was inevitable that eventually we would play a couple of games of the period as a rest from WWII. Using his simple home baked rules, these games were something of a revelation to me. In fact I would say that playing Nappys has been the MOST fun I have ever had wargaming, win or lose.

How satisfying it is to march a brigade or two of infantry about the battlefield; judging the right moment to deploy them from column to line or square; wondering if their discipline will survive the first encounter with the enemy-will they hold or run? Then there are the gay dashing cavalry; should I disperse them to scout, probe and threaten or band them together as my mobile battering ram? Some like the Hussars are very unpredictable and hard to control once released. Don't forget the artillery-not yet powerful enough in this era to dominate the battlefield but if used wisely can tip the balance of a game.

So I guess you can say I am a convert to Napoleonics. More about this next time.

Helicopters in Afriboria

2008-05-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

Been ruminating helicopter rules for the US forces.

1) Each unit needs a helicopter each to move (ie a "platoon" would need 2 and a "company" 4 choppers) . This would make them the same as motorised (unarmoured) troops.

2) Only Air Cavalry units would have dedicated helicopters assigned to them (making them equivalent to cavalry.) These choppers would only carry their assigned units and no other.

3) Everybody else (artillery, ARVN, bog-standard grunts) will have to take helicopters from a general pool if available. There will never be enough to go around, I am thinking of a ratio of one Huey to every three (non Air Cav) unit. So for example a US army of 16 units would have a total of 6 helicopter models of which 2 would be in dedicated Air Cav units.

4) Units carried by helicopter may move, dismount and battle OR mount and move (as unit card) This ends their turn.

5) To counter the greater mobility of the US forces, The NVA would have 2 heavy MG units for every 3 helicopters the US has.

Any comments?

02:23 am

2008-05-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

just got home from working overtime. I had earmarked this time as a painting session but unfortunately am too tired to paint. But have been thinking a lot about Afriboria/Vietnam so wanted to capture my thoughts on that.
Studied in detail two of the Heligoland battle reports. Lots of things about these rules have now become clear to me:

1) The 3 grades of troops (A, B and C class) are NOT connected to the 3 colour codes (red, blue, green) as I had thought. Instead, the purpose of the colour codes are to randomize the activation of units. All good rules have some sort of randomisation mechanic so the player cannot do everything he wants.

2) Despite the grades and variety of troop types, both forces in the scenarios are BALANCED. They are exactly equivalent to each other; same number of cavalry and artillery units, same number of officers and infantry units as the opponents army.

3) the rules will handle up to 30 units per side (although might be a long game) 15 -16 units would be ideal for starting out.

Read also the terrain generation and Deployment articles:

4) There is a scouting phase before the main game play which is not mentioned in the rules. Once this is over and the main game begins it is mainly an advance to contact and battle kind of game over relatively open flat terrain.

OK Then my thoughts:
My Vietnam scenario would be somewhat modified. For one thing the terrain would be on the whole closed (jungle) punctuated by hills. I think I would have to extend the scouting/spotting throughout the game.

The US and Vietnamese forces would in no way be equivalent. I think however if I can get this right then the game would be more interesting, balanced in a quite different way.

Of course, the possibility is there that I am trying to adapt totally unsuitable rules......but what the hell?

More Brits

2008-05-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

While I was in the photo mood I took a couple more. The vehicles are all Skytrex with a mix of Skytrex and Brittania soldiers.
The second photo I was experimenting to try t get a good group shot. Not happy with this result. These are all Raventhorpe miniatures from some time ago, I no longer gloss varnish.
In the LSNC rules we use this group would represent a company of 3 platoons and a command base of officer and signaller. Bases are 40mm diameter.

last week's painting

2008-05-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

here are the Fantassin 20mm Brits I finished last week. The last shot is a comparison photo: from the left is Battlefield (with a Raventhorpe headswop); Fantassin; and Raventhorpe.

More Romans

2008-05-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Just a few more of the same. I promise more up-to-date stuff next week

Old stuff

2008-05-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

Some old 15mm Corvus Belli Imperial Romans. The Shields I hand painted and the whole is gloss varnished. Basing is for Vis Bellica.

Nam

2008-05-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

At work tonight and on autopilot so nothing much to do mentally except think more about Afriboria/Vietnam.

Another scenario that appeals to me is the Americans picking a location on the board as an area where the NVA forces MIGHT be. They establish a hilltop firebase or two and fortify the area with troops, hoping to tempt the NVA into a big battle.

This, and the "search and destroy" mission previously mentioned, are examples of the tactics that the Americans did actually use.

Other scenarios: Rescuing a downed Air Force or chopper pilot in enemy territory;

"a walk in the park"- a large American force (at least 2 companies plus tanks and ACAVs) tries to traverse on foot through the jungle from one side of the board to the other-sort of like in the HYW England would send over a sort of medieval BEF to have an amble through France until eventually the French would assemble an army and intercept them somewhere and a battle would ensue (we usually won!) Think that might be interesting to do.

Any comments ideas welcome

Vietnam update

2008-05-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Been gestating ideas for my 28mm Nam thingy. Is it a project yet? Hardly. Been thinking about changes to the Afriborea ruleset.
Want to keep as much of the original feel as possible, including the unit sizes.

1 unit (6 or 8 [depending on troops class] individual based= "patrol"
2 "patrols" with addition of NCO = "platoon"
2 "platoons" plus mortar base and officer= "Company"
artillery unit/heavy mg 1 gun and 5 crew
Other types of unit (ie helicopters, tank/ACAV, VC mule supply ) not yet decided; possibly a ratio to fighting units dependent on scenario.

Think it will go something like this :

Basic game will be a type of "Search and destroy" scenario. US force will operate from a corner of the board which will be the base camp/helicopter pad. US forces are visible at all times.
NVA/VC forces will initially NOT be placed on the board but positions marked on a map that duplicates the playing surface. VC force locations are known only to the VC player.
US player sends out patrols on foot or by helicopter (game may start with patrols already "in the bush") which may unwittingly "bump" or with luck (dice to spot) "spot" the enemy forces.
The US forces can then be quickly reinforced by platoon or company sized units by helicopter.
Hilltop firebases can also be established by moving (a limited number, possibly only 1) artillery units also by helicopter.
Sounds easy but the NVA/VC have heavy MGs to shoot down helicopters, and unless pinned down quickly will melt back into the jungle.

Terrain will be hills, jungle and at least one village.
A 6 x 4 feet playing area would have 216 4" hexes. An 8 x 6 feet area 432 hexes.

Victory points for both sides will be number of enemy killed (body count)

Painting,Vietnam etc.

2008-04-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Got a few hours painting in over the weekend. Looks like it may be either the 28mm Romans or the 20mm fantassin Brits that get finished first.
The Fantassin figures are the first from this company I have painted. I found that the faces and hands were in some cases a bit poor (obviously the sculptor's weak point) but now I am on the main uniform highlights there are some nice folds and creases to follow.

Continuing with my Afriboria/Vietnam idea (cannot call it a project as yet) I checked out the Afriboria command cards that are downloadable from pdf files. Unfortunately these have photos of Zulus and stuff on them which makes them totally unsuitable so I will have to find some Vietnam pics online and make my own.
The options in 28mm for figures are four companies: Baker company, Force of Arms, The Assault Group and Chiltern Miniatures.
I havev always been a fan of Chiltern miniatures but the problem with them is one of compatibility; their sculpts are huge and do not mix well with other makes. The other three should all fit together fairly well. I have seen photos of Baker and TAG but FoA is only a listing.
My idea is for a simple, basically infantry game so no armoured vehicles are needed, but a couple of helicopters will be essential.
For the US side I am thinking initially about 36-54 figures and 1 or 2 field guns and 2 each of .50 cal and mortar bases plus the choppers .

The NVA will consist of about 48 figures plus heavy MG bases and light pack guns on jungle mule transport, backed up by....
....VC with lots of RPGs!! I think I will need about 24-32 VC. Some civilians might also be useful.

The playing area will be 6 x 4 feet, the largest area I could do at home (and that only with a lot of trouble)

Afriboria rules

2008-04-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

Last couple of weeks I have been reading some old colonial rulesets. One of them is Patrols in the Sudan (PitS) by the Weymouth based RFCM/Peter Pig group. The thing I liked about this set is that although the Dervishes were disadvantaged technologically they could disappear into terrain features and then pop up on another part of the board entirely- which must make for fun games. When I first read these rules a year or so ago the thing that put me off was the organisation of the colonial units. They were not split into historically accurate sections/companies which I was somewhat fixated on. However, nowadays I am willing to accept a far greater level of abstraction after all it's only a game....
Another set I like the look of is Afriboria, a free download set from TSOA (Tin Soldiers of Antwerp written by Rudi Geudens.
The appeal here is that it uses hexes and the number of 28mm figures needed for a unit is small (6 or 8 for infantry or a field gun/MG and crew).
Then an idea hit me.
Why not use Afriboria for Vietnam?
After all that conflict was basically colonial in nature, with a mighty technological army and powerful weapons unable to get to grips with a native enemy wearing sandals made of discarded tyres etc etc. You get the picture I am sure.
My half formed idea solidified last night and I read Afriboria through again. Everything is in there already, it just needs tweaking.
I envision a battalion level game with the smallest unit being a platoon. (Although there will be a level of abstraction in the ToEs)
I will have to allow for mortars, and some provision on the US side for indirect fire called in by HQs.
Also I will have to write some extra rules for use of helicopters as transport.
But the grunts will not have everything their own way. I might add the ability to appear and disappear into the jungle for the VC from the PiTs rules.
The sensible thing would be to do this in 20mm, especially as Paul is already building up a nam game in that scale. But I have decided because of my eyesight not to start any new 20mm projects only finish what I have started.
So starting looking at 28mm Vietnam ranges as of today.....I will keep readers informed .

My first Chiltern Germans

2007-11-14T22:41:00.001-08:00

Not fantastic photos but here are at long last my first Chiltern Germans. These were my first "test pieces" and I have since found a combination of colours for field grey which gives a better contrast between the shade and highlight so the next ones wil be better. Many people do not like these figures, very likely because they are tall 1/72 (and do not fit in with SHQ, Battlefield etc) but they are right up my street. The faces have a lot of character.

Once again having a bad week for painting. May or may not get some done today or tomorrow.

What happens next?

2007-11-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

Good thing about photos taken in order is that I remember things I had forgotten. Here the third bn (of the original brigade) form square to protect from the enemy cavalry. The second bn are still in line and advancing up the road, but are being shot up badly from enemy either side in the buildings. Note in the distance that Pauls second infantry brigade, despite being shelled have now advanced and a new cavalry unit of fresh Hussars is alongside them.
Things have been happening East of the town too. The smoke is drifting over from my battery in the extreme right (you can see the horses only) which has finally got into action bombarding the houses and successfully forcing the enemy out. My other infantry brigade and its artillery are in column advancing on Paul's new forces. In the next turn, Paul's Hussars charged and swept off the board my lead battalion but the second bn and the artillery remained steady, the gun battery destroying the infantry brigade in front (which was already weakened by its disaster on the bridge.) Actually a lot has gone on between this photo and the last. I have had reinforcements of both another Cavalry unit (HeavyDragoons) and another infantry brigade. The Infantry are seen here already in line. Note that the second bn of the original infantry brigade are now gone, they broke and fled eventually due to mounting casualties. But they served their purpose.The Dragoons have chased off Paul's Hussars already up cannon alley, and my own Hussars are reformed and in reserve. The horse battery are just about to deploy again. And here are my Dragoons, on their way back down the alley again after seeing off the enemy.

Gay Hussars

2007-11-11T00:37:00.001-08:00

My good old Gay Hussars have their moment of glory. I think twice about charging the gun battery (good chance of being chopped up by canister) and decide to hit Paul's Hussars in the flank. His troopers lose the melee with casualties and are forced to retire back as seen here to the edge of the board. Oh, the glory! Notice that his line infantry on the road now have casualties due to my infantry firing in the town.
Haha! I scored a devastating hit on his lead battalion on the bridge with my artillery battery and he reels back with 25% casualties.
Oh no! The tide turns remarkably quickly. Paul's Hussars rally almost immediately and charge me in turn while I am reforming and trying to disengage. I take some casualties but get away with the enemy pursuing all the way. Note that the enemy gun battery has took fright and retreated with all the mayhem happening around them. My own horse battery do the same.
Paul's Hussars are pretty mad. They chase my cavalry down cannon alley but do not catch them. So, they see an opportunity and turn my flank, hitting my troops in the town from behind. The Rifle bn break and run down the East road, never to return. Boy light infantry can sure run fast.

First blood to Paul

2007-11-10T23:53:00.000-08:00

As I am home now I can let the photos tell the story. Because I am damned lazy like that. My horse battery deployed.
Smoke from my own cannon firing (I shot at the bridge but caused no damage) has drifted onto my troops which have reached the town and are now in line. However, the enemy is already in the buildings and have fired at my lead battalion, causing casualties (note the marker). The next shot would kill the brigade commmander, oh dear.
Here you can see that the leading battalion has retired shaken and belatedly formed skirmish order; the second battalion passed its morale test and has advanced in its place and the third bn moved to the right. (the accompanying gun battery has already moved out of shot to the East of town) The Brigade commander is dead, the horse is laying on his side. Luckily the next brigade of infantry is right up there and is moving to the East of the town. I considered the leading brigade to be completely expendable.
I had already decided to target the bridge with my artillery, although I did not know how effective it might be with 19th century cannonballs. Paul said there were no specific rules for this but that we would treat it as a wooden building. But before I got the chance to shoot Paul's next reinforcements arrived and began to cross.

The advance

2007-11-10T17:58:00.000-08:00

The enemy gets to the town before I do.
Close up of my Hussars before they went off road. Paul bought these figures off Ebay we cannot identify the maker.
Quite a bit has gone on before this shot. I have already been shot at in the town. Here my Hussars have advanced aggressively up cannon alley and are poised to charge Paul's Hussars in the flank. Note his gun on the road by the bridge. My gun can just be seen lower left.

The first couple of turns went very well for me. The first brigade of infantry advanced quickly up the road marching in column for best speed. Paul's did likewise. However, in the second turn I got my reinforcements (a brigade of Hussars and a battery of horse artillery under command) whereas Paul did not. These quickly cantered up the road behind my infantry and both mine and Paul's foot troops marched closer to the town. Next turn we both got reinforcements, mine was another strong brigade of infantry with my last artillery battery, while Paul got his first cavalry unit, also Hussars. As his horses were approaching the bridge near his entry point, his infantry had reached the town ahead of mine and began to change formation into line. As I was still just out of range, I decided to keep my infantry in column on the road one more turn as I wanted to keep clear the junction South of the town.
My strategy was to push all my units forward of this junction to act as a shield behind which the supply unit would eventually pass.
My Hussars had by now left the road as they had quickly caught up my first brigade. Although it was very tight, I decided to deploy them up the thin strip of land between the town and the marsh. They made good progress, with the horse artillery battery on their left flank well up with the troopers. My other infantry brigade were making good speed up the road towards the town.
Next turn Pauls leading two battalions of infantry moved into the town buildings, leaving one bn in line on the road. However, because of the threat from my cavalry he deployed his accompanying battery NOT supporting the infantry but instead out on the road just past the bridge.

More on the game

2007-11-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

The enemy's leading brigade approaches the town
My general and the Brigade commander, the dice are to indicate the unit for activation purposes, and do not represent command points as in some other rules
My reinforcements in sequence order ready to come on.
My initial progress was swift. Here the first infantry have almost reached the town with the Hussars already catching them up.

This will be a bit-by- bit battle report during my breaktimes. I am hoping that I can go back to all these posts later and add photos which will save a lot of explanation. (As you can see, I did!)
Figure size was 25-28mm with infantry battalion represented by 20 figures.
Rules were Pauls home-brew Napoleonics rules, with the recent addition of the activation mechanism taken from the LSNC WWII rules.
It was played on 100mm hexes, which saves all measuring and avoids time consuming arguments and cheating.
Players: us:
Jack (10yrs old) James
Them: Paul, Mickey (7 yrs old, played until 10 o clock bedtime!)
Got to encourage the next generation of gamers......

We both started the game with only a single infantry brigade each on the table at our respective entry points, each of 2 line bns, 1 skirmish (rifle) bn and a light artillery battery. All the other units would be diced for as REINFORCEMENTS at the start of each new turn. The town was unoccupied and I was the furthest away from it.

Game last night

2007-11-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Overview of most of the board, note the troops in the bottom right .
The narrow strip between the marsh and the town which would soon become "cannon alley". Note also the wooden bridge.
The first two battalions of my leading Brigade, Riflemen leading.

Our Napoleonics game last night (friday) went very well. I took loads of pictures but unfortunately all day today my internet was down so although they are saved on the computer I could not put any onto my blog yet.
I am at work now so I will just have to be content with describing the scenario.
Paul had seen the same battle being played at Colours so lifted the whole thing. It was an actual historical battle although I don't know when or where. I know that my lot were Danes.
I had 3 cavalry and 3 infantry brigades and a total of 3 attached light artillery batteries, plus a unit of supply wagons. That was my objective, to get the supply unit safely off the board by the route through the town. Paul's forces had to stop me.
In fact, by coincidence the scenario, mission and layout of the terrain were all almost exactly the same as a WWII game we played last year (Crossroads of death).
Possession of the town in the centre of the board would be a crucial factor.
Another thing that happened as the game developed was that most of the cavalry actions happened in a place most unsuitable for them, a narrow strip of land on the left (my left) behind the town.

More later.

Game tonight!

2007-11-09T03:27:00.000-08:00

Nearly a whole week since I last posted. Progress on painting has been poor, but this morning I managed to finish and matt varnish ten 20mm Germans. 6 of those were my first Chiltern Germans, my "test" pieces as it were. They have been hanging around for months so it is good to get them out of the way. Photos will follow in due course.
As always when I hit a painting block I start the retail therapy as a substitute and last week was no exception. I ordered some more 1940 French and some late war British too from Fantassin in Spain. They came within a week. I now have enough French for a whole infantry battalion. The British I will paint first just to fill in gaps in my Brigade. But even they will have to wait until I have finished everything on my WIP list.
Today I accidentally finally broke the Mirliton herald, I fumbled the tray , it spilled and his trumpet snapped off. Was only a matter of time.
The BIG news is that tonight after several months I have a wargame to look forward to. Photos and report in the coming days.

More unfinished WIP pics

2007-11-03T02:39:00.000-07:00

Here are the other few pictures. No more until I get them all completed! I am pleased with the armour.

Failed!

2007-11-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

Well, due to unforeseen circumstances I did not make the deadline so I thought I would put up a few piccies showing how far I got. Only, I tried 3 times and blogger would not let me put 5 images up at one time so I will have to spread them over a few posts.

The foot-to -eye debate

2007-10-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

There are very few things that annoy me about wargaming. But one thing gets right up my nose. It's this method of measuring a wargames figure only to it's eye level. This causes the most controversey and debate in the popular 25mm size of figures. Not everyone subscribes to it, me included. I mean, think about it...do you or anyone you know measure themselves up to the eyeballs and then go around saying that's how tall they are? No of course not.

But, the people who do subscribe to this small lunacy try to push it constantly on forums whenever they get the chance, because they want to impose a "standard" on everyone else. They especially like to jump on the chance to indoctrinate a newbie. So the poor guy (or girl) gets a load of conflicting advice and of course, the only real way to determine how big is a miniature is eventually to buy a sample or two.

So, although hardly anyone will read it, here is my position on this: I measure a figure to the top of it's little head. So a figure that is 25mm to eye level is really 28mm tall (to the top of his head)
So There.
(although because of scale creep hardly any of the newer ranges are 28mm any more-most "25mm" wargames figures are in fact 30 or even 32mm nowadays!)

Also, while we are on the subject....the often discussed "true 25mm" is actually 1/72.

Here is the evidence:
An average 5 foot 10 inch man (70 inches) or in metric, 1778mm to the top of his head. Agreed?
Now check out this chart of various scales:
1/48 37mm
1/56 32mm
1/60 30mm (29.6mm)
1/64 28mm
1/72 25mm (24.69mm)
1/76 24mm
1/87 20mm
1/100 18mm (17.7mm)
1/120 15mm
1/144 12mm

But, of course in the crazy world of wargaming we call everything from 1/87 to 1/72 "20mm"

Progress Pictures

2007-10-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

I thought I had better take a few photos before I went any further. The one already undercoated I have added a string to his crossbow with 5 amp fuse wire and a wire bolt in the slide. The two Grenadier knights are now glued to their new Front Rank horses and the bases have been textured. They told me they are much happier.

Happiest of all is the Warrior leader figure waving the sword, with the extra metal removed from his arse he fits the Front Rank horse a treat. He just needs a little extra work- some putty on his gauntlet to fill in the gap. That and the undercoating will be done tonight.

The one still dismounted is the other Warrior figure, his saddle is removed but he needs his lance attaching with wire to his arm and a new hand sculpted around it. Not feeling confident about that job but will have a go at that either tonight or tomorrow..

Thoughts on WWII gaming

2007-09-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Most of my posts since I started this blog have been about painting and modelling. That's because I have not had a game in a while, a far longer interval than usual. I am starting to miss it very much. The past couple of days while at work I have been thinking about WWII gaming in general.

There are no statistics on it but WWII must be one of the most popular gaming periods out there. I know that because of the sheer amount of stuff in all scales available which increases all the time, not to mention hundreds of different rulesets. The two rulesets I have played are 'Look Sarge No Charts' (LSNC) and a homemade set written by Stephen Bainbridge who I have had the pleasure of gaming with twice. Both of these sets give a good game and I would describe them both as " Battalion level tactical". Each player has a battalion or so and the smallest unit is a platoon. LSNC was conceived as a 1/300 scale (6mm) game but we adapted it to play in 20mm. Tanks, mortars, off table artillery and air strikes are all included at this level (especially in Steve's rules) which makes it exciting and varied.
It has always been my intention though to game WWII at a couple of other levels:

"skirmish" at the Platoon level with the smallest unit being an individual soldier. I fancy doing this at 28mm scale but the number of figures to start gaming at this level is not excessive, about 40 on each side. Arguably tanks have little or no place in a platoon level game. I have no idea which ruleset I would use for this, but I have heard a lot of folks talk about "Nuts" by Two Hour Wargames.

Company level, that is 3 or 4 platoons and a coy HQ, with the smallest unit being a squad or section. I very much fancy the Crossfire rules for this. The good thing is that I could use my 20mm figures and models based as they are for this without modification, or by having a few more 28mm figures I could also do it in the larger scale as does Matakishi. Although basically an infantry set of rules the odd tank or two can be accomodated easily.

I have no interest in those rulesets (usually for 6mm) that simulate large scale battles with a single base representing a whole battalion of tanks or men. I think that is because I like to see my little men get shot up, run into trouble but eventually overcome it and win through. That to me is a satisfying game. Maybe that means I would be a Captain rather than a General?

Horses have arrived

2007-09-20T06:03:00.001-07:00

No sooner had I switched the computer off after my last update this morning then a package plopped through the letterbox. The Front Rank horses! I lost no time in putting the Grenadier knights on them to see how they look. You can see the German and Italian armoured knights on their respective fully armoured horses. The other Grenadier Gothic knight will go on a horse with head armour only. The other two horses are also head armour only but different styles. I deliberately wanted a lot of variation.
The two Warrior knights do not fit as they are, mainly because they come moulded with an integral saddle which I will have to carve off.
I intend to start work on all these tonight, I now have no excuse and only 5 weeks left to make the competition deadline.

Here Come The Cavalry

2007-09-14T14:48:00.001-07:00

Here I am down here. This is the starting point for my Group Build competition entry. As can be seen they are all late medieval and will represent a group from the Wars Of The Roses. The three in the picture that includes the herald are all Mirliton and on Mirliton horses, but the lance is a Front Rank item. The one undercoated black is an Essex miniature, I have removed his lance as he will be the standard bearer. He is wearing an older type of armour from the mid century. The five without horses are a mix of Warrior and old Grenadier figures. They will most likely all be on Front Rank horses, one is shown seated on a FR HYW gee gee to show how good they fit. The black undercoated Gothic horse shown with the two Warrior figures is an Essex item, again another possibility although not a very good fit. 9 figures in all. I won't post WIP pics up on the Guild as I prefer it to be a surprise.

Finished Trucks

2007-09-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

Not fantastic photos but here are two of the Pegasus fast-build trucks in early war colours

and here are the two 1/72 diecast heavy trucks. I am very pleased with these. They are 1932 Mercedes-Benz L5s. the drybrushing and blacklining came out very well on these. I think these will add a lot of character to my wargames units as no-one else will have these: The models were always rare and are now unavailable. I was very lucky to pick up 3 of these at a shop in Coventry.

Going to try a picture

2007-07-17T06:06:00.000-07:00

been doing little bits, and upladed some photos onto the Guild so while I am in the mood I will try to put one or two on here...watch this space but I promise nothing...

British Brigade not quite there yet...

2007-07-06T14:52:00.000-07:00

Not having time to paint anything today, I did what I usually do in these circumstances-start "reviewing" (ie getting boxes out and looking at either everything I am working on or having a sort through my unpainted lead pile under our bed or in the shed)

I discovered that my 1/72 British Brigade is not quite as complete as I had thought. Although the fighting troops are all there, I still need a few odds and ends:

9 more PIAT bases
4 more Coy HQs
1 more troops base
2 more Artillery spotting bases
2 more sniper bases
2 more assault pioneer bases .

Nothing major, I will work these in alongside other projects. Variety is the spice of life.
Nothing came in the post again today. Hopefully the Raventhorpe stuff will come tomorrow morning. Then I will be able to work on it over the weekend while I am at work.

The Early War Stuff

2007-07-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

The early war period is very interesting because of the mistakes made and lack of co-ordination and co-operation on the part of the Allies. A particular favourite of mine is the short and ill-fated Norwegian campaign.

The Norwegians:
1 BN WINTER TROOPS (6 DIV) (Lancashire figures, all bought)
1 COY DRAGOONS (mg troops, these may be a problem)
1 BN +2 COYS NORWEGIAN INFANTRY (Lancashire figures, need some conversion work)
2 COYS SKI TROOPS (Lancashire)
TRANSPORT COLUMN (vehicles in progress, need some horse drawn wagons)
MOUNTAIN GUN BATTERY (may be a problem)
GLADIATOR BIPLANE

The above units would allow me to wargame a wide variety of scenarios.

The BEF :

1 INDEPENDENT COY (for Norway only) (Conversions of RH figures. Some samples bought)
1 BN REGULARS (Blitz miniatures, 1 coy bought and painted)
1 BN TERRETORIALS (Conversions of SKYTREX) (work in progress)
1 SQDN INFANTRY TANKS (Altaya, SKYTREX Matildas I and II)
1 SQDN LIGHT CAVALRY TANKS (SKYTREX)
AT COY (SKYTREX 2pdrs)
LYSANDER AIRCRAFT (Matchbox kit)

I already have a variety of interesting prewar buses and vehicles in diecast form that will add a lot of interest to an early British force.

Blitzkreig Germans:
1 BN EARLY MOUNTAIN TROOPS
1 BN EARLY FALLSCHIRMJAGER
1 BN EARLY WAR INFANTRY
1 COY troops in greatcoats
1 PAK COY (HAT Pak 36)
REGIMENTAL SUPPORT GUN COY
1 RECONAISSANCE BN, complete (with variations so can be configured as inf div recon bn or stronger pzr div recon bn
1 MIXED PANZER BN (Pzr I, II, 38T, 1 coy of each)
TRANSPORT COLUMN
STUKA DIVE BOMBER

Add ons for 1941:
1 motorised inf coy in trucks/buses
1 motorised inf coy in einheitzwagen
1 m/c coy
1 motorized at coy PAK 38 pulled by pag trekkers
2 coys of Pzr III
1 coy of panzer IV (early)
1 cavalry squadron

The above force is really tailor made for a Norway wargame. My friends already have plenty of early German stuff for use in France.

The French:

I originally had no plans to do any French. The only types of French infantry that fought in Norway (Alpine troops and French Foreign Legion) are not available in 20mm.
But I found by accident that the variety of white metal kits and pre-built diecasts in 1/72 of French vehicles is amazing! To top it all the new Blitz French troops are absolutely state-of the art.
I have decided to put some units together that can be" mixed and matched" to produce either part of a DLM or the adhoc "De Gaulle" armoured force, along with only a token infantry force of 1 bn. This project is very vehicle heavy as I intend to have at least one of every type of vehicle or AFV available. It is also my "fun" project which will not have any deadlines.

1 DRAGONPORTES BN ( Reverisco Laffley carriers, 7 kits already bought)
1 MOTORIZED AT BATTERY ( 47mm guns may be a problem)
SOMUA SQUADRON (Altaya diecast)
H39 SQUADRON (Skytrex, not yet bought)
1 INDEPENDENT TANK SQUADRON (Reverisco FCM 36, Skytrex R35)
CHAR B SQUADRON (Reverisco kits, not yet bought)
1 MOTORISED FRENCH 75 BATTERY (Skytrex)
TRANSPORT COLUMN (Skytrex, Reverisco)
1 INFANTRY BN (Blitz)

1944 British and German

2007-07-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

My British force comprises the following:

3 INFANTRY BNS (including HQ vehicles, carriers and AT guns) (all figures complete, some vehicles not done)
BRIGADE HQ (not started)
PARA BN (figures cleaned ready for painting)
AIRLANDING BN (figures cleaned, some airborne guns and jeeps to buy)
ARMOURED BN (HAT Shermans, in progress)
MOTOR COY (not started)
CHURCHILL SQUADRON (FOV diecast)
TYPHOON GROUNDATTACK AIRCRAFT (not yet bought)

The prognosis is good for getting this force finished shortly with a concerted effort.

My German '44 Kampfgruppe.....grew out of me collecting a few diecast vehicles of my favourite tanks. The good thing about German stuff is that you can throw almost anything together and call it a battlegroup as this was the adhoc way the Germans fought. So I have given in to the inevitable and added some figures. Here is my planned force:

1 INFANTRY BN in greatcoats (Chiltern, figures cleaned ready. Needs more MMGs)
1 INFANTRY BN in zeltbahns (Raventhorpe, not yet bought)
1 FALLSCHIRMJAGER BN (This is an option, probably Kelly's Heroes)
1 AT COY (pak 40)
1 PANZERGRENADIER COY (not started)
PANTHER TANK COY (not bought)
PANZER IV COY (Altaya diecast)
STUG III COY (not bought)
TIGER 1E COY (Dragon diecast)
RECCE UNIT (Altaya Pumas)
TRANSPORT COLUMN (various plastic kits, not yet made!)

I plan to add a FW 190 Airplane equipped for ground attack when I can find a kit.

The above is a basic group of units that could be used anywhere from Normandy onwards. Options for expansion would be:
1 EXTRA INFANTRY BN (to make a complete regiment)
REGIMENTAL ARTILLERY BATTERY (inf guns or 120mm mortars)
NEBELWERFER ROCKET ARTILLERY BATTERY
ENGINEER UNIT

Another option might be to add a few of the interesting conversions of ex-French AFVs to make a specific unit (21st Panzer Division)