Medics (VBCW and more!)

I finally painted these 3 figures. They are Foundry 28mm from the set "Dumping the body!". However I intend to use them as VBCW figures. In fact they are painted as normal VBCW figures (with no particular uniform with the intention that they can be used by any side.  I am not sure why I purchased them originally maybe I was thinking of a grave robbing game (I know that was a plan years ago).  But now they shall function as VBCW medics. No that is not the best way to move a wounded person, before anyone says, but at least it will get them out of the area of firing so they should not be hit AGAIN!

Additionally I found this dead body. so I thought it only right to paint it at the same time. While I do not at this moment have a use for the figure I am sure that in the goodness of time a reason of its painting  will some to mind. I thought it might be best floating in the water as being a little different to just lying on a grassy knoll not least because I had a bottle of unopened GLOSS varnish I was eager to try.
Now all I need is a water filled area, maybe a Victorian docks, in which to leave the stiff!


SECRET PROJECT no 2)

I also needed to make some flying bases. Mostly for Aeronef. Obviously the helicopter is NOT aeronef related so I shall talk more of that another time. To get the 6mm (1/300th scale )Helicopter "right" I shall need to finish the base. I will also need to cut the rotor disc more accurately. But the ideas work fine I just need to execute them better, so expect that to be done soon! When I say soon It all relates to a pre-order I have made with Brigade Models for pick up on Sunday at the Broadside show. I have some pre-orders already in place but most of my spendz will come down to what money I have once I sell a few things. But we can save that for a show report on Monday and a LOOT haul report on (I hope) Sunday night.

Until then take care have fun and paint and game  as much as you are able.

Two modern assasins!

These two figures are part of the foundry street vilolence range. I got them as part of a job lot several years ago. As the dust had piled so high on them I knew it was time to paint!

We have a male assassin with a white suit amd an MP5 and silencer slung over his shoulder. He may or may not carry other weapons personally I think he does but he just does not show them. And a female assassin who may be a normal civilian as far as visible weapons are concerned. or she may have a load of hidden weapons under her coat. That is for you to decide.

In my head I have called them "Snowy" and "Two step" I like the way I was able to tie in the colours of the background and the carnation and bow tie on Snowy to the purse on Two step.  It keeps them consistent and at the same time individual.


I will post again soon. (Probably Tuesday). But thanks for looking and with luck I should (fingers crossed have enough blog posts for the whole of this week. BEAR in mind I am at a show next Sunday. So a Show report probably the following Monday.

Best wishes Clint

Gifts in the last 7 days. (Arn't Wargamers Generous!!)

NO they are not for you! I will post the AAR  of Yesterdays game on Wednesday.

Currently I am feeling very humbled. I hasve been given a number of gifts in the last 7 days. No My Birthday has already passed this year, and NO hey are not Christmas gifts either. Working from left to right:

 A book I was keen on but (so Far) have not read was passed to me by a neighbour, No not a wargamer.

A book Peter from the club bought at a bring and buy stall and at the time I said to him that if had not bought it I would have. Yesterday at the club he passed it to me and reminded me of my words and he gave it to me.

Peter also purchased a box of bits and bobs at the show and the truck was at the bottom and he has no use for  it so he also gave that to me. Which is Brilliant as I plan to start some WW2 20mm Western Desert in the new year.

Matt (him I tend to paint for) has obviously seen my blog last week and he passed me some Secret of the Third Reich figures. 3 German Were wolves which suit me down to the ground and as long as I paint the clothes in a dark grey at least 2 of them can be were wolves for half a dozen projects. No Idea what I might do with the US troops he gave me as well. But I am thinking I may paint them and give them back to him.

Finally I have been given 3 Osprey rule books. I am not going to say too much more about these other than I am very thankful and very VERY pleased.

Thanks for popping by to the blog today. I hope you are well and happy and that I can post the AAr on Wednesday.

I apologise for he brevity of this post and look forward to Wednesdays post.

And what a Brilliant hobby we are in!

All the best Clint

M3 Half tracks

 Not very much painting done this week. My mother has been poorly but is on the mend. Last week she could not stand and this week I have managed to walk her to the local shops and back so that is  good progress.

However enough of real life! Here are 5 heroics and Ross M3 US Halftracks.  I say Us Halftracks, but they are in Israeli service and were the MAIN infantry fighting Vehicle/Battle taxi up to 1973. Which is the date I have set for my Arab Israeli wars collection. I only painted 5 as I only had 5 I would have painted more If I had them, The joy is they are the kind of thing that will turn up at a wargames bring and buy and they are also the kind of thing I would like to buy!

In the rules I will need at least 3 infantry squads per 1000 points! So I can see these getting some use and abuse. And used as Target Practice by the Syrian, Egyptian and Jordanian forces.

In the coming week I would expect to see some more "Burpas!" (Matt dropped some off today! For me to paint) . Also behind the scenes I am working in a Royal Navy Land ship (Circa 1889) which is coming on OK and when my order from Pendraken arrives I will be able to finish it off and furnish it with some crew. So that is all to look forward to in the coming week, but for now just a meagre offering today.

Cheers From SUNNY  (and Hot) North Kent!
All the Best Clint!

Centis.

Very little done wargames wise these last few days, Well nothing I can talk about anyway.

So instead of posting nothing I have managed to paint up 3 Centurion tanks in 1/300th scale (or 6mm if you prefer).

These will be going to my Aram Israeli wars collection for cold war commander. In the rules no matter how big your army you can only have a MAXIMUM of 3 of these tanks. So no point in painting many more. I suppose I could paint another 3 as Jordanian Centurions! And that would be just to scare the Israeli player!

In the game it has a range of 100cm and a firepower of 5d6 which for the time period is pretty impressive. More so a it has 6 hits. I knew it was an impressive tank for the time after all in the Korean war not a single one was  knocked out despite one vehicle being hit (mostly by RPGs) over 90 times.

So in the rules I do Like the fact that a maximum of 3 are allowed in any one game. Which considering 3 Centurions would be nearly half your points in a 1000 point game! But we all know players who would want more "super tanks" in a combined arms game than anything else including infantry, artillery, command, recconisence, air support  or everything else put together. Which does not in anyway lead to a balanced game. And that is just because they want to win. Even if you played a 5 or 10 thousand point game you would still only be allowed 3 in the game MAX.

That's my very small post today as I have sickness in the family and my painting/hobby focus is elsewhere.

All the best Clint

Cold War US M113

The Start of my US Forces: A 15mm Peter Pig Resin destroyed M113. The model can be found in the Vietnam range and costs £4. (Plus Postage unless you buy at shows.) Because it is in the Vietnam range the foliage and undergrowth are more tropical than I would expect in Europe out side some botanical gardens.  But Once you get over that hurdle the model is a joy. And if you do want a tropical  setting what else could be better.

I on the other hand do not want a tropical setting for my cold war wargames. which is why I have painted it in a snow camouflage. Well as I am calling this a Cold war Project I thought to paint it snowy.

The scenarios will not actually be based in Europe but in Alaska! Alaska did at one stage "Belong" to Russia, but was sold to the USA by a Tsar.

My Basic thinking for the games is to have the Russians take it back! This gives me all the cold war drama but without having to build European battle boards and terrain. I will go into the full details at a later date, but needless to say I will make both forces seem like they have a reasonable excuse to fight in this wilderness. It may be things like a mistake in the translation of the original agreement that is misinterpreted. Not so very important to wargames but it does give me a new setting for Cold war wargaming!

Anyway thanks for looking today and if you live in The UK do not forget to vote! Vote which ever way your heart/soul/mind decides. All the best Clint

Russian Cold War Platoon (The Zone) finished.

As I did actually finish these last week I though it about time to share them. All the previous comments about nice sculpts but poorly cast with lots of moulding lines still hold true and NO there is no Platoon Sniper and still too many LMGs, but enough phaffing around they are done and I can start the US/British/west German/ Canadian troops.

You can see in the first picture the platoon leader on the left then the platoon medic (Armband) and finally another (Spare) RPG heavy weapon specialist. All in all it was cheaper to buy them this way than to buy separate packs so no regrets.

 The last Picture is them all together, the force composition is a BMP Mechanised Platoon due to the number of LMGs  BUT I can make it a BTR platoon with little difficulty. Just a single pack of QRF miniatures will solve the issue and allow me to get a man portable anti aircraft missile at the same time.

The next thing is to get the US forces done and then start playing. What a shame I am getting sidetracked at the moment, following the Broadside show.

Thanks for looking, all the best and see yu soon.

Cheers Clint

The Zone Russians (Part 2)

Well not the largest amount painted, but here are the second squad of my Russian cold war Platoon. a few posts ago I was able to show the first squad, and this is the second squad. Similar issues with the figures and similar weapons as well. There is a slight difference in the weapons though as I am painting what was purchased in a single pack of Battle Front Team Yankee Russian Rifle platoon.

Because Team Yankee is based around BMP platoons and not BTR platoons there is 2 PKM in this squad and most likely the next as well.  So I may have to buy BMP -1 or BMP -2's as opposed to BTRs. This may not be a big issue at all as I have yet to settle on the transport that I would choose to start with. You Know me I will eventually get everything! (Well not everything but sufficient Variety to represent different vehicles in different regiments. I do know what I am intending for the opposing forces so I must try and get the forces to balance.

Anyway another picture of the Russian Uniforms that I have tried to replicate and like the first squad  I am happy with the outcome.

I am now cleaning up the third squad and will begin painting that soon. So expect the third squad and platoon command next week. I will try to get some 28mm VBCW figures done as well, IF I can tear myself away from "Minecraft!"

All the best Cheers Clint

Enough talk, time to start. (Zone Russians part 1)

 Yes Finally started. Here are my first squad for the Russian in "The Zone" . I knew I would need Russians so while I was figuring out the rest of my forces I thought I should start. The figures are Battlefront Tam Yankee figures. They are not absolutely ideal, but they are as good a figure as I can currently get for the price/effort, without either commissioning my own greens, converting or perhaps easier importing from abroad from a variety of sources. So for convienience It has to be Battlefront which are availiable from my local wargames shop (4 miles away).

Casting wise they are Ok but not brilliant as there was a lot of cleaning up to do in regard to mould lines where the moulds had slipped and also spare waste metal Left from the air vents. Also as they come from New Zealand they are not so very cheap as they have to be shipped half way around the world. Complaints aside they are the best I can get though and the sculpts are nice.

In a Russian squad (according to Osprey Publishing "Force on Force" rule book) there are 6 men armed as follows.

• Squad leader (AK74)
• Assistant Squad leader (AK74)
• Gunner (RPK-74)
• Grenadier (RPG)
• Assistant Grenadier (AK74)
• Rifleman (AK74)

 For a BMP 1  squad change the squad composition to 2 gunners with RPK-74s and loose the Rifleman with AK47) . So not a huge difference in squad composition. And one I hope to adjust in different games.
3 Squads to a platoon so there will be more of these. Colours taken from the same Osprey Publishing book mentioned above and the picture on the right has been my main guide.

Each transport vehicle has 3 crew (Commander, Driver and Gunner) all of whom stay with the vehicle and do NOT dismount in combat situations. I have not as yet finalised my transport choice they may be in BMP1s (A TRACKED APC with a 73mm gun and antitank missile), BTR 70's or BTR 80s (An 8 wheeled APC with a 14.5mm Heavy machine gun)  or perhaps something less ordinary like a MT LB ( Also tracked and also armed with a 14.5mm HMG, ).  The joy of the Russians is that the infantry could be transported and any of those 3 vehicles and I am sure once I am fully up and running with the project I am equally sure I will get them all so I can field a greater variety of units, although the basic foot figures will stay the same but with different squad load-outs to suit the different regiments!

I suspect I will be starting with either BMP-1s or BTR 70's though. But most importantly I am now off the mark and started.

Medevac

No not me personally I am in good health (as far as I know).

This was also done for the Analogue Challenge painting competition. IT had hung around for about 8-10 years without being touched so I was about time. The model is a Revel Kit that I think I purchased while in Germany. It went together easily and painting was very quick and simple. But as it came with no crew I added some Britannia/Grubby tanks crew. Luckily for me they do a Medevac crew. The crew pack consists of Pilot, Co-pilot, Medic treating a wounded soldier a dead body (shown in last post) and a soldier with a rifle. The figures are tightly chunky when compared with SHQ (Most of my troops) but I actually prefer that as it gives them a slightly Cartoony feeling to painting with deep creases in the clothes. Not so good if trying to paint camouflage but as My Vietnam troops are in plain green (except my south Vietnamese) I look on it as an advantage.

I did want to put the dead body inside, but it was just a little too cramped even when I stripped out the seats and stretchers. So he was left behind. I am happy with the arrangement as it is though as It is a medevac helicopter and really does need the medic involved.

Although I said it went together easily, it did involve me getting glue on the windows at every opportunity with my inept dexterity. The other problem of course was the decals which had decayed to the level where I could not apply them properly an some even just flaked off. The result was me hand painting 2 of the crosses, so do not look too closely as they will be noticed. If that is not shooting myself in the foot and drawing attention to them I just do not know what will!

As we all know, no wargames project is ever really finished but this is getting close now. Still a few more choppers to build, both for attack roles and slicks for air lift. But they do not stay on the table long so generally need not be represented.

I have taken to using plastic disposable wine glasses as flight stands. 8 for a £1 in my local pound shop they are clear, light easy to transport and to store and even replace. They can straddle terrain any put any helicopter about 5 inches above the table so work very well. If you do any 20mm Modern wargames I would recommend them for Helicopters. They work very well indeed.


That's it for today. Next post Monday and an AAR of my Samurai using the Dragon Rampant rules .  I hope. Well it should be unless I can get no players at the club or unless some kind of unforeseen accident and no body like that.

Cheers For looking, all the best Clint


 

Skirmish Sangin Trial game.

I finally got around to playing "Skirmish Sangin" By Radio Dishdash Publications. I was originally put off by the hefty volume as I wanted an easy game to play. And at 170 pages I put off reading the rules. I do not enjoy reading rules, sorry I just don't!.

So My nephew played the British and I was the Taliban. The first scenario was the Taliban had been firing sniper rounds into the British FOB (Forward observation base) and a small patrol of 4 men (1 fire team) had come across the place the sniper had been firing from. So the Taliban had 3 figures against the British 4. Firstly I want to say that the rules did work well and were very instinctive and that we were using my 20mm Afghan setup. While we did overlap on to two boards we could have played on a single 2 foot by 2 foot area. Mostly ranges do not matter with modern rifles at this scale  but each rifle would have an effective range of 2.5 meters at that scale on the tabletop with sniper rifles and machine guns at least double that. So in a 2'x2' area range was not an issue.

 So I set up 2 spotters with Ak47s on the roof .

 The sniper I set up in some broken walls and ruins. So many people think snipers have to be up high. Yes they have got a good view up there, but it does compromise their ability to re-locate. Not being a trained sniper I do not know what the correct awnser is I suspect it changes with each battle and when it comes to war films who the director is. But what do I know.

 The 4 British paratroops started kneeling behind a low wall. 3 had L85a2 rifles (one with an undeslung grenade launcher) the fourth figure had a "Minime" 5.56mm LMG.

 When the British moved to outflank. See James may be my nephew but he is not daft (despite being related to me.

As they came over the low wall I was able to spot them and fired with my "Novice" Taliban. Now most (if not all) of the rolls are percentages and by the time I had spotted the enemy and fired the gun I was on a 06% chance to hit. Long story short I did not but did give my spotters position away!

James continues to out flank me. But like many young players I have noticed wanted to climb on the buildings. I think that comes from computer games and TV and at his age I would do the same.

I move my spotter to try to relocate and get out of sight.

My other spotter fires and actually hits a Para. But the Para flak vest stops the bullet, but does knock him down.

My sniper is rolling badly and can't hit anything. He is useless (at least when I have dice to roll!)

 I am continued to be out flanked as the Para who had been hit dusts himself off passes a morale check and gets into cover out of line of sight.

My Novice Taliban rolls 100 % critically failing and misfires the AK. (There is a chart for fumbles and this is not too bad!) It just means a whole Phase of inactivity if he wants to fire again. My other spotter fails to see the Brits on the roof and continues to fir at the one he had already hit, who is now in cover. He does not hit the guy in cover and it does give his position away.

I continue to get outflanked as James puts pressure on my front and moves the flank runners around behind me.

The novice repairs his gun and opens up and SUPRISINGLY hits the para on the roof top and with a lucky wound roll kills him out right! So 1 to me and none to James .

Then it all goes wrong. the sniper gets outflanks and fails to spot the guy who out flanked him he does get a shot at another Brit, but misses by a long way  and so no effect.

The Sargent who outflanked was able to shoot and downed the sniper very easily. The Taliban in these rules tend not to have armour and with James luck tend to die with a single hit.

James also is able to bring fire on the novice Taliban and he dies pretty swiftly as well and my other spotter being out numbered 3 to one dies in the next combat phase.

It was close but a win for the Brits (Taliban get more Victory points for killing Brits due to the press etc than the Brits do from killing the Taliban.) . But a clear British win none the less. The whole game lasted 1 and a half turns or about 2 hours of playtime as we were explain the rules and checking things. WE did not use any heavy weapons or vehicles just the starter scenario ad it was a good way to start.

Conclusion:

1. Spotting the enemy is very important.
2. Armour is a life saver. (literally)
3. Cover is very important as well. It makes you harder to spot. !
4. and harder to hit!
5. never trust a young player with dice.... they roll well you know.

Rules wise the rules were simple to play and understand and were quite instinctive. Of course we did a few things wrong, we always do when trying new rules. But if a 15 year old can grasp them and have fun they cannot me too hard and they are not.

I may put another game on tomorrow or Wednesday.

Thanks for reading and I am quite impressed with how the rules work in practice. And I think they would work well in other settings, Vietnam for example.

Paddy Fields (Part 1)

It does not happen often but this morning I awoke and felt like making terrain. And as I am working on my 20mm Vietnam Conflict collection (I even sent for shinnies and Plastics yesterday) it made sense to me to think about terrain for that. As I already own enough jungle foliage and village huts the next thing was going to be some Paddy fields. These should be easy! Yeah famous last words I know it and yet I keep telling myself! One day I may believe the truth before it hits me up the head...

 So I found a spare piece of board, in this case 6mm MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard). Yes I know it's a little think for what I need and hardboard would be better yet it was quick to source and easy to work (There's that "Easy" word again!)

 So I marked out what I wanted with regard to Field shape. Settling on 3 or 4 (depends how you picky you are about counting) sizes and shapes. I spent a happy 35 minutes up the shed with a jigsaw.

Then rounded of the corners and sanded them smooth and removed any bumps to create the basic field shapes. I do realise that these will be proud on the table top and that real water does not do that, but for gaming purposes these will be flooded fields and should represent the terrain and as long as people are not stupid ( I will be running a book on the first person to comment) they should serve.

There are of course a few more steps to go but the basic roughing out of field shapes is now done. While at this stage they are fairly regular each field being separate they can be arranged in less than regular patterns to represent the flooded paddy fields of a small hamlet! The joy is that once made they should be OK for all scales from 10mm-28mm.

That's it for today as my Vietnam project gets a little bit closer to complete!

Thanks For looking and Painted figures on Saturday.

Cheers Guys.

Casualties. (20mm Britannia)

Well I will admit that the Bank Holiday did give me a little extra time. So here today a little earlier than expected are my latest figures.

Two castings picked up at the Salute show from Andy at Grubby Tanks. They are Britannia 20mm castings which are now supplied by GRUBBY TANKS (Link) These five figures help to round out the Vietnam conflict figures I re-painted, and re-based a couple of weeks ago. It is only in "Vietnam War" wargames rules have I ever needed to worry about casualties being taken to a safe place, be that an aid station or medivaced out to a civilized hospital. Oh and in Afghan war as well now I think on it. Oh and in zombie games, but that really is different!!

So we have a figure carrying another over his shoulder and two figures carrying another between them. Both very characterful figures and totally useable in the "FNG" rules by 2 hour Wargames. Needles to say if a casualty needs taking off table during a game the squad will lose more than just the single casualty, it will require at least 1 more to move them. So suddenly your squad is down 2 fighting troops for the time it takes to get the guy to a safe place. And maybe even then if there is no handy medic to act as a guard until help arrives. It is just another example of how warfare really is and not as we like to play it. I am equally sure in earlier centuries the same thing must have happened! It's just that only from the Vietnam conflict onwards do rules take this into account.

The final picture is just a "Proof" for the local club painting challenge that the figures were painted in this time period and not before. Yes I know that sounds kind of daft, but hey they want some evidence and not to just take each others words. So who am I to argue? It just seems a bit.... well "untrusting!" To me if we don't trust other wargamers then perhaps I or them are in the wrong hobby!

That's all for today. I hope this finds you well. All the best from rainy (today) Kent. Cheers Clint
 

More 6mm Cold war stuff

 

Well I am clearing the paint table and having shown the 2 Gepard last week here is another anti-aircraft vehicle. This time a Marder Mechanised Infantry Combat Vehicle used by the front line German infantry at this time but converted to carry "Roland" Ground to air missiles. This should make helicopter operations a little tricky for the opposition. Well maybe.

Additionally I have finished a battery of 6mm 1/300th scale Abbot 105mm self propelled artillery. A very versatile platform that is still in use today. Able to bring long range indirect fire on the enemy in a variety of forms but with high explosive and even smoke being the most common choices.

There may well be another update tomorrow as I get things done and the table cleared for the painting challenge. Paint Monkey should finish 6 28mm models today (I do so plan) as I want 12 of them finished before Sunday morning and I am out on Saturday.

Right that's enough talking the paint should be dry by now and I can get back to it.

All the best, take care Clint.