Hanging around FAR to long! 10mm SCW LMG's

Yes I am still working on my Spanish Civil War figures. Well actually until the new year at the earliest I think I have stopped. At Xmas I am  due to get a set of rules and that might spark it off again.

Now the new rules have 1 Light Machine Gun per platoon. So I have painted up 8. As the rules are either 2, 3 or 4 platoons a side 8 is the most I think I shall need. 6 being the average and 4 the absolute minimum. The rules call for 3 platoons a side, 2 if they are elite(elite in the SCW does not mean elite in modern terms, most troops were untrained) and they would get 4 platoons each side. Therefore 8 LMGs should be all I need!

The figures are 10mm (1/200th scale) Pendraken. As such they are not super detailed.  But are detailed enough In game terms.

Just 8 starnds of 10mm figures to round out my SCW stuff. And that should be all I need!

Bet is is not though. I imagine some bright spark player will want Morocan troops while another will want Guardi di Assulto! I know who they are and they will be 2 and 3 against the wall when the revolution come!

Still these are finally painted after 2 years on the painting table and now put in the correct box ready for me to read the rules in the new year!

That's it, back to the 15mm Western stuff for now.
Thanks for looking and more again soon.

All the best Clint

Still working on SCW

Yep I am still working on my armies for the Spanish Civil war.... Although I must admit I am running out of steam.

These are all Pendraken 10mm figures. Actually the Anti Tank gun is old Skytrex Action 200. Which n longer seem available. And that just shows how old I am.

These are all nationalist troops, but that said there is no reason they could not be Republican troops. It really was not as clear cut as we would like to think.  The Antitank crew are actually WW2 British Navy, but does that matter? I think not. There is no point in playing the SCW and getting fussy about which is which and what is what. Everyone used anything they thought was best.

I was lucky enough to be asked to playtest some SCW rules. And they should be commercially available before the end of the year. I will not at this stage go into detail as that would be very improper. I will just say they did work, but from my point of view (not having seen the final draft) they did not seem very different to WW2 rules and the Spanish Civil war was very different. SO I will need to wait and see what the final draft is like before saying anything more.

Just 4 more stands 3x Light MG's and 1 Anti tank.

Not a lot more to add. Thanks for looking today and back to 28mm for Sundays post... (assuming they get finished today.)

A mixed bag

yes a real mix of projects today. Yet one thing they do have in common is the photography is terrible. Not making excuses it is just one of those things where nothing has worked!  Oh well.


So starting with some air support for my Japanese in 15mm. This is an Academy 1/144th scale Japanese Zero. The model was just a couple of pounds on eBay. It was easy to put together. But not all that easy to paint. The actual colours went on OK no problem there. The problem comes when trying to get the right colour green. Let me explain. Aircraft modellers will tell you tat the correct Japanese green for Aircraft is a bit of a mystery. Because the colour faded so fast when applied there is no definite answer to what the "Proper colour" should be. Indeed white may be as authentic as green as the colour faded and bleached in the tropical heat. Yes you do see some Navy planes painted white, but army planes as far as I am aware should be green. So this may well be the wrong colour green. But I will not be getting a Munsel diagram out to find out. It is close enough for me in a game where it only appears occasionally

Then we have some 10mm Spanish Civil war regular army light machine guns. I will be also doing some militia LMGs as well but this gets them finished for the regular ARMY. So that is one side finished for Bayonet and Ideology. Although you can hardly see them the figures are Pendraken and in army uniforms. Green clothing but with grey helmets.

Finally here is a single Pic of my first figure from "the Walking Dead"  game finished. A single walker.  the figures are very nice and I will be doing more as soon as time permits. The figures are hard plastic and paint very well. Each of the Walkers is different so the first thing you need to do is work out how long they have been dead and paint the skin appropriately. Therefore I will be painting a variety of skin tones to represent those killed very recently and those killed during the out break.

Well that#s it for today. with luck my get up and go will return soon and I will be able to carry on with gusto!

All the best Clint

Just 16 more finished.

Nope not a massive lot done! just 16 more Zulus finished. That is 12 for my main unit and 4 with rifles for my shooting /rifle unit.

They are a mix of 10mm Pendraken miniatures and 10mm Newline design miniatures.

A very quick post this day. as I am now painting Burpas again!

Best wishes Clint

Zulu's (finished for now)

Well as promised on the AHPC here is all the Zulus painted all in one go. By that I mean all in one photo. NOT all painted in one sitting! That would take more endurance than I have.

All the figures are 10mm or 1/200th scale. And while the majority are New Line Design (I bought a £30 army pack!) there are also Penrdraken miniatures scattered among them.

 From left to right. 3 figures on a base or 6 on a double base except rifle bases and then just 2 figures on a base.

Black shields and headdress 24 bases

Black and white shields and headdress 24 bases.

These 2 units will be married veterans so they will be in essence the elite of the army. Feel free to disagree as I have no real strong ideas.

 White shield. 24 bases. These will be the unmarried un bloodied warriors.

I bay need to add a further 8 bases to each of the above units to fit in with the rules, but I will probably just ignore the first 8 hits BEFORE removing bases.

The larges single unit is of course the unmarried but blooded warriors with brown and white shields and there are 61 bases of those. So a further 3 bases would totally finish them

Again I may need to add 7 more bases to fit in with the rules.

And Lastly all down the front 12 bases of rifle armed Zulus. Strictly speaking in the rules I should add a further 4 bases, but I am not sure I will. These have brown shields with white markings.

If I was being totally accurate I would mix and match shields as they did tend to mean different things in different tribes of the Zulus but realistically for game purposes It is easier to keep this simple method for identification purposes.

 In an ideal world where time money space and nagging did not matter I would finish these off with the extra figures as detailed above. But in real life I suspect I will draw a close on this army about here. I still have about 30 figures left unpainted so I have the choice either a small unit of tribal warriors allied to the British (with red headbands) or to bring one other unit up to full strength. So maybe it makes sense to do a further 9 figures (3 bases) of Brown and white shields)

I am not sure which is the best option but I do know I want a break from painting Zulus!


Hope to see you all again on Tuesday, so until then take care have fun and paint if the mood takes you.

200th scale Trucks.

 These went on the AHPC last week. here we have 8 trucks for my Spanish civil war armies. 6 of them are German Opel Blitz trucks while the other 2 I am not sure of, They were bought cheap from eBay and already undercoated so I just had to apply some colour. I suspect they are all Pendraken, but really do not know. For me they will just be generic trucks. After all in most wargames (all that I can think of a truck is a truck no matter which country of origin it hails from.
As a consequence these will work for any of the forces involved. be that Nationalist or Republican, Poum Militia or Moroccan regulars.

Doll Drums.

Yes it comes to us all. AND I AM CURRENTLY in the painting Doll Drums!

Which is not to say I have stopped, but is to say I have slowed down considerably!

So slow in fact that I have only managed to get 1 British officer of the colonial period finished.  Many if not most will be looking and saying that is the wrong shade of blue it should be darker. And yes Cavalry and artillery officers should be in a darker blue.

However those attached to the Natal Native Light horse units wore sky blue and that did get faded in the African sun.   And I think he's a pretty good match for the African sky in the Picture.Or if you do not like that explanation just assume it id the uniform colour of Her Majesties Royal Navy Landship Squadron.

Thanks for looking today I will try to get more done and quickly for the next scheduled post on Sunday.

All the Best Clint

More 10mm Samruai

While at the Cavalier show I was able to pick up some more Pendraken 10mm Samurai from Second City games. They were a mixed bunch probably left over from someone else's collection. So together with my "Odds and Sods" I cobbled them together to make a few more stands.

As my two agmies are currently matched I have decided to make a Green force. Which I can use as an ally of either of my other armies. Not a large allied force as there are only 7 stands of infantry. And 2 of those stands may actually join my main armies as by checking the pose and the catalogue number it identifies them as Samurai with Naginata.  The issue being that the Naginata in question seem to have very short handles and to my untrained and now squinting eye look more like No Dachi (2 handed swords). So I may be better off pretending that is what they are.

4 of the Cavalry stands are already put aside for my other armies but the 5th one can belong to the allies. It just balances everything up nicely this way.

The last 2 figures are Samurai mounted separately as messengers. It is quite possible that when they do deliver new orders they may get ignored entirely as the lord in charge of that section arrogantly chooses to do his own thing.

These were also painted as part of the Analogue painting challenge but I just did not get round to posting them on my blog during the challenge.

The VERY good news is that I have started to paint already, currently working on Battle-tech mechs. Just to do something for me and to keep it light.

Thanks for looking and with any luck another post come Monday.

Take care watch the rugby and have some fun with a paintbrush in your hand.

All the best Clint

10mm Sams

Well long time blog members will remember that I have been painting 10mm samurai on and off for a few years. It has been 10 months since I painted any. So yes here are a few more before I get the Paint Monkey to paint some more 28mm figures for Matt.

So here they are 10mm Pendraken Mounted Samurai armed with Yari. 13 in all and I have yet to do the sashimono back banners. Clearly these are destined for my red army. 4 Bases of 3 figures and a single figure on a 20mm square base to represent a general. I have an equal about to still do for my blue/grey army. They will be about the last of my figures done and there will be 2 armies (or else).

Thanks for looking today. I hope you are all well and happy take care and with luck, see you all soon. All the best Clint

Reject Civil War

I woke up Sunday morning feeling lethargic, I did not want to put a game on. But I had arranged one with the Rejects and this time rather than Postie being the referee, I would! Anyway I had written the rules the day before and had very little sleep so I would look and feel my best.

The View from my Position at the door way.

What follows is not so much an AAR I will leave that to Big Lee and Ray and I am sure they will do a superb job, Much better than I will.

El Postie (Fascist Leader)'s Armoured car under artillery fire.

Customary Picture of Postie in Action,
While Ray leans on the table.

Posties Armoured Car again survive the barrage.

The last few moves of the game.

What follows is not so much an AAR I will leave that to Big Lee and Ray and I am sure they will do a superb job, Much better than I will.

Here's the Situation:

Second Battle of the Corunna Road. January 1937

The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 had been fought to a standstill, with the Nationalists under Franco failing to take the city. They then started to besiege it, aiming to cut its links to the rest of Spain. Franco decided to attack the city from the north-west in order to cut off water and electricity supplies from the Sierra de Guadarrama and encircle the city. After a failed offensive in November, the Nationalists summoned a force of 17,000 men, led by General Orgaz, with four mobile brigades (led by Garcia Escamez, Barron, Saenz de Buruaga and Monasterio), backed by heavy artillery and Ju-52 bombers. The Republican army had a few battalions led by Luis Barceló.

Towards the end of December, Orgaz received reinforcements and decided to relaunch the offensive on 3 January. This offensive became known as the Battle of the Fog. The Republican high command redeployed their units in the Pozuelo-Brunete sector. The Republicans had an army corps led by Miaja with five divisions (led by Nino Nanetti, Modesto, Colonels Perea, Adolfo Prada and Galan) but had little ammunition or supplies.

The Nationalists' offensive started with a heavy artillery bombardment on the 14 December and Franco's troops occupied the town of Boadilla del Monte. Now In January a second big push is underway.

We will only tackle a very small part of the battle as the whole battle was really quite large and lasted over 1 month.

Now I must say that while each side (Republican and Nationalists) each had a main objective that was Unknown to the other players. And just to make it interesting every player had an individual secondary or even tertiary objective that was only known to them. This would mean that according to Ray "Not only do I need to worry about the other side of the table but these two git as well" Indicating both Lee and John. Yes and it was the same for them as well.

It is worth noting that some BUT NOT all the secondary objectives were conflicting with other players, but not nessercarily those of the opposition.

I won't Go into too much more details but when the game ended some elements of both sides were convinced that they had won and others that they had lost. I really needed a clearer ending to the game however life and war is not always like that.

Victory Points

1st Surgit (Nationalist)  Managed to achieve both primary and secondary objectives.

2nd Smiffy (Nationalists/Anarchists) Managed to achieve Primary Objective

=3rd John (Republican/Poum Militia) Failed the Primary objective but managed his secondary and tertiary objectives.
=3rd Lee (Republican) Failed in the Primary Objective but also managed in his Secondary and tertiary objectives

5th Postie (Nationalist/ Guardia Assulto) Marginally succeeded in the Primary objective. But completely failed in his secondary objectives and lost additional Victory points for using his heavy artillery.

6th Ray (Republican) Failed in Both Primary and secondary objectives and also lost additional Victory points for calling for tank support which never actually arrived!

So Technically a Nationalist win. Although Ray was up against it from the start.

The Real winner was me though because it was a good day despite me not being in the mood and I learnt a lot that should the opportunity allow for another game I will be able to implement.

SO CHEERS GUYS I APPRECIATE YOUR HELP

Thanks for taking the time and effort of reading today. Take care of yourself (and those around you) and with a little luck some more in a few days.

Cheers Clint

They don't like it.... yeah we all know!

Yeah we all know how that line goes and it is very common for wargamers to utter the immortal lines. They did have great script writer back then but that is really no excuse! These figures were hidden from me last time I painted my 10mm Sudan figures up, they have since re-emerged from the "put somewhere safe" place and now had some paint slapped on them.

So today I am pleased to have finished another 9 stands of 10mm Beja from Pendraken. Who are rapidly becoming one of my favourite figure manufacturers.


All painted and based to fit in with my existing colonial SUDAN figures. So they should give the forces of the Mahdi a little bit more of a punch.

That's just a very quick update for today and at least it's a few more painted figures and lets be honest the Mahdi can do with more troops which may mean I can paint more British troops (eventually).

Thanks for popping by and with luck I may get something in the mail.

Have a good few days and I'll post again soon.
All the best Clint

Enough for now?

I think I now have enough Spanish Civil War troops. They are all 10mm Pendraken miniatures. One of the benefits of the Spanish Civil war is that the uniforms, clothing and equipment are about the same for each side. Thus by changing the flags Republican Militia can represent Nationalist Militia, and as regular army uniforms were used by both sides again by having interchangeable flags that issue is resolved.

The top picture shows my forces as I have tried to explain they can be seen as interchange able by swapping the flags I shall list the troops from right to left, starting at the front and moving backwards.

• 3 Platoons of Guardia Civilia with a single 14.5mm Hotchkiss Machinegun.
• 6 platoons of troops in regular army uniforms. These may be regular army, Communist or Facist troops or indeed most other factions as mentioned uniforms were used by all.

• Regular army uniformed Machinegun company again all 14.5mm Hotchkiss machine guns. 10 guns in all and company command. These may be split inot the platoons or grouped together as the situation demands.
• 1 Platoon of Guardia Assaulto (pre war paramilitary police). You had to have served in the army before being accepted into this force before the war but I am not sure that was the case during the war. Again used by both sides.
• 2 Medium trucks to be used as tows for the 155mm (French) Field Guns. The guns have crews in regular army uniforms.
• a Single Bilbao Armoured Car of the type used by the Guardia Assalto.

• 7 platoons of Militia dressed infantry. Again these could be on either side as Flange Militia, Poum Militia, Anarchist Militia, Communist Militia etc. So very versatile troops again just needing a change of flags.
• 2 Heavy trucks.
• 5 Medium trucks 3 with Trailers. Again all trucks are interchangeable and my be used for transporting troops or supplies.

• 2 Platoons of militia armed 14.5mm Hotchkiss Machineguns. Just as the regular army machine guns they can be grouped together or allotted to each platoon.
• 5 stands of Cavalry both mounted and dismounted. These were mostly used as scouts.
• a small platoon of Dynamiteros. only 6 stands because we don't want to over do it.
• Trucks already mentioned.
• A single Armoured truck armed with a machine gun and enclosed.
• a Light truck with 3 medium mortars. These are in regular army uniforms.
• 4 Tankettes (Italian C33s). 2 man very light tanks armed with Breda Machine guns. A gift from the Italian Fascist Government
• 2 Unknown tanks I am not sure what they are but they look right and will probably not be used
• A light truck with ambulance markings.
• A staff car of a type usable for civilian as well as military intentions.
• 3 T26 of Russian Origin but used by both sides as sufficient numbers were captured. They are in a grey livery as they were at this time and interestingly Russian Tanks changed to a green livery by the end of the war. Needless to say many were re-painted to suit local conditions.
• 2 Italian 65mm Mountain guns with Civilian crews and also packed up on mule mounts for transportation purposes.
• 1 105mm Howitzer with limber. Civilian crew.
• 1 fuel tanker with trailer.

Additionally I have sufficient casualty markers for a game and a single pill box. Unpainted (and unmade) I have a transport aircraft. Yes tis will be done, but aircraft were really rare. Although I might buy some just for fun.

By many peoples standards this is not a huge army it is however large enough for a battle and I hope enough to keep 6 people entertained for a day. I am writing my own rules as I have not found any commercial rules for this conflict that I like. So please do not ask what rules I will be using. I am going to keep it simple though and not sweat the small stuff.

 I hope that has satisfied you with a SCW fix now you can see what I have been working on.

So what's next. Well in the short term more 10mm colonial stuff.
Thanks for looking today. Have a good couple of days and I hope to see you all soon.
Best Wishes Clint

SCW Regulars

Well It has been a little while since I last posted any painted figures but that does not mean I have been idle. So here are another 14 stands of Spanish Civil War Regular troops. By Regular I do of course just mean that they are all wearing the "regular" Army uniform. 






You can see there is one command stand as well as a machine gun stand as well as 12 other infantry stands. These will help bulk out my troops and should mean that I am getting to a point where I can get a game suitable for a few players. Yes I shall do a group shot a little later which should show the forces as a whole.




One of the joys of painting 10mm figures is that they are pretty straight forward to both pain and bas. Add to that that they are easy to transport and cheap to buy and you can see why I am falling in love with them. It is also worth noting that more companies are now producing 10mm figures than ever before.


That's it for today but I am slowly approaching a couple of new (or at least very old) projects so expect more about 1 of them by this time next week.

Thanks for looking today. Maybe another post tomorrow and then back on track Monday.

All the best enjoy any sun that may be about and take care. All the best Clint.

SCW Machine-gun Platoon.

I still have not been painting, but I have based these up.

During the Spanish Civil War a typical Order of battle would be something similar to:
INFANTRY BATTALION.

1 x Battalion HQ [Plana Mayor]

3 – 4 x Infantry Companies

0 – 1 x Machine Gun Company: 4 x Machine Gun Platoons

With each Machine gun platoon being between 2 and 4 machine guns plus platoon leader. needless to say local variations were more the rule due to both local conditions and local forces. So the above is only a typical battalion and may or may not be represented on the battlefield. As such this would be a typical machine gun Platoon. 4 Machine guns and a platoon commander. Needless to say that in defence this would be quite fearsome!

As these are 10mm Pendraken figures they are quite small to paint and quite a punchy unit on the battle field.

Thant's it for today. Hope to have more on Saturday. Thanks for popping by.
All the best Clint.

Standard troops.

Well I am still pumping out the Spanish Civil War troops. Two days ago I offered an "exotic" unit so today to balance it I have some more common troops. These are Pendraken 10mm figures again and can be used as either Republican or Nationalist forces by simply swapping the flag over. I have painted them in the Army uniform of the time but painted the blanket rolls in different colours in order to give a less regimented effect.

Gain 3 figures on a round MDF 25mm base to keep them all consistent with mu other troops. The 25mm round base was selected at the beginning simply for ease of handling after-all life is too short to worry about individual figures at a small scale.

Lastly I have also included a single machine gun. Most of the support weapons are only 2 figures to a base but I had far too many officers (in my opinion) in the army pack I bought at Salute this year so the odd one on a machine gun base is not a big thing.

I shall try to post again on Sunday, and with luck something a little different just to break the monotony. Also coming up soon will be some scenery for the SCW, but that will not be ready on Sunday. So until then take care have fun and  sling some paint on some figures!

All the best Clint

Dinamiteros

Dinamiteros  were a group of soldiers in the Spanish Civil War. There are two important traits to consider with Dinamteros, firstly that they used Dynamite and secondly they were killed if captured. The Dynamite was often not thrown but slung in slings and then hurled. Yes they set light to the fuse put the Dynamite in a sling and then twirled it round and launched it towards the enemy. This gave it a greater range than simply throwing it. The most famous Dinamiteros I could find were a bunch of Austrian Miners who fought on the army of the left but it is equally likely that the right also had a similar bunch of specialists.

As such I have painted a small group of 6 stands to represent these men. Or if not these exact men then general Bombers. In a slight variation I have given these troops bases a red edge so they can clearly be identified on the battle field. In game terms they will have a longer grenade range and will not surrender. That does not equate to always passing morale checks as they may well withdraw from the battle if things are not going their way, just that they will not surrender to the enemy as that will usually result in their death.

As they were not in huge numbers 6 stands with no support weapons will be enough to represent them on the battle field. While they are not elite their special ability will no doubt make them favourites mong certain players on the table top. Other players will no doubt discount this ability as just a gimmick in much the same way as officers sometimes did.

Additionally I have managed to get some more Guardia Civil finished. They will help round out some of my forces and bring the police force to a good level. No guarantees of course that they will all reach every battle I put on, but it does give me a few more options.

That's it for today. Take care all and check out Simon's Blog. HERE as he was kind enough to put me forward for a liebster award and while I am grateful for the nomination I have declined it. But the answers to his questions can be found in his comment section. All the best folks see you soon. Clint