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.)

Another Zombie!

Yes the post title is much more about me than anything else. I just cannot, for some reason, get going this week.  Only 1 Zombie finished.

The figure is by Mantic and part of the Walking Dead starter box set. I have tried to make it look like her tights are ripped and laddered. Also  that she did at one time work in a diner. If this is your take o how the figure is painted brilliant. If not I am sure you have in your head a back story for her.

As with the majority of these zombies they come with wounds already and most often a deformed limb as well. On this one her left arm is broken and hangs at a strange angle. They all have something though so expect to see more on the next one.

I am still very much enjoying the walking dead game but am finding the starter set very limiting. Which clearly it is designed to be as they want you to send more and even more on it as time goes by. For me though after 2 playing sessions (or 7 games) the "Shine" is wearing thin.  This does not mean playing will cease or the painting will stop, just that it is not as new and exciting as it was when I first got it.

I have no painting fr Matt at present ad have nearly finished the stuff (I do not show) for Peter. So no plans for the next post just yet. It will need to be a surprise. Maybe the last 2 German Aeronef ships, maybe the start of the Dutch fleet. If I am very lucky I will find the cattle I know I bought but seem to have hidden as they will be the start of a newly revised project taking over from Saga. We still all (well most) have the figures so perhaps it will re-start.

That though is it for today. Al the best Clint

Te-Ke (15mm Japanese Armoured car With tracks)

yes the title is misleading. It is not a Tank. It was not designed as a tank or used as a tank and it is not intended to be a tank. I grant you it does look like a tank, but a very small one. It was actually designed and used as an armoured car. Yes it has tracks but with only 12mm of armour (which is enough to stop bullets and shrapnel of the period,) It was never intended to be a tank.

 While it is NOT a tank it was armed with either a medium/heavy machinegun or a 37mm anti tank gun. All these have the second option. I was going to paint the other turrets up and use them, but as these turrets kept falling off (and at least 1 broke) I have decided to keep the glued in place.

The models are "battlefront" Flames of War 15mm vehicles. based on plastic-card 30mm frontage and 40 mm long. So feel free to measure the photos and see how big they are. (They are small) . During WW2 about 620 were built and they were used in China, Burma and the pacific Islands. In PBI they have an armour value of 4 and a gun value of 5, which is pretty low. BUT as they are intended to be used as tracked armoured cars we cannot really hope for them to stand up to late war heavy armour. They just could not. They only have a crew of 2 the driver and the commander. The commander takes the role of gunner, loader and vehicle officer, while the driver drives.

There are not so many of these that survived the war and many/most would have been destroyed but a couple of examples still do exist I tank museums around the world.

These 5 help to give some variety and a very little armour to my Pacific forces. Yes looking at the photo on the right they were this small. And small obviously means both low profile and harder to hit. So perhaps they may be alright on the table (who am I kidding players will kill these as quickly as they can).  Which takes nothing away from how much fun they were to paint. Just do not expect them to last long against many opponents.

Terrain (6mm SCi Fi)

 Ok I will confess I do not usually put Work In Progress (WIP) pics on the blog. But the things I were painting have had issues. So I will probably finish them tonight and blog them Saturday, ahead of the club on Sunday. While they are not actually needed for the club on Sunday they may well get an outing anyway.

But today I thought I would share some small 6mm sci fi terrain.  These are home made and not painted just yet. I may talk about painting later, there may well be a change of plan/direction afoot! (NO NOT a new project).

These are very simple. Just table-tennis balls cut in half and stuck on an MDF base. Then I went around them with some spare green-stuff to give them some texture. The connectors are just plastic 3/4 tube (again that I had spare) butted up to the tennis balls or on separate bases.  Very simple, very quick very easy. No big deal.

I went for some VERY simple buildings just because at this scale making things hard for yourself is just a waste of time and effort.  As I see as much if not more of the complex as being underground this is all I really need at this stage. The very simple design lets it fit all terrain and is only dictated by how I paint them. As I do not want to make trees I am thinking of either a desert or Ice planet. Ice planet was my first choice but since then I have started to tidy up my 20year(+) desert boards so I may paint all the Ice planet forces as desert forces. Just o I do not need to get the terrain done for an Ice world.

Hopefully I will get the thing I was painted finished for tonight/tomorrow morning. If so More Pacific WW2 will be shown next. If not I may have to wait until Monday and a club AAR.
Thanks for looking more soon.... I HOPE

LVT4's

NO not the bath-tub of doom! These re 2 Landing vehicle Tracked (Mk4) Know as LVT 4's, if you are American and the "Buffalo" if you are British. Either name is fine by me.

They are 15mm vehicles for my US forces, while they were also used a little by the British (and Commonwealth) they were not heavily used in Europe . But they did see action in the Pacific.

 These have been VERY badly cast with bits missing and air bubbles and mold slips and just about everything wrong you can imagine. But they were cheap on eBay I think someone tried to start casting from another make and just did not know what they were doing.  Ok Moan over, as I said they were cheap and for that I can forgive a lot. I will not use the seller again though. Americans being well American did give them between 2 and 4 machine guns which are not included. Also the MGs could be either .50 cal or .30 cal depending I think on the stock and how many were to be used. That does not matter.

In real life they could transport up to 28 men or a jeep or artillery piece or supplies or well just about anything from ship to shore. In PBI "Carriers" no matter how large can carry 4 infantry stands, so a squad, not a platoon. So an agreement needs to be made (which I have made) with normal players on using them. For me they will mostly be acting as troop deployment markers and not actual fighting vehicles. As PBI works in squares thy will (Temporarily) make the beach square Partial cover and allow troops to deploy in their square and the 1 on either side (Which will NOT get the cover bonus.)

Being just green with tracks and weathering they were an easy paint and both done and based and put away in an evening with no issues, complaints or squabbles. While not super useful they do round out the US amphibious capability in some WW2 games.

below is a Youtube clip of the LVT4 in action (from a film/TV series) just for those NOT familiar with the vehicle. And if anyone wants to know what to get me as a gift a real one would be most welcome. Colours and MG configuration could and were changed to suit the need

 Or here is a real life on in a separate clip

Beau Geste (or Carry on Follow that camel, I will let you decide!)

Yes I have enough figures for a trial game. The problem is, and it is not really a problem, more an issue to work around. Anyway the problem is people turning up at the club with no plans and hoping to squeeze into another game. They are not to blame, I do this any number of times in a year. But as it stands I DO not have enough figures for them to do this in a FFL (French Foreign Legion Game), Given a few months it will not be an issue, at all.

But at present I only have 7 FFL. I have enough MOUNTED Arabs But not enough dismounted Arabs so maybe after a few practice game up the shed on my own I can invest in some more. The good news is that TIM down the club (LINK) makes them. you may have to specifically ask for FFL as they are WW1 French Conversions and I do not think they are on sale just yet. But he is a nice guy and will probably sell some if the money is right. Anyway all the terrain is built and as mentioned the Arabs are painted. So finally at very long last here are the first of the FFL.

They are 20mm NOT 15mm or 28mm, a proper scale 1/72. (No one knows what 28mm is due to scale creep and while some call 15mm 1:100th scale it is closer to 1/123rd scale if we are being purist! as a man at 1/100th scale would stand 17.78 mm tall and not 15mm)

Climbing off soapbox these are 20mm or 1/72 nd scale.. As mentioned above they are all IT MINIATURES (follow the link above) should you want any.

I plan to use an adaption of the "Songs of Drums and Shakos" which in my head I am calling "Songs of Blades and Kepis" I only really need to re-write the points costs for each side and we are good for a game. However that is at least 1 month away (the Game). Due to other commitments down the club and a show, maybe 2.  So as ever my mind is faster than my paint brush.

That's it for today, just 7 FFL finished and a lot of waffle.
All the best Clint


take the vehicles out and we have an Arab town
in 20mm

Aeronef 1 (German Fleet)

Just some Tidying up to do and the bases and then Finished.
I usually do not do WIP shots but we all make exceptions, and this clearly is mine (or one of mine).

I bought the German starter fleet and here are most of the models. (2 small ones are not included as I simply forgot them them undercoating)

 2 "Blucher" class dread noughts. These need the most tidying up as you can see the decking colour has slipped/run onto the hull. Being readnoughts I am hoiping they will be able to take and dish out a fair amount of punishment.

The flags were tricky so I might strip one of as well and do it again. (Blast you clumsy fingers).

Colour wise I decided early on that I was NOT going all grey. That just seemed a very limiting choice so I went for white (Ivory) hulls and black (Charcoal) tails but I did decide to paint any superstructure grey. As there is also red on the flag of this period it made sense to paint the funnels red.

Leaving them grey, white or black made the models look dull and uninspiring. And I did not want them to look dull and uninspiring!

 Two "Koln" Class armoured cruisers. While they are called "Armoured" Crusiers I fully expect the armour to be paper thin and prone to rust! But should they turn out to be tough I will happily eat my words.

The colour scheme selected by the way has much ro do with the flag and more to do with the German sport strip. I did look at many other choices but the black and white just seemed to go so well, I stopped looking once I thought of the sports strip. Before any say YES I will paint the Dutch ORANGE to go with this theme.

Should I paint Matts British I will ask him what colour he wants though they will after all be his fleet. But if he wants "Paisley" he will need to pay me a LOT! (You are warned Matt).


 Lastly (for now) we have two  SA15 Class Patrol Nef. as you can see from the final pic these are a LOT smaller. I have also left out the flags and the masts. Sorry I found them too fiddly on this size ship. Yes they should have masts, But as they are not for steering or to carry sails and thus provide motion AND as there was not any pre made wholes for them O simply left them out.

That in itself does not make me a BAD person so don't complain!

Yes two more little ships to add. But the last pic shows the relative sizes of the ships when together. I will add 2 more ships to the fleet shortly but I forgot to undercoat them at the time. My mistake no excuses. Bit of a tidy up and the bases then I am done and can start the Royal Dutch fleet.

Thanks for looking. All the best Clint

Mixed Bag

I have not had such a good week so far. But I am Ok and the Family are OK so it could have been FAR worse.

OKAY let us start with the Wargaming. As you Know I did play a Napoleonic game on the weekend. And as you will no doubt remember I aid I would help out painting up some 28mm French (as I had a box of Victrix models sitting about doing nothing. So here are the next 6, Making 9 in total. I am sure you can spot the difference. (I can easily)

Having played the game I do not feel the need to make any flag bearers officers or musicians. Maybe just some NCO chevrons on one in the next 3. Or maybe some flowers on the base. Just an indication that One figure is in charge.

You may note that the Blue is darker on the last 6 following your feedback last time. I have mixed them in so they start to blend.  3 |More figures to go and then that is a Unit done. And As I am not enjoying it I will then stop and call it quits for as long as I can. I really do not enjoy painting them.

Following the Game on Sunday I got to thinking.... always a dangerous thing! I do now have a set of Skirmish rules I do like. "Songs of Drums and Shako's". I also have a desert town in 20mm (My Afghan town) which does not see enough play. I think with a very very quick re-write and a very slight reimagining I can use these rules to play some "Beau Geste" or in the clubs way more likely to be "Carry on Follow that Camel!". I already have enough 20mm Arabs AND a(this was a secret but I am blabbing now) some 20mm French Foreign Legion. (FFL) and while the FFL are few in number being just samples and conversions I think I can have a show quality game (but played at the club) up and running within 2-3 weeks. 

Finally I am painting my Aeronef fleet (no nothing to show yet. ) The problem being I really do not like the stands at all. The plastic breaks in the holes FAR too easily and the stands wobble a LOT with bigger vessels. Therefore I need either to make my own stands OR find a viable alternative. At present I am looking at Resin block stands as they will have the weight I require with metal (wire) columns to support the vessels. If you have a better Idea I am all ears. The Stand shown was made by Tim of Frontline and does not come with the Wire, but that really is a small thing so at present I am not worried.

Thanks for looking today and with luck more again in a couple of days.

All the best Clint

Chosen Men (Trial game)

Yesterday at the club we had a game of "Chosen Men" the Osprey rules. Tim provided everything, troops terrain rules etc. So All I had to do was turn up and play. Firstly let me say I do not like Napoleonic's so I am always going to be a bit sceptical so take most of what follows with a pinch of salt. 4 played (Matt and Bob (as the French) Grahame and Myself (as the Prussians and not as Matt insisted on calling us "the Vile Huns!")

It was all 28mm size and did look nice, But I am sorry not my thing at all period wise.

Most of the Battlefield
Me on the Left, Grahame or the right.

My troops
" Line Infantry Units and 1 Landwier

Grahams troops
3 Line units and a Skirmisher Unit
 

I was opposite Matt
BOB sat down diagonally opposite me
he chose NOT to face me.
The Rotter.

So infantry move 4" a turn
I must admit I dithered with the Unit in the middle
and could have played them better in the first few turns

As Predicted Matt initially sought cover
Behind a hedge. But as he found it did not provide much protection
Decided to advance

On the Right Grahamwas fighting a good fight and
Bob was sufferng

Coming out from behind the hedge, Matt's troops
very quickly closed the ground and decided to see how the
melee combat worked.
It worked well for him and erhm.. not quite as well for me!

My Landweir were driven back and then slaughtered.
(Not one survived)
Creating a hole in the line.
But my unit now in the trees
 were able to bring a devastating fire on Matts
troops that had not charged

On the left matt's line unit was reduced to a single officer
I refused to shoot a single officer with a whole unit
It strikes me as the act of a Cad.

Graham is fought to a stand still by Bob
And that wall is the contest of SEVERAL melees by both sides.

With the hole in the line
Matt tries to encircle Graham.
And Graham is forced to give up possession of the wall

Towards the end of the game.
Bob throws first one unit and then the next
at Grahams troops
All the skirmishers from both sides are down to but 3-4 figures each

A big scrum in the right with all the surviving units
(except mine and one of Bobs) Involved
Both me and Bob were engaged in killing anything else trying the join the fight
which was very successful and nothing over 1/3rd strength got into the action.

 

Conclusion: Whether it was a plan well executed or lucky dice roll need not be worried about here. The result was Clear. The Prussians were able to fight of the continued French attacks and as a result we won. Yes another win for me! I know I know this winning is becoming a bad habit.

Thoughts on the rules. Yes they worked, were they what I would call a skirmish game NO> We had 12 men to a unit and 7 units on each side. Some may say this is a skirmish but not for me. I have seem FAR to many people playing Napoleonic's were 12 figures represents a whole regiment, and not a squad or section. Tim put far too many officers in the game. In the end Melee there were at one point MORE officers fighting than men. To me the balance seemed wrong. But as it was his first game getting the balance right was always going to be tricky.

A fun day and I will try the rules again, but the whole period is not one I enjoy. So perhaps I am bias. Sometimes you come home from the club full of enthusiasm unfortunately I cannot claim this was the case this time. I am not complaining you simply cannot like every game. That would prove impossible for me.

But a fun day and nice guys and a chance to roll some dice. Maybe next time though I may sit the game out if at the club, obviously not at a a show (which I know will be next!)

20mm Type 98. (15mm scale Japanese WW2). Anti Aircraft guns

Now I must admit I have had a bit of a splurge in the last few weeks. Picked these up on eBay for £3.30 instead of the shop price of £8.10. So I think a bargain. But only a bargain if it is something you want. Luckily I do but I now many wargames do not.

In the game it has no HE capability but the Anti Tank rating of 5. (Which is the one lower than the 70mm Infantry gun. and 1 higher than the Japanese Anti-tank Rifle). And with more chance to rapid fire and effect infantry.

To the right is what it actually looks like in real life. I will not go into technical details but it is light enough to go anywhere the 70mm Infantry gun can go in the jungle. So it was quite versatile and while mostly used to defend islands and airports could easily be transported and used almost anywhere.

Bloody flash did not go off!!

Not the most dangerous of support weapons perfectly good enough for me and my WW2 Japanese 15mm forces. For the money I received enough crew and additional troops who would accompany the AA gun in order to bring up ammunition. This has meant an additional Rifle armed Infantry stand added to the 3rd Platoon (seen a few posts ago). Where with most companies I would either pay more or not get the crew so doubly a bargain I say.

The last picture (from the front) the flash did not go off so colour wise go from the top picture.

Just my jungle game picture

As a small target and no gun shield I am not expecting these to survive overly long in any game but they are cheap points wise (14 points with an average crew) so will not make a huge dent in any force size.

Anyway, thanks for looking today. And with a little luck more again on Monday.
All the best from Kent.