Federal Gunship - 15mm Sci-Fi

15mm sci-fi gunship from Old Crow

Several weeks ago I finished up a pair of DOE Gunships for my 15mm Nova Respublik troops.  Not wanting to leave my Federal and Control Battalion guys out-gunned I did some air support for them in the form of a gunship from Old Crow.  I finished this a while ago, but forgot about the pictures etc. etc. anyway here are a couple of shots.

Big wings, lean frame on this bird

This model was a breeze to assemble compared to the DOE, and as always the resin was crisp and solid.  It looks cool, but it certainly not as evocative as the DOE. This is the gunship companion to the troop/cargo carrier model that Dallas has done for his 15mm guys.

Size comparison shot with a DOE gunship and some NR troops

Sadly Old Crow is on some kind of hiatus for now (or sad for us, I should say - I think the hiatus is connected to an incredible work opportunity for Jez, so that is good for him!), so these are not exactly available if you are trying to find some air support.  But I understand Rebel Minis has some pretty sharp looking gunship-type flyers in 15mm.

Sudanese Madhist Warriors - 28mm

Madhist warriors in 28mm from Perry Miniatures

As I prepare to get creamed in yet another Analogue Hobbies painting challenge I have been trying to use the pre-contest "warm up" period to get a bunch of models primed and organized so I can paint faster once the competition is actually on. "Organized" is a loos concept with my rambling approach to the hobby, and attempts to organize often lead to me stumbling across a long-forgotten project.

The 28mm Sudan collection from the Perrys is a stunning (just like all of their other stuff) and I have a good chunk already painted - about 60 Madhist warriors and 30 various British troops. The British and Madhists have clashed a few times here in Winnipeg over the years with the Fawcett group, and they have even seen action as far afield as Regina! It is one of my favourite collections, and the games are always entertaining.  We play skirmish-style games, as opposed to the big set-piece engagements like El-Teb or Abu Klea (although I painted these before an easy system like Black Powder came out, so you never know - I might re-base at some point...)

It has been years - specifically, at least four years, maybe five (?) - since I have painted any new models from this collection. So when I stumbled across a pile of models in a state of near-assembly while doing my competition preparation, I figured it would be a good time to add to the group. Specifically I am hoping to add some cavalry.  I have about a dozen mounted Baggara tribesmen and some troops from the 10th Hussars. I also still have more metal Madhist foot warriors, and a fun little set where a Krupp gun is being crewed by Egyptian prisoners with "encouragement" from a Madhist overseer.  All of these would add a fun new twist to a skirmish in Sudan.

All of these models have been sitting partially assembled in a box for years. It would be great to get these models done, and Curt's competition is a good excuse.

Beja warriors with swords

It has been so long since I have painted any of these models that I could not remember the colours I used.  So that calls for test models, and some guessing.  The photos in this post are the results of the experiments this weekend.

The foot warriors are pretty straight forward, but I haven't been able to find any sources that speak to the colours worn by the Baggara horsemen.  What colour were the robes? The straps? I don't know, so I just guessed with this guy.  Who wouldn't want to wear a nice blue sash when hunting down your colonial oppressors?

But if anyone has any tips or leads on the proper dress for the Madhist cavalry, please share...

The horseman was a tight fit on the 40mm round base

Multiple spears for this fellow

Other bits I am hoping to paint in the challenge? Some 15mm WW2 Russians and Germans.  Some 28mm Austrian Napoleonics.  Some 28mm WW2 Germans.  And I have more 15mm Syrian and Israeli stuff for the Golan Heights lined up too.  Curt has asked us all to set a "par", and I set mine a little higher than last year, but we'll see how things go.  Those guys overseas paint at a fearsome rate, with great results.  If I can squeeze out a top ten finish I will be thrilled.

More 15mm WW2 Stuff

"Which way to Kursk?" - 15mm Mark IV panzer models from PSC

Work has been pretty busy lately, so not many posts in recent weeks, but I have still been painting.  I am continuing to focus on more 15mm WW2 stuff. Here are some pictures.  Up first are a couple of vehicles from Plastic Soldier Company.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I had acquired on box of their Mark IV panzer kits.  I assembled one as a Mark IV-H, but built the balance as Mark IV F2/Gs (my panzer knowledge is lacking here - it is not clear to me what the differences are between the F2 and G variants).  I painted these two models to match the Mark III panzers I have from Battlefront.

The long-barreled Mark IV Panzer is one of my favourite models

I hope these suckers will provide some heavier-duty fire support to the late model Mark IIIs during a Kursk game.  I still have two more models from the box - I built them similar to these, as F2/G variants, but I will probably paint them with either a straight grey colour scheme, or grey with yellow camouflage that I have seen on some of the panzer references before the tanks started getting the yellow paint coating right at the factory.

I think the Mark IV-Hs were starting to hit the front lines in 1943, but I would imagine that the less-"favoured" panzer divisions still had panzer battalions with a mix of late model Mark IIIs and then a company of these suckers

When I first ordered from PSC, they has sent an incorrect box by mistake - a box of German half-tracks, the 251Ds which I believe are a later-war variant of the ubiquitous Hanomags.  Being fabulous folks to deal with, PSC let me keep the mistaken box, and followed up quickly with the right material.  Here is a test model/paint of one of the PSC 251Ds (almost a year later).

Vanilla late-model Hanomag from PSC

I gave it a straight up (read - boring) yellow paint job.  You get five of these in a box, with all sorts of stowage options and crew models.  The stowage is great, but I am less crazy about the crew.  PSC 15mm infantry models have very soft details, and in my case the detail very seldom survives the base-coat of black spray paint.

A great alternative to the models from Battlefront - cheaper too!

I will probably wait on assembling the other four models that came with the box in the hopes of adding one of the conversion kits that PSC has released allowing you to make some of the various half track variants with 75mm guns, 81mm, flamethrowers etc.

Despite the crew model challenges, I have to say that once again I am impressed with the quality/price ratio of the PSC vehicle products.  If you need/want to build up 15mm WW2 vehicle forces, you should definitely consider PSC!

Horde o' Russians - mostly painted, but you can see the pending stuff off to the side

I have also been painting Russians, and to do Russians, you need, well, a lot of Russians. A lot.  In nearly any game system, you need a lot of them, particularly infantry.  I started with a Strelkovy Battalion box from Battlefront, which gives you a huge pile of infantry models. Officers, AT rifles, riflemen, SMG troops, and even a couple of snipers.  Here are some pictures.

There are some AT rifle stands in this picture (hard to make out) - those particular models are not BF's finest - because they are two-piece jobs, the infantrymen look like they have separated shoulders...

Apologies for the quality on these photos - my house is wonderful, but the lighting appears to be specifically designed to be pleasant for visiting but useless for photography.

Some command bases, with a sniper base in the front

As you can see, I did a chunk of the figures on single bases. As with my Golan Heights project (also in 15mm), as well as significant bunch of my 15mm sci-fi stuff, I thought it would be fun to have individually based 15mm infantry for some WW2 skirmish gaming. 

Individually based 15mm Russians - you get SO many of them in a box set, I figured I would divide between group bases and individual bases

My feelings on this are mixed - I quite enjoy the individually based 15mm models.  I like keeping the ranges the same as with the 28mm games (with Bolt Action, for example) and this provides a better sense of scale, dispersement, and the perception of a more "realistic" engagement  look and feel on the tabletop.  It is also more economical - after all, I already have lots of vehicles and terrain, and allows for a game on a smaller, more convenient space when called for.

Russian infantry with SMGs

On the other hand, group basing for 15mm took off for a reason! Namely that individually based 15mm infantry are quite fiddly for the players, and a bit of a pain in the @ss to use, I think! So I am "splitting the difference" - I have done about 30 Russians up individually, and the balance on the group bases.  The Germans will receive similar treatment - I am painting up  platoon of them on individual bases, and the balance will be based in groups.

Another advantage of the group-style basing is that it allows the 15mm models to be used for Spearhead.  We tried this once earlier this year with the group, and I am aiming to use Curt's next painting challenge as a spur to finish a pile of 15mm WW2 stuff, enough to play some of the scenarios from the book "Where The Iron Crosses Grow."

Bounty Huntin' - Star Wars Battle Report

"You are free to use any methods necessary but I want them alive - no disintegrations!"

 

On Thursday Conscript Frederick came over. I had set up a small multi-faction Star Wars Miniature Battles game. The idea was to capture the droid standing in the middle of the table, but to combat what I call the McWatt factor (i.e. the tendency in multi-player games of one player to "camp" until the other players wipe each other out, then grab to objective at the end) I specified that one VP would be awarded for each turn that the faction had a model in base contact with the objective droid. You can slap a restraining bolt on him and move him around too, of course!

Being as there was just the two of us, we rolled randomly for choice of faction. Frederick got Boba Fett (50 pts), I got the Imperials (~65 pts - an Officer, three Navy Troopers, four Stormtroopers and a heavy Stormtrooper).

We started in the corner with the Shuttle.

Looks pretty good on the Skyshield landing pad, eh?

Sludge tanks from Armorcast are new too...

On to the game. My Imperials move out from under the pad...

A few turns later, the Droid is safely in Imperial custody and withdrawing towards the Shuttle. This is the turn that Fett kills the last two Navy troopers - he's already done for the Officer and one Trooper.

Even though the Imperials had custody of the Droid for five turns, he will leave with Fett... that's just the way it is when you have 11o hit points and a Defence of 20 :-)

The end of another successful hunt!

I like this scenario and it will be fun to play it four-cornered... I had another bounty hunter group and a group of Rebels ready to play as well. I think the "Fett effect" (i.e. the fact that he is grossly overpowered for the points) will be significantly lessened with more factions on the table.

300,000 and counting...

Sometime last week, our blog passed another milestone - 300,000 pageviews, amazing! Even if you take out all of my own pageviews, that's still a lot ;-)

Anyway, thanks to all of you - our readers - for putting up with our silliness. I've sacked up and decided to pay Google for storage space (Flickr just would never work right for me on the blog) so expect a flurry of posts as I catch up.

So cheers and merry Christmas!

Bulge Battle Blunders, Blow-by-Blow Briefing

Several weeks ago I set up a Bolt Action game for Thursday - the Ardennes, 1944. Always nice to roll out the snow terrain when it's cold outside, and another good opportunity to amortize the Ruined Hamlet ;-)

The protagonists were the US 101st Airborne on one side, supported by two Sherman tanks:

And on the other side, Volksgrenadiers (with one veteran squad mounted in halftrack) with Pzkpfw.IV "H":

The Americans were rated "Veterans" (tankers Regular) and the Germans, the opposite - Regular infantry (with one Veteran section in the Sdkfz. 251)  and veteran tank crews.

The US Airborne took up defensive positions in the village. The objective for the Germans was to root them out of their positions. Whoever controlled more town sectors at the end would be the winner.

The 101st look pretty cozy in the ruined hamlet.

View from the western edge of the table.

The Germans were permitted to deploy in a "U" shape along the southern, western and eastern table edges.

US .30 cal. team draws a bead. Conscript Kevin brought along his nifty Bolt Action dice. I thought they were great, but would be even better if they were about 2/3 the size...

Panzers move on from the southern table edge facing the village.

One of the veteran panzer gunners lines up a shot... "Gunner! Armour piercing! Enemy tank, one o'clock! 250 meters... fire when ready!"

A hit! "Ronson lights first time, every time!"

An infantry section advances across the snowy field. The destruction of a Sherman plus the approach of the veterans in their halftrack signals the general advance.

Heavy fire at the onrushing Germans from the dug-in Airborne...

On the west side of the village, a German section reaches the buildings only to be shot down to a man.

While on the other side, a German close assault is bloodily repulsed.

The German veterans drive the Airborne defenders out of their ruins with heavy fire...

Airborne troops flee down the middle of the street. If I recall correctly they blundered an order check... thus opening the way to a German foothold in the village, right?

WRONG - as the Germans also blunder their order check and flee in the opposite direction!

At that point we called it - it had certainly been that kind of night for the hapless Germans. Partial blame must fall on the scenario designer (me) - shooting at Veterans in hard cover while advancing is always going to be a big problem for attackers. I probably should have downgraded the cover to only "-1" (soft) and/or given the Americans a bit less stuff. Live and learn... but it was a nice looking game and I think the lads had fun, which is the main thing.