A Vauban Style Star Fort

 This is a terrain project that I completed last July when I was able to work in my garage and set up a work table for sawing and painting. It is a star fort that my father made in 1966 as a Christmas present. The walls had been constructed primarily from the wooden ends salvaged from apple boxes. This became the focus of my initial dive into wargaming, although at the time my brother and I used spring loaded metal tubes my father had made to launch wooden projectiles at each other's troops. 

 

The base measured 1.2m by 0.8m. Originally the fort and base were all grey, but I had painted the base green at some point in the 1970's so it would look better on the wargames table. The large size of the base meant it was still a bit unwieldy, so it was time to trim things smaller as well as repair and improve the overall appearance. The impetus for the project came from watching a video by the Terrain Tutor on flocking gaming boards. I used a number of techniques presented in that video to do the upgrade.

The black lines are the cutting guide for my Skilsaw to trim the base as close to the bastion corners as I could. You can see a lot of the cracks where the wood had split over the years, and the grooves on the outside of the some of the bastions. That was supposed to be where the interior platforms were to slot in, but these were accidentally cut on the wrong side.

 The base was trimmed, and the sharp edges sanded to give a more rounded profile. All the cracks and the unnecessary grooves on the outside of the bastions were filled with plastic wood, and everything was sanded smooth. The 'stone work' (rectangles of heavy paper and cardboard of varying thicknesses) was glued on using PVA. I also used pieces of self-adhesive address labels sent to me over the years by various charitable organizations. I cut them to the desired size and stick them on to give a hint of stone or brickwork.

The entire fort was repainted in a dark grey with highlighting and drybrushing of the stone work in lighter shades. Then sand was glued to the base using PVA and painted brown after the glue had dried. The paints used for all the colours were latex paints from Home Depot. They often have smaller containers for sale in the 'Oops' section of the paint department. Anytime I pass through there, I have a quick look for shades of brown, green, and grey that might be useful for wargames terrain projects.

I constructed three ravelins from polystyrene foam and mounted them on cutoffs from the original base that were trimmed to give an equilateral triangle. To get a consistent size and shape for the pieces of polystyrene, I first cut a pattern out of cardboard that was used as a guide for my handheld hot wire cutter. The simulated stone work was done in the same manner as the main fort.

 After the brown paint on the bases was dry, I flocked them as outlined in Mel's tutorial video, mostly using a medium green blend, with patches of darker green near the bottom of the walls, and lighter green where 'high traffic' or drier areas might be. A few clumps of lichen were added here and there,  just to give some variety. The gates were constructed using balsa wood and match sticks, and then given a coat of dark brown paint followed by drybrushing on lighter shades. The bridge that spans the moat was originally something my father had made for a sand table he had constructed for training soldiers. It was originally just a 1 by 2 cut with a curve and some square arches. It has been augmented with popsicle sticks on the sides, and coffee stir sticks for the planks. It was painted in the same manner as the gates. 

 With the ravelins being separate pieces, it is possible to use the fort without a moat, or without the ravelins completely, depending on the scenario.

The fort was originally designed to be used with Airfix American Civil War Union and Confederate Infanty and Artillery, so the the barrack doors and windows are HO scale. Here's a view of the fort interior.

When I repainted the base many years ago, I thought I might use it for 15mm Napoleonics or Seven Years War, which would have made the barracks too large. I made some 'quick and dirty' facades using cardboard and felt pens to cover the fronts of the barrack blocks and look like buildings that butted up against the fort walls. The buildings in the center are 1/160 scale resin models. I may do some more elaborate facades at some point in the future, as well as some 'battle damage' pieces to place against a wall section or bastion to show where a breach has been established.

This was a project that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time, so it gave me considerable satisfaction to finally get it done. Now all I need to do is find a good set of wargame rules for sieges in the 17th to 19th centuries. I know Conscript Dave is already thinking about doing the 1565 Great Siege of Malta. The possibilities abound.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my little journey down memory lane. Until we can meet across gaming table, stay safe and healthy.

 

 

15mm "Gvozdika" (Carnation) 122mm SP Gun Battery from Zvezda for Team Yankee

I got a real surprise in the mail a couple days ago. Back in early July I'd ordered some Zvezda models from Evgeniy, a Russian eBay vendor. By late September it seemed clear that the models were lost and weren't going to arrive, so I sought and received a refund from eBay - at the same time promising Evgeniy that if the models ever did show up, I'd pay him again for them.

And can you believe it - they finally did show up - three 15mm (1:100) 2S1 "Carnation" 122mm SP howitzers. They're push-fit models that go up very quickly, but of course have the standard drawbacks of push-fit models - they can be a bit fragile in assembly. (Yes I did send money to Evgeniy for which he expressed deep gratitude)

The models themselves are reasonably detailed and paint up quickly. The surface detail takes well to the standard Magic Russian Spraycan + Agrax Earthshade + Ushabti Bone drybrush. 

I added some weathering with Doombull Brown rust marks and Leadbelcher chips, plus some spare Team Yankee Russian decals of course.

In terms of cost, the three vehicle kits cost me $21.70 USD including shipping from Russia. This compares favorably with the Battlefront box, which tallies at $41.50 USD (before shipping) but includes unit cards. The battlefront models are resin and metal multimedia kits which you may prefer, or not, to injection-molded plastic kits. The barrels on the Zvezda models can be elevated though, unlike the Battlefront resin. Delivery from Battlefront may or may not be speedier and more reliable than Russian post...

The Zvezda kits will be perfectly useable when if we can ever have games again. Game stats for the models are included in the current Red Thunder book and the forthcoming Soviet army book, of course. Let me just say that an artillery template combined with direct fire anti-tank capability (a very respectable AT21 at up to 24") can come in quite handy.

So that's another Soviet unit for the shelf. Hope everyone is staying healthy and sane.

T-80s and BMP-3s for Team Yankee

As Team Yankee fans are probably well aware, Battlefront has re-jigged and re-branded the game - it's now "World War III Team Yankee". No big deal really, but the exciting thing is the new value-priced "Starter" box set with two new types of Soviet armoured vehicle - the T-80 tank (four models) and BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle (two models) - plus T-64, M60 and Abrams tanks and Bradley IFVs. Sixteen vehicles come in the box for $60 CAD - that's a steal.

Anyway, I've now assembled and painted the T-80s and BMP-3s as part of continuing Soviet escalation. Both models are simple and straightforward to assemble, as usual from Battlefront. I basecoated the T-80s with Krylon camo spray (a can bought on eBay arrived last last week) and applied a camo pattern with stippled Zandri Dust. As usual the vehicle was washed with Agrax Earthshade and lenses picked out after that. Decals were applied to the turret and some Ushabti Bone applied - done. As these vehicles are the Soviets' latest and greatest I didn't do any significant weathering. They're fresh to the front.

And wow - the game stats for these beasts are staggering. Not only are they equipped with an excellent 125mm main gun with an Anti-Tank rating of 22 and Firepower 2+, they can also deploy an optional AT-11 "Sniper" ATGM, also with AT of 22. The Sniper also incorporates an ERA-defeating tandem warhead. Both weapon systems can be fired on the move.

The T-80's armour package also represents a significant upgrade over the T-64, with front armour of 20 and explosive reactive components that upgrade side armour to 16 versus HEAT munitions.

They're certainly not cheap though, at around 8 points each.

I'm no expert on Soviet armour, but from what I've read a consensus appears to be that the T-80's game stats may be somewhat optimistic when compared to reality. However, I can certainly see Battlefront's point in doing this - presumably not all Soviet players want to always field hordes of T-72s or T-64s, and upgrading the T-80 gives them a viable option to field against Leopard IIs and Chieftains/Challengers in a non-horde list. This is OK by me, as after all, it's just a game.

The other new vehicle model included in the box is the BMP-3. This recon vehicle brings some neat capability to the table as well.

Armed with a 100mm gun (meh) and even better, an AT-10 Stabber ATGM (AT of 21!) the BMP-3 can ambush NATO tanks with the best of them. However one cool carryover on the BMP-3 is the 30mm 2A42 gun with ROF 3/2, AT10 and anti-helicopter capability.

The two BMP-3s in the box were also basecoated with Magic Spray and weathered with some watered-down Doombull Brown rust streaks and Leadbelcher chips.

Generous amounts of crew were provided in the box as well - but no decals. However if you're a regular purchaser of Soviet Team Yankee models you'll no doubt have plenty of spares on hand.

The BMP-3s have some very clever antenna mounts cast into the turret (I think they would just fit broom straws perfectly) but I haven't decided yet whether to employ them.

Great detail on the BMP-3 as with all Team Yankee plastics! Like the T-80, it seems that Battlefront has prioritized bringing out some new toys for the Soviets despite thin historical evidence for their use...  while it supposedly entered service in 1987, the BMP-3 only broke cover in deployment with the Soviets in 1990. I guess that's close enough to our time period.  

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the post. Get out there and grab the new Team Yankee starter box if you want to be the first on your block to get the new Soviet goodies... I got mine from Tista Minis in Hamilton, Ontario.

Sukhoi SU-25 Frogfoot Attack Aircraft for Team Yankee

Team Yankee escalation continues with some Soviet aviation - a pair of Sukhoi SU-25 Frogfoot ground-attack aircraft from Battlefront (TSBX20). Greg painted a couple of really nice Frogfoots (Frogfeet?) a few years ago, and since Battlefront's come out with an updated (and cheaper!) iteration of the models that I've just finished, a bit of a compare-and-contrast might be in order.

 

First of all, these are the latest and greatest SU-25s from Battlefront. While Greg's planes were resin, these are injection-molded plastic model kits. Like the Harriers I posted a short while ago, I believe that the sprues themselves were procured by Battlefront from a third-party manufacturer, Ace Corporation. However, while the plastic injection sprue includes drop tanks, rocket pods, and bombs, the Battlefront box also contains a sprue of resin KH-25 (NATO: "Karen") air-to-ground missiles. 

I elected to assemble the models as they would appear at the start of a sortie, with all 10 hardpoints filled with weapons. From inboard to outboard (fuselage to wingtip) they are: drop tank, KH-25, rocket pod, rocket pod, bomb. The canopy that's included is molded in the same grey plastic as the rest of the parts so I've painted it to match the rest of my aircraft. Speaking of paint, for the record I used Zandri Dust, Rhinox Hide, Castellan Green, and Vallejo German Uniform for the camouflage, washed Agrax Earthshade and re-highlighted Zandri Dust with some panel lines put in with Nuln Oil. The underside was painted with Mechanicus Standard Grey highlighted with The Fang (ugh) and Thunderhawk Blue. The canopy was done with Kantor Blue and Temple Guard Blue. Wingtips are Warpstone Glow. Rocket Pods are Leadbelcher washed with Nuln Oil.

The box comes with a full decal sheet as well, including these funky little flashes for the tailplane.

While the box instructions advise modelers to affix a provided clear socket to the underside of the fuselage, I elected to use magnets. The one advantage of the resin planes was that there is a recessed slot molded in to accommodate a magnetized stand, whereas the injection kits have no such feature.

 

All in all a pretty nice box set and should come in handy in games of Team Yankee. Can't argue with the price point either - $39 CAD compared to over $60 CAD for the old resin box set. The only downside of the injection kits is a slightly more fiddly way to mount them to the flying stands - but I'll take that tradeoff for $20 per box. Plus most of the weapons are injection molded and perfect - no worries about the crappy resin ordnance that plagued Greg in his build.

Onward to the West!

15mm Waffen-SS Infantry from Peter Pig

Lots of painting going on lately at Conscript Towers, and one of the things I've been trying to do is get models painted that have ben languishing for some time. My wife gave me these 15mm Peter Pig Waffen-SS troops a few Christmases ago and they'd been sitting in primer for a couple years... but the recent purchase of the excellent "Colours of War" book from Battlefront got the juices flowing again for painting WW2 in 15mm.

You'll note, of course, that these guys are individually based (i.e. NOT for Flames of War) and this was quite deliberate... Conscript Greg has single-based WW2 forces and I wanted to have some figures for the odd Bolt Action game in 15mm, hence this basing decision. I have some US paratroopers as well and the grand plan is to base them individually as well, allowing some D-Day or Market Garden battles against the Waffen-SS.

The Piggies are pretty good models, albeit maybe not as chunky as Battlefront's Flames of War range. I followed the Waffen-SS camo guidance in the Colours of War book, using MSP Driftwood Brown as the base, painting random shapes and dots over top with GW Caliban Green, and filling in the shapes with GW Warpstone Glow. Turned out OK after being washed with the ubiquitous Agrax Earthshade.

 

Here's a good look at how the camo came out. I used Vallejo German Uniform for the trousers and random tan yellows for the webbing and breadbags. Rifle furniture and waterbottle covers are Mournfang Brown.

The boss (for now)... some Battlefront miniatures are on the way to supplement these guys. A couple of MG42 medium machineguns will add some supporting firepower as well.

Here's the group - should be enough for a reasonable game of Bolt Action I reckon. Next I'll get at the Paratroopers from the Open Fire! Flames of War box - this also contained German infantry, a couple of StuG IIIs, and a bunch of Sherman tanks that I'll paint as British. 

Well that's it for these guys, hope everyone is staying healthy and sane :-)

Team Yankee 15mm British Challenger Tanks and Harrier Jets

Fresh off the painting desk I've got a squadron of beastly British Challenger tanks from Battlefront's Team Yankee range.

I painted these in the same style as my Chieftains. Basecoated Catachan Green, highlighted extensively with Vallejo German Uniform. Camo painted with a mix of craft black and Mechanicus Standard Grey. The tank was washed with thinned Nuln Oil, then the green was re-done with German Uniform. Drybrushed all over with Ushabti Bone, then dusted up with the same. Tool handles painted Skrag Brown, machineguns and shovel blades done with Leadbelcher, fire extinguishers in Mephiston Red.

Each of the five Challengers in the box can be assembled as standard or with the upgraded ROMOR armour pack shown above. 

You also get enough alternate fuel drums to outfit the unit with those as well.

Three crew figures are included in the box as well.

As well as the alternate track skirts, you also get the ROMOR front hull armour add-on. No decals included with the box though. The Union flags were from my spares box.

Here's the standard armour configuration. Note track skirts and lack of reinforcement on the front hull.

Here's a closer look at the skirts.

Rear end sans fuel drums...

...and plain front end. I'm thinking that the Challys will be a useful addition to my British force. They're certainly worth a bucketload of points but they should be, with a front armour rating of 20 (standard) and 21 (ROMOR) and an anti-tank factor of 22 for the main gun! 

The Challengers are BIG... from left to right I've lined up a T-64, Leopard 2, Chieftain, and Challenger.

Crazy how much bigger this thing is than a Soviet T-64. Length of the Soviet tank hull is 6.54m vs. 8.33m for the Chally... looks about right I guess.

As if the Challengers weren't enough of a force multiplier, I also painted a pair of Harrier ground attack aircraft.

These are also from Battlefront... sort of. These are the new plastic kit Harriers that have replaced the previously offered resin kits. Good on Battlefront for offering plastic kits at a lower price than the old resin box, but that's not really the end of the story. The fact is that the new Battlefront Harriers are just repackaged sprues from "Ace Corporation". It's kind of funny actually... the sprues include landing gear and other parts that aren't even referred to in the Battlefront assembly instructions.

The box comes with a nice decal sheet though, including extra serials, tail flashes, and even roundels.

These two chaps should come in handy... being jump jets they can shoot at helicopters (!) and arrive on a 3+ each turn (!!)

Heh... another funny thing about the "Ace Corporation" sprues is that the canopy was obviously meant to be clear in the original (it was on a separate sprue from everything else) but in the Battlefront version it's cast in the same grey plastic.

I was thinking about getting some SU-25 Frogfoots for my Soviets and note that there are new "plastic kit" versions of those available from Battlefront now too... guess who makes a 1:144 Frogfoot kit? You got it, Ace Corporation.