Getting Ahead

I do like variety in the units I put together for gaming.  With most plastic sets consisting of multiples of the same model there are several ways of achieving this: varying paint schemes (where this is possible); mixing sets, which I do quite a bit, but which can lead to problems with matching scale; and repositioning or swapping heads, limbs etc.  And it's that last one that I spent last night doing (including time spent repeatedly supergluing my thumb and forefinger together),

Most bodies came from the Caesar Panzergrendier set 1, with the new heads coming from the Airfix Afrika Corps set as (a), I have lots spare, and (b) they have some good poses with forage caps and plenty of uncovered helmets on models I wont have a lot of other uses for (the chap surrendering, or the one with the spade, for example).  

In each case I've photographed them next to the original (which are going through bases and finishing touches)

 Not entirely pleased with the head position on the one above, will have to see how it paints up.

And finally, as I ended up with a few headless DAK, I've added some of the discarded Caesar head with the helmet covers.  These will do duty as late war Germans in western Europe quite nicely.

Right, time to get painting!

Mini Photography

I've spent the last week painting and putting down flooring in preparation for the new arrival, so not much new acrylic on plastic or metal.

But I did find some time to have a play around with some photos of stuff already painted, for fun and practice.

Follicly Challenged

A bit of a change in scale and period.  I've spent the last few evenings painting up a couple of Hasslfree's excellent models: Grant and Kev.  Lovely sculpts by Kev White as usual, but not too 'fussy'.  I haven't decided how to base these guys yet, so the're still on temporary bases.

Enough talk, on with the pictures.

Here's Grant, with his customised MAC10 and multiple pistols:

And now for Ken, wearing my first real attempt at British style DPM.

And a nice group shot to round it all off!

More Splinter Camo

Having a rummage around in the 'german' model draw, I found one of my original attempts at german 'splinter' style camo smocks (a crewman from the fast build Italeri PAK40).  It was interesting looking back and seeing how I'd improved.

Caesar Panzergrenadier on left, Italeri PAK40 crew on right

Now, I'm not saying my recent efforts are perfect, far from it, but it did make me decide to record the process and my thoughts on it and stick it on the blog.  It might be useful to someone but also I'd welcome feedback from anyone who reads this.  Suggestions of alternative patterns, techniques or colours would be more than welcome!

I'm not going to go into a lecture about German WWII camo patterns, it's a ridiculously complicated and thankless task! Nonetheless, the main improvement came from looking at photos and pictures of the patterns.  There were a couple of key things that stuck with me:

• The angular pattern
• That the brown and tan colours dominated

Later 'Marsh' pattern is slightly different, with a less angular pattern and the green more dominant.

So here goes... The unfortunate model in this case is another Caesar Panzergrenadier.  All colours are either Vallejo or GW.

The smock is basecoated with German VJ Camo Beige over a white undercoat.  (The rest of the uniform is VJ Field Grey).

The first camo pattern was added using VJ German Camo Medium Brown.  I kept the patterns quite large and as angular as I could get them.

Green patches added in VJ Luftwaffe Camo Green.  These were kept small and used to fill in 'hollows' in the dark brown.  The overall effect should still be of mainly beige and brown.

A wash of GW Devlan Mud for shade.

Rehighlighted with the original base colours.  The camo smock only got the very lightest highlight with the beige on the edges of the smock and helmet.

So there we are.  Any comments, critiques or suggestions more than welcome!

Ow, my eyes!

Working on German Splinter pattern camo at 1/72 scale, now going cross-eyed!  At least it wasn't pea dot!

Models are Caesar Panzergrenadiers set 1.  Nicely detailed sculpts in a good range of realistic poses. Possibly a bit too detailed in one way, they're hell on brushes!

More to follow.

Caesar Fallschirmjäger

Just a quick update on some completed Caesar Fallshim, Falshurm, paratroopers.  The MG42 gunner is suffering from the common Caesar problem of 'droopy gun'(although in this case, 'overly perky' might be more apt), but otherwise I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Not quite one of each model in the set complete yet, I've yet to do the ones holding FG42s.

Some more Caesar models on the table at the moment, from their panzergrenadiers set1. 

Extreme Scale Creep: 1 to 1 scale gaming

It's been a pretty hectic couple of months.  Work's been ridiculously busy with people starting and leaving, and there's been quite a bit happening at home too.

Part of that busyness was me hitting the big 40 in the middle of August.  Melissa, my lovely wife, made sure I couldn't ignore it by organising lots to do, including a family dinner on a steam train, open air shakespeare at Chatsworth House (which is just down the road from us) and, most recently, a day of outdoor woodland Laser Tag.

I have to say, it was great fun, but I think I'm probably better at pushing little lead and plastic men around than I am at the real thing, managing to be the first permanently 'dead' twice in as many games!

Meet the gang.  That's me, in the middle.  To the left are Rebecca (Mel's sister), her husband Gary and their daughter Isobel (who was alarmingly good!).  To the right are Mel's brother Sean, her younger sister Liz, and, behind them, her boyfriend Craig.

Mel's behind the camera

Of course it pissed it down with rain as well, just to add to the effect!  In fact, I blame the rain on my glasses for my poor performance.  But at least I should know how to paint DPM now.

Although Mel took the photos, she didn't take part in the silliness, much as she wanted to.  That's because at the end of the year we expect to take delivery of our very own, brand new 1:1 scale miniature, but the casting process is taking a while...  

I wonder if Acrylics or Enamels would be most suitable for painting it?

Last DAK and bits 'n bobs

This is the last of the Afrika Korps, honest!  At least, for the time being ;-)

Obligatory family portrait. The loader for the MG34 is from the Airfix German Infantry.  Not a great model, but loaders seem to be so few and far between that beggars can't be choosers. The marching boots have been painted to look like the older canvas desert boot that was optimistically issued as 'tropical' kit, and doesn't look bad if I say so myself.  Colours were a mix of Iraqi Sand, US Field Drab and a roughly 50/50 Brown Violet/Iraqi Sand.  My usual flesh tone has gone a bit thick and stodgy, so I tried out some of the newer GW ones on these.  The 'Cadian Fleshtone' was ideal for tanned European skin, and the paint was just the right consistency, count me impressed!

Definitely my favourite pose of the bunch, and possibly Airfix's best sculpt in this scale and period (possibly because it's based on a 1/32 original).  Love the spare grenades tucked into the belt.  I've painted this one several times, as it works well for north-west Europe as well.

And for variety, a browning team for the US.  Airfix gunner and Matchbox loader (no idea where the original .50cal went, but no loss as it's a bit poor anyway).  The belt is being loaded too far back in the MG, but never mind.

And here's that MG34 combo again, sporting this season's 'in' colours, Field Grey.

Now onto a couple of new projects lurking in the wings...

First up, a nice little 99p ebay bargain.  And a new theatre to play with, here's a taster:

And also time to take to the air and spread my wings with a little treat to myself!

Bedford QLD

Finally got around to the Airfix QLD I picked up a while ago.  Really nice kit, went together without a hitch.

It was basecoated with the PSC sprays.  The colour's good, but I found coverage was a but iffy, requiring quite a few coats, and it didn't seem to like taking the GW washes very easily.  Turned out alright in the end though :-)

Just Doodling...

I'm terrible at sitting still doing nothing, always have to be doing something with my hands.  The occasional long, tedious meeting or training session tend to result in lots of doodles in my notebook, often of stupidly overambitious ideas for pseudo mediaeval timber framed buildings as scenery.  I came across some of the better ones whilst having a clear out today.  Who knows, one day I may actually try and build them.

Or maybe I should just try and concentrate more...

Back to Afrika

Every spare surface in the house has been covered with paperwork over the last couple of weeks, as the missus works on her end of term reports for school.  Tonight I managed to finally claim a bit back and dash out a few more Airfix Afrika Korp.

From the research I've been doing it seems that Afrika Korps kit was a pretty mixed bunch, including an old tropical uniform that was a kind of olive green, later drab kit, various stages of faded and bleached items, and even captured and Italian kit, so I've gone with a pretty varied look.  Not sure if it works or not, but it's been fun to do!

First Five in Normandy - AAR

So, Five Men in Normandy, what's it like to play?

Preparing the squad only took five minutes, using about three simple tables for Troops (lists are provided for Commonwealth, Germans, Americans, Soviet Union, Free French, Free Polish, Italians and Fins), Gear and Special Skills.  My first squad ended up being 7 men in Normandy with a mix of Garands, SMGs, a BAR and a .30cal, so I re-rolled something a bit simpler for my first game.  There are also a series of tables to flesh out the squad's members with more background, which don't necessarily have any impact on the game but help build a narrative.

The squad I ended up using was:

• Sargeant Hanratty - Thompson and 2 grenades, Inspiring leader
• Corporal O'Keefe - M1 Garand, 2 grenades, Entrenching tool (helps in Brawls) 
• PFC Scott - M1 Carbine, 4 grenades
• PFC Michaels - M1 Garand, 2 grenades, Rapid Fire skill
• PFC Mitty - BAR, 2 grenades

I rolled up a Capture Mission, which would happen at a landmark between the lines, and would start out as a stealth mission.  Opposing the GIs would be 5 German soldiers in a defensive position, including an MG and loader, with the rest armed with Kar98s.

So the situation is that a German outpost is holed up in a pumping house overlooking a minor road. Battalion want to know more about what's facing the, so Sarge Hanratty's squad have been order to infiltrate the position and take prisoners.  Oh, and if they can take out the MG as well, that would be just fine as well...

Aerial recon of the area.  The pump house is on the left.  The US squad will arrive on the right.  

The MG providing overwatch on the road

Rifleman guarding the MG's flanks

The plan was straightforward.  Hanratty, Mitty and Scott would use the hedgerows as cover to approach the pump house on the opposite side of the road, and open up with the Thompson, BAR and grenades to try and suppress the MG in the pump house.  Michaels and O'Keefe would approach the back of the pump house through the orchard, and try and snatch the guard watching the back of the building.  What could possibly go wrong?

 Mitty, Scott and Hanratty, the fire team

Michaels and O'Keefe, the snatch team

The first few turns saw the US squads gradually advance, leapfrogging on either side of the road (in a normal turn in 5MIN, only two of your squad will move and/or fire per turn).  Turn four saw a hairy moment, when the die for the German forces rolled a 6 ('Forward!') and one of the riflemen moved out to check out the road, covered by a second.  Luckily for the US, the next German roll was a 1 ('Dig in') and, satisfied that the road was clear, they withdrew back behind the pump house wall.

A lone German checks that the road is clear, covered from behind the pump house wall

The fire team lurk behind the hedgerows... 

 ...while the snatch squad move up through the orchard

The next turn saw the US roll a 6 for their activation, 'Firefight'.  Normally this would allow every member of the squad to fire at once but, as no one had line of sight to the enemy, it was converted to a 'Scurry' result, with everyone moving up closer to their positions.  A couple more turns (and another Scurry activation roll) saw the US troops all in position.

Everyone ready... 

The snatch squad eye up their target behind the wall

Hanratty kicked off the assault, popping his head up from behind the hedge to spray the MG position. The MG and one of the riflemen got first shot in, being on guard fire, but could only roll shock dice (weapons in 5MIN roll a mix of kill dice and shock dice), with no successes.  Hanratty proved to be of different stuff, spraying the MG with 3 shock dice, and forcing the gunner to bail right off the table!  The BAR opened up as well, but to no further effect.

The German MG gunner remembers an urgent appointment elsewhere!

However, despite losing their MG, the german response was savage.  The rear guard re-positioned to cover and opened up on the BAR gunner, scoring a 'knock down' result on him ('Knocked Down' models have a chance of recovering during the game), while another rifleman responded by hurling a stick grenade over the hedge, knocking down the rest of the fire team!

In an attempt to take even the score, the snatch team went in at the back of the pump house, only for Michaels to be put Out of Action (not necessarily dead, but unable to recover during the game) by their target, but O'Keefe managed to drive him back with a flinch result.  Meanwhile the MG loader and one rifleman repositioned themselves to cover the rear of the pumphouse, leaving another to cover the hedgerow.

The Germans reposition to cover the threat from the rear

The next turn saw the US roll a 'Firefight Activation', and the Sarge and BAR gunner dusted themselves off and got back up (Scott, unfortunately, was out for the count).  The US poured on the fire, resulting on 'Flinch' results on two Germans, while the two at the back of the pump house were put Out of Action by a grenade thrown by O'Keefe.

O'Keefe then followed this up by charging over the wall and knocking out one of the two remaining germans in a Brawl (helped by his trusty entrenching tool).  The BAR gunner tried unsuccessfully to flank and take out the remaining German...

...Who responded by putting the BAR gunner Out of Action! Score one for bolt action over automatic!

Deciding enough was enough, the Sarge and O'Keefe moved up and used grenades to flush the last German out of position and off the table.

In the end, a tough fight for the US, but ultimately they succeeded in capturing their prisoner and taking out the strongpoint, although Mitty and Michaels would be out of action for a few days with light and moderate wounds respectively (Scott was just concussed and recovered after the fight).

So what's the verdict on the rules?  On the whole I found them really simple to learn and the game played fast and furious.  The use of a mix of kill and shock dice puts the emphasis on the use of suppressing fire, and grenades play a big role up close, but aren't devastating, which feels right.  You have to work out how to push the enemy out from where they want to be.  The way cover is used takes some getting used to as well, as it works differently to most games.  Basically you're either hidden behind it, or completely vulnerable for a brief period when you poke your head out to fire.  I'm sure a few times I missed out on certain rules or misinterpreted them, but that was partly as I was reading them on my ipad and the battery gave out in the last couple of turns!

All troops are the same level of experience, there are no elites or veterans here, but it would be easy to create them by using appropriate skills.

Would I recommend them?  If you want a short, easy to pick up game that has a few nice RPG elements as well?  Yes, definitely.