Zvezda Katyushas

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Originally posted 30th August 2011

There's been a lot of talk recently on whether the plastic figures available from companies such as the Plastic Soldier company or Zvezda are any good. Well, I thought I would try out some of the Zvezda Katyusha rocket launchers to see what I thought. Here is a picture of four Katyushas: three of them are plastic models from Zvezda, one of them is Battlefront.

For a model that is going to be on the tabletop less than almost never, the Zvezda plastics are easily adequate. They snapped together in seconds (by the third model, I was building and gluing the kit together in under 15 minutes!) and paint up very nicely as well. Do be a little careful when dry-brushing as the thin plastic does not seem as durable as metal, but I got through without anything breaking.

The best thing? The price! I got all three plastic kits, including postage and packing, for under a tenner! I shall certainly be investigating their other stuff: especially for "tail" equipment such as trucks.

NB  The infantry figures in the photo above are either Battlefront or Old Glory. The Zvezda kits come without any crew.

TFL Gamesday: Tobruk

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Originally posted 16th June 2011

The TFL Games Day 2011 took place on Sunday 12th June, with the action being a re-fight of the Commonwealth break-in to Tobruk in January 1941.  Seven games were fought during the day. In the morning, the Commonwealth troops broke through the Italian perimeter. A lunchtime interlude saw the Matildas of 7TRT attempting to suppress the main Italian gun line. Finally, the Commonwealth troops fanned out, with three games charting their progress inside the perimeter.

Full reports of the day's play, plus tons of photos!

French 47mm Anti-Tank Guns

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Originally posted 1st May 2011

As those of you who have seen my collection know, most of my WW2 figures are Battlefront. I like their slightly cartoon-y style, and find they take the paint very easily. As I also very much enjoy playing the early war period of WW2, I was therefore chuffed to bits when Battlefront re-visited the period: I looked forward to filling all the gaps in my German, French and BEF armies, and to adding Poles.

My first purchase were some French 47mm anti-tank guns...and this is where the horror starts. Quelle disappointment! Although the guns are lovely (and build easily) the crews are horrible, simply horrible! I was so moved I even posted on TMP about how bad they were, and was relieved to find that many other people feel the same way. Most advised me to keep the guns and crew them with Old Glory or Peter Pig.

Well, I was going to do that, then couldn't be bothered to go through all the hassle of ordering etc when I wanted to paint them now! So I kept the BF block-monster crews and did the best I could. Here they are:

Italian Fusilieri

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Originally posted 29th April 2011

So I put the bank holiday weekend to good use by finishing another platoon of Italian Fusilieri for the forthcoming TFL Western Desert Games Day. I have now painted literally scores of Battlefront Italians now, and am always pleased how they turn out. 

For those interested, although I have used a variety of dark and light yellows on my Italians, this platoon is painted using GW Tausept Ochre washed with GW Devlan Mud and then highlighted with GW Desert Yellow. All equipment is also base coated, washed and highlighted; as is flesh. Means you paint each soldier twice, but I like the effect.

Lancia Armoured Trucks

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Originally posted 22nd April 2011

I've been looking for some Lancia armoured trucks for some time and have finally decided to plump for the QRF WW1 models that are available. 

This model fairly accurately reflects an early Lancia armoured truck, but I really wanted the later 1ZM version which featured a wire cutter stretched from bonnet to top of cab and dispensed (for weight's sake) with the armoured rear wheel covering. Twelve of these were sent to Libya in the early 1930's, so could conceivably still have been going in 1940/41.

As for the paint scheme...well, it's not very accurate. Most Italian equipment was still painted dark green in 1940/41 rather than the desert yellow shown below. Amusingly, the white wall front tyre and nifty turret decoration are probably correct: the black and white photo I have seen from Benghazi shows a dark (presumably) green truck with white wall tyres and a turret that is definitely made up of two colours in the pattern shown below separated by a white line. It's not too much of a stretch to think that they might have been green and red to make the Italian flag!

AAR: Two from Brian Cantwell

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Originally posted 14th April 2011

Two excellent and well-illustrated After Action Reports from the pen of Brian Cantwell, both concerning actions in France in the summer of 1940: at Hannut, the French 3rd DLM (light mechanised division) take on the German 4th Panzer Division; and at Jandrain, the Somuas of 3rd DLM counter-attack the panzers of 3rd Panzer Division.

AAR: The Road to Fort Capuzzo

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Originally posted 15th March 2011

An AAR from Zippee, who recently played the first scenario from the Operation Compass Scenario pack.

A successful and enjoyable game, except for the fact that the Zipmeister's camera tripod fell apart just after he'd laid out the terrain. Accompanying illustrations are therefore of the desert in all its lonely glory. Enjoy!

New 15mm WW2 Figure Manufacturers posted

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Originally posted 10th March 2011

I've added a couple of new entries to the list of WW2 15mm manufacturers.

First up are Obscure Miniatures with the somewhat controversial release of a range of 15mm Hitler Jugend figures. Here is the bumph from their website along with a couple of pictures:

"Well, here is the beginning of our "Battle for Berlin" range. To start with we have the Hitler Youth. The command is 15mm to the eyes and the infantry is 15mm to the top of the head. These are scaled to be children soldiers. If you ever really wanted to do Berlin and the end of the war with the correct figures here they are. Some of the helmets and gear has been over scaled to give that cast off, hand me down feel. We hope these fit in with some of your battles."

Next up is an entry for Zvezda, a Russian company that have been threatening to release 1/100th scale plastic tanks for some time. Their website is in Russian, but translates into English, but you will probably need to find a distributor from whom to order rather than being able to do so directly.

As far as I can see from the website catalogue, they have four models available now:  an early T-34 (natch!); a T-26; a Panzer II and a Panzer III. Here's a small piccy pf the T-34 (not sure what that flag is doing at the back) which is apparently a five part kit. The picture links to the appropriate Zvezda page so you can see a bigger version, along with pictures of the front and back of the box showing more detail.

AAR: Double Trouble on the Eastern Front

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Originally posted 30th January 2011

The second and third IABSM games of the New Year: a quick pick up game involving a Soviet assault on a Fallschirmjager-held village somewhere on the Eastern Front.

Terrific action, including some stunning exploits from Soviet tank-killers and a German anti-tank gun crew led by Leutnant Freddi Feuerzangenbowle!