A Russian Orthodox Church

/

Originally posted 16th April 2014

Those of you who encountered me in the latter part of the Salute Day will be aware that I was looking for a 15mm WW2 Russian Orthodox church to serve as a terrain piece for playtesting my late war Eastern Front scenario pack, Bashnya or Bust!

Well I found one!

A Polish company called Wargamer Company were at Salute promoting and selling their  game called By Fire & Sword. This game apparently (and I'm quoting their website here) recreates the 17th century wars fought by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against Turkey, Muscovy, Sweden, Crimean Khanate and Cossacks. 

Well Bashnya or Bust! is set in Lithuania, and they had a Wooden Orthodox Church model, so I bought it immediately, and have painted it up ready for Saturday's playtest of scenario 2A.

Cracking terrain piece, really easy to paint, and looks very good. Here are a couple of 'model' shots; more to follow in the AAR that will doubtless follow Saturday's game.

Libyans for North Africa

/

Originally posted 11th April 2014

I have had a packet of Battlefront's Libyan/Italian colonial infantry hanging around in the lead mountain forever, but waiting for various orders to arrive from far, far away moved them slowly to the front of the queue until I really had no choice but to paint them.

These are nice models: the officers and NCOs in particular. I don't think I've quite got the skin colour right, but I do think they will look good on the tabletop. Time to dust off the Operation Compass scenario pack again!

AAR: Near Osen

/

Originally posted 30th March 2014

I am currently about halfway through the Bashnya or Bust! late war eastern front scenario pack for IABSM, with fifteen out of the thirty-one scenarios completed i.e. stages one to four in the pyramid. 

This AAR is a report on the playtest game for the first scenario: #01: Near Osen. You'll be pleased to hear that all went well, and the only change needed was a minor adjustment to the number of Blinds each side can bring on to the table at any one time.

AAR: Fischfang Day 1 - A

/

Originally posted 27th February 2014

Craig Ambler has been working his way through the Anzio scenario pack. Here's an AAR from his last battle (although not the last in the pack) covering the opening phase of Operation Fischfang. 

This was a truly colossal battle (the Germans have two companies of infantry!) that gave an excellent game.

WW2 US Artillery HQ from Battlefront

/

Originally posted 16th February 2014

Whilst waiting for more decals to arrive from Dom in order to finish my Churchill squadron, I thought I'd polish off something that has been sitting, half-finished, on my painting table for ages: the Battlefront US Artillery HQ.

Absolutely pointless in wargaming terms for IABSM, it's nevertheless another piece of battlefield clutter with which to dress the table.

Oh, and for those interested, the maps are made from the QR code found on the cards you find inside the Zvezda boxes. Just cut out a square or a rectangle from the QR code and add a little blue line (for a river) and some green patches (for woods) and away you go.

Bashnya or Bust!

/

Originally posted 15th February 2014

Good news for those awaiting my next scenario book: the writing bug has bitten me again. 

I am now deep into Bashnya or Bust! - a Vyazma/Blenneville style scenario pack set in late July/August 1944 during the Kaunas Offensive i.e. the latter stages of Operation Bagration.

Can't promise when it will be finished (early summer's my best bet) but I can promise a linked campaign featuring a possible thirty-one late war eastern front scenarios.

If you liked Blenneville, you'll love Bashnya!

Lend-lease Churchill

/

Originally posted 20th January 2014

Those of you who visit regularly will know that I am in the process of painting a whole squadron of Churchill tanks: 19 vehicles if you include the full HQ Troop. 

Boxes of tanks from PSC come in fives (although they also do single sprues if you need just a single tank etc) so the four boxes I bought at Warfare left me with one left over. 

This I painted up as a lend-lease tank sent to the Soviets. It gave me a chance to practice painting a model from start to finish, which was very useful in terms of finding out if the spray paint I was using would melt the plastic (it didn't) and such things as checking and then repainting the road wheels not in black 'tyre' colour but in 'rest of the tank' metal colour - doh!

So here is my single lend-lease Mk III Churchill from PSC (with Battlefront Soviet tank commander). Lovely model but, as always, the turret was a pain to put together. I'm just glad that all my British Mk IVs have the cast turret! BTW, note the way the varnish has frosted the (very thin) gun barrel...must remember to watch out for this when painting the '19'.

WW2 British Tanks: Great Sources of Info

/

Originally posted 20th January 2014

Now I am not normally particularly fussed about making my tanks from specific units: I use the same Panzers for every theatre they fought in. With the Churchills, however, I am endeavouring to paint up one specific unit: C Squadron from 4th Coldstream Guards, part of 6th Guards Tank Brigade. This is mainly because Dom's Decals provide a sheet with the names of all the C Squadron tanks on them, so I don't have to go mad painting the little blighters' names myself!

I thought, therefore, I'd share some of the research I used when deciding which unit to paint up, all of which came via the excellent TFL Forum.

June tank returns:

http://niehorster.orbat.com/017_britain/44-06-06_Neptune/Land/z_tanks_44-06-22_21AG.html

A complete list of British tank names (this is incredible!):

http://mmpbooks.biz/mmp/tables/Vehicle_Names_V3.pdf

The Armour in Focus page of the Churchill tank:

http://freespace.virgin.net/chris.shillito/a22new/

And, finally, the FOW page on Churchill tanks in Normandy:

http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=404