Saturday, November 27, 2010

More french

I finalized my french colour scheme. I decided it was too green and went a little more brown-beige.   I kept the helmets a little greener then they should be to highlight the difference in colour between the coat and helmet.  it also adds a bit of needed colour.  I tend to be of the school of painting that believes in over exaggerating colour for effect, so it doesn't bother me like it might some people.
French Platoon with Hotchkiss HMG 
and 81mm Brandt Mortar

aside from what is here, i have 1 more squad and another platoon command. I also have 3 Hotchkiss H-39s that will be in my possession shortly.

Close up of Crusader French
 
I've also noticed that no one makes Laffly S20 trucks for the french in 1/56th(or anything close to 28mm, from what I've seen). this seems odd to me, since this is the vehicle that, according to what i have read, was used the most by French motorized infantry(Dragons) in the light Mechanized divisions(1040 were In service by May 1st 1940) . Since the truck itself has very little complex surface detail(complex patterns & shapes, wood paneling, etc etc), I've decided to try and build one from scratch and cast it. the first one will be the infantry carrier. if it works out I'll probably modify one to be the artillery tractor, and cast it as well. I'm already familiar scratch building and low-run resin casting, I'd just have to switch to a different resin(which is also cheaper and less prone to bubbles).

Monday, November 22, 2010

French test scheme

Last Wednesday I received my Crusader French figures. anyway, last Night I played around with paint schemes and decided to go with a khaki green colour.   I think it looks good, but I might just make it a little less green on the infantry squads.

I have enough figures for 1 platoon command and 4 squads, plus the 2 support teams above(more to be added later), but I'd like to be able to field it as 2 platoons of 2 squads each as well. Dave Hoyt has graciously offered a few extra figures for the 2nd command.

I'd like to replace some of the officer figures i have with Crusader French NCOs  (Helmets and coats) since  I ended up getting mostly Officers with no trench coat and with kepi. I'm also looking for an extra pair of French riflemen and 2 VB rifle grenadiers to be able to add the optional rifle grenadier to the command squads.

If you happen to have any extra french figures that fit in well with crusader, you can email me here .  I have a few extra Crusader Germans, TAG WWII marines and Japanese, and a couple of TAG Iraqis i could trade.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

A New take on an old house and Telephone Poles

in 2001 when i first started buying GW Lord of the Rings figures, I built a little house as some terrain as at that point I wasn't a terrain maker yet, and had none.  I have meant for a while to re base and re-roof it. i finally got around to it earlier this week. unfortunately i forgot to take pictures of the house before i repainted and rebased it. but needless to say, it was very poorly based and the paint job was mediocre at best. the old roof was made out of  very thin plastic that curled over time.

Repainted and based house with Original roof and a 
28mm Soviet officer

At the beginning of last week i wandered over to the local gaming store and discovered that they now carry Model Builders Supply plastic sheets.  I picked up a sheet of ceder roofing  cut it to size and glued it to some sheet styrene. I then applied wood filler to the edges. i replaced the original  Sheet styrene base with a smaller piece of MDF with edges sanded for a smoother transition. this make it fit in with most of my other terrain. all in all i think it will pass as a rural European house.


Repainted & based House with new roof

I also got an opportunity to take some pics of the mass of Telephone poles I painted over the last 4 days. I really find that little things like telephone poles make a table more vibrant. 20s of the trees were actually a commission for Ron Peraziana. these are also based on MDF bases approximately 45x45mm.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

New world War 2 Russians and a Game

The week before Fallin(3 weeks ago) I asked Fellow MIGS member and Gamer Larry McGee if he could pick me up a box GF9 econobases while he was at Fall In!. he agreed and I gave him the money to cover the box.

Last Friday(nov 5th), Larry Showed up at the club with my GF9 bases. But he also had 2 BTD soviet ATR teams and a Maxim team firing!  Given how difficult it is these day to get reliable service from BTD, this was a boon for my Russians!  I paid $15 for the 3 teams(7 figures and the Maxim).  I painted them Saturday night, but Failed to post  them here because i was laid up Monday-Wednesday with serious Allergy issues, and then frantically tried to get my remaining projects for the week done to stay on track.


 Last night our new friend Mark came down from Cambridge(1 hr drive) and braved some of the thickest fog I can remember, to play another game of disposable heroes WW2 With Jon and I.  We played an eastern front scenario, in which a surrounded soviet platoon with armoured support attempted to break through a rear area German garrison(with a bit of help from a Pzkmpfw IIIJ en route for the front lines).  the Russians has 4 infantry squads, a platoon command, a commissar, a Maxim team, an ATR team, an 80mm Mortar, 2 T34As, a T26( 2 Mg turrets) and a T35. the germans had 2 infantry squads, a Platoon command, an HMG team, 2 5cm mortar teams, a PaK 38, a 75mm IG18, 1 pzkmpfw. Ib, 1 Pzkmpfw IIc, and a Pzkmpfw. IIj. The soviet objective was to get at least 1 unit off for a marginal victory  and 3 units off for a major victory.

 In the first turn Mark's T-34 took out the Pz II on hte left flank.  the Russians  put up a line of smoke to cover teh advance, and my PaK 38 repositioned to cover the flank

 


the smoke limited the fighting to small bursts of gun fire until the 3rd turn when the smoke cleared half the Russian infantry concentrated fire on the PaK, 38 taking it out in time to save the T35 looming up the road.

 

THe HMG started to move from hte central road to hte right flank to catch the soviet infantry appearing on hte edge of the woods.  after a well placed shot at the infantry, hte gun was flanked and killed by a soviet LMG team. the Pz III went to the right flank, and shot up some infantry. once they were out of sight in the woods(and unable to Assault)  the German commander(me) brought the tank out and took out the T-34 with a well placed as it was cresting the bridge.



Despite the stiff resistance of the Germans, the soviets got a T-34 off the table, winning a marginal victory. In hindsight, if i had moved my infantry squad on that flank a turn sooner I might have been able to assault and immobilize the T-34. but even as such, i only lost 4 German infantry, An HMG team, a PaK-38 crew, and a Pz II  not bad given the initial odds.

IF you look carefully at the pictures you can see some Lionel O-scale  telephone poles. i was workin on these this week.  i have 30 of them, 20 of which are a commission for another fellow wargamer, Ron Peraziana. these really make a table look Fantastic in my opinion. they are cheap too. $11 for 10.

Stay tuned for more soon.