The Russian Campaign

I played this boardgame with Richard for the first time today.  I would have to agree with this statement "one of the finest wargames around. With the ease and playability of the 'Classics', the game also conveys the feel of the actual campaign and is exceptionally accurate historically. Both players will have to use the subtle skills, advantages and tactics of their historical counterparts to win." from the review on BoardGameGeek.

Invasion Sicily

Yesterday played through GMT's Invasion Sicily boardgame.  http://www.gmtgames.com/nnis/invasion_sicily_main.htm

It was a first playing and while it followed the Operation Mercury rule set we still had to look up various special rules, some of which proved quiet elusive - they were there, but the gamer equivalent of domestic blindness afflicted both of us. Set up time not included, we played for about six hours. The Allies got a bloody nose and the Axis were making a skilful withdrawal although were unlikely to get clean away.

Bocage – Part 2

The first planting (Photo taken 10:25 AM 17/12/2012):

 

The second planting (Photo taken 5:24 PM 17/12/2012):

 

Detailing commences with a dry brush of Tamiya Flat Earth and the building of the gate out of toothpicks, which was actually quiet fun  (Photo taken 9:57 AM 18/12/2012):

 

Fence gate finished and flocking commences (Photo taken 1:57 PM 19/12/2012):

 

Flocking finished.  I was going to do more work on the hedges, but decided they didn’t need it (Photo taken 6:58 PM 19/12/2012):

 

Bocage finished with matt varnish.  I must make some fields and roads to better show them off, but I’m very happy with the result.  Actually, they turned out much better than I expected.  The surprise “ingredient” was the plastering which ended up looking like tangle tree roots and gives a good earth bank effect I feel.

 

Perhaps the tubes (which are, after all, just cut up black drinking straws) used to hold the trees could be a slightly smaller diameter, but this is really lost on the table top and besides the hedges are supposed to be a thousand years old so good fat trunks are appropriate.  In the “blown up” photo the source of some of the hedging is a lot more apparent than on the table top; perhaps the old scouring pads need more hacking, but they do provide a bit of body to the hedge which helps in handling (which is also a benefit of the embedded straws).

 

And as this was my 100^th post, and close to my anniversary of starting this blog two years ago, I feel good to present this completed project.

Bocage – Part 1

The world probably doesn’t need another post on how to model bocage, but these posts are always more for my benefit, so here goes. 

The work has been pretty quick.  While I didn't keep a record I have put in the time the photos were taken.  Normally I have been working in about 15 minute slots with plenty of time for drying.  I have put in plenty of research (i.e. surfing) time.  There is lots of inspiring stuff out there.

First I bought some semi round wood mould and cut six experimental strips, sanding down the corners so the end result looks like a big brother for the pop-sticks I have been using recently for hedges. (Photo taken 4:10 PM 14/12/2012)

 

Second on with PVA glue, some of the larger “stones” from the kitty litter and a few bits cut off a black drinking straw. (Photo taken 7:30 PM 14/12/2012)

 

Third step was more PVA glue and a finer grade for kitty litter, however in future I would probably drop this step as it was a bit fiddly with the kitty litter scattering a bit too much and the finished result getting largely covered up in the next step. (Photo taken 9:56 AM 15/12/2012)

 

The fourth step was covering with plaster.  I used the type of crack filler that comes ready prepared and as my tube was a bit old I just mixed in a bit of water to get better flow. (Photo taken 1:45 PM 15/12/2012)

 

The fifth step was undercoat in black using trusty Tamiya black and then a base coat of Tamiya flat brown.  I wanted a dark look and hope that this approach will provide that. (Photo taken 10:45 AM 16/12/2012)

Next will be to add the hedge and I’m currently looking at various ways of doing this, but that will be part 2.

Alexandrian Macedonian Starter Army

After the last game of Field of Glory I checked my ancient figures to see if I could make another army besides Classical Greek.  I discovered I was one stand (3 figures) short of the Alexandrian Macedonian Starter Army, for the Agema no less. 

My Tin Soldier ancient army had been commenced in the mid 1980s for WRG 6^th Edition; while predominantly Greek (as in Hoplite) I had started to expand it to cover Macedonia and the Successors as well as rebasing for 7^th Edition (and even a bit of DBM although those rules never “did it for me”).  I hadn’t painted any of these figures in close on twenty years – could I match the style or would the new recruits stand out like the proverbial?

As part of the “blending” I painted all the Agema’s cloaks with the same purple and also touched up the older figures helmets with the same gold colour.  The hardest thing to match was the flock which had faded from a yellow green to dark yellow.  I just altered my blend and got a pretty close match.

Completed Agema:

 

The whole army was upgraded to magnetic bases:

 

Here is the army ready for battle (or rather ready to be photographed):

 

Next is to see what troops I have to expand this army with the optional troops and whether there is motivation to take some more figures from lead mountain.

Old Glory Napoleonic Prussian Kuirassiers – Part 2

I painted the horses at the same time I was painting my WW2 Australians – there should be a distinct similarity in colour between them and the Australian rifle stocks.  It was just a background task and progress was slow, but then I put them onto my “one colour a day” program and voila!

16PrHC for Napoleon’s Battles based on the dress uniform of the Garde du Corps circa 1813.

The hardest decision as always was just how much detail to attempt.  As an elite unit I did a little bit more than normal.

The only problem I had was the officer.  He was cast with his arm straight out to the side, parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the horse.  I based him by himself (as in just three figures on the command base).  But it just didn’t look right and so the next morning, bright and early, I took a firm grip of his arm and bent it down.  It was if he understood and relaxed his arm to point down.  Then I cut figures off the base to rearrange them to the standard four figure configuration.

Machine Gun Nests

As part of my terrain improvement quest I knocked up half a dozen machine gun nests after being inspired by an article at Model Dads:  http://www.modeldads.co.uk/Life-at-the-Front/wordpress/?p=1524.  I had been lead there after a bit of Googling and coming across this article on Big Lee’s blog: http://www.blmablog.com/2011/03/scratch-built-mg-nest.html

I cut some bases from plastic scrap (actually CD case cover which I roughed up with sandpaper to improve its adhesion properties).  Next was cutting up the cocktail sticks (the only bit I would classify as tedious).  I used a bit of Styrofoam coated with PVA glue to give the basic shape and then used lots of handyman plaster to finish off the model.  After that it was painting and flocking.  I used a bit of plastic tubing (there is an associated saga with that I will keep for another day) to create a tree trunk that would accept some model trees I had that need basing (a bigger attempt can be seen in the pictures – that used a drinking straw, but I have since decided I need to get some black straws as the paint on the inside scrapped off with use).

In the pictures can also be seen my attempt at a model minefield (a topic for a future post).

I also did a machine gun nest for desert or rocky conditions (which is how my 15mm WW2 troops are based).  That was just kitty litter and PVA glue.

While I took over a week to complete them, they were just a few minutes each day so as to leave plenty of time to dry etc.