D day fortifications in 6mm part 3

Added some more models today.  Here we have an artillery observation tower, based I think on the example at Ouistreham in Normandy - I can't find this on the Baggage Train site, so guess it must be new, together with a couple of R667 50mm AT bunkers with left and right enfilade walls respectively.

The observation bunker from the front.  Space on the top for an AA gun, I'm thinking either single or quad 20mm AA gun.

And from the rear.  The underground entrance on the right is covered by an MG position under the concrete lintel at the far end.  A tough nut to crack.

A left enfilade R667 50mm AT bunker.

The right enfilade version.

Detail of the rear of the bunker, same for both models, showing the rear blast wall, which prevents direct fire at the rear entrance to the bunker.

Just got the sea wall sections to finish off, but there are a lot of them, almost a metre in length on the table top, so about enough to stretch from La Breche to Lion sur Mer in 6mm.

Thanks for looking!

D day fortifications in 6mm part 2

Just finished flocking these, so without further ado, here they are.

Open artillery casements - being replaced by fully enclosed artillery bunkers on D-day as the artillery pieces and crews are pretty exposed to naval pre-programmed or counterbattery fire in these positions.

 An open casement with French 155mm artillery piece for scale.

 An M262a artillery observation command fire control bunker.

 An H669 right enfilade garage bunker, viewed from the sea side.

 The business end of the H669 bunker.

 Another H669 garage bunker, this time a left enfilade version viewed from the land side.

Thanks for looking.

D day fortifications in 6mm

I'm in the process of finishing the flocking on some D-day fortifications that I bought from The Baggage Train at the Gauntlet shows back in 2012 and 2013.  I'm getting these ready for a Sword Beach game we're thinking of laying on in November, and of course, the 70th anniversary is next June, just ahead of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War.

This is, I think, the two part bunker for 20mm AA gun.  I'm planning on mounting a quad 20mm gun in the firing platform.

This is the R622 infantry bunker - I'm thinking of using this for the core of the Hillman bunker complex - for BKCII it should form a large bunker with capacity for a HQ and a couple of infantry stands.

Still working on some AT bunkers, artillery pits and bunkers, observation bunkers and some sections of sea wall in various stages from painted through to still in packets.

Thanks for looking.

British WW1 Battlecruisers

Following the German Battlecruiser Squadrons, here are the British Battlecruiser Squadrons from the Battle of Jutland.  These Navwar models need rebasing to really do them justice.  I guess I'll have to dust them off and start the rebasing over the winter.

 The fleet flagship and 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, front HMS Lion (fleet flagship) and HMS Tiger, rear HMS Princess Royal (squadron flagship) and HMS Queen Mary.

The fleet flagship, HMS Lion, typical of the class and similar to HMS Princess Royal and HMS Queen Mary.



HMS Tiger



The 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron flagship, HMS New Zealand

 HMS Indefatigable

5th Battle Squadron front left HMS Barham (flagship), HMS Valiant, rear HMS Warspite and HMS Malaya.

 HMS Barham, typical of the class making up the 5th Battle Squadron.

By 1916, the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron was very much out of place in a fleet action against anything heavier than cruisers.  Even the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron was pretty vulnerable when trading salvos with capital ships.  The 5th Battle Squadron provided the muscle that the Battlecruiser Fleet so badly needed.

Thanks for looking!

Monty's Caravan in 6mm

So, the ultimate British CO stand, Monty's Caravan from Heroics & Ros new models range (H&R B117), complete with Monty himself, General (for Normandy)/Field Marshal (until the end of the war) Bernard Law Montgomery.  The ultimate CO for 21st Army Group.  Probably way too high a level of command to make it close to the battlefield, but it's a nice model and makes a good CO stand or at the least a little diorama objective marker or just a piece of scenery.  The Humber 4x4 heavy utility vehicle (H&R B086) isn't part of the set, I've added it for some additional interest.

The difference in the colour of the vehicles is interesting, at least to me, as they are both painted with Vallejo Russian Uniform.  The Humber 4x4 is painted over a black undercoat using normal consistency paint straight from the bottle.  Monty's Caravan is undercoated in artists white acrylic gesso and washed with a thinned down version of the paint, followed by an Army Painter strong tone ink wash.  I much prefer the white undercoat finish to the black.

 The two figures are interesting.  Monty is in his Denizen paratroopers smock or sheepskin jacket (I've gone with the latter option), plus black beret with two silver badges.  The officer appears to be standing pretty rigidly to attention - perhaps he represents Horrocks trying to explain the slow progress towards Arnhem, or either Hinde or Erskine explaining Villers Bocage - in any case he looks to be sweating under his collar.

A really nice crisp model from Heroics and Ros.

Thanks for looking.

Saga introduction

Well, it seems to be a month for learning new rules.  This Thursday at the club, Rick organised a Saga game so that I could get an intro to the rules and find out if I liked them enough to go out and pick up some of the lovely new hard plastic models from Warlord Games and/or Gripping Beast.  Rick had organised an evening game at the Defenders Club in Broughton and invited Luke and Red to come along for a 4 way intro game.  We quickly ran through the rules system, which is relatively easy to pick up and fairly straightforward, with almost everybody sharing similar statistics and capabilities.

During the brief walk-through of the game, Rick introduced me to the real complexity of the game which is the players special activations and abilities sheet and the "Saga Dice" system.  This is the real complexity of the game, and I was only able to scratch the surface of this aspect, as there seem to be a vast number of ways to use the Saga dice depending on your forces' skills and that of the opponents troops.

Rick has posted a battle report on his site:

http://rgmb-stonebridge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/saga-anglo-danish-welsh-alliance-vs.html

This shows some really nice pictures of the troops that Rick, Luke and Red brought with them (a big thanks to Luke for the loan of his lovely Anglo-Danish warband).  The key thing for me was how quickly the rules system became second nature and the game turns began to flow quite quickly with a nice period "feel".

All in all, a really nice game system and well worth the investment in a set of the rules and some suitable figures.  Now, all I have to decide is Viking, Anglo-Danish, Saxon, Welsh, Irish, Scots .... etc.  Decisions, decisions!

Thanks again to Rick for organising the game and the introduction, and to Luke for the loan of his troops, and I can only admire Red's immersion into the full-on aggression of his Viking warband.

Thanks for looking.

WW1 German battlecruisers

I was asked what the Navwar 1:3000 WW1 battleships look like, so here is the 1st Scouting Group ready to refight the Battle of Jutland.

The entire group, SMS Lutzow at the front, second row SMS Derfflinger and SMS Seydlitz, back row, SMS Moltke and SMS Von der Tann.

 SMS Lutzow (in the foreground)

 SMS Derfflinger

 SMS Seydlitz

 SMS Moltke

 SMS Von der Tann

With the 100th Anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War fast approaching and the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland coming up in 2016, I shall have to dust off the fleets and seek out a set of playable rules to get these ships in action.  Then all I'll need is a gymnasium to play out the battle in.

Thanks for looking.

15mm German Forces

As I was sorting out the US Paratrooper forces I'm planning on using in the upcoming FoW campaign at the Defenders, I also dug out my German troops and transferred them from box files into some plastic trays that I bought in a Hobbycraft sale some months back.  While doing this I thought I might as well take some photos, so here they are.

A Heer Festung Grenadier or Fusilier Platoon, figures mainly from the Peterpig German and SS infantry ranges, with the odd Battlefront figure.

 Another Heer platoon, as above, figures almost exclusively Battlefront.

A Heer platoon, as above, this time in greatcoats and with various gloves and scarves - well it can get cold evenings in northern France, even in summer - figures by Battlefront.

 A Panzer IV section with platoon command Panzer IV - all vehicles by Peterpig.

 A Panther platoon with command tank and Bergepanther repair and recovery vehicle, again all vehicles by Peterpig.

 A Schwere Panzer Platoon of three Konigstigers, by Skytrex - these are real heavy metal, both the vehicles they represent and the models themselves - there is a serious amount of metal castings here.

Mobile AA support in the form of a Wirbelwind and Sdkfz 7/1 with quad 2.0cm AA gun, all from Battlefront.

 Co HQ of a Gepanzerte SS_Panzergrenadier Kompanie with CO, 2iC and optional pair of tank hunter panzerschreck teams.  This is a Battlefront set that was given away free with a subscription to Wargames Illustrated a few years back.

 A Gepanzerte SS_Panzergrenadier Platoon with command stand plus three section of two stands and Sdkfz 251 transports, figures mainly Skytrex SS infantry with occasional Peterpig and vehicles by Peterpig.

 Gepanzerte SS Heavy Platoon with Sdkfz 251 transport and HMG section (there should be two but the second section is missing at present).  Peterpig vehicles, Skytrex CO and Battlefront HMGs.

 An Sdkfz-251/9 on the right from the heavy platoon, plus a Marder TD on the left, both by Peterpig.

 SS AT gun platoon, minus transport.  PAK 40s and crew are Peterpig.

 Heer AA Platoon of three 20mm quad AA guns with transport, less two vehicles - ready for those Jabos.  Vehicles and guns from Battlefront.

 An 88mm heavy AT/AA gun with transports, additional crew stand and separate stand for wheels and axles, models from Battlefront.

 An assortment of concrete Tobruk pits.  Those at the bottom with LMGs are as supplied from Battlefront, but these packs also contain an obsolete French tank turret, so I used these turrets with some balsa sheet to make another set of turret stands.

 Three 75mm IG stands with SS crews - all from Peterpig I think.

 An SS Panzergrenadier Kompanie, less transports, figures from Skytrex and the odd Peterpig.

 Another SS Panzergrenadier Platoon less transport, figures by Skytrex, Peterpig and Battlefront.

 Grenadier Pioneer Platoon, figures by Battlefront, with one stand per section replaced with  flamethrower stand - no transport.

A bit of an eclectic mixture of Battlefront, Peterpig and Skytrex kit built up over about 20 years, most of that time with no specific goal in mind but to collect vehicles and figures that captured my imagination.  If I start to play more often in this scale, I'll fill out some of the units that I don't have models for or finish off those sitting in the unpainted lead mountain.

Thanks for looking.