6mm Shakleton updated

Having updated my 1980's Lynx and Gazelle helicopters with Hurlbat rotors, I've ordered enough to update my US Marine helicopters.  I also ordered some of the 1cm diameter tail rotors as I thought they would be useful as propellers for piston engine aircraft.  So, I upgraded the Shakleton model that I did for Crisis Point Arctic Strike back in 2013.

As with the helicopter, I think the addition of propeller discs seems to make the aircraft come alive.

The Shakleton makes a high flypast over the lines during last week's first outing for my 1985 British battlegroup.

Thanks for looking.

6mm 1985 British Chieftain Regiment

This is the first of the units, that I've finished, for the Cold War Commanders big game (defence of Hannover) coming up in September.  Front row (L-R) Alpha Sqdn, Recce Sqdn, Bravo Sqdn; Middle row, Alpha Sqdn HQ, CO Sqdn and Bravo Sgdn HQ; Rear row, Charlie Sqdn, ATGM Sqdn, with LAD in front, and Delta Sqdn.  Most of the Chieftains are from Scotia, with some Chieftains and the rest of the vehicles from Heroics and Ros.

Bravo Sqdn, four Chieftain platoons and a HQ stand.

Recce Sqdn, two recce Scimitar FV107 CVR(T)s.

CO Sqdn, two Chieftains, the CO and a LAD FV434 (no real function in the game but adds to the overall look)..

Four stands of FV438 Swingfires, forming the ATGM Sqdn.

These were base coated light grey, then washed with diluted Tamiya NATO green and splodged Vallejo NATO black.  Ink washed with Army Painter dark tone, then dry brushed 50:50 mix of NATO green and pastel green.  Thermal insulation on gun barrels is grey-green and tracks are flat brown.  Exhausts are orange brown.  I'm pretty happy with these although I'll probably add some clump foliage just to break up the open nature of the bases.

Right, where are those T72s?

Thanks for looking!

D-day at Gauntlet 2014

Some older photographs that I've not been able to download from the phone until now.  This is a beach landing scenario that I played with Ian Clarke and Ian Shaw using Battlegroup WW2 rulesat the Deeside Defenders Gauntlet Show back in the summer.  These are quite fun, but infantry on foot take an age to get anywhere.  The scenario was quite generic, bit would fit well with Sword or Gold beach.

First wave landing.

Another view of the crowded beach and surf.

The landing craft are a mixture of mine and Ian S's, largely from the Scotia Ship to Shore range.

The infantry swarm over the sea wall and start to push inland.

The German hinterland, largely devoid of troops until 21st Panzer arrive.

I thought these were worth sharing as the beaches looked quite spectacular.

Thanks for looking.

French light armour

 

I've been adding some light armour to my 1980's French battlegroup.  These will do as assets from 6th Light Division allocated to the heavy armoured division with AMX-30s I've already put together.  They will also be useful for the light armour assigned to the Daguet Brigade for the Gulf War in 1991.

1st Foreign Legion light armoured battalion in AMX-10RCs (H&RFM08).



1st Spahis light armoured battalion, also in AMX-10RCs.

The 1st Regiment Hussar Parachutiste.  These should be in ERC-90s (Sagaies).  I had two (rear left) in my spares box, as well as a couple of AMX-10RCs (rear right).  I ordered 8 from Scotia to make up the numbers but was told the mould is temporarily unavailable and they sent me 6 armoured cars (front row) as replacements which were incorrectly labelled.  I think they are VBC-90s (Scotia FM00015), but I'm not sure.  Either way, I found CinC do Sagaies, so ordered three packs from Wargames Emporium, but have just been told they are on reorder from CinC in the States.  Curses, foiled again.  Hopefully CinC will resupply before September, but if not these will have to do!

An ERC-90 Sagaie on the left and a possible VBC-90 on the right.  Close enough but I'd prefer to get the right vehicles if I can.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Turkish Field Hospital

A field hospital for my 1980's Turkish army.  These are some more of the excellent 20ft containers available from The Baggage Train, together with some Scotia Hummer ambulances (UM0024) and an M151 jeep (H&RUSM39).  Roadway is sand undercoated pale grey and washed in dark ink.  Vehicles are marked with the Red Crescent rather than the Red Cross.

Thanks for looking.

Turkish 4th armoured brigade

The armoured fist for Turkish 4th Corps is the 4th Armoured Brigade.

The 1st/4th equipped with M60A3 MBTs (H&R USM05) with one dozer equipped MBT from Scotia.  These are painted in the NATO three colour scheme with added Iraqi sand patches.

A more detailed view.

2nd/4th equipped the same as 1/4th.  Similar NATO scheme but no sand patches.

In more detail.

 3rd/4th is a mechanised battalion in AICVs, actually Dutch YPR-765 models (H&R NEM02).  Each of the first three rows represents A-C companies, each with three infantry platoons in AICVs and one Milan ATGW in an M113.  At the rear is D (support) company with three M125A1s (81mm mortar carrier M113s; H&R USM54) and one M113 tow for a 120mm mortar.

An A company M113 Milan carrier with two AICV vehicles in more detail.

D company M125A1s and an M113 120mm mortar tow in more detail.

4th/4th organised the same as 3rd/4th.  Whereas 3rd/4th is in a standard NATO three colour scheme, 4th/4th has patches of Iraqi sand added.

A company vehicles in more detail.

D company mortar carriers and 120mm mortar tow.

Battalion supports include a company of engineers in M113s, with an M60 AVLB (H&R USM37).

The AVLB in more detail.

An ATGM company of AICVs with TOW 2 launchers (actually YPR-765 TOWs; H&R NEM03).

One of the platoon stands in more detail.

An AA company - these are Hummer Stinger carriers for transporting Redeye AA systems.  The models are regular hummers (H&R USM42) with squares of cardboard added to the roof to represent the firing hatch.

One of the hummers in more detail.

Apart from the leg infantry and some HQ and mortar stands, that's the 4th and 20th (see previous posts) Brigades just about wrapped up.  To complete the Corps, I'll need to work up the 9th Motorised Infantry Brigade.  These need a lot of lorry transports.  Unfortunately, I've run out of 40x20 bases, so will have to wait until I can restock at the Phalanx show.  Fortunately, I've got some light armoured battalions for my French Daguet Division which are based and ready for undercoating, so will have plenty to be getting on with.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Cold War Turks

I'm still testing the cammo scheme I want to use for the Cold War Turks.  These are Hummer Stinger carriers (Scotia UM025), these are painted in Vallejo US green with NATO black and orange brown cammo stripes.

A pair of M60A3s with dozer blades, one for each M60A3 battalion in the armoured brigade (Scotia UM046).  These look like serious pieces of hardware.

For infantry I tried an experiment.  I like the Mainforce infantry from Magister Militum, but these are mostly prone.  They are a bit chunkier than H&R or GHQ, but are more compatible with Irregular.  I wanted to model the Turkish infantry in a uniform more reminiscent of older US infantry, so picked up some from the Irregular Vietnam range while I was at Triples on Saturday.  On the right is a stand of US infantry (VN1).  In the middle is a US command stand (VN7) with a generic wheeled 120mm mortar from Scotia (NE008).  On the left is a Mainforce Milan team.  For me these work well together and I'm thinking of using Irregular for the standing figures - mainly regular infantry - and Mainforce for the more specialist stands (air defence, ATGM, etc.).

 

 

Thanks for looking.

Yet more Cold War French

On the premise that you can never have enough French microarmour I figured to extend my French armoured division from the 80's into the 90's, so I can add VBLs and Leclercs.  Most of my existing forces, with some additional armoured cars, can be stretched easily to 1991 and the Division Daguet - the French contribution to Operation Desert Storm.

I needed some Crotale AA stands - these are two firing vehicles (Scotia FM004) and the FCR radar vehicle (Scotia FM005) - for the Daguet Division.

These Crotale models are really nice.

A company of VBL Milan ATGM stands (Scotia FM035).  These are painted in the tricolour NATO scheme used on French vehicles in the 90's.

As the Daguet Division was equipped with more VAB HOT Mephisto units than I had, here are six more stands using Scotia FM018.

Next up will be units of AMX-10RC and ERC 90 to complete the light armoured units available to the Daguet Division.

More 1980s French in 6mm

Back to my 6mm gear over the weekend.

First up are a maintenance stand and medical evac stand for the big game at Broughton.  The maintenance stand comprises a VAB Genie and an AMX-30B recovery vehicle, both by Scotia (FM33 and 43 respectively).  The medevac stand comprises two VABs, I think by Heroics and Ros (FM05), painted with Red Cross markings.  The engineer vehicles need a little more detailing to finish them off, mainly the yellow dot NATO weight markings that I've put on the rest of my vehicles.

The medevac stand in more detail.  I'm assuming these vehicles are carrying wounded to a suitable temporary helipad for aerial evacuation.

Next up are various helicopter assets.  First up a Heroics and Ros Alouette III attack helicopter (FMA401).  For variety, I've painted these in the three colour camouflage scheme that seems to have come in to widespread use at the end of the 80's, but I'm stretching the scheme a little forward to 1985.

This is the Gazelle attack helicopter (H&R UKMA401).  The model is unarmed, but represents a TOW armed aircraft, so I may try and scratch build some tubes either side of the fuselage to represent the TOW launchers.

The Puma transport helicopter (H&R UKMA403).

All the helos need French roundels and an "armee de terre" added to the fuselage, although I suspect these would be painted over in wartime.

I've ordered a few more French models from Heroics and Ros and Scotia to complete some light armoured battalions equipped with AMX-10RC and ERC-90 Sagaie, which will allow me to field the Daguet Brigade from the 1st Gulf War in 1991, although these forces are destined to appear in another theatre altogether!

Thanks for looking!

Rigid raiders and rubber boats

These are the rigid raiders and rubber inflatables that I painted up for my 1985 USMC forces last year.

First up on the right we have three rigid raiders with passengers and crew from Scotia ship to shore range (STS053) plus, on the left, a rigid raider with crew and LMG (Scotia STS054).

Next up on the left, three 10-12 man rubber boats from Scotia neutral equipment range (NE018) and, on the right a 10-12 man rubber boat with LMG (NE019)..

 More detailed comparison of rigid raider on the left with the rubber boat on the right, both with crew and passengers.  The rigid raider is overall a more detailed model, whereas the rubber bot crew tend to be a bit blobby and its down to the paint job as to how credible the figures look.  As you can probably guess, I much prefer the rigid raider model.

Thanks for looking.

French bridging equipment 1985

Here is the French heavy bridging equipment available to support the armoured division.  First off on the left is an EFA amphibious ferry in travel mode (Scotia FM0046).  On the right is the Leguan bridge layer, again in travel mode.  Note the AMX-30 stand on a 40x20mm base in the middle for scale - the big boys are mounted on 80x20mm bases.

 Here are two of the massive PFM pontoon bridge sections mounted on their articulated flatbed trailers.  Each model comes with either a ramp (Scotia FM0052) or centre section (Scotia FM0051) deployed and in travel mode.  Again these are mounted on 80x20mm bases, with an AMX-30 for scale.

 Finally, here are two PFM ramp sections (with railings) and two centre sections deployed.  Each ramp and centre section pair is mounted on an 80x20mm base so the bridge is in two parts, so it is possible to differentiate between the bridge in travel mode (the lorries), partly assembled (one ramp and centre section) and assembled (both ramp and centre sections).  Again, the AMX-30 for scale.

So, these various bridging assets should allow the French to cross any river obstacle up to a scale of 120mm, provided the enemy don't interfere.

Thanks for looking.