Progress update May 2023

Varied progress over the bank holiday weekend.

Nine of the Perry 28mm Afrika Korps figures painted and based, photographed here drying in the sunshine.  As an added bonus, I was rummaging through the stash and came across a sprue of Warlord DAK figures - I think from a copy of Wargames Illustrated.  Bonus additional 6 figures, which I've assembled and started to paint (no photos as yet).

With the 3D printer behaving itself at the moment, I scaled up some Bergmann jeeps from 15mm to 20mm and added some SHQ crews.  Two US recce jeeps with .50 cals.  One British para recce jeep and a para transport jeep.  Still have another para recce jeep and regular British jeep crew to work on.

Started back before Christmas, these 15mm M151 jeeps from QRF just needed varnish and basing.  Dried in a matter of minutes in the afternoon sun and simple static grass on base.  Two recoilless rifles and two TOW armed jeeps.  Suitable for 60's through 80's.  I just need some M151s with a recce HMG variant.  They might even make it on the table in AK47 games, or as Indo-Pak or Arab-Israeli wars forces.

Finally, for now, I got around to finishing the batch of 20mm figures I ordered at Christmas during the Elhiem sale.  These are a pack of random Middle Eastern insurgents and a pack of RPG armed insurgents.

 I finished these pretty much as my Not Going to Salute sale order from Elhiem arrived on the doorstep.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Early 21st Cent action in the Middle East

Thursday was a Jubilee open day at the local community centre where we normally play club games on a Thursday evening.  The centre invited us to put on all day games for visitors to watch, so Dave, Paul, Mick, Nathan, Tom, Ian and I did an early 21st Cent ME game based on a US probe into the outskirts of, let's say, Fallujah (no idea if the forces involved are in any way historical).  A US battlegroup with recce squads in Bradleys, supported by various infantry squads in M113s and Hummers, with 4 M1s, met up with Republican Guard recce screen in BMP-2s, supported by a pair of T-64As, with follow up waves of T-64As and Fedayeen infantry in technicals.  All terrain and troops from Dave's collection.

The calm before the storm with US deployment 24 inches on from the far table edge and Iraqi deployment from the near table edge (Iraqis were allowed to occupy the buildings on the far side of the road just over 24 inches on).

One of the US objectives was to place special forces adjacent to what appeared on satellite to be a WMD - of course, the Iraqis knew there were no WMDs and this was just an innocent length of drill pipe.

Iraqi left flank.

The killing ground - but who for?

Iraqi right flank.  Bradleys in the distance waiting to be deployed.

Dry wadi crossing the centre of the battlefield - good cover for infantry.

Three turns in and the Iraqi recce screen (vehicles in camo green) have been overtaken by the waves of T-64As on the left flank.

On the Iraqi right T-64As also advance rapidly, followed by Fedayeen technicals swarming with irregulars. 

The Republican Guard AT-4 team in a sand bagged emplacement in the apartments with blue balconies has done a sterling job in dissuading US vehicles from breaking cover, despite its poor strike rate.

The empty battlefield - the US have pushed a Hummer forward on the Iraqi left.

Towards the end, the Iraqis have their danders up and are surging forwards trying to close the range with those M1s.  There is, however, only one operational T-64A on the left flank, but even one of the BMP-2s has come forward to try and pin the troublesome LAW and TOW teams that have made it to the wadi.

Burning T-64As (T-80s proxying for recce T-64As).

The moment of truth, swarms of Fedayeen unleash salvos of RPGs, taking out M113s and an M1.  The last T-64A on this flank also despatches an M1.  Not photographed, but US special forces dash out of a building and attempt to identify the load on the truck (just to the right of the apartment block), only to be pinned by a recce infantry squad that had been on ambush fire the whole game.  I'd like to claim this was due to my superb generalship, but was in reality a hangover from the first turn when all they could do was go on ambush and a lack of orders meant that I could never get them to do anything once reserves arrived.  A desperately unlucky casualty check roll of 1 meant the special forces team were wiped out to a man and the contents of the truck remained unresolved.  The Republican Guard ensured the drill pipe was delivered to a nearby oil field as quickly as possible.

There were some minor distractions for the US troops.  A concealed sniper in the wadi on the Iraqi right flank occasionally pinned down US infantry trying to push forwards, while two innocent lads on motorcycles heading home from work and a lady driving an SUV caused some heavy handed US actions involving cable ties, car crushing and I think double taps to the head were also mentioned, possibly in front of the worlds news networks, with Al Jazeera running the clips every 15 minutes!

A fun game, played using most of the Battlegroup Northag stats and rules mechanics, minus pulling chits, with a roll for the US for helicopter support, which, fortunately for the Iraqis locally, was in use elsewhere on the day and not available.  Great looking 20mm forces and terrain from Dave, although several of those playing could have fielded both US and British troops suitable for the theatre.  Playing this meant I had a search through my stash for some 15mm Old Glory ME and insurgent infantry, which are now on the painting table, while the 3D printer is generating some BMP-2s and I'm searching for Toyota Hilux pickup stl files for the insurgents.

Thanks to Dave for laying the game on and my sporting and gallant allies and opponents - it was a lot of fun.  Thanks for looking.

Something of a pleasant distraction

 I lost the painting mojo before Christmas and was quite wrapped up with getting some games in at the club, including a big Saturday gaming day, as well as attending the Recon show in Pudsey, Leeds.  Having seen the output from my chum Will McNally's 3D printer, I decided to take the plunge and rather than asking for models this Christmas, I asked my wife for a 3D printer.  She managed to get me an Elegoo Mars 2 during one of the periodic/episodic Amazon price reductions, plus a bottle of grey resin.

Christmas morning, I opened the box, read the instruction manual and carefully placed everything to one side until I'd picked up some isopropyl alcohol and borrowed a uv resin curer from work.  This weekend I was ready.  Friday afternoon we set up the machine - looks more complicated than it turned out to be, 1/3rd filled the tank with resin and loaded Chitubox (or whatever its called) on the PC.  I'd already farmed various sites for stl files, mainly M Bergman and Tigerace1945, both of which produce some seriously useful files.

I then started producing 15mm armour, faster than the tractor factories of Chelyabinsk.  We have played a lot of Battlegroup Northag at the club recently, which encourages whole companies of T-62s and T-64s to be deployed.  I started out with a test T-64B hull and turret, which came out very nicely using the stl file and autoplatform and supports using Chitubox's default settings.  Sadly, I forgot to print the little MG cupola, so finished up batch printing a few of them.  Full of confidence, I then sliced two hulls and turrets, printing them in pairs, which also worked well.

That gave me a troop of T-64Bs in 15mm scale, so I got to work on a platoon of BMP-1s for infantry support.  Hull and turret, these were formatted for two of each on each print run.

I then experimented with a few WW2 models in 15mm, an early or mid-war Dorchester ACV, an SdKfz 9 Famo recovery vehicle, an armoured jeep and a Pz-35t.  Still some clean up of the supports needed on the Dorchester wheels.

These French Somuas were upscaled to 1/72 from 1/100 using an online scale conversion that I found on Google and seem to have worked out well.  Another two part model, hull and turrets.

Finally, for now, I decided to try out the 3D Breed WW2 infantry and bought their set of winter British and Commonwealth infantry.  Each set comes with 15mm and 28mm figures with supports already added, as well as a set of 28mm figures without supports.  I found that I preferred cleaning up the figures when I'd allowed Chitubox to add supports, rather than those that came with the figures.  Below is the HQ set at the back (officer, kneeling RTO, and medic), back left is the spotter for a Bren gunner (sadly the bren gun snapped and I couldn't repair it, so he will be part of a mortar/artillery spotter team).  In front is a sniper team and PIAT team.

So, what did I learn?

Setting up the printer was a lot simpler than it appeared.

Don't overfill the resin tank, the plate drops into it when the printing starts and if over a third or so full, the resin can spill over the edges of the tank.

If the resin runs low during a print, there is a pause option, the model rises out of the resin and there is space to top up with some additional resin, but don't overdo it - see point above.

Cleaning up is hard in a domestic environment when you're spraying isopropyl alcohol everywhere, when the civil power comes in and says "what's that smell?".

Freeing the models from the base and supports is a combination of skilled snipping and brute force ripping, best done before the models have time to fully harden off.

Freeing the models from the base plate is best done with a plastic spatula before the models harden off,  The models often ping off unexpectedly and can fly a surprising distance, while the edge of the base plate is surprisingly sharp when contacted by unwary fingers!

Models need to be well washed, so water soluble resin is more practical.

Resin curing time makes a huge difference to print rates and can make printing 4 or 5 times longer with slower curing resins.

As the uv source can access the whole of the print bed, there is no difference in print times between printing one model per run and multiple models - as many as can fit on the bed.

When adding multiple models on the bed, it is better to allow enough separation for the supports, so that each model is separate - if they are too close, they print as one large piece of plastic, which means more work to clean up.

All snipping off of supports is best done before hardening, as the resin becomes quite brittle and can easily snap in the wrong places.

Final hardening was done using a very inexpensive uv source sold as a curing station for acrylic finger nails.

Bergman's model tanks are lovely, but you either have to slightly reduce the turret size before printing or file them down, which is what I did, but filing releases resin dust, which I wouldn't want to encourage without suitable protection.

I intend to minimise the amount of clean up, especially of the resin tray and its thin clear plastic film base, by planning batches of printing to make use of rainy weekends and bank holidays.  Resin can be left in the tank for short periods, but the longer it is left, the more likely it is that the resin will start to cure on the liquid, or even worse, adhere to the thin film on the base of the tank.

Thanks to all those kind souls who have shared really cool stl files for such a wide range of things, many of which aren't made by commercial manufacturers.  If anyone has a link to an Achilles SPAT stl file, that is one that I couldn't track down over the last few weeks.

As ever, thanks for looking and a belated happy new year.

Cold War Commanders Grimsby Game 2021 Sunday action

 Sunday saw the Soviets regroup for another bite at NATO.  In front of the USMC one BMP battalion withdrew completely, while a second, now reduced to little more than a company) took up concealed positions around fields and hedgerows.

Sea Cobras patrolling aggressively.

The Soviets were still plagued by poor command rolls, which meant their tank battalion eventually moved on table alone.  Intentions were revealed, when it swung away to the west (USMC left flank), but not before TOW-1s and a strike from an A-9 Intruder (10 attacks - reduced to 9 by one unsaved AAA hit) took out half the available armor.  This was a first for the marines and an Intruder strike is something to behold.

Unfortunately, the M60s tried to move laterally from woods on right to those on the left, under cover of a Soviet smoke barrage, but sadly failed a vital command roll and were reduced to one running tank platoon.  Time for the Dragons to earn their keep and two stands can be seen advancing into the woods to bolster up the left flank and support British 1st infantry. 

The empty terrain in front of the marines right flank - oh for some mobile reserves.

Over on the left, the remaining tank and Dragon teams made slow progress, while a follow-up Soviet BMP infantry battalion swings down the road in the distance, heading for the crumbling British defences off screen to the left.

What's left of the Soviet tank battalion and newly arrived BMP battalion still struggling to gain any momentum with poor command rolls.

By the end of play, a combination of long range ATGMs from USMC Tows, Sea Cobras and air strikes from Corsairs, Intruders, and Kriegsmarine Tornados, but mainly poor command roles, meant that the Soviets facing the marines were late to the party (top right in picture below).  However, Steve, the next Soviet player had got to close range and was systematically destroying what was left of British 1st Divisions Chieftain and Milan assets.  Although there could still be some costly engagements with British infantry in the town, it was felt that the Soviets had achieved a breakthrough.  In hindsight, I could have broadened my left flank and taken up some of the pressure on the Brits sooner by moving my infantry into the fields and trees to the right of the view below (2 Dragon teams and an M60 weren't enough), but at leg infantry speeds, could they have moved fast enough?

Sadly, the M60 and Dragons couldn't inflict enough pain on the armor to stop them, although they had been reduced to 50% strength, thanks largely to the Intruder strike.

All in all a great couple of days gaming played with some old and some new friends.  My AAR really only reflects what was happening on the extreme NATO right wing.  Over on the left, Mark's Danes had a torrid time from Andy and Stewart's Soviet Spetsnaz and Marines.  Next to them, Andy's German panzergrenadiers had stood up to severe pressure from repeated suicidal close assaults from Soviet infantry, so much so that their commander Ianski was visited by comrade Makarov on the Saturday night and a new version Ianski 2 appeared on Sunday, only to see his force virtually wiped out again.  Between the Germans and Americans, Chris' British stood up to huge pressure, wiping out the first of Steve's Soviet wave, albeit at great cost in materials if not in infantry, only to be overwhelmed by the Soviet second wave.  The US marines had kept Martin's Soviets at arms length on day 1 and reduced the effectiveness of 2 BMP battalions to a single company, mainly due to command rolls preventing the Soviets from getting going.  Martin's Soviets eventually made it to support Steve's attack on the Brits and I didn't move enough strength soon enough to be able to support the British.

Loads of fun, some cracking banter, good food and a few beers.  In total I think it was 11 game turns played, which says a lot about the players (new players picked up the mechanics really quickly) and the spirit the game was played in, but also the restriction of forces to brigades (or parts of) with suitable supports.

Cold War Commanders Grimsby Game 2021 Saturday action

Saturday gaming kicked off with a couple of gratuitous shots;

A pair of F-14 Tomcats flying CAP skipped across the USMC deployment area at high speed.

Followed by the more sedate drone of a Shackleton ECCM aircraft operating out of RAF Lossiemouth.

Deploying at high speed, one marine infantry battalion raced into the village on the right flank of the USMC frontage, leaping out of their LVTP-7s and sheltering in the relative safety of the built up areas.

On the USMC left flank, the other USMC infantry battalion made a firebase from the village, while the M60-A1 tank squadron (all 4 stands) took up positions to fire on the advancing Soviet BMP-1 infantry battalions - these seemed to be ignoring the USMC right flank.

The BMPs trundled forwards relatively slowly, due to some awkwardly high command rolls.

But once up close to the M60 squadron, they were given what for.  The second BMP battalion can be seen fanning out around the fields in the right distance.

So far so good.

Tow 1 unit shooting diagonally across the table into the Soviet flank.  There used to be three more units, but a command blunder wiped them out.  Command blunders plagued both sides on the eastern flank, fortunately more so for the Soviets that the marines.

View looking west from USMC end of the table, both Brits and Germans are hard pressed with close assaults going in, while the Danes at the far end are given something of a pasting.

Soviets eventually call in smoke to mask the M60s.  The two closest M60s have been driven back by ATGM fire from the Soviets.

Marine infantry on the right wondering if they should redeploy using their helicopter assets.

Sea Cobras arrive to bolster the marines.

The first day ended with me feeling relatively content that the marines had managed to keep the Soviets at arms length.  The Soviets were really unlucky with command rolls, especially for their tank reserves which were released late in the day.  The Sea Cobras seemed to be having a good effect and NATO air strikes were fun, with the MAW available, there were A-9 Intruders, Corsairs, Harriers, Phantoms and even some Kriegsmarine Tornados, which proved very effective early on.  Already though, it appeared the Soviets were looking to concentrate on the gap between the USMC and British 1st infantry.