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!

15mm Forged In Battle PzIIIs for Tunisia

These are a set of five PzIIIs, which Phil picked up for a bargain price at the WWGS in Castle Donnington.  He wants these for a late N African battlegroup for action in Tunisia.  Rather than a desert yellow, he opted for an olive green scheme using paints liberated from the Italian Airforce and felt by the Germans to be a better match to the more vegetated scenery in Tunisia.  Some of these will no doubt finish up as Tiger escorts, given Phil's "Tiger Phil" nickname.

These are painted in Russian green, over sprayed with a 50:50 mix of Pastel green and Russian green.

The complete platoon.

The command vehicle.

From the other side.

The commander, about as close as my camera will focus.  I've done him in yellow green.

Another view of the commander.

The platoon arrayed on parade - a propaganda shot for Phil's opponent tonight.  Let's hope there aren't any Kittyhawks out for a straffing run!

Hope he likes them. Now all I've got to do is finish an Israeli Sho't Centurion and an infantry platoon for his Arab-Israeli War project.

Thanks for looking.

6mm British attack helicopters.

After reading Richard C's helicopter resurrection blog (link http://thelandofcounterpane.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/helicopter-resurrection.html), I decided to order myself some of the Hurlbat rotors (link http://www.hurlbat.co.uk/category-s/1824.htm).  I placed an order on Thursday evening just gone for 3 Lynx rotors, 1 Gazelle and 3 AH-1 rotors, plus 7 tail rotors (completely forgot the Gazelle didn't need one as the tail rotor is built in to the tail.  Got an e-mail on Friday to say they had been shipped and postie popped them through the letter box on Saturday afternoon.

I've painted up the three Lynx and Gazelle, all from Heroics and Ros, in light sea grey and NATO green camouflage, with azure glass picked out with white reflections, and black hand drawn ARMY markings plus royal blue and flat red hand drawn roundels.

The Lynx flight plus Gazelle spotter overfly a recce squadron moving up to join the fight for Hannover.

One of the Lynx in more detail.  The rotor is mounted on a copper wire pin that I drilled and superglued into the rotor hub of the model.  The rotor hub has a blob of black paint added and the etched rotors on the plastic disc has been washed with Army Painter dark tone ink.

The Gazelle in more detail.



One of the Lynx from another angle.

Final view of the flight overtaking the recce squadron.

These rotors are well worth the effort of adding to the models as they really do bring them to life.  I think they will be making an appearance on all my future helicopter projects and also I'll start to add them to my existing USMC and French helicopters.

Thanks for looking!

15mm French Napoleonic Carabineers

I've rebased my old Minifigs Carabineers and added a command stand using a pack from Lancashire Games.  Looking at the Minifigs figures, I'm going to have to touch up the plumes as they look a little worn, but otherwise they look pretty good for 20 year old paint jobs.

The command group in more detail.  I'm going to have to work on the Eagle, as there is a weak point in the shaft, so I'll need to replace it with a pin eventually.

Continuing the command theme, here are a couple of shots of infantry brigade commanders, again old Minifigs figures that I have rebased.

Thanks for looking.

More Napoleonic 15mm French Hussars

Here is the rest of the French Hussars battlepack from Lancashire Games that I picked up at WMMS.  These are painted as the 7th Hussars in their olive green uniforms, ready for the Waterloo campaign.

Viewed from the front.

And from behind.

 

 

These guys suffered the curse of a new unit and were swept away in our Thursday night game last week, by Ian's light cavalry.  Better luck next time!

 

Thanks for looking.



Lancashire Games 15mm French Cuirassiers

Part of my purchase from Lancashire Games at WMMS in March was a Battlepack of 24 French Cuirassiers and a pack of 3 Command.

Here are two Regiments, each of 12 figures, based in threes on 40x30mm bases, with the command figures on a round 40mm radius base.

One of the Regiments in more detail.

The command stand in more detail.

Nice figures, very pleased with these units.  Unfortunately, their performance on the table tonight left a lot to be desired.  I had three units of Cuirassiers brigaded on the French right wing and they were thoroughly broken by British heavy cavalry in two turns.  The curse of the first outing for a new unit!

Thanks for looking!

First outing for my 15mm Napoleonics

Two weeks ago, we managed to get together for a game of Black Powder.  It turned out that Dave and Aidan had significantly more troops than I was expecting and also they were considerably bigger units than I was expecting - rather than units of 12 based on three 40x20mm bases, they were 24 man battalions based on the equivalent of 6 40x20s.  Similarly, my 6 figure cavalry units needed to be paired to form 12 figure units.  So that halved the number of units I was able to field.

However, we were still able to put a couple of brigades each on the table, plus wings of cavalry.  Here is my disposition on the French left, opposite Aiden.  On my right was Ian, pairing off against Dave.  Both Ian and I had Napoleon for a CinC!  On the right is a brigade of infantry in mixed order (two columns flanking a battalion in line), with an artillery piece on the right flank and squadrons of Lancers and Cuirassiers behind.  On the left are three infantry battalions in column, including a unit of Guard, with squadrons of Hussars and Carabineers covering the open flank.

Looking along the French lines with Ian's troops in the distance beyond the low hill.

Ian's massed cavalry, mainly Dragoons, on his right flank.

French Dragoons trying to look mean.

British Dragoons and Hussars trying not to look intimidated by the French Dragoons.

The British (and Portuguese) lines looking from Dave's, towards Aiden's deployments.

The troop facing each other.

Dressing the lines with last minute adjustments.

Opening move, my infantry refused to advance, but both wings of cavalry were happy to get going.

Rear view of my infantry - these British masquerading as Swiss.

French light cavalry on the far left, Hussars with Carabineers in the distance.

Just bout every French unit refusing to move.

Ian's plucky infantry in campaign dress seemed much more eager to get stuck in, advancing steadily.

Ian's and Daves's cavalry clash with charge and counter charge on the far right.

On the French left, British heavy cavalry see off the Carabineers and break the Hussars, leaving them shaken, resulting in a frantic swing of Lancers and Cuirassiers from the French right over to the left, with a battalion of infantry shaking out into line to act as a stop line.

My infantry finally manage to advance on my right in support of Ian's infantry.

All too much for my Hussars and Carabineers, although the British cavalry were pretty much spent too.

Here come the Lancers and Cuirassiers.

The left flank becomes stabilised.

The British and their Portuguese allies advance on the French.

Ian's grand battery and infantry get to grips with Dave's line.

My infantry starts to trade volleys with Aiden's infantry, although the lads next to the forest have just repulsed a charge from Aiden's infantry with his unit fluffing their morale and routing, forcing morale checks for adjacent units, causing two more to rout off the field.  To the left of the woods, the Lancers have charged a unit of rifles who successfully form square, but the Cuirassiers charge a unit of line infantry who fail to form square - oops!

The game had to end there as we had reached the Cinderella time of the evening.  A game this size would have required a day to see through to completion.  However, it generated quite a bit of interest from club members and all the players agreed it was a fantastic looking table.  So, result.  I think we will see the 15s coming out to play more often if all goes well.

Thanks for looking.