Building out some Tanks and AFVs and Finally painting

I managed to get some work done on the Merkava 1 that I am working on. I managed to get the barrel fitted. I still have to glue the bustle to the turret and the MGs to the turret. I need to finish the other Team Yankee T-72s that I have. I need to fit the mine rakes to the front of at least one of them. I found some spray paint that I will use as a primer. I managed to get my miniatures primed. They will need a second coat.

On Saturday afternoon, I reecived my paint sets. I received two AK sets, one was for MERDC and the other was late Cold War Soviet. The first up on the painting table was some of what I think are Old Glory or QRF T-55s? I am not entirely sure. They are smaller than the other T-55s that I have including the wrecked Peter Pig one that I got for Christmas years back. They still look like T-55s to me just undersized. Anyway, I was able to get some paint on them. I plan on going back with some highlights.

I also got started on the bases of the painted Soviet infantry that I have done. These are all Flank March 3d prints. The bases need more work. Mostly just some highlights and flock.

I aslo took a look at my 1980s IDF. Partially, I wanted to know how many M60s I had that I might steal for my US forces. As it turns out, I have one. I have a pair of 3D printed Magach 6s that I may have pulled from Thingiverse a while back. Those will stay with the IDF. The lone M60A3 will likely be pulled for service with the US. I have my base forces for the IDF but these are all extras that I want to finish off. Especially the armor. Not shown here is the Merkava 1 I am still assembling. I just have the machine guns and another piece to glue on before undercoating.

Idea for a scenario

I was watching a video on the Battle of Avdiivka in October of 2023. There was a video of a Russian assault on a Ukrainian Trenchline. The trenches were hidden in a tree line that was nearly destroyed by artillery fire. What struck me was how few defenders there were in the trenches. The video focused on a single squad but the trench line was held by elements of two battalions. The line appeared to me to be sparsely populated. Maybe a squad or so from each battalion? The area in front of the treeline/trenchline was open fields. The Ukrainians had at least one ATGM (Javelin possibly) and several RPGs as well as their rifles. They were supported by artillery and drones. The reserves seemed to be two additional squads mounted in Bradley fighting vehicles that arrived during the fight. These my have been other elements of the same platoon as the defenders.

The attack came with two T-72s in the lead with a chain of three BTRs following. The lead T-72 was using its mine plow to clear a path on the way to the trench line before turning in front of the trenchline and as the BTRs pulled up the infantry dismounted. The Soviets were attacking with what looked like a full platoon of infantry and at least a pair of tanks. There were other AFVs in the area probably attacking different positions.

My thought would be that this would be an interesting scenario to play in different time periods. Say Late War WWII on the Russian front with the German's defending. This would be a plausible scenario. I was also thinking of using it for a 1980s Cold War scenario of Soviets attacking a US defensive positions. Of course other possibilities are possible but these are just the two I want to start with. The defensive position could be possible almost anywhere.

I am trying to figure out how to model the trench position. My thought is that the game would be on a 6' x 4' table. With the trenchline running across the table. There would need to be some space available behind the position for the reinforcements to arrive. Given the distances from the videos, I am almost thinging doing the scenario in 6mm miniatures would be appropriate. At that scale, the treeline would be across the center of the table allowing for movement of both sides. As it is, I will likely do this in 15mm as I have the miniatures. The treeline would be further back and the defending vehicles would likely be off table.

What struck me was how narrow the dirt trenches were. A single casualty in the trench could block movement. Here is one of many screen captures that I took to get an idea of the terrain and how to build it out.

In this screen capture, it shows the initial attack that caught my interest. You can see the trail that the T-72 mine clearing made.

Anyway, this is just a thought I had while painting up my Cold War minis.

More Miniatures Printed

I just picked up my next round of Cold War miniatures. These include 14 Soviets including a recoiless rifle Team, a pair of flamethrowers and a few others. Also was a set of 12 US casualty figures. They are still need the supports removed. I still am lacking paint. I got to spend about a half hour removing the supports. I managed to destroy two of the models. But the rest have been glued to tongue depressors and are ready to prime, provided I get some primer.

I found the Team Yankee page on how to assemble the Merkava 1. The sprue has the bits to make either the Mark 1 or Mark 2. I will go with the earlier one for my Lebanon 82 IDF. I was having an issue fitting the barrel into the turret. I may have to sand it down a bit. I have some M60A3s (2 or 3) with my Israelis that are unpainted but they lack the additional ERA armor. I think I may move these to my US troops and look for some STLs to print for the Israelis. I may even have one that I have in my library of stuff I want to print.

I really want to get these on the table sometime soon. But the lack of paint is discouraging. I may end up switching over to AWI for a while.

Painting Merdc or Not

Well, the paint that I bought wasn't what I thought I was getting. So matching the color on my existing vehicles has proven to be very difficult. I stopped by Hobby Lobby to buy some paints but found out they nolonger stock Vallejo paint. The Hobby Shop near my house is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I will try again today. I did manage to use superglue without gluing my fingers to each other or the model. I built out two BMP-2s and a BMP-1. I need to get some primer and a forest green paint. hopefully, I can get that sorted tonight and get to work on these remaining figures. I really want to get a game of Cold War Chain of Command done.

Waiting for the primer I have an M577 command track, a T-72, a pair of BRDMs, another pair with rockets instead of a turret, about 20 or so Soviet Infantry, a couple of BMP-2s. There is also a M60A3, at least 1 M1 Abrams and a few other things I can't remember. Looking forward to getting moving on these.

I also found a sprue of a Merkava 1 that I had bought on eBay a year ago. The hull went together very well. But the turret is proving to be more of a challenge. I am trying to figure out which pieces go where. I need to look online for some instructions.

I also need to finish out my Operation Battleaxe campaign. Honestly, each of the player squadrons are so shot up, I don't think there will be any other big games. Not much of an update but I am trying to keep moving forward. My British Legion infantry keeps looking at me from the side of my painting table and making me feel guilty. I will have to get to them soon as well.

Slow Week

Hobby time has largely been placed on hold. I am still having issues painting with my arm and I am waiting on some new paint to be shipped. Typing isn't easy with the splint on my arm and right hand. I am getting some more Flank March Miniatures printed. That was the extent of my hobby week last week.

Cold War Minis

I received my 3d printed FV432 today. It is a nice crisp model that looks like it will match well with the existing miniatures that I bought off of eBay. I just need to figure out how to make them match.

I looked at the unpainted infantry platoon that I have. I am thinking of selling these and buying some painted ones from Gajo Miniatures. Probably sometime in August... Maybe.

I was not able to paint at all this weekend. I broke my arm a few days ago and am having trouble wielding a brush. Hopefully it will heal up and I can get back to work.

I am looking forward to getting a game on. I need to get some paint on the new minis that I had printed. I think I am good with the Soviets. I am still uncertain about painting the woodland camo for the US Infantry. Still waiting on some paint to be delivered to work on the Merdec camo for the US vehicles.

Cold War - New Minis

I got back my Flank March prints that I had done. They came out great. In addition I had some Berstrom (Might have that wrong) vehicles printed. The vehicles are a pair of BRDM-2s and two of the rocket mounted versions which I can't remember the names of. The other vehicle that I had printed was a FV432 to finish out the platoon I bought. I hope I can match the paint.

I have a few other things ready for priming as well. You can see the turret of an M60A3 there. I also have an M113 command track (I forget the actual designation) and a T-72 as well.

For the infantry, I have cleaned the supports off of the models to get ready to prime them. I need a new can of black primer.

For the Soviets, I had printed three troops with RPG18s, a pair of medics, a pair of officers, a radio operator, and three engineers (wire cutter, mine sweeper and Demolitions).

You can make out that the Medic figure dragging the casualty is a partial failure. The casualty is missing part of its leg. I can probably work with that. There is another guy on the back row next to the officer with raised pistol that has a bad arm. That figure I may discard.

For the US, I have a pair of officers, two senior NCOs, a radio operator, a Mark 19 with two crew, an M40AI with crew and three engineers (same types as soviets).

Somehow this picture came out clearer. I still have to glue the Mark 19 in place as well as the recoiless rifle. Both should be straight forward.

Operation Battleaxe Day 1 - Game 6

For the last battle of the afternoon, it will be the German Staffel against a British squadron. Only the Germans will be a player force.

Thus far, the player force has been very unlucky throughout the campaign. The German Staffel's first action left one pilot dead and two others walking back to base. And Another plane damaged (Gebhardt). This gives us the following available:

Pilot	Status	Kills	Notes
OberstLeutnant Grun	Veteran	1
Leutnant Edgar Masing	Regular	0
Feldwebel Fritz Lips	Sprog	0
Feldwebel Jacob Staudenmaier	Veteran	2
Unteroffizer Stefan Kellermann	Regular	0
Unteroffizer Jacob Kindl	Regular	0
Unteroffizer Christopher Schulberg	Regular	0
OberFahnrich Benedict Stoltenberg	Sprog	0
OberFahnrich Karl Gebhardt	Regular	1 (0)	Character Card

This is nine eligible pilots. There are two walking back to base and the Staffel commander has critical damage on his aircraft. Note that I promoted Gebhardt from Sprog to Regular. He both had scored a kill and had brought a damaged aircraft back to base. I will also make him a character for the next game.

These guys will go against a flight of Hurricanes and two flights of bombers. I will use three Blenheim Is and three Blenheim IVs proxied as more Blenheim Is. The action will be over German territory.

Pilot	Status	Notes
Flight Leader	Jr Ace	White I
Pilot 2	Regular	White II
Pilot 3	Regular	White III
Pilot 4	Sprog	WHite IV
Flight Leader II	Veteran	Black I
Pilot 5	Regular	Black II
Pilot 6	Regular	Black III
Pilot 7	Regular	Black II
Bomber Leader	Veteran	Blue I
Bomber II	Regular	Blue II
Bomber III	Sprog	Blue III
Bomber Leader II	Veteran	Yellow I
Bomber IV	Regular	Yellow II
Bomber V	Sprog	Yellow III

I need to clear the table of Cold War stuff to get this on the table. Maybe I can do that tonight as I am waiting on paint to finish that up.

SAAF Squadron - Operation Battleaxe Results

Way back in May, when the first game was played with the SAAF, they suffered badly as well. Of the 4 aircraft, one pilot was killed, another shot down and the other two planes were damaged. I am guessing that Lt Parker didn't make it back to base in time and that was why he didn't fly in this mission. As it stands, the squadron is down to three aircraft and eight pilots of which 6 are still trying to make their way back to base. This effectively takes them out of the campaign.

Pilot	Status	Kills	Campaign Missions Flown	Flight	Notes
Major Zayden de Beer	Veteran	1/1	1	Red I	Shot down, OK, 1 kill in mission
Captain Adiel Hertzog	Regular	0	2	White I	Shot Down, KIA
Lieutenant Androw FitzSimmons	Regular	0	1	Yellow I	Shot Down, Survived.
Lieutenant Francois van Wyk	Regular	0	1	Red II	Shot Down, KIA
Lieutenant Bertie Morgan	Sprog	0	2	White II	Survived
Lieutenant Wincuf Pinckney	Veteran	2	1	Yellow II	Shot Down, Survived.
Lieutenant Luca Hanekom	Regular	0	1	Red III	Show Down, KIA
Lieutenant Archie McKenzie	Regular	0	1	White III	Survived
Lieutenant Josh O'Brien	Sprog	0	1	Yellow III	Plane hit, Survived
Lieutenant Stephen Reynolds	Sprog	0	1	Red IV	Shot Down, Survived
Yellow IV	Regular	0	1	Yellow IV	Shot Down, Survived
White IV	Regular	0	1	White IV	Shot Down, Survived

The Germans did much better.

PILOT	Status	Kills in Game	Notes
White I	Jr Ace	4	Dominated the game
White II	Regular	0	Hit Red III, Aircraft Damaged
White III	Veteran	0
White IV	Veteran	0	Aircraft Damage
Blue I	Jr Ace	0
Blue II	Sprog	0	Temp Loss of Control, Aircraft Damaged
Blue III	Sprog	0	Hit Yellow III
Blue IV	Sprog	1	Kill Red II, Temp Loss of Control
Black I	Regular	1	Kill White IV
Black II	Veteran	0	Damaged Red I
Black III	Regular	0
Black IV	Sprog	0
Bombers
Blue I	Veteran	0
Blue II	Regular	0
Blue III	Sprog	0	Temp Loss of Control
Orange I	Veteran	0	KIA
Orange II	Regular	0
Orange III	Sprog	0

There is one more game for the afternoon. This will pit our player German Squadron against the RAF squadron. I still need to roll up the scenario for this. I hope to do the mission this week. We will see how that works out.

Weekend Painting - Cold War Soviets

I was able to break out my Cold War minis and get some work done. I had some Khurasan Miniatures Soviets on painting stick that had been primed. I pulled out a copy of Team Yankee and used the colors listed in the book. I used a slightly wattered down Soft Tone Army Painter wash on them. I suspect that I should not have watered it down. I will look again later and may redo it.

It is sixteen miniatures that include: an officer, an NCO, two ammo bearers, 3 men carrying additional rockets for RPGs, 3 guys carrying RPGs, 3 LMG gunners, a sniper and two rifle-grenadiers. All useful figures for additional supports for a base platoon.

I also started work on a BMP2 that I built but never painted and did some repair work on some T-55s that had paint chipped off of the barrels. I am hoping that these will come out OK. I am also not sure how well these will match with the existing paint job but hopefully it will be close.

I am waiting on some 3d Prints of some BRDMs and miniatures including engineers, medics, RPG-18s and Recoiless Rifle teams. They should be fun to run on the table.

I pulled out some US Infantry that needs to be finished. I found the painting guide I originally used as well. I want to get this on the table pretty soon. A priority will be to finish the M113 that is not in MERDEC camo and the additional infantry.

I picked up some M114s off of eBay not realizing that these were not is use by the 1980s. They are nice little models and I may try to figure out how to use them.

I also found my British Infantry! Unfortunately, I had some wishful thinking and thought they were all painted. They are QRF models. I think i have a full platoon. I am contemplating reaching out to GAJO Models and buyig painted Team Yankee models instead.

Finishing Game 4 - Operation BattleAxe

I took less pictures this time around. I started going through the cards and the SAAF Red Leader got on the tail of another Stuke. But this time it didn't work out as well. The cards were in the Stuka's favor and it was able to make a getaway off the table.

Next up, another Red pilot, on the tail of a Stuka, fired on the Stuka and missed. The Stuka also got the tail gunner card and fired but missed.

The German Ace from White Schwarm lined up and let loose a shot on a Tomahawk.

This resulted in catasgrophic structural damage. This aircraft is going down. This was one of the better sets of attack rolls I had. Next up, SAAF Yellow 3 had a shot past his stricken friend. He landed a hit but only caused wing damage.

After this I took a pause for a day. When I came back to the game, things took a bad turn for the SAAF. For playing a solo game, having two full 12 fighter squadrons on the table and another six bombers was a bit harder to manage. It was a good experience but I doubt I will run as large of a solo game again. I ended uptaking pictures of the dice then the planes to keep track of what happened.

The German Junior Ace (White I) started on a tear working his way through the SAAF pilots. He began with a great run of cards that put him up against SAAF Yellow IV, a pilot I should not have included as there were not enough pilots left to finish out two of the flights. I forgot and included him, much to Yellow IV's regret. German White I landed Engine damage and then was able to fire again causing Yellow IV to explode.

The SAAF got a deflection shot on German White II causing temp loss of control. The aircraft would recover.

German White I again showed off and maneuvered behind Lt Fitzsimmons (Yellow I) and caused Catastrophic Structural Damage. He would be able to bail out and survive the war.

One of the last Stuka's, Blue III, was set upon by a Yellow Pilot (lost track of who). They cause temp loss of control but it would be saved.

SAAF White IV was the next victim up, He was beset by both German White I and Black I. German White I landed wing damage. A second shot scored Engine Damage.

German Black one swooped in and stole the kill causing catastrophic structural damage.

German White I's next victim was Lt Pinkney (Yellow II). Landing a hit to his wing.

It was not all one sided. The South Africans manage to get behind German White IV and cause instrument damage.

That wasn't the only one as German White II also suffered the same fate.

Things came back to the German Ace. Still on the tail of Lt Pinkney, landed his next hit causing catastrophic structural damage.

German White II also got in on the kill streak. He fired on Lt Hanekom (Red III) and caused a pilot hit that was fatal.

German Black IV pulled up on Lt Reynolds (Red IV), and caused some wing damage.

Lt McKensie pulled up behind German Blue II and scored a temp loss of control.

The German ace was at it again. Pulling behind Captain Hertzog and landed a fatal pilot hit. This was making him the most lethal pilot of the game.

The ace was not done yet. He pulled up on Lt Reynolds (Red IV) and caused catastrophic structural damage. He bailed out successfully and lived.

At this point the game was winding down. Several South Africans chose discression and fled the table. Lt O'Brien (Yellow III), Lt Moran (White II) and Lt McKenzie (White III) were able to safely escape. But the most successful of the South Africans, Maj De Beer (Red I), tried to flee but fell to the guns of German White I as well. Again to Catastrophic structural damage.

The last South African on the table was Lt Van Wyk. As he fled for the table edge, he was surrounded by the aircraft of Black Schwarm. I lost track of who landed the blow but it was catastrophic structural damage again. As his aircraft descended, he failed every bail out roll and crashed with the aircraft. This made Van Wyk the last victim of the game.

I will go back and try to figure out the final score for the South Africans, but it was not good. The German Junior Ace was incredibly effective. Sorry for the typos this time. Typing with a splint is not as easy as I hoped.

Cold War Miniatures

My order came in from eBay for three FV432s. The models look different than the picture from eBay. However, that is not a bad thing. I actually prefer what I received. Two have machineguns mounted on top but one looks like it broke off at some point in the past.

I have a platoon of Cold War British that I just can't seem to find. I have no idea what I did with them. I am going though all of my cabinets and haven't found them yet. But they have rides now.

I getting some Flank MArch miniatures printed as well as some Bergman vehicles. I am getting BRDM-2 recon vehicles. I found some M114 recon vehicles on eBay that I bought as support for my Americans. I am not sure how long the M114 would have been in service though. Wikipedia seems to say that it was taken out of service in 1979 due to its unsuitability in Vietnam. I wonder if they would be suitable for Reserve units or National Guard Units into the 1980s? I found a 3d sculpt of the M114 as well. There are options with HMG and 20mm cannons as well.

Still, I need to finish the Operation Battleaxe campaign before working on this.

Afternoon Action for Operation Battleaxe - Bag the Hun Campaign game 5

I started the game for the first of the two afternoon games on Day One of Operation Battleaxe. My prep post was very helpful in setting this out. The main changes made were only 2 Kette of Stukas were used as I don't have three. A full staffel of Bf109s were available as support for the Germans. The British were using the remnants of the South African Squadron. Which meant that two of their flights were short an aircraft. In addition, I dropped the returning Lysander as I didn't find the plane stats (or didn't bother to look, it was one of those). For this scenario, I used the full size of my 6' x 4' matt. I am very happy with it. I would have liked 1.5" hexes instead of the 2" hexes but this works.

On the table, I placed three markers which were targets for the Stukas. Each marker was two hexes in size. I took a good number of picture of the game and hopefully will be able to finish it soon.

The scenario started with the two groups of bombers on the table. The Bogey cards were used to determine when the fighters would arrive. When the card was draw, I'd roll a d6. For the British a roll of 4+ meant one of their flights would arrive. For the Germans, they needed at . Each turn, the target number would drop until all of the fighters were deployed.

The Stukas had to travel the full length of the table to reach their targets.

To start, the Stukas had some rough rolls and failed to maintain a formation. Each arcraft was basicaly on its own.

The Germans were lucky on their bogey card and the White Schwarm made it to the table first. The British rolled horribly to get their fighters out on their initial bogey card.

The next turn started with the White Schwarm moving.

With the bonus move the leader of one of the Stuka Kette reached the target and begins his run.

Shortly thereafter, the rest of the bombers start their run.

Finally, the British catch a break and roll well on their bogey card and Yellow Flight arrives on the table. You can see dice next to the targets representing the number of hits the stukas scored on their bombing runs. They need at least three hits to destroy the targets present.

Unfortunately for the British, the German Junior Ace of White Schwarm made some moves and arrived up on the newly arrived British and gets off his first shot.

The Ace rolled poorly and the defensive dice were with the South Africans. This resulted in a firer side slip.

The Stukas were now trying to turn away from their targets and leave the table. Both groups had the Kette leader out in front. Then the bogey card came up and the Red Flight appeared directly in front of the Orange Stuka Kette.

Note that the position where the flight/schwarm arrives is determined by a die roll as well. Yellow flight began to maneuver to get into position on the Stukas and on White Staffel. One of the stukas had not made its bombing run yet. Yellow leader managed to line up a shot on White IV, a sprog, and fired under s stuka at the Bf109. He landed a hit that caused temporary loss of control but no lasting damage.

The one of the stuka's from Blue Kette (I probably have that color wrong on the bead) made its bombing run and scored two hits on its target. (Note I was going off the bombing rules from memory and may have completely made up how it was done.) He moved past the target and leveled out.

The last of the Blue Kette Stukas made its run and also scored two hits on the target. This destroyed one of the three ground targets.

Now with all of the bombing runs being complete, the stukas need to make their get away. Orange Kette's leader was bravely running away when the Flight Leader of the South African Red Flight chased him down. In the first bout of competent shooting and poor defensive dice, The Orange Kette Leader exploded in a ball of fire.

The stuka's can be tough opponents with a higher toughness than any of the fighters. Yet, Major de Beer of the South African squadron made his first kill of the campaign. Yellow Flight managed to stay together as a formation as they swung around. Red Flight split up immediatly and another aircraft got on the tail of another Stuka of Orange Kette.

Yellow Flight would then begin to split up and look to engage the White schwarm aircraft. The Blue Kette Stukas were attempting to fly casual and get out of the mess they found themselves in.

That was the end of the 4th or 5th turn. I lost count at somepoint. The cards are all shuffled and waiting for me to have time to return to the game. Orange Kette looks to be in trouble with its leader shot down and another aircraft with a tailing fighter. Blue Kette seems to be avoiding contact. The White Schwarm is scattered and their shooting has been less than stellar. There are stll two German schwarms and one British flight that have yet to make an appearance.

To Be Continued.....