Holiday Haul

My holiday trip to Edinburgh came up trumps on the model front (see below):

• 1/700 USS Fletcher from Revell
• Micro Wings US Pacific Planes
• Valiant British 6 pdr AT gun 

The Valiant kit is nice to go alongside my Valiant British Infantry, plus the option (via their web-site instructions) to make the airborne variant. The 1/144 planes are an easy assemble item and likewise with a bit of care the USS Fletcher comes up as a nice basic kit (see below):

The cream of the crop however was a late addition, the new Airfix Airborne Jeep, including pack 75mm howitzer (see below):

Even better, it has a few extra parts (not in the instructions) which allow the "Airborne Reece Jeep" with a dual Lewis gun mount to be assembled! I cannot for the life of me figure out why this did not make it to the instruction pages! Perhaps it may be missing a little ad-hoc armoured cowling but it is an brilliant addition begging an Arnhem scenario! The US 50 cal and 30 cal HMG/MMG mountings are also nice items that won't stay in the spares box forever ;)

So good in fact I think I will need another ;)

Chain of Command Campaign (Normandy)

Who knows I may have an opportunity to step into this one:
http://twtrb.blogspot.co.uk/

Chain of Command: "The First Game" (Part V)

Windy Corner turns "Nasty":

The combined efforts of three (and a half) MG42 Teams were trained on the valiant Bren gun section covering the extreme right of the British line, giving the position the nickname of "Windy Corner". The MG42's continuous fire strangely makes little or no immediate impression thanks to the hard cover and bad German dice throws (see below):

However this allows the British commander (ahem, me) to become completely complacent regarding this exposed and potentially dangerous position. Suddenly the British Bren were no longer returning any fire as "They were all dead sir!" and with that the British left flank crumbled (see below)

The British Counter-Attack on the Right:

Meanwhile a mad (but nevertheless brave) British corporal had his "dander" up and decided to lead the remaining men (four from the original six) of his section in a 'do or die' charge on the "hedge of death". (see below):

The umpire drily then informed me that the Germans 'all things considered' had slightly more dice than me (gulp) and my hopes of a 'quick win' were somewhat diluted. The dice were rolled and the 'bloody fight' saw the British come out on top two dead to the German four dead (see below):

Revise that, the German NCO was moving and only wounded so was promptly taken prisoner! (see below)

The only German remaining, the MG42 gunner, had seen enough and was (literally) heading off table. (see below):

And there gents we had to call it as playing time on the night ran out.

Despite the heroic counter-attack the British position was looking perilous. Discretion was looking far more plausible than valour as the Germans were winning on body count. Still the valuable German NCO prisoner should count for something back at Company HQ.

All0-in-all a good run out with the rules and lots of food for though. I will definitely be trying Chain of Command out again!

Chain of Command: "The First Game" (Part IV)

"Smoke, Smoke! Give me Smoke!". I found the world is a much better place once you get your support assets on table. British Infantry should go nowhere until it gets a 50mm mortar (or bigger - sadly my 81mm was still stuck 'off table' in limbo for all game) on table! (see below): 

With the deadly MG42 now out of line of sight of the British Infantry and hence quiet, the Tommies could regain some of their "stiff upper lip" composure by removing all of their nasty shock markers. In fact they got so cocky that they prepared for a counter attack straight across the lane into the "hedge of death" (see below):  

The Bren section crept around the corner of the field in order to give some covering fire assistance. I think this might be called tactics? (see below):

Meanwhile the German player activated his menacing ensemble of MG42 squads (see below): 

All this fancy German movement (see below) put three full strength MG42 squads and one damaged MG42 team (which was now actually no more than "a single [dangerous] sman holding onto a MG42 but still rolling seven dice instead of ten) all concentrating on the British left flank, in particular one covering Bren section. 

I think that is called fire-power.

Chain of Command: "The First Game" (Part III)

The Advance: 

A Bren section (on over-watch) covers the advance across "Muddy Somme Field" with no Germans in sight (see below):

Suddenly it turns into a race to the hedge line. A British rifle section pitted against an MG42 team (gulp!). I do hope the British still teach the "mad minute" in infantry training (see below):

Speaking of MG42 teams, here are another two moving up and positioning themselves on the left (see below):

The British rifle section wins the race and manned the hedge line with four rifles who pour fire on the German MG42 team as it moves into position, but only manage to give them one shock counter (see below):

Note: Sadly one "shock" in the Chain of Command rules does not adversely effect the German's performance :( 

Memorable moment in my wargaming history #1

Good Dice: Needing 5's and 6's to hit the (the Germans targets being in hard cover) the left hand flank Bren opens up and gets a spectacular five out a maximum six hits. That takes out three out of a four man MG42 team and gives the left flanks "a turn or two" breathing space :) 

But ... "What goes around  comes around!"

The MG42 team pours return fire back into the "British hedge line" and the British PBI learn to respect the MG42 the hard way (see below):  

It is getting quite "sticky" in "Somme Field". If only the British has a "smoke maker" (50mm mortar asset or the 81mm FOO in the British Order of Battle).

Next: Anybody got a smoke?

Chain of Command: "The First Game" (Part II)

The Germans start showing up at their JUMP OFF POINTS. A German Panzer Grenadier section, that's two MG42 teams (yes that's two, count them) lining a hedge (see below):

Another section of Panzer Grenadiers take hold of the building in the centre of the table (yes that is now four teams of MG42's to look out for) and seal off two of the three corners to the Tommies portion of the battlefield (see below):

The final section is sealed by yet another section of Panzer Grenadiers (gulp, that is six MG42 teams) as the Tommies hear the receding noise of the German Hanomags. The British have been hindered in their deployment by a German pre-game barrage (see below): 

Finally the British manage to get three infantry sections and a senior officer onto the table but no immediate supports. I did not realise how important this was as the the British infantry relies on the 50mm mortar to supply smoke cover for the rifle sections advance. Advancing without this asset is a treacherous business. The British start advancing across the 'muddy' field (see below):

This whole thing does not look "safe" to me, oh how I wish I had the back-up cover of smoke. With hindsight perhaps I should have stayed put until the platoons supports arrived (see below):

Does anyone remember a battle called "The Somme"?

Chain of Command takes centre stage ("The First Game" Part I)

A new set of (skirmish) rules from the TooFat Lardies to save my 20mm WWII collection from wargaming limbo, hurray :)

I have heard many positive things regarding the TooFatLardies but I (ahem, confession time) have never played a game 'under one of their sets of rules', so this was a first for me! The game takes about forty figures a side, plus or minus some support weapons and a vehicle or two. Prefect for my 20mm collection, but the big plus is that it lies on the "innovative side" of the wargaming landscape packed with interesting  mechanisms :)

First the table was filled with gorgeous 'club terrain' (see below): 

We even put the roof on the house, can you spot the difference? (see below):

Then followed the "interesting" PATROL PHASE, which is a very cunning new game mechanic to master (yes you may sense the caution in my description to be a case of me 'getting it rather wrong' when I first tried it). Strange large PATROL markers (not actual figures) moving around the board certainly built up the tension. This represented a pre-game reconnaissance phase (see below):

I thought I had a cunning 'flexible formation' but it turned out instead to be a 'circling the wagons' (see above) for some lean and mean Panzer Grenadiers to surround me with MG42's. Thankfully I was oblivious to the danger at this early point in the game. When fixed by proximity to enemy markers, the PATROL counters get transformed into safe JUMP OFF POINTS where 'real troops can start to move onto the table  (see below, note the 'slightly' smaller markers):

Then the game starts proper. You roll COMMAND DICE (yet another cunning mechanic to master, ahem) to see what (in your order of battle) you can activate and then the fun really begins as troops start to appear on table. They can be placed within six inches of friendly JUMP OFF POINTS (see below):

My first section of my 1944 British Infantry Platoon (a friends nicely painted Valiant miniatures), hunkered defensively down in a small corner of a French field on "over-watch" wondering what was going to happen next!

A field of Valiant American GI's

After many hours spent with modelling knife, plastic glue and super-glue behold my Valiant American GI's from Normandy line up in raw plastic.

The trial batch were processed a while back, so the rest of the "battalion" makes its way to the production line. As per the instructions in the packet the figure poses were chosen to field a Rapid Fire US Infantry Battalion 1944 with a few (or more than a few) spares left over (see below).

Also seen is an Italeri M8. Nice to see new mouldings hit the market and it goes well with my Skytrex metal M8 and M20. I will probably get the Italeri M20 if I see it (and if it is under a £10). It is a nice kit though with fiddly parts, to counter this they have wargame mode instructions which leaves out the bits that will probably break.

That way I have the makings of a US Combat Team Recon Group. My (old original ECSI) M3 Scout Cars, plus Hasagawa M3 and M4 Half Tracks should do nicely as transport for the Armoured Infantry.

Seen here in nude plastic wanting, nay yelling for paint. One could also ask where oh where are my metal Platoon 20 British 1944 Normandy infantry, left so near to completion at the start of this year. Waiting patiently is the answer

:(

Back to a British Infantry theme

The latest welcome purchase/addition:

This comes on the back of enjoying the GI's so much (I forgive the "largeness" compared to other 1/76 and 1/72 manufacturers) and thinking they will not be out of place next to (next battalion along) my Platoon 20 WWII late-war British Infantry.

From first impressions out of the box I am very impressed and they are spurring me on to finish the British WWII Platoon project and spill over the paint to these plastics.

The first batch of Valiant's GI's painted: Saving Private Ryan?

Quite simply I enjoyed painting these tremendously and I will be seeking out the other Valiant packs, especially the British. :)

It was also very good fun to work with the Vallejo paints and mixing Vallejo with other paint ranges I have lying around. I am afraid I break the Vallejo doctrine of only using "distilled water" and I think the state of  my water jar in general would make them shudder, particularly at the irregularity of its changing to clean and the murky deposits at the bottom.

Anyway back to the GI's, these first eight figures are the "complete/whole" figures from the sprue needing no construction work done on them (FYI: Sixteen figures to the sprue, four identical sprue to the box, 64 figures in all, a nice generous amount). As hinted at the remaining eight figures require a bit of glue in assembling which of the multiple pose/variant parts (different satchels, heads and things to attach) you would like to use. These first eight I used as virgin, although I will doubtless tinker with those that follow on. Put it this way your 'spares box' will start to bulge. For some reason these first eight (see below) I associate strongly with "Saving Private Ryan". Not quite Rangers but good enough for me:

I think I will probably stick with individual bases, though people may shake their heads when I try and play CrossFire or Command Decision with them. The objective is to base up enough for a Command Decision battalion (which is roughly equivalent to a Crossfire company). I accept that they are chunky and large when next to other manufacturers but I forgive Valiant because the figures are so nice. I guess my challenge is for that not to happen on my wargames table (too often).

Painting techniques:

I used two different methods but with the same materials. The results of method one are shown below to the right, that of method two to the left. Note: Remember I did not need to PVA these boys as the plastic is really hard! A++

Alas the picture does blur when you click in, I still have to work on taking decent infantry shots :( 

Method One was my standard approach:

Base Coat Black (GW Chaos Black), Base Shade areas as per the Flames of War US Infantryman Painting Guide (Click into product to see a slightly blurry version of the guide [Vallejo Paints]), subbing colours from GW and Anita's Acrylics as required (remember I do not possess the Quartermaster Set, nor see the need to) and then highlight up the Vallejo paint with a cheaper Anita Acrylic (see the various paint squares I have on transparent ex-stationary items). The result is not bad (I'd actually say petty good as it pleasantly surprised me), though perhaps a tad heavy on the shadow lining. I did seven out of eight of the figures that way.

Method Two was a throw away approach:

I was playing around with a figure I had not yet undercoated and basically was slapping on the Vallejo paint still left on my brush. I followed method one but then gave it a relatively weak black wash (Anita's Acrylics) in the cracks and crevices. Annoyingly I think it is as good as or even better than my more time consuming method one. The shadowing is much less pronounced. It seemed that much quicker as I was prepared to put the paint on much rougher. There maybe an important moral here ;)

Any comments appreciated :)

Queue Jumping GI's -They made me do it Sarge!

Well I just had to do it. I so was beefed up to the hilt with plastic American Infantry figures and painting guides galore. If I didn't have a go I'd burst. A fast forward to the results of my first GI figure painting experimentation session being:

But how did I get there (and what about those metal Moria Goblins)?

The final  nail in the coffin of restraint and dignity was the 'impulse buy' of (ha ha, he laughs but unbeknownst to him, deep down in his sub-conscious his hobby mind had been planning this purchase for a long, long while ) the Flames of War packaged Vallejo"US Paint Set". This was despite not owning the prerequisite "Quarter Master Set" - I figured there were plenty of near matches available from my GW, Tamiya, Humbrol Acrylics (this latter one is a really old set, but I see they are back out on the market, as advertised on the Valiant web-site) and the very reasonably priced, aka cheap and lots of it, Anita's Acrylics. Yes, great just what I needed another dilemma, yet another confusingly complicated paint system. I didn't realize there quite so many different shades and colours (or should I say interpretations) of Khaki across the paint manufacturers :(

In the back of my mind I was also conscious of Arquinsiel's previous comment regarding Vallejo colours not quite matching the guide 100% so I wanted a firm test of what they could do before inevitably buying wholesale into it. Nevertheless the Valiant US GI's were squarely fixed in my sights and I was 'as curious as a cat' to see if Al's comment on their size viz other painted figures (which I knew would be smaller) would made me run screaming away. Those interested may note an old painted Revell US Ardennes infantryman sitting atop the Yellow Tamiya paint pot in the background of the first picture, double-click in for details.(Also note while in the hobby shop I also picked up - no I couldn't stop myself,  a new set of Italeri US Infantry. The lure of "new toolings" proudly marketed on the front of the box quickly claimed another victim. Not so their repackaged old Esci ones, despite the their noticeably harder plastic than I remember as a kid, I managed to put them back on the shelf). Don't forget I also possess a stash (150+) of unpainted late war Revell American (Ardennes) Infantry which means the US paint set won't run out of subject matter any time soon.

Enough of the preamble, what did I do? First of all I washed them in detergent like a good boy, then cutting them carefully off the sprue convinced me that I did not need the dreaded PVA coat, the plastic is really solid. Which is an A+ benefit in my eyes. Yes, they do look large next to other manufacturers1/72 scale infantry (again you'll see a Revell chap in  the first picture), but not enough to put the likes of me off. However I would only battalion Valiant kit together with like Valiant kit, but I see that as a fine way of distinguishing between OoB units on tabletop. I guess I am shameless as I am happy with these giants fighting beside midgets.

The undercoat was Choas Black from GW and this gave a very good seal to the figure. (Note Fraximus and Paul both recommend Halford's car paint primer so I will have to check this out, but I am in experimental mode and just used what was at hand). I do like GW Chaos black as it always feels to me more of a thin plastic skin than just a flaky surface covering, but this is expensive when you consider it is basically an undercoat that is immediately hidden. A deep intake of breath and turn to the Vallejo paints and Flames of War, Valient and Italeri painting charts. Nothing quite like getting conflicting advice, plus the artistic impressions gleaned from my Uniforms of World War II book! Meanwhile ... the Vallejo paint went on lovely :)

True the Vallejo paints needed a real good shake before I got the true colour, but the end result was good, in that for the first time I really was happy with the way the US infantry looked. I have to say I am now a very big fan of Valiant infantry, big figures or no.They paint as easy as Games Workshop starter plastics and I think that is a huge compliment.Experimentation to follow is how to highlight and shade, but for now I am happy.

Note: Any comments/tips on photographing 1/72 infantry figures appreciated, as I find it a complete pain :(

PS : Just don't mention the Goblins (on the painting tray) as I can see they are upset. I 'will' (eventually) finish that HoTT army :(

Mad minute in a Model Shop

It was one of those days. A tease of a day. Real-life commitments puts me within sniffing distance of an area where I know there is a 'model shop'. I go on the hunt armed with just an acute sense of smell. Time is against me, to confound it all I get lost and don't find the one I am after but lo and behold I find a different one, how X-Files is this getting? However I have just minutes to take everything in. Literally a smash and grab, pay the man and get out.What did I manage to get?

Check out: Valiant Miniatures

I got the 1942-44 American GI set (20mm 1/72) and they are absolutely superb. Now a definite racing certainty to get the rest (particularly the British and early and late war Germans). Although Valiant have arranged it so that the "box" is an OrBat for a Rapid Fire infantry Battalion, you pretty much easily get a Battalion worth for other rule systems too (64 US figures, 68 in the other sets for some reason).

The other purchase was an Italeri Russian Zis-3 Anti-Tank gun (nice to have two to the pack) and a pot of Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow (as I seem to be running out of it).I did make a mistake though, in my haste I forgot to pick up a Revell (old Matchbox) Hanomag 251/1, hmm "fume".

PS: I have Man-Flu :(