Bulldogs Away! Relaunched

With the demise of A&A Game Engineering due to retirement, David Manley of Long Face Games has begun the process of moving his titles over to Wargame Vault under the LFG label. The first title to make the move is the modern fast attack, littoral warfare set aptly named Bulldogs Away!. I have always wanted to try these out and even painted up some of the old Skytrex 1/600th scale models for a fictitious 1970's African solo campaign, but was never that happy with the range and distance disparity in this scale. 

David has some 1/1200th scale 3D print STL's coming out soon, the old North Head Miniatures range, which has a better scale to range ratio, but I think I will have another crack at this in 1/3000th. I have some Navwar FAC's that would be ideal and plenty of larger warships and 'targets' that would be useful, with some sort of South American twist to tie in with my existing Chilean and Chinese modern fleets. This is a project for later in the year but a good one for a rainy weekend, so perhaps sooner than I planned, as David unexpectedly sent me a free copy of the rules today! What a splendid chap!

RN / RAN Fleet Refurbished

I've completed the repainting and refurbishment of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships for the Indonesian Confrontation reboot project. They look better now that the bases have been repainted and I have two additions to the fleet, HMS Zest and HMS Eagle. I still need to add a couple more models and obviously now need to paint some FAA aircraft for the carrier, but I'm moving on to something different for next month, as a break from painting 1/3000th scale bow waves and wakes, one of my least favourite things to do!

RN Repainting Sitrep

Some half decent progress with the RN and RAN repainting today, including painting up HMS Eagle and HMS Zest from scratch, including flight deck decals for the carrier from, no surprise, Flight Deck Decals. Superb quality as always, even when applied by a cack handed duffer like myself. Next up will be wakes and bow waves, then a shiny varnish for the bases and a couple of labels. 

RN Refurbishing and Reinforcement

I'm now starting on the base repainting of the RN and RAN models for the Indonesian Confrontation reboot, the aim being for them to match the lighter blue of my sea terrain cloth. I've applied the basecoat and will do a dry brush and highlight tomorrow. I've also decided to finish two extra models, the fleet carrier HMS Eagle and the Type 15 frigate HMS Zest, both of which took part in the conflict. If I have time I'll also paint up the commando carrier HMS Albion, the light cruiser HMNZS Royalist and a couple of Ton class minesweepers.

Indonesian Navy Refurbished

The base repainting job on the 1/3000th scale Cold War Indonesian naval fleet is now complete, taking far less time and effort than I thought. I was expecting to have to replace the base labels and tidy up the models but it all went smoothly without any need to do any additional fettling. It's now on to the Royal Navy, with a handful of extra models possibly making it onto the workbench as I go along.

HMNZS Royalist

I found a surplus Davco model of a Dido class light cruiser in my WW2 stash while searching for something else, so had a go at a very basic conversion into a modernised version, to represent the obsolescent HMNZS Royalist. This involved straightening and reprofiling the stacks, removing the QF 5.25-inch C turret and rounding the corners of the bridge, with a few tweaks here and there. It's far from accurate but will do the job, giving me a New Zealand contingent for the Indonesian Confrontation naval project re-boot.

Indonesian Navy Base Brush Up

I made a start on the repainting of the bases for my Cold War Indonesian naval fleet today, blocking in with a basecoat of Vallejo Prussian Blue. This wasn't as fiddly or as messy as I thought it would be, so I had time to paint up two of the LST bases to a finish, to test out the rest of the process. Although I faffed about with the bow wave and wake a bit, they turned out looking acceptable, so I will crack on with the rest of the fleet after the weekend. If this works well, I'll follow on with the RN, RAN and RNZN, adding a few extra models that I didn't paint the first time around.

Eureka Miniatures British

The post colonial Aden 1967 British figures arrived in the post from Eureka Miniatures today and they are excellent. I only have a section of them for the moment but it's enough for a skirmish game using Wars of Insurgency or similar rules. I will put these away for a holiday project but hope to sort something out later this year at some point. 

New Tumbling Dice Cold War US Aircraft

As promised, Paul at Tumbling Dice has filled some gaps in the Cold War US range with some really useful new models. The Voodoo has been a missing link for Vietnam games, especially Thud Ridge, so is a very welcome addition, as well as being a really cool aircraft. For me, the Neptune is also an excellent new model, as it can be used for the Black Bat RoCAF CIA backed intruder flights, while the Orion can be used in the maritime patrol role for numerous nations, most obviously my Chileans. Nice!

Boots on the Ground

                 

Another charity bookshop bargain yesterday, a hardback copy of Boots on the Ground by Richard Dannatt, for the price of a BLT. I ate the aforementioned sandwich while reading the chapters on Malaya, Borneo and Aden, which were very interesting and gave a sound overview of the military - political tensions involved. Very good as a primer.

15mm Plastic Cold War Kit

 

I got one of these Team Yankee starter sets for thirty quid on eBay last week, not for the rules but for the plastic AFV's that you get in the box, the plan being to use them for Seven Days to the River Rhine. I ummed and arred about the scale for this but, as a lot of the Team Yankee stuff is now relatively cheap if you hunt about a bit, it makes sense to go for the 15mm option I think. The alternative is 10mm, which would be great if it wasn't so expensive for what you get, although it would be my first choice. I may well look around for another starter box set, as it would give me enough kit for two decent sized battle groups minus the infantry, for which I already have some Peter Pig figures that I could use.

Sandbox Skirmish

 

I've just acquired a good selection of QRF Saladins, Saracens, Ferrets and Landies, together with what looks like unmade Soviet trucks, from an abandoned AK47 project on eBay. The majority of the vehicles have been glued together, while the trucks are still in their plastic bags, but it looks like he's done a neat job of it, so there will be minimal to do before they can be painted. I have quite a few of these already in my AK47 Colonial Settlers army, although they are still unpainted, while the Sandbox Skirmish platoon also has quite a few Saracens and Ferrets too. These will be distributed between the two and will hopefully kick start the No End in Sight Sandbox Skirmish project again, which has been side lined for far too long. 

Cold War Plan Postponed

They look a lot better in the photos! 

I got the 10mm Plastic Soldier Company British in the post today and first impressions aren't great. The proportions of the models and the scaling looks right but the plastic resin stuff they're cast in is pretty nasty, with mushy detail and bendy or snapped off barrels. These were second hand but supposedly new, so it's not a great result, although they are still useable with a little remedial effort. It's put me off 10mm, however, as I was relying on this range to form the bulk of my battlegroup, mainly due to the price tag. I've decided that 6mm is probably the best way forward now, using Scotia or Heroics and Ros 1/300th scale kit, which is still cheap enough to be cost effective without being too small. However, this will have to wait until later in the year, as I have other projects to clear first including Bag the Hun and Strength and Honour, both of which are on the workbench in the next month or two.

PSC 10mm Modern British

As a bit of a dip of a toe in the water, I've managed to get hold of a Plastic Soldier Company 10mm British starter army via eBay for a lot less than the full price. I've heard some good things and some not so good things about these models and figures but at least it will give me an idea about whether I like them or not and, if I do, I will have a solid set of units for a Seven Days to the Rhine battlegroup, to which I can add more units as I go along. The set consists of four Chieftains, four FV432's with 36 infantry and two Scorpions / Scimitars, so not a bad force and worth around 400 points. If I don't like them, I can always switch to another range or go back and look again at 3mm or 6mm instead. 

Cold War Options

I've been mulling over the options for the Seven Days to the River Rhine potential project over the last week or so but still haven't been able to make up my mind about the scale. I did remember that I backed a Kickstarter several years ago now for 15mm Soviet and British figures in arctic kit, which was launched by the now defunct Armies Army. I don't think they available any more and I'm also not entirely sure where they actually are in the lead pile but it's a possible option for some Norwegian scenarios. I quite fancy the idea of some Norwegian 'What If?' Cold War wargaming, which would be a change from the usual North German Plain tank clash. 

Jim's Wargames Workbench: Armies Army Cold War Kickstarter (jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com)

I also have some very nice 10mm Royal Marines from Pendraken, which I bought for Norway as well but stashed them away as no suitable 10mm Soviet figures were available. I have subsequently discovered that Red 3 make a range of Spetnatz that would double up as VDV airborne troops or Soviet marine infantry, with a white paint job to give them arctic camouflage suits, so that's yet another possible option. The Red 3 airportable and amphibious AFV's are also really nice and I'm sure I could justify some armour too, perhaps a platoon of ASU85's or PT76 light tanks. I just need to make up my mind about which scale to go for, once I've excavated the figures to have a closer look.

Seven Days to the River Rhine

I persuaded myself to buy a copy of these popular, fast play Cold War rules last week, having joined the FB group and enjoyed reading some AAR's, despite my best intentions to scale back on my wargaming. The rules are very well presented and clear, with lots of illustrations and examples to help explain the mechanisms. I think they look pretty good and, as I used to dabble in 1/300th scale moderns back in the day with the WRG rules, I will probably go ahead and get some 6mm AFV's from Scotia or Heroics and Ros. 

I'd like to go 10mm but the cost is way more than the 6mm option, so it will have to be the smaller scale for this if I do bite the bullet and go ahead with it. I also thought about 3mm, as that would be really cheap and I could afford two decent sized battlegroups for the price of one, but that's probably a bit too small for what's essentially a company level set of rules. Whatever, I'm trying to stick to my plans for the year, so something else would have to be shoved aside if I did blow it all and start a Seven Days the River Rhine project. 

Shipwreck?

I've been frustrated with the continuing glitches and holes in Naval Command, which I like as a set of fast play modern naval rules but which still has lots of issues that make it a headache to actually use. As a result, I've decided to go back and try out my original option for a simple set of modern rules and have a go with Shipwreck from Vandering Publications, which is a tried and tested system that offers a similar level of complexity. It also has a wide selection of ship data sets that covers most if not all of the vessels that I have for both the Indonesian Confrontation and the 'What If?' South American campaign that I'd like to play out next year. I'll aim to get a game underway as soon as I can find the time. If that doesn't float my boat it's back to Naval Command, as there really isn't much alternative.

Fivecore French Indochina Revisited

Just over a year ago I set out some plans to do a 10mm French Indochina company level wargaming project using Pendraken figures and the Fivecore Company Command rules from Nordic Weasel: 

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2020/05/yet-another-revived-project-plan.html

This didn't get going then, as I went off on another tangent when the first lockdown kicked in and ended up painting a Beja army for The Men Who Would Be Kings instead. I'd forgotten all about the French Indochina project until now, when I stumbled across the relevant post and the box of figures that I'd already collected together, originally for Cold War Commander. 

I've been looking for a small figure based WW2 or Post War project as a break from air and naval wargaming, so this fits the bill nicely. I was intending to do the 15mm SCW project at some point but that's a big one, whereas the 10mm French Indochina option is far less work to undertake. I'll give this some more thought but it's a potential front runner for the next workbench skirmish project.

Naval Basing

I've just finished the bases for the Royal Navy 1960's warships and fleet support ships, alongside the tankers and cargo vessels that I assembled earlier in the week. The Royal Navy warships include two Type 15 and two Whitby class frigates, a pair of Daring class destroyers for the RAN and the cruiser HMS Tiger. The fleet support includes RFA Tidereach and RFA Retainer, which will come in handy for scenarios. I now just have some Il-28 Beagles to assemble and magnet base and it's on to the painting! 

Flight Deck Decals

This week I've spent my pocket money on some 1/3000th waterslide deck transfers from Flight Deck Decals for the Indonesian Confrontation project. It was a toss up between some decals for the Cold War French or some for the Royal Navy, so I went for the latter as it's going to hit the workbench sooner rather than later. I've kept the order to a minimum in an attempt to avoid import duty, so I have included flight deck decals for HMS Albion, HMS Eagle, a variety of amphibious ships including HMS Intrepid and some helicopter deck decals for the frigates, destroyers and cruisers. I've also added some 1/600th scale Royal Navy lettering for the aircraft. I just hope that I get away with it!