British Paratroopers

This is sort of what I was aiming for. 

And this is how I did. I'm not sure about the pattern on the Dennison smock. Perhaps smaller patches of colour? 

A view from the rear - only another fifty or so to go. The smock looks a bit stark - perhaps a wash or something to blend the colours together. 

British QF 2-pdr Anti-Tank Gun

This is one of Zvesda's Art of Tactic kits. I can't remember exactly when or why exactly I picked it up, but it was certainly only around €3 or €4. This is the 2lb (that's 40mm in new money) anti-tank gun that the British Expeditionary Force took to France at the outbreak of the war.

Regular readers will not doubt be bored stiff with this, but Zvesda have yet again produced an excellent, cleanly cast kit in glueable hard plastic.  The detail is fine, the construction relatively rugged considering the slender nature of the model and the price is right - there is a lot to like here.

Just about the only bad thing I can say about this kit is that it is snap together.  All the parts just click into place without any need for glue.  This does mean that if you try and put the kit together dry, just to test things out in the hope of taking it apart and gluing it for safety, you won't be able to. The fit is just that good. This created some problems for me as the gun carriage is quite slim and delicate and I wasn't able to get the good fit I was hoping for.  The trunnions and tube sit atop a turntable arrangement, which then sits on top of the carriage. I unfortunately had already pushed the carriage down into the base. I managed to get the turntable on top to fit in - sort of - but wasn't able to give it the kind of pressure that was needed for a really snug fit. I ended up lashing some liquid poly in there just to be sure. 

Forward thinking types could avoid this particular difficulty, but fixing the carriage to the plate last, which would leave you plenty of space to make a proper job of squishing the parts together.

So there you have it, a slim, beautiful little piece of work for pocket money prices.  Well done Zvesda I say. I will be painting mine up in Early War livery and I suspect it will be doing duty both in the Low Countries and during the VBCW. 

British armour

A collection of British armour

I've been wiling away the odd hour assembling part of the collection of British armour I've gathered since Christmas. The Plastic Soldier Company Shermans were from Rosbif and the other armour were from my Secret Santa. The Secret Santa was excellent fun and well done to Ian and Cath for organising it.

I was casting around for information on how to dolly these up which led to a rather frustrating trip to the box room with a lot of coughing and spluttering. Now say what you like about the Flames of War chaps - but they do know how to run a website and while it wasn't quite the same as being able to poke away with my Osprey in front of me, there was some very useful information there.

Amongst other things I found;

British tank markings in Normandy
Flames of War Achilles
Guide to stowage
Guide to painting stowage

Armourfast Achilles with stowage from S&S

I've decided that I'm going to (probably vainly) attempt to emulate the sort of gypsy look that you see in pictures of late war British armour. Lots of tarps, bundles, small packs, jerry cans and so forth. If I could find a bicycle anywhere I throw it on the back. The Achilles in particular look a bit empty and my spares box isn't overly blessed with tank crew, so I'm going to have to improvise. 

Armourfast Cromwell with a Plastic Soldier Company tank commander

Making tarps, camoflage nets and so forth out of green stuff is not beyond the wit of Kinch, so there will be plenty of that. I've been ransacking by bits box for other pieces, which I will add with time. In a rare fit of order - I also collected all my decals and filed them away in a cigarillo box, along with a cigar box for stowage. Though in terms of stowage, I seem to be using it as fast as I can find it.

A Plastic Soldier Company Sherman with a HAT tank commander

I've also taken the opportunity to have a bit of a clean out - so keep your eyes peeled as there may be spare figures going a begging. If you've any particular stuff that you want or have to trade, let me know in the comments and I'll see if I can sort you out. Myself I'm looking for assembled British Second World War  artillery (though Napoleonics, Crimean figures and anything suitable for VBCW would also be welcome), though if you're reading this you've probably about as much idea as what I'm looking for at present as I do myself. 

Sniper

To the left

To the right

Shoot it up, shoot it up, it's alright*

Falklands sniper painted at last. I tried to think of something clever to do with the cape, but ended up painting it in DPM after all. I'm beginning to think that this chap isn't actually a fully qualified marksman, but a gifted amateur who due to unforeseen circumstances at the beginning of the Russian/Volgan invasion got his hands on a snipers rifle and had to quickly jury rig the rest of his kit.

The face paint was copied from an illustration in "Basic Battle Skills" and everything else was just sort of made up as I went along.

Note that like all soulless killers, Mr. Sniper is a ginger.

*With apologies to Claphams finest, the Stereo MCs.

Cold War News

Captain Rupert and his trusty radio operator, Digby looking for trouble on the outskirts of Hanover, August 1984. (click to embiggen)

(Liberation miniatures with some green stuff additions, painted by Conrad Kinch)

Digby's getup is based on this iconic image of the Falklands war. I'm still trying to find the correct attribution. Could you drop me a line if you know?

Soviet Motor Rifle troops moving through the suburbs of Hanover, August 1984

(Elheim miniatures painted by Conrad Kinch, building by Conflix)

(click to embiggen)

Hmmm, is that fellow behind the window the section corporal?

(click to embiggen)

Maybe it's the chap posing for the Komosol poster

(click to embiggen)

I've been painting Cold War figures for Force on Force, though I think the buildings are going to present more of a problem as you need quite a few of them. I'd like to do something specific to the period and not re-use my Second World War stuff. This is not an issue that is going to vex me much as I have bigger fish to fry. I have two projects due in October, a LARP based on Space 1889 by Frank Chadwick and a large scale Command & Colours: Napoleonics game with multiple players. These are projects that come with a deadline and I'm really going to have to get my finger out designing scenarios and adding polish to what is already a relatively good looking collection.

Captain Rupert

The last few days have been incredibly hectic and there's been damn little movement on the wargames front. However, I did pick up my paint brushes again and try my hand at painting Captain Rupert. His biography can be found here.

Note the early model wood furniture SLR.


And the famous bear and checked scarf can be see above. Not the most elegant sculpting job in the world, but passable for five minutes spent rolling blobs of greenstuff. The check scarf was done with a felt tip.

And a shiny six pence to the bright boy who can tell me who Captain Rupert* is based on or at least heavily inspired by.


*Disregarding the name which is a composite of two men who stay in the realm of the horse and musket like the sensible chaps they are.

Yet another new project

Captain "Rupert" John Anthony Cunningham-Howard, late of the Royal Loamshires, now of the Irish Guards

It's official I have too many projects, far too many projects. I've taken to hoarding figures in a manner that knows neither sense nor reason. At present, I have in train.

Mostly finished.
- A British Napoleonic army, which will also be subbing for a British army in India 1800-1840.
- A French Napoleonic army.
- A German Second World War army.

Works in progress.
- An Austrian Napoleonic army. (many units based and undercoated)
- A Spanish Napoleonic army. (some painted units)
- Dutch-Belgian allies for the above.

In boxes, may never see the light of day.
- Some Very British Civil War scraps.
- A Crimean Russian army.
- A Crimean French army.
- An 1840 era Sardinian army made up entirely of Bersaglieri.
- An 1840s Sikh army.
- A collection of English Civil War stuff.
- A British Second World War Army.
- An American Second World War Army.

And this just the stuff in 20mm! Not counting 1/32 scale Little Wars figures or the 6mm collection.

I have of course decided that the only thing to do in this situation is start a new period



. Note scarf and bear

This is unusual for me because I'm working in tandem with some other chaps. Force on Force from Ambush Alley Games has become rather popular in my social circle and the forces required are reassuringly small. I have mustered a single platoon of British infantry so that I might shoot Gorman's East Germans in comfort. I tell myself that the collection will stop there and who knows, it very well might. I have decided that as there are only thirty or so figures involved it would be silly not to paint them myself.

I'm rather fond of them as they tote SLRs and Brens, which reminds me forcibly of my teens and early twenties when for several weeks a year I would slog up hill and down dale at the behest of the Irish Defence Forces. One disadvantage though was that the figures were a bit too uniform for my taste and there was no way to distinguish the platoon commander.

Enter Captain "Rupert" John Anthony Cunningham-Howard, late of the Royal Loamshires and now of the Irish Guards. I wanted a way to quickly distinguish him from the rest of the SLR toting hoi-polloi. I haven't done much work with green stuff, but this seemed well within even my meagre talents. The youngest son of a distinguished Roman Catholic barrister and confectionery heiress, he enjoys long walks, water colours and the poetry of John Donne. An enthusiastic rather than a gifted boxer, he took a first in Classics at Hertford College Oxford and speaks German, French and Greek. In his spare time he is working on a biography of Dante Gabriel Rosetti and never goes into action without a scarf and a bear.

For obviously reasons, he is considered something of an odd fish.