Sarrison Precision Train Station, 4Ground building and a Tent.

The Station was bought as I saw it on sale and thought that it would fit in with my WW1 Desert terrain. However when I opened the packet it was much larger than I thought it would be. I quickly decided to make it more European so I could use it for WW2.

It was a simple task to build but as always it looked very bland. I added some of the left over grey board to the bottom of the walls and then paved the floor. I also added some brick texture to the interior walls. I then tried to texture the MDF with two coats of Mr Surfacer but all this did was to seal it. I then coated it with some wall filler which worked well.

To make it look more European I added a canopy over the platform, although this is more a British look but they do turn up in Europe but are not that common from what I see on a Google search.

I see that I neglected to take photos of the fully painted building before moving on.  I was just about to put the building away in my games room and saw some photos of a Toofatlardies game using the same building set in Burma. I had watched the build on the Blog so thought I would try and do my own version with a second roof. I should mention that the support for the roof are toothpick brushes.

I had intended to use the same car spray paint that I had used on my Vietnam buildings but found that  just a thick stream of paint would come out of the can, so now had to hand paint it with Vallejo Silver. I hate using expensive paint to do large areas on buildings but had little alternative. It did not cover well but after the use of powders for rust and earth was applied it turned out ok.

Next up is a 4Ground building, I think its a Cook house for La Haye Saint but thought the colour would go with my earlier buildings I had made. It went together ok but I had loads of trouble getting the three layers of walls to line up properly so some of the detail bits look a bit crooked. I covered the burnt edges up with some paint as I think this really improves them. The painting took as long as building it.

Lastly I painted a Tent which I had bought from Charlie Foxtrot. The Oil Stain which I use for staining the bases on my Zulu War project had gone like Jelly so I instead used my home made stain and found that there is no discernible difference to my eyes at least.

I may have to revisit the bases on my Napoleonic's as I was never happy with then.

Scale Models Expo Wellington

I was invited by Scale Models Wellington (IPMS) to put on a Wargame Demo. This was via my Gaming mate Tyrone who is a member of the club. We decided to go with a Vietnam Game rather than the ANZAC theme we originally planned (as we had not painted enough for that).

I wanted to use my Convoy Vehicles as I had been playing around with a scenario in my head for about a year and have never used the vehicles. I decided to use Bolt Action as it should be simpler than Charlie don't Surf to pick up on the day as we had not done any play-testing.

I found some rule modifications on this Blog. Blenheim to Berlin

The idea was that a Convoy of Trucks escorted by a V100 and two Gun trucks were to cross a river. The result of the game depended on how many supply trucks were driven off the table verses how many the VC destroyed. There being two M34's and two low loading Trucks (Mack's).  The Convoy Commander rode in a Mutt. The VC were to set up no closer than 12" away from the US. The Convoy was moved 12"+1D6 when the first green dice was pulled out.

I first took the US and managed two moves to just exit the Bridge and all Hell let loose. The Convoy stalled with heavy losses. Round one to the VC. Seems that I had underestimated the fire power of the VC who had; three RPG stands, two MMG's, one mortar, one section of Infantry and a Commander. I also felt that I had made a mistake letting the VC set up so close. We had another round this time with Tyrone taking the US and coming from the other direction. Much the same thing happened with the VC just sitting and waiting for the Trucks to arrive and then had a Turkey shoot. Round two to the VC.

Saturday Night I had a rethink about the scenario and decided that I needed to bring more Fire Power for the US. So I brought out my ACAV's (which I had never used). I had also found my box of Huts and Civilians which I had forgotten that day. I also decided that the VC would set up no closer than 12" to the road. The extra buildings helped to make the terrain look a bit denser. The result for the US was better with them killing most of the VC, but the cost to them was still too high with the convoy stalling on the bridge again. At least this Time I managed to get all the Convoy on the table.

If I was going to run this again I would have the ACAV's run ahead of the Convoy and set up at both ends of the Bridge before the Convoy attempted to come on. I also think a larger table would have helped as the VC would have had to spread out more. We got quite a bit of attention from the Public, more than I would normally get at a Wargames event. Most people did not realise that we were having a Wargame and seemed more interested in how I made the trees. I also was worried about all the little children waving their arms over the table pointing at things but no damage was done other than by packing/unpacking items.

All I bought at the show was some 1/48th Tamiya Kits; Elefant, Achilles, 7ton Armoured Car and a rechargeable desk lamp.

I will post some photos of the display Models next time.  

V-100 Commando and prisoners.

This Verlinden V-100 Commando has been kicking around my painting area for awhile. It was almost finished just before I went on a three week holiday to Thailand and Cambodia with my partner. I will try and find some relevant photos of that later but did not see much Military related to talk about.

The Commando is a pretty solid bit of resin. The only worry I have is that the mg barrels will be broken with rough handling, luckily they did supply two sets of spare barrels.

The Commander is a cut down West Wind figure, while the driver has a Warlord WW2 head and greenstuff body.

Like always I was really happy with the paint job, and then I clear coated it which made it go all dark again. However I am happy with how it turned out but will add some stowage and further matt down the decals.

The prisoners were converted from TAG's civilian hostage pack. The US figure has lower legs that were removed from the V-100 Commander figure. I forgot to add pockets on his trousers till the painting stage. Some of the details on the Vietnamese figures aren't quite right but does it matter?