20mm WW2 Because Why Not

1/72 WW2 Russians from Plastic Soldier Company

I already collect WW2 figures in 3mm, 6mm and 15mm.  Dallas has an amazing collection of WW2 stuff in 28mm (just one example here).  I love gaming WW2, and I'm really lucky to be able to play many different games and rules sets, everything from a skirmish in rules like "Bolt Action" or "Chain of Command", as well as Dallas' own excellent "Blitzkrieg" rules, all the way up to company-level scraps in games like "Flames of War", to division-level abstract encounters in rules like "Spearhead". With this very fortunate background, it would make no sense to try yet another scale for this period. If we already play 15mm and 28mm, then what is the point of 20mm?

But on the other hand, hey - why not?  Logic has never really driven my hobby decisions...just look at the mess of different stuff on this site.

Platoon officer on hex, NCOs on square bases

Long before I came around the group, the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts played a fair bit of WW2 in 20mm. I believe they played Rapid Fire or Crossfire...or maybe both? I don't know for certain, but I suspect Conscript Kevin H may yet hold a small reserve of 20mm stuff. Conscript Curt (now in Regina) had a reserve of amazing figures from AB. Recently he came across them in his pile and started painting some up - see this great post on his Analogue Hobbies Blog.

LMG team on square base - all that wasteful space required because they are prone (sigh)

Curt's stuff got me wondering again about 20mm in the context of my own preferred area of focus in WW2 - the Eastern Front, particularly from 1943 onwards. I was further spurred to check out 20mm when I purchased a copy of the "Battlegroup" rules set, which is intended for both 15mm and 20mm figures. Taking the plunge, I picked up some figures from the Plastic Soldier Company - not too pricey, so kind of "low risk", plus the tanks (at least in 15mm) are pretty gamer-friendly for plastic models.

Nice figures from PSC - they look great in 20mm

I started with a box of some Russian infantry in summer uniform and a T-34 box from their WW2 Russian 1/72 range.  Here are some test models - about a squad and-a-half of infantry and a single tank.

Another view of the infantry

I am not crazy about PSC's 15mm plastic infantry - I find the details to be soft.  But these 1/72 figures are quite sharp, and it leads me to believe that, at least for infantry, 1/72 is the ideal scale for their models.  You get quite an assortment of troops for a good price, making this kit an ideal one to start with.

Check out the terrible job I did on the track pieces...I'm useless with these two-piece track sets...

I based the models using the same approach as I used in my individually-based 15mm WW2 stuff - round bases for grunts, squares for NCOs and a hex for the senior leaders of a unit (inspired by Curt C). 

Decals from PSC too - including Russian lettering for the turrets - I love that!

Russian WW2 infantry paint up fast - that's how a couple test models quickly turn into 15 guys in a week or so! The box gives enough infantry for a platoon of guys - either a rifle platoon, or an SMG platoon (although not quite both together). This is a very good value.  The only criticism I would have is that the poses of the LMG teams are either prone (blah) or marching (much worse) - they are sculpted well, I just find those two poses to be the worst ones for gaming (personal quirk - everyone else looks ready to fight and the LMG guys are road marching?)

Used oil paints and a old brush to do highlighting and chipping on the hull

The 1/72 scale T-34 from PSC is a fabulous model.  I still screwed up the tracks, of course, but you will not, because anyone out there will be a lot sharper than I am when it comes to modelling skills :)

With PSC T-34s, you can switch between T-34/76s and T-34/85s - very sensible!

A Russian tank from WW2 is a pretty quick paint job, but I experimented on this vehicle using a oil-paint detail wash, basically to pick out the plates, hatches and seams in the amour.  It was quite a striking effect.  The downside is that oil paints take like a billion years to dry, so you need to use Dullcote spray to set the paint and move things along, and I cringe every time I use Dullcote, certain I am about to wreck the model...

Anyway, I will never get to the level of the master tank painters like Piers Brand, but I look forward to messing around a little more with this technique, and I think 1/72 models will be a good means to do that. 

 

1st Cuirassiers - 28mm French Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry

French 1st Cuirassiers - 28mm Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry from Perry Miniatures

A little bit of a "surprise" project that I wanted to get done before my friend Curt returns to Winnipeg for another visit, I present the 1st Cuirassiers, 28mm French Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry, 24 figures strong.  The figures are plastics from Perry Miniatures.  I finished up the unit during the long weekend here in Canada.  Overall it took me about three weeks.  I started these guys on May 2nd, the same night the Montreal Canadians opened their (ultimately ill-fated) quarter final round against the Ottawa Senators in the NHL playoffs.

Command group before priming

A couple of the models are primed - these would be the "test" figures

I already have a small but gradually growing force of 28mm Austrians for the Napoleonic wars.  These have faced off a couple of times against Curt's French troops. And while I will continue to haul my sausage aficionados happily down the Trans-Canada Highway, I would like to have a few games for the group locally.  That means I need to get some French done of my own.

Some troops at the "half way" point in the painting process

Painted fellows and some "half way" figures

Close up of a WIP stage

I had purchased a couple of boxes of these plastic French heavy cavalry back when the Perrys first released them.  That was a couple of years ago...2009, or 2010 or something like that.  So these have been sitting for quite a while.  I don't know what, precisely, prompted me to knock these off, but when Curt mentioned he might be popping by for a visit in June I thought to myself that it would be awesome to finish these off in time for his visit.

Officer and standard bearer at the early painting stage

Painted cav, waiting for basing

In many ways, starting off a French force with heavy cavalry is hugely illogical.  What I actually need to get on to the table is a couple of regiments of ligne, some artillery and other bits, not fancy armoured heavy horsemen.

Basing step one - glue to the bases

Basing step 2 - sit in the "goop"

Basing Step 2...waiting to dry into the goop

But I have always been impressed with the look of the French heavies...some of the nicest troops of the whole period.  Gleaming breastplates, big horses, funky helmets, heavy swords...these guys have it all when it comes to looking cool.

Ready to charge home against Napoleon's enemies

I did not (and still don't) know a whole lot about them - other than to watch out when they charge - but the Perrys give you enough info with the box sets to encourage you to get started, so I dove in. I made several mistakes (like using the wrong horse halves for the officer, etc), but I figured "screw it" and these painted up relatively fast, as far as calvary go.

These plastics are really, really nice.  I am getting to be quite the curmudgeon when in comes to plastic figures - I dislike assembling them, and prefer the weight of the metal figures.  But the Perrys give you everything you would need with the box - you get the option to have them in a charging pose, or with the sabres at rest.  And you can do them as either Cuirassiers or later-look Carabiniers.  It's pretty awesome.

Musician's uniform...mental...who thought that was a good idea? How french. 

Painting the musician was particularly tricky.  The uniforms of the French musicians generally are quite mental compared to the humble garb of the Hapsburg drummers and buglers.

The flag is from the "Flag Dude".  I quite like the effect of his work, certainly a cooler "crinkle" in the flag than I could manage on my own.  But I find the wire he mounts his flags on pretty challenging to cut - I ended up using the Dremel tool, with plenty of sparks, because none of my cutters were up to the job.  Fortunately nobody was hurt.

Flag by the "Flag Dude"

As Curt might say, these fellows will be "a little lonely".  I think the Cuirassiers typically operated in divisions together, so having these guys all alone on the table would be a little odd.  That means a second unit at some point, as well as some specific heavy cavalry officers.  I won't lie - that will be quite a while away. I would prefer to use metals as opposed to the plastics (even these really nice ones) for a second regiment, and I don't have those handy.  But this was really fun, and I look forward to hopefully seeing these on the table, perhaps alongside Curt's French dragoons.

Seven Years War 28mm Austrians from Front Rank

For Maria Theresa!

So this is kind of a "WTF?" project - 28mm Austrians from the Seven Years War.  The Seven Years War? Yes - the Seven Years War. Why the Seven Years War? Why not? Is that an answer? No. But that's really all I have for an explanation.

Austrian SYW battalion in 28mm

My main horse & musket gaming interest is the Napoleonic period.  I have a collection of Napoleonics in 15mm and another group in 28mm.  I love the period, I love the various rules and I love the games.  Rolling out for the 28mm games in particular is a lot of fun. That huge battle in Regina is probably one of the coolest games I have ever been part of.

The frontage for each figure is 15mm

But the Seven Years War is really neat.  Linear fighting (none of those savage, peasant fuelled revolutionary columns), elite officers, polluted and incompetent officers, tricorne hats, crazy gloves, pimped up cuffs and collars, neck scarves, fancy hair, halberds...and poltroons.  Poltroons! And the Hungarians - bonkers! And lots of grenadiers with mitres. Mitres!  The period has a lot to offer. The Space Marine-like shooting abilities most rule sets attribute to the Prussians are pretty annoying but the whole spectacle looks amazing on the table.  Conscript Brian H. has a 15mm scale collection of Seven Years War figures that are, quite simply, jaw dropping to see, and when he brings them out for a game its an event for sure.  Although the damn Prussians will win...

BEFORE - painted originally as an 18-casting unit, just one flag

I cannot match Brian's skill with the brush, but I have dabbled with the Seven Years War before. Back in 2009 I painted up a few 6mm Adler castings.  For Christmas that year I received a pack of Front Rank Austrians from this period.  At the time I was reading up the "Might & Reason" rules by Sam Mustafa, so I started to paint them up for fun  in line with the basing for that game.

Another BEFORE photo - note the fade on the flag

But I didn't like how it looked.  "Might & Reason" calls for very small units in 28mm scale, about 12 castings per unit.  I didn't care for the look, and I didn't like the way the units were split into two halves - was hard to figure out where the standard bearers should be. A little thing, but it is the kind of thing that really irritates me.  "Might & Reason" is not rigid on its basing, however.  You can use any basing you like as long as it is consistent, so I painted these up originally as an 18-man unit, based on three six-casting bases with a 15mm-per-figure frontage.  This little orphan project sat on the shelf after that, and there are a couple of pictures in this post that show how it looked.  The flag was from GMB, and it was very fiddly - it reacted poorly to the glue and then faded under the dullcote varnish.

AFTER - increased to 22 castings, with a second standard bearer and mounted officer

Fast forward to 2011, and Curt gets me going on these bonkers grand-manner-style Napoleonic units with 40 castings.  As I finished more and more large Austrian units, I would look at my lone SYW unit from time to time, and it looked pretty small.  Fast forward again to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting challenge which started last December.  I dug out a lot of old stuff to paint - mostly Sudan, some WW2, but I also came across some extra musketeers that came with the 2009 gift.  I thought I would paint up the balance of the musketeers, the mounted officer, and re-base them using the system Curt had developed for the Napoleonics - still 15mm frontage per casting, but a deeper base to protect the figures.  It seemed like a nice way to get some extra points! I didn't get to them in time for the challenge, but I still got to them over the weekend...

Poltroon - awesome! Keep that line straight!

I did not wish to make this into a massive 40-casting unit, but I hiked it up to 22 castings with a mounted officer. I added a second standard bearer, and replaced the flags.  The unit was re-based. All in all it came together pretty well.

Mounted officer dressed to the nines.

Front Rank castings are certainly "well fed", but have lots of nice detail

The Front Rank castings are interesting.  They are beefy, beefy lads, hulking 28mm figures, and they barely fit into the 15mm frontage on the bases.  It's not that they are taller, they are thicker. They have nice detail, but some of the poses, particularly for the officers, are a little awkward. The fellow with the halberd on the command base is a good example - a neat pose, but he looks very awkward...the turn of his back just isn't quite right.  On the other hand I've seen a lot worse.  The Front Rank range is very, very comprehensive and there is a lot of lovely detail on the figures.  If 28mm SYW is your thing, I suggest Front Rank for sure.

A solitary unit...for now...

Overall I was happy with this little project and how it turned out. So will this herald a new "New Insane Project?"  You never know, but it is pretty unlikely.  Why? Well, for fun I took a "Might & Reason" scenario that Brian H. designed, the Battle of Lobositz.  Doing the Austrian infantry component alone would require another seven of these units...and then there is the cavalry, the guns...and then the Prussians!  All in it was something like 350 castings between both sides. Front Rank doesn't hose you, but it isn't cheap either - and there is other stuff I want to paint.  Even if I lowered my sights - say to just try a Black Powder game - it would still be a pile of lead, and time that I should probably invest in other projects (Napoleonic Austrians, or Sudan, or who know what else) instead.

So these lads will sit on the shelf and look nice for now.  We'll see if/when I come back to the Seven Years War, and in what scale...

DOE - D'oh!

The DOE Gunship from Khurasan - frustration awaits...

As the Green Bay Packers rightfully hammered the pretenders in Houston tonight I thought, since I was busy clearing the decks on 15mm sci-fi, that I would try and complete an acquisition that had been hotly anticipated for some time - the 15mm DOE Gunship from Khurasan's sic-fi near future Nova Respublik faction.

This model had been hotly anticipated, and the seemingly endless amount of time it took to arrive from computer drawing to actual model available for sale makes it "exhibit A" in my case to figure retailers that showing greens/renderings on a "coming soon" basis is actually a means to create frustration more than sales...

All that aside, who doesn't want a "Space Hind"?  The Soviet Hind attack helicopters are iconic pieces of kit.  A sci-fi version for the cool Nova Respublik? Sign me up!!!  When they were FINALLY available for sale I ordered right away...too bad, because I should have thought this through...

First of all, the model is a blizzard of parts.  This is not a simple or intuitive kit to put together.

And for all of the detail, there is NOTHING about the model designed to accommodate any sort of flying base in any way.  I find this oversight to be quite bizarre - this is, after all, meant to be a gaming miniature, used on a gaming table. It will need a flight base, so it can "fly" over the troops on the table.  As a VTOL craft, preferably some kind of base it can detach from - but failing that, some kind of flying base.

But this model was designed with none of that in mind.  I find this baffling, and very surprising coming from a solid outfit like Khurasan. You can build it with the landing gear down if you like (which you can see in the pictures through the link), but other than making the model useful as terrain or an objective, this is not useful for gaming.  I want this thing cutting across the table lighting tanks and troops with rockets, not sitting in a revetment waiting for the rebels to get it...why this was not more thought out, I don't understand.

Some might say "well, you can just use tools to rig it up yourself".  That is true, but I don't WANT to have to bother with drills and tools and other silliness just to put a 15mm wargaming model on the table.  Companies that assume you should just do that as a matter of course make me nuts. How is it that every rocket launcher, gun pod and sensor was so thought out, and the flying aspect of basing the model was not?

I drilled a little magnetic bit into the bottom of the craft.

To try and find a way around this I drilled out a hole for one of those round magnetic pieces I have seen the guys use on "Wings of War" planes.  I am trying to find a way to mount the counter-magnet into one of the GW flying bases.  I have not figured it out yet.  On the plus side, I have developed a number of new swear-word combinations today.

This is how I generally feel when trying to work with magnets, drills and other silliness

But at least I have a start on the magnet thing.  I figured I would at least get the model finished and painted, and then sort out the flight stand.  WRONG.

As I said, this model is a blizzard of parts.  The DOE is a twin-tailed VTOL gunship, with a fin/wing at the back between the tails. The picture up at the top, replicated again below, shows where this fin should go, and also shows how it does not fit - not even CLOSE.  This isn't a matter of green stuff - this is a part that is not even close...and it is a key part.

The tail wing bit is not EVEN CLOSE to fitting where it should - it should join to each tail fin, but there is an ample gap on each side.  And yes...I use my thumb nail as a paint palette...

I thought perhaps I had not mounted the tail pieces snugly enough to the body, but this still does not cover the distance. So suffice to say, this DOE is going nowhere for now.  D'oh!  This "breakdown" appeared on the third step of assembly - I didn't even get to all the small wings, sensors. rocket pods etc. Grrr!

I have to figure out some kind of bodge for this tail fin...I'm sure this is some kind of fluke, or maybe a sign of a new product, as generally I have seen nothing but top quality from Khurasan.

This model is beautiful, and I would love to get this thing on the table. I commend Khurasan for coming up with this and getting it to the market. I am sure it took a lot of work.  But I wish they had thought it through a little more - as in, how will this thing actually get out on to the table top? And I urge caution to all out there who are thinking about getting one of these things.  On the other hand, if you are like me, you had been waiting for so long, you probably already bought one...in which case, I wish you better luck that I am having!

28mm Sci-Fi Goodness - "Frank's Toybox"

Painted test models of Frank Hammond's amazing 28mm sci-fi troops

As I wait for more bases and hope for a lost shipment of Peter Pig stuff to hopefully appear (thanks for that, Canada Post and People's Pharmacy - incompetent clowns, but anyway...) I am taking another little fun side project: some new 28mm infantry from Frank Hammond.  These are near-future sci-fi troops and are the nicest 28mm sci-fi models I have seen in a long time.

The goodies arrived in no time at all...

I came across these via a TMP posting earlier this month, and loved the look of them immediately.  You can read about the genesis of these models here on Frank's Blog, (you can purchase them there too) but suffice to say it is the opposite from the plague of Kickstarter panhandling that is sweeping the hobby. He basically knew what he wanted, got them sculpted, and you can buy them too if you want. How refreshing.

Some of the troops waiting for the basing goop to dry

You can see the SAW gunner in the front row here - not my favourite style of MG, but the models are still awesome overall

Of course style preference is hugely subjective.  There are many people who do not care too much for "near-future" sci-fi, finding it too close to modern troops of today.  But if you like that "period" (and I am a huge fan), you will love these models.  They are the closest thing I have seen in 28mm to Khurasan's outstanding 15mm "Nova Respublik" troops.  The armour is cool, the weapons are cool, the poses are solid and the sculpts are outstanding.  These are what the 40k plastic Cadians should have been - lightly armoured but without the "special school" helmets and shoulder pads mixed with steroid-boosted bulk the current plastic Cadians bring with them.

AT launchers and sniper rifles

More riflemen waiting for the "goop" to dry before getting a coat of primer

As I wish the 40k Imperial Guard looked like this, I want to paint them in the blue scheme similar to that of my Rogue Trader era guardsmen.  They can serve as Imperial Guard proxies, or represent a mercenary regiment in our Spacekrieg period, playing either our home-made rules or Tomorrow's War.

Test model 1 completed, beside a similar model waiting for primer

This is not a huge collection of models - a variety of rifle-armed poses, an officer with a communicator or scanner, a trooper with an AT launcher, and a trooper with a SAW-type weapon, together with a rifle-armed trooper carrying an extra ammo load for the SAW.  There is also a trooper with a sniper rifle.  The SAW trooper is maybe the one model that I am not totally wild about with this collection - I have never been a fan of the standing MG-style rig (but I know it is popular generally).  But it still looks pretty cool...

Rear view of test model 1

To make these "40k legal" I have ordered some custom bases with sabots that will allow me to mount the SAW as a two-man "heavy weapon team", while the models themselves remain individually based for the other, more sensible rules sets (i.e. any other rules).  I will probably use the AT launcher as a proxy grenade launcher in 40k, and an actual light AT missile launcher in the better games.

In an actual 40k game this will lead to a shortage in terms of variety of troops and special weapons, but in my experience playing Guard in 40k the infantry are largely irrelevant, with success riding on what your vehicles can manage. Accouterments such as standard bearers, medics and other superfluous bits end up as diversions and wastes of points on the table.

When I first received the models, I thought they were huge - but clearly I've been doing too much 15mm recently, as you can see in this comparison photo they sit just fine on the 28mm spectrum - with more realistic proportions to boot

The first two painted test models

Frank says on the blog that he is hoping to have more figures done.  I can only keep my fingers crossed and hope that happens - but of course it takes a long time.  Perhaps someone can figure out a way to Kickstarter some more sculptors and casting companies out of the ether.

In the interim, I may attempt some conversions - the AT launcher model might be a candidate to end up with a kind of lascannon, while there may be some way to replace some of the rifles with flamer-type guns or melta-type guns.  But it's not a huge priority, or a huge worry.

The models are "light" - no big back-packs, which makes sense - you would probably leave them in the APC...

The extent to which I can manage to make these models "legal" for 40k is really secondary.  After all, 40k is a generally terrible set of rules, and we have so many other "periods"/rules where these guys will be able to play, and I look forward to getting them on the table sometime soon.  And if you like near future sic-fi, give these models a look - you will love them.