On the bench

 A "second" Sunday update (it being a holiday and all) I thought it was time to update whats been across my workbench in the last month. First up was the finish for the moment of the 1:600 aircraft replacement project (as I just got tired of it ).

Not everything based but mostly started. The Russian heicopters need completing but that waits for a second order the Mr Page is waiting on.

And the pile that its replacing...

 

Theres an interesting historical mix of manufacturers here. Heroics and Ros, some old NZ military minatures models (my, they were nice), a couple of Skytrex, some GHQ and local cast GHQ ripoffs and one that completey escapes me whic is saying something (a variable sweep wing Mig 23). This doesn't count the helicopters. All to eventually go on Trademe (uness anyone makes me an offer, money or trade, for any of the bits. I'm happy to split it off).

With this workbench out of the way I went to some IHMN figures. I had brought a pack of Perry Mahdist infantry a while back to provide the cheap cultists/filler that any evil gang needs. Plus they were 40 figures for 20 quid which is about what you want to pay for expendables. I had never assembled  any sort of multipose figures before  and its taken me a while to get into it (not just weapons but heads too). With all the options I eventually simplified it standising on the clothes and weapons. A first group was done with swords backed up by some guys with rifles.

 

The problem with the boxes like this is that theres only so many weapons, so at this point I was out of sword arms. It was then onto the spears and shields.

 

Finally, with the impending opening of the Baccus cart again (and with Heroics and Ros still sort of open, but not with my complete needs for any MSH projects) it was time to get back into the Napoleonics pile. First up off the blocks was the Wurtemberg contingent. By good management or good luck they were still a full division by Liepzig at the end of 1813 so its only 100 infantry with artillery and commanders.

 

 

I'm not quite sure what I am ordering next but given that the last order I made was on August the 13th, and its being cast this week (so I shoudl see it by December) I'm now ordering figures for Febuaray next year. Such is the current way of the world.

Desant

 I was having a bit of a hunt through the back-blocks of my hard drive today and came across a TOE for Russian airborn units published by those nice chaps at the Army Infantry School in Fort Benning. Its part of ST 7-198 FY 84. N this is a handy document as I am rather sceptical of the TOE's that I have seen. Now I suppose I should hold any information from the 80's with a grain of salt as information on TOE's was very hard to come by (even more so at the arse end of the world). However the official TOE's for MSH are in places not much better (British anyone?)

Now I must admit that I have some misgivings about bits of it which I'll address at the end.

Divisional HQ     HQ infantry stand.

                            2 BRDM-2

Support regiment

            Artillery regiment 4 x D-30 122mm

            Artillery regiment 4 x BM-14/GAZ66

            AT battalion 4 x ASU-85

1 BMD regiment    HQ in BMD

                                1 BRDM-2

Mortar battery     1 x 120mm Mortar/GAZ66

AA battery           1 x 23mm AA /GAZ66

AT battery             2 x BRDM 2S/BRDM 3

3 Battalions    HQ in BMD

                    3 companies 2 BMD-1 

2 Parachute Regiments HQ infantry stand 

BMD coy 2 BMD-1

Mortar battery     1 x 120mm Mortar/GAZ66

AA battery           1 x 23mm AA /GAZ66

AT battery            1 x SD-85/GAZ66

3 Battalions          HQ stand 

                    3 companies 3 Inf stands

                                         1 SPG9

                    3 companies 3 SPG9

                                         2 AT3/AT4

Man the formatting for the new blogger is rubbish for something like this.

So issues I do have is a lack of regiment/battalion recce elements, engineering stands and 82mm mortars. The 82mm mortars might be replaced by SPG-9's as they would be easier to cart round than a mortar baseplate. 

Now oddly enough the airborne units that I have modeled seem to be from another source which from what I can tell was Jake Collins old site.

First up the parachute units. This appears to be a BHQ, 3 companies of 2 platoons, an 82mm and 120mm Mortar, an SA-7 and 2 AT stabds (mixed SPG9 and AT-4).

The BMD battalion is BMD comand (BMD-KSH), 3 compaies of 2 platoons, plus an 82mm motar and a 30mm GL

To cap this whole story off I have another TOE for 1979 in one of those annoying "every vehicle represented by a sillouete" which doesn't give numbers (which counting 30 trucks is just daft) or platoon/squad breakdowns. it also has some really odd stuff of which I'll give 2 examples;

-BMD companies have an extra platoon with SPG-9 in trucks. now why if you have 10 73mm guns would you want another 3 that are unarmoured?

-The Regiment has a battery of ASU-57, when these were phased out in the mid 1970's

So, a bit of a mess really, and no clear winners.

I'll leave you all with a picture of my ASU-85 battaion, possibly the worst idea anyAFV  designer could come up with.