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.

The Luftwaffe done

 A change from Napoleonics this weekend as I got the soldering iron out and based the SH German air support. First up, the FW190's. Again 4 on a base which is easier when the models are so small.

Cannon armed Stukas, only 2 to a stand this time round.

So why not mix the 2. And if 4 is good, surely 5 is better. Rudel makes an appearence with his backup band.

Finally I had a crack at mounting the basic Stuka's in some imitation of a dive bombing attack formation.

I'm not sure about this but given the limits of the base size it will have to do.

I also had a near first when I dropped an FW-190 under the modeling table. Its the first time I've thought that I have lost a model in quite a long time and it took a hard 10 minute search to find it.

Friday again

Well, after promising more regular updates, I've then gone and had 2 weeks off. Its a bit like having a GANTT chart at work, which are designed to give managers the ilusion that they are in control when the people following them know that they are obsolete the minute they are done and printed.

Anyway, in the last 2 weeks I've been working on the buildings for IHMN which are coming along but which have developed into a lot of work as they are just so nice. After a week of that I then went back to the Imperial guard to finish up the Chaseurs. For some odd reason this has taken much longer than I expected. However its all done now and the division is complete.

The old Guard

With this division done I've moved onto the Wurtemberg division from 1813. Hopefully this won't grind on quite so long.

And if I didn't have enough to paint sitting round at the moment, I've been pondering a "small" and a "big" project as well.

The small project is an addition to my MSH Warsaw pact forces. I currently don't own a BTR-60 regiment which I could use for either East Germans or Russians from the late 60's to the end of the cold war. Plus I think I can cover the support units from the spares I have lying around.. Polish marines would be nice but I would have to buy Danes as well and that starts being a "big" project.

The big project is a result of my purchase of the DBA V3 rules. I've only ever had the V2.2 rules but a visit to Book depository a couple of weeks back saw this wind up in my cart. I've always wanted to do a campaign set of armies in 6mm on the 25mm bases. And while I have an interest in western european armies of the 15th century, I already have more than enough 15mm elements for anything that I might desire doing. Other possibilities would be something based around the Ottomans or the later Crusades So I'm now waiting for the package to turn up t see just what tickels my fancy so to speak.

Interesting listening

 This postcast has an Interview withh Andy from Heroics and Ros. Its quite interesting on a number of levels. I was always worried how he was doing, but expanding the buisness 4 times since he has owned it he must be doing something right.

Friday night

 I'm going to start doing a friday-ish night update ofwhat I've been working on for the week. So without further ado let the slideshow begin.

Carrying on with the air support replacement project I've been painting Germans this week.

FW190's. I never realised they were so small.

A collection of Stukas

A wargaming cliche

The last photo comes from a story in "Stuka Pilot". Rudel writes that when his wing was re-equiped with FW190's they continued to fly cannon armed Stukas as well, though frequenty he was the only one flying them.

I have to sit down this weekend and do some soldering.

I aso finished up one of the P47 stands.

Makes a bit more sense now

I like the look though I'm not sure a large radial engine would toss out so much smoke. Now a delicate little P51......

The Imperial guard grenadiers got a flock and some flags.

I was having an e-mail chat with Mr Page this afternoon (slow Friday at work where I had several things to do, but not the kit or time to do them at the end of the week). He commeneted that next years project was rebasing his MSH stuff on 2mm laser cut MDF. For a moment I thought "wow that would be nice", then the pratical side of the brain pointed out just how many stands that might be. Initially the count was "lots" but then I wondered just how many stands it was. A quick guess was 1500 for both SH and MSH. 

After tea tonight I went into the room and had a quick approximate tally up and came up with a number of 2000 stands. And I was about to add that here when I remembered I had missed a box entirely.

2700.......

A bit of history

 One of the bonuses of getting a new phone is having access to the internet. Over the last 3-4 weeks I have started listening to some Podcasts from Gods Own Scale which has some interesting ramblings about wargaming wih the main aim being to promote 6mm wargaming. Theres even an episode chatting to Robert Dunlop who is a proponent of Great War Spearhead (which I really must have a go at). However I'm going to comment on his line which is "Keep talking about 6". I've noticed over the years (and moreso in the last 10 or so) that more people have noticed that you can play games in the more "pretty" periods of history that don't look like its a pub stoush on a Saturday night. Us 20th century "treadheads", as I think the owner of Baccus minatures once referred to us, worked out that 6mm was an ideal scale a lot longer ago, probably as its more convenient to fling sharp bits of metal 2000m at objects without it looking silly on a 6 by 4. Having a look through my collection last night I came up with these guys.

These were some of the first 6mm minatures I purchased back in 1983 and were fighting the cold war when it was Ultra-Modern. Still in their original paintjob which wasn't that bad for a 15 year old. They have survived being unbased due to a younger me baking the first layer of paint on; 200C in an oven for 10 minutes. It stinks and be very careful about the mix of metal that is used (lead doesn't melt at this temp, but I'm not sure about pewter). I also have in my collection Russians purchased before the colapse of the Soviet Union. So technically I've been talking about 6 for over 35 years. 

On the other hand, here's some figures on the painting bench this morning just after basing. There comes a time in every Napoleonic gamers life where he has to paint the French Imperial Guard. I have held off for a long time, but playing the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 means that unfortunately you just have to have these guys in the box. This week I've painted the Greanadiers, and am now starting on the Chasseurs.

In the last couple of weeks I painted most of the cavalry.

Front base is the 1st and 2nd lancers and behind is the Horse Grenadiers and Empress Dragoons. I've also done the Chassers de Cheval. Oddly enough I in the last couple of Baccus orders I forgot the Middle guard figures and so these were ordered during the last Baccus open cart session. Oh and if anyone has an interest in the spare figures that I haven't used (36 Horse Grenadiers anyone?) drop me a line.

After the Guardis finished I will probably start on the 3000 pts of Prussians curretly sitting in the sun. Theres a corps of Poles to do but it will be nice to have another opponent for the French.