Battle of Pacocha Painting Finished

I was looking forward to a game of Armoured Storm at the club this evening but unfortunately I've had to postpone it due to a family upset, as my son was taken ill today at work. It's nothing serious but it knocked him for six and meant that we had to tie up some loose ends, making club night a non starter. 

To make up for this in part, I finished painting HMS Shah, HMS Amethyst and the Huascar for the Battle of Pacocha in 1979. I will add base labels and magnetic strip later but they are now ready for action to all intents and purposes. I'm going to work out some ship data for the Royal Navy warships and write up a scenario for Dahlgren and Columbiad.

Arctic Eagles

The Jasta 18 article and scenarios for Algernon Pulls It Off! have now landed safe and sound on Lard Island, hopefully destined for the 2025 Lard Mag. In the meantime, I'm thinking of writing something small for Bag the Hun to submit, with the Arctic Eagles JG5 theme a possible focus, although I've yet to decide exactly what it will be. The idea would be to have a brief introduction then perhaps two or three scenarios, but it all depends on whether I have the time. 

Blocking and Washing

The blocking in is now complete and a wash applied, so I just have to wait for it to fully dry then start on the highlights and details. I had to mix up a new batch of what I call my ironclad wash and I'm not sure if it's quite right, but will have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully any screw ups will be sorted out when I apply the highlights on top.

Blocking In Bang On!

Slow progress today on the Battle of Pacocha ships but they are well underway, with the white blocking in and tan earth decking basecoat applied to all three models. The fun bit is next, adding a base layer of shades for the masts, funnels, ratlines and sails, which should take too long now that the white layer has been done. It's worth it to make the colours pop and to make it easier to cover over the black undercoat.

Picking Up Loose Ends

Now that the Jasta 18 scenario project has been put to bed, I am able to spend a couple of months wrapping up loose ends, rather than starting anything brand new. I have the 1/2400th ships for the Battle of Pacocha on the workbench at the moment, but I'm also going to start painting the other half of my Bag the Hun Continuation War project. I've already painted the 1/600th scale Soviet aircraft, so now it's the turn of the Finnish, specifically the Curtiss Hawk 75 fighters of Llv32. It's a simple camouflage scheme but the yellow bands and other details make it not as straightforward as you'd think. Once completed, I can run some solo games at home then potentially take them to the club for some multiplayer games as well?

Auf Wiedersehn Jasta 18!

 

I've now finished the introduction for the Jasta 18 scenarios and sent the whole thing off to Nick Skinner over on Lard Island, so that he can decide if it will be included in this year's Lard Mag. I've really enjoyed researching, writing, play testing and tweaking the seven scenarios that I've included, while also having fun painting a whole load of 1/600th scale models for the games I've played solo. I may run a game or two at the club at some point but will now have time to focus on other things, perhaps something for Bag the Hun, who knows?

Khalkin Gol Tank Battle Books

A couple of second hand books for a potential Armoured Storm Khalkin Gol project in 1/300th scale have arrived in the post. Both include some very useful guidance on regiment and company organisation for the Japanese and Soviet forces, which suggests to me that it would be perfectly feasible to have two I opposing tank forces, with AT gun and infantry AT support, perhaps starting with the Japanese from Scotia Micromodels in the first instance. I'll do some number crunching and see what I need to order over the next couple of days. 

Battle of Pacocha Blocking In

Now that I've completed the German and Soviet tank company painting for Armoured Storm, which appeared out of nowhere a couple of weeks ago, I can return to what I was supposed to be doing, namely painting the 1/2400th scale ships for the Battle of Pacocha. These have been base coated so I'm now on to the blocking in stage, which mainly involves lots of white paint for the upper works. It's a bit fiddly but I actually quite enjoy this bit, as it makes the highlights really pop later on. 

1/600th T34/85 Tank Company

1/600th T34/85 tank company progress

The 3mm T34/85 tanks are now painted and ready to be glued onto 20mm circular plastic bases, after which I can paint the tracks and do a bit of tidying up. These Tumbling Dice models are tiddly but surprisingly easy to paint up, with a dry brush, block in and wash approach, plus a handy 0.1 fineliner for the details. It's a shame the range is so limited and some of the models are a bit inaccurate, to say the least, but it's a cheaper option than my preferred choice of Oddzial Ozmy.

Jasta 18 Write Up Wrap Up

This year I've reduced my part time work days to three days a week, giving me Monday and Tuesday to do other things, at least for the next couple of months or so. This means lots of jobs around the house but also some time to write wargaming articles, scenarios and other things for publication or just for fun. I've been putting off writing the background blurb for the Jasta 18 - Raben's Ravens - article for the Lard Mag for a bit, so that's the job for this week. This will be a mix of historical background, rules amendments and ideas for modelling or painting, running to no more than 1000 words or fewer, which won't take me long to draft but does require some focus. When it's done, I may have a crack at a Bag the Hun article or perhaps something for Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine?

1/600th T34/85 HQ Tanks

 

I finished the HQ tanks today for the Soviet late war company, adding some slogans to the turret sides so that they are easy to identify. I did think of adding some flags but I think they would be too flimsy to stand up to much use on the wargames table. I'm going to crack on with the rest of the tank platoons tomorrow, if I can find the time.

Armoured Storm Khalkin Gol

I'm working on my 1/600th scale Eastern Front tanks for Armoured Storm at the moment, which are going to be used to learn the rules, but I'm planning to scale up to 1/300th scale afterwards. I was thinking of the Western Desert or Barbarossa for this but think it would be more interesting to do Khalkin Gol in 1939. I have played a lot of Bag the Hun games set during the conflict but never considered the land war, which involved large scale tank battles and assaults on defended positions. The Soviet and Japanese tanks are also really cool and readily available from Scotia Grendel and Heroics and Ros. I just need to work out company composition and the stats for the Japanese tanks. 

T34/85 Blocking In

A slow start but the HQ tanks for the Soviet medium tank company have been blocked in, ready for the tracks to be painted and some ink wash for weathering. The Tumbling Dice models aren't very accurate but they are easy to paint up and look pretty good from arms length. The HQ tanks will also get some tiny red stars or possibly something resembling Soviet slogans on the turret sides, to make them stand out from the other tanks. I have a quiet weekend ahead, if it all goes according to plan, so hope to finish the company by the end of Sunday. 

British AFV's for Armoured Storm

I have been farting about with stats for later war British tanks and tank destroyers for Armoured Storm, specifically for the NW European campaign. It's not too tricky to work out the combination of speed, armour and firepower but there is some educated guesswork involved and I can't claim to have nailed it, yet. For example, I'm having a bit of a think about the Archer, which combined a comparatively well armoured hull with a very flimsy superstructure, making it a bit of a head scratcher. 

T34/85 Tank Company Basecoat

A good start on the painting of the T34/85 tank company, with a wet brush of Vallejo Cold White over a Halfords Matt Black basecoat. I also blocked in a basecoat of Cold White on the aircraft. The next stage will be to add a white block in on the tanks then paint the tracks, while the aircraft will get the undersides blocked in.

T34/85 Tank Company Tidy Up

The Armoured Storm Eastern Front Soviet tank company is now on the workbench, with three platoons of seven T34/85 tanks and three HQ tanks cleaned up and undercoated. I also prepared and magnet based two Tu-2 light bombers, two Il-2 anti-tank, ground attack aircraft and two La-7 fighter bombers, all left overs from my old MiG Alley project. I didn't add a Sherman platoon, as the models are M4A4 versions, not M4A2's, with the job of converting them being a bit too tricky. I'll start painting the tanks tomorrow morning and should get them finished by the weekend, if I get cracking.

Richard III woz ere

A whistle stop day trip up to Leicester today to see the Richard III car park experience. It was recommended by some friends and was actually pretty good, striking a balance between historical depth and an accessible overview of the key events leading up to the Battle of Bosworth. The best bit was the forensic analysis of the skeleton and wounds inflicted, which was a bit gruesome but very interesting. Definitely worth the trip but you really need to have something else to go and see on the day; we stopped off at friends on the way, so made the most of the journey.

Skytrex 1/600th AFV's

Heroics and Ros acquired the old Skytrex 1/600th scale Coastal Forces range a while back, including the German, British and US vehicles. I thought I'd see if they would match up with either the Tumbling Dice or Oddzial Ozmy 3mm tanks, so have ordered packs of Tigers, Panthers, Shermans and Churchills. If they fit with either range, I will use them to expand the Eastern Front project but, if not, I will use the Churchill and Tiger models for Tunisia. 

Willoughby's Chase

Nick Jones' innovative, fast play campaign rules for the English Civil War in Lincolnshire, designed for 2mm armies using Dominion of Pike and Shot or similar rules, are now available from Wargame Vault as a Pay What You Want download;

https://www.wargamevault.com/m/product/536576

Cheers Nick 😁 

When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Seas

I read an after action report of a game using these fast play WW1 naval rules, which I had never heard of before, and really liked what I saw. They're only four pages long, designed for 1/2400th and are supported by a scenario supplement and ship record sheets, all presented in to a very high standard of design. I've downloaded both the rules and the supplement as an alternative to Victory at Sea for my First World War naval projects, including the Battles of Coronel and  the Falklands, for the Dogger Bank and potentially for the Get the Goeben! project too. Excellent!

https://youtu.be/v1I1E4NJ3us?si=ld_eYt2p9OpQoyYZ

1/600th Scale M4A2 Sherman (75)

The sample packs of Tumbling Dice Sherman Firefly models arrived today and look promising for Lend Lease Soviet Sherman M4A2 75mm tanks, or 'Emchas' as the Russians called them. I would need to cut the turret box back a bit but otherwise they aren't far off the profile of the M4A2, given that they are small enough to get away with some inaccurate details. I'll add them to my Russian tank company as attached platoons, giving me some more options for Armoured Storm.