Pike and Shotte Arrivals

I was very pleased to get my Warlord Games Pike and Shotte Starter Battalia self inflicted Xmas present through the post today, together with a couple of extra boxed sets of infantry and cavalry. I'm rather impressed by the quality of the sculpting and the potential that each box set offers for building a really decent sized army.

I'm definately going to make this my 28mm project for 2011 as I'm really enthused by the possibilties that this range opens up for skirmish and small scale actions. I'm particularly keen to build some forces for the Cornish campaigns of 1643 and 1644, which have both a small scale skirmish level focus and the potential for some larger scale battles as well.

I've dug out and dusted off my copies of 1644 and WECW to read through and give me some direction in terms of basing, number of figures per unit and army composition. I'm not sure what I'll settle for yet but there's plenty to be going on with in the mean time. I'm also going to start some background reading once i've finished the WW2 and Korean War books that I've stockpiled.

Watch this space...

2011 Projects

It's a bit late but, now that I've had a chance to ponder the leadpile, here are my plans for 2011, from 28mm all the way down to 2mm, give or take a few diversions along the way.

28mm

I really want to tackle the Darkest Africa project, with two forces so that I can play solo if needs be. On the other hand, the Pike and Shotte starter army is looking like a strong contender as well.

20mm

This is the Rapid Fire! 5th DCLI project that I'm currently trying to wade through.

15mm

Only one contender in the one true scale, as it's all ready to go and just needs painting. It has to be the AK47 dictatorship army, although finishing off the PITS project would be equally useful for solo gaming.

10mm

In 10mm I have promised to do a Warmaster Ancients dark ages army, which will probably be Norse rather than Early Saxon, as no one produces an affordable / complete Early Saxon range and I already have some Vikings anyway. I also really want to do the Noggies or Italians for BKC2.

6mm

This is really 1/285th, as it's all about Bag The Hun late war Luftwaffe for Operation Bodenplatte and some more Allied planes to shoot them down with.

2mm

To finish off we have everything in 1/600th scale that I want to get on with, which is a pretty comprehensive list including WW2 coastal warfare, the MiG Alley project and ACW ironclads for Iron and Fire. What I decide to do will depend on the time I have left and whatever fires me up at the time, although I really should finish the MiG Alley stuff first.

So, there you go.

How much of this actually gets done is a  completely different question!

Rapid Fire 5th Battalion DCLI [7]

Here's the result of my attempt to add a bit of texture to the green stuff netting that I applied to the Sherman yesterday. As you can see, I blobbed some PVA onto the green stuff then dabbed on some old cooking herbs to create a vague approximation of scrim and foliage.

I'm pretty sure it was oregano, although the label had fallen off the jar, so I might be mistaken. It smelled nice anyway. I think I overdid it a bit as there's not a lot of the netting visible. However, it does capture the sort of look that I was after and was very simple to do.

After it had all dried out I sprayed the whole tank in Humbrol Matt Light Olive 86, both to seal it and to provide a basecoat for washing and drybrushing. Before I tackle any more painting I'll assemble the other Sherman III's and the Fireflys, so that I have them all ready to undercoat in one go.

January Sales!

I'm trying to think of reasons why I don't need any more lead but I'm sorely tempted by the January sales that a number of manufacturers are running at the moment, especially as VAT has gone up by 2.5% making everything more expensive.

I usually take advantage of the Museum Miniatures 25% off discout that runs every year in January, as it's a really good deal. This year, however, I don't need any more Leading Edge planes...at least that's what I'm telling myself.

The QRF 10% off sale is also tempting, as my 15mm AK47 spares could easily be turned into another army with some transport and vehicles. However, I already have a lot of stuff stockpiled and an entire dictatorship army cleaned up, based and ready to paint, so I should really resist.

Finally, I've been thinking of good reasons not to get into 1.300th scale Sci Fi / Near Future gaming using the vehicles from Brigade Models, as they also had a sale on recently. I have a couple of sets of rules for this, including Dirtside and Future War Commander, but can't really justify a whole new project like this from scratch.

Luckily the sale ended at the weekend, so I don't have to resist the temptation any longer!

Rapid Fire 5th Battalion DCLI [6]

After a lot of very helpful suggestions, I've had an initial crack at modelling some scrim netting on the Sherman III that I put together yesterday. In the temporary absence of some surgical gauze and PVA, I thought I'd have a go with some green stuff and plastic filler.

It  seems to have worked out reasonably well. I need to add some substance to the scrim netting, using some tea leaves, dried herbs or scenic flock but otherwise I think it's not looking too bad? I still need to add a couple more items of stowage but, otherwise, I'm fairly happy with the overall result.

To The Last Round

I finished Hill 112 a couple of days ago, bringing my holiday reading list to a very succesful total of three books. It was well worth the time spent reading it, being a very thorough and thoughtful account of Epsom and the assault on Hill 112, with plenty of detail on the 43rd Wessex Division in particular.

Funnily enough, when we shot off the peripherique to head toward Rennes the other day, we took a wrong turn due to some dodgy diversions by the Gendarmerie and ended up in an industrial estate at Verson. After a five minute trip around the one way system we ended up in the right direction but, in the process, we drove through the start line for Epsom and the left flank of the Scottish Corridor, without even realising it. 

Anyway, I'm now reading To The Last Round by Andrew Salmon, which is very well written and looks like being a bit of a page turner. I've always been interested in the Korean War and picked up this book a while back as potential inspiration. Thus far, I've not been disappointed.

Rapid Fire 5th Battalion DCLI [5]

I finished off the PIAT, 2'' and 3'' Mortar teams today, although this involved a bit of re-basing rather than starting from scratch. However, I also cleaned up and assembled the carriers for the support company and the attached 5th Middlesex MMG platoon.

Finally, I cracked open the HaT Armourfast M4A2 kits and built a Sherman III for the 4/7th Royal Dragoons Guards or Sherwood Rangers (I haven't decided which yet). I added some extra stowage and a turret box but I think I need to add some sort of scrim netting to make it look the part.

I have several possible approaches to this including the ubiquitous green stuff, PVA soaked tissue paper or old tights sprinkled with 'past it's use by date' oregano. Whatever I come up with will be a bit of trial and error to put it mildly. The other tanks will, hopefully, be assembled tomorrow.

Rapid Fire 5th Battalion DCLI [4]

I've managed to finish off most of the support elements for the 5th DCLI battalion today including the AT platoon (minus the 6pdr for the moment), the 3'' mortar platoon and a Vickers MMG platoon from the 5th Middlesex. The carrier platoon PIAT team still needs to be finished off and I may well rebase the HQ company PIAT and 2'' mortars to match. I've also added the FAO team of two figures.

I'm planning to finish off the last few figures tomorrow and add some packs to the rest, which up until now I've left off. I've added a fourth company of eight figures, including another converted bren gunner, so that I can use the battalion for scenarios in late 1944 and early 1945, when the fourth company was re-instated. This seemed  like a good idea as it adds only a few figures but a lot more flexibility.

I'm also going to tackle the transport vehicles for the battalion tomorrow, which are all resin castings from the Raventhorpe Ready to Roll range. If I have time, I may also try to put together a squadron or two of Shermans using the HaT Armourfast kits that I've collected, either for the Sherwood Rangers or the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards.

Solo Wargaming Day

Despite my best intentions, this didn't really happen today as I was tied up with the usual New Years Day activities. I was hoping to try out Bag the Doodlebug this evening but the Ministry of the Interior invited the neighbours round for drinks and nibbles, so my solo wargaming masterplan was scuppered.

However, I did get a game of Cry Havoc in with the sprog this afternoon. I set up a simple escort  / kidnap scenario with my lot doing the escorting of the lady and the sprog's lot aiming to do the abducting. In the end, I fought my way into a corner and, despite a bit of dodgy dice throwing, the offspring won hands down.

Never mind, I'll get him the next time!

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year!

It's time to bite the bullet again, so here are my three New Years Resolutions:

1. I will complete at least six projects this year.
2. I will tackle these projects in a range of scales from 28mm to 1/600th
3. I will ensure that these projects cover air, land and naval wargaming.

That's it really.

I have a few projects in mind for 2011 and will post some details later on. In the meantime, I've been working away at the Rapid Fire! figures and should have an update ready for tomorrow.