I Aint Been Shot Mum 3

It's my birthday tomorrow and, as an early present from the Ministry of the Interior, I was allowed to buy a brand spanking new copy of IABSM3, complete with a card deck and the little plastic tokens that are used as in game markers. I've had the old set of IABSM on pdf for a few years but somehow never got round to trying it out, mainly due to a lack of figures and opponents.

However, the new version may well get me moving in the right direction, although not in 20mm as I originally intended. An article in the 2011 TFL Christmas Special has got me thinking about the potential of 10mm as a scale for IABSM or perhaps 15mm using some of the figures that I have in the leadpile. In fact, it would work very well for my 10mm French Indochina war project.

As it's flipping freezing in the garage tonight and as I only got home at 8.00pm this evening, I've abandoned plans for painting any figures. I should finish work earlier tomorrow so will aim to get started on the WW2 Italians as soon as I can, with a good drybrush to kick things off!

AK47 Objective Marker [3]

Having said that I wouldn't be sidetracked into anything this week, I've wandered off to finish a second objective marker for AK47 rather than getting on with the BKC Italians. I did undercoat three M13/40 tanks earlier this evening, so I think I can get away with it.

Anyway, here's the end result.

The BKC Italians will get the full on treatment tomorrow night, although I may be a little late starting as I have a series of tedious meetings to endure at work.

BKC Aegean Campaign [4]

I started on the Italian battlegroup this afternoon and have claened up, based and undercoated the regular battalion minus it's HQ (which will be based on a 25mm mdf circle when they arrive from ERM), nine L3/35 tankettes and an AB41 recce armoured car. The 65mm IG is also missing from one of the support company units but should arrive from Pendraken in the not too distant future.

I was using some old bandsaw cut 25 x 25mm mdf base that I had left over from the previous BKC French project, so they weren't exactly square but have done the job well enough. I've now run out, however, so will have to wait until the nice new laser cut ones arrive sometime this week. ERM are usually lightning fast on delivery times, so I won't have long to wait.

In the meantime, I'm going to paint up this lot using a minimal range of shades and some simple speed painting techniques. I reckon I can get them done by mid-week if I crack ahead and avoid the usual diversions? They'll be painted in European colours as I can then use them for the Italian campaign or against my existing early war French battlegroup.

BKC Aegean Campaign [3]

I've decided to make the BKC Italians the project for January, leaving the 28mm Darkest Africa figures on the shelf for two or three weeks, while I push ahead with the 10mm stuff in an attempt to 'speed paint' most of the army by the end of the month.

I've also decided to use 2mm mdf bases for the Italians, with 25x25mm squares for everything other than vehicles, artillery and command bases. This is similar to my existing BKC French battalion sized force and makes it easy to use the units for other rules, should I wish to do so in the future.

I've ordered a shedload of mdf from ERM and should get the bases in a couple of days. In the meantime, I have a few spare bases that I can use to start the ball rolling. This weekend has been a bit of a washout as we've had people visiting but I'm hoping to get at least one battalion and possibly two based up by this time tomorrow.

I'm also hoping to tackle another A47 objective marker by the end of the day, assuming I don't get sidelined into the usual family related things?

Monty's Ironsides

I picked this up for peanuts at the local Oxfam bookshop yesterday, so thought I'd read it sooner rather than later. I'm a big fan of Patrick Delaforce and have read several of his books, so this was a good find and will be an equally good read. It will no doubt encourage me to crack on with the Rapid Fire! project, especially as I now have a copy of IABSM3 as an added incentive to get it finished.

BKC Aegean Campaign [2]

I've been working out what I need for the club BKC Aegean Campaign and have put in a small order with Pendraken for the various additional bits to fill in the gaps. Apparently, each army in the campaign will consist of the following:

Four battalions (airborne / mountain / regular / green) of nine infantry bases, with three support MG bases attached to each battalion.

Each battalion will also have a support company of four bases (mortar / AT gun / IG / engineer).

There will also be an armoured battalion of light tanks, tankettes, armoured cars and recce vehicles to a total of 600 points.

If you add in the HQ bases for each battalion and the overall CO base, this lot totals out at about seventy individual bases of figures and another fifteen to twenty vehicles. In other words, quite a lot!

I have parachute infantry for the airborne and normal infantry figures for the regulars but need to find something to represent the Alpini mountain troops and the green battalion, which will probably be blackshirts. The Pendraken SCW range looks promising for the blackshirts but the Alpini will probably end up with just some different bases to mark them out from the normal infantry.  

QRF 10% Off Sale

I made the most of the current 10% off sale at QRF and have ordered a few vehicles for a speculative British equipped colonial settler army for AK47. I have rhe figures for this already, most of which are Peter Pig professionals with some Vietnam ANZAC's and US special forces thrown in. I also a couple of landrovers, some Unimogs and a few Bulldogs but not a lot else.

As a result, I thought I'd add some light machine gun armoured cars (Ferrets Mk2's) and some heavy tank gun armoured cars (Saladins) to kit out the force. I have a couple of each which should be sufficient to provide armoured support for the small arms regular and professional units. They go into the leadpile when they arrive but hopefully will get tackled at some point this year, if I can squeeze the army into the schedule.

BKC Aegean Campaign [1]

I was having a chat with the chaps at the club last night about an up and coming WW2 10mm Blitzkrieg Commander campaign that is currently under development. The orgamisers have set up a multiplayer infantry focussed campaign based in the Aegean involving about six players, half of whom will represent the Axis and the other half the Allies.

As I hadn't been to the club for ages I'd missed out on the inital discussions about this so was very interested to hear about the progress to date. I also realised that it would be a great opportunity to make use of my, as yet unpainted, 10mm Pendraken and Pithead Italian army, which was started back in mid 2010 but barely advanced beyond the initial basing before slamming into reverse gear and disappearing in a cloud of dust.

I have everything I need for three or four battalions of infantry, a support battalion and some attached paper thin armour. The campaign seems like a really great chance to finally get my head around BKC and to shift some more lead from the pile. It also requires a minimal outlay on my part and will be a quick project to get based up, painted and ready for action.

I'll have to decide what to move out of the way to fit the 10mm Italians in but, at the moment, I'm hoping to get them based up and undecoated alongside the other things I have on the go at the moment.

Too much stuff and so little time....aaargh!

Back of Beyond Campaign Turn 4

The Turn Four clash between my Texan oil prospecting expedition and David's Indian Army flying column went a bit pear shaped tonight, mainly due to my totally inept tactical manoevering and lack of a decent plan. Although things started well they soon went downhill and the end of the game saw the obliteration of my White Russian mercenaries and the rout of what was left of the Texans. It was a good game, nonetheless, with lots of dodgy dice rolling, some funny moments and more than a few hair raising incidents.

I'm beginning to think the expedition is doomed to failure, as it hasn't got the numbers to take on the larger armies but, equally, has insufficient durability when faced by smaller, well-equipped forces. It's fun to juggle things around to see what works though. The erstwhile chocolate teapot trucks did stirling work tonight, for example, by acting as bullet magnets and very convenient barricades. However, I'm now at the bottom of the league results wise so need to pick up my act if I'm going to avoid a humiliating last place.

AK47 Objective Markers [2]

I finished the first of the objectuve markers this evening, although it was done in a bit of a rush and will need a bit of tidying up at some point. I originally scratchbuilt this one for my Nbuto colonial settlers army, hence the big 'N' on the front of the plinth. I'm sure General Mpongo won't mind.

The figure was a Salute freebie while the rest is made out of odd bits of wood and an old CD. I toned down the desert effect on the base with an overbrush of Foundry Rawhide Shade and Rawhide then painted the figure in GW Tin Bitz followed by a GW Chestnut Ink wash. I think the latter spoiled the effect a bit so I may go back and sort it out with a bit of drybrushing. The static grass was added then some green scatter sprinkled on top to create an overgrown weed effect. I added a few clumps of Army Painter Swamp Tufts to break up the base and cover up some patchy bits where the CD surface was shining through.

I have a Back of Beyond campaign game at the club tomorrow night, so won't have the time to get any more done on the other objective markers but I have given the UN APC a dodgy basecoat of Foundry Arctic Grey in the meantime.