Iron Cow CDSU Artillery [1]

I really enjoyed painting up the ONESS battlegroup the other week so have decided to dive in and start putting together a CDSU battlegroup from the ground up. I'm starting small and will add extra bits later, so have ordered an artillery battalion of SPG's and MLRS, together with a couple of long range AAA missile carriers. I've also ordered a handful of the new sci fi desert buildings to start my 6mm terrain collection. The extra Renendra bases also turned up today, so it's all systems go as soon as the CDSU models arrive.

My plan is to squeeze these into the painting schedule, some time before the end of July and the start of the holidays. I'm now working on a suitable background for an ONESS - CDSU regional conflict to fit in with the chronology in the Iron Cow 2130AD rules. The current idea is to have an East African clash between the CDSU units in what was Tanzania / Mozambique against a combined ONESS - SAC taskforce, sent in to sieze back mineral assets from the Chinese.

Rifles

I finished this last night and, while not being a masive fan of Napoleonics apart from skirmishy level games and naval engagement, I really enjoyed it. I have a couple of Mark Urban's other historical books including The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes, so I'll have plenty to read over the summer. It's certainly given me some ideas for what to do with the Victrix British and French boxed sets that I got for Xmas a couple of years ago.

Adventures in Jimland?

I was browsing through my rules library the other day and dug out my copy of Adventures in Jimland by Minden Games, which I had bought when it was re-published a couple of years ago. I originally intended to approach this dinosaur hunting expedition game in 28mm but was put off by the number of figures involved, around forty or so if you go for all the options.

http://minden_games.homestead.com/Jimland.html

Although I have plenty of suitable 28mm figures and plastic dinosaurs for use with Saurian Safari, I thought to myself that it would be a great mini-project in either 15mm or 10mm, making it both quicker and cheaper to complete. A small scale game would also make it possible to scratchbuild some really good terrain features which would be easy to store and transport.

Anyway, I dug out my Pendraken 10mm figure box and rummaged through for suitable colonial types, natives, bearers and so on. I have a couple of WW1 East Africa army packs which have been raided for the bulk of the figures, so the exploration team is covered but haven't found any suitable native types, so will have to order a pack of Pendraken's Ancient Indian forest tribal warriors to fill the gap.

I already have a handful of the Magister Militum 10mm dinosaurs and reckon I can find some plastic toy ones to add to the collection. Other wild animals and creatures will have to be scrounged in a similar way.

I've also costed up the 15mm/18mm option using the Blue Moon Manufacturing Deep Dark Africa range, which has some great figures of explorers, natives, askaris and porters. This worked out at over £40, however, so it would be much cheaper to use either 10mm or 28mm.

It's all a bit theoretical at the moment but I think it could be a cracking little project!

BKC Aegean Campaign Update

Things are looking pretty good for my Italian general, Commandante Robusto Gorgonzola, in the club BKC Aegean campaign. As intended, the elite X-MAS special forces crippled the Royal Navy in a daring attack on the enemy forward naval base, sinking the heavy cruiser HMS York and damaging several other ships. He's really pleased that this daring attack came off and so will be using the frogmen again as soon as they're read for action.

Bravissimo!

Commandante Gorgonzola has, as a result, boosted his reputation for aggresive action with the Hungarian and German allied commanders. At the same time, he's managed to humiliate his rival Italian socialist counterpart, winning plaudits and shiny medals from high command back in Rome. The overall result has been to win a slew of political points and some very handy new assets to play with.

Unfortunately, he also hasn't really achieved very much and has now been given a distinct prod by HQ to actually do something other than PR. As a result, he's planning  an impressive if rather limited offensive to occupy the islands immediately adjacent to his base of operations. These are lightly defended by local partisans but Commandante Gongonzola is confident that his staff adjutant, Tenente Bellusconi, will work his magic to big up the opposition in the post-battle press release.

The downside is that I now have to do a rush job on the Italian infantry and tanks, ready for potential deployment next month. I'm not expecting that there will be any significant oppositon but, just in case, I really need to finish off the two regular infantry battalions and some light armour in the form of several tankettes, so that I'm covered for a game next month. This means that the SAGA Vikings will be on hold for a week or so...

Iron Cow ONESS AFV's [5]

I finished off the CO and HQ bases yesterday but the internet went down, so I couldn't post any pictures. I'm quite pleased with the 40 x 40mm CO base for Future War Commander and the converted Prometheus HQ command vehicle for the SPG and MLRS unit. I'm planning to add some more stuff to the ONESS battlegroup later along with another battlegroup for it to tackle, which will probably be either CDSU or Eurofed. I'll think wait and see if Brigade Models have a sale on this Summer before I take the plunge.

Not too bad for four days work methinks?

Iron Cow ONESS AFV's [4]

I'm hoping to wrap this up tomorrow with the CO and HQ units as the final elements of the battlegroup, for the moment at least. I've also converted a spare Prometheus SPG into an HQ vehicle for the artillery, as the hover truck that I originally painted up looked a bit inadequate. With this handful of models completed, I'll be back to the SAGA Vikings, which is what I should have been concentrating on over the last couple of days.

Iron Cow ONESS AFV's [3]

Another tank squadron and a troop of recce light tanks now completed and the battlegroup is starting to look like a force to be reckoned with. Next up are the battlegroup HQ troop of three tanks and two AAA tanks, which I'll need if I'm going to get any sort of command and control over the battlefield as well as some anti-aircraft firepower.

I'm also going to do a CO base of a tank and APC, so that I can use them with Future War Commander as well as Iron Cow, which seems like a sensible thing to do as the latter may get me some games at the club. If I have time, I'll knock out some MICV's and armoured infantry too, although I'm starting to run short of Renedra bases so it may not happen just yet.

SAGA Viking Dice

These arrived in the post today from Northstar, so I can now have a play around with the battle board and see how the whole thing works. They're an expensive outlay at £1.50 per die (aaargh!!) but I'm hoping it'll be worth it, given the fact that I'm effectively reducing a small but structurally integral corner of the leadpile. No progress on the figures today, however, as I've been busy with domestic things, but I'm hoping to move them forward tomorrow.

Iron Cow ONESS AFV's [2]

I whizzed through this lot yesterday and, despite the dodgy photos, they look not too bad. I'll need to find a way of showing the individual troops and squadrons but I think I have a possible approach that might work and not be too obvious. If I get the time today, I'll clean up another small unit and crack on, perhaps some mech infantry APC's or a light tank recce troop.

I'm also thinking about potential opposition as I don't think I'll find an opponent at the club so will be going solo. I quite like the CDSU models and the SAC wheeled vehicles but might go for New Soviets, as they have some cool artillery units and a good range of stuff. How this fits in with the Iron Cow background I don't know, so I'll have to do some reading up.

Iron Cow ONESS AFV's [1]

Way back in January 2011, I decided to have a crack at Iron Cow, with the intial idea being to complete an ONESS English armoured regiment using the Brigade Models range of 1/300th scale AFV's and figures. It didn't get much beyond the planning stage but I did stockpile a few packs of tanks and vehicles, ready for a rainy day.

Anyway, I decided to muck about with the Halfords Camouflage Khaki ultra matt spray that I picked up last week as a trial basecoat for a quick production line style paint up of a sample Apollo tank. This was in between painting up the SAGA vikings this morning. I worked out a simple scheme, which I think looks fine at a respectable distance:

1. Undercoat with the Khaki spray.

2. Wash with 50/50 GW Badab Black and GW Devlan Mud wash, diluted to taste.

3. Drybrush with 50/50 GW Kommando Khaki and GW White.

4. Paint the skirts in GW Codex Grey, highlighted with GW Fortress Grey.

5. Paint the vision block in GW Ice Blue

6. Spray varnish in GW Satin followed by Army Painter Matt.

The bases are from Renedra and were basecoat drybrushed in Foundry Boneyard Shade and three stages on Foundry Base Sand, followed by a wash in diluted Foundry Gryphon Sepia ink. I've started on a basic force of one tank squadron and one artillery battery of MLRS or SPG's, complete with HQ vehicles. If this doesn't take too long, I'll do a second tank squadron and a mech infantry unit as well, along with a regimental HQ.