Across the border down Mexico way...

I finished off the other two re-painted resin hills today, which I think is more then enough for the space that I have on my desert terrain board, especially as they are only needed for skirmish scenarios. I also thought I'd see how well the board matched up with my 20mm Mexican Revolution terrain, in particular with the cactus bases I made last year and the hacienda for the Patton's First Fight scenario. I was pleased to find that they matched really well, so I have solved my immediate terrain requirements for  Fistful of Lead: Viva la Revolucion, at least as far as this scenario is concerned. They also make a nice defile or wadi for the Sandbox Skirmish project, with the British patrols having to fight their way through potential rebel ambushes from all sides!

Desert Rocky Outcrops

I had the option of scratch building some rocky hills for the Sandbox Skirmish project, or re-painting some existing terrain that I have in the big box of terrain stuff that I've accumulated over the years. I decided to go for the second option to save time, so have had a go at repainting a Battlefield in a Box hill in desert shades to match my terrain board. 

This involved two wet and dry brushes of Homebase Cashmere emulsion, followed by a drybrush of Vallejo Tan Yellow, which is a good match for the desert scheme. The end result isn't too bad but the resin terrain has warped slightly, probably due to the emulsion having a high water content, although not too much that it can't be used.

Before and After

I may well re-paint two or three of the other hills if the warping settles down a bit, or go back to the original plan and scratch build some hills out of foam or cork sheet. In the meantime, I've decided to get started on the figures and vehicles, leaving the assembled buildings and terrain pieces until a bit later in the project timetable, otherwise I'll have terrain but no troops to deploy on it!

Desert Terrain Board Finished

I painted the picture frame that I bought at the weekend with my knock off pot of Homebase Cashmere emulsion paint, added some spray splodges of Halfords Ultra Matt Khaki then dry brushed the whole lot with a tester pot of Laura Ashley Old Gold. I'm quite pleased with the end result, although I should have been more generous with the acrylic paste beforehand, so that all of the canvas was completely covered. 

I'll be using this terrain board for the No End in Sight post colonial project but also for many other things including Strontium Dog, Fistful of Lead:Viva la Revolution! and Gruntz Sci Fi / Near Future games to name but a few, so it has been well worth the ten quid I paid for it. I now need to make some hills but I already have some Battlefield in a Box plastic ones that might just do the job, if I re-painted them in matching desert colours.

Corsairs and Cavaliers Catch Up

I've neglected this project for a couple of weeks but have been working away behind the scenes on the some adjustments to the Corsairs and Cavaliers Wings at War rules, following some feedback from Paul at Tumbling Dice. This is nothing major, just an addition to the set up to incorporate transport aircraft, so that there is a strategic element to the game rather than just a tactical one, although the rules should work well already for the latter. 

I thought about this aspect when I was writing the first draft but left it out, as I couldn't find a way to make it work realistically and some of the key aircraft weren't in the Tumbling Dice range anyway. I think I've cracked it though, so have sent off a revised version to Paul with the relevant changes. Anyway, I'm planning to be get some more painting done on the FAH aircraft this week, when I get the time and if I can get the terrain board for Sandbox Skirmish sorted first?

Sandbox Skirmish Platoon Patrol OP

 

I'm not sure what to call this, as platoon house sounds too modern and OP sounds too generic, so I'll stick with Platoon Patrol Observation Post to avoid having to make a decision. This is a couple of Brit Kits models which I've re-purposed as a patrol base for my British platoon, complete with a perimeter pre-fab concrete wall, a guardhouse and a barracks. There's also a concrete apron for some AFV's to park on, with enough space for a couple of Saracens or Humber Pigs to be laagered ready for patrols.

I'm going to add a sandbag observation post on top of the main building and lots of sandbags on the parapets elsewhere, to give it a more military appearance. I'll also add a radio mast and some other stuff to complete the overall effect. Here's how it scales out with 15mm figures, in this case some of my AK47 dictatorship regular troops of the Mbote Defence Force (MDF), which are the same Peter Pig Hardened Militia figures I'll be using for the Sandbox Skirmish regular bad guys.

Colonel Banga Boum inspects the new MDF barracks

More Sandbox Skirmish Structures

I've assembled the last two buildings for the Sandbox Skirmish project, for the moment at least, one a really neat compound from Blotz and the other a government building of some sort from Red Vectors, to which I will add a roof dome once I've found something to make one from. I've saved the roof mounted doorway shed thing from this kit to use as a sentry box for my platoon house, which I've put together as a dry run to see how it will look. 

I have added an outbuilding from Brit Kits to this and will glue it all down to an mdf base as well, so that I can put a perimeter wall around the whole thing for added security, together with a place to park the platoon transport. It's looking like it might work quite well, once the sandbags and corrugated sheeting defences get added on top. I will aim to do the basic assembly for this model today, blocking off some of the lower windows and doors in the process.

Back to the Bookshelf

I'm re-reading this at the moment, dipping in and out to find some useful background detail for the Sandbox Skirmish project. Whilst this project isn't specific to the Aden Insurgency, it is based heavily on withdrawal East of Suez and on British post colonial policing efforts in hot, dusty and hostile locations. The exact, fictional location for my campaigning has yet to be nailed down but I suspect it will look a lot like the Radfan, although with a few diversions to make it a bit different.

Charity Shop Terrain Board

I dropped into the local charity shop this morning and spotted a canvas covered picture frame for a tenner. It has a pretty sturdy wooden sub-structure with a hardboard or mdf top, covered in a beige canvas with a square paper picture glued on top. It measures 32'' square, so not far off the standard three foot square skirmish game area. I got it home, stripped off as much of the paper picture as possible with a palette knife, sanded it down, glued the bits I'd scuffed up with PVA, then covered the surface with a skim of acrylic paste, dappled on and smeared around to give it some texture. It's drying off now and will get a basecoat of Homebase Cashmere emulsion paint to match the prototype desert cork board that I made last weekend. If it works and doesn't warp, it will be my default terrain board for the Sandbox Skirmish project and other things as well.

More Toys from QRF

I got an email from QRF today with a code for a 10% discount, so took a look at the Post War British section of their web shop with a view to getting a couple more vehicles for the Sandbox Skirmish platoon to patrol around in. I already have some Saracens, a Ferret, an LWB Landrover and a couple of Bedford lorries, so this time I have ordered a couple of Humber Pigs (cool!) and an SWB Landrover for urban sweeps in the mean streets of down town El Kebab, or whatever it ends up being called?

I also spotted a 1/100the scale resin BAC Strikemaster model for only £7.50, so that got added to the shopping basket as well. It will look pretty good when I add a flight stand and some air to ground rockets or gun pods, even if it will only play a peripheral role as table decoration for any skirmish scenario. I also thought it could be used as a scenario objective, in the old 'rescue the RAF pilot shot down in the tribal area' set up, although it would be a shame just to have it in a crashed condition. 

Plastic Palm Trees

I found these and a whole lot more in a box yesterday. I knew I had them but wasn't sure where they were, having bought them from an eBay seller in Hong Kong for a WW2 Burma / Malaya terrain building project that never happened. They are about 7cm tall and ideal as scenery for the 15mm Sandbox Skirmish project, once I've based them and re-painted them to look less plasticy, if that's an actual word. I've also found some Peter Pig concrete telegraph poles that were for originally for AK47 terrain, so I can assemble them to use as scatter for the built up areas. I'm planning to get a move on with all of this terrain stuff over the weekend.