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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
