Off to France (yet again)

Off to Paris tomorrow for a few days.

As a result, there may well be a bit of a news blackout, although I will endeavour to post something or other in the interim. However, I'm hoping to do a bit of wargame related purchasing, even if it's only a copy of Vae Victis. I'll also be doing my best to track down the entire collection of Le Grand Duc, which will be a long overdue addition to the library.

On the way back, we're planning to visit La Cupole and check out Herr Todt's finest concrete handiwork, so that should at least make up for the rest of the week.

BUF Convoy Support

The Copplestone Lancia armoured car arrived today, which is pretty impressive as I only ordered it yesterday. It's a really nice model, well cast, simple to construct and with lots of lovely rivets to dry brush. Needless to say, I couldn't resist and painted it up in on go, although it still needs a base to be finished off properly.

I also got the latest additons to the Red Militia from Empress. I've now got enough to do three eight figure rifle sections, each including an SMG armed NCO, plus an extra LMG team to add to the support section. The Soviet Advisor pack also provided a couple of extra officer figures for the BUF as well as a commisar and officer for the Reds.

Cool.

Ambush at Corfe Castle continued...

I've had a rethink about the VBCW ambush game over the last couple of days. The original idea was to have an ambush along the A351 between Castle Hill and East Hill. This seemed like an ideal ambush point and matched up quite well with the layout of the Ambush at Kilmichael scenario from the Triumphant Standards supplement.

However, the slopes on either side of the valley at this point are very steep and also heavily wooded on the eastern side. As a result, it would be difficult to reproduce this on the tabletop without a lot of effort. It would also make it very difficult for the two sides to move without figures falling over all the time.

So, plan B is to move the area of the ambush to the road on the northern side of Castle Hill which runs alongside the River Wicken in the direction of Church Knowle. On the northern side of the road there is a belt of trees along the river bed and then an open area of fields leading up to the base of West Hill.

Castle Hill from the West. The River Wicken and the road run along the line of trees at the centre of the photo.

On the southern side of the road, the ground slopes steeply up to the castle with some areas of scrub and vegitation for cover. The lane itself runs from the junction with the main road in a long curve around the base of the hill until in crosses the stream over a small stone bridge and continues on in the direction of Church Knowle.

This layout would be much easier to model but still provides enough cover for the Anglican League militia, who would be positioned in the stream bed and on the side of Castle Hill. The BUF convoy would approach from the main road and would have to cross the bridge over the river at the far end of the table to escape.

BUF Armoured Car

I haven't had the time to get any painting done (again) this evening but I did get one of these for the BUF convoy. As the CV35 is a bit on the tiddly side, I thought it would make sense for the BUF to have some mobile support and what better than a pre-owned, slightly used but fully featured Lancia armoured car.

I have a diecast one of these in 1/48th scale but it's way too big for the small 28mm figures that make up my BUF forces. So, it makes sense to have the 1/55th scale version instead, even if it's a bit expensive. It will be easy to paint and base up too, which is a bonus given the time constraints I'm under at the moment.

Long Arm of the Law

I thought some armed coppers would be a handy addition to the BUF so ordered a couple of packs of the Artizan police figures today. Unlike the Musketeer workers militia figures, they should turn up fairly quickly and I should be able to get them painted up without too much trouble.

The Red Workers Militia are on hold at the moment due to work commitments and an imminent half term holiday in Paris. To be honest, I'd rather spend the week at home painting and scratchbuilding but it's been organised my the other half, so I have no choice in the matter.

I have managed to finish off the BUF van tonight and hope to do at least a little painting, by the end of the week, to move the militia in the right direction.

Don't hold your breath though.

BUF Command Van

I took a bit of a sidetrack this evening and painted up a convoy command van for the BUF. It's a Lledo diecast van of some sort which I painted up in the same scheme as the BUF lorries.

It still needs a base and the windscreen and headlights need a gloss varnish but othertwise it's ready to roll. I thought about adding some armament, in the form of a roof mounted lewis gun but decided that it would be far less hassle just to paint it as it was.

VBCW Ambush Update

The ambush game is set for the 15th of June, which gives me enough time to work out the cards for BUF and Anglican League, read through the rules to get me up to speed on the way things work and scratch build some road sections to use as the country lane running across the board.

In terms of relocation, the only place I can think of that roughly matches the layout of the scenario is Corfe Castle. The gap at Corfe has steep sided slopes on either side but also features some woodland and a railway line.

To keep things simple we'll leave the railway line off board and add some trees to the table as cover. The marshy ground on the south edge of the table can also be replaced by a some sloping ground and fields leading up to the foot of castle hill. I think it won't make a big difference to the dynamics of the scenario but I may have to give things a bit more thought just in case.

The Red Militia didn't get any further this weekend due to lots of family stuff, DIY, gardening and so on but I'm hoping to crack on with them this evening.

VBCW Ambush

I've been thinking a bit more about a possible game for VBCW using Through the Mud and Blood and a scenario from the Triumphant Standards supplement.

The Irish Civil War Ambush at Kilmichael scenario looks like a distinct possibility as it could be easily converted to the VBCW and requires a minimum of terrain. I'd have to scratch build some road sections and perhaps a few lengths of dry stone walling but otherwise it's a very straightforward set up.

The forces might need to be scaled down a fraction to fit what I've got and would need to be equipped with some automatic weapons to balance things out. I've already got the transport for the BUF convoy and enough figures to field a decent sized force of twenty or so, which means I don't need to paint up any extras.

I'll be working out the cards needed for this game over the next couple of days and then hope to work them up into a set over the following week.

Ninjas

This made me chuckle when I read it in the paper this afternoon:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10130346.stm

Very funny.

War of the Running Dogs

I got this through the post today having picked up a copy on Ebay. It looks like a good read and will hopefully give me the tenuous justification to add yet more lead to the pile. I've got the Inkerman 28mm range in mind for this so will need little persuading. There's a series of rather mixed but interesting reviews here:

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/swbooks/Running-Dogs.html

I've also been giving some thought to cards for a VBCW game using Through the Mud and Blood. I've read through the relevant sections of the rulebook and am in the process of working out what I need for the BUF platoon.

I'm also thinking of using one of the scenarios from the Triumphant Standards supplement to set up a game. At the moment, the ICW scenario Ambush at Kilmichael looks like a frontrunner, albeit in a relocated setting amongst the leafy lanes of the Isle of Purbeck.

Finally, I've undercoated the Red Militia figures that I cleaned up and based yesterday and have completed the flesh tones to bring them in line with the figures I painted up earlier in the week.

As my Musketeer figures are a long way off, judging from recent posts on the GWP, I've also ordered a few packs of extras from Empress to round off the Reds, including some International Brigade riflemen and LMG teams, plus some Soviet advisors to use os officers and commissars.