Road to Rabaul

I've just got my copy of this through the post, saving a couple of quid on the asking price via Ebay. It's really packed full of great scenarios which can easily be adapted for Bag the Hun, so I now have another direction in which to take my 1/285th scale aircraft projects.

 

One thing that immediately grabbed my interest was the second section of the book, which features five scenarios involving RAAF P40E Kittyhawks and Hudsons against IJN Zeros and Vals. It's a bit different from the usual USN or USMC option for the South West Pacific theatre for a start.

 

I have plenty of Raiden Kittyhawks left over from my Western Desert project and the Hudsons can be found in the Museum Miniatures Leading Edge range, so it's a bit of a no brainer. The RAAF scheme is not too tricky to paint and looks pretty neat. I also have plenty of unpainted Raiden Zeros and Vals.

 

I'll have a think about this and maybe make it the next Bag the Hun project instead of more Russian Front stuff, at least for the moment. It would definately make a nice little sideline project for the Summer holidays or perhaps for the Autumn.

 

 

Chain of Command Japanese Platoon [3]

 

A five man MMG team, an AT rifle team and a single junior leader figure make up the basing effort this evening, which is pretty minimalist but better than nothing at all. I'll move on to the second MMG team and the pack howitzer team tomorrow, leaving the first of the infantry sections and an engineer team for the weekend.

Spanish Civil War

Those nice Toofatlardies chaps have bundled together all the rosters, support lists and special rules for the Spanish Civil War variant of Chain of Command. I'm thinking of doing this in 15mm, using the figures and vehicles I collected together for the now defunct BAIT project that I tinkered with a few months ago. It's also free to download!

 

It would certainly be much less work than the latter and would make use of some existing figures in the leadpile, so yet another potential project for the future. I really need to shift some of the lead, so time for a clear out perhaps, making way for manageable things like this which stand a chance of actually getting done, rather than gathering dust on the shelves.

I am (very much not) Spartacus!

 

As a change from the usual, it was a gladiatorial evening at the club tonight, with a try out of the Spartacus board game by Gale Force 9. Although I came a pathetic last, having had all my gladiators slaughtered to a man and with only a pair or armoured underpants left by the end of the game, I really enjoyed the experience. As always, we had a lot of fun and there was plenty of intrigue, treachery and backstabbing to liven things up. I really should play more board games and also dust off my 28mm gladiator collection for a try out of Victus, which has yet to be given a playtest.

Chain of Command Japanese Platoon [2]

 

After a long, long delay I've finally started on the Japanese platoon for Chain of Command, with a platoon commander, two NCO's, a couple of sniper bases and a FOO base. It's not much to look at but I'm pleased to have made the initial steps toward the basing and undercoating of the rest of the infantry units by the end of July.

Bag The Hun gets Bigger?

There were several model kit traders at Tankfest yesterday and one of them was selling the Zvezda Art of Tactic range of snap together plastic kits for £2.50 each, which is a pretty good deal. I've been thinking about the possibilities of upscaling to 1/144th from 1/285th scale for a while, having seen how both Revell and Zvezda have been releasing cheap but detailed WW2 aircraft kits over the last year or so.

 

This would only be for a one off project and will fill a gap in my 1/285th scale collections rather than replacing the smaller scale stuff. The obvious option would be to go for early war Russian Front as a theme, given the Zvezda output of Soviet and German planes, together with the relevant models from the Revell and Minicraft range.

 

Off the top of my head these include a Bf109F, a Fw190, a Stuka and an Hs126 plus a Lagg 3, a Sturmovik, a PO2, a Hurricane, an Airacobra and a Warhawk, all of which are suitable for the Russian Front mid 1942. There's also a Bf110, a Ju88 and an He111 from the old Minicraft range, if you can track them down, along with a Ju52 from Eduard and various diecast bombers by Altaya.

 

Anyway, I bought a couple of the Zvezda kits to see what they're like and was pleasantly surprised, so I may give this a go, using the club Hexon terrain rather than the usual hex mat. I think it would work well as a club multiplayer or even a show participation game, either using Bag the Hun 2 or possibly CY6!, which I think is gauged less at formations and more at individual pilots skills.

Just an idea at the moment but who knows?

Tankfest 2014

 

 

 

We had a flying visit to Tankfest today, staying for about three hours or so but having to shoot off before the main afternoon events kicked off. The highlight of the bits we did see was a display by 'The Garrison' Royal Artillery re-enactment group, which was very well done indeed and included three 25 pounders deployed for action. I also enjoyed the walk around the tank park and a well put together Soviet infantry re-enactment display, which looked the part and was well set up.

Chain of Command Japanese Platoon [1]

 

I spent most of today doing other things but I have now sorted out the initial units to base up and paint over the next couple of weeks. This consists of the platoon HQ and a variety of support units including two MMG's, an infantry gun, two sniper teams, an AT rifle team and a Forward Observer team. I've also added a Ha Go light tank, which is just too cool not to tag along for the ride.

 

I thought I'd start with these before moving onto the three large infantry sections and the even larger knee mortar section, which will be put together using the plastic figures with a few metal ones for leaders. I will also try to scrape together some more support units including some engineer teams and, possibly, an AT gun but that really depends on what's left over.

Chain of Command Japanese Trucks

 

I wanted some lorries for my Japanese platoon, as targets for the Chindits to blow up and also for the Malaya campaign as transport. Not being prepared to pay a fortune for the Company B Isuzu kit, I decided to look around for something diecast that would do the job. There aren't any Toyota or Nissan models available but this Days Gone By 1939 Ford is lose enough to look the part. I already have one which I acquired for my VBCW project and never used, so I have found a couple more on Ebay to make up the numbers. I think they'll look fine with a re-paint and some decals.

Chain of Command Japanese 1941-42 Lists

After reading the excellent Chain of Command 'Chindits' article in the Summer Special over my lunch break this afternoon, I followed the directions to the TFL yahoo group to discover the proper job Japanese army list for 1941-42, including all the rules variations and national characteristics that I need for my rifle platoon. I'm now re-jigging my painting plans to fit the options available in the Support Lists, which makes things a lot less fiddly!