Christmas 2017 - presents

I've not had much time to update the blog over the festive season but whilst up in the Midlands I have received some lovely presents from Santa, in the form of 1/72 infantry and a surprise present of Darth Vader's TIE fighter! Happy days!

The Zvezda Prussian Grenadiers will finish off my as yet unassembled 1740s armies. Some will be painted up in dual French /Austrian uniforms and the remainder will be in blue coats to represent all manner of armies - Prussian grenadiers foremost but able to depict Hessians for an American War of Independence battle, or for my grander Fontenoy 1745 project, infantry of the United Provinces.

The other Zvezda box is some medieval French infantry - a great assortment of crossbowmen, men at arms and command figures. These will form part of my medieval project, which will consist of armies that can serve as both Agincourt forces or historically inaccurate War of the Roses armies. I already have most of the other sets from Zvezda for this task, including some peasant levies. I want to be able to play with multiple rules - so far One Hour Wargames and Lion Rampant will be on the cards.

The Italeri US infantry from the 90s are a little side project for me to have a break from all the musket armed models I am going to be painting in 2018, and is a sort of safeguard against a total burnout feeling. These figures will be forming part of a Team Yankee-esque coalition force facing off against Soviet units that are already in my collection. I just need to find some M113 APCs to accompany them.

The fourth box was a complete surprise from my girlfriend's parents - in 1/121 scale it will more or less match my Revell X-wing which I made in 2016. The kit itself looks like great fun to assemble and paint, and provides yet another diversion from my main projects... I wish I had more gumption with modelling!

Anyhow back to the seasonal festivities, Happy Christmas to you all!

PSC German Medium trucks

I've now finished two of the three vehicles from my box of Plastic Soldier Company German medium trucks.

I was going to give my late war Opel Blitz some camouflage but in the end I decided against it. The generic dark yellow gives it great versatility for any mid to late war battlefield in Italy, the Eastern Front or Western Europe.

The grey early war truck was loaded with German tank accessories stowage items and a barrel from Renedra (a company from whom I buy all of my wargaming bases, mostly 10cm by 5cm rectangular ones). I went a little overboard with the mud and weathering (a nasty habit) but overall I'm still happy with it. After all, my main wargaming mat in Bristol depicts a muddy field.

Almost straight after finishing the trucks I put together my third early war Panzer III Ausf G. Whilst I will be painting the tank in a standard early war grey colour scheme, I have placed a lot of stowage on the rear and turret to jazz things up a little. I'm also making use of a spare German machine gunner from a Plastic Soldier Company halftrack box on the main turret hatch, again to differentiate it from my other grey Panzers. The whole idea is to represent a Panzer III on the eve of Operation Barbarossa. A separate blog post and photos to follow.

1st King Tiger

This is the first of two King Tiger tank kits sold in a twin pack by Pegasus Hobbies.
The box had been in local storage (in Bristol rather than Kent) and I made one up to give me a little break from the most recent batch of English Civil War infantry.

This is the only quick assembly plastic King Tiger kit available (to my knowledge), and I was very happy to discover this particular box on a market stall in Wells, Somerset. The models are made of a highly resilient plastic which did not agree with my clippers when it came to removing pieces from the sprue. This resulted in unfortunate chips in places, most notably on the bow machine gun port.

However, with liberal application of Liquid Green Stuff and Plastic Soldier Company German tank accessories, my frown soon turned upside down. What I thought would be a pig of a tank to finish actually became an enjoyable side project.

As seen in the photos below, I opted for a classic 1944 ambush palette of Brown, Yellow and Green, applied using a small piece of washing up sponge. I gave the turret a pintle mounted MG42 and added a couple of jerry cans to break up the predominantly brown stowage items.

It's one hell of a fighting machine on paper, combining the Panther's sloped armour aesthetics with an improved version of the Tiger 1's 88mm gun. In reality it was a slow, unreliable, bridge-breaking behemoth that was excellent in static defence until it either broke down or became surrounded by ever increasing numbers of lower quality Allied tanks.

This model will go well with any German force from mid 1944 onwards. At some stage I want to diversify the WW2 rules of One Hour Wargames to properly reflect differences in Allied and German tanks, as the standard rule set makes this beast equivalent to a M4 Sherman or Cromwell, medium tanks that were far outclassed in a one on one confrontation.

WIP German Medium trucks

Here are some photos of two trucks I'm working on at the moment for my World War 2 Germans. They're both from the Plastic Soldier Company German medium trucks box, and went together very easily. The only delay to assembly was painting the driver and passenger before sealing them inside the cab. The grey truck, which has a removable canvas top, will serve as battlefield clutter or an objective for my Early War Germans, whereas the dark yellow Blitz will be given a generic camouflage scheme so it can serve a similar purpose with any of my other Wermacht forces.

I've given them a black ink all over so now it's time for some drybrushing / highlighting, as well as a little weathering. As I'm relatively new to the latter technique I have a tendency to overdo it, but hopefully I'll reign myself in from making these vehicles look like rusted hulks!

Meanwhile, I'm also in the process of finishing my second WW2 British 2-pounder AT gun team. Once that is ready for battle, I will have one last German infantry unit to paint up and base before my 1940 BEF and early Germans can clash on the battlefield, using the One Hour Wargames force compositions.

English Civil War armies so far

These are some quick snapshots my English Civil War armies for One Hour Wargames so far.

The Roundheads have 3 infantry units, 1 artillery unit, 1 Cavalry unit and 1 unit of Reiters.

The Royalists have 2 infantry units, 1 artillery unit, 1 Cavalry unit and 1 unit of Dragoons (same rules as Reiters). They also have a commander - Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

More trees for the wood

Back in July I posted about making trees for my collection of wargaming terrain. Here's a photo of my trees to date, displayed on a 12inch by 12inch mat upon which they'll represent a forest. I've got four more trees to make from my original bag, so with those finished I should have enough to make this 'forest' look a little more populated. The trees and bases detach from one another, making them easy to stow away when not in use. The bases are also free standing so that they can be moved about when a wargaming unit travels through the forest.

ECW Royalist Artillery

Pictured below is my first unit of English Civil War Royalist artillery. The crew's red sashes and the red markings on cannon wheels denote its allegiance. I decided to edit the One Hour Wargames rules for my  English Civil War armies as artillery was at this time becoming a more common sight on the battlefield, despite of woeful mobility and a general lack of expertise in its use. I am led to believe by the second book of the Stryker Chronicles that artillery and siege specialists from mainland Europe were greatly sought after for their services. The Royalists, with their obvious connections to France would have been well connected with such experts, but let's not forget that Parliamentarian forces also used veterans of the Thirty Years War to bolster their military leadership.

In the wargaming rules themselves, artillery will be much like its American Civil War equivalent (a - 2 penalty to damage rolls) but with a range of 36",  so it cannot sweep the entirety of my gaming mat. 

My ECW artillery units are the only non-Revell figures in the collection - they are manufactured by A Call to Arms as Royalist Artillery, and you get 4 cannon and 16 crew in a box. 

ECW Royalist Infantry

This is a quick update on my English Civil War Royalist Infantry. As with all of my ECW collection, these figures are from Revell's Thirty Years War range of 1/72 plastics. The boys in blue represent Prince Rupert's regiment of foot. I believe this formation made a last stand or fighting withdrawal at the Battle of Naseby, but as I have a figure representing Prince  Rupert to lead the Royalists, he would naturally call upon his infantry to hold his front line whilst he charged forth to glory.

The second infantry unit are loosely based on a regiment named the Greencoats I came across whilst reading about the Battle of Marston Moor. I couldn't find any real detail on the colours, so I took inspiration from the much later Napoleonic Rifles of 'Sharpe' fame. The dark green is broken up with dark red sashes to denote their Cavalier loyalty. I'm thinking of labelling them "The King's Verderers of Foote" after huntsmen / groundkeepers who would be loyal to Charles I. 

The third Royalist infantry unit is currently on my painting table - they will represent the Whitecoats who made a brutal last stand at Marston Moor. They will be a good practice run before I begin my 1700s French army which  will be painted up in roughly the same colours. 

ECW Parliamentarian Reiters - Cromwell's Ironsides

These are my first unit of Parliamentarian Reiters. I've given them a classic sandy yellow uniform and partial plate armour. As seen in the photos they are armed primarily with pistols, which they would use to fire blistering,  short range volleys at their adversaries. 

Unlike the galloping, death or glory Royalist Horse, Parliamentarian cavalry had a bad reputation in the first half of the English Civil War. Only with dedicated new training and tactics did Oliver Cromwell manage to create steady but reliable cavalry - his troopers soon gained the intimidating nickname Ironsides. 

The Cavaliers had a tendency towards scattering the enemy in their immediate front and then pursuing their quarry far from the battlefield, stopping only to loot local settlements or the enemy baggage train. So whilst the Royalists boasted cavalry units of superficially high quality, they were only of limited usefulness on the day of battle. What made Cromwell such an effective commander of mounted units was the discipline and organisation of his troopers. They would advance at a more sedate pace, and use multiple pistol volleys to wear down the enemy before a comparatively modest, but nonetheless brutal, charge. However, Cromwell's horse were crucially able to reign themselves in after the adrenaline kick of  initial contact, so they remained a decisive battlefield asset. This would enable them to reform and exploit the damage they caused to the vulnerable flanks of their adversaries. 

ECW Parliamentarian Cavalry

Continuing with the theme of the English Civil War, here is my first unit of Parliamentarian Horse.

A couple of Revell Thirty Years War Swedish Cavalry sets furnished enough heavily armoured horsemen for two units of Roundhead cavalry using the One Hour Wargames rules.

These cavalry units are brutally simple to use - big men with big swords on big horses!

To highlight their Parliamentarian allegiance I gave them distinctive orange crossbelts.

ECW Parliamentarian Infantry

After a long summer break from the blog (unable to fit in the model hobby amongst all the holiday breaks and social engagements) I'm getting back in the writing saddle.

These are my first two units of Roundhead infantry - they're Revell Imperial infantry, repainted to resemble Parliamentary footsloggers. Each unit comprises of eight musketeers, two to four pikemen and attached officers. The first unit was painted yellow, the second a bright blue with white crossbelts, in order to differentiate them from Rupert's Royalist bluecoats. I'm quite happy with the blue unit's paper flag which was printed, bent to shape and spattered with dark brown.

Using the One Hour Wargames rules, these two make up half of the Roundhead infantry. The rules make infantry quite dynamic - their pikes deter cavalry, but their muskets can run out of ammunition with a bad roll of the dice! It's certainly an interesting way of portraying unpredictable expenditures of musket fire in the heat of battle. It'll be fascinating to find out how these Roundheads fare on the tabletop. For God and Parliament!