I finished these guys a while ago but just hadn't got round to updating the blog. Here are some Artillery units (Parliamentarian mortar and Royalist cannon) a Royalist unit of Reiters (heavily armoured cuirassiers) and the final unit of Roundhead infantry (greencoats).
I've made a start on the final Royalist Infantry unit, fittingly wearing red coats, representing the King's Life Guard of Foote. As always, all of my English Civil War figures are from Revell's Thirty Years War range except for the artillery and crews, who are produced by A Call to Arms, set 59.
So my British repaints have now been completed. I'm really happy with the camouflage on the hulls and weathering on the tracks. The fire extinguishers in a subtle red add a little colour to the Warrior but I'm happy with the drab appearance of the Challenger.
As the Plastic Soldier Company released their 1/72 T-55s yesterday I'm expecting to receive my two boxes sometime next week, so there will soon be some armoured adversaries for my US and British vehicles. After finishing my science fiction / Weird World War 2 project (more on this soon), I'm going to begin a squad of Italeri 90s US infantry so the tanks aren't unsupported by the footsloggers!
Here's some photos of my British repaints for Team Yankee so far. I've managed to get the camouflage colours how I want them through liberal inking and I'm happy with my drybrush highlighting of the vehicle surfaces.
My Challenger 1 is pretty much there, just need to apply some Games Workshop Karak Stone around the tracks and track guards to give it that finishing touch of dust and grime.
The Warrior needs some brown inking on the two fire extinguishers (these are probably not red in reality, but I wanted to break up the drab camouflage with a feature or two). Then the obligatory dusting of the tracks and underbelly.
I haven't decided on a role for my Warrior model - it could be a reconnaissance vehicle or a transport for some infantry. With the sadly snapped-off main gun (the Rarden cannon should be longer) another option is a representation of an AA unit.
I'm looking forward to getting these finished and arranged with my American tanks in a 'before and after' comparison photo.
Here are the finished tanks, after many an ink and some drybrushing, I'm quite happy with how the camouflage came out.
In my OHW wargaming rules I will consider the M1 Abrams as a main battle tank. It will be able to take large amounts of damage and deal out plenty of hurt in return. Main battle tanks will be one of the most numerous units in my rules as they take the 'infantry' slot of the One Hour Wargames unit types. With the iconic Soviet tank columns in my mind, I don't want a game where tanks are few and far between. Along with the Abrams, other tanks I consider MBTs are the British Chieftain / Challenger, the Soviet T-80 and, perhaps controversially, the Soviet T-72.
Comparatively, the older brother of the Abrams, the M60A1, will be designated a medium battle tank. This unit type is an alternative choice to the Main battle tank; instead of one tough tank you can use two less powerful tanks. This gives you flexibility and numbers over heavy armour and devastating firepower. Other tanks I want to include in the medium battle tank category are the German Leopard 1 (if the Plastic Soldier Company bring them out in 1/72) and the second rate Soviet T-55 and T-62. Consequently I need to pick up another M60 at some stage to accompany the 'A1.
Here are a few photos of my first two tanks for my 1/72 Team Yankee forces. I loaded the stowage racks and stripped the Revell M60A1 of the majority of its reactive armour. I applied a coat of Deathworld Forest Green followed by an ink coat of Athonian Camoshade before starting the MERDC camouflage scheme from the Team Yankee rulebook. Not quite finished yet but very happy with how they look so far.
So one of my side projects for 2018 is to generate a Team Yankee / Cold War version of One Hour Wargames, that is, a quick and simple "World War 3" game.
Looking at the WW2 One Hour Wargames rules, for force compositions I need 4 different types of military unit. On top of this I'm going to add on two extra unit types that will be inter related for the sake of balance - aircraft (including helicopters) and anti aircraft vehicles.
The 4 units that come to my mind are tanks, mechanised infantry, reconnaissance vehicles and artillery.
I'll look into each unit in detail in due course. Firstly I need to repaint some of my older 'modern' models to closer resemble Team Yankee participants. As the battles are mainly set in West Germany / Europe, this means repainting tanks that were last out of storage around 2011. All will need a thorough clean up and a bit of TLC to make them great again (agh, Trumpism!). The vehicles pictured are a Revell Warrior IFV, a Revell M60A1, a Hasegawa M1 Abrams and a Revell Challenger 1 tank.
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!
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.
