Q13: Big Oil Tank!

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In yet further attempts to avoid finishing the last 6DW Israeli infantry platoon (my latest mojo for painting 15mm infantry has finally deserted me!) I have run out of the black paint I need to do their rifles and boots.

I'm on my way to get some now, as part of the Saturday morning chores, but in the meantime this gave me the excuse to polish off a couple of large bits (i.e. as far away from 15mm infantry as possible) that have been sitting on my painting table for some time...in one case, for a very long time.

First up was a large tank-for-holding-chemicals from Critical Mass Games. I bought this as part of a set of habitation/factory pieces some time ago at Colours (before the skipped year due to the racecourse renovation!). It was a very good deal, and although I quickly painted up most of the pieces, this one (and the humongous factory bit) just didn't get done.

Well it is now!

It's a great piece that could also serve as some kind of tank in almost any post-industrial revolution game. Here it is shown with my Vornid/fungoid artillery crew for size comparison purposes.

Right:  off to get the black paint now...

IABSM AAR: North of Sitaria by Mark Luther

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Another great AAR from Mark Luther, this time using one of the scenarios from Chris Stoesen's Campaign for Greece scenario pack as the basis for the game.

As Royal Engineers rig a vital bridge for demolition, a German motorcycle recce force hoves into view. Will the charges be laid and the bridge blown in time? And even if they are, what about the next bridge?

Click on the pic below to see all:

TFL Painting Challenge: Tuesday Update

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Plenty more entries coming in over the last four days, easily enough for another update.

In no particular order, we have:

  • Fred Bloggs with some bison and some dwarves
  • Mr Bowler with some very nice looking 6mm camps
  • Carole sends in the first of her Imagi-nations troops
  • Mervyn is on the wagon...well, the ox-cart
  • Mr Helliwell makes a change from his Confederates
  • Ralph Plowman sends in some more cracking sci-fi material
  • and the Oracle sends in a colossal entry encompassing spaceships, 6mm troops, a gazillion re-based and painted 15mm troops, and even some 20mm troops

Today's pictures are from Mr Bowler, Mr Plowman and the Oracle:

6mm Celtic camp on DVD from Lloyd Bowler

15mm Armies Army APCs from Mr Plowman

20mm Britannia Gebirgsjaeger from the Oracle

And one more, as everyone loves a good elephant:

15mm Carthaginian elephants, also from the Oracle

Pegasus Bridge

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Some time ago, pre-Xmas I think, I was feeling quite rich, or maybe in need of a little retail therapy, and bought the 15mm Pegasus Bridge model in laser-cut wood from Warbases. I believe I opened the box at the time, but then put it to one side as my focus was on other things.

Well, a few weeks ago, I'd had enough of painting Egyptians and Israelis, and decided to bite the bullet and build the bridge.

This proved to be an enormously fun task, even if sometimes it was quite challenging. Like when I didn't read the instructions properly and glued the wrong bit in place - a vital bit obviously - that then broke when I tried to remove it (Warbases sent me another with my next order: very generous of them, and just another example of their always-excellent service).

I used superglue to put the bridge together (hence my problem with the mis-glued part!) although white glue is actually recommended. This is because I am impatient, and can't stand waiting once I've started building something.

What's even better, is that the bridge actually lifts up, and stays lifted once fully, er, erect:

The canal pieces are from Hornby: very expensive (ridiculously so) bits from their model railway terrain range.

Anyway, once the bridge was built, I sprayed it grey, and then dry-brushed in a lighter and a darker shade of grey. Looks okay, but I'm sure that there are better ways of painting it to make it look even better.

The barriers go up and down as well, despite my best efforts to either (a) accidentally glue them in place and (b) accidentally paint them in place.

The above pictures don't really give you a sense of scale, so here are a couple of pictures of my 15mm British Paras occupying the thing:

In all, a great piece of terrain, and one that I can't wait to make the centrepiece of a game. Well done Warbases, and well done me!

PS I have decided to count this as four 15mm houses and a little bit more for the purposes of the Painting Challenge, and have awarded myself 50 points for the bridge. Very fair, if I say so myself. 

6DW: AMX-13 Light Tanks

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The last of the armour for my Israelis for the Six Day War: a couple of French-built, AMX-13 light tanks.

These are more of the extraordinary vehicles that the Israelis seemed to have used. Here, you take a light tank chassis, with its associated thin-as-paper armour, and you put the biggest gun you can possibly fit in the turret. Definitely a case of hoping you get the first shot off!

Here they are:

As usual, these are Battlefront models from their "Fate of a Nation" range. One thing to note: all the pictures on the BF site have the road-wheels as having tyres (i.e. should be black rubber). Looking at photos, however, I can see almost none where the road-wheels are a different colour to the rest of the undercarriage. So, as a compromise, I have painted the tyre onto the spare road-wheel on the front deck, but left them off those in position: the rubber has obviously been covered in paint or dust or something!

Nice looking models that go together and paint up well. Recommended.

TFL Painting Challenge: Thursday Update

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Lots of lovely entries this week, but I'm already late for a meeting so will have to just rattle through the list:

  • Lloyd sends in some lovely 28mm mounted Auxilia and a host of 6mm ancients
  • Keith Davies pops in a company of Panthers in 6mm
  • Mr Helliwell has more Confederates finished
  • Mr Burt has more Egyptians done
  • I Am Bruce offers us six Time Robbers and some dice holders
  • Richard Naylor has some nice Austrians done for SP2
  • Chris Stoesen sends in a lone horseman
  • and last and certainly not least, Mr McCarthy sends in a huge 15mm Soviet entry

Scorecard will be updated tonight, but here are Mr Naylor's Austrians, the Hat's Auxilia, and some of Andy's Soviets:

IABSM AAR: Avanti Spumanti!

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Great battle report from Dr. the Viking of a game set in the Western Desert: defending Brits versus attacking Italians.

This report appeared both on Dr. the V's blog, which you can visit by clicking here; and on the Lead Adventure Forum, another good source of wargaming chat.

Click on the picture below to see the report in full:

More Sabot Bases

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Regular visitors may remember that I had Warbases make me up some custom built sabot bases to accommodate the way my 15mm WW2 infantry are based.

To remind you, a standard squad consists of a two-man LSW mounted on a 2p piece and six or eight single figures mounted on 5p pieces. Together with a hole for a dice to show Shock, each sabot base carries a single squad.

The difficulty is, however, dealing with squads with two LSWs, such as my later war Fallschirmjaegers. Here, each squad consists of two LSW teams mounted on 2p pieces together with four singles on 5p pieces.

I'd been fudging it for some time, but last week decided it was time to get some more sabots to accommodate these double-LSW squads. One quick e-mail to Warbases and a few days later I had the bases in my hands:

Quick spray of green paint, bit of glue and some flock, and away we go. All ready for the big game next month!

Thanks to Warbases for their usual excellent service.

6DW: Self-Propelled AA Guns

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Okay, so I'm painting Israelis at the moment...but I needed a break...and these were languishing in the lead mountain looking sorry for themselves...

Two Soviet ZSU-57-2 self-propelled AA batteries in UAR (Egyptian) service during the Six Day War:

Models are from Battlefront.

PS  The Scorecard for the Painting Challenge is now fully up-to-date.

TFL Painting Challenge: TGIF Update

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The end of a long week, and just time to pop in a quick update to the painting challenge. In no particular order we have:

  • Carole, with two entries: some ACW terrain and standard bearers, and the first of her imagination troops
  • The Mad Padre sends in an excellent Anglo-Saxon house and a couple of riders to defend it
  • Chris Gilbride enters some gladiators and a biscuit tin...but, unlike last time someone sent in a biscuit tin, this one counts!
  • Stumpy is still re-basing Zulus like mad
  • Steve Burt sends in some Bronze Age civilians
  • Matt Slade with three entries: some ECW casualties, some British Nappies, and some rather nice paired Wild West figures
  • I Am Bruce submits a mixture of 28mm figures
  • and finally Mervyn gets ready for some Sharp Practice with his Indian Mutiny figures

Today's pictures:

Sarissa Dark Ages house with home-made thatch from the Mad Padre

Some of Matt's Napoleonics

The Biscuit Tin of Doom! from Chris Gilbride

6DW: Magach (M48) Tanks

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I seem to be unusually committed to finishing my Israeli force for the Six Day War!

Here are three Magach "Battering Ram" tanks i.e M48 Patton's in Israeli service.

Lovely models: the only pain was cutting the decals in half to fit either side of the handrail on the turrets.

If anyone's interested, my interpretation of Six Day War Israeli tank colours is to undercoat in black, then block paint in GW Death World Forest, heavy brown wash, the dry-brush in GW DWF, then Vallejo Green-Grey.

Here they are:

TFL Painting Challenge: Another Big One!

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Things are really hotting up here: I can't leave updating the challenge longer than a few days before my inbox starts bursting with new entries!

So, today, in no particular order, we have:

  • Carole with some ACW figures in 15mm
  • Chris Stoesen also in 15mm, but with figures for the AWI rather than the ACW
  • Mr Naylor returns with four buildings and some Austrians
  • The acronyms are flying everywhere, as Kev pops in a couple of units for his ECW collection
  • The Great Gatzemeyer sends in some lovely half-tracks...and my money is on it being earlier than August!
  • Mervyn has built a couple of buildings
  • Sapper has gone mad for Vikings: fifty-four of them to be exact
  • and finally Stumpy has been re-basing like mad: Fallschirmjaegers, Zulu War Brits, and some civilians for Sharp Practice

Today's pictures are as follows:

Carole's Confederate Commanders

The GG's German Half-tracks

Some of Sapper's Vikings

TFL Painting Challenge: Big Update

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Good work on the brush front: plenty of entries coming in every week. Here's a large one from after the bank holiday:

  • "I Am Bruce" is back, with a collection of Arthurian figures
  • Kev "Fat Wally" adds to his ECW collection
  • Matt Slade goes all LOTR, with a side order of chips
  • Egg has gone moderns-mad, sending in forty 15mm AFVs
  • Steve Burt enters some more Egyptians and some farm animals
  • Mr Plowman takes a break from his exquisite sci-fi figures and sends in some walls
  • Andrew Helliwell rescues more Soviets from the flea market
  • and finally Chris Stoesen pops in some infantry...and an outhouse to take care of their baser needs

A couple of the usual suspects for today's pictures:

Some of Egg's lovely moderns

Kev's Parliamentarian Dragoons

6DW AAR: The Pumping Station

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Having spent the last few months building up my forces for the Six Day War, it was time to get the figures onto the wargaming table. For the first game, I decided to keep things relatively small and relatively vanilla: the Israelis would be attacking a UAR/Egyptian force defending a pumping station of some sort.

Click on the picture below to see all...

6DW: More Israelis

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More 15mm Israeli troops hot off the production line: finished earlier this week just in time for today's game.

First up, the Company HQ: two Big Men, two 60mm mortar teams; two LMG teams and a two-man Forward Air Controller team.

Then I had a spare Patton tank. Not really a gripe, but why, when Israeli tank platoons are three strong, do Battlefront sell tanks in boxes of two?

Anyhoo, as it was a spare, I modelled it not as a standard Magach 'battering ram' tank with the 90mm cannon, but as the up-gunned 105mm version. The Israelis had converted about a company's-worth before the start of the war.

First 6DW game was today: report soon!

TFL Painting Challenge: Update

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With the weather all over the place, it's nice to have a constant to rely on...so here's today's painting challenge update!

In no particular order we have:

  • Mark Luther with some more 6mm 'planes
  • Egg comes in from the cold with some 15mm Soviets and Americans
  • The hat (Lloyd Bowler) sends in three 28mm units
  • Mr Helliwell paints some Prussians and rescues some Soviets from a flea market
  • Kev, our beloved Fat Wally, moves from X-Wing to the English Civil War 
  • Treadhead has some more Napoleonics finished...likely to be the last we see of him for a bit (twins, not jail).
  • Jon Yuengling pops in some more 15mm WW2 kit (I'm still vacillating about that Kfz 13)
  • and, finally, the Mad Padre has finished another two bases of 6mm Napoleonic cavalry

Today's pics are another mixed bag. So many to choose from...

Kev's tribute to his now-deceased spaniel, Alfie

Lloyd's Romans

Prussians from Mr Helliwell

Better put a couple of these in!

Egg's tanks

6DW: Sho't (Centurion) tanks

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My third models of Israeli tank for the Six Day War to roll off the production line are a couple of Sho't Centurion tanks:

 By the time of the 1967 conflict, Israel had nearly 300 Centurions in service. All but 12 used around Jerusalem had been upgraded with the new British 105mm L7 gun.

These are, again, Battlefront models from their Fate of the Nation range and are, I think, my favourite of the tanks used by the Israelis so far.

One thing: again the gun barrels arrived twisted up almost like a pretzel. Why can't Battlefront manage to get you straight gun barrels? It can't be that difficult!