Some 15mm additions.

I've done quite a bit during my recent hiatus. With the weather being awful (spray painting and pictures are currently impossible) I thought I'd put up a couple of pictures of german units I'd finished.



My FoW Whitman Tiger, painted to reward its performance in the battle of the secret stug (see its kill ring). The law of gaming meant its next performance was useless with it being destroyed almost instantaneously.

Again but without the warming sunshine. The turret is magnetised, the crew member sculpted by me.

My 250/1. Built for CoC as its an excellent support choice. The customised Peter Pig and FoW crew are one piece and are removable. The tarpaulin is procreate.

I've also more recently finished my 88 flak and a Grille H (a weird and charming little vehicle that packs a massive punch in BA). I've (at the time of typing) just based the 88 crew and will get them done soon.

Battlefront or FoW 88 flak gun. Carefully put together, painted in camouflage and then obscured with model scenery. I seem to really enjoy making my own life more complicated.

I'll do another base for the wheels and an ammo stack (and maybe a little dug out for the spotter). Plenty of room for the crew to (hopefully) stand behind.

 

The Grille's crew have (like all my chaps) been re-headed with Peter Pig heads. It's a nice, characterful unit that is suitable for my opponents favourite gaming theatre - the eastern front.

Plenty more bite size updates to come as I try to get back up to speed with pictures and progress of my summer; including 15 and 28mm, some new 15mm settings - AVBCW and a whole new project in a new scale - WW2 6mm.

As ever thank you for taking the time,

BALM.

Bolt Action from June.

Some pictures of one of our games in June. It was approx. 3000pts of Soviets versus Germans with a 24 dice limit. The soviets were a classic infantry horde with maxims and varied zis guns, supported by some T-34's and other green tanks (who can tell the red hordes clunky death traps apart). My Germans had a core of motorised veteran infantry supported by mortars, Panzer IV's, a Panther and even a Tiger.

The view from the German side of the table. The church and village are flanked by some farmland and woods.

A little western in appearance this area of the eastern front. The church offered a perfect vantage point and the battle was sure to focus around the surrounding village.

My Tiger rumbles on to be instantly KIA'd by a waiting T34. It was a long shot and caused an instantaneous drop in my (and thus my little chaps) moral.

First blood to the Russians and my Tiger burns merrily, the assailant can be seen to the right of the outbuilding in the distance.

My half tracks rush forward supported by the pz.IV's and the Panther. The infantry dismount and begin the push to dislodge the soviets from the village.

The infantry disgorge from the transport and prepare to meet the oncoming Russians.

The Panther and panzer IV's prowl amongst the trees as they respond to the soviet threat across the village. The burning Tiger a constant reminder that they aren't untouchable.

As the main infantry attack pushes into the village my recon 250 speeds down the left flank to put its small squad in an advantageous position.

The game was a success for the Axis powers even with the Tiger destruction but it was a hard fight with the soviet armour being a tough opposition. Once again I took half tracks in an attempt to use them in BA rather than dismiss them. The tank combat in BA is so simple you can't pin your hopes on them, as I proved with such appalling use of my iconic German super tank. I'm still having a lot of fun with BA, our tables and miniatures are slowly getting prettier. I'm looking forwards to getting the bulk of my Germans done so I can start on my allied forces.

Thank you for taking the time,

BALM.

Car Wars and some outdoor Bolt Action

With Salute being the main focus of our weekend in April we wouldn't manage to get much gaming in so we looked to something different for a diversion. Car wars is a game synonymous with my nostalgic memories of 80's and 90's gaming. It's straightforward, brutal and fun. I didn't take too many pictures but in the example you can see our first trial game with a lorry and car each.

Our vehicles negotiate their respective corners before powering down the high street towards each other. My opponents vehicles are already accelerating towards me as I swing my lorry hard left and formulate a plan.......



My lorry forces my opponents car off the road, hitting the curb, ploughing across the grass and coming to a stop against the tree. My car makes another left across the front of the oncoming enemy truck.

So not the most comprehensive photographic report. Car wars is excellent fun, can be played in a small space and will use up a lot of my future time. There is a recent re-release of the original set and at £14 it's great value and worth investing in.

We managed to get one game of Bolt Action in over the weekend and as it was hot we decided to play outside. The scenario was a group of eastern front partisans ambushing a column of german grenadiers in half tracks. We played this using the v2.0 rules allowing half tracks to fire on a FIRE order without carrying any passengers.

The Germans are set up along the lower road with the fore most half track in contact with the old block. A soviet gun sounds and the carrier erupts into flames, it's occupant spill out and stumble into nearby cover.

he German dismount and fan out ready to face the oncoming soviet threat. Grenadier advance in the relative safety behind the 251.

A soviet armoured car press the attack as partisans emerge from the surrounding trees.

More partisans appear and whilst undisciplined they have the Germans pinned and cut off.

 

The Germans hunker down in the soft cover against the road, but with no clear escape route they have a bitter fight on their hands.

With the light failing the remaining partisans fall back leaving the germans licking .their wounds in the darkening forest, the warmth of the burning 251 the only comfort

The game was deemed a draw as whilst the germans were still an effective force they had lost a transport and a few men but had been stopped quite resolutely by the partisans and their many AT rifles. It was a very thematic game and the weather was lovely. It was nice to see that half tracks can be usable in BA and that with the right terrain the partisans can be quite effective, we'll have to get the French book as this has some special rules that may be even better.

Thank you for taking the time,

BALM.

A return and quick catch up

The on going battle with my time has gone against me again. Since Salute I haven't touched this blog but that hasn't stopped my hobby furtlings. This post is a simple catch up with some of the pictures of Salute that are lurking on my phone followed by some pictures of the games we played before and after the show.

A few shots of the Dropzone Commander display table. It was beautifully thought out and my camera work does nit do it justice. There were little tableaus and scenes scattered throughout the table and the whole thing was an excellent advert for the game (I've been told it's brilliant).

 

 



Various vendors were entrenched in the hall but, as an already confirmed fan, I only have some pics of 4ground. The fantasy town was excellent and something I'd never have the room for.....

 

 

 

 

An awe inspiring scratchbuilt ship model that was the pinnacle of functionality meeting

aesthetic beauty. It's since been featured in WI and some other publications and rightly so.

 







 

Finally an extended Cold War gone hot table with a section of autobahn being used to land a C130. Big, well thought out but not very exciting for me....

 

 



That's the Salute pictures briefly and hopefully if you're reading this it means I can update my blog using my little tablet (attempts using the phone blogger app were destroyed due to crapness). Next up some shots of the games we played during the Salute weekend.

 

Thank you for taking the time,

 

BALM

Remembrance Day

Poppy fields by Alan Ranger.

No words or sentiment can ever express our gratitude. 

BALM

Panzers and Caravans.

   

     The picture really says it all but just a quick update: I finally received my Jagdpanther and Panther plastic box set (GBX84) from the new Battlefront Nachtjaeger line. So far I've put one of each together with the intention of making 2 Panther G's and 3 Jagdpanthers. The kits are a breeze to construct, although I wish you got a instruction sheet inside (rather than having to rely on the exploded diagram on the back - I think I spotted a mistake and am waiting to hear back from BF). They fit together well with a minimum of fettling. The detail is crisp and plentiful and the sprues come with plenty of additional parts. Included are the IR sights to add them to a 251 UHU platoon (thus the Nachtjaeger link). You also get decals, a sprue of plastic crew and a sprue of metal crew (I think for the Jagdpanther looking at the hatch).

A great dual build kit which makes robust and detailed vehicles.

This Panther will be covered in additional track.

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Apart from the instructions - I'm still not sure about some parts like, what I think is, the ammunition bin on the back of the Jagdpanther (It says it's part on the instructions but none of their completed models have it). The only other thing I didn't like was the moulding marks on the bazooka shields for the sides.

Irritating mould marks on the bazooka shield.

A beneficial side effect of the current deluge of plastic dual-build kits is the ability to use the un-used hull for secondary projects. With the spare panther hull and a bit of hacking you can make dug in tanks for the fall of the reich era.

Simply remove the rear deck (presumably the engine was removed as it was surplus to requirements) and add a few bits of plasticard. More of this to come.

Dug in at a crossroads as a final line of defence - imposing but tactically flawed.

Overall I'm really pleased with them and even though they are more expensive than their PSC counterparts the ability to build the two different vehicles, the ease and robustness of construction and the level of detail makes them superior in my opinion. Last thing is the two die-cast (approx1:87) caravans I got for a quid at a local market. Perfect for scenery in 15mm zombie and modern games. 

Thank you for taking the time,

BALM.