15mm AT-ST for Star Wars Chain of Command

    

 One of the first things that comes to my mind when you say Star Wars is the AT-ST or chicken walker. It’s not practical or particularly well armed but it’s quintessentially Empire and as such would be vital for any SW themed tabletop game I’d want to play. The biggest draw to playing Legion was the AT-ST and how much it reminded me of my childhood toy, but the cost (and scale) helped push me into investigating any possibility in a near enough scale for 15mm. 

     Most manufacturers use 1:100 for their accompanying 15mm vehicle scales but as I didn’t intend to have too many recognisable/real world vehicles on the tabletop (who says how big this speeder is in real life) I could accept some variance around this, probably from 1:90 to 1:110 depending on the subject. Luckily all of the work had already been done for me by the previously mentioned, and frankly excellent, Rebel Scale website which has lists for all the Star Wars toys or models that are or have been available. On it I was overjoyed to find that the Micro Galaxy Squadron toys by Jazwares produced an AT-ST in 1:100 exactly. Being, accordingly, a collectors item they can go for ridiculous prices (that I don’t understand but words like chase are bandied with much reverence in the hallowed circles of fandom) but I managed to pick up two for £13 each which was reasonable.

     The plastic is hard(ish) but not brittle and comes with a weird dirty wash on them (rebelscale recommends removing this with isopropyl alcohol which worked well enough for my purposes). The details are sometimes a little soft but perfectly acceptable apart from (in my opinion) the front blasters. These are the main chin mounted weapons and had plastic filler between the two barrels (to add strength). I cut off the guns and replaced them with a plastic set (from a WW2 Flames of War American early AA Halftrack), whilst not exact and missing the barrel detail of the originals I like the look of these replacements and feel when painted they’ll fit well enough for me (field modifications if anyone quibbles).

The toy actually stands up on its own but I decided to make them a base for added stability. Luckily with a little aggressive scraping with a scalpel I managed to enlarge the gaps on the underside of the feet to perfectly fit two 5mm neodymium magnets that were partnered by a pair mounted into a 50mm Renedra round base. Hey presto a stable model that can be posed and repositioned on its base or removed entirely if needed.

I’m really happy with how it looks next to a Highlander Studios Stormtrooper and need to start the second and work out a plan for paint scheme (in classic Empire grey). I’m tempted to add some stowage and bits but I’m not sure it fits the SW look.

Thank you for taking the time to check this out I have a lot of plans for my Chain of Command Star Wars chaps and just received another two Jazwares vehicles today for scenery; which I’ll spend a few weeks getting them out of their carbonite packaging (how kids are supposed to get anything out of this packaging without breaking them is baffling - it’s almost vac-formed around it!) and get them into the production line.

Balm 

A 15mm Sullustan for Star Wars

 A quick picture of my latest 15mm GZG RANG trooper converted into a Sullustan. It’s a little rough and like any picture of something that’s only15mm high I can now see all the flaws (If you’re an aspiring gamer don’t worry about the what tiny errors you can see in your photographs, this way madness lies).

It’s only been blocked in and washed (next up highlights) but I quite like the colour scheme and will probably use the same colours across the whole force (GW Knarloc Green, Iyanden Darksun and P3 Hammerfall Khaki). I always struggle with painting during the blocking phase as I get frustrated and disheartened when it doesn’t look as imagined, but they generally turn out ok eventually. 

To anyone just starting out on your hobby journey: Don’t judge yourself too harshly or by anyone else’s ability. Painting should be an enjoyable pastime that allows you to express yourself. For example GW’s John Blanche’s miniature painting style only exists because, as he admitted, he wasn’t very good at painting and this style was easy but acceptable to his eye. Weirdly the current (YouTube) generation laud this ‘style’ (Blanchitsu - shudder) as something to work towards completely missing the original message it was meant to convey “be happy with what you can do”. 

Back in the day I painted all my local GW’s display pieces and boards (my friend ran the shop and was overworked/treated terribly so I did what I could to help him out) and when he left (not happily but we all know what GW are like) I saw a group of employees fighting over who got to keep my work (I stopped them, took everything out of the cabinet and gave them away to more deserving people). I know I can paint but I still struggle nearly every time. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, hopefully they’ll be more actual content soon,

Balm 

My 15mm Star Wars project

 So as briefly mentioned before I’m intending to use Star Wars miniatures to lure unsuspecting friends into playing Chain of Command (or literally anything at this point) and then if they bite try and convert them to historicals.

So I’m currently busy watching various bits of the films or series and trying to get an idea for the setting and rebel composition for my vision. My rebels are GZG RANG and I’ve started trying to add some variation by removing heads and re sculpting them.

My first efforts are a Twi’lek platoon commander, a Sullustan RPG operator and a Mon Calamari driver for the lovely GZG skimmer.

I’m quite pleased with the results, although the eyes are maybe too far forward ( a thorough scouring of MC pictures however does show variance so maybe it’s okay). I now just have to decide what colour: blue or red? Cold water or warm? I’m thinking red for this one and I’ll do a couple more infantry for variety. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I apologise for the lack of pictures, I intend to get a few more done and I’ll paint up some infantry to try and rough out my colour scheme.

Stay safe,

BeneathALeadMountain 

A gift for my wife

 I’m still busy ticking over on my projects (the constant state for many wargamers) and whilst I actually seem to be making progress I had to take a short break (from my own self induced nonsense) just before Christmas to make my wife an additional, last minute present.

Now when we got married many years ago I promised her that I’d get her a pony. I know. As I’ve been retired (against my will) for ten years or so I think a pony may well be out of my financial reach. Then I had an idea (actually I had it last year but the display case I bought from Woodland Scenics was sadly rubbish) and managed to find a suitable vessel on Etsy. On the 22nd of December the display case/bowl turned up and I set to work. I didn’t sleep much during the next couple of days but I was very pleased with the end result and more importantly so was my wife. The diorama is all scratch built and based on a 50mm ply base from Warbases attached to the supplied cork with PVA. The horse and tree are procreate and the greenery is either Silflor from Mininatur or Woodland Scenics (all of which I already had in my stores).

Whilst it’s not my usual fare I thoroughly enjoyed the sculpting process (and work best under pressure) and my wife was delighted. 

Brilliantly, for Christmas, my wife bought me some 15mm Stormtroopers (Highlander Miniatures) and my brother in law bought me some GZG Tomorrow’s War RANG troopers to be my rebels. Since then I’ve been basing and re-sculpting to add some aliens (non-humans) into the mix. Hopefully soon I’ll get some pictures up and some games played using either the original Star Wars Miniature rules, Chain of Command, Spectre Operations (a very useful toolkit system) or maybe the new Tomorrow’s War ruleset that’s in development.

Stay safe

BeneathALeadMountain 

Battlegroup Westwall

 

I thought I'd share a few pictures and initial feelings about the new softback Battlegroup supplement covering the battles at Germany's border in Autumn 1944: Battlegroup Westwall.

Now Westwall is a softback supplement so is designed to be used with a couple of other Battlegroup products, these being the rulebook and the Axis and Allies lists from Overlord (or the later reprint Beyond the Beaches) so you'll need those to get the most out of it - although like all Battlegroup products the history and scenarios included can be worth the cost and this also has a mini campaign included!

So, presuming you're not like me and just slowly collecting all of WW2 (I jest but it's getting closer) is this book for you? As previously stated it covers the period after Normandy but before Wacht Am Rhein (Bulge) and Into the Reich - so September to November. Although the British were also fighting fiercely at this point their main focus was Holland (and any suitable rules found here can be used for Holland - Battlegroup is a tool kit) and this book focusses primarily on the American forces slogging their way through the dilapidated re-re-done fortifications of the Westwall: the last line protecting the Fatherland, as the remnants of the once mighty German army desperately re-arm and reform behind it. It also covers the particular misery of the fighting in "the Big Hurt" or Huertgen forest with special rules for thematic occurrences like airburst in canopy and forest floor. 

Like all Battlegroup books there is a comprehensive history overview section that covers the background events leading up to and action from Aachen to Huertgen Forest, the events around Lorraine and the fortress city of Metz. As ever its well written, has a great selection of real pictures and miniature shots and lots of interesting informational inserts with details about key events. Now you may ask why you need 26 pages of History information you could get anywhere else, but I would argue the history is so well written and focused, including giving a breakdown of the units involved and the action you're trying to portray that it is necessary and really beneficial for beginners and old hands alike (I think I have definitely forgotten more about WW2 than I'll ever know). People would definitely complain if it wasn't there (they’ll complain no matter what) and for the newcomer to WW2 gaming it is a real boon - it may even spark your interest in the historical side.

 Whilst it uses the lists from Overlord (only one full list in this book - the German Panzer Brigade Battlegroup) there are the usual additions and subtractions listed for all the necessary forces so you can tailor the Volksgrenadier Division list (Wacht Am Rhein), Germany Infantry Division 1944 (Overlord) and Armoured and Infantry Combat Engineers for the US lists (Overlord). 

The key addition present here is for the german lists in the form of the new Defense section with more detailed Westwall specific defenses including sparse minefields, flak bunkers and a comprehensive list of bunker types with new options such as defensive machineguns and flamethrower shelters. This is a really interesting section and breathes new life into any bunkers you have for already bought for those rarely played and often harrowing Normandy landing games. 

Alongside the lists and amendments is the scenario section. Battlegroup is well known for its generosity and proliferation of scenarios in its books and this one delivers with .....one. Yep just the one but it's important and not unexpected. It's an attack/defense scenario with the Axis player holding a fortified defensive line, nothing too shocking there. This isn't bad news however as many there are another 6 scenarios hidden away in the section after the army lists; the mini campaign. 

The Clipper Campaign is a 6 battle mini campaign covering Operation Clipper in late November 1944 and can be played as Americans or British (if you don’t have US) against the Germans (in reality it was the US vs Germans). There are six scenarios to be played that are squad to platoon in size (1 squad and 5 platoon sized games) with the historical forces listed or the ability to select replacement forces from your available miniatures (as usual). It's not as complicated as the Torch/Kasserine one but a nice addition that should be doable in a good, long weekend or over a few weeks at club.

As stated the full list presented here is the German Panzer Brigade Battlegroup which replaces the standard panzer Brigade from Overlord. This is a very thematic list which may admittedly seem bland to those not interested in or aware of the historical significance of the options: as it appears to simply have very few options. This list represents the armoured counter attacks (mostly the southern Lorraine front) by the new, very cut down Panzer divisions and is a welcome addition to the available stable of late war formations. The Author goes as far to state that the traditional panzers divisions of Normandy and Into the Reich aren't suitable for this period of conflict and you should look to Wacht Am Rhein if they are more your taste.

This new supplement arrived this morning (I paid for it myself and everything) and I'm really pleased to add it to my existing precious pile of Battlegroup books - I may not play much Westwall but Huertgen is on my list (when I finish my trees) and I intend to keep picking up any books The Plastic Soldier Company puts out in the Battlegroup series. 

Battlegroup:Westwall can be bought direct from The Plastic Soldier Company here.

Stay safe,

BeneathALeadMountain

I ATEN’T DEAD

Hopefully anyone seeing this will get the reference. A lack of movement or activity doesn’t mean I’m not still kicking, just struggling a little. When I look back at the time since my last post I can see I’ve actually achieved quite a lot but have tried to focus what little energy I have into my models rather than battling with blogger on a tablet. I do intend to start posting again regularly and hopefully this’ll help as an ice breaker for me.

BeneathALeadMountain 

If the title doesn’t mean anything to you I can heartily recommend checking out the brilliant books of Sir Terry Pratchett, it will not be time wasted.

A new place to buy Old Dominion Game Works products in the UK

 Greetings all,

I’m sorry I haven’t been very active recently, a combination of blogger being hard to use on an iPad and the usual lack of functionality has drained my productivity. I have achieved some bits and bobs though, including helping my wife expand and diversify her business. 

You may have read my previous posts about how much I love the Napoleonic Naval Warfare rules Post Captain by Old Dominion Game Works and how I was interested in getting into WWII Naval warfare with ODGW’s General Quarters 3 rules but had struggled due to the bad customer services and weird policies of the one company that sell hard copies in the U.K. 

Because of this ODGW’s excellent stable of rules doesn’t get the exposure and table time they deserve in the UK and my wife and I decided we could try and change this. So whilst I’m not capable of actual work (years of hard, manual labour lugging timber and climbing trees are sadly behind me now and I miss them terribly) I could advise my wife on what I thought of their products and that there should be a market for them. A week or two of overexcited waiting by the window and our first order arrived. We couldn’t get everything but we did try and order a good range of the most popular rulesets to get us started. So here is a brief overview of what she currently has to offer (if you click on the hyperlinked product name it will take you to the eBay listing):

Post Captain is a set of Naval war game rules suitable for the Napoleonic era (1793 to 1815 the carronade era specifically) covering ship to ship actions up to whole fleets, from luggers, ketches and brigantines up to mighty first rates including merchants of all sizes. It is suitable for all scales including the recent Warlord games Black Seas 1/700 ships and additional scaled measuring devices are available as downloads when you register your copy (along with a comprehensive selection of bonus material, ships and scenarios). The included ship logs cover the fleets of the main combatants for the period and additional rules cover land warfare, weather, cutting out, weapon types including swivel guns, canon and carronades and an excellent introduction to how sailing works and how the rules model this on the tabletop. I can’t recommend these rules enough, whilst I may change scales and move to the smaller 1:1200 scale offered by Rod Langton miniatures, they will be my ongoing set of age of sail naval rules and I have many plans for what I’d like to do with them.

General Quarters 3 is ODGW’s set of rules for surface, air and submarine warfare during WWII. As the third edition of these rules it has been totally rewritten and the best description of my first opinion when I opened my copy is comprehensive yet approachable. The rules cover everything from Destroyers to Battleships and carriers, torpedoes, air warfare, submarines, mine warfare, weather, campaign games and much more. They work for a range of scales (depending on what you already have or like and how much space you have available) and there are a number of different measuring scale options to further adapt the rules to your set-up (1cm 100yds or 1cm to 200yds). Optional rules include simplified or rather streamlined versions of the torpedo system, submarine warfare and how aircrafts are handled allow you to tailor the game to your preferences. Gunfire (and many other features) are resolved using the nation specific CRT charts which, whilst initially looking complex and daunting, make combat resolution very easy and reduce the need to refer to the rulebook and clutter the table during play. Included are hundreds of ships logs for the most common combatants and further digital deluxe ship log collections are available seperately (although if you understand the very straightforward ship log system and know what ship you wanted to model you could produce them yourselves with a little effort). I'm very excited about these rules and whilst I've run though the basics using counters I'm about to bite the bullet and order some Navwar 1:3000 destroyers and cruisers to see if they appeal to me and I can get them table top ready for when I can get back out into the world and introduce it to my local club.

The campaign system for GQ3 is very flexible and easily allows you to create your own detailed campaigns. A number of prewritten campaigns are available which use a unique decision tree system to generate the tactical engagements (and need no plotting) whilst allowing replays to avoid becoming predictable and boring for the players. Each campaign in the ODGW Decisions at Sea series contain detailed background history and full OOB's necessary to get the conflicts to the tabletop and are further supported by online access to extensive digital downloads on the ODGW website and forum.

The Solomons Islands Campaign allow players to enter Ironbottom Sound and recreate the decisions and conflicts faced by the Allies and Japanese as they fight for this key island chain. Full OOB's for both sides and turn by turn decisions keep the players engaged in not only the tactical but also the logistical operations to achieve victory.

Sudden Storm is a fictional 'What-if' campaign set in 1937 recreating a worldwide hot conflict between Japan and the USA. With a excellent and thorough background section to set the scene this book allows players to enter a period of naval warfare that was only fleeting in the real WWII. There is no radar, electric torpedoes, PT Boats, 24" Type 93 "Long Lance" [Sic] torpedoes, US magnetic torpedo exploder problems, decks filled with AA guns or VT Fuses, long range airplanes, heavy bombs, drop tanks or self sealing fuel tanks. Battle lines and big guns still rule. Comprehensive OOB's for both sides, specific ship logs and aircraft makes this fictional period come to life.

There is also Defending the Malay Barrier in the series following the disastrous Allied ABDA defence of the Malay Barrier but unfortunately we don't currently have this to offer as ODGW did not have any stock. We will be stocking this in the future though.

Fleet Action Imminent is the General Quarters WWI ruleset for Naval combat during the Great War.  The rules contain everything you need for WW1 Naval Wargaming with rewritten and streamlined surface combat rules specifically for the Great War with Special Fleet Action rules for large battles with lots of Destroyers. Inside you'll find National tables for Gunnery, Damage, Detection and Morale, a streamlined torpedo system for faster and easier resolution, new ship and airship turn indicators and additional rules for Coal Smoke, Minefields, Night Actions, Signals, Shore Batteries, Airships, Blimps and much more. More than 500 WWI Colour Ship Logs and additional Airship Logs are included along with additional material available to download when you register. I don't yet have these rules but will probably buy myself a copy soon as it looks like a really interesting period.

The North Sea Campaign covers the critical fight for control of the North Sea and uses the same mapless plotting and decision tree system seen in the GQ3 campaign books. It also includes full OOB's for the conflict and access to full colour downloadable ship logs from the website.

Mein Panzer is a core rule book which are flexible and expandable 1:1 (one model represents one vehicle or soldier) rules for recreating 20th and 21st century combined arms ground warfare from World War One up through to the present day. Designed to be used with scales from 1/285 (6mm) to 15mm, based around ODGW's Drop-In game system allowing players from novice to veteran to customise the gameplay to their own particular gaming style. Once you've learned the core rules you can Drop-In additional modules to fit your chosen theatre and period of combat. The core rules are divided into three sections. The first section contains the basic rules dealing only with Tank vs Tank battles to quickly teach the principles of the game. The second section contains the advanced rules which build upon the basics to form the cornerstone of the rule system. The last section includes a number of Drop-In modules, each dealing with specific areas of ground combat covering such areas as Morale, Command and Control, Infantry, Air Support, Artillery, Armoured Trains, Amphibious assaults, Structures and Engineers. Included is a generous selection of starter data so you can start playing as soon as possible. Including equipment tables, TO&E, aircraft, small arms and basic troops for WW1, WW2, The Cold War and the ultramodern period.

Mein Panzer WWII Data Book contains over 7,300 data entries for 29 Nationalities including several thousand pieces of equipment, TO&E, ordnance tables, naval support equipment, small arms, troop types and special rules for the conflict. From the Japanese Knee Mortar to the German King Tiger. Each country has an included Troop Table detailing five quality levels, plus numerous special troops. Everything from the Afrika Korps to Cossacks and the SS. It also includes the special rules needed to play in every theatre of conflict with virtually any combatant. The Mein Panzer rule book is needed to fully utilise the contents of this book but the TO&E and equipment information would be usable for any WW2 wargame with very little adjustment. 

Other data books are available including WWI, The Spanish Civil War and The Korean War and whilst we don't currently have stock of these we intend to in the future. Whilst I don't yet own MP it is also on my wish list as I love WWII gaming (maybe my favourite period) and always welcome new, decent rulesets to allow me to play games that have a real sense of WWII (It's a game so realism is never really possible or the aim but the feel is important).

PLEASE NOTE ALL THESE RULES ARE LOOSE LEAF 3 HOLE US PUNCH ONLY AND IN THE UK YOU WILL NEED TO PURCHASE A BINDER AND POLY POCKETS TO STORE THESE RULES. 

If there are any other ODGW products you are interested in please contact us through the eBay site and we can order them for you for a small deposit. Any questions about the products please get in touch as we want to help promote these excellent rules (and ODGW) and as fellow gamers we care about what we are selling and helping people get to enjoy them.

Thank you for taking your time to visit, I hope we can help you play some of these excellent rules and inspire you to getting them to the tabletop. I'll get back to actual blogging soon and try and show some progress as I now have access to a computer which makes Blogger usable again.

Stay safe, look after yourself and others,

BALM