Sunday, March 26, 2023

A Few Bumps... and Counters

Yes, it seems that I've hit a few bumps in the road.  I was checking the statis of my Russian infantry order for Barbarossa earlier this week, when I realized that four packs of figs are missing from the order.  They were there when I was putting the order together.  Somehow, I must have deleted them, before placing it.  I must have check through it a half dozen times, and just can't get over making the error.  So I'm still five-plus weeks from getting all of those trays of infantry stands off of my painting table. A total bummer.

Painting progress on vehicles was moving along smoothly, until yesterday morning, when I ran out of my "Russian" green.  Would have finished up the last of 44 T35s, BT-7s and T-60s.  Turned out that my back-up bottle was a mostly used bottle.

No problem, off to the hobby shop, right?  Yeah, so now we are back to the shop not being able to get restocks of paint in.  This started before covid, and is still going on.  So off to the big city to Hobby Lobby.  Same deal.  Not in stock.  Been this way with them as well, as I tried to pick up an extra bottle a couple of times int he last two months. No dice.

Yeah, I know, internet, plus a week or two and $6.95 shipping will yield a bottle of paint.  I miss the good old days, when things were sold at stores.

Soooo, I cleared the miniature painting "fallout" that had collected on the game table from all of the painting, and started setting up terrain for a game.  Figured I'd play a game today.  Then got the text from work, that the test I was notified about on Thursday, is now due on Monday.  I was already scheduled out of the office friday, so now I have to go in today and build the test fixture.  No game.

Oh well, all is not lost.  I made use of the time yesterday and completed counter sheets for the Soviets for the Barbarossa campaign.  I had finished the Germans earlier in the week.  The Germans are done for the initial setup, and Soviets for the set-up and first few turns, minus the militia formations.  Here are some pics:




The counters just identify the units; they don't have any combat stats on them.  And the unit numbers are completely arbitrary, there are no historical unit numbers.  They are just for the Barbarossa bathtub campaign.  I've deviated from the original "Barbarossa 25" TO&Es, using several different Soviet Tank brigade TO&Es, and some different German formations as well.  

Also, the cavalry formations are missing, as I don't have figs for battalion sized cav formations, and don't want to paint a bazillion horses.  Not sure if they will be omitted, represented by smaller formations (maybe Cavalry Squadrons), or repalced with motorized infantry or something.

The counters will be used on the Europa map for strategic movement and to decide who fights where.  Generally, there are counters for all division, brigade, and battalion sized formations, as well as, some company and platoon sized supporting units from the larger formations. 

I'll still need to add counters for reinforcements once the game starts, but this is the majority of the beast.  A little progress amongst the bumps.

Hopefully see you again next weekend.

5 comments:

  1. Running out of paint is the most frustrating.....
    Looking forward to seeing your Europa map set up and turns for the campaign. A decade back locally the campaign went two or three strategic turns and presented some twenty plus possible games.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is funny, these days, I have far more hobbyshops to choose from locally, but far less variety of products and stock on hand.

      Delete
  2. Yep, feel the pain. My FLGS is only open on Wednesdays after noon, and at the weekend, likewise, and then evenings, which makes sense.

    And like your FLGS paint stokes are a bit random too. It is what it is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I find more and more shops with non-traditional business hours. It is curious to me that the shops are open fewer hours and offer less product, and find a way to survive.

      Delete
  3. Most of my older paints dried out ages ago. I’m learning to make do and a bit of color theory. So rather than buying $7 bottle of model paint for each new color, I mix something close enough from Tamiya and craft acrylic.

    ReplyDelete