When the tendons in my right hand inflated to twice their normal volume (or more) a few weeks back, I had no idea that I would be sidelined for this long. Beyond the pain from the injury, the allergic reaction to medication, and the horror that is daytime TV, I have discovered that not being able to work on my hobby is probably the worst part of all (though trying to tie a shoe lace with one hand is a close second).
Clearly, my miniatures hobby keeps me sane. Unfortunately, shooting at Nancy Grace on my TV with a battery powered Nerf gun has not (though I have become a decent left handed shot).
Over the last week, my hand has started to get better. I'm not sure how long it will take to get back to 100 percent, but I am starting to get some things done. I've done a touch of casting, and have started shipping orders to those who have been waiting so patiently for their 15mm vehicles. I've also used some of the time to get a lot a research done for games and 15mm vehicles.
For those who are still waiting for vehicles, they will start arriving shortly, then hopefully we will see some progress on some hobby projects, and maybe even a worthwhile post.
Thank you to those who have been so kind and so patient over this past month.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Roll Call in 15mm
In November, I got the grand idea of rounding out some infantry units for my modern armies, so that I could finally play some of the games that I am forever putting off. Additionally, I figured this would be a good way to come up with some suggestions, when my wife asked about what I might like for Christmas.
November turned into December, the holidays came to pass, rounding out some of my modern armies turned into inventorying all of my moderns, and then my World War II armies as well. And since the holidays were happening, progress was slow and extremely interrupted. So here I am 10 weeks later, and my table is covered with 3757 15mm modern and WWII infantry, and I am nowhere near filling out the gaps in my units. And since I have nothing better to offer, here they are, my 15mm minions:
With Christmas came figs to fill out a couple of the armies, and as I slowly sorted through my heap, I found a number of WWII figs that I had picked up over the years for this purpose, but then had buried in my heap and forgotten about.
November turned into December, the holidays came to pass, rounding out some of my modern armies turned into inventorying all of my moderns, and then my World War II armies as well. And since the holidays were happening, progress was slow and extremely interrupted. So here I am 10 weeks later, and my table is covered with 3757 15mm modern and WWII infantry, and I am nowhere near filling out the gaps in my units. And since I have nothing better to offer, here they are, my 15mm minions:
Of the 3757 figs, about 3300 are painted representing at least 24 different
armies with figs from seven manufacturers.
With Christmas came figs to fill out a couple of the armies, and as I slowly sorted through my heap, I found a number of WWII figs that I had picked up over the years for this purpose, but then had buried in my heap and forgotten about.
Over 600 WWII Germans between early and late war.
About 200 Mujahideen for the Soviet-Afghan war.
Forty or so Cuban Advisers for my modern Africa games.
I then started ordering figs to round out more of the armies with Cold War Soviets coming from QRF, and my first order to Rebel Miniatures to fill out my 1990s US Army Company. Imagine my surprise, when I found that my existing figures were not from Rebel. And say "Welcome" to my new US army of the 2000s.
The old figs must have been from Flashpoint (I'm guessing their US Army Rangers, painted below), as they are not the Rebel Minis figs (unpainted below) and I'm not aware of any other sources. Here is a pic comparing a few of the figs:
I had some other Rebel Miniatures figs that I bought at conventions, but had never ordered on-line from them before. Let me say that service was outstanding. First the miniatures are fantastic quality, very finely detailed, and even better than the Peter Pig USMC figs, which are probably the best modern figs that I purchased previously. Comms were great, and the order arrived three days after ordering. I couldn't ask for more.
Anyway, despite the screw-up, I quite like my new army, though they set on my table, with 3000 others, waiting for a few moments of attention with a paintbrush and flock. Despite finally getting to put a little time in on my troops today, my backlog will just get worse, as any day now, a hundred more Soviets will be invading my mailbox.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Ghosts of Christmas Games Past
The day after Christmas we traveled to visit my wife's family, which for me includes a visit with an old friend and gamer located nearby the in-laws. As it turned out, another of the old gang happened to be in town, so we had a mini-reunion of the old game group and couldn't pass up the opportunity to push some lead and throw dice.
Long ago, when I was still in college, and had no money for figs, I was a member of a wonderful group of gamers in Canton, Ohio. Some number of us got together almost daily, and we must have played something on the order of 250 games per year. In time, employment would eventually take most of us to the farthest reaches of the empire, and our group was no more.
Though our daily battles and silly antics are a thing of memory, last Monday was a flashback to my golden age of gaming. Mark, who I hadn't actually seen in seven years or more, showed up at Craig's (some of you may know him as Gaming Models Craig) and we played a pick-up WWII game. Mark must have taken every 15mm WWII German miniature that Craig owns, and I (not paying too much attention to what Mark was doing) took a US Armored Infantry company a platoon of Shermans and small recon element.
As we started setting up the game, I realized that I was outnumbered something like 30 to 1, so I added an Easy Eight company and four tank destroyers. I also had air and artillery support available, so now I was only ridiculously out-numbered.
As we were setting up, we were swallowed by an avalanche of silly jokes and bad puns,. I t was 1983 again.
Mark set up maybe 150 German vehicles and guns and the associated infantry. There were at least ten Tigers among his hoard. I entered the table with a jeep and an armored car and proclaimed this land liberated. After a few turns of movement, the American and German lead elements clashed, with a handful of jeeps and light armored vehicles fighting an intense micro-battle on this huge table with many hundreds of miniatures.
The game developed, with the heavier elements moving into range, and the E8s got an early edge, though my best tank turned out to be the P47.
The Germans advanced, while my Americans stalled , being halted by a combination of German guns and gamer humor. the early success of the easy eights gave way to the mass of Panzers, Stugs and Tigers. The Shermans still got the occasional lucky shot, but in the end, I was saved by the bell, as time expired, and we had to end our silly holiday battle.
All in all, it was a wonderful time, gaming, laughing, good food, and most of all, great friends.
Long ago, when I was still in college, and had no money for figs, I was a member of a wonderful group of gamers in Canton, Ohio. Some number of us got together almost daily, and we must have played something on the order of 250 games per year. In time, employment would eventually take most of us to the farthest reaches of the empire, and our group was no more.
Though our daily battles and silly antics are a thing of memory, last Monday was a flashback to my golden age of gaming. Mark, who I hadn't actually seen in seven years or more, showed up at Craig's (some of you may know him as Gaming Models Craig) and we played a pick-up WWII game. Mark must have taken every 15mm WWII German miniature that Craig owns, and I (not paying too much attention to what Mark was doing) took a US Armored Infantry company a platoon of Shermans and small recon element.
A view of the battlefield thrown together by Craig.
His table is something like 7'x14' and he uses modular foam terrain.
As we started setting up the game, I realized that I was outnumbered something like 30 to 1, so I added an Easy Eight company and four tank destroyers. I also had air and artillery support available, so now I was only ridiculously out-numbered.
As we were setting up, we were swallowed by an avalanche of silly jokes and bad puns,. I t was 1983 again.
Mark set up maybe 150 German vehicles and guns and the associated infantry. There were at least ten Tigers among his hoard. I entered the table with a jeep and an armored car and proclaimed this land liberated. After a few turns of movement, the American and German lead elements clashed, with a handful of jeeps and light armored vehicles fighting an intense micro-battle on this huge table with many hundreds of miniatures.
My recon successfully absorbing a significant portion of the German ammo supply.
A squad of US infantry trying to move around the German right flank.
This didn't go quite as planned.
Most of the recon elements mutually annihilated, the heavy stuff begins to advance.
The Germans advanced, while my Americans stalled , being halted by a combination of German guns and gamer humor. the early success of the easy eights gave way to the mass of Panzers, Stugs and Tigers. The Shermans still got the occasional lucky shot, but in the end, I was saved by the bell, as time expired, and we had to end our silly holiday battle.
All in all, it was a wonderful time, gaming, laughing, good food, and most of all, great friends.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
2011 in Review, and Plans for 2012
I don't imagine my ramblings here will be of much interest to anyone but me, but I do find this to be a somewhat motivational process, so I shall indeed continue with this totally unoriginal idea. If nothing else, I've dug out a few old photos to include that you may not have seen before.
2011 was sort of a rebirth in the hobby for me. I bought about ten times as many figs as in 2010, painted a couple hundred more than I bought, and played twice as many games (6, as opposed to 3 in 2010). Still, when compared to years past, it was just not like the old days.
Some projects saw a lot of progress, like my 15mm moderns, others like Vietnam, and much of my sci-fi interests were stuck in stasis. I've also considered that I may need to further streamline some of my interests to ever have hope of completing anything ( I purged 12 other periods a few years back). I'm going to drop a few things to start this year, see how things progress by mid-year, and make some bigger changes if need be.
20mm Vietnam
Riverine terrain- Added palm trees and some foliage pieces.
Village- completed the two Britannia hoochs that I have.
Riverside Bunkers- Completed some research, and might have enough to build from, but no model work completed.
No progress was made on the following, so all of the following are on the slate for 2012:
The Old Church
M113 and M48- Completed, but need re-weathered due to painting mishap
Civilians
Gun truck
Troop Trucks- Purchased
Jeeps
Also for 2012, I'll add to the list:
OV-10 Bronco- Purchased
15mm World War Two
Add decals and weather about 70 US vehicles- No progress in 2011, other than Decals have been purchased.
For 2012:
US infantry- Fill in a few voids for my armored infantry company, and motorised infantry company.
57mm AT guns- Again to complete the armored infantry company.
15mm Modern Africa (and elsewhere)
15mm Modern Africa and 15mm modern in general is where I made my biggest gains.
T34/85- Completed master and cast and painted a company plus for modern Africa.
BTR152K- Completed last of a company of these early in the year.
M2A2- Completed casting and painted a platoon, with the rest of the company still awaiting paint.
AAV7A1- Completed master, cast and painted enough for my Marines
ERC-90- Completed master and painted a platoon with the rest of the company awaiting paint.
Also completed:
Added around 50 15mm militia troops.
Mugabia Air defense- Completed SA8, SA9s, and a variety of towed AA guns (57mm, 23mm, 14.5mm)
T-55- Completed a company plus of T-55
PT-76- Completed a platoon of light tanks.
US Marines- Painted a company of Marines
Cuban Advisers- Painted a platoon of "advisers"
VBLs- Painted enough VBLs for a recon company
M1114 Humvees- Finally assembled and painted my own Humvees, around 25 of the various models.
Presidential Guard- Painted the Mugabian Presidential Guard, about 30 figs.
Aircraft Stands- Built my first aircraft stands.
Aircraft- Completed 2x Strikemaster, 2xG91, 2x Mig21, and a C-47.
Uwanda Air Defense- Completed two M42 Dusters to give Uwanda some defense against against Mugabian aircraft.
For 2012:
Uwanda Helicopters- Are setting on the bench right now to be built.
Airport
Presidential palace
Houses
Barricades
Panhard M3
VLRA
15mm Afghanistan (Soviet-Afgan War)
DRA Infantry- Completed a platoon of Afghan troops to fight along side the Soviets.
For 2012 (still):
Gaz66 - Complete master and cast a bunch of trucks for Soviet convoys and various duties in Afghanistan and Africa. Slightly more than barely started.
28mm Science Fiction
With the exception of my post-apoc terrain, my sci-fi projects were completely ignored in 2011
Post Apocalypse Terrain - I've made great progress on this, but had to put it aside in February, and haven't been able to make any significant progress since. I'm planning for it to be a winter project, so hopefully, I will make some headway soon.
For 2012:
"Out West Town" - Complete the buildings that I have had half done in the basement for the last two years. Think route 66.
"The Hood" - Based on part of my childhood stomping-grounds, will provide the core of an inner city for contemporary/near future/ post apoc games. Involves completing several buildings already started and adding a few more.
Birdman Museum - Complete the birdman museum for the "Out West Town". The museum is inspired by those many roadside tourist trap museums that I saw as a child and will feature artifacts of the ancient "birdmen". Much to the surprise of the town's people, the birdmen will be coming for their holy relics.
Scavenger Village Expansion - Additions to my post apocalypse scavenger village will include a couple ruined buildings/hovels, debris/junk heaps, and other various detail items for the village.
Contemporary Police Station - Build a police station for "The Hood". It may or may not double as a station for the "Out West" town.
Near Future Police station - Build either a new structure or more probably a futuristic addition to the contemporary police station for various near future scenarios.
Zombies - Buy and paint the Cold War Zombies.
Wasp CS Aircraft - Build the "Wasp" close support craft that I designed a couple of years back. It was literally inspired by watching a couple of wasps that were hanging around the back porch a couple of years ago.
Beetle Utility Transport - Build the "Beetle" transport aircraft , a companion to the Wasp, for my Imperial troops. Sort of a sci-fi "Huey".
Imperial APCs - Still need to scratch-build APCs for my "Imperials".
New for 2012 (Because I don't have enough on my plate already):
The Cold War gets Hot:1977-1982
I'm a child of the Cold War, and I guess in a weird way, I miss the stability of the constant threat of nuclear incineration. As a kid, I was aware of the threat from a fairly young age ( heck, I was 5 years old, when I began considering whether I was going to go to Vietnam or Canada, when I got drafted), but never seriously believed that the adults of the world would do something so stupid as World War III. Silly me. Anyway, now that it is all a memory, I want to play out some the battles that never were. Despite being behind on everything that I wanted to do in 2011, I got a jump start on my Cold War project. The advantage of this project is that many of my Afghan war and African items can be used in the Cold War era games (Soviet armor and infantry, older US equipment, etc) So here is were it stands and the plans for 2012.
Completed in 2011
M113A1- Master completed, company cast, platoon painted.
US Infantry- Infantry Platoon and some support units painted, missing a few figs, but basically done.
For 2012 (Vehicles involve either making a master and casting them or buying the miniatures):
T62
T72
BMP1
BMP2
M163
M125
M150
M901
M1
M60A1
M60A2
Soviet MR infantry- Round out 2 Soviet MR companies
Soviet Airborne- Round out one Soviet Para company
28mm Colonial Adventure
Some years ago, I had put together a colonial era adventure game (that I simply called "Ponape") set in the Pacific, largely inspired by the movie "Nate and Hayes", greatly expanded, and with a touch of Victorian sci-fi added in. I ran the game several times at local HMGS conventions and at Origins once, but got put-off a bit after run-ins with the "not historical enough" crowd. Some outside circumstances impacted my convention going opportunities about the same time, and the game has been stacked in the corner of my garage for the last 7-8 years. I almost sold off the stuff a couple of years back. Anyway, I think I'm going to start sorting through the stuff, give some of it a face lift, and move it from my "never played" games to my rotation of "hardly ever played" games.
Research Project: Kursk.
I've recently taken a particular interest in gaming Kursk in 1/285, and after poking around on TMP and elsewhere, have put together a reading list and list of other resources to go through. I already have a large portion of the miniatures that I'd need, so this will primarily be a terrain project if it comes to anything.
France 1940 Terrain Project 1/285:
If Kursk does not materialize, I may go back to one of my long time interests, and build one of the 1940 battlefields that I've wanted to do for so long. Stonne is a possible target, as are six other locations. The research is done, as are the majority of miniatures. I actually started this a few years back, ordering a bunch of micro-scale buildings, but they had so many air bubbles, that it was faster to scratch-build my own, than fix the purchased models. I ended up getting burnt-out on the buildings, and benched the project.
Summary
Though, they weren't all on my list at the start of the year, I managed to complete 22 "projects" of varying scope during 2011. A tremendous increase over the 6 completed in 2010. Hopefully I can improve further on the trend for 2012.
2011 was sort of a rebirth in the hobby for me. I bought about ten times as many figs as in 2010, painted a couple hundred more than I bought, and played twice as many games (6, as opposed to 3 in 2010). Still, when compared to years past, it was just not like the old days.
Some projects saw a lot of progress, like my 15mm moderns, others like Vietnam, and much of my sci-fi interests were stuck in stasis. I've also considered that I may need to further streamline some of my interests to ever have hope of completing anything ( I purged 12 other periods a few years back). I'm going to drop a few things to start this year, see how things progress by mid-year, and make some bigger changes if need be.
20mm Vietnam
Riverine terrain- Added palm trees and some foliage pieces.
Village- completed the two Britannia hoochs that I have.
Riverside Bunkers- Completed some research, and might have enough to build from, but no model work completed.
No progress was made on the following, so all of the following are on the slate for 2012:
The Old Church
M113 and M48- Completed, but need re-weathered due to painting mishap
Civilians
Gun truck
Troop Trucks- Purchased
Jeeps
Also for 2012, I'll add to the list:
OV-10 Bronco- Purchased
15mm World War Two
Add decals and weather about 70 US vehicles- No progress in 2011, other than Decals have been purchased.
For 2012:
US infantry- Fill in a few voids for my armored infantry company, and motorised infantry company.
57mm AT guns- Again to complete the armored infantry company.
15mm Modern Africa (and elsewhere)
15mm Modern Africa and 15mm modern in general is where I made my biggest gains.
T34/85- Completed master and cast and painted a company plus for modern Africa.
BTR152K- Completed last of a company of these early in the year.
M2A2- Completed casting and painted a platoon, with the rest of the company still awaiting paint.
AAV7A1- Completed master, cast and painted enough for my Marines
ERC-90- Completed master and painted a platoon with the rest of the company awaiting paint.
Also completed:
Added around 50 15mm militia troops.
Mugabia Air defense- Completed SA8, SA9s, and a variety of towed AA guns (57mm, 23mm, 14.5mm)
T-55- Completed a company plus of T-55
PT-76- Completed a platoon of light tanks.
US Marines- Painted a company of Marines
Cuban Advisers- Painted a platoon of "advisers"
VBLs- Painted enough VBLs for a recon company
M1114 Humvees- Finally assembled and painted my own Humvees, around 25 of the various models.
Presidential Guard- Painted the Mugabian Presidential Guard, about 30 figs.
Aircraft Stands- Built my first aircraft stands.
Aircraft- Completed 2x Strikemaster, 2xG91, 2x Mig21, and a C-47.
Uwanda Air Defense- Completed two M42 Dusters to give Uwanda some defense against against Mugabian aircraft.
For 2012:
Uwanda Helicopters- Are setting on the bench right now to be built.
Airport
Presidential palace
Houses
Barricades
Panhard M3
VLRA
15mm Afghanistan (Soviet-Afgan War)
DRA Infantry- Completed a platoon of Afghan troops to fight along side the Soviets.
For 2012 (still):
Gaz66 - Complete master and cast a bunch of trucks for Soviet convoys and various duties in Afghanistan and Africa. Slightly more than barely started.
28mm Science Fiction
With the exception of my post-apoc terrain, my sci-fi projects were completely ignored in 2011
Post Apocalypse Terrain - I've made great progress on this, but had to put it aside in February, and haven't been able to make any significant progress since. I'm planning for it to be a winter project, so hopefully, I will make some headway soon.
For 2012:
"Out West Town" - Complete the buildings that I have had half done in the basement for the last two years. Think route 66.
"The Hood" - Based on part of my childhood stomping-grounds, will provide the core of an inner city for contemporary/near future/ post apoc games. Involves completing several buildings already started and adding a few more.
Some of the buildings that I started some time ago for "The Hood".
All made of sheet styrene.
Birdman Museum - Complete the birdman museum for the "Out West Town". The museum is inspired by those many roadside tourist trap museums that I saw as a child and will feature artifacts of the ancient "birdmen". Much to the surprise of the town's people, the birdmen will be coming for their holy relics.
Scavenger Village Expansion - Additions to my post apocalypse scavenger village will include a couple ruined buildings/hovels, debris/junk heaps, and other various detail items for the village.
Contemporary Police Station - Build a police station for "The Hood". It may or may not double as a station for the "Out West" town.
A game set-up using some of the "scavenger village" pieces.
A close-up of one of the modular bunkers/towers.
The whole thing comes apart allowing the bunkers and towers to
be use separately as well
Near Future Police station - Build either a new structure or more probably a futuristic addition to the contemporary police station for various near future scenarios.
Zombies - Buy and paint the Cold War Zombies.
Wasp CS Aircraft - Build the "Wasp" close support craft that I designed a couple of years back. It was literally inspired by watching a couple of wasps that were hanging around the back porch a couple of years ago.
Beetle Utility Transport - Build the "Beetle" transport aircraft , a companion to the Wasp, for my Imperial troops. Sort of a sci-fi "Huey".
Imperial APCs - Still need to scratch-build APCs for my "Imperials".
New for 2012 (Because I don't have enough on my plate already):
The Cold War gets Hot:1977-1982
I'm a child of the Cold War, and I guess in a weird way, I miss the stability of the constant threat of nuclear incineration. As a kid, I was aware of the threat from a fairly young age ( heck, I was 5 years old, when I began considering whether I was going to go to Vietnam or Canada, when I got drafted), but never seriously believed that the adults of the world would do something so stupid as World War III. Silly me. Anyway, now that it is all a memory, I want to play out some the battles that never were. Despite being behind on everything that I wanted to do in 2011, I got a jump start on my Cold War project. The advantage of this project is that many of my Afghan war and African items can be used in the Cold War era games (Soviet armor and infantry, older US equipment, etc) So here is were it stands and the plans for 2012.
Completed in 2011
M113A1- Master completed, company cast, platoon painted.
US Infantry- Infantry Platoon and some support units painted, missing a few figs, but basically done.
For 2012 (Vehicles involve either making a master and casting them or buying the miniatures):
T62
T72
BMP1
BMP2
M163
M125
M150
M901
M1
M60A1
M60A2
Soviet MR infantry- Round out 2 Soviet MR companies
Soviet Airborne- Round out one Soviet Para company
28mm Colonial Adventure
Some years ago, I had put together a colonial era adventure game (that I simply called "Ponape") set in the Pacific, largely inspired by the movie "Nate and Hayes", greatly expanded, and with a touch of Victorian sci-fi added in. I ran the game several times at local HMGS conventions and at Origins once, but got put-off a bit after run-ins with the "not historical enough" crowd. Some outside circumstances impacted my convention going opportunities about the same time, and the game has been stacked in the corner of my garage for the last 7-8 years. I almost sold off the stuff a couple of years back. Anyway, I think I'm going to start sorting through the stuff, give some of it a face lift, and move it from my "never played" games to my rotation of "hardly ever played" games.
An early version of "Ponape" from the native side of the island. showing the
native village, jungle, and town, and Spanish fortress in the background.
A better view of the fortress, with one of the the 28mm scratch-built ships in
the foreground.
Research Project: Kursk.
I've recently taken a particular interest in gaming Kursk in 1/285, and after poking around on TMP and elsewhere, have put together a reading list and list of other resources to go through. I already have a large portion of the miniatures that I'd need, so this will primarily be a terrain project if it comes to anything.
France 1940 Terrain Project 1/285:
If Kursk does not materialize, I may go back to one of my long time interests, and build one of the 1940 battlefields that I've wanted to do for so long. Stonne is a possible target, as are six other locations. The research is done, as are the majority of miniatures. I actually started this a few years back, ordering a bunch of micro-scale buildings, but they had so many air bubbles, that it was faster to scratch-build my own, than fix the purchased models. I ended up getting burnt-out on the buildings, and benched the project.
Some of the 1/285 buildings that I made during my first go at a 1940 battlefield.
Though, they weren't all on my list at the start of the year, I managed to complete 22 "projects" of varying scope during 2011. A tremendous increase over the 6 completed in 2010. Hopefully I can improve further on the trend for 2012.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
15mm Odds and Ends: M42, S-60, M113A1
Not getting too much done on the hobby front with with the holidays happening and all, but thought I'd post a few pics and whatnot to sort of tie up some loose ends.
First up are a couple of pics of the Quality Castings M42 with a basic paint job:
The figure in the top photo is from Peter Pig's AK-47 line of figs. Below is pic from overhead comparing it with a Quality Castings ZSU23/4 and a QRF ZSU-57/2.
Next up is QRF's Soviet S-60 57mm anti-aircraft gun from their Post War line of vehicles and figures. Last I checked, QRF didn't have a photo of this on their site, so thought I'd post one.
This is actually quite a nice model, and I did not do it any justice. It is very busy, with very nicely detailed, finely cast parts. It is fiddly, and I left a few pieces off, rather than break them off later. Still, the photo gives some idea of the quality of the model itself.
Lastly, I finally added my M113A1 to my website at: https://sites.google.com/site/irishserbsminiatures/
It is cast in resin and comes unpainted and unassembled in 7 pieces. The commander's hatch can be positioned open or closed, and can be built with or without the gun-shield. Note that the gun mount is fiddly, and that I had best success in building the model by gluing the the mount to the gun, and then gluing the gun assembly onto the commander's cupola.
Hope everybody has a Merry Christmas and great Holiday Season.
First up are a couple of pics of the Quality Castings M42 with a basic paint job:
The figure in the top photo is from Peter Pig's AK-47 line of figs. Below is pic from overhead comparing it with a Quality Castings ZSU23/4 and a QRF ZSU-57/2.
Lastly, I finally added my M113A1 to my website at: https://sites.google.com/site/irishserbsminiatures/
It is cast in resin and comes unpainted and unassembled in 7 pieces. The commander's hatch can be positioned open or closed, and can be built with or without the gun-shield. Note that the gun mount is fiddly, and that I had best success in building the model by gluing the the mount to the gun, and then gluing the gun assembly onto the commander's cupola.
Hope everybody has a Merry Christmas and great Holiday Season.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Dragons for my Cold Warriors
Though I'm behind on most of my gaming projects, I ended up working ahead a little on infantry for next year's Cold War project. For the most part I decided to use Old Glory Vietnam figs for my late 1970's US troops. One of the things that is missing from the OG Vietnam figs (if being used in the late 1970s and early 1980s) are M47 Dragon anti-tank weapons.
As it turns out, there are not a lot of options for M47 Dragon gunners in 15mm for these late '70s Cold Warriors. Not too long ago, I was reminded in a post on another blog, http://daddyslittlemen.blogspot.com/2011/01/israeli-truck-m325-nun-nun-and-support.html (though it is referred to as a Command Decision fig, I think it is the QC pose) about Quality Castings 15mm Dragon gunner figures. The Dragon gunner is one of the poses in the Post-WWII American infantry pack captioned "Modern 1980's Infantry AT/AA Weapons. I got mine through Warweb at 24 figures for $8.00. There were six Dragon gunners in the pack. There are also figures with Stinger AA missile launchers, an M72 LAW rocket, a prone figure firing what I think is an AT4 on a tripod, and a kneeling spotter with binoculars. Since they are not pictured on the Warweb or Quality Castings sites, the following three photos show the figures from the pack.
The first photo is from slightly above the figures, the last two show both sides of the figs from a directly in front of the figs. The figures are cleanly cast and pretty well detailed. The figures are depicted with mid 1980s PASGT helmets that replaced the M1 steel pot.
Older Quality Castings figures tend to be a little smaller than most other manufacturers figs (I have about 1200 WWII infantry from them purchased between 1988 and 1992 representing six nations). I purchased some of the QC Modern Soviets a few years back, mostly gun and heavy weapons crew type figures, and they were clearly shorter and more slight than the QRF and MJ Miniatures Soviet infantry that I had. So, I figured that I'd compare the QC Modern US infantry to other makes of Vietnam era and modern US figs that I had.
The figures are shown front and back, and from left to right are Old Glory Modern US, Peter Pig USMC, Quality Castings M47 Dragon Gunner(kneeling), Old Glory Vietnam US Infantry with Helmet, OG US Infantry (might be from the Command and Weapons pack), QC Stinger gunner.
The last fig, the QC Stinger figure is a touch shorter than the other standing figs and more slight in stature. It is very similar to the OG modern US fig, and noticeably smaller then the Peter Pig Marine, the heftiest of the bunch (also with the bulkiest body armor and gear.
With respect to size, I don't think the Dragon gunner looks particularly bad next to the Old Glory and Peter Pig figures. As a matter of fact, I think it looks fine next to the others. The Stinger figure might look a touch small, but I think would pass if used with the OG modern US figs.
Originally, my intent was to do head-swaps with the Dragon gunners, replacing the QC heads with the more modern PASGT helmets with heads from Old Glory figs with M1 helmets. But the more I looked at the QC figs, I don't think I'm going to do the head-swap.
I assume that the Old Glory figs have the MICH helmet (though at this scale, they could be also be the PASGT). I think they were released prior to the introduction of the ACR, but could be wrong. The Quality Castings figure is sculpted with a PASGT based on when they were first produced, but the details of the helmet are not as dramatic as those of the OG helemt, and though not quite as deep, they are not tremendously different from the M1 helmet on the Vietnam figs. Since the Dragon gunner's helmet is cast into the side of the M47 launch tube, I going to save the time of cutting away the helmet and shaping the replacement, and just paint them as late 1970s/early 1980s figs in M1s with the Mitchel pattern covers.
Hope the photos might be helpful to others.
As it turns out, there are not a lot of options for M47 Dragon gunners in 15mm for these late '70s Cold Warriors. Not too long ago, I was reminded in a post on another blog, http://daddyslittlemen.blogspot.com/2011/01/israeli-truck-m325-nun-nun-and-support.html (though it is referred to as a Command Decision fig, I think it is the QC pose) about Quality Castings 15mm Dragon gunner figures. The Dragon gunner is one of the poses in the Post-WWII American infantry pack captioned "Modern 1980's Infantry AT/AA Weapons. I got mine through Warweb at 24 figures for $8.00. There were six Dragon gunners in the pack. There are also figures with Stinger AA missile launchers, an M72 LAW rocket, a prone figure firing what I think is an AT4 on a tripod, and a kneeling spotter with binoculars. Since they are not pictured on the Warweb or Quality Castings sites, the following three photos show the figures from the pack.
The first photo is from slightly above the figures, the last two show both sides of the figs from a directly in front of the figs. The figures are cleanly cast and pretty well detailed. The figures are depicted with mid 1980s PASGT helmets that replaced the M1 steel pot.
Older Quality Castings figures tend to be a little smaller than most other manufacturers figs (I have about 1200 WWII infantry from them purchased between 1988 and 1992 representing six nations). I purchased some of the QC Modern Soviets a few years back, mostly gun and heavy weapons crew type figures, and they were clearly shorter and more slight than the QRF and MJ Miniatures Soviet infantry that I had. So, I figured that I'd compare the QC Modern US infantry to other makes of Vietnam era and modern US figs that I had.
The figures are shown front and back, and from left to right are Old Glory Modern US, Peter Pig USMC, Quality Castings M47 Dragon Gunner(kneeling), Old Glory Vietnam US Infantry with Helmet, OG US Infantry (might be from the Command and Weapons pack), QC Stinger gunner.
The last fig, the QC Stinger figure is a touch shorter than the other standing figs and more slight in stature. It is very similar to the OG modern US fig, and noticeably smaller then the Peter Pig Marine, the heftiest of the bunch (also with the bulkiest body armor and gear.
With respect to size, I don't think the Dragon gunner looks particularly bad next to the Old Glory and Peter Pig figures. As a matter of fact, I think it looks fine next to the others. The Stinger figure might look a touch small, but I think would pass if used with the OG modern US figs.
Originally, my intent was to do head-swaps with the Dragon gunners, replacing the QC heads with the more modern PASGT helmets with heads from Old Glory figs with M1 helmets. But the more I looked at the QC figs, I don't think I'm going to do the head-swap.
Hope the photos might be helpful to others.
AAR7: Uwanda Strikes Back
In Uwanda, the elections were held, and a new face became president. President Danganyo was a charismatic man, who stressed that leadership and decisiveness was what had been lacking in dealing with Mugabia. Once he had assumed office and been briefed on the situation, he decided that it was time to punish the ULF for opening the door to war.
Uwanda would strike back at the ULF by destroying one of its basecamps. A camp near the town at Objective B11 was selected, not too far inside of Mugabia in Pettu territory. The Uwanda airforce had been overflying Mugabian airspace, almost without interruption, and had good information about the base.
The attack plan was simple, Uwnadan commandos would be inserted via helicopter near the the camp, make their way there in the early morning hours under the cover of darkness, and attack at dawn. As it turned out, the president's plan was more aggressive than the helicopter pilots, who had "difficulties" until just before daylight, only crossing the border at about the time the attack should have started.
Still, the Uwandan troops were inserted without incident, and moved toward the base. Everything proceeded well, until they bumped into a foot patrol outside the camp. The advancing Uwandans had seen the ULF patrol moving generally away from them, but the patrol suddenly changed direction, and were very surprised after a moment. Both sides shot simultaneously, but the Uwnadans had the innitiative and hit both of the ULF fighters. There had been sounds of gunfire through he morning, as ULF men were on the range getting in some target practice, so the alarm wasn't immediately sounded.
Unfortunately, only moments later, and with the Uwandans still out of position for the attack, one of the ULF guards managed to spot movement in the underbrush. He watched for a moment before firing his RPG; the Uwandans were still not in position.
Though the Uwndans had the first casualty, they quickly made progress against the surprised and confused ULF troops, who had no real expectation to be attacked at one of their bases. Their primary reason for guarding their base was to keep locals from stealing food and medicine.
Though there was a lot of shooting, the Uwandans didn't start taking casualties until crossing the stream at the west end of the camp. As they made it to the emplacements around the perimeter of the camp, they were surprised by the volume of fire, and by the Mugabian army advisers that began directing the defense.
The fight was chaotic, as half of the Uwandans never really got into the camp, and ULF fighters were running every which way, trying to obey the Mugabians and figure out where the Uwandans were.
The Uwandans caused a great deal of damage, peppering the camp with LAW rockets, destroying a jeep and buildings, and killing most of the ULF and Mugabian leaders and officers in the process. Unfortunately, they were taking more casualties than the plan allowed for, and they could not advance on the retreating ULF fighters.
The camp housed 53 ULF fighters and 9 Mugabian advisers at the time of the attack, 22 fighters and 6 advisers were lost, as were 11 Uwandan commandos; four would be seen in a seen in a hospital, having been taken prisoner.
In the end, the battle was not seen as a success by the Uwnadans. Their pilots were not equipped for night operations, and on the ground their luck had not been great. Still, the raid was a useful propaganda tool, and Mugabia now had to face that they did not, and could not control their airspace. A rush was made to procure air detection and defence systems, but little was available, and it would take months of training before these could be brought on line.
Uwanda would strike back at the ULF by destroying one of its basecamps. A camp near the town at Objective B11 was selected, not too far inside of Mugabia in Pettu territory. The Uwanda airforce had been overflying Mugabian airspace, almost without interruption, and had good information about the base.
View of the camp, the Uwandan commandos enter from the left.
The attack plan was simple, Uwnadan commandos would be inserted via helicopter near the the camp, make their way there in the early morning hours under the cover of darkness, and attack at dawn. As it turned out, the president's plan was more aggressive than the helicopter pilots, who had "difficulties" until just before daylight, only crossing the border at about the time the attack should have started.
View of the camp from the southeast.
Another view from the southwest.
Still, the Uwandan troops were inserted without incident, and moved toward the base. Everything proceeded well, until they bumped into a foot patrol outside the camp. The advancing Uwandans had seen the ULF patrol moving generally away from them, but the patrol suddenly changed direction, and were very surprised after a moment. Both sides shot simultaneously, but the Uwnadans had the innitiative and hit both of the ULF fighters. There had been sounds of gunfire through he morning, as ULF men were on the range getting in some target practice, so the alarm wasn't immediately sounded.
The ULF foot patrol.
A watchful ULF guard.
Though the Uwndans had the first casualty, they quickly made progress against the surprised and confused ULF troops, who had no real expectation to be attacked at one of their bases. Their primary reason for guarding their base was to keep locals from stealing food and medicine.
Though there was a lot of shooting, the Uwandans didn't start taking casualties until crossing the stream at the west end of the camp. As they made it to the emplacements around the perimeter of the camp, they were surprised by the volume of fire, and by the Mugabian army advisers that began directing the defense.
Mugabian commandos advancing into the west end of the camp.
The fight was chaotic, as half of the Uwandans never really got into the camp, and ULF fighters were running every which way, trying to obey the Mugabians and figure out where the Uwandans were.
The Uwandans caused a great deal of damage, peppering the camp with LAW rockets, destroying a jeep and buildings, and killing most of the ULF and Mugabian leaders and officers in the process. Unfortunately, they were taking more casualties than the plan allowed for, and they could not advance on the retreating ULF fighters.
The camp with most of the leadership dead; ULF fighters begin to retreat.
The camp housed 53 ULF fighters and 9 Mugabian advisers at the time of the attack, 22 fighters and 6 advisers were lost, as were 11 Uwandan commandos; four would be seen in a seen in a hospital, having been taken prisoner.
In the end, the battle was not seen as a success by the Uwnadans. Their pilots were not equipped for night operations, and on the ground their luck had not been great. Still, the raid was a useful propaganda tool, and Mugabia now had to face that they did not, and could not control their airspace. A rush was made to procure air detection and defence systems, but little was available, and it would take months of training before these could be brought on line.
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