A "Little" Nostalgia

About 30 years ago, I built a number of 6mm buildings for use in Red Dawn type scenarios with micro-armor.  In time they were lent to a friend for games at his house, and eventually fell into disuse as we found fewer opportunities to game.  A couple of years ago, the friend returned the box of buildings and whatnot, and I had stashed them away,  again forgotten until the other night, while looking for something else.

I had forgotten about many of them, and as I looked through them, remembered others that have gone missing.  Some have lost their roofs or other bits, and a couple have been warped from being squashed in a box for a nearly two decades, though some may still be serviceable with a little touch up and detailing.

Most were based on buildings from where I grew up,  a few were inspired by other sources.  Generally they are built from styrene, some are styrene with vinyl textured sheet laminated to the basic walls.  A GHQ AMX30, and an old stand of H&R French WWII infantry are shown for size comparison.

If you were in Steubenvlle, Ohio in the 1960s or 70s, you might 

recognize a few of these buildings.  I believe Borey, Inc. was a 

furniture store.  I don't remember what the red brick building in

 the center was, and unfortunately, the sign over the door has 

been broken off.  And the First national bank building  

stood at the center of town.

I think the near building was a post office, but can't remember where 

now.  The second was a Steubenville VFW on South 3rd street, 

and Andy's Grocery was a block south from there on S. 3rd.

I don't remember the actual signage on Andy's, but it was similar

 in style to that shown.  This was done before the age of printing 

home made decals, so everything had to be hand painted.

This strip plaza is based on one in Columbus, OH.  And was to have 

a "Just Sweats" store and grocery among other stores in it. 

 It was made about 1988, when I apparently had already acquired the

 "more projects, than freetime" problem so common to gamers.

This radio station was based on a small station from 

somewhere out west, that we conducted a fire investigation 

on at work back in the 1980s.  The "WKRP" identification 

was inspired by the TV show.

The Holiday Inn sign was inspired by one on eastbound route 

70 west of Zanesville, OH.  The mail pouch barn was inspired by 

one somewhere along State Rt. 3 in Ohio.

A collection of houses, and a small bank with drive-through.  

There used to be a base with parking lot and drive through lanes, 

but it is long gone.

These next three pics are of the house I grew up in.  

There was a three story hotel facing the street 

(apartments by the time I came along), with a driveway under 

the sun porches to the bricked in courtyard behind it.  

originally houses surrounded the courtyard, 

when it was built in the 1920s.

Our house was the one at the end in back.  There was an apartment 

next to it over two garages.  On the other side of the little wall in back 

was a set of RR tracks going to Wheeling Steel at the end of the block. 

Despite the urban grungy-ness of it, it was actually an amazing 

place to grow up.

The model has suffered a bit, as did the real building that inspired it.  

Among its unique features, it had a number of passageways 

and compartments made during prohibition.  For example, 

the fireplace in my bedroom didn't work, and didn't have 

a chimney, because the gas front was facade that hinged 

upward, and concealed a little chamber with racks for bottles 

of  alcohol.  Additionally, there were two escape tunnels in the cellar, 

one passing under the two garages, and opening through a trap door 

into the hotel.  The other ended at a bricked doorway that used to 

go into another building behind the house, that was razed before 

I was born.  Wish the building was still standing; it would be fascinating 

to see again.

Also found in the box, were a few of my earliest attempts  at 6mm houses, dating to about 1983, and constructed from Bristol board.  By 1988, I had switched over to plastic to get better textures, particularly Holgate & Reynolds Z scale sheets (long out of production, as far as I know).

A few houses, with a bombed out factory.  Originally, I built both intact 

and bombed out versions of each building.  The first buildings were very

 simple, but I quickly began adding more detail as seen in the factory.

The Bristol board is very dense and rigid, and doesn't fray at the edges

 like poster board.  It has stood up pretty well considering that this 

model is 35 years old, probably used in 200 games, and been moved, 

squashed and stored in damp basements and dusty attics for 20 years.

 And thus ends my little trip down memory lane.  Time to get back to work on the present (and he past, and future for that matter).

Surprising Painting Progress

When I started painting the odds and ends needed for gaming my third world imagi-nations in 6mm, I hadn't realized just how much micro-armor that I had laying about.  A pack here, a pack there, trays with 10 or 20 vehicles, pushed onto the tops of my storage bins, in between things on shelves.  Good lord!  They're everywhere.

So, while working on the first batch of Uwanda's vehicles, I started consolidating, pulling together the models by nation for the Cold War, mostly.  And while waiting for a batch of Uwanda-Mugabia stuff that is visiting with customs (you know how they get about these arms shipments), I decided to work on some of the other micro-armor, just to get the clutter put away, and have made tremendous progress.

I started by adding a bunch of British vehicles:

Centurions and Challenger Is.

A mix of British equipment for the 1970s-1980s, including scratch-built 

tracked rapiers that I made around 1990, and have yet to reach the tabletop.

And then a little West German:

Gepard, Leo II, and Jagdpanzer K.

A mix of 1970s-1980s FRG equipment.

And finally French:

A mix of APCs and light armor.

AMX30s, AMX10RC, and ERC90, with some AMX-DCA.

At this point, after painting only 90 miniatures in the first seven months of the year, I've managed to finish 409 in the last four weeks.  A few of these have been meandering about on my shelves, since Reagan was getting settled in the Oval Office.

And the British,  American, and Soviet stuff for Uwanda and Mugabia:

British equipment for Uwanda

American WWII surplus, again for Uwanda.

Soviet equipment for Mugabia; BTR40s and ZU23/2.

I'll be focusing on 15mm mold-making and casting for a couple of weeks, and with any luck the last of the third world stuff will arrive, and I'll be set to carry on my imagi-nation campaign.

Uwanda and Mugabia: The Strategic Situation

Uwanda's all out invasion of Mugabia had barely begun, but a number of significant events had taken place:

First, Uwanda had caught Mugabia flat footed.  Despite the obvious signs, the Mugabian spies, and the Soviet warnings, President Upepo-Mfuko, the egomaniacal warlord that he was, believed that he knew best. He had misjudged Uwanda, who decided to act, because of the impact that the border dispute had on Uwanda's economy, and to the well-being of those in office.  Mugabia's leader had failed to understand just how effective his ULF support had been.

Initially, Mugabia's Air Force had made a good showing, far better than Uwanda had imagined, and despite the comparative numbers of aircraft, this had given the Mugabian leader a false sense of security.  With Mugabian Air Force's numbers now rapidly dwindling, the situation was not so favorable as it once appeared.

Though seemingly of little importance on a global perspective, the escalated war surprised the world powers.  Potentially, it gave the super-powers another stage on which to fight a proxy war.  But it was not a stage on which either Cold War participant had intended to perform.  While young men followed their leaders, and people died, the power-brokers considered how to best play their new pawns.

In the UN, representatives lobbied for support, and for a moment at least, others gave consideration to the lobbyists.  Bordering nations were suddenly concerned about the spread of unrest and war, and about how all of this might affect surrounding economies, and other interests. For now, the players mostly just postured, until time might come to act, but they had at least taken notice.

The United Kingdom had maintained relatively strong ties with Uwanda, and considered the success of Uwanda in the post colonial era as being a direct result of their effort.  Much business was conducted with Uwanda, and nobody wanted to lose money.  The United Kingdom and its resources were always only a handshake away.

Though France had severed its ties to Mugabia after a messy independence, they still had interest in the region and even felt tension in the long stretched strings of colonialism.  There were those still connected to Mugabia, and poised to strengthen those connections if the opportunity arose.

Cuba had advisors and limited forces already in Mugabia, and the call to defend and extend the reach of communism was already being heard.  Within hours of Uwanda crossing the border, Cuba was re-evaluating its obligation to the cause.

The Soviet Union had no illusions about Mr. Upepo-Mfuko, and though he would always ask for more than he deserved, just how much he might be given was now a question of greater consideration.  The answer was directly proportional to just how well he would behave.  Requests for aircraft, air defenses, and even Soviet troops had already been made, but for the most part, no answer had yet been given.

Thus far, the United States had been the only outsider to act.  Though less secretly than they believe, they had been the first to violate the integrity of the conflict, and aid a nation in a state of war.  As Uwanda's troops aimed their first shots, the US was already transferring West German modified Sidewinder missiles to Uwanda, in what turned out to be a surprisingly important act, given the earliest actions in the war.

Barely a mention of the conflict had been seen or heard in the nightly news, but Yakovlev Forgers danced impressively from the deck of Minsk off the coast of Mugabia, and the USS Carl Vinson made haste to cast its shadow over Minsk.

SFB - General War: First Battle in Kzinti Space

After nearly afour month lapse, we played the next battle in our Star Fleet battles campaign.  A Klingon attack on a Kzinti battle station near the center of the Klingon-Kzinti border, hex 1405 on the Federation & Empire map.

Kzinti defenses were minimal, consisting of two police corvettes, the base, and its minefield.

Klingon forces were more substantial, consisting of 10 ships as follows:

1x D7C
3x D7
1x D6V
1x D6D
1x D6M
1x F5V
1x F5S
1x E4
plus 18 fighters

A small, but capable force, featuring 7 heavy(ish) cruiser sized ships.

The Klingon plan was simple, fly up to a safe range of 12-15 hexes out, pummel the base with drones and disruptors, and declare the hex liberated from Kzinti oppression.

The Klingons (foreground), with drones in the lead, 

then ships, and most fighters launched and trailing.  

The Kzinti base is in the distance, next to a stack 

of six drones.

The Kzinti plan seemed to consist of delaying destruction long enough to at least damage something, and their plan half worked.  Between scatter pack shuttles, and a the few captor mines, Kzinti drones kept the Klingons moving, so it took six turns of fly up, shoot, run away from drones, repeat, before the base finally blew up.  

The Kzinti force simply wasn't able to cause enough damage to get through any Klingon shields, their drones largely being thinned by the fighters, though slow and tactically limiting, have two phasers to beat on the drones with.

The Klingon ships making their first(?) loop, the fighters are now 

moving between the ships and Kzinti drones to intercept them.

The scenario was essentially hopeless for the Kzinti, amounting only to whether or not they would be lucky enough to crack a Klingon shield and hurt something.  They weren't.

Turn 5: The Kzinti drones are expended, the base is 

significantly damaged, and the Klingons make their 

last loop before lining up on, and destroying the base.

The police ships have just started to disengage.

Our next battle is a similar Klingon attack on the Kzinti planet in (F&E) hex 1105.  Again, ten Klingon ships, though mostly lighter F5 hulls, against the planetary defenses of ground bases and fighters.

New Arrivals from Scotia-Grendel and Shapeways

I've received a number of orders in recent weeks for 6mm miniatures for my third world imagi-nation campaign, the Uwanda-Mugabia War.  The first order came in  early August from Shapeways, and the next was my first order with Scotia Grendel.

The shapeways order was for three 1/285 scale G91R aircraft in the frosted plastic.  The ordering process went smoothly; the models took 8 days to arrive, were well packed, and are of very nice quality.  An odd characteristic (to me) is that they are hollow, such that if you look into the jet intake, you can see out of the engine nozzle.  As a result, they are exceedingly light weight.

I think that most gamers would be happy with the quality and detail, and I am thankful to have them, so that my G91 ground attack aircraft can be represented by something that is close to the actual aircraft in my game.  They do have a light texture from the printing process, and the fuselage is faceted, being made of a series of small flat surfaces, as opposed to "being" round.

The other order, received from Scotia Grendel was for some 6mm Jet Provosts.  This was my first order with Scotia Grendel, and it went very smoothly, with items arriving to me in the US in about 11 days.  The Jet Provost is the aircraft from which the Strikemaster was developed, and is very similar in appearance.  It also is the closest thing in scale to the Strikemasters used by Uwanda in my game.  Upon receipt, I was quite happy with the quality, though slightly surprised at the size.  But after comparing the 1/100 scale Tamiya models, discovered that the 6mm model is appropriately sized.

The photos below illustrate the comparative size of the 6mm models and the 1/100 scale plastic models for relative size comparison.

Shapeways G91 and Scotia Jet Provost

Next up is a follow-up order to Scotia, again with perfect service.  This order included a small number of aircraft, infantry and vehicles.

For no good reason, I have always had a bit of a thing for the SU-15 interceptor, so when I saw that Scotia offered one, I had to order it.  Again, I was very happy with the quality, and it is a beast.

Scotia SU15

In addition to the SU-15, I picked up a pair of Mig 27s.  These are a little rougher than the other aircraft that I received from them, but sill not bad by any means, and well worth it, given the price.

Scotia Mig 27, near model still has sprues attached to wings.

Scotia Mig 27 underside

I'm in the US and "grew up" with CnC and GHQ micro-armor, and for years I've heard criticism of the 6mm models from the British manufacturers, so I ordered the Land Rovers with recoilless rifles to represent Uwandas Wombat systems with some reservation, given that I bought them sight unseen.  My reservations were ill-placed, as the models came with seated crew, and featured fine and well proportioned detail.  I am quite happy with the models, and future vehicle purchases will not be made with such reservation.

Scotia Landrover with Recoilless Rifle

Lastly, I am looking for figures to represent Uwanda's infantry, which are generally equipped with British weapons.  I ended up purchasing Scotia's South African infantry, which is offered in two packs, Infantry with Command, and Heavy Weapons.  To be honest, I can't tell the packs apart, other than they seem to have a slightly different number of figs.  I received three packs of figs, two infantry, and one heavy weapons.  The first (first photo below) was marked as heavy weapons, and the other two were not marked (one pack depicted in the second photo below).  For my application, this isn't a problem, as the Uwandan infantry only carry Minimis and Law rockets in addition to their FN FAL rifles, and I expected that most heavy weapons figs would simply go unused.  So I have all of the figs that I need.

Scotia South African Heavy Weapons pack (mis-marked?)

Scotia South African Infantry with Command

The figs are pretty cleanly cast, no real flash, and clearly depict rifleman, prone machine gunners, and a leader figure standing and pointing.  They stand from their bases closer to 7mm, than 6mm, add not quite another millimeter with the base included.

All things considered, I am impressed with the service, and quite happy with the quality of the miniatures, and will be ordering again soon.

Irishserb's 15mm Miniatures

Over the last year and a half, I have experienced something of a revival in my miniatures hobby, enjoying my hobby time in a way that I hadn't for quite some time.  Coincidently, that time has corresponded to a couple changes in my time constraints, one of which has been producing my line of 15mm modern vehicle miniatures.

Also during this time, I've have had many requests for models, and as such, I plan to make them available gain.

Over the last week, I have finally gotten back to making molds, and prepping to work on a few new masters.  As soon as I build up some molds and  castings, I will update my sales page, and make them available again for sale.  My target to start making models available in roughly 2-3 weeks.  I will post updates here, as well as on my sales site.

Keeping Busy

I've been pretty busy lately, both in and out of the hobby.  One the hobby front, I've been ordering and painting figs for my 6mm Uwanda-Mugabia project.  Most of the orders are in route, so just been working on old models thus far.

The first batch of vehicles for Uwanda is done.

The second batch is under construction/repair.

I've also managed to finally paint my 15mm East Germans (though I haven't flocked them yet), to get them out of the way of the smaller stuff moving on to my painting table.  So far this month, between the GDR troops and Uwandan odds and ends, I've painted 131 miniatures, more than doubling my total for the year.

East Germans awaiting flock.

I'm also preparing for the next Star Fleet Battles game in our campaign for tomorrow afternoon.  Our last game was nearly four months ago, so we're past due for action on that front.  the battle will consist of the Klingon assault on a Kzinti battle station.  Should be a pretty easy time on my end, as I have a dozen ships attacking, and I think there is only a single Kzinti police boat defending.  

We'll see how it goes, the Kzinti player is a most devious fellow, so I'll need to act accordingly, or I could be in for a surprise.