6mm Rides for 1950s West Germans from Masters of Military

On Shapeways, Masters of Military recently released a bunch of variants of the Borgward B2000 series vehicles in 6mm for West german Cold War forces, and they are magnificent.  In all, I believe there are seven different variants that he has made available in different "packages".

I picked up a bunch of the infantry carriers, the B2000 A/O, as well as conventional cargo truck versions, and a mixed pack with seven versions.  Here are some pics of these lovely moels:

They are exquisitely detailed and look better in person, than in my photos.  Pricing is generally a touch cheaper than GHQ, and given the quality of the models, I am quite happy with them.

Masters of Military offers a great selection of models that are mostly unavailable from other sources, and has allowed me to round out a force that I've been wanting to build for over 35 years; West German infantry from the late 1950s.

The Borgward range of vehicles were very important to from 1956 through the early 1960s, with the infantry carriers giving way to the HS-30 as they became available.  Borgward 2000s served on with the Bundeswehr until the mid-1970s.

I haven't been this excited about a military model, since my GI Joe's got their Jeep in 1970.  Well, time to get back to painting miniatures.  Thanks for looking.

Star Fleet Battles Campaign: Turn 9 Movement, And Part 1 of the Big Fight

Last weekend, we completed strategic movement for turn 9 in our SFB campaign.  The Lyrans are finally nibbling at Kzinti space, while the Klingons are getting serious.  Here is the map showing movement in the "North".

Lyran space is to the left, Klingon at the bottom of the photo, 

click on it for a larger version.

The Lyrans are going after another Kzinti battlestation in hex 0703, which has a couple of ships protecting it (this might be a miniatures battle), and the Klingons will attempt to assault a Kzinti starbase in Hex 1304 with about 50 ships from four different fleets.

Down south, the Klingons are flittering about just inside of Hydran space (off map to the right below), but haven't actually done anything yet, and the big battle between the Lyrans and Hydrans has started in Hex 0710.

Hydran space is at the bottom, Lyran to the left, 

Klingon to the right.

The huge battle at Hex 0710, involves two Lyran fleets, the huge invading Hydran fleet, and the small, but lethal Kzinti fleet, that needs to make contact with the Hydrans this turn or become un-supplied and dead in the water.

Here is the battle part way into the first turn:

We're playing on Craig's huge table, which is something like 6'-6" x 14', using three Hotz Matt's, hexmaps.

In the foreground of the photo is the northern combined Lyran fleet of 33 ships, featuring a newly built Dreadnought,  a battle Tug,  a Command Cruiser, 9x Heavy Cruisers, and 7x War Cruisers.  they are chasing the 15 Kzinti Battlecruisers near the middle of the table.  The Kzinti have laid a minefield (orange markers)  and dropped what I expect are scatter pack shuttles.

The Kzintis are engaging the fleeing Lyran southern fleet, which consists of 37 ships, but mostly small vessels.  There is a single Command cruiser, and a few  War and Light Cruisers, and everything else are destroyers or smaller.  

The Lyran southern fleet has laid a chaotic minefield (white markers in the distance) in front of the pursuing Hydran fleet of 45 ships.

My hope was that my Lyran fleet of midget ships could smack into the Kzinti battlecruisers and somehow mostly eliminate them, and that the northern Lyran fleet and, hopefully, some southern remnants could then exchange with the Hydrans.

The situation at the end of turn 1.

It took about two and half hours to get through the first turn with 130 ships, and for the most part, the battle has progressed about as I expected.  Unfortunately, I didn't get several of my Lyran ships close enough to the Kzinti to do reasonable damage, so currently, two Kzinti BCs are badly hit, and the Kzinti have blown up 5 Lyran Police Corvettes, and done light damage to a Frigate and a destroyer.

We're meeting in a week to continue the battle, which I expect to last around four to five turns, though if something goes particularly wrong for the Hydrans tactically, they could disengage early, which would be unfortunate for the Lyrans. 

I need to stick out and take my losses, as I need to at least greatly reduce the Hydran presence in Lyran space.  Otherwise, they could split up and cause absolute chaos in Lyran space, or go after the Lyran homeworld proper.

Latest Cold War Order From Scotia (8-1-19)

My latest order from Scotia-Grendel included a number of of items new to my collection of 6mm Cold War models, which are shared below.

RM0134  Pat Hand Radar for the SA-4 Anti-aircraft missile system.

A very nicely detailed model that comes in two pieces

RM0005  BTR-152V SP Mortar, another nicely detailed model.

RM0088   ZPU-4 Quad 14.5mm AA , comes in two pieces.

RM0022  PMP Bridge Center Section, a decently detailed model, 

though the mold is worn, as my truck casting was a little rough.

RM0023  PMP Bridge Ramp Section, again, nicely detailed, 

and the truck from a better mold is quite nice.

RM0047  BMP1 K  Command track.

RM090  M1939 37mm AA Gun, distinctive and nicely detailed, 

comes in two pieces.

RM0003  BTR-152 U Command vehicle, again distinctive and 

nicely detailed.  It will make a lovely target.

RM0073  BTR-50 U another well done command vehicle.

RM0136  BL14/16 140mm MRL, nicely done and 

cast in two pieces.

GM0018  Leopard 1 AVLB, comes in 6 pieces.  

The bridge parts are nice, but the Leopard hull 

has a grainy texture, and seems a little squat.

That's it for this order.  The next one is already in route so should have another post in a week or two.

Star Fleet Battles Campaign - Strategic Turn 8

A couple of weeks ago, we got together and finally completed strategic turn 8 in our Star Fleet Battles campaign.  Despite the passing of many months, relatively little happened during this turn.

There was a lot of Klingon and Lyran movement, though only a single battle at the Kzinti battle station in hex 0701, which yielded little surprise.  A 14 ship Lyran task force featuring  a battle tug, battlecruiser,  four heavy cruisers and their escorts managed to destroy an undefended Kzinti station without any losses.

Lyran space is to the left, Klingon to the south.  Kzinti fleets 

are represented by the white markers, Lyran by yellow, and Klingon 

by black.  The Kzinti have lost two planets and two battle stations 

to the Klingons thus far.

The battle on the tactical map, with markers, rather than miniatures, unfortunately.

The Kzinti battle-station is represented by the large marker, surrounded 

by a minefield.  The attacking Lyrans are in the foreground.  

The Lyrans took three turns to destroy the bae's fighters and 

pound it to death with disruptors and phasers.

Otherwise, the Klingons advanced further into Kzinti space, and moved into Hydran space.  The Hydrans and Kzintis in Lyran space continued to move toward a rendezvous, and Lyran forces continue to consolidate for a big event in hex 0710.

Hydran space is the blue toward the bottom, Lyran to the left, 

Klingon to the right.  the green markers are the Hydrans, 

which actually out-number and out-gun the Lyrans. 

The Kzinti are clearly in trouble as all of Kzinti space is probably defended by fewer than a dozen ships at this point.

Similarly, the Lyrans look to have a problem in the southern portion of their territory, and they can almost match numbers, but not nearly the size of the Hydran ships.  Some very curious situations could develop between the Lyrans and Klingons, depending on how the battle at Hex 0710 turn out.

6mm Cold War Models from Heroics & Ros (7-15-19)

My latest batch of Cold War era 6mm models from H&R include the following:

This is actually from their WWII US line, but was used well into the Cold War by a number of nations, the US-29 M1A2 155mm towed Howitzer.  This is a nice little two piece casting.

Another WWII leftover is the US 50 GMC 2.5 ton Truck, Soft Cab.  Again, this truck in one form or another served a number of nations into the early portion of the Cold War.  Mine will serve the US, and stand in for the hard cab version used by the French.  

US-150 is the Honest John artillery rocket.  The model is distinctive enough, but has the truck has a particularly "flattened' appearance.  The casting looks rougher in the photo than in person, as the flash picked up the "grain" which is not actually as obvious seen in person.

SM 107 BTS-M Heavy Amphibian, a nicely detailed model of this huge vehicle.

SM 36 FROG 7 rocket, another nice model.

SM 83  The T55 IMR engineering vehicle.  I was a little underwhelmed by this model as the miniature seems much less busy and cluttered than the actual vehicle.

I got a little ahead of myself and had started priming them, when I realized that I hadn't taken photos yet.  So some of the castings have the start of the coat of grey primer on them.

I should have a Shapeways order in  later this week, and am waiting on one from Scotia as well,so hope to share some more pics soon.

Updated My Book Sale Page

I've updated my "books for sale " page, removing a couple,  dropping some prices,  and adding a bunch of titles.  The list currently includes mostly historical with a few sci-fi and fantasy titles.  Please take a look if you like old school print on paper books, click on:

BOOK SALE

Where Have All the Conventions Gone?

So, things are changing a little in my life, and I might start having more opportunity to go to gaming conventions on weekends.  Earlier today, I decided to do a little snooping around on the net, chasing down various convention calendars and whatnot, and was surprised to find how much things have changed.

Years ago, I went to as many as 20 conventions per year, 12 per year was average for a few years.  Most of these were in Ohio, but a few were out of state.  Currently, I'm more interested in the in state conventions.

Of the old conventions,  a few used to be held at large universities, a couple more at high schools, a couple more at National Guard armories.  Others were in various halls usually run by small gaming clubs.  I was quite surprised to find that, sadly, none of these exist anymore. Nor was there much in the way of newer, similar type conventions within a couple of hours of driving distance.

I was also surprised to find a number of conventions identifying themselves as games conventions, but not welcoming miniatures games, or simply not featuring any.  In one case, I found a con that used to welcome miniatures, that now pointedly does not.

I also found a number of one day events sponsored by clubs or groups, sort of mini-conventions or game-days, but mostly they seem to be intended for members only from what I can tell. 

There were a few that I did find: 

CincyCon (not one of my "old conventions") looks to be a pretty good convention, but comes at a terrible time of year for me.  Still, it looks to be my only shot at a "weekend of gaming".

Origins, is in my back yard, but to be honest, during my last couple of visits, the time invested to park and get into the con (even when I was pre-registered) was greater than what I spent at the con.  The miniatures gaming was a bit of a letdown for such a huge event.  It was the first convention that I had been to, where players in a tournament had figures that hadn't been assembled, involved in the game.  Unpainted torsos glued to a stand, with little piles of arms and weapons setting next to them.  Anyway, it just cost too much in time and money for the return.

HMGS- Great Lakes has a couple of good cons, Advance the Colors and Drums Along the Rapids, but I noticed that they are Friday/Saturdays cons now, having dropped Sundays from the schedule.  A little of a letdown, but still consideration for day trips on a Saturday. They also are affiliated with two other one days events, which also will be consideration for days trips.

I don't doubt that I've missed some, but all things considered, I'm a little let down that the gaming scene has changed so much over the years.  I guess it is probably due to people like me, who for various reasons stopped supporting the little cons for so long. 

I'm familiar with a number of HMGS conventions out of state, as well as a few other big or long running events, but all involve 8 hour drives or more, each way, so don't fit into a two day weekend real well.

I'll have to continue my search, but I'm not holding out much hope for a couple of summer weekends immersed in miniatures games at this point.