Soviet Attack In Force

I went through a very prolific phase for a while and was able to complete a large portion of my Soviet armored vehicles.  The progress was fueled by my need to get them done since I'm looking forward to moving on to Germans.  Also, I'm trying to take a more organised approach to my painting queue due to my constant switching of priorities based on my current fad interests, an ongoing battle.  I added a painting queue tab on my blog to monitor my progress and plan ahead.

Due to the heat and other commitments, I'm pretty sure my progress will be slow over the next couple of months, but as long as I keep plugging away, getting at least something each evening, I'll eventually have another breakthrough phase of accomplishment.  I'll tortoise it for a while.

BA-64s roll through the town to scout ahead:

Painting Table Update - Elephants and an Airbrush

Over the Christmas break I took the time to get setup for some airbrushing I want to do for German camo. I've had some serious approach avoidance regarding this since, well, I've never done it before, and based on forum posts on the subject, the process can be wrought with problems it seems.  Christmas was five months ago...really?  This year is going cliche fast!  Here are the results of my first try with my budget airbrush setup. Elephants for my HG force.

Painting Table Update - More Soviets

Desperate Measures soviet scope creep has found me somewhat behind schedule as I continue to add to my soviets.  The Italy compilation showed up on my doorstep last week and I'm psychologically ready for some focus on Italy, especially my HG and British armor:  Panzer III Ms and Churchills.

I know painting takes me some time but I always seem to underestimate how long assembly will take.  I'm tempted to move away from Soviets but the idea of not having a completed LW force to play is really bugging me.  Plenty of partials, though, as I chase releases.  I'm a tortoise chasing a hare right now but I am making progress.  Since I do have substantially more soviets painted than anything else, I think I'll stick with them for a while.  I'm continuing to reach my goal of twenty plus T-34s.  More than twenty to make up for the ones with broken sides.

50 Shades of Hay

In anticipation of determining what materials I would need to base my Soviet horde, I went ahead and based a Spetsnaz platoon.  As usual I agonized over what color schemes to go with since there are some excellent examples out there, especially in my favorite blog roll.  Soviets look great with GF9's static grass colors Aria and Winter or any other color that lands in the '50 shades of hay' spectrum.  After some deep thought I decided to stick with GF9's green static grass to be consistent with what I had originally planned for my German bases.

Katyushas are hard!

As in hard to glue together.  In game terms assembling Katyushas are the Flames of War equivalent of a cross between Rubik's Cube and a 3D version of Twister.  Which brings me to the stark realization of...how cool would 3D Twister be!  I stared at the pieces for a while trying to imagine how they would go together, trying to align the pieces like my two year old son did trying to put Legos together.   I felt like a caveman.

Tally Ho! Crusaders

I finished my Crusaders for a MW Light Armoured Squadron a while back.  Two platoons and a HQ with the option to field the CS variants. I did get to use them on the table at my FLGS EW Operation Crusader Campaign even though the camo is more MW than EW, I believe.  Digging out infantry was quite the challenge.  More deck-turrets? (Doesn't quite work for my MW Crusaders, though) The campaign was great but I was unable to attend as much as I wanted due to work commitments.  Great bunch of guys and I had a blast!

Army Display Tray Review

I was in the process of investigating what to do regarding an army display tray for tournaments when I stumbled upon the perfect solution for me: USChris on the WWPD site had posted pictures of his scratch built army display tray / organizer--it had me at hello.  And, as it turned out, he was selling some!  A short time later it was at my door. Fortunately for me it arrived on July 3rd, giving me a four day weekend to work on it.

Here it is with the core of my Hermann Goring division force displayed:

North Africa Motor Platoon and 37mm Bofors Portees

I have recently made some progress with my Crusader Armoured Squadron, having completed a Motor platoon and four 37mm Bofors Portee's.  

For the first time in a while the weekend didn't have anything social planned, so I made good use of the time by declaring the weekend an official hobby weekend.  All I had to do was take my wife out to lunch on Saturday, stare at her all googly eyed, and then take her to our favorite coffee shop, Dripp, and I had just enough frequent flyer miles accrued for a round trip ticket to FOW paradise.   I happily cashed in all my points.

I have been especially motivated by a couple of things:  first, I'm reading Steven Pressfield's Killing Rommel and I'm thoroughly enjoying it, which is putting me in the desert mood.  Second, Ben on one of my favorite blogs, Breakthrough Assault, is posting about EW North Africa and is working on an Operation Crusader Firestorm campaign--very cool.  I have to admit, Hellfire and Back! is my favorite FOW book.

Next in the painting queue are 10 Crusaders, two of which are the CS variant for the HQ.  They are assembled and ready for primer and are my July project--we'll see.

As an added bonus, I found myself at my FLGS, GMI Games, purchasing the new D-Day books; some hobby weekend icing on the cake.

Motor Platoon:

The World's Most Provocative Piece of Terrain

After pushing the literary boundaries of the blogosphere with my previous  Hunter S. Thompson inspired post, it was only a matter of time until I would reveal a terrain masterpiece from my past to turn the gaming and art worlds upside down...literally.

I bring you The World's Most Provocative Piece of Terrain (capitalized on purpose):

Gonzo Journalism FOW Update

I surfed a wave of prolific gluing and painting, crashing headfirst and hard onto my Omaha beach of life.  I've been spitting out it's sand since my last post.  I'd happily eat the the tabletop sands of 1942 North Africa, if only the dug in, artillery barrage feel of everyday work hadn't somehow x32'd me into March, 2013...a rich and hypnotic newsreel grainy black and white into dull, boring high definition color of an 8:00 am until done work life. Now, faint echoes of Olivier's narration in my head, followed by a blunt realization tonight of trenched paced accomplished on the FOW front.  I'm pinned.  Gom jabbar pinned.

Not even a post.  Send me your boats across the Channel becuzzz I long for my own Dunkirk.  I write this post.  What would Patton do?  A Dirty Jon podcast voice from the past..."reinforce success": 1.5 year old grandson, Conner, said, "Papa".  Some good sand...Jeeping in Calico, Odessa Canyon with my Band of Brothers.  A great FOW deal on eBay.  An un-nested family I hobby love.  A rationed few nights of accelerator taste in my mouth, followed by morning drive teeth scraping super glue off nails.  Grants already done but added to, with 3 Lee turrets for North Africa Sandworm spice.  Honey dripped with sherm...man. Newsreel grey driving into my blue-eyed 1080p:

DAK Pioniers

I finished basing my DAK Pioniers over the last month, with enough bases to run a Pionierkompanie if needed:  16 Pioneer Rifle/MG teams. 6 Flame-thrower teams and Command options.  There are few extra Rifle/Mg teams due to the new DAK Pionier blister being released with new figures during the build.  But looking to the future, I'll have enough Pionier Rifle teams to run a Lietche Pionier platoon from Hellfire and Back!, grabbing a rifle team from a Schutzen platoon if I'm not running Flame-throwers.  EW North Africa is probably in the far future, though.

Rifle/MG Teams

Flame-throwers

Eighth Army Recce Complete - First Decals

I was able to finish the Eighth Army recce and the 25pdr support vehicles this week:

I finally got around to adding some decals for the first time, having some approach avoidance in the past but thinking I could use the decals to help differentiate platoons in order to avoid confusion during the fog of battle.  I was hoping to avoid using a high gloss coat for the decals and after some research, I found some videos on YouTube for using Microscale  Industries, Inc.  Micro Set and Micro Sol.  I didn't have to give the model a gloss coat and considering this was my first time, I was very happy with the results.  The two step process seemed quick and easy.

A good tip is to label the Micro Set and Micro Sol lids to remember the order of use.  After accidentally switching the lids, a better tip is to label the bottle as well:

I'm a somewhat quick and dirty painter, settling on table top, playing quality due to limited time and, well, I'm not that great of a painter.  I mostly use dry brushing techniques:

Using a tip Dirty Jon posted on the WWPD forum, I starting adding radio antennas using brush bristles. Finding the right brush was harder than I anticipated since the  bristles tended to be bigger than I liked, bent in a wavy pattern, or some color other than black.  I'm pretty sure I would like to go with a thinner antenna but I seem to be having trouble finding something.  I'll keep looking.

Overall, I'm very happy with the results.  I'm especially motivated since I found out the next WWPD campaign will be in North Africa.  I was unable to participate in Operation Sea Lion since I didn't have any European troops completed.

Next, I'll finish basing the additional four 25pdrs to give me a full battery of eight.  Then I'll start working on the Heavy Armoured Squadron of Grants I had glued before realizing I have to adjust the tracks slightly.    After that, the much anticipated Bersaglieri followed by an Eighth Army Light Armoured Squadron of Crusaders.  Can't wait!

Fleshing out my British Eighth Army - Recce

It's back to basics this week, fleshing out my North Africa British Eighth Army.  There are a few transports I'm missing for my 25 pdrs, a Jeep and two 15 cwt trucks.  I also picked up two blisters of Marmon Herrington IIIs armored cars for some much wanted Recce.  There are three in a unit and two to a blister, so the fourth one I assembled with a captured anti-tank gun.

I've never really had a thing for the looks of this vehicle but after assembling them and taking a good look, I have to admit they are really growing on me.  Can't wait to get them on the table.  I've developed a romantic connection to the desert over the years, and if I was ever to get into reenactment, it would be the LRDG for me.  Especially after seeing them in person at the local Air Show (pictures here).



I set up on the dining room table with the vehicles I glued this weekend to beat the heat out in the garage.  Surprisingly, though, it's relatively cool tonight, but I have a few TV shows to catch up on.  Mostly dry brushing, anyway.

My painting setup with my old and faithful MDF paint tray from Games Workshop:

A brew would probably have been more appropriate, but after a long day at work, a cappuccino did the job:

This last weekend there was an interesting lecture at the local air museum about the P51 Mustang long range bomber escorts.  Listening to the veterans talk about their experiences flying these planes was quite an experience.

The gentleman on the left is the son of the pilot who flew the Mustang named Dolly and the museum unveiled the plane with Dolly newly painted on the nose.  The other two gentleman are Veterans that flew the P51s during WWII.  True heroes in my mind:

That's is one beautiful plane!

North Africa Practice Game

I was able to get in a quick practice game in this Saturday morning.  I spent most of the week studying the rules and taking notes.  I starting to think I'm getting the hang of it for the most part.  I've invited over some friends and regular players to play Friday night.  Work has been very busy and I'm hoping I won't have to cancel.  We'll see.

We played 1000 point lists, with the British infantry list having two infantry platoons instead of the required three.  Since it was a practice game, I figured it didn't matter.  The game went well;  a little slow, but the emphasis was on learning the rules.  It started to get pretty hot in the garage so we called it draw; it is getting to be that time of year.  I snapped a few pictures below.

The bocage I ordered from Luke at WWPD showed up this week.  Looks great.  See below.

On a side note the England vs Italy game was terrible  We lost on penalties again.

Notes and play aids:

Lucage looks great! (Luke's Bocage):

FOW Rookie Game Report

My anticipation had been building up all week for the game I had planned with my son, Curtis (graduated with a bachelor degree last week--very proud).  I spent a few evenings during the week getting ready and setting up the table.  My wife made pulled pork tacos again -delicious.  The North Africa, mid-war game started off well, but our second game was cursed with a sophomore jinx; we made some glaring rules errors and spent too much time looking up rules.  Too long since our last and first game.  I had placed more terrain on the table this time, bogging the game down somewhat as well as our vehicles.  We were a little shaky on the terrain rules.  The fog of war was thick and so were our heads.  We resigned ourselves to using the game as a much needed training session, therefore no battle report.  We had some good laughs as rules were remembered on my son's turn since I thought more on his turn due to not having to concentrate on moving and shooting.  This was an obvious disadvantage for him.  Plus, my die rolling was on fire.

The great news is we learned a lot and will now be playing on a more regular basis.

Lessons learned:

• Know the rules.  We need to study more.  The obvious good thing about playing is knowing where your rule knowledge is weakest.  I took notes of the questions we had.
• Practice with smaller armies.  Starting off at 1500 points is probably not a good idea.
• This game is fun.  Even with our issues, we still had a good time.  I want a game that's not too complicated and not too simple: this game is right in there.
• Use the turn sequence steps at the beginning of the rule book chapters.  I think I'll type them up and print them out.
• Have the terrain summary handy:  Page 30.  I emailed Battlefront a few months ago requesting this page as a PDF game aid. Hopefully, it will happen.
• Have the 'Concealment Status Summary' on page 89 readily available.  Also understand what 'dig in' and 'go to ground' does.
• Continue to use this great tool: assault phase flowchart.  Great tool for the new player.

The proud family from left to right: my mom, me with my Luke from WWPD mask on. Curtis, my beautiful wife and taco maker, and our favorite professor:

More Reenactment Pictures

I passed the exam of another certification for work so I'm back in FOW mode again.  So happy.  It has been a while.  I spent some time gluing my Russians this last week, mostly 'god of war' artillery.  I'm so far away from being ready for the Eastern Front but I'll keep plugging away.  My son and I plan on playing this Friday, so hopefully a North Africa battle report soon.  I'll generate the lists and then setup the table on Thursday so we can get right to it after dinner, Friday evening.  Can't wait.

In the mean time, here are some more WWII re-enactment pictures (soviet stuff, too!) from the Planes of Fame Airshow, in no particular order:

Long Range Desert Group Re-enactment

My grandson, a couple of friends and I headed out to the Planes of Fame Airshow last weekend.  We had a great time.  While walking around I was somewhat surprised to find some WWII reeanctors along with their equipment.  I was really excited to see a Long Range Desert Group represented, belonging to the Long Range Desert Group Preservation Society.  They were a cool bunch of guys, and very willing to answer questions about a subject they are obviously passionate about.  North Africa is my favorite WWII theater and I get to go out in the desert in my own Jeep, so I had a special interest in their display.  Packing enough to camp for four people for a couple of days in a Jeep is a challenge, so I can appreciate what the LRDG were able to do on long range missions.

    Wouldn't be complete without a brew up area:

And on desert themed Flames of War note, a great article was posted on the FOW site about pimping out your Battlefield in a Box desert terrain tonight.  Mike always does a good job on those articles.  Burning Empires is calling me but it's going to have to wait.