My VBCW army is a project I particularly enjoy working on. With such an interesting setting, it is easy to get motivated into getting them done before Lockdown ends and finally use them in a game.
I got a Vickers MMG, a Peerless Armoured Car, and a Major and Warrant Officer done. My hands fought me the whole time, as they were shaking quite badly today. Still, they have a simple paint scheme so they came along quite nicely. Lets show them off!
I do love me a Vickers! With such an iconic look, I had to have one in my army.Of course, you need the armbands in these times of Civil War. A white armband may be all that saves you from ‘friendly’ fire.A simple grassy base, with a tuft of yellow flowers for taste. All in all, a fun little team to work on!
Next up is the Peerless. This was a 3D print I did a few months back, one of my early successes. It is from Deweycat on Wargaming 3D, and I heartily recommend it.
With two MMGs, it can be a nasty mobile pill-box, giving me firepower where I need it most!
A really simple paint job, nothing fancy.I’m torn on how the identification stripe looks, but at least it will be an obviously Royalist vehicle.The wash came out quite nicely!And with sturdy armour, it will take some Molotov’s or Boy’s Anti-Tank firepower to kill it.
Finally, and the units I worked the hardest on was the command team, a Major and his Warrant Officer. They provide my High Command, and since I’m using Bolt Action rules, the ability to activate four other units is going to come in very handy!
I like to imagine that the officer is an old hand, veteran of the Empire. Serving in the Great War was just his last posting. The Warrant Officer puts steel into the Territorial Army troops I field. Together they form a unit.The Warrant Officer was a lovely sculpt to paint, and didn’t fight me at all to get done.The small insignia is all that gives away his rank. I love that it actually resembles a crown!Not as old as the ‘ole Major’, he is nonetheless a veteran of the Great War, and knows how to fight!The ‘Ole Major’ is getting up there in years, and doesn’t even bother carrying a sidearm. He has people for that! His fighting days may be done, but his oath to King and Country means he serves as best he can.Lovely detail on his face! I have since cleaned up that armband, and it looks much sharper in other pictures.The pose has such a commanding presence. Leading his boys from the front, he knows the risks but no longer cares. He’s had a good run.
All in all, a good two days of work! I had a lot of fun painting these guys up. Next up is another squad of BUF infantry and perhaps another squad of Territorials. Four squads will give me plenty of board control!
In non-tabletop news, I am super stoked to see that the Very British Civil War mod for Hearts of Iron 4 has come a long way in the past few months. I’m not affiliated with the project in any way, to be absolutely clear. I’m just super interested in it!
For those of you who are not into computer gaming, Hearts of Iron 4 is a grand strategy game where you control a country during WW2, from industry to fighting with divisions on the front line. The Very British Civil War mod is a hyper focused modification of the game that lets you command one of the factions in the Civil War, and decide the fate of the British Isles!
A good menu! Custom art sets it apart. It’s no Kaiserreich, but its getting there!Even the menu screens are full of character!The major players! Everyone important is in attendance, and you can even select smaller factions by hitting ‘select country’This map is amazing. Focusing only on the UK allows you to focus on the important parts of the VBCW period. This is also a helpful map for the tabletop!A lovely menu upon start will give you the whole story behind the VBCW, great for newcomers!This whole ‘tree’ allows you to decide the path and decisions of your faction. This one is for the Royalists!Clever tech trees allow for some building of WW2 units, should you spend the time researching them.The one for tanks is particularly interesting!Cities are multi-stages, as opposed to regular Hearts of Iron. You actually fight for the suburbs first!London is going to be a hard nut to crack…
Being able to immerse myself both on the Tabletop and now online with friends, really means I can keep the creative juices going on making my tabletop army! I’m also using the mod as a gateway drug to get some other people into the tabletop side of things. I hope that the mod continues its steady progress, and if the guys working on it see this, great job!
But that is all I have for now. Happy Wargaming wherever in the world you might be, and stay safe everyone!
Quick and dirty, but its on the table and ready to be played!
Almost two years ago, I made a post about heading to Miniwargaming. In that, I dropped a side note saying I had started playing Konflikt 47. The game came into the Clubhouse like a whirlwind, and left as quick as it came. While I still have a few opponents, the lack of activity locally killed my interest short-term as well.
It is funny though. The game was popular for being so utterly different then the usual 40k grind, yet 40k was what did it in again. I never sold my stuff, instead stuffing it into a bin and forgetting they existed.
My friend in the city profited this, acquiring a Japanese army in one fell swoop. This has successively revived my interest, and I started to unbox my old models, to give them a quick paint-job and put them on the table.
My buddy got this all for an absolute steal…all those suits will be a problem!
I wanted to do a Walker for this, as Konflikt allows for some weird and wonderful Mechs to take the field alongside normal troops….but my Bruin walker suffered from a bad resin mix from the factory that wasn’t apparent when I put it away, causing it to be sticky and shiny. Warlord is replacing the model, despite the age of the purchase, and I hope to feature the replacement when it arrives.
Pictured: Resin seepage! Warlord was on the ball and was willing to replace it, so no harm no foul.
But, I did get a nice surprise. Pre-Pandemic (literally by days!) I had made a trip to the city and grabbed some firepower for my Konflikt British Paratroopers. It was a choice between the A34 Comet or a Centurion Mk3, and I went with the bigger tank in the end. I had completely forgotten about it when I dug the Red Devils out to paint.
Well, Hello Beautiful!
This was a very pleasant surprise, and even more nice was that it was only -3 degrees outside….so it quickly got a coat of Vallejo Russian Uniform, a colour that works really well for British armour.
Now, I’m not the best painter in the world, and this is a big, hefty chunk of resin. So I didn’t get too fancy. I wanted something dirty, generic enough to be used in NW Europe and (Spoilers!) pushing into Burma/Thailand…and maybe even Korea.
And today, an hour ago, it was done! Lets get to showing it off!
Watch out Tigers, here I come!I went heavy on the dirt around the tracks, to hide my rather slapdash painting of the roadwheels.It’s not much but its honest work.The Allied Star on the side is a bit of a departure from WW2 norms, but was used on Korean War era Centurions, giving this even more usage!
I have left off the divisional markings, although once I get decals I will apply some other markings. The reason for lack of divisional logos gives me some lee-way in using this for three different theatres, Korea for Bolt Action, and NW Europe and Burma for Konflikt. Your thoughts may vary, and I’d love to hear if my idea is daffy or not!
I had a lot of fun painting this, despite my shaky hands. It looks good enough for tabletop!
As for Konflikt 47, I have some plans. My Paras will need some painting, but such troops and their camouflage will take some practice and skill I don’t quite have yet. I do have US Marines, but with their Walker currently out of commission, I lack heavy support. What I do like about this tank is I can quite easily swap out the supporting infantry for different theatres.
My plan is to grab either the Korean War British Infantry Section box…
These guys look sharp, if just a little too uniform and clean for my tastes…(picture from Warlord)
Or I could grab a box of Chindits….
Much dirtier! Much more up my alley! (Picture also from Warlord…please don’t sue!)
While the war in Konflikt has dragged on for quite a while longer, I personally feel the Chindits fit the ‘look’ I’m going for much better. Conversely though, the Korean War Section allows me an ‘in’ to the Korean theatre for Bolt Action proper….that may be a bad thing!
If you have any thoughts let me know, but I think I probably will end up with the Chindits, as they are just so characterful!
Well, that is all I have for now! Happy Wargaming wherever you are, and stay safe everyone!
There has been a lot of 15mm Flames of War stuff on my blog recently, but that doesn’t mean I have forgotten my other projects. A setting I was eagerly wanting to return to was the Very British Civil War. But how to make it a nice, dramatic return?
I figured the easiest way was a big, chunky piece of British Armour. After much research to see if it was plausible(more on that later!), I decided on an early Matilda II. These tanks were a nasty surprise to the Germans in 1940, how bad would they be in 1938 in a civil war?
My printing set-up has not dealt with full-plates as well as I would have hoped, and watching this print was nerve-ranking. A corner of the raft was peeling off the bed, yet somehow despite everything the tank printed mostly fine!
Not pictured: A failed print! Huzzah!
Actually, as far as I can tell, it is good enough for table use. This is a file from the legendary M_Bergman on Thingiverse, and was originally scaled at 1:100th for 15mm use. I used Wargaming3D’s suggestion of scaling it up to 28mm, using 178.57% as my scaling guide. While I still think it might be a hair too small, all of my other 15mm rescaled VBCW uses the same scale number so it’ll match.
The file has tons of options, and I opted for a British Expeditionary Force version. I’m hoping that is it is a close enough resemblance to the early marks from 1937-39.
The business end of the 2-pounder. Weak by 1940 standards, but quite powerful for the Interwar period!
Now, this is a controversial tank to use. Most VBCW tanks are much older, 1920’s or early 1930’s designs. However, by June 1938 an order was placed for 140 of these wonderful tanks. Work was slow, and in our timeline only two were completed by 1939.
This early model has a ‘trench tail’
I’m both speeding that up and slowing it down for my particular rendition of VBCW. The first production models were made by Vulcan Foundry in Lancashire. From here on out, it is all alternate history, be warned!
Rather conveniently, Lancashire falls under Royalist control early on. With war kicking off, the Government forces are desperate for these behemoths to enter service, and an inter-service tug of war kicks off on who gets to use these, the BUF’s Armoured Corp led by General Fuller, or the British Army’s Royal Tank Regiment. With two vehicles completed, it is decided that they will see service as ‘breakthrough’ tanks, and General Fuller pushes for the BUF to be granted use of them to break the Liverpool Free State. One is sent via rail to break that Socialist stronghold. The second is sent to the southern front, to be based out of London and sent via rail to where it is most needed. Production is however slow, and reinforcements of this ‘Queen of the Battlefield’ is held up by lack of supplies.
I see these behemoths being used much like a King Tiger would be in Bolt Action; Prohibitively expensive, but capable of controlling the battlefield like nothing else in this timeline can. Short of the French selling Char B1’s to Anglican forces, very little has this kind of armour. However it is painfully slow.
I am considering using this as a scenario only tank, with the capability of it being captured! Those rail-lines are only so secure after all…
With troops next to it!
But wait, what is this?
Oh yeah, its General Fuller time.
This is a fantastic rendition of J.F.C Fuller, who in this timeline is a major player in the BUF military wing, by Footsore Miniatures. I got him with my intial VBCW order, and have been waiting for a moment to paint him up!
Fuller was a major advocate of early modern tank tactics, and helped plan the usage of tanks at the Battle of Cambrai. His ideas were shunned in his own country….but were adopted by such figures as Heinz Guderian in Nazi Germany, who paid to translate Provisional Instructions for Tank and Armoured Car Training into German. He was the only foreigner present at Nazi Germany’s first armed maneuvers in 1935. In 1939, as a guest of Adolf Hitler, he witnessed a parade held in the Fuhrer’s honour. When Hitler asked him “I hope you were pleased with your children?” Fuller responded with “Your Excellency, they have grown up so quickly that I no longer recognise them.”
In WW2 he was sidelined because of his rather obvious Nazi sympathies. In VBCW, he has seen considerably more success. How successful is up to each individual club or groups lore, but as discussed with my friend I have made him a Major General in the BUF, leading a Armoured Corp set up along his doctrines.
A gorgeous model, that I hope I even slightly did justice too. His facial features are finely detailed.I purposely used a shinier wash on his black uniform, as if he is meticulously cleaning it. The badges are sculpted with detail and picked out nicely. The medal bar was harder: I sort of just dabbed colours onto it.Done up in my traditional basing scheme!
All in all, a productive evening! My hands decided to cooperate today and remain steady, which made General Fuller doable.
We are expecting a large snowfall tonight, so it will be a while before I can get the Matilda painted. Which gives me time to consider which of my VBCW forces gets it! I’m tempted due to my royalist leanings to give it to the Royal Tank Regiment, but Fuller has strings he can pull to procure it for the BUF. I’ll print two eventually, but for now I am torn.
Well, I hope you enjoyed today’s ramblings, and I’ll more to show you folks soon! Happy Wargaming wherever you are, and stay safe everyone!
When you think of North Africa in WW2, you think Crusaders, Panzer IVs and IIIs, Tigers, Grants. And rightly so, as all these tanks carved out a reputation, for good or ill!
I particularly like that the designer of this STL included stowage. I often forget to add it. The sandbags are a nice touch, a bit of a desperate move by Italian crews that only further slowed the tank down.
This tank, an Italian M13/40, is unfortunately more on the ‘ill’ side. A dated design even as it just started reaching units, this tank wasn’t as bad as it could be. It had reasonable armament, decent armour in comparison to its British foes, and a good deal of machine guns. However, it lacked speed, often-times radios, and was not something their would-be crews had training in. A recipe for disaster.
Still, it at least looks like a tank. Can’t say that for most early-mid Italian designs!
However, they were plentiful, and these tanks made up a good deal of the Afrika Korps, people often forget that not only were Italians part of the unit, Rommel was actually out-ranked by the Italians in theatre! In my previous post, I showed an interest in doing El Alamein and North Africa in general. Not having even a token Italian contingent would be an unfortunate oversight.
Eight of them, enough for two platoons. The commanders ride is on the printer for tomorrow!
In Flames of War, specifically the Avanti book for Mid-War, this tank isn’t present. However, the book does feature its replacement, the M14/41, and this tank, the M13/40, are very, very similar. I’m hoping that among my small play-group, I can use these as suitable proxies. I certainly won’t be carting these off to a tournament, but they will do to test my theory.
The theory is that I can take a minimum size company of these rolling deathtraps as mobile bunkers, as they do have quite a few machine guns. The folks over at Battlefront have been rather generous with their stats.
Well, that is a pleasant stat-card, make no mistake!
The M14/41 has been given HEAT ammo to represent early Italian faffing around with such ammo types, quite successful attempts at that! It also has great crew stats that can only get better with a good roll at the beginning of the game. Most happily for me is the sheer amount of machine-guns it packs. Sure, it has only Firepower 6, but against infantry that roll doesn’t matter. And you pay very little in points for such firepower.
I have to admit, these things are growing on me.
I have an Avanti book on its way to me, along with the unit card park and command cards. While due to Lockdown I won’t be getting a game in anytime soon, that simply gives me more time to work on these little beauties.
I still have to clean up some supports, but they came out rather cleanly.
All in all, an easy evenings print. It had been a while since I fired up my 3D printers, and I was starting to think I lost my groove. I’m happy to be proven wrong, and to get some tanks out of it!
Anyways, I need to get some sleep. Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and stay safe everyone!
“Here we will stand and fight; there will be no further withdrawal. I have ordered that all plans and instructions dealing with further withdrawal are to be burnt, and at once. We will stand and fight here. If we can’t stay here alive, then let us stay here dead.I want to impress on everyone that the bad times are over.”- General Bernard Montgomery
It was the day before New Years, and I can see the mistake already unfolding. Having now built up and rather enjoyed making my Late War British Army for Flames of War, and the weather making me unable to undercoat models, I had a thought…what harm would it be collecting a Mid-War British 8th Army force, just for fun?
The price tag of such a force, that I really didn’t think would see much play, was pretty large and almost put me off entirely. Of course, at that same moment I found this, on the website of a store getting out of Flames of War.
I smudged out the price, as I don’t want to get into how much money I spent, or even saved!
This, frankly, was a staggering amount of models. While lacking infantry it covered the armoured side of things quite comprehensively. I had just gotten paid….while I won’t get into details of how much I spent, I will say I saved an insane amount of money, to the tune of hundreds.
I didn’t truly realize what I had gotten myself into until I opened the very large parcel.
Bloody hell, that is a lot of plastic.
It is well over what I can foreseeably use all at once, but I have many options to make varied lists out of. I got cracking the same day, and after a while, got Monty’s Desert Rats out of the way. This consisted of three Crusaders, five Grants, and two 17/25 Pounder ‘Pheasant” Anti-Tank guns.
The Grant is one of my favourite WW2 tank designs. It was arguably the best tank the British had in North Africa until they got the Sherman A ridiculously tall tank, with both a 37mm and 75mm guns. Crusaders! Much faster but pay for it with thin armour and anemic weaponry. I’m going to have to rush around the flanks for kills with these tanks!A quite good looking tank, which shows that looks count for nothing when it comes to performance!The 17/25 Pounder is a prototype or early production 17 Pounder on a 25 Pounder gun carriage. It’s ugly, but when Tigers are on the prowl, you’ll take what you can get!It is quite an imposing Anti-Tank gun. I quite like the look of them!
Next up I assembled a troop of Valentine II tanks, sturdy Infantry Tanks meant to keep up with and provide support to infantry…at the cost of speed. Valentines are slow!
The Valentine was a well armoured but tiny tank. They suffered from cramped fighting compartments and anemic weaponry until replaced. Still, it is very good at supporting an infantry advance!It is actually quite staggering how small these Valentines are! The turret barely fits two men, and with only a 2 Pounder you’ll need to get lucky to get kills.
A 6-Pounder platoon provides some light-AT options. While I also have the large 17 Pounders, there may come a time when I want something less overkill.
Four 6 Pounder guns, ready to strike out. These are quite competent anti-tank guns.The base is getting awfully cramped!
A Motor Platoon gives my force some infantry, best at taking and holding ground. The detail isn’t as good as the late war British infantry, but they’ll suffice.
A motor platoon, notably missing the ‘motor’ part. I intend to buy some trucks to carry these men into battle, even if they are just for show!The detail isn’t bad, but the late war infantry are notably better. I still like my rolled sleeves and shorts, so I quite like the look of these guys!
A few Humber Scout Cars help me keep tab on the wily Germans. The Humber is a rather large vehicle, and will help me get my Grants where they need to go.
A metal/resin kit, these weren’t too bad for assembly. Still, I would have preferred plastic.The detail isn’t too bad however, and with my over-used radio using Tank Commander, it looks the business.
Of course, seeing as neither of my two gaming groups have opposing Mid-War forces at the moment, I thought how bad would it be if I made a small Afrika Korps list to demo the setting and game with? They would be considerably cheaper, as their stuff generally costs a great deal more points.
With one already built tank but the rest on sprue, I got a good deal here.
With that, and a cheaply snagged box of Rommel’s Afrika Korps secured, I started yet another army! While I have only a few models complete, here is what I have started with.
Unfortunately, the built tank was built rather poorly, and the turret was glued stuck to the hull. The other two I built, with long 75mm guns. I might grab a single Panzer IV from somewhere else to replace this one!The Panzer IV cuts a great profile. A damn good design, and probably the best German tank in the desert. The Tiger was good, but realistically it was overkill.Panzer IIIs are the mainstay of my German force, and I’ll need three more built for my list. Luckily, I have them! The mainstay of the German Afrika Korps, the Panzer III offers me a solid tank, with a good gun, and excellent crew stats.
So those are the models! I still have a lot to build, and I’m really looking forward to getting them all done before Lockdown is over.
Now, El Alamein and the North African theatre of conflict hold special places in my heart. My Grandfather served there, and ‘getting it right’ matters a great deal to me. And it is an ideal front to cover with the Flames of War ruleset.
A great picture of plucky infantry capturing a German Panzer.
El Alamein is rightly considered one of the turning points for the Western Allies. As a wargaming subject, you can certainly do much worse! With easily available maps of the battlefield, I’m hoping to make a table that can easily represent different parts of the battle with ease.
With the Qattara Depression preventing Rommel’s signature outflanking move, the British were able to force Rommel to fight a defensive battle, or risk a dangerous assault on prepared positions. This was not something he could do with the supplies he had!
I’m hoping I can snag a player or two locally, after Lockdown is over, to play out some battles on the Alamein front. Luckily, seeing as the rules are quite similar to Team Yankee, it shouldn’t take long to teach. My friends in the city have decided that if I’m willing to do Late War for them, they can do Mid War for me, and Patton’s Fighting First will hopefully see my table. My other friend is going for the Afrika Korps as well, using a different type of list then what I am using.
I’m gunning for you, Rommel!
But that is all I have for you folks today. My recent foot surgery has gone slightly awry, and I’m stuck on bedrest. More time to plan the battles to come! Next time I post about Alamein, I’ll have terrain sorted for it, and some more models built to fight it.
So, Happy War-gaming wherever you are! And Stay Safe everyone!
In my last hobby post, I featured some Flames of War Sherman V tanks, the start of the British starter force I was working my way through.
Well, just in time for the New Year, and mug of Earl Grey in hand, I have finished the lot!
This starter box is a great deal, and was a lot of fun to work through, even if it did seem like a slog near the end. My friends in the city have all the other major Late War factions covered, so my addition of some stiff upper-lipped Brits to the party will make for some fun battles! I may even have some competition locally, once Lockdown is over and it is safe to do so!
It was a decision between the Soviets and the British for me to play, but really, the choice wasn’t hard. I have always been an Anglophile and my love of the Sherman tank, especially the vaunted Firefly, meant I went for the older, Fortress Europe released box set. There is a newer box, for the D-Day landings specifically and featuring the Desert Rats, however I wanted a force with Shermans, not Cromwells.
Without any further delay, lets have a peek at what came in the box!
Churchills! They may be slow but they have a charm all their own.
First up was the Churchills. You get three in the box, with the Late War sprue variation. I could have built them as later Mark VIII or Crocodile Flame Tanks, but instead I went with 75mm armed earlier pattern Churchills, which from my research were fairly common in Normandy.
A very distinct, and I must say, lovely, profile.
I intend to use these tanks to support my Motor Platoon, and take objectives, not to hunt my opponents tanks. But if pressed, the 75mm is no slouch!
The kit comes with several door options. Make sure you pick the right ones!
The Churchills proved to be my favourite of the bunch; A lovely kit to build with a stupid amount of options. I’ve picked up the D-Day British unit cards so while the box comes with the Italy version, I can field them as the proper Normandy configuration.
Next up we have the M5 Stuarts! Not my favourite variant of the Stuart chassis but a great kit nonetheless!
Ready to recce!
This was another easy, fun kit to build. I had no trouble with it, and they went together in an evening. These tanks will serve as my spearhead and flanking choice, to get the rest of my armour to places it’ll hurt!
Drat, I see a couple mould lines I forgot to clean up! Always catch them late…
My favourite Stuart is the M3 ‘Honey’ fielded by the British in the desert, but those are long in the tooth by now and these newer, M5 Stuarts replaced them by this point in the war. It’s a better design, and the extra point of armour might save them from the odd anti-tank shot.
Next up we have the 17pdr SP ‘Achilles’, a kit I thought would be a bear to build but turned out surprisingly well.
Open topped? Better hope it doesn’t rain!
I actually enjoyed building these a lot more than I thought I would. With three options for the kit, the hardest part was making sure I picked the correct options. The crew took some creativity to fit using the tank commander sprues included in the box.
The crew look serviceable, and at this scale look fine enough!
The crew I’m strictly just okay with. They could be better, but they give enough of the appearance of a crewed tank destroyer that I’ll give them a pass. I can’t see anyway of making this better without losing the Battlefront Miniatures characteristic turret peg. A minor criticism to be sure, and I’m still more then happy to field them.
I’m not sure tactically how to use these yet, but seeing as I only have two Fireflies they might be a crucial unit against my friends Panther’s, Tigers, and the odd IS-2.
The crew look absolutely fine from this angle!
Rounding out the armoured contingent, if only technically, are some Universal Carriers!
Easy to build, but I’m not sure as to their utility….
These were an easy and fun kit to build (One can sense a pattern here!), but having not played Flames of War yet I can’t seem to find a use for them. They are an additional scout unit, but with just Brens they are strictly anti-infantry. Not a bad thing by any means, but both my opponents field mostly armoured formations!
Without a Piat, these little Universal Carriers lack the needed punch.
While the option exists to field them with PIATs, this option was not in the box. I have a lot of anti-tank as it is, so perhaps they can find a use solely harassing enemy infantry. I may go back and replace the Bren gun on the top with a Vickers, drastically increasing their firepower.
The box has not yet given up all of its goodies. I also got a Motor Platoon of infantry to accompany my tanks!
Surprisingly good looking infantry!
I was expecting soft sculpts, but in all honesty these are great! The detail is mostly sharp, and at this scale they are particularly good, and durable! The kit comes with only five stands, but the sheer amount of spares has me wondering if I should get a few more!
These will be either a joy or a pain to paint, depending on how much detail I choose to add!
I assembled them glued to the stands; my limited experience with Team Yankee infantry has shown me that it is fairly easy to paint them on the stands if you aren’t overly picky about detail. Still, they should have enough detail to take a wash well.
The officer has quite a bit of character for being this small!
I intend to use my infantry to hold my own objectives on the defense, or to aid my Churchills on the attack. With a PIAT team of their own, they can defend themselves against armour in a pinch.
Finally, we have four 25pdr Field Guns! I was expecting these to be rather fiddly, and they were a little. But they still went together rather quickly!
Ready to receive coordinates!
While small and rather fiddly to put together, the limited parts count meant they went together really fast. The majority of the time was spent laying out the crew on the bases. They are almost miniature dioramas!
I wasn’t sure about the limber until I saw it on the base. They add just that little bit extra.
For a unit I wasn’t too jazzed about, they were a lot of fun to build, and a good way to end off building the box. While these are already replaced with reinforcements in the way of Sextons, they are still really pretty little field guns, and might see some play on occassion!
This ended off the British Armoured Battlegroup Starter set. With the addition of a Sherman Armoured Troop, I’m now well placed to start playing Flames of War in earnest. Of course, that is when Covid-19 cooperates with us! I have already supplemented this existing force with some additional reinforcements, in the way of Sextons, Typhoons, and a Daimler recce patrol. I have also managed to snag a copy of the Command Cards, although that was from a foreign source and will be a while before they arrive!
I have yet to give some thoughts on what I will be painting these gents up as. I have an urge to either do a Canadian force, but that might be a bit on the nose given I am Canadian! Alternatively I am tempted by the Guards Armoured Division, and the decals I have will make that particular force doable right from the outset. Either way, I want to at least make a token effort on some historical authenticity.
This will be my last post of this year, and with that I wish you a happy New Year, no matter where you are, and may 2021 bring you happy wargaming! And until next year, God Save the King!
This is primarily a hobby blog. I usually talk about pretty fun stuff, like building miniatures, painting them poorly, and just being an all round fun guy. This is not going to necessarily be all that. Instead, I want to talk about mental health for a second, and a weird thing that I feel is happening to me over time. Feel free to skip! I promise I’ll have tanks and and other fun things in the next one! But not externalizing this is driving me a little crazy, and I want it out in writing.
Right, now that I have that out of the way, I want to ask you something. Have you ever felt really dumb? Like, ‘gee, that was quite silly, why would I do that?’ kind of dumb? I bet you have, and in fact, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t. But what if you felt it was a constant, ever-growing process, happening more often, finding it difficult to remember, saying the wrong things more often.
Pictured; My braincells, going to start a new life in Argentina
That is to say, I feel, literally, quantifiably, dumber then, say, three years ago. Some people I have talked to have attributed this to age; I am nearly 30. But I feel like that is understating the issue. When people turn 30, they don’t usually feel like they are going on 50(Or they do! I have no idea!). My memory feels foggier, my math skills which were already poor are not as sharp as they used to be. Reading difficult, more cerebral works makes my head spin just a little too much to be comfortable. History books, especially, are proving difficult to me, and that concerns me, as those are my favourite kind of book!
Not pictured: a finished history book!
Some of this I can attribute to the fact I have a recognized mental condition, Borderline Personality Disorder….but the medication seems to have both stabilized me and on the flipside altered how I think quite drastically! I am working with my doctor to see if I can’t stem the brain drain effect….but I fear some of the damage has already been done.
I am no conspiracy theorist, I believe in the power of medication and therapy. But this poses an interesting conundrum; How does a rational human mind approach the fact it is not processing simple things quite as easily? How do I learn to live with, well, being just that little bit less sharp, less able to learn things quickly and with ease, like I used to?
This has been an interesting year, and I don’t think if it had gone smoothly that I may have picked up on this as easily. Adulting usually leaves little time for introspective thought. But now that I know something is up, it nags at me. What additional factors could have led to this over the years?
Ah, Schopenhauer. What a lovely misguided worldview I adopted from you.
May I present my hypothesis; I had been led to believe as a youth that I was inordinately gifted, and for a while, that may have been true. But eventually, I just stopped trying. As a youth, I had few long term aspirations, no real long term goals. Combined with what I considered a ‘smart, and realistic’ worldview, I stopped really pursuing anything truly challenging, for what was truly the point? I was very arrogant. I was nihilistic. I disagreed with teachers, fellow students who were probably more gifted, professors, bosses. I had a chip on my shoulder, even though I never pushed past getting my high school diploma.
For a while, I thrived. While I wasn’t a university graduate, I could usually keep up with them in debates about politics or ethics in journalism. I avoided math, simply because what was the point? I had a calculator. And, considering I had a pretty sharp head on my shoulders, the facade of being more intelligent then I really was easy to keep up.
Now, after two years of some pretty serious brain medication, and starting to suffer the side effects, the facade is slowly unraveling. I can talk an excellent game, but it is slowly becoming harder to come up with the right words at the right time, or to follow simple direction at work without asking twice what exactly I’m meant to do. I find it harder to concentrate for long periods of time on the same subject. History books, some of my favourite forms of non-fiction, are proving more difficult to chew through and keep the facts straight.
That is the hypothesis….but while I may have subscribed to philosophical pessimism at one point, I don’t really anymore. I want solutions to my ‘brain drain problem’. And my answer, in the typical dodging the problem way I’ve used all my life, is simply to stop playing at being smarter then I am. Instead, it is to try and be wiser.
And I learned it from Star Wars Episode Two! Have mercy on me, please!
Sometimes an answer comes from somewhere you don’t expect. In, of all things, Star Wars Episode Two: Attack of the Clones (read: probably the worst one!), a bit character drops a piece of solid wisdom.
“I should think that you Jedi would have more respect for the difference between knowledge and wisdom.“-Dexter Jettster
All my life, I have always tried to be the smartest person possible, even to the degree of being condescending. All because I placed a value on Knowledge above all. Perhaps losing that ‘sharp edge‘ I may or may not have had was never my real strength? Perhaps instead I should focus on things within my control, not without. I may not be able to stop the ‘brain drain’ completely. But perhaps instead I don’t need to.
I’m not suddenly claiming I’m Yoda or something, but maybe I am saying that I can instead try to be that little bit more wise, perhaps a little bit more wiser then I was yesterday. Put less emphasis on being the smartest I can be, and instead just try to be the best person I can be. Be that little bit more kind, that little bit more supporting. I will stumble, I will fail sometimes. But perhaps challenge is what I need, not what I need to avoid.
Sometimes, wisdom is not being a Jedi. It’s being Dexter Jettster.
Merry Christmas! As I may have stated in previous posts, I am based out of Ontario, Canada. And, as of Boxing Day, the province is starting a 28 day ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown.
While as far as lockdowns go this is fairly relaxed, it does mean I’m both laid off(luckily, not permanently!) and probably staying at home most if not all day. I was running low on supplies, but luckily I had a few good paycheques and decided to treat myself.
Glue for the glue god, Paint for the paint throne!
Those of you who following the blog are mostly likely aware of my recent love-affair with Team Yankee. As my first foray into 15mm wargaming it has been a blast, and building up tiny tanks was actually my project for the first lockdown. While I’m still enthusiastic about completing the British I have begun, I’ve ended up with quite a few ‘modern’ armies, and I am very inefficiently plugging away at all of them. The Fate of a Nation box below is actually meant for my Iranian army.
It is a pretty good deal, with nine T-62s and two Shilka AA vehicles. Fate of a Nation itself I find very interesting, but alas my regular Israeli opponents favour the more ‘cool’ Merkava tank, and selling either of them on the Yom Kippur War is a tough sale indeed. However, seeing as you buy the Iranian unit cards separately anyways, you lose nothing by getting the Egyptian T-62 Battalion box, and actually save a good deal of money.
They are the full plastic kit as well, and I’m well and truly torn between assembling them as Soviet T-62s(which, bizarrely, can ally with Iran in the Oil War timeline…), which gives me solid AT-23 tank punch, or instead using them as Iranian ‘T-62s’, which were more likely North Korean Chonma Ho’s or Chinese Type 69’s in our timeline. Oil War allows the Iranians greater access to the Soviet toolbox then the Ayatollah ever got to play with, and one can take T-62’s en masse as a Revolutionary Guard flavoured tank company. I hopefully will make up my mind soonish!
Now Flames of War, a WW2 15mm game had crossed my radar before, I had always dismissed it because I played WW2 already with Bolt Action. 15mm seemed fiddly and time consuming, and I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the company level scale of the game. Team Yankee has proven I do, in fact, prefer the smaller models for company level actions and higher, and one of my friends in Toronto had gotten into it recently as his lockdown project. While chances are I won’t see him until the vaccines have rolled out, I figured I’d take a chance on the game in the hopes of playing him when the world returns to a sense of normalcy.
I was stuck on either the Soviets or the British, and in the end I went for Shermans instead of T-34s. These Flames of War Late War starters are really good value for money, and with the addition of one extra troop of Sherman V’s, I’m well set to play D-Day and onward with the contents.
For Christmas Eve, I decided to get cracking, and started on the Shermans.
Three 75mm Shermans, with two Fireflies. Two of the 75mm vehicles are going to be my command section, and the two Fireflies will be slotted into the two Troops I will have once the full set is complete. The spare 75mm will be another tank in one of those said Troops.They are very pretty little tanks, but quite fiddly! I found the Yankee kits to be much easier to assemble. I do love the included tank commanders!And a 17 Pounder Firefly! A beautiful little tank. My full force sadly only includes these two!
Now I’ve got a lot of stuff to work on. My goal this lockdown is a bit more modest; clear my Flames of War and Team Yankee assembly backlog. Will I succeed? Chances are, no! But it’ll keep me busy and out of trouble. Tomorrow I will crack on with the T-62’s. If I’m feeling particularly handy, I might knock out some WW2 stuff as well!
For now, happy War-gaming wherever in this wonderful world you are, and a very Merry Christmas! Stay Safe everyone!
As so often happens in our hobby, I have wheeled and dealed my way into yet another Cold War army. This time, it is the patriotic poster boys themselves, the United States Army.
Valley Forge, Custer’s ranks, San Juan Hill and Patton’s tanks, And the Army went rolling along!
This was an interesting deal indeed, as it travelled between several people before eventually ending up in my hands. I was never intending to play Americans, but having an army pretty much fall in your lap is hard to say no to.
My plan is for this army to be a ‘demo’ army, one I can wheel out at the Clubhouse for games if a person doesn’t own a Team Yankee army and wants to try it out. Of course, I’m getting awfully attached to these wee plastic men, so I reserve the right to be selfish and keep the Freedom all to myself.
However, this army was a hodgepodge, mixed from many sources and missing a few of the unit cards. I decided early on that the M60’s (the not-Abrams tanks on the left) would instead be used…for yet another different army. But more on that later. The rest of the force was viable, and I decided to add some of the newer releases, along with the newer book, to my collection.
First up, I added some more modern airborne punch with two Apache gunships. While the jury is out on just how ‘good’ these helicopters are in Team Yankee, the kit itself is beautiful and a great example of how far Battlefront has come in their kit design.
These are robust, well detailed, and well designed models. I had no trouble putting them together!They are also quite large! Absolutely dwarfing the Cobra gunship on the right!While the size difference isn’t that comical, it does show just how imposing an Apache really is!
Secondly, two of the Abrams tanks in the army I got were done up as the later M1A1 variant. While, oddly enough, the kit included this option since its release many moons ago, it was never reflected in-game until the American book release this year. As such, I didn’t have the cards.
I also wanted more of them, so I purchased(on sale, might I add!) an additional platoon of Abrams. These will be assembled as 1 M1A1HC, and 4 M1A1 tanks, allowing me in total to field two platoons of three and command of these heavy-weight US bruisers. Expensive points wise, but with T-80’s on the prowl I’ll need the protection…and firepower.
While the rest of the Abrams remain on sprue, I have managed to assemble the command tank. With just the auxiliary power unit being the only difference(on the kit, the real tank differs quite a bit!), I wanted to add some spice to the model.
I was inspired by a model Battlefront did, featuring an ACAV turret from an M113 APC on an M1 Abrams. While in no way historically accurate, or even doable(I have no idea if the cupola would even match up correctly), it had the advantage of looking really cool.
So, I cued the music, and got to work.
The CO peers out, looking for Soviets. Or just posing for Stars and Stripes, who knows?I also took another massive liberty and replaced the loaders machine gun with yet another gun-shield and an M60 machine gun. Not realistic. Very cool.Combined with the APU(Auxiliary Power Unit), this command tank will not be mistaken for anything else.Cutting an imposing figure from the front!All in all, happy with my work!
While I took some pretty large creative liberties with this tank, I hope it looks good! I personally quite like the effect it gives off, and the calibre of the machine guns remains the same so no conflict with the unit card. Perhaps the Captain here is leading his company into a West German town, and traded for the turret. A tank like this deserves a little story to go with it.
Christmas promises some Bradley’s to go with my Abrams, so I can mount my grunts into some more protected transports. While the M113’s aren’t bad, I did want something similar to my British Warrior IFVs.
I may be watching this movie for inspiration!
As for the rest of the army….Since I lacked unit cards for the M109 artillery pieces and the M60 tanks, I had to think for a bit. The M109’s I can easily grab the new plastic M109 kit to add some additional firepower to the battery, and grab a slew of extra cards as well, the M60’s were another matter. I didn’t see myself using them as Americans, Marines or regular Army. And they weren’t kitted out as Magachs for the Israeli variant either. And I know two people with Israeli armies anyways.
But one other nation in Yankee also use M60’s, and that is Iran. With the Team Yankee sale on at Meeplemart in Toronto, I purchased the Iranian unit cards, and two boxes of Ayatollah’s Revolutionaries. While I’ll need to steal a Chieftain command tank from my pile of unbuilt Brits, combined with ten M60 tanks I have, at least at my local level, a viable force.
I’ll be chipping away at my pile of unbuilt Yankee goodness over the next few days during my surgery recovery, so expect a few more blog posts over the holidays. Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and Merry Christmas!
When my friend and I first decided to play The Very British Civil War setting, it was I who suggested I play the bad guys. I will be up-front: I prefer to paint my Royalist contingent, in their old WW1 style uniforms, as opposed to the more striking British Union of Fascists(BUF) paramilitary uniforms.
For example purposes only, a picture of said Royalist uniform.
This is for two reasons, firstly since the Royalists are fairly easy to paint! Nice chunky detail, an easy basecoat, and they take well to washes. The BUF, in black, suffer from all the problems of painting black uniforms: contrasts and an overall flat feeling.
Secondly, my primer. I used Rustoleum Flat Black, which went on a bit satin and overly smooth. Nothing likes to stick to it! All my BUF were sprayed in one go, and all will suffer this problem unless sprayed over with a flat black from a different manufacturer.
Of course, all this complaining is very much a case of a bad craftsman blaming his tools, and it isn’t getting my Fascist jerks painted any faster. So after doing important housework….
Hard to say no to this face when she wants walksies.
And I had at it! Now, I was given some good constructive criticism from members of the Very British Civil War group on Facebook, namely to punch up the contrasting colours to make the black less flat. I’ll let you, dear reader, decide if it was worth the effort.
These guys fought me tooth and nail to get done. It’s almost like they knew they were the awkward cousin no-one wanted at the party. I went for grey jodhpurs to strike up the contrast, and khaki coloured webbing. Their helmets are a nice shade of grey, just for contrast purposes.
Khaki puttees and blond wood Lee Enfields give a splash of colour.Not my cleanest painting ever, but serviceable. Ready to fight the Anglican League!
Now my painting isn’t as sharp as it used to be, which I suspect is a combination of the bad primer causing issues, and more frighteningly an issue with my hands from medication I’m taking. Hopefully this passes in due time, I got a lot of unpainted models!
Now for comparisons sake, here is a picture of one of my BUF Yeomanry models, compared to a regular paramilitary BUF soldier. I’d like some thoughts on the comparison, especially with the increased contrast! Be harsh!
Left, a BUF Soldier, Right, A BUF Yeomanry constable.
I think the difference is a positive one, but I think for consistency the Yeomanry lads will stay in that colour scheme.
On a different note, I’d like to weigh in on a discussion that seems to come up whenever the BUF miniatures range gets brought up. That is, historical accuracy.
The bastard himself! I may hate fascism, but man those uniforms are spiffy.However, the average joe made do with a black shirt and pants. Hardly a military organization!
In real life, the BUF were little more than thugs, with a very basic uniform, and they certainly weren’t toting rifles around! For miniatures like this, the range from Warlord for their Operation Sea Lion expansion works really well! And for some people’s Very British Civil War setting, this works. For me, it doesn’t. Allow me to explain why!
Warlords great offering of BUF miniatures, a much more realistic take then the route I took.
In the Very British Civil War, Mosely is Prime Minister. I’m extrapolating here, but I like to imagine that the BUF goes legitimate; an armed paramilitary force for both policing and bodyguard purposes, with elements trying to integrate into the British Army or stand apart as an armed, military wing of the Party in general. For this, Footsore Miniatures offerings are fantastic, a much more wild extension of the historical record, and very ‘Waffen SS’.
For my friend and I’s VBCW, we have gone with the latter interpretation, to make for a neat enemy for his Albertine forces to fight. I’ll be running them as inexperienced, badly trained fanatics using the Bolt Action rules, brave but not particularly well drilled and prone to breaking off an attack if it goes south. Maybe using the Italian rules? They’ll be backed up by Royalists using the British rules, stiffening the back of the army I play as a whole. I want the BUF to be dangerous, but not overpowered.
Anyways, I’ve said my opinion. If you disagree or want to debate it, I’m more then happy to! Just comment away.
In other news…and a little teaser of what’s coming. I’ll leave you with a model to ponder over…
Redcoats? On my blog? Its meant to be!
As well, my battle report from a while back for Zona Alfa was very well received! I won a prize in the associated contest, and got a signed copy of the rules from the author, Patrick Todoroff! I’m quite chuffed with my win, and hopefully I can get back to Zona Alfa fairly soon!
Signed by Uncle Vanya himself! Maybe another Zone expedition is coming?
But for now, that is all I have. Happy wargaming wherever you are, and God Save King Edward!*
*Not Prime Minister Mosely though, he’s an absolute jerk!
