US Command Vehicle M577

I've had some little pointers from a friend, about using Nylon Bristles from a Normal domestic Paint Brush and using them to make "Whip Aerials". They look pretty effective.

This M577 is from the expanded Battlefront Vietnam Range. I've done it in the same camo as my earlier M113's.

I really like these models and the 4 for £19 is pretty good value. I will buy another box of these, so I will have a pair as 4.2" Mortar Carriers and an extra one to make the Command M113, this will leave me one spare but I will no doubt use that another NATO list, or making another US Platoon in future.

I'm trying to find out what markings these things had back in 1986 - Specifically the Cavalry. I think I have seen Charcoal coloured Stars rather than the older style White Stars. If anyone can help or has a decent reference or URL available if you could share it in the comments section.

Additions to my US forces in the next 6 months

1. 3 x AAV's
2. 2 x LAV
3. 4 x Abrams M1 or M1A1
4. 6 x BRADLEY
5. 3 x M109
6. 2 x M106
7. 2 x VULCAN ADS

I will look at the ZVEZDA Stuff when it arrives (God knows when?) and will decide at that point whether I will use that stuff or buy others...

Kharasan has an interesting M1A2..I might buy those because despite being the wrong mark, they look AMAZING.

BRITISH RE-VAMP

I've also started re-doing and neating up my Brits, adding the aerials and re-varnishing them (the original Varnish didn't work so I've gone back to Polyurethane Varnish rather than Model Varnish, and then I spray it with DULLCOTE once the Varnish has cured approx 48hrs).

I will be adding to this shortly with the following:-

1. 2 x FV Spartans
2. 3 x FV432 ( 1 Extra FV432 for HQ and 2 x FV432 Mortars )
3. 3 x FV Abbots
4. 2 x Tracked Rapiers
5. 3 x Scimitars

This will give me a nice rounded out, force

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE - AND A THANK YOU TO QRF

So amongst all the craziness that is my life at the moment, I had a very unexpected but very pleasant e-mail from Geoff over at QRF.

We love Armoured Vehicles!

Hi Mike 

You seem to be developing quite a following. :-)

We wanted to offer something to those who come to/through you. I have set up a redemption code that they enter on checkout. It gives them a 20% discount on orders of £100 or more. The code is "redtide" and works on top of any platoon pack deals (so buying 10 BMPs would give them 10% off those items, plus another 20% off the total if the order total came to £100 or more).

I may even look at setting up some packs that coincide with the orbats you have listed.

Feel free to place it somewhere prominent on your blog.

Geoff 

QRF

A small British Battlegroup - All in QRF vehicles and Infantry on BF FOW bases.

All I can say is Wow....I never really expected any of this, it started as a little project to do Cold War in 15mm with a degree of accuracy and make it playable and fun, and capture that essence of the period. A period I grew up through....

I think this says more about the community at large than about me, how positive and supportive the Wargaming community can be, but also the wider communities on the web and the resources they bring

I gravitated towards QRF due to their huge range of products for the period. Subsequently I have seen more and more new Battlefront items, and also the upcoming Zvezda releases, but as it stands QRF has a much more comprehensive range than anyone else in terms of Modern and Post War vehicles.

But rest assured, I am not in their pocket. If QRF make great models (like their Leopard 2) I will praise them, if it is poor I will say so unequivocally and will try to be fair and objective. I have written many reviews of the models on their Website and they have always allowed my opinions through strait without any interference even if it was negative. So I respect them for their integrity.

If you want to make use of this please do, I certainly have no qualms about using it and. the volumes of models we order as a club means getting a £100+ in an order is pretty easy.

INDEPENDENTS LISTS NOW AVAILABLE

Okay so this is the first iteration, so if you spot anything let me know, I will sort it out. Hopefully this will satisfy some of the more unusual request's I've had for specific Lists.

As with everything thus far, I've gone very broad Brush. I haven't started drilling down to specific Lists like "British Para's" or "Foreign Legion". I intend to at some point, but to be honest the idea of this was Mechanised Battlegroup Warfare and in many regards light Infantry even Elite Light Infantry isn't a great fit and will be very ATGM and Infantry Support weapon heavy and light on vehicles. 

For the sake of completeness I do aim to have all that done by the end of 2014. In the meantime I want to continue to focus on refining and improving the Rules, and getting specific lists together for certain forces and Nationalities. 

One's I have so far avoided have been Mediterranean Forces (so Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Turkey). 

This will be a large job, but doesn't fit in the "German Centric Campaign". I have been considering the second front being an Airborne led Invasion of Greece by WARPAC with follow on ground forces via Yugoslavia. Potentially with Turkey coming to Greece's Aid (unlikely but necessity makes for unusual bed fellows) and with an Amphibious Counter invasion under NATO Command Naples with Spain, Portugal, Italy and Royal Navy forming a huge task force in the Ionian and Aegean. The US Focuses on reinforcing Turkey to protect it's assets there, and to close down the Bosphorus and protect Istanbul and the Eastern end of Turkey from invasion via Georgia or Armenia.

The Invasion of Turkey could be very interesting, as we could easily accommodate massive Tank battles, and Mechanised warfare. Possibly with Iran getting involved as well. So Eastern Turkey could become a real Cauldron..... Just thoughts but it would make for very interesting scenarios. Any thoughts?

SOVIET BATTLEGROUP

 So given my reinforced Company battlegroup is almost complete, I thought I would give an overview.

This was my original Concept

As you can see, I've fleshed this out with several Armoured Cars, some BTR50's and small Battery of 2S3's and some SHILKA's.

Future additions I want to add to this force to make it Complete in my eyes.

2 x MTLB's (Artillery Command Unit and a spare Command Unit)
4 x BRDM (to give a Scout Platoon)
3 x BM27 (MLRS enough said)
? x URAL's & GAZ Trucks.....Like a sh*t tonne of them (Possibly 20).

OTHER FORCES

The US Forces and Bundeswehr Forces are now pretty huge. I don't want to steal the other guys thunder. But I will give an Orbat Picture so you can visual it.......

Much Happier with Results now....

I looked at these over and over and realised that compared to the US Woodland Camo there wasn't enough Tan in there. 

So looking at this I went back to my miniatures, put more a layer of TAN coloured stripes, then added Black and some green to make the pattern more natural. I also exagerated the Pattern which I think is ok at this scale. Here are the Results (I am happy with these models now). 

These had too much Tan but I toned it down with a bit more  "Reflective Green"

A different stand from the front

Under pure Whitelight conditions, all models washed with "Nuln Oil"

Under a long exposure no Flash.

Command Element, Medic with Bag on left and Officer pointing out things of Significance  (Baaawwww - Blackadder!)

Bought some Dead markers for giggles, quite like the Medic with the IV Bag

More Dead bodies

So I need to get the old PVA out do some of the static grass and they will be all done. Thanks for the suggestions. I might even highlight the Hands and faces with a slightly lighter shade just to give some definition.

Next up M113's, M60A3, AAV's and HMMWV's.

SWEET JESUS - ARMA 3 Alpha is out

The Greatest Military Sim has been given Botox and a facelift....

This is in Game......IN GAME!!!!!

Yes it's an alpha, yes it's buggy, but by god if they haven't moved the whole series up like 5 gears. It's still the same game underneath just with alot of the silly things sorted (like grenades). By Autumn this year, this game will be released properly and it will be amazing even if only 3/4 of the bugs get sorted. 

In the meantime if you want to be an Alpha Tester get on Steam and start testing (£19.99) but you will get the Beta and the full release, so it's half-price and you get to make the game better. Nice!!!

USMC / US Army Work ongoing..

Some snaps of USMC / US ARMY Stuff...

I love Peter Pig Models, despite the criticisms of the faces the Quality of the models their weapons, their Web-gear, their stances and detail is just the best I've seen. I would recommend anyone to use QRF Vehicles but use Peter Pig Infantry, they are great, problem is the range isn't as extensive across the Cold War as say QRF.

I have to stay Woodland Camo is a bitch to get right at 15mm or even approximately enough to give that "impression" at this scale....Anyone with any tips post them up. In the meantime here are few snaps.

Platoons, Base coated ready for Camo...

My attempts to approximate the WOODLAND CAMO BDU's. 

To be honest these guys look more Modern, like this guy below rather than like 1986 Woodland Camo BDU's....

It's not as good as I would like, I think maybe more black lines using a Pen, or possible a Black Ink wash?? Your thoughts guys?

On top of this I have 4 x HMMWV's (Peter Pig ones, with interchangable Weapons, so will magnetise and go for HMG's and TOW's) on the way, a pair of AAV's (QRF) and a Platoon of M113's (BF Vietnam Boxed Set), should make an Interesting little Mechanised Force and I might yet grab some M60A3 PATTON just to round it out a bit.

The Truth about Human nature... 

People prefer Pictures. When I do wordy posts like below, the hit rate goes down. When I do picture heavy posts my hit rate goes up. 

So here are some pictures of the forces with Decals. 

I decided to repaint all of the vehicles because for some reason I must not have used the same technique on all of them as they had different shades and washes. I finished them in Gloss Varnish and have added Decals to the vehicles, once they dried I used 3 layers of  DULLCOTE anti-shine Matt Spray Varnish.  I still need to paint and finish the Infantry, but work is getting in the way.

The British Decals were more involved and used many more, but smaller decals. 

My models are coming together nicely, as are other players who I keep pestering to supply me pictures so I can put them on the Blog, or at least link to them.

PENARTH CRUSADE 2013

This weekend I will put on some Demonstration Games with some Club-mates at this good local event. Looking forward to having a look at what the Model Companies are bringing down for us to purchase, I will have a look at the flea market too. 

There will be alot more Pictures from this event so stay tuned.

My Motor Rifle Company is almost finished. 

Question of the Week, any takers what the two Vehicles behind the BTR-70's are?

As you can see I now have 3 Platoons of BMP's and a single HQ BMP plus the two BTR-70's acting as Recce (will get some BDRM's eventually). I am working through the Infantry currently, as well as doing my WWII British Para's (a full painting desk is happy painting Desk!).

So I can finally run this Battlegroup

The next addition will be a 122mm gun Battery based on QRF's 122mm 2S1.

Using this Platoon Structure:-

I will only buy one firing Platoon of 3 Artillery pieces, with an MLTB and three ural trucks. 

More to follow this week, and hopefully some updates from some of the other Force Commanders! 

Another Air Dropped Delivery to the Frontline

The second large Club order has arrived, and Colonel Rusty should be receiving some Canuck Reinforces as well..

This is a Guards Force for Colonel Kristianski, made up of BMP's Infantry, and a 3 Platoons of 3 T80's (Holy ****)....


This is Colonel Markarov's Soviet Airborne VDV Force.

Yup, thats 4 Hind D's with Infantry and a Small platoon of BMD's.


This is the other British Mech Force the Royal Welch, under Colonel James.

The Lynx looks lovely, and should look stunning on the battlefield.

Just for comparison, look at the Lynx in comparison to the HIND.  The HIND is a flying Monster...

I also Received my own reinforcements to the Motor Rifle Company, so I will be able to field 2000 points plus.


SPECIAL FORCES :-


We also received the Special Forces Models which will be used within the Campaign for fluffy reasons, or the previously discussed Critical Actions. The models delivered were:-

SAS - M16/w 203 with nice Beanie hats on (very 80's looking!).
GREEN BERETS - Mix of M16 Commando armed Troops with Field Caps.
DELTA / NAVY SEALS - Mix of more Modern with NVG's and weapon sights.

Reviews and pictures to follow, there will be alot more going on in this blog in the upcoming weeks and will be more model and force centric with the Fluff background being toned down. As future plot lines will be determined by the outcomes of battles rather than my imagination.

Soviet Motor Rifle out of Spray shop

Painting WIP 

Okay inspired by COLDWARGAMER and TACOBAT, I've smashed through the old Motor-Rifle Company. They have been primed Black and then Airbrushed Vallejo Reflective Green, washed in my own Wash mixture (1:8 Black Acrylic to Water with a few drops of Vallejo Glaze Medium). The Blue on the Vision blocks is a nod & a wink to TACOBAT's style.

Now I need to drybrush, weather and put on Soviet Decals.

Based on the Orbat below:-

I will be doing these FO Scale ORBAT's just so everyone is clear how the force will work.

Once I get 2 more BMP's I will re-organise the force into 3 Platoons of 3 BMP's with a  BMP's as a Company Command Element like so :-

So I will have a full 1986 Motor Rifle Company, then I will add in a 122mm Battery to them and some AAA but all of this can be added £30 here and there. But I will have the core of a strong 2000 point force which can be added to in the future.

These will be "Gucci as" when finished and they will be my personal force, the BAOR is my "lend out Army", as once upon a time I imagined I would struggle to get opponents but as it has transpired this mini-project at our Wargaming Club has grown.

CANUCK UPDATE

Colonel Rusty has sent over some more pics of his forces preparing for Operations.

Beautiful and Badass at the same time....

I have also been able to have a look at "Oberst Fischer's Panzer Grenadiers" they are shaping up nicely, as are "Colonel Tempest's Cav" Pictures will follow as I am hounding them constantly for pics for this blog ! (Everybody loves pictures.)

Some Shots from a Test Game last week 

Some gratuitous BAOR war porn, although the scenery is somewhat "Northern France" soon to be changed to more of a German Plains look (cannot get the staff these days).