Quiet Month

So alot has been happening and I've abandoned the blog for nearly a month (shameful).  I also have to confess to being sidetracked a little by the Flames of War "Fate of a Nation" Booklet which was released in Wargames Illustrated.

So what am I doing now?  Well I've been contacting alot of producers to discuss models and up coming models.

IRISH SERB's MINIATURES - https://sites.google.com/site/irishserbsminiatures/

 Well I've ordered some stuff from IRISHSERB and hope to get that up on the blog as soon as it arrives.

As well as some HMMWV's as I want to use the M113 spares from the BF Boxed set to magnetise and make alot of variants of the HMMWV's.

Brian is also working on some excellent stuff in the back ground.

Oh he's doing an M60A2 Starship!!

This is an amazing model and I hope he continues to produce some of the estoric and rare vehicles of the Cold war period!

KHURASAN MINIATURES - http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/

I've also been talking to Khurasan Miniatures about their YOM KIPPUR releases. But their more modern releases are also very appealing, although not one for rivet counters, this could proxy for an M1 or M1A1 and I certainly wouldn't moan. It's a beautiful model.

1 of these in Resin for $12.99 - Yet to be confirmed but Khurasan does do T-62's at $12.99 in a Company pack of 10 for $119.99 e.g £75.  I think if he did the same for these Abrams at 10 for $119.99 e.g £75 it would be a great Deal to any one wanting to collect a US Armour Force. 

Here is the Master Centurion model he's using for Yom Kippur Centurions, also useful to anyone collecting Danish or Swedish forces in 1986, as these could be converted and added to easily. 

This altered with Photoshop, as the background was fussy, so I pulled it out and put it on a Whitebackground the model hasn't had anything changed.

QUICKREACTION FORCE - http://www.quickreactionforce.co.uk/

I've also been e-mailing QRF and talking about their miniatures, which I have to point out have just dropped alot of the prices of their post War Tanks by 50p, down to £5.50. Combine with the discount code, or a multipack buy these are great if you want to pick some more Tanks or Vehicles! Here is a summary from their Website.

Price Changes 

The basic infantry pack price has increased to £2.70 for 8 foot or 4 cavalry figures. I'm sure you will agree this is still very good value for money, at under 34p (approx USD 55c) per figure. All price codes A-H have increased in proportion, so the elephants wagons, carts and chariots have gone up too :-)
All postwar tanks have been LOWERED in price!
All postwar personnel carriers have been LOWERED in price!
All modern tanks have been LOWERED in price!
All modern personnel carriers/MICVs have been LOWERED in price!
To be able to afford this, all other postwar and modern vehicles have had their prices increased slightly, but hopefully this will enable you to get a larger army on the table faster and more cost effectively than ever before, especially if you order in bulk and take advantage of the built in platoon pack discounts!
There are no changes to WW1 or WW2 vehicle ranges

CAPTION COMPETITION :- 

This was completely my fault I clean forgot....Don't worry I've got to pick the Winner, grab a Prize and add another Caption this week. (I'm a terrible human being  :)  ). 

Kind Regards,

Mike

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.

M113 Review

Several people have asked why I didn't put up a review of the QRF M113's, honestly I kind of wanted to skirt around them. Secondly I was trying to block out the pain......I bought the BF boxed set simply to cathartically  cleanse myself of these models.

Well be careful what you wish for..

Frankly the QRF M113's are awful - Sorry but they are....The Top Body doesn't fit the lower body, the Tracks don't fit, it took lots of effort to get the Tracks anywhere near the body....

All you get is the .50cal Turret....

All round, and I hate slagging off miniatures, but these are rubbish in fact I'm getting bloody angry typing this!

In my fit of angry pique I decided to buy the Battlefronts New M113's and I duly did....These are so damn good, they make the QRF stuff look even worse.

Where to start......Well they are £19 for 4.......Excellent value and actually cheaper than QRF, so you pay less and get more?  This is clearly where BF are going and it seems like a they are following the Plastic Soldier Company in terms of Quality and Price.

You get 4 M113's in various Variants, Decals, Crewmen and Mortar Crewmen!!!!!

Well these things actually come in 5 variants, all on the Sprue, and loads of weapons for Converting and future projects.

So what can you make?

M113 , M113 w/ 0.50cal, M113 w/ Minigun, M113 w/0.50cal Okinawa Turret, M113 w/ 0.50cal Modern Turret, M113 w/ 40mm GMG, M113 w/ 106mm Recoiless Rifle, M113 w/ 81mm Mortar, M113 w/4.2" Mortar, and M113 Zippo Flame thrower. 

You think this enough for the price? Well you also get the ACAV variant, and also things like Mud Guards.

The size difference is quite marked too, I'm not sure which one I prefer from the size perspective but the Battlefront ones win hands down across everything else. I'm also not sure if the size difference is that noticable (except when they are next to each other) and if you carried the BF ones throughout your force I don't think anyone would notice plus with Tanks and other vehicles it would work well. 

This picture.....It completely illustrates my take on this.

I'm keeping all the spares for my HMMWV's and other projects, and I will be converting my own Infantry Mortar Teams, etc using these Spares. Also the Miniguns are cracking for Helicopters etc.

I am very happy with this boxed set and would recommend anyone who needs M113's for Modern to just pick up this boxed set, it is quite simply the best 15mm Option on the market and gives lots of spares and options.

Big Update

A few quiet weeks, but I have been slowly amassing alot of vehicles and items to be finished...Here are the latest additions to my Army.

2 x UH-60 Blackhawks (QRF)

5 x MH-6 Little Birds (QRF)

4 x M113 (QRF)

2 x ZSU Shilka (QRF)

3 x 2S3  (QRF)

1 x FV103 SPARTAN (QRF) (sorry for not putting this in Original post!)

1 x FV105  SULTAN (QRF) (sorry for not putting this in Original post!)

So here they are, ready for priming and painting.

ADDITIONS TO THE SOVIET FORCES

Russian Artillery Section, I intend to get an MTLB and 3 Ural Ammo Trucks to finish this Platoon off.

Some Air Defence to try and fend off A-10's and NATO Attack Helicopters

With my Soviet forces I'm pretty happy, I have Tanks, IFV's, Artillery, AAA and Infantry. To round out this Battlegroup I might pick up some BDRM's to act a further scout unit and maybe some MRLS. I might even consider expanding the BMP's so I can field a Battalion though this would require a minimum of another 20 BMP's so I might just leave it as is, and spend the difference on other models. 

ADDITIONS TO THE BRITISH FORCES

Two new British Vehicles to act as my HQ and FAO for the British Forces, I intend to add some more Spartan MCT with MILAN Launchers and some Tracked Rapiers in the future.

The Helicopters are for my US forces.

I was little bit disappointed by the QRF M113's, however I have a plan and intend to invest in Battlefronts new M113's (I will use the .50cal Turrets for HMMWV's so I will buy Peter Pig TOW HMMWV's and magnetise them). Here is the Sprue they are releasing this month and it comes with lots of options so will be a great buy for anyone who is playing as NATO.

 The ability to make 0.50cal M113's, Mortar Carriers or Convert them to other's like the M577 Command vehicles, or even make the Vehicle Plain.

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.

6 HOURS LATER - BAOR FORCE

These models are very nice indeed. (1 done another 5 to do)

The FV432 is very nice indeed, it comes with alternate hatches so you can mount a Mortar inside the Vehicle which is very nice. The Tracks and wheels are very crisp, and detailed much better than my experience with Battlefronts Flames of War versions in with White metal tracks. 

The model comes in 5 major pieces, these pieces go together well, but you will need to use some Green Stuff or that Games Work shop Liquid Greenstuff to smooth our some of the slight gaps that always occur on metal models. This is not a major job and neither is it due to bad casting, it's just par for course when working with Metal models.

The Chieftain Platoon was very enjoyable to build, and they are much larger than even I expected. The heft in the model is considerable, these are not fragile miniatures and even the barrels are firmer and stiffer than others I have used. I am unsure if QRF use a slightly firmer alloy, but it certain feels that way, there was of course some filing / filling and cleaning but these are very good quality Casts. 

A minor point, is that the Mantlett (where the Barrel meets the turret) wasn't a great look, but I Green stuffed some detail there to make it look better and based it on some Chieftain pictures.

Just to give a sense of perspective and scale, I grabbed one of the PAVN Units I am converting to Motor-Rifle Infantry as a comparison. I will also dig out some FOW Tanks just to get that sense of scale across. 

I've used a Battle Front Tiger from Flames of War (also 15mm) it's a very good illustration of the size and shape of a modern Battle tank Compared to even the largest of battle tanks in WWII. As you can see the size Comparison is pretty accurate, with reclined drivers modern MBT's have a much lower profile and are somewhat squatter (is that a word?) and broader with a larger flatter turret.  You can also see the detailing between them is very good, I cannot wait to get some paint on these Chieftains, although I am toying with the idea of Camo Netting (using open weave bandages), so they look more like this:-

I have actually modelled some of this Camo netting on now, once painted it should look alot better.

THE BATTLE GROUP

So here is the Force, more will be added over the next 12months, but it's 1500 points worth. 

Chieftain Mk5 x 4 = 800points

FV432 Mech Infantry Platoon = 400 points

FV432 MILAN Platoon = 300 points

So it will be good for the opening few months of the campaign and I will add to it over the next 12 months (Probably another Platoon of Chieftains or Mech Infantry, then some specialist pieces such as Scimitars and Tracked Rapiers).

Now to finish them off, and then prime then ready for a nice paint Job!

SOVIET MOTOR RIFLE

A quick Picture, of the vehicles, I will do a completely seperate post on these:-

THE OTHER FORCES

The US and particular the BUNDESWEHR forces were extremely nice models (more than a little jealous) however the Campaign members who bought these forces can review them and I will "Copy & paste" it into this Blog. Onwards and Upwards.

RESOURCES

This Website is great for Camo Patterns and Decals (have a little explore there are Gems galore in this)

http://www.armouredacorn.com/campatterns.html

Also this Website is good for Decals they are 1/87 rather than 1/100 however they should work well and nothing comparible is available in 1/100 (unless someone can show me otherwise?).

http://www.tl-modellbau.de/en/TL-Decals-1-87/Military-Decals/Military/Int-Armed-forces/

2Kg of Lead? YES PLEASE

Many thanks to QRF with this large Club Order, Chas and Geoff have done us a particular favour and should be lauded for their support of Modern Vehicles in 15mm Scale. 

The Boys have all agreed to populate the QRF Reviews with Objective reviews of all the units which should help all the 15mm Modern Collectors with more information. 

Individual force model reviews to follow, with pictures and descriptions. This however should have most of you salivating. I certainly am.... Christmas most definitely came early!