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).

7. CARRION BIRD

Major Johanson walked among the debris of his squadron, sweat dripping down the inside of his MOPP suit and respirator. His breathing was ragged and hot, he wanted nothing more to rip off the claustrophobic mask, but he knew to do so would expose him to the persistent Blood Agent those Soviet bastards had hit his unit with.

He continued on to his decontaminated aircraft, in its sealed hangar. He entered through the decontamination station and was hosed down quickly and thoroughly. Once inside and given the all clear, he approached his AH-64 “Crow Industry”, as Squadron Commander his call sign was “Crow 6”. His countenance was as dark as his mood and the comparison with a Crow was apt, he was keen to get the hell away from the established airbases to FARPS and dispersal points where the Soviets had less of chance to hit him whilst he was on the ground and impotent.

The Gunners and most of the ground crews had all moved out to FARPS and dispersal stations and the Apaches left, which had survived the bombardment by conventional munitions, and been scrubbed down  were now ready to flown out between Soviet strikes. This was going to be a “Turn tail and run” Operation they had lost an awful lot of Aircraft. Once at the Dispersal area he would Arm up grab his gunner and head out to help the 11^th Cav to the East of him.

He removed his mask and MOPP suit and quickly leapt into the cockpit, the ground staff leaving their gear on helped him out. 3 mins later he was good to go, a further minute elapsed as his number 2 over in the other Apache gave a thumbs up. They daren’t use the Radio’s due to the Soviet direction finding equipment getting a heads up and sending a further Salvo of missile their way, but it would also be pointless with the airwaves crammed at almost all levels of the Frequency spectrum with Jamming signals.

He could smell his own sweat and body odour, the smell of Charcoal, fullers earth and he desperately wanted to shower. He literally was sweltering in his own juices and worst of all he needed a toilet break, but that was not a priority what he really needed to do above all else was get his bird well away from this area. The Crew chief nodded, to him with a Thumbs up, raised a Green wand and nodded. The entire Ground crew in their NBC suits slowly wheeled his aircraft forward by hand,  and another team open the doors by hand. Jesus Christ, he thought this is like being in World War I with everything done by hand, all this technology and it comes down to man pushing a 10 tonne vehicle by hand.

Once clear, he skipped the startup checks that he so normally and fastidiously followed, there was simply no time. He did the minimum with the Auxiliary systems, engine and hydraulic systems and avionics that he need to get away from the field with. It felt like Eon’s as he waited for the Engines and Rotor Head to build up speed, as soon as it was at speed, he immediately pulled up on the collective, diving forward and left, his number 2 was about 5 seconds behind him, also having skipped the startup checks as per their quick brief.

Major Johanson quickly got upto 100kts levelled out and kept below 30ft, scanning for power lines and obstacles which would be a bastard to spot in such Grey and snowy skies. A flash caught his attention and he watched another BM-27 Rocket Strike on the Airfield, the Hangar he had just left was okay, but 500 metres away once again the A10’s bore the brunt of the assault. At least in a Helicopter he could land and take off in a field, these A-10 Warthog’s needed Runways and that made them vulnerable. So far just over half of them survived in their hardened shelters, but the crews were being decimated partially by Soviet Conventional munitions but chiefly it was the Chemical Weapons that followed the Heavy Explosive strikes. The new holes and impact damage was exploited by the Chemical Blood and Nerve agents which seemed to hug the ground in the Freezing cold atmosphere.

As he looked up, he did a quick instrument check, altered his course by 2 degrees and settled in for the 20 minute flight to the FARP. He had eight Helicopters left of sixteen, just eight.....

BAOR Finished

I will add more units to this, principally a Recce Platoon, another Challenger/Chieftain Platoon and an Abbot Gun section of 3 x 105mm Guns. 

One of our other Players is also collecting a UK Battlegroup, his is more of an Mechanised Force with additional Support elements rather than Tanks. This is the composition of his Battlegroup:-

Also the campaign is coming on further with a rules and aide memoires coming together. I will publish this as a group of documents on the AMBUSH ALLEY FORUM so others in the Force on Force Fraternity can make use of them and the time spent on them isn't a waste.

AIR SUPPORT

I've picked up some bits my wife said I could have as Stocking fillers for Christmas (YES *Bunches up fist*). 

I've seen these before and actually for the price / scale / and the fact they are painted they are decent enough. I will no doubt get sick of them at one point, re-spray them, paint them and buy some more decals, But for our purposes they will be great. 

I've also picked up these, which I think for a late 20th Century European Conflict are vital to setting the scene and reminding everyone that it is a modern Battlefield despite the look of fields and copse woodland being the same.

AND FINALLY......

The 1st batch of tokens are done, quite pleased at the result, total cost for Die stamp and 300 counters + Sticker Paper is £20. Still have lots of counters and 16 sheets of paper, now preparing Tokens for all the players and also a bucket load of spares. Obviously being WARPAC I will need more due to having more Vehicles, Infantry, well just about more of everything. ( A big thank you to Oberst Fischer - it's not easy doing all this but with others helping out it's really more of a pleasure).

"COLONEL RUSTY'S BOYS"

A quick visual update of the CMBG being painted up by Rusty of "Hurry Up and Wait" Fame.

http://falklandsctg317.blogspot.co.uk/

I think you will all agree that these look Ace! This is an Infantry fire team and a GPMG/MAG of the Royal 22nd Regiment R22eR "Vandoos".

BRAVO ZULU.

I have to say these put my efforts with my British DPM to shame, time for me to man up and up my game as Rusty has raised the bar with the quality of these miniatures (even the little Canadian Flags in the Corners makes me Jealous....)

This project is rapidly snowballing, I'm pleased with it and working hard to keep it on track.

MOTOR RIFLE CONTINUES:-

Almost ready to paint my Motor Rifle units, still putting off the Infantry struggling to raise the enthusiasm to tackle 16 odd Stands of infantry including basing them and priming them....Hey ho, to borrow that wonderful British Military saying "Head down, arse up, just keep going".

FALL OF LUBECK

/011230ZFEB86

/FROM: COM72PZGRN

/TO: COM3PZDIV

/INFO:

COMNORTHAG

SACEUR

/SIC: AAB

/SUBJECT: /SITREP/

A/ IGB COMPROMISE TOTAL/ SOVIET FORWARD ELEMENTS DESTROYED/ LIGHT PROBING BY SOVIET RECCE TROOPS/ BELIEVE MAIN SOVIET LINE OF ADVANCE SHIFTED FROM WEST TO SOUTH AROUND RATZENBERGER ZEE//

B/ CENTRAL LUBECK NOW UNDER CONSTANT ARTILLERY BOMBARDMENT BY 3SA/ HIGH LEVEL OF CIVILIAN CASUALTIES//

C/ UNABLE TO CONDUCT PROACTIVE DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS STRENGTH LESS THAN 20% OC/40% CASUALTIES / ARMOUR SITUATION 60% OF IFV OOA/ SUPPLY LEVEL GOOD//

D/ A COY OIC TOOK INITIATIVE DESTROYING ALL BRIDGES IN LUBECK/ LIGHT PACK ICE ON RIVER HAMPERING SOVIET BRIDGING OPS//

E/ A COY 20% STRENGTH/ B COY DESTROYED/ C COY 40 % STRENGTH/ D COY UNKNOWN/ E COY HOLDING TRAVEMUNDE/ F COY DESTROYED / G COY UNKNOWN//

F/ UNDER CONSTANT EN AIR AND ART ATK//

G/ UNABLE TO FULFIL MISSION/ INTENTION TO TAKE DEFENSIVE POSITIONS TO DENY EN FORCES LUBECK//

H/ WILL HOLD POSITIONS UNTIL OVERRUN OR DESTROYED GOD SAVE GERMANY//

BT

RRRR

Recon Ordered by COMNORTHAG after 72 Pz Gren SITREP was not received at 011330Z FEB86. The 72nd Panzer Grenadiers was the 1st NATO unit to make contact with the enemy. They were annihilated to a man, at approximately 1330z, 1 hour after the signal above was sent.

Works on going

Continuing to weather and base the Infantry, now looking pretty good. A few more steps and they will all be ready for final sealing and to fight the WARPAC Hordes.

SOVIETS MOTOR RIFLE COMPANY:-

Is now assembled and ready for colour priming. It really gets across the scale of things NATO had to deal with, all the Armour here has to be dealt with by 4 Chieftains and a MILAN Platoon. I haven't even started the Soviet Motor-Rifle Infantry (16 Bases in total!). 

 So now it's a case of knuckle down to the Infantry and I can spray all the Units ready for painting.

Force on Force Token...

I'm not overly impressed with the Force on Force Tokens available from certain suppliers. They look awful and lack a certain logic to them. My intention is to produce my own, and if any others want to copy these and use them I have no problem with this.

A quick link to the Ambush Alley Forum where I uploaded the templates of the Tokens.

http://ambushalleygames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=10572

I will print these on Sticker paper, punch them out with a 21mm paper punch and then stick them onto 22mm White Tally discs. The whole thing costs £10, and I have 20 sheets of Sticker paper and 200 tally's, should be enough!

So here are the designs for the Counters:- 

So all told I will double up the sides of the tokens in some cases, so that one side is 1 KIA and the otherside is 2 KIA etc. 

Equally for the Campaign Map I will be used some of the counters for Artillery, and Units.

Here is an Example of the WARPAC Counters, these will obviously be used on the Campaign Map.

Again I will use the method above, to create the Unit Tokens. 

Work in Progress BAOR Battlegroup

Okay, tried to crack this force this weekend, but I have lost the spray nozzle to my DULLCOTE which is annoying. As you will see the models are far too shiny, when I find the Nozzle or buy another can I will sort this out. Secondly I will buy some of the Decals to complete these models, with the proper details. Finally I've settled on an approximate looks a bit like DPM pattern for my troops, at 15mm I try to get an Impressionist effect, I am not a fan of the Black lined Cartoony look that many Flames of War Players go for. Anyway enough chat, here are some pictures and a breakdown of the paint scheme.

Thanks to COLDWARGAMER for some advice, once I get the dullcote on, it will be a final touch up and paint job and decals, so this is at 85% done. The colour scheme for all the Vehicles is:-

1. Prime (Black)

2. Whole vehicle - 2 x Light coats of Vallejo Russian Uniform (924).

3. Black Stripes - 1:1 Mix BLACK + Vallejo Dark Seagreen (868).

4. Camo Nets - Vallejo Flat Earth 983

5. Smoke Launchers, Barrel, MG's - Vallejo Dark Seagreen (868) 

6. Wash entire model - GW Badab Black Wash. 

7. Varnish - Vallejo Gloss Varnish - 72072

8. Pin Wash - Vallejo Black Shade Wash.

9. Dry Brush - 1:3 Vallejo Russian Uniform (924) + Vallejo Kharki (988)

Should now look like this:-

Still to do:-

10. Dullcote.....

11. Gloss varnish small area's apply decals.

12. Add weathering powders

13. Final Dullcote.

The MILAN Platoon was a much more difficult prospect.....(I used the Beret of the Royal Welch which is a sandy / light brown)

1. Paint all models Vallejo Russian Uniform (924).
2. Paint all Small Arms / Binoculars / Boots Black.
3. Paint on area's of Flesh and Hair your own choice of colours.
4. Lightly paint across body with small spots of Vallejo English Unifrom (921).
5. Lightly paint across body with small spots of Vallejo Khaki (988).
6. Lightly paint across body & MILAN with small spots of Vallejo Reflective Green (890).
7. Lightly paint across body with an exceptional small brush fine lines of Black.
8. Wash with a Dark / Black wash but do not allow to pool on uniform or it will spoil effect of DPM.

Still to do:-

9. 1:1 PVA + Water mix and paint on base then flock base. 

So that's it pretty simple, another couple of days and I will have this whole force done and I can get on with the daunting prospect of the SOVIET MOTOR RIFLE. 

I may just cheat and spray them the Soviet Green to save time and effort? 

Then Pin-wash, weather and Detail. I won't be spending the time I did on the Brit's that's for sure.

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/