Action Station!

Having started the latest pint-sized Chain of Command campaign "Old Hickory" against new oppo Ian (this time I get to play as Germans), I saw in one of the scenarios there is a train station. I've already got a lot of Normandy buildings for 15mm but don't have a station so I set out to add one to the collection.

I had in mind what I was looking for. The building at the top of this photo is the station in Bayeux, Normandy. On previous trips many years ago I'd stayed in the Hotel de Gare (bottom right) and the view each morning from my attic window was of the station some 50 yards away.

 

Searching on eBay turned up this Auhagen kit in TT scale. There were many other stations but many of them looked too German while this one was near enough. Unsure exactly now suitable TT was for 15mm I decided to jump in with both feet. I was NOT disappointed!

The kit arrived next morning from Wales & I set about putting it together.

I quickly got the main structure assembled but decided to leave the windows and detailing until after I'd painted the main building.

I cut a base (which would eventually include an enclosed stock yard) and gave the whole building a rough and ready base coat of chocolate brown craft paint to add some depth to the finish.

Next came a heavy drybrush of the walls. The windows with the kit came in white plastic, but remembering that the ones I'd seen were green I sprayed them and all the other fittings before drybrushing them too. Paul had given me some white Wills picket fencing in HO scale when he moved out so in a lightbulb moment I resolved to use them for my perimeter.

After working up the roofing and stone areas I added the doors, windows, gutters, fencing and the clock on the platform. Heavy drybrushing again to the base area made of hardboard. I like the pseudo-cobbled effect it gives so I use that a lot now. When finished I fixed the building down with No More Nails and added the grass.

Finished station with some 15mm paras for scale.

Another scale shot with a DD Sherman crossing the line.

I'm really pleased with the final outcome. It fits in a treat with my other buildings. Having been time consuming and relatively expensive (this kit was £18) I'd only recommend going this route when specialist structures are needed, But I'd definitely confirm that TT scale stuff is a great match for 15mm!

This should see its' debut within the next week or so in Mortain.

OML3 The Post 20th Century Games

Moving on to the games from the turn of the 20th century......

First up is Stu Surridge's lovely Russo-Japanese War encounter based on the battle of Shaho 1904 using Through the Mud & Blood. Both morning and afternoon games were apparently bloody affairs and remarks were made about not wanting to be a leader as they nearly all died!

Morning session of Shaho. Sid Roundwood & his opponent Douglas McMillan receive their pre-game briefings. You can read Stu's own coverage here: http://dusttears.blogspot.co.uk/

I ran my version of Sari Bair Ridge-Gallipoli using Chain of Command. Morning and afternoon produced very different but equally knife-edge games. I'll expand on this in a future post.

The Custard Guzzlers from down Devon way put on a Big CoC game based around events from the 6th June 1940, where the British & French joined up to try tol hold the Weygand Line. You can read more over at Jason's own blog: http://welshwargamesdevon.blogspot.co.uk/

Rob Avery stepped up like a hero at the last minute to put on an IABSM late WW2 Russian Front game. Rob ran this in the morning before partaking in Rich's afternoon Fighting Season. while Geoff Bond ran the afternoon session. Here Rob (grey shorts) briefs Noddy & Ralph (Russians) as German commander Jamie (red hoops) looks on. Full AAR at: http://www.vislardica.com/blog/2015/6/9/iabsm-aar-bashnya-or-bust-4e-holm-again

Nick Overland brought along his Cold War adaptation of IABSM. West German forces were tasked with trying to stop the Red Army's advance into their homeland in this one, over some natty new terrain. Originally part of the "Lard Approved" program, this was I Ain't Been Nuked Mum's third annual visit. Hopefully it will see publication in it's own right later this year.

Last, but by no means least, is Rich Clarke's pre-cursor to his forthcoming release "Fighting Season". Set this time in Afghanistan's Green Zone. The scenario, rather aptly for the event, involved capturing that lovely, shiny red tractor! My son Connor had a go in the morning and now wants me to invest in a complete set up for this "'Cos it's ACE!" but then again what would you expect?

 

Next up, a more in depth look at the Sari Bair-Gallipoli game I put on at OML3

2015 Sooo Many Anniversaries!

With this year's OML3 event fast approaching my thoughts had turned to which game I planned to put on this time. Being on June 6th the obvious choice would be a D-Day battle - I'd definitely have most of the kit I needed (and could easily add bits from the garage full of stock if needed). As I've been having enormous fun fighting through "Kampfgruppe von Luck" the latest Pint-Sized offering for CoC (more of that later) I'd been reading up a lot on the battles in the Ranville, Breville area and decided that I'd finally paint the Horsa glider I'd had in the garage for 3 years and do something involving a landing zone.



Pleased with how it turned out, I hatched a plan to add two more.
 

The model is a 15mm  Lil' Flying Fokker available from http://www.oldgloryuk.com/wwii-allies/44/157/412/420 with decals from I-94 which I picked up from here http://www.minibits.net/BR-122-p672/ but have since found out are also available at Old Glory.

However........ (I'll try to keep this short)

I had, for a good while been weakening over these http://empressminiatures.com/userimages/procart84.htm and had decided that to commit to that as a project I MUST sell off something first. I decided that my hurriedly (horridly) painted WW1 Battle Honours Turks done for a tournament I held when I had my old shop would be sacrificed to Ebay.

Then I read the TFL Christmas Special on CoCing up WW1 in which Rich Clarke comments that the early war, with predominantly rifles, would play a little vanilla. The idea went a bit cold. But by that time I'd already found the Turks out of the garage. I decided on a whim that if I tarted them up a bit they'd be OK. I may keep them (you know how that is...right?)

After a few highlights & some tufts I thought they were "keepers"

The it went really weird. I tweeted the above photo, Mike Hobbs offered to lend me all his substantial collection of Woodbine Designs Turks & Anzacs to try out WW1CoC and before you knew it this year's OML3 game was decided as "A Ridge Too Far" Sari Bair Ridge - Gallipoli 1915.

Which brings me on to the subject of anniversaries.

In 2015 we have (among others):
Evesham (Barons War 1265) 750 years AND local to me!
Agincourt (Hundred Years War 1415) 600 years
Waterloo (Napoleonic War 1815) 200 years
Gallipoli (WW1 1915) 100 years
Battle of Britain (WW2 1940) 75 years
Gulf War 25 years

There's a lot to choose from all playable with TooFatLardies rules!


A Life in Ruins?

 

 As previously mentioned, I had been inspired by Derek Hodge's work here http://dereksweetoys.com/2014/07/even-more-ruins/ and had decided that as lovely as my Normandy scenery was looking it all looked a little too 'nice'. While Normandy is indeed very beautiful (a lot like Cornwall but with more interesting stuff to see), it didn't look quite as quaint once the war-waging nations of WW2 had thrown frankly enormous quantities of munitions at it for 3-4 months. What I set out to depict was something more akin to the look of Villers Bocage AFTER shots.

I gathered together all of the suitable ruins I'd had secreted away in the garage for over 5 years

My little hoard was going to be enough to enable me to put out a decent little ruined hamlet at least. There would be a total of 9 houses and a church. Pictured above are six multi-based houses from http://www.fieldworks.org.uk/ (which honestly could have been left as-is but I was aiming for an overall more unifying look), a single storey shell which came with a Jagdpanther kit by Battlefront & the small church donated by my mate Garry (manufacturer unknown). Added to these would be a pair of buildings from Tiger Terrain (I've heard a whisper that these may be making a return with a proper website soon!)

All the buildings were washed in soapy water then got a customary basecoat with Halfords Grey Primer.

I had a rummage in my bits box and turned up some old Missing Link craters and varying pieces of wall left over from when I built the in-tact versions. I scrubbed the grass scatter off the craters and cut fibre board bases for the varying groups of ruins.

Two of the now singly based Field Works buildings with Tiger ruined walls & ML craters.

Same combination. This time with a Tiger crater and the start of some home-made rubble .

Battlefront & FW buildings with Tiger walls and crater

FW buildings (from the multi-bases) Tiger walls & ML craters.

The two Tiger buildings with Landmark Low Walls & ML crater

I magnetised the roofs of these two building to prevent them wandering during games. I took the Dremel to the wall and spayed the inside of the downstairs of both buildings black before attaching them to their base. All of the items were fixed down with NO More Nails. The rubble was made by using Rich Clarke's mix of tile grout and PVA to make a fairly thick paste. Piling that around the buildings and craters before pushing in large pieces of Gale Force Nine rubble, some granulated drain pipe (available from Sgt.'s Mess) then varying grades of Talus (a form of lightweight railway ballast apparently) and finally sprinkling a layer of fine sand to marry it all together.

 

 

The church base after rubble and filler to the walls

 The next step was to base all of the buildings with a thorough coat of chocolate brown acrylic floor paint. This was a tip I was given by old pal Dave Bodley of Grand Manner. I must admit, they looked awful after the brown coat & I panicked a little that they were literally ruined!

Much happier after I'd added some colour!

Then began nearly three days of dry-brushing frenzy. Although I ended up using a palette of six different shades of stone and earth, the end result isn't that apparent in the photos. After looking very 'samey' initially, they really took on a more lively appearance after the grass was added.

 

 

The luckier side of the village!

That alley will no doubt make a great ambush point.

The not-so-lucky side.

The unluckiest place. That's SOME crater!

The whole bunch comfortably take up 2x3 feet square. Enough for CoC or IABSM.

I'm all together quite pleased with how they've turned out. I'm still going to add a little soot in the pock marks in the walls and may keep an eye out for any additional buildings to add while I'm at Derby show. I'm looking forward to giving them a run out in the next couple of weeks at a club night.

Best laid plans.......

Well, that was longer than anticipated!

I've been a tad tardy on the blogging front of late, but like a serene image of a swan on the river, there's plenty going on out of sight.

I could spout any number of excuses as to my lack of blogging. From the school holidays, the good weather, my wife taking some holiday etc. but to be honest, the single biggest factor has been.....

Welcome to our family Maya!

As I spend so much time alone, it had been decided that some company might be a good idea. In a stroke of good fortune, friends of friends were looking to re-home their 2 year old Husky/Staffy cross. I've discovered one of the most enjoyable aspects of dog ownership. There are a large number of wonderful walks ending in beer gardens locally!

Anyhow, back to hobby stuff. As I mentioned I'd not been idle.

First up I laid into my ever enlarging Sherman collection. I'd decided some time ago that as I had enough now I'd actually decal them up with specific unit markings.

Production line. Somehow a few Universal Carriers slipped in too!

I picked up 10 more Sherman II's for a bargain £20 on eBay. Although there's a leaning toward folks believing that all British late war Shermans were V's, the 4th & 8th Armoured Brigades were still equipped with large numbers of II's at the onset of the Normandy Campaign. I added in a couple of Sherman Ic 'Firefly's' to make up troops and a DD to support my paras in their early encounters.

The first four mark II's have been decalled as 4th with their black rat emblem. These would be handy for games in both Operation Epsom & Goodwood settings and they even supported Highland Division troops east of the Orne.

On that subject, the first six carriers also received decals for The Highland Division. The DD got a 'Pregnant Pilchard' (the seahorse emblem on 13/18th Hussars tanks) and large red turret numbers.

All the decals were again sourced from the excellent http://www.domsdecals.com/

Paul next door and me also started our new CoC At The Sharp End campaign (one for another post) between his TWO holidays in the last month!

With the lack of gaming, I've taken advantage to clear a project I've had lined up for some time. Having taken inspiration from Wee Derek's efforts http://dereksweetoys.com/2014/07/even-more-ruins/, I dug out my collection of ruined buildings and set about creating the less picturesque side of Normandy. Pictures will follow.

I've also invested in a new project for CoC. A good deal of time has been spent trawling the interwebs sourcing new scenery, vehicles, a few figures, some Niiice buildings and even a TRAIN! for:

Go East young man!

Rumour has it a platoon (plus) of winter panzergrenadiers may have been painted too. Post to follow.

Finally, next Saturday sees another Wyvern Wargamers all-dayer where the members get the chance to set up a bigger game than on club nights and have at it for longer. I'm massively looking forward to this one as none other than Big Rich himself has accepted the invite to play (not umpire) in a game of 15mm Big CoC! I have the scenario in mind. There'll be five players in total. Yet ANOTHER blog topic for what promises to be a busy week.

The genie is out of the bottle!

Atlantikwall "Throw them back into the sea"

OK, it's been much longer than I would have liked since my last blogging, but I can assure you I've not been slacking on the hobby front! Given that my boys have finished school & my wife has taken a week's annual leave since then, I've been far more productive than anticipated.  Taking into account the beautiful weather and a hospital visit or two, I've not done bad at all.

So, what have I been up to?

While preparing for our last game, between Paul's American Armoured Infantry & my GREEN German festungstruppe (more of that later), the conversation turned to fortifications among other things and my interest was peaked into putting in some work on my little collection of bunkers and what-not.

This was the haul in my "bunker box". All hoarded with good intentions over a period of time.

The two at the rear are small MG nest bunkers from Jamie's collection. In front are two of the now discontinued(?) little Tobruk nests. Both sets from Battlefront.

This radar bunker (left) and 50mm A/T gun pit are both from Antenociti. There will be a white metal gun in the pit when finished (supplied as part of the kit).

These are marketed as Anti-Tank bunkers by Battlefront. I bought them with the intention of using them for more wider ranging purposes, right up to things like the bunkers at Mérville (these are BIG bunkers!)

I picked these up on a whim from eBay for £6. They are quite simplistic, but I wanted to see if they could be employed as observation type bunkers with a little imagination. I think they're from the Spanish manufacturer Baueda.



As the weather has been so warm, I've been working in the garden whenever possible. I cut bases from MDF, glued down all roofs & gave them all an undercoat with good old Halford's Grey Primer. Where appropriate, I built banks of earth around the structures using blue "insulation" foam. This high density foam is awesome to work with & can be cut and sanded to shape easily. I experimented with the texturing using some of Rich Clarke's tile grout and PVA recipe. It worked really well! I'll be using that a lot in future methinks.

I don't know exactly what it was that set me in motion to actually do this project. Given that although they're mentioned in the CoC rule book, there's no real framework for using bunkers in a game. You just CAN'T game Normandy without having some sort of brush with fortifications, so I'd see their use as scenario specific, but their effectiveness (and the likelihood there will be more than one on table) will mean that careful consideration will need to be given to their employment.

The gun pit & "observation/MG bunker with earth tone added and hooks made from florists wire. I intend to add some netting here and there to give them some camouflage.

One of the big bunkers before being drilled and wired. There is some significant blast damage to both of the big bunkers and I hope to depict some protruding rebar by using some gridded plastic mesh from my bits box. I've earthed the roofs of all of the bunkers as I want to give the look similar to the batteries at Mérville and Longues.

Add caption

 

after adding grass to match my terrain I painted metalwork with German Camouflage Black/Green and added small quatities of rust with weathering powder mixed with white spirit.

After painting on a few stripes of Reflective Green to break up the large solid areas, netting made from an old crepe bandage has been added. First I soaked strips of the bandage in very dark brown, diluted craft paint. after leaving overnight to dry I then soaked it again in dilute PVA so it could be shaped and hung around the walls more naturally. I "encouraged" more wayward pieces by supergluing, but when this dried with a white powdery finish I was forced to paint the final product. This was easy as it had dried solid.

Rear view of the same.

It's sister bunker before any camo.

Front & rear shots of the radar bunker. This one is begging for some sort of Douvres-la-Deliverande type assault scenario.

These two have deliberately been left until last. I wanted to experiment on the cheaper ones first!

Paul-Next-Door and me are due to start a new "At the Sharp End" campaign shortly. He'll be playing some flavour of Americans (probably Armoured Infantry given their HUGE amount of firepower) while I'll be putting up the German resistance. We're planning on rolling up characters and generating the finer details in the next few days. I may opt for those green grenadiers again! They are a frightening prospect when you consider how easily hit they are (Paul was hitting on 3-up and re-rolling his ones!), but there's the up-side that you are pretty much guaranteed to use plenty of your toys as support choices, even in the opening games. They even managed to get help from a Tiger in the last outing. Maybe he'll let me get some of these bunkers on the table?.....You never know!