Tim's Battles

28mm Middle East

2012-01-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

Hoping to play Force on Force with these 28mm Israeli soldiers. These were bought at Vapnartak years ago, one of those 'because they look nice' purchases that you never do anything with. I didn't have a suitable rule set until I recently bought Force on Force but they lend themselves so well to it I had to paint them up. I tracked down the maker and they are by Mongrel Miniatures, who now distribute through Newline Designs. The same company makes Syrians (which I now have 20 of) and PLO to put against they Israelis. They also do Russians/Afghans and various NATO troops and Pakistanis interestingly. Probably for Black Hawk Down scenarios (the Americans were in part rescued by a Pakistani UN force) That and modern day Afghan scenarios.

Hope to play a game soon so will be racing to get the Syrians painted in the next week or so. I have just won a whole 28mm middle east village that I saw on ebay too so just need some desert shrubery and I'm done!

Here are some pics of the village:

YCW Christmas Do

2011-12-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

This festive weekend was the Yorkshire Coast Wargamers Christmas 'do'. Myself, Richie, Peeler and Roger played a rather unexpectedly protracted Zulu war game using DbC (Colonial) rules, designed by our friend and fellow YCW'er Alex Testo.

The game lasted a good couple of hours. The Zulu's steadily advanced on the main British lines and were held back for some time until a flanking Zulu force arrived and forced the British to spilt the line. Despite heroic actions from the British skirmishers and one 'Hooray Henry' NCO the Zulus won grinding down the British lines. Surprisingly ineffective fire from the British infantry and artillery let the side down despite heavy Zulu losses. The remaining main body of British were eventually surrounded, leaving only remnants of baggage and a few skirmishers to escape.

Richie and Roger fieled the Zulu impi's while myself commanded the British, with much needed direction and umpiring from Peeler.

I very much enjoy playing colonials in the Db format, this one works particularly well and simulates the nature of this type of warfare really well without getting bogged down in heavy use of charts and tables. It's very easy to loose with the British if you don't pot enough of the natives early enough on in the game. A well organised Zulu formation crashing into the lines is usually the beginning of the end for the British, as happened here after a lot of reforming and repelling the Zulu attacks.

More of Alex's Db variants here: http://www.dbnwargaming.co.uk/

Be a Man Among Men

2011-11-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

Quick pic of my Rhodesian Selous Scouts in 20mm. Light Infantry to follow. Not quite finished yet, need varnishing in matt and groundwork to do.

First 28mm Winter German

2011-11-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

I have eased off on the amount of dry brushing I do and it seems to look a lot better. This is the first use of some scenic snow I bought at Newcastle with these Artizan Germans and US Infantry. Looking forward to doing some of the Americans next. The fake snow works really well and even has a glisten to it.

Fiasco II Leeds Wargames Show

2011-11-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

Poiniantly the show was in the Saville Conference Centre opposite the Armouries. Sir Jim had passed away the day before so it was moving to be in the place dedicated to him. There were large photos of him and a book to sign in his memory, all tastefully fitting to a great man.

The show was neatly set out with some interesting games. Nothing major but a good couple of hours were spent. I attended with new wargaming pal Roger. We had in tow our WAG's who having had a quick look in and upon realizing it was £4 to get in promptly left to explore the shoe shops of Leeds for two hours. So we were left to do our research without hindrence.

There seems to be a lot of new basing products out these days which is great, many a good figure paint job is ruined by poor basing so it was good to see what's available. My basing will certainly improve from now on.

This game above really made me want to paint up some Greeks!

These guys looked awesome! Didnt look at the game much, I think it was a Black Powder game in 15mm.

Some chaps had made a Db variant for the Mayan wars and were using Revell plastics, which en masse looked effective enough. Lots of mob vs mob battling though with few differing troop types. They were using a desert camo cotton sheet as a table cloth, which again looked cheap and effective.

A good friend of mine fought in the Malayan Emergency and it's great to see that Britannia, now owned by Andy Grubb of Grubby Tanks has a range of figures for this conflict. They seem to be marketed towards the new Force on Force rules players looking for small groups of modern figures. I do have the rules and was tempted but ended up getting a few packs of 20mm Rhodesians from these people: http://www.underfireminiatures.com

Very nice they are too with very well proportioned figure styles and nice accurate sculpting. Just have to wait for them to release the ZNLA figures and find an Alouette kit from somewhere and we have a skirmish. Pics of those to follow once I've painted them.

28mm WWII Update

2011-11-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

Fresh back from the Leeds wargames show. Bought some grass tufts and the Plastic Soldier Company Soviet Heavy Weapons set. Will now get the rest of the Ruskies done. Finished the first artillery piece this evening and added the grass tufts, they are very effective I think but I'll only use them on larger vignette type stands, not on individual figures. Grass tufts can be a bit over used in basing.

Full box set of Crusader Miniatures Early war Germans all done! Really quite pleased with these. I can see the French will be the next box I get from Crusader. Should have picked them up at the show but was a bit purchased out by the time I got back to the stand. That and I still have a lot of Ruskies to finish.

28mm WWII for Rate of Fire

2011-10-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

I have been studying the Rate of Fire rules for a while now and will soon have two opposing sides to game with in 28mm, not that you couldn't use 20mm for RoF. So far I have Plastic Soldier Co. Soviets and Crusader Miniatures Early Germans. I have to say for £20 for a bow full of figures the Crusader figures are hard to beat, they are more robust than Bolt Action, which I have found to have flimsy rifles and need a lot more modelling work than Crusader figures. Anyway, here are a couple of shots of some I have done so far. I think I have over weathered the Gerries?

I picked up 20 or so each of winter dressed Germans and Yanks at the Newcastle show last month. I can't remember what make these are but I'm hoping to pick up more at the next show. I even have some basing 'snow' to use when basing them up. They will be for an Ardennes scenario, again for Rate of Fire rules. I'm hoping to have both finished by the Yorkshire Coast Wargamers Christmas do. Some nice bazookas!

Turning to the Dark Side (Games Workshop)

2011-06-11T04:16:00.000-07:00

It had to happen sooner or later I suppose. For the past couple of months I've been lurking in the local games workshop and have increasingly felt like I was missing out. The shop is only a few steps away from my work office so all too convinient as well. Anyway, after a friend had inspired me with some fantasty/zombie gaming possibilities I was moved to have a go at some GW figures. I've always liked the Imperial Guard and the Valkyrie drop ship is awsome - if mega expensive. I didn't buy an army box in case I hated them and in the first hour of building the figures I was glad I didn't, I've since got better at putting them togther though. The cost has always put me off, but the availability of other players with other armies means you don't have to worry too much about making two opposing sides. Having said that my other prefered army was the Necrons, I can see me getting those when they are re-released.

I finished the first one today and quickly painted him as I would a WWII figure, quickly with a wash or two, dry brushed, varnished and job done. I'm not up to the standard of most GW figure painters but I'd rather get an army done and ready to game with.

I bought a Citadel carry case too. Compared to what you would pay for a case from a 'historical' type wargames manufacturer they are quite reasonable and very tough. Hopefully I'll be on the move with these figures quite a bit!

French Indian Wars (40mm scale)

2011-05-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've had a few Prince of August moulds for a while and cast a few with mixed success. The line infantryman seems to be the easiest figure to cast, that and the grenadier. The others being a lot more tricky and hit and miss, especially cavalry. I had painted the French some years ago, inspired by the figures used in the games/books by Charles Grant. Henry Hyde's popularization of these figures, along with his Spenser Smith range has also been tempting me to do more with them and having attended the WD3 weekend last month and seeing the huge Imaginations game it tipped me over the edge to get these finished.

(Six 60x40mm stands of French Line)

I had the French knocking about in an old toffee tin and decided it was time to base them. I have mentioned to Peeler about doing more SYW period and so decided to base them on 60mm x 40mm so that they will lend themselves well to a DbN game.

I had another 6 bases worth undercoated and ready to paint up, which I have been painting as British line. First four finished this evening. The charm of these figures is the simplicity of the paint job. They look great with minimal detail and no weathering or washing, just paint basic colour and varnish with satin finish - job done!

I haven't yet come accross the Grenadiers I cast. These are much more detailed models than the line infantry but still not difficult to cast. The figure has is posed as throwing a bomb, which may look a bit odd when based togther but it's all about the 'make do'.

For Indians I had some Irregular Miniatures toy soldier style casts. I also have a few of the more detailed Indian figures but I prefer the 'toy' look of these. These are more true to Huron/Mohawk style of weapon and dress anyway. Not sure how to base these, I was thinking only two to a stand so they look very loose order? I could mix in a French Officer to these three and squeeze out 2 stands.

I also have about six cast Cavalry. They would fit onto the 60x40mm bases but I think I may need to make them slightly bigger if only to give them a good coverage of the table.

Once my overhaul of the wargames room is complete I'll begin melting more metal. I still have a couple of bars I got from Irregular Miniatures. I think they will last quite a while yet.

Battlegroup North Militaria and Wargames Show

2011-05-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

This image isn't finished yet. I'm gradually turning it into what will look like an actual 1940's photo.

There were lots of games there this year compared to other years, not many traders unfortunatly but I got what I hoped I would, some more Plastic Soldier company Russians and the heavy weapons set too. I now have more than enough for a Rapid Fire batallion with support weapons. Also got a German 75mm infantry gun and crew to support my Valliant Miniatures Germans.

I coached two games of YCW Toy Soldier Rules with young gamers, two repeat coustomers from last year, and had a DbN game with Peeler. It ground to a draw with me having the advantage, we didn't get chance to finish it but would have been a close run thing.

Ayton Event - in pictures

2011-04-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Recent ebay aquisition

2011-04-21T04:58:00.000-07:00

Very pleased to get this rare item from ebay for only about £4.00. Can't decide if I should get them out the box and painted. Will certainly have a look for more Airfix AWI figures.

Plastic Soldier Company Late War Germans (1/72)

2011-04-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Got these through the post from Drum and Flag this weekend. The first batch are based and undercoated and waiting for my next day off. The poses are almost identical to the Russians, it doesn't matter since they are well thought out. There are no 'waste' poses like you tend to get in other boxes of plastic figures so you end up using everything in the box, which makes it good value.

You also get an instruction sheet for making the figures up, though it's not really needed. This weekend the company launched their Soviet Heavy Weapons set, which I'm very keen to get hold of now and they also do a box of Late War British. They had those in the model shop but by the time I went back with some money they had gone. I'll get them soon though, already have some Ram Kangaroos made up as transport for a Canadian motorized battalion.

Plastic Soldier Company Russians (1/72)

2011-04-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

There has been a White Elephant in the room of Db-Variants. A period that never before dared rear its head. Maybe it's the lemsip going to my head this week but I've thought, why not!? Being ill this week and needing a pick me up I had to buy some Plastic Soldier Company Russians in Summer Dress (1/72) without any real plan as to what to do with them. I began thinking of how to base them and knew I didnt really want to base them individually, once I looked at the basing options it occured to me that I could base three on a 40mm x 30mm base very easily and this suggested a look of a DbA/M/C/N/ACW base. At that point the plan for a DbWWII game started to form.

In the box of Plastic Soldier Company Russians you get three sprues, each sprue can make three rifle companies, an SMG company and a command stand if you base three figures to a base. So the box can make a battalion of infantry. In theory.

I've yet to work out any DbWWII rules but I can see that (plus) value points can be given in combat for such units as the SMG company when used as shock troops. The 'push back' rule could be very useful with these elements and when tanks are used the usual artillery mechanisms from other Db variants can be adapted and applied.

I can see dedicated WWII wargamers reeling in horror at the limitations that these rules would have on a WWII game but the advantages outweigh them when you are trying to make a fast to play very easy game to get into. There is a lot of scope to turn this into a join in demo game for shows or at times when there may be people wishing to get involved who haven't wargamed before.

Update!

Managed to get my first Soviet batch finished today. So here we have 1 command stand, 3 rifle companies and an SMG 'shock' company. This is basically what you get from 1 sprue, you also get a prone light machine gunner and loader but I didn't have much use for these, not a fan of prone poses as they seem to take up too much base space. (T34's are quick builds from Pegasus and the BA-64B is a resin model from Under the Bed Enterprises)

Brittany Spears

2011-02-27T10:11:00.000-08:00

Voici mes Normans. Ce sont les premiers de la boîte que j'ai achetée chez Vapnartak cette année.

York Library Viking Day

2011-02-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

As Part of the York (Jorvik) Vikikng festival this week I had volunteered us to put on a Viking wargame or two at the Library.

We had free reign of any of the large oak tables in the records/archives room upstairs and much to the bewilderment of other casual library users we staged a number of battled through the afternoon. Mostly Viking vs Saxon. Prior to this we had made a very simple DbA based skirmish rules mechanism to fight 1:1 skirmishes with warbands of around 20 figures per side. Thanks to Alex, Peeler and Richie for helping come up with the rules last Friday! We were aiming for something similar to the Toy Soldier rules we have that would allow complete beginners and children to quickly grasp a basic knowledge of what wargaming is while playing out a 30 minute game.

At this level there was no scenery needed as the game simply focused on the clash of two or three warbands, although we did have a few tress around the edges of the gaming area for effect. We played about 6 games in all, with various kids coming along to join in for a game. Mostly it was a straight Vikings in mail armour attacking un-armoured Saxon Fyrd. It rarely went well for the Saxons, even when trying cleaver flanking moves. The aim is to contact your enemy while remaining in formation (shield wall) but this often failed when a warband went 'berserk' and charged. One game saw both sides doing this with equally devastating results. Mostly the extremely simple rules worked well and allowed for some thought to be given to tactics and manuovre within the battle. There is lots of scope to expand them and archers and cavalry can be added also. I'd also hope to add scenery/scenarios to future games.

As usual with our outings a plesant and laid back affair it was! Apparently the Library is having a Roman day later in the year so we may be back for that one.

Vapnartak 2011

2011-02-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

Made it to the annual York Wargames show today. Saw this very interesting game using Schleich/Papo large figures for a medieval style skirmish, designed for 1 on 1 games. Written by members of the Society of Ancients, it uses dominos to factor weapon use and effects of the arms/legs/torso of the figure by using the pips on the domino. Very clever system! I bought their guide to it and will have a play with it someday. Plan on getting some of the figures for the nephews anyway.

I went with a shopping list today and managed to stick to it quite well, I swelled the ranks of my 28mm plastic Dark Age figures by aquiring a set of Gripping Beast Vikings and some mounted Normans, with a few Foundry metal single figures as cheifs. Got a DBA Saxon army (Magista Millitarium) and some single mounted Normans in 15mm from Museum Miniautres, never knew these were based in Driffield! Also bought some nice trees and a hillock from S&A Scenics for the 15mm DBA stuff.

Books: Ancient and Medieval Wargaming by Neil Thomas. I have his book on Napoleonics and it's excellent, this is very useful to for a newbie to the period like me. Also bought and old Osprey book on Vikings, which has some great plates inside for painting references.

I took the photos below at the Gripping Beast display case for reference when I paint up the new plastic boxed sets.

Had a good day but a bit frustrating amongst the crowds. Would have liked to have chatted to the traders a lot more and had space to do more browsing. Next events, York Library 20th Feb, Rydale Folk Museum 26th Feb, Ayton at the end of April and Durham 11th June.

First Viking Warband done!

2011-01-30T13:00:00.000-08:00

Managed to get this finished this weekend. The final few figures were painted much faster and with less care but needs must and I needed this finished. I'm quite pleased with these fellows! Plastic 28mm is the way forward!

Small DBN game at Peeler's

2011-01-28T15:17:00.000-08:00

Had a great little game at Peeler's new wargames room this week. Alex put on a small scenario with his DbN rules. Prussians, mostly enthusiastic Silesian Militia with a couple of brigades of Line and two gun batteries advance on a small town held by a small force of Frenchies. The winner would be whoever held the town after 12 game turns. French reinforcements were on the way but had to be diced for after turns five and eight. The scenario played out really well. A French cavalry regiment made a flanking charge at the massed Prussians quickly taking out the Deaths Head Hussars almost straight away and badly disrupting the Prussian advance in the early moves. Prussian persistence and force of numbers broke the town half way through and fought bravely to hold and garrison the town's buildings until the end, one unit of French line proved a real problem and nearly won the game for the French had the reinforcements turned up in time and had they not been weakened on arrival by fast moving Prussian foot artillery. By move 10 the battle was still in the balance and the French could have fought to a draw by kicking out the Prussians from their garrisoned position. Prussian close combat proved too tough in the end and the town was held by the Prussians.

Prussians hold the town. Frenchie can only turn tail and head back to Paris!

Thanks to Peeler and Alex for a great game. Figures 15mm various makes from Alex's collection. Brilliantly painted and researched!

Pig Wars

2010-12-17T15:10:00.000-08:00

I heard about this game a while ago at this year's Newcastle show but didn't pay it any attention at the time. I stumbled accross it while surfing the wargames boards recently then descovered that this was the skirmish game that Norman will be putting on at the Ayton show at Easter. I obtained a copy of the rules by joining their yahoo group and paypaling the writer who very promptly sent me the very lovingly made rule set, which is 40 pages of background history along with the game mechanics. The game is played with groups of around 20 28mm figures representing warbands of Vikings, Saxons, Normans or really anything from ancient to dark age history. I'm still reading them but will update on how our games go at a later date. It seems a really fun game! http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/PigWarriors/?yguid=40146765

I bought a box of Wargames Factory Viking Huscarl's from an ebay seller, I think they were about £16 with free postage which seemed good value for what you get. The poses are really nice and other than Valliant Miniatures 20mm WW2 figures these have been the first 28mm plastic 'kit' figures I have ever bought with a serious intention to use in a game and I am now a convert, they glue better that expected and unlike metal figures with spears and shields arn't as easily broken when dropped.

I'm not the best painter by any means but was quite pleased how quick and easy I managed this first one. They are undercoated in black and gun metal and silver paint is drybrushed over the mail to give it a bit of definaition and depth. The ground work on the base isn't finshed yet and there will be some static grass added. Really looking forward to getting the others done soon.

The only drawback with this box of figures is that they are all in chain mail and there are no standard bearers. The game requires more of a mix of armour and weapons, such as 8 mail armoured, 8 un-armoured, a leader, a standard and a couple of archers, though there are box and arrow options in this box. Luckily my mate has the Saxons of the same make, which do include unarmoured types, so we can swap about to make the right kind of warbands. In theory you could get three good warbands with figures to spare from just one box of Vikings and one box of Saxons.

* Update!

Got a few more of the angry little fellas done, they paint quite quickly even with having to hand paint the shields, which is quite satisfying to do. I've now ordered a box of Saxons and have my eye on some Norman cavalry from Warlord Games. Should very soon have two warbands ready for a ruck!

Western Desert Rapid Fire

2010-12-05T08:31:00.000-08:00

I'm currenyly spending my enforced at home time (due to the snow) painting up some things for a Western Desert Rapid Fire game. I'm a huge fan of Rapid Fire and don't play it half as much as I should. Colin recently released the supplement with lots of army lists in the new computer graphics style, which are all very useful and interesting! http://www.rapid-fire.uk.com/

I've had a battlion of Braitannia Brits with an attached company of Punjabi's waiting to go into action for some time. Here are some heavy weapons, the rocks are cat litter and the sandbags were made from milliput. Metalic paint was added to helmets for a scratched look.

I unearthed from the lead mountain a battalion of German's made by Raventhorpe, there is about a company or so of Afrika Corps and a full battalion of regular infantry which can be painted as Afrika Corps as above. These are nice and simple figures with good poses, they paint up well and I have satin varnished them for a bit of extra strength to the paint work and to give them that retro Rapid Fire look like you see in the origional books. The Sdkfz is from the Ready to Roll range. I bought a whole load of these along with the Raventhorpe figures second hand many years ago, don't know why I waited so long to paint them. I'm hoping to order a few more.

Ready to Roll Panzer III's (50mm gun) trundle past the Italian fort. These are some of the best models in the RTR range I think, good solid models and nice detail. There is a nice weight to these when you pick them up, better for gaming than fragile plastic kits.

Under the Bed enterprizes make some nice and cheap vehicles and have some quite origional subjects too. They are made from a light resin which is quite brittle and glueing would be best done with a 2 part expoxy resin, if you have it. I don't and have used super glue gel which works ok if you leave it to set a good while. Always a joy to chat to these guys at war games shows! http://www.underbed.co.uk/

Vickers Mk IV Light Tank one of the Front Line models made by Under the Bed Enterprizes. This is my favourite model from their range, nice detail and paints up well.

Germans make use of Italian trucks left behind. The Afrika Corps was always short of transport and used whatever they could forage, including many British trucks. These are Ready to Roll Fiat Dovunque trucks. To see the Ready to Roll range click the Rapid Fire link above.

Britannia Daimler Dingo, great little models these!

I'll add more pics of Rapid Fire games and models when I can. I have another battalion of Kelly Hero's 8th army on order from Grubby Tanks and some more British vehicles SAS/LRDG jeeps & chevrolet's and a Crusader tank all Britannia. Also have some Fallshirmjager in the post to use for a Crete scenario, which I hope to use the 8th army for also, possibly mix in some standard uniformed Brits in for that 'Medierainian' look of the troops of that theatre.

Berdan's Sharpshooter

2010-11-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

I am painting up a few of these at the minute, they are supposed to be Union 'Coloured' Infantry made by Call to Arms but the long frock coat lends itself very well to them being painted as Berdans Sharpshooters too. I need to get the Iron Brigade from Call to Arms too. These will be used in skirmish roles in the forthcoming horse and museket toy soldier rules.

Timpo 8th Army machine gunner

2010-11-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

I had a couple of these from my youth lying about and managed to get some from ebay too. There is a good Bren gunner pose in the Timpo set too.

Afrika Corps

2010-11-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

Finally got the first one done after about 3 boxes lying about primed and waiting for a painting for the last year. If can get enough done and also get some scenery made in time there might be a Western Desert toy soldier game at the next show!

Play testing the firing system

2010-11-13T02:09:00.000-08:00

We used the marker chips from the origional Toy Soldier game that denote if a figure is 'walking wounded' or 'seriously wounded' this helps keep track of the damage to the formation. It worked really well and these markers are very useful when you have a number of figures on the table.

2010-11-13T01:59:00.000-08:00

Rebel cavalry smashing through the Union line. At this point we realised we didn't know what we should be doing once through to the other side? Ended up turning back onto the rear lines but this proved fatal for the cavalry who suddenly foung themselves staring down a lot of unfired musket barrels.

Working on the Horse and Muskrat rules

2010-11-13T01:26:00.000-08:00

Had a very good evening last night with Peeler, Richie and Dave trying to work out how to appropriate the Toy Soldier rules we have to be able to fight horse and musket era battles. It turned out to me more complicated than I thought it would be. The use of cavalry is going to need a lot of thought and play testing. There were quite a few issues with movement and melee but we tinkered about and have some ideas to try next time. We also had artillery and have some good game mechanisms for the use of shot and canister, these also need some more play testing. The most important element will be how bodies of troops move around in line formation, how many should be in formation and what effects will breaking up from formation and fighting as individuals would have on firepower. That probably needs to be the starting point and we can build everything else around that. We had a good game despite figuring things out as we went, I think this adds to the enjoyment sometimes. The day was won by the Confedaracy after making good use of massed infantry and a daring, if not slightly suicidal, cavalry charge into the main Union force at the start of the battle.

Extra hot jallypeenoes pizzas and pies were consumed. Peeler brought me some fantastic 1/32 WWII figures and some vehicle kits a Sherman and some Bren Carriers. The figures had in them the Italeri 75mm gun and the TSSD German Cavalry, which I didn't have! Also some Conte Germans that I haven't seen before. So lots of painting to do now. We will be at a couple of shows soon so hopefully will get the new figures done and ready for those.

Italeri 1/72 US Airborne

2010-10-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

First four done. I'm hoping to put on an Airborne wargame in December so painting many Airborne, British/Polish and American. I have the Airfix Horsa glider on order from Airfix through cashing in my Airfix Flying Hours tokens. I'm torn between using Rapid Fire rules or making some smaller scale rules from the Toy Soldier set? Have some ideas about rules for making the 'drop' itself that will add a lot of weather dependant uncertainty to it. Need to paint up some Fresh Germans too. I've been using quite small bases as with the Nam figures I have been doing, Italeri figures lend themselves well to this and it means they look good but can be crammed into small spaces for skirmishing in dug outs, buildings etc.

Airfix 1/32 German Mountain Troops

2010-10-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Done the first two, have three boxes of these to get through. Of all the new Airfix these have been the biggest let down, loads of mould flash and some dodgy figures. These two are the best and the skiers will come in handy. I plan on using my Comandos as Norweigians and the British infantry in Vaagso type raids.

First VC ready for action.

2010-10-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

Med-Evac For Nam Buddies

2010-10-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

"You wern't there man, you wern't there!"

I picked up this diecast model of a Huey from eBay. I tried to make one from a kit but it went badly wrong.

Union Infantry

2010-08-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

ACW Infantry are here!

2010-08-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

The first box arrived in the shop today, £1.25 per figure. 48 figures in a box (£60) not bad value given the reasonable paint job. My only gripe is they have three flag bearers and two of each in the box, giving you 12 in all. I would have expected just the 3 per side. You also get 4 officers for each side. I assume this is because they expect that the figures will be sold individually and these will be the more popular. Frustratingly you only get two on each side of the loading poses. The figures also come individually bagged. The photo shows my new Confederate infantry line, minus the extra 2 officers and 3 flag bearers. Once I get the second box I will have more than enough.

Union Cavalry

2010-08-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

ACW 1/32 Britains Plastics

2010-08-21T03:42:00.000-07:00

When I was wee the last of the Britains series I collected was the ACW range. I tended to use them to bolster my few 7th Cavalry against the Indians. I didn't have the full sets of the Cavalry but I did have most of the infantry, only one of each pose. If I remember right by the mid eighties they were 60p per foot and about £1.20 for mounted, I may have paid as much as £1.75 for mounted. By I had started secondary school in 1986 Britains had all but stopped doing their pre-painted plastic, at least they were not available in the high street. I remeber the counter packs being kept in the glass counters of the toy shops. It was one of the highlights of my childhood to choose which troops I wanted browsing the poses under the counter. The possibility of buying the whole counter pack was never an option until later life and I've been meaning to get hold of a few for the last few years. You can pick up these counter packs for around £60, mounted packs work out at about £3 per figure, which is pretty good value for what you get. The paint job is more historically accurate for the ACW, the Confederates are more random and not all in grey, some brown coats here and there. They are a different kind of plastic to the old fugures, its much softer due to new regulations for toys but this means you can safely give them to anyone not likely to just eat them. I got this mounted pack from ebay, I had enquired at the local model shop but their suppliers only had infantry packs so I ordered two packs to give a nice mix of cavalry and foot. Once they are here I'll start putting togther some Horse and Musket rules to add to our existing WW2 rules. I'm very tempted to get a box of British and Germans in this range, much better to give these figures to kids at participation games than my lovingly painted Airfix!

Charlie Don't Surf!

2010-08-06T02:41:00.000-07:00

Finished this batch of 1/72 Italeri US special forces in Vietnam last night. They were very quick to do and look quite good. Got the Viet Cong and NVA to do next. From my teenage years when I got into the smaller scale these figures were my favourite. The old Esci one's I have are too sentimental for me to paint so I bought some of the new ones from Italier, which are also harder plastic and better detailed anyway. I have also bought a Bell Huey Medivac from ebay - ready made metal model by Hobbycraft. I tried to make the Italeri Huey but my aircraft modelling skills aren't great and it looks a mess, it was supposed to be an easy model to make!? The shop in York also has amphibious tanks for Vietnam - ready made die cast models! So I may pick one of those up too. The hard thing will be making scenery, I've never successfully recreated a jungle so that will be the biggest challenge.

The best thing about these figures is that there isn't a single one in either the US or Vietnamese box that you wouldn't want painted and on the table, no silly or useless poses. Each set has a wounded pair that can be made into a little diorama, perfect for the medivac I have on the way!

I plan on testing our toy soldier rules with these to see what it plays like in this scale. May need to adjust some ranges but otherwise should be fine.

2010-06-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

So, finally I have made an effort to get into Napoleonic wargames. I bought three books on amazon last week, the most interesting of which is Neil Thomas' Napoleonic Wargaming. Provides those new to it a good deal of background. I also got Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun and Napoleon by Mathew Fletcher, which is the big colourful Games Workshop style rule set. The only thing that puts me off this is the number of figures you seem to need for the rules and they seem a lot less simple than others I've seen. Other than that its a book worth having.

I've stuck with plastic figures since you can pretty much make an army out of a coupe of boxes of infantry, one of cavalry and some artillery. Here are the first batch of Nap Russians finished, they are Zveda plastics and I am very pleased with them. Very realistic, good various poses and a nice range for Russians at least.

I got some HaT French light infantry, which by mistake had a sprue of 1805 line infantry in the box too, which was great as I needed these! HaT also do the 1805 artillery - bicorne French to match the line. Also have HaT Russian light infantry (in the top hats) though these look mildly daft. May just stick with the Zveda stuff.

Will hopefully get a game on soon.

New Rapid Fire stuff

2010-05-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Spent recent wargames room hours back on 1/72 scale. I have a few Valliant Miniatures still half painted so have been trying to get these done for a late war scenario or two.

Something such as Caen I think. I picked up some of the new Italaeri fast build kits that can either be Preists or Ram Kangeroo's, so here we have a platoon of New Zealanders with their Ram Kangeroo transport.

Now an award winning game!

2010-05-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

We ended a fantastic weekend by scooping the 2nd prize for best participation game! I like to think we raised a few eyerbrows of fellow gamers and also introduced wargaming to many new young converts to the hobby. Sadly we were too busy playing to realize we had won anything and did't get the official presentation, so we had our own! Part of the prize was 10% off anything we wanted from the trade stands so I treated myself to some 1/32 Napoleonics. The hope is that we can adapt the simple rules for horse and musket era battles! Watch this space!

Defending the cows

2010-05-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

This Airborne drop saw US Airborne wind up in the fields with a mix of German infantry and fallshirmjager waiting in the trees for them. It didn't go well, British Para's came out of the church to assist them but they all eventually fell.

The battlefield layout

2010-05-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

This shows how simple it can be. We mostly never play on a table this big but it was good to use a nice space. I'd love to do a huge game, just need to paint the figures!

Dunker Church

2010-05-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

I aquired the Britains model of Dunker Church from one of the traders at the wargames show. It was an ideal piece for the games and we easily used the rules to have troops fighting from inside, firing out of windows and lobbing in grenades. In the final game on the Sunday two Allied Airborne units fought a retreat from the cow field into the church but later gave up the fight and came out under a white flag to a supperior German force. This photo shows Soviet gunners defending it from a Panzer III and motorized infantry in Opel Blitz trucks.

Note the chaps in the background engaged in a DbC Zulu game!

Battle Group North Show at Elvington (York)

2010-05-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

So, the Yorkshire Coast Wargamers went en masse to this year's Battle Group North and took an array of games with us, mostly Db variants but also our hot of the press 'A Game of Toy Soldiers'. The wargames element of the event (it's primarily a military vehicle and re-enactors show) is held in the large hanger with the Lancaster keeping an eye over everything. It was the first time some of our rank and file had played it and it was great to see seasoned wargamers like Jordan get into it and embrace what it's all about. Throughout the day we played three games of different scenarios, all incorporating a cow field with my newly aquired Britains cows. The game was very popular with kids who were quick to grasp the rules and loved being able to 'play' a game rather than puzzle one out. We even had a kid of 2 years old playing! For some of them it was their first wargame and they loved it. I gave away a few play sheets to exited Dads who thought it was ideal. Some of the other wargamers were interested in buying the rule set so now I'm on with polishing them up ready to be made into a proper booklet. A very enjoyable weekend! I spent some of Sunday afternoon flying over York in a helicopter with a WWII veteran who was there for his 90th Birthday that day. A very special gentleman indeed, he was still as fit as anyone.

First batch of Red Devils finished!

2010-04-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

I'm extremely pleased with these! I usually try and avoid figures with camo as I can never quite get it right but these have turned out quite well. A bank holiday Monday well spent I think. There are about 20 more on the painting desk.

A desperate defence

2010-04-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

Half track gunner, already badly wounded, tries to hold back hordes of Soviet SMG armed shock troops. The half track guns did a lot of damage in the second game!

2nd Play Test

2010-04-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

Today we play tested the Yorkshire Coast Wargamers 'Toy Soldier' Rules for the 2nd time. We had two games both similar with a German convoy getting into a tight spot. The 1st game saw prepared British infantry defeating the convoy quite well. The second game saw Soviet shock troops rushing in with SMG's and much more figures on the table. The second game was almost a draw with the Soviets just about managing it with two injured infantrymen and their officer left standing. Both games quite closely run and could have gone either way.

We tweeked the rules very slightly, limiting the use/effect of SMG's and there is some clarification on multiple wounds to make. Otherwise it ran smoothly and produced two good games.

There are now new rules for mortar fire, which worked really well. The first battle was difficult for the Germans from the first move when the Brits lobbed a grenade into the half track, hampering their use of the mounted HMG's on the vehicle. In the second game the Soviets tossed back a German grenade, which saved them from loosing the area they held.

We used more scenery, note new hedges and barbed wire, which made a better game. There was a lot of jumping hedges that resulted in slower movement over the table and making troops more vulnerable at times as well as providing better cover.

I think these rules will continue to evolve but as they are we are ready for the show now!

View from the bunker!

2010-02-26T14:02:00.001-08:00

The First 'Game of Toy Soldiers'

2010-02-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

The game itself was simple 10 British Commandos attack a German bunker complex guarded by around 13 Germans. Each side had an officer and LMG with a few SMG's and grenade armed troops. We used old Airfix figures I had won on ebay for a few shillings, a BMC bunker bought from Steve Weston's Toy Soldiers, a few trees, rocks and a couple of 21st Cen vehicles for decoration or for hiding behind. You get a nice view out of the bunker windows! We use d6's only so that the game doesn't require 'specialist' wargames bits.

New Toy Soldier Skirmish Game in Development!!!

2010-02-26T13:36:00.001-08:00

This week we began work on creating a very simple set of rules to allow us to play toy soldiers! At a stretch you might call it a skirmish wargame if you're bothered what non-enthusiasts might think but in escence it's a game of toy soldiers.

Thanks to Peeler, Dave and Richie's experience we were able to dive in and start pretty much from scratch playing a game. Movement is very simple, spotting is taken literally so you shoot at what you can actually see and effects of being hit are basic. The game boils down to who is armed with what and how much you can keep your head down before some Tommy pots a round through your helmet. I think there is still a lot of refining to do, especiall concerning the use of automatic weapons, these are pretty devastating at short range compared to a rifle - though they can jam up in a bad dice roll! As happened! Vehicles aren't much more than scenery, there's potential to use trucks, jeeps and vehicle mounted small arms but we didn't want this game to be dominated by a tank on the table. It's all about the firefight!

BEF digging in along the Seigfried Line

2010-01-24T13:40:00.000-08:00

These are the first of my BEF Tommies. There are many more on the table awaiting paint. I'm about to order a bunker from Steve Weston that will provide a great base for them to defend against the Fallshirmjagers and the onslaught of tanks about to make their way West!

More German Para's

2010-01-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

These chaps are currently training in secret locations for their drops into France during the weekend of 8th & 9th May!

German Paratroops (Airfix 1/32)

2010-01-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

I've been neglecting my 1/32 painting lately but the first lot of German Paratroops are nearly there, this is the first one I've finished. I always try and get one done to use as a reference point for all the others, that way they all look the same in terms of painting style. I didn't paint any in camo yet as I want to use them as early war pattern and also I couldn't be bothered lol. The British infantry are more like early war period anyway so they fit quite well together.

New German Armour

2010-01-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

These are the new Italeri fast build PzIII's, with long 50mm barrel. There is another short barrel option in the kit. They are extremely easy to make and look great. I haven't painted the details and I'm not sure I need to, better time spent on more kits and figures!

Final outcomes

2009-12-18T05:36:00.000-08:00

The inevitable happened to this armoured car causing the first blockage to the road, the following SU 152 was also destroyed right on the end of the bridge. This left the battle in a shoot out between Tigers and T34's, the Tigers were already limping and the Soviets eventually cleared all real opposition to the town. The T34's then covered the bridge and waited for engineering support to clear a way through. Meanwhile the artillery outside the town, which had been inactive all through, braced itself for a final stand. The Waffen SS company in the Dingly Dell of Death fell to the revenge of the T34's and retreated with a HMG manned by a lone gunner. Some surviving troops from the second company also fell back towards the town.

The Red Army could be said to have had a difficult victory. Assuming no further resistance could be fielded soon. Soviet losses were great but this is not a problem for the huge Red Army. High Command was happy with Comrade Peelerski's attack and he was spared the gulag on this occasion. The German's lost yet more tanks they can ill afford and a number of very brave troops. Iron crosses were won by the crew of the Panther and many of the infantry were decorated for their efforts but this battle only served to slow the tide of iron rolling in from the East.

The Dingly Dell of Death!

2009-12-18T05:09:00.001-08:00

The German's and Soviets both entered each side of the wood and fought a fierce firefight through the trees, the Red Army took massive losses but stood firm through a couple of morale tests even after loosing their Political Commisar. They fought on despite no one being there to remind them that an NKVD firing squad awaited anyone thinking of surrender. The last few remnants eventually melted away depite support arriving from the T34's that had retreated back up the road after and exchange with the Tigers outside the town. German losses in the wood were minimal at this point but the other company had rather blindly jumped into their transport and tried to cross the road under the bombardment of the T34's to joint with their brothers in defence in the wood in the hope they would be better placed to attack the Soviet armour with infantry crewed anti-tank weapons. Few survived and the truck was now blocking the road forcing the Tigers to chase the T34's cross country. Meanwhile the Marder III was on it's way to the wood to support the infantry, vicorious against the Red Army infantry but now at the mercy of the T34's.

Not so quiet on the Eastern Front (Part 3)

2009-12-18T04:58:00.000-08:00

Upon crossing the first Soviet rifle company made for a nearby wood, the Germans now aware of what was happening at the bridge bagen to move out on foot from the farm to take a defensive position in the wood. The T34's roll on down the road, unaware of the Tigers waiting at the end of it.

Not so quiet on the Eastern Front (Part 2)

2009-12-18T04:44:00.001-08:00

The Red Army made good progress initially, sending the first infantry company over the bridge, followed by the T34's. The Command and Heavy Company (not trusting the bridge at first) went for the ford crossing. Disaster struck early on for the Red Army as a Panther hiding in some woods managed to destroy one of the heavy SU 152's right in the crossing point blocking it for anything else. The Soviet tanks gave a good fight and the Panther sustained some damage but had a number of lucky escapes from the Soviets who were clearly phased by trying to ford a river and fire at the same time. Infantry continued to cross the bridge unchallenged. The German Tigers began to roll out of their nests in the town and took up a defence at the end of the road along with a HMG unit. The other two Waffen SS companies held defensive positions in a wood and a farm at each side of the road into the town. During the mid part of the opperation there was only gradual movement as the remaining Soviet Heavy company and T34's began their crossing of the bridge.

Not so quiet on the Eastern Front (Part1)

2009-12-18T04:11:00.000-08:00

Here is an update from last night's battle. Peeler popped over and I set up a Rapid Fire game. The basic scenario was that one side had to cross a river at two possible points to occupy a town at the other end of the table. The opposing side simply had to cause as much hassle to the other as possible until the town could be reinforced. We chose Soviets as the attacking force and Germans as the defenders.

The forces were made up as:

Germans:

2 x Companies of Waffen SS each with transport

2 x HMG teams

A reduced tank company of Tiger I's (2 tanks) with a supporting Marder III

A forward detachment of 1 Panther tank

1 x 75mm gun (crewed by locals in German service)

Soviets:

Command - 1 x T34 & Armoured car as supporting recon

1 x Infantry Battalion (3 Companies of Rifle Infantry) plus 1 HMG and 1 Medium Mortar

Infantry Battlion Command = Lend Lease Jeep, Officers and Political Commisars

1 x Medium Armoured Company (2 x T32)

1 x Heavy Armoured Company (2 x SU 152)

It was envisaged that the Red army would quickly storm over the crossing points of the bridge and the ford and that the relatively green Waffen SS who were commanded by Von Waudby would make a fighting retreat into the town where they would use their infantry anti-tank weapons to stop the Soviet armour from progressing through the town and ever closer towards Berlin!

... all did not go to plan!

Rapid Development of Rapid Fire

2009-12-12T07:16:00.001-08:00

Today I have been setting out the wargames boards to make sure they don't collapse! I've never put such a large gaming space togther but it works fantastically well! The Soviets are nearly all done but the Germans need a lot of painting still, I will be painting like crazy this week to get everything ready. May need another day off at this rate. Plastic figures have really come into their own now with the new harder plastic Italeri and Waterloo figures, even with the price increase they are still only £6 for a Rapid Fire battalion, in metal that would be more like £40. I like the poses in the plastic ranges and they look a lot more realistic. My vehicles are all either quick build kits or resin castings. As much time saved glueing stuff the better!

Pudsey report

2009-12-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

A fantastic day was had at the Pudsey show last week. A good turn out from the Yorkshire Coast Wargamers and a great couple of Zulu Wars battles put on using DbColonial rules and figures with thanks to Alex and Peeler!

I bought a load of resin vehicles from Under the Bed, some of which I'm disappointed in as they are crumbling and snapping before I've even painted them, grrr. You get pigs and gems in this range but at the price of them they are ok. I will stick to Ready to Roll and Millicast in the future when I feel the need for a resin AFV in 1/72 scale. Also got some figures from Ceasar in 1/72 plastic, the new US GI's and some German's I think, they went straight into giftwrap when I got them home so I can't remember now. Damn this time of year!

Pudsey was my favourite show this year! Looking forward to the next one.

Airfix German's finally here!

2009-11-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

German 1/32's out now! These came into the shop this week. Now I can start some big battles! Hope to have the Afrika Corps out soon too!

Close up of the Panther

2009-11-13T15:22:00.001-08:00

Not sure I've got the camo quite right?

More Russian armour

2009-11-13T15:18:00.001-08:00

One of the SPG's I got from Rich, Panther in the back ground. These are both Italeri 'Quick Build' kits (I think)

Russians for Rapid Fire

2009-11-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

This is a Pegasus 'Quick Build' T34. One of two you get in the box for £7.99. At £4 a tank I can make up a whole battalion quite reasonably. They do still have fiddly bits and the second tank I made I lost patience with these and just left them off and it still looks good.

Making up for the past!

2009-11-13T15:05:00.000-08:00

I seem to be collecting quite a pile of 1/32's now! As a child I never had a complete box of Airfix, only bits and pieces of sets I had given. I think I may be over-compensating now. The only set I'm not keen on are the US Infantry, poorly armed and not much variety. Some odd poses in the US paratroops too. I think I'll mostly be painting the Brits and Gerries.

Modern Warfare

2009-11-13T14:57:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of the series 'Generation Kill' and saw these in the shop this week. Well, bought them I should say. The first sets of Ceasar figures I bought where two sets of WWII Germans (late war) and they were very rubbery, too rubbery to bother to paint but I took a chance on these and they have stiffened them up thankfully. The castings are excellent, though the militia has a few figures I won't use - big breasted women in skimpy dresses (where do you see them in Muslim countries?) and child soldiers (not comfortable with these either.) There are many modern vehicles available pre-made and the shop had Humvees, Bradleys and a great looking T64. Skirmish games comming up!

Rapid Fire Update

2009-11-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

Managed to re-equip my paint desk with much needed basing paint today at the Leeds waragmes show, so here is the first base of Valliant 20mm German Infantry done. They are alongside a Tiger I aquired from Richard, these are the new Italeri fast build kits and are very good! I also picked up a German supply wagon with horses from Skyrex just to pad out the battalion supply equipment. Hopefully I should have all the Germans done soon.

There was a lot of interesting stuff at the show despite being even smaller yet again this year. For a WWII fan there was lots to poke about in at the trade stalls. There was a Rapid Fire game which was a modern Arab/Israeli battle in 15mm. I didn't get any pics since it didn't seem to be progressing much and there was a lot of tank traffic jams it seemed.

I liked the figures that Grubby Tanks had and I'm keen to get some Russians togther, that may be this year's Christmas present to myself? There was a trader selling ready painted Rapid Fire units which was also tempting, if I'd had £200 I'd have snapped em up.

More from the BMC Iwo Jima set

2009-10-20T01:53:00.001-07:00

BMC also do equally inexpensive sets for D-Day but these figures are much more of a toy style. I'd definately recommend the Iwo Jima set for the price. I think mine are likely going to end up a Nephew's Christmas present one day.

BMC Japanese and Marines

2009-10-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

I bought a bag of both Japanese and US Marines by BMC at a Toy Solider show a couple of years ago. I think it was about £8 for the whole back and there was about 40 figures in total plus a model of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. I wanted to see just how cheap you could put a skirmish togther. I painted them in a 'Toy' style and the Japanese are all finished. They are made from a strong plastic that is very easy to paint. Some really good poses in there too.

ACW

2009-10-19T04:41:00.000-07:00

I have tons more still to paint. Painted them in a traditional gloss finish. The Timpo Union troops are inexpensive and look great. The Rebels here are mostly Imex, with a few Call to Arms. This project started when I painted one I had from my childhood (the one with the brown base) it turned out pretty good so I bought some more and carried on.

New Airfix releases

2009-10-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

So far we have British Infantry, Commandos, Paratroops and 8th Army and the American GI's.

No Germans yet but by the speed that these have been comming out lately I think they will be here by Christmas.

Favourite box art so far is the British Infantry!

Collectors items

2009-10-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

Had a few ebay wins a while back. The Modern Russians are very rare, unfortunately they are quite under scale. They are definately 1/35.

A bit of background..

2009-10-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

I must have been about six or seven years old. I had a collection of odd's and ends of Airfix, Timpo and the like and a few painted Britains plastics (more on them later). One evening a lady came to the house, no idea who she was and no one remembers to this day. She had with her a box and said that her son didn't want these things anymore and so she brought them round for me. My parents decided I had been good enough to have the things there and then. Upon opening I found it was full of more Airfix, Timpo and various other makes, it doubled my collection there and then and was one of the best presents I ever received. From then on there was no turning back!

Panzers East!

2009-10-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

These tanks are 21st Centuty Toys. Won them on ebay last Christmas. Figures are old Airfix, again rescued from ebay and painted.

2009-10-18T05:15:00.000-07:00

These are all Italeri figures. I gave them a Forces of Valour jeep, felt sorry for them that the gerries have so much in the way of transport and armour and they had nothing.. a bit like America did. If anyone wants to get me a T34 for Christmas I would be very happy!

For the Motherland!

2009-10-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

Old and new! Old airfix Russians with the new Italeri figures. I have the 75mm gun too but need to finish painting the crew for it. These figures go very well togther. Sadly there is no hint from Airfix as yet as to whether they will be releasing the Russians. I still have a pile of old ones from ebay wins so will use these. I painted these as usual but gave them a black wash before dry brushing with buff as normal. It makes them look much more filthy. My 8th Army didn't get this treatment as they wouldn't really have had a muddy look from the desert.

Germany pushes East..

2009-10-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

These are old Airfix figures I won on ebay. The Opel Blitz is a 21st Cen Toys model. I now have the new k-resin British Commandos so these may find a new home soon.

Italeri 1/32 British Light Cavalry

2009-10-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

Did these a while ago. Not really a Napoleonics fan but they were so good I couldn't resist. I do have the French Dragoons too but they weren't turning out that great so have been put on a back burner. These are meant to be in a more traditional toy soldier style and gloss varnished.

Airfix 1/32 8th Army

2009-10-18T04:27:00.000-07:00

Painted up my first box of the new k-resin 1/32 scale 8th Army from Airfix. Old moulds - new figures! This is the best thing to happen to my wargames career in a long time! The figures are perfect as they are easy to paint and anatomically correct with decent poses. At £5.70 a box they are cheap too! 14 figures to a box, with 4 boxes I easily have a Rapid Fire battalion! I dug out some Timpo machine gunners, radio opperators and Monty himself to complement them. Will post pictures of the whole lot when they are done.

I've been painting these up very quickly by just doing the basic colours and then a bit of dry brushing with a buff colour to bring out detail and give them that embattled look. It seems to work and I can put out 14 men on the table painted in an afternoon. I use Games Workshop Skull White undercoat spray and this saves a huge amount of time as well as being a really good matt finish to take the colours. I finish them off with a humbrol spray matt varnish, which seems to be just right without making them brittle. The k-resin they are made from should hold the paint for a long time without chipping or cracking as long as they arn't handled too roughly.

More to follow...