28mm Chain of Command 1940 additions

Hello again folks, it's time for another ramble from damp, windy Devon.

I was looking back through my previous posts and realised I had not shown you my latest addition to my 28mm Chain of Command forces. I previously showed the French infantry and German infantry with their relevant support, so now it is time for the British and German Pioneers. These were all done last year, but I completely forgot to mention them.

So, without further ado, here are the British. A full platoon with enough figures to make either the earlier 8 man squads or the later 10 man squads. These are a mix of old Blitzkrieg Miniatures and Crusader Miniatures British Infantry. 

British Platoon

Support for the British is varied and fairly interesting. First up is the ubiquitous Vickers MG and another 2" mortar. The Vickers gives some heavy firepower to add to the accuracy of the Bren guns while the 2" mortar is always useful with it's smoke laying capability. This can be used to either screen your advance or to block line of sight, allowing you to concentrate fire more effectively. Also in this photo is a mighty addition to my French force in the shape of a 37mm TRP gun, which makes a change form the more useful, effective and pretty 25mm and 47mm AT guns. It's an old WW1 weapon that was used as an ad-hoc AT gun due to a shortage of the 25mm AT guns in the French army. The British can also use the 25mm AT gun from the French force as some were included in the Divisional AT platoon.

Vickers MG, 2" Mortar, 37mm Death Ray Gun

Some armoured support now, a bit lighter and a lot quicker than my Matilda II. At the back are a pair of Vickers VIb light tanks, used by the Reconnaissance Regiments attached to the infantry Divisions. Not a particularly capable tank, but it is armoured and can nip around and annoy German infantry quite nicely. In front are a trio of Bren Gun carriers, 10 of which were in each infantry battalions Carrier platoon. It was quite nice to find these instead of having to use the later Universal Carrier. Two have just a Bren Gun while the other has an additional Boys AT rifle. The crews are chopped up Warlord British infantry and I use these as mobile MGs, shooting around at high speed and trying to pick off isolated enemy units where possible. These are all 3d printed as well but from Butlers Printed Models this time. They are lovely models and are a pleasure to paint up. They also do the Cavalry Carrier, which is a nice touch and may be added to the force at a later point.

Light Tanks and Bren Carriers

At some point I probably need to get a 2pdr AT gun but apart from that I think my force is done.

To give the Germans some other options I painted up a Pioneer Platoon. There force structure is very different from the standard infantry with 3 large squads of 16 men each. I have painted up enough options to allow them to have all the choices, wire clearing, mine clearing, demolition or flamethrowers. These are Warlords Pioneer figures, which are their Blitzkrieg Germans with some metal bits and pieces. They look the part and make a nice change from the standard infantry.

Pioneers, ready to blow stuff up

I also added a couple of Panzer 38t's, the Czech tank used by Rommels 7th Panzer Division. A reasonable gun for 1940 and adequate armour makes these a decent option for the Germans.

A pair of Panzer 38t's

The final additions are more German armour, a StuGIIIA and a mighty Panzer I. There were very few StuG's about in 1940 as only about 30 model A's were made, but they were about so I got one. It is kind of limited as the A model didn't have any machine guns fitted, just the 75mm gun. The Panzer I is really only an armoured pillbox, it has no anti-tank capability and the armour is thin. Still, with the Panzer II and Sd222 I already have I think the Germans have enough support options.

StuG III and Panzer I

So, there they are. I am off out now for the last Monday night game before Lockdown 2.0 kicks in. Stay safe folks and I will catch you all next time, where there will be Greeks and plenty of them.

Chain of Command 29 Lets Go Campaign

For the last few weeks/moths I have been running the "29 Let's Go" Chain of Command pint sized campaign for some of the Devon Wargames players. Primarily this was to show them the way the game is played at its best, one platoon against one platoon.

Picture stolen from JJ's blog

As I have said previously, the best place to see the battle details is JJ's blog. He has taken many pictures and put up a few reports already. I am now putting up the final result and the details of casualties etc.

In the campaign the Germans get a single platoon for the majority of the actions while the Americans get a new platoon for each game. This gives a big advantage to the American player as they get three squads of twelve men for every game while the German has to husband his resources and try to minimise losses while still stopping the advancing enemy.

The campaign is fought on 5 maps in a ladder sequence. It is possible for the Americans to win in 5 games, put unlikely if the German player is sneaky careful. As it was, this run of the campaign took 9 games as Ian managed to pull a few sneaky wins and one completely flukey one.

Above is the map of the battlefields as they appear on the ground. Maps 1, 2 and 5 are defended by a single platoon of Germans. Luckily maps 2 and 3 are off the advance route and are held by other platoons, so they just serve to delay the advance. 

In the campaign the games went well for the Americans initially. They won game 1 and 2 on maps 1 and 2, then lost game 3 on map 3 and had to refight it in turn 4. Turn 5 on map 4 saw a major back step for the Allies when, despite getting 6 phases on the trot before any Germans were even on the table, they failed to get a chain of command dice and the concentrated German firepower broke their force morale very quickly. The battle was lost for want of a single 5 in 7 phases of play.

That set them back to map 2 on the main road. The original German platoon was well rested by now and called up reinforcements, giving them a full platoon again. They went on to win and consolidated their position. This also caused the American Colonel to waver, requiring a visit for General "Dutch" Cotter to get him moving again. Game 8 and the Germans inflicted a few casualties and then pulled back to maintain their strength. Game 9 was the final round and would decide if it was a major German victory or if the allied advance would continue. As it went on, this final battle was a very cagey affair and it went right down to the wire. Both sides lost many men and force morale fell, reducing chain of command dice until, finally, the Germans broke and the American advance could continue. However, all the Germans except for the defending platoon had escaped and the ongoing fight would be harder for it.

Below is a table detailing the losses after each game. Losses are not all dead, 50% are dead or badly wounded enough that they are counted as dead, 25% are wounded and miss the next game while the final 25% are lightly wounded and are available for the next game.

The different coulours on the German column show the losses for the other platoons. In total German losses were 86 infantry, 2 NCOs and 9 support weapon crew. That works out as 43 dead and 43 wounded. American losses were 103 infantry, 1 Senior NCO, 3 NCOs and 6 Shermans, giving 52 dead GIs with 51 wounded.  All told the losses were fairly equal, except for the 6 Shermans!

It was fun to run the campaign for the lads, especially as  I got to see their tactics and planning change each time they played. I can recommend the pint sized campaigns to any one who like Chain of Command, it makes for a very different game to the usual game as you have to be more careful with your losses. 

That's it for now, I am off on the yearly pilgrimage to Partizan tomorrow so expect news of that next week. Catch you all later.

I am still here

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been a bit down and just couldn't be bothered. However my wife said "Beatings will continue until morale improves" so I am back, hopefully the bruises will start to fade now. 😉

Games have been played since I last posted, but not as many as I would have liked. I have been running a Chain of Command campaign for a couple of the Devon Wargames Group fellas so they can play the game as it is designed, rather than in a multi-player game as the club games tend to be. Best place to see what has been going on is over at JJ's blog as he has been photographing and documenting the games, and the learning curve, that have been played. It's been most enjoyable to watch how the tactics have evolved as the campaign has gone on. Ian, commanding the Germans, has gone from "Get everything on the table" to "Wait, wait, let them come closer" while JJ and Steve have developed from just going for general advances to picking their target, setting a plan and then using all the assets they have to push through. I hope they have enjoyed it as much as I have.

I have also played some cracking ancients games using To The Strongest. I really like these rules and would recommend them to anyone who doesn't mind not having 100% control of things when you game, if you like Too Fat Lardies rules you will probably like these too.  We have also played a couple of games of For King and Parliament from the same author.  Again, these are a lot of fun and have inspired me to go through my lead pile for the Renegade ECW figures I bought a few many years ago. We played the game using some very old 15mm armies borrowed from a friend, but they looked good and the game was very entertaining. Here are a few pictures of the game.

The forces are arrayed, Royalist to the right and Parliamentarians opposite.

Things are heating up as the lines close for battle and the flanks get all confusing

Anyway, that is it for now. I will do another update later about yesterdays Legionary show in Exeter, where Nathan and I put on a game of To the Strongest using Romans and Dacians.

Later folks and thanks for sticking around......if anybody did.

The French are here.

Another quick post as the varnish has dried on my WW2 French platoon. The figures were a Christmas present from my long suffering wife, which I bought and she promptly stole and wrapped up back in October. 

They are Bolt Action figures and, despite the lack of variety in poses, I reckon they look ok now they are painted up.

The Chain of Command French platoon has three squads of twelve men, each with an LMG and a rifle grenade(VB) launcher. The platoon HQ has two senior leaders, one junior leader and another VB launcher. The differ from other units as the VB launchers can all be gathered into a team under the HQ junior leader, thus giving the platoon its own inherent indirect fire support.

The only support team I have so far is a Hotchkiss tripod MG, although some more assets may arrive soon.

A closer look at the infantry. Not going to win any awards but at least they are all done.

I also picked up a couple of tanks, just because I liked them. First up is a Blitzkrieg Models Renault R35, one of the most numerous tanks in the French forces. It's small. it's slow and it has a pretty feeble 37mm short barreled gun, but it does have a decent level of armour protection.

Finally for now is a Warlord Char B1 heavy tank. It's a big beast and will use up a lot of support points, but it's a pretty model.

So there you go, some opposition for my early war Germans finally. I am off now to annoy the grand children as my daughter and her family couldn't get home last night due to asshats crashing in the 1/2" of snow we had and blocking the roads. At least I can still make a cuppa.

It can't have been 6 months!

It's hard to believe that it's been 6 months since I posted here. I have been a bit down and struggled with being ill again, a continuous run of infections around my stoma have really knocked me and I have taken a while to get through it. Not everything has stopped, I have still played a few games and still painted a few bits, it's just been the social side of things that have taken a hit.

But just to upset you all I have returned. And by "you all" I mean the one person who reads this tripe.

Gaming has primarily been boardgames of several types. Zombicide, Blood Rage, Mythic Battles Pantheon etc. Wargames have mostly been Chain of Command, with the occasional foray into Congo and Death in the Dark Continent. 

As for painting, I did very little last year, but after having a break I have managed to get a bit of my mojo back. Not a vast amount but at least a bit of it has returned. So I have finally painted some 15mm Germans for Ian at the Exeter club, which inspired me to paint some German vehicles that have been sat in my plastic pile for too long.

Ian's German Infantry

Ian's infantry were a mixture of Battle Front and Peter Pig, 94 figures all told based for IABSM.

Early War Sdkfz 251s and Panzer 38ts

Next up are some early war German armour. Five Sdkfz 251 halftracks including a command 251/10 with it's mighty 3.7cm pak gun. These are supported by a trio of Panzer 38ts, ready for France or Russia. The half-tracks are Plastic Soldier Company while the Panzers are Zvezda models

Later war Sdkfz 250s 

Some more half-tracks were then stuck together and slapped with paint. A box of Plastic Soldier Company Sdkfz 250s were made up as a mixed recce force. A command 250/11 with it's 2.8cm Pzb leads a pair of 250/1 infantry carriers and a pair of 250/9 recce tracks with 2cm cannons. A decent mix of vehicles that can either add support for Chain of Command games or be recce elements for Battlegroup games.

Late war Panzer IIIs

A trio of Panzer IIIs wereadded to the line up, picked up at a bring and buy somewhere some time ago. Pre-made but unpainted, they will now be part of my late war German force. Who needs Panthers or Tigers? Also, see if you can spot the error in construction. I didn't notice until after I had painted them and don't know if it is worth fixing.

Late War Sdkfz 251s

Finally for today is some more 251's, Battlefront models this time. A quartet, painted up to mechanise my German infantry.

All told that's 20 vehicles, so it's been not too bad.

I have painted some other bits for WW2, but these will appear tomorrow hopefully as the varnish isn't dry yet. Later folks.

Early War Germans for a Operation Sealion game

I have fallen into the 25mm WW2 pit again. After selling all my late war bits a while ago I now find myself with a rapidly expanding Blitzkrieg German force. The platoon I posted last time has now been completed with the addition of a fourth squad, two commanders and some support options.

To start we have the additional squad. German platoons were reorganised from three squads of 13 men to four squads of 10 after the invasion of Poland, so that is what I have painted. Each squad has an MG34 and an NCO(Junior Leader) with an MP40, so there is plenty of firepower available.
The only dedicated support weapon inherent to the platoon was a 5cm Granatwerfer (mortar to you and me), a typically over engineered piece of kit that was of questionable worth. Compared to the British 2" mortar it was heavy(14kg vs 4.8kg), fired a similar weight of shell(0.9kg vs 0.96kg) to a similar range(510m to 460m). The 2" was more useful as it had HE, smoke and illumination shells while the 5cm only ever had HE.

The platoon command is made up of two senior leaders in Chain of Command, an Officer and a Senior NCO. They are joined by a tripod MG34 and its 5 man crew in this picture. Sustained fire MGs are awesome suppression weapons and are a vital addition to any force.

Some heavier firepower is brought by the le.IG 18 7.5cm infantry gun. A small and light weapon, this was used as direct support for the infantry with 6 being assigned to each infantry regiment. This has a 5 man crew and an NCO to command it.

To take out (hopefully) any enemy armour the Pak36 3.7cm anti-tank gun was used. This again has a 5 man crew with NCO in command and is a lovely little gun.


No German platoon is complete without some combat pioneers. These hardy souls were used for all sorts of dangerous tasks and were well trained and equipped. In CoC they come in 3 man "teams", either demolition, wire cutting, mine sweeping or flamethrower equipped. I have painted up enough to make 2 teams in total but with specialists to represent each of the types. Plus an NCO to lead them.

I also painted a deployment point or objective by using the Warlord German High Command pack to represent some senior officers discussing the battle. They are seen here with a forward observer figure to call in mortar or artillery support.



The final addition for the Germans(so far) is a pair of armoured vehicles. A mighty Panzer II and an Sdkfz 222 armoured car. Both are nice kits, the 222 is from Warlord while the cracking Panzer II is from Blitzkrieg Miniatures.

Just to keep it interesting I also bought a few bits of support for the British. From Footsore Miniatures I added a militia Vickers MG and Boys anti-tank rifle team. Cracking figures, these are the first VBCW I have painted for a long time.

Some transport has also been painted, a Humber 4x4 Heavy Car and Bedford OYD 3ton truck. These are from Anyscale Models and paint up quite nicely I think.


Armoured support comes from the Queen of the Desert, the A12 Matilda Infantry Tank. This is a heavily armoured monster in this period of the war. It's frontal armour was 76mm thick, more than double that of the contemporary German tanks (Panzer II/IV had 30mm) and more than the French "heavy" Char B(60mm). It even stands up quite well later on, the standard M4 Sherman only had 76mm thick armour. However it is slow, really slow. This one is another Blitzkrieg 1/56 model and looks great.

Finally there is the "secret weapon", a mighty Smith Gun! A real emergency weapon, the whole gun turned onto it's side to fire, the turntable and roof being wheels. It looks awesome and makes a nice change from the usual 2pdrs.

So, there it is. Most of these will be on the table today at the Devon Wargames meet. I'm off now to do something even less productive. Take care folks.

Not much to report

No news is supposedly good news, but not so much when it's the hospital your waiting to hear from.  Ah well.  Onto the important stuff.

Gaming has still been limited for the same reasons.  I popped in to the Devon club and saw some fun looking games.  I couldn't stay as long as I would have liked but it was good to get out for a bit again.  The games are reported on the blog so have a look and see what they get up too.

I managed to run a multiplayer game of Chain of Command for the Monday night lads and it seemed to go pretty well.  It lasted a couple of weeks as I struggle by 10pm but the Germans were eventually defeated by the raiders.  It was a bit "different", with two forces competing with each other whilst attacking a German camp.  I will eventually put up the scenario and some photos but not until I have played it a bit more and sorted a few things out.

Painting is going on slowly.  I am waiting for a delivery from Firestorm Games after the Royal Mail lost the original package.  I can't recommend these guys enough, their customer service is exceptional and they are my go-to online store as well as getting an in person visit anytime I am in Cardiff.  While I am waiting for them I have been painting some odd bits I have got here. 

First up was a 28mm Morris CS9 armoured car that I have had in a drawer for years gathering dust. By adding a couple of Perrys 8th army figures I now have a decent addition to my VBCW force, espescially as it has a Boys anti-tank rifle and a Lewis MG to suppress those damn rebellious types.



Then there was a bit of an oddity.  Some time ago Northstar sold off their Studio Miniatures stuff cheap and I grabbed a box of German WW2 zombies.  No idea why, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  They sat in a box until this year when the Too Fat Lardies Christmas New Year Special came out with additional rules for Chain of Command.  What did these rules cover.......German WW2 Zombies!  So out came the figures, glue was liberally applied and paint was slopped over them.  Voila 30 German zombies!

MDF has really made an impact in wargaming, first with buildings and terrain and now with vehicles and ships.  TT Combat appeared on the radar recently and have some really nice models and very decent prices.  I stumped up some pennies and bought a Cargo Ship and very nice it is too.  Measuring nearly 20" long and over 5" high it is really good value.  I spent a day putting it together and filling in the bow area to make it smoother, then out came the cheap craft paints and away I went.  Then I dirtied it up with some chalk powder and the like as it supposed to be a tramp steamer type of thing rather than a nice, clean ship from a merchant company.  I am really impessed with this company and I will be getting some of their buildings as soon as finances allow.

Now I had a ship, but no crew.  I also wanted to use it for my VBCW force of Royalists based in Torquay, so it would need to defend itself from the Fascists/Communists/Commoners etc.  Northstar again provided the figures with an impulse purchase of a couple of packs of Pulp Figures crew.   A quick paintjob and there they were, ready to sail into harms way.  But they will need some guns to protect their valuable cargo, so HLBS to the rescue with a really nice model of a 6pdr Hotchkiss  gun. A couple of Lewis guns on the bridge wings and it's ready to go.  The guns are all magnetized with magnets also hidden under the decking of the ship, so they are removeable.


 So, that's it for now.  I am off to do something less productive.  Have fun folks.

February already...how did that happen?

It seems that a month has passed and I have little to show for it.  All in all it's been a pretty rough month, with various ailments hitting me and not much gaming happening.  This time of year always comes with a host of coughs, colds and other such ailments but this year I seem to have caught every single one of them.  Ah well, new month means new hope.........I hope.

Gaming has been very limited, a game of Chain of Command and a game of Blood Rage has been just about it.  I did manage a short visit to Crusade up in Cardiff, which was a nice trip hindered only by my inability to stay awake for the whole visit.  A quick snooze in Nathan's car set me up for the trip home though.  Didn't buy much, saw some old friends and almost fell for a new period.  Luckily I snapped out of it and left it there.

Painting has been fairly productive, considering how rough I have been feeling.  I managed to finish and base my Templar Knights finally, as well as painting up the first lot of foot to support them.

 So here they are, 12 mounted knights/men-at-arms all ready to take the power of Christianity too wherever the gold is...I mean to educate the heathens.


Then there are 24 Crossbowmen ready to dispense God's will from a distance.  At some point I will get back to the Crusades and paint the next unit, 24 Spearmen to protect the crossbows from Arab cavalry but I have been sidetracked by painting things to raise a few pennies.


Finally I got a box of Perry Miniatures 8th Army painted up.  I have had these for ages and finally got all 37 figures done and dusted and promptly put on eBay to fund my kickstarter habit. Ah well, that'll teach me to spend more than I budgeted for.


That's it for now, I am feeling rougher than a rough thing so I'm off to me bed.  Hopefully another update will appear soon, I need to be more positive this moth as last month was pretty dire.

Happy gaming to you all.

WW2 in 25mm! WHY????? and other things

First thing, I'm still here so prepare for more pointless updates and ramblings about assorted crap.  After the best part of a week in hospital I am now waiting for the consultant in Chelmsford to decide on a course of action.  Hopefully sooner rather than later, but at least things are moving on.

Wargaming is still suffering due to my health, but I have managed to get a few games in and even finished off some figures that I have had for a while.  Gaming has been mostly Blood Rage, another kickstarter that we went in for.  The game is pretty good with some nice nuances to make each game different.  The best thing about it is the miniatures though, they are truly lovely and I hope that I can do them justice when we start to paint them.

I have finally finished off some of the Perrys DAK figures I picked up on the Bring and Buy at the Bovington Wargames Show back in July.  My original plan was to paint them up to sell, but things have changed a bit.  I was impressed with the look of the figures, more realistic than I expected and a joy to paint up.  I am not overly impressed with the selection of figures in 15mm for North Africa, so I have decided to keep a platoon of these for any future games of Chain of Command. 

DAK Infantry Platoon in 25mm

Instead of just doing the basic platoon structure I decided to add a few bits to the platoon.  The basic structure is one senior leader, three squads of ten men each with two LMGs, a two man AT rifle team and a three man light mortar team.  I have decided to use mine as a standard infantry platoon as opposed to an MG laden Panzergrenadier platoon, so only needed one LMG per squad.  I added a second senior leader, a two man FAO team and moving figures for the mortar and AT teams.  All told it comes to 44 figures.  The plan is eventually add a few (very few) additions such as a tripod MG, Pak gun and maybe a Panzer II.  I also ordered a box of the British figures to give them something to fight against, but they will take a while to get painted.  

Another DAK platoon

 My purchase at Bovington included the contents of several boxes of DAK figures, so I organised and painted up a standard rifle platoon as well, these are to go on eBay to recoup my initial costs.  So another 36 figures joined the painted list.

Dark Ages Saxons by Gripping Beast

The last bit of painting I have managed was to finish off the last figures I needed to complete a Saxon force for Dux Britanniarum games.  I have had a Romano-British force completed for some time, but never got around to finishing off the Saxons.  Now I have and just in time for Nathan to use them tomorrow at the Devon Wargames November meeting. 

Ten Gripping Beast plastic figures, all painted and based ready to pillage the lands of the British tribes.  The shields are LBMS transfers as I'm too old and lazy to paint shields. 

I have also decided on my long term plan for next year.  I like Lion Rampant as a game and have decided to get together some more figures in order to use the rules a bit more often.  After a bit of looking about and pondering I have settled on a new period for me.  I am going to get forces to play Crusade period games, specifically based on the events very loosely portrayed in "Kingdom of Heaven", where Legolas Balien does his best to hold off the forces of Saladin.  I know it's Hollywood at it's best but I like the film and it has got my interested in the period, so it's all good.  Fireforge games and Gripping Beast will be providing the majority of the figures, with transfers by Battle Flag and Gripping Beast being used. 

So that's it for now.  I will try to take some pictures of the game tomorrow, just like I will try to last more than a couple of hours.  Catch you all later.

Finally did some painting and things are moving ahead

Sadly not much gaming has gone on lately.  I popped in to see the Devon Wargames meet last Saturday but didn't stay long as I felt rough.  Some nice games again, 28mm French Indian Wars, 15mm WW2 and Star Wars X-Wing were all played.  More info on the blog link above.

I also managed about an hour and a half at the Monday night game.  Zob and Colin were playtesting Fighting Season while Panjo and Andy were killing zombies again.  Shame I couldn't stay longer but yet again I felt like crap.

I have finally finished some figures though, so it's not been a total wipeout.  Yes, they have taken me a couple of weeks instead of a couple of days, but at least I got them done finally.  So, here they are.  Yes, it's more Warlord WW2 Germans, but these are the last of them that I have here.  I will probably get some of the new Falschirmjagers to play about with, but not just yet as finances are a bit tight.

 These 32 figures amount to a platoon for Chain of Command or a reasonable base force for Bolt Action.  Organised into 3 squads of 10 men plus a couple of officer types to lead them, these are the early war figures as opposed to the later war Grenadiers.

Speaking of Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command rules, there is a new release out in their "Pint Sized Campaigns" series.  Operation Martlet covers the actions of the British 49th Division against the German 12th SS "Hitlet Jugend" prior to Operation Epsom in Normandy 1944.  All the previous campaigns have been great to play and/or run, so I am looking forward to this one.

Right, leaving wargames now to less pleasant things.  My ongoing medical problems are hopefully coming to a crucial point.  In a few weeks time I will be going back to hospital to have a ryles tube placed from my nose down into my small bowel.  If it works then it's good news as it means they can do something to fix it, if it doesn't then I'm stuck like this.  Here's hoping that the tube works then.

Anyway, off now to do stuff.  Hope your all having more fun than I am. ;) 

Not much to see here

Hello again, it's time for another rambling post of no interest whatsoever.

I have done very little gaming over the last month, but still managed to do a little here and there. Chain of Command is still the favourite game here, so this post by Trailape is worth checking out if you are undecided about which way to go for a WW2 small action set of rules.  I have tried out both sets of rules and my preference is also for CoC.  That's not saying Bolt Action is bad, it's just a bit too much like Warhamster 40k for me.  Trailapes post also brought about a special offer from TFL, so if you are considering getting CoC, now is the time.

Purchases of lead and/or plastic have been limited by a serious lack of funds, being sick for so long has really hit the finances and belts have been tightened.  So I have bought nothing lately, but the lead mountain has grown somewhat significantly due the the amazing generosity of Gaz Amos (top bloke even if he still has a pornstar moustache).  After my previous post about Fighting Season he was kind enough to offer me some Mongrel Miniatures Arab and Syrian figures.  Assuming it was a pack or two I gratefully accepted.  A box duly arrived from deepest darkest Salford, but it was much bigger and heavier than I expected.  Opening it was like Christmas as a kid, I knew what I was expecting but what else was there.  Arab and Syrians but more of them than I expected, plus some Israelis and Congo figures from Mongrel, some US infantry from TAG and some Cold War Russians and Yanks to top it all off.  Thanks Gaz, you have restored my mojo a bit and paint has been slapped on lead for a change.

Painting has been a mixed bag, with several long delayed projects finally getting some work done to them.

 I ordered a 15mm factory from Sarissa Precision as all my buildings are residential so I wanted a change.  It came in a big bag and was a pleasure to build.  Unlike 4Ground it comes unpainted, so is a blank canvas and open to a wide range of paint schemes.  I sort of followed one that I saw on their website, except I added windows of plastic and printed off some roof tiles.  Paint was mostly from B&Q in tester pots with a few craft paints added.  All in all I think it came out pretty well and I am looking forward to seeing it dominate the table as it is 180mm square.

 The roof is removable and there is a walkway that the outside stairs lead up too.  I have some fencing arrived now so will be making up a yard for it, just to tie in with the other buildings I have based.

Following on from my German platoon for the Barbarossa period, I picked up a box of Battlefronts new plastic Russian infantry when we visited Battlegroup Souths show at Bovington tank museum.  They are nice figures and the box includes Maxim mg teams too, so plenty of firepower to support the Russian horde.  I did get the metal command pack as well to provide the 50mm mortar and flag bearer.   A quick check of the list for the Russian force in 1941 and the platoon was painted up.  CO(with a flag), 2IC, Commissar, 50mm mortar team and four squads of 13 men makes it a large platoon, but quite tactically rigid as the squads are not broken up into teams.  They will make a change from the Germans though, more a blunt instrument than a scalpel I think 

 I also picked up some support for the Russians, with some Zvezda T-26s and Plastic Soldier Company artillery.  The Maxims are from the infantry box, so the platoon is almost 100% plastic (7 metal figures out of 98).  The five T-26s are more than I will ever need for CoC, but a nice force for Battlegroup games.  Two Maxims, two 45mm AT guns and two 76mm infantry guns also gives a reasonable spread of support too.

Finally I purchased a Warbases Mark I tank (just because I could) a while ago and have finally got it put together and painted up.  It will be used for my VBCW force, based on the fact that many were sent out to towns as displays after WW1 and Newton Abbot was a major train depot so had plenty of engineer types to get it up and running again.  I have tarted it up a bit from the original.  I didn't really like the square gun barrels or exhaust pipe so I replaced them with some brass tube and I also added some Lewis guns to the sponsons and in the bow, courtesy of Colonel Bills supply store.  I am happy with how it has turned out and it is a much cheaper alternative than the others out there while still making a decent replica of the original. 

A final note about hospitals and such.  I am still p****d off with UCLH for the way they cancelled at the last minute, leaving us over £100 out of pocket in hotel costs.  I have now been referred to Mid Essex hospital in Chelmsford(getting further away every time) and should be there early next month to see a top man in the gastroparesis field apparently.  Fingers crossed and all that.

Catch you all later, I am off to do something less constructive for a bit.