Dispatches volume 1

Just a quick one for today. Warwick Kinrade, Piers Brand and a couple of other contributors have produced the first Webzine for the Battlegroup game series, highlights include - A couple of small partisan based lists that prove that not all games have to be huge tank battles, expansions for Kursk in the form of T-70 Company and SU-85 and more, grab a free PDF copy from Iron Fist Publishing and enjoy.

Battlegroup Dispatches 1

That's all for now

Mike

Communist Communications

I'm back to painting again, it's been a while and with many things changing in my life I have not had much time for painting but I have just about completed a Radio Truck Diorama base.

A close up of the radio operators

A view of the radio team keeping track of troop movements

Mostly Britannia minis and truck body mounted on a Uni Model chassis, the chap by the map is an Elheim SS officer with a bit of re-modeling plus a Zvezda head

Next up is a Zvezda Medical Team as my Stretcher Party (who could do with a little more matte varnish)

5 more T-34/76 by PSC and Battlefield crew

And finally as a test the first of my SHQ Limber teams for my AT guns

Mike

First Batch of Support Weapons.

I have got around to adding some much overdue Support Weapons to my Red Army Battlegroup for BGK, each infantry Platoon may take up to 4 Platoon Support Options, these range from Medics to Anti Tank guns with  or without a Horse and Limber team. As I have an Infantry Company (3 Platoons) painted up I wanted to have a good varied amount of support, I began with the workhorse MMG of the Red Army - The Maxim, to make sure that I had enough I painted up three, 2 are from Elhiem (a mix and match of Matt's two sets) and the other is Zvezda with an additional crewman from Zvezda's PTRD team.

Close up rear view of each.

Next up are a couple of Mortars, A 5cm and an 82mm, The 5cm is a PSC Mortar with crew from the PSC Russian Zis2/3 with a Zvezda head swap plus an ordinary kneeling Sub Machine Gunner again from Elhiem,
The 82mm is Elhiem with some base debris from Skytrex.

A 45mmL46 was my next model of choice, It is Zvezda with an additional crewman from PSC with a Zvezda head swaps, a nice representation of the gun that can be built in firing or towed position, I will be adding a towed version with associated Horse drawn limber in the not too distant future.

Again from Zvezda is this little fellow, a 76.2mm infantry gun, and again it is a lovely little model that goes together with no fuss, I much prefer this version to the PSC one so I'll be picking up a few more soon. The additional crewman is from PSC with a Zvezda head swaps.

Finally from this painting batch is a Zis3 AT Gun, It is a Hybrid of a Unimodel and PSC Zis3 with PSC crew and Zvezda head swaps.

And just because I took the photo, Here is a group shot of the painting batch.

So that's it for the moment............. But "what's next?" I hear you cry.
I am currently adding loads of stowage to 5 PSC T34-76s and getting 6 more T70s ready so that will be coming soon to a blog near you,

Until then, Happy Painting!

Mike

Infantry Company Finished (at last!)

Last Night I wrote how I had brought my first infantry company back from a mishap with Dip, so in this post I'll add the Photos of how they turned out.

Here is the full Company as per Battlegroup Kursk, All miniatures by Elhiem, CP, TQD and Zvezda or my own conversions based there upon.

The Company Command Squad

The First Platoon

Close ups

The Second Platoon

Close Ups

Third Platoon

Close Ups

And here are a few extra bits and pieces that I painted up at the same time.
Sniper, Spotter and Medic

Sapper Squad

And lastly a miscellaneous bunch that will be carried over to the next Company including a Anti-Tank rifle.

So that's it for now, on the painting table are the support options for this Company, Three Maxims, a 45mm Anti-Tank gun, a 76.2mm Infantry Gun and a 50mm Mortar plus additional loader teams and Horse drawn limbers for the guns.

Well that's it Until next time.

Happy Painting

Mike

Dip Disaster and another stage in Infantry painting.

I have spent a frustrating night re-highlighting one hundred and thirty Infantry after a near disaster with Army Painter Strong Tone Dip,
I have always painted my infantry by base coating, brushing on Dip then Matt varnishing. But today with haste to get a load of infantry ready for picture taking this blog post (Well you have to get photos in good light don't you?) I neglected to leave the Dip layer to harden properly before brushing on Vallejo Matt varnish. to my horror as the varnish dried small scaly areas began to appear before my eyes in prominent areas of every miniature.
I had  to come up with a plan and luckily the first plan worked - I let the Matt varnish dry completely, then brushed on Army Painter Soft Tone Ink which hid my earlier blunder and to my extreme happiness none of the scales showed through, but each miniature was far too dark for my tastes and the day light had started dulling so I knew that there would be no photo taking today.
I knew what I had to do, so I grabbed my smallest brush and began to highlight the minis all over with the base colours, by the time I had done all 130 it was 2:30 in the morning,
So......I'm off to bed, I'll post pictures of today's (or is it yesterday's) efforts tomorrow (or today) but at least I have a full Russian Infantry Company painted for Kursk.

Happy Painting

Mike

Boot Sale Plastic Horde

So, Yesterday I went to the In-Laws house and was surprised at what I was given, Made to close my eyes and hear my Mother-in Law ask the Missus "Do you think He'll like these?"
To my surprise I was handed a large carrier bag full of 1:76 and 1:72 soft plastic soldiers, Ancient Britons, Prussian Landwehr, ACW and best of all loads of Airfix and Esci WW2, so last night was  spent sorting the wheat from the chaff (or the WW2 from the others)
So far I have sorted the colours out into piles and will sub categorize from there, a daunting task as many identical bits appear in different colours.

The WW2 sorted by colour -

And the non-WW2

Something to do while listening to Audio Dramas then, I'll further update this post when I work out what is there but as for now I can see - DAK, Italian Mountain Troops, British in Burma, U.S. Infantry, U.K, U.S. and German Paratroops, Japanese and a few 8th Army

Hope to see you again soon


Mike

The start of the AFV slogg!

Well, It has been a while but it's time to continue this thread, I'll begin with a group shot, poor photo as it is.

I have spent the past couple of months practicing with my airbrush, and it's so fun, I love it, so what better way to play with a new toy than paint a few tanks?
Well here are the results, I've posted these before but here are some close ups PSC T70s

Some PSC T-34-76s, all with added stowage, new grab-rails and crew from Britannia

and the close ups

A couple of Pegasus Hobbies KV1-e, with extra stowage and new barrels from RB

 and some close ups

2 122mm Howitzers from Zvezda with extra PSC crew

 A Zvezda 85mm AA gun in Tank Hunting role, I need to add a load of ammo crates and other bits when I get them, the base looks a bit bare.

My Horse drawn supply wagons, from HaT with converted and Britannia drivers, plus a guy from Zvezda having a sly Ciggie

 

and finally an Airfix Yak9d. not airbrushed this time but I will in future, hand brushing aircraft takes so damn long

 

Well, as you can see I've not been idle, but plenty more where those came from soon.


Mike