I’ve been working on my moderns again, what started as getting a few bits for Zona Alfa has ended up being a project in its own right- I’m still looking at doing some urban SWAT type games. All the figures are from Spectre: either metal minis or 3d prints- see if you can tell which is which….
First up the British Special Reconassiance Regiment- part of UK special forces. Four covert operators plusa pair to provide some longer range fire support.
Then we have 2 lots of Russian equipped PMCs.
Some Western equipped PMCs
As well as a CIA Special Activities Centre operative, a leader figure with a map and a WW2 Anti tank rifle gunner- the latter weapons seem to be still turning up in wars despite their age. The barrel wasa little bent when I got it and considering its fragility I tried to stabalise it, somewhat successfully with a spare rucksack.
Finally some scatter terrain. The shed is from Warbases and the rest from Reaper Bones.
My friend Simon recently got a new 3d printeer- one of the resin ones. He was playing around with it and did a few 1/76th Russian AFVs that he ultimately didn’t want so he passed them on to me.
The standard of resin printing is fantastic now: the detail is very crisp. I believe all of the files came from M. Bergman on thingiverse.
The BRDM 1 armoured cars, based on the BTR40 but fully enclosed. Mostly unarmed but could have a pintle- mounted machine gun.
The MTLB – a 60s design, mostly used as an atrillery tractor but also issued as an APC in arctic areas. Many are still in service. Many variants are based on this chassis, engineering to atgm carrier…
The BTR70 – a wheeled APC that was an improvement over the BTR60s. Not many made and mostly replaced now by the BTR80.
All vehicles were painted in acrylics, Vallejo Russian Green, and then weathered with various techniques before an all over oil paint wash to get that grimey look.
Firstly: happy new year (OK I’m 6 days late) to everyone out there, I hope everyone had a nice holiday period, both Christmas and New Year.
Looking back on the past year I don’t think I ‘ve had a better year in terms of gaming, the quantity of games as well as the variety I have played. Going to the Conference of Wargames was a standout highlight.
I’m that regard I’m not really going to alter much from my earlier plans, ‘Dark Ages’ or more accurately the early medieval period is back as I’ve really been enjoying playing Ravenfeast. This means that more Vikings and my Norman army are getting worked on.
I’m also working on a few rule sets of my own- 20th century skirmish, tactical insurgency as well as a set of helicopter rules. More on these as they get playtested properly. I’d like to be more frequent with my blog posts too, it is an aim of 2023 for me.
In the fourth quarter on 2022 I read 18 books, painted fourty two 28mm figures and one hundred and eleven 20mm figures. I also finished twelve 1/300th models as well as six 1/72nd ones.
The final totals for the year are: seventy books, one hundred and eleven 28mm figures, one hundred and ninety three 20mm figures and one hundred and fifty 6mm figures, I also finished seventy two 1/300th models, twelve 1/72nd scale ones as well as two approximately 1/200th Aeronautica Imperialis flyers.
Pleased with all of it except the books total, down from last year and a long way down from previous heights. I’m struggling to concentrate on them which is somewhat concerning….
I’ve done a few more bits for my Winter War game project which I thought I’d share.
First up a Finnish 20mm zAnti Tank Rifle. A big powerful gun- there was only a single example in use during the Winter War.
Some prone Soviets, armed with a mix of rifles and light machine guns.
A Soviet sniper pair.
Finally a couple of Maxim medium machine gun teams (although technically speaking they wear the later M1940 helmet- I didn’t have any of the early ones spare to do head swaps on them.).
I’ve painted some of them in the Partisan camo pattern to match some earlier figures that I’ve done so them look like a cohesive military team on the table top. The figure with the grenade launcher is a white metal casting, the rest are 3d prints.
The non camo figures in Black will be used as urban terrorists, whilst the figure in the EOD suit with a belt fed PKM is a great representation of the PC game trope.
Last weekend I took the train up to York for another Pennine megagame. This one was Ken Hay’s Galactic Dawn – a classic space opera with warming empires much in the style of traveller and Star Wars. I was down as control (checking my records upon my return home I found it was my 20th game that I had controlled) for one of the factions: the Imperia. Â
The team were pretty switched on about what they wanted to achieve so attacked the game with lots of enthusiasm. Each team had a premier of some description, an admiral who took charge of combat at the map as well as a number of ‘envoys’. The envoys could perform everything from espionage and guerrilla warfare to diplomacy and statecraft. I think that these players had the busiest game bouncing around from player to player negotiating, doing deals and planning devious tricks.
 Compared to some control jobs my role was very rules- lite. I didn’t have much mechanical to do rather keep a track of any issues that affected my team, and what other teams were doing to mine. This was all relayed through the main plot control umpire. As we were an experienced team Ken more or less allowed us to run the game as we saw fit, free- kriegsspiel style. Given that latitude was nice and it help to work through the endless multi-layered plots we had going on.Â
The Imperia team were heavily taxed by the dominant Argathi faction, rather punitively really, although I suspect that that was just a ruse to justify a war against them. The Imperia was the only faction that could, with the assistance of others, come close to ending Argathi hegemony. The team did some good salvaging of wrecks to boost their fleet numbers as well as judicious trade deals that allowed them to gain many tech advances. The heavy tax burden ended up being needed by the Argathi to build a giant ‘Death Star’ style armed moon, this preceded the imminent arrival of both galactic empires. At this point the plots started to really stack up as the espionage/ diplomacy part of the game centred around assassinations of the Emperors at the singing competition. Meanwhile, at the map the fleets gathered to try and take down the ‘Death Star’ like space station. At the end of the game both emperors were dead, and the death star was blown up; the different player factions had coalesced into two big groupings… hopefully the stage has been set for a sequal.
 I’d been feeling a bit burnout with megagaming so I was unsure how I’d feel after doing this one but I was pleasantly surprised to be full of enthusiasm for them again. I’ve even been having ideas for my own again. Many thanks to Ken and the rest of the control team, as well as all the players, for making this a really enjoyable day out gaming. I’ll look forward to the games being run next year too.
I’ve just finished some quick hedges for my 20mm scenery collection. They were very quick to do, a mixture of metal fence sections of unknown provenenance as well as some K&M Trees hedge sections and plenty of sponge clumps. They were mounted on toungue depressors/ craft sticks.
I couldn’t help but add a surprise in one section though: a flame fougasse. Basically it is an oil drum filled with fuel which is blasted across the road as a huge one shot flame thrower. Britain ‘seeded’ many roads with them in the summer of 1940 in anticipation of a German invasion. More details can be found here. For reference the oil drum was an Under Fire Minatures casting.
Watch for its apperance in and up coming scenario ;).
These are the first figures I’ve got from Spectre Miniatures, I’d seen some of Joe’s at the last game of Zona Alfa I had with him so thought I’d try some out. They are great imo. Fine castings with only a bit of flash to clean up. Very nice real scale detail. I went for an assortment of terrorist/ Covert types to use as bandits in Zone Alfa. However, I was so taken with them I started thinking of using them for 28mm modern counter terrorism games played on floor plans so I ordered some more metal figures and got some of their 3d printed files through Patreon too so they will be painted up soon.
These are the 3d printed figures that I had done by Joe’s friend for me.
One of my favourite war films is the 1970s classic, if rather violent and cynical, Cross of Iron. Directed by Sam Peckinpah and based on an earlier novel it features the escapades of the vertran Stiener and his platoon. Worth watching if you haven’t seen it.
Figures Armour and Artillery offer a pack of five figures in 20mm size based on characters from the platoon and I’m pleased I’m finally able to add them to my collection.
Just need to write up some skirmish scenarios for them now. Films have often inspired my skirmish games, as I’m sure it has for many of you. What has been the favourite you’ve done?
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