From the 3D printer we have a 28mm figure sized junk pile and 20mm scaled abandonded car. Quick little prints that I did ages ago when I was getting the hang of my machine. Thought I’d get some paint on them as they will add a bit of character to a table top, not much else to say about them.
Cheers,
Pete.
The RPG Twilight 2000 is a classic game for all of us who are nostalgic for the Cold War eras (something comforting about a simpler bipolar power split I think). In the first edition it introduced some fictional vehicles in the game world that it predicted would be in service at the turn of the millenium. One of these was a light tank called the LAV75. A crew in hull design with a 75mm autocannon design to support airbourne operations. In really life it was based upon the RDF light tank which got to prototype stage, it was designed to replace the ill- starred Sheridan.
There are model available of the RDF tank in 6mm that I’ve painted previously but I was looking for something in 20mm to go with my duplication of forces. I asked on a Facebook group and was pointed in the direction of a GI Joe toy design- the Mauler tank- based on the same RDF light tank prototype. Close enough for my purposes I thought so I promptly printed a couple out.
Here the pair are in the bare plastic and assembled. The RDF (and LAV75) didn’t have the side skirts but given the design of the model’s running gear I added them.
They should provide a nice addition to my 20mm collection- fictional tanks for fictional wars… why not? It ties in nicely to both my 6mm collection and the old RPG, which has just had a very successful kickstarter rerelease.
Cheers,
Pete.
During lockdown I’ve had a bit of a think about what I want to work on as I’ve got loads of half- finished projects lying around. So I wrote a list…
… and found it was a bit longer than anticipated. Still it should keep me focussed and get the backlog of unpainted bits cleared quicker than I have been doing. This is what I either have on order or have in the shed in varying levels of pre paint preparation. One of my new drives is to get forces in both 6mm and 20mm so I can do a campaign where games can be run at different levels, I started doing this with printing out the two different sized watch towers. I’ll start with my Cold War forces first before moving back to Vietnam then World War Two and before.
6mm:
Helicopters and Rules: During a bout of insomnia I wrote some helicopter rules for gunships versus tanks in the cold war. I’ve a few helicopters and suitable ground targets to paint up so I can begin testing the rules.
Cold War US: Got enough to do several 5core: Brigade Commander battalions of Cold War Americans with M60 tanks and M113 APCs.
Early Cold War Brits and Soviets: As I have these in 20mm I’ve got a few useful bits spare that I can make a start with in 6mm.
African: This will be based around the later 80s battles with the SADF 61 Mechanized Battalion.
Afghanistan: So much of my Soviet stuff will cross over here that it should be fairly easy to pull some extra Taliban stuff together. Will look at basing for both 5core: Company Commander and Hind and Seek as the 6mm infantry is so cheap. Vehicles will be good for both.
Riverine stuff: Based on a magazine article I read and my interest in Colombian military history from playing Andean Abyss I’m considering getting a few bits for 1990s South American brown Water Navy games.
20mm:
Winter Brits: I’ve wanted some Brits for ages and as several of my gaming friends already have Summer infantry, I went for a platoon’s worth in the winter issue windproofs for the very end of the war. I may even do some in all white too. Some Brit vehicles in winter whitewash could look good too. I’ll also do some Bren Carriers for them as they always strike me as a quintessential British WW2 vehicle.
Winter War Finns and Soviets: I’ve had some bits of winter Finns lying about the shed for ages, but I finally ordered enough for a game and some Soviets to oppose them. There is a Skirmish Campaigns scenario book available, so I’ll concentrate on building forces to play through those games.
Crossfire/ Megablitz based WW2: Having played a bit of Crossfire at the historicals club I decided that it was time I got my own suitable based forces for the game. To keep things flexible, I’ll arrange things so that I’ll be able to use them in other games such as Megablitz. I dug out some old plastic figures and made up a Soviet and Hungarian force- they just need painting now.
Boer War: A random buy of a box of rather nice plastic figures started this project. I think I’ve got some Boers in the shed too that I can add in.
Cold War US: I’ve already got the vehicles done so I’ve got a platoon of infantry based and undercoated to go with by two scale Cold War project.
IDF vehicles: I’ve got the infantry done and I’ve found some nice 3d files so this will be a job for the printer. Be a big cost saving printing these out given the price of Israeli Army vehicles these days.
28mm:
Necromunda: Apart from the lovely new Van Saar models that have been released that I’ll be getting for my main gang I’ll just concentrate on getting the Goliath, Delaque and extras I’ve had in the shed for ages painted.
40k: Finish Death Guard Army, continue Chaos Space Marines (I have some Alpha Legion on the painting tray at the moment), Start Ad Mech force I need some opposition, right? Will start with a Kill Team sized force then expand out from there.
Cyberpunk: As a child of the later 80s/ early 90s Cyberpunk was my favourite science fiction sub- genre and now the new TTRPG is out I’ll revisit this. Also, there are some nice new skirmish games out there for table- top battles. Any scenery needed will be 3d- printed, I think.
Zone Alpha: I’ve been really quite taken with this little ruleset. It is the sort of narrative driven skirmish wargaming that I enjoy so much as well as having a great aesthetic too. I’ve got a few bits for this in both 28mm as well as lots suitable in 20mm. The Copplestone Future War partisans are next on the painting table so watch out for those soon.
My small-scale air war and naval haven’t made this list as they are all pretty much done. So really this represents less what I’ll be playing and more what I’ll be painting. Given that games are relatively few and far between painting is what I tend to do most of at the moment. As much as I’ll try to keep to this list there will doubtless be something shiny to distract me- which these days is mostly finding an interesting file to print….
Cheers,
Pete.
This is going to be the leader and centrepiece for my army- I really enjoyed painting him up and went to town with the washes and detailing. I imagined him as a Chaos Marine who has achieved his aim of becoming a Chaos Champion, rather than ending up as a Chaos Spawn, as seen in the previous post. Those 40k fans of a certain vintage will remember the Chaos campaigns you could run from the Realms of Chaos books. I alwasys fancied that sort of narrative driven skirmish campaign. I guess Necromunda fulfills that need now but I may yet go back to the old Rogue Trader ideas.
Cheers,
Pete.
Next up I’ve got some more Pox Walkers- can never have enough of them and a pair of Chaos Spawn. Not sure how effective the latter will be in a game but they’ll be a fun, and as importantly thematic, addition to my army.
Chers,
Pete.
I’ve been using lockdown to get my Nurgle army painted, getting very close to it being finished now.
Over the next few days I’ll put up a series of posts showing what I’ve added to it…
First up some Character models:
Felthius, Typhus and a Lord of Contagion.
Tallyman, Malignant Plaguecaster, Plague Surgeon and Foul Blightspawn.
Some of these I’ll be able to use in Kill Team too which should be fun.
Cheers,
Pete.
This week, I want to talk about the discipline of military history: what it is, why it is important and how I see my own place within it. This is going to be a bit of an unusual collections post as it is less about the past itself and more about how we study the […]
Collections: Why Military History?
As someone who has just started their own journey to being an academic I found this to be an excellent piece and worth sharing.
Cheers,
Pete.
Beobachtungsturm were a type of watchtower used by the East Germans. I found a file of them on thingiverse and thought it would be a great addition to my Cold War games.
As you can see I did 2 of them of different sizes. The nice thing about 3d printing is this fllexibility- a 1/144 scaled original was printed out at half size and twice size, for 6mm and 20mm respectively.
Here they are unpainted and untextured. They were both given coats of Mr. Surfacer as an undercoat.
Now to write 2 scenarios to featuring them….
Cheers,
Pete.
I’ve added a few bits to my Vietnam collection- specifically some sneaky special ops types with these Navy SEALs from SHQ only 2 packs are available but you get a good mix of weaponry. I goot two of each but painted the second pack with blue trousers to represent the denims they wore. /in hindsight I should have shaved off the thigh pockets on those figures but nevermind that now.
To give them some mobility I got the a LSSC (Light SEAL Support Craft) from Hobby Den. Introduced in 1968 it could covertly a SEAL team whilst offerring a bit of fire support too. I added a couple of small arms from Sgts Mess to an interest to the interior.
Vietnam saw the birth of the Navy SEALs coming as the did out of the Underwater Demolition Teams, I’m sure I can come up with some sneaky demolition and ambush style games for these new additions to my collection. The Black Ops ruleset should work really well. Just have to wait until I can get a game with them now.
Cheers,
Pete.
I wanted something to test out my printer- to see how small it would go….
I had a look about thingiverse and found a pack of WW1 vehicles scaled for 1:200th. I hada look at the files and they vehicles were all modelled fairly robustly so I figured they could be shrunk further; so in my slicing software I scaled a Mk IV male down to 1:285th. I wouldn’t try shrinking down a more detailed, larger file as the finer detail would just fail to print.
I ended up with this:
After a quick coat of paint I got it to look like this:
Given how well it has turned out I’m now considering printing out many more for a ‘Plan 1919’ game to explore Great War armoured action, as envisiged by JFC Fuller, that could have occurred had Imperial Germany not collapsed and the war continued. Something to think on….
Cheers,
Pete.
SP's Projects Blog 