2021… that was the year that was and a look towards plans for 2022….

Firstly I like to apologise for not commenting on peoples’ blog over the fesative period. I’ve been away in Ashford with Nicola to see her family down there, consequently I was away from my PC so was just looking at things on my phone. It was a very nice and relaxing time. I caught up with some reading too which was good. I was surprised to find a MKIV tank in the town centre there as a memorial.

In all 2021 has been a bit of a mixed bag (something that I think can apply to almost everyone) health has been a bit low but uni has been going well, further more Nicola and I rescued a pair of cats that are wonderful company. With the opening up of things a little more here in the UK face to face gaming has made a welcome return, also I’ve started going back to the local club that is most enjoyable. A new Necromunda campaign did start up that I joined for a while but ultimately had to leave; a combination of poor health and the move of gaming nights to a weekend when I was usually busy meant I didn’t want to be unreliable so I decided it would be best to withdraw (I will do a post next week though on what I did do). I have been managing to get quite a bit of online gaming in too- whilst this has often been a live streamed table top game (covering many periods and scales) it has frequently included something a bit different. Having the oppertunity to play in varied role plays, committee games and matrix games has been great.

As for the coming year I’m still pretty much going to stick to the plan from November… I’m closing in on the last few bits of my Death Guard army for 40k, then it will be on to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Zona Alfa will feature more as I’m really enjoying that game- hopefully I’ll be able to get a campaign up and running. Not sure what to do about Necromunda… whether to rejoin in on the clubs next campaign or do something at home. Building a table for it could be good fun. My Winter War project has nearly been finished too, just got some bits to get and finish off then I’ll look to start getting that gamed. The rest of the stuff is bubbling along in the background.

With regards to board games, and here is the biggest overlap with my uni work, there are lots I’ve bought recently but not got to the table, including some print and play games I’ve got to make up. I’ve also got the itch to do some traditional RPG stuff. A few has been released recently, mainly Cyberpunk Red, that has triggered a wave of nostalgia, even though I have grave reservations about the whole format.

Finally, all that remains to do is thank you the reader for being with me for the past decade and more and wish all of you a Happy New Year and the very best for 2022.

Cheers,

Pete.

From the Shed: The RDF light tank aka LAV75.

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.

From the Shed: 6mm sized WW1 tank.

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.

From the Shed: Turkish Leopard

This has been another tank that I’ve had for ages half finished. Inspired by the news I painted it up in Turkish colours but never really got round to finish it. I tried to go with the offical MIG pigments fixative liquid, not quite sure it worked well. I think less might be more with them…

The base model is the 1/72nd Hasegawa Leopard 2A4.

Cheers,

 

Pete.

In memory of John Dowman ‘Mausman’

Just before the COVID pandemic hit i was greatly saddened to hear of the death of John Dowman. I new him for many years through various forums where he always went by the name of Mausman. Today would have been his birthday and The Wargamers’ forum, of which John was a moderator, organised a build in his memory. John loved tanks, German ones in particular, and combat oin the Eastern Front, he also had an interest in experimental vehicles… all things I shared. Although he did get rid of his experimental stuff in the end I was happy as some bits made their way into my collection. He was a a talented model maker- for a short while he ran a resin terrain company with a friend. He always belived in getting things out of the stash and on to the table as quickly as possible- something every gamer can agree with I think.

For the build I decided to do a 1/72 Dragon E100 with commander from SHQ. I hope he would have liked it.

 

I used to meet up with John once or twice a year when me getting down to the wargame shows in Newark coincided with his shore leave (John worked on the diving side of the off shore oil industry, he tried to get me to be train as a diver once, the pay sounded good but rather dangerous, maybe if I were 10 years younger at the time…). I’ll miss my chats with him.

 

 

From the Shed: WW1 French tanks.

I’ve backed all three Kickstarters for The Great War board game. However when the last expansion was up, the French one, I didn’t buy any accompanying French tanks at the time.

 

Having got the box through I saw that the scenarios featuring French tanks need either three Schneider tanks or one Schneider and one St. Chamond. I decided to order myself a set of 3D printed tanks from Butler’s Printed models… I went for 1 of each type initially. I wanted to see what the quality was like firstly, then I figured I may order two more Schneiders later.

 

Then I got the 3D printer for xmas so I decided to print myself off a set of 3 Schneiders anyway.

 

First up are the Butler’s Printed Models. They are nice prints, didn’t take much cleaning up at all.

They look pretty smart with a coat of paint on too.

The 3D prints of my own aren’t as fine as the others but this isn’t down to my printer, rather because I scaled a 1:200 file up to 1:100, consequently the lack of detail in the original file became more apparent.

However with a coat of paint on them I’m really very pleased with how they look now.

The colourful, even stylish, French camo was fun to do abd I can’t wait to add this new dimension to my Great War games now.

Cheers,

 

Pete.

From the Shed: M1 Abrams

Just finished this modest expansion for my 6mm Cold War collection: two battalions worth of M1 Abrams for 5core: Brigade Commander. This are the first production models with the 105mm gun.

For those ‘Cold War goes hot’ games I think that for tabletop games the balance of forces is ‘best’ in the early 80s, much later and the mix of 120mm APFSDSDU tank shells, MRLS and Apaches skews the balance too much.

I added some roads on the bases of one battalion to differentiate it. Also I went for the plain forest green paint job on these as that way they could be easily distinguished from the M60s (in MERDC) and the later M1A1s (in NATO 3 colour).

A trio of M1s on smaller bases rounds out this little force.

 

Cheers,

 

Pete.

From the shed: IS 7 Heavy tank.

One of the silliest things a gamer can do is get stuck in an arms race… trying to get the biggest/ most powerful unit… it is even sillier when this is with yourself. Bearing that in mind I present my IS7: a Soviet prototype that should give the Germans with their dug in E100 pause for thought.

This beast of a tank, aka Object 260, was design in December 1945 and weighted in at 68 tonnes. Armed with a massive 130mm gun fed by an autoloaded it also carried 8 assorted machine guns (2 in the hull, 2 in the turret rear 3 co axially and 1 on an anti- aircraft mount). The behemoth had up to 300mm of armour and was proof against the german 128mm PAK (the main armament of the Jagdtiger and the planned armament of the E100) from the front.

Seven protypes were made but it was not, for many reasons, decided to put the type forward for full production. It remains the heaviest tank the Soviets/ Russia has ever made; a surviving example is in Kublinka museum. It was followed by the IS8 which eventually entered service as the T10 (the name being changed after Stalin’s death).

This 1/72nd kit is by Trumpter and was a pleasure to put together. I painted it with the usual acrylics. It should hake a decent opponent to all of the silly German experimental stuff I’ve got if I could only find somewhere big enough to take advantage of its main gun. It will probably be used as an objective in a skirmish game…. it may even face the Western Allies in a very early Cold War game… why not I guess?

Cheers,

 

Pete.

NormandyTrip: Back to England and Bovington Tank Museum.

The overnight ferry from La Harve to Portsmouth was uneventful, I spent it either reading or watch films on my tablet, also it was the longest I’ve ever spent on a ship. As we arrived early on Friday morning I went on deck as the boat docked to see what was moored up in Portsmouth Harbour. The two historic ships HMS Victory and HMS Warrior were visible along with a fair few contemporary RN vessels including the new HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.

HMS Warrior, undergoing some restortation.

 

HMS Victory.

 

HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s biggest ever warship, I have to admit feeling a little underwhelmed by it.

 

A Type 45 Destroyer HMS Dragon.There were at least 4 Type 45s berthed when I was there.

After docking we drove a hour and a half westwards to visit Bovington Tank Museum, a place that has been on my must visit list for a long time. The number of vehicles on display is mind boggling. Divided up into different sections it takes you through the development of the tank then we went through the Trench Experience covering WW1 and from War Horse to Horse Power and much more including the Tiger exhibit bring together a Tiger and Elefant, two Tiger IIs and a Jagdtiger. I took so many photos I can’t upload them all but I’ll put up a representative sample. If anyone has anything in particular they want to see let me know and I’ll post it.

A view of the first hall we went in, Centurion front and centre.

 

WW1 Mk IV ‘female’ tank.

 

British Crusier tank from 1940.

A Panzer III painted up in Africa Korp colours.

 

A Sherman Firefly with Cromwell in the background.

 

Moving on to modern stuff we have a T72 with a Patton in the background.

 

A Saladin Armoured Car

 

British Challenger.

 

Another shot of the Firefly and Cromewll with the front ofa Chruchill peeking in.

In the WW1 section we have a MkII tank.

 

A Mk IV male with fascine.

Austin Armoured Car of the type used in Ireland during the Anglo-Irish war.

 

Tiger II with Porsche turret and Jagdtiger.

Tiger II with Henschel turret.

 

Elefant (all the way from the US) and Tiger 131.

 

Hetzer SPG in front of a Jagdpanther.

 

Protype of the Tortoise SPG- a British proposal to attack the Siegfried line.

 

A T34/76 in Finnish colours.

 

The ridiculous TOG II- a British failure from WW2, very cool all the same though.

 

British heavy metal.

 

The Sherman used in the recent Brad Pitt film ‘Fury’ still with its sfx weathering.

 

Not all of the vehicles that are in the Bovington Collection are on public display- this is a view of part of the storage shed.

Going round Bovington took all day; all that was left was a long drag on a journey North back to Yorkshire to end Dad and I’s holiday.

 

Cheers,

 

Pete.