Panther, panther, burning bright?

Mostly military modelling, rather than wargaming today. WW2 isn't generally a theatre I would usually go to for this, it's drab colours have a tendency not to jump out at you. However, having perused Tamiya figures for a while (they are beautiful) and the majority of model stores reverting to this conflict, rather than Napoleonic, it seems a natural stepping stone.

 This was an impulse buy at our local HobbyCraft. Seeing the size of the hull in the box made me ask the question could I do justice to that. I hope to some extent I have. It has certainly allowed me to pursue new modelling techniques e.g applying camp net from gauze dressing, applying zimmerit with a soldering iron, buying an airbrush for future projects. And for a lot first produced in the 1970s, it's not half bad, minimal rebuilding was needed to fit the underside of the hull and track arches.

It depicts 116 Panzer Division with an added section of Pander Grenadiers, on one of the limited Panthers in Normandy. So not a bad 10 months work. Although I am now considering whether it needs a case or diorama base. Any thoughts on display?

Bounty Hunters?... We don't need this scum!

Two posts in two days...must be on a roll.

So going along with the general Star Wars hype back in December (deserved the previous two years, a bit of a let down last year), and wanting a project tat I could try varying military modelling techniques, I splashed out on the Revell model of Slave 1. Who wouldn't want Boba Fett's Ship?

En-route to collect the bounty on Han Solo

I'm relatively pleased with the model. Easy to put together, detail is crisp, the model easy to put together and paint. Was going for an image of the engines being lit, but a previous blackwash bled into this. Something to watch out for. Also frosting on the canopy means from now on using Tamiya Thin Cement from preventing this from happening next time. A solid little model, I've now got eyes on their model of the snowspeeder. Watch this space.

Elrond Halfelven, Ereinion Gilgalad, Elendil the Fair "Elf-Friend" and Isildur

Wargames painting continues anew, with the leaders of The Last Alliance making it to the Table. Sculpted by Brian Nelson, they were an absolute joy to make, the detail absolutely stunning. Finished off with gloss varnish, picking out the shine of the armour, these are still some of the best minis I've painted in a while.

Detail on Gilgalad's cloak.

Finally, to fill in a hole in my 28mm WW2 German collection, I've painted up a downed Luftwaffe fighter pilot. More for Scenario play than general wargaming, the ability to basically play capture the flag with pilots is quite common. Now need to find a reciprocal RAF fighter ace. Lovely model to paint, again the leather jacket and goggles have been picked out in gloss, to show their shine.

Finally WIPs. Currently finishing off a 28mm German Heer 81mm mortar and needing to take the final steps with my Tamiya 1/35 Panther Ausf.A with Panzer-Grenadier crew. Just need to make up some scrim to cover a slight fault. Still trying to decide how to display- diorama base, plain display base, or no base. Any thoughts?

The Bunker

Spoilt for choice this week, with two posts in two days. Obviously everyone wants their battlefields to have big armies and big terrain features and defences to complement them. Looking at continual battles over heavily enclosed French fields is all good, but minds do wonder to Stalingrad, Berlin,               D-Day, Merville Battery, factories, ruins and more besides. Therefore I felt a bunker was the natural starting point for this month's terrain project. Built using the following tutorial Link, it was scratch built using copious amounts of foamboard, air drying clay, hot glue and filler and does the job just marvellously. I think price just came in at £2 as much of the stuff was lying around the house and the foamboard was given away by Dad's work from architectural drawing plans. Many a game of Bolt Action will be played over it and I now hope in the coming weeks to complement it with a steady supply of minefields, tank traps, craters, obstacles and marshes.

Catchup, a book and a German Exercise.

Well it's been a while. For those waiting for a post-show report on last weekend's inaugural Scottish Battlefield's Trust wargames show, one has been written, but is not likely to appear on here, but rather will be cross posted from the Helion & Co. publishers blogHelion and Co. publishers blog website. All I can say for now is that it was a barnstorming success, and that this has almost certainly warranted a return in the New Year. Better get planning.

For those of you possibly connected to Helion Publishing, Devereux's regiment of the ECWS or are frequent followers of Wars of Louis Quatorze, might have noticed the recent cover for yours trulies debut publication. This will cover the development, implementation and reality that can be gleaned from military manuals of the period such as Ward, Bariffe and de Gheyn and how they were enacted on the battlefield, while equally using their deposits to highlight individual units and landscapes within the battlescape. Already available to preorder from Amazon-as well as the accompanying journal article , published 15 August, with an official launch also being held at the Century of the Soldier Conference in Shrewsbury, which I'll be attending. Keep an eye on this series as they are also producing a range of wargaming and specialist publications through this logo, hopefully a number of which I will be reviewing and playtesting on this blog.

Meanwhile, painting has been slow, with article writing, preparation for the Prestonpans Show and painting for the Lion Rampant tournament in April taking precedence. However I did manage to buy further forces for my Restoration project last week and a World War II Bolt Action battle (the first in a while) on Tuesday night at the club. Wanting to playtest the new additions to my German Army, (a Puma and FW190) and having rushed there, myself and my gaming partner Paul decided to fight an engagement from very late in the war Wehrmacht/Volksgrenadier against Waffen SS. I didn't manage to take many photos but this is the result. I do feel as if he and myself have very much become engaged in an arms race, both in terms of troops and terrain,(he's currently painting a Panther and putting onto the table some very nice ruined buildings, walls and 4Ground MDF Fencing-myself [diverting from other projects I might add] starting work on a bunker, a series of tank traps, an industrial complex and a number of ruined buildings-quite a set up I should think by the end) Here is the result//

A PanzerIV inches its way onto the battlefield, providing cover for advancing infantry and making itself heard. Against raw Volksgrenadier this should be a cake walk

Meanwhile, on their other flank German Infantry are held down in a firefight with German infantry in the ruins. The Howitzer very much proved the king of the battlefield that day, inflicting meagre, but effective casualties on their opponents. It even sucked up all the antitank fire from the Puma, forcing it away from the main objectives-no mean fete.

PanzerIV reigns supreme...not for long. Two shots fired into the Stug before its wrath was bought to bare, its 88mm gun making mincemeat of its more manouevrable foe.

The first game where we've included aircraft, my new FW180, more than makes up for its points cost. With four autocannons and two HMG's it virtually anhilated an entire squad in one term, and make for some fantastic dicerolling, with its speed meaning it is virtually impregnable to anything but the best antiaircraft fire. However, despite the number of casualties I inflicted and the number of units pinned, it was not enough to carry the game, me losing by two points, a lot better margin than previously. Maybe some more aircover is needed... :)

A 15mm FOGR game between 1650 New Model Army and Royalist Covenanter/Scots was also being played out and looked very impressive, the Scots having the worst of the action. Although I didn't see much of the action, it did seem an innordinate number of units was routing from the field, but did look very impressive. With the amount of interest currently being shown in the period at the club at the moment, really eager to get going again in gaming this period once April is past.

Next week a possible SYW Kings of the Battlefield report

Mini Mania pt. 1 WW2

Apologies for lack of blog posts recently. Finishing work on the English Civil War military manuals book, produced by a notable military history publisher, more news before long regarding its contents, material, and stuff of interest to the historical wargamer. Equally, also recently walked the battlefield of Auldearn, a stones throw away from Culloden, as part of an SBT evaluation in the face of imminent expansion of the A9 motorway, soon to be the subject of a joint blog post highlighting features of the battlefield and how you can arrange it on your table.

In the mean time, I have noticed recently, those of you who are connected via Facebook, that I have not photographed any of my painting/modelling endeavours for the past two years and as such, a major update on projects and finished materials is in order. Therefore, here I shall present a relevant Gallimaufry of the best of that collection for your delectation and delight. Apologies for varying quality of photographs. Getting used to not using an SLR means varying zoom/quality of image, something hope to rectify soon.

First off a Jagdpanther for the Battle of the Bulge. From Pegasus Hobbies, 1/72. Haven't actually made up any forces to go with this yet, although likely to use Neil Thomas Wargames: An Introduction as a starter.

An Airfix 1/72 Tiger, again likely to be used for Operation Barbarossa, using the same system as above.

A change of scale here with 28mm Crusader Miniatures Officers/NCOs section of Fallschirmjager for use for Bolt Action. Not sure whether going to make up a German paratrooper section for Italy/possibly advance into Germany, but I really like Warlord Games recent set which is on the shopping list, so who knows.

Lastly a 15mm platoon of German Stug III's. These were originally bought with the original Flames of War original box set. Since playing them, although it is a fun set of rules, I don't feel it mirrors Battlegroup scale WW2 action well. On the other hand it is very popular, so may build up a Plastic Soldier Company force around it. Eye is being drawn by Battlegroup Panzergrenadier though.

Next post Military Modelling 54mm and beyond. Also need to start posting up some reviews to the books I read and also a Wargames New Years resolutions list.