My first 6mm scratch build: Russian House.

Since I started on a 6mm WWII project (rules included), I found that I did not like most of the commercially available terrain. Especially the price. I really like GHQ's metal cast buildings, but there isn't much variety and I don't like the price knowing I am going to be needing a lot of these.

So I figured I would try my hand at scratch building one. I picked up some styrene at the hobby shop and gave it a go.

Not too difficult if you keep it simple. The windows were a little fiddly, and the roof was tricky to figure out how to do thatch. But I learned a lot and I think I have a good process in mind for cranking some of these out. I need to start making templates for windows and doors and other common parts.

The house is mostly plastic sheet and strip styrene. The thatch is made from static grass mat (paper backed) glued down to the styrene roof. After you coat it with a thinned down layer of brown paint and hit it with a coat of brown primer it stiffens up and can be drybrushed easily.

I think it might be just a tad too large for the GHQ infantry. I do want to be able to place 1" bases in the buildings though...so these roofs lift off.

More to come. I plan to add more houses, barns, fences and all kinds of stuff.



Enjoy!

A Matter of Scale...

The pic below is for any of my non gamer friends who wander here from Facebook. This shows the differences in scale used in wargaming. I guess I should be more precise: Scale is an expression of size in terms of relation to the original. So a 1/48 scale model is 48 times smaller than the original. Put in these terms, I am a 1:1 scale model of a human :)

However, us wargamers have taken, inaccurately, to using the term "scale" when we refer to the various sizes of miniatures on the market. What we should be saying is "size". Size is expressed usually in mm and is the most common way of describing a miniature's size category. So a 28mm miniature is 28mm tall from the bottoms of the feet to the eyes or the top of the head. There are a bunch of different scales. The most common are 15, 20, 25/28, and 40 mm. There are also 2, 6, 10, and 54mm.

Confused?

Good.

Each of these "sizes" is supposed to have a corresponding "scale". Except many don't. For example, 15mm minis are supposed to scale out at 1/100 while 28mm is supposed to be 1/48 or 1/56 or whatever the maker decides he wants to call it. Worse yet, the sculptors mix various scales on the same model. This is what I call "stylization". In essence, each sculptor has his own way of sculpting the various details of a model. Different sculptors emphasize different things. Hands and weapons are often bigger. The head might be smaller, the legs shorter, and the arms stubbier than a real human shrunk to the same "scale". Sometimes details are exaggerated or missing altogether.

Part of this is deliberate on the part of the sculptor and for a simple reason: aesthetic value and style choice.

Part of this is due to the material used to sculpt masters and the material miniatures are cast in (thicker weapons cast in metal will bend or break less easily). Some of it is skill level. Some of it is because some sculptors like to leave off fine detail to make painting a miniature easier or cut details very deeply. Sharp edges and defined details make for a great model to paint, if not always completely realistic looking. The brush picks out the details and sharp edges much easier this way. I personally like miniatures in a more defined, and slightly exaggerated style for this reason alone.

Sometimes the limitation is the size of the miniature. It is harder to sculpt realistic miniatures in 6mm without them being so thin and frail as to be fragile. Plus the human eye needs some exaggerations at smaller sizes to be able to pick up exactly what the viewer is looking at and for the miniature to be recognizable.

There is also this thing called "scale creep". This is a phenomena whereby over the years, miniature sculptors and manufacturers keep making their miniatures bigger. So "25mm" miniatures from 20 years ago are now "28mm" while the old "25s" are closer to today's 20mm minis. And it goes on and on like this. There are a variety of theories on this and endless arguments. Suffice to say stuff keeps changing. This really irritates the pedantic among the wargaming community. Most of us just buy the minis we like, paint them, and play wargames. So today, there is even the category of "30mm" or even "32mm" or "Heroic 28mm" scale miniatures. A good deal of it is just marketing.

Us wargamers like new and shiny.

A lot.

The pic below shows several common "scales" I had sitting on my desk:

The mini on the left is a base of five 6mm German WWII minis from GHQ.

The mini in the middle is my 28mm Pennsylvania Provincial from Eureka.

The mini on the left is my recently finished 15mm Pennsylvania Provincial from Blue Moon/Old Glory.



The other item seen here is this thing called a "Penny". Sometimes they can be found on the ground or on the floor of the car. I realize these are not commonly seen in our plastic money age...but Lincoln is there for size reference anyway.

(edit: I just realized the "grass" on the bases of these minis is all from the same source. The same "scale" grass. Funny how on the 6mm mini that grass is waist deep grass found on the steppes of Russia, while on the 28mm mini it is well groomed golf course fairway grass, and on the 15mm mini it is what my yard usually looks like for most of the summer).

Obligatory Work Table Shot.

It's my work table. Ikea Brand folding desk. Everything goes inside nicely when I need it to. The damn thing is so heavy from the unpainted lead and model collection I am afraid it is putting strain on the floor joists.

15mm French & Indian War Project.

At Historicon last year, and again at Fall In, I picked up a sizable collection of Blue Moon/Old Glory's new 15mm F&I line. It is an excellent range if miniatures, and they have done an amazing job of creating a complete range. It includes virtually everything you could think of for a F&I range: British, French, Provincials, Indians, Rangers, civilians, militia, officers, Light Infantry, artillery, canoes...even scenery with a complete range of cabins, forts, and homesteads. I always look for one stop shopping when I start a project. I like to be able to use one manufacturer for a complete range. This allows me to do that and then some. It didn't take long for them to release the range either, which is always a plus.

The miniatures are well sculpted and cast with very little work needing to be done for cleanup and prep. The range has a nice variety of poses with enough in each pack of 30 to do units of 10 without repeating. In fact, the Indians are 30 unique sculpts which is impressive. There are only a few models I did not like and will not be using. Considering how picky I am that is saying something.

Also, they are pretty cheap. Especially if you are an Old Glory Army member which gets you that 40% discount. They are usually 30 minis per pack for $14. Not bad.

My few quibbles are that the faces on the Brits and other Europeans are not as crisp and clean as they could be, especially compared to the Indians. The other quibble is that the Provincials uniform is not the one I was looking for. The cuffs are different and actually look like they simply took the marching models from their British Advancing pack and added some command models to make a "unique" Provincials pack. I cannot tell the difference between the models. But that's ok. I found it was an easy matter of using an X-Acto to cut off the cuffs of the British Regulars Skirmishers and then just paint the correct cuffs on. No big deal.

One minor thing that might be more important to other people interested in these minis: they are "tall" 15mm minis. Probably average around 18mm, so they might not mix with other manufacturers. I haven't compared them to others myself though. But, to me that's no big deal since I will be doing all of my F&I in this scale from the same range.

I picked up the following packs:

1 Pack of Indians.
1 Pack of Provincials.
2 Packs of British Regulars Skirmishing.
1 Pack of Militia.
2 Cabins.

I used the command models (NCOs, Color Bearer, and Drummer) from the Provincials pack and combined it with 2 of the British Regulars Skirmishing packs to make a force of 60 men from the 1st Battalion of the Pennsylvania Provincials. These were the "regulars" of the colonies raised to bolster the forces of the King's Army sent across the Atlantic to fight in North America. Each colonial government raised units of Provincials and they provided them with uniforms, equipment, and sometimes muskets (though many Pennsylvania Provincials were asked to bring their own musket and a blanket).

The quality of these units ranged from good to very poor. I don't think the Provincials get enough credit for their efforts in the war. I have heard someone on my Mother's side (Markey) served in the F&I War in PA, but beyond that I don't know. That is something I really want to research. That is kind of surprising to me, considering most of that side of the family was Brethren and non-resistant (meaning they would not fight in wars or resist violence). Somehow this PA Brethren family from Switzerland who came her in 1732 still managed to fight in every American war but WWI.

Anyway...I love the color of the PA Provincials uniforms: Green jackets and red facings and cuffs. Later this was switched to an all green uniform, and even later to blue. But I like the green and red. Very sharp looking. The buff colored leggings finish off the scheme rather well I think.



Company A, First Battalion, 1st Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot.

These Provincials will be supported by 30 men of the Associators Militia. These men were raised as volunteers to fight during the days when the Pennsylvania government, dominated by Pacifist Quakers, refused to fund or raise forces to defend the colony. These volunteers were the first line of defense against the French and Indian raids that struck the PA backcountry like a wave beginning in the summer of 1755 after the defeat of Braddock on the Monongahela.



B Company, Lancaster County Associators (my own made up unit).

The Indians I plan on using as some of the few tribal warriors allied with the British. These will be a tough band of loyal Delaware or Shawnee who lived among the British and were nearer to their trade outposts. They could just as easily be a band of Iroquois who took up the hatchet with the British...or if need be, they can double as French allied Indians (also Delaware or Shawnee) from Western PA, the Ohio Country, or the Pays den Haut.



Mean looking Delaware warband ready to loot the dead and pillage the wreckage. I mean, errr, follow their Sachem to glory and fame on the battlefield.

The two cabins I picked up are generic enough to be used as any farm or settlement in the backcountry. The best thing about them is that they have lift off roofs, which makes placing units inside easy.



Cabin with unpainted snake rail fence. Though it could just be freshly cut timber...

I also did some conversions on these models. Besides cutting the cuffs down and painting the right ones on, I also did a weapon swap to make an NCO. I took one of the pointing officers from the Provincials pack and snipped off the musket arm of a British Regular and added it across his chest like the model on the right. The NCO on the left is just one of the models from the Provincials pack but with the cast spear pole replaced by brass rod. This way, I have two NCOs per unit. I can keep two in the unit or use just one and decide whether I want him armed with a pole arm or musket.



Here is a pic of one of the two Sachems in the pack...or at least Indians that look like they are bossing the others around.



And another Sachem.



Hope you like them! They will be going up against my friend Rob's French from Blue Moon/Old Glory.

Not the Livestock!

I forgot about this pic...a dead cow from Bolt Action Miniatures. No WWII Normandy field is complete without a dead cow or two. I shall call her Bessie.

Churchill.

Forgot to post this with my Brits. JTFM 1/56 scale Churchill VIII:

Pennsylvania Provincial Officer.

I just finished painting a test model of my Eureka French & Indian War Provincials. I really love these models and it was a long time coming that someone finally covered these troops in 28mm. Excellent sculpts with lots of detail that is crisp and clean and fairly easy to paint. I had to make a few changes to the uniform colors while I was working on this, but I like how he came out. I equipped my officer with a musket. A much more useful weapon than a sword against Indians in the deep forests of the Pennsylvania frontier.

I still need to buy a bunch more of these and I hope Conquest releases their British Regulars soon so I can finally do the F&I in 28mm properly.

Here he is...ready to defend the Pennsylvania frontier against the French and their savage heathen allies.

Hood's Texans.

Here are some painted 28mm Old Glory First Edition ACW Texans I painted. The figs are full of character and have lots of nice details. The molds have seen better days though, and the wear can be seen on the castings. Still, they paint up nice and look good and ragged Reb when ranked up. I tried to paint them in a variety of uniform colors to enhance this ragged look. I know this ragged Reb thing is somewhat overstated to some degree and from what I have read Hood's Texans received new uniforms before heading West with Longstreet, which makes these good for the first part of the war before that. Either way, they are nice figs and I think will look good on the table against my Bluebellies.

Here they are looting Markey Farm on their way through Southern Pennsylvania...



Here's an up close shot:

Some Scenery.

Having started my Civil War project a while back, I found I didn't have any specific scenery to go with it. I had plenty of trees, hills, orchards, stone walls, and other generic type scenery, but I lacked any era appropriate buildings and the types of fences and walls for the period. WWII buildings wouldn't cut it. At the last Cold Wars I picked up a few of the old JR Miniatures 28mm ACW buildings. These would be the start of a Civil War era farm. To go with them I needed some snake rail fences, the ubiquitous fencing found all over America from the 1700s through the 20th century. And I needed a ton of them. From what I have seen of period paintings, photos, and other wargaming projects...these things were everywhere. They lined every road and field you could find. The problem is, I didn't want to pay for any custom built ones or buy the expensive pre-made ones...so I had to find a fast, easy, and decent looking way of doing them myself.

Fortunately, my wife is a good cook.

She was making kebobs a few months back and I found that the bamboo kebob skewers she was using were the perfect size. Plus they were cheap and came in a pack with tons of the things.

To make them, I made a template on a 1" wide strip of Basswood with a mark every 2". Then I laid out the pattern using this grid. After that, it was time to cut what seemed like thousands of 2" pieces. It took a long time, but once done, the fences came together fast by gluing down the rails using the template. My snake rail fences are 3 rails high, which I felt was high enough for my 28mm minis. I plan on next doing some rock and rail fences, but haven't decided how to tackle that yet...

Also, the JR Miniatures buildings are hollow, but the roofs don't come off. That is unless you take a hacksaw to them. Which I did. It was a pain, but now the roofs lift off so I can put minis inside. The interior casting is too rough to build interior details, but it will be ok for my purposes. I don't feel like making or buying 28mm ACW era furniture anyway. That would just be obsessive...

Here are the pics.

I am going to call my generic ACW farm "Markey Farm" after my grandparents family who came here in 1732 and had a farm in the York County area of Pennsylvania.

Markey Farm House:



Markey Barn:



Snake Rail Fences. I need about 100 feet more of these:

Italian Theater '43-'45: The Germans.

Here are my first Crusader German Fallschirmjager for my Italian Theater project. These can be used from Sicily to the end in Italy. By swapping out the MG-34s for MG-42s I can tailor them to specific scenarios and locations. To change them to MG-42s I bought a bunch of Bolt Action Miniatures MG-42s and have swapped out the barrels on some extra MG Gunners to make these. Simple conversion and it gave my Fallschirmjagers some flexibility for this project.

Here they are...

MG-34 Teams:



MG-34 Team Detail. I really wanted to get the camo right, and after some test models, this is what I came up with:



Rifle Team:



Rifle Detail:

Italian Theater '43-'45: The British.

It's been a long time, but I fonally had a chance to snap some pics and show what I have been up to.

When I took stock of my miniatures this year, I realized I didn't have the miniatures I wanted to really do the Italian theater properly. I had sold my old painted Fallschirmjagers and I was not content to use my Late War Brits which were more appropriate for the Late War Western Front than anything Mediterranean. So, after having shelved a box of Crusader Early/Mid War Brits a few years back and picking up the new Crusader Fallschirmjagers last year, it was time to go back to sunny Italy.

So far, I have completed one squad of Brits. Here they are:

Bren Team:




Rifle Team:

A long hot summer and other musings...

It has been entirely too long since I posted anything on my wargaming blog. I intend to rectify that this weekend. Though it has been a ridiculously hot summer with very little gaming or work being done on miniatures or scenery...I did manage to get a few things off the workbench.

Several projects in the works at one time:

WWII Italy: working on a platoon of 28mm Crusader Miniatures Fallschirmjägers and Mid War British. So far, one squad of each platoon completed. I am very happy with the camo on the FJ. I want to revisit my old Continental Hotel scenario with some custom scenery for a potential Wargames Illustrated article down the road and maybe re-run it at another convention.

American Civil War: a few Rebs done, a house and barn from JR Miniatures (I cut the roofs off these suckers with a hacksaw), and some snake rail fences which, while fairly easy to do, made me realize just how many of these damn things I will need...I already blew through a whole bag of my wife's bamboo Kebob sticks.

On the rules front...not much going on. I have been stuck on my 1:1 individual combat system for months now. I am beginning to realize that I just don't like the idea of gaming at that granularity except for certain genres like Pulp or Zombies. I don't think 1:1 action works for modern military combat. I am sure there are lots of perfectly legitimate realism justifications for that kind of system...but that's my mental block right now. Partially it is also because I simply don't know where to stop with content. I wanted to originally stick to 1:1 WWII. Then it became modern combat in general. Then I was considering modeling SWAT actions and CQB and other stuff like that...before I knew it this thing had gotten out of control.

I have begun work on my ACW skirmish set with a little bit of progress. I need to finish some minis and terrain and do some preliminary testing first before I get much further, but I feel that this is a doable project. I'm just not sure when it will fully develop. I want to base the book on one of the tactical manuals of the period, but I find myself with a loss of confidence in my knowledge of a period known for full on hard core pedantry with these kinds of things. If there is something even slightly wrong I will never hear the end of it...even more so than anything I have ever done WWII. Still, I like the title a lot. So there's that.

True to my too many irons in the fire style, I have also started working on a 1:1 Company scale game for WWII. This is something I began thinking about when I started playing games in 15mm and how neat the ground scale looks. It made me go a step further and start looking at doing 1:1 in 6mm scale and how I could distill the DH system into a new kind of game. I came up with a new unit based firepower system and new ways of using morale, training, cover, suppression, and maneuver that combines the playability of regular Disposable Heroes but at a higher level. So far, out of anything else I am working on, this one I am pretty excited about.

Some preliminary testing needs to be done, but I think it will result in a neat, realistic ground scale appealing game that is tactically fun and easy to play. We shall see...

So that's all for now. I need to fire up the camera and take some pics to post. I hope to do that soon.

Where Zombies Dare...

I just wanted to post a few quick pics taken at our club game on Monday of the Zombies vs Soviets game. We used a modified form of Where Heroes Dare with special rules to give it that zombie movie feel. It worked pretty well for a first run.

The zombies are a little overpowered right now, but we discussed some tweaks to make them work. They were a little too fast and some of the rules for spawning them and activating them made it too easy for the zombies to get around the table. We played two games and both times the zombies won, but I think with some of the changes it will come out to a well balanced game.

I am very happy with the way the rules give a really good feel for Romero style zombies. They can only be killed by head shots, they are slow but once they get close to prey they can move a little faster, when they mob up on you they can quickly overpower you and pull you down, but they also feed on that prey for a turn allowing others to escape (though the newly dead can also become zombies themselves, muhahaha), they appear where you least expect them but they can't climb...things like that really make the game tense. I had a great time.

The pics are all from Dieter's phone cam which seems to have a "creepy bleary misty zombie setting" which made for some great shots.

I don't really have much of an AAR as were just testing and having fun. The scenario involves a team of Spetsnaz escorting a tech team with Geiger counter equipment. They are ordered into a facility outside the town of Pripyat several days after the Chernobyl incident. They are told to take readings from what appear to be unusually high amounts of radiation, even higher than the meltdown site itself. There was a team sent in previously that disappeared after reports of gunfire. Rumor has it that the site was a secret KGB experimental facility which had a direct line to Chernobyl...but why the site has higher radiation readings or how it might be connected to the incident at the plant is unknown and no one in the Central Committee is talking.

The team arrives at the facility as the sun is setting and to an eerie silence.

That's when things got weird.

Here are some shots...



Table layout. I plan to do more buildings specific to this game at some point. For now we just used the set of ruins and rubble I had and a building from the Comic Store's collection.



Corporal Fedorov takes a reading at one of the objective counters.



The Sgt. gets mobbed...



Braaaaaaaaaains.



Some Soviets turn the tables on a lone zombie.



The support team of PK LMG and a sniper with a Dragunov go down hard...and then get eaten.



Zombies. Milling around and doing zombie stuff.

I hope to run this game at one of the conventions coming up. Probably Historicon. Too late to register a game for Cold Wars.

Enjoy!

Polish 10th Motorized (The Black Brigade).

I now have a complete platoon and support, plus tanks for my Polish Black Brigade project. The only thing left to do is finish off some more heavy weapons (mortars and HMGs). I have enough minis to do a second platoon, but that will have to wait until later.

The miniatures are all True North, now owned by Old Glory. They are decent figs, but I am hoping to see Battlefront release their own models of this unit once they start their early war range. The True North figs are slightly too big when standing next to the Command Decision 15mm Germans I have, but that's no big deal.

I had to do some conversion work to get some of the poses I wanted. The packs did not come with any advancing LMGs. I had to take one of the prone LMG gunners, snip off the gun, drill out one of the rifles from a rifleman, add the gun, and the sculpt on new hands with green stuff. Not difficult, just time consuming. I did 4 of them in two different poses. I think the conversion came out pretty well, though part of the reason I am not rushing into a second platoon is the fact that I don't look forward to doing that again...

Now completed:

Command section, motorcycle combo, 4 sections, a truck, 1 armored car, 6 Vickers E 6 ton, 4 TKS (one with 20mm cannon), a 7TP tank, HMG, and a 37mm Antitank gun.

Enjoy!



Platoon (minus 1 truck).



One of the sections of the one squad platoon (their TO&E is rather odd).



Support weapons.



The LMG conversion.



Vickers E 6 Ton.



TKS Tankettes. I love these things. Armored go-carts. Yet one of these little suckers, commanded by Roman Orlik, knocked out 3 German tanks (including a Panzer IV B) in one action, followed by a second run of 3 kills, and a final run of 7 kills in one day.



The 7TP, one of the best Polish tanks. These could go head to head with pretty much the best of German armor in 1939. Unfortunately for the Poles, there were too few. A number of them did some damage in a major counterattack around Bzura before being knocked out.



Armored Car. Fast, cheap, and packs an MG and 37mm gun. Just don't get hit.

So that's it! I just wish someone did this unit in 28mm...

Pennsylvania Bucktails.

Work has begun on my Civil War Skirmish project. First up is a group of 10 Union soldiers of the 150th PA Volunteers Regiment (The Bucktails), known for their distinctive white tail deer tail pinned to their hats. This Regiment saw action from Chancellorsville all the way through Gettysburg, Petersburg and through the end of the war.

This is just the first of my Civil War units. Most of them will be bucktails, but I will also paint up enough generic Union infantry to be used in any theater.

Miniatures are all Old Glory 28mm. They are one of the few manufacturers I know of who specifically make this unit with the tails on the hats (Redoubt is the other). I like these figures. They have good detail, lots of good poses, and a lot of character. Old Glory even produces several packs of casualties so I should be able to put down one casualty per model during a game to give the battlefield a realistic look.

Here are some shots of the unit (plus a wagon).























Cookie and his wagon...



Detail shot.

Do you smell something, comrade?

Well, the horde is almost complete. I have a few of the toxic waste barrel zombies to finish up, but that's about it. It didn't take long to do these guys, surprisingly. I found that a nice quick drybrush of flesh, followed by a rotting flesh green on top followed by a few dark red and a purplish bruise color for washes finished off with an overall dark wash to add depth really gave them the right look. The only thing I did to add detail was pick out a few bones in khaki and white mixed. Oh, I also added a gloss finish to the guts and painted the eyes with a red/orange spot. I'm very happy with them.

Enjoy!



Close up of a few of the gang.



Some blurry "comin' atcha!" shots.



And a toxic waste barrel zombie for good measure. I will be using these for markers or spawn points in a game. This makes me think of that old Chevy Chase movie where he gets toxified (Modern Problems).

The question remains...will 46 of these bad boys be enough? You can never have too many zombies on the table. My Soviets are ready to take on the horde. All I have to do for them is a few of the support weapons I just picked up. RPG launcher (zombies go 'splode), a second PK LMG (head shot!), and a flamethrower (whoosh!). Though the last thing you might want are zombies that are on fire.

The whole thing gets a game test run on Monday at the club. Now I just need to come up with some rules and special events cards...

Pripyat.

A little diversion here, though continuing with the Soviet theme...

I was cleaning out a box of unfinished minis and found these 28mm Eureka 1980's NBC suit Soviets hiding in the back. I decided to finish them up and get them out of my backlog since they only needed a little work on weapons and packs to finish. Besides the NCO, Sniper with Dragunov, Specialist with Geiger Counter, and the LMG gunner with the PK, there are five grunts with AK-47s left to finish.



I picked these up a few years ago at one of the conventions with the intention of using them in a zombie outbreak containment game set in the city of Pripyat, Ukraine after the Chernobyl disaster. Eureka actually sells these and a set of zombies to go with them for just that purpose.

All I need yet are the zombies! I'll probably need a bunch of them though...

Projects for the New Year.

As part of the cleaning and organizing of my painting desk, I figured I should also make a list of projects to complete in the coming year. I have a lot of projects to choose from, but I want to put together a list of priority projects and get some old and unfinished stuff out of the way.

Miniature Projects:
28mm Mid War Soviets. Battle Honors (complete).
28mm Soviets in NBC Suits. Eureka (complete).
15mm Polish 10th Motorized. True North Miniatures (complete).
28mm ACW Union Company. Old Glory.
28mm ACW Confederate Company. Old Glory.
15mm French. Old Glory/Command Decision.
15mm Soviet Rifle Company. Quality Castings.
28mm Battle of the Bulge US Airborne. Artizan Designs.
28mm Battle of the Bulge Germans LMG teams. Artizan Designs.
28mm Japanese Ni mortar squad, snipers, and AT teams. Brigade Games.

Scenery Projects:
More hills cut out and sanded.
Finish painting 28mm tree bases.
28mm Normandy Farmhouse Complex. Shed is almost painted.
15mm Eastern Front houses scratchbuilt.
28mm ACW fences and walls.
More 28mm Hedgerows.
28mm Railroad tracks.
More 15mm trees.
15mm Railroad tracks.

Iron Ivan Games Projects:
Point Blank: 1:1 scale Squad Level WWI-Modern Combat system.
Polish 10th Motorized scenarios.
"May Be Forever": Civil War mod of This Very Ground.
Fields of Battle: Panzer Lehr.

That's a good start. Now I need to stick to the plan and get a move on some of this stuff. It's been nice enough the past few days to get some minis primed...

Mid War Soviets.

Wow has it been a long time since I updated. The holidays have a tendency to sneak up on you and before you know it a new year is upon you.

I decided to start the year off right by cleaning my painting table from top to bottom and getting myself organized. I also started to work up a list of unfinished projects I wanted to get off the table and out of the way so I can start on the new projects I want to complete this year.

I have had several platoons on the table now for all of last year with just a squad or two unpainted. The first one to get out of the way is my Mid War Battle Honors 28mm Soviet Platoon. I had completed a command section and two squads for some time, but needed to finish off the third squad and the heavy weapons to make a viable platoon for the table top. That is now complete.

Here is the result. I used a new filter on my free editing software that gives it a grainy war time photo look. Not sure if I like the result or not yet...



I am also experimenting with new photography techniques for miniatures. The biggest difference was learning to take better angles. Down low and in close has helped give me better results for taking pics of minis. I might need to go back and start retaking a lot of pics of my other miniature projects. That will have to wait for now though.

Here is one of the three rifle squads:



And the heavy weapons to support them:



I'm not happy with the pics of the Rifle Squad or Heavy Weapons, but I will have to take better photos later.

This makes a complete Mid War Soviet Rifle platoon with the bare bones of support.



I have two painted T-34 early models to go with them and a Zis-3 76mm AT Gun, but I need to get some crew and add snipers and maybe a 4th squad. I also have some SMG models to finish to turn this platoon into a Desant platoon which brings a lot of drunken firepower to bear. These go against my Battle Honors 28mm Waffen SS to allow me to do post Stalingrad through Operation Zitadel and perhaps even up to and beyond Operation Bagration games.

Hope you enjoy!