North American Combine Vehicles

The vehicles that make up this force were originally painted as dual purpose wargame miniatures, as I've always intended to use them both for games of BattleTech and OGRE/GEV. Let me talk you through them. 

First off is Alpha Company, which is pure Ral-Partha BattleTech goodness tasked up as a Combine armour Company. They made up with models from  the second issue of the Vedettes and the Demolisher tank.  

Then there is Charlie Company, there is no Bravo at the moment, with up of light tanks I made by simply putting a 1/300th Merkava turret on the chassis of a Bradley IFV, both from the Heroic & Ros range.  

Golf Company has the early version of the Striker armoured car from BattleDroids, with Hunter missile tanks at the back.  

Finally, there is Hotel Company, which is hover tanks. The command vehicle for this is a Stan Johansen conversion of the U.S. Army Combat Hovercraft "SK5" Gun Boat, or PACV.  

NB: Originally I labelled these, and this post as a 7th Demi Brigade Légion Etrangère unit, but I've decided that as they are in the colours of my North American Combine force that I use for OGRE/GEV, it would be easier to just relabel them.  Of course since this original post and the re-issue of the miniatures by SJG and my working as an MiB I've stripped all these down and plan to use them for another project. 

PS: Since posting, and therefore adding to the confusion, I've renamed this force 7ème Brigade Blindée, just in case you're reading this and are confused by the names I'm using for my Pan European force

Toyota Technicals

Where ever there are Somali fighters they inevitably have Toyota Technicals in support.

It's not Toyota unless it says Toyota on the back. I wonder if Toyota have a military sales division? Both models are inspired by pictures on the web of what is an ubiquitous field expedient modification of local transport assets.

Salute 2010: ExCel Centre

I'm a long time attended of the Salute show I remember it when it was at Kensington, but think the last time I went to a Salute was in 2004 at Olympia, so it has been quite a while since I've been to what is arguably the premier wargame show in Britain. Since I last went, it has moved again to the Excel Centre in the Docklands.

I had intended to go last year, but was too ill to cope with the travel, and I think the previous year the Docklands light railway was offline, so I passed on going because of the travel time. Yesterday though, the trains were working, the sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day. 

I got there at 09.30, having risen at my usual sparrow fart time that would indicate it was a work day. 

I'm not a morning person at the best of times, and going to a show probably is the best of times. Luckily one can nap on the tube. Anyway, got there and the early queue was winding itself into another hallway, and was paralleled by an almost equally long queue of people who had not bought cheap early bird tickets. 

There was a delay due to the fire marshal not clearing the hall as safe, but the Salute crew were on the ball handing out the goody bags and pre-stamping the tickets and the backs of our hands. I commented that this would be a good way to infect everybody with experiment viruses, if one were so inclined that is. 

Got in the hall, having had a jelly baby off a Chris Tennant Dr. Who look-a-like, see a Darth Vader wheezing along with three doughty Storm Troopers in tow, and passed three members of an StarGate team, which included a woman who had made a sterling effort to look like Sam Carter. Well done to Vikings, WW1 Germans, the WW2 British and any other re-enactors at the show, and any I didn't see for all the effort you put in to entertain me. 

I then commenced Operation Buying Frenzy, as I had a little list. 

 Peter Pig was visited for a pair of Toyota technicals for conversion (watch this space as they say), a pair of Gaz 469 jeeps (that I will mount recoilless rifles on), and a pair of Unimogs (one with a tilt, the other open) all for my Somalian AK47R project that I'm making, which was my third largest purchase of the day at Peter Pig.  

I also stopped at Dom's Decals and bought some German turret decals in both 10 & 15mm for my mechs, and also bought three aircraft from him too. Nice to meet him very briefly and put a name to a face, though I don't think he will remember me, given how busy it was. After this I passed a stand that had the Wings of War Balloon Busters with nearly £10.00 off, so I bought one, which was my second most expensive purchase of the day. 

Then I found Pendraken and picked up my pre-order, which was my biggest single spend of the day. Two Spanish Civil War starter armies (Republican & Nationalist) with a full German & Italian armour contigent with various assorted sundry items, and three hot out the casting machine MkVs tanks for my World War One project. 

I was a happy girl, if a bit poorer. 

Then it was mooching around for bargains, and on the Gamers shop stand I found some MechWarrior goodies. I bought the Ares Class three mech box set for £10.00, and the Poseidon Ares for £7.00, which I though was a bargain. I also found at Leisure Games shop stand some MechWarrior booster packs marked at £2.00 a pop, so I thought I'd buy five. When I came to pay the guy said they were on a special show offer of buy five and get three free. After counting out 16 booster packs, there were only 7 left and he did me a deal of the remainder for £4.00. 

Score, or what? (when I got home, opening them and sorting them out kept me occupied for five hours, which is cheap for the entertainment really).

After this the frenzy I met up with Trevor and his son Oliver, around 11.30. They got to Salute late, due to travel difficulties. I then showed Oliver my cache and told him and his dad that the stand still had some more MechWarrior Poseidon Ares mechs left. So we went over and bought the last remaining two he had, and the nice man behind the stand smiled at us. Trevor and Oliver have played a game of MechWarrior and both father and son seem to be enjoying themselves. 

Trevor and I then went to have a coffee and a snack as it was lunchtime. Oliver meanwhile was frothing like a good one, over all the things to see at the show. 

However, it was nice to sit down and chat and while we were drinking our coffee and having a snack, Dov Rigal, another long time old friend of mine turned up, with his son Sam. So, we had a good natter about stuff. After a suitable time and feeling more refreshed we went back into the show. 

We then spent the rest of the afternoon mooching for stuff, and Oliver bought a Monsterpocalypse starter set at half price. We then got him and his dad into a participation game of zombies and power armour trooper running through an underground complex, which they both enjoyed. 

Meanwhile I perused the show and saw some great looking games. I especially like the C. J. Cherryh Merchanter/Union universe space game with scratchbuilt models as per the book descriptions. So good I bought a set of the home made rules for a pound. 

I also like the two Dr. Who miniature games that were being run, and which were both grossly over subscribed with children of all ages being turned away. Bought the starter rules they had for the games too for £3.00. 

I also bumped into a few old friends, but not Martin B. who had emailed me to late to let me know he was down from up North, and talked to Laurie from the South East Essex Military Society, which I used to be a member of many, many years ago. 

So, I had a really nice time and was totally revved up from the day, even if at the end of it my feet were killing me, and I felt totally exhausted. However, sitting at home and opening 21 boxes of MechWarrior boosters, while drinking wine and chatting to friends was most relaxing, especially as they only cost 66p per box.

Somali Regulars

I've been meaning to post something more about my progress with creating my first AK47 Republic rules army. It has just taken me a whole lot longer to get anything painted to my satisfaction, and I've not yet played anyone, because I don't have enough figures, even using proxy figures, to run a game.

Okay, perhaps I have enough proxy figures if I use all my Traveller and Dalek figures, but that doesn't quite float my boat. Call me a pedant!

Cruel enlargement.

The AK47R rule-set has some interesting mechanisms, including the use of reserves, which you don't often see in games.

What you might not at first notice is that the basing is not the standard AK47R base size. When I was going through the rules and the base sizes, I thought that the abstraction inherent within the basing assumptions were too extreme for what I wanted from a miniature wargame. So I experimented a bit with the frontage and decided that five figures on 40mm wide by 30mm deep looked good.

I also imagined that rather than representing a platoon, the base in my game would represent squads, or section. I imagine YMMV on this, especially if you are an ardent Peter Pig fan, or the writer of the rules?

Cruel enlargement.

Their are some differences between the two platoons that the picture doesn't show. The first platoon jackets are painted brown, while the second are painted khaki. It was by the way of an experiment to test whether or not one can tell the difference, and which one looked best.

The answer is they both look good and the difference is very minor. I'm now working on the militia platoons, which will be shown in due course, so Martin B, you can rest assured knowing that I have been working towards getting enough together to invite you down for a game.

House Steiner Über Alles: Updated Photos

My House Steiner mechs are the third Company I've painted up forBattleTech games. like my Pink Panthers, the mechs are mostly drawn from Fang of the Sun Dougram.

First up is an old school unseen Goliath assault mech, which was called Abitate F44A Crab Gunner in Dougram. This model is pretty much as it comes out of the packet, with just the usual clean up to get it ready for painting. Some people don't like the look of the Goliaths, and it is certainly true that quadraped mechs get very little love in BattleTech.

Next up is another Goliath, this one has however been extensively reposed. I've not seen any other reposed Goliaths around, which doesn't mean a lot in the bigger scheme of things. but probably goes to show the lack of love for this "tanks on legs". I have plans for another Goliath conversion in due course, which will be based on the Abitate F44B Tequila Gunner.

Finally, a Scorpion medium mech, which has had its legs reposed as the original model makes for quite a static look, and to me a bit stilted. Again this mech come from the Dougram show where it was called the Abitate F35C Blizzard Gunner.

I plan to add, at some indefinite point in the future Abitate F44D Desert Gunner, but have yet to make my mind up whether or not to kitbash one using parts from Goliath and Scorpion models, or converting a plastic Gashapon that I have?

Mud and Blood WW1 WIP

   

It has been a while since I posted anything about my Pendraken 10mm WW1 figures.Truth be told they are slowly traversing the log jam that is the painting schedule on the Paint-it-Pink workbench. 

I have this tendency to get caught up by the latest shiny thing that catches my eye, and therefore wander from one thing to another in a haphazard sort of way. However, it at least keeps my interest in painting and model making fresh.

I've managed to prime more of themsince I took this photo, and even started drybrushing the base colours too. 

The tanks need to have their barrels replaced, as I find them a bit too easy to bend, which has slowed me down on getting them painted. I also intend to paint one Whippet and MkIV in German colours.