20 March 2021

German and American "volunteers" in British colonial service

Feeling nostalgic and working on some British colonial era troops I was inspired by an article by "C. Jones" on modeling the Zulu War with 20mm Airfix figures that I found in an old July 1967 edition of the Airfix magazine.

As per the magazine article I used Airfix WW1 Germans.


I added heads with the pith hemets from the Esci/Italeri British colonial sets, and also used some more recent figures that weren't available when the author wrote his article, a couple of Imex ACW figures and a Revell WW1 German





The cavalry and horse-drawn artillery look like they might be nice future conversions.

19 March 2021

Jungle Incursion Game

Last Saturday I got together with a good mate Iván, who's been a gaming buddy of mine for many years. Unfortunately we hadn't been able to get a game in together for quite some time until now.

Iván said he'd like to put together a scenario and I did the part I most like, setting up the gaming table.

The scenario consisted of a Chindit type operation, two groups entering the table with a mission to locate a bridge being constructed at some point on the far edge of the table.





It's the first time the sand table's been used for a jungle setting and ended up consuming practically every plastic plant, tree, shrub, and palm I own.

We were originally going to game using the Bolt Action rules, but as Iván was bringing his young son to game too, he put together some simple rules to accompany the scenario.



There were various points of interest that had to be reached before the bridge could be located, and each point coincided with an event occurring based on a pre-prepared table and dice throw.

Some of the events meant an encounter with indigenous jungle dwelling tribesemen, discovery of important information, an encounter with crocodiles when crossing a swamp, a Japanese patrol that had to be avoided at all costs, discovery of a compound with allied prisoners being used to build the bridge thanks to information from one of the tribesemen, recovery of airdropped supplies, and finally the location of the objective that had to be blown.



Iván used a "gamemaster" roleplay style together with the simplified rules so his son could take full charge of one of the Chindit groups.





An encounter with local indigenous tribesmen, looking suspiciously like Revell Sioux warriors



One of the dangers lurking in the swamps.



A Japanese patrol through the jungle.





One of the groups locate prisoners thanks to help from the tribesman and overcome the guard.



The guard's companions (drinking sake in an Airfix Jungle Outpost) hear the commotion and sound the alert.



One of the group separates and leads the liberated prisoners away to safety



The two groups meanwhile locate the objective and begin the attack. A firefight ensues, the guards are overwhelmed and the Chindits place their explosives and BOOM !



The Chindit commander celebrates victory !!!!

An entertaining afternoon, the roleplay style and simple rules meant a fast, smooth and enjoyable game, The young lad had a whale of a time, which is the most important and is what memories are made of.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I should have taken more, but at the time it wasn't feasable. I had in my mind ideas about maybe taking reposed shots and put together a more detailed report or story, but no doubt I'll end up sidetracked... too many projects :-)

By the way, I´ll finish by giving a plug for Iván. He's an illustrator for board games and has also designed and produced his own boardgame based on Nelson's failed attack on the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife here in 1797. You can see some of his work on the links below :

https://ivancacerescruz.tumblr.com
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/103459/ivan-caceres
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/235362/santa-cruz-1797

09 March 2021

Roco Minitanks 1/87 scale Dodge Command Car and Memories of Charles Grant's "Battle"

Possibly Brits, Aussies or Kiwis of a certain age might recognise the setup, it might also ring a bell with miniature gamers from other countries who had access to English publications many many moons ago

The Iron cross looks a bit out of place on the RED battalion commander, and I didn't expect it to show up so much but the final wash brought out a lot of the figure's fine detail.



The figures and vehicles are the same as the ones in the original book, German WW1 officer figure with an Airfix Russian head, accompanying Russian officer and the battalion command car is an old Roco Minitanks Dodge.


06 March 2021

Some work in progress - M35 Truck by 4D Models

I posted about these kits some time ago (HERE) and recently saw a good offer on the internet for a set of five so being a sucker for cheap-as-chips offers that are too good to refuse, well of course I ordered them - and just got them a couple of days ago.

I did a bit of chopping up and these reliable workhorses might be able to serve in a few modern game scenarios in other roles rather than just as the basic truck


I had an old 1/87 scale Roco Dragon Wagon that I was never going to use so I cut off the cab and swapped it for the M35 cab.




Hey presto !  An M275 Truck Tractor that it can now also be used to tow this military container.


I'm pretty sure the M35 wouldn't be suitable in this role for towing a huge load like this, I don't think it's powerful enough, but I might be wrong, and please feel free to leave a comment in the comments' section if you do know. 

In any case, in spite of any inaccuracies I can live with them as these are just gaming models.

However, this next configuration really is pure fantasy. A long wheelbase and multiple wheels. 


The platform and crane came off a toy. Be kind to me, in my mind's eye it looks at least feasable. 

Next step will be painting, I'll try and update this article once they're painted with some pictures.

Keep safe all.