Sherman progress and some games

Hi folks,

This week has been spent doing a couple of things. First up, I set up a Facebook account for my blog. You can click the link on the right in order to follow me there, where I am trying to give a few more regular updates, etc.

I also continued to work on my 144 RAC Sherman I's and some of my Polish Sherman V's.

I mixed some 'Magic Wash' up. Seems to be working ok, but needs to be mixed with ink before adding to the mini's as I've not got the shade right yet.

And lastly, I played 2 games! One was even Flames of War! The other was a 6mm battle between York and Lancaster (?) during some English civil war or other. This game was the first at a club being set up by Yorkie, over and 'Little Legions' in a village hall about 45 mins from me. It was the inaugural meeting tonight and we managed to get 6 of us there for a multi player game. Some lovely mini's, good banter and a pretty quick playing game. Here's some pics:

All set up, we were on the left - no idea which army we were! Each player had two 'battles'. The hill to our North split our forces a little.

The enemy line! Some great looking units.

Our battle line - the hill that split our forces can be seen in the distance.

Some progress in the first few turns, with my battle heading forwards and getting some lucky shots in, causing one enemy unit to fall back. on the other flank the close combat had already started! A wood meant that only one part of that battle could engage at first. Thankfully they held their own!

Aftermath of the battle in the north - one enemy and one friendly unit lost, with another enemy unit shaken. My own force carefully deployed just out of initiative charge range...

Getting ready for the big clash!

Exchanging arrow fire - Thankfully Yorkie's dice were poor and he was just out of charge range.

The results of my own charge. By this point my allies had almost cleared the board, with only one other enemy unit still active. The two to my front were charged, with one combat resulting in a draw and the other resulting in a smashes enemy unit after a turn or so.

The rest our forces preparing to tackle the single remaining enemy unit (thats being pointed at). Bottom right my chaps smashed the shattered and disordered enemy unit, swept round the hill and took out the guns and lined up to charge the other enemy unit (locked in combat with my unit) in the rear. Thankfully a very close tie resulted in morale checks for both our engaged units - I passed, he did not and his unit routed. Victory!

On Wednesday I was invited round to Yorkies house for a quick game of Flames of War. I picked two 1000pt infantry lists and we used my figures (although his own are stunning). I only took one picture of the game, but it resulted in a Highland victory.

Magic Wash wise, the concotion looks like this:

But I feel it needs to be even darker. It's not so dark as it looks when poured out to be painted on. Some drops of Army Painter Strong Tone wash in the mix sorted it out ready to go onto my bunkers and Shermans:

German MG bunkers, resins casts. I've since put the static grass on them so they should be finished this weekend.

This was them after a wash of the Magic Wash mixture and a drybrush of Russian Uniform. More highlighting still required!

On top of all this, last weekend I got all my Polish Shermans primed using the Team Yankee Soviet Armour spray. The Sherman I's were hand primed and painted. I have to say this spray was (or seems) very close to Vallejo Russian Uniform, although I did quickly hand paint a coat of Russian Uniform onto them as well. One full tin and a bit of another used to cover all the Polish Shermans:

(less the 4 on the painting table)

So yeah, constructive week, I seem to be making good progress and the club should hopefully be running every two weeks. It is a 45 min drive but that's not too bad - may be quicker once the roadworks are gone! Fingers crossed this leads to some more gaming.

Post Gunuary!

Hi folks,

So with my artillery wrapped up for now, I have moved on to something that does not involve painting infantry figures! So I moved back to tanks (and technically, self-propelled guns).

First up some work in progress shots of the M10C's. They have been block painted and washed - awaiting highlights, foliage, varnish, decals, basing, etc, etc, etc.

Then we have a Churchill Crocodile - number 6 and the final addition.

And then two Sherman I's.

Still a bit to do on these vehicles, but nice progress aided by the Paint and Chat's I've been attending and hosting. Again, a lot of work still to do - but I'm getting there. Also working on two of the trucks I had which will go towards (surprise surprise) artillery unit transport.

That's all for now! Hopefully not too long before I get finished pics up. The M10C's and Churchill will finish off two units, with the Shermans being 50% of another.

6MMRPC Update: Moar Moar Shermans (Finished!)

Just following up on my update from last week, I managed to finish off these 4 Shermans yesterday and get a quick video update done.

But had no time to do the actual Blog entry before bed!

To be honest, it's much the same and much the same as the previous batch. These 2 x M4 (Sherman I's) and 2 x M4A4 Firefly's means that two troops of Shermans are finished and I've made some inroads into the others. I've 3 Sherman I's still to build along with a IC Firefly and 2 Sherman I's built but needing stowage and details.

I also need to go back over the 4 I had already done (a Sherman I and 3 converted Sherman I Hybrids) and sort the turret decals and upgrade the paint scheme a little.

These are some quick shots of the most recent batch, now with some slight weathering.

Turret numbers are all accurate for the positions within the squadron, hence these 4 jump around a bit. I'm much happier with these number decals, they are a decent size and nice and clear.

One thing I'm not sure about are the barrels for the Fireflys - I've left them just with the pattern underneath and not black on top. I had done the first one with the black:

And I'd appreciate feedback on what looks better! Historically I think I could get away with doing either. I also may need to trim the aerials on the current batch, as I cut them a bit long (easier to trim them down).

6MMRPC: Moar Shermans WiP & Battlegroup Overlord Game

Guess what I've been working on this weekend! Well, you could guess, read on or watch my new video blog.

On Saturday Amy was off to see her sister and mum for a days shopping so I was left to entertain myself. I ended up taking my figures down to the Carluke and Law Wargames club for a game of Battlegroup Overlord. I had a nice time, but was left feeling a bit flat by our use of the game - specifically what was being left out. The lack of proper army lists, morale and morale counters, tank ammo, etc, which are what defines this game and makes it different from the likes of Rapid Fire.
We talked about it after the game and I think everyone agreed the game would be better with a bit more organisation and proper army lists. YD has suggested we try some of the scenarios in the books, so we may do that.

I've included some pics of the table and of some of YD's models

After the game on Saturday I didn't get much done. I think the fact I hadn't enjoyed myself put me on a downer. I'd hasten to add that I didn't have a bad time, the atmosphere at the club was great and we had a laugh. I think the fact that I had it in the back of my mind that it might be my last game at the club - and slightly worried about being able to find games after I move (which is growing increasingly likely) - made the fact the game wasn't what I had hoped for a much bigger deal. It effectively made me doubt the wisdom of continuing to collect and paint my mini's when my future in the hobby is a little in doubt - and when even the local club is running so fast and loose with what aspects of a rules set they use it doesn't bode well.

Anyway, Sunday afternoon I got my mojo back and made a start on my next 4 Shermans. 2 x Sherman I's and 2 x Sherman Fireflys. These 4 models are the last of those prepped prior to the painting challenge. My work on them consisted of an edge highlight using a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Model Colour Khaki and Russian Uniform - with a small drop of Ivory. I just use this on prominent surfaces like hatch handles, panel edges, around hatches, along the top of the gun barrel and around any section I deem to be an edge.

I did the same with the wooden items (only using beige brown), rubber and metal (using black grey) and other bits and bobs. Once I had done the edge highlight I also did a quick dry brush on Russian Uniform again, just to tone down the highlights and blend them slightly.

Still to do are the decals, aerials, weathering and matt coat. Hopefully I'll make good progress on those next weekend.

In other news, my transfer at work is almost authorised so a move to Middlesbrough looks likely by October. And my total weight loss as of today is 2 stone 9 pounds - a long way to go but I'm pretty pleased with my progress over the last 16 or so weeks. That includes 3 separate weeks (holiday week, birthday week and Edinburgh show/visitors/visiting Son week) where I put weight on.

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