30 day kit challenge! (say what now?) Day #1

Greetings fellow addicts! It's time for something new.....

Glorious indeed. So what is the 30 day kit challenge? Well, something I just made up. I'm a bit fed up with the tons of kits that I am buying and not building. So with that in mind I'm starting the 30 day kit build challenge TM.

Goals are simple, you will build kits during the 30 day challenge:

• Any material (plastic, resin, metal, wood).
• New in the box or partially built, it matters not.
• Gun, tank, truck, aircraft, ship, animal? Your call.
• Kit must be basically finished, based if you prefer that, to qualify.
• Finished kit must be ready for primer.
• Resin and metal upgradesets can be applied after the build.....the goal is to get kits built and ready for primer, not to finish them with paint and varnish etc.
• You decide how many kits/models you want to build in the 30 day period.
• You set the penalty for not meeting your goal (and after that it is the honor system)

Anything beyond that is up to you tbh.

My goal is, in the period from 22-5-2017 up to  21-6-2017, is to build a kit every single day, up to a grand total of 30 kits. If I can build more kits per day, then jay, if I can't build too many during the week and have to finish them in the weekend, no problem. 30 is my goal and I'm sticking to that.
My penalty is that if I don't make my target, I will sell a kit from my stash equal to the amount of kits built I'm short of 30.

So, starting with Day #1 (22nd of May 2017), I'm starting with an Ace kit. Yes, I must be a glutton for pain and despair.

To make things even worse for myself, I've decided to make the gun a German beute for a static position, as well as one that can be mounted on a guntruck as I've seen them used in the Middle East like that, and so for TW:2K as well.

As it's 2 in the morning now and I have a schoolday, I'm stopping with it for today. It is basically 95% done, it just needs a custom base. The gunmount is magnetised so I can mount it on a ship or a truck.

I've left some bits off, placed some bits in a slightly easier to paint position and made sure the seat would stay on.

This is what I am going for:

Beute gun in static AA position, with wheels removed. This was also used late war as a ad hoc AT gun (as it basically has the 85mm gun from the T-34/85) which is what I am building it for. Just what my Volksgrenadeers need.

Gun is now 95% done. Things to do are:

• Base it.
• Make 4 wheel hubs and mount them.
• Design the defensive works as you see in the picture (AFTER I build a 88 as that is the max size of what I need so I don't need to make defensive structures for each individual gun.

I've brought some kits down from the attic, not sure yet what I will build as my number #2.

Current status: Day 1: 0 done.


Feel free to join in btw. Get shit done :)

Frankenstein and a Crisis (of the good kind)

After yesterdays let down I decided to keep my head up and move on. I emailed Hasegawa for spare parts in case my seller turns out to be a dead beat (and then emailed team USA by accident, who now has directed me to our local importer....not sure what good that will do me), and then grabbed a spare PSC Panzer IV chassis to do some dryfitting.

99% perfect fit tbh. Technically it should not have 4 return rollers but 3, but the way the track is designed you can't just go cutting off bits. I'll leave that one for the purists to catch. I've plated up the underside of the casemate so you can't look through it sideways. I'll need to cut the front lower chin off the original kit and splice that to the front the PSC hull. Shave off the first 2 roadwheels and stick the metal ones to them. And plenty of the parts will go nicely on this kit. Guns like these scream out for a nice commander figure so I will go over my boxes and see who fits best.

Which brings me to Crisis. The failure to find the correct filter made me go over the list of retailers to see if anyone has them, and while I was at it, I thought why not look if anything else has my fancy too. So here's the shortlist (for now)

*Gringo 40's - He has a Saint-Chamond-Mondragon 75mm gun in his Mexican Revolution range for 5 Pounds that would be just the gun I need for my 28mm Anglican Church gun team. It's old enough at least! (some really interesting history in these guns >> Saint-Chamond-Mondragon ) I have no interest in making forces for VBCW btw. Just this gun team for funsies and to get rid of the itch. I can always sell it later. Scroll down for the gun

*PK-Pro has Mig Ammo 1506 Brown for Dark Green in stock so that is a must for me. 4 euros.

*Shellhole Scenics - 2x 4.7PaK on 36R chassis, good for Barbarossa and Overlord/Fall of the Reich and Holland/Belgium, 15 Pounds for the 2.

*Charlie Foxtrot Models - Just the swimming pool I need for TNT. 7.25 Pounds. >> Pool

*Adler - 2 or 3 packs of the new German Tank commanders for Afrika. Cause the Russian steppes got mighty dusty too. 8-12 Pounds

*Ainsty Castings - 9206 Full wheelie bin plus pile of rubbish. 4,50 Pounds. Wheelie bin

Roughly 40 euro worth of stuff for pre orders. I'm getting soft at my old age :D I've got my eye on some terrain but the compnaies discount program is a bit "vague" so I'm waiting for email confirmation before I commit to an order.

In with the old, out with the new.....

Wait, what?

Currently it's:
1. TNT
2. 3mm Ruins
3. Rhino wreck
4. 3mm armies

Nothing wrong with TNT. Loving it. With the help of my buddy Alex I even added a new scenic piece to my collection. He was kind enough to make a detour from his trip home to pick it up from a seller who refused to ship. And he just dropped it off. Didn't want anything for the help. Love that guy :)

Flo's Diner from Cars. 12,50 euros. That's my filling station sorted in go, though I will do some dissasembling on it and rework it a bit to make it more fitting. Not now though, trailerpark first, this is for later.

3mm Ruins - going at it. Too much fun making them. But it does not have any priority so I just do a Block when I feel like it.

3mm Armies - what I need to do now is photograph all of the infantry models so I know what is in each bag, so future orders can be made accordingly. I'll be mixing the infantry you see. Also not a priority.

Rhino Wreck - intended to do just for fun, but can go back in the cabinet, as it is being replaced by something else.

Replaced by what? Well, this Blog is called 20mmandthensome for a reason. 20mm used to be my main focus, but it kinda dropped in priority as all the locals game in 28mm or in 15mm. In my relax time I've been reading up on the Battlegroup FB page, the Blitzkrieg book (as the rest is still packed up) and having small discussions with Piers. And in league with my new found enthusiasm, I realised I'm better off going back to my roots and paint what gave me so much joy, and that is 20mm. Don't worry, I'll alternate with the rest, but the time has come to dig up my 20mm stuff, do some small repairs, and start to finish units to a gameable standard.

How am I going to do that?

Back to basics. The core of each army is Infantry. The core of Battlegroup is 1 unit of Infantry, so that is what I will start painting. 1 German army for Early, Mid and Late War, tuned to the books that have been released sofar. I'll start off with Normandy (the Overlord book) as that Infantry Unit is 80% done, it is missing a 80mm mortar and a 3 man LMG team, plus some options from the Support Options.

It feels like meeting an old friend I have not seen in years, and picking up where I left off. It feels good.

My first 3mm WW2 ground unit! (WIP) - Berlin Pantherturm

Groundbreaking work today. Well, 3mm groundbreaking anyway. In my last Fighting 15's order I picked up a pack of 3mm Panther G's, and I moulded 3 of them today, and cast 2 whole one s and 1 with half a hull to make this conversion.

20mm square base, middle of the engine bay cut out as I did in my 20mm scale model so the crew can enter, copied off a pic from Berlin or one of the other cities that I lost ages ago. Piled dirt up around it and some bigger tiles, now looking to add a single roadwheel and expended shells using my die punch and lenghts of wire. The muzzlebreak I will paint in. New hatch added with die punch as the original was too tall with a MG.

So, my first ever 3mm WW2 ground unit......

....has caused me plenty of headaches sofar. As these will be used to skirmish Battlegroup with Modhail, I've thought about adding a label to the back. This worked quite nice with my 6mm and my 1/3000th Navy, but I don't like it. You are only looking at about 20-30 units per side, give or take, so I have decided to do labels, but to put them on the underside of the base. If you are really afraid you have mixed things up, you can always pick it up and look at the underside. Same for infantry, but they will get colour coded on the thickness of the end of the base.

Should be dry in a minute or so, will basecoat it before going to bed, just need to do the roadwheel and empty shells first.

Me-262 A1/U4 with 50mm

One of the old conversions, finished off. Pity about the silvering on the wing decals but I'll note that down as "battle damage".

End of times or a new beginning?

We had a lovely week, great weather, visits to the pool, the zoo and a fabulous bird of prey show (now I finally know what Johnny Rook means, as I had one race between my legs!) and are now calming down :) 1 more week with chores in and around the house and trying to grab some time for myself. Well, I can try :)

On a different but related event, just before we left, we received word that City Council will help with  daycare for the twins. Great news as we can't otherwise afford it and Kim needs the downtime badly. It does mean we lose all spending money, period. All money left over after the basics like rent, food, gas and insurance goes to the council.

What does this mean?

Well, no money for at least a year, for starters.

Is that a bad thing? Well, as long as the car and other expensive things don't break down, we have little savings and family willing to help out.

Sounds bad, but it isn't. (eternal optimist speaking)

A. Good for the kids, as they get to spend time with other kids their age and they can learn from them
B. Good for Kim, as she gets time off to help herself and as soon as therapy starts, get more help.
C. Good for me. Really? Yes, really.

Let's face it, one of my hobby problems is that I have too much stuff. Way too much. My other problem is that I spend too easily. Yes, I've cut down a lot in the last year, but still. So, lets turn this into something beneficial. I mean, no money means no soda or snacks, and that can only be good! I even ate a apple today :)

I can still sell stuff, and will continue to do so. Proceeds can only go 2 ways, either in my Paypal or straight to my bank account. Since I'm in the red, bank account is good. Paypal will only be used after  agreement with Kim for items that can fill out current and active projects only. Seems simple enough.

So, with that in mind, how does it go from now?

Well, there is plenty of stuff to do. While I was on holiday I received several packages. 1 was a bag of second hand Liberation miniatures (US Army Rangers) from Rob at the Guild that will be perfect for  for my Black Hawk Down project (I did buy them for that) after I finish the Delta's. I also received 2 motivators, a Ssh40 Russian helmet from the fifties for when I start the WW2 Russians that went for way less then militaria sites charge you, and it is practically brand new. I also received a Dutch Royal Navy sailors cap from the Eighties (not that they have changed) from a former Dutch sailor as a motivation  for my 1/3000 naval stuff.

I have enough projects to cover me for a year, so I don't see any problems, and my wife and kids will be better for it :) What is not to like? ;)

I just means that conquering the lead mountain challenge has become indefinite.

Battlegroup Aircraft

While sorting out the attic I refound my plastic kits collection, which is rather extensive (+300 kits and counting). I've put quite a few aside for sale next year, but hoarded quite a few others cause they fit in with my build plans.

Some of these are aircraft. Now aircraft in Battlegroup are a fickle thing. You can pay for a scheduled attack by a fighter, fighter bomber and sometimes even a bomber so that it attacks a certain point at a certain time. If I understand the rules correctly they can be driven off by AA guns or even destroyed when they take too many hits. Or you can pull a aircraft chit and roll a 5+ for it to arrive, and then roll again to see what type of aircraft arrives. Again, these can be driven off by AA guns  but give you more flexibility in their attack mode. Buying a Forward Air Controller raises the chance that a aircraft arrives when you pull the chit (and grants you a extra offcier), so that's very helpful too (and another great modelling oppertunity

As I will be focussing on these rules, it would be nice to pick up my old hobby of model airplanes again, I made quite a few when I was a kid....I just never painted them. These days I do paint them and modify them with a wall plug and a magnet inside that so I can use them on my flight stands. It is the best of both worlds really, model aircraft that actually get to be used on the table.

So what do I need? Well, the focus lies with Germans (Early to Late), Russians (Early to Late) and British (Late), so I will need all of the books.

Barbarossa
Kursk
Overlord
Fall of the Reich

Barbarossa first then. The Germans get the Ju-87D Stuka, the Fiesler Storch and the Bf-110. All 3 are in my collection, ready to be built. The Russians get the I-16, the I-153, The SB-2 and the Il-2 Sturmovik. I have all of these except the SB-2, and I keep eyeing ICM kits of the model on Ebay, but this is not in any hurry.

Kursk. The Germans get the Ju-87D and G Stukas, the FW-190F, the HS-129B, the Fiesler Storch, the FW-189A Uhu, the HS-126 and the He-111.I can reuse the Early war Ju-87D. The rest I have in stock, apart from the Uhu, but I'm chasing that on our local Ebay. For some reason I feel like swapping out the He-111 with a Ju-88, but I have both kits so maybe both will get built, who knows. No rush again. I would like to use the Bf-110 strike fighter here as well, plus a Me-109E strike fighter as they would be fun to build for the Hornisse Zerstorer Gruppe. It is not too hard to make stats for the 109E. I have a Bilek Hs-129B but it doesn't feel right, like it is a underscale model, but it does come with a 50mm cannon pod. The Russians get the Il-2, now with a backseat gunner, the Pe-2, the Yak-1 and -9, the P-39 Aircobra, the Po-2 and the Il-4 (the book calls it a 4 engined aircraft while in fact it only has 2). The Pe-2 I picked up recently in the shape of the excellent Hobbyboss kit, I might have to source another Il-2. I don't have a Yak-1/-9 but the prices on Ebay don't seem very high so we'll see. A  P-39 i have several, 1 in progress, the Po-2 I'm trying to aquire but sofar no luck, and the same goes for the Il-4. I'm eyeing both on the local Ebay but sofar my bids have not been accepted or even replied to.

Overlord. The Brits get a Spitfire or a Typhoon, with an Auster as AOP. The Spitfire would be a Mark IX or Mark XII, and I have neither. Looking at Ebay, the Italeri Mark IX one seems nice and cheap too. A Academy Typhoon has been with me for years, so it is time it gets built. Austers tend to go for silly money, and I'm not sure if the Antartica one builds the same aircraft. The Germans get the Me-109G and the Fw-190 G. Neither I have in stock and unless I trip over one, won't be bought this year unless I can trade some of my kits for one.

Lastly, Fall of the Reich. The Brits get the Typhoon and Auster again and a Tempest. Since the Academy Typhoon is so cheap I'm tempted to build 2, one with and 1 without D-Day markings. I have no Tempest, but plenty of those on Ebay right now. The Germans get the Fw-190G, the Ju-87G and the Me-262. I can reuse the Fw-190G from Normandy and the Ju-87G from Kursk, so I will only have to build the Me-262 with bombs. I'm tempted to stat out the Arado Blitz and the Ju-188 just because I have the models and give the Germans the option of a 20-30 Point bomber strike, albeit one that is Unique cause by then fuel is scarce.

I have no plans for American aircraft yet other then the L-4 as a placeholder for the Auster. That doesn't mean I won't build them (I have plenty of the models in stock) but starting US forces isn't on the cards yet till 2016 or 2017, if ever.

Also, refinding German wunderwaffe kits like the Flying Wing, Panther F turrets and even the first helicopter makes me dream about things 1946, though a book like that will probably be all fan based. Maybe later.

Catch of the day

...or, more precisely, of the week.

I've been spending the proceeds of my sale on items that will help me with, or are part of my projects. A great help for this Ebay and Marktplaats, a local Dutch variant on that theme. Ebay has the minor issue in that it clashes with the 2 weeks rule. Auctions tend to run for a week, so that doens't really work, hence I just made a list of items that I want, made searches for it on Ebay and saved those. If there are new items posted that fit the bill I get a signal. If after 2 weeks I no longer require the item, I delete the search, easy as that. Marktplaats is easier, people put stuff on that stays on for a month. More then enough time for me. But I have to be honest, I sometimes break that rule if there is a very good deal to be had. On Ebay, this means sellers offering low or free shipping, or a very low opening bid. On Marktplaats this means making a low bid and then just seeing if the seller responds, or not. If after 2 weeks I still want it and there is no reply, I can always raise my bid.

This week I received and won the following items:

On Marktplaats, I made a bid of 2,50 euro for a 1:72 Revell Me-262. This was accepted after a few days. As I didn't need the box or the instructions, the seller agreed to mail it to me in a brown unmarked envelop instead of a package, making the total cost a mere 4,75 euro. I'm going to combine this with a 1/72 Quickboost resin starboard engine that is partially dismantled (which I won for 6,50 Pounds incluyding shipping from Australia recently) and base it wheels down as a late war German forest plane on a wooden platform. A piece of scenery for short :) I still have plenty of aftermarket decals in my stash so that is covered too.

On Ebay, I used Buy it Now to buy a early example of the engine used in the Me-109, amongst others. This set me back 10 Pounds including shipping, plus I bookmarked the store for the future as shipping from the UK to me was a mere 60 pence. I can't even mail a average envelope inside Holland for that. They send out normal kits for 1.65 Pounds shipping, normally this is 5 Pounds minimum for most Ebay sellers from the UK to Holland. I don't know how they do it, but I like it. The engine will be used in my casting experiments, and the casts (if they succeed or not) will be used in the Me-109 wrecks I'm planning on building. A few years back I got a great deal on a stack of old Matchbox(?) Me-109E's for 1 euro a piece from Italy, and besides making Crimson Skies planes out of them, they have not been used yet. Since I like making wrecks, this one should be fun.

On Marktplaats again, I ran into a seller who was liquidating his Ho train collection, and had quite a few lots of scenery items as well. He was selling each of the items you see for 3 euro per lot, the normal store price for this lot is well over 35 euros new online. 17,50 Inlcuding shipping, and a nice addition to my forest which I refound last week in the attic. The Kohl & Salat (Cabbages and Salad) is especially welcome, as in one of my pre orders for the Crisis show I have 2 greenhouses and 2 smaller ones. These will mix very well, and so I can do back gardens for the Wikkywok houses.

Marktplaats, I picked up this for a mere 5 euros, and I only had to divert my ride from work by a little bit to pick it up. Now, wait a minute, I don't have a American army, right? That is correct, but there are 2 reasons I've picked it up. I do want to make an American army, but that probably won't be till 2016 before I start it. Secondly, the British army I want to start needs an Auster, and these are hard to find and go for high prices (usually). This will be a nice stand in. The price helped a lot too.

Back to Ebay, I was browsing the shop were I bought the 109 engine, and found this Pe-2 for 9.20 Pounds including shipping. I already have a Pe-2 kit from a obscure Russian company which is a dramatically bad piece of engineering. I've read stellar reviews about the Hobbyboss one, and the price was very good so hey, another kit for my Mid to Late War Russians. On opening the kit I was pleasantly suprised at the low parts count, which is perfect for me. It will be easy to modify to take a flight stand.

I've been watching the old Matchbox Churchill AVRE ever since I picked up 4 boxes of PSC Churchills, as I think these will make a great add-on piece for one of them. Problem was that whenever I was watching, these went for 10-15 Pounds plus 5 Pounds shipping minimum. I made some bids here and there and was always outbid. Till last week. My opening bid of 4.99 turned out to be the winner, and for 10 Pounds including shipping this one is mine. Now I just want the bridge, and the add on parts, so I have no idea yet what to do with the complete tank. Maybe sell it, or build it as a wreck, who knows. A great find, this one. The decals are still crisp too, very nice.

I also picked up some Oyumaru plastic clay from Ebay, from Hong Kong, for casting purposes. I'm a bit late to the party, I believe this hit the scene 1-2 years ago, so I won't bore you with details on who and what. This has been explained in better detail by many Blogs, like this one. I want to use it for the engine block, and wheel rims that I will use for burnt out wrecks, and other engines that I can find, as these tend to be pricey online. If I can make my own casts for private use, the better. I'll probably will do even more things with it, who knows. Anyway, 30 sticks put me back 20 Pounds including shipping, but those should be enough to last me quite some time. I'll grab a few boxes of Milliput when I'm at the Crisis show.

I have a commission running with Wikkywok at the moment, and he shown me some lovely photos of the first testhouse he made for me. Aside from 1 or 2 minor points, I was quite happy with it already so I'm looking forward to having all 4 right here with me. More on that at a later date.

Lastly, a purchase arrived from mid August :) For some reason, mail from Canada is incredibly slow at best and glacial at its worst. Dunno why. But I received 2 Blue Steel books today, namely Civil Wars: The Gun Trucks and Blue Steel IV: M-50 Sherman tanks and APC's in South Lebanon. These were, with shipping included, quite pricey, but that is normal for such a specialist publication. The Gun Truck book gives descriptions of photographs of various gun trucks used, also explaining to which faction they belonged, very handy! The M-50 book gives details about the M-50 and the APC variants, and lots of detail shots of rusting hulks. Both books will come in very handy for my Lebanon project as these were used by the SLA, one of the militias I will focus on.

Of course, this has been quite the expense, so it is back to selling again, as I still have a lot of micro armour to sort for sale. Back to that right after posting this :)

Focus Points

For the rest of the year, besides selling stuff, I wil focus on 20mm.

For my own sanity, I have a checklist.

W1. WW2 Germans (Early-Mid-Late)
W2. WW2 Russians (Early-Mid-Late)
W3. WW2 British (Late)

M1. Cold War Dutch Mechanised (1980-85)
M2. Cold War British Special Forces (1980-85)
M3. Cold War Soviets Recce (1980-85)
M4, Lebanese Civil War, various Militias
M5. Mogadishu, African Militia
M6. Yugoslavia Civil War, Serbians and Croats
M7. Taliban

SF1. Stalker Project
SF2. Modern Mercenaries

I've sold off Vietnam and I will not be doing Sci-Fi for a while.

Of my Projects, only W1 Mid-Late and M1 are in a gameable state and have opposition in this country to game with/against. W1 should be updated with another German Infantry platoon and more vehicles (loads in stock thanks to PSC). M1 has a fully painted vehicle fleet but the infantry is unpainted. I will not be working on these this year.

W1 will be updated when I have a game planned and need new kit. Most likely Late.
W2 will keep the focus on Late due to the number of T-34/85's based and built and converted and ready for paint.
W3, being 2 British Infantry platoons plus support was my project for the last half year, which sadly tanked due to my increased dosage. I've pushed these on towards 2015

M1 will be picked up in 2015, and I have to do test samples to get the vehicle paint right again. Hopefully, in 2015 SandS will release the YP-408 so I can motorise my infantry towards 1975-1980. A F-16 has been aquired for airsupport.
M2 my Special Forces haven't been toutched since 2011, but I have 2 more special Land Rovers ready to be painted, I just need crew. Also need to make debussed crew. For small Skirmish games.
M3 is a new project, I want to get a small Recce force done, nothing major, as 2 of my mates already have sizeable Soviet forces, and I want a few of my own. I'll probably start his year.
M4 Already did some work on these, I want to do generic stuff first that can cross over to Mogadishu before comitting to one or two militias. As there is no opposition here locally this is a skillz and fun project. (my opposition being in Ireland and Portugal)
M5 I will focus purely on the Africans so I can eventually do AK-74 with them as well. No local opposition so again Skillz and Fun.
M6 Several vehicles converted, I need to test out JNS green before I will commit. There are long term interested parties that probably won't commit till I have a decent force (and they paint much quicker then me) Skillz and Fun cause the opposition is in the USA!
M7 Taliban. 2 people I know have Modern Dutch I can fight against. I want to focus purely on Infantry, I have a bag of Liberation, when those are done I will order Elhiem. 2015

SF1. Really long term ans I don't even have rules for it, more a labour of love and excuse to expand The Junkyard.
SF2. Modern Mercenaries. Also meant for AK-74 but modelled after Blackwater. No opposition, Skillz and Fun.

The list looks rather extensive, but I will try and focus on one project plus 1 back up project a month. Everything has their own box or drawer, so after that period they are easily stored untill taken out again. Each month I will see what tickles my fancy and do that, that way I dont have to worry about getting bored.

I really don't want to be running 12 different projects on my table at once, so this is a better way. A bit OCD, I admit, but quite maneagable.

A extra plus is that I have most projects in stock, so I don't have to spend extra money on figures, instead saving money for future scenery expansion.

6mm lives!

Mymy, a year has passed so quickly. Better get cracking then on the rest.

All Heroics and Ross 6mm. Big bases are 40x20mm, small base is 20x20mm. B&G on the Supply truck is "Benzin und Gasoline" which I nicked off a 1939 Blitz photograph and is perfect for a resupply vehicle, albeit a fuel one.

Started work on Refugees

In Fall of the Reich (FotR) there is an optional rule that lets the German player move a group of refugees across a road towards a tableedge. If the group succesfully moves off the table the German player can place a random chit back in the pot.

Optional, but just my cup of tea.

The guidelines is 2 stands with refugees, and I will make one with just walkers, and this one, with 2 horses, a cart and everything but the kitchen sink.

The cart is a WW1 German field cart from HaT, kindly donated to me by Sander. In the pic there are 2 cows in front of it, but when finished there will be 2 horses, the cows being livestock I'm painting for Normandy. I sculpted (damn. I'm rusty with that) a matress to lie in the back next to the bath tub. It will need a few more bits to fill it up properly,

I'll be doing loads of WW2 this year as I've joined the 2014 Build over at the Guild, picking the WW2 theme so I can be as diverse as possible, and maybe I'll do some 6mm next to my 20mm as well. A refugee column in 6mm shouldn't be too hard to do :)

Lot's more to come.

Machine Gun Pillbox

Finished one of Carlos MG Bunkers, tried bare metal with this one, the other one will be camouflaged I think. The periscopes are my own addition, as is a piece of brass for the barrel. Tufts by Mininatur and Woodland Scenics.

Will do nicely for a Machine Gun Pillbox for Fall of the Reich (even if the real one only has room for 2 men)

Beobachtungspanzer III

Beobachtungspanzer III. Insipred by my 20mm model, I tried to copy it as much as possible.
40x20mm base Heroics and Ross model suitably converted.

I need more Russians!

Box of goodies arrived, started work on numbers 13,14 and 15.

....but now I feel I need 3 more, to make wrecks from. And 3 more, to fix tank riders on. And.... :)

KGN Weekend - The First Town - Tilly-Sur-Seulles, June 1944 - AAR East Flank

After Action Report Feldwebel Brasche, Eastern flank

Taken over positions in St Pierre which endured a strong British attack 2 days ago. 75% of the village is in ruins. Our platoon was to hold and defend the village for as long as possible, and guard a possible crossing of the river. The bridge leading to Tilly-sur-Seulles was not our responsibility.

 I deployed my men in the ruins facing the river and the forest. I deployed the PaK covering a opening in the forest which could be used to send armour through. The Stugs were put on reserve on my Eastern flank, but we were limited in ammo for them. Our spotter joined the unit in the Eastern most house of St Pierre for a good field of view over the river and a clearing in the forest. High command sent us a armoured car and cleared us for the use of a 105mm battery. We managed to scrounge up a 2nd HMG and built a bunker for it guarding the bend in the river, this had a clear line of sight to the river.

 Listening in on the radio net we could hear the enemy making a move for the farm on the Kampfgruppes Western flank. My platoon then got hit by British artillery, targetting the last intact house on my Eastern flank. This destroyed the PaK and its crew plus the unit inside the house. Their MMG and the spotter survived unharmed, though their transport was riddled with shrapnel. (5.5 inch artillery hit the building, the PaK deployed next to it got the full brunt of it and was destroyed, I failed the save for the infanry unit but saved the MMG and the FAO. Their vehicle got supressed)

Recovering from shock, the spotter informed me the British were deploying a bridging unit towards us and he would ask for higher up artillery support. This was granted and a 210mm Nebelwerfer battery fired a barrage at the bridging tank. The barrage went wide and hit a position to the west of it, behind a wood. I spotted large secondary explosions and what appeared to be a Sherman turret flung high into the air. (High command used a messenger to get Corps level support, we targetted the bridge but the round scattered.... right on top of an British Infantry and tank unit. I rolled 4 direct hits and 3 supressions for this one and destroyed 1 Shermans and the entire British Infantry unit. Of course the Firefly made its save)

We assume shrapnel did hit the bridging unit as it caught fire, but this was quickly put out again (we pulled the Mechanical Breakdown chit, put it on the bridge and rolled a 6. The British ARV was parked right behind it and in their turn promptly rolled a 6 as well!)

 We could make out British units moving up through the forest so brought down several rounds of artillery, and also sent out Panzershreck team towards the forest gap (For a few turns I brought down 105 artillery on the forest, managing to nibble off 1 or 2 infantry men at a time but never supressing them)

The radio gaves us many updates about the strong attack on the central positions of our Kampfgruppe, and British units has already made it into town. I was about to send out more orders to my men when we got slammed into the wall of our hideout by a massive blastwave. Several of us passed out. (The British used their messenger to get Navy artillery support and put that straight onto the bridge. This cost my fellow commanders a Stug and most of the infantry around it. Gamewise, it propably should have ruined the bridge as well, but we decided to keep it up)

 Our Stugs, already low on ammo, were about to run out so I requested resupply. This made it as far as the bridge before being vaporised (My Eastern stug had a running gun duel with a Churchill and survived all it got thrown at it, it got supressed a few times and finished the game with 1 HE shell left. The 2 Western Stugs ended the game with 1 AP and 1 HE left. The enemy targetted the bridge again (it was their RTP) and wasted the supply truck)

 We spotted the British trying to bring up more infantry and this was engaged by the HMG bunker. When they brought up more infantry they shielded them with their tanks. (First try the HMG kills 2 british including their Bren. Second try they move up the Firefly and use it to cover the troops. The Firefly fails to destroy or supress the bunker)

I would like to commend our HMG team in the bunker as they stayed on their post and managed to supress a Firefly, that was then targetted by a Panzershreck and destroyed (Rolled to supress the Firefly, achieved this, then Warwick moved his Panzerschreck next to it and blew it to smithereens. The Firefly had been resupplied the turn before so it must have been quite the fireworks )




I would like to request a posthumous Iron Cross for my Panzerschreck team as they had enemy infantry on their right and front but still moved forward and targetted the bridging unit just as it was to deploy their bridge. They managed to destroy it, survive the attention all fire aimed at them but sadly never made it back to our positions. (I had been moving the Panzershreck team forward every turn after the destruction of my PaK and with the Churchill at almost max range spotted it, hit it and destroyed it (10+ needed, rolled 11). They then survived the fire of a full British unit before succumbing to the fire of another British unit. Definately the man of the match for my army)

We then received the call to withdraw and left our positions.

Total casualties for my platoon:
1 PaK with 3 crew
5 infantrymen
1 Panzershreck team
And the AOP Beetle has lost about a 50 kilos in weight due to all of the holes.

Commendations for the HMG Bunker crew and the Panzershreck crew.

KGN Weekend - The First Town - Tilly-Sur-Seulles, June 1944 - Army finished!

Last bits!

120mm mortar team 1

120mm mortar team 2

HMG team

MMG team 1

MMG team 2

MMG team 3 went awol from my painting table and I'm loaning one from the club for this one.

Infantry Gun plus crew (1 of them has artillery piping and will be removed once I paint more guns and crews for them)

And the total lot, minus 2 transport trucks and the FAO transport

Now to cut the last bits of foam packaging, then pack it snugly in my flightcase and off to Ireland tomorrow :)

KGN Weekend - The First Town - Tilly-Sur-Seulles, June 1944 - Part 6

Almost there now!

Last unit of the German platoon:

Needed for the list but not this game, my Medic:

Not needed for this list but will return in my late 45 list, another Medic:

(Rather charcaterful chap, miscast, I chopped off his arm, added a new one plus a white flag so I could use when my army was defeated, changed my mind and wanted to use him as a supression marker. Then changed my mind again and made him a medic for my 1945 army)

Another for my list, a Messenger, will be on loan to Brodir:

2 120mm mortars (crew will follow later), also on loan to Brodir:

1 infantry gun plus towed version, finally finished. But not for this game.

And a note of thx for Taylor, who helped me out with a pile of Britannia figs so I could complete this army!  :clapping:

To do: 1 MMG team, 2 120mm crews, 1 gun crew plus 1 FAO team (all have their gloss coat drying now) and 3 Stugs that are basecoated but I need to get finished in the next 4 days.....no pressure!