A New Plan!

 

"This Operation will be conducted in four phases. No, wait! Five phases. Or maybe six."

The Tribes subscription has certainly paid dividends. To get one of the stls later as a print would cost me USD$6/figure, plus postage. With the number of figures Don is printing for me, I've certainly made the subscription pay for  itself. 

There are extra arms, packs, heads, and a running torso to use spare arms from the plastic set. 

Sorting everything out 

Three of each tractor. Just hatches and TCs to glue in, otherwise no assembly. 

Splagen torpedo ammunition carriers 

Royalist trench raiders 

Mechanics, farmers, and beetles 

Seeing people in the community get all excited and then they have a piece printed and painted a day after release, generates even more excitement. 

And given me ideas.

Ridiculously whimsical ideas.

Each side is going to get a section plus of allied troops. Bicorne wearing Gwynt for the Royalists and some Toulmoreans for the Crusaders. Toulmorean hats make me think of Australian bush hats, so they're going to get a more suitable colour scheme. The official is brick red for infantry and blue-grey for marines, but I'm thinking arid or jungle, as some kind of Force Recon/Long Range Recce Patrol unit. The Gwyntish troops in their comic opera hats will be a nod to the PPCLI and have a uniform designed by a 5 year old princess, so pink and purple. And the arms with teapots and tea cups. 

Of course I got these ideas after Don filled a box and sent the first lot of prints. 

So now I have to wait and conserve some of the plastic bodies for these new troops. While still pursuing my initial ideas of a detachment of Trench Raiders for the Coftyrans and a unit of elite Assault Pioneers for the Crusaders. 

A misprinted arm is an opportunity to give this TC  a hand gesturing with a cigar 

You can tell they're NCOs, because they're pointing. Pointing out what a horrible little quar you are and a disgrace to the uniform. 

Of course,  this week's announcement from Wargames Atlantic gives me even more ideas.

More Scatter Terrain

Because UPS sit on a Throne of Lies, my box of prints from Don did not arrive Friday as estimated. So what else to do?

I had a nice clean table thanks to Dan's Congo game. I always find a nice clean table top very motivating to bash out some terrain. 

So on Sunday,  instead of painting Tartarian Motor Rifles or Napoleonic Russian Jaegers, I smashed out a bunch of Quar/jungle theme terrain pieces.

I had some plywood disks from the discount store in two sizes; 4"/100mm and 3"/75mm. Spray brown. I also had some weird plastic plant balls from the discount store. Took those apart and hot glued the pieces onto the disks. Then spread PVA glue and discount tea leaves to flock. On the first batch I added some flowers and laser plants. On the second batch I didn't bother and just crammed more onto the bases. 

First batch was so much fun, I found some more disks. This time I glued on some cedar bark to give a little height. The yellow plasticene is from an early attempt at craters.

Half of one of the balls. Easy job to remove the foliage. I ran out of the other two styles, so I've just left four or five of these long leafed domes together. They fit in fine and are just over 4"/100mm across. 

First batch ready to flock

Quar patrol the jungle 

You can see some flowers and laser plants on a few bases

Second batch base on right

All the pieces!

Into the Heart of Darkness. 
"I hope there's some good eating."
"Shut up, Quarl!"

Exaggerated, over the top, whimsical terrain really fit the Quar. But I also think that these will work for Burma if I want to do that campaign some time. 

The Last Bus to Stanleyville

Hijinks in the Congo last night in the Basement O'Gaming. Pasha Dan likes weird, out of the way wars that allow a lot of scope for converting figures and using out of date and heavily converted vehicles. So the nightmare that was the Congo in the early 60s is perfect for him. He can also put on the table various UN forces(he has Swedes because of their odd APCs, and naturally Irish for a Siege of Jadotville scenario),  Belgian paratroopers, and naturally Mad Mike Hoare and his mercenaries.

The Simba commander (me) puts the bad juju on the ANC mercenary commander (Dan)

The table. ANC positioned among the shanty town on the left. Simbas come out of the bush on the right. The bus to Stanleyville (center) not stopping to pick up any passengers

Hordes of Simbas advancing, encouraged by the witch doctor

The Simbas had some support weapons and a couple of squads of ANC deserters. These, when they weren't giving useful fire support, were acting as bullet magnets, which let our mobs of drug addled zealots get within charge range of the ANC positions.

Dan's Simbas include a lot of conversions

Getting into the ANC perimeter helped by bad ANC die rolls

Tough fight overrunning the ANC section and supporting MMG on the ANC left flank, but they eventually did it. The MMG team wasn't able to escape 

More Simbas swarm over the cattle krall on the ANC right flank

M2 Scout Car with mercenaries

Endgame. Simbas swarm the shanty while surviving government troops try to bug out 

Fun was had. Keith and I ran the rebels. Pasha Dan and Weirdy-Beardy ran the government ANC forces. I always like pushing Dan's toys around.

Supporting the Troops

Sharp Practice has various Support Options to help you out, including Holy Men who can be expended to rally shock off of Formations, inspiring the troops with fiery words of patriotism and God at a critical moment.

Some players also use Vivandieres for the same function in French armies. But I thought my mostly German speaking armies would like some pretty serving girls for the same function.

What's a church without a priest?

The priest is a RAFM Call of Chthulu investigator. John, a friend who is a Lutheran priest, wargamer, and historical re-enactor, helped me get the vestments correct. I originally painted the sleeves on his lace surplice wrong. But he steered me right. You can see his wargaming blog The Minstrel Boy here.

For wandering a Napoleonic battlefield, he should probably be in a black suit, clerical collar and wide brimmed hat. But this figure was free from Pasha Dan's lead pile and he is definitely a Holy Man. He's just pissed off that a battle is interrupting Mass.

The serving girls are from Sally 4th. Originally part of a huge 3d print Kickstarter, some of the figures are sold as metal castings. Their shipping is pretty high (4x the cost of a figure), and I didn't want enough from them to justify the cost. But fortunately this year I was organized enough to order them for pick up at Salute, because my friend Peter times trips to visit his parents around Salute every year. Then it was just a couple months waiting for us to manage to connect over the summer.

"Are you boys here for Oktoberfest?"

Gretchen and Frida love a man in uniform, especially when he has a few pfennings in his wallet to buy some refreshments.

the face on the barmaid with the platter isn't as well defined, but she'll do. It's not like my faces are super great anyway.

Gretchen is naturally being very patriotic in a Bavarian blue skirt

Ready for Oktoberfest

Mantovian Infantry

 

NEW ALLIES IN THE COLD WAR!

Mantovian Reservists Exchange Nazi Grey For NATO Green 

ISABELSTADT, MANTOVIA (Reuters)- Only a few years after being disbanded in 1945 after the Nazi surrender, the Mantovian army is being reconstructed to help in the fight against Soviet aggression. 

Veterans of the German 816th Infantry Regiment are being joined by youthful conscripts as every male over 18 undergoes compulsory National Service. 

Once they have completed their year of training, the Landwehr are sent home with their new FN rifles, ready to mobilize at an hour's notice. With hostile, Soviet-backed Communist Tartaria just over the border, the new national army is taking it's job of national defense very seriously and every member on Reserve status must shoot ten rounds at their local gun club once a month, plus report for a month of training once a year.

British Army instructors admire their dedication and seriousness. "Many of the older veterans saw service on the Russian Front," remarked Staff Sergeant Wiggins of the Royal Oxfordshire Fusiliers. "So they understand the value of a well sighted trench and are passing that knowledge to the younger soldiers."

Each four stands will be a section for IABSM, or each three stands will be a platoon for O Group.

Don's printer died when he was printing the rest of the infantry, including their Carl Gustavs and LMGs. But they are incoming and I'll make some stands including those Support Weapons very soon.

A serial taking their Advanced Mountain Warfare Course.

Command stand

Also participating in Advanced Combined Arms Training

Don also decided I needed 10x Bedford Lorries. The Landsers are quite pleased with these, since they only had horse drawn transport while under the Nazi regime.

Combat Group HQ. I want to turn these into a proper stand with a Landrover and some camouflage netting.

Centurion refuels and rearms. I guess I need to make a B-Echelon vignette too.