Sitrep - progress report or a tale of two model kits

Normally, I don't review products on my blog, but I will make an exception for a couple of 1:72 kits I have been working on. 

The whole operational project for the Western Desert is part nostalgia, part recent inspiration. The recent part was the sadly lamented Dancing Cake Tin blog: James seems to have had problems with his blog, started a replacement then abandoned blogging. Anyway, he embarked on WW2 Megablitz forces, including Western Desert:

https://thedancingcaketin.blogspot.com/search/label/Megablitz

The nostalgia part relates to my very earliest wargaming; I started as a modeller with 1:35 and 1:32 kits, progressing to the 1:76 and 1:72 kits by Airfix, Matchbox, Hasegawa et al. Then I discovered you could play games with them.......

I saw an advert for a paperback and persuaded my mother to buy me a copy.....

https://toomuchlead.blogspot.com/2016/12/retro-corner-operation-warboard.html

The advert had a picture of the Airfix 20mm DAK machine gunner running with ammo, as here:

https://vintagewargaming.blogspot.com/2011/03/operation-warboard.html

The rules were generic but more geared towards late WW2 and indeed most of my models were of that ilk. IIRC there was vague mention of "desert rules". It was also probably my first encounter with reference to Roco Minitanks. There was some seed planted with that advert.....

Then there was John Sandars and his fabulous scratch builds:

https://wargamingmiscellanybackup.wordpress.com/category/john-sandars/

https://vintagewargaming.blogspot.com/2009/04/john-sandars.html

And perhaps more importantly, the Airfix Guides:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Airfix-Magazine-Guide-20-magazine/dp/0850592356

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AIRFIX-MAGAZINE-No-12-AFRIKA-KORPS/dp/B005EFXKRG

(I'm shocked at the prices charged!)

I remember wanting to do something desert war related, but as can be seen from the DAK guide and John Sanders, that would have meant scratch building a lot of the models; no doubt had I discovered Roco Minitanks it may have been different, but the Axis were thin on the ground apart from tanks - Panzer 2 and 3 (Matchbox) and Panzer 4 (Airfix).

Other temptations came with the wonderfully eccentric Atlantic 20mm plastic soldiers. I remember vividly seeing a box of their Indian Brigade in Toytub in Edinburgh with the wonderful box art:

https://plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=463

Instead, I came away with their French - the US figures in blue plastic as I had rationalized I had no comparable desert figures......

Now, as an adult, I have been able to indulge this long neglected theatre and have some of those very Indian figures.....

So, to the reviews. A few years ago there was a rush of quick build 1:72 kits appear on the market. I bought lots of them. The alternatives were normal models with numerous parts, rubber tracks or even individual track links.....

Among them were various kits for the desert. The first is the Plastic Soldier Company Stuart I "Honey". I was aware there are problems with this kit, just not how bad it is....

The fit of parts is poor, especially the track units to the hull. Even with much cutting and filing, I found there was still a significant gap. I've read it was due to the 1:72 kit being a "blown up" version of the 1:100 version. Certainly, the thickness and poor details on some parts would support this. In addition, the plastic was "odd" with a softness to it. Add to this the poor instructions. Two or three variants are possible, indeed there are enough parts to make three models each of two versions, as long as you are prepared to scratch build some components. The normal exploded instructions are supposedly colour coded. I cut out the suggested hull only to find it didn't match the tracks with sand shields! In the end I simply worked out what parts were needed, but resorted to the Bradford plans for guidance. Simply put, it was a pig of a build. I also scratched the MG brackets as the supplied part is poor. The replacement MGs are not yet affixed.

Next was the S-Models Crusader I or II, two models per box. What a contrast! The parts fit was excellent, sand shields were thin and in scale. I even masochistically added the etched brass PE  and small detail parts! If I have a criticism, the exploded diagrams are not always clear where things go or which way up they should be. The hatch is fixed; I opened this on the first model cutting carefully and then adding shims from the plastic sprue number plate. This added considerably to the build time. The others flew together, even with the detail parts (superglue but no swearing - that was reserved for the clutter and clumsiness on my part...).

I have also washed and PVA primed some Revell 8th Army as a test for Contrast paints. I'm worried they will show up the flash I couldn't remove.......

Before any of the above, I also cleaned up what I hope is the last of the Swiss flats. They have been waiting for decent weather to get primed and added to the rest......

More distractions! Operation Crusader

It is often said that one of the most important military principles is maintenance of the aim........

Sadly, for the butterfly wargamer, easier said than done....

A rather depressing realisation of mortality as I get nearer retirement (mentally already there!) has led to a desire to not only complete projects, but also realise those that have been in the planning stage for decades....

One of my planned projects has been WW2 in the Western Libyan desert, especially 1940 to 1941. For years I have been collecting reference material, books and miniatures but have never got around to making it happen.

It was very close about 20 years ago when I had lots of 15mm awaiting paint, working on a platoon per stand basis (Command Decision / Spearhead). Sadly, real life intervened, followed by job moves, physical relocation, yet more job moves, redundancy, family, new career all of which pushed it to the back-burner....

In the intervening time, my ideas and outlook have changed considerably. No longer do I want complex rules, nor tactical type games. Instead, I have embraced the idea of operational style games, with stands representing battalions as a basic scale. Rules such as Megablitz, which I struggled with as concepts, have now become the level for C20th games.

As I moved  towards that tentatively, I found for a while that I wanted both. So, rather than use the 15mm, I ended up collecting "20mm" versions specifically to try out games at operational scale. Mentally, I think I was retaining the 15mm "just in case".

A few years ago, I discovered the old GDW "double blind" series of boardgames and in particular, Operation Crusader:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6814/8th-army-operation-crusader-the-winter-battles-for

The concept is each side has their own map and has to discover the enemy's units through contact. Not only perfect as a campaign, but also for distance play. I have picked up a couple of copies cheaply from eBay. One now resides some distance away in the North, the idea being to play it as a campaign, fighting the battles with miniatures "some time". A combination of chatting to my perspective opponent and a book purchase once more raised the idea to "centre stage".....

I thus spent some considerable time digging through boxes as I had the strange urge to build quirky British armour.......resulting in unearthing the likes of these:

There is of course, lots more.....

I have plenty of source material that can expand the OOB in the game. I started working out what is needed for a full Megablitz orbat.......

As this grew and grew, I could feel myself becoming dispirited and I started to convince myself I should just concentrate on the existing projects......then I began to have the thought that it wasn't necessary to create everything, especially infantry. The game has battalions of armour, but infantry are in brigade or regimental strength counters with stacking limits of a brigade/ regiment and battalion per hex. I'd already started working out how to translate this to a 4" hex from the game using the different ground scales. ...

I'm now wondering about everything on 2" / 50mm wide stands and having infantry as a brigade / regiment but keeping tanks as battalions; the desert was really about mechanised warfare with infantry tending towards static defence or inf v inf slogging matches. Even 3 infantry stands per division would allow them to be individual battalions for a brigade action if needed.....with multiple small divisions, enough for a full divisional action with a stand as a battalion.....

I cannot but help wondering if I shouldn't just concentrate on finishing the existing projects; sadly the itch just won't go away!

"Not more b****y Swiss!" Or what I did this weekend that I planned to do last weekend....

Last weekend ended up a bit of a wash out hobby wise, despite the visit to Britcon.....

I had planned to do some cleaning up, either SK SSM or more Zinnfiguren, but in the end was hit by listlessness and apathy. All I could manage was a sort out of recent purchases from Germany.

Among them, were some actually labelled as Swiss but without pictures or even line drawings. I had obtained some other figures from the editor, so took a chance at ordering unseen. I was pleasantly surprised to discover I already had used some of the figures as Swiss from random eBay lots. Only 4 did not quite fit as they were labelled as early, but will fit into a Burgundian army. While many were "old friends" having painted examples previously, many more were new to me.

So this weekend, I determined to do something, so worked my way through another 47 Swiss cleaning and straightening. I thought it may be useful for those following the blog and /or this project to see Zinnfiguren in their natural state. I am still in awe of the beauty of the engraving.

The array patiently awaiting primer - sadly a bit windy today

Some close ups - attacking pike

Command

Some aggressive looking Zweihander

Pike - some familiar faces and some new - I particularly like that some are wearing older helmets

I should have enough Swiss so need to turn my attention to the "Black Band" Landesknechts in French service, as well as more Gensdarmes and various bits.

Britcon interlude...

Yesterday, I went to Britcon in its third year at Nottingham University after moving from Manchester.

As the only wargames show actually in Nottingham (as oppose to outside Newark) it's very easy for me to get to, a 45 minute bus ride, free entry I tend to try and support it. Unfortunately, it has always been a "competition" show with other games and trade secondary to that.

The trade stands seemed sparser than previous years, with several local absences - no Foundry, no Caliver and some new additions TAG and various odd stands selling 3d prints, jewellery, dice  - lots of the others seem to have brought boxes or packaged deals, presumably easy to transport, but with resellers, very samey. Since the pandemic we have seen some companies disappear altogether or simply stop attending shows. It seemed reasonably well attended, but certainly not crowded outside the competition areas...

What the show really needs is to think about signage; I literally stumbled across a room full of games while looking for the bring and buy. I'd also question the use of space; there are several dank gloomy areas which may be fine for competition games, but a new range of paints had set up in one of the gloomiest areas and were offering people the opportunity to paint.....I declined their offer, if only as I need at least some natural light! I never did find the Lard zone - that's three years in a row! There was also supposed to be a Megagame somewhere - no idea where it was though.

Games - for reasons best known to themselves, the most photogenic games were pushed away in a room, while the ones in the main atrium and area which led off that were....OK. Most had no signage to advertise what it was they were doing.....

In the Atrium - Franco- Prussian (which I thought was Napoleonics until I saw the shell bursts), a pirate game and what I think is Bello Ludi - Arnhem / Oesterbeek?

In the gloomy area off the Atrium were some tables that I had no idea what they were as well as this one with confusingly three games set up on the same (small) table.

Well off the beaten track was a room that turned out to be the Wargames Illustrated room....

Inside were three huge tables:

SE Scotland - a what if Waterloo

Next to them, the Perry twins with Rick Priestly, Jervis Johnstone and several hangers on were engaged in a French in Egypt game on sculpted desert...

Final game in the room were the ever present Boondock Sayntes(?) with an Indian Mutiny game where building outnumbered figures! Full of dioramic effects including a flickering tea light on the burning ship....

I think the organisers rely on the competition entry fees and presumably trade stands to cover the event; I'd suggest if they want to cater to the non-competition players and general public they probably need a better trade presence and re-jig where the games are - I doubt many saw the above games- not to mention improving the signs and directions! Nottingham is centrally placed and the venue easy to reach on the tram from either the station or park and rides. If they charged an entry fee I think they would need to up their game, but that doesn't seem to be the focus of the show at present....

My purchases were limited; some earthworks and gabions and three Revo flag sets - all for Renaissance and some modern entrenchments for Arab-Israeli - who says I cannot maintain focus! The entrenchments etc were from Ironclad Miniatures - could make my own but they are nice, reasonable in price and save time. Flags from the Square - wish I'd bought more from him but didn't see anything that grabbed me.

Finished off the day with a very enjoyable session of the VWC.

As a bonus, my friend Pete Foggin sent me some photos of the game the Tyneside club put on at claymore in Edinburgh - the Schlieffen Plan - a grand tactical game covering all of the German offensive into France in 1914 - figures are 10mm and by Pete. I include some photos of his 10mm he has been working on which he plans to release commercially at some stage in the future...

Army of Banst - a parade

Eventually got around to taking some pictures of the finished army. My apologies for the greenish tinge - I suspect a combination of the uniforms, base board and backdrop (a model railway one or part of one used as packing in a recent order) did something to the camera filter....

Anyway, his excellency the Elector of Banst - Eric Helmut Graufuchs (channelling Augustus the Strong of Saxony):

 

His intriguing son-in -law...

 General of the army Von Reuthen

Legion commanders

I & II Legion Dragoons

I & II Legion Hussars

I & II Legion Lancers

I Legion Hastati, Princeps and Triari regiments

II Legion Hastati, Princeps and Triari Regiments

I & II Legion Velites

Amusettes

Flying Artillery

Army from above

The enemy's view

Army Tetris or "will they fit in the box?"