The limitations of Artificial Intelligence

Sgt Steiner's Wargaming blog ( https://sgtsteiner.blogspot.com/) had an intriguing post where he has explored what AI thinks of his blog. His results were more encouraging than mine!

In answer to the question "what is the aufklarungsabteilung blog" it said:

"The Aufklarungsabteilung blog appears to be a platform that discusses various military topics, particularly related to the German military. The blog covers subjects such as the role of the Aufklärungs-Abteilung (reconnaissance battalion) in different historical contexts, including World War II. It also delves into hobbyist interests, such as creating and playing with miniature figurines and models related to military units like the Panzer scouts and reconnaissance battalions. The content seems to focus on historical research, military modeling, and related hobbies. related to the German military."

Err....not quite. I've never discussed AA in either WW2 or the Bundeswehr. I picked the name on the spur of the moment. My WW2 researches identified the AA as a particularly interesting and very German organisation, primarily recce but with enough teeth to fight if necessary.

The follow up question "what is the type of content of aufklarungsabteilung blog"? In response it answered:

"The Aufklarungsabteilung blog features content related to military history, particularly focusing on the role of the Aufklärungs-Abteilung (reconnaissance battalion) in various historical contexts. The blog covers topics such as the equipment, tactics, and experiences of reconnaissance battalions, including their role as the "eyes and ears" of military divisions. Additionally, the blog discusses hobbyist interests, such as creating and playing with miniature figurines and models related to military units like the Panzer scouts and reconnaissance battalions. "

Oh dear! It seems to be very focussed on "Aufklarungsabteilung" ; I'm worried that I"m beginning to sound like I'm fixated on WW2 Germans.....especially the footnotes. One takes me to my blog, the second Warlord on creating AA , the 3rd SS AA (oh dear!) and the last the DAK AA (better!)

A look at posts shows by far the most frequent is Soldier King, followed by Arab- Israeli...

Nothing on AA or WW2 Germans......

Perhaps I should have called it the Soldier King blog! ☺

Minor gains...

Carrying on the "East (Midlands) Front" metaphor, the front has advanced a very short distance....

Carrying on with the Jordanians, the M47s received turret brackets from the wire found in telephone / Ethernet cables; very thin copper wire covered in plastic insulation. I used the same on the M48s having obtained some from an old internet cable.

The wire however didn't want to stay in place / stick! The M47 turret is an odd shape and the brackets are in pairs, but each side is different / asymmetric. My old superglue had gone thick which I thought might actually help; a couple of brackets kept pinging off. Even the normally reliable Revell Contacta Liquid Special was of no use. Perhaps I should have gone for quick dry epoxy. No matter, they were glued again with thick super glue and when set got some thinner super glue which seems to have worked. I will probably add some Green Stuff stowage.

Two models had lost the bow MGs; replacements were fashioned from wire with a little foil wrapped around. There's not a lot more to do with the M47s; turret MGs, jerrycans and some tarpaulins seem the extent of additions to Jordanian models.

As mentioned, I attempted to obtain some M52 SPH from Germany; Trident made a resin 1:87 version. Unfortunately, despite allowing me to add to the basket, they were unavailable. I found one in the USA, but postage was prohibitively expensive.

I have therefore accepted I will have to put up with my bodged version despite its faults. I added some stowage and will add further details.

All quiet on the East (Midlands) Front....

As the title says really.....the absence of blog posts is linked to a general lack of activity and if honest apathy.

Only managed to get back into doing things in the last couple of weekends, prior to that a few just slipped away. Even when actually doing something, it seems all too soon before it all has to be packed away before Monday and the desk becomes a workstation.

So, what have I managed to do? Well a spot of modelling and much distraction......

The modelling has involved the Jordanian army of 1967. Mostly infantry, they did field two armoured brigades, some independent tank battalions and possibly a mechanised brigade (the Royal Guard - did not see action - possibly Centurion battalion and one or two M113 mech inf).

The M-48s have had some remedial work; I was never happy with the jetisonable fuel tanks - these were altered to be level instead of sloping downwards. Some tiny details were added and this improved them no end. I then had a go at adding the MGs to the commander cupola. First attempt wasn't quite right, so after some googling for photos, a second attempt was made. Not 100% accurate, but better than attempt 1.

The M47s were glued together and a start was made to add details, beginning with the turret rails (from wire). Frustrating and accompanied by much swearing!

I also discovered the M113 I had put aside needed to be swapped; it seems those in Jordanian service removed the rubber track guards and the front shield - at least all the photos I could find showed this.

Finally, I added some bits to the scratch-bodged M52 SPH. While probably good enough, I was still not happy as the turret is wrong and too tall. Today I managed to find resin versions on United-Fun so have ordered a pair - fingers crossed!

What else? Well distractions.....

Already led astray by the nostalgia for the unfinished F&I War stuff, it led inexorably towards the SYW.....

Way back when, it had been a collaborative project. I really wanted to do Austrians, but ended up building French (to face my opponent's British) and Prussian (or pseudo-Prussian being built out of a generic musketeer and dragoon with dedicated Fusileer and Grenadier figs all lacking command and commercially unavailable). The Austrians had taken a back seat with only a few units completed.

Since then, I had acquired Russians and proper Prussians and even some Prussians to use as Saxons and wanted to restart the project. Existing units were built for WRG 1685-1845, 12-16 inf 8-12 cav. Debated VnB but as attractive as that sounded, it felt like a duplication of the Imagi-Nations project....

An impulsive purchase on eBay of some painted Hinchliffe Austrians has tipped the balance.....added to what I have, it will give the Austrian army a boost. The painter had done something close to my style but had left some bits undone (neck cloth and pom-pom). I therefore did a bit of researching to see which units they could become...

Flags and bases will need redoing, but with some touch-ups will be ready for action sooner than bare metal......

So what's new?

Truth to be told, not a lot.

A week back at work while still recovering from being ill, left me with little energy or inclination to paint or model.

I've spent the weekend recuperating and messing about with various projects or projected projects to be more precise.....

Saturday saw me messing about with trains; before you ask dear reader, I have not embarked on a new or parallel hobby involving model railroads (once uncharitably described by some wargamers online as "the chuff-puff loony brigade" from someone who plays with toy soldiers ....). I know many wargamers combine the two (several on the VWC) and there are obvious crossovers....

So what was I doing? Two projects awaiting paint are RCW / Back of Beyond and Mexican Revolution, both in 15mm. Many were acquired several years ago. Both conflicts involved the use of trains, both armoured and as transports. I had picked up some IIRC either HO or N gauge flexi-track many years ago only to discover I should have got TT track or after some reading, HOm track to be precise. Obviously, no-one makes trains in "15mm" apart from Peter Pig and HOm is the track they suggest.

You can buy "collectable" trains of roughly the correct size to complement the limited offerings from Peter Pig , and these can be acquired cheap. Rolling stock is more problematic, but I'd picked up on spec a Roco modern train with old fashioned (to my eyes) carriages and some TT Triang goods wagons. Along with these, I had found a couple of flexi 3 foot HOm track and so I was seeing how well they worked...

What I need are longer goods wagons / box cars; I'm beginning to think these would be better scratch built or converted from HO......

I also spent several hours downloading a Battle Cry mini-campaign for Garibaldi's invasion of Sicily and Naples. I've seen this done in 54mm by a couple of bloggers. After looking at various ranges, I've decided I have enough SSM ACW and Napoleonic figures to do it in 30mm with crude plastic conversions, many just being simple paint jobs. I finished by hunting out various pictures online, many of which I'd had on a tablet but deleted when it ran out of memory.

Sunday was followed by hunting out some Megablitz OOBs for WW2 Western Desert that again had been deleted previously. While engaged in this, I had a chance discovery of a 1967 OOB for the IDF in Hebrew......

The download managed to scramble and delete parts of the layout. As I don't read Hebrew, this was no great loss but it had removed the Arabic numbers visible online. I recognised these as unit and artillery calibre numbers. So extracting these,  I spent a couple of hours adding, checking and confirming information I already had which proved very useful.

Many years ago I collaborated with a couple of US gents to work out a definitive IDF OOB and as best as we could of the Arab armies. For the IDF, there's a Russian source which seems to derive from a common source as the Hebrew one, but they differ slightly or rather this recent discovery, adds to the gaps....

The IDF are notoriously secretive, even about 1967 formations and contemporary sources reflect this with some disguised formation IDs; added to which is the practice of referring to the formation by the commander's name (first or surname) or nickname, and the cross posting of units.....

Anyway, I have managed to get a much better handle on the artillery. For the Arabs, the Jordanians are the most complete, followed by the Egyptians with the Syrians being anonymous below brigade level, apart from a few battalions. ToEs are also uncertain for all the Arabs.

So, my weekend has been trains and research.......

January update

Whatever cold / flu  virus I picked up settled firmly on my chest last week resulting in much coughing, wheezing, sneezing and generally feeling unwell. There was little I could do physically that didn't result in a coughing fit and leaving me exhausted and washed out, usually falling asleep in the afternoon.

Taking the week off work, I attempted to distract myself with more painting. I wasn't very productive, finding after one or two colours I didn't have the energy to continue. Getting old is a pain!

Anyway, with the worst of my affliction behind me (still lingering unfortunately) I managed to finish off the painting on Saturday before a restorative tonic of the VWC.

So, continuing the Frankenstein creations of the Electorate of Banst, I present the Flying (horse) artillery.

The limbers date back to my first acquisition of SSMs from the late Ronald Spencer Smith himself. They were originally created for the Austrian and Prussian forces of the SYW for WRG's 1685-1845 out of SSM limber wheels, balsa, wire, cocktail sticks and chopped about Napoleonic Lifeguard figures. They languished along with the SSMs in a tin then box after deciding to use "proper" metal figures. They were resurrected for Banst with chopping, headswaps and application of Greenstuff.

  

Guns and gunners; the artillery figures are all standard SSM AWI artillery with an ACW kepi head covered with Greenstuff plumes for a sort of Tarleton / French dragoon look. The ACW figures went for civilian militia / rebels with the artillerymens tricornes. The guns are the British Napoleonic carriage from someone's abortive conversion which I further chopped about and reduced in size. The guns barrels are plastic ship's cannons from source unknown which were used way back when for Austrian 3 pdr battalion guns.

I'm slowly working my way through Banst, helped by a limited palette  of colours, most straight from the pot.

New Year painting and fighting the lurgi!

Not the best of starts to 2024; before Xmas I had a chesty cough that kept coming and going. Number one son went out with his friends and came back with a stinking cold. Almost inevitably, I have come down with it as well. A Covid test showed negative, so I assume I have fallen victim to a combined cold and flu virus.

Cue coughing, sneezing, alternate runny or blocked up nose, disturbed sleep and generally feeling under the weather. Copious application of over the counter remedies has provided some relief. Amazingly, despite this I have managed to do some painting. I forced myself to have a go and found not only was I so zoned out I was able to concentrate and focus on the painting which distracted me from the cold/flu. I was careful not to push it too far; when I started making mistakes or felt tired I gave up for the day.

I tackled some more SSMs as they are undemanding to  paint once you have done 100 or more, simple block colours on black undercoat. I bit the bullet and brought down the box for Banst.

Banst is one of the Electoral states, ruled by an Elector that doesn't seem to get on with anyone! His character is one of the few militarily excellent personalities, his cards coming out as "War, Dominant" which in this campaign is going to be close to military genius! I see the army as a potential mercenary force.

The army was originally going to be made up of "left over" figures; I had some Napoleonic SSM cuirassiers in helmet and some of the later Peter Johnstone 25mm plastic SSM additions - much smaller than the classic SSM. I also sort of fancied doing an army to reflect some of Marechal du Saxe's less wacky ideas; plentiful skirmishers, amussette light artillery and a neo-classical organisation based around Roman legions. His real life Volunteers du Saxe provided uniforms and lancers. By the time it came to recreate the army with these ideas, I had managed to accumulate enough SSMs that I could use the smaller figures for head conversions on standard SSM bodies so they matched the other armies.

So here's last week's painting. I have already painted two more infantry units. Unusually, instead of ploughing through all the line infantry, instead I varied it by painting the other main components of the first "Legion" of mixed infantry, cavalry and amussette. There will be two such formations and two batteries of "flying" (horse) artillery.

Scratch-built amussette and mobile shield. The gunner is a converted frontiersman / cowboy from SSM with a head swap and carving.

Line infantry - two more "Cohorts" are painted - Princepes, Hastati and Triari.

Skirmishers - Velites - converted Napoleonic SSM 

Horse - Dragoons

Light cav Hussars and Lancers

2023 Retrospective

On the last day of 2023, time for some introspection.

The main reason I started this blog was to monitor progress; it's useful to be able to look back at what has been achieved or hasn't made it off the slipway (or even drawing board).

Soldier King project

Has felt like slow going this year. Did manage to finish the Electoral army, but failed to make progress with the remainder. Stumbling block has been mostly work and lethargy and apathy when off, but also hit a block with Banst. They got converted, primed and started - two units of infantry - then nothing. There were plans to crack on with them last week, but after taking the box down, I put it away again! 

Started pulling together notes from various places into a gazeteer, so at least it's all in one place. This has however identified more characters that need personalities and made me wonder if another planned army needs expanding as it's likely to be the first flashpoint from the relationships I've diced for between states.

Also toyed with producing army standards for the main protagonists with Fimo standard bearers. Got as far as making up some Atlantic plastic horses.

One achievement (?) has been to corrupt my friend Eric into buying a copy of the game for his own Imagi-Nations campaign after seeing my armies. He has even started a blog:

https://brownspreadandyellowfruit.blogspot.com/

Arab-Israeli project

This has slowly ground along in the background. Have worked on various vehicle conversions off and on throughout the year. It doesn't help that everytime I look at pictures of the real vehicles I notice some small details I've missed. Lifting hooks on Sherman turrets for goodness sake! I think it's just an avoidance mechanism to put off painting them....

There have been developments on the Arab side with the acquisition of 1:87 scale BTR-152s. I had planned to use Roskopf models, but these are closer to 1:100. I had told myself they were OK, but had not really believed it.....

I've also got more Gaz jeeps and trucks....

Other butterfly distractions

Got very distracted by restarting FIW, which led into digging out the old 25-30mm armies (including SYW) and inevitably buying yet more second hand figures; in fact it was the discovery of some Rafm Flint & Feather range figures that started this! Then found some RSM with enough to finish off the French and cover the British.....

Got as far as priming some British and Indians for Contrast paints.....

Keep getting distracted by old or planned projects; SCW (old), Flodden and Italian wars (new), WotR (old) and it doesn't help when other bloggers tempt you! 

Martin Rapier has been producing 15mm WW2 Desert war stuff: (https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/search/label/Desert)

I have tons to paint in both this scale and 20mm (don't ask!)

And David in Suffolk played DBA ancients, which led to digging out some 15mm armies before sanity prevailed:

https://russetcoatcpt.blogspot.com/2023/12/dba-first-try-at-first-edition.html

I suspect I'm looking for some "quick wins" - stuff that can be painted quickly using Contrast paint and washes. The ECW experiments were not encouraging. Unfortunately, it means lots of cleaning up before further attempts.

I did go to two wargames shows this year and probably more significantly was persuaded by fellow SSM enthusiast Willz to join the Virtual Wargames Club (VWC). While I was initially hesitant, it has been hugely enjoyable to make new friends and finally "meet" old ones such as Eric (known many years on the Society of Daisy group) or other bloggers.

So, onwards to 2024 with the hope of achieving more by way of painting and perhaps, even gaming.

Soldier King parade - Electoral Army

A fellow wargamer who I have managed to inspire (infect?) with the Soldier King bug, recently asked after acquiring a copy of the GDW boardgame, "where's all the background information?"

I had to point him to the back box cover of the game as being the total sum of background.....the rest of the information from my take on the game as a campaign comes from my imagination.....with a little help from historical uniforms and forces.

The following is the last of the painted armies so far completed (there are four more to do and some bits and bobs). This army is formed from the various neutral states in the game, in this case those with an Electoral city that form part of the Estavian Empire. There is an additional "Electoral" state but the ruler's character and diplomatic outlook, means he is hostile to just about everyone! He will go his own way.

I saw these states as akin to the minor German princelings of the C18th who were part of the HRA and who could be called upon to form the Reichsarmee. With echoes of "Charge" I decided this would in my  Imagi-Nations become the Electoral Army.

In order of painting I present:

The army of the Archduchy of Naervaron

Ulrich Fischreiher Archduke of Naervaron

Christian Fischreiher Erbprinz of Naervaron

Corps commander Hans Leonhard Grau Graf von Honnef

Divisional commander Von Neusatz (Klaus Fels) with Naervaron Dragoons and Hussars

The infantry L to R: Erbprinz Lebgarde Grenadiers, "Schwartz", "Weiss" and "Rot" regiments

Artillery

Naervaron army

The army of the Margravate of Cotlas

Reinhard Wulf Markgraf von Cotlas

Emil Gustav Wulf Reichsgraf von Cotlas

I Cotlas Horse (uniform inspiration from one of Andy McMaster's units)

II, III and IV Cotlas Foot

Cotlas artillery with Arndt Tobias Ziemlich Graf von Brand in background

Cotlas Army

The Army of the Duchy of Bern

Fabian Schiefer Herzog von Bern (ironically one of my Fimo creations which got over-cooked and close to being "von Burnt!")

His brother Martin Theodor Schiefer the dashing Erbfurst zu Bern

Bern Hussars led by Friedhelm Gustaf Knochen Graf von Ernst

Bern Infantry 1, 2 and 3 regiments

Bern artillery

Bern army

The army of the Prince-Bishopric of Cleve

Maximillian Greisenkrahe Prince Bishop of Cleve (vain introverted with a poor sense of direction, I tried to capture the latter in the sculpt; observers have noted the horse seems to know which way he should be going......completely unintended but so appropriate!)

His brother Kaspar Greisenkrahe Prince of Cleve

Corps commander Hugo Koks Count D'Alzey

Division commanders Emil Sebastien Silber Graf von Leuche and Albrecht Wilfried Durchslag Graf von Kiedrich

Cleve Cuirassiers

Cleve Horse Grenadiers (as skirmishers)

Cleve Standing Grenadier regiments V and VI

Clever Musketeer Regiments I to IV

Cleve artillery

Cleve army

Whether the army will ever fight as a unified whole is unknown - they all lie to the West  but face threats from Hrvatska, Bravance and Argozia. However, I did try to tie them together through the use of blue while maintaining their own character and personality. The army as a whole is weaker in cavalry, artillery and light troops compared to the armies of the Soldier Kings. Like the real life Reichsarmee, the shortfalls will have to be made up from Imperial (Estavian as oppose to Austrian) troops.

Soldier King parade -Hrvatska

 In my enthusiasm for cataloguing the Soldier King armies using photos from the iPhone (so better quality /detail) I omitted the first experimental photos I took  which were of Hrvatska. In a slightly  different format, I present the second painted army of the kingdom of Hrvatska.

Of course Frank Chadwick used the Croatians name for themselves; it's monarch is given as "Zog" who of course was king of Albania....I can only assume FC ran out of ideas!

The first thing was to decide this was a nickname; secondly the red and heraldry of a white (Polish style) eagle on red made me think of Saxony - Poland. Throw in Hannover and the Hanseatic cities for uniform inspiration and add in the experience of playing the game (Hrvatska usually raised lots of LC due to remote geography in order to capture cities). I didn't want a British clone or for it to be too Polish.

King Zigurd Otto Gottlieb ("ZOG")

His brother and next in line Prinz George Wolfgang Herman

When dicing for characters we have a monarch with enemies in high places and a jealous brother and it seems a scheming former princess regent.....

Army commanders L to R: King's Steward Franz Armin Lappentaurig, Gregor Ziegelrot Grossherzog von Vranogranz, Johann  Sebastien Knall Grossherzog von Taufers

Corps  Commanders L to R Von Kufina, Von Travnik, Von Fehring and division / column commanders 

Guard and Heavy cavalry

Guard to the front, line at rear

An example of the basing and labelling (each army is colour coded with print your own labels)

Light Cavalry Uhnlans / Lancers

Line Infantry Weiss Grenadiers, Koenigen Dorothea (Queen's Regt), Jaska and Konstanza Regiments

Line Infantry 1, 2 and 3 Strauch Regiments

Line Infantry 1, 2 and 3 Friest Regiments

Line Infantry  Combined Grenadier regiments 1 & 2

I & II Militia Regiments and I & II Pandours (LI)

Artillery