Hurrah - the Prussians are here!

Taken quite a bit of time to finish these lads, my silver paint refused to dry, then I realised (too late) that enamels don't work well with the new HaT plastic and I hadn't undercoated the bayonets, etc. with white acrylic. Then just as I was finishing one of the flags fell off!

Two regiments were completed as fusiliers as that is the only(?) gap in my SYW Prussian army

I had taken some close-ups but they came out blurry as I was rushing.

The two units are 35th Fusilier Prinz Heinrich von Preußen (front) and 40th Fusiliers Kreytzen (behind, both links from the excellent Kronoskaf site, which also provided the standards.

Footnote - the rest of my SYW Prussian army was painted when the Revell figures first came out and was one of my few fully planned armies

A few more bits for my 8th Army

So I've completed a couple of deployed 2pdrs, just in case they might be needed for a particular scenario. The models are Zvezda just like the one added to the portees. In support is a Hasegawa Daimler Armoured car, just not quite finished as I need to find some arm of service decals with 76 over green and blue. The battery commander comes from the Italeri 25pdr.

A quick fix? - US Shermans

I was tempted by one of the offers at WMMS to buy two packs of the Italeri 1/72 quick build M4A3s, even though the rest of my collection is 1/76.

They turned out so well I'm considering getting some more, especially as I've found some scenarios needing even more Shermans


Three will be a normal Sherman troop and the other is intended to be an OP tank, when I find the missing HaT US tank crew figures!

A reminder from the past - quick play WW2 rules

Back in the early 70's, as a young member of the Bath Wargames Club, I was introduced to some "complex" Bristol Wargame Society WW2 rules, by some old hands Bob Thomson and Mike Phillpot. I was recently reminded of this by someone over on The Guild". I never had a copy of the rules, but played a number of times in small scale actions where the players were seated back to back facing identical tables and the authors moved the "enemy" according to what you could see. These were always tense games, and the memories are still quite vivid. They then moved on and created a simple set of WW2 rules for the club, which subsequently I found had their origins in the rules by Bish Izwasko and Lionel Tarr.

Can't find my original copy, but the pictures are from much used copy - two sides of A4 is all there was!

Various vehicles for my 8th Army

These seem to have been on my workbench for ages, but at last they are finished.

Firstly the long awaited Portees, a cross-kitting of the Matchbox LRDG Chevrolet with the Zvezda 2pdr. It took a while to work how the gun was configured on the truck. It's actually reversed and sticks out beyond the end of the vehicle


Then a trio of Matildas, one previously owned and two new builds, I decided to be adventurous and paint them in Caunter. What fun working out the pattern and then which colours to use. In the end I opted for my Standard Humbrol Light Stone with Vallejo Green Grey (for the Silver Grey)and German Field Grey (for the Slate) In the background is a Oxford Diecast Daimler Dingo almost OOB except I have dry brushed it to tome down the colours.


Finally a pair of Priests, unusually these are marked up for 1st Armoured division as they operated them at El Alamein. I still need to find for suitable crew for these


Still in progress are the Daimler and a couple of deployed 2pdrs

At last - British Motor Battalion transport

At last I've managed to complete these, luckily I picked up some decals at WMMS and there were sufficient to complete these vehicles.



All vehicles and crews are Plastic Soldier Company. For Rapid Fire, one carrier and one M5 half track are needed for each of the three companies in a 1944 Motor Battalion.



Markings are for the 1st Bn Grenadier Guards, who were the Motor Battalion in the Guards Armoured Division

WMMS - the booty

Came away with a reasonable haul from the show, partly because GB&SD Hobbies had some good deals

My plans for these are

• The Shermans and half tracks are for upgrading my US forces (just a shame that Plastic Soldier Company were not present at the show). I'm not sire how well the Shermans will fit in with my exisitng ones, but it was a good price
• The M13/40s will round out my Italian forces so I can refight another one of "Monty's Desert Battles"
• Hat German tank riders, I missed these the first time around, so more of my German transport can have crews, although these are not so good to fit in smaller vehicles such as kubels and..
• A pair of Horch field cars picked up on the B&B, these are for my DAK and I'm debating whether to repaint them or not.
• Assorted stowage from Sgts Mess, I never seem to have enough
• A couple of sets of more interesting diamond patterned windows from Warbases, so I'll have to build something to try them.
• Some cheap Skytrex decals from one of the modelling display groups - hopefully my long awaited decals for my half tracks will arrive soon.
• Panzers on the Eastern Front - I always like to keep up my stock of real reading material
• Two sprues of valiant GIs - only a £1 and the parts will be useful to mix in with my Plastic Soldier US Infantry
• Finally a gift from David P, a box of Swiss infantry, which will go to reinforce my Swiss pikes, and a set of Italian knights, this has caused me some thought especially after seeing the SOA Montaperti game and flicking though the book on the battle - maybe a small Italian force?

WMMS - a good day out

Took quite a few pictures, but afterwards realised that I hadn't taken any of the Lance & Longbow game - Hedegely moor. and not many of the Zulu games was there three or four?

Society of Ancients - Montaperti, it's the theme for the next SOA battle day

Spot the Florentine bell tower!

An interesting Napoleonic what-if Danes v's Spanish



Friends from SOGG with a Hugoumont game

ECW action

WW2 Chain of Command

Napoleonic skirmish

Arab-Iraeli again with fello gamers from Deeside Defenders in the distance

Another medieval game, I like the backdrop


Zulus - one of many hordes

AWI action with Black Powder

Nice eye-candy


Another medieval/renaissance scrap using Pike & Shotte

Norway 1940


Battle of Falkirk, must get my Jacobites out to play again

On the workbench - March 2014

Didn't manage to complete everything for February, partly because I was short of decals and had to order more. So for March I'm trying to get back on track and clear down some of the stash of kits, but there are a lot of tasks around the house and garden needing done as well.

The leftovers from February

• The pair of 2pdr portees
• The M3 Half tracks and bren carriers, which are waiting for decals)

Extras for March

• Two SYW Prussian Fusilier Regiments using the new HaT figures
• Three Matildas in Caunter camouflage
• Two Priests in desert colours
• A Daimler armoured car
• An Ace 20mm Flak30 and 75mm Infantry gun
• A trio of old Airfix bren carriers to be modified to the mortar version

I'll also be at WMMS next Sunday

Egyptian Infantry in the Sudan

A last push and these were just completed hours after the end of the month. The figures are all the Stelets Ottoman Infantry in Summer Uniform 1877, but actually they are Crimean War figures according to PSR. The uniform is not correct so don't look to closely, but they look good overall.

The officers come from the Waterloo 1815 set

They'll be in action next week and hopefully they will perform better than history!

Ottoman (and Egyptian) uniform and flag details can be found on www.ottoman-uniforms.com