German Squad

Finished a second batch of five German infantry, so my first German squad is complete – now I can start toying around with rule sets to use in conjunction with the Platoon Forward campaign system.

Among the rules sets I'm considering are: 

• Skirmish! (by Skirmisher Publishing)
• Men of Frost (by Paul Scrivens-Smith, available for free online)
• FUBAR (by Craig Cartmell, available for free online)
• Battlefield Evolution World at War (by Mongoose Publishing)

Both Skirmish! and Men of Frost will work really well for up for small squad-size engagements (which is what the size of my figure collection limits me to at the moment). FUBAR and Battlefield Evolution World at War appear better-suited to platoon-size engagements (where I'd like to be eventually). Some other rules sets that have caught my interest in other people's blog posts appear to be out of print now (Face of Battle, Crossfire) so I'll have to see if I can track them down used somewhere.

All the houses are by Miniature Building Authority

On an unrelated note, Lock 'n Load publishing's Tank on Tank is a fun little game.  It really does play quickly and, clocking in at about 30 minutes a game, it's just the ticket for something light to kill time waiting for a coat of paint to dry on some minis or to play during a lull between chore and errand sessions on the weekend.

ORIGINS: WWII Loot

I went to Origins today on a day pass to look around the exhibits and buy a few things, but with a strict spending limit, considering how many Miniature Building Authority houses I've bought recently (in addition to the ones I posted about earlier, I picked up three more online which arrived last week).

Also, given the number of games sitting still unplayed on my shelf, largely because I'm always too tired to dive into any substantial new sets of rules, I decided to limit myself to wargames that specifically called themselves "introductory."

So, apart from some solo T&T modules to scratch my fantasy itch, I picked up three small WWII games. Two of them were old metagaming minigames being sold for $8 each: Rommel's Panzers and Stalin's Tanks.

I also picked up one new game, from Lock 'n Load publishing called Tank on Tank. According to the blurb on the back of the box: "A smaller game that can be learned in less than five minutes and played during a lunch break, Tank on Tank depicts tactical ground combat in Europe in the latter years of World War II."

I think between these three I'll be good to go for a while. The first scenario of tank on tank is already set up on my desk.

Puma on the Prowl

The past week's project was an Sd. Kfz. 234/2 Puma armored car, my first armored vehicle model in many years (and my first ever "serious" attempt at one). The model itself is an Italeri 1/72 kit. I used a very basic paint scheme – a generic "Panzer Gray" with a black wash for the crevices and then two layers of lighter gray dry-brushed highlights. It's extremely simple, but since I have no true vehicle painting experience, I figured it would be hard to actually go wrong with that.

The Puma was always one of my favorites back in the years I was obsessively playing AH's Panzer Leader. It sported a 50mm gun, and despite being one of the most heavily armored recon vehicles of the war, it still had a top speed of 53 mph (85 km/h).

Same vehicle -- just a change in camera angle that radically changes the appearance of the color.

Enemy Contact! – First German Infantry Models (and Some Eye-Candy)

One half of my first squad of Germans is complete – squad leader, LMG gunner and assistant, and two riflemen.

You may notice that the building in these photos is certainly not constructed by me. As I am at the completion point of two massive multi-year projects at work, I decided I would reward myself by throwing budgetary considerations momentarily to the wind and buying some buildings from the Miniature Building Authority.

MBA's buildings come pre-painted, and of course, run a little bit higher than unpainted buildings from other companies, but it's not like I'm going to build a massive Stalingrad-esque urban area with them. I just need a handful to represent part of a small town or village in Normandy or along the Siegfried line.

MBA makes some nice-looking buildings, far better than anything I've attempted to construct or paint. I like these so much I may well pick up just a couple more (but really just a couple, I don't think I could possibly afford more than that).

Order of the Day

Source: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/dwighteisenhowerorderofdday.htm

All Present and Accounted For: U.S. Rifle Squad Completed

I finished my U.S. Rifle Squad yesterday afternoon. I think painting the figures in batches of four works nicely, breaking up the monotony of the process and giving a periodic feeling of "accomplishment" as each batch gets done.

The four new riflemen

The completed squad

With my basic American squad completed, I can now move on to their German adversaries. This will be the larger task (since to use Platoon Forward I'll need more enemy troops than friendlies), but I'll try to proceed logically, from the "foundation" up, starting with a German rifle squad or two, then moving on to MG teams,  then mortars, and finally any heavier weapons or vehicles.

Once my first German squad is done, I'll be able to start experimenting with various rule sets I might use in conjunction with Platoon Forward (PF governs the campaign only, and allows you to use any rules you like for fighting the battles themselves).

An Amazing Example of Courage Under Fire

Nothing to do with WWII, but I thought this story was definitely worth a mention to anyone not yet aware of it. Corporal Dipprasad Pun, a Nepali soldier in the British Army, was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC) for single-handedly driving off over 30 Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan.

You can find the full story by clicking here.

The CGC is Britain's second-highest award for valor, after the Victoria Cross.