Anton's Wargame Blog
Miniature Wargaming, historical and fictional, from 1/4800 to 54mm
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Monday, December 2, 2024
Wargames Atlantic28mm Conquistador Cavalry and Renaissance Heavy Cavalry
Friday, November 15, 2024
Gettting ready for another test of Never Mind the Matchlocks
Having rather enjoyed the last test of Never Mind the Matchlocks I decided to expand the group of guinea pigs, erm, playtesters, and run another game. The armies are essentially the same, the Red side is smaller but (mostly) better trained while the Blue side has the advantage of numbers. The battlefield layout is similar but slightly different and the Generals in Charge will have freedom of deployment this time. The only significant change to the rules is the lifting of ammunition restrictions as by the 1680s most troops had some sort of cartridge-box.
Each of the Brigadiers have been issued two Orders Tokens but we will roll before the game to see if there are any Amateurs or Experts in the ranks. In the case that such brigadiers are created the General in Charge will be allowed to re-assign the commands. They will also be allowed to reorganize the brigades if they see fit. I made cards with each units pertinent data on it to flatten the learning-curve for the new players. Please excuse the unsightly mess they create, please also forgive the unfinished General figures, they are a source of deep embarrassment to me.
Monday, November 11, 2024
A First Try Of Never Mind The Matchlocks
I was intrigued by the free issue of Never Mind the Matchlocks that came with the latest issue of Wargames Illustrated . I
had enjoyed the prior editions of the rules and thought that there were
some interesting mechanics. I lack armies in the period of the War of
the Roses so I never had a chance to give them a try. I do have armies
in the period 1660-1690, just after the ECW, so I decided to give the
rules a try with some tiny modifications. Pikes were pretty much a done
deal by the end of the ECW/TYW so I left them out and increased the
resistance of infantry to reflect the increasing availability of
bayonets. I also dropped the ammunition rules as troops carried cartridge boxes of up to forty rounds instead of the "Twelve Apostles".
I set up two generic armies; Red on the right and Blue on the left
A Great Big Thank-You to all our veterans!
I would like to extend a great big thank-you to all our veterans. They all deserve recognition for placing themselves at risk so that we may enjoy the liberties enshrined in our Constitution. Most do not get the recognition and honors they deserve so I would like to personally thank the ones that have impacted my life:
George, my grandfather, the Great War. A first-generation German, he enlisted the day that we declared war on the German Empire in 1917.
Wesley, my father, he was scheduled to be drafted for the invasion of Japan. The atomic bombs saved him that ordeal. As an Army National Guardsman he was activated to fight in the frozen hell of the Korean War.
Viktor, my father in law, he fled the fall of Germany as a child and found a home in the USA. He served six years in the Army and then twenty-four more in the Army Reserve, retiring as a CSM, the Cold War
Tom from Texas, US Army, Cold War
Brad the Unlucky, US Army, Cold War
Trunkmonkey, US Army, Cold War
Mike Reese, US Army, Cold War
OldSarge, He fought in Vietnam as an infantryman and then enlisted in the Navy and served as an airman on P-2 Neptunes during the Cold War
Bob Webb, US Army, Vietnam, Cold War
Brendan Moore, US Air Force, Cold War
Honest Dan, currently serving, US Army, GWOT
The Hutch, US Army, Cold War
Joe, currently serving, US Army, GWOT
Paul daMarine, US Marine Corps, GWOT
Rick Jones (not THAT one!) US Navy, Cold War
Zhodani Commando, Company F 425 LRRP., Cold War
You are Good Men, one and all. I ,and the Nation, owe you all a debt of honor and gratitude!
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Pilots for my planes
I have to admit that I preferred the days gone by when model aircraft came with crew figures. Now I am expected to spend several dollars each on 3D printed minis. Granted modern kits are worlds away from the primitive models that we were being served back in the 1960s-70s. However I am a wargamer, nobody that I'm gaming with is terribly concerned about our models having the right sort of throttle or the correct seat-belt latch. Empty cockpits, on the other hand, are a bit of a distraction. The lack of crew figures has driven me to desperate measures, even going so far as to steal seated infantrymen from my half-track models and carve away their rifles and helmets.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Meanwhile, back in Germany; HS-123s join the Luftwaffe
Having completed the hard paint jobs (Spanish and Chinese) I got cracking on the Luftwaffe units. These are in the standard green/black-green over light blue color scheme. I was careful about making sure that I used decals to indicate different units (although I'm not at all certain that the markings are correct chronologically or geographically). Things went smoothly and most of the decals were good (aside from the lack of tail swastikas). My penchant for mixing my own colors slowed things but not too badly.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
mass build, HS-123 by Airfix, Let the Painting Begin!!
Having assembled five Airfix HS-123s in record time I got to the task of painting them. The group is being split up; one is headed for the sunny skies of Spain, another to the distant shores of China while three will serve with the Luftwaffe. As the two foreign-service aircraft will have distinctly different schemes I decided to do them first. The China-bound aircraft would get the dreaded "squiggle pattern" while the Spanish plane would sport the almost as difficult "Picasso pattern". In comparison the Luftwaffe birds will be pretty plain-Jane.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Enough of the monkeying around! Mass-building all of my remaining HS-123s
It occurred to me that most of the time I spend modelling is wasted waiting of glue or paint to dry. As a remedy to this I have been swapping off between building models and painting minis. This is less than effective because I have to have both all of my modelling tools and all of my painting supplies out at the same time. Inspired by my BF-109 build it occurred to me that I should do the "Henry Ford" thing, in other words go all-in on mass producing models instead of building them one at a time.
A quick review of the Pile of Embarrassment showed that my most prolific model airplane was the Airfix Henschel Hs-123. Frankly I was a bit surprised by that fact but, in my defense, I had purchased them before I started tracking my inventory. As it is an excellent kit and was used by three different air forces it was a perfect model to test my theory. So I cleared my decks and dove into the five of them. In an effort to see just how effective (or inefficient) this approach was I kept track of time spent on this project. Normally it takes three to four days to complete a model, so we shall see how this pans out.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
A Taste of Italy; Airfix 1/72 Fiat G-50
One if Italy's first entries in the "fully modern fighter" category the Fiat G-50 (like it's contemporary, the Bf-109) served throughout the Second World War, albeit less successfully. Like many of those fighters it was constrained by under-powered engines and old-fashioned ideas about armament. The Fiat served in the Italian Air Forces as well as those of Finland, Spain and Croatia, some even soldiered on in the Yugoslav Air Force after the war ended. In Finnish service it attained the stunning kill ratio of 33/1. Of course there is a Wikipedia article on this aircraft
This is one of Airfix's older kits first issued in 1967. Despite its antiquity it is a rather good kit, assembly is straightforward and quality is good with only minor areas of flash and mold-lines that are easily cleaned up. Mine was in one of many re-boxes of this model (originally it was issued in the plastic bag and header format). According to Scalemates it was still in production in 2022.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Closing in on the end, The Last of the Hinchliffe Cavalry
All that remains are four of the four-horse heavy chariots. There is a light at the end of the tunnel (let's hope it isn't an oncoming train!). These eight are the last of the Indian horse, I've searched high and low to see if there were any others hiding in cob-webbed corners of The Vault and I am confident that there are no lurkers in the shadows.
1/72 PZL-50 Jasztrzab by KPL
I got this kit from Ebay for a few bucks, it came in a ziplock bag (the box being lost to the ages) mostly to fill out the list of Polish aircraft. It is a kit of extreme simplicity. My copy was molded in a weird semi-translucent plastic that made assembly interesting. The kit has a host of questionable details (or lack of them) and the fit was dodgy at best. The kit does date back to 1979 so I am willing to cut it some slack.
The PZL 50 was to be the replacement for the PZL 11 but was delayed by changing government requirements and problems with engine development. Only one prototype ever flew and it wasn't armed or equipped with a radio. If it had been possible to equip the PZL 50 with a more powerful engine the performance would have been a near-match for the early versions Bf-109. As it stands the aircraft is just an interesting side-note in the history of pre-war fighters. Of course there is a Wikipedia page