Wargames Atlantic 28mm Great War French Infantry Multi-part figures

       At last we have an opponent for the Great War German infantry, and by extension, any Second World War Germans you might have lying about. This versatile set covers French infantry from the switch to the "Horizon Blue" uniform in the middle of the Great War through to the end of Vichy France. The models are cast in a soft (not bendy, just not brittle) gray plastic that takes detail very well and exhibits no flash and nearly no mold lines. 

       Aside from the officer figure all of the models all wear the knee-length overcoat that was the trademark of the French army in this period. They also are cast with belting in place to support "light kit" or they can have the optional backpack added. As is usual with Wargames Atlantic kits there is a considerable assortment of head options; Adrian helmet, helmet with gas mask (both early and late versions), and the unique Sengalese Tirailleurs with their cloth caps. Officers in kepis are also a choice. 

       Being spread across two world wars means that there will be a substantial variation in weapons and this is accurately reflected in the array provided. Both Lebel and Berthier rifles are included as are the later rifles for the Second World War. The notorious Chauchatt LMG is included as is its replacement the FM 24/29. Having owned all but the FM 24/29 I can attest that the precisely cast weapons capture the look and detail of the original guns. These guns are molded into at least one of the arms carrying them (no fiddling around trying to hold two loose arms and a tiny model gun while gluing things together!) and you will have loads of spares once you are finished assembling these figures

       Having seen these I can hardly wait for the upcoming Russians and British sets (maybe, just maybe, if we all write-in requests we could add Austrian and Italian troops to the Great War ensemble)

 

 the front of the box

Imperial Japanese army and naval air forces in 1/72nd scale

 

lacking only the three KI-10 Perrys 

       After a couple of very busy weeks I managed to get all of my "in progress" Japanese aircraft finished. This will provide me with pretty much all I need for my Nomonhan campaign as well as the forces for the Second Sino-Japanese War. I have the Russians lined up for my next building effort but I still need to get a couple of Polikarpov R-5 or R-Z bombers and a PO-2. For the Chinese I have a few kits in hand but they had such a complex assortment of aircraft in service that it may take a while to get them collected and assembled. Once the Russians are done I might just jump over to the Finnish Air Force (I have several kits already built and others in the queue) as the Finns and the Russians had a bit of a go-round in 1939.

 

the Army Air Force

furthest from the camera three KI-15 Babs recon/light bombers

off to the left in the crazy camo scheme a KI-36 Ida

second row three KI-51 Sonias 

third row theeKI-27 Nate

and closest to the camera on the left a KI-30 Ann and then a KI-32 Mary

 

the Imperial Naval Air Force

five A5M2 Claudes

two Type 99 Vals and a stray A6M2 Zero

Convention Update: Battlefields by Pro or Con 12MAR22

        Just a reminder that the Pro or Con Gaming group  will be hosting their annual wargaming convention "Battlefields" on the twelfth of March in the Livonia Elk's Lodge, 31117 Plymouth Rd, Livonia, MI 48150, USA . 

       There is a bar and food available at the Lodge as well as many restaurants nearby. I-94 Enterprises, Bastion Gaming Center and Michigan Toy Soldier will be attending merchants. There is also the usual Bring and Buy so you can sell your excess figures and then buy someone else's minis!

       This has been a great local convention and isn't one to miss so make plans to attend. Further information can be found at Tabletop Events where you can sign up to run a game or participate in a game and take a look at their Facebook page to see what sort of fun they have been having lately.

Spatsapalooza! The Japanese Army and Navy Air Forces, China 1937

 

all but one proudly wearing spats!

        Having gotten tired of the slow progress on my Air Combat forces I decided that the "modelling" approach that I had been using (building whatever took my fancy at the time) simply wasn't getting the job done. I decided to complete one entire force all in one go; first up the forces of Imperial Japan. These aren't quite done as I do need to build three KI-10 fighters, but the monoplanes are built, painted and decaled; they only need matte coating and canopies to be complete.

      Next is the rest of the Russians and I can have a go at a really big battle over Nomohan with my Red Stars and Rising Suns rules!

Warlord Epic Scale Waterloo French a photo review

       This month's edition of Wargames Illustrated featured a sprue of Warlord's new "Epic Scale" (known in other terms as 15mm) Napoleonic infantry. I managed to convince the good folks at Michigan Toy Soldier to give me an extra copy of the sprues so that I could review both. You can find the British review here, and a look at the associated mounted troops here. The minis are cast in a dark blue plastic that is standard hard styrene which holds detail very well. I would have preferred gray plastic but this allows enthusiastic beginners to play the army right out of the box.

       The eight stands of infantry are accompanied by eight skirmishing infantry, a mounted officer and an artillery piece.The groups of soldiers are cast joined at the elbows (as period drill regulations would have them) with their rifles at shoulder arms while the skirmishing infantry are modeled in active poses of firing and loading their guns The figures are cleanly cast with no flash and only the slightest hint of mold lines. The level of detail on the figures is very good, more detailed than many of the metal miniatures that I have seen. They are slightly larger than my old Minifig 15s so they ought to mix well with the new larger figures that fill the market but I would hesitate to try mixing them with the 18mm subjects that some companies produce.

 

the front of the sprue

Hero Nation

 

"The fight is here.I don't need a ride, I need ammo" 

    Donations can be arranged through their Embassy or one of the Consulates. 

Information regarding joining the Ukrainian Foreign Legion is available though them as well.

Warlord Epic Scale Waterloo British photo reiew

       This month's edition of Wargames Illustrated featured a sprue of Warlord's new "Epic Scale" (known in other terms as 15mm) Napoleonic infantry. I managed to convince the good folks at Michigan Toy Soldier to give me an extra copy of the sprues so that I could review both. You can find the French review here, and a look at the associated mounted troops here. The minis are cast in a jarring red plastic that is standard hard styrene. My curmudgeony old self would have preferred gray plastic but having the figures molded in color allows the enthusiastic beginner to feild an army right away.

           The groups of soldiers are cast joined at the elbows (as period drill regulations would have them) with their rifles at shoulder arms. The ten stands of infantry bare accompanied by a mounted officer and an artillery piece. The figures are cleanly cast with no flash and only the slightest hint of mold lines. The level of detail on the figures is very good, more detailed than many of the metal miniatures that I have seen. They are slightly larger than my old Minifig 15s so they ought to mix well with the new larger figures that fill the market but I would hesitate to try mixing them with the 18mm subjects that some companies produce.

 

 the front of the sprue,  

I would have preferred gray plastic but a quick spray will fix that

Wargame Atlantic 28mm Multi-part Fantasy Goblins

       Wandering into a land of fantasy this set offers a horde of the ever-annoying Goblins. Dangerous more in their numbers than due to any singular battle-prowess the always present Goblins will happily  flesh out the armies of bad guys in just about any fantasy world. Fully fitting the Hobbesian description of life outside civil society as "poor, nasty, brutish and short" these ugly little fellows follow the traditional model for goblins; slightly smaller than men their bodies twisted and deformed, their weapons crude and their faces ugly. These are simply excellent figures and anyone in need of a horde of truly unpleasant fellows to inflict upon an adventuring party need look no further.

       This set come with six identical sprues, each with five bodies and a surfeit of weapons, arms and heads to assemble on to them. The selection of weapons includes bows, swords, maces, spears and a few odd daggers. There aren't enough to equip the entire force  as all archers or spearmen but one can scarcely expect standardization is a force as chaotic as Goblins. The firgures are cats in a hard gray plastic that is flash-free and exhibits very few traces of mold line, The detail is crisp and comprehensive. One neat feature is that each sprue contains a saddle and set of legs to allow a Goblin to ride one of the Giant Spiders previously released by Wargames Atlantic. I can't say they are realistically proportioned, but I will say they are convincingly proportioned and very actively posed. The weapons selection is vast and the choice of nearly twenty heads to add to the five bodies on each sprue means that you will never have to have look-alike troopers in your Goblin band.

 

the front of the box, some nicely painted samples of whats inside 

Wargames Atlantic 28mm Multi-part Sci-Fi Cannon Fodder

       Wargames Atlantic provides us with yet another great multi-pose set of sci-fi/near-future minis. This time we have a set of thirty figures entitled "Cannon Fodder" (I assume that morale isn't an issue for these lads). Looking past the rather chilling unit title we see that they are infantry equipped with what would be "low-tech" weapons and minimalist, coverall style, uniforms; either penal battalions or local militia for a 40K sort of environment. They could easily stand in as Imperial Guard or planetary troops in some Grim Dark future. 

       What really makes this set pop (as with so many other Wargames Atlantic sets) is the simply huge selection of heads and weapons; from bare-headed to helmets that look like 1970's space suit helmets. Each box contains twelves sprues; six each of a small one with the bodies and some heads and a second larger one with an oversized helping of heads, guns, backpacks and arms. The standard weapon looks like a cross between an AK-47 and the Imperial Guard flashlight (err...lasgun) from 40K. Included is a massive underslung gun to give the troops some extra firepower. Realistically proportioned and convincingly posed this set is cast in a hard gray plastic with no trace of flash and very little by way of mold-lines. The selection of poses means that it would a simple thing to build an entire unit of individuals with no two poses the same.

 

at last somebody is using picture of nicely painted minis on the front cover

28mm Gunfighters from Great Escape Games

        At first I was a bit surprised by this box, mostly by the low figure-count. But a more thoughtful moment left me to realize that I am used to building armies of hundreds of figures at a time while a gunfight is a small, quick skirmish. In that regard this box is perfectly sized; I can't think of a single "gun fight" that had more than ten shooters involved (certainly not in any of the movies that I did my "research" in). Inside the box you will find two matching sprues cast in a hard gray plastic that assemble into eight standing and two kneeling gunslingers. The casting work is first-rate with no trace of flash and nearly invisible mold-lines. The figure break-down will allow almost any combination of legs/torso/arms/head which means you could build several boxes of these without any two figures being alike. The selection of weapon is is comprehensive and includes neat items like a bundle of dynamite, an ox skull and a lasso.

 

the front of the box, less than inspiring artwork

The Convention Season Carries On! Battlefields 2022 coming 12MAR22

 

my ACW ironclads game from Battlefields 2020 

        That jolly bunch of guys that are the Pro or Con gaming group are hosting Battlefields the 12th of March starting at 8am at the Elk's Lodge in Livonia Michigan. This con  has an eclectic mix of historical, sci-fi and fantasy games and always has an interesting Flea Market.  You can find a list of events at the Tabletop Events site where you can also sign up for a game or register to run a game.  I will be running another Thirty Years War At Sea game in the afternoon session and perhaps a 1939 Air War in the Far East  if there is space in the first session. This is a great opportunity to get together with old friends and make new one; be there!

Tabletop Events just click this link to go to the Battlefields page

Pro or Con gaming group; here is their website and this is their Facebook page

Flintcon 2022 some photos and observations

       Flintcon 2022 has come and gone, and what a good time it was! R.U.P. and I set out in the early hours that Saturday morning (despite the 2F temps) and made the trip northward from Detroit to Flint. Rod Cain (the relentlessly energetic organizer of the convention) was on hand to greet everyone as they arrived and pressed me into running my Thirty Years War naval game in the first session as there had been a cancellation. As a naval game is easy to set up I happily agreed and found myself with seven players before I had finished setting things up. 

       The hall was busy but not too crowded and the usual excellent Flea Market was well stocked and busy (I confess to buying a few items despite my commitment to reducing the Lead Mountain). There was a wide array of historical, fantasy and science-fiction games to choose from simple two-player games to large multi-player formats. Some truly excellent games were on show (as you will see below). I ended up running my game in the second session as well which left me little time to check out the other games on display so I handed my phone to my assistant editor J&R who was kind enough to gather some photographs of the action. I do apologize to anyone whose game was overlooked.

 

to my eye this was the winner for "most attractive" game

 a representation of the fight for Little Round Top with beautifully rendered terrain and troops