2013 Review

I thought I'd have a look back over the past year and see what I'd achieved (or not) from a wargaming point of view:

28mm Macedonian Successors:
Apart from the first batch of 16 skirmishing archers I've not really got anywhere with this army. Bit disappointing really. I think the lesson to learn here is only to invest in 28mm if I have an opponent whose doing the same, building two armies in this scale is well beyond me these days. The Aventine Miniatures figures are really really good and well worth a look.

28mm Wars of the Roses:
I've been more successful with these having worked out a method of painting them that I was happy with and able to keep doing (if a little slowly). The same method could be applied to the Macedonians if I ever get around to doing them. At least in the case of this army I do have an opponent who will be painting up his Wars of the Roses collection.

6mm WWII:
Through a combination of reorganising what I already had and painting up some new models I've completed over 85% (450+ bases) of the models needed for the 6 WWII armies I have on the go. I think I've painted up about 150 bases this past year which isn't bad going.

I still have plenty more models (painted and unpainted) that could be used for yet more armies but I think for the moment I'll focus on completing the 6 paired armies I have already started.

From an army list point of view I finished the process of converting them all to platoon scale but have been tinkering with them from time to time, adding one or two units or amending others.

6mm Moderns:
I've recently finished a few models for the Cold War era including a battalion of M1A1's which hasn't been flocked yet. I have two pairs of matched armies planned out and have all the models for them but so far have only painted about 10% of them (700+ to go!!!).

Admittedly I'm not that sure I want to game the modern period or not as I find WWII more interesting and my resources are very good for that period and much poorer for the post 1945 period. There was a point in the summer where I nearly sold the lot but decided not to (partly because Dettol is wonderful (if smelly!) stuff for correcting paint jobs you're not happy with!). I'm tempted to just pack all the modern stuff away and focus on other periods (700 models is after all a few years worth of work and I would like to do one or two other things).

6mm Napoleonics:
Having found a really good step by step painting guide I did manage to paint up quite a few of the Adler French I'd had sitting around gathering dust for many years. I'm really quite pleased with how these came out but do realise that I need to do more reading around the period before I take this project any further or buy an opponent for the French.

6mm Anglo-Zulu War:
I've made some progress with these this year mainly in terms of rules and basing. I invested in a copy of Black Powder and rebased all of the completed figures on to company bases (100x60mm). I'm very pleased with the way the bases have come out but haven't yet got around to trying out the two completed "brigades" on the table top.

6mm Scenery:
I invested in some new scenery from the Leven Miniatures range but haven't yet painted that much of it. I've got various farm buildings, bunkers, command posts and sand bag defences still to do. Mick at Leven Miniatures also very kindly produced me a set of supply dump markers which he's subsequently been able to add to the range.

A friend of mine has also very kindly painted up a load of 6mm train track and a German BP44 armoured train for me which I look forward to using on the table top in the near future.

Games:
I did manage to get in a few games this past year (mainly thanks to my wife taking pity on me, though she does have a habit of winning!) but didn't for a variety of reasons get all the games in I had planned.

Aims for 2014:

1. Finish the 6 WW2 armies.
2. Try and get a game in at least once a month even if they are all solo.
3. Finish more of the 28mm Wars of the Roses figures (I have plenty more).
4. Try out Black Powder with my Zulu War figures - I don't doubt that Black Powder will work for the era I just want some experience with the set before painted more figures so I can plan things out properly.
5. Finish the 6mm scenery I brought from Leven Miniatures and add a few more pieces.
6. I'd like to do something Ancient or Early Medieval but at the moment am not sure exactly what but I do know it will be something small scale (perhaps 12-15 bases/units a side). I suspect I'll get hold of a copy of Dux Bellorum at some point as one of my friends is building an army for it so a Romano British army might appear at some point as I'm very tempted by the Pendraken 10mm Late Romans. The new Crusades period 6mm from Baccus also appeals to me as well....

Happy New Year to all

Richard

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Napoleonic Planning - a Basic Outline

This is the basic outline of what I have tentatively planned. It's all based on the armies present at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812:

Anglo-Portuguese:
6th Division: (Major-General Clinton)
Hulse's Brigade:
1/11th Foot Regiment
2/53rd Foot Regiment
1/61st Foot Regiment
5/60th Foot Regiment (1 coy)
Hinde's Brigade:
2nd Foot Regiment
1/32nd Foot Regiment
1/36th Foot Regiment
Rezende's Portuguese Brigade:
1/ & 2/8th Portuguese Regiment
1/ & 2/12th Portuguese Regiment
9th Cacadore Battalion
Artillery:
1 Battery, 8th Battalion (6pdrs)

French:
3rd Division: (Général de division Ferey)
Menne's Brigade
1/ & 2/31st Légère Regiment
1/ & 2/26th Ligne Regiment
Arnaud's Brigade
1/, 2/ & 3/47th Ligne Regiment
1/ & 2/70th Ligne Regiment
Artillery:
7 Battery, 3rd Horse Artillery

All the above's based on various Nafziger lists (see here for the full free collection) and does need some more research.

I'll probably add a cavalry element to each army as well. At the moment the 47th Ligne is about 1/3rd complete, I have all of the French sitting ready to be painted but have yet to invest in the British. I've done some research in to the uniforms and organisation of the Portuguese but I need to complete this before ordering any figures. As I understand it I will need figures in Stovepipes to represent post 1811 Portuguese, I just need to get my head around which of the Adler British figures would best represent them. I also need to figure out whether the 2 battalions in a Portuguese Line Regiment fought as separate battalions or were combined together - its a case of do I need to represent them as 2 manoeuvre units per regiment or only the one?

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An Update

It's been a long time since I did an update but I haven't been idle. So far I've finished over 60 bases for my Normandy'44 campaign, the US infantry regiment is based, as is the supporting tank battalion and a large batch of anti-tank guns and artillery pieces are nearing completion (note to self painting 14 guns at once is easy, painting 14 crew sets isn't....).

One of the other things I have been doing is thinking about my overall wargaming plans and I've decided to:
1. Go back to using 1 base = 1 platoon, it just makes things a whole lot simpler when translating real world TO&E in to BKC format*.
2. Focus my energies on completing my WWII armies for BKCII.
3. Put anything post war on the back burner so to speak. To be honest I'm not really that interested in the post war period these days and it reduces the amount of models I need to paint from the ridiculous to the might be achievable with a bit of effort.
4. Finally sort some rules for the Zulu War and paint some more of the 1500+ figures I have.

*Exception: smaller companies (e.g. those with 10 tanks or low numbers of infantry) are represented by two stands (effectively a half company per stand).

The WWII armies I'm working on are:

1. German Panzer Division 1, June-July 1941.
2. German Infantry Division 352, June 1944.
3. German Panzer Division 6, August 1944.
4. Russian 3rd Tank Division, June-July 1941.
5. Russian 29th Tank Corps, August 1944.
6. US 1st Infantry Division, June 1944.

Each consists of at least a regiments worth of troops and a varied selection of supporting units based on what was historically available to each particular formation. The armies are all matched pairs so I can always play solo if I want. All are at least 60% complete.

I'm also toying with adding the following units (I have most of the models anyway but just didn't want to get too carried away to start with):

7. Russian 29th Tank Corps, July 1943 (Kursk).
8. German forces to take on No.7. Not sure what these would be at this point.
9. Russian Infantry Division - I'd probably build this to make it usable for any point in the war but would start off with a 1941 era division to take on No.10.
10. Romanian Cavalry Brigade, June 1941.

Thanks for reading.

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An Update

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, works been pretty busy of late and thats taken up much of my energy. I thought it was about time I posted an update:
Painting:
I have gradually fought my way through the two 1944/45 era Russian tank brigades and they are now both complete (pics to follow later), though at some point I want to add the bits needed to make them usable for 1943 - I have everything I just need to paint it.
I have also painted up a IS-2 Regiment, which at 1:3 scale has 9 of the beasts (2 per company and 1 HQ tank) and I'm just in the process of painting up the SMG company to give the regiment some infantry support. This unit represents the 14th Guards Separate Heavy Tank Regiment which was attached to the 29th Tank Corps in June '44. This regiment was part of the 5th Guards Tank Army as an army asset rather than being a permanent part of the 29th Tank Corps. I will also be painting up the earlier KV-1S equipped version of this regiment for 1943/early '44 games.
Also on the painting table are the two company command units needed to complete the two Panzer Grenadier Companies I did earlier in the year.
Old Models:
Recently I discovered how effective Dettol is in stripping the paint off old models. So far I've managed to recover 69 models and have plenty more to go at. It does take a bit of effort and Dettols pretty pungent stuff but it's definitely worth the effort as you do end up with effectively new models (which are also germ free!).
Projects:
Having recently sold off some of my old 15mm I used the proceeds to finish off a few of my armies so I'm now looking to paint up the following formations (how long they'll actually take me is another matter entirely!):
Various Russian and German WWII units including various assault gun, heavy tank and artillery units. The 29th Tank Corps will get its SU-76's, SU-85's, SU-122's, SU-152's, ISU-152's and Lend-Lease M-10's. A Panther Battalion will be added to the existing 1944 Panzer Regiment. There's lots more on top of all that.
October War 1973 - I have put together the models needed for an Egyptian Tank and Infantry Brigade (more on these units as they get built). I have also put together a few Israeli Battalions to give the Egyptians something to fight - these battalions will be made up of M48's, M60's and Centurions and there will also be some infantry though the actual type of infantry unit is yet to be decided (probably mechanised but Para's are also an option). I also have some brigade (Israeli) and divisional (Egyptian) level support.
Cold War 1989 - I have created a BMP (BMP-1/2 & T-72) equipped Motor Rifle Regiment and a Tank Regiment (T-72's, no BMP battalion) from one of the Motor Rifle Divisions stationed in Czechoslovakia. I also have the models to do the Divisional Anti-Tank Battalion, the Divisional Recce Battalion, a 2S3 Battalion and various other divisional assets. To face them I have elements from the US 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanised) which will include an M1 Abrams equipped tank battalion and a M2 Bradley equipped mechanised battalion, again there will be plenty of brigade/divisional level support.
Thats all for now.
Cheers
Richard
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