Preparing for Battlegroup Kursk

Myself, Dave and Lordy have the new Battlegroup Kursk (BGK) book and a wonderful rule set it appears to be.  I say appears because we have not yet played a game.  Lordy and I were set for Clash of Reconnaissance last Wednesday but a family priority delayed our opening game.  Next week hopefully.  It has allowed us a little more time to work on our Battlegroups.  Why the delay when rules came out in October and so many people across the globe had to wait a number of weeks to get their copy?  We decided that with a significant commitment in 15mm Flames of War (FoW) figures and generous amount of in scale scenery and terrain that it made economic sense to reuse these figures rather than go to 20mm; tempting as it was.

However, it wasn't as quick or as economical as expected.  A decision to use some spare 15mm figures and to base them, more appropriately, for BGK was sensible.  We could have used wound dice or counters but my habit of 'clearing' the battlefield to keep it aesthetically pleasing has caused issues in the past.  Then a few extra tanks were needed; unfortunately our preparation coincided with a trip to the Warfare show at Reading and all the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) deals mean I now have enough tanks for North Africa as well as the Eastern front and my painting queue has once again increased. 

Lordy finally realised that his ever so cheap Gamodls T70's weren't actually what he desired in a miniature tank and replaced them with newly released and ever so splendid PSC version and topped up his T34 strength.  I think he has plans to replace his KV 1's in a similar manner. 

I did manage to keep the spending at a more respectable level by purchasing Zvezda Sd Kfz 222's rather that go for more expensive versions.  The snap together kit needed a bit of glue and some swearing but for £2.50 vehicle it is worth it.

So where is the pay off, the punchline to this post?  There isn't one yet.  Just a picture of some progress I have made on my vehicles.  The camouflage is done, next will be the pin washes, the decals and then the weathering.  I am undecided if I should 'chip' at this scale.

Stay tuned.

I would just like to say for the record,  for a change it was not me that 'encouraged' someone into a new set of rules but Lordy himself.  Just sayin'.

Tiger 313 Painted

I was due to go camping this week but as the British summer has excelled itself this year in imitating a monsoon I have found myself at home.  So between day trips I have been finishing the Tiger I started some months back.  I bought 3 from eBay and have stripped one back to try repainting.  A little darker than I hoped and some weathering issues to correct but it has come out ok.  I'll attempt the rest at a later date.

 

Tanks!!! Mr & Mrs Zed

Just a quick and simple post this.

Tanks to Mr and Mrs Zed I got a nice little present for looking after smallest Zed when they had to take small Zed to hospital. When I came home from work on Friday evening there was the box from Maelstrom Games, there was me thinking the wife had brought me my wedding anniversary present early but then remembered she knows nothing about where to buy models, so opened the box to find a box of five Sherman tanks from Plastic Soldier. A quick call to Zed and a thank you later and out came the clippers, knife and glue.Now after a couple of hours work the below are ready for paint.

Now I know they may not have the right guns or kit but who cares when they are on the table, which ever way you look at it they are spot on. All I can say is yet again TANKS Mr & Mrs Zed.