Picking up those brushes again.

Hi and welcome to the occasional mutterings of Dave Doc, a military modeller and some time gamer. Gaming and model making has given me a real education, History & Geography(obvious really), Artistry, Politics, Economics, Logistics, Project Management -you try building miniature armies without the last 3.

I will use the blog to record my creations & the odd occasion I actually do some gaming.

I have always been inspired by the aesthetic side of gaming. Playing on well constructed terrain using excellently painted units is always a joy.

Thursday 20 February 2020

Normandy 44 - The tank top up!

Part 2 of the 15mm painting plan seeing the factories of Detroit filling up the ranks of the US army in Normandy and beyond ,

M4 Shermans. - most of these have hedgecutter "Rhino" / Cullin prongs added for some later bocage battles.

75mm armed 

76mm armed 



M5 Stuart’s , and tractors




AAA Half’s tracks -
M15 & M16




SP Artillery
M12 GMC's - 155mm big bang stuff!


now some late war stuff. I haven't made my mind up on timeframe for these at the moment so have left tufts off as I am tempted to do a bit more "winter" Bulge stuff - but that way could lie madness

Late war

105mm armed

                           


Easy 8s




                               
the aerials are made form fishing line - it does add something i think 
M36 Jacksons



the tank park!


They are all Battlefront items. they do need a chunk more work on stowage and some passengers , but for now thats a job a another time

Thursday 13 February 2020

Normandy 44 - Hit the Beach

I am now fully into the swing of the 15mm part of the painting plan. So first up I have new items for my US 1944 ETO. Last year I played a large Utah beach game (Link here)and these items are to further enhance the invasion beach items.

So I have 6 classic Sherman DD’s (taking me to 10 in total now)

More units to add to my 70th Tank Battalion for Utah Beach


Following a conversation with JamesM we found some 3D print designs for  deep wading kits to add to the tanks. I was going to magnetise these so they could be removed , but in the end with  Battlefronts “Hit the Beach” set  being such good value (I ended up buying one and being given the Sherman's from 2 of them !). I just went with having more tanks!

So I have 4 with deep wading kits , 3 of those are also dozer equipped - they represent units from  70th Tank Battalion that landed on Utah Beach on D Day. There is also an armoured bulldozer to help clear those troublesome obstacles



I really like these , and I don't think I have ever seen any on a gaming table.
Nice to have something unique too.

Then as I had some M10’s spare (as you do - well I do/did...) I added wading kits to them . While they didn’t actually land any TD units on D Day itself , they just looked too coool .. so they will be in my next re run of the Utah beach game this summer.






The next lot of tanks are already lining the docks ready to make a swift appearnce

Monday 10 February 2020

10mm Fantasy battles - "For Joshua" project.

Yesterday was spent with  JamesM, MartinC today and a few other guys from our local group. We were doing a a play test of our upcoming game at the Hammerhead show at Newark in the UK. We are using To The Strongest as the main rules engine , with of course some tweaks for flying things and magic etc.

It’s a big thanks to those who have contributed painted units so far .

The table needs some more terrain work etc , but as we were just tinkering with the rules to make it more suitable for a quicker participation game - it worked well enough. It’s coming together nicely











we have ordered up a new gaming mad in an arid design with a 15cm grid system on it. I have an eye on a few terrain pieces that will help as well 

So it’s a big thank you to those of you who are helping out .

Tuesday 4 February 2020

ACW - Union infantry

I am continuing through the winter painting plan. This is to paint my way through the pile in a rising scale order. I had a fair bit of 10mm ACW earmarked to do so I have been finishing off the Union infantry .


Another 40 infantry stand , 10 command , 3 foot colonels , 2 mounted command stands 

200 figures altogether 

Plus I have completed a couple of Zouave units as well another 65 figures


I now have all the bases magnetised and storage is in 35mm MDF tray inserts that fit a 9 litre really useful box 

The Union collection so far
I still need to add some cavalry to the Union army and might as well fill up the the 3 trays. My CSA force is currently about a 1/4 the size of the Union , but a lot of the guys at the Old Guard have brigades of them so we are ok for a big battle so it can wait a while for another top up. 

So that is the end of  the 10mm for a while - time for WW2 15mm next