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.

Wednesday 31 January 2024

NWF / Sudan - Ghurkas

 Time for a little revisit to the colonial period . This time it is the full unit for my Ghurkas 


They will do duty on the NWF of course , but also they be deployed to Sudan this summer as part of my Indian Army forces . For Sands of Sudan they will be a 48 figure battalion , plus skirmish company -18 figures 

 

The figures are from the Perry Victorias Little Wars range - pretty clean and unfussy - simple to paint .


For the smaller NWF adventures I think they will make 2 x 24 battalions , plus skirmishers . 




I thought I had some suitable sabot bases for the skirmishers , but it turns out I don’t , so it’s a little order to Warbases coming on .


The first of the NWF frontier opposition in the form of Old Glory Pathans are on the desk - amongst a host of other things of course . 

Sunday 28 January 2024

Normandy ‘44 - Panzer Grenadier transport & Tigers

 It’s been a while since I painted stuff for this collection and some has been sat base coated  for a good while , namely the half tracks and other transport. I decided to get them done and move things along,  I also had a couple of Tigers that were built already that needed a paint job . 

Twenty vehicles completed altogether . 11x251 variants , 2x250 , 2 20mm AA , 2 tractors and a Kubelwagon , plus the two Tigers . In addition I had two 3d printed bunkers that needed completing too .

 
Done in classic 3 colour camo with the airbrush.


 
I had to raid the bits box for stowage and crew/passengers - I just had enough . 



With the 80th anniversary of D Day just around the corner we will be playing some more games this year using this collection so it’s great to have these done . There isn’t much left to add to ‘44 period , perhaps some Marders , and some towed artillery - but no rush for these .




Thursday 18 January 2024

Gaming - ‘Nam - Operation Black Knife

The first game at home for the year sees a return to SE Asia. This time a 1 on 1 game using The Nam - The Way it Was rules. 

A VC force has been spotted and the Marines are sent on a search and destroy . The VC  have their own objectives to complete as they are mustering supplies and forces for the future , so they have to get stuff off board , which means it’s not just a straight up firefight. 

The VC are set up initially on blinds with some blanks . The US made a reasonable intel roll and chose 7 or the 12 to reveal finding some key teams and some blanks . Game on 

US Forces 

4 x 4 , Fireteams with M16’s . All trained 

2 x M60 teams 

1 Lt (veteran),  , RTO , and Grenadier (7x Grenades ), 1 Corpsman 

1 Mortar team , Veteran 


 VC , 

4 x4 rifles teams - with limited ammunition , trained 

1 x 4 SMG team, veteran 

2 x 5 AK47 teams , trained 

2 x LMG teams, veteran , 1 x RPG 

2 s Sniper (placed at far end of table). Veteran 

VC supply column - 2 bikes , 2 carrier figures , 1 VC command - veteran 

3 hidden caches - rolling on a d8 

Card deck has 1 per squad , plus random event and joker . 

First squad off the chopper.
  

The LZ is under observation 

Halt ! - booby traps - punji sticks.. luckily they were spotted.

Ambush!
 

Incoming ! RPG!

 

Mortar section is set up on the cleared LZ.

 

1st round on target - takes out the RPG and his mates.
 

The VC supply column is though getting away 

 

The LT finds another way through .

 

Sniper ! Wings the LT and kills the RTO.


 

Another LMG team opens up - the Marines just charge .

 

VC escape across the river - grenades and shots just don’t stop these. 

VC command stay to  conduct  the defence.

Bug out time for the VC as the Marines get near the village 


Casualty evacuation

A cache of weapons is discovered in the village too.

Great game only just won by Pete’s USMC final weapons cache discovery, found as a result of hiding from the sniper, they nearly missed it! 5 US KIA 3 wounded . 5 wounded VC captured - 14 KIA . The majority of the VC supply column got away . They will be back! 

A few overhead shots of the wider table - until next time 






Wednesday 17 January 2024

Sudan - Ghurka

 Ok this is a bit of a “what if” addition for the Sudan . I had picked some of Perry Victorias Little Wars Ghurka figures a few years ago so time to get some paint on them . The Ghurka of course didn’t deploy to the Sudan but my take is that otheIndian army units did so it’s a possibility . 

In addition the will of course do duty for the NWF nicely too . I have even ordered some Old Glory Pathans to create a small force for it . 

These are the initial test paint skirmish group . 6 skirmishers . Plenty more to come 

 






Friday 5 January 2024

7 Days to the Rhine & Necromunda top ups

 First painting of the year completed . 

First up 5 T64’s to take my total to 10 which is a lot for a 7 Days game . Hopefully the campaign game will kick off later in Jan .

They are from the Battlefront TY range . Simple enough kit , with a Tamiya rattle can and oil washes with a highlight. 

 


 

I had also picked a set of GW Hive Scum before Xmas so I have completed these . I did a pure white undercoat and then used the Vallejo Xpress paints , in this case a lot of primary colours . They certainly do the job. They will probably get a wash to tone them down a bit in future but for now I like them as they are .




Plenty more on the paint desk at the moment .