Gaming - Back Of Beyond , retreat from Mangashlak

 Today saw a further battle in the group campaign game . Last game turn the Bolos had failed in an assault at Fort Alexandrovsky and were badly beaten . This game saw the Bolo army being harried by more arriving Cossacks while trying to extricate themselves from the Eastern side of the Caspian Sea area. The Bolos were all Morale 4’s (needing 4+ to pass ) which saw a number run retire or rout ..and this felt right for the scenario . They were short on squad LMG’s and no artillery .

The Bolo army retreating eastward to a rail line .

 

The local Cheka are mobilised at the sound of firing 

The sailors try to man a vessel coming under fire from White naval units 

The armoured train arrives to provide more support 

 

The massed ranks of the Cossacks arrive 

Charging on they come 

Overunning a Bolo Maxim 

  

The Red Cavalry evaded away from the Cossack hordes 

The Bolo infantry rolled well for movement and were able to outpace some of the attackers 

White naval assetts hit the retreaters 

It looks great and somewhat scary when it’s heading towards you .. it fired a few shots  hitting nothing! But that was its first game .

A number of Bolo units were shooting very well causing significant Cossack casualties, over 30% of the overall attackers . The Bolo cavalry managed to escape being overrun  and regrouped having taken only one casualty. The White forces decided to not press the attack and 3 Bolo infantry units escaped to fight again . The train has had an outing and its presence put the White commander off advancing further , 

We tried a change to STEA system . Rather than activating by particular unit , we used the Bolt Action dice draw and you  could pick . I will make up some MDF tokens to use rather the dice for future use . This speeded thing up nicely , and we used the STEA rules for everything else . It was a good game , not as disjointed as some STEA can get . It also looked the part 

We are doing a very large game in November at the Battleground show . My last job is to paint up the die cast aircraft I have for the Bolos once the large decals have turned up . 

The army stats used .

 

 

Back of Beyond .Armoured Train part 2

 Some more progress on the armoured train . Martin had sourced me some more Teamsterz pieces . So I have made up another carriage and there will be another loco along shortly 

Teamsterz running gear with a balsa flat bed and MDF sides 

It takes a 60 mm base in the middle so I will make up another suitable gun in due course 

It should give the White forces some issues to deal with 

In addition I have based up all the spare On30 track I had . I had the laser room at Pendraken cut me 18 and 12 inch x 50mm straights and curves . I did a double layer and chamfered the top then added the track . Sand and PVA then added with a dry brush 

 

That gives me about 16 feet of track now , so more than enough . Time to build a station building I think .

I have an aircraft to sort out for the November big game - I have a die cast one that needs a paint job in due course . 

There is a BoB campaign game this weekend where the train might get a run out . 

Back of Beyond - Armoured train part 1

Before heading off on hols this week I decided to crack on with the last major item for my Bolsheviks - an  armoured train . Having baulked at the price for a 3d printed version - north of £150 , for something that is of limited long term use I decided to get the spares box out . One advantage of being a very long term model maker is there are all sorts in it . I have the loco, tender and a fighting carriage made and undercoated .

I had some train bits left over from the Sudan stuff and am repurposing some of that. These were originally built around a toy Teamsterz set I picked up for £3.50 in 2016  . For the RCW /BoB there are some good references and also some scratch builds on LAF . So I had a plan . 

Main faighting carriage 

Loco and tender 

Pleased to have sorted out the moving turret . It’s magnetised as well , so I will do an MG team for this position at some time .

The teamsters sets are these :-

The loco and tender are based on the blue  version . They are listed as 1/55th on the packaging so a decent size .First up was to clad the loco piece in a balsa frame and then plasticard . I also raided my grandsons little used Lego stash for some useful pieces to make the smoke stack . I used some nicely shaped notice board pins to make the buffers as well.

The frame and plates etc idea nicked from SteveL’s one made by Jim  

I have trimmed the armour plate over the wheels by 3mm since this picture  as it sat too low . The Teamsterz pieces sit over standard  16.5mm track but they look ok . I am using my On30 track I did for the cowboys and the Sudan , it’s O gauge narrow - as it has larger wooden sleepers which I think look better

The main fighting carriage is based on a couple of 00 gauge bogie sets that have lain in the stash for more years than I can remember. A result to find a use . These were attached to a 4mm balsa base which I can then build on . The Lego was used to form a large rectangle to sit on the base with space for the gun . This is then clad in 2mm MDF rectangles , again from the basing stash . I added 5mm circle magnet to the flatbed and base of the gun to be able to swap out for other items . The gun turret was made from a 60mm across flats Octoganal MDF  top and bottom with 20 x 40 bases upright at the flats. The gun was made from brass tubing and held in place with milliput. I filled the upright gaps in with 6mm Tamiya masking tape . This was then run  around the turret at the top and bottom . Another couple of Lego pieces added the top to create an observation cupola . 

A pair of these have been in the stash for goodness knows how long. 

Lego is a great resource for scratch building thanks to a regular shape .

MDF cladding for the LEGO . Adding in some extra doors and some small washers for apertures .

Glueing the top to the uprights was fun , but a pair of tweezers to hold the uprights and a spray with superglue activator soon had it sorted . 

The tender was clad in various pieces of MDF and some bits of LEGO once more . Some bits of plssticard section have been used across the whole model . Some staples used to make steps , some washers used to made observation and shooting apertures. 

It nearly 600mm long at 3 pieces . 😆

I have added a couple a couple of armoured  car MG turrets to the top - who doesn’t love more firepower eh !

Trains are big old things and nice to see it looking like it next to the cavalry .

Everything glued  had dried and I decided to give it a basecoat of green . I want to add another passenger carriage and flatbed for supplies . MartinC says he’s seen some more of the Teamsterz bits . I will keep and eye out for some  more bogies - there is a model railway show coming up locally so might have a look there . 

I want to add some more detail , railings , couplings , ladders , rivets etc (though I might not count them!) . It’s then a simple final paint job , washes and drybrush . Some nice slogans to research I think 

Cost so far I reckon is about £10 for the new superglue I needed and some noticeboard pins  . Great result and actually a very enjoyable 3 afternoon sessions doing it !

All in all pleased to far .

Back of Beyond . Bolsheviks - Boat

 This weeks jobs have been finishing of some more items for the Bolsheviks in the form of the navy . 

This one is 400mm long and 95 at its widest point 

The flags can of course be swapped out to use for other forces if need be . Weapons are a mix of 3d printed from Actual Size , HLBS and Pulp miniatures. 

It was scratchbuilt after passing a design over to laser guys at Pendraken . The hull is made of layers of 2mm MDF cut to shape , with a 1/2mm reduction per layer as it goes down to give it some shape . The weapon areas are magnetised so I can swap out the weapon type . 

 (

This gives me the torpedo  boat and the larger boat .

The next job for this project is the armoured train. The grandsons unplayed with Lego bits have been liberated to make a start on this . 

Gaming - Ardennes

 Yesterday saw the regular monthly meet up . I had my winter table set up at the full 12x6 size . 

Rivers made using the Pendraken MDF pieces 

Some of the Normandy building were used so no snowy roofs on some for now 

Since we last played  I have added in more roads , river and trees so the table looked a lot fuller which is what I was looking for.

A rare sight , a column of King Tigers 

A good game was had , the Germans took a lot of casualties but did take the village . The bridges were either blown or collapsed under the weight of the heavy armour trying to cross it . The German bridging equipment was set up to cross . 

I had picked a few new resin pieces from the Ironclad range at Pendraken ( Link )these were completed this week too. All nice pieces .

Outhouses / sheds 

Fencing 

Water tower 

A garage style building .