The British Are Coming!

I spent last night cleaning up the miniatures for my basic Parachute/Airlanding plotoons. The two man teams (Pathfinder, PIAT, Sniper & Light Mortar) I glued to small bases. Everyone else went onto popsicle sticks for priming and painting. So that gives me:

• Company HQ (2 teams; 6 figures)
• Pathfinder team (1 team; 1 figure)
• PIAT teams (6 teams; 12 figures)
• Sniper teams (3 teams; 6 figures)
• Light Mortar teams (4 teams; 8 figures)
• Platoon HQ's (4 stands; 12 figures)
• Rifle/MG teams (18 teams; 90 figures)

Hmmm 6+1+12+6+8+12+90=135 infantry (so far). I suppose I should mention that I hate painting infantry. I hate painting them, but I enjoy playing infantry...even against tanks.

Tonight I will get eveyone primed and maybe start painting the flesh...

I am also going to put together one of my "painting guides" for British Airborne troops.

T

My Insanity Continues...

Ok sports fans... I spent a day going over the D-1 lists and came up with my painting list. Since the internal organization of British Airlanding platoons doesn't change between mid and late-war, I just need to make a few support changes to morph the company from one period to the next.

Late War - British Airlanding Company List

Company HQ

HQ Section

1 Sniper team

Airlanding Platoon

HQ Section

1 PIAT team

1 Light mortar team

3 Rifle Squad (5x teams)

Airlanding Platoon
HQ Section
1 PIAT team
1 Light mortar team
3 Rifle Squad (5x teams)

Airlanding Platoon
HQ Section
1 PIAT team
1 Light mortar team
3 Rifle Squad (5x teams)

Airlanding Mortar Platoon

HQ Section

1 Observer team

ML 3-inch Mortar (2x teams)

Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon

HQ Section

4x OQF 6pdr gun

4x Jeep

Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon
HQ Section

4x OQF 6pdr gun
4x Jeep

Airlanding Battery, Royal Artillery

HQ Section

Staff team

1 Observer team

2x M1A1 75mm pack howitzer

2x Jeep

Airlanding Armored Recce Platoon

3x Tetrarch Light tanks

Total List Cost: 1490

Mid War - British Airlanding Company List

Company HQ
HQ Section
1 Sniper team

Airlanding Platoon
HQ Section
1 PIAT team
1 Light mortar team
3 Rifle Squad (5x teams)

Airlanding Platoon

HQ Section

1 PIAT team

1 Light mortar team

3 Rifle Squad (5x teams)

Airlanding Platoon

HQ Section

1 PIAT team

1 Light mortar team

3 Rifle Squad (5x teams)

Airlanding Mortar Platoon
HQ Section
1 Observer team
ML 3-inch Mortar (2x teams)

Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon
HQ Section

4x OQF 6pdr gun
4x Jeep

Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon

HQ Section

4x OQF 6pdr gun

4x Jeep

Airlanding Battery, Royal Artillery

HQ Section

Staff team

1 Observer team

4x M1A1 75mm pack howitzer

4x Jeep

Airlanding Machine-gun Platoon

HQ Section

1 Machine-gun Section (2x Guns)

Total List Cost: 1480

I will also pick up a Typhoon or two for airpower.

I think I have enough figures to make four airlanding platoons...I can always use the extra to bump up the points or use them as engineers. I could also use the extra teams to swap out the light mortars and field parachute platoons if necessary.

Time to go clean and prep the miniatures...
Tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel...

Tim, they call him...

My Insanity...

In 2007, I started a blog (http://360.yahoo.com/decurion2000) to chronicle the painting of my USMC Rifle Company. It has evolved since then, but I can't help but notice that my Rifle Company is the only Flames of War force that I planed, purchased, painted and finished in a logical and organized manner.

Since then I have painted a lot of miniatures, but it is hit and miss...some bright shiny object attracts my attention and my focus gets distraction is focused elsewhere and my mini's languish unpainted and unloved.

So, I have decided to return to the successful formula and blog my painting progress...or paint to my blogging progress? Either way... Rather than finish some WIP (god forbid!). I have decided to start anew. I have a number of armies worth of unpainted led, so turning to the boxes stored in the "Holy of Holys" I selected my British Airborne troops.

Market/Garden has been one of my favorite campaigns ever since I read "A Bridge too Far" when I was 16 or so. Several years back I started buying British Airborne troops. I now have several pounds worth just begging to be painted...

I began by researching the lists. One thing that quickly became apparent was there was little difference between a mid-war and a late-war force... Goodie! The US Para's underwent a dramatic reorganization leading up to D-Day and it is difficult to morph an mid-war into a late-war force and visa versa.

I started with late-war (that on is on Army Builder). I quickly decided that I wanted to to an Airlanding company rather than a Parachute one. The reason? Support options... The plain truth of the matter is I will be facing tanks (good ones) if I play late war. The airlanding units get better support units. Both airlanding and para platoons are Fearless Veterans (unlike the US!), so I wasn't "downgrading". The only real difference is para platoons consist of a Command team; a PIAT team, and six Rifle/MG teams. The airlanding platoon consists of Command team; a PIAT team, a light mortar team and five Rifle/MG teams. Basically a Rifle/MG team replaced by a light mortar.

I am off to work on my list...

When I decided to paint up my SS Panzergrenadiers as the 2. SS-Panzergrenadier Division (Das Reich) I did a little research. I put together a painting guide for my own use, if you would like to see it, look here:

http://www.stugiii.com/Das%20Reich%20Uniform%20Guide.pdf

Tim, they call him

Plastic or Lead?

Sold on Plastic?

My first wargame figures were plastic... Airfix Romans & Britons. I didn't play wargames then, I just pushed them towards each other and imagined the noise, slaughter and victory (the Romans always won in the end). I am sure my experience is pretty typical. Even now almost forty years later the Airfix figures aren't too bad.

Their shine was tarnished a bit when I painted them. It didn't take much for the soft plastic figures to flex and the paint to flake off.

In the late seventies, I found lead mini's (Minifigs, Ral Partha, Custom Cast, etc). They painted up well (no flexing) and were durable. Over the years lead, then alloy (white metal/pewter) figures became the wargamming standard. With the advent of Citadel, Reaper & Wargames Foundry the sculpting became dynamic and dramatic. Still called "lead" by the players, these metal mini's have been the standard of the miniature wargamer for decades.

Last May, while I was attending Gamex in Los Angeles, I came across some plastic historicals. Perry Brothers and Warlord Games had come out with hard plastic American Civil War and Imperial Roman Legions respectively.

I bought a few boxes of the Romans and was impressed with the detail. Most people will tell you that you can get better detail with metal then you can with plastic. Frankly, I don't see it... plastic is easier to work with (conversions) and plastic resists bending better, allowing such things as rifles and spears to be cast with more realistic proportions. All that aside,the most impressive thing is the price. Foundry Romans are are almost $3 a figure. Warlord Games' plastic Romans are approx $1 each. I Currently have over 250 Foundry Roman legionaries & auxilia...do the math, its no contest.

If that weren't enough...Citadel (Games Workshop) has been releasing new plastic mini's for their new lines. I bought some of the new Dark Elf, Cold One Knights. Incredible miniatures, great detail and again low price - roughly $4 for each Cold One & rider; the metal version is going for almost $20. So I am sold on plastic. I hope more manufacturers and ranges spring up. The downside is that plastic is a petroleum product... and we all know what has been happening with the price of oil.

Wargames Factory is coming out with 28mm Caesarian Roman legionaries (my favorite). I can't wait to see them!

He's not my kid. He's not even my dog...

"He's not my kid. He's not even my dog. If I had a dog, and my dog had a kid, and that kid had a pet that would be Sid.”

Oh My God! I forgot about mini-sloths!
Ok...this is a long standing fantasy of mine...to cast up some mini-sloths and create a HOTT army.

To that end I have created an army list...

Mini-Sloths
Stronghold: volcano hideaway
Horde General (Sid the Megatherium (Sloth)) @ 1AP 1
God (Fire-King Idol) @ 4AP 1
Artillery (Big rock slingshot) @ 3AP 1
Flyer (mini-sloth in hang glider) @ 2AP 1
Shooters (mini-sloths with rocks & sticks) @ 2AP 2
Lurkers (mini-sloths with lassoes) @ 1AP 3
Hordes (mini-sloth warriors) @ 1AP 7

Alternatives
Hero @ 4AP (Diego the Smilodon), Cleric @ 3AP (Clea – Chief Sloth), Behemoths @ 4AP (Manny or Ellie the Woolly Mammoths), Sneaker s@ 3AP (Crash and Eddie Opossum Brothers), or treat mini-sloth warriors as a warband; Ellie as a sneaker

Sid: [tied up] “This is either really good or really bad. [Sid looks down to see lava pit underneath him] No, no, no. Me fire-king. Why kill fire-king? A thousand years bad juju for killing fire-king! “

Chief Sloth: “Superheated rock from the earth's core is surging into the crust, melting ice built up over thousands of years”.

Sid: “You are a very advanced race. Together we can look for a solution.”

Chief Sloth: “We have one. Sacrifice the fire-king. “

Sid: “That's not very advanced. “

Chief Sloth: “Worth a shot. “

Spinning Wheels

The wheel of life/fate is capricious at best and does not consult those it affects; and like justice is often blind…

Home is where you hang your hat... Someone famous said that

For over half of my life my home has been in Van Nuys California (the “Valley”). The Valley has much to recommend it and much to not. Like most things in life it is about compromises. As an example it gets hotter than the hinges on the door to hell in August; at the same time everything is air conditioned (note the “hinges” beat my a/c every time!).

Before I make it sound too bad, it was the only place I could afford a house in the LA area in 1985. The joys of house ownership have faded over the years. I originally cut the grass with an old hand powered reel mower. It really was a joy to be able to cut my own (read: the bank’s) grass. In a few years that gave way to a power mower; benign neglect and the current solution, gardeners.

I have a lot of memories in that house; some good; some bad; and some very, very private moments (and no I don’t mean anything bizarre and sexual! …mostly).

During my occupancy of my valley house I:

• Aged from mid twenties to late forties;
• Watched the 73 seconds of the STS-51-L Challenger mission (the only shuttle launch I have ever seen);
• Learned to play WRG 7^th, Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40K (the last two a few times;
• Went from being a board gamer to a miniatures gamer;
• Witnessed the riots of ’92 (Rodney King);
• Had my two children (ok, initially I had help with that one);
• Received my Bachelor’s degree;
• Survived the Northridge earthquake;
• Spent few days trying not to exsanguinate;
• Got divorced, married, and divorced;
• Let a good woman get away;
• Learned to fire a 10lb Parrott rifle (read “cannon” - I miss that!)
• Gave my father’s eulogy;
• Watched my son enter my old Junior High School and my daughter my old High School (yes I am aware it is called “Middle School” now. I also still say B.C. and A.D. so sue me)
  
  

During that time I was employed as:

• Assistant Director of Threat Assessment and Management for a public figure protection firm (my favorite job title of all time!);

• Operations Manager for an alarm company;
• Central Station Manager for the same alarm company (same company different owners)
• Partner (chief cook and bottle washer) in an alarm company (some company, me and Jim owned it);
• Student & Father
• Radio Field Tech
• Service Manager for a radio repair/sales store
• Operations Manager for a radio repair shop (it burned down, I had nothing to do with it)
• And computer geek for my current employer.

I grew from immaturity to maturity (yeah, yeah, laugh it up!);

I am going to miss a lot of things about living here, both current things and memories…

And so, the wheel turns…

Tim, they call him...