Monday 18 March 2024

More 3D Printed Blitzkrieg Vehicles

 These rolled off the painting desk a few days ago, but its only just time to post them now!


First up, one of the two Opel Blitz trucks - above, the underside, showing the incredible amount of (to my mind unnecessary) detail that has been included in the 3D print.


Followed by several different angles of the completed model.




And with the seated passengers added.


The sun was in the wrong place for the photo above, but I left it in, nonetheless.


Secondly, it is the SdKfz 222 armoured car.


Or is that Leutnant Grueber's "Little Tank"?!





The 222 with its near cousin the 221!

Thats it for tonight - you may not hear from me for a few days as I will be away at our annual "Strategic Planning" for work, weds to Friday this week.

Saturday 16 March 2024

Friday Night SP II Game

 Another game of Two Fat Lardies Sharpes Practice II, using Julians collection of Perry plastic Napoleonic figures.

This time, Chris joined the fun, and played with me as the British rearguard, contesting a critical road intersection in the Peninsula with the vanguard of an advancing French force (Jules and John)


French arriving from the right side of the table, Brits from the left. The "hand of God" is Johns, not Maradona's!


Les francais, bravely led by a unit of Dragoons.



Julians command shakes out to the left of the road (nearest the camera) while John went right, through the open woods (light cover) Chris took a long range shot with his leading unit of light Infantry (top left) and put a couple of shock markers on the Dragoons. 



Johns Grade III mounted officer.



Chris's Light Infantry exchange fire with Johns Voltigeurs



After one round of rifle fire from Sharpes Boys (part of my command), the Dragoons took several more shock markers, and bravely redeployed to the rear!


The man himself - another Grade III officer (of course!)


Although Julians' Voltigeurs were within easy striking distance of the BUA that dominated the all-important road junction, for some reason, they hesitated, and one of my line units occupied the buildings...... as you know from last week; I like to have my men in good cover if possible!


From where they were able to engage two units of French Ligne in the open at close range!





Having killed one or two Froggies and put a fair bit of shock on both units - return fire killed one British private - a fair exchange to my mind.



The Dragoons, having rallied off the shock markers, bravely return to the fray....





A general view from the French perspective at the halfway stage


Chris's command opposite John, with my guys in the woods at the top of the hill, including Sharpe and his riflemen.


 Dinner break - very nice Thai take away - washed down with a nice Italian red wine courtesy of Chris again - he has discovered the above, a 1.5 liter bottle for $25 - his new favourite!

Unaccountably, after dinner, I failed to take any more images - things must have got too exciting! Basically, John and Chris exchanged fire on their flank, Chris had one unit accumulate a lot of shock markers and they had to pull back behind cover. My units moved up either side of the occupied farm, and supported by the riflemen and some Light Infantry in the woods on the hill, poured so much fire onto Johns Voltigeurs, Julians line AND the Dragoons (again) that Julian basically withdrew his entire command to the shelter of the woods, and he called the game around 2130 as the Brits were in full control of the farm and crossroads, with the French having no realistic chance of dislodging them.

As we have never actually managed to get into close combat in SP II as yet (known as "fisticuffs" in Lardie parlance), we then did a quick run-through of what would have happened if the Dragoons had managed to bravely charge one of my standard line infantry units at a canter. We calculated the line would get 7 D6 and the cavalry 11. 5 or 6 is a kill, 6 adds a shock too. In the first round I rolled 2 x 6 and 1 x 5 - Julian the opposite, so 3 dead each and I was one ahead on shock - that is a draw, so we had to roll again. The second time around, Julian won by one casualty - so my line infantry was reduced to two men plus an NCO and forced to pull back - but Julian only had two brave Dragoons and their officer surviving - so a pretty Pyrrhic victory.



Another fun game of SP II - well I did win again, didn't I?! 😍💪 Hiding in woods and buildings is really working very well for me - it's an logical extension of the Iron Dukes "rear slope" tactics (well that's my story, anyway!)

Thanks for visiting and extra special thanks to those who leave a comment!

Thursday 14 March 2024

парад Красной Армии - Red Army Parade!

 Here is the easiest and quickest of Peanut Butter and Jelly posts - a parade of my recently acquired and painted bargain 28mm WWII Soviet infantry!


A table full of Red Army soldiers





The nursing contingent


VERY happy with these for the UK equivalent of 15 quid and a couple of hours at the painting table!




Another full parade image to end on!

Noe, in deference to the season, these unusual "figures" have appeared around our house in the last few days - along with hot cross buns and chocolate eggs!




Thanks for your visit!

Tuesday 12 March 2024

My Russian Bargain Force

 I mentioned the PSC 28mm WWII Russian Infantry I picked up cheaply at the tail end of my previous post, tonight just a few more WIP pictures. They should be ready for a full parade very soon!


First two images are some more "before and after" shots of my "enhanced" paint work.




3D printed female soldier alongside the PSC female medic.


3D printed, PSC and Wargames Factory 28mm grenade thrower


3D printed, Wargames Factory and PSC standing firing pose.


Wargames Factory and PSC kneeling firing pose.


Wargames Factory and PSC SMG pose.


Wargames Factory and PSC officer.

I think they all work quite nicely together and given I have about thirty of the 3d prints, roughly the same number of Wargames Factory figures, plus fifty-eight PSC now, that's probably as many as I need for an early Ostfront (think Barbarossa 1941) force to oppose the Blitzkrieg Germans - now I just need a couple of T26 tanks and maybe an armoured car and a T34......oh dear!


Time for me to flutter off - thanks for dropping by!