That Didn't Take Long......!

Of course, I dropped everything and rushed the shiny new T34 and tank riders to the front of the painting queue!

(Arty-farty B&W version of one of my pics to make it look like a period shot!)

Quite simple to do the tank - I had done some pre planning and purchased a small (very small for what I paid but that's how it goes I guess!) aerosol can of Tamiya generic dark green paint - I tried getting a specific Red Army Green, but it didn't seem to exist, which is odd. 

I think we all know, the Russians did not have any standard colours anyway - some of their AFV's are a very dark green, some more like the olive green of the US and British armies, and others a much lighter, brighter shade - so I could have gone with any of a wide variety of colours - but after my experience using a spray can of the Blitzkrieg German vehicles, I had decided that was the best way to go, rather than using normal miniatures paint with a brush, so I was limited by what was available in an aerosol can, and in stock at the bricks n mortar hobby store I went to.

The result is much darker than the painted example from the seller's web site that appeared in my previous post. The tank number and air recognition markings are deliberately a bit slap dash - because most of the images I have seen of Soviet vehicles seem to look like they were painted on by a ten-year-old! This is fortunate, as I probably could not have done a much better job, even if I wanted to! Initially, I was also looking to add a nice pointy red star on the turret too but a) I don't have any and neither do any of my friends and b) seems like it was quite rare for the red star to appear on WWII Russian tanks, anyway. Problem a) solved by solution b)! Now - on to the eye candy, PB&J part:

T34/85 traversing a market square in E Europe or Prussia....

I took advantage of our routinely nice weather to do an al fresco photo session!

Now here it is on my ultra realistic Russian Steppe terrain cloth!

Then, I went back inside, painted the tank riders Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning, took the toys out into the garden for another photo session. It was sunny again!

Quite a lot of images for only one tank and four figures, but I was having fun taking pictures from different angles, and our nearly dead from too much sun, recently cut "grass" did look about the right length for the 28mm tank - in my opinion, anyway!

I am not sure where I will go with this - as i said, this was a purchase of opportunity - I would really have preferred an earlier 76mm gun version, but for the price, I wanted to see if this was a decent model - and I think the answer is yes. Will I buy more of them - not sure - I might stick to one tank and a few infantry for small scale, solo skirmishes at this stage - no one else has late war 28mm, so a collection of 10-15 vehicles seems an illogical extravagance at the moment......but when has that ever stopped a red blooded wargamer?!

A Small Local Reinforcement

Just a very quick post tonight on a recent local purchase.

One of the advantages that seem to be accruing from the spread of good quality, competent 3 D printers, is that we (in New Zealand) now have access to some wargaming figures and vehicles that are the equal of anything we can get from overseas, and with the dual advantage of no international freight costs and no significant delay in receiving the goodies!

A case in point - I ordered a 28mm T34/85 tank and 5 tank riders from local (Wellington) producer Pot Belly Miniatures. The tank was NZ$25 and the tank riders $15 (halve it for sterling, somewhere in between for $US) They duly arrived yesterday, and I am pretty happy with them!

The tank came in 5 parts - tank crew (2) are just printed already in the turret - the gun was separate.

There was a little bit of trimming to remove some supports, mainly around the fuel drums and in the tracks, between the wheels,

Tank Riders added - I am not sure I can squeeze all five on one vehicle unless I glue them in place, and I don't want to do that - so may have ended up with enough riders for two tanks!

And finally, how the tank looks when painted up by Pot Belly - not sure mine will be quite this nice, but we can but try!

As I say, I think this is a good buy - a 28mm kit would be at least twice the price, and then you have all the hassle of building the thing (I don't enjoy kit building for its own sake - I do it because I want the end result!). It would be a pretty simple matter to buy one of these every couple of weeks for a month or two, and end up with all the mid-late war Soviet tanks I would ever want in this scale - its just a shame this is the one and only Soviet vehicle available from Pot Belly - if he had a T34/76, that is definitely what I would have bought first!

"Stürme den Graben" 28mm Solo Wednesday Wargame WWII

 Tonight, for a change I decided play a small 28mm Barbarossa era solo game, using the usual AS9 rules. Perhaps we can imagine it's a continuation of the right flank combat in the previous 15mm game?

I set up a trench, defended by two Soviet squads, supported by a sniper. For my game, I treated the sniper like a heavy tank - she added 3 to any roll, so if she rolled 9 or more, she would cause two hits on her target. I also ruled that the Germans could not engage her or do the usual return fire action in response to her activities.

To reflect better equipment, morale, training and tactics, I gave the Germans 15 initiative cards, including three "event" cards, whilst the Russians only had 10 cards and no specials. The Germans had three infantry squads supported by an HMG, a mortar and a PzKfw 38(t).

As the attackers, the Germans automatically got the first turn

A few eye candy pics first to set the scene of the game

German first squad and mortar on the left flank

German second squad and HMG on right flank

German third squad and 38t - hey diddle, diddle, straight up the middle!

Soviet first squad on the left

Soviet sniper

Soviet second squad on the right

After the first turn, the HMG had put a hit on the first squad

The sniper fired at the German third squad - and scored two hits - she should have targeted the HMG instead; it would have been eliminated by this score!

Next turn, the German third squad rolled this rally and removed the two hits

Combined fire from the German first squad and mortar had shaken the Soviet second squad

Meanwhile, their Wehrmacht colleagues in the third squad were also taking some heavy fire.

The mortar crew lent a hand...

.... and dropped smoke in front of them to conceal the squad from Soviet fire

The sniper Yulia lined up another shot ....

... and sent the HMG crew scrambling for cover - their gun silenced as a result!

The mortar crew targeted the second Soviet squad with HE

The constant pounding was too much for the Red Army conscripts, who abandoned their trench and headed towards the rear

In the centre, meanwhile, the third squad followed on, as the 38t crushed the barbed wire in front of the Soviet trench line.

On turn 10, the Soviet first squad was also forced out of the line by the combined fire power of the panzer, the HMG and the mortar.

The second squad meanwhile had rallied back to three hits (perhaps they saw and NKVD blocking line in the rear?) and had moved back towards their former position. Unfortunately for them, in their absence, the German first squad had advanced, cut through the barbed wire (they rolled a 9 to succeed) and then assaulted the trench. The dice rolls were even, so one hit each. In normal circumstances, the melee would have continued in the next initiative BUT the 1 hit put the Soviets back to 4, and they were forced to fall back immediately.

The 38t also breached the Russian defences

Both Soviet squads had been forced back, with the first quitting the field, so Yulia the sniper followed their lead, as the German second squad and their supporting HMG broke cover and also advanced on the now vacant Russian positions.

A quick game - I think maybe only half of the 25 turns were played, and the Germans did not even get one of their possible 3 special event cards - to be honest, they really didn't need to. I obviously need to invest in a 28mm T34!

And now, for something completely different - a garden update!

The apples on our tree are numerous this year and just starting to be ready to eat

Passion fruit a bit underwhelming after such a promising start - but we are still getting a few

And the mandarin oranges have been edible for about three months already - and are still going strong. Likewise, the strawberries, which started in early November and literally just finished of the very last of their fruit this week!

My wife is responsible for garden eye candy! These are two different types of Dahlias.

Thats my lot for tonight - no hosted games this week, so I will probably try to get another solo game in over the weekend sometime. Until then, thanks for your visit and double thanks for all comments!