Haradian WIP

In order to run my Harad campaign, I am having to expand the forces I have available. So I decided to start with these vehicles. Four diecast trucks made by Zylmex, Six diecast Matchbox Saladin Armoured cars (all with broken guns), an Airfix Sheridan Tank, and Two Matchbox Battlekings. 

A great view of a K-107 BattleKing 155 SPG. Tracks are from the Hasegawa Sherman.

Matchbox Saladins. The vast majority of these always seem to have a broken gun. The PlayArt version was much better and closer in scale to the Airfix/JB Models kit.

Battle King K-103: The Chieftain Tank. The tank that spawned numerous plastic knockoffs.

The K-107 155 SPG. Is this meant to be a M-107? or anything at all?

 The Battle King series of vehicles have always been a personal favourite. My brother, and I, would wage war with our armies of Battle Kings, Matchbox military vehicles, and plastic soldiers, across the lounge floor when we were both much younger. The majority of our Battle Kings were purchased by our Grandmother, so they have always been special to me for that reason as well.

After being sprayed Primer Grey.

Some Esci Vietnam war Americans, and some Eagle Games Arabs spraypainted black.

Hasegawa German Officer painted as Imperial Haradian Officer.

Grey Zylmex trucks get a thin coating of Vallejo Iraqi sand. These will be classed as light trucks in CD terms.

 For my Harad forces, I am using a very basic scheme of Iraqi Sand, with the addition of vehicle markings, slogans, etc. The advantage of this scheme is that I can add to later, and that it lets vehicles be painted quickly.

Six Haradi Saladin Armoured Cars. I still have to black a few tyres.

Four light trucks ready for use.

Trucks, A/Cs, and some Militia. Figures are Mars Mujahideen.

Battle King Chieftain amid plastic clones. The grey Nod tanks may be repainted.

The real deal - after its new paint job. I may actually put a tank commander in the turret.

Now on its third repaint. A Haradian 155mm SPG.

The Battle King 155mm SPG, rather than being a M-107, is most likely a Canon de 155 mm Mle F3 Automoteur (Cn-155-F3-Am). In scale, the real vehicle is somewhat longer and thinner, with the gun mount sitting lower, and having spades on either side of the rear. However, it is a nice looking vehicle, as are all the Battle King range, barring their track assemblies. That being said, they are meant to be toys, rather than detailed models. Since the F3 has been exported by the French to a variety of nations, it is not unlikely that Harad purchased a few.

The Imperial Flag

I recently managed to get my sister, who is a bit of a whiz at design, to make up the Harad Imperial Flag for me. It took her no time at all to transform my pointing at the screen of her Mac and mumbling over Google images to produce this:

The Harad Imperial Flag

The flag is based on several Iranian flag designs I found on the Internet. The middle device is an ancient Persian symbol which is quite well liked by some Iranian Nationalists on the Internet, and is often incorporated into their flag designs. The symbol itself  has both a Nationalist, and a Zoroastrian meaning, being the Faravahar, but more importantly, it looks good. 

Christmas Gifts

In addition to the small armoured force my wife purchased for me, I gained some more plastic kits. From my sister, I received two Airfix kits, the veteran Sherman, and the Vickers Light Tank, from my brother, an Airfix Stug, and from my friend Steve, the Airfix Bedford Tactical Refueler kit.

Airfix Kits, old and new.

That, coupled with some very nice books, and modeling tools, from the in-laws, and some paint and plastic storage from the parentals, makes for a very good Christmas haul.

Japanese Pt. 4

Since I had the time, I thought I would post some more Japanese armour and other equipment, from my CD Japanese Army. First up are some Fujimi Type 41 75mm Mountain guns. These are ones that I acquired second hand some time ago.  These are the guns to go with the pack horses from this post. The guns are the only useful item from the Fujimi Japanese Infantry set, the figures are amongst the worse I have ever seen.

Four Batteries of Horse packable fun.

I am starting to put all my guns on bases to help protect the model.

 To get hold of these particular guns, I had to purchase an entire WRG Japanese Army. It was worth it to get the guns! Attempts to order in the model kit from a local model store came to a dead end as they were only able to order in a very limited range of Fujimi kits, and these weren't on the list. Fortunately, a friend teaching in Japan was able to track some down for me so I have a few more lurking in the plastic mountain awaiting construction. Still, for quite some time these guns were scarcer than hens teeth.

Getting hold of these guns was quite a mission.

 I have always liked my Japanese Army, as it allows me to field quite quirky forces with a solid infantry core. It also gave me an opportunity to make conversions of existing vehicles, like these two 150mm Ho-Ro SPGs. While only 25 were ever made (and in CD terms here are 10), the idea with my Japanese armour is to either field them in a manner similar to battalion guns (so they represent a section of vehicles, rather than a platoon) or give them the markings of particular units for use in different campaigns.

A side view of the beasts.

 These were converted from the Fujimi Ho-Ni 75mm SPG kit. The 150mm guns are cut down Roco 155mm Long Toms, and the plastic struts inside holding the guns come from the blade attachments of Matchbox Bulldozers.

The Front view of the Ho-Ros.

And the rear view.

 The paint job is unfinished, as I am still unsure as to how I want to finish them. My current plan is to assemble all my Japanese AFVs and then assign theaters and paintjobs from there. Of course not all my conversions are as reliable as my Ho-Ros. Two in particular are just plain wrong. I refer to my conversion of a Chi-Ha tank to a cargo/AA carrier and my conversion of a Ho-Ni to a self propelled heavy mortar.

Look it's a cargo carrier that never was!

And now it's a AA carrier that never was!

 The cargo carrier was an attempt to create a So-Da, which was a cargo carrier based on the Type 97 Tankette. Since the Tankette is damn hard to source in NZ, I decided to use a Chi-Ha from the bits box, and use the appropriate stats for the real vehicle, which are listed in 'Lighter than a Feather', the CD Command Post Japanese Supplement as being the Type 3 carrier. The AA carrier is based on an experimental vehicle which was also based on a tankette. It's a pure gamey fudge created to put balance into certain scenarios. The gun is loosely based on the Type 4 twin 20mm AA Machine Cannon. The barrels are far too long. The worst offender is the last... A self propelled heavy mortar. The mortar is meant to be the Type 3 30cm Mortar, but I always used the stats for the Type 98 250mm Mortar. The vehicle is very, very, loosely based on the Type 4 Ha-To.

And this didn't exist either!

And yes, that is a 40K Imperial Guard Mortar...

 The point of making the vehicles was to create something to fill the gaps in my Japanese forces using what resources I had available, and at the time, the very limited reference material available. Both of the reference links I have made in this post are to pages from Taki's site, which I view as being simply outstanding in terms of quality.Taki is a very trustworthy source on Japanese military equipment, and if you have an interest in WW2 Japanese equipment, and haven't visited his site, I strongly urge you to do so. As to the future fate of the two conversions that never were, I will probably still use the cargo carrier, but stop using the AA mount, and plan to massively rebuild the Mortar carrier into an actual  Ha-To.

Technical, Tanks, and SPGs

Since my last Harad game, I have decided to create another RCL armed technical. This decision was inspired in part by the performance of the RCLs in the last game, partly by the discovery of a semi-finished scratchbuild RCL amongst some figures, and mostly because I really like technicals.

Step 1: find a suitable vehicle Step 2: Layer on the stuff

The base vehicle is a very old Corgi Range Rover, which has received many repaints throughout its long service life. Driver is an Esci German from the SdKfz 11 kit. The armed fellow in the back is from the Mars Mujahideen set, as are the RCL rounds. The last figure is an Arab of unknown manufacture purchased via an online auction site. Stowage also includes sandbags and an ammo box from the Esci Accessories set. The final piece comes from the Airfix German Mountain Troops set.

A view from the side.

And a view from above.

The gifts from Katherine have been added into the Harad war stocks. Currently this puts me at 14 M-48s. Which would be about a full tank battalion, depending on the exact TOE I use for Harad. The TOE is probably going to be based on either a US or UK model, as these vehicles represent some of the equipment that was available in 1979.

Lots of Tanks! Airfix M-48s in a Harad Tank park.

The view from above

 The Centurions are currently enough to build up a strong reinforced armour company. Adding (and repainting) two more would make enough for two companies. Should I also add in some of the kit versions as well, fielding a second understrength battalion is also possible. Again, this represents elements of the old 1979 Imperial Army.

Airfiix Centurions. Do I add in more from my other Armies?

The current rush to figure this out is because I am launching a Harad gaming campaign soon. I say gaming rather than wargaming, or roleplaying, as what I what to do cuts across traditional lines. I have discussed doing this for some time, but it is planned to get things running in earnest next year. The campaign will involve a blending of several gaming formats LARP, RPG, Grand Strat, and table top wargaming. Each of these will feed into the ongoing narrative of the campaign. The campaign will stress consequences for actions, and will require the juggling of military, political, economic, and political factors. The campaign will have players taking  the part of one of many quite different factions and other interested parties involved in a civil war situation set during the late 20th Century. So far I have had a number of people get very interested in this, and it should result in better games of toy soldiers. The down side is that I am probably going to have to supply the vast bulk of equipment used. Fortunately, by using different gaming formats, much of the battles that aren't practical, or useful, to tabletop can be resolved by other means.

The Airfix SPGs. More additions to the Harad project.

Replacement gun from a set of Hong Kong Army men.

View for the front. The new gun looks more solid that the original.

I do like the Airfix SPG, It seems a little too big to be the US M-40 155mm SPG, but I haven't done any measuring of comparisons to the  1/76 Matchbox kit yet. My main issue is not the size of the vehicle, but rather the size of the gun. I think I will be trawling through the horde for some replacement guns, or other stuff to mount on it. Although, at least one should become an ammo hauler. And I think I could rig up one as a missile launcher... Hmmm... and I do have a source for some additional gear.

The battle of Kitchen table Round Five

First some back story. Frank likes Napoleonics and is keen on playing games of Volley and Bayonet. Another friend had recently bought a set of rules called Waterloo (or something equally similar) which is a Warhammer product using their War of the Ring rules engine to play small Napoleonic actions. Four games were played on my kitchen table,. resulting in four great French Victories. Later that day, the French lost a game of Rugby.

Naturally, all of this went to my head and resulted in a small amount of trash talk. I am making my Volley and Bayonet French up out of largely Airfix figures, as such due to the hunched up nature of the figures, Frank has refered to them as being my Uruk-Hai French. His Army, as always, is beautifully painted and quite shiney.

The WIP French Horde.

Another WIP. Airfix Waterloo French Cavalry (Cuirassiers). These are figures I bought brand new at Hobday's when they were released in the 1990s. And, yes, I have painted the saddlebags things wrong. I plan to correct this when I give them more paint for the next battle.

And divided into to two divisions.

Airfix French Infantry Officer mounted on Airfix Cowboy horse. figure was acquired second hand with bent arm. I added the horse, gave a repaint, and the now standard GW Devan Mud wash. it's great stuff!

And some pictures of Frank's Redcoats. Frank uses Hat British Infantry of some type, with added SHQ metals, the occassional Strelets figure, with some Zvedza thrown in too. All very nice.

Nice stuff. Each VB stand is a Brigade, but Frank puts on the Colours of one of the Brigades battalions to make it look pretty.

I believe these fellows are Guards... But I wouldn't bet on it!

The British deploy. In one spot. A novel but successful measure.

The table had some terrain put down by Frank. The Urban areas are buildings he has made up for his CD3 Bosnian games.

Both sides deploy. the French lack room to deploy fully, and this will cost them.

Very Nice BUAs for all seasons and a variety of periods.

Great looking Barn, Shed, or windowless Slum. No window tax due here!

The view down the road to the other town.

The main street of a no horse town?  I love these buildings!

The game was like the last game of Volley and Bayonet (VB) - quick, brutal, and marked by an utter ignorance of the rules! It was all over in around four turns (I believe each players go counts as half a turn), as the enemy came on in the same old way, and got beaten in the same old way (to paraphrase some guy). Essentially, I committed the same mistakes Frank did when he played me. I keep on wanting to put units behind, and in base to base contact with, other units that are assaulting the enemy. In some systems this rules in bonuses to the attacking unit as it is supported by friendlies. In VB, this results in no bonus, but actually creates the risk of units becoming disordered by the front unit if it is forced to fallback after an attack. This occurs something like this.

Look its the British! Lets advance and crush them by throwing both Divisions against one wing!

This will be successful! Look how many stands are in support of the attack!

The attack is suboptimal. The French are disordered!

The Counterattack by the British, and the French get further disordered to rout status, and both Divisions hit their exhaustion point.

Stands actually eliminated during the game. French Cavalry, Artillery, and Infantry.

In short, I took a pounding, had lots of fun, and both Frank and I increased our understanding of VB. Clearly I need to get cracking on with painting the French! The key question is, especially for campaigns, if the terrain doesn't favour your deployment, should you commit to battle? For our pick up games, I will game on any terrain, with any force, as playing against the odds is something I enjoy, and often learn from. Campaign games would require slightly more thought as to whether or not a battle should be joined.

Christmas Presents from the Wife

My very clever wife decided that since she was not going to be at home this year, as she is working down south on the Ice, that she would hide an envelope full of cash that I could use to buy Wargaming stuff. Recently, the location of this envelope was revealed to me, and I dutifully complied with her instructions!

Naturally, I felt that I needed to beef up the forces I have available for use in Harad. My first thoughts were to buy more plastic soldiers, possibly some more militia from Caesar, or to try and hunt down some other suitable figure types. What I actually did was much better. I got tanks. I got lots of tanks.

I contacted Glenn Sibbald, a local Airfix collector, who has helped me obtain things in the past for projects, about being able to source a couple of the Airfix ready made models that I like. Glenn told me that he might have a couple of things for me, and that I should pop round on Sunday.

The Haul. 9 M-48s, 3 Centurions, 1 Antar Tank Transporter, and a set of Airfix Modern Russians.

The Mighty Antar! I will have to make up a new rear ramp out of plastic card.

Close up of the cab. A fine addition to Haradian forces.

A view from above.

Lots of lovely tanks!

Every Army needs some spare parts! Glenn chucked in these as an extra.

  I am extremely happy with this lot, and am looking forward to adding them in to the Harad project. Thanks Glenn! and Thank you too, Katherine!