S&S Models 122-mm howitzer D-30

Recently I completed a trio of D-30s from S&S models. D-30s are a very useful artillery piece for gaming the modern era and the S&S model is a nice representation of the weapon system.

In CD terms each one of these models represents a battery of guns, so with the addition of  vehicles and personnel stands to represent transport and supply vehicles, gun crew, forward observers, and command elements, I can table an artillery battalion.

In CD terms this could look like the following (based on the organisation in GDW's Combined Arms and several real world ORBATs):

Artillery Battalion

    Headquarters:

        1 Command stand

        1 Forward Observer stand

        2 UAZ 467 (or similar light vehicles)

    Supply Company:

        2 Heavy Ammo trucks with trailers

    3 Batteries each with:

        1 D-30 122mm Howitzer

        1 Gun crew stand

        1 Medium Truck

 

Note that the above organisation could easily be downgraded by the removal of the Forward Observer, or upgraded by adding in additional elements that increase the capability of the unit.   

In order to maximise the utility of these guns I plan to create a number of vehicles and personnel stands representing a range of different forces. This would let me field the D-30s as part of Soviet, WarPac, USSR successor state, Middle Eastern, and Imagi-nation artillery units.

By doing this I should be able to provide artillery support to a wider range of forces without having to make a large number of  model D-30s.

IHMN Dreadful Fighting Monks

 As a slow burner project I have been creating small groups of figures for use in games of In Her Majesty's Name (IHMN). One of the forces that I have recently created is a group of monks loosely based around the Dread Monk list in one of the IHMN supplements. 

A dreadful bunch of mele armed clerics.

The rank and file monks are from Red Box Set 72086 Russian War Monks (click here for the PSR review). The Abbot (centre wearing the skull mask) is from Caesar Miniatures Fantasy set 103 - Undead (click here for the PSR review) and seems to have a suitable air of authority.

Abbot with firelock armed monks.

The war monk figures could also work as cultists (click here and here for my IHMN Cultists), but the Dread Monk list offers a different range of challenges to the cultist list. Besides, having both forces allows the possibility of having scenarios that pit Dread Monks versus Cultists!

The complete group so far - an abomination of monks!

In addition to the monks I decided to base up a couple of mummies that I had lurking around, as I figured that they might prove useful at some stage. Additionally I hope to be able to use them with The Silver Bayonet.

The three plastic Mummies in the rear of the picture are from the set of pieces provided for the Egyptian faction in the Eagle Games board game  Age of Mythology (click here for further information from PSR), while the mummy without headgear is a metal figure from Elhiem Figures.

IHMN Japanese Infantry

I have been over the past two years slowly painting and basing figures for use with "In Her Majesty's Name" (IHMN). Even slower than this process has been my updating of this blog with that progress. 

The basic Infantry Section

IHMN is very flexible in its approach to creating teams of adventuring bands for use in the game. One of the supplements for the first edition of the game "Sleeping Dragon, Rising Sun" (SDRS) provides a basic list for a group recruited from the Japanese Army. 

I tried to replicate a uniform that captures the feel of the IHMN period rather than a perfect match for the Boxer Rebellion.

I did consider using the Red Box Japanese Infantry from their Boxer Rebellion range (PSR Review here), but I was rather unimpressed with the figures. instead I opted for using the metal Japanese Infantry from Stan Johansen Miniatures' Boxer Rebellion range (click here for more details).

A hastily formed firing line.

The Japanese lists in SDRS offer a number of possibilities for adventuring groups that allow a nice mix of traditional elements, modern elements (products of the Meiji restoration), and weird 19th century mad science elements. I am already starting on some steam powered walkers to supplement this Japanese force. 

Infantry cautiously advancing

IHMN also allows for the addition of Sumo Wrestlers to some of the Japanese lists, so I thought that these painted old Grenadier 25mm Sumo Wrestlers would be a prefect addition to the force mix.

Grenadier Fantasy Lords - First Series Set 178 Sumo Wrestlers

Even more imposing when provided with effective leadership!

I also think that the size difference between the 20mm Infantry figures and the 25mm Sumo Wrestlers helps create the fell that these wrestlers are at the top end of the human size spectrum - even to the point of being the beneficiaries of  cutting edge scientific discoveries from the University of Toyko that have surpassed the efforts of Dr Jekyll's original formula.

More Figures for Duke, Elector, King

 As a means of avoiding painting up more figures for my V&B 100 Days Campaign, I have continued to produce V&B stands for use with Duke, Elector, King (DEK).

Blue coats and yellow facings inspired by the box art of the Airfix Washington's Army set

The figures used are primarily from the Airfix British Grenadiers set (PSR review here). The blue coated ones had previously been painted in an attempt to represent grenadiers from Napoleon's Imperial Guard. The quality of the paint conversions ranged from bad to ok in quality, so I decided to repaint them as generic 18th Century Fusiliers with blue coats and a variety of facing colours.

At this stage I am leaving the flag as a plain block colour

Rear quarters view from the front

The process involved painting out detail such as splashes of red paint on the shoulders to represent epaulettes, repainting details such as white belts, and touching up missing paint from coats, muskets and bearskin hats. 

I kept the red facings for this stand

I also took the opportunity to base up some skirmish stands in order to use up painted figures that I hadn't been able to justify using on regimental stands as either they were left overs from creating a previous stand, or to use them would require me to paint additional figures in the same paint scheme

A mix of Airfix and Atlantic figures

The first of these skirmish stands has been painted and based in a similar style to the first of the fusilier stands above. The prone musketeer is from the Airfix Washington's Army set, while the kneeling rifleman is from the Atlantic Davey Crockett set (PSR review here). 

The view from the rear

The second stand consisted of to figures that I painted up, but didn't use in the production of my first stand for DEK (click here for details). It also gave me the opportunity to use more of the autumn leave flock that I like!

The third skirmish stand consists of three of the Airfix British Grenadier figures painted with forest green coats and trousers with green facings.  The webbing and pouches have all been painted black. The paint job on these three figures had largely flaked off so it had to be entirely redone.

A trio of not riflemen

The green coats and trousers, coupled with the black leather equipment, makes me think of British Riflemen of the Napoleonic Wars. I suspect that AWI British Legion units may also have been an source of inspiration for the original painter.

The black works well with the green

The final group of figures painted and based up is the last of my Lucky Products Hessians that I started painting back in 2013. The first group I painted up as Grenadiers of the Hesse-Cassel Regiment Von Rall (click here for details).

Lucky Products AWI Hessians

This group I decided to paint up in a similar style but without the stripped mattress ticking breeches of the previous group. I did decide to paint the drummer in reverse colours though. While Hessian troops of the AWI didn't have their musicians in reversed colours, I felt that it would be quite pleasing for an imagi-nation force.

While not the prettiest of sculpts, they do have a certain charm

If I ever get more of the Lucky Products Hessians I would be tempted to paint them as 18th Century Persian or other eastern, troops as the mitre of the Lucky Products figures would lend itself to a paint conversion to other similar conical headgear.

The entire group (almost) 

I still have some additional stands to repaint - both blue and green coated regiments - and once they are completed I can start work on painting tricorn infantry stands.

Figures for Duke, Elector, King

Recently I have been reading on other blogs (such as Neil Patterson's Aufklarungsabteilung, and David in Suffolk's The Ragged Soldier blogs) about using a Frank Chadwick designed board game called 'Soldier King' as a campaign engine for tabletop games for battles between 18th century imagi-nations.

Airfix British grenadiers painted as something different.

While both blogs contain useful information with regard to the use of 'Soldier King' as a campaign engine, Aufklarungsabteilung has more detail with regard to using it with Volley and Bayonet.
In the comments on the Ragged Soldier post, Neil mentions that rather than use 'Soldier King' as a campaign engine, Frank Chadwick's gaming group created ‘Duke, Elector, King’ a V&B campaign system that was designed to fight battles between 18th century imagi-nations (more details can be found here).

I like the Autumn flock but don't really use it much. 

I have painted and based these Airfix British Grenadiers for use in ‘Duke, Elector, King’ despite not having determined what nation they will serve. The paint scheme was loosely inspired by the uniforms of Russian Grenadiers.

The use of Airfix figures has been inspired by the comment made by Glenn some time back that with the release of the British Grenadiers set (PSR review located here) and the Washington's Army set (PSR review located here), Airfix had provided Wargamers with two very useful sets of generic 18th century infantry.

A view from the rear

As I have been fortunate enough to acquire a number of figures from these sets from Glenn, using them as the basis for several imagi-nation armies would seem to be a logical employment of them.

 

Potentially I may designate these as light fusiliers and justify the headgear by means of cunning backstory.

I also have a number of painted and partially painted paint conversions of Airfix AWI British Grenadiers into French Napoleonic Imperial Guard Grenadiers that I obtained from Glenn. These figures I hope to be able to convert back into 18th century troops in blue coats for use by another yet to be named imagi-nation.

Unknown Metal Figures - Help needed

 Recently I purchased a bulk group of 25mm Science Fiction themed metal figures off eBay. Currently they are sitting happily in Pennsylvania as as the time of writing there is no regular mail service between the USA and NZ. 

This means that I am relying on pictures alone to identify the figures and don't currently have any idea of what codes could be on the base of the figures. Fortunately the internet has been useful in identifying quite a few of the figures.

125 Old school metal figures

I have managed to identify a number of the figures as being from the following ranges:

• Foxelles (Steller Amazons) and Space Ducks from the Archive Star Rovers range
• SGT Block, Harley D, and Big Jim Johnson from the Iron Wind Metals Post Modern Aftermath range
• JD2 Judge Anderson & Bike from the Citadel Judge Dredd range
• Various figures from the Grenadier Models Paranoia range
• Most of the figures from the Grenadier Models Gamma World range Adventurers box set
• Most of the figures from the Grenadier Models Traveler range Adventurers box set
• Most of the figures from the Grenadier Models Secret Agent range Agents and Spies box set
• All of the figures from the Grenadier Models Secret Agent range Mercenaries box set
• VFW30 Gandemar, King of the Dwarfs from the Minifigs Valley of the Four Winds range
• Assorted Valka Spacewomen from the Minifigs Science Fiction range
• Various Central Galactic Force Troopers from the Minifigs Space Warrior range
• Various figures from Heritage Galacta 25 range

However, a number of figures allude my identification so I am hoping that if I post pictures of the mystery figures with a nice red ring around them, readers might be able to assist with identification.

Unknown Set A 

Figure A1 Soldier in green fatigues?

Figure A2 Large Robot. Update: It could be Garrison Miniatures Star Troopers range ST12 Humanoid Robot

Figure A3 Spacer in blue jumpsuit. Update: It could be GG-20 Mercenary, Standing w. Assault Rifle from the Ral Partha Galactic Grenadiers range.

Unknown Set B

Figure B1 Not James Bond type?

Figure B2 Kneeling Sniper?

Unknown Set C

Figure C1 Agent with pistol and cane?

Unknown Set D

Figure D1 Vampire slayer with  wooden stake?

Unknown Set E

Figure E1 Knight or Robot with dual swords?

Unknown Set F

Figure F1 Large Robot. Update: It could be Garrison Miniatures Star Troopers range ST12 Humanoid Robot

Figure F2 Large Robot.  Update: It could be Garrison Miniatures Star Troopers range  ST1 Trooper in Powered Battle Armor with Missile Launcher

Note that both figures are missing their weapons

Unknown Set G

Figure G1 Man in Cowboy hat with SMG?

Figure G2  Soldier in green fatigues?

Unknown Set H - Woman with RPG on cast hexagonal base

Figure H1 Woman with RPG on cast hexagonal base?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. 

Some ZSU-57-2 SPAAG For You

 A couple of years ago I ordered some ZSU-57-2s  from S&S Models (product located here), with the intention of painting them up in a way that would let me us them as a support element for a range of forces. 

Note that there are only four road wheels, as opposed to the T-54's five.

Recently, as part of an effort to finish off a number of projects that have been left half done on my work bench, I decided that they would be the next models to complete. 

I gave the crew a mix of brown and black headgear.

The resin turrets, hulls, and track sides cleaned up nicely and the white metal components were nice casts with a minimum of flash to clean.

Despite having been replaced in Soviet service by the ZSU-23-4 Shilka in the early 1970s, the ZSU-7-2 soldiered on in other armies. The Wikipedia page here has information on both previous and current operators.

Of course, in addition to the obvious Anti Air role, the ZSU-57-2 is capable of engaging ground targets. I suspect that will be their major employment on the tabletop as the twin 57mm guns look to be useful against targets such as soft vehicles, and troops occupying buildings. This fire support role was their main use during the wars in Yugoslavia (click here for the history of the ZSU-57-2 in Yugoslavia).

The business end of a pair of ZSU-57-2s.

 

Now that these have been completed, I will need to find another project to finish so that I can continue procrastinating about painting figures for Volley and Bayonet.