Battle Group Bits and Pieces

I'm still regaining my painting mojo after time away and busyness. However, the Dux is not one to be idle! Goodness me no. Here are a few bits and bobs for Battle Group. First up, some 15mm Brits, including:

A brace of Morris Quads from Flames of War...


...four Lloyd Carriers from Forged in Battle...


...and a couple of Forged in Battle 6pdrs.


My Soviets have also received some reinforcements, with a couple of Zvezda Sturmoviks.


I also got around to painting up the T34/85 turrets left over from my Plastic Soldier Company T34s. so now I can field an entire company of the tanks for Kursk all the way to 1945.


It's good to be getting a few things painted again!

Universal Carriers and a Crab

My 15mm British force for Battle Group Overlord and Fall of the Reich continues to grow. Plastic Soldier Company taunted me with the release of their lovely 1/72 Universal Carriers to the point that I found I couldn't wait for them to come out in 15mm, so went ahead and bought a set from Forged in Battle.



These are pretty nice little resin kits, but I was a little disappointed that they only came with a couple of crew figures. I added some, especially the Bren gunners, from Skytrex, but they don't really fit as well as I'm sure the PSC ones will WHEN THEY GET AROUND TO RELEASING THEM! Sorry...I just really like Bren Carriers.



Like all the infantry units in my battle group, these are painted as belonging to the 9th Cameronians Battalion from the 15th (Scottish) Division.



Also from Forged in Battle is this Sherman Crab from the 79th Armoured Division. The kit is made from resin and metal, and was a bit of a bastard to put together without consulting photos. Some necessary shortcuts are taken with the moulding, for example sculpting the flails as a single block of resin that makes it look as though the flail chains were far denser than they actually where, but the finished beast looks pretty good, I think.



Probably the turret should have large numbers in red, edged in white, but I don't have anything suitable and don't want to chance painting them freehand. They might be something to add in the future.



I'm looking forward to trying this out in a scenario attacking a German defensive position. Now, where can I get a 15mm Churchill Crocodile....

Baptism of Fire for Battle Group Brits

I had a break from a horrible weak of exam marking yesterday afternoon by playing a game of Battle Group Overlord with the school wargames club warlord. We played a 500 point game of the Flank Attack scenario, and for me it was a chance to get my Brits on the table for the first time. My Battle Group was made up of:

An infantry platoon
A troop of Churchill VIs
A Churchill IV
2 Achilles Tank Destroyers
A Humber Scout Car
2 Ram Kangaroos
A battery of 2 4.2" mortars off board
A pre-registered target point

This force cost 503 points. gave me a Battle Rating of 30 and two officers.

As usual the game was a complete blast, and played very differently to the Kursk games we are used to. The Brits required much more careful combinded arms actions, with the movement (slow!) of the Churchill covered by the tank destroyers and much more aggressive use of infantry. I used my pre-registered target point to target one of the objectives, so had fun mortaring the Germans when they moved up a couple of halftracks to take the objective.



The gods who look after the taking of random Battle Counters were definitely on my side in the game, with the Germans managing to lose a tank to a mine strike and another to a breakdown. I almost felt sorry for them. Naaaaaaaah.



This was also a game that really demonstrated that pinning units with area fire is just about as effective in Battle Group as actually destroying units. In the end, we had to call the game due to time, with my Brits way ahead in victory points, so that's one game out of one for the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade and 15th Scottish Infantry.



Battle Group is such a great set of rules! I've never had a game where I haven't found myself thinking back over the action and remembering the highlights.

Brits, Baccus and Bases

This week I managed to get a couple of things finished. First up, a Humber scout car for Battle Group Fall of the Reich. This will give my 6th Armoured Churchills some recce capability, and another mortar spotter. The model is from Peter Pig.



I also managed to get another unit of Baccus 6mm ECW infantry finished, so that project is ticking along ok as well.



And while I'm at it, here's a quick cool product review.

A while back I spotted some Tamiya Diorama Texture Paint in my local hobby store and gave it a go. I've since come to the conclusion that this stuff is the bomb. Basically it's a very thick acrylic paint paste with lots of grit in it, available in a range of different soil, snow, sand and even grass and tarmac effects. I apply it to bases with a palette knife, and it creates a nice hard textured surface that can easily be drybrushed.



I've also recently tried diluting the earth shade, adding some lighter paint and dabbing it around the running gear of tanks, and it looks pretty good. Not as cheap as PVA and sand, but looks good I think. Does anyone else use this?



Have a great week, everyone.

Ram Kangaroos

The latest completed models to emerge from the forges of Isengard are these four Ram Kangaroos for Battle Group Overlord and Fall of the Reich.



The resin and metal kits are from Forged in Battle, with some extra bits and bobs of stowage added.I really like these, although I know some people are put off by the moulded-on bases.



The kangas were sprayed with Plastic Soldier Company British Armour spray, and finished with decals for the 79th Armoured Division from Dom's Decals. Unfortunately I didn't have any of the right bridge markings. At some stage I might add some infantry passengers.