Anti-Aircraft Artillery (self propelled) Platoon

Adding to my 15mm FOW American Tank Company is an Anti-Aircraft Artillery (self propelled) Platoon consisting of 2 M15 CGMC and 2 M16 CGMC halftracks. In the new version of FOW air power is positively deadly and if your running a tank company you really must have air protection or you run the risk of being wiped out. I prefer the older air power version as I feel new version is to powerful, but others complain the older was too weak so I suppose getting the perfect balance isn't that easy.

I did the vehicles with some battle damage and had some fun with the weathering which is my favourite part in painting vehicles. I lost two crew members for the guns and looked all over, but cannot find them(Grrr). I'll just consider the platoon short staffed waiting on replacements.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Battlefront

Armored Field Artillery Battery and Analogue Painting Challenge

That's right it's that time of year again for Curt's here Analogue painting challenge which is becoming a traditional annual event in the wargaming blogging community and something I always look forward to. Curt in his wisdom has now even devoted a blog to it here.

This year I will be be doing the challenge "old school" style which is to say I will not be participating in the painting themed challenge rounds which give bonus points for entering and will instead only receive points for each model painted. The themed challenge rounds are more or less a loose painting competition which is not to say that is a bad thing at all and is in fact an enjoyable part to view, but for me the Analogue Painting Challenge is to get figures painted for my armies which leaves me little time for distractions like the bonus themed rounds although I will cheer them on.:-) With all my points being "hard points" I'm very curious to see if I can make my goal of 500pts.....I hear some murmurings of "when pigs fly"....

Ok now some comments on the photo's. This is my latest edition to my long..long.. time FOW US Tank Company that was originally supposed to be something quickly done and on the table so I would have something to do while I painted up Airborne. Well....that's still the plan just taking much longer then I thought!!

Anyhow the unit is an Armored Field Artillery Battery consisting of 3 M7 Priests , 2 M2 Halftracks and M4 Sherman Spotter tank. The command and staff can also be on foot, but I've chosen to have them mounted and see how that goes. I eventually plan on increasing the size of the unit, but for now this will do just fine. I'm never completely sure of myself when painting vehicles and always feel out of my comfort zone, but I do enjoy weathering vehicles!:-)

As to what's next I think it will be more stuff for my tank company, but that can always change as I'm ruled by mood in what I do and am never sure what exactly I'll do next.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Battlefront   

Vikings #2

I just haven't had much time to post this month for various reasons, but finally getting one in. I've been painting and have report to write so more things coming when I get more time. These are some of my re-based Vikings that I've been working on for SAGA and Impetus. Vikings are among my favourite periods well actually all dark ages is.:-)  

The figures are all Foundry and the flag is LBM.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Wargames Foundry

Battle of Belmont 7th November 1861

The battlefield as the two armies prepare to clash.

A few weeks ago(yes, I'm that far behind on my blogging material) one of my friends Sascha and I had an ACW game using the Black Powder rule set with the 66% range/movement effect rule in place and Bill's alternative turn sequence . We took the scenario from a GaG scenario book which was easily adapted to fight BP. The scenario is a relatively small one with one large Brigade divided into two smaller brigades for each side. The battle was very early in the war and fought between green regulars and militia with smoothbore  muskets and a small amount of artillery. Both sides were given the "freshly raised" special rule to reflect their green status and in addition the confederate militia were given the "unreliable" special rule to further show their lack of regular drill plus Union general Grant was given the "High Decisive" quality attribute. The union were also given a higher command rating. A historical description of the battle can be found here.

Sacha took command of Grant and the union forces and I of Pillow and the confederates. Because of the small size each army each regiment really counted and Sascha's first attempt on my flank resulted in a complete route of one of his regiments which really put him on the back foot for the rest of the game. He also had a couple issues moving his forces together even with Grant's abilities due to some unlucky rolls which just made things harder for him. While my command abilities were less then his I had to make fewer commands as I was playing the defence which in the end cancelled out his superior command rating. Sascha made some brave attempts on my flanks, but they were all repulsed and eventually the confederates mounted a counter attack which more or less rolled up the union left flank breaking the union army. It seems this time the rebels changed history.

The game was great fun and Sasha was a real sport who continued to try until his army could do no more. The key to the game is if the union can get superior numbers on to the extended confederates and defeat them in detail before the confederates can stabilize their frontage. Unfortunately Sasha missed a couple command rolls and lost his first assault badly which put him in bad spot as I was able to consolidate my troops thwarting his efforts.

We are both looking forward to our next game together, but that could be awhile due to Sascha's job taking him out of town during the week and family on the weekend so it's likely to be holidays and vacations when I get to see him again.

Thanks for viewing!

Union forces ready to launch what will be a fatal assault for them.

Confederate's guarding the camp preparing to advance.

Repulsed on the right the union probes the left.

Confederates launch a counter attack!

Union left flank beginning to turn.

Confederates hold in the center and press on the union flank eventually crumbling it.

Union forces try one last assault on the confederate left and are thrown back in disarray at which point the order to withdraw is given by the union commander to those who already haven't.

Late Roman Cataphracts

Decided to finish up this unit for my Impetus Late Roman army. Cataphracts(cataphractarii) of any kind are one of my favourite troop types of ancient armies so it comes as no surprise I enjoyed doing this unit. I based them up pretty tight with six to the base as I wanted to give a solid impression like an armoured steam roller.

I painted them up in violet colour as it accentuates their elite status and kept the armour low key as I didn't want it shiny bright, but still a little flashy with a mix of bronze and metal. The figures are done with ap and added highlights and shields are hand painted. The figures themselves are Foundry and still among some of the best cataphracts IMHO. More of this army to come.

If your thinking I've switched off AWI well I haven't as a unit is on my desk, but the problem is I have few other projects as well that I want to do too like these Late Romans for example! I usually prefer to do one unit at a time, but it seems I'm painting several at the moment! I'm just going with the flow and seeing where my paint brush takes me rather then over thinking it.:-)

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Foundry Miniatures

2nd Maryland Regiment 1781

Just recently finished this regiment of American Continentals the 2nd Maryland Regiment 1781 formed soon before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The original 2nd Maryland had been amalgamated into the 1st Maryland sometime after Camden.  The performance of the reformed 2nd Maryland at Guilford Courthouse was pretty awful and exactly the opposite of the 1st Maryland who performed outstanding. However, to be fair the 1st Maryland was composed of hardened veterans and the 2nd Maryland at the time of the battle was raw troops. So, why did I do the 2nd Maryland 1781 and not an earlier version you may ask, well the answer is simple in I wanted to do a regiment in brown with red facing. Anyhow, I wouldn't get overly concerned about unit titles as my figures serve for various regiments as needed and I only give names to units as it sounds better then "more
Continentals".:-)   I don't get to concerned if I make mistakes as they often are not used as the regiment in question, but unit histories can help in creating credible uniforms instead of winging it.

The figures are another thing I'd like to talk about in that they are a mixture of Perry metal and the new plastic. I won't discuss the Perry metal as I have done this before so on to the plastic. The ones in coats are the new Perry plastic Continentals btw. Generally speaking I'm a "metal head" and will likely always be so for various reasons, but I am warming up to plastics especially as the quality continues to make leaps and bounds and of course the big savings one gets in the pocket book. I also like the fact that they are reducing the amount of components to make a standard figure as I hate the assembly process. However, for those wanting extra bits they have plenty to make individuals of your troops. The figures are a bit slender making painting a little trickier, but the casting is very smooth with little flash and in terms of clean up better then the metals.The detail is pretty impressive and the figures take the paint quite well. The posing is somewhat limited, but with enough variation to keep it interesting for marching troops and I really like the natural positioning they did use. If you want firing then you will need to get metal or try some of the new WGF AWI plastics which has firing poses. I suppose my only major complaint is it only has 4 of the 38 figures in the box with hunting shirts and that is way to few IMHO. First off hunting shirts are my favourite uniform of the war and second they were an extremely popular uniform of regulars and not just militia or riflemen. Even taking into account you can not please everybody I believe 16 of the 38 should have been in hunting shirts just because it was so common. This of course can be fixed by buying metals and WGF in hunting shirts, but it still would have been nice if this was already solved by including enough in the first place. With everything said I think the Perry plastic Continentals are well worth the buy and I really do recommend them for building up your forces.The lovely flag is GMB designs.

Usually by this time my butterfly habits kick in and I need to do something else, but in fact my enthusiasm still remains very high and so if you like AWI I think you will continue to enjoy the posts as I have a lot more planned to do.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures