Flying Stand Experiment

First I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

As I stated in my earlier post Red Air, I've decided to use magnets for mounting my aircraft. This has left me with a couple of problems. 1.) What to do with all my plastic Warhammer flying stands, I have a lot of them and don't want them to go to waste. 2.) Metal magnets are damn expensive! So I've decided to do some experiments with the following.

Magnetic Tape, much cheaper than the metal magnets.

 The problem with my Warhammer flying stands was solved easily by attaching 6/32 Lock nut to the top, as seen below.

I prefer the metal tops as opposed to another magnet. One, it saves me from having to buy two magnets and two, I don't have to worry which end of the magnet is positive and which is negative.

Now for the magnetic tape. I decided to test it out using one of my larger aircraft, a SM.79 medium bomber.

A nice thing about the magnetic tape is that it has it's own adhesive.

 The end result actually works fairly well. The bond isn't as strong as a metal magnet but it's serviceable for what I want to do.

I've spending my time painting more buildings for Megablitz. When I bought my village buildings I also got the RAF airfield set and I have started to make a number of airfields. Also recently Morning Star had a sale on their Dysiopian Wars stuff and I managed to get the Industrial terrain set at 40% off or about $14. I don't really play DW, but the buildings are about the right size for Megablitz.

After I get done with my Megablitz painting I'm planning to do some more Modern 6mm miniatures, but I don't know where to start Europe or Angola?

Red Steel-The 1st Mechanized Corps for Megablitz

I managed to do some painting this week and started on my newest Megablitz unit the Russian 1st Mechanized Corps. This will be the unit as it was organized in 1941 so it's going to be huge. I got most of it done last week. Here are some of the pictures.

 First we have  the 1st tank division with the 1st Recon Battalion, the 1st and 2nd Tank Regiments, 1st Motor Rifle Regiment, and 1st Howitzer Regiment.



All these miniatures except the gun crew where GHQ.

 The second unit in the Corps is the 3rd Tank division with the 3rd Recon battalion, 5th and 6th Tank regiments, 3rd Motor Rifle regiment, and 3rd Howitzer Regiment.

This unit is a mix of GHQ and H&R.

 The last combat unit in the Corps is the 163rd Mechanized Division with the 117th Recon battalion, 25th Tank regiment, 529th and 729th Motor rifle regiments, and the 241st Howitzer Regiment.

This unit is mostly H&R, with only the tank, gun, and tractor being GHQ.

Now the Corps support units this includes the Corps HQ, Combined engineer battalions, the 5th Motorcycle regiment, and the truck battalion.

Finally we have the new unit all together in it's new photo box.

And to think, this unit isn't finished yet.

As stated in the picture above the unit isn't quit finished yet. At first I was going to have each of the tank regiments represented by one tank model like in most Russian units. However, because of the size of this units tank forces, I've since decide to add two extra tanks to each tank division. One model for every 2 battalions. Mechanized division's tank regiment will remain the same having only 3 battalions.  I also need to add an armored car to the motorcycle regiment. Eventually this is what the unit will look like in Megablitz terms

1st Mechanized Corps
HQ 1st MC                      Car                           1
Engineer Battalions         Engineer/Truck        3, EP 3
5th Motorcycle Rgt         Motorcycle               r
                                        Motorcycle               r
                                        Motorcycle               r
                                        BA-32                      1R
Truck Battalion              Trucks                      Capacity 4

1st Tank Division
1st Recon Bn                   BA-32                      1R
1st Tank Regiment          T-28                         4
                                        BT-7                         3
2nd Tank Regiment        OT-26                       4
                                        BT-7                         3
1st Motor Rifle Rgt        Infanty/Truck            5
1st Howitzer Regiment  152mm Howitzer      2, 15km
                                       Tractor                      LOG 2

3rd Tank Division
3rd Recon Bn                 BA-32                      1R
5th Tank Regiment        T-28                          4
                                       BT-7                         3
6th Tank Regiment        T-26                          3
                                       BT-7                         3
3rd Howitzer regiment  152mm Howitzer      2, 15km
                                      Tractor                      LOG 2

163rd Mechanized Division
117th Recon Battalion  BA-FAI                    R
25th Tank Regiment     BT-7                         5
529th Motor Rifle Rgt  Infantry/Truck          5
729th Motor Rifle Rgt  Infantry/Truck          5
241st Motor How Rgt   122mm Howitzer     2, 19km
                                      Tractor                     LOG 2

As you can see it's going to be one big unit. On the other hand I might dump the recon battalions leaving only the motorcycle regiment for recon duty. I hoping to do some more painting this weekend and through Christmas. We'll see.

Towns, Villages, and Dumps

I'm continuing to build up for my next Megablitz game. One of the things that was sourly missing from the first game were some good built up areas. So I recently ordered some buildings from Picoarmor. These buildings are 1/900 scale or 2mm.

First up we have the towns. These are 2km by 2km in Megablitz scale and I can combined them to make larger cities, as seen here.

Next up we have the villages. These are 1.5km by 1.5km and act as small villages unless combined with other building stands.

Unlike regular Megablitz BUA, these villages would by themselves would not require a LOG point to attack. They could however give a single stand a defense bonus.

Finally I needed some supply dumps for game I'm working on so I made way more than I needed.

Just some various size boxes on stands.

That's what I've finished so far. My new infantry came in. Being after my birthday I decided to splurge and get some GHQ Russians. This will allow me to finish the last Russian units I need. I also got Pico's RAF airfield set so I'll be making some airfields too.

Yet Another New Megablitz Unit

First I'd like to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Now I'm still concentrating on Megablitz, as I have a new unit ready. This new unit is the Corps troops for the German XXXVI Corps. The XXXVI Corps was a higher level command that would eventually become the XXXVI Mountain Corps. I plan to use this unit mainly as an regular army corps. Here are the pictures.

First up we have the Corps Commander and the 436th Corps Signal Battalion.

The vehicles are GHQ while the figures are H&R.

Next we have the Corps considerable engineering assets. This includes the 169th Bridge Battalion and the 43rd Construction Regiment with 406th and 409th Construction Battalions. On the far right is the 211th Panzer Battalion mainly equipped with former French S-35 tanks.


The construction engineers weren't well equipped being used mainly for road repair, fortification, and construction. This Corps, like much of the German Army, is mostly horse drawn.

 Now we have the Corps Artillery and Service Support. On the right is ARKO 150 equipped with French 105mm Guns. In the center is the 467th LW Flak Battalion. And on the far right is the 436th Corps supply unit. This unit was mostly supply columns drawn from two infantry divisions.

I found a new color for my Luftwaffe personnel, it takes to the camera allot better than what I used on my motorized corps.

 Finally we have the whole unit together in a photo box. I've since moved to a large photo box that it shares with my Motorized Corps. The box seen here is now the home of my German 169th Infantry Division.

 Now here is a sneak Peek of what I'm working on now. Continuing with my preparations for a Megablitz game. I've made a number of supply dumps.

I've also order some 2mm Buildings from PicoArmor. Now I'll have some decent built up areas.

Another new Megablitz unit

As I wait for some back orders from Last Square, if they don't show up soon I might have to order from somewhere else, I been painting some other Megablitz units. My new unit is the Hungarian 2nd Armored Division. Although this unit has nothing to do with the upcoming game, I've had the miniatures sitting around for years and last week I decided to finally paint them. Here are the pictures of the new unit.

First up is the combat units including the 3rd Tank Regiment, 3rd Motorized Regiment, and the 2nd Recon Battalion. The 3rd Tank Regiment has a PzKw IVH (T-4) by C&C and a Turan II by H&R. The 2nd Recon battalion has a Csaba armored car, motorcycle, and Toldi tank all by H&R. The 2nd Armor was a late war unit and much of the equipment was left in the factory paint while others was painted in standard Hungarian camouflage.

Next up we have the combat support. This includes the Division HQ, Engineer companies, Division artillery, Division Trains, and the 52nd AA Battalion. Most of the miniatures shown are H&R.

Now we have the full division head on.

Finally we have the whole division in it's new photo box.

Anyway that is the new unit. There's a little room to expand and I'm thinking of adding a third tank battalion. Also the 2nd Armor was one of the few none German units to have a company of Tiger tanks. Hmm something to think about. I've already started to gather stuff for my next Megablitz unit and should start working on it this weekend. Anyway until next.

New Megablitz Unit

I done some painting in the past few weeks and have a number of new units finished. For the first unit, I needed an SS unit for the up coming scenario. The unit that was actually used during the battle was used for that battle ONLY, so make a unit that had seen far more action during the war, so I could use it for more than one game. Thus I made the unit the Reich SS division. Here are the photos.

First up is the three infantry regiments, the 11th whose trucks have improvised camouflage, the Deutschland regiment, and Der Fuhrer regiment. Der Fuhrer has an extra heavy weapons battalion in the form of a StuG IIIB. This is so I can use the regiment for France or the Balkans.

Next up is the division's combat support, which it had allot of. In the back is the AA battalion, and artillery regiment. In the front from left to right is the engineer battalion, AT battalion, Panzer battalion, and the recon battalion.

Finally we have the combat service support which includes the supply detachment, workshop companies, and medical battalion. Not pictured is the headquarters and signal battalion.

And now we have the entire division in it's own photo box.

A close up of the Infantry battalions. I use my own dry brush technique to make the figures look like they're wearing camouflage.

Anyway that's one of the new units I've painted. I'll have photo's of the other unit in the next post. I hope to get at least one more game in before the end of the year, we'll see. I'm also going to start working on more HOTT units and start rebasing my modern micro armor.

HOTT game

A couple of weeks ago me and Christian played a couple of games of HOTT. Unfortunately because of work and car problems, I've fallen behind and I'm only now getting around to posting the pictures from those games. So here are the pictures.

The first game was Christian's Romans vs. my Dinosaur army, Gor Gor and the Daring Beast of the lost world.

Christian's Roman army
4 blades
4 spears
2 riders
1 hero (General)

My dinosaur army had
3 riders
3 knights
2 beast
1 lurker
1 Cleric
1 Behemoth (General)

My forces lined up to face the Romans.

General Gor Gor gives his troops a motivational speech before the battle.

General Gor Gor attacks the Roman riders, while Christan's hero attacks my Cleric in what would be a protracted battle.

Meanwhile my Raptor lurkers ambush one of the Roman blade units.

The Roman hero and my Cleric continue to duke it out.

Meanwhile on the right flank. My carnivor riders engage more of Christin's blades and my horned knights engaged his spears.

The battle with the blades was indisive, while my knights and Christian's spears exchanged casualties.

Christian's hero fanally chases my Cleric off the board only to be confronted with Gor Gor himself.

My knights shift to engage Christians blades. Unfortunetly I lost too many stands and Christian won the game on.casulities.

The second game was between my dinosuars and Christian's Halloween army. This time I was the defender.

Christian's new army had the following:
1 magician (General)
2 shooters
2 blades
2 lurkers
2 riders
2 hordes
1 God

I was using the same troops as before.

The initial setup. My army set up on either side of our stronghold the plattoe.

Christian's ghost lurkers attacked my beast but they weren't afraid of ghost.

Gor Gor, who likes horse meat, eats some of Christian's cavalry, while his rat hordes move through the woods.

The Halloween army's god appear, and like many overpowered units disappears the next turn. Unfortunately, as is a bad habit of mine, I didn't get any pictures of the end of the game. Which is a shame as I had won the game by inflicting more casualties.

 Over all I enjoy the game and will probably play again once I have some more armies up. Anyway I've started on another Megablitz unit. I've actually finished painting it and I'll have the pictures in the next post. Here's a sneak peek.

Battle of Dong Hoi

Sunday, me and my friend Christian played another game of Ship Wreck. The scenario, surprisingly NOT from Harpoon, was the battle of Dong Hoi in 1972. The battle of Dong Hoi was fought off the coast of Vietnam between the Vietnamese and the US Navy. Using a random selection method I ended up being the Americans, while Christian controlled the peoples navy. My mission was to bombard a number of unit headed South along the coastal highway. I had 2 cruisers and 2 destroyers.
Christian for his part had several torpedo boats, two shore batteries, and could call for air support. Unfortunately for him, he fail the special unit roll that would have also given him a Komar missile boat.

A picture of the battlefield prior to the start of the game. My ships can be seen in the bottom left.  My targets can be seen all along the coast with several unknown contacts between us and them.

Turn 1: My ships move towards the coast. The USS Lloyd Thomas detects two surface contacts. But they are to far to identify.

My fleet. The destroyers USS Lloyd Thomas and USS Higbee. The missile cruiser USS Sterett and the 7th Fleet flag ship USS Oklahoma City.

 

 Turn 2: My ships split into two groups. Sterett and Higbee continue to move due west. Mean while Lloyd Thomas and the better armored Oklahoma City move northwest towards the shore batteries. Sterett's SH-2 is able to identify the earlier contacts as Vietnamese P-6 torpedo boats another detected contact turns out to be a civilian fishing boat.

Turn 3: My ships continue to move towards the coast.

Turn 4: A torpedo boat attacks Higbee, firing two unguided torpedoes. Both torpedoes miss. In response the Higbee cripples the torpedo boat with its guns, taking out all the boats weapons.

The torpedo boat HQ-12 firing torpedoes at the USS Higbee.

The torpedo boat HQ-13 burns after being hit by multiple 127mm rounds.

 Turn 5: The Higbee is once again attacked by a torpedo boat. Once again the torpedoes miss. This time the enemy boat is sent to the bottom by the Higbee's gun.

The torpedo boat HQ-13 is blown out of the water while the US naval forces move to bombard the North Vietnamese Dr. Pepper supply.

 Turn 6: The action moves north as Lloyd Thomas is attacked by yet another torpedo boat. This time the torpedo boat came close enough to use its forward guns as well as its torpedoes. The Lloyd Thomas is hit with a torpedo. Luckily the torpedo only does light damage somehow taking out the helipad. The Lloyd Thomas for his part destroys the torpedo boat with gunfire.

A civilian fishing boat watches as the Lloyd Thomas get hit with a torpedo after destroying the Vietnamese PT boat HQ-11.

 Turn 7: My ships are finally within range of the coast. The Higbee bombards the first shore target successfully disrupting it. Meanwhile Christian has finally gotten hold of peoples air force.

The USS Higbee bombards a truck convoy, while USS Sterett moves into position to attack another.

 Turn 8: The crippled torpedo boat finally goes under. The Oklahoma City come within range of the first shore battery and begins to bombard it with its big guns. The shore battery only takes light damage this turn, losing its AA gun.

Fishing boats watch as Oklahoma City bombards the first shore battery

   Meanwhile in the South three MiG-17 fighters attack the Higbee. At first they tried tossing the bombs from just outside the Higbees AA range. The bombs miss and Sterett shots down one MiG with a terrier missile. The remaining two MiGs decide that to go to the deck and drop their remaining six bombs on the Higbee. All the bombs miss and the MiG-17s run for home.

MiG-17s attack the USS Higbee.

Turn 9: As usual I didn't get any pictures of the last turn. The Higbee launched his QH-50 Dash to help spot targets. The Lloyd Thomas moved in close to the shore to help bombard the shore battery and is damaged again, losing its aft gun mount. The Oklahoma City then disabled the shore battery with its 152mm guns.

    It was at this time that we decided to call it. The game was pretty much a draw. Christian had gained a victory by damaging one of my ships. However, with the loss of the shore battery and no mobile units left, I could bombard the land units I needed for victory at my leisure. Over all the game was good and close to the actual battle. (Although in the real battle it was Higbee that lost the aft turret).

What Christian could of done better: Spread the shore batteries out to cover area and group the land units closer to the batteries to be protected.

What I could have done better: Moving the Lloyd Thomas up to engage the shore battery was unnecessary and only resulted in the ship suffering more damaged.

Anyway I not sure what I'll be doing for my next game. I'm still working on units for my Megablitz East Front scenario and I also have a few ideas left for Shipwreck.