The SWAPO

  This week I managed to get some more painting done. I continued to rebuild my modern microarmor forces. This time I made some opposition for my South Africans in the form of a SWAPO Front. Being an irregular unit, this bunch was a pain to paint, even if the SWAPO had the good sense to stick mostly to greens and browns.

The first part is the basic fighting unit of the Front the Front Detachment. These were the Gorilla forces that actually cross the border to attack targets in South West Africa. This unit has five infantry stands

Normally a Front would have 3-5 of these front detachments but they were so spreed out that only one would  be on the table during any given scenario.

The next unit in my front is the Specialist Unit. These units were made to screen the SWAPO bases in Angola. The combination of admin/base defense force. This unit is well equipped with five infantry stands, one mortar, one AA Gun (a ZPU-1 and a ZPU-2, which AA gun I use will depended on the scenario), one support stand (Clerks, Cooks, etc.), and two trucks. to move stuff around.

Like the front detachments, a front would have several of these specialist units (one per  base) but once again these would be so spreed out that there would only be one on the table at any given time.

 Next up are the base units of the front itself. First up is the CSS units. This includes the commander, a jeep to carry him, another support stand, two trucks, and a stand of trainees.

Now we got some of the Combat Support Units including the recon platoon, engineer platoon, and a T-34 that has seen better days.

Finally I got the AA Battery, with an SA-7 stand, ZU-23-2, ZPU-4, and a light truck to help move things around.

Like the specialist unit, which AA weapons I use (only two in any given scenario) will depend on the year and situation.

Anyway that's what I've finished so far. Next week I plan to paint a bunch of aircraft for Shipwreck, as I am working on two possible scenarios.

Rapier 2015 (Long)

Last weekend I went to Rapier down in Jacksonville. While I only did a little gaming I did get some great pictures of the games around me and managed to get some good loot too.

Friday

I arrived in Jacksonville around 1000 only to find the hotel filled up. So before I went looking for a hotel I decided to take a few pictures of the morning games. The first being this Star Wars Pod race. Although I wasn't part of it, this game was a part of a marathon of racing games played though out the convention.

At another table was a Napoleonics skirmish game.

Also the Wargamers were demonstrating their new rules By Fire and Sword.

After I had done some shopping, found a hotel, ate lunch, and sold a few things at the flea market. I returned to the gaming area to take a few more pictures. First being the first of several Blue Sky games.

There was also this nice regatta game, which was part of the racing marathon.

Then later in the night; me, Christian, Mike, and Mark sat down for a quick game of Starfire. A game which both me and Christian won.

My ship is the triangle one on the right.

Also late in the night was a Rapier favorite, the French and Indian War Canoe Race.

In this one you play fur trappers trying to get up the river ahead of the other trappers while also avoiding the Indians chasing you.

Saturday

After eating breakfast at the hotel I decided to take a few pictures of the morning games. The being the setup for the ever present Flames of War tournament.

There was also a Civil War game going on.

I then decided to check in on Mike and Mark, who was playing in the Waterloo game. Normally they play this game on one big table, but this year they broke the battle up into three smaller games.

Then me and Christian played in the morning game of Blue Sky. It's been a while since I've played Blue Sky. Christian was the with Japanese, while I was with the US. Christians side won, but I still managed to shot down several planes and still end the game with all my airplanes.

After Lunch, I joined Mike, Christian, Bill, and Mark in the Strike Legion: Planetary Ops game.

I was commanding the Heavy tank battalion, the gray tanks in the meddle. 

While we were playing there was game of All Quite on the Martian Front going right next to us.

The game featured this vary impressive land cruiser. 

 Another game that was going on nearby was this 28mm Bolt Action urban warfare game.

 My one regret was I wasn't able to get in on the Fire and Fury Regimental game, as I had been wanting to tryout the rules. I plan to buy the rules later.

Another interesting game that was going on was the Battle of Mobile Bay using large ship models.

The last picture I got was of another Napolionics game.

Unfortunately I left Jacksonville early Sunday morning, being that I had to work that night and I wanted to make sure I got some rest. In the next post I'll talk about the loot I got.

The Atomic Navy (New ships for Shipwreck)

A couple of days ago I finished painting some new ships for Shipwreck, as rebase a few others. All except one are from the early Cold War period, and will be used in an upcoming scenario. Here are all the new ships.

First for the US Navy is a group of four destroyers. The Coontz and C.F. Adams on the right are rebased units I've had for a while. On the left are leftovers from WWII and the early fifties. Turner Joy is a Fletcher class that has be converted to a Sherman Forrest. The Maddox is an Alan M. Sumter class destroyer from WWII.

Next up for the USN is two missile cruisers. The rebased Leahy class Dale, and the new ship Long Beach.

Finally last for the US Navy, but certainly not least, the USS Enterprise. I like how well the line work came out on this one. The new detail brushes I recently brought worked great!

Now for the Soviet navy I got a pair of Juliet class missile submarines. I haven't decided on their numbers just yet.

And now for something completely different. A very modern Triple E class container ship I just brought from Shapeways.

These new container ships are huge! To give an example here is my Triple E, next to the The big E.

Nether of these ships can go through the Panama Canal. 

Well those are the new ships. This weekend I'm going to Rapier at Jacksonville, so I should have some great game photos up next week.

South African 1st Parachute Battalion

   As I've stated before I will start rebasing all my modern microarmor, as will as make some new units. I decided to start with something simple, the South African 1st Parachute Battalion. I ordered a some of Scotia's South African Infantry to start. I had brought these once before when Scotia was part of Simtac and they were awful, unrecognizable lumps of metal. I may have gotten a bad molding, as this recent order was much nicer. The thing that pleased my most about the infantry figures is that it fills a void for me, that being infantry with assault rifles and boony hats. I can definitely see me using these figures for other special ops needs, maybe some Vietnam Australians. Here's some pictures of the new unit.

First up we have the four parachute companies, each with two stands. The South African parachute units were somewhat small, so they could fit onto the helicopters.

Next we have the base units, including: the battalion HQ, recon platoon, Mortars, and AT platoon

Finally to help carry them around, we have a squadron of Puma helicopters.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the entire unit together. All the ships I order have come in, as have all of the aircraft for my next few Shipwreck games. I should have some of them painted by next week, the following week I'm going to Rapier in Jacksonville.

Check Your Six Sunday

Last Sunday I got a chance to play in a game of Check Your Six: Jet Age that Christian had set up. The scenario was Vietnam with 4 F-4B Phantoms vs. 4 MiG-19. I was playing one of the MiGs as was Christian. The other two MiGs were controlled by a kid called Carson. The F-4s were controlled by Chris, Mike, David, and one other. Here are the pictures I took of the game

The enemy pilots, Chris on the right and Mike on the left, prior to game start.

The two MiGs controlled by me and Christian starting side by side.

The F-4Bs flown by Mike and David, they're so close together that they look like one aircraft.

Christians MiG comes in close to the pair of Phantoms. 

Our four planes over shoot each other. Mike and David turn like a married couple holding hands. Me and Christian on the other hand turn into each other.

Meanwhile, the other two F-4s were firing missiles at Carson's MiGs. Several of the missiles and the one that did hit did no real damage.

The F-4s then fire on my MiG one missile misses while the other hits. But once again the MiG-19 proves too tough for the American missile.Note the planes were moving so fast it looks like the missile that hit was fired by another MiG.

Then David made a real error. Both him and Mike assumed that their F-4s were carrying cannons when in fact all they had was missiles. It was this assumption that put David in the very bad position; with my MiG-19 in front of him and Carson MiG-19 behind, both at point blank range.

David's plane explodes being hit by both our cannons.

In the end only Mikes plane is still on the board. The other two phantoms flee for the edge having shot all of their missiles. 

 Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay for the second game as I had to get sleep for work. As for my gaming news. I'm probably painting my first new modern unit this weekend. I've also received most of my new ships and aircraft for the next few Shipwreck games. My Last Square order came in only FOUR DAYS after I order it, unbelievable!. Now I'm just waiting for Shapeways to arrive.

May Update

I've haven't posted for a while as I have no new pictures to show. Here's what I currently got going on. I've ordered some new ships for a few games of Shipwreck, they should be arriving soon. I'll also be ordering some new aircraft. I'm going to start rebasing my modern micro-armor, for a future game. I'm also going to eventually start working on another Megablitz game. As for this month, I plan to play CY6 at the Memorial Day game bash at Morningstar on 24th. Anyway that's what I got planned, til next time.

Beaufort Air Show (Part 2)

  I actually wanted to post this earlier, but got distracted by several things. Anyway in addition to all the military aircraft at the show, they also had some marine ground equipment. Such as this new version of the jeep.

They also had some marine artillery, including a 120mm mortar and one the new M777 155mm howitzers.

The marines also had a number of small arms on hand.

The marine vehicles on site included this LAV-25, an MRAP, and AAVP7.

One vehicle I found particularly interesting was this HMMWV mounted mobile control tower.

Finally there lots of vintage and civilian aircraft. Including these UH-1 and AH-1 helicopters

While I missed the Blue Angles, I did catch this civilian team.

An Air Force O-2A spotter plane from Vietnam.

A restored Beechcraft C-45 transport.

An OV-10 Bronco converted for civilian use.

Two of the vintage aircraft that I saw flying were this restored F-4U Corsair...

 ...and this restored B-25 Mitchell bomber.