AHPC X Land Girls Picnic at Piper's Peak

For Piper's Peak...

Tamsin would like you to paint anything that is (or could be): 

i) associated with mountains; or
ii) taking a look (a peek); or
iii) displaying anger ('a fit of pique')

(Or a cheeky airline stewardess - ed.)

I of course went for a pun...

Hey, hey Booboo it looks like a Pic-a-nic over at Piper's Peak....*

Ok I'm making for indulgence from our flight attendant here.  It's a horrible pun, put so was the Peke (or alleged Peke in that case, since the model certainly wasn't a Pekinese).   But I wanted to post these figures and I knew that Tamsin is a big fan of Annie Norman's stuff.

This is a set of five members of the Women's Land Army, see the article at the IWM for info, on a lunch break from working the fields during WW2.  They are from Bad Squiddo games' wonderful Women in WW2 range.

Not a whole bunch to say on these.  They are wonderful casts, with lots of character and paint very nicely.  They are in regulation green jumper and Khaki overalls, but a couple sport non-regulation head wear.

I enlisted my wife's help in getting the hair colours right and she suggested toning down the red head and adding more colour to the blonde.  She was of course correct on both counts.

Lynne also had me adjust the colour of the girls' tea as the first attempt looked "strong enough that a mouse could trot across without getting a foot wet". 

* I did honestly look for a Yogi Bear figure to add to this post but no joy.  The closest I could find was a 200mm multipart figure on Thingverse.


Assuming that I haven't appalled Tamsin too much with the pun, that's 5 figures at 5 points each plus 30 for the location.

I haven't subject you to my musical tastes this challenge so will rectify that with appropriately titled "Me and the Farmer" by the Housemartins.  This band ticked a lot of boxes for me - jangly guitars, poppy tunes, lovely harmonies and biting lyrics.  Half the band went on the form the Beautiful South while the bassist became Fatboy Slim.  May I present the boppiest song about bonded servitude ever written.

AHPC X: Aunt Jane Takes a Balloon Ride

Continuing my tour of Challenge Island, I would like to take another balloon ride.

Aunt Jane is unarmed except for the Withering Stare and Tsk Tsk of Reproachment

I have a single figure here today, an elderly lady from Bad Squiddo's range of WW2  women.  I'd like to take her on a balloon ride to Piper's Peak.

Annie Norman of Bad Squiddo has a really nice range of women figures for the WW2 civilian and uniformed.  I've become a big fan of her work andI ordered a couple packs over the Christmas break.  I will be rolling these out over the rest of the challenge.  I also bought into he kickstarter campaign so expect to see more of them in the next Challenge (if there is one) if not before.

I kept the attire simple and basic but it's a nice cast and painted up well.

This figure comes in a pack of 5 representing members of the Women's Home Defence.  I've chrsitened her Aunt Jane after Miss Jane Marple, the angel of death of St Mary Mead.  (If Miss Marple arrived in your village to stay with a niece or nephew you knew that the bodies would pile up faster that at a quaint local festival in Midsomer county.)  I've seen various screen incarnations of Miss Marple  (Angela Landsbury and Margaret Rutherford each causing WTF reactions from me) but the best for me is Joan Hickson.  She caught the fly on the wall taking it all in aspects of the character perfectly.

My wife asked me what I intended to use these figures for and I haven't a clue yet, but they could have lots of applications in WW2 and pulp games.

That's a single 25mm figure plus 10 points for my third balloon ride.

Painting Challenge Curt Geld

Every year for the Challenge, Curt asks each participant to ship him a 28mm figure as an entry fee.  For every figure (since dubbed the Curtgeld), Curt makes a donation to our local animal shelter.  For each Challenge the Curtgeld needs to fit a particular theme.  This year he gave us a curve ball and asked for team efforts.

My Curtgeld project is a team effort with Sylvain.  I've finished my piece of the project and will be handing it over to Sylvain shortly.  The base is unfinished as Sylvain's  wizardry includes terraforming the base.

We wanted to go with something that Curt could use on table and decided that a weapon team that would fit his SCW project might do the trick.  This is a Perry model of an Italian  20mm Breda Auto-cannon from the brothers' WW2 range.  The Chain of Command lists allows such a team as support for both the SCW and WW2, so it seemed to fit the bill.  Although it was officially an AA gun, it has a decent ant-tank and anti-personal effect under CoC, especially for the SCW.  I will note that CoC specifes a team of 5 and the Perry pack comes with a team of 3, but Curt can work that out - he doesn't strictly go by the lists anyway.

I will be happy going back to the SYW!

This set was a brand new release during the Challenge, but I liked the look of and was looking forward to a modelling challenge.  Well I can safely say that I now know my modelling skill limits and this gun is definitely past them!  Adventures encountered on the way included the following mandatory steps.

• Not being sure how things fit together and finding the Ikea like drawing that almost helped
• Gluing bits to my fingers and my fingers to each other and everything else
• Almost gluing bits in backwards
• Losing a key piece and having to replicate it (a round base is now replaced by a washer and a piece of card)
• Assembling the gun and carriage without the gunner for painting, only to find out that I couldn't fit the painted gunner under the painted gun.  I had to disassemble the gun to get things together.
• Having bits that I was sure were firmly glued on drop off unexpectedly.  Of course as soon as I took the photos, I picked it up by the gunner and the rest of the gun and team fell off. 

The end result is rougher than I would have liked and a definite bodge together in spots, but hopefully people apply the two foot rule and see it mostly in action on table.

Note the many, many tiny parts!  Also the gunner comes cast onto the seat so it's not as illustrated!

Painting wise, I found several museum examples of the weapon in a medium green with black gun barrel etc.  Action photos tend to be from North or East Africa and show a sand coloured carriage and barrel.  I went with the green and black to avoid an all over tan effect.

Action photo with what looks like the green/black gun and a mostly naked but much wimpier crew.  Terrain could be North or East Africa

The Perry crew are in tropical kit and are very stripped down.  Sylvain's comment was that they are also very beefy!  The Italians in the SCW went into the theatre in Tropical kit but most pictures that I've seen include long pants, and they changed to warmer wear over the winter.  I guess that this crew has been working their gun hard and it's been hard work.  I went with generic tan clothes with brown leather belts etc.  The pecs and abs gave challenges but layers of various fleshtones with washes seems to get the effect OK.

I quite like the Officer with binoculars

Challenge Armour Bonus Round 10th Hussars 1940

It was the Armour Theme Week at the Challenge.  For my armour bonus round submission I have two Rolls Royce Armoured Cars in 15mm.  These are the venerable 1924 pattern cars used in the Western Desert by the 11th Hussars in 1940.  The models are by Battlefront.

The 11th Hussars were the divisional recon unit for the Western Desert Force, later the famous Seventh Armoured Division the Desert Rats.  About this time last Challenge I was thinking of doing Operation Compass and or the East African campaigns in 15mm using I Ain't Been Shot Mum by the Lardies.  I got the Lardys supplements for these campaigns and some figures.  But then I had a number of realizations - I didn't like 15s or at least Battlefronts 15s, tanks are too fiddly to paint, too much drab and our group already had a gazillion WWII kit.

Anyway, these got primed last Challenge and painted this Challenge.  They are pretty much front the box, with some added kit from my bits box in the back.  I tried to modify the steel hats into berets to suit the 11th.  I tried a simplified Caunter camo pattern.  My ancient Vanguard has a picture where the Car is without markings, so I didn't do any either.  There's a blank space at the back for unit labels in case I ever do some.

Painting Challenge Risk Taker

This past week the Analogue Hobby Painting Challenge theme round was Risk Taker.

Be sure to see the wonderful submissions on the link.

So for my submission to the Risk Taker Bonus round I have Jock Campbell, a key figure in the early Western Desert Campaign.  Campbell was an artillery officer who was with the 7th Armoured Division (the Desert Rats), and later promoted to command first the Division's Support Group and finally the Division itself.  He was killed in a car accident in early 1942 shortly after getting command of the division.    The mounted (ok riding a cut down station wagon).  and dismounted figures are 15mm by Battlefront.  The mounted figure is clearly based on this print from the OOP Osprey Vanguard 1.  Battlefront mounts this on a base, so I used what it came with.  However, I added some baggage - the valise in the back seat and a tarp or blanket roll in the truck.  (I'm curious to see if anyone guesses the origins of these).  If Campbell was Canadian he'd be waving an extra large double double  with a half eaten box of Timbits in the back.

Much of the early Desert Campaign (the period pre-Monty basically) was a largely improvised affair using what was on hand and a giant dose of chutzpah.  Campbell was one of the most respected Desert Commanders (by both sides).  He was awarded the DSO after Operation Compass and Beda Fomm where his guns played a key role.  Later his bravery on the Sidi Rezegh airfield during Operation Crusader led to a VC.     

There's a Timmies over that way!  I've gone for hand painted unit symbols looking to get the look right if not the details.

His name is also given to that most wargamer of formations the Jock Column.   Take a company of infantry, mount them in trucks and add a troop of light armour and some guns and bobs your uncle you got a Jock Column.  These were used to scout and harass enemy positions and just general mayhem.  Campbell did so well with them that they named the idea for him.

Best view of the clutter in the back.

I would also point out that I am also a risk taker on this post and I am stepping well outside my normal comfort zone.   First, while I have painted many 15mms in my time (Nappys, SYW, Tudor English) these are my first 15s since 1997 (at least), it's been 28mms only for night on twenty years.  Second, I have with one small exception, restricted myself to historicals pre-1900 - Nappys, Greeks, Medievals, Renaissance, SYW, Colonials etc.    So vehicles, battledress, modern weapons, etc,  well out of my wheelhouse.  The one exception was a dalliance in Western Desert in 10mm in the early 1990s, long since sold off.

So having been swayed by BigLee's 6mm wonders and the excellent 28mm East African work by Scrivs, I have been swayed back to Western Desert 1940-1.  And there's another risk here, as Curt has figures in the same scale and period which I know I won't be able to match.  However, this is a project that I want to do for myself.

The dismounted version needs a wash and highlighting on the base.  

I have been amused by the number "god I hate painting X" posts over the Challenge.  Horses, artillery, tartans, shields, terrain, etc, etc, all of which seemed like great things to paint and a lot of fun.  I did make me wonder what level of childhood trauma had led to these dislikes in some case, but whatever.  Anyway my point here i.e., quit yer whining, get over your self imposed obstacles and Challenge yourself.  I stepped out of my comfort zone and so can you.

FYI, comments, suggestions and feedback on my initial step into this particular madness are appreciated.

Sea/Air Games Photos pt 3

HMS Euryalus under fire.  Flame markers by Litko, shell splashes by Curt.  Sean hit her in the seaplane hanger 3 times in one salvo.  Luckily for her she didn't have a seaplane and Sylvain put the fires out quickly.

Euryalus from ahead.

Tribal class close up

Italian cruiser with various bits needing straightening. 

Naval Game pics Pt 2

The game at set up, Italians in foreground, brits in background with assorted game aids on the table.  The plexiglass square hold all of the aircraft.

From another angle.

Close up of the Raiders

No Sylvain you don't have any nukes!

Tribals make smoke while under fire

The wooden horse looks on.

Nice overhead shot Sean.

Conn makes a key die roll.

Not there, I say it was here.

Photos from Recent Air/Sea Game pt 1

I managed to get Sean's photos from last Friday's game.  Sean being an artist by trade and a very good photographer, the quality of the photos is greatly improved over my normal bog standard pickies.  Sadly I have neither the talent, equipment or inclination to match his output.

Sylvain looks Professorial, Conn looks enlightened, I look for my glass of wine!

The RN Admiral looks confident while his convoy and escorts brew smoke screens.

Our host looks smug!

   

The smoke and flames mark where an Italian destroyer blew up from a magazine hit.

  

Action is getting tighter

Flames mark the end of the Italian destroyer (same one as above) plus the end of the Bolzano.

Christmas Reading

Most years I tend to get some very good history books for Christmas, and 2013 was no exception.  Two are highly recommended. The third I haven't read yet, but based on my skim through and O'Hara's past work it'd bet my hat that it's a corker.

I am about halfway through this one.  The defenders have just pulled back from Maleme airport in fear of the seaborne invasion.  We'll see how that plays out for them…

Excellent work that gives the full story from before the Greco-Italian war in Albania through to resistance.  I find it very interesting how the SOE hired operatives for Greece - they looked at archeology and classics grads from Oxbridge.  The theory was that they would understand Greek!  It did also give them excellent cover.

On a personal note, it is kind of weird for me that two of the witnesses quoted also appeared in one of my favourite books from childhood - Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals (Durrell's brother Lawrence and tutor Theo).

This is a book I've read before, but I am very happy to have my own copy instead of continually borrowing copies from local libraries.  I am sure the librarians are happy I have my own copy too!

Excellent book, and highly recommended - as are all of Graves work.  It covers both Crysler's Farm and Chateauguay, from the Americans two pronged assault on Montreal.

I haven't done more than skim through this yet, but his other books are excellent and this one looks great.  O'Hara covers the twin convoys Vigorous from Alexandria and Harpoon from Gibraltar in June 1942.  These actions are really the Italian Navy's best moments from WW2.

Vigorous turned home when the Italian heavy units closed and Harpoon resulted in the Battle of Panteleria.  Panteleria was the one occasion where the Italians won a surface engagement in WW2.

Analogue Painting Challenge - HMS Eagle and Air Cover

Curt has some better photos of my latest entry on the Analogue Hobby blog - however, I think I did a little bit better than a photo-recon plane under heavy flak!

This is HMS Eagle circa 1941, a GHQ 1:2400 scale model, with air cover provided by 10 1:1200 models from Cap Aero (Fairey Fulmars and Swordfish).  The Eagle was started as a Chilean super-dreadnought Almirante Cochane (her sister ship served as HMS Canada at Jutland and then as the Almirante Latorre n the Chilean navy unitl the 50s).   Work stopped during WW1, but the incomplete hull was purchased by the Royal Navy and converted to a fleet carrier in the 1920s.  She served nobly in the Med and Indian Ocean during WW2 until sunk by a U-boat on the Pedestal convoy of 1942 that saved Malta during its darkest hours.

I've painted Eagle in a camouflage pattern based on pictures off the interweb.  These all showed her starboard side, so I had to wing it on the port side.  The Cap Aero models are mounted two to a base to represent a flight of aircraft with florist's wire supports.  When I get around to the float plane scouts I will mount those one to a base.  The Cap Aero models are beautiful but fiddly, especially the bi-planes which need their top wings glued on.   There are 3 bases of Swordfish and 2 of Fulmars for a total of 10.  

Fulmar fighters off Eagle's bow and stern with Stringbags to port and starboard, plus more on deck prior to take off.

The Swordfish or stringbag is one of the iconic naval planes of WW2.  Archaic looking and slow, it was rugged and popular with crews.  It also made the sinking of the Bismark possible, scored the coup at Taranto and participated in the air attacks that led to the victory at Matapan.   It was still serving at the end of the war, having out lasted the Albacore which had been intended as it's replacement.  It turned out that the slow speed and handling conditions of the stringbag were ideal for the escort carriers used on U-boat patrols.

The Fulmar was a carrier borne fighter that did good service but was outclassed by land based fighters.  it was heavy and less nimble, since the RN demanded a two seater aircraft.  However, it was tough and had a good range.  It was phased out and replaced by Sea Hurricanes, Seafires and Martlets.