Go West, Young Man! Part III

There is no doubt that the sacrifice of the poor bloody infantry of the Red Army led to final victory in May of 1945.

Platoon CO with Runners

In the words of Churchill ~ It is the Russian Armies who have done the main work in tearing the guts out of the German army. In the air and on the oceans we could maintain our place, but there was no force in the world which could have been called into being, except after several more years, that would have been able to maul and break the German army unless it had been subjected to the terrible slaughter and manhandling that has fallen to it through the strength of the Russian Soviet Armies. (Aug. 2, 1944).

I spent my evenings this past week, when I was not playing Twilight Struggle, painting a WW2 Soviet Infantry platoon.  I bought most of the figures about the same time on eBay and they were mixed when they were primed.  The packages included figures by West Wind Line: Berlin or Bust (by Old Glory) and Harlequin Miniatures (now know as Black Tree Design). Together the two different companies provide a great mix of poses and figures.

1st Squad: 7 Riflemen and 1 SMG and a Sgt

On paper each Soviet Rifle squad would consist of a Sgt, with an Assistant Squad leader, 1 LMG (Gunner and Ammo Carrier) team, 2 SMGs and 6 or 7 Riflemen. Squads were rarely full strength or fully equipped. I have painted three 9 men squads, none equipped with the LMG teams.

 

2nd and 3rd Squads

The 2nd squad has 7 riflemen and 1 SMG, while the 3rd squad had 2 SMGs but only 6 riflemen.

Note: When I was putting the figures away, in my Soviet War Chest, I discovered I had already painted three LMG teams. I only had to add my yellow dot code so each team was matched to a squad. Now each squad can exercise various manpower  and equipment options.

LMG Teams Added to the Platoon

I still have another 50 primed Infantry figures to paint. These figures will allow me to bring a platoon in winter camo pattern, and a 2nd summer dress platoon up to strength. In addition, to a squad of Combat Engineers that need to take to the field with their flamethrowers and mine detectors, there is a newly arrived mortar section (4x mortars with crews) from BTD Miniatures to paint.

To complete this project I have one pack of BTD (WW2010) Soviet Character Set and four packs of Battle Honors WW2 Soviet Infantry unopened. The first, Russ-7 is a package of 10 tank riders. The second package,  Russ-18 consists of four 2 man Anti-Tank Rifle Teams.

Finally there are two packs of Russ-22 (each with 2 x Maxim MGs and NKVD Crews). If you watched Enemy at the Gates, you know you can't go to Stalingrad without them. It is amazing that despite such criminal encouragement, the heroic soldiers of the Workers and Peasants Red Army advanced into the heart of Nazi Germany.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VIII: Arabian Myth

This should be the final entry for the DBA Saracen or the HOTT Arabian Myth army, other than a camp or stronghold. To past the evenings during the last week, I painted the Black Tree Design Bowmen and Crossbowmen that I received in the early autumn of 2010. They have been sitting on the back burner for a while and I needed them completed in order to use them yesterday for some DBA gaming.

See Captain's Blog: Form 540, the blog devoted to my gaming activities.

Last year I order two of the Warriors of Islam army pack deals from Black Tree Design Miniatures. The first was AB1059 Warriors of Islam Archers (20 figures) which I used to make five 3 Man Shooter Elements and three 2 Man Psiloi Stands. The second package, AB1058 Warriors of Islam Crossbowmen (20 figures) provided five 4 Man Shooter Elements. For either DBM or WRG Ancients the Crossbowmen represent Regular Troops and the Bowmen Irregular.

 

Warriors of Islam 2 Man Psiloi Elements

AB1059 Warriors of Islam Archers

Based as 3 Man Shooter/Bow Elements

 

AB1058 Warriors of Islam Crossbowmen

Based as 4 Man Shooter/Crossbowmen Elements

I got the idea of how to paint them by looking at the Warhammer Ancients sourcebook on El Cid.

Year End Kudos

At this point I would like to register a special thank you to Connie, one of the owners of Old Glory Miniatures in the US and to John Olsen of  Black Tree Design in Texas.

In June I wrote to Customer Support at Old Glory. In my email I stated that I had won a pack of  what I thought was WBS-48 Cavalry Pistols and Hats. I was basing my identification of the product on their web site catalogue. A number of figures had sockets, but were missing their right hand, and their pistol. I was looking for replacement parts.

I was mistaken in my identification. I sent a scan of the figures and the staff was able to correctly id as being PIM 1 Poncho in Mexico. Connie then sent me a set of hands with weapons for the set. No Charge. Kudos to the owners and staff of Old Glory Miniatures.

Sample PIM 1 Poncho in Mexico Showing socket and hand/weapons

 

Reading my Blog you may think that I have a fairly good opinion of Black Tree Designs. I have read on other blogs and in some gaming forums that some people find their service to be hap-hazard. I have to admit that there have been cases were I have waited months for figures to ship, and I have mentioned this in Captain's Blog. But the miniatures have always arrived, and John Olsen has always responded to any queries that I have made.

Recently I was sizing up my Romans and realized that I was short artillery crews. I had six Ral Partha Scorpions (Bolt Throwers) that had no crews. I wrote to John at BTD and asked it it was possible to purchase crew figures without the equipment. His reply was, " No problem'. He had to check with the production line to see when the crew figures could be cast and he expected the price to be about $1.50 a figure. I ordered six sets of two man bolt thrower crew figures.

BTD Roman Artillery Crews (Cleaned and Trimmed)

  A couple of weeks later I received an invoice on Nov 30th. A week later the figures arrived straight from the factory in the UK. That was incredibly fast postal service from the United Kingdom. Kudos to John Olsen for facilitating the order and making this project possible.

Roman Siege Equipment

My Roman Army continues to grow. I remember the first sets of Scorpions that I painted in the mid 1970s by Heritage Miniatures. I think back now to how primitive the figures looked compared to the lines that are available today. However they easily served 30 years with the Army before they were retired.

Over the last few years I have picked up a number of different packs of Roman Siege Equipment from a number of different manufacturers. I will begin with

Warlord Games

As I've blogged before, Librairie Donjon, a gaming shop in Montreal, brought in a number of packs of miniatures by Warlord Games. I thought it a fine opportunity to check out the quality of the figures, and at a great price. I paid in the realm of 40-60% to what the cost would have been to have ordered the figures directly.

Warlord Games offers a Roman War Machine Boxed Set. This consists of a large metal Ballista with crew and 2 metal Scorpions with crew.  I stress metal here, because Warlord Games also produce plastics, but so far not for this set.

Warlord Games Ballista and Crew

 Warlord Games Scorpion and Crew

One of the problems that I had with the DBA rule set was the base depth required by Scorpions and crew. Eighty millimeters was too much for my liking. Under the WRG 6th and 7th edition rules the depth of artillery was a minimum of 40mm to whatever was necessary to base the models. Thus I have decided to base the Scorpions on a 40mm deep base for WRG. I have another two Scorpions by Foundry that are situated on the 80mm deep elements. As you can see by the photos the 80mm depth works fine for the Ballista and below for the catapults.

Warlord Games Scorpions with Crew in Fortified Hilltop Camp

I chose to photograph the Scorpions on a fortified hill top. The hill was constructed by my friend Les, and came into my procession years ago. The pallisade is by Old Glory (OGSE-08), each set contains 2 styles of wooden stockades. In total 10 pieces, 5 of each style. I based 5 pieces of one style to give a fortified camp space. Each section of the camp can provide shelter to a 60mm x 40mm element. I placed some extra shields to cover the gaps. The stockade is straight and does not contain corner pieces.

The next unit is by Black Tree Designs. It is the IA1205 Onager (or Catapult) with Crew. Their website currently shows just two crew figures with the weapon but when I made my purchase I am sure that it came with three figures. It is delicate and I had problems attaching the sling at the end of the arm and ended up cutting some tin from a wine bottle to make one that works for me.

 

Black Tree Design IA1205 Onager and Crew

 The final two pieces are a Onager by Old Glory ( OGSE-04 Stone Thrower (popularly known as a catapult)) and a large Ballista. I do not know the company that produced this piece. Note: I had the same problem with the sling at the end of the throwing arm of the Old Glory Onager as I did with the piece by Black Tree Designs.

  Old Glory Onager( OGSE-04)

The crew figures are Late Romans by Old Glory. I believe they came in a pack of PLR-12 (4 Ballistas with Crews). I still have the Ballista/Scorpions and I have ordered additional crew figures from Black Tree Design. When I wrote to John at Black Tree he replied that  they'd cast up some figures on the side and let me know when they were ready. He estimated the cost at $1.50 a figure and they should be available in two weeks..

Ballista Unknown Make

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VI: Arabian Myth

This week I had a very light class load. Tuesday was the final day of the current session and the summer session does not commence until tomorrow.  I  decided to complete some more units for my 28mm Saracen DBA/HOTT's army. It took the better part of three days to complete the work but I finished 3 elements of Warbands (two of 4 figures and one of 5 figures) and two elements of 4 man spear.

Three Elements of Warbands.

The figures are by Black Tree Designs and the spears are by Foundry. These figures were last seen prepped with a base coat added in Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VI sometime last October. I finally painted them. The bases are by Litko Game Accessories and the ground was built up using Golden Artist Colors Coarse Pumice Gel. The bases were then painted with DeSerres Raw Sienna (Series 1 No 185) and flocked using Citadel Scorched Grass.

The Red Zebra Spearmen

In the wings I still have another 40 BTD figures for this project. Twenty figures are with bow and twenty are with crossbow. They have been prepped and basecoated. They await the touch of their master's brush. They will form elements of 3/4 Bow as well as a couple of Psiloi elements.

28mm German Naked Savages

These figures are from Black Tree Design and consists of two major designs. Item IA1412 is German Naked Savages which contains 4 different models from a selection of 28 different poses. Item IA1183 is Germans in Bearskins with Hand Weapons, which is distributed in a pack of 4. Both of these are available from BTD as Army Packs of 20 figures.

I purchased these figures on Ebay about 4 years ago, as a unit of 27 figures. My plan is to field at least one Warhammer Ancients Army. They have been based either as single figures on a 25mm square base or as groups of four figures on a 50mm square base. All bases are from Gale Force 9.

WW2 Soviet 57mm AT-Gun ZiS-2 Model 1943

In an August posting I wrote that I made an impulse Buy-It-Now bid on a Soviet 57mm AT-Gun by Black Tree Design at 28mm Scale. The item arrived last week and since it was a stand alone piece I went to work on it right away.

The gun arrived in nine pieces that needed to be put together. I used Games Workshop Superglue, which I personally think, is their one product that provides the most bang for the buck to put the piece together. The parts that needed to be assembled were an axcle body, two wheels, a gun mantle, the AT gun, two limbers and two tiny screw wheels for sight adjustments.

In addition three crew members were included. One of the figures is equiped with a generic type shell. It is obvious that it is a) too big for the bore of the gun and b) is clearly not an AT round.

Gunners and the gun were mounted on seperate GF9 40mm square magnetic bases.