Last week based up the recently purchased Afghan and Indian Army troops, as well as vehicles for the BoB campaign. Relying on input from a helpful war gamer, used Noch flowers and grasses, as well as Woodland Scenics turf and talus. The bases and magnetic base bottoms were from Litko. This is a real upgrade from my usual metal DBA/DBR bases with a mix of green and brown flock. Was it expensive? Yes. Worth it? Think so, especially since this will be a low unit density game.
The PKZ-2 tender vehicle in the previous post is one of the Matchbox Models of Yesteryear series. These can be purchased cheaply (if you’re patient) on E-Bay. Bought several for the Back of Beyond Campaign, one of which is shown below.
The problem is that the series is not in a consistent scale. There are a wide variety of vehicles, in a wide variety of scales. This page summarizes them by model number, name and scale. So what scale matches up best with 25/28mm figures? This page from The Miniatures Page really helped.
Once purchased and primed, I sprayed the vehicles a military green, and then just went crazy with brown and green dry brushing. Wood blocks and barrels purchased at Hobby Lobby and mounted on bases – pallets – are cargo used either in vehicles, or on the ground as part of a supply dump. Machine gun and cannons purchased from Pulp Figures (Bob Murch) mounted as required.
I plan to interject an element of Pulp into my upcoming Back of Beyond campaign. This will include not only Bob Murch’s Zeppelin Troops and Soliders of Fortune/Adventurers, but also special equipment.
My first infernal machine is a PKZ-2 helicopter tethered to a Matchbox truck. Built in late World War One and developed in Austria-Hungary, the PKZ-2 is considered the first helicopter. It reportedly flew 36 times, always tethered, but suffered from serious technical problems that precluded operational use. The observer stood in the cupola above the rotary blades.
What if some semi-crazed revanchist brought the prototype to Central Asia? If nothing more than PUB, it might also provide special observation capabilities to the owning unit(s).
Building this Roden kit was not fun. Lots of small bits. I always fool myself that this will be a smooth process with impressive results. More likely this is glue smeared fingers, increasingly vulgar language and a product requiring way too much time and effort to look passable. Here’s a review and photos of a PKZ-2 by someone who really knows what he’s doing.
Had time to think about projects during yesterday’s 6 hour drive. Unlike Wavell, no drastic changes.
Irregular Wars will be ongoing. However, it will be moved off the Big(ger) Table, over to the small board I built years ago for DBA. I’ll continue to consult different sources in an attempt to construct a set of solo campaign rules.
Red Actions! will move to the Big(ger) (5×5) Table. I have to finish flocking bases and paint up some figures, but can start playing in a week or so, once I get familiar with the rules. As with IW, I’ll also work on campaign rules.
My board gaming focus will be Glory/War of Resistance. Tim and I will start sometime later this month or early in November.
Other than that, maybe a one-off on a boardgame or two once the weather gets bad, and outdoor time is limited.
Finally had the rules and charts for Red Actions! printed out at a local shop. Plan to start play by the middle of the month. I have Chinese, Soviets, British, Partisan and German contingents ready to go. Some bases still need work – seems to be a theme right now.
Here’s a unit capabilities chart I threw together to help organize the first games. The cards are just too pretty to cut out.