Falklands Argentinian 105mm Guns

Falklands -  15mm Argentinian 105mm Guns

I decided to get to grips with some of the Argentine troops I had and decided to quickly do the 105mm guns I got form MJ Figures.

These guns depict the famed Italian OTO Melara Mod 56/14 Pack Howitzer, an air portable 105mm gun, used throughout several NATO countries during the 1980's.  In deed even the British used the same weapon until the 70's where the 105mm L118 was introduced.

I had two 105mm guns from MJ figures in my collection and decided to do one with the gun shield and one without.  The crew come depicted wearing woolly hats (?), why the sculptor choose that particular head wear I do not know.  They are very simple to assemble and are shown below awaiting their bases to be finished, Not too sure how I am going to finish the bases off yet, hopeful I will make my mind up soon.

Thanks for looking
J

More Falklands Figures test painting

Tried some more figures with slightly different ochre base colour withe the goblin green and chocolate brown.  Not enough of the base colour showing so almost there although they are looking more like 85 pattern DPM, then 68 pattern.

Last nights tinkering.

Red and Green Line saving another poor sod.

 All from the Mj figures range, The Para's are largely incorrect as they have their Bergans on, but I need to use up the figures,  The stretcher party I decided to do as the Red and Green Line in honor of those that saved many a life, both British and Argentine. Now I have to work out what to do with the bases.

2 Para in action

What do people think, do they look ok? or could some one suggest other colour combinations?

Thanks
J

Falklands figures painted

Hi
Back to doing some Falklands figures.  First up are my Argentine test figures. MJ figures along with Peter Pig US WW2 support weapons. I am pretty happy with how these came out and will run with this colour scheme for the Argies.  I have decided to base them in tows with Officers on pennies as this will allow me to use virtually any set of rules. Rules in the running are Rapid Fire, Cold War Commander and Chain of Command.

Next up are my British.  I originally did a section with Milan support but was not entirely happy with the colour scheme although they do look good.  Below are my three test colour schemes. Left is my first one which although good does not really represent the DPM, the green is lost, and the second  colour scheme is too dark, the third colour scheme looks okay but maybe would be better on the ochre base as I used Goblin green as the base for this one.

1st colour scheme

2nd colour scheme

3rd colour scheme

I am torn between the first colour scheme and the third. The first one uses an Ochre base where as teh third one uses a Goblin green base.  I think I will try a test set of figures using the Ochre base with the Goblin green.  Below are more Brits and should be considered as a work in progress.

Marine Section/Company (MJ Figures)

Milan teams (Old Glory)

FO team and Sniper with night scope (MJ Figures)

What I have done so far.

Brit vehicles (MJ figures and QRF (?))

More to come soon I hope.
J

15mm Falklands QRF Purchases

Falklands War Project new additions

Here are my new purchases from QRF models for my 15mm Falklands project have just arrived. I have received from there new Postwar range 2 packs of SLR armed infantry, a pack of each of the GPMG armed, Carl Gustav, 2" Mortar and Blowpipe.

Packs PBI02.01,08,09,03 and 04, all out of order as usual.

Top to Bottom, Packs PBI01, 02, 03, 04, 08, 09

I purchased packs PBI01 x8 SLR armed rifleman, PBI02 x8 SLR armed riflemen, PBI03 x8 GPMG armed infantrymen, PBI04 x8 Carl Gustav's, PBI08 x4 2" mortar teams, and finally PBI09 x4 Blowpipe teams.

Top to Bottom: PBI01, 02 and 03

PBI01 and PBI02 contains 8  infantrymen wearing beret's in 3 poses all armed with the famous L1A1 SLR rifle.   PBI03 has 8 infantrymen wearing beret's in 2 different poses armed with the General Purpose Machine Gun.

The main reason for my purchases was the platoon support weapons. PPBI04 contains 8 infantry men wearing beret's armed withe the infamous Carl Gustav in 3 poses.  PBI08 contains again 8 beret wearing infantry men in 3 poses, 4 of the figures are armed with the 2" mortar whilst the other 4 are split between 2 poses as spotters giving 4 tams.  PBI09 makes up 4 Blowpipe teams, again all wearing beret's, 4 figures are armed with the Blowpipe and 4 figures split between two poses are the spotters.

Top to Bottom: PBI04, 08 and 09

These few purchases gives my British forces the much needed support weapons that Old Glory and MJ Figures have neglected to do. The overall quality of these figures are quite good and inlike the Old Glory figures, very little if any flash and if any, no mold lines.  I think these will fit in with my MJ figures quite well.  I do think MJ figures missed the boat a little by not producing these much needed weapons.

QRF also have within there new postwar infantry range L4 LMG armed infantry. The pack consists of 8 figures armed with the famed L4. Unlike the packs that I purchased the L4 gunners are all wearing the Mk5 turtle helmet, so some head swaps may be needed.

QRF and TSS have joined forces and have merged the websites. The site compared to the old QRF website is unfriendly, but here is a shortcut to the relevant infantry page:
QRF postwar infantry


Considering that the Falklands wars 30th anniversary war in 2012 several figure manufacturers dropped the ball on this, 15mm wise.
If I decided to do this project in 10mm, 20mm and even 28mm I can purchases virtually every thing I need  to fight the Falklands war.

MJ figures released in the 1990's, the Falkland figures, and it seem to have never had the ambition to expand the original range which is a shame; as I think he is now missing out. Old Glory which has always produced good quality figures (A lot of their 15mm WW2 range make up my collections) but really messed up this time with their range of Falklands figures to such a degree that after the conversation I had with their head guy, I am boycotting them. The casting quality is poor and the detail on some of the figures are vague at best, poor research has produced the wrong type of British mortar, Wrong type of .50cal facing the wrong way on its tripod and Milan gunners about to loose their legs to back blasts. Its up to you, but avoid this range, although one of the command packs have been superbly posed and make a good vignette.  QRF have always made cheaper alternatives to some other manufacturers, whilst their scale and detail may be dubious in some cases, they do make models no one else do. These new figures have filled a much needed gap and I look forward to see whats next. They also do an LVTP7 which is needed if you are doing the 2nd April Argentine invasion.

All we need now are some more Argentine support weapons, 105mm British guns, 155mm French Howitzers, AA guns and BV202's, the last is a must have.

J

400 point X-wing mid game video

Our mid week X-wing game is so epic its taking two sessions to complete, so here is a short video of how it was left ready for next week.

Simple gaming

I find as I get older, that I have less inclination to sit down and read what seem like pages and pages of complicated rules.
To be honest I struggle to read even the Star wars and Star trek rules in one sitting and they are about ten pages, now give me a Terry Pratchett book and I can not put the bugger down.

In my shed I have quite a few 1/300 modern fighters to which I am looking for a simple set of rules for a complicated period.  Now looking on the internet has produced several sets available, one I purchased of ebay, is on the surface quite good but a read through had me wondering whether it was worth playing.

I need a set of rules that will be able to be learnt with in the first couples of moves by all.  I am not very good at explaining things and it tires me greatly when I have to explain every damn move to people.

Check Your Six Jet Age has come to my attention, but several factors are holding me back from purchasing them.   Having watched a few you tube vids on the rules I am quite interested as they look good to play, but; getting hold of the damn rules is becoming troublesome, it seems the few UK dealers on the net that profess to selling them have no stocks. Couple this with the high cost of the rules and its supplements all available in the States with hefty postage costs, makes me wonder if this is a rule set too far.

Only one copy is available on ebay, much to my surprise, either this is a good sign or a bad one, I am not too sure on that, but gain it was at a high cost followed by £15 postage... Hmm

Now some posts on forums say about a PDF version, can I find the thing, No!  So it has got me thinking, would I be able to make a set of rules that is roughly 2 or 4 sides of an A4 and that is fun to play. Certainly the idea of  X-wing movement system and cards would lend them selves to form the basis of a good game.  The problem arises that most air combat games need a hex based cloth or are card based for movement.  X-wing way of moving always feels like a swirling dog fight of old, now if only I can find  a way to utilize this to, Hmm just had a light bulb time.

J