Cruel Seas - Wargames Illustrated Free Ships

Hi All,
Whilst I am awaiting my Pre-order of Cruel Seas to arrive I noticed that Wargames Illustrated was giving away a boat sprue as part of the Cruel Seas Release promotion.

So I ended up with two copies of the magazine, why? because they were giving away either a Schnell Boat sprue or a Vosper Boat Sprue.

These models are very well detailed and are surprisingly large. Although I do play 6mm 1/300 scale I have never seen any MTBs in this scale before and I am taken aback by the scale of the ships.
Construction is quick and easy although I was not too sure about one part so I left that off, as there is no instructions within the magazine.

All the reference material I had on MTBs I had given away to a friend ( I acquired the book as part of Stephens Collection and had no use for them at the time), so I will have to borrow them back. I did a quick search on Google and came up with a few colour schemes and quickly primed the models in Grey then set about shading and painting the models. I found that for once I enjoyed painting these models, and quickly came up with a way to paint and shade them quickly, painting all four in a few hours.

 

 

 

I now can not wait for my order to arrive and get some games played. I have also ordered the German Navy set and look forward to painting some of the coastal craft.

You can find out more about the game within the pages of Decembers Wargames Illustrated or on Warlords web site:
https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/cruel-seas

Thanks
Jon

WHAT A TANKER. First Impressions

Yesterday I got to play at last our first game of What a Tanker. Our fist battle went quite slowly as we both read the rules as we went along. We both had done a pre-read but it seemed to have evaporated from our memories. In any case the Index is quite good and did not steer us wrong.

A Panzer Jager 1 in Ambush mode

The A13 is about to side shot the Panzer Jager 1.....Erm? 2...What is it..lol  Spare turret on psare hull mode, took me a while to twig... :)
 

We managed to get our head around the rules fairly simple to a point that half way through our second game we hardly needed to refer to the rules. There are a few grey areas not covered by the rules like Hull Down and driving in woods, but this may be just a case of re-reading the rules.

In any case its a quick and easy game to pick up, if not very frustrating at times, but may turn into a great Lots of company with Beer and Pretzels game.

Watch out for more of this later
Jon

Battlefront UK visit

Whilst I was staying in Long Eaton, I decided to  kill some time by going to visit Battlefront UK. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was in Beeston and not near GW in Nottingham, making a lot more closer then I thought.

As I arrived I was unsure whether I was at the right place as there was very little signage. I pressed the bell to gain entrance and tentively asked if I was at the right place for the Gaming centre and shop, and was reassured that I was indeed at the right place. I was shown upstairs into the Gaming centre to the cries of we have a customer and received a very warm welcome.

View of the Gaming area and shop. If you are thinking that you will find the blisters of old, you will be disappointed as they are now long gone, although I did notice that the on line shop still does them.

I was shown the products on display and talked at length about NAM and FOAN, whist they were rooting out some blisters I needed for my NAM ANZAC project.  I found the staff to be helpful and happy to listen to what you had to say. Unfortunately the new Team Yankee products that I had read would be on display were not, these had been delayed by a few weeks and had not long arrived, not even giving the staff enough time to look at them themselves.


A few of the old books on display, they are still setting up the shop so expect a few changes.
 
 

The goodies on display are what you would expect to see in your local game stockist, so don't expect anything out of the ordinary. They also had a smattering of Gale force products from the various ranges. Battle field in a Box products were thin on the ground, a smattering of D&D, some Star trek and a little bit of Firefly.  They did have some great looking armies on display and the D&D stuff in the cabinet were beautifully painted. Although I do think that they should also stock the blisters for the older ranges as a direct buy only.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Within the gaming centre as you would expect their are several gaming tables set out for you to use, but mainly on a Thursday evening when they run a gaming club. I am not too sure that you could just turn up on spec to play a game, so suggest you speak to them first. There is also a room set aside with  a table where you can play  board games in peace from us more noisier table top gamers. 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
Along one wall near the window was a work bench where the staff were assembling armies which were also dotted around the shop on window shelves, book shelves and the odd table hidden in the corner.
 

FOAN what I suspect are Egyptian T55's hiding on the window sill.

 

More Egyptian FOAN T55's.

 

FOAN Syrian T55's with an Israeli force hiding behind it.

 

FOAN Israeli M60's and Centurions lurking on the window sill.

 

This FOW Russian army was so nice I took two pictures, I also just realised I did not take a picture of the German Panzer force (sorry) hiding on the book shelf, although he hadn't finished painting the sole tank commander that was just painted in RAL 7016 so did not deserve to be photographed in any case (Cheeky Smirk) LOL..

All in all, it was a enjoyable trip, short but sweet. Having got what I needed for my ANZAC force, which will be written about later, and hope at some point to join in on the Gaming night.  One thing I did get wind off, is that they will be redoing the FOW WW1 lists into a compendium in line with NAM and FOAN, So I will be looking out for that in the near future.
Thanks
Jon

The Swedes are here - Modern 1/300 Swedish 1980's

Hmmm Swedes

One of my first armies when I started out in 6mm Moderns under Challenger 2 all those years ago was a Swedish army. Once again this regrettably was sold off when finances were low. When Steve passed I inherited some Swedish vehicles, and it got me thinking.  A little while later I found a tray of PBV302 from my original army, so out come the army list and DOH! I needed more stuff.

Recently Heroics and Ros added some new vehicles to their range of Swedish Moderns. A little while later I had placed an order and a few days later the stuff arrived. 2 days later I had finished.

1/300 Swedish Army

 

My Army except for the 20mm AA guns is from Heroics & Ros. It consists of two tank companies, a Infantry Gun company, 2 Infantry Companies, an Anti-tank company and a Recce Company, supported by some BandKanons and SAABs. As with the British I have done two types of command stands.

Centurion 5/2 STRV-101/102

 H&R new releases included a new Centurion 5/2 which now makes up one of the tank companies representing the STRV-101 /102, If they ever release a STRV-104, I will replace the current vehicles and these will be re-purposed into the makings of a Swiss army. The second tank company is made up of STRV-103 'S' Tanks, both companies have a platoon of Infantry mounted in PBV-302 APCs.

S-Tanks

The Armoured Infantry companies and the Anti-tank company are equipped with the TGB11 C303 mounting a recoilless-rifle.  The Anti-Tank company still needs six C303 equipped with the Bantam ATGW. I hope these will be released soon.

C303 - TGB11 Recoilless Anti-tank

 The Recce Company is equipped with the L3304 both in its RECCE and Anti-Tank roles. Although these may have been out of service by the mid 80's and the Challenger list calls for C303 TGB11's, I like this vehicle and wanted to include it in the army.

L3304 from the RECCE company

 What Swedish army would not be complete if it did not include a battery of BandKanons. These quirky vehicles are really starting to grow on me.

BANDKANON

 The Anti-Aircraft Company calls for TGB13's with RBS70 missiles, but I doubt these were ever used in that way as I can find no pictures.  As there are no TGB11 or TGB13's available I am using Land Rover 101's with a small hatch added to the roof as stand in TGB11's and I am using the C302 as a stand in TGB13. The 20mm AA guns are from Scotia models and are incorrectly of the French variety.

Land Rover 101 (Stand in C303) and C303s (on Right)

 The Challenger lists prohibits the use of the Tank companies along side the Assault gun companies. but the picture of the battlegroup (Top of page) shows them deployed together, so I have added one company of IKV91s to the army.

IKV91

 The Anti-tank company once again called for TGB11 with MG and TG13. Once again the Land-Rover 101 with added hatch and MG has been used as a stand in and the C302 again as the TGB13.

Anti-tank Company

SAAB VIGGENS

 Some of Stephens Saab Viggens, I may just do a little touch up , but in the main will leave them alone.

Centurion Mk5/2  acting as STRV-101/102

 I chose the snow bases as I wanted a different feel for the army. The Vehicles that Steve painted have only had some white added for snow camouflage. Some of the newer vehicles I have painted in Green as I like the look of them. To be honest there are few pictures of the Swedish vehicles in snow camouflage, but plenty of them in their basic green or splinter camouflage in the snow.

S-Tank STRV103

PBV302

H&R have said that they are going to be doing more Swedish. I look forward to what they will release. I need some Bantam ATGW vehicles and some RBS70 AAGW, along with its radar vehicle to complete the army.

Thanks
Jon