Cafe de Normandie - WIP

One of the pieces of loot from Claymore was the Charlie Foxtrot model of the Cafe de Normandie, originally in Carentan. I've seen various versions of it.

My version is still awaiting clean up, roof tiling, drainpipes etc, plus signage, but I may make it something else, a hatshop perhaps..

So far, assembly (shell only), grouting adhesive, wash with very thinned Coat d' Armes super-shader, adding frames and doors (after painting separately). The shutters will be off-white.

Fairly happy so far.

Claymore 2019

Yesterday was spent with a very pleasant day at Claymore, a morning drive in the sunshine, and a lovely drive back with the countryside looking its best.

The Granton campus of Edinburgh College is a pretty nice venue, with lots of light airy halls, plenty of parking and some nice outdoor spaces when the weather is pleasant. There were excellent traders, and it wasn't too crowded.

So what was it like? Well, I actually found it rather disappointing. I normally expect that there will be one or two games that make me gasp, or come away inspired, or even smiling. In the past there have been Nazi moonbases, volcanoes, whole archipelagos and some great modelling and terrain making skills on show.

This year, I felt there were a lot of games that I would expect to be put on at an average club night, with bought terrain, pretty nice figures, but no great imagination. I suppose it may be because I have seen quite a few of the games already at Carronade in Falkirk, but I was left feeling disappointed 

Of the games that were there, Barry Hilton and the League of Augsburg's Ottoman wagon fortress was perhaps the best realised, the Vietnam 'Relief of Hue' style game was impressive for size, but the terrain was a bit sparse, and for me didn't capture the feel you got from movies and period photographs. Honourable mention to the small but well formed Holy Grail game, which seemed to consist of making your way by various paths through a shrubbery with knights posted at intersections, towards a large castle...

Muscovites vs Ottoman by LoA. 

And the loot? Well - for once I thought about this beforehand, and decided I needed some bits and pieces to round out various forces, so I pre-ordered from 1st Corps, taking advantage of their show discount. Airborne Jeeps, Pak crew, British 2" mortar crews etc.  The rest of my shopping list was essentially small terrain pieces, so a Greenhouse and cart from Supreme Littleness, a tractor, fountain and telegraph poles from Sarissa, and finally one of the very cheap 'modular' range from Warbases, that is going to be a small workshop.

Not having pre-ordered, I just took pot luck that they would have the items available, but both Sarissa and Supreme Littleness offered to send me the items post free. so that was terrific. 

And of course there were impulse buys... firstly from Charlie Foxtrot, their Cafe Normandie looks to be an absolute bargain. I don't really need too many more 28mm French buildings, but this was too nice to go past, and at £16 an absolute steal compared to some other companies. I was also impressed about the little extras included, like flashing strips in plastic, and small tubes for chimney pots. Looking forward to putting this one together.

I know it doesn't look like much in this picture..

I also looked for the new Rubicon early Panzer IV, but was out of luck. WarHQ was doing 15% off the Rubicon kits they did have available, so the Scott was picked up.

Other impulse buys, a Westwind US Recce Jeep and some BTD Soviet Riflemen from Colonel Bill's.

Needless to say, on getting home, I couldn't wait to start slinging some glue at these. So far:

Sarissa Tractor

The tractor is a great model, but getting the top pieces to line up smoothly is a pain. If I were building another one of these, I would use the top of the chassis as a guide, glue all the 'segments' together, and then file to get it smooth before gluing on to the model itself.

Westwind US Recce jeep

Great little model, just judging by eye, it looks like it will be a good match for my Perry US infantry (plastics).

1st Corps Airborne jeep

Really nice kit, but make sure you drill out the wheels for axles, there's little underside detail so it might actually be worth replacing the white metal axles with some brass rod or similar.

Another 1st Corps Airborne jeep

1st Corps and Westwind size comparison

 As you can see there's quite a difference, I believe 1st Corps are 1/48 while Westwind would be 1/56.

Warbases Modcular 5.

This one is going to have a tarpaper roof, and be a small workshop. I am actually going to remove the doors I glued on, and do cut outs so they are inset rather than outset. As always with MDF, it's a basic shell to build on. 

Finally, the standard of catering at Claymore I have to say was even worse than usual. A choice of a very dodgy looking chicken curry or a pie and chips. And they closed early so there was no way to even get a cup of tea after about 3pm. Organisers note, you might have been better organising a burger van for the central courtyard!

See you all there next year.

The British are Coming

I did promise an update on the various British vehicles I have lurking, so here goes:

Carriers

Cromwell

 

Humbers!

I know how I ended up with two Humbers but in hindsight, well, I should probably sell one..

Finally a Corgi model Daimler Armoured Car. I was using it to play with various weathering techniques, some of which are a bit heavy -handed! I figure I can add some stowage to hide the fairly basic model, and it will look ok.

And managed to gte a good CoC game on Sunday with the boys at Kirriemuir, a fairly simple attack and defend scenario, with US GIs defending the outskirts of a Norman town against a German infantry counter attack.

Looks peaceful... 

German firepower takes out the BAR team entrenched in front of the Church

The game was also notable for  a sniper duel, in which the German sniper couldn't hit the side of a barn, and the US one was even worse!

The rather nice 3d printed houses are available through WarHQ.

A good time was had by all. Now..  Claymore in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Heavy Metal - Tanks Galore!

I have had a number of vehicles just progressing in bits and pieces over the last little while and I finally finished up a few of them.

First of all, I picked up a trio of Warlord plastic Hetzers at a show for next to nothing, with every intention of selling a couple, but hey, things, and stuff you know. So here they are.

And number two in this line up is a fun little flamethrower tank... 

And finally,  another vanilla Hetzer. I will never get to use 3, so I expect one of them will get swapped or given away at some stage.

Everyone should have one. Again another bargain at a tenner for the Warlord plastic Tiger II kit at a show. The moulded Zimmerit isn't the best, but the alternative would be to do a huge amount of green stuff work.

 

My Perry US infantry are going to need some support if they are going to come up against some of these beasties, first up the Hellcat.

Yet another show bargain, the Warlord plastic M4. If I was to build this kit again, I would definitely shave off and replace the decidedly dodgy tow cable. The crew figure is also disappointing, being very undersized.

And finally, the Greyhound reconnaissance car...  It just didn't look right with no crew, so I pinched the commander from the Hellcat. 

So, quite happy with this update, and the British will get some love next.

Lorraine Schlepper

Just finished a Lorraine Schlepper, from Warlord Games, a resin kit of one of the many conversions done using French AFV chassis and German weaponry.

The Warlord kit is a nice one with separate tracks and a shovel as well as the gun itself, I think it makes up into a very appealing vehicle, and it comes with two crew. It doesn't come with any decals though, so I have sourced those from the spares box.

I am wondering if I need to do a bit more weathering on the lower chassis for dust and mud? But then, I would have to match that across all my vehicles. Hmmm, perhaps an airbrush session with some lightly dusted on Flat Earth might be an idea.

In game terms for Chain of Command, this is an absolute beast. A big High Explosive gun, perfect for blasting buildings and troops alike. I was going to save it as a nice surprise for Steve, but well, it's only fair.

Signs of Life

It may look very quiet over here, as real life seems to be making lots of demands. But behind the scenes, some painting is happening. There's a whole bnch of armour just waiting to burst out.. even as I eye up the Rubicon site and wish PSC had been able to fulfill my order for a M5 Stuart when their site still said they had some left. Oh well.

I did actually finish some sample figures for the Early War Germans though..  so here they are.

Those close-ups are really unforgiving aren't they?

Blitzkrieg! And other matters

For those who haven't yet picked it up, the Too Fat Lardies Blitzkrieg Campaign book:

Is a great resource, with new scenarios and lots of background material, plus lists for the main participants. I finally stopped drooling over the potential and got the brushes out to kick off some of the main participants.

First off the rank were the French, as per earlier posts, but I am now kicking on with their German opponents. There have been plenty of delays and heartache as I was using Black Tree Design for the core figures and it has been a nightmare. Once they finally arrived, largely thanks to the delays and pain of the whole process, they languished for a long while without any real progress, as I couldn't muster up the enthsiasm. I finally managed to get some block colours applied tonight - so some WIP to show, the command figures etc are Warlord, all the rest are BTD:

Early War Germans, so far, block colours are Vallejo Field Grey for tunics, German Grey for helmets and gasmask canisters, Basalt Grey for trousers, Black Grey for boots and metalwork. One squad (there are four in the platoon) has also had Beige Brown done as a base colour for flesh. It was nice to use a colour not named 'Grey'.

For amusement, I also picked up a bargain Russian house - which I experimented with, sanding off the bits burned dark brown by the laser cutting process, and colouring using a variety of washes rather than paint. Not quite sure how well this works, bit it does look suitably faded, and I have further weathering to add.

Onwards - !  And the other item picked up with the Russian house was a South East Asian building. I am holing out against doing jungles and Japanese, but I can feel the temptation...