Small but Perfectly Formed

 Or should that be moving on at the double quick time?

Rebasing from card to MDF is now completed (phew) with the exception of the artillery which is a minor task by comparison.  So I have moved onto adding new infantry brigade bases with the ultimate aim of having the right number of bases to field both sides for Gettysburg (Yes, I know that my megalomania is showing again!).  I have settled into a simple production line system working in batches.  This means I cut a lot of matchsticks to length, move onto assembling that batch, then basing them and last is adding the flags.

Tiny flags you don't have to be nuts but...

The flags add some movement to the static lines of troops

To help with the tedium of multiple repeats of a single process I have fired up Spotify on the PC and have been working through the back catalogues of some bands I haven't listened to for a while (in some cases for a VERY long while) and catching up on stuff I missed first time around.  I was an early convert to 'art rock' in the1970's and that brought me to the band 'Deaf School'.  I was lucky enough to see them live in  back in 1976 touring their first album which incidentally is a real gem.  It's a quirky mix of rock, cabaret and glam rock stylings with some clever lyrics.  I am currently listening to some of their later albums that I missed out on when they reformed after a long break.  Coincidentally their original drummer was born in my home town a couple of years before I was.

This is the first album and its a cracking listen

I also have found my Father's wartime photo albums from his time on HMS Chaser (a US built escort carrier).  He served from 1942 to the end of the war in the Far East. So a new project is born scanning the prints to obtain digital versions that I can make available to anyone who is interested.  More on that in due course.

 

A lovely gift dropped through the letter box this morning.  A nice selection of homes fit for heroes courtesy of the Jolly Broom Man.  All from Brigade Model's 3mm scenic range as far as I can see, painted and very nicely based by JBM himself.  Lots of nice detail and added features.  The clocks on the churches both say four o'clock.  Which seems right as it is always teatime in a traditional English village when we look back on them.

The full collection.  I rather like the multi building bases.

The first village base

I'm thinking this must be the Central Banking District

Probably the main retail area

For some reason this reminds me of Chigley

A Post mill

The big church, that will be the High Anglicans then.

Lastly the 'big house' where Squire Broom 'isself lives

I have to say that these put my own efforts to shame and I'm going to have to up my game now or the tenants in the houses I created will be raising complaints about the poor standards of maintenance in their village!  JBM thought I might need to rebase them but I'm not so sure I want to do that.

Thank you so much JBM these are exceptional and will be getting lots of use on my game table.

The Altar of Freedom rebasing is progressing on some sort of schedule.  I'm taking it as a positive as it means that I like the rules enough to upgrade from the cardboard test bases.  The laser cut MDF is so much better than my ham fisted attempts to cut marine ply into 100% accurate bases on a consistent basis (Bases ....basis there must be a tongue twister in there somewhere).  It has quickly become my new go to solution since i started basing my 6mm DBA/ADLG forces that way.  I don't have that many units to do for AoF as I only made up the OOBs for 1st Manassas/Bull Run to start with.  In the next few days I will be expanding that to create the bases needed to be able to play Gettysburg as that is the scenario which needs the most troops in the Eastern Theatre.  If I can cover that battle I'm good for anything in the two scenario books.  Time to start cutting more match sticks.

Dragging the WW2 models out has also shown up the lack lustre basing (cardboard again) I used the first time of asking.  These will need bring up to my new standard in due course although I can live with them as they are for the time being.

In other news when I finished typing this post I went to the post setting screen to add the labels only to find Blogger has forgotten what they were in previous posts.  Which is an embuggerance!

Edit - after much cursing I have managed to get Blogger to relist past labels.  I have no idea what is going on (so no change there then).

 It's been a while since I posted anything about my dabblings in ACW gaming.   The interest hasn't waned but I had nothing significant to report.  Unlike the news, which must fill a certain amount of pages or a TV time slot even if there isn't any actual news, I felt no need to report that I had nothing to report!  Still here we are so there must be something to report now.  This being that I am rebasing the test figures onto 'proper' MDF bases and have a test unit of cavalry that is far superior to my home made attempts.  The bases are 60 x 30mm from Warbases.  AoF uses these as the standard for infantry, cavalry and HQs.  Generals and artillery are mounted on 30 x 30mm, although the rules do suggest that for base purists artillery should be on 60 x 60mm squares.

US dismounted cavalry ready for action

I have toned down the figure’s bases to something nearer the green of the MDF base since I took the photo above.  The figures are Irregular Miniatures from their 2mm horse and musket range.  Open order infantry to the front as dismounted troopers, horse holders behind and lastly a mounted reserve.

I have rebased the HQs as well.  Again these are from Irregular’s 2mm range.  Strips of small and large tents, Army command posts and some covered wagons.  I know the flags and flag poles are well over scale but it makes it easier to ID them on the table.  I thought about using some Sibley tents but I couldn't find a 2mm source and they were phased out from 1862 anyway so all my tents are ridge type dog tents or larger wall tents.

Various US and CSA HQs

I have also started rebasing the home made infantry blocks.  These are made with match sticks trimmed to 25mm in length glued together in pairs so each ‘rank’ of soldiers is one match stick deep.  I’ve been playing about with the printed paper skin I glue around the matches to create the look of ranks of troops. The version I’m using for the new units is slightly deeper so the two ranks appear a little wider apart.  The images aren't perfect but they are a huge amount better than the detail I could paint at this scale.

Basic Infantry bases (pre dry brush)

All the bases are textured in the same way using block paving sand which is glued to the MDF with PVA.  This is then dry brushed in olive green and for variety I add a sprinkle of Woodland Scenics' fine turf in ‘burnt grass’ colour.

I’m starting off with how I make canopy woods as a few people have commented positively on them and in some cases asked how I make mine.

First things first I suppose I should define what I mean by a canopy wood,  it’s a model of a wooded area where instead of using individual trees the entire wood is modelled as a single entity.  It works best for 6mm and smaller figures as the look is more in keeping with a view of an entire wood from above.  The top of the wood, the leafy canopy covering the branches and trunks is made as a single item so it can be lifted to hide troops moving through the wooded area.  Hence canopy woods.  Most of what follows is based on other people’s work and isn’t my own original ideas.  So I’m not taking credit for any great original concepts here.

To make these you will need:

Clump foliage (I use the smaller ‘bush’ sized stuff)

Felt

A flexible material to glue the foliage to

A glue similar to UHU or Bostick 

Some aluminium cooking foil (optional)

A sharp set of scissors

A Sharpie or similar fine permanent marker pen

An understanding wife or partner (construction could get messy)

I pick up materials from a number of places.  The felt and ‘flexible material’ are from craft stores (Hobbycraft here in the U.K.) the flexible material is a thin foam/rubber sheet available in Hobbycraft in a number of colours.  I use black as it creates a shadow effect if I miss small spots when applying the flock.  

Foam sheet - you can see it is flexible

This is the product data for the UK item

To start I cut two identical outlines; one in the foam sheet and one in the felt.  Using the Sharpie I draw on the felt creating the traditional map symbols for woodland (a sort of wavy curved line repeated to symbolise foliage) although that's not vital it’s just that I'm a bit anal like that.  This creates the ground foot print of the woods that the canopy part will sit on.  That’s the quick and easy part done.

Next turn to the foam sheet.  First make sure that you are going to work on the correct side of your cut out shape so the completed canopy will match the felt foot print.  Before you get really serious test the glue on an off cut of the foam to make sure it doesn’t melt it!

Felt location marker and foam canopy base with a start on the foliage gluing.

  If you wish you can now scrunch up some aluminium foil into a tightly packed shape.  Push it down hard onto a firm flat surface to create a flat base.  This will be glued to the foam to create some height for the clump foliage to be glued to to give the illusion of taller trees in parts.  It only needs a couple of small areas to create the effect.  Using this technique does have a downside as it stiffens the canopy and prevents it conforming to any hills you might like to drape it over.

Scrunched foil.  Note the flattened base

Next comes the messy part, gluing on the foliage.  Smear a layer of glue to an area of about one square inch and add foliage and press it into the glue quite firmly.  The idea is for some of the glue to be soaked into the foam foliage.  Don’t add glue to too large an area as it will go off before you have added the foliage.  I usually start somewhere in the middle and work towards the edges.  Once the top is covered and the glue dry flip it over and add a small strip of foliage all around the edge of the underside.  Let this dry and then fill in any parts around the edge where the foam shows through and any areas on the top where there are gaps.  Sounds easy but the glue will get stuck to your finger tips followed by foliage pieces, bits of foliage will get lifted out of place on your sticky fingers and other small items will probably get stuck to them too!

Top done no bald spots or unintended extras glued in!

The strip around the underside lifts the canopy off the table

Fill in any gaps on the edges and it's finished

You can see how the use of a foil 'core' lifts part of the flocked area to create an illusion of taller trees in the centre of the finished woods in the photo above.  I only tend to add between a couple of millimetres and a centimetre of additional height this way as trees don't vary in height too dramatically in the real world. 

Now set the completed canopy to one side and let it dry.  I mean really dry so overnight is good.  Next spray the canopy top and bottom with a sealer of your choice.  In the past I have used hairspray, matt varnish and watered down PVA.  The one thing I have never tried is the stuff woodland scenic makes specifically for the job!

You could call the job done now and for 2mm or 3mm figures the canopies will look fine.  Alternatively you can add more height by placing spacers between the felt and the base of the canopy.  Some people use things like cocktail sticks or flat headed roofing nails.  Personally, I think this risks making the wood look too 'leggy' so if I use anything at all I use small cubes of wood about 1cm a side.  If you look at real woodland from a distance the trunks of the trees are almost invisible.  The foliage comes down to within a few feet of the ground and often seems to meet the woodland undergrowth.  The only time where this isn’t the case is with some pines and spruces where the first 15 feet or so have no foliage and the pine resin dropping to the ground inhibit the growth of ground cover.  All my woods must be broadleaf deciduous ones, yours don't have to be though!

I don’t make my own clump foliage instead I buy it.  I use the summer foliage colour, a sort of mid olive green tone.  I don’t add different coloured clumps as I don’t like the effect.  I also don’t use autumn colours as it limits the usefulness of the models by restricting the time of year it applies to.  I know that it could argued that using green does the same but most battles are fought in periods where trees are in full leaf so summer green is my favoured colour.

I have said this before about painting but it is true for terrain builds too, the key skill is observation.  Really, really look at woods from a distance see what is actually there not what you expect to be there.  Then recreate that look in miniature.  Good aerial views will help with the look of canopies from our playing view point (you know, the 1,000 foot general viewpoint). A quick trip out to the country or use of Google Maps Street View feature will also help with the table level look.

Look at the woods here on the Yorkshire Wolds (Bing Images)

The range is inexpensive for the number of buildings in each set at around £1.50 - £2.50 with there being 2 - 4 buildings per set.  They are made in laser cut MDF which comes as a kit to be assembled (As an aside; am I weird in quite liking the smell of freshly lasered MDF?).  Now the idea of a kit for a 3mm building may seem to be a stretch but trust me it works and has some advantages.  For a start the method used to create the buildings creates great texture for the roofs, which as we look down from a playing vantage point is the main thing we see.  Secondly it allows some customisation of buildings.  Chimneys can be moved around and lean to sheds added or not as the whim takes the modeller.  This is possible due to the design of the models.  Think of the design as a sliced loaf of bread approach.  Each building consists of  vertical slices, mostly shaped like squat arrows.  The arrow point forms the peak of the roof, and the laser cutting creates lines along the edges of the vee of the arrow head that create lines of tiles when the slices are put together.

This how they arrive.

The two gable ends have some detail laser etched in, windows. brickwork and similar things.  Each building has a number of these vertical slices and two side walls that go along the length of the 'sliced loaf' creating the long walls of the building.  Again these have etched details and they also hide the layers of the core of the building and tie the whole thing together.  It's really rather ingenious.

Examples of two of the completed kits.

The downsides are that troops cannot be physically placed inside buildings, but that isn't really a thing at this scale anyway and that the fit of the parts does have some natural variation in thickness of the MDF sheet the parts are cut from.  This means that the slices of the building core and the sides may not be a 100% match.  This is easily rectified by either using paper of thin card shims between the slices to lengthen the core or filling the corners with a bit of modelling putty or Milliput.  Don't let this slight issue put you off the buildings are very, very nice indeed.  My only real criticism is that the building instructions are not always as helpful as I might have liked, but I have been able to work out what I was doing by dry fitting the parts and looking at the images of the completed buildings on the website.  The order is accompanied by an email with PDF instructions but these are often just an image and a description of the finished building.

The manufacturer also does buildings in other scales and covers some areas I haven't seen else where in the larger scales like the city walls and buildings of Troy!  Their website is here >>Supreme Littleness Designs Home

 BAOR Brigade HQ - 05:30hrs 6th June 1982

"We are definitely in to a shooting war Gentlemen.  Warsaw Pact armoured formations have crossed the internal border at multiple points and large scale air raids are hitting our airfields and port facilities as we speak.  Battle Group Bravo fought an engagement over the last hour with what they are tentatively identifying as lead elements of 2nd Guards Tank Army around Ingelund.  They have badly hurt the Russian advance guard but are now withdrawing to the west to avoid being outflanked."

"We have two other Russian axis of advance within the Brigade area to contain but we have no positive contacts with them as yet and I have some concerns that they may have bypassed our recon formations.  We will know more once the AAC helicopter recon flights report in.  For the moment our trip wire units are pulling back to pre-planned defensive positions where they will make a further defensive stand.”

Soviet command post 1st Division, 2nd Guards Tank Army

"We have pushed the British back around 7Km all along our main axis of attack.  Our third tank regiment has dislodged heavy armoured formations at the cost of two battalions having to reform their units which will prevent them from following up immediately.  This is of little concern as the Regiment’s remaining two tank battalions have closed up and they will launch a regimental scale attack as soon as their lead battalions are ready to engage.  Lead elements of 2nd Tank Regiment are reporting contact with a British Reconnaissance screen.  1st TR advance guard has not made contact with the enemy yet."

In game terms the BAOR units are mostly withdrawing one table west to cover the crossings over the first river line.  Soviet 3rd TR faces an hour’s delay while it regroups the advance guard which was roughed up at Ingelund.  This has allowed it’s second echelon to close up.

If you look at the game map below Soviet units are orange circles and BAOR yellow rectangles (they show up better if you open the image up and zoom in).  The markers show which tables they occupy but not the exact locations on those tables.

The situation at around 0530 hrs 6 June 1982

There is a situation developing in the far north of the brigade area where one river crossing is unguarded.  BAOR needs to redeploy units northwards across the entire front line to balance out defensive duties.  Remember the BAOR battle groups are pairs of companies/squadrons and the recon units (noted with an R prefix) are troops with attached specialist units, while the Soviets are pairs of battalions so things are not as clear cut as they appear.

The turn process is to move the BAOR formations then the Warsaw Pact ones.  There is no fixed turn length, instead I set a time based either on the end of the last engagement and any regroup time and see how the other units have moved during that time.  Once I had moved the Soviet units, using a semi random system, I diced for air superiority for the next set of encounters and got a pretty substantial pro-NATO result so Soviet air support may be 'delayed'.  The next fight will be to try to extricate the BAOR Recon formation from table D8.

I'm beginning to wish I had used an actual set of locations from the BAOR area of operations rather than fictionalising things, mainly because I wouldn't have to try to invent names for places!  Lesson learned for next time!

Meanwhile back in the real world, I'm healing well following my surgery but still can't lift or carry anything over 5Kg in weight or stand for more than 15 minutes at a time.  The surgical scars are healing well and I'm not in any real pain more a general discomfort where my chest was cracked open!  All of which prevents me from setting up the large table required for the cold war games for a while yet.  It's probably going to be a couple or three weeks before the next game is played. 

 If you are trying to follow the Soviet invasion on the campaign map it helps to understand the grid reference system I am using.  The horizontal rows are named alphabetically A - J so the top row is row A and the bottom is J.  The vertical bit is slightly confusing as rows don't line up as exact columns.  The horizontal rectangles are numbered from left to right 1 - 9 in each row.  so each potential table has an alpha numeric reference such as E9.  All features on that map are given the feature name (e.g. a hill) the table reference and a number if there is more than one of that feature so Hill E92 for example.  Hopefully it makes sense. 

The campaign map for day 1 objectives (click for a larger version)

The Soviets had nine potential entry points (marked by the small red arrows on the east side of the map(the right of the map).  I started by assigning units to assault forces and placing them into three columns.  I then diced for entry points for each column.  Which gave me entry points in tables B9, C9 and E9.  of those only E9 was occupied.  British forces are B Gp (Battle Group) Charlie in B8, B Gp Bravo in E9, B Gp Hotel in F8, B Gp India in H7 and BG Alpha in I9.  Those formations (two company sized units each) are supported by Recce groups (R Gp) in D9, H9 and J9.  Artillery support in the form of an Abbot regiment are located G4,

What that all means is that the Russians have chosen to concentrate in the North and BAOR assets in the south will have to relocate.  But they have to be aware that a further Warsaw Pact Formation is available and could enter to the south.  Two Soviet formations are yet to meet any resistance and will be pushing deeper into the Federal Republic unless BAOR can relocate blocking forces.

The current plan is for B Gp Alpha to move north to J8 allowing B Gp India to move North West to where the fighting will probably be concentrated by the time they are in position.  Recce Groups Alpha  and Bravo in the south will move slightly north to help cover the gap left by B Gp India moving away.  Other units may need to move westwards to support each other and prevent Soviet flanking movement.

Last but not least (at least for me) there will now be a short break in blogging as I have to undergo some medical treatment in hospital.  This will keep me away from the keyboard, other than checking in on my phone from time to time.  Hopefully It won't keep me away for too long.  

The first thing to say is that I made a mistake with the map for this game.  I'm not sure how I managed it but I drew up a map for a 8' x 4' table and not as it should have been 6' x 4'!  Which probably explains why I had trouble getting the terrain to match the layout from the campaign master map,  The corrected map looks like this.  As before the yellow lines are ridge lines which block LoS but have no other effect.  I laid fields down onto the table to give a bit of variety but they have no effect on game play.

The reworked table layout.  The smaller settlement to the East is Alte Ingelund

The BAOR Battlegroup (Bravo) has to slow the Soviet assault to buy time for road cratering and bridge demolition to be carried out, or at least prepared, further to the west.  The plan is for the Infantry platoons to dig in with hasty entrenchments and the Chieftains to provide fire support.  As it is expected that the Russian attack will be preceded by artillery strikes the defence decides not to use the reverse slope of the main ridge as a holding line and instead to dig in behind the lower ridge line to the west.  This is in the hope that the artillery attack will initially fall on the more prominent eastern ridge line.  The British should have artillery support from their parent brigade available if not called into use in other areas.

The Russians elect to lead the attack with the T-64 Battalion with the BMP mounted infantry in close support.  The plan is not exactly subtle, advance in two lines until contact is made and then attempt to overwhelm the defenders as quickly as possible.  The tank force is to identify enemy fighting positions and pin them while the infantry go around the flanks to engage them.  The Russians have artillery support from their Brigade's assets and can call upon Divisional assets (the rocket artillery) but may not get access to them.

Soviet reconnaissance photo of the road to Ingelund

Ingelund and it’s environs

Alte Ingelund and the main ridge line seen from the South The Soviet advance force enters the table at 04:12 hours, each turn in FFT is 12 minutes, hence the slightly odd times.  Its  first light on a clear June morning but with slightly reduced visibility as the sun isn't over the horizon yet.  In turns one and two the Soviets advance towards the main hill line and call in artillery strikes on the reverse slopes (I used a random target selection with a slight bias to that location).  It is not until 04:36 that they break cover and cross the ridge.  Everything looks clear ahead (they can't spot the dug in infantry within their hasty entrenchments until they get to within close combat range or the infantry fire or move) so they press on keen to stay on the time table for fear of the Zampolit accusing them of 'a lack of socialist zeal'.  Ahead are a troop of  Chieftains waiting behind the ridge which passes through Ingelund for their moment.  At which point the battlegroup's radio net crackles into life.  "All Bravo call signs, this is Bravo Actual. Enemy tanks to our front.  Weapons Free repeat Weapons Free. Out". BAOR's  BG Bravo dug in around Ingelund The Russian initial advance In the restricted light the Brit's can't yet see the BMPs following up the T-64's.  The Chieftains behind the crest line opt to shoot and scoot relying on their 'excellent' rating to off set the movement effect.  All four troops open fire at long range then pull back from the crest.  The result is not what they hoped for one T-64 platoon fails a quality check and becomes Combat Ineffective.  The T-64A is a different beast to the T-62 I tested the rules out against, better armour and a gun that can cause a Chieftain real pain if it gets close enough. First blood went to BG Bravo a T-64 platoon burns The T-64's push doggedly on under cover of smoke laid down by the brigade 152mm guns,  Not helped by a wind from the West which means the smoke lies parallel to the line of advance rather than crossing it. They Russian armour needs to close to within their effective range which is half that of the Chieftains they are facing (12 inches v 24 inches) so the only option is to push on.  As they finish their move two troops of Chieftains reoccupy their firing positions on the ridge and open fire. With stabilised guns and high quality crews the firing is more effective than the last salvo.  Two T-64 platoons are destroyed and a third rendered ineffective (failed a quality check)  the Russians are rated as average quality and have a high hurdle to clear if they are to successfully pass a QC.  The BAOR defenders now spot the BMPs following up behind the T-64s.  This is starting to look a bit dicey numbers wise. It's now 0500 and World War three has been raging for a little over an hour.  The leading T-64s are now into effective range of the Chieftains deployed on the ridge to their front.  Time for some payback.  Except this is the time that two dug in Milan teams make their presence felt.  Waiting patiently on overwatch they now unleash a barrage of ATGM's and while not destroying any Russians out right they cause two more T-64 platoons to fail quality checks..  That takes the T-64 battalion over 2/3 casualties and the formation has to take quality check for casualties.  They fail.  At this point the FFT rules would take the models off the table  I prefer to leave them on with mandatory retreat moves and having them no longer counting as a priority target.  With their tank support gone the BMPs are caught flat footed.  They have already moved forward and are now easy targets. "All Bravo call signs, Bimps in the open, advance and engage" In their movement phase the Chieftains surge forward over the crest line and engage at close range backed up with Milan fire.  It's bloody, 5 BMP platoons are wiped out in a matter of moments with only one platoon of infantry managing to dismount from the carnage.  To make matters worse the BMPs were unable to spot the Milan positions to return fire. Smoke was not as useful as hoped for by the Russians In a last desperate throw of the dice the BMP unit calls for fire support from the 152mm artillery but is told they are not available to him (Failed availability roll).  With tanks running free to his front and no anti tank capability other then the mounted up infantry the battalion CO orders the surviving BMPs to withdraw and dig in around Alte Ingelund.  It's 05:24 and already two full Soviet formations have been decimated with little chance of recovering vehicles or crews as the British hold the battlefield. As the survivors retreat the Brits pull back to their starting positions. Meanwhile around Ingelund, Battlegroup Bravo is mounting up and slipping quietly away to the west.   The day is still young and the fighting isn't over it's time to go, before Ivan unleashes massed artillery (or worse) on the ridge line. Russian survivors dig in and hope to be relieved Conclusion I rolled for the two sides quality and downgraded the Brits from the resulting 'superb' status to 'excellent'  I upgraded the Russian result to average as well.  The quality gap was still too high and in FFT troop quality is vital.  The Russians really need more toys on the table to make that scenario winnable given that quality imbalance and more and heavier artillery support would help as well.  Lastly the terrain is probably too open even for the North German Plain.  Next game I will try helicopter support as an add on and possibly the dreaded fuel air MLR as off table fire support.  the game played out well and even though I was using the full rules for the first time completed in under three hours.  I'm sure I must have made some mistakes and I still have not really fully grasped the artillery rules but onwards and upwards!  Ivan has two other lines of advance and BAOR is stretched pretty thinly so they may not be so lucky next time.

NATO Northag HQ - Intelligence briefing 09:00hrs Friday 4th June

"Good morning Gentlemen.  We face a concerning development today.  It appears that our old friend Ivan may be attempting to pull a fast one on us.  

Their recent exercises may have been a cover for a rapid mobilisation.  Intelligence sources within East Germany and Poland are all saying similar things about the military rail convoys returning units eastward.  They do not appear to be fully loaded and in many cases are apparently running empty or with only ballast onboard.  I won't bore you with the details of how this has been determined it involves some very brave chaps checking weighbridge data and other arcane stuff but it seems that the formations which came west for the exercise are not being returned to base.

Our American colleagues have satellite data supporting this hypothesis.  The heat signatures of the locomotives do not accord with them pulling fully loaded transporters and they have picked up isolated infra-red signatures within forest areas close to the internal German border suggestive of troops in bivouac.  This is the case everywhere we have eyes on Ivan and to be frank it is worrying.

Our normal presence on monitoring duties inside East Germany is facing the usual harassment and in a couple of cases this has included their vehicles being blocked from entering areas of interest.  In one case a vehicle was forced off the road.  Not spectacularly unusual but it does show a pattern. We are also noticing a reduction in the number of East German civilians coming over to our side of the border which suggests a tightening up of security in the border zone.  As a result NATO HQ is raising the alert level to 'attack imminent'.  I know we have been here before and it has always been a precautionary measure with a stand down following within 24 hours, but this time it has a different feel.  

I do not intend to allow us to be caught with our trousers down and have deployed reconnaissance formations forward towards the internal border as a trip wire these are supported by heavier assets from BAOR a few miles behind although in some locations they have been pushed further forwards."

HQ Battlegroup Bravo - Saturday 5th June 20:00hrs

"Listen in everyone.  I have a nasty feeling that this is not another one of those damn silly readiness exercises Brigade likes to chuck at us.  I'm hearing from our Bundeswehr liaison that German 1st Corps to the North is also on high alert tonight. Sorry but no beers tonight I'm afraid.  Stand too is at 03:00hrs, full combat load outs and full light discipline will be in effect.  Early to bed chaps we may be busy in the morning!"

Battlegroup Bravo - Sunday 6th June 03:45hrs

"Heads up, the games on!  We have solid reports of Soviet armoured formations breeching the internal border at multiple points across our frontage.  Its time to earn our pay and find out if we are as good as we think we are.  Mount up and  be ready to move in ten.  Full NBC precautions are now in effect make sure your guys are suited and booted.  Our recon troop is withdrawing rapidly without making full contact and we will shortly be the front line.  It looks like tanks with infantry support coming our way Our job is to slow the initial thrust and to identify the axis of advance.  If this is really 'it' then we are going on a bear hunt and it's going to be a long day"

As the day starts to dawn Battle Group Bravo moves forwards into their fighting positions. 

The first battlefield - Ingelund Crossroads

The image above shows the battlefield for the first clash in and around the village of Ingelund.  It is a fairly open area with a low ridge running to the east of the village at right angles to the Soviet line of advance.  The yellow lines show ridges which block line of sight but don't have any other effect on combat or movement.  The actual table will have other features non of which will have any effect other than as cosmetic features.

The initial Soviet formations entering the Map are a Battalion of T-64s and a Battalion of BMP-1 mounted infantry.  In reserve is a second Battalion of T-64s.  They enter from any point on the right of the table.  BAOR has a Squadron of Chieftains and a company of infantry with FV432s as transport.  There is a further Battle Group in positions to the immediate south of this table and recon formation to the North East (so on adjacent tables).  These will be tasked with holding at those locations until it is clear that there is no risk of parallel Russian columns advancing through those areas.  Both sides have off table artillery support available.

While I still have some painting to do the 1982 cold war campaign has been taking shape and I have most of the combatants ready to roll (in the Warsaw Pact case quite literally so).  I'm running it with a time limit for the Warsaw Pact.  They have to exit the west side of the campaign map (and maintain a supply line back to the east side) within 24 hours.  After all they only have a time budget of seven days to the Rhine.  I have come up with an alternative time line that doesn't involve a limited theatre nuclear exchange as a starting point, which was the case with the actual Soviet plan: Seven days to the Rhine.  

It’s an alternative 1982!  

After some persuasion from Ronald Reagan, Mrs Thatcher decides not to withdraw HMS Endurance from the South Atlantic and instead she increases the garrison on the Falkland Islands.  Reagan wanted Britain to shoulder more of the burden for security in the South Atlantic as he was concerned about Communist influence in SW Africa and didn’t want them to gain any kind of additional influence in South America which might allow them to interdict the other half of the South Atlantic trade routes.  This prevented the Argentine invasion but slightly weakened the British presence in Germany.

Reagan supported the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan and increased support to Pakistan which in turn allowed high tech weapons to cross over the border.  The impact of these was a shock to Soviet analysts and hastened the end of the Soviet occupation.

Meanwhile in the Soviet Union Chairman Brezhnev’s fading health opened the way for hardliners to exert increased influence over Politburo policy.  Soviet concerns over the rise of Solidarity in Poland and the possibility of Western intervention should Soviet forces be required to suppress the movement created a climate of deep concern in Moscow.  This was not helped by President Reagan’s strongly anti-communist rhetoric and the American's forthcoming deployment of both cruise and Pershing intermediate range ballistic missiles to Western Europe.  The unsuccessful involvement in Afghanistan also created dissatisfaction in the civilian population at Soviet policy and the Politburo needed to do something to distract them.

In our new timeline these factors spur the hard-line camp into action.  The military see that there is only a limited window of opportunity for action against the capitalist west before Soviet military forces become incapable of meeting NATO on advantageous terms.  Intelligence is available about the next generation NATO weapon systems which are starting to become available (Challenger, Leopard 2 and Abrams MBTs for example) suggesting that they will never have a better chance of victory than this summer.  The politicians have concerns that any perceived weakness will also bring about liberalisation in their Warsaw Pact allies and this will become a uncontrollable downward spiral.  This laid the foundations for an update to the 1970’s operational plan.

The original plan for ‘Seven Days to the Rhine’ was based on a NATO first strike and had called for a limited nuclear response upon NATO facilities and ports in Europe to hamper US re-enforcements reaching Germany.  If, instead, Warsaw Pact forces launched that first strike it was expected that NATO would retaliate in kind hitting targets along the Polish Russian border to restrict Soviet resupply and re-enforcements.  There were worries that this would lead to a rising within Poland and so a non-nuclear initial assault was planned.

Soviet forces in East Germany along with East German and Polish forces were told to prepare for large scale exercises and under cover of this troops in the western Russian republics were also activated.  After troops moved up to their jump off points dummy convoys were used to make it appear that they had returned to base at the end of the exercise.  As far as Soviet military planners are aware this worked.  The attack was scheduled to commence on Sunday 6^th June 1982 in the hope that some NATO units would be less field ready as it was known many western servicemen had a habit of going out on the town on Saturday evenings and as this was also the anniversary of D-Day this might have exacerbated the effects of the night’s drinking!  

At 04:12hrs in the twilight of Sunday 6^th June, the first Soviet assault units cross the internal German border heading West.  Operation Krasny Shchit (Red Shield) is underway.

The opposing forces 

BAOR has an armoured Brigade consisting of two regiments of Chieftain Mk5 MBTs and an armoured infantry battalion plus an attached recon squadron of Scimitars, divided up into 9 individual battle groups.  In support is a a artillery regiment of Abbot SP artillery and some royal artillery anti-tank detachments.

The Soviet initial attack consists of four Tank Regiments with T-64A MBTs and two Motor Rifle Regiments mounted in BMP-1 or BTR-70s with an integrated T-62 MBT battalion.  These are supported by a Hind attack helicopter company and a Recon battalion.  Off table support consists of an MRL Regiment and a SP artillery Battalion.  The second echelon adds a further two Tank Regiments and a single Motor Rifle Regiment from Warsaw Pact allies.

Other rampant expansionists?

While all this is going I haven't forgotten the Dark Ages campaign and further action will be forth coming.  There are only a couple of potential battles to resolve before the clock ticks over to the next turn.

Or is the plural Frogfeet? 

Coming in at tree top level

The Russian air support has arrived in the shape of SU-25 ground attack aircraft.  NATO code name Frogfoot.  Its a chunky looking beast but whether it is as effective as an A-10 Warthog remains to be seen.

The Oddzial Osmy castings are crisp and clean with a couple of air release channels to remove but no flash.  I'm not certain that I have the Russian 1980's three colour camo quite right as the brown should be darker but I knew I needed to lighten it for scale and may have taken it too far.  its reminiscent of the USAF Viet Nam period three colour scheme which I always liked so that may have had an effect.  Still. at the speed they will be coming in at I don't suppose anyone will notice, or care!

Time to get the Blowpipe teams sorted for the BAOR I suppose.

This is a follow up to the post on 3mm basing a made a couple of days ago.  I'm doing it for completeness sake as a couple of people asked about the basing.  

Basing vehicles was easy infantry caused me a bit more of an issue.  The BAOR force uses specialist teams of less then platoon size in some front line roles.  These are mounted in the FV103 Spartan based on the CVR(T) chassis.  That vehicle provides transport for dismountable Blowpipe manpack anti-aircraft teams and Milan ATGM teams.  It also provides the mount for fire control officers for artillery and mortar support.  Its a smaller vehicle than the FV432

So I was going to need to be able to distinguish between platoon sized infantry units and specialist teams.  The team based solution seemed obvious, mount them on pennies just like the vehicles.  For an infantry platoon I clearly needed a bigger base to reflect the larger frontage so after some humming and hawing I decided on a rectangular base and plumped for 40mm x 20mm as a reasonable compromise.  This gives a platoon a game frontage of just over 150 yards.  Its not an exact science though as frontages differ in different terrain, attack or defence postures.  So I'm going to go on record as saying the base shows the unit's 'centre of gravity' not necessarily the actual operational footprint at any given time.

A BMP company and dismounts

For figures per base I have worked on the basis of the platoon transport being represented by one vehicle so its troop payload can be represented by the same number of figures as that single vehicle's passenger count, give or take a figure.  This works well for the BAOR with a standardised system of transport but less well for the Soviets who have a number of different APCs and IFVs in use at the same time.  In general BTRs carry slightly less men than BMPs so I just went with an average.

The bottom line is that it doesn't really matter.  A base is a base and provided both sides have the same footprints no-one is disadvantaged.  If it was real issue I would mark the same central spot on all bases and measure weapon ranges from that point.

One issue I have found with the Oddzial Osmy infantry is that as they are cast in strips they need to be separated into smaller groups or individual figures.  Although the bases have some narrowing where you might want to split them it is difficult as the metal they use is very hard.   My trusty side cutters struggle to cut it, so instead of the random groups I wanted to use I often end up with lines of troops.  I suppose its the price for the level of detail the casting metal makes possible.

The basing technique I use for the infantry is almost the same as that for the vehicle stands except more untextured base is left. So That involves random patterns in undiluted PVA with fine sand sprinkled on then more random patterns of PVA with my flock mix.  It breaks the bases up while still allowing them to stay visible on the playing surface.  probably not at all realistic but it works.

The Soviet dismounts are listed for FFT as having options of for each company of either three Rifle Platoons, or Companies with mixtures of Rifle Platoons, ATGM and Rifle or SAM and Rifle Platoons.  in each Company one platoon can be changed to a ATGM equipped one and/or a SAM equipped one.  The photo above has one of each option.  That then brings in the issue of telling them apart.  While I can tell the difference opponents might not be able to so the rear corner (left in the photo has either AA or AT marked in black and a coloured dot; light blue for SAM and Green for ATGM (sky blue cos the SAM is shooting into the sky and green as the ATGM is shooting ground targets I'm literal minded that way!).  It makes sense to me honest.

1. The finished base effect

The first step is to create a smooth surface to place the model upon.  I use Milliput for this as it sticks to the coin really well.  It also has the advantage that as a two part epoxy putty it will harden even if wet so I can smooth it over using a damp finger tip.  I recommend a small dish of water for that rather than licking the finger as Milliput has an interesting after taste!  A piece about the size of a garden pea seems about right to cover a penny.  I smooth that all over the surface of the coin making sure to get all the way to the edge and even a little over.  I trim off the excess around the rim with a piece of card.  I just use whatever I have to hand.  Use cardboard to trim the edge as some of the wet Milliput will stay stuck to the card an harden rendering the card useless after a while so it has to be changed.  The idea is that the Milliput is only slightly higher than the rim of the coin and doesn't extend beyond the edge.  For larger vehicles I make to grooves to represent the track marks behind the AFV.  Once that is done put the base aside to harden.  The trick is to make up batches of about 20 - 30 bases at a time ready for the next stages.

2. Milliput layer and painting done

3. Side view showing the depth of Milliput used.

Next I paint the base, for this I use Vallejo Green Brown (Model Color 70.879) for this.  At some point I need to get this colour matched at a DIY store and get some acrylic house paint in the same shade as I do seem to use this for a lot scenic work.  I paint the Milliput surface and all around the rim of the coin.  This actually needs two steps as there is a small part masked by my finger tip where I hold the penny.  Painting in batches allows the first bases to have dried ready for me to paint the uncovered part by the time I have dome the last base.  I could tack the bases onto  a roof nail or similar I suppose but it would take longer to tack the base to a nail than going back to paint the masked bit of the edge.  A stripe of a dark brown (Vallejo Model Colour  70.872 Chocolate Brown in my case) in the track marks helps bring them out.  Again leave to dry before going to the next step.

4. A darker brown in the wheel ruts helps them to stand out.

The next thing to do is glue the vehicle to the painted base.  I do this after painting as a lot of clear glues dry to such a high gloss finish that it's hard to get paint to take on it.  Again, yes you guessed it, set aside to dry.

5. With vehicles glued on things are starting to come together

The last step is to texture the base.  There are a number of ways to do this.  Over the years I have settled on a couple of variations on the theme of sand and flock.   I apply some random areas of neat PVA glue to the base and sprinkle a fine sand over the base.  The sand sinks into the PVA and leaves a slightly raised area.  I knock off the loose sand and leave it for the PVA to dry.  I then do the same again on the bits that didn't get a sand covering but sprinkle flock onto those areas.  My flock isn't actually pure flock its a mix of a summer (or it might be spring) meadow flock (which has coloured bits to act as flowers) and a short static grass.  I sprinkle this by taking a pinch between my fingers and rubbing the finger tips together like sprinkling salt on a meal.  This seems to create a bit of a static charge which helps the grass part stand upright.  Once done I turn the base upside down and give the underside a sharp tap as a further incentive for the grass to stay upright.  And that, as the man said, is that!  It isn't necessary to cover every bit of the base in sand and flock as the base green-brown colour blends in really well.

6.  You can see how the sand sits 'proud' of the bases here.

If you need to ID the models, which I do for Fistful of Tows, then a small patch of colour on the edge of the coin identifies the vehicle type and by default the regiment and a dot of contrasting colour (or two or three) shows which battalion they belong to.  For FFT models have to stay within a set cohesion distance of other members of their parent formation.  For Soviets the cohesion unit is the Battalion and for NATO it is Companies which requires a little more complexity using two colours of dot one for Battalion and one for company.  There is no real need to track formations beyond that.  I place this mark at the rear of the base as hopefully my troops will be advancing away from me!

7. Unit ID.  Green for T-72, left stripe is regiment 1 second is battalion 1 and 2.

The last part of this post deals with storage.  I'm a big fan of the Really Useful Box range of plastic storage containers.  I use the 4 litre size with two of their hobby trays in each for most of my DBA armies.  However, those trays wouldn't do the job for these models as the spaces in each division of the tray would be too big and too deep to hold 3mm models securely, so I looked at using foam insert trays instead. 

8.  The foam trays in use.

A quick trawl around Google lead me to a business called Just Lasered.  I contacted the owner via Face Book and explained what I needed and he designed the trays, checked back with me to be sure it was what I wanted and had them with me within a week!  Each tray has 80 x 2.1 cm diameter holes and  each tray has an offset so that by reversing the direction I place each one the holes do not line up.  Pennies are slightly over 2cm in diameter so the bases drop neatly into the hole with just enough space around so that when I lift the tray the model stays behind making it easy for my fat fingers to pick them up.  Better yet the trays are designed to fit exactly into the 4 litre Really Useful Box. I can get four 1.25cm thick trays plus a 1 cm topper into each box.  Great price too at £1.50 per tray, although postage hiked that up by another £4.50.  If I had ordered more at the same time the impact of postage would not have been so great I suppose.  So that is storage for 320 models in each 4 litre box.  More than enough for this project.