Jim's Wargames Workbench

One of my projects for 2026 is to continue the Arctic Eagles Bag the Hun scenario article, which will require some play testing once I've done the research and writing. I also want to get some solo Bag the Hun Russian Front and Continuation War games played and have already started painting models, both on 1/300th and 1/600th scale. One thing I don't have are any early La-5 fighters in 6mm, so I was pleased to find some GHQ 1/285th packs on eBay for a good price. I will add these to my painting 'to do' box!

La-5 Description — Planes in Profile https://share.google/rnQdQ4VBYGMdZXOSi

Up, Up and Away...or more likely Kaboom!

It's that time of year again where I set out my projects for the year ahead in the hope of actually achieving some of them. Last year I decided to focus on the First World War as my principal theme and, with a few minor and inconsequential diversions, I managed to stick with it, with a specific focus on Algernon Pulls It Off!. I have really enjoyed this and ideally would like to carry on, so...

...in order not to let this fizzle out, I will be continuing my Algy project into 2026, with a focus on the French Aviation Militaire, subject to Paul at Tumbling Dice putting the new models I requested into production (this is very likely but just a question of time...as always). I will be writing more scenarios, rules additions and possibly a follow on article for next year's Lard Mag, who knows?

In other air wargaming news, I am planning to re-visit a couple of Bag the Hun projects in the shape of Arctic Eagles and the mothballed Finest Hour campaign that I started organising a few years ago. I have done quite a lot of the spade work for both of these and it would be a shame not to get at least one of them ticked off in 2026.

As far as naval wargaming goes, the plan is to add the long overdue Spanish fleet to the 1/2400th scale Napoleonic naval project and, if I have time, the Americans or possibly some other minor power as well. After that I may well do something with 1/2400th ironclads again, quite possibly revisiting the Second Schleswig War and Battle of Jasmund, or perhaps finally get round to a new pre-dreadnought project, the Sino Japanese War being a hot contender using Broadside and Salvo. Who knows?

Finally, the ever neglected land wargaming aspect of the hobby will get some attention. This is always my Achilles heel, as I hate painting figures and have a particular aversion to 28mm. Not to be put off by this affliction, I have been encouraged by my eldest son, now back home from university for at least two years (!), to do some samurai skirmish games in 28mm. I am also planning to finally get round to some medieval semi-skirmish wargaming, with both Lion Rampant and 'another set of rules' as a focus. 

As a final footnote to all of this wishful thinking, I may even get a Through the Mud and Blood 15mm First World War project underway in 2026.....just don't hold your breath!

The Jasta 18 article and scenarios for Algernon Pulls It Off! have now landed safe and sound on Lard Island, hopefully destined for the 2025 Lard Mag. In the meantime, I'm thinking of writing something small for Bag the Hun to submit, with the Arctic Eagles JG5 theme a possible focus, although I've yet to decide exactly what it will be. The idea would be to have a brief introduction then perhaps two or three scenarios, but it all depends on whether I have the time. 

I've just ordered a copy of the latest Helion Publishing title on Soviet Curtiss Kittyhawks, as it's spot on for my Arctic Eagles Bag the Hun scenario article, which I'm planning to write up in the Autumn for the Lard Mag. The review pages look really intriguing and potentially very useful for combat reports, maps, photos and painting reference material. It's not out for a week or two so I'll have to wait and see!

I've been away in West Cornwall for a family reunion over the weekend, so got back very early today to find a package of bits from Warbases waiting for me. These are the components for some prototype flight bases to use with 1/300th or possibly 1/144th scale aircraft. 

The basic design uses a sandwich of two 40mm square, 3mm thick mdf bases, a double frame for 7mm mini-dice and a 50mm steel nail. The nail is upside down in the photo but will have the tip cut off and glued into a pre-drilled hole on the upper square, the flat nail head being the surface to which a magnetised model can be attached. It's all very simple and also cheap to put together, making it possible to supply multiple stands to match different terrain cloths without breaking the bank.

I'll glue this lot together during the week and will probably finish them off with a snow or tundra finish, to use with my 1/300th scale early war Soviet models, which I'm going to continue painting next year for both Arctic Eagles and the Contuation War. I also have some plans for Western Desert themed bases to use with 1/144th scale plastic models, assuming I don't go down a Russian Front rabbit hole with those as well? 

An obvious gap in my WW2 Soviet aircraft library has now been filled by a second hand but immaculate copy of this. Although not relevant for my current Bag the Hun scenario project, it's very on target for the Arctic Eagles one, which I'm planning to develop next year., being one of the most common adversaries for JG5 in the far North.

I had a brief chat with Mark Backhouse the other day, catching up on things as you do, when he mentioned that he's thinking of a low key local Lard Day at some point next year. I've offered to run a Bag the Hun game, if there's any interest, so was thinking of one of the 'off the shelf' scenarios from Red Star Rampant, possibly the Stalin's Eagles one, making use of my new hex mat and possibly scaling up to 1/285th? If not I may use the opportunity to work up a new Arctic Eagles scenario, which would be a bit less obscure and potentially pull in more players. 

I'm now organising the initial models for the Arctic Eagles project, starting with the fighters and fighter bombers of JG 5 Eismeer c1942-43. I'm using 1/600 scale for this as it's quicker and cheaper than 1/285th but may switch over to the larger scale for later games.

These will include twelve Bf-109 F/G fighters, using the Tumbling Dice Bf-109K model as it's much nicer than the proper model, twelve Fw-190A2/3 fighter bombers and twelve Bf-110 Zerstorer. 

There may well be more Bf-109's added later in the various interesting camouflage schemes used in the campaign. I'll also include a few extra one offs, such as the Ju-52 and Fw-189, to deploy for specific scenarios.

Although I started some background research for my Arctic Eagles project, I hardly scratched the surface so have pulled all the relevant Osprey titles from the book shelves, ready to do some proper scenario research over the summer holidays. Unlike some of the books from this series, these are generally pretty good, especially the ones written by John Weal, who really knows his stuff.

This Bag the Hun scenario and campaign project has been parked for a few months but I'm thinking of booting it up over the Summer, once the Royal Navy Napoleonic fleet is finished. I've made some decent progress with that over the weekend, so the deadline of the end of the month is looking realistic for a change! After that, I have a week or two to sort out some 1/600th scale aircraft, ready for painting in the holidays, so it looks like Arctic Eagles may well be taking off sooner than expected.m

I lost my painting mojo a bit this weekend so, rather than get nothing done I've started on recycling some old DIY hex bases for Bag the Hun. These were a nice shade of sky blue but I'm refurbishing them to use with the green hex mat I got for my birthday. They're not ideal as they only have one dice frame but better than having to make a whole new lot of them and more environmentally friendly! The plan will be to use some of them for a quick solo game over Khlakin Gol at some point later in the week.

I've been farting about with some redundant hex stands for Bag the Hun to match them with my, as yet unused but very smart, neoprene hex mat. I'm not sure I've got it quite right yet but the basic shade isn't too far off, given that the photos don't really show the actual colours. A work in progress but it's going in the right direction and will save me a lot of hassle for the Arctic Eagles playtesting in the latter half of the year.

After the Blood Red Skies game the other day I thought I'd get a set of aircraft to paint up, just for fun. As usual eBay turned up trumps with a really good bundle of Soviet Yak-1 fighters, an ace pack, a set of Soviet dice and some decals, all for twenty quid plus reasonable postage. Even if I don't play the game again, I can enjoy painting up the models and have the dice to use for Arctic Eagles or even my Back of Beyond Bolsheviks. Tally Ho!

This Russian film has an excellent sequence with DB-3 torpedo bombers attacking a German coastal convoy. Although set in 1941 in the Baltic, this was also a key aspect of the war in the far North of Norway in 1942-43. I've never used the torpedo rules in Bag the Hun but I'm very keen to include at least one convoy attack in Arctic Eagles, especially as I have some super 1/300th scale Scotia Collectair DB-3 bombers. I'm also trying to twist Paul's arm to sculpt one in 1/600th scale, as it's not in the Vapour Trails range. The actual historical attacks were usually made in low level bombing runs by A-20 Bostons, IL-2 Sturmoviks and even Handley Page Hampdens, but I have a soft spot for the DB-3, so will aim to fit them into the scenario narrative where I can. 

AIR

A Lard Mag Scenario project for Bag the Hun (1/600) - The Continuation War 

NAVAL

An early war Royal Navy fleet for the Norwegian Campaign (1/3000th)

Napoleonic Royal Navy, French and Spanish fleets (1/2400th)

A pre-dreadnought or WW1 naval project (1/2400th) - WW1 Turkish Fleet?

LAND

2mm ECW Royalist and Parliamentarian armies for One Hour Wargames.

As you can see I'm going to focus on naval projects this year, with air projects cut down to the Bag the Hun scenarios with an absolute minimum of land based things. I'm sure other things will crop up too but this is my core list of stuff to tackle in 2024.

A couple of second hand Osprey Publishing titles for the Arctic Eagles project via eBay, which will be very useful both for scenario research and painting. I've been after the Soviet Hurricane Aces book for ages, as it's out of print and often expensive, but this one was only seven quid, which is a bargain. Excellent!

Summer

Winter

I have a bit of time on my hands, so I may make a start in the aircraft for next year's Arctic Eagles project, rather than trying to paint all of the 1/2400th scale Napoleonic ships and rushing the job. I'll save the Royal Navy fleet to a time when I can concentrate on completing the models in one go, rather than in dribs and drabs, so they will definitely get done at some point sooner rather than later.

The starting point will be the Soviet fighter aircraft including the most common types in the theatre, the MiG-3,  P-40 Tomahawk, P-39 Airacobra and the Yak-1. The obvious omission is the Hawker Hurricane but I already have twelve of these painted in RAF pattern camouflage, so just need to add Russian decals for them to be usable. I will probably add some more winterised ones later anyway. 

I'm planning to paint this lot fifty-fifty in summer or winter camouflage, which will make it easier to manage and give me some options when it comes to scenarios. The winter camouflage is particularly straightforward and has the advantage of having some really colourful insignia, with lots of bright red markings and details in many cases.

Still rolled up...can't use it until Xmas!

The Xmas present arrived early over the weekend, a new mouse mat material hex mat from Deep Cut Studios for Bag the Hun. This is designed for Battletech but the hex pattern is 1.25" so ideal for 1/600th scale air wargaming with 30mm hex stands. The finish is fairly generic rough grassland which makes it ideal for both Khalkhin Gol and Northern Russia or Finland in the summer, as well as many other settings. It wasn't cheap but for a high quality, versatile mat it's well worth it.

The new hex mat I'm getting for Xmas has 1.25" hexes so I'm going to need some bespoke hex bases to use with my 1/600th scale aircraft. These 30mm laser cut hex based are ideal in terms of size but the sides are too small to fit my usual Warbases double dice frames. Instead, I'm going to use dice frames from Pendraken, which are thinner and fit without any overhang. As an experiment I ordered some smaller 5mm dice frames to see what they looked like and, to be honest, I think I prefer them to the 7mm option, which has been my dice size of choice for years. I think 5mm dice look better with 1/600th scale models for starters. What do you reckon?

I've been off work for a few days lately and have been struggling with chronic hearing loss due to a long term medical problem. This means I get very fatigued and also suffer from bouts of vertigo, which aren't much fun. It has given me some time to think about next year's projects though, one of which will be Arctic Eagles for Bag the Hun and possibly for Wings at War. There's potential here for a lot of really interesting scenarios and I'm going to use 1/600th scale Tumbling Dice aircraft. It's looking like a really exciting project and possibly a campaign based on the Finest Day system, modified to fit and with both Soviet and Luftwaffe options.