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Post by Aaron on May 26, 2005 16:41:31 GMT 12
Hi! My name’s Aaron I was the driving force behind getting this thing up and running so I feel rather obligated to make sure I do it well! This shouldn’t be a problem as I normally have no trouble prattling on about random crap for far longer than anyone wants to listen.
I live and work in Auckland, my wife and I recently bought our first house so I’ve currently got 3 major tasks on the go (urgent house maintenance, turning the workshop into a comfortable games room & this). I’ve got a reasonably long history in war games (about 10 years) but in that time have stuck to GW games & all in 28mm so for this project I’m breaking out of that mold. My history of completed armies is not great; in fact the whole list would be… none! I have never managed to see an army through to completion. So my big aim here is to achieve just that, I want it to be fully painted, accurately modeled with a history/storyline.
The task I’ve set myself is to collect a 1500pt Flames of War army. I hope to also make some themed terrain to go with the army but as this is a totally new scale for me I have no idea how long it will take me to paint these little (15mm) fellas.
The army Ive chosen is a Mid War US Infantry Regiment. Its going to be modeled in the style & history of the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Battalion. These boys first made contact with the Nazis as part of the first wave of soldiers to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day. As D-day is actually “late war” they will be modeled as late war but gaming wise will be considered mid-war. This has a couple of advantages; mid war is the predominant era played in clubs/tournaments so I shouldn’t have trouble finding a game & I could also field them as late war with only a few additions. Of course it has 1 huge disadvantage; it’s not historically accurate. Ah well, my first love is gaming & you can’t have everything I guess.
They will be themed for their time spent in Normandy between D-day & when they took the city of St. Lo. For terrain I am looking at lush grass, narrow roads and high hedgerows (bocage) with the option of the odd farm house or even the out skirts of St. Lo as terrain pieces. During this time the 116th was supported by tanks from the 2nd Armoured Division (the original Hell on Wheels) so I can take Shermans, M5A1s & armoured recon units. Also the 29th Battalion was equipped with the new 105mm field howitzers before leaving the states so that gives me access to most of the cool gear.
So the stage is set for my little tribute to the 341 boys of the 116th who fell on June 6th 1944. Strange kind of tribute; playing a game based around their sacrifice but in this way I remember that WW2 was not just a great background for war games. World War Two was a nightmare faced & fought by people just like you and I. And, but for 60 years & the grace of God, I may have met you on the beaches of Normandy rather than on this forum.
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Post by c0d3monk33 on May 27, 2005 13:25:06 GMT 12
Aaron, check out www.linkaworld.com for Linka molds. These are pretty close to 15mm scale (although not exactly I don't think). I've got a few (B1, B2, B4 and R1 to be exact) and I'm jonesing for a new bag of Ultracal 30 from TopMark (furiously trying to find items to TradeMe to raise the cash) to finish that Mordheim table. A 20kg pail of Ultracal would cast a hell of a lot of Linka molds  . I'm pretty sure you can easily get a couple of brick farmhouses out of the molds I already own. Linkaworld also sell some cool looking 'church' molds. Each linka mold is $10USea as well so they're actually a pretty good deal if you're after some of your own. Wargames are actually a great way to gain respect and appreciation for our collective histories. For example I had no idea the NZers in North Africa were so widely respected (by allies and opponents) until I started reading up on them for FOW. |
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Post by PitYak Studios on May 27, 2005 14:03:41 GMT 12
Getting slightly off topic, but I was moved to tears, literally, recently.
I was sitting sculpting toy soldiers (as I usuallly am doing) when I realised it was Anzac day and the telly had all the tributary shows on. It suddenly dawned on me how preposterous it was to be sitting making little fighting men, while listening to these 90 and 100 year olds talking about the hell they went through at 17.
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Post by Aaron on May 27, 2005 15:28:56 GMT 12
Nah thats not off topic... Infact thats bang on the topic, part of what I want to do is get in touch with this part of our history. Ive kind of ignored WW2 and all it entailed with only a vague feeling of horror about it. Part of what I want to do whilst building and painting up this army is find out about the people who fought @ Normandy & what they faced.
The other side of what you said Phil is part of what (in my opinion) they were fighting for. Entrepreneurial freedom. Sure they probably didn't think they were doing it for someone to make toy soldiers but then again I dont think they would mind either. Perhaps for the freedom of people to make that choice for themselves (not to mention the right of people to exist regardless of race, colour or creed).
I dunno, who can say why people chose to go and who can say what people thought who didn't have a choice but still went... Im glad I haven't had to deal with anything like that but Im pretty sure if I had been around then I would have signed up. Its not that I think I would have been a good soldier (I wouldn't), I think my sense of moral outrage would have compelled me...
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Post by Aaron on May 30, 2005 11:44:23 GMT 12
Right well the plan for the first month is to get the core platoons in place. This basically involves painting about 95 15mm high GI’s. As a reward for this I’ve thrown in a support platoon of 3 M4A3 Sherman Tanks. These will be used in an anti-tank role (all armed with the long 75mm tank gun) and will suck up a bunch of points quickly saving me from having to paint another 95 GI’s. (Save that for next month) First Month A regimental HQ + 2 Bazooka Teams 2 full regiments of infantry + Bazooka Teams 1 support platoon (3 M4A3 Shermans) Ive been advised to glue 20 @ a time onto a piece of balsa and paint them like a production line but Ive decided to ignore that. Im concerned with Basing being too messy & carrying too high a risk of painting over a finished model. Im going to base them first then paint them in groups of 3 stands at a time (4 models each stand). I think this has 3 advantages an overall undercoat that will help seal the basing material, it leaves good space around the model to get into all the details & you see completed work more quickly. As I am painting squad by squad I should literally see the army growing. The painting approach is pretty straightforward: 1 - black spray undercoat. 2 - Paint the correct colour on the correct part (Painting by numbers!). 3 - A watered down black ink wash for shading 4 - Highlight with the original colour 5 – Mix in a little white and highlight again. (if time permits) 6 - Pick out the details. 7 – Stretch! For the base: 1 - Dry brush dark brown 2 – Dry brush lighter/medium brown 3 - Glue clumps of flock on in random patches. This isn’t very exciting but I’m concerned if I do the base too green the camouflage on my troops will kick in and I wont be able to see them! When I look at the piles of tiny men I’m sure I’ve bitten off more than I can chew but they are just so little they can’t take too long to paint! Can they? Here are the boys: album.co.nz/a?800Addendum: Ive just worked out my painting plan and it looks quite impossible…<br>Note: 1 Squad = 3 Bases/12 figures, 1 Com = 3 figures, 1 Bazooka = 2 figures 1st week: 2 Infantry Squads, 1 Com, 1 Baz Mon: Tues: Games Night Wed: Games Night Thu: Basing & Undercoat Fri: Paint Base Sat: Basecoat, Ink Wash. Sun: Highlight, Details & Decals 2nd week: 2 Infantry Squads, 1 Com, 1 Baz Mon: Basing & Undercoat Tues: Games Night Wed: FREE! (Come on I have to see my wife sometime!). Thu: Paint Base Fri: Basecoat Sat: Ink Wash. Sun: Highlight, Details & Decals 3rd week: 2 Infantry Squads, 1 2ic, 1 Baz Mon: Basing & Undercoat Tues: Games Night Wed: Games Night. Thu: Paint Base Fri: Basecoat Sat: Ink Wash. Sun: Highlight, Details & Decals 4th Week 3 Tanks, 1 HQ, 1 Baz Mon: Basing & Undercoat Tues: Games Night Wed: FREE! Thu: Basecoat Fri: Ink Wash Sat: Highlight. Sun: Decals/Details Oh damn…<br> |
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Post by c0d3monk33 on May 30, 2005 12:55:58 GMT 12
Holy crap! You're going to paint the entire full platoon in a month? I've only planned something like 5 bases a month! Hmmm, did the US platoons have more men in them? I seem to have only got 6 wide bases and 1 HQ, 1 Mortar, 1 Piat per Platoon as well...? My painting scheme is kinda the opposite to yours, after basing I plan to: 1) Prime white. 2) Paint base somehow (bit of drybrushing I suspect). 3) Base paint entire figure GW scorched brown. 4) Khaki, flesh, webbing, boots. 5) Round of highlighting. I'm using GW paints - because that's what I've got and I'm not willing to shell out extra $$$ for historic colours that look pretty similar to GW's range . How do you intend to paint the guns? I'm thinking black with a light light light drybrush of some kind of metal. Or heck...just black since we're speed painting! |
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Post by PitYak Studios on May 30, 2005 13:23:18 GMT 12
From what I know, us and british platoons where very different; numbers (I can dig out actual numbers if you are interested), quality of fighting men (the best us conscripts were creamed off for elite units, leaving the average rifle plattoon manned with lower quality troops), and tactical strengths (eg british supported by Brens, us supporting BARs).
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Post by c0d3monk33 on May 30, 2005 13:38:10 GMT 12
Yes I suspect it's not unreasonable that the Allies would use different organisation. I'm just glad I seemed to have picked the high quality troops with smaller platoon sizes . NZers had a pretty fearsome representation in the North African campaign after all! |
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Post by Aaron on May 30, 2005 13:59:03 GMT 12
I wouldn't like to comment on historical differences. Altho PitYak is bang on with the all the cream being skimmed off to other places and the GI's being whats left.
From a models point of view I bought the Rifle Company Box set which came with 18 (large) bases, 9 for each platoon for 3 squads of 3. I'm fairly sure the Infantry Platoon blister comes with the same number. I also got 1 HQ & 1 Bazooka for each Platoon + Company HQ.
Gun colour, Ill probably go with good ole Boltgun Metal but I might splash out on Vallejo (sp?) Gun metal if I cant find the boltgun or it looks funny.
What really annoys me is that I cant believe I fell for buying the US Army paint set. I said no about 3 times but finally I caved in... Useless boy... on the plus side the GW colours I needed I actually dont have so I would have had to buy them anyway.
Useless fact: GW paints are based on a PVA type product. If you are basing models you can actually use Citdadel paint instead of PVA. Paint it on, dip it in the sand & it will work! Perfect way to use up that Tentacle Pink you've never used! (this came from the guy @ Historic Games, Ive never tried it myself)
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Post by Aaron on May 30, 2005 14:06:20 GMT 12
Holy crap! You're going to paint the entire full platoon in a month? I've Im gonna try! That way I get the bulk of the army done in 1 full on month and after that I can relax and take more time on the fun stuff. I originally planned a Weapons Platoon (3 mortar 4 LMG) to be done this month too so I can always drop out 1 Infantry Platoon and replace it with a weapons platoon which should be a little bit easier; 8 Bases rather than 11 and fewer figures per base. |
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Post by PitYak Studios on May 30, 2005 14:11:24 GMT 12
PVA - polyvinyl acrylic. never thought of that connection before.
All acrylic binders (the stuff that holds the pigment onto the surface) are essentially the same, so thinking about it logically there's no reason why you couldn't use acrylic paint or acrylic printing paste (not that I would expect any of you to have access to that). If you could get printing paste binder, you would find it worked out about 1/100th the cost of PVA glue. Sometimes I wish I still worked in textiles! (not often though)
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Post by c0d3monk33 on May 30, 2005 15:31:41 GMT 12
Heh, as far as I know GW's acrylic paints and inks are just re-branded art supplies from Windsor & Newton.
I've always found GW paints to actually be pretty high quality...specially now that they've fixed those silly pottle lids.
Vallejo look like nice paints but a little thinner that GW's lines (oh my god with smaller pots too!)...which is fine for layers and layers of detail work but not for speed painting ... which is what I'm going to have to do with the 15mm guys. Their colour range kicks GW's ass though.
PVA is poly vinyl acetate ... but it's still a polymer just like acrylic paint which probably explains why the sand sticks.
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Post by PitYak Studios on May 30, 2005 22:06:19 GMT 12
oh yeah polyvinyl acetate. That's probably why I hadn't thought of it.
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Post by PitYak Studios on May 31, 2005 10:42:59 GMT 12
The reults of my extensive research (or the one article I read in Wargames illustrated) for late war armies:
American sections are twelve men, british ten and of generally higher quality, but armed with bolt action rifles against the us self-loaders. the article also says some us units should definately be considered the same quality as the british.
Support comes from a bren team for the british, who form into two sub sections, the bren team providing firepower with the riflemen in support. The US have a BAR, which is less effective than a bren, so the us section operates more as one rifle section, with the BAR in support.
That makes for an interesting difference in the two armies styles, I would say.
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Post by Aaron on May 31, 2005 15:46:12 GMT 12
From what I've seen the majority of the rules are very similar for US & British forces... I guess because the US supplied a large amount of the equipment but even the very different items (PIAT & Bazooka) have the same stats.
The M1 Garand & BAR they have included in Rifle squads, the US equivalent of the Bren is actually the M1919 .30cal machine gun (Im talking Flames of War wise here).
They've given the US the advantage of being able to fire on the move more effectively due to the auto loading nature of their main infantry weapons... If this is true or not I dont know but it sounds good to me!
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. I'm pretty sure you can easily get a couple of brick farmhouses out of the molds I already own.
