The Rotterdam Project Part 6 - Armour

Zombie Blog Post Alert!

Way back in the far lost mists of time - or just over a year ago, I was working on some Dutch Marines for a 1940 Chain of Command force. 

At the time there was an excellent range of figures and some support weapons from May 1940 Miniatures - based unsurprisingly in the Netherlands. The range was missing vehicles and some of the larger support weapons such as field artillery. This was before I acquired a 3d printer, but Paul D kindly printed a Pantserwagen M38 for me. It was a scaled up model from 1:144 so details were a bit fuzzy, and Paul had struggled with the print so it was warped, but beggars cant be choosers etc, so I put it together and painted it.

Covid and Brexit have made our planned Blitzkrieg campaign get delayed, but recently I saw a designer had released 1:56 (ie 28mm) stls for both the M38 and M39 Pantserwagens. They were not cheap by .stl standards, but I thought "why not?"

The M38 is the biggest model I have ever printed, and to be honest there are some issues with my print (not the stl which is superb), however it was declared "good enough for Government Work". Similarly the M39 with hindsight could have been printed at a better angle to avoid some of the obvious stepping, however on the whole I am very happy with the way these turned out. They're both hollow so are reasonably light, and I learned a lot from printing them that I'm sure will hold me in good stead for the future.

A basic paint job and here they are.

That should put Herr Hitler off should he decide to cause trouble!

Second hand, Shot down once, in great condition (don't look a gift horse in the mouth) - SB2s for my Finns in Blood Red Skies

I've just finished (should that be Finnish-ed?) my latest BRS Squadron. Tupolev SB2s for Blood Red Skies.

Finland were one of the surprises of WW2. They became involved due to self defence, ended up on the Axis side for a while - "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" etc, and then switched sides when it was clear which way the wind was blowing. All in all they did what was needed to survive. This does mean they have a very interesting choice of aircraft, starting with what we would broadly say was a mix of "Allied" types, then switching to "Axis" (German) types as events dictated.

I've got a Squadron of (sigh) Brewster Buffalos as my Finnish fighters, and I wanted something suitable to use in scenarios to match them. The obvious choice was the Bristol Blenheim, but doing some scrabbling around in my "spares" box I found I had a trio of mismatched Soviet Tupelov SB2 models, so I thought, why not?

How Finland got to be flying SB2s is an interesting yarn in itself. When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1940 the Finns put up some rather stern opposition, shooting down quite a few attacking SB2s. They recovered as many as they could that had crashed and in a remarkable and resourceful effort managed to build five flyable planes from the collected wreckage. They eventually lost the Winter War, but when the Germans attacked Russia in 1941 these five were now ready for service in what became round 2 - the Continuation War. As the Germans overrun many Soviet airfields they captured several SB2s on the ground in various states of repair, and sold sixteen of them to their new allies the Finns. These were amalgamated into No 6 Bomber Squadron which served through to the end of hostilities flying maritime patrol and attack duties. They lost seven planes to accidents and breakdowns, but none to enemy action, which I suspect says quite a lot about the problems of flying patchwork cut and shunt aircraft. 

So I had three SB2 models. Two from Armaments in Miniature - nice resin cast models, and one plastic kit from Zvesda. The Zvezda model is a different version to the AIM models, with newer engines, but given the nature of No 6 Squadron aircraft I think this is not only appropriate but desirable. I further messed about with the Zvezda kit by adding a dorsal turret, an addition to some of the later Soviet SB2s and was shown in some photos of the Finnish operated ones. The turret was donated by a member of the Blood Red Skies Ready Room on Facebook - it was so long ago that I cant remember who, but Cheers! It originated on another Zvezda kit - their Li2 transport, and just sits in the gap where the dorsal window glazing would normally be on the Zvezda kit. It looks a bit awkward but actually is spot on as you can see in the pic. 

As an aside this is one of the most useful Zvesda Art of Tactic kits out there for BRS players as the Li2 was basically a C47 Dakota as used by the USA and Britain (but with a turret!) and can also be used as a Japanese LD2 transport plane. All you need do is remove the turret, which takes seconds. And by pure chance the same turret was used on the SB2s.

Paint was pretty basic. I didn't bother with panel lining because the Zvezda kit has very little surface detail and would be a PITA to try and get it to match the AIM ones. Decals are from the ever reliable Miscellaneous Miniatures. 

And all put to bed in their bespoke foam from Just Lasered

Getting Started with Blood Red Skies

Blood Red Skies is a great game. Quick to play, easy to learn, hard to master, cheap to get into, massive historical depth if you like that sort of thing, looks good and loads of fun. Now lockdown is ending (hopefully) I think it will see a bit of a resurgence. I sometimes get asked about starting to play Blood Red Skies, so here is my brief suggestions about what you need.

1. A starter set is nice, but not essential. The old Battle of Britain starter set is now out of print, and the new Battle of Midway starter set has been delayed so often that there are now internet memes about it. Hopefully "soon". All is not lost however. Free pdfs of the rules are available  Warlord site and Warlord have also bundled the excellent "Air Strike" supplement with a set of the game tokens. Air Strike is a supplement that contains the full rules plus loads of other "stuff" like attacking ground targets etc.

2. A Squadron. This is the first big decision, what do you want to play with? There are two routes to look at here. If you are totally new to the game, probably best top start with something "official" and buy a Squadron box from Warlord, which will include all the "stuff" you will need to run that Squadron. (A Squadron is usually six planes btw in BRS). If you want to go for something not available in Squadron boxes I would first check to see if the plane type you want is in one of the "Expansion" card sets - there are five of these, one each for the British, German, US, Soviet and Japanese, and each contains six data cards for planes plus and all the other bits to play them, just not the miniatures or bases. Somewhere in there your Squadron will be available, and everything in the expansions are covered one way or another by third party model manufacturers (almost).

3. An opponent, and you are set to go!

Ok assuming you did all that and want to go further, what is your next choice? I'd suggest a bomber squadron. Bombers in BRS usually play a secondary role to fighters. They're provided free as assets in scenarios and usually based around the number of "engines" - so six single engines, three twin engines or two four engine planes are used per Squadron. It does pay to pick a bomber type that matches your fighter Squadron, get something historically appropriate too.  Trying to escort Mosquitos with Gladiators is not going to be easy :-). Personally I don't think you can go wrong with twin engine light bombers. They may not be the best from a defensive point of view, but they usually have enough speed to get to a target and just enough firepower to make attackers nervous. I am slowly building my collection and for each period of WW2 - early, middle, late, I plan to have at least one fighter and one bomber Squadron. For example my WW2 Soviets will have 3 each of Tupolev SB2 bombers for early war scenarios, PE2s for mid war, and Tu2s for late war. These are all twin engine light bombers and match up well with my fighter squadrons. 

AND what to avoid. Ok this is just my opinion, but avoid metal models. They're too heavy for the game bases, so you need to put them on special base extensions. That in turn makes the game cramped to play (bigger bases) and it is just not worth the hassle, particularly as most planes are now available in plastic or lightweight resin from somewhere. Also replace the measuring stick thing that comes with the counter set. It looks cool but is a PITA to use. Get a third party one from ebay \ etsy or wherever, or just use a tape. 

So there you go. Grab a Squadron and get into the cockpit - it's a great game. Hopefully I will see you in the skies!

   

Stirrings

 

I think this may be the case. After some time of just going through the motions the prospect of actually getting some games in "soon" has reawakened my desire to get some models painted and on the table.

Partly this is the prospect of rolling some dice, and partly the arrival of a couple of new games, or at least blowing the cobwebs off some old projects.

The "new" is Reign in Hell - a skirmish fantasy game set, well, in Hell. It is the now standard small skirmish format with about seven models a side. Back of a postcard is it is Frostgrave in Hell, with players leading their Cabal of demons and devils in an effort to be crowned master of Hell. It lools clever, fast and brutal, and is "miniatures agnostic - ie you can use what you want as long as it has horns, wings, tentacles or claws, or any combination of the above. You chose your faction and Leader, and you get a very enthusiastic second in command, and build the rest of Team Hell using a hundred points (Souls) then go and rip the other side to bits. You usually get about 4-5 minions to start with. All looks good fun. First game planned for next week.

Next up - Mortal Gods. I've blown the dust off these and actually read them. Long and short they're "Test of Honour" set in Ancient Greece. As TOH worked quite well I cant see any problems there. I will need to paint a couple of figures up, but I suspect I'm ready to go.

Then there is Blood Red Skies. I love BRS and the prospect of finally getting some games in has made me try and get some of the backlog painted. Hopefully I will get a Squadron of MiG15s and some Sb2 bombers done by the weekend.

So now I've said it, I better start trying to get everything painted. Reign in Hell I will have the weekend to put my Cabal together and get them painted, but to be honest I'm expecting quite a lot of red there so maybe not too much of a challenge!

Cheers 

SPQR Revised Edition or "Show some Passion, you Lazy......"

I'm going to need an analogy for my relationship with SPQR from Warlord Games.

Sometimes in football (soccer for The Cousins) your team signs a new player, usually a striker. Great things are expected from them. The crowd are initially very enthusiastic about the new signing. He looks the part. Then after a few matches it seems something isn't right. The striker is not delivering, not putting the effort in, is lazy or just doesn't care. The crowd's initial enthusiasm turns to bewilderment and then to exasperation, and sometimes to downright hostility.

That was me with SPQR. My thoughts on this were posted up after they were first published and the disillusionment was at it's height here  https://twtrb.blogspot.com/2019/08/spqr-warlord-do-it-again.html

Originally much touted by Warlord as a great new Ancient "Warband" scale game (30-50 ish figs a side). This was pitched right into Two Fat Lardie territory and looked like it could deliver. Beautiful book, excellent artwork. First glance showed a character progression system, campaigns, the works.  What could go wrong?

Then the elephant in the room - the rules were shite (sorry, that is my considered view). They were not bad - they simply didn't work. After a couple of games it became clear these were unplayable. They lacked any integration between the individuals and units, there was no tactical thought, there.... ok look these were bloody awful and the list of things that didn't work in the rules will take longer to explain than I would care to waste. Probably the worse set of rules I've ever seen chucked at the public. Playtesting??? there are a list of playtesters and frankly they should hang their head in shame. I suspect these are Warlord staff who messed about but didn't actually point out the problems because they were in house and didn't want to rock the boat, or were playing a different game. In addition to the crap rules there were some almost unbeatable combinations - Gauls with a certain combination of large units and heroes would destroy everything they contacted without fail. The only solution was something like an equally stupid \ gimmick build of massed archers who if they won the initiative would just annihilate anything they can see. Neither of these made for good games. SPQR was so bad I think I said they were insulting to the customers and not fit for sale. I got permabanned from the Warlord SPQR Facebook group for saying something along those lines.

So now Warlord have reluctantly recognised there were issues, and have produced a "revised" version. This was originally going to be available free to the poor suckers (like me!) who had bought the original. They changed this so it was available for free with a purchase of a box set from their Ancients line. I bit.

OK I have to admit I bit reluctantly. Warlord are getting a rep for just chucking out stuff that looks good but really is riddled with errors and typos. I'm not sure if this is a quality control issue or something deeper and related to the way they manage their projects and development. Either way it is getting to be a regular thing - Cruel Seas was an example, and SPQR was probably the worse case, but Victory at Sea also seems to have some big issues around a lack of proofreading, particularly in the "Fleet Lists" section - the rules do seem much more "nailed down" to be fair. 

Anyway back to SPQR (Revised). What has changed? Actually not a lot, but that which has changed  will impact on the game in a big way and for the better. Gone is the mind numbingly stupid "everyone fights in melee" to be replaced with only those in contact fight. This neatly fixes the issues previously with Heroes being able to fight at the point of a wedge and never take any risks until everyone else was dead. It also makes smaller units more viable. This is a good start. Gone are most of the bonuses that made large units unstoppable (or at least I think they are). Gone too is the "Parry" system, which allowed units or individuals to parry a number of attacks each turn, now replaced with a much easier to manage reroll system - though again you get to force rerolls irrespective of the direction of attack, so stabbing someone in the back still has no benefits, even when he is already busy fighting someone to his front. I'm not sure if this works or not, or rather if it is much of an improvement. I quite liked the mechanic that allowed a "pool" of shield parries and maybe just a tweak here may have been better?? Then again that was hard to keep track of, but this is very simple - big shields reroll all failed armour saves, little ones reroll 1s. Also the weapon "reach" idea has been reworked to make short spears a bit more useful and the whole idea of "reach" seems more coherent. Mostly. 

There has also been some tweaks to the points system, but as usual with Warlord some errors (?) have crept through. Just how many of these there are is open to debate - did Warlord actually intend for some equipment to be cheaper to buy for one faction than others? It's possible, but Occam's Razor points to a visit by Mr Cock Up.

So are they any good? Will the crowd like them? Back to my football analogy. Sometimes a Manager sees a player is struggling for motivation and kicks them off to Boston United on loan, where much to everyone's surprise they rediscover their motivation and return with a surer touch and become the seasons top scorer, receiving the plaudits and well deserved adoration from the home fans. Will this happen with SPQR (R)? Not sure. It will take some games to decide this, but I must admit I think there may be a spark of interest returning. Maybe they could be the new Marco Van Basten - who knows??

https://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2015/feb/24/adam-boyd-marco-van-basten-hartlepool

Painting Zeros wrong in Blood Red Skies - how to do it quickly! :-)

 

One of the big unanswered questions, just behind "Is there a God?", "Why do we dream?", "Is our universe the only one?" and "Why did they cancel Firefly but fund Star Trek Discovery?" is "What colour are early war Zeros?"

The only thing I'm certain of is they're not white. Probably. Why we still think they're white is a story for another day, and quite interesting, but I'm not going there now. The debate over the actual colour is still going on - the real experts seem to think a sort of light grey with a green-y tint, and Tamiya and others will sell you some paint for it. The only problem is I don't think it looks "right". I suspect that this is partly because the paints are designed to be used on 1:48 scale models and that at 1:200 for BRS you need to lighten them up. Whatever

Anyway this is how I'm painting mine. It is embarrassingly simple and quick yet I think it looks good enough for the table.

Step 1 undercoat with GW Wraithbone Contrast undercoat spray. Wraithbone is a funny off white colour designed for painting elves or fairies or something, but it just about ticks the box and takes 30 seconds or so to apply.

Step 2 block in the canopy in your colour of choice. I use a light blue but there are many ways to paint canopies and it is personal preference. Also paint the engine cowl. It could be black, but I stopped painting black stuff black on my BRS models and tend to use Vallejo German Grey because I think it looks better. Go back over the bits you missed and the canopy bars with "normal" GW Wraithbone paint.

Step 3 use GW Contrast Apothecary White to paint he panel lines. You follow the panel lines with a thin brush rather than wash the whole area down. This is the longest bit of the  process but is still pretty fast. 

Once dry, apply your decals of choice and you are done.

The models are A6M2s from the PlanePrinter Patreon printed on my Anycubic Photon, but the process works on any suitable model. Decals are from the "spares" box, mostly Warlord but some others thrown in. Yes it is certainly (probably) the wrong colour, but if these are on the table at a convention 98% of the passers by will see and immediately recognise them as Zeros, which is good enough for me.

Cheers

 

    

Blood Red Skies Digital - Shot Down in Flames

 

In case you missed it, the Kickstarter for Blood Red Skies Digital that I mentioned earlier failed to fund. This was a pretty big disappointment and a shame because the game was very promising.

There are MANY reasons for this I'm sure, so comments below if you want to discuss it - I'll get popcorn.

Cheers