Polish uhlans!

Do you remember summer this year? When it was hot and half of Sweden was on fire? Seems like aeons ago. Well, back then Warlord Games had a summer painting competition. I decided that why not, let's enter it!

I decided to paint a small unit of Polish Uhlans, using the plastic kit from Warlord for "Polish Light line Lancers". 
I have three of those boxes - got two as a gift from my dear friends, and one that I bought myself before I got the presents. Oh, and I also have a set of "regular" lancers (identical sprues), that I was planning to convert with the heads from the Vistula Legion box.

Problem is that the figures are meant so be used as Vistula Lancers, not the uhlans from the Duchy of Warsaw. They aren't completely right for the lancers either, but even less so for Polish Uhlans. So I decided to make a few simple corrections.

First of all, elite companies wore "furry" colpacks even after 1810. However, this is easily amended since many units wore the czapka instead - and lets face it, it looked cooler.

Elite troopers. Have to say that my cellphones camera isn't that bad after all...

The bigger issue is the jacket (the polish Kurtka was shorter than the french jacket on the minis), and some of the equipment (belts & lances). That last part can be explained by the fact that polish units used all sorts of gear, and quite a lot of it was french indeed.

The officer is completely off though. But hey, he's a officer, and the did almost what the wanted! Almost...

The jacket is a hard nut to crack. To be honest though, most of it is hidden by various equipment and since I was lazy, I did only some minor adjustments by shortening the tail and adding some green stuff to the front. Looking back, I could have filed down the tail of the jackets completely and added a simple turnback instead of keeping the current ones. Ah well, next time. 

So the minis are not to be used as a formal guide to a typical Uhlan of the Duchy of Warsaw. Still, from a bit afar they look the part and most people don't know the difference anyway...hopefully.

I painted 8 men to use in Sharp Practice and Black Powder games. I recently realized that I need to paint another trooper for Sharp Practice, since the officer isn't part of the unit in that game.

 
I painted them in the colors of the 8th regiment, somewhere around 1812 (though I plan to use them for the 1813 campaign as well). I based 90% of my research on a wonderful book on the Polish Uhlans written by Adam Paczuski with illustrations by Ryszard Morawski (from a publisher called Karabela). Hellishly expensive, but really inspiring.

But what about that Warlord contest that started it all? Well it seems that 1) having a baby, 2) experiencing the hottest summer ever and 3) having a job really doesn't give much time to paint figures. So I never finished them in time for the contest. A shame!

Elite company

Troopers

But it got me started, and that's something! I even managed to finish my 24 men strong Vistula Legion battalion. But that's for another update...

Hope you like the pics!  

General update and 6mm Team Yankee

A peaceful day at the Danish countryside...

Hi guys! This post was supposed to have been posted already in early june...and now the summer is almost over! Its hard to balance family life, work and playing minis, so the blog isn't a priority. Anyway, here goes:

A lot has happened since the last post - I became a father in february. This has considerably shortened the already small period of time available for gaming, as some of you who are parents might already know. Still, I've managed to get some minis painted during the last ~6 months. There are some 28mm Napoleonics on the workbench for example (yes, I know, I'm insane), namely some guys from the Vistula Legion. I'll try to post some pics of them when they are done - right know I'm trying not to hate myself for choosing a unit with yellow uniforms... the most dreaded paint of them all. Sure, it looks good, but its impossible to get a good coverage within a normal amount of time.

I'm also making some terrain and putting some paint on more 6mm miniatures to use with the Team Yankee ruleset. I've even managed to play two games with them earlier this year, while my other half and our toddler spent a couple of days on the Swedish countryside.

Punch-buggy, red!

I'll throw some pics of it, just for fun - not the best quality, but at least you get to see some of the terrain I have. Its still not finished, as I need to paint more houses, make more of those large forests and paint the tree-trunks. In case you wondered, its suppose to be somewhere around northern Germany/Denmark, ca. 1986.

The first game was against Krieger, and he used my Danish force. They are supposed to be a part of a Mechanized brigade, and consist of Leopard I's with some

I didn't take any close up pictures of the danish forces opposing my Polish 1st army T-72M1's, since the are not done by a long shot. Still, it was a great game, even though I never managed to cross the road. I blame the dice though; for example, I managed to hit the danish Leo's 5 times, but only rolled a 2+ ONCE on the firepower check. That meant that 3 Leopards, parked out in the open with no cover, only lost 1 tank while keeping the whole flank secure.

The table for the first battle

Polish T72's advance

Spokojnie, spokojnie...

After the battle - no win this time...

The second game fared a lot better for me though. This time I went up against two opponents, each with their own armies. Mr E brought his British mechanized unit (along with some chieftains), and Mr W threw in some West-Germans riding in Marders.

Now I rolled like a god (even though the 3 first rounds were miserable) and managed to get my "mighty" CAS-asset on the table several times. Whats even better is that those Lim-6's (that a Polish ground support version of the... MIG-17 "Fresco") harassed not only the infantry, but also attacked and destroyed a platoon of Gepards! Now that's some good  rolling right there... sure, they lost 2 machines to ground fire at the and, but I lost count of how many 5+ saves I managed to roll - and how few 3+ rolls my opponents managed to get while shooting at them. I bet they wont be that good once I've painted them...

Second battle, slightly changed set up. Polish armour rumbles forward...

No more pics were taken, since it was to hot to think straight and i think a bit of my cell actually melted. Still, I won!

There are almost no pics from that game, since it was damned hot inside our apartment and all of us wargamers were a tad whiney. Still, we had a good time, ate some pizza and, oh, I didn't roll like a skunk. Yey for Lim's!

I really, really like 6mm, especially the way one can easily make the table actually look aesthetically pleasing. Much more so than I excepted at first, and I do recall that I once regarded the scale as "too small".

Besides looking good, it also makes much more sense for a fast paced, modern, half-realistic game with large formations like Team Yankee to be played at smaller scales. It feels a bit like playing Wargame: Airland Battle, a computer game that I suspect inspired Battlefront (manufacturers of Team Yankee) as much as Harold Coyles old novel.

20mm Plastic German Infantry for September 1939 - and thoughts about Battlegroup

The whole platoon assembled! Included is also a three men "Forward HQ" (the "alte häse" lacks a staff car though)

I've been working on my 20 mm (1:72/1:76 scale) figures during the end of last year. They were originally made for the Chain of Command ruleset (and I still intend to use them for that as well). However, lately I've been playing some Battlegroup, and while I'll mostly use my 15mm minis (FoW-figs) for that game I do like to play skirmish in 20mm, and BG is good for those 2-hour games.

Battlegroup is a great ruleset, a bit like a more detailed Flames of War - with much better army lists. I actually don't despise the rules in Fow V4 (in many ways they are a improvement over V3), but I do miss the historical feel of the earlier version (which I played for more than 7 years). This is mainly due to the simplified army lists and a community which more and more focuses on tournament play. This may work great for some, but I don't like seeing Italian desert troops squaring of against a Polish armoured train for example. I'd rather play a SF-game then (which I occasionally do). Somehow this is reflected in the rules and in the way the game is promoted. Back in the days, one could find "obscure" stuff like the Slovak fast division in a free PDF on the website. Now it's all just tanks, tanks, and tanks. And all that fender-to-fender driving! Playing wargames for me is a visual experience, and sadly most FoW-games look like one big tank park to me. But I won't judge anyone liking that, and I will also keep on playing my friendly games since FoW is a good way to play with larger formations without getting bogged down timewise.

Battlegroup, however, tries to give one the right historical "feeling" while not getting overly detailed. A small skirmish can be over with in a matter of 2 hours, even with me talking all the time.
One negative thing is that some of the rules could have been better explained - one is assumed to figure things out by one self. While it is nice to be trusted and given the opportunity to alter the rules to ones perception of historical reality, things like what is a team and what's not are confusing at times. The learning curve is at times a bit to steep because of that, even though the rules themselves are quite easy to get a grip on. But this is not unique for any wargame.

MG-team from FtF and Pegasus (the kneeling rifleman).

Back to the figures - these Germans are normal schutzen, nothing out of the ordinary here. They are made for the Polish campaign, September 1939, with jackboots, stone-grey trousers and feldgrau M36 jackets. All are armed with Kar-98's, with three MG-34's for support. The platoons back then were larger than the ones later on in the war, numbering whole 13 men per squad - and yes, it took ages to paint.

Left to right: Figures from First to Fight, Elheim (x2) and Pegasus

The figures are hard and soft plastic mainly (I was on a budget when I started this some two years ago) and are from several companies: First To Fight ("German Infantry 1939", "German Infantry Support Weapons" and "German Command") and Pegasus ("German Army Infantry 1939"). These are the only companies that make Germans that are actually for September 1939 - most manufacturers make miniatures with the "Y-straps" even for the early part of the ear while almost all photos from this period show no such straps (even in France). Since I intend to only use those in Poland, I want them to be more accurate for my chosen period.

MG-team from Pegasus

MG-team from First To Fight

 The FtF ones have some fun poses (not all though), but are somewhat lacking in some details (like the strap for gas mask container). The soft plastic is a bit off putting as well. Overall, their Polish infantry (seen in a earlier post on this blog, back when I started the project) is much better.

Pegasus miniatures

The Pegasus figures are a bit small, being 1/76 rather that 1/72 but since real men have different heights its not that much of a problem to me, especially since I've tried to keep them in separate squads. The plastic is quite hard, and requires some assembly. The poses are realistic, with many of the soldiers trying to keep a low profile. What I can't understand is the amount of guys armed with MP-38's, a weapon that was seldom used during the Polish campaign. Still, I've used one of those because "the rule of cool"... he's in the platoon HQ, of course. Someone got lucky!

The Elheim metal figures.

I also had three metal figures, from Elheim miniatures. Great sculpting as always, although some of the shovels seem a bit to small. Where it not for the Y-straps, I've would have bought even more of them. They do mix pretty well with the figures from FtF (though bit on the "heavy" side), but I wouldn't place them too close to the Pegasus ones.

Kneeling riflemen from (left to right): FtF, Elheim, Pegasus

Comparison of riflemen: FtF (left) and Pegasus (right)

Oh, and I do apologize for the photos - they are taken with my cellphone since taking out the camera is quite a process these days. I wanted to post some photos pretty quickly, rather than waiting another year before making an update ;)

Team Yankee 6mm Polish Tank Battalion

Who's got small hands now, huh!?

I can't believe it – it's actually been almost two (2) years since my last update! Crazy. And a bit sad, since I had big plans for this blog once! But live and learn, right?

Too many hobbies, to little time (and money). Anyway, it doesn't mean that I haven't been busy. I've done some nerdy stuff and even had the opportunity to do some gaming. I won't bore you with every one of my projects during the last two years (well, not yet – hopefully I'll make more posts in the future!), but here are some pics of a project that I started and actually finished earlier this year.

Team Yankee in 6mm

I've been playing a bit of Team Yankee, and decided that 15mm is way to big for any games larger than a reinforced platoon. Sorry Battlefront, but it just looks horrible with hordes of modern armoured vehicles going fender-to-fender on regular 6x4 tabletops. Besides the aesthetics of it, the table gets filled with minis and manoeuvring looks more like chess rather than a miniature wargame. I think that 15mm works on 30-40 points though, so I won't stop playing it (unless the coming Battlegroup rules change that...).

However, in 6mm it works just great! It looks and feels better, even with (almost) no rule changes. Oh, and I've halved down the size of the bases for infantry – I use small FoW-bases instead of medium ones for the infantry, and half sized small ones for weapon teams like the RPG-teams. Any large size teams (I don't have any yet) would be placed on medium sized bases.

The distances makes more sense too, even though they are still a bit off (3mm would be more correct), especially regarding artillery. Still, it feels way better.

Batalion Pancerny, marsz!

So, being into Polish military history I decided to build a Polish T-72 battalion (so far using the East German rules). Since it's 6mm I also liked the possibility to make all of the fighting elements in a chosen unit. Well, at least the ones that would be on table using the TY-ruleset.

In order to keep costs down, but still have decent miniatures I bought everything from Heroics&Ross. Sure, it's not GHQ – but it didn't break my bank either. It still looks good if one paints it right.

I went quite generic with my army - this could be any of the updated Polish tank battalions, with the most up-to-date gear available around 1986 (I really don't buy that this is 1985 anymore...). It should be one the units in 1^st army though, poised towards northern Germany and Denmark (the Jutland army group). Doing some research, I finally opted for the following list:

1 HQ-tank:

 

3 Armoured Companies; 10 tanks each (1 command tank and 3 platoons with 3 T-72's in them). One of the companies got the T-72M, while the rest got the T-72M1 variant (the one depicted in TY):

T-72M, the first export version built in Poland

The T-72M1, not built in Poland until 1986

1 Recon company (with 7 BRDM-2's – 1 command vehicle and 3 small platoons with 2 cars each):

1 Self-propelled AA-company, with 4 ZSU-23-4 in 2 platoons:

1 Infantry company, made up of 10 BWP-1's (3 platoons and one command vehicle) and infantry. BWP is by the way the polish name of the the BMP:

As far as I've seen there were no separate PKM-platoons in the Polish army. Instead the PKM was used as a squad support weapon! I've yet to have to change the spec's in TY to reflect this...

By the way - I like most of the H&R-models, but the BMP-1 just doesn't look right. Here's a comparison with the Battlefront one in 15mm:

 

Since I'm comparing scales - the difference between 15mm and 6mm is really big:

 Anyway - thats a Polish armoured battalion around 1986. I haven't made the sappers though, since they don't have any rules in TY.

This battalion has some divisional support too, in the shape of two 3-gun batteries of the self-propelled 2s1 "Goździk":

...and two platoons of the 9m31 Strzała-1 AA-system:

All vehicles were painted with Vallejo Air US Dark Green as a base, pin-washed with Army painters Strong tone, drybrushed with Vallejo Grey green and with some high-contrast highligts with Vallejo Deck Tan. The bases were painted Vallejo Flat earth, drybrushed with sand and grey paints. The infantry was painted Vallejo Grey green, over a Field Grey base.

In a hopefully not too distant future, I plan to buy and build a battalion of T-55AM "Meridas", to swap with the T-72's, and some TOPAS transports (a BTR50pk variant) for the Polish marines and a company of PT-76 tanks. Oh, and some Danish resistance...

 And lastly - an epic photobomb by my fiancée:

 

Commission work - Infinity Corregidor Starter set

About a week ago I finished a small commission for a friend. I don't do these to often, nor do I claim to be the best at it, but I think he was satisfied with the work! 

The models are from the Nomads Corregidor Jurisdictional Command Sectorial Starter Pack. 

The Infinity figures are very well sculpted, and overall I liked the poses. Though someone really should tell people that women in uniform tend to look like men in uniforms, not like pinups. And that sports bra's might be an option in the future aswell. 

On the other hand, realism is not really an option in this Anime-inspired game. It's just that a bit of variation wouldn't hurt. The same goes for the male models, though I wouldn't mind having a tight butt like that! I have to work out more...eh...start to...nevermind, I'll just talke another piece of that cake instead.

The brush strokes are far too heavy, in my opinion, and the lighting effect only worked to some degree. I may have to work more on the yellow, too - a hard colour if any to work with!

I have some more to do in the near future, maybe I'll even give it a try with my airbrush (that is, if the compressor holds up - the other day, it gave up for a brief time during painting, coughing and generally giving me a scare).

Hope you'll like them!

/Bartosz