Saturday 13 October 2012

The Bear and The Eagle Campaign Map

This is the campaign map from the excellent 'The Bear and The Eagle' campaign from the CWC forum posted here as a favour to Patrick.


Tuesday 7 August 2012

Help IDing Indian Aircraft

Can anyone help with identifying these aircraft lined up at Ambala Airbase during the 1965 IndoPak conflict.


Monday 23 July 2012

Industrial Island

Started work on one of the terrain pieces for Arctic Strike. I plan for this to go near Bodo Harbour although not strictly in the right place there is something similar further down the coast but I liked the idea of making an Industrial Plant on an island. It can be used for other conflicts like Iran/Iraq or South China Sea. I have made a start with a base of 6mm MDF with a insulation board hill. The hill and surrounding area have been coated with a layer of filler then painted green. The other areas are covered with vinyl floor tiles and sprayed grey to represent the concrete. I have tried to leave enough room between the buildings and storage tanks etc for bases to fit through. This is a rough mock up of what the finished installation would look like. If anyone has any comments or ideas, let me know.







Sunday 8 July 2012

More Poles

Managed to get some time to finish a few more units for my Polish 7th Naval Assault Landing Division.

Divisional Tank Battalion equipped with PT-76's

More PT-76's, one per Naval Assault Co. 

Engineering Support in the shape of a MT-55 Bridge

BTR-60P to be used for general transport duties

SA-7 teams with BTR-50 transport

3 ZIL-485 Amphibious Trucks which will be used as LORI's, just need to add some cargo to these to finish them off.

Still to come Divisional AA and Artillery plus recce/CO and HQ's

Thursday 5 July 2012

Israeli Inflatable?

Can anyone identify the inflatable barge type thing in the background of this picture. I found it on http://idf-armor.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/blog-post_28.html and would appreciate any info anyone can supply.


Monday 2 July 2012

Pole Rebasing

After seeing Steve's great Soviet armour at Crisis Point and after discussing plans for Arctic Strike I have decided to ditch my old basing method with the labels on. I may still use them for a different project we shall see. So I have started rebasing my Polish 7th Naval Assault Landing Division with some additions from my big purchase from David Lambert.

So here is the beginning of the 7th!

Naval Infantry plus Topas 2AP transports (Conversion using H&R BTR-50 + turret from H&R WWII Italian Autoblinda a/c - thanks to Mark Bevis for this great idea and I think they look spot on)

Close up view showing the results of the conversion better

Heavy Weapons Platoons (HMG + Mortar) in Topas 2AP's 

Ant-Tank Platoon (AT-4 Spigot + SPG-9)

Another view of Anti-Tank Platoons

Engineers with Flamethrowers + BTR-50 transports

T55 support for Naval Infantry


Made a Start - Arctic Strike 2013

Made a start on some terrain pieces for Arctic Strike 2013. Using my plasterboard tape window method with some packaging, coloured card and textured card from Hobbycraft I made up some Fisherman's Huts that appear around the coasts of Northern Norway and along the edges of the many fjords. I also plan to make some of the large fish drying racks that appear but am experimenting with the best method of doing them. Sprue stretching seems to be the best method so far, as it gives me a really thin plastic rod. I hope to get a sample done this week.

Anyway back to the Fisherman's Huts.





Got lots of buildings for Bodo to do including the Radisson Hotel and the Cathedral both major landmarks. Also started work on the airport terminal building. I will post some WIP photos soon.

Sunday 17 June 2012

Its MIG Time!

The aircraft for 'Arctic Strike' are massing as a couple of Mig 21's join the battle. Just got the bases to finish on these two, another two Mig 21's WIP.




Yakkety Yak Don't Fire Back

My first two aircraft are complete for 'Arctic Strike'. A pair of Yak 38's to support the Naval Amphibious Forces of the Warsaw Pact.






Monday 11 June 2012

Yakkety Yak

I have started work on a couple of Yak-38's for Arctic Strike 2013. I will post photos as soon as possible. The first two are the standard blue colour scheme but while looking for reference photos I cam across this photo. I think I may have to get a couple more Yak-38's and have a go at this colour scheme next!

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Norwegian Church

I have started work on the first of many buildings for Arctic Strike 2013. This one is a Norwegian Church based on this photo.


My version using my plasterboard tape method for windows and the rest from cereal boxes etc.



Still got to paint it and base it but so far I am happy with the 'Arctic Strike' version.


Thursday 17 May 2012

New Toys

I have recently received the first two batches of 'Goodies' from David Lambert. David had a load of 6mm Modern stuff available including Swedish, Russian, US, West German, French and some Israelis. The first two boxes contained a load of Swedish and Russian vehicles, aircraft and infantry. I plan to document the massive task of sorting through and basing them here. Many thanks to David.

The Daily Commander

Reports of a military build up on the Norwegian border.


Friday 4 May 2012

Arctic Strike 2013 MAPS

For Arctic Strike 2013 the plan is to play out the fictional invasion of Norway by Warsaw Pact forces. The following maps show the four tables that we plan to use.





Sunday 29 April 2012

Arctic Strike 2013

As the dust settles from Crisis Point 2012 and the victorious Soviet forces continue their advance through the Lowlands thoughts turn to:-


Arctic Strike 2013 - Fortress Norway


After the success of Crisis Point 2012 the planning has started for Arctic Strike 2013 - 'Fortress Norway' a Cold War Commander Mega Game set in 1991 inspired by the book 'Arctic Strike' by Michael A Palmer (ISBN 0-380-75844-X. The book describes the events surrounding a hypothetical invasion of Norway by the Soviet Union. We have used the book as the basis for the game with some additions to allow players to use forces they have available or forces they would like to use. For example in the book the Swedes do not commit ground forces to the defence of Norway but we are planning to use Swedes as we want to see some S-Tanks on the table, the more unusual the unit the better. 


Keep watching for further details.



Sunday 22 April 2012

Crisis Point 2012 - More Pics

More pictures from the CWC Big Game - Crisis Point 2012

The Grimsby Lads impressive array of Soviet amphibious equipment

More amphibious equipment

US Rangers launch their heliborne assault on Soviet rear table

The target of the US assault, the Soviet artillery

Hardened shelters by Ian S

Ian S's great little supply depots

East Germans cross the Lippe

East Germans advance on Hunxe

Southern Lippe table

Nice shot of Gordon's ZSU 23-4 in winter camo (just took photo as I liked the model)

Polish 7th Heavy Battalion (Test Bn) finally reach the Soviet paratroops and support immediately taking out a US TOW launcher 

Reserve (Obsolete) Polish IS-II and IS-III's support Soviet Airborne 

After multiple attacks on it the Polish Bridgelayer still survives to complete its task of covering the cratered road in Hunxe

The view from the pub (a bit random)

Chris J's fantastic repair unit with scratchbuilt T55 ARV, I will be using this great piece as inspiration for mine


Another view of the repair unit

Chris J's EW unit

Another view of EW unit

A Mi 24 Hind used to great effect during the game

A Russian aircraft flys low over Hunxe 

Colonel Reinharts' M60's

Soviet T-80's race forward to capture the NATO supply lines

Another great HQ base

The Soviets cross the Maas on the morning of Day 2

2 of the 3 Grimsby Lads discuss the Soviet advance

Soviet artillery

NATO Supply Dumps

Russian armour crosses the Maas

NATO's secret weapon, a full Battalion of Sheep. Luckily for WP Forces they weren't deployed.

East German 150th Diversionary Battalion stops for a kick about before advancing on

Polish and East German tanks continue the slow advance towards Hunxe

East German T54's from the 17 MSD vs Dug In US Light Infantry