28mm Modern Russian Infantry

Just finished basing my modern Russian infantry platoon.  Special thanks to Steve Dake for turning these guys around quickly.  Russian vehicles are in progress and should be done in a couple of weeks - which will give me lots of Russians to play with.

If you are curious as to the colors here --- the Russians do use digital camo, however - the greens used wash out easily with even a moderate level of wear.  There is a little brown, but there is so little that it washes out even more than the green!

Case in point:

Although the Russians use digital camo, at even a
modest distance and with a little wear it washes
out the digital pattern, essentially leaving the
uniform looking plain green.

I'm very pleased with the result here.  The platoon consists of 36 figures:

1 x Officer (2 figures)
3 x Infantry sections (9 figures each)
1 x Heavy AT Team (RPG-30, 2 figures)
1 x MMG Team (3 figures)
1 x Sniper Team (2 figures)

Pictures below.  I use a lot of light when I take my pictures - and I also pump up the brightness in my post-picture taking photo touch ups ... hence the green looks brighter than it actually is in person.

Painted By:  Steve Dake

Officer

MMG Team

RPG-30 Team

Sniper Team

1st Section - Maneuver Team

1st Section - Fireteam

2nd Section - Maneuver Team

2nd Section - Fireteam

3rd Section - Maneuver Team

3rd Section - Fireteam

So not a bad start here.  When combined with the armoured vehicles this is a force to be feared.  I'm in the process of finishing the assembly of the French vehicles and the French infantry is also sitting with Steve Dake for painting - so that should be done in the next couple of weeks as well (French vehicles will take a little longer, they'll be next after the Russian vehicles are finished).

ACW Scenario: Pickett's Charge

This is the scenario I'm going to be playing (and play testing) at PacifiCon.  I don't plan to schedule it ... I'll just play it adhoc with my jolly group of fellow gamers (it is easy to get a table on Friday or Sunday).

This scenario is designed for This Hallowed Ground.  The link is to v1.0 ... but I'm making some minor updates and additions (to the units, e.g. Berdan's Sharpshooters are a dedicated skirmish formation not currently represented in the v1.0 rules).  Another big change is that in order to reflect the lethality of the weapons used, I'm doubling the firing dice for each formation.  This worked very well in the recent game we played.

Anywho, on to the scenario ...

Gettysburg, July 3rd, 1983 - Pickett's Charge

This battle really needs no introduction.  Given the scale of the units involved, I've chosen to focus on the advance of Pickett's division.  Trimble's division is considered to be just off table, advancing along with Pickett's division.  The table can certainly be expanded in width if players decide to represent both divisions (although it is already 6' wide).

Orders Of Battle (OOB)

The following orders of battle are used for the forces involved.

CONFEDERATE OOB

Division Commander:  Pickett

1st Brigade (Garnett)

• 8th Virginia
• 18th Virginia
• 19th Virginia
• 28th Virginia
• 56th Virginia

2nd Brigade (Kemper)

• 1st Virginia
• 3rd Virginia
• 7th Virginia
• 11th Virginia
• 24th Virginia

3rd Brigade (Armistead)

• 9th Virginia
• 14th Virginia
• 38th Virginia
• 53rd Virginia
• 57th Virginia

Division Artillery

• 4 x Regular Artillery Battery

Note:  To represent the strength of the units involved, all Confederate infantry units have their morale values increased to 16/18 for Garnett's and Kemper's units, and 18/20 for Armistead's units.

UNION OOB

Division Commander (1st Corps, 3rd Division):  Doubleday

3rd Brigade (Stannard)

• 13th Vermont
• 14th Vermont
• 16th Vermont
• 1 x Regular Artillery Battery

Division Commander (2nd Corps, 2nd Division):  Gibbon

1st Brigade (Harrow)

• 19th Maine
• 15th Massachusetts
• 1st Minnesota
• 82nd New York
• 2 x Regular Artillery Battery

2nd Brigade (Webb)

• 69th Pennsylvania
• 71st Pennsylvania
• 72nd Pennsylvania
• 106th Pennsylvania
• 1 x Regular Artillery Battery

Note:  All Union infantry units morale values are 14/16.

Map & Deployment

This scenario uses a 6' by 8' table as pictured below (click the picture to enlarge).

Map and initial deployments.

Here is a picture of the actual table setup.

The Union brigades each have units forming a "second line" (reserve) with artillery batteries dispersed throughout the Union lines.  The Confederation artillery is positioned on the hill to the rear of Pickett's infantry brigades.  The open space between the opposing forces contains tall grass fields and other light vegetation and does not limit movement in any way (although the snake rail fencing does present an obstacle).

Special Rules

The following special rules apply to this scenario.

Union Second Line - The 5 Union infantry units that form the secondary line (in front of the Taneytown road) are not permitted to engage forward of their deployment positions until one or more Confederate units engage one or more of the first line Union infantry or artillery units in melee.  Once a melee has been fought, second line units can move and engage freely during their next activation.

Rebel Yell - Charging Confederate infantry units gain a +1 modifier on charge home tests (per page 20 of the rulebook).

Forward Men! - This rule only applies to Armistead (the brigade commander model).  Once per game, before declaring charges, Armistead can declare "forward men!"  Place an appropriate marker (such as Armistead himself with his sword through his hat) by the brigade commander.  Any infantry unit from Armistead's brigade that declares a charge gains a +1 to the charge home test (stacks with Rebel Yell) and any Charge! result on the charge home test is instead considered a Determined Charge!

Extreme Artillery Range - Artillery may shoot beyond their normal maximum range (e.g. 60" for regular artillery).  Any shooting done at this range is considered "extreme range" and requires a D6 result of 6 in order to hit (normal modifiers apply - dice are halved per the normal rules for shooting).

For Virginia - The normal rules for broken brigades do not apply to the Confederate brigades.  Instead, a Confederate infantry brigade is only broken when all units in the brigade at either broken or shaken.  This represents the amazing determination shown by Pickett's division in driving on to the Union position.

This Hallowed Ground ACW Game

I plan to run an ACW game at PacifiCon in September which means I need to get some ACW specific terrain painted up/done.  In order to motivate myself I got together with Roy Scaife and we put out the three brigades per side for the Union and Confederate armies and played a meeting engagement.

I'm in the process of "fixing" my Union flags ... the US flag should be located on the right side of the flag party --- my initial units I have it on the left ... as I work through a bunch of basing I have in progress I'm swapping the incorrect units.

The buildings and fencing are not complete - I need to paint them up.

Regardless of the "incomplete" items, I still think the game looked good and although I didn't intend to post pictures, I figured I'd share anyways.

We've fleshed out the ACW rules nicely by updating them with what we've learned from our Napoleonic variant (Empires At War) that we've now played many times.  Of course, the Napoleonic variant is very different from a unit/national perspective, but the core system is similar.  The ACW rules are "simpler" (no forming of squares and similar that are specific to the Napoloenic era).

Anywho ... for what it's worth ... lots of WIP, but pics below.  Game result was a Confederate victory.

The ACW collection is coming along nicely.  I have casualties and Berdan's Sharpeshooters getting done as well.  I plan to run three Gettysbury related scenarios eventually (first day/Buford's stand and arrival of Reynolds, little round top, and Pickett's charge).

In fact, I'm working on the Pickett's Charge scenario right now ... as that is the scenario I'll be playing at PacifiCon.

Russia Resurgent Project Update #1

Hello everyone!

My apologies for the lack of posts recently.  We hit the holidays here and I've been busy with family (camping and such).  Rest assured though, progress has been made at a steady pace.  So, what have I managed to get done?

Well, I order lots of stuff, and most of it has arrived.

Modern Russians

I've managed to get all the vehicles assembled as pictured below.  They are just about to start getting painted.  12 vehicles in all, 3 x T-90, 3 x T-80, 3 x BMP-3, 1 x BTR 80, 1 x BTR80A, and 1 x ZSU-23-4 Shilka.  Lots of firepower here!

Next up in my Russian infantry platoon with support.  I sent these figures off to the most excellent Steve Dake and he is already finished painting them ... they should be shipping back to me very soon for basing.  He sent me a couple of preview pictures ... not the best quality pictures but it gives you the general idea.

So the Russians are coming along nicely.  The vehicles will be done in about 3-4 weeks depending on how timing works out.  I'll get the Russians based and take proper pictures when I get them done up.  I'll be in Las Vegas for work next week, so it will likely be the week after next that I get them done.

I've also started putting together my Hind ... :-)

Modern French

I ordered 1:48 scale kits from Gaso.Line (from www.quarter-kit.com).  I took a risk here as there are "large" and "regular" scale 1:48 kits.  The regular scale 1:48 kits mix well with the Empress 1:50 and HLBS 1:48 scale kits.  Large 1:48 are just too big ... border line 1:43 scale IMO.  I have mostly good news on this front (since French armour is very difficult to come buy, and Gaso.Line has just about everything for modern French you can imagine).  I had ordered:

1 x Leclerc MBT
1 x ERC 90 Sagaie
1 x VBCI IFV
1 x VAB (specifically GAS50203K)
1 x AMX 10 RC Giat

The Leclerc, ERC 90 Sagaie, VAB, and AMX 10 RC Giat all worked great with the Empress Miniatures vehicles (pictures below with comparison).  Only the VBCI was out of whack ... and I mean waaay out of whack ... it was larger than teh Leclerc MBT (the MBT is 9.7m long whereas the VBCI is about 7.5m long ... and the VBCI kit is longer and larger than the MBT ... something is off there with the kit ... it says 1:48 but is easily 1:43).

Left to right:
VAB, ERC 90, AMX 10, Leclerc MBT

So great news as I'll use the VAB for my French infantry transports/IFVs.  I order 2 additiona VABs and 1 x command VAB, along with another AMX 10 and Leclerc MBT ... 9 vehicles in all will fill out the French armour.

Here are some comparison pictures with an Empress Leopard 2A6 and my WIP Canadian LAV III conversion ... I reverse the position of the vehicles so you can see how the depth of the photo changes the perceived scale ...

My order from Eureka Miniatures with my modern French infantry showed up today and they did a great job getting me all my requested miniatures.  I have the following:

1 x Officer
1 x Medic
1 x Sniper team
2 x Milan ATGM teams
3 x Infantry sections (2 x 3 man teams each)

Pictured below ... I need to clean them and ship them off to Steve Dake for painting.

French infantry platoon
with support elements
from Eureka Miniatures.

So now I'm just waiting for the remaining armour that I've ordered from France and then I'll have everything I need for my French force.  I expect to be playing my first game of Russians versus French by mid-August.

Modern Canadians

I've started pulling together what I need for the Canadians.  I'm still waiting for the infantry packs to be released by Full Battle Rattle miniatures.  I have what I need to do my LAV III and Bison conversions.  The base of my LAV III conversion is the Empress Stryker body with the LAV 25 turret.  For the Bison I'm using the LAV 25 body and the MG turret from the Stryker.

I got the basic assembly of one of the LAV III's done ... the turret is just sitting on top of the hull at the moment ... still a lot of work to do but the basic premise is there ...

WIP LAV III

WIP LAV III

I've also assembled 2 of the 3 Leopard 2A6 tanks I'll be using for the force ... here is one pictured below ...

I'll be converting 3 Bisons total ... 1 command and 2 APC's that will carry support teams and such.

So there you have it ... forward progress and gaming in sight!