Marine Armour At Last

   Yesterday I finished up the first six USMC armoured vehicles for FLames of War Pacific. THese include four LVT(4) Amtracs and two M3 Stuart tanks.

   I had problems with the Amtracs, in that all of them have some pretty noticeable issues with the tracks. This is a casting issue I think, since it's on all four models. Two of the models were sent to me as replacements for the damaged original pair that I bought. The replacements had the same issues as the originals. If I were going to buy more, I might consider the British version, the LVT-4 Water Buffalo. It has metal tracks and a resin hull. It also has a British crew, so you would need to get some gunners in American kit. As it is, I think I will just stick with the four I have (all I need for two platoons, anyway). 

   Each has a name, but I didn't have any numerical decals appropriate for them so they are not numbered. I may get around to doing that one of these days... yeah, right. Anyway, they are "Betty," "Conan,", "Purple Heart Kids," and "Deuces Wild." You can see Betty's name on her armoured fender, just forward of the red beach stripe. I essentially painted them like the ones that Battlefront did, but with flat green instead of the grey base they used. I kind of wish I had used a different color for the beach stripes, too. I might go back and change that, if I ever get proper numerals on there.

   I did use the British version of the M3 Stuart, known in British service by the nickname "Honey."  It's a little different from the Marine version, but I already had a box of them that I wasn't using, so... they got drafted. Hey, Uncle Sam's Misguided Children would steal gear from anyone they could. Maybe these were supposed to have been in Aussie hands and 'somehow' ended up with a Marine division.

   The M3 is generally classed a light tank, but "light" is sort of a relative term. In the Pacific, the M3 was as heavily armoured as almost any Japanese tank, and its 37mm gun was capable against them all. It also had the canister round, which I am looking forward to deploying against Japanese banzai charges. Mine here are named "Diablo" and "Alley Oop."

   None of the vehicles have registration numbers. It seems, according to the fifteen minutes of internet reserach that I did, that it was uncommon for Marine vehicles to get registration numbers in combat areas. This was primarily due to a lack of supplies, and no one wanted to waste any of their precious (and probably looted from inattentive Army or Navy supply unit) paint on numbers.

02 APR 2017 Sitrep

   You will note that I did not post this yesterday, on April Fool's Day. I always found that so-called 'holiday' to be more annoying than entertaining. Perhaps it's because I don't suffer the presence of fools easily. That being said, let's move forward with a recap of what I accomplished gaming-wise in the month of March, shall we?

   The US Marines project for Flames of War Pacific is moving along nicely. I have a pretty good start on it, at any rate. Painted, I have two BAR platoons of three squads, plus command, the Company command and 2iC stands, an HMG platoon, an 81mm mortar platoon, a 60mm mortar platoon, and an F4U Corsair. I have four LVT(4) Amtracs on the painting table, along with two M3 Stuart light tanks. Purchased but still in the box are an engineering assault section, a 37mm AT gun platoon, a medium MG platoon (M1919 .30 cals), and four recon war dog teams. That leaves a few odds and ends (like the SeaBees section I want to do), but it's almost ready for battle.

   I finished translating the Carlist Requetes section of Spain in Flames from Spanish into English earlier this month. In doing that, I realized that I had painted one too many AT gun sections - I have four painted but can only use up to three. So I will pop the crew off the base and re-use them for my artillery. Which I still need to paint. But I did manage to finish off some more of those, and except for my artillery, four Panzer Is, and a FIAT plane, I think I am almost done with this project, too. I need to buy the panzers and the plane, of course. Two projects finished in a year. That's possibly a record. Except of course, they're not really finished yet.

   I've been working on the palm trees for the jungle, too. I've mentioned that elsewhere, right? Need to get a LOT more of those done, though. But as long as I am mentioning terrain, I did finish off a few more of the Ion Age corridors for my 15mm sci-fi colony, a pair of 'Y' interchanges and a single 'T.' I really like the 'Y's since they have an interesting ventilation turbine in the roof center. It's a nice touch, I thought. I have another 'T' that needs painting, as well. Again, this is a project that needs just a few more pieces to really come together: a few long corridor straights, another blockhouse I think, a few pressure doors and maybe a couple of standard corners. I might even add another hab dome. I do wish they had a garage module, at least some sort of large doorway that would represent the entrance to an underground vehicle park.

   On the roleplaying front, I have joined a local gaming group of six other players. I like most of them alright, and the GM is a great guy. We have a good bit in common, being the same age, with kids, jobs, that whole sort of thing. We are playing Pathfinder, and its my first time to really get to just play a character rather than GM in probably a decade, at least on any regular basis. We meet every Tuesday night from 6-12 midnight. That makes my early Wednesday morning not fun at all, but so far its worth it. I could bore you with the details of my character if you like...

   And boardgames, I've played a few. We played Smash Up a couple of times this month, and I won once. Yay me! I also played a game of Super Dungeon Explorer, which was fun, but I could see myself tiring of it pretty fast. Finally, a couple of missions in Zombicide: Black Plague round out the month's boardgames.

Palm Trees Every Where

   To help get ready for some rumble in the jungle Pacific War action, I've been working on putting some palm trees together. How can you have tropical island paradise warzones if you don't have lots and lots of palm trees? Well, if you ask me, you just can't! So, I'm making forests.

   I have used model railroad palms for a while for the desert, so that's what I started with here. My personal favorites for 15mm use are the Woodland Scenics brand Woodland Classics Palm Trees in the 3" to 3-3/4" height (TR3597).

  I just dry brush a little Vallejo Iraqi Sand or Grey Green on the fronds to tone them down a bit, glue to washers, and use my typical desert basing. Easy and they look good. You also don't need many, because it's the desert! You're looking for a few palm groves, maybe a small oasis, and that's it.

   However, at $14.99 for a box of 5 (well, I only ever pay 8.99 with my ever-present 40% off coupon for Hobby Lobby), they are not what you'd call really cheap. And considering I wanted at least forty trees, that's getting up there quickly. So off to eBay, where I found Chinese plastic trees to buy. $5 for 20 trees? Heck yeah! I bought three different sorts, each a different height, ranging from 2" to 3-1/4" tall. One has coconut clusters (2-1/2"), one is sort of a fan palm (2"), and the last has a nicely textured trunk and a bulb at the top (3-1/4").

   Naturally, they look pretty cheesy straight out of the box. Very shiny plastic looking, really. The first thing I did was to spray them down with some matte clear coat (I like Testors ModelMasters series Lustreless spray, personally). Then I started doing a few different shades of green as a dry brush on the palm fronds, both top and bottom. I used Vallejo paints, as usual: US Dark Green, Grey Green, Luftwaffe Camo Green, Yellow Green, and a few others. Painted the trunks a nice medium brown, then gave the trunk a wash with Army Painter Strong Tone Ink, again, one of my favorites. One last drybrush of that medium brown color (I forgot which one - sorry) on the trunk and the tree itself is done.

   For bases, I have a few of the smallest trees mounted on single washers, but most of the trees are on multiple tree bases on bigger washers. The washers provide weight at the bottom and also make them magnetic, which I like for storage and transportation. Paint those in Flat Earth, put some grit and static grass and flock and grass tufts on them, maybe a few bits of cork for rocks, and there you go. So far I have only done a few of them, as test pieces, but now that I have my technique down, I expect they should go pretty quickly.

   And here's a snap of the test pieces. I trimmed one down to make a sort of fern, there in the front. Also nipped the base down on one of the coconut palms to give them a bit of variance.

  The next step is to make some area bases for the trees to sit on, to indicate the jungle regions. I figure to make these about six inches to a side, sort of square but with rounded corners and not rigidly straight edges. I haven't decided what material to use, but am leaning towards a thin MDF, maybe 3mm thick? Another option would be to get some of those skirmish/ mob formation bases sold by a few different manufacturers. If I put magnets in the holes, I'll get a way to mount the trees but still have them removable to move figures around on the base. It's a though, at any rate. Any suggestions from anyone?

45 Laps and more

   Well, I made it around again. That's 45 consecutive laps of the third orbital. And my time is great - right on target - exactly 45 years for 45 laps. Woot woot! What a pace!

   Anyway, I'm celebrating with a game of Pathfinder tonight. Already did the dinner with the family and friends back on Saturday night. Yummy German food and good beer (Spaten Optimator).

   I also got a few things finished up on the painting table over the weekend. I now have a second full platoon of USMC riflemen ready to assault the beaches. I'll take pictures soon and post them here. I also finished up the light mortars for my SCW rifle platoons and two 37mm antitank guns, and a new company command stand that only lacks it's banner:

   Finally, I have an additional nine 15mm sci-fi figures finished with painting, just waiting for a little basing and a clear coat. Six of them are security robots from Khurasan. I painted four of them in the same blue and yellow scheme that I used on the previous robots. But the other two are painted as renegade robots - joining the star viking crew. Ah... those motley pirates are growing in leaps and bounds!

Progress Report 19 FEB 2017

   I have been progressing well at the paint table the last week or two. Taking a moment to gather (and share) my thoughts.

   I have almost finished the second platoon of Marine infantry, eight more bases of four figures each. In addition, I ordered some of Battlefront's War Dog teams, a USMC Engineer Assault Squad, an LMG platoon (M1919 .30 cal), and some M3A1 37mm AT guns. After that, I just have some odds and ends to fill in for variety (at least as far as purchasing goes). I think the next group of Marines to get painted will be my 60mm mortar platoon.

   While I'm at it, I also put the gun crews for some Nationalist Spanish Civil War antitank guns on the painting table, and a new company command stand. They are almost finished, with all the base down, and the ink washes done. Just a bit of highlighting and basing, then clear coat and done. That will bolster my forces nicely.

   I discussed yesterday briefly purchasing some additional Ion Age figures for my Star Viking force. I'll be adding more Maligs to the crew, some random picks from what Ion Age offers. I'm painting up some older random sci-fi figures right now too. Some security robots which I think will be added to the Star Vikings and the crew of the Biscuitship from Khurasan. These are definitely not Joel, Crow, and Tom from MST3K. Nope. I'm going to group base them, use them perhaps for an objective marker or something scenario driven, like the scientists.

  Finally, let me leave you with this newly finished park terrain piece. Yes, the benches are painted like Pokeballs.

Marine HMGs

   Got some more brush time in lately. This installment is the HMG platoon for my US Marines. Armed with the M1917 water-cooled .30 caliber machinegun, these bad boys would keep firing as long as you had ammo. Never jammed, which was nice in a jungle when the Japanese were banzai charging you, I imagine.

   I have some new tufts I used in these bases, too. I like them for tall tropical island bushes/grass. Anyway, the project moves forward apace. Which feels good.

   I'm also working on some more 15mm sci-fi guys for the star viking multi-species force and some more 15mm Spanish Civil War, specifically the AT guns and Brixia mortars for infantry support. I'll share photos of the sci-fi progress tomorrow, but it may be a few days before I have the SCW requetes ready for photos.

 Why the delay? Well, I have to go to Austin tomorrow to watch the USA Eagles whup up on Rugby Brasil. So I got that going for me.

Painting at Last

   I have spent a good bit of time over the past week getting some Marines painted, finally! I managed to knock out six command stands - basically all the infantry and support command for the entire army I am planning to be able to field. I also have most (7/9) of a rifle platoon (one of two) and the whole 81mm mortar support platoon painted. Based. Clear coated. Done.

   Boy, does that feel good. And I have the heavy machinegun platoon and the rest of the rifle platoon primed already... maybe by next week I can say I have finished three platoons of the USMC project.

81mm Mortar Platoon

BAR Squad

More BAR squads

   All the figures so far are Peter Pig. I do have a few pieces of Battlefront, mainly the vehicles. Of those, only the Corsair is painted and done. I've had troubles with the LVT (4) transports - even after they sent me replacement hulls. The tracks are messed up, right in the front over the drive sprockets. I may just have to grit my teeth and bear it. I also used some of a box set of Honeys that were originally slated for my 8th Army and painted a pair of them in dark green. Once I apply a few decals, then I will have two M3 Stuarts to bolster my troops. Even though it only has a 37mm gun, compared to Japanese armour, the M3 Stuart is a killer. Plus, you get that lovely canister round. Just the thing for breaking up a banzai charge.

   I will be buying some Battlefront infantry eventually. I need the assault engineer section, some AT guns, the war dogs (!), and a few other bits and bobs. Plus, I want to put together a SeaBee platoon, complete with their D7 armoured bulldozer, partly in tribute to my good buddy Jim, a retired SeaBee Senior Chief.

Marine Snipers

   Adding nightmares to the Japanese, I present the perfect engine of war: a Marine and his rifle. Scoped Springfield '03 rifles, to be precise. Very precise, actually. In Flames of War Pacific, a Marine rifle company can have up to three snipers. So here they are.

Sniper 2 (on the right) is based for a volcanic island beach landing, like Iwo Jima. 

That's real volcanic rock (from my garden) on that.

Closeup of Sniper 1, partially hidden in a clump of bamboo.

  You can't see in these pictures, but I used a mold from Happy Seppuku to impress fern leaves into the putty on the base of Sniper 1. They are the brighter green bits on the base. It looks pretty nice, but I might go back and hit it with a drop of ink to darken it and add extra depth to the base and highlight.

Sniper 3 is standing for his shot, rising out of the bamboo and grass like an avenging god of war...

Or something like that. I'd shoot from prone, myself.

   The 'bamboo' is just some plastic rod cut and painted with darker green rings to hint at segments. It looks okay and it's dead easy. 

Marine Infantry - Gung Ho!

   I have a few stands of Marines finished as well. I'm mostly waiting to get my hands on bases to really start trying to crank out some motivated Marine infantry. As previously mentioned (I think), I am building a USMC Rifle Company for Flames of War Pacific. Most of the infantry figures will be Peter Pig - all of these are.

Captain Crow, Company Commander

You can barely see it in this shot, but the Medic's bag has a Red Cross emblem.

Also, that's one big radio the poor radioman is humping.

Forward Observers - Either calling for naval gunnery or a load of napalm...

F4U Corsair for Flames of War Pacific

   As I may have mentioned previously, I am working on a company of US Marines for the Flames of War Pacific rules. Marines need air cover, and it is ably supplied by the Vought F4U Corsair.

   I did a bit of research on paint jobs for the Corsair, and essentially there are three. I went with a sort of midwar version, the three-color. On top is a dark blue (I used Prussian Blue), with a thin intermediate blue color (Pale Grey Blue - too light, really) transition of irregular shape, and an underside of insignia white (Ivory). The engine cowling is yellow (Deep Yellow). All colors used are Vallejo Model Colors.

   I used decals for the national insignia and the aircraft number. You may note the lack of kill markers. It seems that the Navy and Marines by extension were much stricter about the personalization of an aircraft; also, it was unusual for a Navy or Marine pilot to have a single aircraft assigned to them. So personalization was even less common, and strictly forbidden by the Navy. I am painting mine as land based (hence the lack of tail markings which would denote the carrier from which the squadron operated) and therefore Marine Air Wing, not Naval Aviation.

   This particular Corsair isn't quite finished. I need to add the rockets under the wings. Historically, apparently they should be olive drab. But that would look like crap. So I think I am going to go with white rockets. It might be a bit anachronistic, but it will look better, and this is just toy soldiers, after all...

From the halls of Montezuma...

   I spent a couple of hours on Wednesday prepping a lot of 15mm WW2 US Marines. The figures are from Peter Pig, and are destined to be the core of a Marine Rifle Company in Flames of War - Pacific.

A selection of Marines, ready to charge to the spray booth.

   So far, I have trimmed up and de-flashed (not that there was much of that) and glued them to 'jumbo craft sticks,' aka tongue depressors. Each stick is a mix of figures that will make up an individual base or team, if you prefer. I've done enough to make:

• 24x 4-man BAR Infantry teams
• 4x 3-man HMG teams
• 3x 3-man 60mm mortar teams (plus the mortar, of course)
• 4x 3-man 81mm mortar teams (plus mortar)
• 2x 2-man observer teams
• 6x 3-man command teams (CO, 2iC, platoon commanders)

   If my math is right, that's about 158 figures on 43 tongue depressors. It nets out to two infantry platoons, two mortar platoons, a HMG platoon, and a scout platoon. I will still need a few things to finish off the force, like some more LVTs, some war dogs, and the Marine Engineer Assault Section.

This may be what made me decide to collect a USMC force.

War dogs!

Images from Battlefront and the Flames of War website.

   Next step is priming. I have an ultra flat olive drab spray that I am thinking would work as a base. It would speed up the painting process, maybe, since these Marines are all in the old pickle suits. I'm going to try it on a couple of 'extra' figures and see how it works before I commit to the whole company.