Monday, February 12, 2018

AHPC #5-Russians out the wazoo

This week has been a very productive gaming week for me.  I was able to finish three squads (and change) of Warlord Russians I started last week. In addition I started and finish 4 large squads of 1st Corps Russians .

 On top of that we played our first game of Boarder Rievers. I got to play a group of Irish delivering whiskey to the Armstrong clan.  We were ambushed by the treacherous Maxwell's (played by both my sons).  It was a good day for the Irish.  We completed a lopsided trade with the Armstrongs and stole a barrel of whiskey, a pony and a cow for good measure.   We used modified Mordheim rules, which really worked well.   

I will apologize now, there is a whole lot of Vallejo Khaki Grey used in this post. I could have put in some more uniform color variations, since the Russian supply system wasn't known for its precision, but I opted for speed. Using Warlords painting guide was a big help.   

The first group I finished were from the Warlord Soviet box.  Great box. lots of possible variation.  My oldest son is the actual owner and assembler of the figures so I take no credit for some of his "creative" poses.  I started putting paint on this group two weeks ago but wasn't able to finish them in time for last weeks deadline.  

I started with two large rifle squads




I also completed an Sub-machine gun squad with light machine gun support team and a couple of extra figures from the box thrown in.( I may use them to fill out my platoon leaders section)



This is a look at the full group of Warlord Russians.



My next group of Russian Infantry are from 1st Corps.  I really like these figures. I do have two small issues.   One is they are very well fed 28 mm and will not mix with the Warlord figures.  The second is some of the hands on the Russians look like they are wearing those foam hands you see at sporting event (the hands are huge). 

Over all I really like the way they took paint.  I picked them up in a trade so I didn't have much input in pose selection.  I know 1st Corps makes a number of different dynamic poses so I will probably order some to flesh this out and give custody of the Warlord Russians to my son. 

I was able to finish four 12 man rifle squads






Here is a picture of the four squads together




Like I warned you there was a lot of Khaki Grey used in this post. Sorry its so boring. I am moving on to some 1st Corps support weapons and SMG squads for next week.

Over all I was able to finish 88-28 mm figures and use most of a bottle of paint


AHPC Post Number 4

This week is a catch up post for the last few weeks. Over the last few weeks I have focused primarily on World War II.  However Pirates and Border Reivers were able to creep on to the panting table. Just to be clear this is not one weeks work I have been working on them overt the last 2 or so weeks.  Well anyway here is what I have been up to

I was able to get a start on my Warlord Plastic US Infantry.   I am not a fan of plastic figures normally but these were pretty good.   Really the only issue was in assembly.  Of course I did NOT read the instructions.  I am sure most of you know this but I didn't know there were specific arms for specific weapons.   After some time trying to get things done my way rather than the right way I consulted the instructions which very clearly lay out which arms work with which weapons.  Luckily I had not cut all the arms off the sprues.

Here is the full class picture. 1 Captain, 4-10 man squads, a 4-man HMG and 2-3man MMG's (one disassembled for movement),  a 2- man bazooka team and a 2 man medic team






My only problem with the Warlord figures (aside from self inflicted issues) is that the weapons are very thin and prone to breaking.   I was also able to complete a medium and heavy machine gun to support the rifle platoon. The support weapons are also Warlord but cast in metal.  


Having exhausted my supply of GI's I moved on to some 28mm West Wind WWII Russians I purchased eons ago. On the whole I think they look rough unpainted but I think they paint up nicely. I picked them up from Old Glory 25's so the price is hard to beat.

I completed 2-10 man rifle squads and 1-12 man sub machine gun squad with an attached light machine gun.







Speaking of Old Glory the my next bit of work was on some 28mm Old Glory Pirates for a friend.   Its a mix of servants, pirates and various.  This ia a really fun range of figures. In my opinion they are some of the best sculpts Old Glory has done.   Putting my bias out there,   I love Old Gory, they were really my introduction to wargaming.  Back in the day, as a poor college student, the choice between food and figures was made much easier by the pricing of Old Glory.  They tend to look pretty rough before painting but seem to paint up pretty well.

I painted 13 pirates this week.  I am not sure how I ended up doing 13 but I have a few more to go to finish the whole batch, I included a close up of the guys I liked the best.





As part of a group project I painted 10 Border Reivers last week.  We had agreed to put together small contingents for an upcoming game and this represents my contribution.  The figures are 28mm, I picked them up from Sgt Major Miniatures but I am not sure who the actual manufacturer is .





By my count I have a total of 109-28mm foot and 1-mounted