The Crunchies are Based Up

All,

Well, Thursday I prepped the infantry for my Wolverines project, but I didn't base them because I was fresh outta bases.  I didn't get anything done Friday, except to place an order for more bases from Litko, but Saturday morning I was rooting around in all my hobby stuff, and what did I find?  That's right, a bunch of bases.  So this morning I based up all the infantry; and this interesting (to me, at least), as I've never done 10mm troops this way.

In the past I've glued the infantry to popsicle sticks, primed, painted, and washed them, then popped them off, glued them to bases, painted the bases, then flocked the bases.  but I've seen lots of guys (on the internet) that clean and prep their 10mm troops, then glue them straight to the bases, then prime, paint, and wash them right on the bases.  So I'm giving it a shot, see how it works out.  It should help me move even faster; on the popsicle sticks I tend to paint way too much detail and areas you'll never see on the gaming table.  I want to get these troops on the table ASAP, so I'm hoping this works.

Anyway, here are some pics.

The whole mess, Soviets on the left, Yanks on the right.  If you recall, each side has an infantry company consisting of CO, three platoon commanders, three rifle platoons of three squads (one stand equals one squad), and a weapons platoon consisting of three 82 or 81mm mortars (Sov/US), three recoiless rifles, and three heavy machine guns (Dshks/M-2s, though they kinda all look like M-2s, if you are catching the drift of me...).  In game terms, we will break up the Wpns Plt and parcel it out to each of the three rifle platoons, so each rifle platoon will have a PC, three rifle squads, a mortar, an HMG, and a recoiless rifle, with each armored personnel carrier carrying two stands.  Yeah, I shoulda sprung for four APCs per platoon, but I'm a cheapskate...

The Americans, showing the rifle company in the bulk of the picture, with each column being a reinforced rifle platoon.  Right to left: PC, three rifle squads, recoiless rifle, mortar, and HMG.  At top center/right is the Recon Platoon dismounts (two rifle stands, an HMG, and a recoiless rifle), and at top left is the battalion commander.

The Soviets, set up exactly the same way except: top left are three 120mm mortars (the American heavy mortars are self propelled), and at top center is the AA gun (the American AA gun is self propelled).

Closeup of the rifle company, with Company Commander at top right, the three platoon commanders right below him.  I thought I could put the PCs on pennies, but it was just a little too tight, so I took several of the regular bases here and split them in half, and used those half bases for the PCs.  The Company CO stand has three bodies, the PCs two, and the rifle squads/weapons teams three (except the HMG and recoiless rifle teams with Recon Plt, which both have four).

Close up of the Recon Platoon.  The US Rec Plt is in four jeeps, the Soviet Rec Plt is in three BTR-152s.

Looking at the back end of a rifle company, you can see the HMGs (left), medium mortars (center), and recoiless rifles (top right).

The Soviet AAA.

The Soviet 120mm mortars.

The battalion commanders, Soviet at left and US at right.

Alright, everything is prepped and ready to be spray primed, and did you notice that beautiful sunlight peering through the windows?  Yeah, it's been sub-freezing temps since Christmas, but the good Lord has smiled on me: I woke up to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, high of 70 today.  I believe some spray priming will be happening most ricky-tick.

V/R,
Jack