6mm Cold War Soviets and West Germans

All,

First, Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans!

Apparently my massive sale was exactly what I needed!  Clear out some detritus to make way for real progress, and real progress it's been: I have now completed my second major project since the sale!  This was a Cold War project, Soviets and West Germans in 6mm from Heroics and Ros.  Right now, at least, I don't intend on actually playing Cold War stuff, but, as is my wont, I will be using these in my alternate history blog, Cuba Libre, to play out the Fall of Cronistria.  So the West Germans will be standing in as Free Cubans, and the Soviets will be Communist Cronistrians and their Yugoslavian backers.

So, what did I do?  Well, first and foremost, I'm a solo gamer, so I always have to do both sides, and when I do both sides, I typically build them not to 'real-life' Tables of Organization and Equipment (TO&E), rather, I build identical capabilities.  Because when I do actually get to play against another human, it's my 9-year old son, and so I like, as much as possible, to keep things fair.  And you'll see it in some of the games, as I do it not just with force structure with troop capabilities.  Rather than play the 'normal' NATO kills WarPac at a 3-1 ratio, I make an M-1/Challenger/Leopard II equal to a T-64/T-72/T-80, I make a Bradley/Warrior/Marder equal to BMP-1/BMP-2, etc...  In any case, this may look a little weird because I took Soviet Motor Rifle Division and Tank Division and sorta 'bathtubbed' them, where each battalion is represented by two vehicles. So an MRR has six BTRs and two T-64s, while a TR has six T-80s and 2 BMPs.  Additionally, each regiment has a two-gun (self-propelled) artillery battery, and there are divisional command, recce, and anti-air assets.  Then I copied it and did the same for the West Germans, ostensibly creating either a Panzer or Panzergrenadier Division.

Let's get to the pics!

The whole thing, Soviets on the left, Germans on the right (with a bit of unpainted leftovers at top center).  Again, everything is 6mm from HR.  The painting went quick, except all those damned wheels! ;)

A look at the West Germans, from right to left: Panzer Regiment (six Leopard IIs, two Marders, two dismounts), Panzer Regiment (same), Panzergrenadier Regiment (two Leopard Is, six Fuchs, six dismounts), Panzergrenadier Regiment (same, except M-113s replace the Fuchs), recce element (three Luchs and two Jaguar SPAT), three artillery batteries (M-109s), and the command element (M-60, M-577, Gepard, and ADATs*).

*It should be a Roland, rather than an ADATs.  I love HR, but the reason I used an ADATs instead of a Roland is because I'm not particularly fond of the superstructure on the Roland model.  I bought one, it looked messed up, so I bought another one, and it looked the same way, so I figure it's an issue with the mold (the entire superstructure, i.e., the missile launchers, the 'tower,' and the radar, all sort of lean to the right, and, try as I might, I couldn't straighten them out).  It's one model, the ADATs works fine, so no big deal.

The Soviet force, set up exactly the same, albeit with Soviet equipment ;)  The Tank Regiments are T-80s* and BMP-2s, the Motor Rifle Regiments are T-64s and BTRs, Recce is one BMP-R, two 'normal' BRDMs, and two BRDMs with AT5 Spandrel ATGMs, arty is 2S1 122mm SP howitzers, and command is a T-55, an MTLB-LBU (ACRV), a ZSU-23-4, and an SA-6 Gainful.

*It appears I actually bought T-90s instead of T-80s.  I can live with it if you can ;)

A closer look at the "Panzer Regiments."

And the Panzergrenadiers.

The West German recce element.

Their artillery.

And their command.

A look at the West German infantry.  I used HR's relatively new "M28 Soviet Motor Rifles" for both sides, and I love them.  I'm a fan of all the HR infantry I've come into contact with, but these are the best I've seen, really great poses and proportions.

And over to the Reds: the two Tank Regiments.

And the two Motor Rifle Regiments.

Soviet recce.

Soviet artillery.

And the Soviet command.

Leo IIs on the prowl.  I've always had an affinity for the Leopard II, just a really beautiful (in a martial way), deadly looking beast.

And I've always been a fan of the German Marder IFV.

Leopard Is. I think I may have accidentally bought the Canadian model?  Not sure, I'm not much an expert on the various models of Cold War tanks; that is, I know the various types (M-1, Challenger, Chieftain, Leopard, etc...), I just don't know all the different models (couldn't tell the difference between a T-64A and a T-64BV)...

The Fuchs armored personnel carriers.  A little Star Trek looking to me, but pretty cool.  I can still remember seeing my first one at Camp Lejeune, NC, back in 1995, with 2nd Marine Division, the NBC Platoon had some.

M-113 armored personnel carriers.

The Luchs ("Lynx") reconnaissance vehicles.  Those things are absolutely huge!

Two Jaguars with HOTT missiles.

M-109 Self-Propelled 155mm howitzers.

The West German command element; my clumsy ass knocked one of the muzzle brakes off the damn Gepard.  A very cool model, I'll have to buy a replacement.

My Soviet T-80s (T-90s).  Yes, I actually did camouflage!  It's been awhile.

BMP-2s with Spandrel ATGM and 30mm autocannon.

Early model T-64s.

BTRs, actually BTR-80 models.  Painting all these wheels (combined with the BRDMs, Fuchs, and Luchs) nearly stole my soul...

Soviet recce.

And the BRDMs with Spandrels.  Yes, it's a rule that anytime I paint AT weapons I have to put some yellow on them...

Soviet 2S1 SP 122mm howitzers.

The Soviet command element where you can see the T-55AM2.  I love the Shilka, while my youngest boy (five years old) is in love with the SA-6.  What kid wouldn't be? ;)

Some closeups of the infantry.  These are West Germans, who, for some reason, I decided to give camouflaged helmet covers to, in 6mm...  Great little sculpts.

Again.

And some of their Soviet counterparts.

And one last pic.

Very cool, so happy to knock this out and need to get them on the table, but I've got a bunch of work to do in South Leon before I can get back to Cronistria.  Soon...  It may seem like a bit of a travesty, but I'm going to do up some good guy and bad guy infantry in desert bases, and all these vehicles will also be used for when Cuba deploys to the sandbox in support of Desert Shield/Desert Storm!

More to come.

V/R,
Jack

Tiny Air Combat Kicking into High Gear!

All,

I can't tell you how happy I am to report: PROJECT FINISHED!!!  I ordered a boatload of aircraft from Thomaston last years, for WWII Pacific, WWII Battle of Britain, and various moderns (from the Korean War to present).  Previously I'd completed the WWII Pacific set, and even played quite a few fights with them using the very simple "Battle of Britain" rules (https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/search/label/Battle%20of%20Britain%20Rules).

However, the WWII Battle of Britain and Modern sets had languished on the painting table... until now!  I recently had a surgery (emergency appendectomy), so while convalescing I sat down to base and paint in snatches, and this weekend I finished them up.  What now?  Well, first up is probably going to be heading to Cuba Libre for some modern air fighting over South Leon (https://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/), and then it's either back to the War in the Pacific, or over to the Arab-Israeli Wars (https://swordofgideonwargaming.blogspot.com/) for some dogfighting during the Suez Crisis.  Unfortunately, Battle of Britain is just going to have to wait, due to the amount of projects I've already got going on...  But enough talk, let's see some pics!

The whole shebang, WWII Battle of Britain on top, Moderns on the bottom, 152 aircraft total.

A closer look at the Moderns, with bad guys up top and good guys at center and bottom.

Some MiG-15s for Korea, Vietnam, and Arab-Israeli.

Uh-oh, who knows what these are?  Yep, kinda silly, but I couldn't help myself.  Look closely, those are "MiG-28s," from "Top Gun."  Cheesy...

Some MiG-29 Fulcrums.

Some Su-22s, destined to be shot down near the "Line of Death" in the Gulf of Sidra (a joke for those of us growing up in a certain age).

Some MiG-23s.

And some MiG-21s, great for Vietnam and Arab-Israeli.

A group of F-86 Sabres.  I don't really have any plans to do Korean War gaming, but I just couldn't help myself.  Maybe my War in the Pacific blog?  After WWII ends I continue tracking through Korea and Vietnam?  That's about 30 years from now, maybe.

Some F-16s...

And F-18s, for the Gulf War (which will be playing out soon on the Cuba Libre blog, soon being a relative term).  These are actually bomb-laden F-18 strike aircraft, with some air-to air F-18s coming up later.

Some F-4 Phantoms. Can be used for US Navy or allied fighters, maybe even as Gulf War-era USAF Wild Weasels.

An E-3 AWACs and E-2C Hawkeye.

Oh yeah, some A-10 Warthogs.

Some A-7 Corsairs (left) and A-6 Intruders (right).

Some F-15 Eagles, left as Strike Eagles (sorry for the bad lighting, they're not actually that dark), and right as traditional air superiority fighters.

Some B-57 Canberras for Vietnam strikes, will be used in Cuba Libre in South Leon.  Can also be used as RB-57s or EB-57s.

More F-4 Phantoms, painted up as USAF in Vietnam.  Will be used in Cuba Libre.

And then I just had to do it, had to work in some Arab-Israeli air gaming (it's Vicki's fault!).  Here we have some Super Mysteres for the Suez Crisis.  Astute observers will note that the far left aircraft is actually an F-86 Sabre posing as a Mystere because I broke a Mystere and didn't have a replacement...

One of my favorites, the Mirage, perfect for some Six-Day War dogfighting.

Those F-18 fighters I mentioned.

And here is maybe my favorite, the venerable F-14 Tomcat.

Just had to do the VF-84 "Jolly Rogers," too cool.

A closeup of those F-86 Sabres; sometimes I just feel like showing off.  I can't claim they're objectively beautiful, but I'm pretty proud of my handiwork on these tiny little airplanes.  They are actually fun to paint.

And on to the Battle of Britain!

First up is a section of Me-109s, in red.

Then the other section, in yellow.

The first section of Bf-110s.

And the others.

A three-plane section of Do-17s.  If you're wondering about the numbers of aircraft (per type), it's down to the rules I'm using, where the attacker gets (up to) four fighters to escort (up to) six bombers, and the defender gets (up to) six fighters to intercept them.  The 'up to' part is in there because casualties/losses carry over from game to game.

Which is part of the really cool campaign for Battle of Britain.  You play the war one week at a time, with one fight per day, casualties racking up and carrying over from fight to fight.  Then, when you start a new week, everyone gets replacements, and carry it out again.  So, the British will start each week with 9 Hurricanes and 9 Spitfires, while the Germans will start with 8 Me-109s, 4 Bf-110s, 6 He-111s, 6 Ju-88s, 3 Do-17s, and 3 Ju-87s.  While aircraft are somewhat generic, each of the named models has slightly different characteristics.

A flight of dreaded Stukas!

All six Ju-88s.

And all six He-111s, hopefully destined to end up at the bottom of the Channel!

And on to The Few: here are the six Hurricanes.

And the six Spitfires.

Sometimes I get a bit carried away ;)  First, I wish I'd have done something other than just the nose spinners to differentiate Spits from Hurricanes.  Second, it's a bit too busy on such small aircraft.  And lastly, I really did get carried away: that roundel behind the cockpit is yellow then blue then white then red.

And just to give you an idea of the size of these things: at left is an HR 1/300 Typhoon.  At bottom center is a Picoarmor 1/600 Typhoon.  At far right is the 'Tiny Air Combat' Spitfire you just saw in the previous picture.

Thanks for looking, and stand by for some gaming (probably during the Independence Day holiday).

V/R,
Jack