GNW Russians XIII

Finally back onto the GNW project. This time I've put together the 6 squadrons of Van der Ropps horse Grenadiers. The figures are all from Dixon's. My sources only mentioned the red coats so I took an educated guess on green cuffs and lining.

This brings me up to 12 squadrons of Horse Grenadiers for the Russians. Now I do have another 30+ figures so could fill the other 2 regiments out up to 6 squadrons, only issue being mixing the Dixon figures into units of Roundway and Warrior. Well got plenty of infantry and some Swedes to do before I need to decide.

I also added to my book collection for the GNW. Both books from Helium & Company. I do have a 3rd on pre order for the Swedish army.

Can't wait to get into these.

Tanks and more Tanks

After our first game of What a Tanker on Thursday I decided to crack on and paint up a few more tanks. They are all plastic kits from Zvezda. I've been picking up random kits from EBay.

First up are some Russian Tanks, 2 T34s and 2 BT5s. I decided to have a go at winter camo. I was looking for the more scruffy look rather than pure white to reflect how the white wash got worn through use and the green showed through. These were done with a simple white base coat, then using a fanned brush lightly dry brushed on the green. Not the greatest models but I'm happy with them.

Russian tanks

T34 test model

The other kit I picked up was a Panther. A bit more tricky to put together but a lovely model. I went for the classic late war colour scheme.

Panther

This brings me up to 7 models. Will need a few more as now I've checked through the campaign section I need some Valentine's, T26s and Panzer 38t's.

German and Russian tanks

Already looking forward to the next game.

What a Tanker!

Thanks to George at the club for  loaning us the use of some of his WW2 collection, we got in our first game of What a Tanker. We pitted 2 Shermans against 2 Panzer IVs. We kept the scenario simple as we just wanted to focus on learning the rules.

The game saw 1 of the Sherman's get boxed in and taken out, but not before surviving a few scares and comedy moments as the Panzers got into great firing positions then couldn't hit a barn door at 10 pages. Already looking forward to next week's game where I can get my own tanks on the table.

Trees and Tanks

As I'm struggling to find my painting mojo, I decided to tackle the lack of trees in my collection, especially for my 15mm figures. I do have about a dozen trees that I've had for more than a few decades, but always felt I lacked enough to produce decent wooded areas on the games table.

After browsing a few sites and realising the costs for trees these days I decided to follow some advice and check out a popular auction site and in particular Chinese suppliers. I plumbed for 2 sets, 1 of which were winter trees for a futures project. Now I have to say I was initially dubious at the price of £5 for 15 trees, thinking the quality would be poor. I was so wrong.

As you can see each set contains 3 different sizes. The packaging states suitable for 10mm, 15mm and 20mm. I just added them to some MDF bases. I can see a few more sets being picked up for additional variety.

Apart from trees I have done a little painting. Namely 2 15mm scale Panzer IVs from Zvezda. Very nice little clip together kits. It 2 T34s, 2 BT7s and a Panther to build up as I get ready to try out the What a Tanker rules.

Just need to add some decals when I remember where I stored them.