Kangaroo Tank WIP 2

WIP pics from the Kangaroo Tank project.  The hull and tracks are finished.  I chose a Commonwealth Armored Car crew for the diorama to represent the use of these tanks as reconnaissance vehicles.  I think is the best possible arrangement:  

I was able to recover from the two-tone paint job on display in those first two photos (Pro Tip: don't wait too long between painting sessions if you are painting the upper and lower hulls separately--even if you take good notes).  A coating of dry pigment fixed with a straight alcohol wash on the front slope and underside of the tank brought the two colors together without having to repaint the whole hull.

I'm pretty pleased with the dust effects on the roadwheels--concentrated near the rear of the track where the most dirt gets kicked up into the suspension and churned around.  The rear roadwheels and the idler wheels are normally where most of the dirt ends up, especially in dry, dusty conditions.  The downside is all the careful work I did to make the track tension adjuster on the idler wheel look like a track tension adjuster (I even made greasy streaks) is completely obliterated by dirt.  Oh well.  I'll have to show off that detail in a motor pool or maintenance diorama.

Next up: The crew.  Very daunting prospect as I have not painted 35mm figures since the 4th grade.  For those of you who don't know me, that was more than a long while ago.

Kangaroo Tank WIP

Been out of the net for a while.  Busy moving to a new house.  Here's a picture of Tiki Bob and a refreshing drink overlooking the woods behind my new house.

About two years ago, John challenged me to do a high-quality version of the Kangaroo Tanks (captured Italian M13/40) I made for our Tobruk Wargame.  I'm finally getting around to the project.  I selected the Tamiya 1/35 scale kit for no other reason than it was the one I could find.  It comes with kangaroo decals, but I have not yet decided whether I will use the decals or freehand the markings.

For starters, I have never made a 1/35 scale tank, and I did not know what to think about such a big model.  Having completed the first part of the project, I can say that I really like working in the large scale as it give me the ability to work in a lot of nuanced detail without overwhelming the model.

After the initial basecoats and some wash, I used a straightedge to replicate the scoring that you get on the sides of the hull from the treads.  I wanted to try also to replicate the wear you get from the track bouncing up and down as well, but could not make it work with the lateral scoring, so I just shaded the hull between the return rollers with a darker paint to suggest wear.

I love dioramas and terrain, so I bought some British armored vehicle crew models and am trying to think of a good vignette.  I originally wanted to have one of the crewmen painting a kangaroo on the side of the turret, but I'm afraid that exceeds my modeling expertise.

 

 

With 1/35 I get to make oil stains that don't look like a superfund site.  The wear and tear is so much more fun to do at this scale and looks so much better than paint chipping on smaller models.  Really enjoying this project so far.

Tobruk 1941 Battle Report

Our newly-formed wargaming group met for the first time this past weekend and played a Bolt Action scenario based on the Australian defense of the Tobruk garrison in April 1941.  John and I put together a scenario, the forces, the terrain, and GMed the game jointly.

It was a lot of fun and we all learned a lot about large-scale games.

We had a total of 11 players (6 attackers and 5 defenders) each of whom controlled a platoon (or served as the commander of their respective sides).  We opted not to adjust the Bolt Action activation mechanic because we are absolutely in love with the Bolt Action activation mechanic.  The predictable result is that the game started to drag in the later turns as more units got into the action and we were unable to play to a conclusive finish.  We will work to develop techniques to make the Bolt Action activation work with large-scale holistic games.

The bottom line is that I am really excited about this gaming group.  It is a great group of guys dedicated to high quality miniature wargaming.  I really look forward to future games.

The day started with a bunch of dudes gathering in the common room at Drew's condo.  Many (most) of us were meeting for the first time.  After a brief champagne toast to celebrate John's birthday (happened earlier in the month) we all got down to business.  More or less.

Owen took some great photos of the game from a (mostly) DAK perspective (more photos to follow as they come in):

Here's a shot of the formidable forces of the Deutsches Afrika Korps organized for battle.  It included a company command element with three tanks, a reconnaissance platoon, an infantry platoon, two tank platoons, and an artillery detachment.  Lots of activation dice.

The Australian side consisted of a Company HQ with a captured 222 armored car and 3 Bren teams, an infantry platoon, two light anti-tank platoons equipped with captured Italian Elefantino guns, a platoon of captured Italian M13/40 light tanks, and one bad-ass Artillery FO.

The DAK fought as a platoon pure formation while the Australians task-organized into tank-killing teams ready to defend their obstacle belt.

As this was a GM-run game, we were able to utilize true hidden setup for both the Aussie units and their obstacles.  This presented considerable problems for the DAK.

Scouts Out!  DAK reconnaissance searching the desert (unsuccessfully) for the Australian obstacles and anti-tank guns.  That motorcycle scout squad by the rocks in the upper left is about to receive a nasty surprise.  On the plus side, they did locate an Australian infantry squad.

Trucks with infantry move up to try to locate and breach the Aussie obstacles as tanks and dismounted infantry deal with a tenacious squad of Aussie infantry in the rocks.  This squad caused a lot of problems for the DAK as they just.  would.  not.  die.

Aussie light mortar team tries valiantly to suppress a DAK 88 as a captured Italian M13/40 burns in the background (after running into its own anti-tank obstacle).

For whatever reason, that mortar team was really photogenic in its spot amongst the rocks.  I had to take a break to snap this shot.

 Captured Italian M13/40 with Australian markings engages DAK vehicles and infantry at long range.

The DAK attack starts to bunch up while they are still looking for a good breach site.  Note the burning Panzer IV in the bottom left.  Courtesy of a ridiculously effective Australian artillery barrage

 

 

DAK and Aussie infantry gettin' after it in the rocks overlooking the breach site.

 

DAK infantry trying to reduce the obstacle and open the breach.

 

Endstate.  (Note the Aussie FO team, middle left, charging toward the DAK breach site.  Resist by any means possible, Mates).  Anyhow, the DAK attack culminated at the obstacle belt, halting the attack on Tobruk.  For now...

John and I going over the results of the game with the obstacles and Australian positions revealed for both sides to see.


Man of the match definitely goes to the Aussie Artillery FO for destroying one tank and putting about a billion pin markers on the rest (before giving in to suicidal tendencies and charging toward the DAK breach point).

Thanks to John for getting the North Africa ball rolling and letting me GM this game with him.  The players all seemed to have a really fun time.  Thanks to Drew for providing the excellent gaming facility and chili.  And thanks to the teams (DAK: Sean, Owen, Rhett, Gavin, Casey, and Keith.  UK: Mike, Drew, Lee, Richard, and Marcus) for superb game play and excellent refreshments.  I cannot overstate how cool it was to see a group gel like we did-that was a lot of fun.

I think we are onto a really fun format.  See you guys next month.

Captured Italian Tanks (Tobruk)

John and I continue to prep for a Tobruk scenario later in February.  Part of the goal of this game is to introduce Bolt Action Tank War rules to our gaming group.

I have become fascinated by the Australian defenders of Tobruk, and had to take a crack at making some of these Italian tanks that the Aussies captured and put into service:

Here are the results.  I elected to only paint kangaroos onto the turrets, as I think that two kangaroos per facing is a little much for the model (though I can understand wanting to go overkill on friendly markings to avoid fratricide!)  I also elected to hand-paint the 'roos rather than use decals to give them a field expedient look.

 Next up, Australian infantry.

New Project: 2/28th Infantry (Australia) at Tobruk

Here is the next project in my deep dive into Bolt Action WWII wargaming.  I have assembled the Perry miniatures Desert Rats box set.  I absolutely love these minis.  These models will form an infantry platoon for next month's narrative game which will take place in and around Tobruk in 1941.  John is putting together the opposing DAK force for this scenario, so I need to up my game and paint a force that is at least worthy of sharing a tabletop with his amazing models.

First off, they are a great deal.  For around $36 you get a a core body of command, infantry, and support weapon teams for an entire force organization.  For my money this is the best miniature buy-in for a Wargame on the market right now.  In one box I was able to assemble three infantry squads, 2 Bren teams, a mortar team, and a platoon command.  This left me with three models that worked perfectly for a non-standard "tableau" base that would work for a company command section or forward observer team.

This command/FO unit probably will not work for tournament play, but for the type of narrative wargaming our gaming group has been exploring, it will work very well.

The detail and proportions on these models is fantastic.  I definitely prefer the true 25mm scale to the heroic scale.  Something about the giant heads, hands, and weapons of the heroic scale tends to distract me.  This prone Bren team is one of my favorite models-I really have a thing for prone models firing.  I'm really looking forward to painting them.

So my plan is to hit the seam between the last set of minis, which I completed in very little time (about 7-10 minutes/model), but almost too much at the cost of quality, and some of my better quality tabletop models like these, which represent about 60 minutes per model.  That said, I still need to paint these Aussies in a hurry and move on to the next project for the February game.