War Correspondent and Interpreter

Hi guys,

Hobby is still slow here, the solo gaming just does not seem to cut it for me. Bunker is progressing slowly after the initial enthusiasm, but an unforseen surge of modelling made me finish yet another two recycled projects.

The War Correspondent and Interpreter miniatures you are about to see both started years ago (literally) when I started working on Slovene soldiers for the first time. The latter have since been replaced with the fantastic Empress Americans, which I think was great choice as it let me finish a lot of them reasonably fast.

Still, I was left with 4 half done dollies and I used two of them to make the miniatures I wanted for a long time - interpreter and a journalist.

Below you can see them at the stage where I essentially gave up on trying to make them look any better:

 The 'terp on the left looks a lot like what my Slovenes would have looked like if they were ever finished, including the 'old' helmet cover with loads of camo stripes. He was given a walkie and a single pouch. I thought about giving him an AK and eventually settled for an unarmed version.

The correspondent was given a plain helmet (that would need slight beefing up, they both use same heads actually!), slightly different vest and a small one-hand camera. The first idea was to give him a large camera, because they 'look cool', but that would have involved a lot of work and I think someone embedded with a fighting unit would appreciate the flexibility of a lighter equipment. He was given a satchel and yet another camera, however.

The interpreter was painted in a mix of camo and plain greens to keep him interesting. I've hid his identity behind a ski-mask and gave him tacticool gloves.  While my painting efforts have lowered somehow in the past year, I think it looks quite fantastic.

 Here he is compared to an Empress US soldier, as you can see he is slightly smaller, as dollies are older, when 28mm was 28mm.

 The War Correspondent was given more civilian clothing. Green helmet was justified as a military surplus. I was not sure about vest colour, I vividly remember reading how blue vests were only good for snipers to shoot at the journalists in Bosnia. But apparently they are still in use, and if nothing else, it helps with a recognition of the miniature.

 There is not much to add, below is a size comparison photo. It was made using same E-bob dollies as the Interpreter, so there are next to no differences - keep in mind, however, that I 'grew' both of them for a milimeter or so by adding putty to their shoulders back when I started making Slovenes.

As usual,

Thanks for looking!

Mathyoo

Bunker model - part 2

Hi again,

the work continues on the bunker (and a wish to make it in a smaller scale instead!).

The list of things done is rather extensive, counting the fact I barely touched it in the past two weeks.

First, I had to peel the paint off, as mentioned in the last post.

 Except for being rather messy, it actually gave the bunker a nice worn out look!

Next, I decided it needs the cuts in the roof to help keep water off it, and to give grass something to root into for camouflage (can't be seen on photos). I also started filling some holes with milliput and then I started working on the firing embrasures (a plate with three holes for the cloche, plus a single flank mounted machine-gun).

I also started preparing holes for ventilation, periscope and a grenade chute. Lastly, I sculpted a horrible stone wall that holds the mound of earth vertical at the entrance. I think I will redo it, but I would have to figure out how to make it look a bit more realistic.

What else can be seen is the fact that the turret in particular is very crooked, which is driving me mad. As usual, the lesson learned is that more time and attention should be invested in planning!

That's it for today!

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Bunker model - part 1

Hi guys,

I have honestly been working on more fantasy miniatures for a while, but then got preoccupied with other non-hobby things and have then - as usual - dived in a whole new project. I started making model of a bunker.

Should you be interested, the type chosen is a "Small Object". If you imagine a typical Casemate on the Maginot line, this would be it's smaller brother.
Modelling wise, this is a square bunker with a round turret on one of the side. It has a single heavy machine gun mounted in one of the sides. I decided to give this one a try because it's very, very recognisable and somewhat simple, without any odd shapes.

Strangely, I was unable to find many good sites on the internet about this kind of builds, but there are some people around that are making (mostly) Atlantik wall bunkers and some even actually make a wooden scaffolding and pour the concrete in.
I, however, went with the simpler approach and simply cut the general shape out of an insulation foam leftovers. I found a decent scale calculator online and set for a 1:48 model, which could potentially be used in 28mm games.

As you can see, my enthusiasm for precision work was abandoned very early.

After the general shape was constructed, I realised I am missing the protective heaps of earth around the bunker. The bunkers in my area were not dug in as the Blitzkrieg caught up with the construction workers, but I think having some earth around it adds to the visualisation.

Then it was all covered in plaster. Two or three times.

 Back view with the entrance:

 Yes, I do realise the earth is way unnatural. I plan on making another model in 1/100 where I could make the surrounds more natural and possibly put more types of bunkers on it for the sake of presentation.

 When I got bored with plastering and sanding, I decided to give the model a coat or two of - and this is very important - cheap black paint.

Main weapon, a HMG would be mounted in the wall below:

There was a slight problem, however. I have intended to make further adjustments to the model after painting it, and when I've started scraping it, the paint peeled. I presume the bad paint quality, paired with thick coats (my bad!), that were put on before the paint fully dried (my bad!), with the added fact that the model was still dusty because of the sanding (I know!) had a lot to do with it.

I will show you the photos next time, but lets just say I've spent quite some time peeling the bugger off. The result was actually fantastic, as it gave bunker a bit of the "rustic" feel to it - but to no effect as it will be painted over.

More about it next time!

Mathyoo

Meet the Cynocephali!

Hi!

Another group of miniatures finally got the loving they deserved after two years in the "tomorrow, really" drawer.

This time it is a group of Cynocephali, the dog-headed race from the other side of the Rotten sea that is known for their war-like, cruel and human-hating nature in general.

They are generally described as having human bodies and dog heads, but some claim they have goat legs or even one eye at the front and one at the back of their skull!

The eldest will have you know the dreaded soldiers ride in battle on horse-back and howl!

While the idea of Cynocephali is really, really old, the resemblance to Atila and the Huns is evident. Later, the Pasjeglavci/Pesjani/Pasjedlani as they are called in Slovenia, were associated with the Turks, whom in their invasion of the Balkans and push to the Vienna left a lasting impact on the region to a point where everything bad was associated with them for hundreds of years after they were gone.

Among others, there is a tale of Pes Marko ( "Mark the Dog",). Marko was born by a count's daughter that was locked up in a jail (tower) by her father. He gave her a dog to play with, which made her pregnant and thus she born Pes Marko. He eventually became the leader of Venice and pillaged the city in rage.

This tale supposedly originates from middle ages, during the wars between the Holy Roman Empire (that included most of today's Slovenia) and Venice, which is known for Saint Mark and venetian lion - you get the rest!



I imagined these ruthless creatures would be the most common enemies of any heroes wandering in the land of old gods and made four of them. A leader armed with an axe, a bow man for some long-range support and two spear grunts.

For the soldiers, I simply used some of left over GW Ungors I had from the Dunwich project. I have to admit I really like the miniatures. They are plastic and easy to work with, they are on the large side and quite cartoony, which I think fits well with the fantasy. I did, however, cut the axe to something more manageable.  

 Other than that I gave them a quick paint job and that's about it. They were kept very simple and I really have to say the photos don't do them justice. Surely I shouldn't just go with black pelt and the brown is all wrong, but overall I am quite satisfied.

In other news, I am preparing some of my own sculpts/conversions for moderns and fantasy and looking at my Strange Aeons collection, I really think I should start a campaing - which brings me to my Moderns, that I would like to at least remotely finish first. Ah, so many plans!

Meet Kresnik!

Hello guys,

Almost 2 years ago - I checked the blog history - I started converting Horrorclix's Fiend (Frankenstein monster) into a Kersnik, a local Slavic pagan (demi)god. .

To refresh your memory, influenced by SAGA and 7th Voyage that were both really popular back then, I decided to start a project, where wandering pagan party - consisting of nothing but heroes, of course - would fight the creatures of the lore with the intention of saving a damsel in distress or performing a similarly important deed. Equally, the mythos creatures could be used in games of Strange Aeons and would give me something to sculpt and convert. Evidently, the project didn't live long, but as I am clearing my old stuff, I decided to restart it.

Kresnik is the most common god (or semi-god) in Slovenian mythology, so he was an obvious choice for my god on earth. It appears to be a very localised deity, only known in Slovenia and parts of Croatia.
Mythos wise, he is a rather complicated character and it is believed that Kresnik is either Perun himself (kind of a Slavic Thor); that his brother, named Trot is Perun; that Kresnik is Perun's son.

As omnipotent gods would not be any kind of fun to game with, I decided to go with the semi-god option. Thus, Kresnik is a "Hercules" type of character, a son of Perun and mortal. As the luck would have it, it is believed that Kresnik did the 12 deeds, too!
According to the legend, the Son of lightning Kresnik was carried by his mother for whole nine years.  He was close to the people and in some versions, every village had a Kresnik of their own, protecting them from foul creatures and being that would want to hurt them or humanity. Those include, but are not limited to: Veles (Perun's arch nemesis), dragons, giant snakes, giant snake queens, false Kresniks (these are the worst!), vampires, cynocephali, centaurs etc etc.
Kresnik is not immortal and can die, but always returns to the world.


He has the arms and hair of gold and carries an axe, mace, lightning bolt or a knife. 

At first I had high plans of sculpting my own, but I've decided to simply convert Horrorclix's The fiend instead. I got him a veeeeery long time ago from Vampifan - THANKS AGAIN!

The fiend is taller than ordinary human being, being almost 50mm tall, so he was perfect candidate for a god on Earth. I've cut him off his base and cleaned him up a bit. I've cut off the shackles, cleaned up the nails in his spine and made some other surgical tasks, before giving him a nice shirt, girly long hair and a manly beard.

Below is an eons old photo of him, before he was equipped with the second axe as well. If I am not mistaken, his hair were slightly retouched, as was his shirt, but no major work was done.

Then I left him in my drawer, forgotten until last week. To paint him, I went with a simple linen shirt that is these days associated with the pagan Slavs. Those are very popular in Russia and Ukraine, which is where Slovene "neo pagans" imported them from. I do not recall reading about them being worn here. I would presume 6th century Alpine Slavs would wear woolen clothes, but the combination of white and red was too good too pass.

 I armed him with two axes and gave NMM Gold a try. It didn't succeed and now he looks like a member of the Simpsons family.

 The painting was straightforward and I dropped all the ideas of energy flow shown passing through his eyes and/or axes. Now, he could also be used as a generic giant. He is mounted on a 40mm base and is shown with a flabbergasted explorer down below:

There is little to add, I have to paint a group of the most evil creatures imaginable and then I will get back to finishing sculpting other projects.

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Evergreen Fields: Operation Angelica - AAR 2

Hi guys,
I played another game earlier this week. It was rather large and to keep it interesting, involved the introduction of elite foreign fighters on the rebel's side and a tank (yes, a tank) in the arsenal of Slovenes.

Following the ambush of Slovenes [look at the last post], more similar attacks on the international and government forces were carried out in the capital. The attacks in the North of the city were so fierce and numerous, that the rebels were able to fortify themselves in the area and do not plan to be moved from there.

As a result, Operation Angelica was devised with hopes of clearing this large pocket of resistance and to establish a firm governmental control of the capital again. Once the capital will be secured, recapturing of the inland will be made possible. Attacking from several lanes of approach, the IIF (International Intervention Force) will push into the territory and clear it. It is hoped that sheer strength and determination of the attack will break the rebellion, but the fighting could just as well bog down to a costly street fighting.

Assault at the Cedar lane will be spearheaded by the Slovenes. The road is blocked and covered by fire from the near-by houses turned strongpoints, overlooking the position. Slovenes have to make their way to the barricade and check it for any signs of explosives [a fair roll of 4+ on D6]. If the barricade is mined, EOD team has to be called in [arrives next turn on the roll of 6, then 5+, 4+ on any other turn] and cleared by the EOD technician [roll of 4+].
Once the barricade is safe to be removed, an M-84 tank will assist in pushing open the road for the reinforcements to advance.

Beware: Damage to property must be minimal, so tank's main gun is not to be used, unless against enemy armour - if it appears.
For the same reason, artillery or air support will not be available for the attacking troops.

SAF Force: Three fire teams (Ankaran, Bled, Celje), supported by a MMG team for the initial assault.

An M84 tank is to join the attack for the push past the barricade. It is vital that the tank is not exposed to unnecessary fire and - when engaged - that it is fully supported by the infantry.

If the attack bogs down, SAF troops on the flanks might send additional men to make sure the attack goes well.

Rebel force:
One group of foreign fighters, well equipped with an RPG (Group Arnold).
Three groups of local fighters, armed with automatic weapons (Groups Brad, Charles, Duncan) [low rolls so no RPGs here]
Sniper.
MMG team.

Starting set up:

SAF in left side, bottom up: Team Ankaran behind a grey house, MMG team at the concrete wall, Team Bled behind the trees, Team Celje behind the terracotta  house.


Rebels from right to left, bottom up: MMG team on top of the super market, Foreign fighters Group Arnold behind the sand bags, Sniper on top of  the motel, Group Brad in blue semi-detached house, Charles in light blue house, Duncan behind white house on top.

Opening Operation Angelica, Slovenes pushed rather reluctantly.

Team Ankaran ran to the green house in an attempt to secure barricade's right flank.
Team Celje pushed in the larger house in the orchard and opened fire at rebel Group Charles, scoring one hit that suppressed one of the rebels. The rebels were rather passive and even the fearsome foreign fighters decided to wait to see how the attack unfolds before they join the fight.

Team Celje managed to keep the steady rate of fire and scored another hit against Group Charles, slowly reducing their numbers.

Team Bled joined in the firefight against Group Charles, but contributed little more than just a sound.
Team Celje kept their fire going and scored another lethal hit against the same target.

In the mean time, team Ankaran surged to the other side of the house and opened fire at Group Brad, scoring a hit.  The return fire from well entrenched rebels was devastating, leaving two soldiers suppressed! Luckily, SAF MMG team was well positioned and sprayed Group Arnold through the barricade, scoring a hit!

Further north, Group Duncan - lead by the infamous Yellow Jacket - took on the initiative and moved towards the orchard where Teams Bled and Celje are positioned. They opened fire at team Bled, hoping to aid their comrades of the Group Charles, suppressing  two Slovenes and scoring a lethal shot on the SAW gunner. Judging by the recent events [Every single modern game I played so far], carrying a SAW brings a curse and a bullseye on you. The return fire of Slovenes was not effective.

Combat continued, bullets flew everywhere, but still - nobody was able to obtain any form of superiority.

Targeted by Group Brad, Team Ankaran suffered a heavily wounded, that had to be escorted to the back - but how, when the fire by the rebels is so heavy?

Things were going even worse for Team Bled, that lost another soldier to the rebels of the Group Duncan. Luckily, team Celje's aim was accurate and they scored two kills and a suppression on team Duncan - is the luck for the Slovenes starting to turn?

Apparently not, as Team Ankaran just lost three men, 4th being heavily wounded and waiting for extraction to medevac.
The success of whole assault in jeopardy, an M-84 tank was called in to intervene.

[Out of interest: In  the next turn, the initiative was rolled as follows: 1-1; 5-5; 1-1; 6-6; 6-6 and finally 3-2 for the Rebels]

Cavalry arrived! Cautiously, an M-84 rolled down the street, stopped and opened fire at the Group Charles. Still respecting the ROE, it sprayed the house Group Charles has turned into a fort with HMG fire and has failed to leave an impact.

The arrival of the tank meant the foreigners better go in action, they tried hitting the tank with an RPG across the barricade. The rocket flew in the gap between the trucks and scored a hit,  badly shaking the crew, but otherwise not damaging the tank.
Second shot was more accurate and exploded near the tank's main gun, destroying it. There goes the temptation to use the main gun!

SAF MMG team kept firing at Group Brad in an attempt to keep them away from the wounded mate. Up north Teams Bled and Celje were still exchanging fire with Group Duncan, killing one of theirs but losing another one of Bled's to a heavy injury.

To help evacuate bleeding member of the Team Ankaran, another team was been sent in - designated Team Drava. Joined by a combat medic, their mission is to stabilise the wounded and escort him back for medevac.

In the orchard, Team Celje eliminated Group Duncan and moved on to engage Group Charles. The rest of the battle was at a stalemate.

Medical team reached the wounded soldier and medic immediately started escorting him back to the casevac [Medic became a separate group in game]. The rest of the team divided their tasks, rifleman checked the barricade for explosives , but thankfully the rebels did not plan them [Lost another chance to use my EOD team in game!]. Team's SAW gunner and Grenadier opened fire at Group Brad and scoring 2 kills in their quest for vengeance.

Team Celje moved forward and engaged Group Charles, scoring two hits. This got them in the range of the sniper on top of the apartment blocks, but he failed to hit any of them. Team Bled retreated in the back to bring the wounded to the casevac.

As the medic was escorting the wounded member of team Ankaran to the back, the rest of his team opened fire at Group Brad, completely obliterating it, but was in turn suppressed by the rebel MMG team.
In the orchard, team Celje completely demolished Group Charles.

Foreign fighters' RPG gunner kept firing at the tank, scoring a good hit on the tracks and thus immobilising it. The assault will have to be carried out on the flanks of the barricade, after all!

Rebel sniper has managed to get a hit on team Celje's infantryman, who was saved by the armour plate.

Crew in M84, while immobilised, turned their attention to the foreigners and sprayed them with HMG fire, suppressing a rifleman and killing a RPG gunner [as per dice rolls! - but I later realised elite rebels can have more than one person suppressed.]

Dropping his friend at the casevac, Bled's team lone survivor caught up with Team Celje and attached himself to them.

With the RPG gone, M84 crew started firing at Rebel MMG on top of the market store, suppressing the gunner. Team Drava, the three man team that joined the fight with the medic, exchanged some fire with the Foreign fighters, but without any effect.

 Out of targets, SAF MMG team pushed forward to engage from a closer range.

The sniper aimed was on point now, scoring a heavy wounded in team Celje!

After dropping wounded man at the casevac, medic returned to battle and was on his way to rejoin Team Drava. His team divided fire between MMG team and Group Arnold, suppressing two of the latter and killing one of the former.

The joy was short lived as rebel MMG sprayed them, causing a heavily wounded.

 Team Celje split as wounded man was escorted to the back, while the rest of the team moved forward.

Accurate fire from rebel MMG suppressed SAF MMG team.

Team Celje engaged the sniper, suppresing him and in eventually killing him, while also engaging Foreign fighters. The assault was closing to an end.

In a subsequent fighting, M84 managed to destory the rebel MMG team and SAF MMG team moved forward, just to lose an assistant gunner to the Foreign fighters.

It was then just a matter of time, before the last of the rebels were destroyed and the battle was won.

Post game thoughts:

Initially, I imagined that the only way forward would be through barricade, but I am quite satisfied that I left the gaps open for infantry. Infantry can, after all, move rather freely.

I fed Slovenes a tank and an extra fire team, that I believe saved them from suffering a retreat. This isn't totally fair to rebels, that got no extra troops, but I did say the games would be rather biased.  The idea was that this game was just a part of a larger battle, where attack would not be started without a decent numerical superiority and being surrounded, the rebels couldn't quite get relieved. Also, three mediocre SAF teams and a MMG team were up against three bad an an elite Rebel teams, supported by MMG team and a sniper. The worse problem than team composition is the unintentional fact that I think about what to do with my Slovenes and less so about what to do with the Rebels. To remedy this, I will try to shift my AARs into more story-like posts as who shot at whom makes for a rather dull read.

I am satisfied that I escorted all the heavily wounded soldiers to the back, as in the last game my wounded soldier was just waiting for the game to end.

Tank proved to be a rather fun addition. The rules are so simple, anything heavier than small arms and HMGs can penetrate the tank - so there is no difference between a RPG of this or that description. I simply used tank as a Medium tank, giving it a 3+ save. With my bad rolls, this made it rather vulnerable - as it should be. Bringing a tank in town is never really a good idea. Other than that, I think I had too many teams on board and I got lost in knowing who was activated and who was not (which is also due to fact I was not concentrated on the game, which is a side product of playing alone).

Furthermore, I made a bucket load of mistakes during the game. While the rules are really minimal, I kept realising I forgot about several things. Other than that, I am growing to like he system.

All summed up, at least I am continuing with the "campaign" and using my miniatures. I expect to play more games eventually, but have currently been struck by a painting mojo, so I am working on some of my other projects.

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo