Work in progress

Whilst its nice to look at stuff already done, I'd not want you to think that I'm resting on my laurels.  No Siree, the long hobby war continues.  You've seen some of these summer uniform DKK before - from an lot of 2nd hand DKK who needed so much work that it was basically easier to just chop 'em up - I had a few DKK arm/rifle bits but most are wearing VL arms and VL arms to go with their VL legs.  Enough pouches and stuff to hide the join and these guys are good to go...

...into the painting queue.  There are still three without arms or arms and still ten head and torsos in the tin.  The order has gone to Australia's first lady of resin and sufficient bits to finish this job are on their way.

The summer uniform is going to be easier climbing in and out of vehicles.

Webbing items from FW, VL and Anvil Industries.  The Anvil bitz are really good and easier to use. And the guys who run are psychic or have a delivery TARDIS.  I'd swear blind that there was not enough time to put something in the post and have it delivered in between me clicking on 'pay now' and the little package arriving.

 These photos show all the bitz from all of the manufacturers.

The Macharian 203rd proved to have been Devos IV's most popular posts ever, with each getting over a thousand hits - not all of them me revisiting my own handiwork.  With some salvageable legs left over from the summer DKK, there's going to be a few more Macrons as well.

Again, Puppetswar swedes, VL torso and arms/arms (although there is one there with DKK arms !) when there are more done, I'll dress them in enough web kit to hide the join.

And whilst waiting for the bits to finish the Stugs to arrive from Models and Minis (six months, now); Admiral Drax has helpfully stuck the Ratguard SAM launchers together.  The missiles, already basecoated, sit nicely on the launch rails without gluing, which is nice.  This is one of the projects I wanted those Chimera hull sprues for.  Again, just waiting for Models and Minis track guards and back doors to finish them off.  This will give the ASL adequate AAA for their force component.

Flufftastically, of course, these HVM (high velocity missile) armed units would be covering the radar horizon in to about 2km.  Inside 2km, AD duties pass to the DKK's hydra battery.  In the game of course, IA1 includes rules for equipping your Manticore with AA missiles.  It goes without saying that unlike the FW and GW models, these quite obviously have a hull mounted HB for engaging terrestrial targets - those are SAM units with no ground engagement capability.  But that's what I wanted, real world realism in a fantasy game of flying tanks and so on.

Yes there is a radar dish missing from the top; it's in the box with the others.

And I may just have joined a September tank building challenge.  With a 1/35 Bradley.

That all important Elite slot

I've no idea if that's even a thing in 8ed.  But here are some interesting people for you to meet: 

The shotgun toting veteran squad from the Saranian 5th, two plasma guns and a flamer.  The plasma pistol packing Feldwebel Joslonig also has a shotgun on his back.  These guys just add extra zing to the Saranians as they execute their tasks as the light infantry screen for the DKK.  Y'know, scout, hit and run, move through cover, that sort of thing.

This team are the "z.b.V. Kader"( short for zur besonderen Verwendung, indicating a unit "for special use") of the DKK 19 Armd Regt's Grenadier detachment.  Generalmajor Resnick keeps them on a fairly short leash in case General Muntenfor pays a visit.  The assassination of any visiting staff officer would incur a sever loss of face.  But the DKK plenipotatiate for war's death whilst visiting your TAOR is not something even the corps of DKK officers want to see.  Hauptfeldwebel Halbe (no, it's not Bastogne, but look it up anyway) is the baddest mofo on this table, being Bastogne with DKK special rules....

These guys are a part of 'Detachment 66' D-66 was formed from Kasarkin to rid Agrippina of plague zombies.  There are 19 of them here, a part of the initial deployment at the outset of the war.  They have spent a lot of time running training packages for DKK grenadiers and other incoming Kasarkin units  (there are a lot of Kasarkin on the table in the Cadian, Corbanian and Ozark sub units).   Army training teams on continental Acer, far away from the operational theatre, still operate their warzone specific and other courses, but these are now staffed and run by teams drawn from across the army.

Obviously there are other elite elements on the table (engineers, hydra batteries etc) depending on what army list the units are drawn from, but I hope this little splash of colour (the autumn flektarn on the Saranians and spring flektarn on the zbV were both by Pirate Viking Painting).  More soonish.

The full parade

Flufftastically, what you are looking at here is the command detachment of 902 Div (XVII Korps) including an armoured squadron and mechanised company of DKK 19 Armd Regt, a company from 262 Line Regt, An armoured squadron from 22 ASL, a company from the Valhallan (Kado) 540th Regt and a lot of smaller detachments drawn from other 902 Div units to provide local security for the Div HQ. 

Additionally, there is, for as yet unexplored reasons, a detachment from 901 Div, armoured and mechanised subunits and company from 2/24 Cadian and 1/2 Corbanian.

So here it all is in it's glory.  The darker table had gravel mixed in to the paint when it was painted.  For years I have been chipping and plucking the 'effin' gravel off.  It's a job that needs some serious attention so that I can repaint it to better match the other two tables.  Homogeneity will be achieved one day.

And with hindsight, the Valhallan mobbed up blob should have been arrayed across the table between the Cadians and the DKK - it would have given a visual continuity across the deployment.  Also the actual command team(s) are bunched up next to the Crassus.  We should have split these up and displayed them in their actual teams and with the additional vehicles - most of which are still in their boxes, unbuilt.  But what we did do took us hours, we were tired and it was the first time we'd done this.  Lessons for next time !

Even more reasons to squander your cash.

Just in case you hadn't seen this yet.  Not cheap - $60 for the kit, but that's all three variants and funky new vibe for your favourite MBT.

Availble from here:  leaderratss-battle-tank

I get by with a little help from my friends

So by prior arrangement Karitas and Admiral Drax came over to give me a hand.  The idea was "just" to line up my iggies.  That is all.  The gettin' em out and puttin' em away again took the best part of seven hours. 

So these photos are just a tease.  Karitas brought his camera and his photography is soooo much better than mine.  But there are reasons for his super competence; I tried a 'fly by' with my DSLR, there's someone cutting their grass somewhere nearby and the background noise makes it seem like drone footage.  However, watching it back, you can clearly discern my footfalls from side to side.  So that's not being posted.

Whilst we were doing this, Admiral Drax was posting on a closed group on fb.  Which was almost instantly getting comments.  Mostly about my mental state, judging by his cackling.  Like it says in the title - three of us working for between six and seven hours could be twenty one hours - I'd not manage such a task in a on my own (and quite frankly, it would sap one's mojo in the end).

So here's some 'high level' airplane and titan level views from the back of the parade.   And the main purpose of this is of course to publicly thank Karitas and Admiral Drax for all their help; this would literally not have happened without them.  And the chances are, if you're reading this, that your continued support of this blog is one of the things that keeps it chuggin' along.  So thank you as well.

I hope this has wetted your appetite - more parade picts soon !

Warp Runners & Allied Knight Houses.

And defending the Brick of Scrutiny today are some of the Knights of houses allied to the Warp Runners.  These models are the old Eisnekarn (Dream Forge) Resin ones from the years before the Dream Forge Kick Starter.  Painted by the Pirate Viking.  

Both with one Vuclan Mega Bolter and one Knight close combat weapon.  You can see the Heavy Stubber peaking out there from out of the pultron.

These two are colloquially known as Chas and Dave.

These guys might look smaller but if they needed a base they'd be the same height as the next two Knights.

These guys are known as Killi and Filli.  One might think of the heroes of legend who were amongst the foremost warriors of their tribe who were loyal and valiant etc.  But they are actually named after hamsters.  

The four of them together are intended to keep titan killing weapons from the titans of the Warp Runners.

So here they are:

Phyladi Alpha and Phyladi Beta.  There were also built and painted by the Pirate Viking Fabrication Yards.

Gotta love a Scouting titan group.  Gonna get a group photo with Siph's maniple at some point.

They have a fairly small carbon footprint.  Although this is largely due to circumstances, rather than an increased level of environmental awareness.

Jeff also painted the inside of one of them.

And just in case you were wondering how they sized up against both the Storm Lord AT AT and the ol' Iron Chick toy...

Now as I write and publish this, Admiral Drax is getting some attention on fb so there's more excitement coming soon.

Cold War Esoterica

                                     

Now age comes to us all.  Actually it might not, but hopefully it does.  One by-product of this is that my own past is now 'history' as far as some are concerned.  I have had conversations with people about what is best described as 'corporate memory', specifically in the Army as that was our common point of reference.  The army I was in was intended to slow and then hold the USSR's 3rd shock army as it tried to roll across West Germany (the FDR, a separate sovereign state - who knew ?). 

Our skills, drills, equipment and exercises were all designed to that end.  Since I left the army UK plc has fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and changed all of those skills, drills, equipment and exercises to fight different types of wars.  So there are now great efforts underway to find a new modus operandi which once again sees NATO providing mitigation from Russian military expeditionism.  But this isn't a dive into modern politics, come with me back to the days of Chukka Khan, Max Headroom, the Poll Tax riots and Live Aid:

Montgomery's 21st Army Group changed title to the British Army On (the) Rhine (BAOR) before the end of the 1940s.  Roughly 50,000 British soldiers lived and worked in West Germany until very recently.  The draw down began soon after the reunification of the two Germanys and really only finished a few years ago.  The place I was stationed is apparently now and Aldi. 

Anyway, as relations improved, eventually some bright spark somewhere decided in the late 1950s that it would be a good idea if the Bundeswehr were allowed to station a reciprocal Panzer Ableitung in the UK somewhere.  Possibly to create something of an 'air gap' between them and neighbouring British units, the tank ranges at Castlemartin in Pembrokeshire were chosen.  For 35 years a Leopard Regiment was stationed in SW Wales in the same way as I and thousands like me were stationed in the FDR.