Vietnam Dioramas

OK, they aren't wargaming figures, but there are some very cool Vietnam dioramas which I enjoyed here: http://www.geocities.com/vietnammodeling3/DIORAMAS3.html

Another online time-waster?...

A solar sailing simulator?

http://www3.ec-lille.fr/~u3p/Glenans/Glenans4.html

The Battle for Hue city , Tet April 1968

Late last year Al posted a great BatRep at the "Fields of Fire" forums for a Hue City Tet Offensive game. The write-up is great and only surpassed by the fantastic scenery!

http://fieldsoffireonline.freeforums.org/the-battle-for-hue-city-tet-april-1968-t207.html

Bunker Complex

You may recall that in January I bought a nice pre-made log bunker by Battlefield Accessories.
(Review here: Review - Bunker by Battlefield Accessories)

In the last few weeks I have acquired some new foliage and cam products which I have been dying to try out. I had always intended to cam up the bunker a bit for a more NVA/VC feel so it was a natural object for some experientation.


I've added silflor tufts of various sizes and shades, some of Antoneciti's home made foliage and a few others bits and pieces. I deliberately didnt aply a 'realistic' amount of foliage because the terrain still has to be handled (without damaging the effect) and I also have a habit of losing them in the jungle terrain!



I'm pretty happy with the way it came out overall, though I did have some issues using tacking glue/rubber cement with the seafoam sprigs and went instead to PVA for the foliage. So far so good, I'll do my other bunkers similarly.

Targets Acquired!

Just delivered are the newest additions to my Allied airpower - a pair of 1/87 scale diecast UH-1C gunships and a 1/100 diecast A-1H Skyraider. The first will add some firepower to my airmobile insertions, and the second is one of my favourite aircraft of the war.

The models come as pristine display models so I'm giving them some weathering and dirtying up for use on the table. I also need to construct better stands for gaming, but that is an ongoing issue for all my aircraft.

Did I overdo the engine exhaust streaks? I didn't think so either!

New Vietnam Scupts

Some of you may have seen this at TMP, but MK Miniatures have some new 15mm Vietnam scupts which look pretty nice. I hope somebody takes them up for production.

MK Miniatures website:

http://www.mkminiatures.com/

Silflor Tufts

I've been away overseas with work for a bit, so no new developments on the modelling front I'm afraid.

I did however, get a bunch of these excellent buffalo grass tufts by Silflor - cant wait to try them out on my next basing effort. Here are some pics (courtesy of the Alfold Arms website: http://blog.barrule.com/) of the different colours and sizes next to a 15mm fig:

You can see more of the Silflor tufts here: http://www.scenicexpress.com/

More vegetation arrives

My mate Owen and I have been on a tree buying spree and splitting the products. We got a range of sizes and styles, all in plastic, from ebay. Figs for scale are Owen's 28mm Assault Group SAS done in desert Auscam and a stand of 15mm Peter Pig IDF.

Looking forward to getting these based and on the table. Mixed in with what I already have these will make great jungle terrain.

NVA Rifle Squad based

The first NVA squad has now been based. Its in 3 elements - Squad HQ, a RPG fireteam and a RPD fire team. It seems that the cam scheme works almost too well...

I used the pre-painted resin bases from Miniature World Maker and thought they were excellent. The only issue is that the MWM bases are designed for FOW figs so the Flashpoint NVA needed some filing on the fig bases to fit in. Not a major issue, just time consuming. It also constrained the positioning and figure orientation somewhat but you cant have everything I guess!

And no, I havent started the other 7 squads or the Platoon HQs yet... damned Uni essays...

Land Ironclads Goes to Print!!!

...this had better not be an April fool's joke! From TMP:

Land Ironclads - Wessex Games' game of Victorian Science Fiction ground combat - has gone to print. A companion set to our popular Aeronef VSF flyer rules, Land Ironclads is not only a complete stand-alone game allowing gamers to fight games between armies including mighty landships, devilish mechanical contraptions and brave red-coated infantry, but is also fully compatible with Aeronef itself allowing combined air-land games to be played in a seamless fashion. Inspired by the worlds of Griffiths, Le Queux, Robida, Wells and Verne, Land Ironclads comes complete with a detailed geo-political timeline from 1854 to 1901, a military overview (with unit organisation details) covering Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austro-Hungary, Italy, Turkey, Spain and the Martian invader, statistics for over 200 different types of vehicle and troop types, a points system to allow you to create your own designs and five introductory scenarios set during the Great War of 1899-1901 and the Martian Invasion of 1901. The rules, which can be used for straight C19th historical battles, also include rules for land ironclads, supply, ruses, ambushes, espionage, sabotage, flying craft, underground burrowers, chemical warfare and the dreaded Martian invader. Brigade Models are producing a range of (rather superb) miniatures to support the game in the same scale as Aeronef models (2mm), but the rules can be played with any scale miniatures up to and including 15mm (in fact, with the standard 40mm unit frontage, you probably could well go larger). Land Ironclads will be a 48-page (including full-colour cover) A4 rulebook. We are hoping that Land Ironclads will be available to purchase at Salute from the Brigade Models stand on 19th April.




The discerning Gentlemen can tell that this is quality work by the embossed claim that: "Land Ironclads is a set of Victorian science fiction armoured warfare warfare rules written by Matthew Hartley , Steve Blease, Paul and David Crook inspired by the period fiction of H.G.Wells, George Griffiths and Albert Robida." Huzzah!