Sherman Progress

Well I managed to complete most of building of my Sherman this week.  I am pleased with the results so far; however, I am yet to stumble in to the "bear trap" of adding the etched brass details. I fear the headlight guards might have defeated me already but I’ll have another go before resorting to the plastic ones. The brass tie down for the pioneer tools will get replaced with lead foil for added malleability.

I have opted to place a couple of figure on it to give the feel of an operational vehicle.  Furthermore, I’d like to portray the commander’s hatch unbuttoned which would be logical since the commander is standing on the rear deck looking off at something in the distance. As a result I might need to add third figure peeking out, mainly to disguise the fact there is no interior to the vehicle. A little more playing about to get the figure positions just right might be in order. 

On the cards for this weekend is to sort out some stowage, which may require a bit of scratch building since I will need to replicate the stowage box attached to the back of the turret seen in the reference image which the Sherman is loosely based on.  Stowage is always problematic for me, I struggle to get it looking natural at the best of times.   

Holy Moly Shermans are Complecated

Well it’s been some time since I’ve managed to write a post. What with holidays, getting back to work and general sloth on my part the blog has been somewhat neglected.  

My latest project is now beginning to take shape so I thought I’d take the opportunity of a rainy Sunday afternoon to write a brief update.

Although the North Irish Horse (NIH) where known for their use of Churchill tanks of various marks during the Second World War in the North African and Italian Campaigns, they also had a smattering of Sherman tanks in their inventory.

For a while now a Sherman M4A1 DV has been languishing in my stash. Earlier this month I rediscovered a picture of one of the NIH Sherman’s from the Recce Troop in a reference work. I felt it might be an interesting project to have a go at.
  

The first job was change the suspension sets for the later VVS versions which I took from an Academy kit.  Then I added some extra armour on the hull sides.

According to the NIH war diary they received a shipment of Shermans in the early part of 1944 prior to their assault in the Hitler Line in May of the same year.  The entry does not specify anything more than Sherman, which I gives the modeller a certain amount of latitude. Nevertheless, as far as I am aware the British Army in Italy seen to of had a range of different Shermans marks at their disposal including some Sherman I veterans from the North African Campaign.  The reference photo that inspired me was taken during offensive actions in January 1945.  Rather than modelling a specific vehicle I am opting for representing an generic Recce Troop vehicle during the summer months of 1944.  

    

Even after a superficial study of Shermans one thing become quickly apparent, they are damn confusing. No two tanks seem to look the same there are a range of different configurations not only between marks but also within them. Its enough to leave me bewildered. As a result I have taken some artistic licence. I trust the Sherman aficionados amongst you will forgive me for this.       

Early Imperial Roman Army

Well, with a minimal fanfare of trumpets, the clatter of pots and pans and the sound of hobnails on cobbles I can finally announce I have completed painting my Early Imperial Roman Army. 

At this point it is worth while doing a little recap of the main elements that make it up:

We have three legions of  legionnaires making up the main force. These legions are made up of six bases apiece but obviously could be configured in to more flexible four base battle groups.

Supporting the legions are two battle groups of Roman Auxiliary who are classified as medium foot. They can fulfil a number of roles in addition to dealing with broken ground but also they can offer rear support.

In addition to the Roman Auxiliary I have included some archers units despite never having used before. Nevertheless, I have given myself  some extra options including using them on high ground or interspersed in a line to fire and withdraw.

Rocking up behind the Auxiliaries are the noble Roman Cavalry  who in my experience die quite easily no doubt due to my own poor handling. However I have promised myself not to squander the lives of the sons of Roman by charging it to all and sundry.

Next up are the light elements which comprise of a load of blokes who throw a load of rocks at the oncoming enemy and then get out of the way just in time for the next battle group of Equites Satgitti to sweep in and unleshing a volley of arrows before charging off on a heroic flanking mission of some description. 

On to the one of my favourite units the Numidian Light Horse who can case no end of mayhem to the enemy ranks by racing up and throwing pointy sticks at them. 

The final battle group is the light bolt shooters who can sit on an hill getting drunk waiting for anyone to stray into their field off fire and then they can unleash a couple of larger pointy sticks at  them before getting back their picnic.

One must not for get the illustrious command stands whose job it is to lead this army around the fields of felt and over the plywood hills to Elysium.

I See Dead People

How long have I wanted to use that line from the film The Sixth Sense in a post title !

Since starting to play Field of Glory at the beginning of the year I have been slowly building a collection the various gaming accessories required such as measuring sticks, dice, scenery and markers. It was at this juncture that I decided I needed to develop a system to illustrate cohesion of units. Thankfully, the Field of Glory rules go to the trouble of explaining the different ways of illustrating cohesion with helpful pictures. The three options they suggest are; offsetting and turning bases to show the level of cohesion, also the counter method placing coloured counters down  next to the  relevant battle group.  The third and preferred option in my case is to paint up dead figure markers.  For these guys Donningtion came up trumps with their wonderful collection of causality markers which I have been dutifully painting up in between battle groups.  Furthermore Seb at the CLWC contributed to my body count by gifting me an selection of Celts and Spanish casualties by Xyston.

The Donnington Figures were mounted on some disk bases with their edges painted green, red or black  to indicate the cohesion level a bit of flock was added after as wash with Paines gray oils to define the lowlights.   I am hopeful that these dead guys will add to the look for the look of the table along with simply demonstrating to me the level of catastrophe I have managed to get my army in to! 

Alternately, I went to all the trouble of painting up these dead guys so I could compose a blog post entitled I See Dead People!    

Baggage

Clearly one of the major priorities for a wargamer such as myself who lives in a metropolitan area and depending on the public transport infrastructure is how to get me and my army from home to work and then on to the wargames club. Thus raises the question; how should figures be transported safely?

The first option was to borrow my wife’s floral print hold all which seems strangely appropriate way to carry the Mid Republican Roman Army I borrowed from Andy. This did cause a number smirks from some of the mothers in the school playground, when I arrived bag in hand to drop my daughter off for her day at school.  In response to the raised eyebrows my choice of baggage caused I stated that I was comfortable enough with my masculinity to wonder around with a lady's floral print bag.

Nevertheless, I still had the problem of how best to transport my new Imperial Roman figures. After cogitating the various options open to me it struck me that a couple of years ago I received a free gift of a figure case when I visited a Salute. Remembering this I went on to the KR Multicase website to order some foam trays fit it. Fantastic, all sorted. I even justified the purchase to my  wonderful wife  by saying that it was likely that most of my figure would be horribly killed the ensuing game so the least I could do is ensure that they could travel there and back in relative comfort. She concurred with a loving smile.

With the all the components acquired it was just left to me to work out how best to pack the army. Could I remember where I put the freebee case? Err… no idea. After empting every cupboard and checking every illogical place at home and finding things that I had previously lost and given up on I drew a complete blank on where the case might be. In the back of my mind I have the suspicion that this case may of fallen victim to my wife’s cleaning and de-cluttering regime  which at times can take on a slightly Stalinist ilk.

Despite this drawback I did stumble upon a laptop case which seems to fit the bill as my new figure case, due tobeing the correct size to take the foam trays. Hay presto, now when I show up in the school playground on the day of a game my army will be incognito encased in a rather suave black laptop case... Good morning Mums ;)       

The Last Units

Well it’s been a long time coming but last weekend I finally finished the last two battle groups in my Early Imperial Roman Army. This part of the army is the shoot and scoot elements, with four bases of horse archers to provide a flexible flanking force. These equites sagittari are Donnington figures and look great now they are painted up, although I did have some reservations about the level of detail when I first got them.

In addition to the equites sagittari I completed a battle group of Numibian Light Horse to chase down Light Foot and deal with any nellies which might show up. The Numibian figures are by Corvus Belli. These figures are some of the most beautifully animated in the scale no two are in the same pose, a beautiful representation of irregular troops.

Tonight I want to finish painting the three command stands which will complete the army. So a little less talk and a little more painting is the order of the day me thinks...

"The Sentinel of Verdun"

On my last post I made a slight diversion over the colour of the Red Baron’s plane. Manfried von Richthofen gained notoriety over the battlefields of France piloting his Red Fokker Dr.1.  

Despite this von Richthofen was not the first to take to the skies in a Red Aeroplane. That accolade belongs to French aviator Jean Navarre.

Jean Navarre (Wiki)

Navarre served  in the French armee d’l’aire throughout the First World War becoming one of the first aces in history aerial combat. The combination of this reputation and flying recognisable red Nieuport 11 ‘Babe’ designed  to challenge and intimidate the enemy in the skies over Verdun, well before Richthofen  would gain notoriety as the 'Red Baron'.  Furthermore the sight Navarre’s aircraft to men on the ground engaged in the struggle for the fortress at Verdun proved to be a great boost to morale. This is apparent by the nickname Navarre earned;"The Sentinel of Verdun".

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Jean Navarre's Nieuport 11 'Babe' (Wiki)

Combat operations and the loss of his brother took a terrible toll on Narvarre he suffered from what today would be diagnosed as Post traumatic stress disorder. Despite this he survived the war.

However, his end is possibly the most tragic part of the story.  In response to the High Command’s order that French aviators should march the victory parade on the Champs Elysees and not fly over it. This was unacceptable and taken as an insult by the veteran pilots, who responded by selecting Navarre to fly under the Arc de Triomphe during the festivities in an act of defiance to this perceived snub. While practicing the stunt the week before Narvarre’s plane crashed killing him. He was 23 years of age.