New 15mm German troops

Following on from my previous post where I showed additional troops to make my Soviet units CoC2 compliant, here are the German equivalents, again all by Peter Pig, plus a new Zug (platoon).

First, a three-man Engineer team and a sniper team;

Next a Volksgrenadier squad (see below also) supporting a three-man Flamethrower team;

Here are eight ammunition carriers because LMG teams now need more guys supporting the MG42 and I've also painted an extra Senior Leader. The figure was spare, so I painted him up;

And finally, my new unit, a Volksgrenadier Zug, equipped with the StG 44 assault rifle;

Volksgrenadier units weren't all supplied with the StG 44 because the bulk of the troops still had the Kar 98k rifle, because millions of them were produced during the war, with less than 500,000 StG 44s entering service. However, this is an assault Zug, with two assault squads and a heavy squad with two MG42 teams. That is a lot of firepower. The extra Volksgrenadier squad above will be a potential support choice for the Germans.

I'm pleased with the final photo, because I was able to use one of Jon Hodgson's SciFi backdrops as a battle-scarred cityscape.

Having reorganised all of my German units by mixing in the ammunition carriers and changing the structure of my Panzergrenadier Zug , I've managed to create two extra rifleman (Grenadier) squads and an extra Panzergrenadier squad as support options.

Looking at my Soviets and Germans, when I add in my Volkssturm and an earlier "green" Volksgrenadier squad I painted a few years ago, I reckon that I could put on a huge game with the Soviets and Germans fighting over the ruins of Berlin. Of course, I'd have to create a big pile of ruined buildings to add to the ones I've already got. Maybe a plan for the future?

 

New 15mm WW2 Soviet troops

These are all additions to make my 15mm Soviet units compliant with Chain of Command V2;

Everything is from Peter Pig. 

Above are two additions to fill a gap I had previously; two 50mm mortar teams.

Next, I have an additional squad for a standard Rifle platoon. These will either work as a support option or for games set in 1941-43.

Below are figures that I needed to add to some SMG-armed figures to make a second squad for a SMG platoon, all armed with the PPSh-41 SMG.

CoC2 changes Soviet platoon HQ sections. So, I now have a rifle platoon commander (peaked cap), a platoon sergeant (helmet) and a sniper team (in the middle). Platoon commanders are now equipped with SMGs.

Below is the HQ section for my SMG platoon with the same organisation as above for the rifle one.

Next up, a heavy squad for my SMG platoon. Both the rifle and SMG platoons now have a "heavy" squad with two DP-27 LMG teams. This is a big change. I was able to make the necessary changes for my rifle platoon from figures I already had.

Here are two more sniper teams and a couple of spare SMG-armed men. I did these because the Peter Pig sniper set gives you four teams and the SMG guys are just spares.

Below are "resting" SMG men, who I have painted up to use as extra DP-27 LMG team members, because in CoC2 the Soviet LMG teams now have either three or four members.

So, all in all, that is 56 more recruits for my Soviet forces. 

This has allowed me to reorganise what I have available for the Soviet Union. As core troops, I now have a Rifle platoon, a SMG (or tank rider) platoon, a Motor Rifle platoon and as supports (including things I had already), I can field two 50cm mortar teams, two sniper teams, a rifle squad, a SMG squad, a Scout squad (Junior leader and 6 men, all with SMGs), two Maxim MMG teams, a 45cm anti-tank gun with crew and a junior leader and a Commissar. 

I have armoured cars, various tanks and a SU-76 as vehicle support too and I have a number of painted figures that are surplus to my units.

I've also still got a few things left to paint, mostly extra riflemen, so who knows what else I'll be able to turn the leftovers into in the future? 
 

Chain of Command 2 - a few first thoughts

My pre-order bundle arrived yesterday afternoon.

The cover keeps the spirit of the original alive, while also looking all new and shiny. I chose the Veteran Resupply Bundle, which includes the book, a PDF of the book, two Force morale trackers, nicely printed on card and a set of MDF tokens;

I've already taken the opportunity to laminate the force Morale trackers, to ensure they have a long and useful life and the MDF tokens and markers are a nice update to the original set (of which I have two) and include a few new things. All in all, an excellent set of the important stuff. I've already got patrol markers, CoC dice and jump off points, but if you are a new player, you can get two other bundles that have the extra things you'll need to play.

I've spent a bit of time skimming through the book and, so far, the changes I've seen all appear to be improvements rather than things I don't like. I've played CoC2 a couple of times already and knew how some of the new things work but there is also stuff that I'd not seen, so I expect that there will be a period of adjustment ahead. 

One thing I really do like from an early dip into the book are the changes to Soviet platoons which give them a bit more punch and potentially make them a more flexible attacking force. I'm thinking that I'll be following in the footsteps of Comrade Stalin and reorganising my Soviet infantry quite soon. I may well end up with more Soviet troops than I'll ever be able to get onto the table. Looking at the cost of Supports, I still doubt that I'll ever see my T-34/85, SU-85 or IS-2 on the table.

I'm also looking at the German list and I'm now planning a Volksgrenadier force, which should be an interesting Zug to play with. Assault rifles are less powerful than in CoC1, but still pack a big punch and SMGs are also downgraded but have a longer range. Volksgrenadiers field a lot of firepower, especially at close range, but look like they might be pretty brittle once they start taking casualties and shock.

I really like the changes to the Panzergrenadier Zug too. Now, each squad is all about the two MG42 teams. There are no additional riflemen. Everyone in the team now supports the MG42.

I've not looked as closely at the British lists, but a third crewman for the 2" mortar makes sense. The Airborne platoon no longer has an embedded PIAT team, that is now a support option and the platoon structure has changed.

The new ways you can use CoC dice points is also great. I've had a chance to use it in practice and I like it a lot.

Finally, Elite status is no longer applicable, except in one specific case. I've never liked the idea of Elites. There are better ways of giving certain troop types a bit of extra welly, red dice, for example as introduced in the Blitzkrieg handbook.

So, it is looking good for the future of Chain of Command and now I'm going to have to visit the Peter Pig website and spend some money.

Three mounted figures from Bloody Miniatures

I painted these a while ago but forgot to do a post. They have even featured in a game or two. First, a trumpeter.

Next, a standard bearer;

And finally, a commander;

As the title says, these are all from Bloody Miniatures and they are excellent sculpts and really nice clean casts too.

The standard needs improvement, it is just a simple thing but needs to be replaced with something better. I haven't found anything I like yet, though.

They featured as my brigade's command in a game of Never Mind The Matchlocks recently, leading three battalia of pike and shot.
 

My latest four foot figures from Bloody Miniatures

Here are my final four completed 28mm 17th century figures from Bloody Miniatures.

These are pikemen who have abandoned their pikes to fight face-to-face with their opponents, apart from the one on the right who is using a broken-off pike head. You'll note that I have stuck with my red and blue colour palette for them. They can definitely play a part in skirmish games but perhaps also in a large pike and shot unit to break up the monotony of having all standard pikemen? Anyway, they are nice figures and I'm pleased with them.

Once again, I'm using a Jon Hodgson backdrop.

I've currently got some mounted troops ready to photograph, so I'll post them as soon as I can be bothered to set up the lightbox.

More Scots from Bloody Miniatures

There are eight figures again, so scrolling down will be required. First some dismounted troopers and a figure I see as an Intelligencer (smoking his pipe);

I particularly like the figure in the long red Dutch-style coat. He's clearly a leader or maybe a Scottish cavalryman who's been away fighting for the Protestant cause in the Rhineland?. Anyway, He's a great sculpt.

Below are my other attempts at doing a plaid, two more dismounted troopers and a nice officer figure, together with someone who's brought something to drink with him. Looking at the photo, I think that I've made his neckerchief look a bit too clean and gleaming white. I don't think I'll repaint it, though. I'm quite happy with the plaids. They aren't perfect by any standard but they'll pass the one or two metres away test on the table.

I've only got four more finished foot figures to post, and I'll keep them for another time. I'm currently working on some mounted figures, a few are finished but most are still in the early stages of painting. 

After that, I've got more Horse to prime and paint, some mounted command figures and then some more Foot figures and a couple of small guns.

After that, I shall move on to something different.

 

The next eight of my latest Bloody Miniatures figures

 You'll have to scroll down to see all of them. First up, four Lowland Scottish musketeers;

I've stuck to the blue and red colour scheme for these, because I really like it and you'll see that I've attempted a plaid on the left-hard figure. I'm not sure that it is that successful, but it'll have to do.

Next are four more Lowland Scots, this time with a variety of nasty-looking polearms, the central two being, I think variants of the Lochaber axe.

Once again, red and blue dominates. This latter group is called The Border Staves on the Bloody Miniatures website. There are more Scots to follow later.

The backdrop is by Handiwork Games.
 

The next four figures from Bloody Miniatures

Here is the second group of four figures from Bloody Miniatures out of a total of 28 that I've recently completed.

These represent four experienced dismounted troopers, described as being Continental Mercenaries on the Bloody Miniatures website. I particularly like the somewhat dandyish figure on the left. He is clearly not a fop but a skilled and ruthless swordsman. The figure next to him is a dismounted cuirassier in half-armour, with short tassets rather than long cuisses, with his warhammer at the ready, maybe as a member of a storming party. The remaining two are the more commonly found harquebusiers, in a buff coat and a back- and breastplate, with the one on the right wearing a burgonet helmet.

I've given three of these the same dark blue and red uniforms I've been using elsewhere, because I like the combination, but also because when I get round to fielding a complete 17th century force, they will give it a core of uniformly-dressed troops. The lighter blue sashes are also part of this idea.
 

I've been painting more Bloody Miniatures figures

As anyone who follows this blog knows, I am a huge fan of the excellent 17th century figures from Bloody Miniatures. I've been working on 28 more figures, and I'm going to do separate posts of them in groups of four figures;

I really like this little group, which is called The Witchfinder General. As you can see, it contains the aforementioned Witchfinder, his Clerk, his unfortunate victim and a dismounted trooper to stop the poor girl from running away.

These have loads of character and were a joy to paint. Although they aren't necessary for any battlefield, I'm sure that there might be plenty of scenarios where a Witchfinder might have a role. 

The background is, yet again from one of Jon Hodgson's excellent books.

I'll post the next four in a day or two.
 

17th century Pike and Shot (scroll down, lots to see)

Ages ago, fror Christmas 2022, I was given several packs of pikemen, musketeers and command groups from Bicorne Miniatures to augment my Bloody Miniatures figures and turn them into complete units. I finished off the musketeers back then but never finished the pikemen and leaders off. Basically, I got bored with painting 17th century stuff and set them aside. Finally I've got round to completing them. So, here are three blocks of pikemen and command figures. First, in green coats;

Next, in burgundy coats;

And finally in blue coats;

The flags are just simple generic ones, based upon banners used by anti-Imperialist troops in the Thirty Years' War. I cobbled them together on a spreadsheet and printed them off. I was happy with the green and yellow one, but the other two needed over-painting by hand to make them look different to one another. They aren't great, but they'll do for now. 

I had already painted musketeers in green and blue, but didn't have enough musketeers to complete the burgundy-coated unit, so I bought couple of extra packs from Bloody Miniatures (who now have a few nice unit builder packs), so here they are;

As you can see, I intend each of the three battalia to have a central block of pikes and officers etc on a 4 x 3 hole movement tray and two sleeves of six musketeers on a 3 x 2 tray.

I've taken pictures of each of these units, but sadly, they are two wide for my Jon Hodgson A4 backdrops book. Still, you get the general idea how they will look on the table.

I'm pretty happy with how these have turned out and I'm planning to use them for Never Mind The Matchlocks, which is a set of rules we have recently started playing at the club.

I have a few spare command types which is making me think about doing another pike and shot unit, but for the moment, I am switching my attention to mounted troops.

Anyway, here are the spare officers. Clearly, another set of bluecoats is in my future plans.

Another (final) group of Roman auxiliary infantry.

These are the last infantry figures for my Cohors I Syldaviorum Equitata auxiliary cohort project, apart from a couple of leaders who I am working on.

I have a group of eight auxiliary infantry plus a dismounted decurion from a cavalry turma, clearly detached for some kind of mission. These are pretty much the end of the auxilia, although I recently bought a pack of the Victrix Roman auxiliary archers, which at some point I'll work on and use eight of them to replace the Aventine archers I painted up originally. I haven't got anything against the Aventine guys, but I rather fancy having all the troops as Victrix ones. The archer set allows me to make up 12 Western-style and 12 Eastern-style archers and I've always liked the appearance of the so-called Eastern archers (a cohort of these, the Cohors Prima Hamiorum Sagittariorum recruited in Syria) actually served in Britannia on Hadrian's Wall and were based at the fort we know as Housesteads.

Anyway, I've now used up the last eight green LBMS shield transfers, so I used one that my auxiliary  cavalry carry for the leader's shield. I don't think it really matters. The Romans often detached officers for all manner of purposes.

I am thinking about using my auxiliary cohort for Midgard when it is published and how I can get the troops on the right sized bases. I think that the answer lies with Warbases movement trays which just have a lip all the way round, allowing me to drop these smaller sabots inside.

An Outlaw band plus a Big Surprise (at the end of the post)

I've been working on these, on and off for the last couple of weeks. The figures are from the Oathmark Human Light Infantry box but I've used them to create a band of outlaws to use in Never Mind The Ruckus games.

First; two groups of bowmen;

Next, a group of men with spears and staves;

And next, two leaders and a mysterious Black Knight (don't Outlaw legends always have one of these?);

As I said above, these are all Oathmark figures, except the Black Knight who is from the Perry Men-at-arms on Foot plastic set.

I like the figures, even though they don't look particularly historically accurate. They definitely look like something from a film.

So, as legendary screen outlaws living in the woods, green has to dominate their wardrobe choices and therefore these are the Men of the Holly Wood (and they are all wearing tights too), in which case, the Black Knight has to be Sir Antony Courtois of Falworth (even though he isn't carrying his black shield.

I could easily use these guys as Rangers of the Dunedain too or for Rangers of Shadowdeep. There are plenty more of these in the box to be made up, so I have lots of options here. I think more Dunedain might be a small project, but probably not in green.

Now, for the Big Surprise;

Yes, it is the last Giant Spider from the Wargames Atlantic box set. I had thought I'd lost the head and thorax but I was tidying up all my computer and other cables and found it on the floor under my desk. I decided to paint this one in a completely different colour scheme, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Here is Big Spidey with an outlaw for scale;

All of the pictures feature a backdrop from one of my Handiwork Games Jon Hodgson backdrop books.

Finally! A few more completed figures.

This doesn't mean the arthritis has gone, just that I've had enough time to get these few done, a slow and infuriating 10-15 minutes of painting a day.

 

These are all Copplestone Back of Beyond British troops. Above is a Lewis gunner and an ammunition carrier, who make a nice two-man team and below are two more Lewis gunners, who really need a couple of ammunition carriers to make useful teams, but unfortunately North Star don't sell those guys separately.

I'll probably swap the gunner in the top photo with the one on the left in the lower one in actual games, so that they are both in shirtsleeves order.

I'm probably going to have to buy a couple more of the Riflemen packs to create a platoon of three sections of 10 men (7 riflemen, 2-man Lewis team and NCO) and then use existing figures for a platoon HQ (lieutenant and sergeant, plus a couple of runners). A source of spare Lewis magazines would be great to add to the webbing of two ordinary riflemen. I shall have to look online.

A complete platoon would be great for some 1920s and 30s Chain of Command in Central Asia, but would also be fine for other settings too.

Copplestone Back of Beyond British infantry

Well, I've done the officers, so here are some rank and file for them to command. There are ten figures in total.

The group above are led by an NCO (with raised arm). The following two groups make up the rest of his section of riflemen.

As with the officers, I think that their KD tropical uniforms are slightly too green, but I don't think it matters that much. One thing that I think does matter is that they are wearing shorts, which I don't think were introduced with the tropical KD service dress until the mid-1930s, so these infantrymen might be a bit of an anachronism in the period immediately after the First World War and in the 1920s. Still, these are intended for all manner of games, some of which will involve Egyptian mummies that walk, unspeakable eldritch horrors and all manner of other weird things, so nit-picking over uniform details seems a bit pointless.

I bought a blister pack of Lewis gunners to add some firepower to this rifle section, hoping that I might get two gunners and two loaders/spare magazine carriers. Sadly, the set only comes as pictured, three gunners plus one loader. I enquired from North Star as to whether it might be possible to buy two loaders alone but apparently this isn't possible, which means I have one Lewis team and two extra gunners that I doubt I'll bother painting up, which is a shame. I'm not sure what I'll do with them.

Copplestone Back of Beyond British officers

Following on from the archaeologists, here are four British officers from the excellent Back of Beyond range, available from North Star. 

These four are (obviously) fine upstanding chaps, complete with stiff upper lips, an inherent sense of fair play and are from good schools and families with military backgrounds. All of them have survived the horrors of the Great War and now serve somewhere along the southern fringes of Central Asia or the Northwest Frontier.

Clearly, they must all be named, so left to right, we have; Maj. George Huntley-Palmer (on the staff of the Surveyor General of India), Capt. Hugh Andover-Fiste (twin brother of the notable archaeologist Giles Andover-Fiste), Capt. Oliver Marchmain and Lieut. Archibald "Archie" Walton.

My next post will cover some of the rank and file infantry I have planned.

I really like these chaps, but I'm not sure that the Vallejo khaki drill colour is really right for early- to mid-20th century British Army tropical uniforms. I think it is too green. Of course, we all know about the variations between uniforms from different manufacturers and the effects of weather and wear upon fabrics, so I'm not particularly bothered about this. They'll look fine on the table.

Copplestone Archaeologists

Ages ago, back in 2017, I painted the female archaeologists from Mark Copplestone's excellent Back of Beyond range. Now, much later, here are the male ones, available from North Star;

These guys are quite well tooled-up compared with their female counterparts and I see the two outer figures being more as adventurers and minders than actual academics. Still, all that firepower should come in handy when the inevitable nasties and horrors turn up.

Unlike the female ones, who I gave detailed biographies, I've only got as far as giving these chaps names.  From left to right they are; Giorgi Dolidze, a Georgian soldier of fortune, Giles Andover-Fiste, a member of the MCC and a gentleman amateur archaeologist, Doctor Petros Sarkisian, a famous Armenian archaeologist working at the Sorbonne and Hans Jansson, a Swedish explorer.

They seem a suitable bunch to pitch up almost anywhere looking for rare and arcane artefacts, scruples optional, no doubt.

Clearly, these are highly suitable for Pulp, Cthulhu Mythos, eldritch horror and other similar settings. They were huge fun to paint, because they are such nice figures. 

Hurrah! Back to painting figure.

No more scenics for a while. It will be figures for the next few weeks, I think. First up, some characters for What A Cowboy;

I think that these are all Wargames Foundry minis. I was kindly given them by someone at the club because I'd mentioned that my Mexicans were a little bit outgunned. Anyway, these two have what appear to be single shot rifles or carbines, so that is an improvement.

The guy in the middle is clearly a military sort, maybe a former French officer who's wandered north to get away from the madness of the Habsburg Maximilian I imperial experiment.

I hope to see them in action on the table at some point.
 

The Battlezone scatter stuff....

 .... and this really is the last of it!

Below is a big piece of Battlezone pipework, which will fit in anywhere, seeing as one end rises from below ground and the other end has a couple of closures. The piece at the back is a length of 2cm plastic plumbing pipe stuck on a couple of little legs capped shut at one end and with a connecting piece at the other. It is designed to come out of the side of a building. Why might that be? Who cares, but it'll look good.

Here are a couple of large generators with attached pipework. These will fit in anywhere, ideally with a building at the end of the pipes.

There is also a platform made up from a few odds and ends and a pallet of some kind of cargo.

Finally, I've made a few barricades/roadblocks from a few odds and ends of doors and wall sections, held up with braces. These are bound to be useful. Everyone and everything needs to hide or shelter from getting shot at. In all of these pieces, I've chosen a grimdark colour palette, especially for the generators. Maybe how they work is an obscure and arcane secret, but so long as the initiates/operators chant the correct prayers the things will keep on generating whatever they generate?

Once again, my Bad Squiddo Ghost of Gaia is here to provide a sense of scale.

So, that's it for the Battlezone stuff.