Soviet 9K111 Fagot Teams

Another short but hopefully sweet update this week.

Over on the The Guild they recently had a groupbuild, with the omly criteria being that whatever it was you did had to be on a 40mm base. This fit in quite well with a couple of Soviet 9K111 Fagot (NATO Designation: AT-4 Spigot) teams I had wanted to finish.

You can find out more about the Fagot/Spigot here

The Models

My teams came from Liberation Miniatures, which includes the firer and loader (one of which I swapped around for a more observer type figure) also include the base of the launcher attached to a kind of rocky outcrop. It looks kind of weird, but makes the missile launcher unit much more stable than it would be without it.

I didn't have any LibMin Fagots handy, but when I got my last S&S Models order I had asked for a number of these missile units to attach to my BMP-1s and BMD-1/2s. I decided to use them, and they fitted in very well with the LibMin figures.

The Look

This is the look I was going for:



And this is what I ended up with:









I think they came out OK. I'm not happy with how the Woodlands Scenics turf turned out - I have to work on that...

Anyway... here's a couple of Fagot/Spigot youtube clips:







I found it interestingt he way the tube pops open before the missile launches.

Have fun

Richard

Cromwell Models FV105 Sultan

A fairly quick update this week with my version of a Sultan. A member of the very cool CVR(T) family every modern British force - in real life or in miniature - needs at least one. You can find out a little more about the Sultan here and alot more about the whole CVR(T) family here.

REVIEW

I'm a little bit of a fan of Cromwell Models - apart from the difficulty you can have in getting them - and this little beauty sits right up there with the rest of their stuff that I have seen. Its a very simple little kit - just 3 pieces from memory - the body and two sets of tracks.

My only problem was that the tracks had a quite significant bow in them and needed to be bent back into shape. Not having much experience in this I probably tried to do it too speedily and ended up snapping one of the track sections in half. This did, however largely solve the bow whn both peices were glued seperately to the hull.

Apart from that it was all very straight forward and painted up extremely easily. I liked it so much I'm trying to work out if I need another one!

Here are some photos of the completed effort:


Front angle


Side shot


Rear view

Finally a couple of clips from youtube:


Good quality clip with nice look at details


View from the Commander's hatch


Convoy - including 4 Sultan's

That's all for now

have fun

Richard

Britannia FV4201 Chieftain Tank

This weeks update is solely about 1 model - my only Britannia Chieftain Tank. I have 4 more Chieftains - 2 Airfix ones, built and painted by somone else long ago, bought recently by me off Leigh. I also have 2 from the Tank Collection Magazine - but I have to say that the one I am most proud of is this Britannia model.

BTW - Britannia has been recently reopened by Andy Grubb. You can find the new Britannia website here I'm not sure how much Cold War kit is actually available yet - but this will be the best place to get your Britannia needs from.

For more on the Chieftain Tank you might want to look here for a start.

Review

I think the Chieftain is the nicest Britannia model I have dealt with so far. I don't believe there were any particularly big air bubbles in the resin, and I used greenstuff to fix up any small ones I did find. My only issue was that the commander's MG was a bit deformed so I simply left it off the finished model.

Putting it up against the Airfix Chieftains - it is exactly the same size - and against the Tank Collection Chieftains it is a little smaller - which at a guess means it is a 1/76th scale model rather than 1/72 - but that's just my guess.

It comes with a very nice metal barrel and commander figures. It has the commander's hatch molded open and the driver's hatch molded closed.

All-in-all I really rate this model and would be happy to suggest it to anyone.

Painting

I painted this the exact same way as the FV432s in the previous post. Only difference was I used Vallejo Khaki and a Citadel Devlan Mud was on the sections of the barrel covered in the shroud.

So here is the finished product:







As you can see - pretty straight forward stuff.

A few cool youtube clips







Finally a reminder - if you want to see an excellent TV doco on tanks with loads of fantastic shots of BAOR Chieftains in action look no further than here an old post of mine showing "Soldiers - A History of Men in Battle - Tanks". Well worth watching.

Have fun

Richard

BAOR Britannia FV432 APC

Back to normal now...

So in the lead up to last weeks game, I came close to completing a bunch of BAOR vehicles. These have now been finished and first up I'd like to go with the Britannia FV432 Armoured Personnel Carriers.

Here's some info from wikipedia on the FV432

Review

The Britannia FV432 is a very nice little model. It is a solid resin kit, with some metal peices, like a command figure, and hatch covers. You can make it, with the commander's hatch open or closed - which is something I like. You can get a couple of variants - the base APC and a FV432 with an open rear hatch. This can come with either 2 infantry men who are "standing" in the open hatch, a 81mm mortar and 2 crew, or a wombat recoilless rifle and 2 crew. All these figures are half figures and are very nicely styled and molded.

On the negative side, it does come with some air holes - which I didn't pay to much attention to on these vehicles - which I now regret - but these can be easily fixed. The other negative I have is that the driver's hatch is molded open with the driver's neck and head sticking out. I know I bang on about this all the time.... yawn.... but I would much prefer this to be optional. It's just me... Having said that - the driver is a nice little representation anyway.

Painting

These have been painted in what has become my British Army standard:

1. Undercoat - Citadel Chaos Black Spray
2. Base Coat - FoW War paint - British Armour
3. Squiggly Black Lines - Citadel Chaos Black
4. Black Wash - Citadel Babab Black - pretty liberally splashed on...
5. Drybrush - Vallejo Russian Uniform (Just the Green areas)
6. Drybrush - Vallejo Russian Uniform & Vallejo Khaki - adding more and more Khaki - eventually going over the black areas as well.
7. Paint the tracks the standard way I do...
8. Drybrush Vallejo Flat Earth or something similar over the tracks and lower parts of the AFV to represent dirt.
9. Paint lights etc.

All done

No decals at this point as I don't really own any good enough to suit. Eventually I'll try and get some from B W Models

Lastly - I had a not particularly cunning plan... I decided to make little bases - I'll call them sabots (coz it sounds cooler) to fit into the open topped FV432 so I could make them multi-use. I think they cam out quite well.

Onto the pictures:


Front view - all the painted FV432s


Rear view


Side shot of a bog standard FV432


Top view of another FV432


Front angled shot of yet another FV432

Now onto the open topped one


This are the sabot bases


Front view with infantry


Side view with infantry


Rear view with mortar


Rear view with the other mortar (I actually made this mortar and was pretty chuffed with how it came out)


Side view with mortar


Side view with other mortar


Side view with wombat


Slightly different side view with wombat.

Obviously all this finally umpteen pics are of exactly the same open topped FV432. I have 2 other unpainted open topped FV432 to do and another standard APC variant to paint.

Now a couple of youtube clips to keep you entertained


The obligatory car crushing clip


More like my colour scheme


Demo


A detailed look

That's all for now - have fun

Richard

A Small Airfield in Germany - Part 2 - AAR

OK - On with the game

BAOR recce units move further onto the table, closing on the dug in VDV.

Landie Gunships prepare to engage:


Scimitars bounding forwards:


All the while further BAOR reinforcements arrived from the NATO table edge.

The FO team (in the Spartan) and Milan Sections (in LWB Landies) move up:


While the CO (Sultan) and Mechanised Infantry Platoon (FV432) drive on:


and on...


The last of the BAOR reserves, the Chieftain troop arrive:


Throughout the majority of this time the VDV silently waited until they were able to spring their ambush:

taking out a Scimitar section.

Under cover of the hangers, the BAOR units move forward:


The chieftains following:


Of course as the game intensified I kept forgetting to take photos!

The first VDV reinforcements arrive (a BMD-2 platoon)


Well time as on the Soviet right flank the BAOR mechanised platoon launched a somewhat ill-fated assault. You can see some burning Scimitars in the background:


Things appear to be going badly for NATO as the assault never really gets started and more Scimitars burn:


However, the Chieftains arrive:

and begin to shift the balance.





By now however, the VDV have taken out both Scimitar sections, the Recce Landie platoon and the Milan Platoon, leaving the BAOR with only two units on the board. The NATO player must keep making Company Morale Checks at the beginning of each of his turns - which he keeps doing!

The final VDV assets arrive - the ASU-85 platoon.


The VDV BRDMs and ASU-85s start to move up the airfield behind the hangars:


The BAOR player isn't too bothered as the BRDMs have no chance of scratching the paintwork of the Chieftains, while the ASU-85s must take flank shots.

The BRDMs rush out from behind the last hangar into the cover of a hedge:


and take out the Company Commander's Sultan, killing him and ending the game.




So - for once the Soviets pull out a win. Although the NATO force suffered a large amount of casualties, once the Chieftains came into play the balance began to shift back towards the BAOR as nothing the Soviets had could damage the frontal armour of the MBTs - (I'll have to revisit those stats).

The NATO player could have just waited until his Chieftains arrived and then advanced, but one of the sceanrio rules stated that he had to have at least one team over the 1/2 way mark of the table by the beginning of the Soviet turn six. This drove him forward and made the game that much more interesting.

All-in-all a great game - lots of fun and as we didn't try and fit everything we had onto the table, it was manageable, had a good outcome and was relatively balanced.

So - have fun

Richard

A Small Airfield in Germany - Part 1 - AAR

Not by John le Carre....!

Well we managed to totally complete a game for once yesterday, and it was quite a close game.

Scenario

The scenario was something like this. Some time during a cold war turned hot in the 1980s, Soviet Paratroopers have taken "A Small Airfield in Germany" (hence the name) and are attempting to consolidate their "airhead". NATO, in this case, AFVs and troops from the British Army on the Rhine are attempting to crush the airhead.

Each side has reserves and some artillery off-board.

Deployment
On one edge of the airfield a mechanised VDV platoon have debussed from their BMD-1Ps and have dug-in, awaiting the expected NATO counter-attack. They are supported by two BRDM-2s, and two ATGM teams (who are hiding in ambush).

The Soviet end of the table looks like this:



NATO is appraoching from this end of the table:



A few close ups starting from the PACT end of the table:







NATO photo reconnaissance spots the deployment of most of the VDV:







BAOR recon troops enter the arena:





Part 2 - The Game begins...

Have fun

Richard