The Bear From The Air!

 If you are a subscriber to the hobby's Number 1 monthly magazine, in either e-format or traditional print, then you may already have seen my small contribution on incorporating the latest Battlefront Team Yankee release, Red Dawn, into more general Cold War Gone Hot gaming. Sadly space demands meant that most of the photos of in-game action could not be used on this occasion, so I thought some of you might be interested in seeing more of what Phil and I made of the boxed set we were sent ~

The boxed set headlines the release schedule for the new expansion of Team Yankee in the form of the imagined Soviet invasion of the USA.

Utilizing the contents of the boxed set in our 1980's West German setting, the landing zone for the first wave. Most of the MDF houses seen here are from Lasercraftart.

The second wave arriving. This one made it into the magazine! The three farm buildings are from Warbases, the 15mm versions of their German Rural Buildings set.

This one showing the Airborne command groups made it in too! The slightly over scale tractor was in a children's toy set from back in the day and rescued from the back of a draw. 

Another view of the landing zone as the first wave troops disembark under fire. The factory buildings are from Sarissa Precision.

Leading elements of the Soviet Airborne force a crossing of the river under fire from the B.O.A.R. The river is The Last Valley's stream set.

A general view of the battlefield laid out for the photoshoot. The roads are from the Geek Villain modern roads mat.

It looks as if the landing has been at least an initial success for the Soviets! 

The wider release schedule for Red Dawn has some interesting items for 15mm modern players with armed civilians and technicals featuring amongst them. Soviets v Afghans anyone?

The Spiders are roaming free...

...and the tumbleweed is rolling gently along here in GHQ! The reason for this lack of activity you might wonder? Well, Phil is poorly and Jon is busy, so I am in 'Billy No Mates' mode once more. And I can't even blame Boristhebastard this time either! To raise my spirits I thought I'd show you the Tales From GHQ calendar which I produce for my friends each year, John Aston has a full set and can tell me when this began. The theme for 2023 is the SYW featuring scenes from those games here in GHQ ~

While there's been no sniff of a game even I have been keeping morale up by sitting at the desk and painting as and when I can. My main effort is in the Red Dawn pre-release sphere. I've almost completed the Soviet Airborne troops, just a dozen left to finish off, and I've started basing those vehicles Phil was able to pass to me (thanks Diane!) before he keeled over! Our deadline for completing our task is very tight, but the text is almost written now and the in game photos are planned to our satisfaction, so the short promotional piece should all reach Dan in time. Sadly I can't post any pictures of the work, for obvious reasons.

I've also been fitting into the painting efforts a French SYW infantry regiment , Bouillon, again chosen because I liked the flags! I'm on the final four figures now so they might also be completed this month with a bit of luck!

A Slight Diversion

There I was, plodding along steadily painting SYW figures for the French regiment Bouillon, when the Postie rang the doorbell. 

I opened the door and was handed a large brown box! Now, I was expecting this, but not quite so soon, and its arrival would bring about both a sudden modification of the painting schedule and in the scale/size of subject for both Phil and me.

A part of the contents of this package from Dan at Wargames illustrated included this pre-release box from the new Red Dawn expansion of Battlefront's Team Yankee game, due for release in December and January according to their website. Phil and I have been volunteered/recruited/conscripted to paint up samples from the boxed set which will be used to illustrate a piece about the contents in an upcoming issue of the magazine, following on our piece in the November issue.

I did mention that the boxed set was only a part of the package's contents, so it would only be polite to reveal the other content as I'm sure some of you would want to know. I received the new De Luxe edition of Never Mind the Billhooks, in fact the note enclosed said it was the very first copy sent out so I feel more than privileged. It is available to buy now if you'd not already pre-ordered it.

The book is every bit the professional product that you'd expect from the hobby's leading magazine and I'm confident that it will prove very popular with devotees of the Wars of the Roses and the wider late medieval sweep of wars and conflicts. Of especial interest to me of course is a section on the Italian Wars which I hope might prove useful here in GHQ.

All this means that for now progress on the SYW expansion project, currently in the shape of the regiment Bouillon you recall, will be a tad slower than expected while I tackle 15mm Soviet Airborne troops, as well as basing up all the vehicles Phil manages to process. Worse still, tomorrow 's scheduled game is cancelled, so it's all a bit solitary here in GHQ, for the foreseeable future at least. So, KBO is the Order of the Day!

Hold it! Flash, Bang, Wallop! What a Picture! What a Photograph!

 On Wednesday Dan paid his first visit to GHQ since before the onset of 'The Plague' to take photographs of my 15mm Cold War Gone Hot project, which I hope will accompany the piece I've written about it in a late autumn edition of Wargames Illustrated. As Phil was away on a short break the sky holding, terrain fiddling and figure/vehicle/aircraft moving devolved solely on yours truly! I had quite forgotten how tiring this all was! A few pictures before he arrived ~

The whole sum of our efforts over the past few months. I must say it didn't look so much in the storage boxes!

Soviet hordes rushing to their doom? Well, I am in command so it's to be expected.

More sedate Soviet advance. Do these veterans know what is in-store for them I wonder.

B.A.O.R. Forward HQ protected by infantry, a Swingfire Troop and an overflying TOW-Lynx 

For the Soviets the Hind gunship provides cover for the armoured column's advance.

The Soviets attempt to flank the Chieftain MBT line along a wooded ridge.

Bikelberg and Bikelheim have already fallen beneath the heel of the Soviet aggressors.

From Russia With Love? Somehow I think probably not...

Chieftain MBTs await the Soviet onslaught taking advantage of the cover provided along a wooded ridge.

A second defensive line of Chieftain MBTs is formed on the flank of the B.A.O.R.'s Forward HQ located in the farmyard complex.

While Dan was going about his business we chatted as usual about this and that in the hobby universe of which I am a very small part. One topic we chewed over was how many pictures Dan has taken here over the years, in both versions of GHQ, since 2004! It must run into hundreds we decided! We only get to see just a few in the physical magazine, perhaps 10 out of maybe 100 taken on the day and maybe a few more on the Wargames Illustrated web pages. I think perhaps folk fail to appreciate the work he puts in to bring the 'Illustrated' element to the magazine. All that remains for me in the process is to write captions for the pictures he selects to illustrate the article. Meanwhile on Tuesday next week hostilities in the Bikelberg area will commence in earnest.

Meanwhile, somewhere on Lüneberg Heath

As my loyal reader must surely know, Phil and I have processed all we set out to achieve for this 'project outside my comfort zone'. We hope that Matthew is satisfied with our efforts. As I've mentioned I've written a piece about our struggles, warts and all, especially my efforts to love plaaastic! On Wednesday next week Dan from Wargames illustrated is due to visit GHQ, for the first time since the plague, to take photos for the article. With that in mind I thought that I'd have a play around at a possible table layout which would facilitate his needs in the confined area around my table.

My first attempt at a terrain layout. Two open spaces at front centre and back right should allow Dan 'wriggle room' to get closer to the 15mm vehicles, figures and such.

An alternative arrangement of the buildings, seeing more modern accommodation for the workers of the factory and extending the settlement of Bikelheim.

The older industrial centre of Bikelberg. My wife has pointed out that I need to flatten out the roads!

A view from the modern industrial centre of Bikelberg towards the more traditional town of Bikelheim.

"From Russia With Love" ~ a film revival perhaps? I could not resist this German film poster I found on the net!

Housing the workers C19th style! Robansahn Metal Fabrik knows how to treat the workers!

The bucolic country scene encapsulated by two farms, one ancient, one modern. I'm not sure how the Creatures Great and Small will take to the coming conflict...

German Black Angus beef steaks may be on the Russian menus it seems.

Bikelheim, a small village which will soon achieve notoriety in the world's press as the centre of NATO defence in the shape of the B.A.O.R. against Soviet aggression!

A different configuration of the buildings, traditional village extended by modern buildings into a small town?

The next task is to lay out possible figure, vehicle, aircraft and helicopter groups to find the best look of the collection in action. Tricky as I've little experience in photographing smaller scale stuff myself. Nevertheless I've tried just one or two layouts and would welcome any constructive comments ~

Soviet T55s move cautiously through Bikelberg, their advance covered by a Hind gunship.

On the distant wooded ridge a Rapier anti-aircraft missile defence system targets the Hind.

While to the Rapier's flank a Troop of Chieftain MBTs await the T55s from the cover of the forest, carefully choosing their moment to open fire.

Postscript

Finished did I say? Oops! I'd forgotten that I bought some farm animals from Pendraken at May's Partizan show to give a bit of life to my farm scenes. Old age at play I fear! Anyway, I was sorting through the Lead Pimple, sorry, Lump and found the two packets stowed away out of sight! Cleaned up and spray undercoated PDQ and on to the painting desk they went. I doubt they'll be much interest, but for completion's sake, here they are ~

Some pigs! German diet seems to have been big on pork from what I've found looking around. Sadly all searches threw up nothing more than the run of the mill pinkish piggies, so here they are. Base colour is Foundry Terracotta Light, washed with the same company's Rawhide Midshade. Bases are from Warbases and ground texture is Basetex applied thickly to crack on drying out for some suggestion of summer grazing.

I had more luck with German breeds of cattle. These are German Black Angus, a cross breed from the 1950's and fine for my second farm scene. They are painted with the Foundry Equipment Black triad and lightly dry brushed with the same's Slate Grey shade. The bases are two larger Plastic Soldier Company's plastic bases I'd left over, painted with Games Workshop's Steel Legion Drab and liberally covered in static grass and a few clumps of taller vegetation. 

I suppose I should source a few farm vehicles, equipment and suchlike, but...well, we shall see. Hardly a priority in GHQ I'd have to admit.

Up in the Air and Down on the Ground.

The final(?) pieces for our Cold War Gone Hot project are done and dusted. First a second view of the aircraft after Phil's titanic struggles with the transfers provided ~

The Battlefront kit of pointless parts, a Harrier VTOL Fighter-Bomber.

The SU-17 Fitter Fighter-Bomber also from Battlefront and thankfully sans pointless fiddly bits!

Secondly, five T55As for the Soviet force. Lovely little kits from Plastic Soldier Company which go together really well, bar fixing the spare fuel drums on the rear that is ~

A Command tank sporting one or two in the field modifications. Embellished with two spare Battlefront Soviet tank commanders naturally.

There was just one Tank Commander going spare so my Methodist genes told me not to be wasteful!

The remaining three T55As built straight from the box. As you know, Phil has painted all the vehicles while I have assembled the kits and done the basing and such. I've penned a piece for Wargames Illustrated about the project, warts and all, and hope it will appear sometime in the Autumn after Dan's visit to take the photographs to accompany it. Looks like I've been stood down now as Photographer 2nd Class! Oh Well....can't win 'em all. If nothing else it's a welcome back to pre pandemic normality.

Hello Helos!

 I am not seeking sympathy, I'd like to be very clear on this, but tiny rare earth magnets and my eyes and hands are not the best of combinations! Not withstanding these seemingly perennial issues I have managed to fix said magnets to the completed helicopter models and their stands! I thought you might like to see them...

The Soviet HIND gunship first. I've a second kit still to make up, but Phil has well deserved a rest so that must wait patiently for a while in its box ~

For the B.A.O.R. we have a TOW Lynx to provide air to ground close support. Similarly there is a second of these still in kit form awaiting assembly and processing ~

Both kits were from Battlefront in the two starter sets I bought from Caliver Books when I first started out on this project  With these two having been processed to completion there are just the magnets to fix to the two aircraft I've shown in an earlier post and it's all done, for now... We wargamers never say finished do we?

Aircraft for the CWGH project

 I'm no modeller I know full well, despite belonging to that post war generation who regularly spent our precious pocket money on Airfix kits! Embarking on the current 15mm Cold War Gone Hot project in 15mm exposed me to the daunting task of assembling Main Battle Tanks and supporting armoured fighting vehicles from plastic kits, this due you might recall to Matt's challenge pre-pandemic. Of course you will have already got ahead of me when I say that it couldn't stop there!

First I decided I could not really avoid helicopter support for both sides: a Hind for the Soviets and a TOW-Lynx for the B.A.O.R. I assembled the kits from Battlefront and Phil has finished painting those, they just need the transfers sealing before you see them. Reading through the Battlegroup Northag rules I realised I could have air support in the game. Now really there's no need for any sort of representation on the table, the aircraft in question being so fast and high, but I'm a wargamer after all so I sourced kits, again from Battlefront: a Harrier VTOL Fighter-Bomber for the B.A.O.R. naturally; a SU-17 Fitter for the Soviets, slightly early for my 1983 setting but still in service.

Like many of the tanks and such these were originally available in resin one piece casts, with metal detail pieces of course, but now they are plastic kits. I admit I had found aspects of the vehicle kits tricky for the aged hands and eyes, but they were as nothing compared to these kits! Having seen the landing gear in several tiny parts (why when it's a wargames piece?) I opted to have both in their inflight mode. Still fiddly but I persevered and in the end I managed to get them done. That left their painting next, but for complex reasons Phil would not be able to fit them in to our deadline, so that fell on my shoulders. Spray undercoating them with my trusty regular Double Acrylic white was no problem, but unlike Phil I've no airbrushing kit so I had to manage by hand with my trusty sable brushes (from ABC Brushes, highly recommended). Anyhow, the finished aircraft, just don't look too closely ~

You will have immediately noticed that they lack their various identification markings! Phil will, I earnestly hope, apply same later this week after our regular game. (I fixed the aircraft temporarily to their flight stands with White Tack in order to take the photo by the by.) Another bone of contention, the pieces come with no instructions on assembly or deploying of the included rare earth magnets to hold them in place. I searched on-line and found a set, but they didn't match the parts included!!! Could you make it up? I doubt it, but I'm confident we will sort that out later in the week too.

B.A.O.R. Rapier Battery

I have finally managed to finish my deployed Rapier system for the B.A.O.R. in our forthcoming Cold War Gone Hot games. These are from Butlers Printed Models and were spray painted using an airbrush, by Phil of course, before I added a few details. The figure is  adapted from the Battlefront mortar crew which come with the FV432 set. As ever the base is from Warbases and the textured surface from my mix of Woodlands Scenics' range of railway ballast. Static grass and a few tufts are added to give a feel of the North German heath landscape ~

For 15mm gaming I would wholeheartedly recommend Butler's Printed Models vehicles, despite the presence of printing striations on upper flat surfaces on some. These are wargames pieces after all, not scale models, and we do well to remember that. Below is a photo of the real missile, taken at Cosford Air Museum recently ~

Between us, and that mostly means Phil I should say at this point, we have also finished a HIND for the Soviets and a Lynx TOW for the B.A.O.R. Applying the transfers provided was a major episode last week, they seemed inclined to move after careful placing! Phil finally sorted them out and will seal them next time he's over! From the Plaaastic Pimple that just leaves the the Harrier and  the SU17, as I've just assembled the five T55As, and we are good to go! If all goes well Dan will visit next month for a photo session, taking photos to accompany a piece for Wargames Illustrated I submitted on the project. Given the lead in times for the magazine I'd hope it would appear sometime in the Autumn! Finally, the Rapier system on the move, also from Butler's Printed Models ~

A Flying Visit?

 While Arthur and Reuben were staying with us we took them to nearby Cosford Air Museum to see all the planes on show. Alongside the usual suspects at such museums Cosford Air Museum boasts a dedicated Cold War Museum. For those of us of a certain age it brings back many memories...

I took a few photos of the vehicles and aircraft on display which I thought I'd share here for anyone interested in Cold War gaming. On a practical note admission to the museum is free, parking is £5 pre-booked or £6.50 on the day. Families should know that some interactive 'rides' come with a charge! There is a decent on site café and shop, together with a children's play area outside.

Centurion Battle Tank

BMP1

Scorpion Light Tank

BMP1

Scorpion Light Tank

Ferret Armoured Car

Business side of a V Bomber

Rapier Anti-aircraft missile 

MH53

Iconic Harrier VTO Fighter-Bomber

Chinook helicopter

Just a flavour of what's on offer, though the Stealth Bomber exhibit was unusual...