New Purchases and Norse Progess

Since Fall In, I've managed to keep the pedal to the metal and make good painting progress. I finished the painting on my Big Battle Ravenfeast Viking army, with the archers, scouts and Tostig's rebels finished this week. I still need to ink and base the recently painted figures, but once complete will be showcased in blog post of their own. I started working on the Saxon fyrd...my hope is that Rob and I can game these battles at Cold Wars (if there is a Cold Wars).

In other news, I made a few purchases this week. While surfing Tumbling Dice's website, I noticed Jim Jackaman's Corsairs and Cavaliers ruleset for Wings at War range was released. I had to get my hands on these as Jim has been such an inspiration for me. I added some ironclads for the 1879 War of the Pacific to my shopping cart (yest another project I really should tackle and complete).
I also placed a decent sized order from Pendraken, some Boers and Afghans to fight my 19th century colonial British. That reminds me that the Pendraken painting competition is around the 
corner in February although I'm not sure I will participate. 

 

Last but not least, here are some of the scenery pieces I purchased from Monster Fight Club, I plan to use those bushes for trees in smaller scale games like To The Strongest...which reminds me that I really need to start those 10mm Persian, Indian and Macedonian armies for To The Strongest once I finish the Normans and Saxons for Big Battle Ravenfeast.

On the topic of purchases, it seems that Magister Militum's 10mm historical ranges have been sold to a new (and unknown) owner. It was about 14 months ago that Magister Militum stopped taking orders (of things not in stock). I made several very large purchases before the deadline trying to get everything I could possibly need. It didn't take long for me to realize there were things that I wished I had ordered. And of course I recently acquired a large bundle of MM Mid/Late War WW1 Germans and British that I'd like eventually expand upon with some artillery and French ...

Desert Spitfires (and other assorted aircraft)

After taking an exhale from the mad dash of the Pendraken and Badger Games painting competition projects, I decided to paint something as a bit of a diversion. In my previous post, I mentioned that I had recently read Angels in the Sky about the formation of the Israeli Air Force in the 1948 war. I decided to paint up the various aircraft I plan to game the war with. On this cold, windy Sunday I hastily snapped some photos of my aircraft. I apologize in advance for the less than stellar light quality and photos. 

First up are some Egyptian Macchi MC.202 fighters. I'm not sure if the roundels are the proper way but they are pretty small at this scale (1/600).

Here are some Israeli Avia S-199 "Mules" which are a Czech copy (and poor one at that) of the Me-109. 

The Israelis picked up some T-6 Texans and used them as dive bombers fairly effectively. I couldn't find any images of what color scheme they had in 1948 so I opted for a variant of a 1956 scheme. I might brighten the red cowlings up a bit. 

Egyptian Spitfires, I used a few different variants. I used Vallejo khaki and shield brown for the camo scheme. 

Some Israeli Spitfires, different variants and different camo schemes. Green/brown on the left and grey/green on the right. For identification and uniformity purposes I gave the Israeli aircraft red noses or cowlings and the Egyptian aircraft have white noses and identification stripes. 

Here we have an Israeli C-47 getting ready to bomb a village. The village is from Irregular Miniatures, I have a few more that I will paint up as bombing targets.

A rather dramatic posed shot of an Egyptian MC.202 on the tail of the C-47 as it approaches the village for a bombing run.

Here's an Egyptian C-47 in a natural metal finish. I should add that the bases are Litko 30mm squares and there are Pendraken dice frames on the rear of the bases. The Wings at War from Tumbling Dice rules require you to keep track of your aircraft's energy rating and altitude. I plan to do this with mini dice placed in the trays. 

A Texan on a bombing run with an Egyptian Spitfire chasing. 

Another (unfocused) image of the Egyptian Spitfires showing the difference in wing shape and color scheme. The decals are from Flight Deck Decals.

I have more of these models and will most likely add a few more aircraft for this project. Need to paint a few more bombing targets: another village or two, perhaps some troop concentrations, etc. 

Wings over Ogaden

I'm a big fan of Tumbling Dice's 1/600 aerial combat ruleset series Wings at War, and a few years back I picked up the Africa at War book Wings Over Ogaden which covers the war between Ethiopia and Somalia back in the late 1970s. Since there was a significant amount of aerial combat in the war, I thought it would be fun to game with a modified Wings at War. Tumbling Dice made the aircraft but the big hurdle was a lack of proper decals for the roundels of the two belligerent nations. Recently Flight Deck Decals released Ethiopian and Somali roundels so I was in business! Here are a few snaps of the aircraft.

First up is an Ethiopian F5E, I used the aforementioned Wings Over Ogaden as a painting guide. I think it came out fairly decent. I only have one desert style flight base finished so it will be in all of the photos in this post.

A few snaps of the F5E firing off a pipecleaner Sidewinder. I copied this technique from Jim over at Jim's Wargames Workbench blog (great site if you are a fan of aerial wargaming or really any wargaming).

Next up is an Ethiopian F5A, these aircraft were relegated to ground attack in the war because they weren't wired for missiles. One of the F5As was painted in a light grey scheme while the rest were painted in the same scheme as the F5Es. I opted to paint all of my F5As grey to differentiate them.

Ethiopian Canberra, apparently these retained the rather unsuitable grey/green RAF camouflage scheme.

Next up is a Somali Mig-17, these were used in the attack role during the war. I did not bother to align the stars on the roundels in the proper position. 

Another snap of the Mig-17. Its one of my favorite aircraft as far as aesthetics are concerned,

Here we have the Somali Mig-21. It should have been a nice matchup with the Ethiopian F5Es but there was a big difference in pilot skill level favoring the Ethiopian air force. 

A slightly different angle of the Mig-21,

Lastly we have a Somali Il-28 Beagle. The Somalis only had three of these and I don't believe they didn't play a big part in the war (other than a half-assed bombing run in the early stages of the conflict). This particular model required alot of work. The engines were cast slightly asymmetric so I did alot of surgery on one engine and wing to make it more even. When it came time to paint I couldn't find a single image of a Somali Il-28. Not one. With the help of The Miniatures Page, I found an account from Tom Cooper himself where he confirmed a Somali he interviewed stated they were painted in a metallic color. Talk about some effort for that Beagle!

I will probably use Wing's at War's Thud Ridge rules for this conflict, need to paint up some SAM sites and some ground targets.