Hearts of Oak (well MDF...)

[Last Hussar]

Going to need more trays.
And that means another box.

[Steve J]

Just ordered some mdf bases to go with a load of mdf ACW figures that I got for a good deal off a fellow Blogger.

[toxicpixie]

Those are some really good points, and things that are rarely represented in rules. There are occasional rules for '2 man turrets' or similar, but rarely rules for the fatigue the tank causes on the crew (fatigue is often missing from many wargame rules). Perhaps this is where the abstraction of BKC and its command values comes in, and you could limit certain countries / years to maximum CV for their armour.

The fatigue causing and reliability of different tanks was huge - the Allies drove their Shermans and Cromwells 100s of miles from Normandy to Holland in a space of days, with the loss of very few tanks through mechanical faults. I always contrast this to one of the German reinforcements units sent to Arnhem, a unit of 13 Tiger Is, that drove about 12 miles and had 11 tanks break down during that road march!

Absolutely!

There's many many ways you can model the fatigue and reliability - Commander style with CV rolls (though that's an awkward interface between reliability/fatigue/command - eg those Germans at Arnhem would have had more than two Tiger appear ), random breakdown tables, arbitrarily changing points values not just for ability but also availability and usability, strict adherence to not just TOEs but also unit level maintenance details and actual strengths as modified by how long the unit was in the field for, increased friction in order changes/casualty recovery/armour saves etc etc.

None of the above will suit many gamers, and are especially awkward for competitions where things must be "equal", just like they were in real life

Now back to MDF, I quite fancy some of Walts Romans - anyone got some?

Also, Last Hussar, any excuse for more wood

I have a load of his MDF ACW and they're nice - I really should finish up more than the one BBB brigade I did per side, but even sprayed the grey or blue base coat they actually look OK! Very board game pieces but decent.

[Orcs]

T-34 was... unreliable, virtually impossible to drive and fight, and whilst great for hard stats they felt it was a bad combat tank unless you expected to use it once, briefly and right up from on the front lines as the crew would be too shagged and too many runners have dropped out due to mechanical failure to be useful!

But as Stalin said "Quantity has a quality all of its own"

[toxicpixie]

Doesn't do you any good if all the quantity breaks down before it has a chance to become quality

[Ithoriel]

When a portion of your production rolls straight from production line to front line in a couple of hundred yards perhaps expecting to use it once, briefly and right up from on the front lines was a reasonable expectation!

[toxicpixie]

That's more common for late war Germans, as is the factory primer approach to camo

Didn't do them much good then, either

[Last Hussar]

384 faces painted and trousers redone on sides where 1st coat missed.

Hats next.

[Last Hussar]

384 figures on 24 bases of Landwehr finished.

Started Thursday, didn't do any Friday, completed 15 minutes ago

[toxicpixie]

Nice - you've got that mdf painting down pat!

"Scenic" Basing included?

[Last Hussar]

Bases are left a flat green - I can't disguise the flat nature. Also I leave the movement trays unpainted with the darker side up, so it has an oak-style finish.  You've heard of Beer and Pretzls? this is 'Brandy and Cigar' style (Actually beer and tortilla with hummus.)

[toxicpixie]

And with the delicate smell of burnt MDF wafting through your nostrils

I've been toying with just painted bases and I'm actually coming round to that idea...

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Might be better with the MDF stuff, as they are slightly abstract.

[Last Hussar]

Here is a typical photo showing the flat bases

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lasthussar/50774948128/in/dateposted-public/

[Raider4]

Very old-school. I like.

[toxicpixie]

Cracking, love the in game shots!

Did they all recover from the earthquake...

[Last Hussar]

So, been painting again, and I am resurrecting this thread after more than a year;

Painted the Imperial Guard, so Sunjester might be a happy bunny (because what he needs to go with his dice rolling is obviously elite troops)

Le Garde Imperial by Last Hussar, on Flickr

IMG_20220731_124502 by Last Hussar, on Flickr

Up to now we've been using counters to represent units in square, this weekend I 'painted' actual markers.

IMG_20220731_123231 by Last Hussar, on Flickr

12 strips in a pack mean 12 markers (can't remember where I got the Guard square strips from - might have ordered 2 extra strips)

Squares by Last Hussar, on Flickr

Sorry that one is a bit blurry.

While the plan was always to make markers up, these were meant to Wuttemburg, but after undercoating I noticed the hat was different, so made squares. Now wondering - Austrian squares next, or French Allies units?

[Last Hussar]

Looking back at this thread I note that I was talking about Uhlans, and the czapka.

Here is the effort I did about 2-3 years ago

3rd Uhlans by Last Hussar, on Flickr

I can't remember what I used as the base unit, but I put some effort in these.  First I cut the pom-pom off the shako, and glued on the czapka top - these were green paper cut into 1-1.5mm squares - and yes that was difficult.

Next I printed the pennants - this was basically a long strip of black and yellow. I cut and folded them round the lances (more in a mo on these), then cut to length/added swallow tail.

Each lance is a bristle from a yard broom, cut to length. These I just glued to the side of the figure. There was no art in the gluing - I couldn't make a bead thin enough, so each lance was just dipped in the nozzle, and then glued on to the prone figure.

(update - It turns out I have posted pics of these, but without the method explaination)

[Steve J]

Nice to have an update on these, which still look really nice to me .

[Orcs]

I am still waiting to play with them.