U.S. Airbourne vs Panzergrenadiers: Cauldron Battle.

Last night's battle saw my Panzergrenadiers pitched against Kev's U.S. Airbourne. The Cauldron scenario in the Flames of War rulebook had the defender protecting two objective markers in the centre of the board. I was the attacker whilst Kev set up half his army in this area - leaving some in reserve and one unit in ambush.

There was plenty of armour clashes as his Cromwell's sprang the ambush on my Panzers. Luckily I countered by bringing on my Stug G assault guns and caught him in the flank. One of the above pictures is right at that precise moment, with a Cromwell in the background 'brewing up'.

Unfortunately he wreaked his revenge by pounding my Panzers across the other side in a similar move (the hunter becoming the hunted so to speak!). He then kept my Stug's at bay with bazookas dug-in along the treeline, although I did manage to throw him off the objective at one point in an assault, he bailed all three of my vehicles with the crews doing a runner. My artillery also gave him a bloody nose by covering the advance to the objective and making sure his infantry in the nearby buildings couldn't get close enough to use their Gammon Bombs.

The final round came upon us, and it was (for me) a case of being "so near, yet so far". Well done to Kev for a staunch defence!

Sons of Simon De Montfort Wargames Club

Last night was the second week I'd attended the local Wargames club in Quorn (see their website Sons of Simon De Montfort). The picture above is of our game using the ruleset 'Napoleon'. I was quite impressed with how quick and easy they were to understand. We got quite a solid game within the three hours we had, utilizing Ian's French and Simon's Austrian's. In the photograph, you can see the moment when the French Infantry fell victim to the Austrian cannons in the centre. What isn't shown is the later cavalry clash as the French Hussars attempted to roll up the Austrian left flank. Despite these heroics the French were finally flung back in disarray.

The French were mainly Victrix and Perry's while the Austrian's (pictured at the top) were mainly Foundry Miniatures. The paint job on the latter were superb, apparently done by a guy in Sri Lanka!

Undercoating Plus French Captain and Line Infantry

Completed the French Line Infantry Captain and his compatriots above. The ghostly apparitions in the background are the ones I undercoated this evening. One thing I noticed when using the Army Painter Base White Matt Primer spray, is that it's leaving a rather chalky finish. I'm not sure why this is happening (any suggestions would be appreciated) but if it continues I'll probably switch back to using GW sprays.

After gluing the assembled models on lollipop sticks, I've been blu-tacking them to a small upturned biscuit tin. This enables me to hold the thing from beneath and move it around as I spray. I've found it quite handy in being able to get into the difficult areas (under arms etc) and achieve complete coverage.

Some of the books I brought back from London include 'Toulon 1793 - Napoleon's first great victory' (Osprey), and 'Fighters Against Fascism - British Heroes of the Spanish Civil War' by Max Arthur (Collins). The Waterstones Bookshop just off Picadilly Circus is the biggest of its kind in Europe and boasts an awe inspiring military section.

Jagdpanther - Imperial War Museum

Photograph from my visit today. As anyone knows, the Imperial War Museum in London is a must see. I'm sure some of you have been to the place a thousand times before, but I thought I'd post this up here. The picture beneath shows the three holes made in the right side armour which must have disabled it. Not pictured is a slightly larger piercing in the vehicles right corner rear.

Porte Aigle and Drummer plus tips on using Army Painter

I was looking forwards to doing these, and managed to get them finished yesterday. However the Army Painter was a bit of a challenge.

After dipping (using Strong Tone) , I've found that they need to be given a good shake at least six times. Just three or four still leaves too much residue in my opinion. Despite this, one of the models in the above case appeared to have some 'gathering' at the back of the legs. This may have been due to the warm temperature at the time (AP gets sticky and solidifies fairly quickly, even though overall drying time takes between 12-24 hours). Also I'd noticed uneven patches on the Porte Aigle pole and had to repaint it later on. As you can see, brighter colours become significantly duller, so I made things like flesh etc a tad lighter on the base coats. I'm ok with the final product but I'm aware I'm sacrificing quality in favour of time.

I've bought a box of Victrix British Peninsular so I'm considering doing washes next time.

Off to London tomorrow to visit the Imperial War Museum. I'll see what inspiration I can pick up along the way....