If you go down to the woods today... pt. III

Under the guise of 'you can never have too many trees' I have been working on a new set of, you guessed it, trees...

This expansion comes in the shape of ten woods (a base with three trees) and ten single trees. All the trees and bases are made by hand as can be seen in part I and II of this series... The based trees are a good way to add some more diversity to an already very flexible terrain set.

Finishing these took me a good while longer than I expected (and hoped), but work is absorbing most of my 'free' time at the moment. On the other hand, a small and relatively simple project like this is perfect to clear the mind...

The trees after being basecoated... 

The finished set... 

With these new trees I can almost double the number of based trees for my 6mm Hex terrain.

When spread out, the added trees hardly stand out... 

While this evenly spreads the cover it can make for a very different type of battle, where you can move from tree to tree...

The trees can be easily clustered together to form larger woods... 

The trees can easily be clustered together to form larger woods, giving the battlefield an altogether different look... From a small distance, I must admit I prefer this approach. Slowly, the woods I want are beginning to show.

It's all about the base... pt. II

Even before I started my 6mm project I had given the concept to base my vehicles some thought...

Basing is for infantry, and not for tanks. This has always been my point of view, but with this smaller scale I started having some second thoughts...

Pro's:

• Adding a base will surely provide the models with some protection, both in storage and on the battlefield...
• Bases offer a way to visually tie a force together...
• Adding a base will make the smaller vehicles less likely to get lost on a table densely filled with terrain...

Cons:

• Basing is for infantry, not for vehicles...
• Adding a base will limit the vehicles possibilities to be placed in/near terrain...
• The static grass I have now is too large for the scale to be used on the bases...

My main objection is that basing vehicles shouldn't impede mobility and placement on the tabletop. To try and make sure this is kept to a minimum I will be working with several different sized bases, keeping as close to the size of the models as possible.

If I am to go through with this, I am planning to cut the bases from 0.5mm plasticard. The bases will be rectangular or square in shape. Basing will be consistent throughout the entire force, providing a common factor in infantry, vehicles and artillery...

The bases will be covered with some textured paint and grass. The rough ground will match the colour of the dirt on the tracks/wheels of the vehicles and of my terrain. I think I will be using two or three different shapes and sizes, depending on the size of the vehicle...

Feel free to share your views and experience on the subject as I am still undecided...

If you go down to the woods today... pt. II

With the latest expansion of my Hex terrain should have come an increase in the number of trees... While I have been adding a lot of trees as fixed features to built-up Hexes I hadn't gotten around to making more trees to go on separate bases.

Being able to add, move and remove trees (both single and clustered) to the Hex terrain adds a lot to the flexibility of the set. The trees can be used to provide cover, break up lines of sight and further enhance the landscape...

Due to a peak in work related activity (and sadly there's no end in sight) I don't have a lot of time to spend on the hobby. What little time I did have was used to make a new set of trees and bases. Quite relaxing, as this task doesn't require anything remotely difficult...

Below is a step-by-step guide to show how I make my trees...

Step 1: cut the wire to length...
For a standard tree I use four pieces, roughly 10cm each... For a typical tree
I use four pieces of wire, smaller trees are usually made with just three pieces...

Step 2: using a pair of pliers, grip the pieces of wire in the middle...
Tightle twist to form the trunk of the tree...

Step 3: at irregular intervals, bend two wires to branch off...

Step 4: twist the wires into branches...
Cut the ends of the branches to length...

Step 5: bend the little loop at the bottom to form the roots/base of the tree...
These particular trees will get bases. The trees that get fixed on the Hexes
 will have their bottoms tightly twisted as they will be pinned in the styrofoam...

Step 6: base... After priming the trees, the base will painted with some textured paint...

This rather easy technique enables me make a tree in a matter of minutes. Apart from a sprayed-on basecoat and a drybrush the trees receive no treatment at all...

The picture above shows the results of an evenings worth of cutting and twisting... I am going to need a lot more bases. Most of these will be based as cluster, but a fair number will be based on their own...

Hexes, Hexes everywhere... pt. X

The most recent additions, a small set of roads, a few basic grass Hexes and several multi-Hex fields... This has been one of the largest expansions so far, the fields especially cover quite a big surface...

For the new lay-out you can see below, I removed all the hill Hexes and rearranged a good portion of the river to accomodate all the new fields. It makes for a very different type of battlefield. The fields offer plenty of cover while still allowing line of sight...

With all the new fields there is plenty of colour. I like the overall effect, almost patchwork, of the village and outlying buildings surrounded by fields with various crops.

I originally intended this field to be just bare, plowed earth...
However, after finishing it I decided to plant some crop

This expansion represents the biggest part of the multi-Hex modules I have been working on recently, but there are still more under construction.

Multi-Hex madness...

I have used my Christmas break to construct a serious expansion for my 6mm Hex terrain...

I decided to make some new multi-Hex modules. Most of these will be finished with fields on top, but a few will feature buildings, too... To complement the new multi-Hex modules I also made a few road Hexes and some plain grass Hexes to fill the inevitable gaps.

To prevent warping and gaps the multi-Hex modules are topped
with a thin sheet of high density foam...

Hexes, a lot of Hexes...

All of the multi-Hex shapes I cut...

I ended up making two sets of three Hexes, three sets of four and five Hexes and a single module of six Hexes...  

One of the new modules in progress...

At this point most of the multi-Hex modules are already finished. I haven't taken more W.I.P. pictures, but the finished products can be seen in the next post.

One of the multi-Hex modules with buildings...

The module above features a farmhouse with two sheds and a wall... I intend to add a little orchard inside the wall.

Hexes, Hexes everywhere... pt. IX

I finished another set of Hexes, two crossroads, a house and the mill...

While the other Hexes are all practical and I am quite contend with those, the real star of this update should be the mill.

The original post with w.i.p. shots of the mill

Building the mill was fun and a bit challenging and I must admit I put off painting it, fearing I would botch it up with a dodgy paint job...

Both the new buildings and one of the intersections, all put together in this section of the board. I really like the way the mill stands out, it towers over it's surroundings, making it a focal point of the battlefield... When I create a new set-up of the board, I will most likely put it on top of the hill.

The pictures below give a good view of the terrain so far...

There are several pieces in progress, including the second multi-Hex town module, two new bridges and another two Hexes with buildings. All these smaller buildings should give me the option to either expand my village or dot them across the battlefield... Nothing beats a bit of hard cover...

Over the next couple of weeks I want to make another batch of snowflake Hexes to expand the surface of my Hex battlefield. More flat Hexes, roads, fields and hills are also high on my list of things I should make.

What a Tanker!

Yesterday we played our first ever 6mm game. Due to the fact neither of us has a complete force to play with (yet), we decided to try out What a Tanker! by Too Fat Lardies...

With two tanks each, my opponent used two French Hotchkisses while I used a StuG B and Panzer IV D, this was a perfect game to get back on the battlefield. While the points weren't precisely equal, they were close enough for this test game. For both of us this was the first battle after a long hiatus, and What a Tanker! proved to be an accessible and entertaining game.

We used the rules with one minor adaptation, we changed all the measurements from Inches to centimetres. This way, the distances matched the terrain...

I had the intention of making a lot of pictures during the game, but quickly forgot about that...

My panzers taking cover at the edge of the village...

The French are advancing on the bridge...

The first Hotchkiss goes up in flames...

The game ended with two burning French tanks, maybe not surprisingly as those were a bit cheaper in points... More important, we got a good impression of the rules and got to play on my new Hex terrain.

Zu bewaffnen! Mustering the army... pt. II

Slowly but surely my force grows...

Painting all those little tanks and vehicles is quite different from what I am used to... On one hand, due to their size, painting them is quick. On the other hand, it's a challenge to get all the details across. Things like tools, spare tracks and tow cables are often so small it's hard to get some decent colour on them to make them noticable...

The motorpool so far...
The three models on the left are 3D prints from Shapeways, the rest is GHQ...

Early War German panzers are grey, no two ways about that. I tried to keep the models as light as possible. The first few models were decorated with decals but the results weren't quite what I expected. In the end I decided to paint over the decals and stopped using them altogether. Very few of the miniatures have enough flat surface to put them on neatly, even with decal softener...

One of the prototypes with decal... 

I am thinking about adding crew to the open topped vehicles, just to add a touch of realism and a bit more detail... Just a matter of making them fit, I suppose...

On another note, I just received my order from Heroics & Ross. I am very impressed with their infantry, so much that I am already putting together a new order! I also purchased several gliders to go with the Fallschirmjäger I ordered. Neat little aircraft that will provide some tactical options.

3D-printed reinforcements... pt. II

The first order at Shapeways left me wanting more... I already had a few items stored on my wishlist and decided to treat myself once more... All vehicles are designed by Masters of Military and printed by Shapeways... The prints and models themselves are highly detailed and of superb quality.

I picked up a German fieldkitchen, often referred to as 'Gulaschkanone'... While not a combat unit, I really wanted to add this to my collection...

No army can fight on an empty stomach...

Picture from Shapeways...

The printed models in their delivery form...

This will serve well as an objective or as part of a terrain piece. I think it would also be well suited to enhance a HQ unit...

I also purchased a unit of Selbstfahrlafette auf Fahrgestell VOMAG mit 8.8cm Flak...

Essentially a mobile gun platform...

The VOMAG in deployed state...

On the left a VOMAG with 8.8cm flak, on the right a VOMAG with range finder...

The printed models in their delivery form... These prints are extremely well done!

These things are big, and I mean really big! They dwarf even my Sturer Emil... The main reason I wanted to include these is that they are so weird/special/unique... The German idea basically was to take a bus or truck (the chassis was used for both), cut of the roof and put a big gun on top...
These actually saw action all through the conflict, serving all over Europe.

The models offer the option to be built either for travel or for combat.

Last models on the list are a set of SdKfz. 247... These command vehicles were built in limited numbers in the late 1930's and used during the early stages of the war.

The SdKfz. 247 Ausf. A...

The SdKfz. Ausf. B...

The printed models in their delivery form...
Note the difference in size between the Ausf. A and B...

I have both these vehicles in 15mm for my Flames of War Germans and I really wanted to include them in this new project too...

Once again the quality of the Shapeways models amaze me... Looking forward to get these painted!

Hexes, Hexes everywhere... pt. VIII

The latest expansion of the snowflake Hexes left some gaps in the lay-out of my Hex terrain. Adding about twenty basic Hexes shouldn't have taken this long, but work and other commitments slowed progress to a mere crawl.

However, with the new Hexes ready to go, I can now fill in the gaps. The new additions consist of two roads with intersections, about twenty grass Hexes (the standard flat Hex), four new hill Hexes and six risers...

I decided to re-arrange most of the terrain set. I started with building the hilly part of the terrain. After that, with the river, roads, town and fields all in place, the gaps were filled in...

The edge of the board clearly shows the elevation of the large hill...

At this size, the board is already big enough for a decent battle. Features like the hills and river are what makes me so enthusiastic about this terrain, especially on this scale... It's very hard to achieve this with conventional terrain and scenery.

There are several other Hexes nearly finished, these all feature roads and/or buildings. After that, I really want to complete the second multi-Hex town module and the two bridges.

A Sturer Emil looking out from atop the hill...

Zu bewaffnen! Mustering the army...

At Crisis in Antwerpen I picked up my pre-ordered package filled with GHQ Micro Armour... While I had previously bought a sample pack, which gave me an idea of the scale and level of detail, the quality of these miniatures continues to amaze me.

This is no review, there are already enough of those, but I will say that these models are among the very best I ever had the pleasure of working on... Extremely sharp casts, little to no flash and highly accurate.

I ordered several different vehicles, all suited for the Early War period, 1939 to 1941. These models will represent my Blitzkrieg Germans, fighting in Belgium, France and Holland. They will also form the basis of the force invading Britain in our what-if Seelöwe campaign.

Over the coming months (or even years, depending on the speed of the project) this force will be expanded, reinforced by infantry (probably  Fallschirmjäger) and newer vehicles.

So far I have the folowing vehicles from GHQ:

SdKfz. 221
SdKfz. 222 Leichter Panzerspähwagen
SdKfz. 231/232 Schwerer Panzerspähwagen  6-rad/8-rad
SdKfz. 9 Famo
SdKfz. 265 Kleine Panzerbefehlswagen
Panzerjáger IB
StuG ausf. B

I also have several Panzers, ranging from the smallest, the Panzer I to the Panzer IV... The main reason to start off this project with Early War peroid is the wide selection of lightly armoured vehicles you van choose from. I aim to include as many different vehicles as possible in my collection!

To make this collection as complete and diverse as possible I will be adding 3D-printed models as well... The first few have already arrived (as can be seen in a previous post) and more will surely follow.

I also placed an order at Heroics&Ross... They have some interesting vehicles, too. And at a nice price...

Below are some pictures that serve as inpiration...

A column of Panzer III...

Panzerbefehlswagen... I really like this vehicle...

8-Rad with bed-frame antenna...

Panzer I... As far as tanks go, it's pretty damn small...

Panzer II ausf. C... One of the best looking tanks in my opinion...

Panzer IV ausf. A... Armed with the short 75mm cannon...
My army will include a few of the, very similar, ausf. D...

SdKfz. 221, 222 and 232... 

The SfKfz. 232 6-Rad... This is one of the reasons I wanted Early War Germans...