The Commander Series Forum

I've just finished my mechanised infantry battalion in Saxon apcs for the Cold War Commanders game at Broughton in September. A mixture of Heroics and Ros vehicles and Mainforce infantry. Only a lorried TA infantry battalion to go. More pics on the blog!

Cheers, Andy



http://sedimentswargameblog.blogspot.co.uk...

Very,very nice, look great
cheers
Steve

Very nice. I think I shall model mine the same!

And how did you paint the infantry?

Badly - I've seen em.

IanS

Hi Andy,

As Ian says, "badly", but here goes.

Light grey base coat. When dry wash with a dilute Tamiya NATO green so it runs into all the detail. Stippled Vallejo NATO brown - just a few spots. Then an Army Painter strong tone wash. When thoroughly dry, a very light dry brush with 50:50 Tamiya NATO green and Vallejo pastel green, making sure to pick out helmets and Charlie Gs, Milans etc. Then splashes of NATO back for weapons. I left these guys with green faces to reflect using camo creams, but others have had flat flesh for hands and faces. Coated with Vallejo matt varnish. Base painted with Wilkinson's Cinnamon house emulsion, splodged with Vallejo earth basing medium paste, then with static grass patches added with a hand puffer.

Simples!

Thanks for your kind comments guys - even Ian!

Cheers, Andy

Looks great Ian ... I am most impressed and must get finishing off more Dutch!

Just one question ahead of Broughton - are we playing with a Commanding Officer per player or 1 for each formation?

I must admit I had assumed that it was per player (so I'd only have 1 for my entire Dutch force)?
If it is one per Battalion/Squadron I have a lot more to get made up & painted ASAP!

Cheers
Mark

Hi Mark,

You need a battlegroup CO for your force, plus at least 1 HQ per battalion. For the mechanised battalion I've actually modelled a Battalion HQ, plus an HQ per infantry company, to reflect NATO's, and Britain's in particular, attitude to flexible command and control. A compromise is to have two HQs per battalion, but you'll need at least one.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Andy

I use 1 HQ for a pact Tank Btn, and 2 HQ's for MR Btn - 1 mounted and 1 debussed, so that i can use my APC's separatly.

Thanks chaps - that is what I thought - so a CO (representing me) and HQs for each of the Battalions (phew! ... I thought I had yet more modelling & painting to contend with)

Cheers

Nice work as always Andy, look forward to seeing these on the table in September.

Mark - Get back to painting those YPR-765 and Infantry pronto

Cheers

Richard P

Yes boss ... or whatever the equivalent is in Flemish!

"Ja bass" or similar, I guess

I do like those Saxons - despite their age there's something weirdly futuristic about them. Or perhaps oddly Thunderbirds, I'm never quite certain

Couldn't agree more ... some of the 70's, 80's & early 90's APCs are great for FWC ... but then a lot of so called sci-fi armour looks very 1980s - but that might say more about the influences of their modelers than anything else.

With the rise of autonomous vehicle technology & long-distance remote control - what 'crew-less' combat vehicles will look like in even the near future is interesting. As the Swedes have shown if you take a completely new approach to military hardware you can end up with some very strange looking kit indeed.

I do wonder what the turret on Armata will actually look like, and who'll be in it, when they finally take take the high tech stealth aids off (i.e. remove the canvas sack from the plywood mock it's still got...)

Edit - oo, just realised it's out. Assuming the Victory Day parade photo's reflect the real thing... it looks... I dunno. Not what I expected for a 'crewless turret'. Guess the space saved has been filled with shiny tech. Odd looking armour layout as well. Looks... unfinished?

Yes - a real anti-climax - also looks like quite a 'high' silhouette for a Russian tank.
Maybe it's a plywood dummy to put us all off the scent & the real thing will be slim & techy??? (Nah ... that would be too clever)

I think that's what they had on before

I'd say the height & size were an acknowledgement of the last fifty years of Soviet designs getting creamed by Western designs, and that they've realised the crew needs enough room and space to actually fight the tank... but then it's supposed to be crewless?!

Looks very "plastic", but I suppose that's the composite armour and twiddly bits. Unless you're right & it is a mock up and it's actually just a plastic dummy No plywood here, we've gone high tech!