ADF in Afghanistan section complete in 20mm

Finally!

A few years ago I bought some ADF troops in 20mm from Wartime.

I got to work on them researching the paints I needed to depict troops in Afghanistan and painted a few dozen.

Then they sat. And sat. For a long time.

This month 2 things happened.

1. One of my new years resolutions for 2017 was to split my month into the 3 main projects I have with:

* 1st week of each month for my 3rd tier project of Terrain, 15mm Crusades and 15mm AWI
* 2nd week of each month for my 2nd tier project of 20mm Moderns
* the remainder of each month for my 1st tier project being 15mm Napoleonics

2. Joining 2 online paint and chat sessions. These have been fantastic with not only the chance to chat to some great people about gaming and painting but also as a focused to paint.

* Tabletop Commander Forums chat which is every day at 4pm EST which is 0600hrs here in Brisbane. It runs for 3 or so hours and I have been able to get on for 30 to 60 minutes. It runs through Google Hangouts but every day the episode is posted on YouTube at Tabletop Commanders Youtube channel.

* Rocky's War Room chat is every Mon, Wed and Fri at around 9:30pm EST which is around 12:30pm here in Brisbane. It runs for a few hours and also runs via Google Hangouts and every episode is posted on YouTube at Rocky's War Room Youtube channel.

As a result of these 2 things, I dug out my partly painted ADF troops and arranged a standard infantry section of 8 figures and finished off all the painting. All that remains is basing to be done.

This week I need to put them away again until next month and now move back on to my 15mm Napoleonics.

2nd Hand Purchases 19 July 2016

A huge 2nd hand purchase of Moderns arrived today from a sale off facebook.

I picked out a few items I wanted but then the owner added a whole bunch of freebies and also offered some additional stuff I could not say no to.

Add this to my collections and I now officially have way more 20mm Moderns than I will ever need. lol

Upgrading eBay 15mm Napoleonic Purchases

So I can only paint so fast and in fact I am a little bored of it already.

To supplement my painting regime I will take on 2 professional painters to paint for me a unit or 2 each month. I had found 2 painters but one removed himself when I stressed I wanted a result similar to my painting style so the units fit together well. Another I will be sending a single French Line Infantry figure to tomorrow to see how his style suits.

To fill the 2nd position I have decided to negotiate a regular set of figures from an eBay seller I purchased from when I began collecting a few weeks ago. I purchased a number of French Line, French Light, English Line and Prussian Line and Landwehr infantry along with some Artillery and most of the time I was able to win them for less than $2 a figure which is the benchmark I use for those sales. The painting quality is not quite there and the figure quality is not quite there but with a little touch up I think they can quickly and cheaply fill my ranks.

Below is a pic of the sale I won on eBay:

These figures come already based and ready to go so I had to sit them in water for a few days and with a knife scrape all the basing material off and cut the figure from the stand.

Some stands of cavalry wading in the water for a few days

I then rearranged them from 1 unit of 24 into 2 units of 12 although I needed to add in a 2nd flag bearer to make it work from my own collection.

These were then based to my new 15mm Empire V basing on mounting card and magnet and then painted and flocked. See my basing tutorial here.

Close up on the painting and figure quality

Once that was settled I then went about upgrading the paint jobs by applying a darker blue - I prefer Vallejo's Dark Prussian Blue for French troops, yellow to Voltigeur plumes, a medium blue to the flag pole and company colours to the pom poms. I could go further but I fear I would end up repainting the entire figure and thus lose the benefit of these purchases.

eBay Line Grenadiers on the left and my Eureka Grenadiers on the right. Note the darker blue on mine.

eBay Voltigeurs after my blue on the left and before my blue on the right. 

The two eBay units on the left and the 2 Eureka units I painted on the right. The mounted Brigade Commander on the far right is all based but not painted as yet.

Now on to the flags.

2nd ADF figure painted

After this 1st figure:
http://wardepot.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-1st-20mm-adf-modern-figure-painted.html

I believe the base "tone" of the figure resulting from the base colour used on the uniform before the pattern of spots is too dark and too brown.

I added more beige yellow spots to the 1st test figure (on left below) and then began the 2nd test figure with the beige yellow base colour over the black undercoat (on the right below). I think it looks better.

What do you think?

This is what is should look like

My 1st 20mm ADF modern figure painted

I finally got around to my test paint of my 1st ADF digger using my new Vallejo paints and the following tutorial:
http://www.ozwargaming.com/viewtopic.php?f=128&t=3761&p=29894&sid=131f4f7b1bfc7e044975c8e698aa94ef

I pretty much followed it to the "T" except for the colours used on the base which I used my normal Caramel and Beige to match my terrain and table.

Am I happy with it? NO. There is something not quite right. Maybe the brown is too prominent?

The tutorial says to use Iraqi Sand for the base uniform and then add the wash and then heavy dry brush Iraqi Sand back over. I think this is too dark. in the bottom photo I have a sample of the Iraqi Sand on the left, Pale Beige from my basing in the middle and Yellow Sand on the right. I think I will use the Pale Beige next time.

Let me know what you think.

Iraqi Sand left, Pale Beige middle, Yellow Sand right

2011 ADF in Afghanistan Guild Build TASK 3

I only just made it! Task 3 was due by 30 June and while I had 30 afghans painted a few weeks back, I had not fully completed them with a few dips and painted bases. A few hours in the morning and evenings on 29th and 30th and all was complete.

So here are my 1st painted 20mm figures. Considering I have only ever painted 6mm prior to these, I think they turned okay.

So now I turn my attention to my recently reinforced (thanks to Matt at Wartime Minis) ADF diggers. With my recently acquired Vallejo paints, I am ready to paint up some Auscam. I am even tempted to now grab a unit or 2 of Australian SF minis. We'll see how the diggers turn out.

Force on Force AAR from Brisbane Muster - June 2011

This past weekend I attended the wargaming day in Brisbane called the Brisbane Muster.

One of the many demo and participation games was a 15mm Force on Force game put on by Kevin and Mark. I joined this game as the insurgent player against a French force.

The scenario was that a small French recon team of 3 vehicles had been ambushed by a group of students armed with small arms and 1 rpg. One of the vehicles had sustained some damage and 2 of its crew were seriously hurt and in need of immediate evacuation. A QRF of another light vehicle and 2 x APCs with remote weapon systems were enroute to assist with the extraction of all from the site.

Meanwhile, the insurgents were attracking attention and numbers were growing.

The volume of fire the French were drawing made it impossible for the 2 surviving vehicles to man their fixed weapons and these remained buttoned up for most of the duration of the contact.

Soon after the ambush was sprung, the French QRF arrives on the right of the battlespace made up of another light recon vehicle with a 50 cal MG and the 2 x armoured APCs full of heavily armed French troops.

The lead vehicle hits some rough terrain and destroys its front end beyond repair, blocking the road for the remaining vehicles. The 1st APC veers left and into the creekbed and gets bogged while the 2nd APC moves north and around the carnage.

All newly arrived vehicles draw fire and soon all recon vehicles including the light vehicle from the QRF are either destroyed or heavily damaged. With the heavier armour of the APCs, the French begin to take the offensive to widen their area of control in order to get an evac chopper in for an increasing amount of seriously wounded soldiers.

More insurgents arrive and pretty soon the French are surrounded on all sides and fighting for their lives. The bogged APC gets itself out of the creekbed and up onto the southern bank and with infantry support, gains ground on the insurgents, clearing out a number of buildings and pushing enemy fighters back into a village.

The 2nd APC moving north spent a lot of time overwatching for any threats from the north but eventually needs to move. It pushes forward but is taken from the side by an awaiting enemy with an RPG. The vehicle is destroyed with all men onboard forced to fight their way into the cover of a high crop.

Enemy numbers are increasing and large groups can be seen approaching from the left. The French commander calls in a nearby Apache gunship which destroys a recoilless rifle coming into action and a number of insurgents. The effect of this is astonishing as the entire left side of the battlespace goes quiet from suppression by the gunship.

As more insurgents race through the village to get into the fight, the French begin withdrawing on foot along the road the QRF arrived on, leaving burning vehicles, and several severely wounded and 1 dead soldier.

As a gesture of goodwill, the insurgents take the dead and wounded to a Redcross site the next morning and disappear back into the mountains.



(more pics of a nearby Iraq demonstration by Bill)