Bulking out the ranks - Soviet LMGs and ATGs and British support weapons.

 A while back I bought some assorted figures and vehicles that were missing. Notably Soviet LMG teams and British platoon support weapons - Bren teams, 2 inch mortars and Vickers HMG teams. They have been sitting for a few months partly painted. This weekend I decided to smash them out. 

The British are painted a different colour to the rest of my brits, but I don't mind too much. I am pleased with how they have all come out.

I wanted 3 45mm cannons I needed more LMG teams so painted up like 12 of them.

I actually think I prefer these British. They are nice and light so don't look like brown blobs. 

6mm WW2 USA infantry painting guide - Keeping it simple

Painting US infantry is pretty simple as it is, but at 6mm I really wanted to do it as easy as I could. Warning - I painted these guys in strips so the basing isn't as good as it could have been (you might see some bare coin in places), and for some reason when I clip them from the strip paint scratches off them. I really can't be bothered to go back and touch up any scratches. I would honestly much rather just buy and paint new figures!

Step 1: This is the basing that I should have done first. Glue to coins, or small metal disk. Spray the whole lot white. Paint the base a sandy craft colour. 

Steps 2-6 in one sitting.

Step 2: Flesh - just be messy don't be careful. No point.

Step 3: I painted their boots Vallejo Flat Brown (leather colour). It is pretty light.

Step 4: Painted guns black.

Step 5: I painted their trousers a Vallejo light green colour. Not sure what it was.

Step 6: I painted their tops Vallejo khaki. 

Step 7: Washed the lot with Agrax Earthshade.

Step 8: Painted their helmets and canteens Vallejo US Dark Green.

Step 9: Paint the base rim dark grey.

Step 10: Flock the entire base.

Step 11: Seal with a matt spray.

These guys look fine to be honest. I actually wonder if they would benefit from wooden stocks but that is an extra unwanted step. I like their light boots for some reason. I way prefer them to black boots. The command stand with the bush was my old method, which had more steps. You can clearly see the wooden stocks, and textured base.

Mémorial du Linge - Alsace

 My wife's family hails from the Alsace region. We visited there back in 2015 and only just managed to return this year. As a speaker of both German and French, and as a lover of history I find this area especially interesting. For added context, my history learning journey through school led to me learning about the rise and fall of the Weimar Republic, then the rise of Nazism - ending just before the outbreak of WW2. That was my GCSE. In 6th form I ended up learning about the rise of Fascism in Italy; the failure of the rise of Fascism in Britain - Mosley and his failure; the birth of the KKK in America; and an even more in-depth look at the rise of Nazism. I had no choice in any of this, excepting for the part where I opted to learn History. Thus: my interest in the Alsace region comes from many places. 

This holiday I was given advice regarding various historical sites to visit in the area. One of them was the Mémorial du Linge - a mountaintop set of well preserved WW1 trenches. At this point, this region was technically part of the new Germany. With the outbreak of war, the French pushed in and then they sat in a stalemate at this place for the rest of the war. Thus the trench system (German) is incredibly well fortified and well preserved. 

Here are a few snaps from the museum. A high recommend from me. The museum itself is open in the morning and then closed for 2 hours, then opens again in the afternoon. They play a film about the history on a cycle switching between French, German, English. The trench system is actually free to look at, which we hadn't realised at first until no-one came to kick us out once the museum closed for lunch. It was so big we are pretty sure we didn't see it all, and we were wondering around it for a good couple of hours. 

20mm MDF ruins making progress

 Remember I bought these as a pack, along with an in-tact farm. Three of the buildings are pretty much four sided and are built as a damaged building. There is little to no customisation with them. The remaining ruins were a varied assortment of corner sections. A while back I made a decision that I would base the ruins. More recently I decided I would try and sort some corner sections into parts of the same building. You will see three of my ruin sets have two parts to them. I think they are pretty effective. 

The bases are wooden. They have come from the back of a mirror or a photo frame. I can't remember, but I saw it and rescued it from the bin. It has been in my cupboard for a year? Today I measured it up and wasted a lot of time sawing it to pieces. I started with the saw of my swiss army knife. I continued with a foldable garden saw meant for branches. In the end though I realised that if I scored the same area with a Stanley knife a few times, I was able to just snap the wood. Much quicker. But hey, we live and learn. 

I am not permanently attaching the three "complete" buildings to their bases. I have a feeling there might come a time when I would rather they be un-based. This may never happen and I might change my mind. Only time will tell. The remaining ruin sets will be generously covered in rubble and painted up. 

I sanded the edges and rounded the corners to make them less harsh. You can see that I labeled the ruins and the ruin bases so I wouldn't get confused later. 

This ruin is just a corner piece. I quite like it on its own though.

The thought of basing/storing tiny corner pieces like above was part of what made me think I will base them together as the same buildings. 

This is just the one building piece. I will put a lot of rubble around the edge and perhaps build up remains of a wall.

This one is tall. I like that. Once I have completed these I will need to get in the attic and dig out my other corner ruins from that Kickstarter many, many years ago. Been sitting in a box since 2013 probably. I reckon I put them together once or twice but have never, ever used them. After all, I switched pretty convincingly over to 6mm in 2016 I would say and haven't really looked back. 

Another Day in the FiveCore - Part 4: The Battle for Solace Ridge

 

Image Generated by Chat GPT.

Rain. Twas the season on the Moon of Biitas 12. It slowed everything. Farming became a pain, building stopped. In olden times military operations might ease up or cease. Not now though. Not when trying to contain these nightmarish creatures. It had been a couple of weeks since Raeburn and 1st squad had scouted Solace Ridge for an observation and containment post. A bunker and scanning centre had so far been erected, and the entire marine platoon, along with their transports were billeted here for security. 

Sat images showed three Rangers parked up in a standard storage formation. One Ranger was on watch. First squad was holding the original hab that it scouted previously. Second squad was positioned in the obvervation bunker in the centre, third squad was in and around the scanning facility on the left. Fourth squad was roughing it by a small copse, ready to spring into action as and when needed. 

 

There were also a number of contractor vehicles as this area was still very much a building site. 

Raeburn's squad had displaced the loggers for the time being. Most civilians had been removed from the area due to quarantine regulations. 

The scanners began tracing a number of signals approaching. The number grew and the signals neared. Tanor got onto the platoon-wide comms to warn the rest. Incoming. Weapons ready. Fourth squad get ready to rush into position. 

The three Rangers roared into action and repositioned themselves at the edge of the ridge. Skulking figures were working their way through the crops below. The rangers opened up with ineffectual fire. Many crops died. 

One of the creatures rushed up the ridge...into an outburst of fire from second squad. The beast was torn asunder under a hail of gunfire, rain mixing with acid blood as it sizzled into the ground.

Another rushed up and approached a Ranger. Accurate autocannon fire tore it apart in a splatter of fizzing acid. 

Shooting through the gaps in the ridge, another Ranger took down another creature as it stormed towards the base. They were getting closer, and many were passing out of line of sight at the bottom of the ridge. They could climb fast - hell they could climb, even in this rain. 

One Ranger along drove quickly to cover the open left flank. The ridge was not so high here - it was a definite weak point. One creature went down in a hail of gunfire. 

The Rangers and third squad continued raining fire down at the shadowy figure that were emerging from the crops and scrambling their way up the rain-slickened rock faces.

The creatures were closing in. Fourth squad was rushing through the rain to secure the flank, great drops of water bouncing off their equipment, it was hard to see. 

Unfortunately as fourth squad advanced, so did the creatures. One of them charged up to the marines and began ripping them to shreds. Spear point tail, claws, teeth. all made short work of the squad. 

Now holding the left flank on its own the Ranger opened up in a long stream of auto fire, killing another two of the creatures. The driver was accutely aware of how he was becoming surrounded and made thoughts to retreat. 

From around the trees another creature emerged, charging at the Ranger. Gunfire slapped into its torso and acid blood sprayed, but it kept coming. Its spearpoint tail smashed through the bullet proof windscreen, impaling Huang, the driver. Its claws destroyed the dashboard and controls. With its last breath it tried to reach Colby, the gunner, who unbuckled and threw himself to the back of the vehicle and unloaded his sidearm clip into the creature's head. It stopped moving. Colby breathed a sigh of relief.

Third squad kept holding the centre, firing at the oncoming beasts. Another was killed.

With the Ranger undrivable Colby decided to leave it behind and joing 3rd squad in the scanning facility. He opened the rear door to be met by another creature. It grabbed at him and stabbed him in the legs and arms, wildly trying to connect. Colby shuffled his way back into the Ranger. With no escape he felt at his belt. One standard issue frag grenade hung there invitingly. He pulled it off, took the pin out and waited until the beast was almost on top of...

The Ranger burst into flames, ammunition cooking off made the flames flare every now and then. Third squad reported on the comms - the left flank was open. They were going to reposition within the facility to help cover. A Ranger would be useful. 

More beasts tried climbing the ridge. More fire from Rangers killed one and sent the others down into cover. 

On the far right flank first squad and their Ranger shot down one more of the creatures. They could not see much more movement. Munroe raised Raeburn on the comms - he was going to start driving around towards second and third squads to help support their flanks. 

As Munroe put the Ranger into gear another creature leapt over the ridge and ran straight towards the vehicle. Taggart fired a few bursts and winged the beast. It jumped up onto the gun and tore the barrel clean off. In a panic Taggart and Munroe grabbed their rifles, jumped outside and unloaded into the creature, killing it. 

In the centre a creature tore its way into the bunker and got amongst second squad Reyes and Brax were killed before the rest of the squad made a run for it. Another creature jumped on Thorne and Wun's Ranger, scratching it up. However, effective fire from Wun killed it outright, then he turned his fire to the creature that routed second squad and killed it.

Third squad desperately took two creatures under fire, killing one but having no impact whatsoever on the other.

The two Rangers in the centre backed up slightly while pouring fire onto the remaining beasts. Both went down. Third squad reported no further signals and no more movement towards the outpost. It looked like they had held off the onslaught...for now.

Once the facility was once more secure a science team was called in to examine the remains of the creatures. There were plenty to examine. Casualties had been lighter than they could have been, but this was bad. The marines had fought well and held the creatures off, but how long would it be before another onslaught. 

The comms buzzed - It looked like there had been other attacks against quarantine facilities. These creatures were not happy to be contained, and likely could not be for any great length of time.