Club Night - Memoir 44

 Having attended the local wargame club twice last summer, I did not return. This was due at first to my wife's work life making Thursday nights really difficult. Then there was the summer break where I was just busy the entire time, more of my wife's work into the autumn, then it just sort of felt awkward that I would show up after so long and hope that they were nice? So ridiculous and neutoric. 

In the end someone new messaged about wanting to play Memoir 44 and I took that as a way in. My wife has also changed her job which makes Thursday nights much less stressful and full on. So I went and when I arrived there were two guys playing it already. So I sat with them and we hot steated around the table. It was pretty cool. I have had Memoir 44 since 2012 I think, but had only played it 6 times in 12 years. It is 2 player so it didn't really get to the table much.

This was Omaha - the first game as I watched. US attacker gained 2 medals while the Germans defended and got their 6 medals. The game is meant that you play each scenario twice but the players switch sides. This scenario is very difficult for the allies to win. 

When I played as the Germans I defended well and the Allies only gained one medal, managing to kill one of my infantry squads.

When I played as the Allies I lost, but I actually managed to get 5 medals and was one away from victory. It was pretty cool, but does come somewhat down to the luck of the dice and the card draws. I managed to get a few nice cards that allowed me to advance large amounts of units up the beach which helped. 

After this we played the liberation of Paris scenario which was really hard to win as Germans. That was pretty fun. 

A few figures - Perfect Six Miniatures

 Here are a few projects I have been working on.

This is a 3D printed Russian building. It is generic enough to use for anything in my opinion. Based on an old Student ID card. I don't have a 3D printer, my friend did it for me. The barrels and crates are from Perfect Six Miniatures and are great looking. I have two sets like this although one is unpainted. 

Perfect Six dead animals. There are cows, horses and some buffalo that I am convinced I didn't order. They look fine. The really dark ones I actually spilt my Agrax Earthshade all over them. Had to prize them off of the mat once dry. They work well enough. Can't get a good picture of them to save my life though. 

The orange convict is from CP Models - from their set of 6mm characters for Sci Fi. The rest of them are Perfect Six Miniatures and are either from the horse drawn cart set, or are "Black Powder" civilians/peasants. I just wanted more generic/wild west looking civilians to populate the edge of the galaxy. I did end up painting them various colours that all seem to have dried looking brownish.

6mm WW2 Soviet infantry painting guide - Keeping it simple

 Unhappy with my previous platoon of Soviet infantry I wanted to go greener and brighter. Again, I wanted them to better reflect how they look in Sudden Strike. I wanted a uniform green colour that stands out a little more from the darkness of the table. Here is how I did it.

These are the vaguely recent (as of 2025) Heroics and Ros Soviet infantry in SUMMER UNIFORM.

I painted the figures on strips, which was not a good move, it made basing them harder. On some of the stands you can see shiny copper coin glow through. Next time I paint any I will base them and prime them first. Then paint the base sand yellow - with no coin showing through. I will then follow these steps:

Step 2: Flesh - I was not careful at all.

Step 3: Uniform - I used a colour called Russian Uniform from Vallejo.

Step 4: Weapons and boots black. No wooden stocks at this size. If any paint from boots goes on the base then sobeit.

Step 5: Washed the miniatures with Citadel: Agrax Earthshade. Did not bother washing the base.

Step 6: Painted their helmets Vallejo Russian Green.

Step 7: Painted bayonets with Citadel: Runefang Steel.

Step 8: Flocked the bases. Covered entirely with flock. Painted the rim of bases Vallejo German Grey.

Step 9: Seal miniatures with a matt spray. 

Two different types of light. I really like how these Soviets have turned out. So much better than my first batch - they were too dark. These guys were so simple to paint. The shiny bayonets really help them pop off of the table. 

6mm Wehrmacht painting guide - Keeping it simple.

I wanted to post a guide for how I have started painting my 6mm Wehrmacht figures. I basically wanted to speed the process up and not ruin my eyes for something that looks just like a vaguely coloured blob on the table. 

I have previously discussed how Sudden Strike, an old computer game (that I loved), had each nation be a vaguely different, semi historically accurate colour scheme. This felt like something I might want to replicate in 6mm for ease. However, there was something about painting Tiger 2s and Jagdpanthers grey that didn't sit right with me. As such the vehicles will look pretty late war accurate and the infantry just need to be vaguely Feldgrau-looking.

These are the vaguely recent (as of 2025) Heroics and Ros: German WW2 infantry LATE WAR. 

Here is how I did it.

Step 1: basing and priming. I base my figures on stands of 1, 2, or 3 figures. My standard is a 1p coin. Gun teams are as many figures as the gun requires. I then prime the stands white - this brightness helps with other colours. I then paint the coin with a sand coloured craft paint. I apply no texture whatsoever. (One step simplified). The paint going onto white primer helps it stick. With my Soviets I painted the figures on the strip and attached them later to bases - which has caused problems.

Step 2: I then paint flesh - I am messy with this.

Step 3: I paint their uniform - Vallejo Feldgrau. I get my brush a tiny bit wet to help the paint spread a little, and keeps it lighter. Some of the figures have had their faces painted over mostly, and I do not care. They are always facing away from me anyway. 

Step 4: Guns and boots are painted black. Not wooden stocks, no gunmetal colour. Just black. Paint from the boots ends up on the base - this does not matter.

Step 4: I paint their gear with Vallejo Desert Sand - backpack, canteen. I do not care that this may not be accurate, I just want the gear to stand out a little.

Step 5: I wash the miniature with Citadel: Agrax Earthshade. 

Steps 2-5 are all done in one session.

Step 6: I paint the helmets Vallejo German Grey, and if they are wearing a cap, I paint that Feldgrau. That helps the figure pop a little and gives some colour. 

Step 7: I paint the coin rim a dark colour - Vallejo German Grey normally but black will do.

Step 8: Cover the entire base with a light green flock.

Steps 6-8 are one session

Step 8: Seal the entire thing with a matt spray. This is done when the weather is good enough to let them sit outside so the smell doesn't come in the house.

Closer than I will ever look at them. They are far from perfect but get the job done. 

Compare the bases of the vehicles - the infantry are much lighter.

This picture best represents the light I see them in and the distance as I am usually sat at a table. They look perfectly acceptable. 

Highlighting their gear - all sand coloured but still fine.

Also similar light to how I see them just closer. 

In all I find this method to be effective. I can tell who they are from a distance and they paint up pretty quickly. When I show you my US and Soviet infantry you might see some scratches as I painted them on strips first. This sped up their painting, but basing them up was a PITA. This German method is a winner - handling the bases is kind of annoying, but if I were really serious about it I would save some bottle caps and blutac them onto those. 

Heroics and Ros Wehrmacht and terrain

 I have made some more progress over the Half Term break. 

My son made these industrial terrain features by just glueing a bunch of junk from my junk boxes onto some MDF squares. The MDF squares I bought at 2012 Gencon thinking they would be perfect for basing 20mm miniatures on for Crossfire (a ruleset I have yet to play). I based three stands of infantry and then removed them. Since then I have used these squares for gun teams and 6mm terrain bases. 

The ruin is leftover parts from some MDF 6mm Normandy buildings that I bought in 2016 when making the jump over to 6mm. The rubble are various beads and flock from cheap Chinese trees. It looks okay. The other building is a repaint and redecoration of something I built in 2016. It is made from baby food squeezy pouches - the lid part. I wanted to see what it looked like not for desert terrain. 

Here we have the Heroics and Ros late war Germans. There are enough here for 6 infantry squads. Each platoon in Battlegroup contains 3 squads and 3 MG teams. I have enough MG teams for two platoons with more on order. I would like to field an entire company to be honest. I painted these up in a couple of sessions and am working on making my system more efficient. Tutorial to follow.

Heroics and Ros 6mm progress.

 Hi all,

Having not done much in a while I had the opportunity to sit down for two evenings and make progress. My wife was out in London for the day on Saturday, so after a busy day tiring the kids out and having a great time with them and some friends, I sat myself down Saturday evening and started trying to smash out some infantry. 

I painted the green onto quite a lot of US infantry (helmets) and then their gear I painted a lighter green, then washed them. Unfortunately I squeezed too much green paint out so found a bunch of other things to paint. 

I then cut the US infantry off their strips and attached them to bases - this damaged the paint on some of them which has helped me decide how best to paint up my figures now. 

On Sunday night I painted the bases (bare coin) with my sand colour and then covered with flock. I like the basing system I now have, but an improvement will be made by doing the following:

1. Glue unpainted miniatures to bases.

2. Prime the miniature stands white.

3. Paint the bases sand.

4. Paint the miniatures - I think this will be slightly slower as they won't be on strips, but I won't damage the paint removing from strips to put on bases. 

5. Flock bases.

6. Brush the loose flock off of the miniatures.

7. Seal with a spray.

Here are my almost finished miniatures:

I now have a second platoon of Soviets, maybe even a third. You can see some individually based figures - I had originally avoided doing this because most squads don't survive doing down to one man, but I thought I would just in case. And who knows...maybe they will see service in Five Parsecs from Home.

This equals 6 and a bit squads of US infantry. I just need more BAR teams to allow me to field more platoons. I will likely be buying a few strips of BAR teams in my next order - along with some more heavy brits and some Soviet LMG gunners. 

A couple of PIAT teams, a sniper team and some other infantry. I have a couple more stands to make. I want to be able to field 2 platoons but can't quite do that yet. 

January Bench Update

 I am trying to start the year off with a bang. I have numerous small things that need to be completed, and a backlog of unfinished, half painted infantry. Below are a few images of what I have been up to over the past couple of days.

Here we have a jeep and Kubelwagen using my new basing system (no texture, light sand colour, base entirely covered in flock). I also have these animals ready to serve both as narrative/terrain devices in my Five Parsecs campaigns, and also on my WW2 tables. I have never had any cows on there and yet it is a trope I would like to participate in. The animals and carts are from Perfectsix Miniatures. They are gorgeous. I also have some peasants who will see life as settlers on the fringe of space.

I tried a second batch of Soviet infantry, based without texture. They look pretty good to be honest. The light base really helps them pop. As such I went ahead and put the rest of my Soviet soldiers onto bases. In the corner you can see a few single based men. I doubt they will see much use as in my experience squads break before going down to one man.

Another complex of some kind, sitting around for ages. I think it was the insert of a small packet of Milk Tray? I have based it on the wood from the back of a photo frame.

My friend 3D printed a small Russian log home for me. I am finally using it. Based on an old student ID I look forward to turning this into a little vignette. The other day my children wanted to do some crafting using my junk (modelling supplies). While they did that I decided to use the last of my pine trees to make a few forest stands. I have sprayed them brown and green. I will follow this with some heavy drybrushing of pale greens and white, then colour the bases. They will look good. 

Looking forward to the year.

Five Parsecs from Home: Turn 23 - Get off Deon B!

 EARL had contacted a local trawler captain who was offering to get the settlers offworld. She arrived in good time at the excuse for a landing port on this sector of Deon B. The plan was to fly off together and reach the Moon of Biitas 12, location of a pretty well established, almost official, transit hub. The hope was to aqcuire a freighter and fly off to the fringe in the hope of another chance at a new life. A dust storm was beginning to whip up, reducing visibility quite considerably.

Thanks and goodbyes were underway. It was emotional.

A shot rang out, a settler crumpled. Nova Cartel wasn't done yet! With visibility so low, they had to be almost on top of the escapees!

Baratski fired into the dust at some vague figures. Brenko charged off firing her shotgun. One cartel member was killed and another was sent scurrying under a hail of buckshot. 

Furious laser and plasma fire burnt the ground, put holes in Brenko's coat, and set the scrub ablaze. Brenko was desperately hugging the ground!

Mao had been keeping watch and shot off some accurate needle fire at the attackers, killing one and making the others think twice. One of them did not look like a cartel member! Who was this?

Using her arm implants Phillips lobbed a grenade. The explosion sent parts of one cartel member flying while the other had to duck and hide.

Augustus Holmes flanked around the building and finished the final member of this group off. 

Ulrich Nolan and Phillips started firing on the other squad, pinning one of them down.

Mao jumped out of cover and shot one of the cartel members down, then redirected his fire to the strange other figure.

A cartel member, even though pinned down, managed to fire off some accurate plasma blasts, knocking Ulrich down in a cloud of  burnt-flesh-smelling vapour. That was going to hurt!

Mao startedtaking fire so had to duck back behind the cargo. That cartel member used that opportunity, Mao having his head down, to scarper. He had had enough.

Phillips then started taking accurate machine pistol fire and had to duck. There was just one person left to fight.

In response Holmes snuck around the corner to open fire on the final remaining figure, pinning him.

Mao then charged out and opened fire, killing the remaining enemy. Upon further investigation this person was probably just a gun for hire, looking for a pay day. I guess it didn't pay that well then. Ulrich Nolan was carted back to the Pelican. He was going to have to spend a while in medbay, and even then he might not fully recover. It was going to be touch and go. Those plasma weapons are pretty rough on the human body. 

It was time to launch and get away from Nova Cartel. Life was too short to stay on this rock, and Tonia Wildner and co. would have had to spend the rest of their lives escaping capture. Time to settle elsewhere. Luckily nutripods can be grown in most climates, and there are many, many planets similar to Deon B out on the edge of known space. 

Some time later both the Pelican and the freighter, known as Old Bertha found a place to land on the Moon of Biitas 12. Luckily for the Pelican crew they had a stash of fuel so it didn't really cost them. Both ships clanked down to the ground, groaning and showing signs of their age. While landing one of the landing strut hydraulic systems malfunctioned. Baratski rushed to hold it together and took quite an injury, busting up her leg. She was going to have to spend time in medbay along with Nolan. 

Before looking for work, it was time to set the settlers up with a ship or a flight out of here. While looking for a ship Augustus Holmes decided it was time to upgrade the Pelican. He organised the installation of a merchant link - a device that would allow easier access to some of the more established and perhaps legitimate traders when planetside.