Review of WG Marder and Soviet stuff

If you read my last update you know I realized I had a dearth of modern Soviet equipment and had only 1 Marder for my West German PanzerGrenadiers. So I have been busy and thought I would share my thoughts on the products.  These are my personal views and your mileage may vary.

First up I bought some 1970s Khurasian Soviet infantry off TMP for a pretty good price.  I really like their ancients stuff so had high expectations for these.  To be honest I was a little disappointed.  They aren't bad, I was just expecting really great stuff.  They are thin like QRF but they are tall so if I put them on pennies I think they still won't blend in.  ( QRF blend in okay if mounted on pennies to Battlefront figures.)  Their faces are better than QRF and the uniforms have better detail as well.  There is a nice mix of poses and equipment including sniper rifles and actual general purpose MGs in the prone position which I like.  I will certainly use some of these but will probably save most of them for either Warsaw Pact or African armies where I won't mix them with Battlefront.

2 Soviet NCOs  Khurasian on the left and Battlefront on the Right.  The BF guy looks like a real porker!

Another view of Khurasian Soviets

Next up Old Glory BDRM scout car.    I like Old Glory stuff.  It is easy to build and looks good.  My main gripe is you have to buy 3.  If you need three it works out great.

No directions but I think I can handle this one!

I really like that the wheels are casted on the body.  I find this is the weak point for most models and I have trouble making the wheels straight.  Thank you!

Okay, so I needed to enlarge the opening a bit.  For those of you that are surgeons and  work in the Operating Room I used a straight Metz.

Finished product!


  Next up QRFs T-80.  I like QRF's stuff.  It is basic, inexpensive and you can buy models individually.  A boon to the skirmish gamer.

All the stuff.   No directions as usual but pretty straightforward to assemble.  I sometimes have trouble with QRF's tracks as I find it hard to keep them perpendicular to the body but there is a reasonable groove in this model so it is pretty easy.

I did need to hollow out the female end of the turret where the gun barrel attached ( Surgeons use an 11 blade but don't break off the tip!  If you do though it will be easy to find and you won't need an x-ray.) but once glued and set aside it did fine.

Finished model; nice!   One extra note- most QRF models don't come with MGs; this one did.

Next is the QRF Shilka. 

 Lots of pieces for this one.  Directions would have been helpful.  There are also 2 chairs that I still don't know what to do with.  Those go in the bits box!

Somehow that is suppose to become the main gun battery.    After looking at the real thing I think I figured it out.

Final model looks really good.  Used a soviet airplane decal from I-94.

This side is the " I have been in Afghanistan a while and could use some loving" side.

I rarely use modeling paints for my models as they are expensive.  For these I used

Here is the trio on the way to Hamburg!

Last up is the QRF Marder  This one I struggled with.
First the gun is (realistically) extremely thin. On one of my two models it came very bent.

After straightening.   I knew it would break but couldn't live with it like that.

Yep it broke!    Fortunately I was able to glue it back on.    Also the side skirts didn't fit on the model well at all. Finally the gun has a male end that is suppose to fit into the turret female end.

This is the female end.  I had to reconstruct it using a drill and for you surgeons Iris scissors.   After all that work the model came together.  The tracks were hard to get straight and the skirts still don't fit right.  Old Glory and Khurasian don't make a Marder.  Battlefront does but you have to buy a set of 4 or 5 I think.  If you need a couple and you don't like to be an expert modeler I would consider buying the Battlefront ones.  You will also get german decals.  I bought WW I german decals from I-94.

The finals models did come out looking nice.  Infantry are Battlefront.

More pictures.  I must have got air under the decal.

Last picture.

Hope you enjoyed my reviews.  I will be happy to answer any questions.    Hopefully this weekend my Germans will face off against some Russian armor!

Joe



  















 

Fulda gap 1986 Vehicle heavy FOF

This is memorial day weekend in the US.  Please remember our veterans and their families as well as those actively serving.
So I have been exploring FoF solitaire lately.  I like the fast pace put still think the sweat spot is 2 squads plus some vehicles.  What would happen if I went vehicle heavy?  Would it slow down?  The vehicle resolution is faster than infantry.    So how about a Soviet attack into Northern Germany?  I thought how about a Soviet tank platoon and infantry platoon attacking a West German platoon plus a Leopard?  Well I found out I have been tardy on my building and painting!  I only have 2 T-72s.  I have 3 BMPs but only enough soldiers for 2 squads.  I only have 1 Marder painted up!  How embarrassing.  So change of plans; Soviet forces pushing through the Fulda gap with the Soviets filled out by a couple of proxies.
I rolled up the board using Platoon Forward otherwise this was straight out of my head.

Soviets enter from the left.  They have one BDRM I found painted up as well as I airstrike.  US has 2 mech infantry squads plus 1 Abrams.

BDRM spots the Abrams down the road ( each hex 40 yards) and executes a hard right behind the sign. 

T-72s move up; a squad of infantry deploys into the woods across the street to clear any dragon teams and we pray for Soviet aviation!

Soviet aviation comes through!   Vodka after this mission Boris! 

With the threat removed the T-72s start to move only to run into TOW slinging Bradleys.  I really like the Platoon rules the Soviets have to operate under.  Restrictive and overkill.

With no smoke and time a wasting a good ol fashion charge is in order! ( The tank in the middle is a T-72 even though it looks like a PT-76.  That was a disguise that didn't fool anyone! 

The BMPs both make it to the left side of the board as their 30mm cannons managed to suppress dragon gunners. 

As the Soviet infantry prepares to take the stone cottage the T-72 destroys both Bradleys!  ( Somewhat embarrassing) 

With half the fireteam wounded the US pulls back from the house to the hill.  It is not looking good.

With the house secure, the Russian LT prepares to assault the hill. 
At this point the US officer, with all vehicles destroyed, and outnumbered in infantry two to one withdraws.

Russian T-72 ( QRF) showing off!

Great game that did not bog down at all.  Clearly vehicle heavy FoF plays well solitaire.   If I play this battle again I will give the US a Cobra helo around turn 4.  Of course then I have to paint up my russian Shika!

Enjoy


Joe









 

Jack, the LT and the footbridge Iraq 2003

Played a large scenario out of the scenario book Road to Baghdad; this one was The Footbridge.  I have found the scenarios in that book really interesting.  I always thought the second war was just the US racing to the airport and Baghdad but the book has multiple interesting, challenging tests.  The notes in the back are weak ( unlike most of their books) but the scenarios are great.
As you may recall, I rolled up a squad ( 2nd squad, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine regiment) and they have fought in 3 battles.  They are lead by Sgt Just Jack.  He actually won the Bronze Star in the town of Afak and is highly thought of in the unit.  ( Only my third character ever in 3+ years to earn a medal and the first Bronze Star!)  In fact the squad's morale is high (D12) except for the first fireteam.  The first fireteam is lead by Cpl "Koke" Kokistranovich (nickname pronounced Ko key) and the rest of the team feels he takes too many risks.  He Koke leads the team their morale is D10; if Jack does it is D12.   Jack is aware of their feelings and is working with Koke on his leadership.  Their LT, an Annapolis grad, is oblivious to this but respects Jack's leadership and is competent and still learning.   [ I love when you can generate a great backstory over several battles!  It makes the games so much more interesting to me.  It is the whole reason I did PF/GF.]
So the scenario I placed Jack in is The Footbridge.  Basically the marines have to repair a footbridge and cross it in the face of the republican guard backed by islamic extremists.

"So men, we have to get across that bridge and secure a foothold so the battalion can move on to Baghdad.  Jack, 2nd squad will repair the bridge and lead us across.  Borden, you will lay down so much fire that nothing moves across the river, understood?  Okay, let's go." So Lt Declines ended the briefing to his NCOs.
Characters
Lt Declines  Annapolis grad   Sensible/ wealth  Gr I
Sgt Borden   ( 1st squad leader)  careful/ engineering   Gr II
Sgt "just" Jack (2nd squad leader)  mechanic before he enlisted  Jovial/ position Gr II   +2
1 fireteam Cpl Koke  Junior race car driver  addicted to thrills      Gr 0
2nd FT  Cpl "Fast" Jones  orphaned joined at 18   inept/ religion    Gr 0
3rd FT LCpl Betts    acting leader so didn't roll up                           Gr 0

My new building with custom sign!

The battlefield with the marines entering from right.    Win by having a fireteam to left of rivre by turn 8.  [ I did not roll up forces as I used them out of the book substituting my 2 marine squads for the 2 in the book.]

Republican guard with an actual officer!

Jack leads Koki's team towards the footbridge while Cpl Jones moves up towards the river in support.

Trouble brewing for thirsty US marines.

 1st squad unloads from their track.   A second Iraqi tank broke down and wouldn't arrive for 3 turns.

End of 3rd turn.   Jack on the bridge that is now repaired.  1st squad to his right in support.  That track will now retreat in the face of armor.  Cobra ( yes it is a Cobra Jack!) called in for support with a mission against the hotel. ( Prematurely placed on the board.  Rolled for it's arrival against medium air defense and environment too hot to arrive.  Must have been piloted by army guys!   Huge blow for the marines but FOW card came up and a M-1 tank comes up in support.  Not as good but close.)

Jack makes a dash for the far side!   2 men hit as all hell breaks loose.  It is too much even for Jack.  He pulls back with one serious and one minor WIA.  ( Of course you don't know that till the end of the turn.)

More Iraqis come to the bridge where the battle will be decided.

Turn 5.  Lt Declines orders Sgt Borden to make a dash across the bridge.  Miraculously he makes it across ( where he is outnumbered badly) on turn 6. 

On turn 6 Lt Declines realizing he needs bodies across the river takes matters into his own hands and leads folks across.  With one man KIA they are pinned down and has to retreat. 

Meanwhile the Abrams takes care of the Iraqi armor. 

Looking for cover Sgt Borden leads his fireteam towards a damaged building with pinned Iraqi soldiers in it.  They flee.  No sooner has he started to try to set up positions when rebels charge his position.  There is no time for final defensive fire. 

The melee in the rubble is ferocious!  Unfortunately each side loses 2 which the 4 man US team can ill afford.  While they can still drag their wounded Borden signals retreat under the bridge. 

Sgt Borden catches his breath!  Fortunatly both casualties were only lightly wounded.  They would need ever gun.
The Abrams and SMAW blasted the rubble leaving only 2 rebels left alive and destroying the entire complex.  

Lt Declines tries to cross the bridge again on turn 7.  

Lt DeClines and LCpl Betts finally make it across and into the shattered remains of the hotel complex on turn 8.  The US had 2 fireteams (10 men) on the far side for the win!

Great game that was tension packed to the end.  Not having the helo made it challenging for the US as the Iraqis had 4-5 teams targeting the bridge every turn.  It played a little long solo as the US had two full marine squads and 2 platoons of Iraqis but it was worth the effort.

Post game Lt DeClines is impressed with LCpl Betts and arranges to promote him to Cpl and he officially takes 3rd FT.  He also improves to a Grade I leader.  Despite the fact that Jack picked 1st FT to lead the charge on the bridge the team still blames Koki so there is no change there. Morale holds for the squad at D12.  The squad lost 1 KIA and 1 IH and they were down 1 already but they get 1 replacement so will be 2 marines down for the next mission.

Enjoy

Joe

PS  Marines are all Peter Pig.  Iraqi army figures I am not sure, I think they are QRF.  Iraqi insurgents are QRF.  Vehicles are a mixture of Peter Pig, Old Glory and QRF.  

 

Review of Peter Pig NVA, QRF vehicles and Crescent Root buildings

Not much gaming in but have got some stuff painted up so thought I would share my thoughts on the products.  I always like to see what other people think if the reviews are honest.
First, to remind you- bought an alpha boat from Battlefront.  Painted up great.  Here it is in action with the French.

Right, now we will start with some QRF vehicles.  I will say off the bat I like QRF vehicles.  As a skirmish gamer I normally don't need a platoon of vehicles; normally one or two and QRF allows me to do that.  Chaz ( QRF) is great to deal with and for us in the states Scale Creep has some of their stuff in stock so if you are lucky you can save on postage.  If not, Chaz is great to deal with directly and with the weak pound it is not too bad.  My only quibble is not really fair, with QRF you normally don't get the extra bits that you get with battlefront and sometimes Old Glory like machine guns and crew.  The reason it isn't fair is QRF is cheaper than Battlefront so you are paying for those "extra" bits.

So I painted up some US weasels to be French crabs in Indochina.  

Granted the lead flag is weak ( it doesn't look that bad in person) and I still need to weather them but that is not Chaz's fault.  I obviously added a Old Glory MG to one and a Peter Pig recoiless rifle to the other.  The model is very nice and will do great service in defense of the Pan Frenchness everywhere.

Second up is an Ontos for my Marines.

 

This is a unique vehicle to the US marines and I thought it would be cool to have one.  QRF is the only company to make one in 15mm to my knowledge but I hear Battlefront is coming out with one.  I didn't want to wait.  This one was a little fiddly to glue all the rifles on to and for some reason the right most rifle ( when viewing from the front) still falls off at the drop of a hat.  I have glued it several ways with little success.  I finally based it so I hope not to bump the rifles.  Haven't played with this baby yet but it should work.  I had to add a battlefront MG to the top but she is ready to do damage to some bunkers! 

Next up, Peter pig NVA.    Now I am a fan boy for Peter Pig infantry.  Martin is a stand up chap which helps but his figures come in bags of 8 and are reasonably priced.  They are true 15mm so seem slender compared to most "modern" figures but I have no trouble mixing them with Battlefront, Khurasian and Flashpoint.  They mix really well with QRF infantry with tends to be thinner than many of the other companies.  There is only 1 Peter Pig range I am not thrilled with; Vietnam.  The VC look fine and I use then.  The Americans look too small to me and the helmets are not distinctive with "stuff" on them like flashpoint's figures.  I mainly use Martin's US troops for my ARVN as their size is perfect.  I do use some US for leaders and other specialty positions and they work fine; just not my go too.  ( Reader's of this blog know Peter Pig is my go to for my FFL in indochina though!)  I am not thrilled with his NVA as the helmets and shirts seem off.  Again I use them but my go too has been Flashpoint.  The problem with Flashpoint is there aren't very many poses so for a skirmish game you run the risk of everyone having the same pose!  I am please to report Martin's rework of the NVA range is super!

The pictures didn't come out well but trust me, the figures look great.  The helmets are spot on now.

This is an "old figure".  Again not a great picture but see the helmet.  It is okay but I like the new helmets much better.  I don't need many NVA anymore but for the ones I do Peter Pig is my go to now for them.

Finally Crescent Root.  This was my second "splurge" buy I allowed myself this year.   I bought a $40 building I didn't need.

Mark's buildings are fantastic with lift off roofs.  True confession, I liked his old stuff better, it seemed slightly bigger and had more texture, but this is still a top notch building.  This seems more like 10-12mm in scale.  It comes pre painted and ready to go.  His earlier stuff was a bargain.  I think he has raised his prices to a more fair price.  If you compare this with what battlefront is selling ( I have and like their stuff as well) $40 is a fair price for the extra details despite the small footprint so I really can't quibble. Expect to see this on an Iraq battlefield soon! Highly recommended. (figures PP)

Hope you all enjoyed this.  If so let me know.  If not let me know and I won't post stuff like this again.  Will try to get some of this stuff on the table and do a battle report soon.

Enjoy

Joe