6mm Germans and some straggling Brits

Well I finally got around to flocking the Germans for my 6mm IABSM project. There were also a few Brits to finish from the last batch, I made up 5 more 2p leader bases to take my total to 10 leaders or Big Men for each side, also a whole heap 2in mortars.

I used dark green and light green static grass, 1mm length from Serious Play on eBay, and a mix of the two for blending.

The completed batch

British troops, Big men on 2p bases, 2in mortars on 1p bases.

Brits to the left, Germans to the right.

German troops, with three LMGs.

Some German Big Men on 2p bases, Panzershreks on 1p bases.

The blending on the German Big men isn't great but I think I improved as I went on and got a better technique worked out. Good enough from arms length though!

German sustained fire MG34/43

I've got some AT guns and random support from both sides that need working on, also with Baccus releasing their Panzer IV I took the plunge and got some Shermans, PzIVs, Universal carriers and Kubelwagons and motorbikes. Bonus got paid in last months pay check so decided to treat myself!

Mid-Year Appraisal

Well as we have passed the 6 month point a few weeks back I thought I would throw something up about my painting.

At the start of the year I wanted to try track how much painting I achieved this year, so I nicked the structure off Vis Lardica website for the TFL painting challenge, by that I mean the scoring and classifications.

I set my self a target of 1000 points for the full year.

                                            Number         Individual Total

                                             painted          score              score

6mm Infantry                          234            0.5           117

25-30mm Infantry                  33               4           132

15mm Vehicles                  16               6             96

15mm Buildings                   4             12             48

25-30mm Buildings                4             36           144

Bigger than 30mm Foot            1                8               8

20mm Foot                           1               2               2

And that gives me a grand total of 547 points at around the halfway mark. Just about on target although I will need to get a bit of a shift on to get up to the 1000 mark before the new year.

6mm part 2

I finally got round to basing and finishing off the first batch of 6mm Brits for my IABSM project. I'm using 30x30 MDF bases for ground troops, 3 bases per section, with light mortars on one penny pieces, and big men on two penny pieces (1p & 2p for simplicity)

I plan on using 1p for other supports, ie MMG/HMG, but will put AT guns etc on 30x30 bases as they should be identifiable by themselves.

I'm not sure about basing vehicles yet - I think it is probably the best course of action for longevity but the appearance bugs me a little.

I followed a simple method for the basing, PVA and sand, burnt umber paint, dry brushed up with lighter brown shades (sienna and umber variants). finished with some 1mm static grass in two shades, from Serious Play on eBay.

Anyway enough chatter here are the photos:

Four platoons and Five big men, PVA still wet.

Static grass down and PVA still wet.

One platoon, PVA dried!

Big men and 2in mortars

That's all folks!

A small update....

Ha - what a clever pun! The title I mean. No, not following? oh wait - this is about a new 6mm project I have started. Hence "small" update. Get it?! Hmmm explaining it probably doesn't improve the humour. Ah well nevermind!

So I got enticed by a Lardy Sale a good while back and picked up a set of the I Ain't Been Shot Mum rules (IABSM). Cautious not to just jump in I read up on it and checked out various blogs that touched on IABSM, and came to the conclusion that I wanted to do it in 6mm to match the ground scale, in some part due to regrets over not doing Chain of Command in 15mm (time will tell on that!)

I duly ordered some 6mm Baccus Brits and Germans - and when they arrived I had a bit of a panic that they were TOO SMALL for me to actually paint. I posted as much on twitter and was flooded (well for my usual posts it was flooded, for others perhaps a gentle lapping of replies!) but they gave lots of advice and explanations, all gratefully received.

The process or method I picked to go with was:

- Use a white or light primer, firstly it makes it easier to see but secondly it means the finished colour is lighter which is helpful at this scale/size. Apparently you want a slightly lighter/brighter finish.

Primed in cheap white spray paint

A close up, they are about the height of a fingernail. Well my fingernail anyway.

 - After a white primer (or light) use a wash to bring out the details and help you block paint

After a wash with Vallejo sepia and umber washes. Two shades used to see if the wash shade makes any difference.

They really are beautifully detailed for something so small!

- just paint the main blocks, uniform, helmets, weapon, flesh. Most things will be too small to notice unless there is a high contrast.

That is the uniform (vallejo English Uniform) painted in. Honest guv!

- Wash the final figures with Nut Brown ink

- You're painting a unit not an individual man so it is the general effect you look at rather than the individual paint job

As you can see with that in mind I cautiously primed and washed my first selection, British Infantry, LMGs and 2" mortars, about 10 lollipop sticks worth of troops! and my goodness doesn't it go quickly. I used two different washes just to see if there will be any great difference to the final product, one was a dark brown (Vallejo Umber wash) the other a lighter sepia shade (Vallejo Sepia wash).

It takes no time at all to apply a wash to them, and similarly to block in the uniforms, a few swishes of the brush and your on to the next chap. So far I have spent maybe 30-40min on them and I have 12x LMGs, 12x 2" Mortars and 96x Infantry. I'm hoping to get some time after work at some point or maybe this weekend to finish them off, which shouldn't take too long.

They aren't going to win prizes but I am happy with where they are going so far.

The following blogs and sites were fantastic resources when I was looking into the 6mm idea:

Derek's Blog limited posts on 6mm stuff but does have a bocage tutorial and also very helpful comments on the TFL forum under IABSM.

Mark Luther's stuff stunning 6mm terrain photos on Flikr and one thread on setting up a table.

Vis Lardica - Great for IABSM AARs and loads of IABSM info and advice both here and on TFL forum.

And one of the 6mm Maestros Per at Rollaone

Always on the look out for more 6mm resources so do drop me a comment if you have any corkers! and don't feel shy about showing off your own 6mm wonders!

Deep Fried Lard

Well I have been rather absent in posting anything here of late, and my overriding excuse is working on the house. For the past two months the majority of my time out of work has been spent doing DIY on our house as we finally got our building warrant through. I did manage to sneak in a wee trip over to Musselburgh and Deep Fried Lard, hosted by the Legendary Wee Derek.

It was a fantastic day, and this time I stayed around for the curry which really does make a fine end to the day. Getting to sit around and chat all manner of things, especially wargames, with fellow Lardy Lovers was great fun.

I got to have my first ever shot at Sharp Practice, and a game of CoC in 15mm which was a new experience too. I could go over what games were available and show some dazzling pictures of them but frankly this has been done much better by Jim here and Jeremy has posted fantastic pictures here too. So instead I'll dump some of my pictures here but also give a brief run through of the one of the games I played, and some thoughts on the other! Exciting stuff!

The battlefield perspective from the Garibaldi deployment point

Sharp Practice - Biscotti Wars (Garibaldi)
This was a delightful setup, terrain, figures and configuration of the table! The board itself was setup on a number of packing crates so that the playing surface was raise above the table. This meant there was a lower admin space for off table troops, dice rolls, unit rosters, QRS and biscuits! Those requiring a nibble could express support by selecting garibaldi or bourbon biscuits!

Choose your faction! Vote with your mouth!

The terrain it self was all Grand Manner and painted to an incredible finish, laid out on a Tiny Wargames mat, with a one piece crafted road, cut to size and shape out of a larger piece of rubber or pond liner type material.

Jaw dropping Grand Manner Monastery

So pretty!

The scenario itself was beautifully simple and gave a really good game. Both sides deployed on the same short side of the table (opposite corners) and the objective was to get a unit into the large monastery on the far side of the table and hold it for a turn. This gave both forces an interesting dilemma. Do you make a run for the monastery and try to fend off the other force, hoping you move more quickly, or do you engage early to delay the other force and potentially clear the way for your own to move up to the monastery?

The Leaders and forces available to Garibaldi

As mentioned earlier, I had never played Sharp Practice before this, although I do own the rules and have read them! I decided to play the forces of Garibaldi and would try to disrupt the Bourbon forces as they deployed whilst simultaneously trying to sneak a unit up to the monastery. I hoped to utilise my skirmishers to harass the deploying bourbons enough that they would be distracted enough not to go for the monastery at first.

Things pretty much didn't go to plan almost immediately! I deployed my skirmishers and another unit and looked to move the skirmishers forward to some light cover.

They pretty quickly got hit and some shock from the Bourbon troops with their longer ranged rifles. Bad shots and muskets don't do much to impact a well ordered force at a distance! This ended up sucking in another group to try and absorb some of the firepower.

I did follow part of my plan in setting a small group off to the monastery under the command of a Status 1 leader.

The Bourbon hordes poured onto the table and started marching in column towards the monastery. This force would annihilate my small group heading towards the monastery so some preventative action was needed.

I decided (on earlier advice) that to stand any chance I needed to get my chaps into close combat led by Garibaldi to smash up the less physical (but better drilled) Bourbon forces. I gathered up three units of men and tried to advance towards the bourbons, and picked a gap between two buildings to launch towards.

Sadly it was deemed to be a bit constricted and would impact my ability to charge through, this lead to a bottleneck and basically standing in a group in very close range waiting to get smashed up by the bourbons. Which is exactly what happened.

Rather than let Garibaldi get hit in this bogged down and rather fruitless manouver  I moved him towards another formation and worked on getting them into a position to charge a bourbon unit to the rear, if successful I would potentially be able to attack the bourbons in a flank or rear and relieve my beleaguered troops. Sadly the Bourbons were able to reload and faced the charge head on, I also rolled appallingly which really caused more of the problem! and Garibladi was thrown back with a huge casualty rate.

Now this all was going rather badly, however my sneaky little status 1 leader was making decent progress and by throwing a supplementary leader towards the small group meant I could really get them motoring and remove any shock resulting from the double time marching. The heroic if somewhat pathetic actions at the deployment end of the table had managed to hold the Bourbons back long enough to get within spitting distance of the monastery. All I need was a good run of cards and to survive the long range fire of a solitary bourbon unit.

As luck would have it I got to move my troops to the entrance of the monastery and then only had to endure one instance of bourbon fire before being able to move fully inside in the subsequent turn.

At this point we called it a day, without having to hold the monastery for a turn, and also called it a draw. A fair result I think as although I made it to the monastery, the rest of my forces (90%) were in absolute disarray, and had only survived by being forced back under bourbon fire behind a building which resulted in breaking line of sight and therefore no further morale rolls. And Garibaldi himself had been knocked down and had not yet recovered!

This was cracking good fun! So much so that I now need to sort out a few small forces to give Sharp Practice a go with my erstwhile gaming chum!

The other game was an early war Chain of Command scenario - Going with a bang! I played the Germans, trying to secure a route forward against the defending French who were looking to blow up two culverts before I could seize them.

A brilliant game, where I had my head thoroughly kicked in! I really didn't think losing could be enjoyable but it actually was. It was in 15mm which I hadn't played in before and my goodness it is almost a different game at that scale. I loved it. So much so it has thrown me into confusion over what to do with my collection of 28mm models for a number of future chain of command projects! I suspect I will be unable to part with anything yet so will continue in 28mm but will certainly attempt to build up 15mm too. Easier to strore, cheaper to acquire, and the space on the table is simply glorious!

However as I have most of 28mm para force collected, not to mention some plastic russians, variety of brits, some painted DAK and random FJs,  I think I'll persevere in 28mm for now. All I lack just now is time!

Sssssssssmoking!

Yes - my imaginative title says it all. I have (successfully) smoked some bacon. Huzzah!

My cold smoker cabinet was built from odds and ends of wood I had squirreled away, costing the sum total of £0. A great success to my tight-fisted mentality! I did buy some stainless steel mesh (1mm) to make the smoker part. You can of course go the simple route and buy a cold smoker (ProQ gets good reviews and seems straightforward) but I figure I could probably knock something up that would do the job for less than a third of the price. And I still have two more sheets of mesh for some other purpose!

 

 The cold smoker was a simple design - worked it out on a bit of A4 paper first then set to it on the mesh. Having decent tools would help, I used a small pair of wire snips and it took a fair while to snip each wire individually to create the shape. Not too many cuts in all and a very simple shape, utilising the left over bits from the same sheet to patch in any blank spots.

I tried to create a ramp area where the wood dust would thin out and hence be easier to light, but it didn't really work and I ended up just thinning it out on the other leg and it worked fine.

The smoker ran for a good 12 hours as far as I can reckon. I also left it in the cabinet, full of smoke, over night.

The bacon is back in my fridge and whenever I open it up there is a strong scent of smoke! I like it, not sure TGF is convinced!

Taste test went fine - the cure was better this time compared to my last which was too salty. The smokiness is subtle, surprising given the scent of it, but in my humble opinion does add a little something special to the taste.

On pigs and products

So the last set of pigs, a pair of Tamworths, finished at the end of last year and went to the local abattoir. My dad helped me butcher them which was the first time I had butchered an animal and it was a huge learning process, very interesting. The girlfriend still hasn't forgiven me for that one and refuses to eat any of the pork that has resulted. Rearing pigs for meat was always my goal and it was only on their arrival that she then realised what amazing animals they are!

This year we have started earlier so we aren't having to deal with an abattoir trip in the ice and snow. We got three Tamworth cross Mangalitsa weaners from a farm out near Lochgilpead and have had them for about 6 weeks now (small post here).

The three girls are coming along well and are rooting up their area a treat! I've slightly reduced the supplementary feed as they have had a good amount of vegetation to go at, and this will continue when we increase their enclosure size in a few weeks.

Onto the products part. I still have a good amount of pork in the freezer from the last pair and a slab of pork belly is getting cured for bacon, with a view to testing out (after making) a cold smoker. Also keen to see what flavour I get off smoked bacon compared to cured and air dried.

The curing is a pleasingly simple process which I have done successfully on two prior piece of pork belly. I got the cure recipe from the River Cottage Curing book which a family member gave me, presumably to encourage the development of such culinary delights! It is basically 50% salt 50% brown sugar (pretty much any sort can work I'm using a soft brown sugar rather than demerara although I couldn't tell you the difference!) with some spicing of your choice, mine is simply pepper and a little garlic for this one.

The cure is rubbed into the pork belly all over and ensuring it gets into any nooks and crannies, of which there can be a few as my knife skills are still developing. This repeats ever day for 5 days (or until ready, if you have a thicker bit of pork it would likely take longer)

 The picture above is immediately after the first dose of cure has gone one, it already looks good to me! The pork darkens with the curing and it becomes more firm, just looks more and more delicious really.

And these are the pieces once the curing is complete after 7 days, I let them cure for a few extra days as I was away. I must say I enjoy seeing how dark the meat gets, just looks so good in comparison to store bought stuff, or it does in my eyes. These pieces had the excess cure washed off under cold water from the tap. They are then patted dry and wiped with a cloth doused in distilled vinegar. This is supposed to prevent any growth on the surface in case something inadvertently came into contact with the meat. The pieces are then hung in my Heath Robinson meat cage - cobbled together from part of  a broken polythene shelf for plants, wrapped in hardware cloth / wire mesh and hung up out in a cool outbuilding.

My slight concern is that the temperatures this week are due to be in the 20's (C) which for Scotland is rather warm. I'm hoping the shade and shelter of the stable will maintain a sub 15 Celsius or as close to that as possible. I have a tracking thermometer to keep an eye on it. It will only hang for 48 hrs and then it will be into a cobbled together Heath Robinson cold smoker. There is a definite theme in my construction abilities!

I'll do a separate post on the smoking (construction and the deed itself) the bacon is technically good to use, the air drying and smoking are additional steps.