WW2 Reinforcements for the Italians

I have been putting together a piece for Dave's WW2 western desert force.

It's been on the back burner for a while and I finally completed it.

Here is the decal and paint info sheet.

The model is a Fiat CR32 biplane fighter used with great success in the Spanish Civil war and deployed in north-west Africa as well as in Abyssinia. Regarded as out of date by late 1930's it still was a superb acrobatic plane in expert hands and caused problems although it was eventually used as a ground attack plane until relegated to training roles.

Well the instruction seemed simple enough, what could possibly go wrong?

Optimistically cleaning off the parts and pre-painting where necessary, I started the project full of vigour.

Of course once the body was joined the wings were attached ..  so far so good.

Then the problems started.... the upper wings didn't want to sit with the correct geometry so drastic measures were called for.

Pulling the entire wings and struts apart structural support was applied... good old fashioned elastic bands !

Of course the undercarriage decided to protest at this treatment ... grrrr

Once the model wings were all attached, the desert camouflage was applied over the base coat of sand and decals applied.

I had pre-painted a rudimentary instrument panel prior to fitting the body together.

Some light dusting over the surfaces completed the weathered look.  

Next up some Italian armour !
 

What's Going on?

I have been a bit "lax" on the blog/game front for the past few days-THE WIFE has been diagnosed with Stenosis of the Spine ,so a couple of hospital visits have ensued,then we were called for our Covid vaccinations,then the cold weather etc.etc.etc! but I still managed to get an ECW game using my newly painted Cuirassier figures,kindly supplied by Chris,via Steel Fist Miniatures!!

Vaccination Station!!very well organised,in and out within 30 minutes!

Scenario and table set up.

All troops in positions,ready for another exciting and interesting game(mainly due to my terrible dice throwing!)

Top are the Royalist Cuirassiers,bottom are the Parliamentarian Cuirassiers-both did very well against lighter cavalry-as you would expect!!

Fire-fights,then Push of Pike-what more could you ask for in an ECW game? As the game progressed,it became apparent that the Parliamentarians couldn't take any of their objectives,so the Royalists were given the victory-I suppose in wargames terms,you could call it a draw(the casualties were exactly equal,but objectives were not taken!!!)

The "boys" are in regular touch with me and all are doing well and painting like it's going out of fashion-come on "boys" give us some photo's of what you are painting!!

Two final photo's..............................

My little "Wonder Girl" three years old today!

Parisi Hills.15mm Roman Campaign

This should be the last battle in Brittania for my Roman campaign.featuring the "Fab Four" of Crustinuts,Scrotum,Antus and Decus,but who knows??? 

The Romans have sailed back from the Isle of Man,and are on their way to "subdue" the last of the rebellious tribes,the Parisi.Crustinuts has decided to leave Scrotum and his 24th Legionaries out of this battle,but will still employ the Auxiliaries from that Legion,to bolster his left flank.

Top shows terrain map and scenario,bottom shows table before any movement-looks pretty!

Top-chariots rumble forwards,from past experience I wasn't expecting too much from them-bottom shows just how wrong I can be!!-they contacted and disrupted the Roman lines!!

This shows the Roman RF cavalry mixing it with the Parisi cavalry-this melee continued,swing this way and that,for 10 out of the 12 moves of the game-absolutely thrilling stuff!-The Romans eventually won,but at a heavy cost!

Top shows the Parisi Warbands starting to advance,bottom shows them within a charge move away,and some chariots are still in the fray!!-note the archers in the foreground(from Scrotum's 24th) doing much more than could reasonably be asked of them-and doing it well!!

The archers,with cavalry support,giving the Parisi a right old going over!-this was crucial,because if the warbands were beaten,the whole of the Parisi line could be out-flanked-knife-edge stuff!!

Two shots showing the desperate fighting going on along the whole line-remember that 2 red pom-poms equals heavy casualties-both sides are suffering!! but who will win?

The Roman RF cavalry battle-Crustinuts(me!) was just about to send a couple of cohorts to support the cavalry,when a couple of good dice throws saved the day and the Romans chased the Parisi cavalry off!!-hurrah.

This is n overall shot of the board at about move ten(of twelve) showing the archers and cavalry have gained the left flank and are threatening the whole of the Parisi line(which is "crumbling")

Top shows the Parisi about to break and run,bottom shows just how fast they can go!!-Romans are reformed and still looking pretty,but battered!!-another great game,and another victory for Crustinuts-he is looking forward to a rest-do you think he'll get one???

Battle of the Frozen Lake.

Even as a solo game,this gave both commanders little "problems" as per my blog entitled Game Preview,mainly that Magnus' men had to contend with Stakes in the woods,and the village commander had to rely on the peons(peasants) manning the village number 2 against experienced and battle-hardened Viking warriors!!

Top photo shows Magnus' troops trying to hack their way through the stakes-this was almost impossible for them and eventually had to retire(it's good being retired!) due to heavy casualties,and had to await support from Sven on their right flank! Bottom photo shows Brian's warriors trying to gain access to village number 2 but failing,as the peons had decided to wear their underpants on the outside of their trousers and became "Supermen"-Eric came to the rescue of Brian,but not before Brian's men had also taken tremendous casualties!!

Top shows the main Viking advance against village number 1,and the flanking troops-they had to advance slowly in case the ice cracked-this put Magnus and Brian in a spot of bother until they could get support from their "mates".Bottom shows the main line contacting the Spanish defenders,resulting in "cracking" melees taking place-dice throws galore and nail biting from me!!

These two photo's are about how Sven saved the Viking left flank! By attacking the stakes in the flank,Magnus could now renew his attack and take the position,and by driving the Spanish troops, stationed outside the village,back,the whole flank was secure-hurrah!!

With Eric's support,Brian has renewed his attack on village number 2 and has eventually taken it-the peons were slaughtered-of course!!-but what of village number 1-attacked by Bloodnok's warrior elite??

What a fight this turned out to be-the elite status was evened up for fighting troops behind a wall,so it was down to dice throws!!-for 4 rounds of melee,neither side had an advantage,so I decided to put Bloodnok himself into the fray to "gee" his men up,and it worked-the wall was breached and Bloodnok's men set-to slaughtering the defenders without mercy!!

Top photo shows Sven's success,bottom shows Eric's success-with both villages captured,the Vikings had more supplies than they needed and would live like Kings for the next few weeks!

However,Bloodnok is not to be trifled with,and had scores to settle with the Santiago cavalry and the king of Leon,Rodrigo.He sent his new mounted force to Santiago,burned the town to the ground and  killed all the horses they could find!!-they then sneaked into Leon in the middle of the night and kidnapped all three of the Royal children,threatening to have them sold into slavery or killed if King Rodrigo attacked him!!-Bloodnok is not to be messed with!!

This was probably the most exciting solo game so far this year but still can't beat playing against Brian,Paul,Dave or Graham-let's beat this bloody virus and get back to normal!

Steel Fist Miniatures.

I received,in the post,today 12 ECW  15mm.

cavalry figures from a company called Steel Fist Miniatures.Whilst I appreciated the gesture ,I didn't order these figures nor do I need/want them!

As I haven't heard of this manufacturer,I went onto the internet,and found they do a range of 25mm and 15mm figures,funded by something called "Kickstarter"-can anyone enlighten me about Steel Fist?

The figures are "true" 15mm and have a fair bit of detail-any info?

Apologies for the out-of-alignment text-bloody computer!!!